CHAPTER XXIX.--THE SQUIRE'S SPEECH.

"Friends and neighbors:--I thank you kindly for coming round me this

day, and for showing so much interest in me and mine. My cousin was not

born amongst you as I was, but you have known her from a child. It is a

familiar face, and one that never frowned, which you will miss at your

cottage doors, as I and mine will miss it long in the old hall----"

Here there was a sob from some of the women, and nothing was seen of

Mrs. Dale but the white handkerchief. The Squire himself paused, and

brushed away a tear with the back of his hand. Then he resumed, with a

sudden change of voice that was electrical--"For we none of us prize a

blessing till we have lost it! Now, friends and neighbors,--a little

time ago, it seemed as if some ill-will had crept into the

village--ill-will between you and me, neighbors!--why, that is not like

Hazeldean!"

The audience hung their heads! You never saw people look so thoroughly

ashamed of themselves. The Squire proceeded--"I don't say it was all

your fault; perhaps it was mine."

"Noa-noa-noa," burst forth in a general chorus.

"Nay, friends," continued the Squire humbly, and in one of those

illustrative aphorisms which, if less subtle than Riccabocca's, were

more within reach of the popular comprehension; "nay--we are all human;

and every man has his hobby; sometimes he breaks in the hobby, and

sometimes the hobby, if it is very hard in the mouth, breaks in him. One

man's hobby has an ill habit of always stopping at the public house!

(Laughter.) Another man's hobby refuses to stir a peg beyond the door

where some buxom lass patted its neck the week before--a hobby I rode

pretty often when I went courting my good wife here! (Much laughter and

applause.) Others, have a lazy hobby, that there's no getting

on;--others, a runaway hobby that there's no stopping: but to cut the

matter short, my favorite hobby, as you well know, is always trotted out

to any place on my property which seems to want the eye and hand of the

master. I hate (cried the Squire warming), to see things neglected and

decayed, and going to the dogs! This land we live in is a good mother to

us, and we can't do too much for her. It is very true, neighbors, that I

owe her a good many acres, and ought to speak well of her; but what

then? I live amongst you, and what I take from the rent with one hand, I

divide amongst you with the other, (low, but assenting murmurs.) Now the

more I improve my property, the more mouths it feeds. My

great-grandfather kept a Field-Book, in which were entered not only the

names of all the farmers and the quantity of land they held, but the

average number of the laborers each employed. My grandfather and father

followed his example: I have done the same. I find, neighbors, that our

rents have doubled since my great-grandfather began to make the book.

Ay--but there are more than four times the number of laborers employed

on the estate, and at much better wages too! Well, my men, that says a

great deal in favor of improving property, and not letting it go to the

dogs. (Applause.) And therefore, neighbors, you will kindly excuse my

hobby: it carries grist to your mill. (Reiterated applause.) Well--but

you will say, 'What's the Squire driving at?' Why this, my friends:

There was only one worn-out, dilapidated, tumble-down thing in the

Parish of Hazeldean, and it became an eyesore to me; so I saddled my

hobby, and rode at it. O ho! you know what I mean now! Yes, but

neighbors, you need not have taken it so to heart. That was a scurvy

trick of some of you to hang me in effigy, as they call it."

"It warn't you," cried a voice in the crowd, "it war Nick Stirn."

The Squire recognized the voice of the tinker; but though he now guessed

at the ringleader,--on that day of general amnesty, he had the prudence

and magnanimity not to say, "Stand forth, Sprott: thou art the man." Yet

his gallant English spirit would not suffer him to come off at the

expense of his servant.

"If it was Nick Stirn you meant," said he gravely, "more shame for you.

It showed some pluck to hang the master; but to hang the poor servant,

who only thought to do his duty, careless of what ill-will it brought

upon him, was a shabby trick--so little like the lads of Hazeldean, that

I suspect the man who taught it to them was never born in the parish.

But let bygones be bygones. One thing is clear, you don't take kindly to

my new pair of stocks! They have been a stumbling-block and a grievance,

and there's no denying that we went on very pleasantly without them. I

may also say that in spite of them we have been coming together again

lately. And I can't tell you what good it did me to see your children

playing again on the green, and your honest faces, in spite of the

stocks, and those diabolical tracts you've been reading lately, lighted

up at the thought that something pleasant was going on at the Hall. Do

you know, neighbors, you put me in mind of an old story which, besides

applying to the Parish, all who are married, and all who intend to

marry, will do well to recollect. A worthy couple, named John and Joan,

had lived happily together many a long year, till one unlucky day they

bought a new bolster. Joan said the bolster was too hard, and John that

it was too soft. So, of course, they quarrelled. After sulking all day,

they agreed to put the bolster between them at night." (Roars of

laughter amongst the men; the women did not know which way to look,

except, indeed, Mrs. Hazeldean, who, though she was more than usually

rosy, maintained her innocent genial smile, as much as to say, "There is

no harm in the Squire's jests.") The orator resumed--"After they had

thus lain apart for a little time, very silent and sullen, John sneezed.

'God bless you!' says Joan over the bolster. 'Did you say God bless me?'

cries John;--'then here goes the bolster!'"

Prolonged laughter and tumultuous applause.

"Friends and neighbors," said the Squire when silence was restored, and

lifting the horn of ale, "I have the pleasure to inform you that I have

ordered the stocks to be taken down, and made into a bench for the

chimney nook of our old friend Gaffer Solomons yonder. But mind me,

lads, if ever you make the Parish regret the loss of the stocks, and the

overseers come to me with long faces and say, 'the stocks must be

rebuilded,' why--" Here from all the youth of the village rose so

deprecating a clamor, that the Squire would have been the most bungling

orator in the world if he had said a word further on the subject. He

elevated the horn over his head--"Why, that's my old Hazeldean again!

Health and long life to you all!"

The Tinker had sneaked out of the assembly, and did not show his face in

the village for the next six months. And as to those poisonous tracts,

in spite of their salubrious labels, "the Poor Man's Friend," or "the

Rights of Labor," you could no more have found one of them lurking in

the drawers of the kitchen-dressers in Hazeldean, than you would have

found the deadly nightshade on the flower-stands in the drawing-room of

the Hall. As for the revolutionary beer-house, there was no need to

apply to the magistrates to shut it up; it shut itself up before the

week was out.

O young head of the great House of Hapsburg, what a Hazeldean you might

have made of Hungary! What a "_Moriamur pro rege nostro_" would have

rang in your infant reign,--if you had made such a speech as the

Squire's!

FOOTNOTES:

[R] The Emperor Diocletian.

[S] The title of Excellency does not, in Italian, necessarily express

any exalted rank: but it is often given by servants to their masters.

Historical Review of the Month.

In this number of the _International_, copying the example of the oldest

magazine in the world, _The Gentleman's_, which for a hundred years has

found its account in such a department, we present a carefully prepared

and succinct summary of the history of the world, as it has come to our

knowledge during the past month. It is intended hereafter to continue

this feature in the _International_, devoting to it such attention that

our pages shall always be deserving of consultation as an authority in

regard to contemporary events. In the general characteristics of this

department we shall offer nothing very original; the examples of our

English contemporaries will be generally adhered to; but the utmost care

and candor will be evinced in every _resume_ of affairs or opinions

admitted to our pages.

THE UNITED STATES.

As the session of Congress draws near to its close, its proceedings

become more animated and interesting. It is already evident, however,

that but few of the questions recommended for its consideration can be

disposed of before its adjournment. One of its most important acts was

the passage of the Cheap Postage Bill, in the House, on the seventeenth

of January, by a vote of 130 to 75. This bill provides for a uniform

rate of three cents per half-ounce, on letters, and a material reduction

in the rates charged for newspapers and periodicals. The Senate

Committee to whom the bill was referred, have reported amendments

raising the postage to five cents on unpaid letters, striking out the

provision allowing newspapers to go free within thirty miles of their

place of publication, and reducing postage on magazines fifty per cent

when prepaid. The French Spoliation Bill, after considerable discussion,

passed the Senate on Friday, January 24th. The bill provides for the

payment of claims based on the detention of vessels in the port of

Bordeaux, the forcible capture and detention of American citizens, and

depredations on American commerce in the West Indies, to the amount of

$5,000,000.

The bill to ascertain and settle Private Land Claims in California,

introduced by Mr. Fremont towards the close of last session, was called

up by Mr. Gwin, his colleague, on the twenty-seventh of January. Mr.

Gwin offered a substitute, which was agreed to in Committee of the

Whole, when the bill was reported to the Senate. After a most animated

debate, in which the bill was strongly opposed by Mr. Benton, it finally

passed the Senate on the sixth of February.

The bill introduced in the House for the establishment of Branch Mints

in New-York and San Francisco gave rise to an exciting debate. The bill

was discussed for several days, the Pennsylvania members opposing it in

a body. Its defeat was finally accomplished on Wednesday, February 5th.

Since then Mr. Gwin has introduced in the Senate a separate bill for the

establishment of a Branch Mint in San Francisco. A joint resolution,

reported to the Senate by Mr. Rusk, providing that dead letters

remaining in the post-offices of California and Oregon shall be opened

at the post-office in San Francisco, under care of a special agent, was

adopted.

