"For every man shall bear his own burden."
_Galatians_ vi. 5.
"Brethren, every man has his burden. If God designed our lives to end at
the grave, may we not believe that he would have freed an existence so
brief, from the cares and sorrows to which, since the beginning of the
world, mankind have been subjected? Suppose that I am a kind father, and
have a child whom I dearly love, but I know by a Divine revelation that
he will die at the age of eight years, surely I should not vex his
infancy by needless preparations for the duties of life. If I am a rich
man, I should not send him from the caresses of his mother to the stern
discipline of school. If I am a poor man, I should not take him with me
to hedge and dig, to scorch in the sun, to freeze in the winter's cold:
why inflict hardships on his childhood, for the purpose of fitting him
for manhood, when I know that he is doomed not to grow into man? But if,
on the other hand, I believe my child is reserved for a more durable
existence, then should I not, out of the very love I bear to him,
prepare his childhood for the struggle of life, according to that
station in which he is born, giving many a toil, many a pain to the
infant, in order to rear and strengthen him for his duties as a man? So
is it with our Father that is in Heaven. Viewing this life as our
infancy, and the next as our spiritual maturity, where 'in the ages to
come, he may show the exceeding riches of his grace,' it is in his
tenderness, as in his wisdom, to permit the toil and the pain which, in
tasking the powers and developing the virtues of the soul, prepare it
for the earnest of our inheritance, the 'redemption of the purchased
possession.' Hence it is that every man has his burden. Brethren, if you
believe that God is good, yea, but as tender as a human father, you will
know that your troubles in life are a proof that you are reared for an
eternity. But each man thinks his own burden the hardest to bear: the
poor man groans under his poverty, the rich man under the cares that
multiply with wealth. For, so far from wealth freeing us from trouble,
all the wise men who have written in all ages, have repeated with one
voice the words of the wisest, 'When goods increase, they are increased
that eat them; and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the
beholding of them with their eyes?' And this is literally true, my
brethren; for, let a man be as rich as was the great King Solomon
himself, unless he lock up all his gold in a chest, it must go abroad to
be divided among others; yea, though, like Solomon, he make him great
works--though he build houses and plant vineyards, and make him gardens
and orchards--still the gold that he spends feeds but the mouths he
employs; and Solomon himself could not eat with a better relish than the
poorest mason who builded the house, or the humblest laborer who planted
the vineyard. Therefore, 'when goods increase, they are increased that
eat them.' And this, my brethren, may teach us toleration and compassion
for the rich. We share their riches whether they will or not; we do not
share their cares. The profane history of our own country tells us that
a princess, destined to be the greatest queen that ever sat on this
throne, envied the milk-maid singing; and a profane poet, whose wisdom
was only less than that of the inspired writers, represents the man who
by force and wit had risen to be a king, sighing for the sleep
vouchsafed to the meanest of his subjects--all bearing out the words of
the son of David--'The sleep of the laboring man is sweet, whether he
eat little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to
sleep.'
"Among my brethren now present, there is, doubtless, some one who has
been poor, and by honest industry has made himself comparatively rich.
Let his heart answer me while I speak: are not the chief cares that now
disturb him to be found in the goods he hath acquired?--has he not both
vexations to his spirit and trials to his virtue, which he knew not when
he went forth to his labor, and took no heed of the morrow? But it is
right, my brethren, that to every station there should be its care--to
every man his burden; for if the poor did not sometimes so far feel
poverty to be a burden as to desire to better their condition, and (to
use the language of the world) 'seek to rise in life,' their most
valuable energies would never be aroused; and we should not witness that
spectacle, which is so common in the land we live in--namely, the
successful struggle of manly labor against adverse fortune--a struggle
in which the triumph of one gives hope to thousands. It is said that
necessity is the mother of invention; and the social blessings which are
now as common to us as air and sunshine, have come from that law of our
nature which makes us aspire toward indefinite improvement, enriches
each successive generation by the labors of the last, and, in free
countries, often lifts the child of the laborer to a place among the
rulers of the land. Nay, if necessity is the mother of invention,
poverty is the creator of the arts. If there had been no poverty, and no
sense of poverty, where would have been that which we call the wealth of
a country? Subtract from civilization all that has been produced by the
poor, and what remains?--the state of the savage. Where you now see
laborer and prince, you would see equality indeed--the equality of wild
men. No; not even equality there! for there, brute force becomes
lordship, and woe to the weak! Where you now see some in frieze, some in
purple, you would see nakedness in all. Where stand the palace and the
cot, you would behold but mud huts and caves. As far as the peasant
excels the king among savages, so far does the society exalted and
enriched by the struggles of labor excel the state in which Poverty
feels no disparity, and Toil sighs for no ease. On the other hand, if
the rich were perfectly contented with their wealth, their hearts would
become hardened in the sensual enjoyments it procures. It is that
feeling, by Divine Wisdom implanted in the soul, that there is vanity
and vexation of spirit in the things of Mammon, which still leaves the
rich man sensitive to the instincts of heaven, and teaches him to seek
for happiness in those elevated virtues to which wealth invites
him--namely, protection to the lowly, and beneficence to the distressed.
"And this, my brethren, leads me to another view of the vast subject
opened to us by the words of the apostle--'Every man shall bear his own
burden.' The worldly conditions of life are unequal. Why are they
unequal? O my brethren, do you not perceive? Think you that, if it had
been better for our spiritual probation that there should be neither
great nor lowly, rich nor poor, Providence would not so have ordered the
dispensations of the world, and so, by its mysterious but merciful
agencies, have influenced the framework and foundations of society? But
if, from the remotest period of human annals, and in all the numberless
experiments of government which the wit of man has devised, still this
inequality is ever found to exist, may we not suspect that there is
something in the very principles of our nature to which that inequality
is necessary and essential? Ask why this inequality! Why? as well ask
why life is the sphere of duty and the nursery of virtues. For if all
men were equal, if there were no suffering and no ease, no poverty and
no wealth, would you not sweep with one blow the half at least of human
virtues from the world? If there were no penury and no pain, what would
become of fortitude? what of patience? what of resignation? If there
were no greatness and no wealth, what would become of benevolence, of
charity, of the blessed human pity, of temperance in the midst of
luxury, of justice in the exercise of power? Carry the question further;
grant all conditions the same--no reverse, no rise and no fall--nothing
to hope for, nothing to fear--what a moral death you would at once
inflict upon all the energies of the soul, and what a link between the
heart of man and the Providence of God would be snapped asunder! If we
could annihilate evil, we should annihilate hope; and hope, my brethren,
is the avenue to faith. If there be 'a time to weep, and a time to
laugh,' it is that he who mourns may turn to eternity for comfort, and
he who rejoices may bless God for the happy hour. Ah! my brethren, were
it possible to annihilate the inequalities of human life, it would be
the banishment of our worthiest virtues, the torpor of our spiritual
nature, the palsy of our mental faculties. The moral world, like the
world without us, derives its health and its beauty from diversity and
contrast.
"'Every man shall bear his own burden.' True: but now turn to an earlier
verse in the same chapter--
"'Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.' Yes;
while Heaven ordains to each his peculiar suffering, it connects the
family of man into one household, by that feeling which, more perhaps
than any other, distinguishes us from the brute creation--I mean the
feeling to which we give the name of _sympathy_--the feeling for each
other! The herd of deer shuns the stag that is marked by the gunner; the
flock heedeth not the sheep that creeps into the shade to die; but man
has sorrow and joy not in himself alone, but in the joy and sorrow of
those around him. He who feels only for himself abjures his very nature
as man; for do we not say of one who has no tenderness for mankind that
he is _inhuman_? and do we not call him who sorrows with the sorrowful,
_humane_?
"Now, brethren, that which especially marked the divine mission of our
Lord, is the direct appeal to this sympathy which distinguishes us from
the brute. He seizes not upon some faculty of genius given but to few,
but upon that ready impulse of heart which is given to us all; and in
saying, 'Love one another,' 'Bear ye one another's burdens,' he elevates
the most delightful of our emotions into the most sacred of his laws.
The lawyer asks our Lord, 'who is my neighbor?' Our Lord replies by the
parable of the good Samaritan. The priest and the Levite saw the wounded
man that fell among the thieves, and passed by on the other side. That
priest might have been austere in his doctrine, that Levite might have
been learned in the law; but neither to the learning of the Levite, nor
to the doctrine of the priest, does our Saviour even deign to allude.
He cites but the action of the Samaritan, and saith to the lawyer,
'Which now of these three, thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that fell
among the thieves? And he said, He that showed mercy unto him. Then said
Jesus unto him, 'Go, and do thou likewise.'
"O shallowness of human judgments! It was enough to be born a Samaritan
in order to be rejected by the priest, and despised by the Levite. Yet
now, what to us the priest and the Levite, of God's chosen race though
they were? They passed from the hearts of men when they passed the
sufferer by the wayside; while this loathed Samaritan, half thrust from
the pale of the Hebrew, becomes of our family, of our kindred; a brother
among the brotherhood of Love, so long as Mercy and Affliction shall
meet in the common thoroughfare of Life!
"'Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ!'
Think not, O my brethren, that this applies only to almsgiving--to that
relief of distress which is commonly called charity--to the obvious duty
of devoting, from our superfluities, something that we scarcely miss, to
the wants of a starving brother. No. I appeal to the poorest among ye,
if the worst burdens are those of the body--if the kind word and the
tender thought have not often lightened your hearts more than bread
bestowed with a grudge, and charity that humbles you by a frown.