In the Senate, February 5th, the Committee on Foreign Relations, of

which Mr. Foote is chairman, reported a resolution that in all future

treaties by the United States, provisions should be made for settling

difficulties by arbitration, before resorting to war. The Judiciary

Committee also reported in favor of Messrs. Winthrop and Ewing (senators

appointed by the governors of Massachusetts and Ohio to fill vacancies)

holding their seats till their regularly-elected successors appear to

claim their places. Mr. Winthrop, however, on Friday, February 7th,

presented the credentials of his successor, Mr. Rantoul, (who had not

yet arrived,) and vacated his seat. The credentials of Mr. Bright, as

senator from Indiana for the ensuing term, were presented on the

twenty-eighth of January.

A bill for the relief of Mrs. Charlotte Lynch, mother of Miss Anne C.

Lynch, the poetess, passed the House by a majority of 11. It had

previously passed the Senate. Mrs. Lynch is the only surviving child of

Colonel Ebenezer Gray, of the Connecticut line, who served in the army

of the Revolution. The bill provides five years' full pay, as an

equivalent for the losses sustained by him through the substitution of

the commutation certificates issued in 1783.

The American Minister at Rio Janeiro has transmitted some important

information to the Government in regard to the Brazilian traffic in

slaves under the American flag. A considerable portion of the infamous

trade, by which from forty to fifty thousand negroes are annually

imported into Brazil, is carried on in American-built vessels, under the

protection of our flag. It has been found impossible to enforce the

Brazilian statutes on the subject, the authorities charged with their

execution, almost without exception, conniving at the traffic. In spite

of the exertions of the American Minister, our flag is still used as a

protection, and its influence is given to the support of the

slave-dealer. The communications of the American Minister have been

referred by the Senate to the Committee on Commerce. Mr. Clay spoke at

some length in favor of adopting more efficient measures to prevent

American vessels and seamen from engaging in the slave-trade.

The project of establishing a line of steamers between several American

ports and the coast of Africa, Gibraltar, and England,--familiarly known

as the "Ebony Line,"--has been strongly recommended to Congress by

petitions from all quarters. The Legislature of Virginia, and the

Constitutional Convention of the same State, now in session, have both

passed resolutions in its favor. Several other States have done, or are

about to do the same thing. The session is already so far advanced,

however, that the subject will probably be left without action for the

next Congress.

The Senate Committee on the Post-office has reported in favor of

granting to a company the right of way and subscription to the stock of

an Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company.

Mr. Kaufman, a member of the House, from Texas, died very suddenly on

the thirty-first of January. His funeral took place on the Monday

following, February 3d. Mr. Kaufman was born in Pennsylvania in 1813,

graduated in Princeton College in 1833, practiced law in Louisiana, and

removed to Texas in 1835.

The subject of most general interest in the political world is the

election of United States Senator, in a number of the States, for the

term commencing on the 4th of March. Several elections have taken place,

and others have not been accomplished in spite of repeated ballots. In

New-York, the Constitution provides for an election on the first

Wednesday of February. On that day the Whig candidate, ex-Governor

Hamilton Fish, received a majority of 37 in the House: the Senate, after

two ineffectual ballots, adjourned. A special law will therefore be

required to elect a senator. In Massachusetts, the Democratic candidate,

Robert Rantoul, Jr., was elected to fill the vacancy occasioned by Mr.

Webster's acceptance of a place in the Cabinet. All attempts to elect a

senator for the ensuing term have failed up to this period. Mr. Sumner,

the Free Soil candidate, lacked but two votes of an election on the

twelfth ballot, but afterwards lost. It was finally postponed to the

twenty-seventh of February. In the Ohio Legislature, ten successive

ballots were cast without arriving at an election, after which the

subject was indefinitely postponed. In Rhode Island, General Charles T.

James, the Democratic candidate, was elected; in Florida, Stephen R.

Mallory, in place of Hon. D. L. Yulee, both Democrats; and in Delaware,

James A. Bayard, Democrat, in the place of Mr. Wales, the present Whig

senator. Hon. Henry Dodge was reelected by the Legislature of Wisconsin,

by a majority of one, on the fifth vote. In Pennsylvania, Hon. Richard

Brodhead was elected in place of Mr. Sturgeon, both members of the

Democratic party. Henry S. Geyer, Whig, has been elected by the State of

Missouri, as United States Senator, in place of Col. Thomas H. Benton,

who is superseded after an uninterrupted service of thirty years.

William H. Ross, the new Governor of Delaware, was inaugurated at Dover,

on the twenty-first of January. The most important feature of his

address was the recommendation of a revision of the State Constitution.

George F. Fort, the new Governor of New Jersey, has been inaugurated.

His address takes ground in favor of the compromise measures passed by

Congress. He also advocates the Free School System, and the election of

Judges by the people. Governor French, of Illinois, in his annual

message, represents the State as being in a prosperous condition, the

revenue being sufficient to meet the demands upon the treasury. He

recommends a geological survey of the State, and the passage of a

Homestead Exemption Law. The schools of the State are in a flourishing

condition. The message of Governor Dewey, of Wisconsin, also shows an

improved condition of State affairs. The finances are represented as

being sound, and the credit of the State relieved from all fear of

bankruptcy. Apprehensions of danger to the citizens residing north of

Wisconsin river, from the return of the Winnebagoes, have been quieted

by the appointment of an agent to confer with that tribe. The message of

Governor Ramsey to the second Legislative Assembly of Minnesota

Territory is an interesting document. Among other subjects recommended

to the attention of the Assembly are the agricultural interests of the

Territory, and the improvement of the Mississippi river, both above and

below the Falls of St. Anthony. The extinction of the Indian title at

Pembina will admit of the laws of the Territory being extended over the

half-breeds at that place. It is said that there are hundreds of

half-breed hunters on the British side of the line, who are only waiting

the extinction of the Indian title to change their homes and allegiance.

The assessed value of property in the five principal counties of

Minnesota is $805,417.48.

The returns of the Seventh Census will shortly be completed. A number of

States have recently sent in their full reports, among which are the

following: New-York 3,099,000, being an increase of 670,029 since 1840;

Virginia 1,428,863, an increase of 189,066; Maryland 580,633, an

increase of 111,401; New Hampshire 317,999, an increase of 33,425;

Missouri 681,547, an increase of 297,845; Ohio 1,981,940, an increase of

462,473; Kentucky 993,344, an increase of 213,516; Indiana, 990,000; New

Jersey 490,763, an increase of 117,874; and Wisconsin, 305,556. The

entire population of the United States in 1850 is estimated at

23,500,000.

A warrant for the arrest of Governor Quitman of Mississippi, for

participation in the Cuban Expedition, was issued by Judge Gholson in

New Orleans, early in January. Governor Quitman at first resisted the

authority, but afterwards resigned his office as Governor, and on the

seventh of February reached New Orleans, under arrest. He appeared in

court, and gave bail for future appearance, asking a speedy trial.

Several diplomatic appointments have recently been made. Hon. Richard H.

Bayard, who was appointed Charge d'Affaires to Belgium, has departed for

his mission. Hon. Robert C. Schenck, of Ohio, has been appointed

Minister to Brazil, and Hon. J. S. Pendleton, of Virginia, Charge

d'Affaires to New Grenada. The Chevalier Gomez, Special Envoy to Rome

from the states of Guatemala and San Salvador, has arrived at

Washington, and assumed, provisionally, the office of Charge from those

states. He has addressed a letter to the Secretary of State in relation

to the present condition of the Central American States.

General Mosquera, ex-President of New Grenada, is now travelling in this

country, and was lately in Washington, where he received distinguished

attentions. General Paez, the distinguished exile from Venezuela, is

also in Washington. Dr. Frank Taylor, of Pennsylvania, who has recently

returned from Constantinople and Asia Minor, has received letters from

the illustrious Kossuth, addressed to the Secretary of State, and

soliciting the intervention of the United States with the Turkish

Government, to procure the release of himself and his compatriots, and

their transportation to the United States. Mr. Webster immediately

complied with the request, and has dispatched instructions to Mr. Marsh,

the American Minister at Constantinople, to procure from the Turkish

Government the release of the Hungarians.

The frigate St. Lawrence has sailed from New-York for Southampton, with

articles for the World's Fair. She carries out between four and five

hundred articles, embracing nearly all branches of manufacture, and the

principal mineral and agricultural productions of the country. The

contributions are in charge of Charles F. Stansbury, Esq., agent of the

Central Committee of Washington. The tender of the authorities of

Southampton, offering the use of that port, with free transportation of

the goods to Vauxhall, London, has been accepted by the Secretary of

State.

There have been several serious wrecks, with loss of life, on the

Atlantic coast and the Mississippi river. The steamboat America, which

left Wilmington, N.C., on the fourteenth of January, for Mobile,

foundered on the 29th. The schooner Champion, of Boston, picked up one

boat's crew, containing six men. A second boat, containing ten men, was

picked up by the schooner Star, and taken to Washington. A third boat,

containing six men, has not been heard from. The steamer John Adams, on

her way from New Orleans to Cincinnati, struck on a snag in the

Mississippi river, on the morning of January 27th. The cabin parted from

the hull, which went down in sixty feet water. Out of 230 cabin and deck

passengers, firemen, and crew, 123 were lost, of whom 82 were German and

Irish emigrants, and returning Californians. On the ninth of February,

the steamer Autocrat, from New Orleans to Memphis, came in contact with

the steamer Magnolia, coming down the river, and sank instantly. Thirty

lives were lost.

A calamitous fire took place at New Orleans, on the eighteenth of

January, destroying the magnificent St. Charles Hotel, together with two

churches and several other buildings. The total loss is about $500,000,

less than half of which was covered by insurance. Jenny Lind arrived at

New Orleans from Havana on the 8th of February. Her reception was in the

highest degree enthusiastic. Her first concert took place on the 10th,

the receipts therefrom amounting to $20,000. The first ticket was

purchased for $240 by a New Orleans hatter, the fortunate drawer of

Powers' Greek Slave in the Cincinnati Art Union.

Two more of the unfortunate Hungarian refugees have reached this city:

Captain Eduard Becsey, who served during the war as adjutant to General

Bern, and Lieutenant Aurel Kiring. Captain Becsey was taken prisoner by

the Russians, and carried to Kiev, on the Dneiper, where he was detained

a year. After being released, he made his way to the Mediterranean, and

obtained a passage to New-York.

Our latest news from Eagle Harbor, the port of the mining region on Lake

Superior, state that the propeller Independence, which had just taken

on board her last cargo of copper for the season, was blown on shore by

a heavy gale, and imbedded in the sand, where she must remain till

Spring. The Napoleon had arrived from Saut St. Mary, with provisions and

stores for the winter.

Texas papers of the thirty-first of January state that Judge Rollins,

the United States Agent, had effected a treaty with the Indians,

providing for a cessation of hostilities, and the restoration of all

stolen property and prisoners. Lieuts. Smith and Mechler had completed a

survey of the Rio Grande from its mouth to a point about four hundred

and fifty miles above Camargo. They report that the river can be made

navigable for boats of light draught to a short distance above Loredo

for several months in the year. Col. Anderson, of the corps of

Topographical Engineers has received orders to make a survey of the

Brazos and Guadalupe rivers. A fight had occurred between Lieutenant

King, with seven men, of the Texan volunteers, and a body of Indians,

who were driving off a number of stolen horses. They were pursued for

fifteen or twenty miles, when they abandoned the horses, and escaped

with the loss of three or four of their number. The total vote on the

Pierce Boundary Bill, as officially reported, is 9,250 ayes, 3,366 noes.

On the eighteenth of December the whole of the American Boundary

Commission had arrived at Paso del Norte, with the exception of an

ox-train carrying supplies. The military escort, under the command of

Col. Craig, was encamped on the American side of the Rio del Norte, but

was soon to start for the copper-mines near the headwaters of the Gila.

The Mexican Commissioner, General Conde, with his escort, was quartered

in the town of El Paso. Several conferences took place between the

Commissioners before they could agree on the starting-point for the

boundary, the existing maps being as inconsistent with the terms of the

treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo as with the topography of the country

itself. The winter, throughout the valley of the Del Norte has been very

severe. The thermometer fell to six degrees at El Paso on the sixth of

December, and the Rio Grande was frozen over for the first time in the

memory of the inhabitants.

The settlements of New Mexico are threatened with scarcity. On the tenth

of January corn was selling at three dollars the bushel, and vegetables

not to be had at any price. The appearance of the agents for taking the

census of New-Mexico had occasioned great alarm among the pueblos or

villages. They feared that the account of their property was taken by

the Government for the purpose of extortion and seizure. The Apaches

have committed no depredations of late, but the Navajoes have broken

their treaty by stealing several thousand sheep from the settlements on

the Rio del Norte.

In the Utah Territory the Mormons have temporarily settled the question

of slavery, by leaving it to the choice of the slaves themselves. If the

slave chooses to leave his master, there is no power to retain him; if

he chooses to stay, no one is allowed to interfere.

Our news from California is to the first of January. The steamers

Carolina and Columbus sailed from San Francisco on that day, with 330

passengers and about $1,500,000 in gold dust. Business was very dull,

both in the ports and inland towns of California, and the trading

communities among the mines. The immense shipments of goods which had

arrived from the Atlantic States had produced a complete stagnation in

the market, bringing many kinds of merchandise below cost prices. After

the first showers of the rainy season, early in December, the miners

withdrew to the dry diggings, when the rains ceased, and three or four

weeks of clear and delightful weather left them without employment. The

richest localities are very thickly populated, the miners having built

themselves log-cabins and organized communities for the winter. On parts

of Feather river, the American Fork, and the Mokelumne, Tuolumne, and

Mariposa rivers, the diggings were still yielding a good return. New

discoveries of rich veins of quartz-bearing gold continue to be made. A

mine of silver ore, of a very rich quality, is reported to have been

discovered in the neighborhood of Monterey. A company is being formed at

that place for the purpose of working the mine upon an extensive scale.

The Sacramento papers state that a large mine of lead, in an almost pure

state, exists near Johnson's Ranche, about thirty miles from that city.

The ore is represented to lie on the surface of the earth, in heavy

masses, so that vast quantities could be obtained without sinking a

shaft.

On the evening of December 14th another fire broke out in San Francisco,

in a large zinc building owned by Cooke, Baker & Co. By the exertions of

the firemen and the citizens the conflagration was subdued, after

consuming this building and three or four others of less value. The

large building belonging to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company was in

the utmost danger, having been greatly scorched by the flames. The total

loss by this fire was $75,000. The city, on the first of January, was

fully prepared for the rainy season. By the enterprise of the

inhabitants, upward of seven and a half miles of street had been graded

and four miles planked, while capacious piers and wharves were built far

out into the bay, so that vessels were enabled to load and unload

without the use of lighters. The cholera had entirely disappeared, not

only from San Francisco, but from all parts of California. Its ravages

have been much lighter than was anticipated, a fact which speaks well

for the health of the country.

The _Pacific News_ contains some interesting statistics of the condition

of San Francisco at the close of the year 1850. The population of the

city is estimated at 35,000. One hundred and seven miles of street are

already laid out, one quarter of which is built upon and occupied. The

business streets are substantially built of brick or iron. In addition

to seventeen large auction firms and eight express companies, the city

boasts of ten first class hotels and seven daily papers. The amount of

gold-dust regularly shipped and entered for exportation during the year

1850 was $30,000,000; the estimated amount taken away by passengers,

$12,000,000. The amount of bullion received was $1,722,600. The number

of vessels which arrived during the year was 1,743 bringing 35,333 male

and 1,248 female passengers; the number of clearances amounts to 1,461

vessels, carrying away 26,593 male and eight female passengers. The

total value of the merchandise received by foreign and domestic vessels

during the year was between four and five millions of dollars. In

addition to 14 steamers running regularly between San Francisco and

Panama, and three on the Oregon route, there are 45 steamers and 270

other craft of various kinds on the bay and inland streams.

We have news from Oregon to the middle of December, at which time the

Legislature was in session. The message of Governor Gaines recommends

the establishment of a liberal system of education, and asks for the

passage of a law for protection against the Indian tribes. It also

maintains the importance of a liberal policy on the part of the General

Government in the donation of lands to actual settlers. The country

appears to be in a highly prosperous condition; all the towns on the

Columbia and its tributaries are growing rapidly. The news from the gold

placers on the Klamath and Umpqua rivers, near the borders of

California, is encouraging as to the yield of dust, but the Oregonians

place their main reliance on their agricultural interests. The yield of

wheat is said to be not only double per acre that of the Atlantic

States, but it is a never-failing crop. The people in Oregon City are

agitating the subject of a railroad to connect the Willamette Valley

with the Columbia river, at some point accessible to large vessels. It

is estimated that the whole cost will only be about $500,000, which it

is proposed to raise in one thousand shares of $500 each. Twelve months,

it is believed, will complete the work.

EUROPE.

On the first of February, England was in a tranquil condition, the

anti-Papal agitation having almost entirely subsided. The journals were

engaged in discussing law reform, the New-York Revised Code being

commended as a model in many quarters. In the Queen's speech at the

opening of Parliament--an advance copy having been forwarded to this

country--a thorough reform of the Equity courts is recommended, as well

as the introduction of an act for the registration of deeds, equally

applicable to each of the three kingdoms. Her Majesty alludes in terms

of comparative mildness to the Wiseman affair, commending the question

to the attention of Parliament. Public opinion is strongly in favor of a

large reduction in taxation, and it is anticipated that the window tax

will be abolished. The quarterly returns of the revenue have been highly

satisfactory, since, notwithstanding the abolition of the tax on bricks

and the reduction of the stamp duty, the income exceeds that of the

previous year by about L165,000.

The great crystal palace in Hyde Park is rapidly advancing towards its

completion. The immense structure is exciting the wonder and admiration

of the metropolis, and the opening of the fair is anticipated with great

interest. The strength of the building has been amply tested by a severe

storm of hail and wind, which passed over without breaking a pane of

glass. All quarters of the world are sending specimens of their

manufactures and natural productions. South Africa, Australia, and the

islands of the sea will be represented, while Cashmere shawls, robes of

pearl, and Runjeet Singh's golden saddle, will be sent from India.