Sympathy is a beneficence at the command of us all--yea, of the pauper
as of the king; and sympathy is Christ's wealth. Sympathy is
brotherhood. The rich are told to have charity for the poor, and the
poor are enjoined to respect their superiors. Good: I say not to the
contrary. But I say also to the poor, '_In your turn have charity for
the rich_;' and I say to the rich, '_In your turn respect the poor_.'
"'Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.'
Thou, O poor man, envy not nor grudge thy brother his larger portion of
worldly goods. Believe that he hath his sorrows and crosses like
thyself, and perhaps, as more delicately nurtured, he feels them more;
nay, hath he not temptations so great that our Lord hath exclaimed, 'How
hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of heaven?'
And what are temptations but trials? what are trials but perils and
sorrows? Think not that you can not bestow your charity on the rich man,
even while you take your sustenance from his hands. A heathen writer,
often cited by the earliest preachers of the gospel, hath truly said,
'Where-ever there is room for a man, there is place for a benefit.'
"And I ask any rich brother among you, when he hath gone forth to survey
his barns and his granaries, his gardens and orchards, if suddenly, in
the vain pride of his heart, he sees the scowl on the brow of the
laborer--if he deems himself hated in the midst of his wealth--if he
feels that his least faults are treasured up against him with the
hardness of malice, and his plainest benefits received with the
ingratitude of envy--ask, I say, any rich man, whether straightway all
pleasure in his worldly possessions does not fade from his heart, and
whether he does not feel what a wealth of gladness it is in the power of
the poor man to bestow! For all these things of Mammon pass away; but
there is in the smile of him whom we have served, a something that we
may take with us into heaven. If, then, ye bear one another's burdens,
they who are poor will have mercy on the errors, and compassion for the
griefs, of the rich. To all men it was said--yes, to the Lazarus as to
the Dives--'Judge not that ye be not judged.' But think not, O rich man,
that we preach only to the poor. If it be their duty not to grudge thee
thy substance, it is thine to do all that may sweeten their labor.
Remember, that when our Lord said, 'How hardly shall they that have
riches enter into the kingdom of heaven,' he replied also to them who
asked, 'Who then shall be saved?' 'The things which are impossible with
men are possible with God:' that is, man left to his own temptations
would fail; but strengthened by God, he shall be saved. If thy riches
are the tests of thy trial, so may they also be the instruments of thy
virtues. Prove by thy riches that thou art compassionate and tender
temperate and benign; and thy riches themselves may become the evidence
at once of thy faith and of thy works.
"We have constantly on our lips the simple precept, 'Do unto others as
ye would be done by.' Why do we fail so often in the practice? Because
we neglect to cultivate that SYMPATHY which nature implants as an
instinct, and the Saviour exalts as a command. If thou wouldst do unto
thy neighbor as thou wouldst be done by, ponder well how thy neighbor
will regard the action thou art about to do to him. Put thyself into his
place. If thou art strong, and he is weak, descend from thy strength,
and enter into his weakness; lay aside thy burden for the while, and
buckle on his own; let thy sight see as through his eyes--thy heart beat
as in his bosom. Do this, and thou wilt often confess that what had
seemed just to thy power will seem harsh to his weakness. For 'as a
zealous man hath not done his duty, when he calls his brother drunkard
and beast,'[33] even so an administrator of the law mistakes his object
if he writes on the grand column of society, only warnings that irritate
the bold, and terrify the timid; and a man will be no more in love with
law than with virtue, 'if he be forced to it with rudeness and
incivilities.'[34] If, then, ye would bear the burden of the lowly, O ye
great--feel not only _for_ them, but _with!_ Watch that your pride does
not chafe them--your power does not wantonly gall. Your worldly inferior
is of the class from which the apostles were chosen--amidst which the
Lord of Creation descended from a throne above the seraphs."
The Parson here paused a moment, and his eye glanced toward the pew near
the pulpit, where sat the magnate of Hazeldean. The Squire was leaning
his chin thoughtfully on his hand, his brow inclined downward, and the
natural glow of his complexion much heightened.
"But," resumed the Parson softly, without turning to his book, and
rather as if prompted by the suggestion of the moment--"But he who has
cultivated sympathy commits not these errors, or, if committing them,
hastens to retract. So natural is sympathy to the good man, that he
obeys it mechanically when he suffers his heart to be the monitor of his
conscience. In this sympathy behold the bond between rich and poor! By
this sympathy, whatever our varying worldly lots, they become what they
were meant to be--exercises for the virtues more peculiar to each; and
thus, if in the body each man bear his own burden, yet in the fellowship
of the soul all have common relief in bearing the burdens of each other.
"This is the law of Christ--fulfill it, O my flock!"
Here the Parson closed his sermon, and the congregation bowed their
heads.
(_To be continued_.)
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 32: By the pounds Milanese, Giacomo means the Milanese lira.]
[Footnote 33: JEREMY TAYLOR--_Of Christian Prudence_. Part II.]
[Footnote 34: Ibid.]
Monthly Record of Current Events
POLITICAL AND GENERAL NEWS.
THE UNITED STATES.
The principal event of the month has been the opening of the second
session of the Thirty-first Congress, which occurred on the second of
December. Each House was called to order by its presiding officer. Hon.
WILLIAM R. KING of Alabama in the Senate, and Hon. HOWELL COBB of
Georgia in the House. The Message of President FILLMORE was transmitted
to Congress on the same day. The state of public feeling upon topics
connected with slavery, and the fact that President FILLMORE'S views
upon the subject had never before been officially communicated to the
country, gave to the Message even more than an ordinary degree of
interest.
After alluding to the death of General TAYLOR, the Message briefly sets
forth the President's political principles and his views as to the
proper policy of the government. In its foreign relations he would have
the country regard the independent rights of all nations without
interference, take no part in their internal strifes, and sympathize
with, though it can not aid, the oppressed who are struggling for
freedom. To maintain strict neutrality, reciprocate every generous act,
and observe treaties, is the extent of our obligations and powers. In
regard to our domestic policy, the President says he has no guide but
the Constitution as interpreted by the courts, and by usage and general
acquiescence. All its parts are equally binding, and no necessity can
justify the assumption of powers not granted. The powers granted are as
clearly expressed as the imperfections of human language will allow, and
he deems it his duty not to question its wisdom, add to its provisions,
evade its requirements, or multiply its commands. He promises to express
his views frankly upon the leading subjects of legislation, and if any
act should pass Congress, which shall appear to him "unconstitutional,
or an encroachment on the just powers of other departments, or with
provisions hastily adopted, and likely to produce consequences injurious
and unforeseen," he would not hesitate to send it back for further
consideration. Beyond this he will not attempt to control or influence
the proceedings of Congress. The government of the United States is
limited, and every citizen who truly loves the Constitution, will resist
its interference in those domestic affairs which the Constitution has
clearly and unequivocally left to the exclusive authority of the States:
and every such citizen will also deprecate useless irritation among the
several members of the Union, and all reproach and crimination tending
to alienate one portion of the country from another. The Constitution
has made it the duty of the President to take care that the laws be
faithfully executed. Mr. FILLMORE says that Congress and the country may
rest assured that, to the utmost of his ability, and to the extent of
the powers vested in him, he will, at all times and in all places, take
care that the laws be faithfully executed.
The President says he shall endeavor to exercise the appointing power so
as to elevate the standard of official employment and advance the
prosperity and happiness of the people.
No unfavorable change has taken place in our foreign relations. A
convention has recently been negotiated with Great Britain to facilitate
and protect the construction of a ship canal between the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans: further provisions are required which shall designate
and establish a free port at each end of the canal, and fix the distance
from the shore within which belligerent maritime operations shall not
be carried on. Upon these points there is said to be little doubt that
the two nations will come to an understanding. The company of American
citizens who have acquired from the state of Nicaragua the right of
constructing a ship canal between the two oceans, through the territory
of that state, have made progress in their preliminary arrangements. It
is hoped that the guarantees of the treaty between the United States and
Great Britain will be sufficient to secure the early completion of the
work. Citizens of the United States have undertaken the construction of
a railroad across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, under grants of the
Mexican government to a citizen of that republic. Some further
stipulations from Mexico are still needed, however, to impart a feeling
of security to those who may embark in the enterprise. Negotiations to
secure them are now in progress. A proposition made by the government of
Portugal to adjust and settle the claims of the United States against
that government, has been accepted by the United States; and it is
expected that a regular convention will be immediately negotiated for
carrying the agreement into effect. The commissioner appointed under an
act of Congress to carry into effect the Convention with Brazil, of
January 27, 1849, has entered upon the performance of his duties: an
extension of time, however, will be required, in consequence of the
failure to receive documents which the government of Brazil is to
furnish. The collection in ports of the United States, of discriminating
duties on the vessels of Chili has been suspended.
The total receipts into the Treasury for the year ending June 30, 1850,
were $47,421,748: expenditures during the same period $43,002,168. The
public debt has been reduced $495,276. Part of the public debt amounting
to $8,075,986 must be provided for within the next two years. A
modification of the tariff is strongly recommended; so as to impose
specific duties sufficient to raise the requisite revenue, and making
such discrimination in favor of the industrial pursuits of our own
country as to encourage home production without excluding foreign
competition. Under the present _ad valorem_ system extensive frauds have
been practiced which show that it is impossible, under any system of _ad
valorem_ duties levied upon the foreign cost or value of the article, to
secure an honest observance and an effectual administration of the law.
The establishment of a mint in California is recommended, and also of an
agricultural bureau at Washington. The attention of Congress is called
to the importance of opening a line of communication between the Valley
of the Mississippi and the Pacific. The necessity of a Commissioner to
examine the validity of land titles in California is also urged, as well
as the propriety of extending, at an early day, our system of land laws,
with such modifications as maybe necessary, over California, New Mexico,
and Utah. Further provision is required to protect our frontiers from
hostile Indians. The navy continues in a high state of efficiency. The
report of the Postmaster General is referred to for the condition of
that department. The President says he has no doubt of the power of
Congress to make appropriations for works of internal improvement, and
he therefore recommends that appropriations be made for completing such
works as have been already begun, and for commencing such others as may
seem to the wisdom of Congress to be of public and general importance.
The President also recommends that provision be made by law for the
appointment of a commission to settle all private claims against the
United States; and the appointment of a solicitor whose duty it shall be
to represent the Government before such commission, and protect it
against all illegal, fraudulent, or unjust claims, which may be
presented for their adjudication.
The Message closes by expressing the President's views in regard to the
Compromise measures of the last session. He believes those measures to
have been required by the circumstances and condition of the country. He
regards them as a settlement, in principle and substance a final
settlement, of the dangerous and exciting subjects which they embrace.
Most of these subjects, indeed, are placed by them beyond the reach of
legislation. The President recommends an adherence to the adjustment
established by those measures, until time and experience shall
demonstrate the necessity of further legislation to guard against
evasion or abuse. By that adjustment, he adds, "we have been rescued
from the wide and boundless agitation that surrounded us, and have a
firm, distinct, and legal ground to rest upon. And the occasion, I
trust, will justify me in exhorting my countrymen to rally upon and
maintain that ground as the best if not the only means, of restoring
peace and quiet to the country, and maintain inviolate the integrity of
the Union."
The annual Reports from the several departments were transmitted to
Congress with the Message. They state in detail, as usual, the condition
of the public service in each department of the government. We can only
make room, of course, for a condensed summary of their contents.
The Report of Mr. CONRAD, Secretary of war, is brief and clearly
written. The whole number of men at present enrolled in the U. S. Army
is 12,326, including officers. Of these, 7796 are under orders for
Texas, New Mexico, California, and Oregon, thus leaving but 4530 in all
the rest of the States and Territories. The Secretary, in view of the
recent alarming incursions of the Indians, on the borders of Texas and
New Mexico, urges an addition to the military establishment of the
country. A history is given of the operations of infantry in New Mexico
since last August. Mr. Conrad expresses the opinion, that the only
description of troops to put an end to these savage forays, is cavalry.
He says the Indians in that part of the country are excellent horsemen,
and well skilled in the art of war. To extirpate them, he calls upon
Congress to raise one or more regiments of mounted men. In this
connection, moreover, he thinks that if the inhabitants of New Mexico
were organized into a kind of protective militia of their own, much
would be done to preserve the lives and property of those Territories,
independently of Government relief. At all events the experiment, he
says, is worth trying. The operations of that portion of the army
employed in Oregon are next recapitulated, as are also those engaged in
the recent troubles with the Indians in Florida. The Secretary
entertains no apprehension of any farther disturbance there. A large
portion of the troops are withdrawn from the State, but sufficient are
left to meet any emergency which may possibly arise. The number of the
Indians there, we are told, is very small, probably not more than one
hundred, who, however, occasion annoyance to the whites; and these the
most efficient measures will be taken to remove. It is recommended that
a small force be sent against the Sioux tribe of Indians, in order to
compel obedience to the Chippewa treaty, which they have broken, and
which the United States is bound to see respected. He also refers to the
reports of the officers appointed to examine the Pacific Coasts of the
United States, in order to select suitable sites for fortifications and
naval depots there. Captain Stansbury's Expedition to the Great Salt
Lake, the Secretary says, is understood to be completed, and a report of
his operations is supposed to be now on its way home. Other Expeditions,
similar to this, are also referred to. The Secretary renews the
recommendation of his predecessor for the formation of a retired list of
officers of the Army. An asylum for disabled and destitute soldiers is
also urged upon the attention of Congress. The financial estimates for
this Department, for the ensuing year, do not appear quite so favorable
as could be wished. The sum required for the next fiscal year will
considerably exceed the aggregate for the current year--an increase
caused, among other things, by the act of last Congress increasing the
rank and file of all the companies serving on the Western
frontier--paying nearly double all the officers and men in California
and Oregon--and by increased expenditures in the Quartermaster's
department. The Secretary points out several departments of the service
where principles of economy may be introduced to advantage, and to them
he calls the earnest and immediate attention of Congress.
The Report of Mr. GRAHAM, Secretary of the Navy, is also brief, and
gives an account of the six different squadrons into which the naval
force in commission is divided. The Secretary remarks that occasional
instances of British interference with vessels bearing our flag on the
African coast have occurred, but that in each case explanations and
apologies have been made to our officers on that station, and the
reports thereof transmitted to the Government. The existing _personnel_
of the Navy embraces 68 captains, 97 commanders, 327 lieutenants, 111
surgeons, 43 assistant surgeons, 64 pursers, 24 chaplains, 12 professors
of mathematics, 11 masters in the line of promotion, 464 passed and
other midshipmen, and 7500 petty officers, seamen, landsmen, boys, etc.
The Secretary says that this system of officers is unshapely and
disproportioned, there being great disparity between the head and the
subordinate parts, and he recommends a great reduction in the three
highest grades. The report discusses other questions respecting the
organization and distribution of the service. The Secretary notices the
improvements going on in the Navy Yards in New York and other places;
states that he has invited proposals for the construction of a Dry Dock
in the Pacific; says that the stores on hand in the various yards amount
to $6,500,000. A reduction of the number of yards is discussed. The
Secretary says that our flag has been respected on every sea, and that
the interests of commerce have been secure under its protection. The
Navy consists of 7 ships of the line, 1 razee, 12 frigates, 21 sloops of
war, 4 brigs, 2 schooners, 6 steam frigates, 3 steamers of the first
class, 6 steamers of less than first class, and 5 store ships. The ships
in commission are one razee, 6 frigates, 15 sloops of war, 4 brigs, 2
schooners (coast survey), 2 steam frigates, 1 steamer of the first
class, 3 less than first class, 3 ships of the line as receiving ships,
1 steamer do., and one sloop do. Four ships of the line and two frigates
are on the stocks in process of construction, but the work suspended.
Besides these, there are the mail steamships on the New York and
Liverpool and New York and Chagres lines, liable to naval duty in case
of necessity.
The Report of Mr. HALL, the Postmaster General, gives a gratifying
picture of the operations of the Post Office Department. The number of
mail routes within the United States at the close of the fiscal year in
June last, not including California and Oregon, was 5590: the aggregate
length of such routes was 178,672 miles, and the number of contractors
employed thereon, 4,760. The annual transportation of the mails on these
routes was 46,541,423 miles, at an annual cost of $2,724,436, making the
average cost about five cents and eight and a half mills per mile. The
increase in the number of inland mail routes during the year was 649;
the increase in the length of mail routes was 10,969 miles; and the
annual transportation of the year exceeded that of the previous year by
3,997,354 miles, at an increased cost of $342,440. There were, on the
30th of June last, five foreign mail routes, of the aggregate length of
15,079 miles, and the annual price of the transportation thereon,
payable by this Department, was $264,506; being an increase of $8814 on
the cost of the preceding year. The increase of our mail service for the
last fiscal year, over the year preceding, was about 9.4 per cent., and
the increase in the total cost was about 12.7 per cent. The number of
Postmasters appointed during the year ending June 30, 1850, was 6518. Of
that number 2600 were appointed to fill vacancies occasioned by
resignations; 233 to fill vacancies occasioned by the decease of the
previous incumbents; 562 on a change of the sites of the offices for
which they were appointed; 1444 on the removal of their predecessors,
and 1979 were appointed on the establishment of new offices. The whole
number of post offices in the United States at the end of that year was
18,417. There were 1679 post offices established, and 309 discontinued
during the year.
The gross revenue of the Department for the year was as follows:
From letter postage, including foreign postage,
and stamps sold $4,575,663 86
From newspapers and pamphlets 919,485 94
From fines 38 00
From miscellaneous items 3,048 66
From receipts on acc't of dead letters 1,748 40
--------------
$5,499,984 86
Appropriation for franked matter 200,000 00
--------------
Total $5,699,984 86
From this sum should be deducted the
amount received during the year for
British postages, which are payable to
that Government, under the postal convention
of December, 1848 147,013 38
--------------
Leaving for the gross revenue of the year $5,552,971 48
Total expenditures 5,212,953 43
--------------
Excess of receipts $340,018 05
The expenditures of the current year are estimated at $6,019,809, the
increase consisting in the additional service provided for, and in the
increased rates sometimes paid on the new contracts. No reliable
estimate of receipts from postage for the year can be made. The increase
for the year ending June 30, 1847, was 11.27 per cent.; that for the
year ending June 30, 1848, only 7.43 per cent.; and that for the year
ending June 30, 1849, 14.20 per cent.; being an average, for the three
years, of 10.96 per cent.; and the increase for the year ending June 30,
1850, excluding the balance in favor of Great Britain was 14.62 per
cent. It is believed that the increase for the current year will be at
least 11 per cent. over the receipts of last year: and this will give an
aggregate revenue of $6,166,616, an excess of $146,807 over the
estimated expenditures. The conveyance of foreign correspondence has
become an important branch of the service. The means provided are 16
large steamships in actual service, with four more to be added under
existing contracts. Efforts are in progress to arrange with foreign
countries for the interchange of mails and for the uninterrupted transit
of our correspondence in the mails of those countries to the countries
beyond. The mail service in California and Oregon is still in an
unsettled state: some suggestions are made for improving its details.