The U.S. Mail steamer Atlantic, which sailed from Liverpool on the

twenty-eighth of December, arrived in the harbor of Cork on the

twenty-second of January, having been at sea twenty-five days. When in

lat. 46 deg. 12', lon. 41 deg. 30', about midway between Cape Clear and

New-York, her main shaft broke, rendering the engines useless. After

running westward two days under sail, a heavy gale arose, when Captain

West put her head about, and made for Cork, a distance of 1400 miles,

which she made in eleven days. The steamer Cambria was instantly

chartered to take her place, but most of her passengers left Liverpool

in the Africa, on February 1st. It is stated on the authority of Earl

Monteagle, that the British Government have resolved to make Holyhead

the port of arrival and departure for the transatlantic mail steamers.

In France, a ministerial revolution has taken place, resulting in

widening the breach between President Napoleon and the National

Assembly. Several general orders of General Changarnier to the army of

Paris having been published in one of the journals, in which he commands

the troops to pay no attention to any orders but those of the

Lieutenant-General. Changarnier was called upon in the Assembly for

explanation. He denied that these instructions were meant to be

permanent, but only to be put in force when an emeute was apprehended.

His conduct was approved by the Assembly, but Louis Napoleon, who had

long regarded Changarnier with fear and jealousy, withdrew from him the

command of the army at Paris, which he divided between two or three

generals of lower rank. This gave rise to a most excited debate in the

National Assembly, in which Lamartine made a speech in the President's

defence. Baroche, Minister of the Interior, General Changarnier, M.

Thiers, and General Cavaignac followed, the three latter speakers taking

strong ground against the ministry. After several days of stormy

discussion, the resolution of M. de St. Beuve, that the Assembly

"declares that it has no confidence in the ministry," was carried by a

majority of 139. The ministers tendered their resignation to the

President the same evening. A ministerial interregnum followed, which

was terminated on the twenty-fourth of January by a message of the

President, appointing a "transition ministry," composed of employees

from the different departments, not one of them having a seat in the

Assembly. The following is the list, as given in the _Moniteur_:

Public Instruction M. Giraud, (de l'Institute.)

Interior M. Vaisse.

Foreign Affairs M. Brennier.

War General Randon.

Marine Admiral Levaillant.

Commerce M. Schneider.

Finances M. de Germiny.

Public Works M. Magne.

Justice M. de Royer.

Lamartine, it is stated, was urged by Louis Napoleon to accept an

appointment in the ministry, but declined on account of his being bound

to furnish his publishers with two volumes a month, under heavy

penalties.

The Conference of the German States at Dresden was opened with much

ceremony early in January. All the states were represented, but the

negotiations were kept profoundly secret. It has transpired, however,

that the formation of the new Diet agreed upon gives two votes to

Prussia, two to Austria, one each to Bavaria, Saxony, Hanover, and

Wurtemberg, and three more portioned among the smaller principalities,

making eleven in all. It is also understood that a Provisional Central

Power will be proclaimed, Prussia and Austria retaining to themselves

exclusively the right of deciding for the Confederation all questions

of peace and war.

Austria still labors under financial embarrassments of an almost

hopeless character. As a measure of temporary relief, the Government has

contracted two loans, one from Russia, of fifty millions of florins, and

the other, of one hundred millions, on state obligations, at six per

cent. The manufacturers of Austria strongly oppose the proposed

compromise of the Zollverein, and advocate a tariff of a decidedly

protective character. Great dissatisfaction has been manifested in

Hungary, on account of the newly imposed tax on tobacco, which is one of

the principal productions of the country. In consequence of this

opposition the excise corps has been greatly enlarged, and serious

difficulties are apprehended.

The smaller German states are now completely overruled by the Austrian

and Prussian troops. The Elector of Hesse Cassel has returned to his

Capital, with his Prime Minister, Hassenpflug, under their protection.

The Constitution is virtually abolished by their presence, and those who

supported it are subjected to the most shameful persecutions. Many of

the best citizens are obliged to leave the country. Schleswig Holstein

has been 'pacified' in a similar manner. Through the instrumentality of

the Austrian and Prussian Commissioners, backed by a military force, the

army of Schleswig Holstein has been disbanded, and the country occupied

by the troops of Denmark. On the sixteenth of January, the proclamation

of the King of Denmark, administering the oath of fidelity to the

military, was read in the marketplace of Rendsburg. Hamburgh has been

occupied by 4000 Austrian troops.

A treaty of amity and commerce has been concluded with the Swiss Diet,

by Mr. Dudley Mann, Diplomatic Agent of the United States. Its

provisions are of the most liberal and friendly character. The entire

reciprocity and equality of the citizens of both countries, is

guaranteed, so far as the right of establishment is concerned; a citizen

of the United States being allowed to settle in one of the Swiss Cantons

upon the same conditions as a citizen born in another Canton. Entire and

unconditional liberty in disposing of property is mutually stipulated,

as well as equal taxation of the individuals established, their

exemption from military duties, and the grant of indemnity for damages

in case of war. The commercial intercourse of the two countries is also

arranged upon the most liberal and advantageous basis. Switzerland has

remained tranquil, with the exception of a riot in the Canton of Berne,

occasioned by the attempted extradition, on the part of the Government,

of a Prussian Jew, a noted socialist, residing at St. Imier. This person

was very popular among the poor, who resisted the authorities, whereupon

the troops were ordered to be in readiness to support them. The Swiss

Government has determined to forward a beautiful stone from the Alps, to

be placed in the National Monument to Washington.

ITALY is still in an unquiet state. There seems to be a growing

apprehension and uneasiness among all classes in the Papal States, and

it is rumored that Pope Pius, wearied with the anxieties of his

situation, wishes to resign the Pontificate, and retire to a Convent.

In NAPLES, the Government, alarmed by rumors of Mazzini's revolutionary

designs, has made many arrests, and instituted a more vigorous police

system. All cafes and places of public amusement are strictly watched.

The army is to be increased by 18,000 men, and as English opinions are

assigned to be dangerous, those Neapolitans who intended to visit the

Great Exhibition in London, have been refused their passports.

AUSTRIAN ITALY is even in a worse condition. Several conspiracies have

been discovered, and a large number of arrests made in consequence. A

large number of persons have been executed, in the Lombardo-Venetian

provinces.

The most interesting news from SPAIN is that of another resignation of

the Ministry. The resignation of General Narvaez was not accepted by the

Queen, whereupon that gentleman assembled his colleagues, and

commissioned them to inform the Queen that unless she released him at

once from his office, he should blow his brains out! This threat had the

desired effect, and the following Cabinet was then appointed:

President of the Council and Minister of Finance Bravo Murillo.

Foreign Office Bertran de Lys.

Grace and Justice Gonzales Romero.

Home Department Arteta.

War Count Mirasol.

Marine Bustillos.

Commerce, &c. Fernandez Negrete.

The project of a revision of the Constitution, which has been so warmly

agitated in Sweden, has entirely failed. The proposition of the King has

been rejected by two of the four chambers constituting the Legislative

Assembly, three being required in its favor, to form a constitutional

majority. Sweden will therefore preserve her present system of a

separate representation of the nobility, clergy, citizens, and peasants.

In TURKEY, the subjection of the rebellious Bosnians was consummated on

the seventeenth of December, when Omar Pasha made his triumphal entry

into Bosna Serai. The captive Pashas and Cadis marched on foot in the

procession. It is rumored that the Porte has at length agreed to accept

the offer of the British and American Governments to transport the

Hungarian refugees to America, and will order their immediate release.

Three hundred Polish refugees, who arrived at Constantinople from Varna,

on the thirty-first of December, were to be sent to Liverpool at the

expense of the Turkish Government. Two Commissioners, Ismet Pasha and

Sami Pasha, have been appointed to travel through Asiatic and European

Turkey, for the purpose of noting whether the new reforms in favor of

the Christians have been carried out.

There is nothing from GREECE, but accounts of the depredations of the

robbers which now infest all parts of the country. In the provinces of

Acarnania, Levadia and Attica, several villages have been sacked, and

the inhabitants put to the torture.

MEXICO

The Mexican Congress assembled in the Capital on the first of January,

when General Herrera, the President, made his annual address. He dwelt

with satisfaction on the relations existing between the United States

and Mexico, considering them much more harmonious and mutually

advantageous than was anticipated at the close of the war. The financial

condition of the country has been somewhat improved by the retrenchment

of the Government expenses and the consolidation of the Interior Debt: a

revision of the Revenue Laws is strongly advocated as a still further

reform in this direction. President Herrera favors the colonization of

the public lands by immigrants from Europe; he also alludes with

satisfaction to the increase of manufactures and the improved prospects

of the silver mines, which last year yielded upwards of $30,000,000.

The two branches of Congress met on the eighth, to count the votes for

the election of the President of the Republic. The votes of twelve

States were found to be in favor of General Arista. He was consequently

declared to be duly elected. On the fifteenth, in the Chamber of

Deputies, in the presence of the Mexican Congress, he took the oath of

office and made a short inaugural address, in which he alluded to the

maintenance of the federal system as necessary to the prosperity of the

country, and pledged himself to preserve peace and order at all hazards.

The President of Congress, Don Mariano Yanez, replied in a short address

of congratulation. Te Deum was chanted in the Cathedral in the presence

of the new President, and in the evening the German residents honored

him with a serenade and torch light procession. Arista's Cabinet is

composed as follows: Minister of Foreign Affairs, Don Mariano Yanez;

Minister of Justice, Don Jose Maria Aguirre; Minister of Finance, Don

Manuel Payno; Minister of War and Marine, Don Manuel Robles.

Early in January a rebellion broke out in the State of Guanajuato. The

insurgents, headed by two brothers named Liceagas, obtained possession

of the city of Guanajuato, with the Government arms and ammunition, but

were defeated on the night of the 13th by the Government troops under

Generals Bustamente and Uraga. Several of the chiefs were executed, and

the movement, which was in favor of Santa Anna, was entirely crushed.

The Tehuantepec treaty was ratified on the 25th of January. On the

following day, Mr. Letcher, the American Minister, left the capital for

the United States, on leave of absence. Senor Lacunza, the Ex-Minister

of Foreign Affairs, has been appointed Minister to England, and Senor

Valdiviesco Minister to France. The Mexican Government has ceded in

perpetuity to Don Gayetano Rubio, Don Eustace Barron, Senor Garay, and

the firm of Yecker, Torre & Co., the whole of the public lands in the

State of Sonora, including the mines, between lat. 30 deg. N. and the Gila

River. This grant embraces several millions of acres, and the richest

mineral land of the Republic. It is said to have been intended to smooth

the passage of a bill abolishing all tariff prohibitions, which have

hitherto operated greatly to the advantage of the parties named.

Maj. Barnard's Company for surveying the Isthmus of Tehuantepec reached

the town of Minatitlan, on the Coatzocoalcos River, in the steamer

Alabama, on the 25th of December. At the last accounts, one party had

penetrated a distance of sixty miles into the country, a second was

engaged in an examination of the river, and a third had set out for

Tehuantepec, on the Pacific Coast.

BRITISH AMERICA.

The lawyers in Lower Canada have been making strikes and holding

meetings to protest against the imposition of the new tariff regulating

their fees. The Bar of Quebec and of Trois Rivieres have struck,

declining to serve their clients until the legality of the tariff shall

be decided by the Court of Appeals. It has been decided to admit

American reprints of English copyright works into Canada, on paying 20

per cent. duty, which is to be paid over by the Custom House to the

English authors or proprietors of copyright, who are required to furnish

a list of their works. Under this law, American reprints will still be

much cheaper than English editions, and popular English authors may

therefore look forward to some increase of their revenue. The Imperial

Cabinet has also assented to the Post-Office Law, enacted at the last

Session of the Canadian Legislature, and establishing a uniform rate of

three pence for single letters throughout the British Provinces.

Meetings have been held in Toronto, protesting against the intended

removal of the Seat of Government from that city, while, on the other

hand, the French members have resolved not to vote the supplies unless

it is removed to Quebec in the spring. Lord Elgin, however, has stated

that the Seat of Government will be transferred to Quebec at the

completion of its two years in Toronto.

THE WEST INDIES.

We have news from Havana to the 3d of February. The administration of

Gen. Concha appears to be more liberal and energetic than that of his

predecessor, and gives very general satisfaction.

Jenny Lind gave but four concerts in Havana, only the first and last of

which were well attended. Her Italian songs produced much more effect

than her Swedish ballads. The proceeds of the last concert, amounting to

$5000, was devoted to objects of charity. A grand ball was given in her

honor by the Count de Penalver, after which she visited Matanzas and the

extensive sugar plantations in its neighborhood. Senor Salvi, the great

tenor, was engaged by Mr. Barnum to sing at her concerts in New-York, in

April. On the 1st February, Frederika Bremer reached Havana, and the two

renowned Swedes met, for the first time in the new world.

News from Jamaica to the 1st of February state that the cholera was

still prevailing in many localities, although it had decreased in some

and entirely disappeared in others.

CENTRAL AMERICA--THE ISTHMUS.

In the State of Nicaragua, the elections have taken place and Don Jose

Sacasa has been chosen Director, from the 1st of May, on which the term

of Director Raminez expires. The National Convention of Delegates from

the States of Nicaragua, Honduras and San Salvador, met at Chinandega on

the 21st of December, and organized by choosing as President Don Jose

Barrundia, the author of the Central-American Constitution of 1820. The

little steamer Director, belonging to the Nicaraguan Company, passed the

rapids of Machuca, on San Juan River, and entered Lake Nicaragua on the

1st of January. She is now running between Granada and San Carlos, a

distance of 95 miles, at $20 a passenger. The engineers employed to

survey the route of the proposed ship canal, were at work between

Granada and San Juan del Sur, on the Pacific. By the 1st of January,

upwards of four thousand returning Californians had passed through

Nicaragua, on their way to the United States.

Disturbances have broken out in some of the mountain provinces of

Guatemala, growing out of the refusal of the inhabitants to concur in

the policy adopted by the Government at the instance of the English

consul, Mr. Chatfield. The insurgents declared in favor of a Federal

Union of all the Central-American States. The Government troops, under

Gen. Carrera, in attempting to put down this opposition, were defeated

at Chiquimula. A blockade of the ports of San Salvador has been ordered

by Mr. Chatfield, who threatens Honduras and Nicaragua with a similar

blow, unless they accede to certain demands. In a letter to the

Nicaraguan Minister of Foreign Affairs, he arbitrarily lays down the

boundary line between Honduras, Nicaragua and Musquitia--an assumed

kingdom, under cover of which the British authorities have taken

possession of the port of San Juan. Mr. Chatfield states that unless

these boundaries are accepted, no canal or other improved method of

transit across the Isthmus can be established. There is much excitement

in Central America, on account of his arbitrary course.

The winter rains are at an end on the Isthmus of Panama, and the roads

are in good condition. Upwards of 800 workmen are employed on the Panama

Railroad, and the track is already prepared for the rails from Navy Bay,

the Atlantic terminus, to Gatun, on the Chagres River, a distance of

three and a half miles.

SOUTH AMERICA.

The Congress of VENEZUELA met on 20th of January, all the members being

present. It had previously been feared that the Executive Power would be

violently seized by Guzman, Vice-President of the Republic, who was one

of the unsuccessful candidates in the electoral colleges, in case there

should not be a quorum in Congress. Gen. Monagas, brother of the present

Executive, lacked only two or three votes of the two-thirds required by

the Constitution in the electoral colleges, and having received

sixty-five out of the eighty votes of Congress, was declared elected

President of Venezuela. Guzman, who had used all his power to defeat

Monagas, notwithstanding he was indebted to the latter for his life, met

him upon the steps of the Government House after the election, and

begged pardon, in tears, for the injuries he had done him. Monagas

forgave him, and the happiest results for Venezuela are anticipated from

an administration commenced under such circumstances.

The Presidential Election in PERU took place on the 20th of December.

The prominent candidates were Generals Echinique and San Ramon, and at

the last accounts it was believed the former was elected.

BOLIVIA is entirely tranquil, the health of Gen. Belzu having been

completely restored since his attempted assassination, and the

conspirators against him, Ballivian and Linares, having fled from the

country. The partisans of Ballivian were totally routed in the southern

provinces, where they attempted to make a stand, and their leader fled

in disguise to Copiape, in Chili. Linares escaped into the Argentine

Republic, and a requisition for his delivery was about to be issued.

In CHILI, the extra session of Congress convened on the 16th of

December. In his message calling the session, the President recommended

to legislative attention, the subjects of reform in the customs and the

coinage system, appropriations for the current year, the regulation of

the standing army, and a revision of the taxes.

Early in December a destructive fire broke out in Valparaiso, which was

finally quelled through the labors of the sailors from the English and

French vessels of war lying in the harbor, after destroying $250,000

worth of property. On the 5th of the month, the volcano of Portillo,

near Santiago, which had been quiet since 1845, suddenly broke out into

violent eruption. The following day a very severe shock of an earthquake

was felt, lasting twenty seconds, but fortunately doing little damage.

Since then, however, a more violent earthquake has entirely destroyed

the city of Conception, in the southern part of Chili.

Hon. Bailey Peyton, the American Minister, left Valparaiso on the 27th

of December, in the U.S. Ship _Vincennes_, on a visit to Talcuhuana, the

province of Conception and the island of Juan Fernandez. Henri Herz, the

distinguished pianist, has been giving concerts in Santiago.

At the latest dates from BRAZIL, nothing of political importance had

transpired. Accounts from Buenos Ayres to Dec. 12th, state that there

was a prospect of an amicable settlement of the difficulties between

that country and Brazil. There had been a conflict between the forces of

Paraguay and those of Buenos Ayres, relative to the occupancy of some

neutral lands, by the forces of the latter. The finances of the State

were said to be in an encouraging condition.

AFRICA.