The Postmaster General recommends a considerable reduction in the rates
of postage: he advises that the inland letter postage be reduced to
three cents, the single letter, when pre-paid, and be fixed at the
uniform rate of five cents when not pre-paid; and also, that the
Postmaster General be required to reduce this pre-paid rate to two cents
the single letter, whenever it shall be ascertained that the revenues of
the Department, after the reductions now recommended, shall have
exceeded its expenditures by more than five per cent. for two
consecutive fiscal years. He also recommends that twenty cents the
single letter, be charged on all correspondence to and from the Pacific
coast, South America, the Eastern Continent and its islands, and points
beyond either, and ten cents the single letter on all other sea-going
letters, without the superaddition of inland postage; and that the
provision which imposes an additional half cent postage upon newspapers,
sent more than one hundred miles, and out of the State where they are
mailed, be repealed, so as to leave the uniform inland postage on
newspapers, sent to subscribers, from the office of publication, at one
cent each. The postage upon pamphlets, periodicals, and other printed
matter (except newspapers), Mr. HALL thinks, may be simplified and
somewhat reduced, with advantage to the Department. Two cents for the
pamphlet or periodical of the weight of two ounces or less, and one cent
for every additional ounce or fraction of an ounce, is recommended as
the inland rate upon all pamphlets, periodicals, and other printed
matter; instead of the present rate of two and a half cents for the
first ounce, and one cent for every additional ounce, or fraction of an
ounce. For the sea-going charge on such matters, and on newspapers,
twice the inland rate to and from the points to which it is proposed
that the letter postage shall be ten cents, and four times the inland
rate where the letter rate is twenty cents, is deemed a just and proper
rate. The reductions recommended on printed matter are considerably less
than those upon letters: and the reason of this is found in the fact
that the rates of postage upon printed matter are now exceedingly low,
when compared with the letter rates. The average postage on letters is
estimated at about three dollars and sixteen cents per pound, and on
newspapers or pamphlets at about sixteen cents per pound. After the
reductions proposed, the average inland postage on letters will be about
$2 50 per pound when not prepaid, and $1 50 per pound when pre-paid.
The reduction recommended will probably reduce the revenue of the
Department for the first three or four years; but at the end of that
period its revenues under the reduced rates will probably again equal
its expenditures. To meet the temporary deficiency, additional
appropriations from the Treasury will probably be required unless
Congress should abolish the franking privilege, which is held to be the
privilege of the constituent rather than of the representative. It is
recommended, however, that if the franking privilege, and the privilege
now accorded to newspaper proprietors of receiving exchange newspapers
free of postage, be continued, the expense be paid out of the public
Treasury. The present laws provide for a semi-monthly mail from New York
and New Orleans to Chagres, and for only a monthly mail from that point
to San Francisco. The defect has been partially supplied by an
arrangement with the mail contractors, but the action of Congress on the
subject is still required.
The report of Mr. STUART, Secretary of the Department of the Interior,
presents a variety of interesting information concerning the various
subjects which come under his supervision. The expenses of the
department for the year have been $5,403,372; those for the next year
are estimated at $7,132,043. The report enters at some length into an
explanation of the various items of this increase. The whole number of
persons on the pension rolls of the United States is 19,758; the whole
number who have drawn pensions during the first two quarters of the
present year is 13,079. The whole amount expended for pensions during
the year is estimated at $1,400,000. The number of land warrants issued
for Revolutionary service is 12,588; and for the war of 1812, 28,978.
The number of claims presented for service in the Mexican war is 81,373,
and for scrip in lieu of land, 3332, making a total of 84,705. The
number of claimants under the general Bounty Land Law of the last
session of Congress is estimated at 250,000. The sales of Public Lands
during the first three quarters of 1850 have amounted to 869,082 acres;
the amount sold in 1849 was 1,329,902. The amount located by Mexican
bounty land warrants during three quarters of the present year was
1,520,120, against 3,405,520, during the whole of last year. The
aggregate amount disposed of in three quarters of 1850 was 2,815,366--in
1849 it was 5,184,410. The revenue derived from the sale of public lands
has averaged about a million and a quarter of dollars per annum, for the
last fifty years, above all expenses. The extension of our Land System
over our possessions on the Pacific is strongly urged; and a commission
is suggested to adjudicate on all questions of disputed titles to land
in California. Mr. STUART recommends the sale of the mineral lands, in
fee simple to the highest bidder at public auction--in lots small enough
to afford persons in moderate circumstances the opportunity of being
bidders. The annexation of Texas and our treaty with Mexico, have added
about 124,000 Indians to our population; many of them are fierce in
their disposition and predatory in their habits. Further legislation for
the protection of our people from them has become necessary. The
Secretary urges the necessity of a highway to the Pacific; whether a
railway, a plank road, or a turnpike would be most expedient, he says,
can only be determined after a careful survey of the country and its
resources shall have been made. He suggests the propriety of authorizing
an immediate survey. The establishment of an Agricultural Bureau is
urged, and statements are made of the steps taken in securing the census
returns.
Several of the State Legislatures are now in session, or have been
during the past month. In several of them action has been taken upon the
general question of Slavery. In VERMONT a bill was passed for the
protection of persons who may be claimed within that state as fugitive
slaves. This bill provides (1.) That it shall be the duty of the State's
attorneys within the several counties "to use all lawful means to
protect, defend, and cause to be discharged" every person arrested or
claimed as a fugitive slave; (2.) The application of any State's
attorney in due form shall be sufficient authority for any one of the
Judges of the Supreme Court, or any Circuit Judge, to authorize the
issuing a writ of _habeas corpus_, which shall be made returnable to the
supreme or county court when in session, and in vacation before any of
the judges aforesaid; (3.) That it shall be the duty of all judicial and
executive officers in the State, whenever they shall have reason to
believe that any inhabitant of the State is about to be arrested as a
fugitive slave, to give notice thereof to the State's attorneys in their
respective counties; (4.) That whenever the writ of _habeas corpus_ is
granted in vacation, if upon the hearing of the same before any of the
judges, the person arrested and claimed as a fugitive slave shall not be
discharged, he shall be entitled to an appeal to the next stated term of
the county court, on furnishing such bail and within such time as the
judge granting the writ shall deem reasonable and proper; (5.) That the
court to which such appeal is taken, or any other court to which a writ
of _habeas corpus_ in behalf of any such alleged fugitive slave is made
returnable, shall, on application, allow and direct a trial by jury on
all questions of fact in issue between the parties, and the costs
thereof shall be chargeable to the State. The bill passed both branches
of the Legislature with very little discussion, and was approved by the
Governor, Nov. 13, 1850.
The VIRGINIA Legislature assembled on the 2d of December. The Message of
Governor FLOYD closes with some emphatic comments on the Compromise
measures of Congress. The action of the last session on the subject, the
Governor says, has placed the Union in the most momentous and difficult
crisis through which it has ever passed. Some of its enactments have
produced a feeling of deep and bitter dissatisfaction at the South;
while the law for the recovery of fugitive slaves has been met with a
reception at the North little, if at all, short of open rebellion and
utter defiance. This state of things, the Governor says, has grown out
of an "unwarrantable interference on the part of Congress with the
subject of slavery, and is another proof of the great danger which must
ever follow any attempt on the part of that body to transcend the clear,
well-defined limits set by the Constitution to govern and control their
action." The action of Congress, it is held, has been grossly injurious
to the South, for of the whole domain acquired from Mexico, not a foot
is left, worth having, for the occupation of the slaveholder. Nothing
ought to reconcile the South to this action, but the hope that it may
settle forever all agitation of the question of slavery. But if peace
and quiet can be thereby restored, if the Constitution can be respected
and the Union maintained, these sacrifices, great as they are, may well
be regarded as light in comparison with the objects attained. But should
this expectation prove fallacious, and the slavery agitation be renewed,
it will furnish, the Governor says, "proof, convincing and conclusive,
of that fixed and settled hostility to slavery on the part of the North
which should and will satisfy every reasonable man that peace between us
is impossible; and then a necessity stronger than all law, the necessity
of self-preservation, will demand at our hands a separation from those
who use the relationship of brotherhood only for the purpose of
inflicting upon us the worst acts of malignant hostility." The
supineness of the South upon this subject is very warmly censured, and
the hostility evinced in the Northern States toward the fugitive slave
law is referred to as among the indications that peace and harmony have
not been restored. Virginia, and all the slaveholding states, he thinks,
"can and ought, calmly and explicitly to declare that the repeal of the
fugitive slave law, or any essential modification of it, is a virtual
repeal of the Union. The faithful execution of the law is the only means
now left by which the Union can be preserved with honor to ourselves and
peace to the country. Such a declaration on the part of the South will
give strength and great moral weight to the conservative patriots at the
North, now struggling for the Constitution and the supremacy of the
laws, who are, in truth, fighting the battle of the Union, in the bosom
of the non-slaveholding States. If, however, no consideration of
prudence or patriotism can restrain the majority from the
non-slaveholding States in their headlong career of usurpation and
wrong, and should they repeal or essentially modify the fugitive slave
law, the most prompt and decisive action 'will be required at your
hands'. In either event, I would earnestly recommend that a Convention of
the people be called at once to take into consideration the mode and
measure of redress, as well as the means of providing for our future
security and peace."