The Monitor, a paper published at Cape Town, South Africa, gives an

account of a dreadful massacre committed by the noted Namagua chief,

Yonker Afrikaner, on the neophytes of the German Missionary station at

New-Barmen, in Damaraland, between South Africa and the Kingdom of

Loango.

A curious piece of history has made its way to us from the island of

Madagascar. Rainharo, the Prime Minister of the reigning Queen of the

island, determined, in June last, to exterminate all the Christians in

the province of Imirena. Accordingly, when they were all assembled one

evening at their religious exercises, the various communities were

suddenly arrested, to the number of eight thousand, and condemned to

death. Eighteen of them had already been executed, when the rest

escaped, and surrounding the palace of the young Prince, the heir to the

throne of Madagascar, implored his protection. The Queen sent orders

through the Prime Minister that they should be given up. The Prince

refused, and in the dispute which followed, drew his sword and aimed a

blow at the Minister's head, cutting off one of his ears. When the Queen

heard of this, fearing a revolt in the province of Imirena, to sustain

the Prince, she suffered the Christians to return to their homes and

worship as usual. They have since been visited by the Prince, who

declares his intention to protect them.

The Republic of LIBERIA was in a flourishing condition at the

commencement of the year. Several explorations of the interior have been

made, to the distance of two or three hundred miles from the coast. The

parties brought back enthusiastic accounts of the richness and beauty of

the country and the salubrity of the climate. President Roberts had sent

his message to the Liberian Congress, giving a very favorable account of

the condition and prospects of the country. The agricultural operations

at Bassa Cove and Bexley have produced very satisfactory results. The

slave trade is said to be almost destroyed in the neighborhood of

Gallinas and Ambrize.

Recent Deaths.

THE REV. WALTER COLTON was born in Rutland, Vermont, about the year

1797. When sixteen years of age he determined to acquire a liberal

education, and commenced with industrious energy his preparatory

studies. In 1818 he entered Yale College, where he received the

Berkleyan Prize in Latin and Greek, and delivered the valedictory poem,

when he graduated, in 1822. He soon afterwards entered the Theological

Seminary at Andover, where he remained three years, giving much of his

tune to literature, and writing, besides various moral and critical

dissertations, a _Sacred Drama_, which was acted by the students at one

of their rhetorical exhibitions, and an elaborate poem pronounced when

his class received their diplomas. On being ordained an evangelist,

according to the usage of the Congregational Church, he became Professor

of Moral Philosophy and Belles-Lettres in the Scientific and Military

Academy at Middletown, then under the presidency of Captain Alden

Partridge. Besides attending to the more immediate duties of his

position, he wrote while here a prize _Essay on Duelling_; a _Discussion

of the Genius of Coleridge_; _The Moral Power of the Poet, Painter, and

Sculptor, contrasted_, and many contributions in verse and prose to the

public journals, under the signature of "Bertram." In 1828 he resigned

his professorship, and settled in Washington, as editor of the _American

Spectator_, a weekly gazette which he conducted with industry, and such

tact and temper, that he preserved the most intimate relations with the

leaders of the political party to which it was most decidedly opposed.

He was especially a favorite with President Jackson, who was accustomed

to send for him two or three times in a week to sit with him in his

private chamber, and when Mr. Colton's health declined, so that a sea

voyage was recommended by his physicians, the President offered him

without solicitation a consulship or a chaplaincy in the Navy. The

latter was accepted, and from 1830 till the end of his life, he

continued as a chaplain in the naval service.

His first appointment was to the West India squadron, where his

reputation was increased by several incidents illustrative of his

personal character. On one occasion a murderous affray had taken place

between a boat's crew of American sailors and a party of Spaniards

belonging to Pensacola, in which several sailors were killed. Mr. Colton

drew up the official report of the outrage, in which he handled the

police with just severity. The mayor, himself a Spaniard, and a man of

desperate character, was greatly enraged, and swore he would take ample

vengeance. He watched his opportunity, and attempted to rush on the

chaplain with his long knife before he could protect himself. But the

latter, drawing his pistols at the instant, levelled one of them at his

breast, and told the mayor if he stirred his hand except to return his

knife to its belt, he would put a ball through his heart. The Spaniard

hesitated for a few minutes, and reluctantly complied.

Returning from the West Indies Mr. Colton was appointed to the

Constellation frigate, and sailed for the Mediterranean, and in the

three years during which he was connected with this station, he

travelled through Spain, Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor; visited

Constantinople, and made his way to Paris and London. The results of his

observations he partially gave to the public in volumes entitled _Ship

and Shore_, and _A Visit to Constantinople and Athens_. Soon after the

publication of these works, he was appointed Historiographer to the

South Sea Surveying and Exploring Expedition; but the ultimate reduction

of the force designed for the Pacific squadron, and the resignation of

his associates, induced him to forego the advantages of this office, for

which he had made very careful preparations in ethnographical studies.

He was now stationed at Philadelphia, where he was chaplain successively

of the Navy Yard and of the Naval Asylum. In this city we became

acquainted with him, and for several years enjoyed his frequent society

and intimate friendship, so that few have had more ample opportunities

of judging of his character. In 1841 and 1842, with the consent of the

Government, he added to his official duties the editorship of the

Philadelphia _North American_, and in these and the following years he

wrote much upon religious and literary subjects for other journals. We

believe it was in 1844 that he delivered before the literary societies

of the University of Vermont, a poem entitled _The Sailor_, which has

not yet been published. In the summer of 1846 he was married, and we

were selected by him for that occasion to fill the office commonly

falling to the nearest friend. A few months afterward he was ordered to

the Congress, the flag-ship of the Pacific squadron, in which he arrived

off the western coast of America soon after the commencement of the late

war with Mexico. The incidents of the voyage round Cape Horn are

detailed with more than his usual felicity in his book, _Deck and Port_,

published last summer in this city by Barnes & Co.

Soon after the arrival of the squadron at Monterey, he was appointed

alcalde, or chief magistrate of that city, an office of difficult duties

and large responsibilities, demanding the most untiring industry, zeal,

and fortitude. These were discharged with eminent faithfulness and

ability, so that he won as much the regard of the conquered inhabitants

of the country, as the respect of his more immediate associates. In

addition to the ordinary duties of his place, Mr. Colton established the

first newspaper printed in California, _The Californian_, now published

in San Francisco, under the title of the "Alta California;" he built the

first _school-house_ in California; and also a large hall for public

meetings--said to be the finest building in the state, which the

citizens called "Colton Hall," in honor of his public spirit and

enterprise. It was during his administration of affairs at Monterey that

the discovery of gold in the Sacramento Valley was first made; and,

considering the vast importance which this discovery has since assumed,

it may not be uninteresting to state that the honor of first making it

publicly known in the Atlantic States, whether by accident or otherwise,

belongs properly to him. It was first announced in a letter bearing his

initials, which appeared in the Philadelphia _North American_, and the

next day in a letter also written by him, in the New-York _Journal of

Commerce_.

Mr. Colton returned to his home early last summer, with anticipations of

years of undisturbed happiness. With a family deeply attached to him, a

large circle of friends, good reputation, and a fortune equal to his

desires, he applied himself leisurely to the preparation of his MS.

journals for the press, and the revision of his earlier publications.

He had published, besides _Deck and Port_, already mentioned, _Three

Years in California_, and had nearly ready for the printer a much

enlarged and improved edition of _Ship and Shore_, which was to be

followed by _A Visit to Constantinople, Athens, and the AEgean_, a

collection of his _Poems_, and a volume of _Miscellanies of Literature

and Religion_. His health however began to decline, and a cold, induced

by exposure during a late visit to Washington, ended in granular dropsy,

which his physician soon discovered to be incurable. Being in

Philadelphia on the 22d of January, we left our hotel to pay him an

early visit, and found the death signs upon his door; he had died at two

o'clock that morning, surrounded by his relations, and in the presence

of his friends the Rev. Albert Barnes and the Rev. Dr. Herman

Hooker--died very calmly, without mortal enemies and at peace with God.

Mr. Colton was of an eminently genial nature, fond of society, and with

such qualities as made him always a welcome associate. His extensive and

various travel had left upon his memory a thousand delightful pictures,

which were reflected in his conversation so distinctly and with such

skilful preparation of the mind, that his companions lived over his life

with him as often as he chose to summon its scenes before them. We

believe him to have been very sincere in all the professions of honor

and religion, and fully deserving of the respectful regrets with which

he will be remembered during the lives of his contemporaries.

AUGUSTE D'AVEZAC, descended from an illustrious French family, was born

in the island of St. Domingo, about the year 1787. He was educated at

the celebrated college of La Fleche, in France; emigrated to the United

States; studied medicine at Edenton, North Carolina; and on the

acquisition of Louisiana removed to New Orleans. Here his sister was

married to Chancellor Livingston, and he himself became a successful

lawyer. When General Jackson arrived in New Orleans, d'Avezac became one

of his aid-de-camps, and he served with him to the end of the war, and

remained all his life among his most devoted friends. When General

Jackson became President he appointed Major d'Avezac _Charge d'Affaires

to Naples_, and afterwards to the Netherlands, whence he was recalled by

Mr. Van Buren, but under circumstances which did not prevent his hearty

support of the President's administration. He then took up his residence

in New-York, and in 1841 and 1843 was elected from this city to the

Legislature. In 1845, he was appointed _Charge d'Affaires_ to the Hague,

and he remained there until superseded last year by Mr. Folsom, when he

again returned to New-York, where he died on the 16th ultimo. He was an

eminently agreeable man in society, and wrote in French and English with

ease and vivacity, upon literature, art, politics, and history.