The Governor of ARKANSAS, in his Message to the Legislature of that
State, objects to the admission of California, but contends that the
evil can not be cured, and must be endured. He asks, "what could the
South gain by resistance?" He also objects to President Fillmore's
Message concerning Texas. But, with regard to the fugitive slave law, he
contends, if the North touch it, the "South can no longer, with honor to
herself, maintain her present relations with the North."
In MISSISSIPPI the Legislature convened in extra session on the 18th
November, under a proclamation issued by Governor QUITMAN, to take into
consideration the course to be pursued by the State in view of the
recent measures of Congress. On the first day of the session the
Governor sent in a Message giving a history of the aggressions of the
North, and recommending secession from the Union. He says, "let the
propositions be distinctly put to the non-slaveholding States that the
wrongs of the South must be redressed, so far as it is in the power of
Congress to do so, by obtaining from California a concession of
territory south of 36 deg. 30'; otherwise that they (the non-slaveholding
States) must consent to such amendments of the Constitution as shall
hereafter secure the rights of the slaveholding States from further
aggression. But, in the event of continued refusal to do so, I hesitate
not to express my decided opinion that the only effectual remedy for the
evil, which must continue to grow from year to year, is to be found in
prompt and peaceable secession from the aggressive States."
In GEORGIA, the State Convention, summoned to consider the best means of
securing Southern rights and interests, assembled at Milledgeville, on
the 11th of December. At the election of delegates to this Convention,
the issue made was between those in favor of disunion, and those opposed
to it. The result showed a popular majority of about 30,000 in favor of
the Union; in seven counties only of the whole State, had the
disunionists popular majorities.
The Legislature of TEXAS met at Austin, November 18th, and Governor BELL
immediately sent in his Message. He states that he anticipated the
passage of the boundary bill by Congress, but regrets that Congress was
no more specific in defining the mode of ascertaining and making known
at the Federal treasury the amount of debt for which the five millions
of stock are to be retained. He considers that the creditors of Texas
must look to her alone, and not to the United States, for the settlement
of her claims. In regard to the bonds issued by the late republic for
double the amount of the original contracts, he thinks that between
private individuals such would be void on account of usury. He, however,
recommends that government should certainly pay to its creditors the
full amount of benefits received, and interest on the amount from the
time when it should have been paid. He also recommends that a law be
passed, requiring all creditors holding claims against the late Republic
of Texas, and for which revenues arising from import duties were
specially pledged, to file releases in favor of the United States in
respect to said claims, with the Comptroller of the State within a
specified time; and in default thereof, their claims against the United
States for the liability of the said debts, growing out of transfer of
revenue, under the articles of annexation, shall be considered as waived
from Mexico. On the 22d, a bill to accept the propositions of the
boundary bill, was passed in both Houses, there being in the Senate but
one, and in the House but five votes against it.--The party engaged in
the survey of the Upper Rio Grande have reported that forty miles above
Laredo is, and will continue to be, the head of steamboat navigation.
The Legislature of SOUTH CAROLINA met in special session on the 3d of
December, and the Message of Governor SEABROOK was received on the same
day. The Governor says that during the year he has purchased largely of
muskets and rifles, and caused several thousand musket accoutrements to
be manufactured at Columbia. He wishes the Legislature to authorize him
to purchase eighteen brass field-pieces, to establish foundries for
cannon and small-arms. He complains of the North on account of the
incendiary resolutions of State Legislatures; the sweeping denunciations
emanating from abolition associations; the bitter and vindictive
feelings of the press, the bar, and the pulpit: the inflammatory
harangues to popular meetings; the encouragement and aid given to
runaway slaves, &c., which unwarrantable proceedings have caused South
Carolina, for about one-third of her political existence, to present an
almost uninterrupted scene of disquietude and excitement. He says that
"the time has arrived to resume the exercise of the powers of
self-protection, which, in the hour of unsuspecting confidence, we
surrendered to foreign hands. We must reorganize our political system on
some surer and safer basis. There is no power, moral or physical, that
can prevent it. The event is indissolubly linked with its cause, and
fixed as destiny." Resolutions had been introduced into the Legislature
upon these subjects, but no action has been had upon them.
The Legislature of FLORIDA met on the 25th of November, and the
Governor's Message was at once delivered. Gov. BROWN, though a strong
friend of the Union, expresses serious concern for the perpetuity of the
Union, in consequence of the manifestations of Northern sentiment on
their obligations under the Federal compact. He asks from the
Legislature authority to call a convention of the people of the State,
in the event of the repeal of the fugitive slave bill, or the
consummation of any other aggressive measure.
The Nashville Convention adjourned on the 18th of November. Resolutions
were passed expressing attachment to a constitutional Union, but
declaring the right of any State to secede; expressing also the
conviction that "the evils anticipated by the South, in forming this
Convention had been realized, in the passage of the recent compromise
acts of Congress. They further recommended to the South, not to go into
any National Convention for the nomination of President and
Vice-President of the United States, until the constitutional rights of
the South were secured. They also recommended to the slaveholding States
to go into convention, with a view to the restraint of further
aggression, and if possible, to the restoration of the rights of the
South. The Tennessee delegation protested against the adoption of the
resolutions, declaring the proceeding to be "unhallowed and unworthy of
Southern men."
Large public meetings have been held in various sections of the country
in favor of the Union and of the Compromise measures of the last session
of Congress. One was held at Philadelphia on the 21st of November,
attended by six or seven thousand people, and numbering among its
officers some of the most respectable citizens of Philadelphia. Hon.
John Sargeant presided, and speeches were made by Messrs. Dallas, J. R.
Ingersoll, Rush, Randall, and others. Letters were received from the
Hon. Messrs. Clay, Webster, Cass, and other gentlemen of distinction,
who were unable to be present. Mr. Randall, in his remarks, said, that
the general impression, that the clause in the Constitution requiring
the return of fugitive slaves was the result of a compromise, was
erroneous: the records of the Convention would show that it was adopted
unanimously, and without amendment. Resolutions expressive of strong
attachment to the Constitution, of obligation to abide by its
provisions, of determination to maintain the supremacy of the laws, of
disapprobation of anti-slavery agitation, and of approval of the
Compromise measures, were adopted with much applause.
A very large meeting of a similar character was held at Boston, on the
26th, in Faneuil Hall. Dr. J. C. Warren, a descendant of General Warren,
who fell at Bunker's Hill, presided, and on taking the chair made an
eloquent and patriotic speech. Resolutions were adopted, asserting that
the preservation of the Constitution and Union is the paramount duty of
all classes; that the blessings flowing from the Constitution vastly
transcend in importance all other political considerations; that the
laws of the land are equally binding on every State, and upon all
citizens, and no one can refuse, or seem to refuse to obey them; that
the measures of compromise passed by the last Congress ought to be
carried out by the people; that resistance to law is mischievous, and
that all who advise those who may be the subject of any law, to resist,
deserve the opprobrium of the community, and the severe penalty of the
law; that at all times, and in all places, the citizens of Boston will
sustain the Union, uphold the Constitution, and enforce obedience to the
law. Speeches were made by B. R. Curtis, Esq., Hon. B. F. Hallett, and
Hon. Rufus Choate, which were received with enthusiastic applause.
A Union meeting was held at Nashville, Tennessee, on the 23d, which was
characterized by unanimity and great enthusiasm. The speakers were, Hon.
Andrew Ewing, and Hon. A. J. Donaldson. Resolutions were passed
declaring that no State has the constitutional right to secede, and that
any such attempt would be revolutionary, and its consequences entail
civil strife and bloodshed; that the continual agitation of the slavery
issue, will, if persisted in, lead to the total alienation of one
section of the Union from the other; that the people of the States have
the right, whenever palpably, intolerably, and unconstitutionally
oppressed, to throw off the chains that oppress them, but there is no
present necessity for the exercise of this right that an attempt to
repeal, or failure to enforce the fugitive slave law, will unite all the
South, and most probably end in a total separation of the States; and
that the Compromise measures of Congress meet their approbation, as the
best that, under the circumstances, could be adopted, and they pledge
themselves to give them hearty support.
A Union meeting was held at Staunton, Virginia, on the 25th of November,
over which Col. JAMES CRAWFORD presided. Resolutions were adopted
declaring the readiness of those assembled to meet all good citizens of
every section, and of every party, on the platform of the Constitution,
the Compromise, and the Union; and also expressing the belief that the
maintenance of the Compromise in all its parts, without modification or
amendment, is essential to the preservation of the Union. Letters were
read from a number of distinguished gentlemen who had been invited, but
were unable to be present.
A large meeting was held at Manchester, N. H., on the 20th of November,
at which resolutions were passed expressing devotion to the Union, and a
determination to stand by the Compromise measures, and to resist all
further agitation of the subject.
A large Union meeting was held in Cincinnati, on the 14th of November,
at which resolutions were adopted declaring their approval of, and
determination to support, the measures of peace and compromise relative
to the admission of California as a State; the establishment of the
Territorial Governments of New Mexico and Utah; the settlement of the
boundary question of Texas; the abolition of the slave trade in the
district of Columbia; and the provision the more effectually to secure
the observance of the constitutional duty to deliver up fugitives owing
service or labor. They also declared that they condemned, and would
oppose all forcible resistance to the execution of the law of the
General Government for the re-capture of fugitives owing service or
labor; that they regard such law as constitutional--in accordance with
the compromise which formed the Union, and that they would sustain and
enforce it by all proper and legal means, as a matter of constitutional
compromise and obligation. And furthermore they declared that any effort
to re-open the delicate and distracting questions settled and
compromised by the Compromise and Peace measures passed during the late
session of Congress are factious, and should be disapproved and opposed.
During the past month letters and speeches, upon the engrossing topic of
the day, from some of the most eminent men in the country, have been
given to the public, and have attracted a good deal of attention. They
have been mainly on the side of the Compromise measures of the last
session of Congress; as the agitation upon the other side, in the
Northern States at least, has for the present almost wholly ceased. A
speech of very marked and characteristic ability was made by the Hon.
RUFUS CHOATE, at the Faneuil Hall Union meeting in Boston. Mr. C.
thought that the union of these States was in manifest peril, mainly
from a public opinion created by restless and unprincipled men. He
traced, with great skill and in very graphic and eloquent language, the
manner in which public opinion is moulded by the unceasing efforts of
the press and the orator, and that it is only by a prolonged and
voluntary educational process that the fine and strong spirit of
nationality is made to penetrate the great mass of the people, and the
full tide of American feeling to fill the mighty heart. He then depicted
the manner in which hostility of sentiment and sympathy between
different sections of the country has been created and is kept alive.
Coming, then, to the means by which danger to the Union can be best
averted, he said the first and foremost thing to be done was to accept
that whole body of measures of Compromise, by which the Government has
sought to compose the country, and then for every man to set himself to
suppress the further political agitation of this whole subject. These
measures were then referred to, one after the other, and the essential
justice and expediency of each were declared. The two great political
parties of the North, he said, ought at once to strike this whole
subject from their respective issues. He was not for any amalgamation of
parties, or for the formation of any new one: the two great parties had
united for the settlement of this great question, and they could now
revive the old creeds, return to their old positions, and so spare
America that last calamity, the formation of parties according to
geographical lines. The conscience of the community, moreover, is bound
to discourage and modify the further agitation of the subject of
slavery, in the spirit in which, thus far, that agitation has been
carried on. It is a great error to suppose that conscience or
philanthropy requires the constant agitation of this topic. We of the
North have nothing whatever to do with slavery in the Southern States,
for we have solemnly covenanted with them that we will not interfere
with it, and that we will perform certain duties growing out of it.
Those duties are obligatory upon us, and no pretense of a higher law can
absolve us from them. These positions were presented by Mr. Choate with
all his accustomed strength, and with even more than the warmth of
feeling and profusion of illustration which distinguish all his efforts.
Mr. WEBSTER wrote a letter in reply to an invitation to attend the great
Union meeting at Staunton, Va., approving most heartily of the objects
of the proposed meeting, and assuring them, of his hearty sympathy and
his unchangeable purpose to co-operate with them and other good men in
upholding the honor of the States, and the Constitution of the
Government. Political martyrdom, he declares, would be preferable to
beholding the voluntary dismemberment of this glorious Republic. "It is
better to die while the honor of the country is untarnished, and the
flag of the Union still flying over our heads, than to live to behold
that honor gone forever, and that flag prostrate in the dust." He
assures them, from personal observation at the North, that through the
masses of the Northern people the general feeling and the great cry is,
for the Union, and for its preservation: and, "while there prevails a
general purpose to maintain the Union as it is, that purpose embraces,
as its just and necessary means, a firm resolution of supporting the
rights of all the States, precisely as they stand guaranteed and secured
by the Constitution. And you may depend upon it," he adds, "that every
provision in that instrument in favor of the rights of Virginia and the
other Southern States, and every constitutional act of Congress, passed
to uphold and enforce those rights, will be upheld and maintained not
only by the power of the law, but also by the prevailing influence of
public opinion. Accidents may occur to defeat the execution of a law in
a particular instance; misguided men may, it is possible, sometimes
enable others to elude the claims of justice and the rights founded in
solemn constitutional compact, but, on the whole, and in the end, the
law will be executed and obeyed; the South will see that there is
principle and patriotism, good sense and honesty, in the general minds
of the North; and that among the great mass of intelligent citizens in
that quarter, the general disposition to ask for justice is not stronger
than the disposition to grant it to others." Mr. WEBSTER closes his
letter by urging the people of Virginia to teach their young men to
study the early history of the country, the feebleness of the
Confederation--and to trace the steps, the votes, the efforts, and the
labor by which the present Constitution was formed. He exhorts them to
stand by their country, to stand by the work of their fathers, to stand
by the Union of the States, "and may Almighty God prosper all our
efforts in the cause of liberty, and in the cause of that United
Government which renders this people the happiest people upon which the
sun ever shone!"
Hon. A. H. H. STUART, Secretary of the Interior, wrote a letter also on
the same occasion in reply to a similar invitation. He expresses great
satisfaction that meetings in behalf of the Union are held throughout
the country. He says he believes that the integrity of the Union, and
the peace of the country, will mainly depend on the course which the
people of Virginia may adopt in the present crisis. There has been a
melancholy change in the feelings of the people toward the Union, he
thinks, within a few years past. Then, nothing but his advanced age, the
respect felt for his character, and the strongest professions of
attachment to the Union, prevented John Quincy Adams from public censure
or expulsion for simply presenting a petition to Congress for a
dissolution of the Union. Now, dissolution is openly advocated in
speeches, pamphlets, and the newspaper press. Let the idea go abroad
that Virginia sanctions such sentiments as these, and our Union is but a
rope of sand. The only safe reliance, Mr. Stuart thinks, is for Virginia
to assume her old position of mediator and pacificator. "Let her speak
in language that can not be misunderstood. Let her blend kindness with
firmness. _But let no lingering doubt remain as to her loyalty to the
Union._" Twenty years ago, when the Union was in danger, General Jackson
declared that it must be preserved. General Jackson slumbers in his
grave, and there are men plotting disunion over his very ashes. But Mr.
Stuart assures those to whom he writes, that we have a man at the head
of the Government "not less devoted to the Union than Jackson, and not
less determined to use all the powers vested in him by the Constitution
to maintain it. He justly appreciates his obligations to maintain the
integrity of the Constitution, and to see that the laws are faithfully
executed. He will know no distinction between the North and the South,
but will enforce obedience to the laws every where."
Hon. H. W. HILLIARD, Member of Congress from Alabama, has written a
letter declining a re-nomination, and discussing at some length the
present condition of public affairs. The events of the past year,
instead of impairing the strength of our political system, have, in his
judgment, really served to demonstrate it. There is a growing conviction
in the mind of the whole nation that the Constitution must be adhered to
in its pristine spirit, and that, while it is adhered to, the republic
will endure. He had no fear that the extension of our limits would
enfeeble us. Our progress is the spread of a great family, all bearing
with them the law, the traditions, the sympathies, and the religion of
those from whom they sprung. The true way of perpetuating our Union is
by multiplying the means of intercommunication, by making taxes as light
as possible, by reducing postage, multiplying railroads, and bringing
the Pacific coast nearer to us by the early construction of one of those
great highways. The scheme of retaliation, lately projected, of
discriminating against the products of other States must be abandoned,
and our whole legislation, State and National, must be guided by a
comprehensive, national, and patriotic spirit. "These States must regard
each other as kindred States; the Constitution must be recognized in all
of them as the supreme law; and the acts of Congress, passed in
accordance with its provisions, must be obeyed, and we must fix in our
minds and in our hearts the idea that, as we have had a common origin,
we must have a common destiny." The measures of the last session must be
regarded as a final adjustment of the disturbing questions growing out
of slavery. Mr. H. exhorts to a conciliatory and a patriotic spirit.
"Let us forbear," he says, "any hostile acts on our own part. I
certainly desire to see in the midst of the great agricultural regions
of the South a varied industry, which shall rival that of the North, and
which shall spread over our fertile plains all the embellishments which
wealth and a high civilization can bestow. I desire, too, to see a
direct trade with foreign countries carried on through Southern ports.
But I desire to see all this brought about by the enterprise and the
energy of our people, entering into a bold and generous competition with
those of the other States. We should seek to make Alabama a great and
wealthy State; and we can do this by the vigorous development of our
resources. Our fertile soil, our noble streams, our great cotton crop,
our exhaustless mineral wealth, our population intelligent, industrious,
enterprising, and religious--these will enable us to advance with a
steady and rapid march in civilization, without resorting to legislative
expedients to tax the products of other States associated with us in a
common Government, one of the great objects of which is, to keep open
the channels of intercommunication."
Hon. LEVI WOODBURY wrote a letter expressing regret that he could not
attend the Union Meeting held at Manchester, N. H., on the 20th of
November. He says that without more forbearance as to agitation of the
subject of slavery, it is his solemn conviction, the Union will be
placed in fearful jeopardy. He mentions as an alarming sign of the times
the fact that any portion of our law-abiding community should either
recommend forcible resistance to the laws, or actually participate in
measures designed to overawe the constituted authorities, and defeat the
execution of legal precepts issued by those authorities. This, he says,
is in direct hostility to the injunctions of Washington in his Farewell
Address to his grateful countrymen; and seems no less hostile and
derogatory to every sound principle for sustaining public order and
obedience to what the legislative agents of the people and the States
have enacted.