At the Hague, a _cortege_ of upwards of three thousand persons have just

accompanied to the grave, at the premature age of forty-two, M. ASSER, a

judge of high reputation in that city, and author of various works on

comparative legislation.

France has lost one of her geographical celebrities, M. PIERRE LAPIE,

from whose hand have issued a multitude of valuable maps.

DR. HEINRICH FREDERICK LINK, Professor of Botany in the University of

Berlin, and Director of the Royal Botanic Garden of that city, died on

the first of January, in the eighty-second year of his age. His literary

career extends back for more than half a century, his first botanical

essay, consisting of some observations on the plants of the Botanic

Garden at Rostock, having been published in 1795. He was contemporary

with Linnaeus, having been eighteen years old when the great author of

the "Systema Naturae" died, and, from his botanical tastes, was probably

acquainted with that naturalist's writings long before his decease.

He graduated at Gottingen in 1789, having read on that occasion an

inaugural thesis on the Flora of Gottingen, referring more particularly

to those found in calcareous districts. Shortly afterwards he was

appointed Professor of Botany at Rostock; subsequently he held the same

chair at Breslau; but the latter and larger portion of his scientific

life was spent at Berlin. He practised at Berlin as a physician among an

extensive circle of friends, who had a high opinion of his medical

skill. Although the name of Link fills a large space in the literature

of botany, his mind was not of the highest order, and his contributions

to science are not likely to make a very permanent impression. Still, he

was an energetic, active man, with an observant mind, a retentive

memory, and with considerable power of systematic arrangement. Hence his

works, like those of Linnaeus, have been among the most valuable of the

contributions to the botany of the century in which he lived. Of these,

his "Elementa Philosophiae Botanicae" may be quoted as the most useful.

This work, which was published in 1824, has served as the basis of most

of our manuals and introductions to botany since that period. He devoted

considerable time and attention to the description of new species of

plants, most of which he published in a continuation of Willdenow's

"Species Plantarum." With Count Hoffmansegg, he commenced a Flora of

Portugal, and he also published a memoir on the plants of Greece. He

contributed several valuable papers on physiological botany to the

Transactions of the Natural History Society of Berlin; but he has done

more service for vegetable physiology in his annual reports than in any

other of his writings. They comprise a summary of all that had been

published in botany during the year, accompanied with many valuable

remarks and sound criticisms of his own. In these reports he had to

defend himself and others from the heavy artillery directed against them

by Schleiden, who, whilst claiming for himself a large margin for

liberty of opinion, is most unscrupulous and pertinaciously offensive

towards those who differ from him. In these literary contests, however,

Link showed that the experience of above fifty years had not been lost

upon him, and he was not unfrequently more than a match for the vigor

and logic of his youthful and more precipitate adversary. According to

custom, a funeral oration was pronounced over his grave; but

unfortunately the clergyman selected being a strictly orthodox person,

and not being able to approve of the spirit of the whole of the writings

of the deceased, censured them, it is said, in most unbecoming language,

to the indignation of the numerous friends present.

The Italian poet LUIGI CARRER, died at Venice on the twenty-third of

December.

GENERAL DON JOSE DE SAN MARTIN, formerly the "Protector of Peru," and

one of the most deservedly eminent of the public men of the Spanish

American States, died in August, 1850, at Bologna, in the seventy-second

year of his age. His death has but recently been announced, and we

receive the information now, not from Europe or from South America, but

by way of the Sandwich Islands. The Honolulu _Polynesian_ of December

fourteenth, translating from the _Panameno_, gives us the following

particulars of his life. General San Martin was a native of one of the

Provinces of Buenos Ayres, but previous to the war of independence,

passed over to Spain, where he entered into the army, and distinguished

himself at the battle of Baylen. In the Spanish army, he rose to the

rank of Lieutenant Colonel. After his native country, Buenos Ayres, had

declared itself independent of the mother country, he returned from

Spain, and fought with great bravery, against Artigas, and in other

military contests. He thereby gained so much reputation with his

countrymen, that when an expedition to liberate Chile was determined

upon, he was the chief chosen to organize and command it. He fulfilled

that trust, in an admirable manner, at Mendoza--carried his small army

successfully across the Andes, through an able piece of strategy,

confided to a brave young Chilian, Don Manuel Rodriguez, at a point

where the Spanish forces did not expect the invading army, and signally

defeated them, on the plains of _Chacabuco_, near the Capital of Chile.

The defeated Spaniards had to retire and concentrate themselves in the

South. San Martin occupied the whole country and shut them up in

_Talcachuano_. Expecting that the Spaniards would be soon reinforced

from Peru, San Martin, with the aid of several foreign officers, French

and English, recruited his forces in Chile, and raised his army to about

9000 men. A strong reinforcement having arrived from Peru, at

Talcahuano, under the command of General Ossioro, the Spaniards regained

possession of the Province of Concepcion, took the offensive, and

advanced towards the Capital. San Martin, with forces numerically

superior, advanced to drive them back. The two armies met at _"Cancha

Rayada,"_ where, on San Martin's birth day, in 1819, the Spaniards

attacked his army at night, signally defeated and dispersed them. The

only division that retired unbroken, was that commanded by General Don

Gregorio de las Heras, and the army of the Andes left on the field its

whole artillery, excepting only one piece which was saved by the

personal exertions and cool intrepidity of Captain Miller, of that army,

now H. B. M. Consul General for these Islands. After that unexpected

defeat, the greatest consternation prevailed in the Capital of Chile,

the cause of the Republic was considered desperate, but the Supreme

Director, General Don Bernardo Ohiggins, made immense exertions to

reunite the scattered army and to strengthen it, by new levies; the

patriotism of the Chilians roused itself with an energy equal to the

emergency; resident foreign merchants, wishing well to the country and

alarmed by a report that it was the intention of the Spanish Commander

in Chief to shoot them all and confiscate their property (it being then

contrary to the laws of Spain that foreigners should reside in or trade

with her Colonies without special license), supplied money, arms and

accoutrements. An army was thus reformed with extraordinary expedition;

its confidence was restored by a troop of cavalry sent to reconnoitre,

headed by Major Vial, a brave French officer, who gallantly charged and

routed a superior force of the enemy, and, under the command of General

San Martin, on the 5th of April, 1850, on the plain of _Maypu_, it

defeated the Spanish army so completely, that only a few of the

fugitives reached Talcahuano.

But experience having shown that the independence of Chile could never

be considered secure so long as the Spaniards retained their hold on

Peru, it was resolved to make an attempt to liberate that Vice-Royalty.

Colonel Miller, whose promotion after the affair of _Cancha Rayadu_ had

been rapid, was sent with a small but active force to land at _Arica_

and operate in the Southern Provinces, where by astute strategy and

several brilliant successes he confirmed his high reputation. San Martin

soon after followed with the main army, escorted by the Chilian squadron

under command of Lord Cochran; in running down the coast, he took in

Colonel Miller with his troops, and knowing the powerful diversion that

the latter had made in the South, he proceeded northward to Pisco, where

a force was landed under the command of Colonel Charles and Colonel

Miller, that made itself master of the place, after a bloody combat, in

which the former gallantly fell while cheering on his troops, and the

latter received several musket balls, one of which passed through his

liver.

According to the plan of General San Martin, the force landed to the

South of Lima, advanced into the interior to the silver mines of Pasco

under the command of General Arenales, where it defeated the Spanish

forces under General Oreilly, while San Martin himself, with the main

body, effected his landing near Huacho to the North of Lima. By this

plan, ably conceived and no less ably executed, the Spaniards were

reduced to the Capital and Callao, which port at the same time was

strictly blockaded by Lord Cochran's squadron. The fall of both Lima and

Callao was only a question of time; it was retarded for some months

owing to the great sickness that weakened San Martin's ranks; but these

were filled up by desertions from the enemy; the whole regiment of

_Numancia_ passed over to the Patriot side, and at last San Martin

entered the Capital at the head of his troops, amidst the acclamations

of the inhabitants. He was soon after declared Protector of Peru, and

General-in-Chief of the Army. Having now a Peruvian character, and

having come to liberate--not to conquer the country, he considered it

right to create a Peruvian Army. As a _nucleus_ for its formation, the

_Peruvian Legion_ (intended to consist of several Batallions), was

raised, and placed under the command of Colonel Miller. But Lima and its

luxuries proved the _Capua_ of San Martin's army--national jealousies

arose between the Buenos Ayrean and the Chilian chiefs--San Martin's

confidence in foreign officers and his endeavors to create a national

army in Peru gave great umbrage to both; a secret political Lodge was

formed among the leading chiefs of corps, and he was openly charged with

latent designs to make himself the King or Perpetual Dictator of Peru.