A letter from Mr. WEBSTER, written on the same occasion, also alludes to
the disposition which is abroad to evade the laws, and to resist them so
far as it can be done consistently with personal safety. A "still more
extravagant notion," he says, "is sometimes entertained, which is, that
individuals may judge of their rights and duties, under the Constitution
and the laws, by some rule which, according to their idea, is above both
the Constitution and the laws." Both these positions are denounced as at
war with all government and with all morality. "It is time," Mr. Webster
adds, "that discord and animosity should cease. It is time that a better
understanding and more friendly sentiments were revived between the
North and the South. And I am sure that all wise and good men will see
the propriety of forbearing from renewing agitation by attempts to
repeal the late measures, or any of them. I do not see that they contain
unconstitutional or alarming principles, or that they forebode the
infliction of wrong or injury. When real and actual evil arises, if it
shall arise, the laws ought to be amended or repealed; but in the
absence of imminent danger I see no reason at present for renewed
controversy or contention."
Mr. CLAY, upon formal invitation of that body, visited the Legislature
of Kentucky on the 15th of November. He was welcomed by the Speaker of
the House in some brief and appropriate remarks to which he responded at
considerable length. He spoke mainly of the measures of the session in
which he had borne so conspicuous a part. The session, he said, opened
under peculiarly unfavorable auspices. The sentiment of disunion was
openly avowed, and a sectional convention of delegates had been
assembled, the tendency of which was to break up the confederacy. In
common with others, Mr. Clay said he had foreseen the coming storm, and
it was the hope that he might assist in allaying it that led him to
return to the Senate. The subject had long engaged his most anxious
thoughts, and the result of his reflections was the series of
propositions which he presented to Congress soon after the opening of
the session. A committee of thirteen was afterward appointed to which
the whole matter was referred and they reported substantially the same
measures which he had proposed. At that time he was decidedly in favor
of the immediate admission of California into the Union as a separate
and distinct measure; but subsequent observation of the hostility which
it encountered led him to modify his opinions, and unite it with kindred
measures in one common bill. In excluding the Wilmot Proviso, which had
previously been the great aim and object of the South, they obtained a
complete triumph--and obtained it, too, by the liberal, magnanimous and
patriotic aid of the northern members. It is true they may never be able
to establish slavery in any of this newly acquired territory; but that
is not the fault of Congress, which has adhered strictly to the policy
of non-intervention, but of the people of the territory themselves to
whom the whole subject has been committed. The boundary of Texas gave
rise to by far the most intricate and perplexing question of the
Session. Various opinions were held in regard to it by various
interests, and the matter seemed to him eminently one for compromise and
amicable adjustment. We gave what seems a large sum (ten millions of
dollars), to Texas for relinquishing her claim, but half this amount we
owed her creditors for having taken the revenues to which they looked
for payment of their debts. Mr. Clay said he voted the money very
cheerfully, because he believed it would be applied to the payment of
her public debt; and he wished that we had some legitimate ground for
giving to every debtor State in the Union money enough to pay all its
debts, and restore its credit wherever it has been tarnished. Of the
fugitive slave bill Mr. Clay said simply that its object was simply to
give fair, full, and efficacious effect to the constitutional provision
for the surrender of fugitives. The act abolishing the slave trade in
the District of Columbia, was of little practical importance to southern
interests, while it was demanded by every consideration of humanity and
of national self-respect. In looking at the result of the whole, Mr.
Clay thought that neither party, so far as California is concerned,
could be said to have lost or gained any thing, while in regard to the
territorial bills and the fugitive slave law the South had gained all it
could reasonably claim. The effect of these measures, Mr. Clay thought,
would be to allay agitation and pacify and harmonize the country. At all
events it will greatly circumscribe the field of agitation: for none of
these measures can be opened for renewed action except the fugitive
slave bill; and when the dispute is narrowed down to that single ground
the slaveholding States have decidedly the advantage. The Constitution
is with them, the right is with them, and the State which shall oppose
the execution of the law will place itself manifestly in the wrong. It
was not to be expected that these measures would lead to immediate and
general acquiescence on the part of the ultras of either section; but
Mr. Clay did confidently anticipate that all their mad efforts would be
put down by the intelligence, the patriotism, and the love of union of
the people of the various States. Mr. Clay went on to draw a picture of
the condition of the country, and especially of the slaveholding States,
in the event of a dissolution of the Union. Under the present law the
South will not probably recover all their fugitive slaves; but they will
recover some of them. But in the event of disunion not one could be
demanded. Mr. Clay said he had often been asked when he would consent to
a dissolution of the Union. He answered _Never_, because he could
conceive of no possible contingency that would make it for the interest
and happiness of the people to break up this glorious confederacy. He
would yield to it, if Congress were to usurp a power, which he was sure,
it never would, of abolishing slavery within the States, for in the
contingency of such a usurpation we should be in a better condition as
to slavery out of the Union than in it. He believed that the time would
come, at some very distant day, when the density of the population of
the United States would be so great that free labor would be cheaper
than slave labor, and that then the slaves would be set free; and that
Africa would be competent to receive, by colonization from America, all
the descendants of its own race. If the agitation of this subject should
be continued, it must lead to the formation of two parties--one for the
Union and the other against it. If such a division should become
necessary, he announced himself a member of the Union party what ever
might be its elements. He would go further. "I have had," said he,
"great hopes and confidence in the principles of the Whig party, as
being most likely to conduce to the honor, to the prosperity, and the
glory of my country. But if it is to be merged into a contemptible
abolition party, and if abolitionism is to be engrafted on the Whig
creed, from that moment I renounce the party, and cease to be a Whig. I
go yet a step further: if I am alive, I will give my humble support for
the Presidency to that man, to whatever party he may belong, who is
uncontaminated by fanaticism, rather than to one who, crying out all the
time and aloud that he is a Whig, maintains doctrines utterly subversive
of the Constitution and the Union." Mr. Clay said that the events of the
last few months had thrown together men of opposite parties, and he
could say with truth and pleasure that during the late session he was in
conference quite as often, if not oftener, with Democrats than Whigs;
and he "found in the Democratic party quite as much patriotism, devotion
to the Union, honor, and probity as in the other party."
Gen. JAMES HAMILTON has recently addressed a somewhat remarkable letter
to the people of South Carolina upon the state of public affairs and the
course which he desires his own State to pursue. Gen. H. was the
Governor of South Carolina during the nullification crisis, and is fully
imbued with the spirit of resistance to the Union. But he is also a man
of great practical sagacity, and after carefully surveying the whole
field, he is convinced that action now on the part of South Carolina
would be ruinous to her cause. He has been all through the Southern
States, and says he is satisfied that, in the event of such action,
there is not another Southern State that would join her in it. He
sketches the state of feeling in each of the States he has visited, and
represents the Union party as decidedly in the ascendant in every one of
them. He proceeds to say that although some of the recent measures of
Congress, and particularly the admission of California, were exceedingly
unjust to the South, yet they afford no justification for a disruption
of the confederacy. Many, he says, believe that in the event of
secession a collision will arise with the Federal Government, and South
Carolina would have the sympathy and the aid of the other Southern
States. But he does not believe the Federal Government would bring on
any such collision; he thinks they would only prevent goods from
entering their ports, carry the mail directly past them, and transfer
all the commerce which they now enjoy to Savannah. He thinks South
Carolina should await the result of the great battle in the North,
between those who stand up for the rights of the South and their
opponents. If the latter prevail and elect their President two years
hence, the fugitive slave law will be repealed, slavery will be
abolished in the District of Columbia, and a crisis will then occur
which will inevitably unite the South. He urges them to await this
event. The letter is written with great energy and eloquence, and will
have a wide and marked influence upon public sentiment.
A complimentary public dinner was given to Hon. JOHN M. CLAYTON at
Wilmington, on the 16th of November, by his political friends. Mr.
CLAYTON, in reply to a complimentary toast, made an extended and
eloquent speech, mainly in vindication of the administration of Gen.
TAYLOR from the reproach which political opponents had thrown upon it.
He showed that in proposing to admit California as a State, and to
organize the territories of New Mexico and Utah as States, with such
constitutions as their inhabitants might see fit to frame, Gen. TAYLOR
only followed the recommendations which had been made by President POLK
in 1848, which had been approved by Mr. CALHOUN in 1847, and which had
then received the support of the great body of the political friends of
both those statesmen. And yet his course was most bitterly opposed by
the very persons who had previously approved the same principles. Mr.
CLAYTON said he did not believe, and he never had believed, that there
was any danger of disunion from the adoption of General Taylor's
recommendations, and he ridiculed the clamor and the apprehension, that
had been aroused upon the subject. The greatest obstruction both to the
President and the country, arose out of the attempt to embody all the
measures on the subject in a single bill; and yet the effort had been
made to throw the blame of its failure upon the President and his
Cabinet. His death showed the groundlessness of the charge, for the
omnibus immediately failed. Mr. CLAYTON went on at considerable length
to review the policy, both foreign and domestic, of the late
administration, and to vindicate it from all the slanders and obloquy
heaped upon it. He afterward, in response to a remark nominating General
SCOTT as the next candidate for the Presidency, gave a glowing and
eloquent sketch of the life and military career of that eminent soldier.
Hon. JOEL R. POINSETT has written a letter to his fellow-citizens of
South Carolina, remonstrating earnestly against the scheme of secession
which they seem inclined to adopt. He vindicates each of the Compromise
measures from the objections urged against it, and insists that there is
no such thing under the Constitution as a right of secession. Such a
step could only result in the injury and ruin of South Carolina, and he
therefore earnestly exhorts them not to venture upon it.
A letter from Hon. RICHARD RUSH, formerly U. S. Minister in France, has
also been published, condemning very severely the anti-slavery agitation
of the day, and urging the necessity of concession and harmony in order
to the preservation of the Union.
Hon. GEORGE THOMPSON, a member of the British Parliament somewhat
celebrated for his oratorical efforts in England and the United States
in behalf of Abolition, is now in this country. Arrangements had been
made by the Anti-Slavery men in Boston to give him a public reception at
Faneuil Hall on his arrival. The meeting on the occasion was very large.
Edmund Quincy presided. W. L. Garrison read an address detailing Mr.
Thompson's exertions on behalf of abolition, and mentioning the facts
attending his expulsion from this country fifteen years ago. The latter
part of the address was interrupted by considerable noise, and several
speakers who afterward attempted to address the meeting were not
permitted to do so. No violence was attempted, but the meeting was
compelled to disperse. Mr. Thompson has since been lecturing in Boston
and other towns of Massachusetts on various topics not connected with
slavery. His audiences have been good and he has been undisturbed.
We have received intelligence from CALIFORNIA, by the arrival of the
regular mail steamers, to the 1st of November. The cholera had made its
appearance at Sacramento City, but had not been very virulent or
destructive. The steamer Sagamore burst her boilers on the 29th of
October, while lying at her wharf at San Francisco, killing ten or
fifteen persons and seriously injuring a number of others.
The admission of California into the Union was celebrated on the 29th of
October with great _eclat_ at San Francisco. An address was delivered by
Hon. Nathaniel Bennett, and a splendid ball was given in the evening.
An official statement shows that from Nov. 12, 1849, to Sept. 30, 1850,
the total amount of bullion cleared from San Francisco was $17,822,877,
and the amount received was $2,134,000. Business in California was very
good.
The mines continued to yield satisfactory returns. The gold deposits on
the Upper Sacramento are worked with increased industry and success.
Those on the Klamath and its tributaries, which have been discovered
during the past year, prove to be exceedingly productive. Not less than
a thousand persons have been engaged in working them within twenty miles
of the mouth of the river, and their returns are said to average fully
an ounce per day. The Klamath river is about a mile wide at its mouth,
which is easy of access, and for forty miles up the stream there is no
interruption to steamboat navigation. The junction of the Salmon river
is ninety miles above. Midway between these points the river travel is
impeded by rocks, so that boats can not pass; but, after leaving these,
there is no obstacle up to the Falls at the mouth of Salmon river. Both
here and at the rocks, town sites have been selected. Twenty miles above
the Salmon, the Trinity river comes into the Klamath. The land around
these rivers is, with little exception, favorable to agricultural
purposes.
From OREGON we have intelligence to the 25th of October. The rainy
season had set in, but not with much severity. The Oregon Spectator
states that emigrants from the Cascade Mountains were arriving every
day, though quite a number were still on the way. It is feared that they
will suffer severely, especially from falling snow, though the
government was doing all in its power for their relief. Quite a number
of them intend to winter on the Columbia, between the Cascades and
Dalles, as they find excellent food for their cattle in that section.
The amount of wheat grown in the territory during the past season is
estimated at 800,000 bushels.
MEXICO.
We have intelligence from the City of Mexico to November 13th. The
question of the Presidency, it is conceded, is definitely settled in
favor of Arista. The financial condition of the Republic still engages
the attention of Congress, which body is yet occupied in arranging the
interior and foreign debt. General Thomas Reguena died on the 13th
ultimo, at Guadalajara, and General Manuel Romero on the 31st, at San
Louis Potosi. General Joaquin Rea, living at a village called Minerva,
was, about the same time, murdered by one Felipe Delgado, and a band of
scoundrels under his command. The _Siglo_ announces positively that the
Mexican Government has concluded two contracts with Colonel Ramsey, for
the transportation of foreign mails through the Republic. The Mexican
Government will receive $20 for every 100 pounds of correspondence and
20 cents for every 100 pounds of newspapers. By another contract there
is to be communication between New Orleans and Vera Cruz twice a month,
between New York and Vera Cruz, by the way of Havana, twice a month, and
between a Mexican port and San Francisco, once a month. It appears that
at its session of the 18th of July last, the Mexican Geographical and
Statistical Society elected Daniel Webster a corresponding member. The
_Monitor Republicane_ learns by letters from New Grenada, that the
Jesuits have been expelled from that country. The Congress of that
Republic confirmed the decree of the Government with great unanimity.
GREAT BRITAIN.
Public attention in England continues to be absorbed by the bitter
controversies excited by the Pope's bull extending his jurisdiction over
that kingdom. Immense public meetings have been held in several of the
principal cities of the kingdom, at which the Roman Catholic system has
been unsparingly denounced. The newspaper press, daily and weekly, teems
with articles upon the subject, and pamphlets have been issued by
several of the most eminent dignitaries of both the Catholic and the
Established Churches. The Government has been driven to take part in the
war of words, and a letter from the Premier, Lord JOHN RUSSELL, to the
Bishop of Durham, has been published, in which the proceedings of the
Pope are severely censured, and contemptuous expressions are used
concerning the ceremonials of the Roman Catholic worship. The newly
appointed Cardinal WISEMAN, has issued an able, elaborate, and temperate
"Appeal to the Reason and Good Feeling of the English People," against
the violent clamor by which he and his church have been assailed. This
paper seeks to vindicate the proceeding of the Pope from censure, by
showing that there is nothing in it inconsistent, in any way, with
loyalty to the English government, as the only authority sought to be
exercised is spiritual and voluntary. The letter of the Premier is very
closely analyzed, and sharp reference is made to the complaints made by
the Chapter of Westminster, of his assuming the Archiepiscopal title. He
proposes a "fair division" of the two different parts embraced in
Westminster proper. One comprises the stately Abbey, with its adjacent
palaces and royal parks: this he does not covet: to it "the duties of
the Dean and Chapter are mainly confined, and they shall range there
undisturbed." He looks for his field of labor to another quarter. "Close
under the Abbey of Westminster," he says, "there lie concealed
labyrinths of lanes and courts, and alleys and slums, nests of
ignorance, vice, depravity, and crime, as well as of squalor,
wretchedness, and disease; whose atmosphere is typhus, whose ventilation
is cholera; in which swarms a huge and almost countless population, in
great measure, nominally at least, Catholic; haunts of filth, which no
sewerage committee can reach--dark corners, which no lighting board can
brighten. This is the part of Westminster which alone I covet, and which
I shall be glad to claim and visit, as a blessed pasture in which sheep
of holy Church are to be tended, in which a bishop's godly work has to
be done, of consoling, converting, and preserving;" and if the wealth of
the Abbey is to remain stagnant and not diffusive, he trusts there will
be no jealousy of one who, by whatever name, is willing to make the
latter his care without interfering with the former. The letter is
written with great ability, and is well calculated to make a deep
impression. The dignitaries of the English church have also written
various letters upon the subject, all in the same tone, modified only by
the individual temper of the several writers. Large and influential
public meetings have been held at Liverpool, Bristol, and other cities.
The friends of Law Reform in England took advantage of the recent visit
of D.D. FIELD, Esq., of New York, one of the Commissioners for revising
the Code of that State, to revive the general interest felt in the same
subject in England. Mr. FIELD addressed the Law Amendment Society upon
the subject, at its request: his statements were heard with marked
attention, and excited a good deal of interest.
The Chamber of Commerce at Manchester has taken up the promotion of the
growth of cotton in India with much earnestness. The British Government
could not be induced, last session of Parliament, to respond to the
wishes of the Chamber, and appoint a commissioner to proceed to India to
inquire into the obstacles which prevented an increased growth of cotton
in that country. The Chamber now entertains the idea of sending a
private commission to India. The gentleman to whom this important and
responsible service will be entrusted is Mr. Alexander Mackay, the
author of "The Western World," who is well known in the United States,
and whose eminent fitness for so responsible a mission is universally
conceded.
The preparations for the great Exhibition of 1851 are advancing very
rapidly. The building is rapidly going up, some twelve hundred workmen
being constantly engaged upon it, and it every day exhibits some new
features. As the commissioners anticipated, the demand for space from
the various English local committees far exceeds all possible
accommodation that can be provided in the building for the English
exhibitors. The commissioners have not yet been able to digest the
returns, so as to decide upon the necessary reduction of space to be
made in each case, or to determine upon any principle by which that
reduction is to be regulated. All parties will be accommodated so far as
possible. Messrs. Clowes and Spicer, the celebrated printers, have
obtained the contract for printing the Catalogue of the Exhibition. They
give a premium of three thousand pounds for the privilege, and are to
pay twopence for every catalogue sold, for the benefit of the
Exhibition. The catalogue will be sold for one shilling. Another
catalogue will be printed in several languages, and sold at an increased
price.
A terrible storm swept the coast of Ireland during the month of
November. Great damage was done to shipping, and an emigrant ship, named
the Edmond, from Limerick to New York, was lost, with about a hundred of
her passengers.
GERMANY.