The Spanish army, which had evacuated the Capital unbroken, profiting by

these dissensions and the delay of the Patriot army in the Capital, had

largely recruited itself in the valley of Jauja; they were every day

gaining more strength, while the Patriot army was becoming daily weaker

both physically and morally; under these circumstances General San

Martin sought an interview with _Bolivar_, at Guayaquil, and shortly

after his return to Lima, in 1822, he resigned his high post of

Protector and General-in-chief, and embarked for Europe. On his arrival

in Europe, after a short visit to the East of Fife, San Martin passed

his time chiefly in Brussels and Paris, so much respected by all who

knew him, and so esteemed for his probity, that _Sor Aguado_, the rich

Spanish Banker, on his death-bed, named San Martin his Executor.

It is believed that he retired from Peru, disgusted with the false

charges that were brought against him, and after having obtained a

promise from his great rival, Bolivar, that he would finish the war,

which it would have been much for San Martin's own glory to have

concluded himself. If so, he had the _magnanimity_ to prefer the good of

Peru to his own glory, a virtue never found except amongst men of great

nobleness of soul. San Martin may have even thought that under the

circumstances, his great rival was fitter to conclude the war than he

was himself; and if he did so, the result proved at once his modesty and

the soundness of his judgment, for when the Peruvian Government had

fairly intrusted their destinies to Bolivar, in rapid succession, he

fought the bloody battles of Junin and Ayacucho, the result of which was

the final and total liberation of Peru.

Nor was Bolivar less just to foreign officers of merit than San Martin.

Amongst his Generals and Aid-de-camps ranked General Brawn, General

Oleary, Colonel Wilson, and many others; and Colonel Miller (who had

been raised to the rank of General), as the reward of his gallant

conduct in the last hard-fought fields of Junin and Ayacucho, received

the further honor of being declared a _Marescal de Agacucho_. To other

officers of Peru, of Chile and of Buenos Ayres, Bolivar was equally

just, thus showing that he was superior to any petty jealousy of those

chiefs with whose aid San Martin, his illustrious predecessor, had made

those great achievements which a weaker mind might have looked upon with

envy as, in some respects, overwhelming his own.

FREDERICK BASTIAT, the political economist, whose health had been very

feeble for nearly a year, and of whose death last summer in Italy a

report was copied into the _International_, died in Rome on the 24th of

December. He was born at Bayonne in 1801, and after completing his

education, he retired to a quiet village in the department of Landes, to

pursue his favorite studies of trade and society. He was successively

called to various offices of the department, and to the present National

Assembly he was chosen by a vote of 56,000, being the second in the list

of seven representing the Landes. His first book, we believe, was

_Cobden et la Ligue_, published in 1844, from which period he was an

industrious writer. Without being a discoverer of new truths, he

possessed in an eminent degree the faculty of expanding, with clearness

and vigor, the grounds and the effects of complex natural laws already

developed by the technical processes of philosophy. His writings have

been exceedingly popular. The whole or nearly the whole, of the tracts

written by him under the generic title of 'Sophismes Economiques,'

originally appeared in the _Journal des Economistes_--a periodical of

which for the last six years he had been a principal supporter. The

disease of which he died was a very painful and peculiar affection of

the throat. He had suffered from it more or less, for some years; and

the hard work of the last session of the Assembly brought the disorder

to a crisis which the strength of the patient did not enable him to

overcome. He may be regarded as the virtual leader of the Free Trade

party in France. He aided with all his energies the Association

Francaise pour la Liberte des Echanges, and he did his utmost to spread

among his countrymen that new philosophy of trade. His last and most

important work, _Les Harmonies Economiques_, we lately noticed in these

pages. His _Sophismes Economiques_ were translated a few years ago by a

daughter of Langdon Cheves, of South Carolina, and published in this

city by Mr. Putnam. The extent to which M. Bastiat was indebted to our

countryman, Henry C. Carey, may be inferred from a note in the February

number of the _International_, page 402.

BENJAMIN W. CROWNINSHIELD, died in Boston, on Monday the 3d of February.

He had left his carriage and entered a store, when he suddenly fell and

expired, having previously suffered from a disease of the heart, which

is supposed to have been the cause of his death, although he was about

77 years of age. He had been a resident of Boston nearly twenty years,

during the greater part of which period he had been retired from public

life. He had previously resided in Salem, where the Crowninshields were

long distinguished for wealth and commercial enterprise. He was many

years a prominent leader of the old democratic republican party. In

December, 1814, he received, from President Madison, the appointment of

Secretary of the Navy, which office he held (being continued by

President Monroe) until he resigned, in November, 1818, when he was

succeeded by Smith Thompson, afterwards judge of the Supreme Court. In

1823 he was chosen a member of Congress from Essex South District, and

was continued by his constituents in that station until 1831--eight

years. He was in Congress when John Quincy Adams was elected President

of the United States, by that body; he participated in that election by

giving his vote for Mr. A., and was a zealous supporter of his

administration, acting subsequently with the whig party. He was

repeatedly, at different periods of his life, a member of the state

legislature, and although not distinguished for eminent talents, in all

the stations which he filled he enjoyed, in a high degree, the public

confidence.

PROFESSOR ANSTEY, lately connected with St. Mary's College, at

Wilmington, died in the early part of February. He was dismissed from

his station on account of intemperate habits, but continued his

dissipation until reduced to the utmost destitution, wandering about

homeless and friendless. He was discovered at length in an almost frozen

state, in an old hovel, with a bottle of whiskey by his side, and soon

died from the effects of his suffering. Professor Anstey was a young man

of fine classical attainments, and was the author of a work published a

year or two since in Philadelphia, entitled, "Elements of Literature, or

an introduction to the Study of Rhetoric and Belle Lettres."

DONALD MCKENZIE, born in Scotland, June 15, 1783, died on the 20th of

January, at Mayville, in New-York. At the age of seventeen he came over

to Canada and joined the North West Company, and continued eight years

with them. In 1809 he became one of the partners with the late John

Jacob Astor, in establishing the fur trade west of the Rocky Mountains,

and with Mr. Hunt, of St. Louis, made the overland route to the mouth of

the Columbia River, a feat then rarely attempted, and full of perils,

and remained at Astoria until it was surrendered by McDougal to the

British. He converted every thing he could into available funds, which

he carried safely through the wilderness to Mr. Astor. Washington

Irving, in "Astoria," narrates a few of Mr. McKenzie's adventures on the

frontiers, although the friends of McKenzie claim that injustice has

been done him by Mr. Irving, relative to the betrayal of Astoria. They

contend that to him alone was Mr. Astor indebted for all that was saved.

After the restoration of peace, McKenzie exerted himself to secure for

the United States the exclusive trade of Oregon, but after a long

negotiation with Mr. Astor, and through him with Messrs. Madison,

Gallatin, and other leading individuals in and out of office, the matter

was abandoned, and McKenzie, in March, 1821, joined the Hudson Bay

Company, and was immediately appointed one of the Council, and Chief

Factor. In August, 1825, he was married to Adelegonde Humburt (who

survives him), and was shortly after appointed Governor. At this time he

resided at Fort Garry, Red River settlement, where he continued to

reside until 1832, in active and prosperous business, in which he

amassed a large fortune. In August of the following year he went to

reside in Mayville, where he spent the rest of his life.

HORACE EVERETT, LL.D., formerly a distinguished representative in

Congress from Vermont, died at Windsor in that State on the 30th of

January, in the seventy-second year of his age. Elected to Congress by

the opponents of General Jackson, he entered the House of

Representatives in 1829, and was continued by his constituents,

inhabiting one of the strongest and most enlightened whig districts in

the Union, for fourteen consecutive years--his last term expiring in

March, 1843. During his career in Congress, he was one of the most

prominent whigs of the House, occupying the front rank, as one of the

most able of parliamentary debaters, distinguished also as much his good

sense and acquirements, as for his eloquence. Among his best speeches,

were several on the Indian Bill, so called, growing out of the

difficulties between Georgia and the Cherokees.

The London _Morning Chronicle_ has a brief notice of JAMES HARFIELD, who

was connected with that journal more than twenty years. His reading, in

every department of literature, was prodigious, and his memory almost a

phenomenon. On all matters connected with Parliamentary history,

precedent, and etiquette in particular, Mr. Harfield was an encyclopaedia

of information, while the stores of his learning, in every department,

were always freely at the command of his friends and colleagues. In

early life, Mr. Harfield was a _protege_ of, and afterwards acted as

secretary to, Jeremy Bentham, who acknowledged his sense of his young

friend's services by bequeathing to him a magnificent library.

WILLIAM WILSON, a painter of considerable reputation, died in

Charleston, S. C, on the 28th of January. The Charleston _Evening News_

says:--"He was a native of Yorkshire, England, but for the last twenty

years has resided in this country, and during the last eleven, in

Georgia and South Carolina. In all the relations of life, as husband,

father, son, and brother, he was irreproachable, while his gentle and

winning manners conciliated general esteem and regard. At his death Mr.

Wilson had attained a distinguished reputation as a portrait painter, in

which department he first attracted attention in 1836, by the exhibition

of a portrait of an intimate friend at the first exhibition of the

"American Art-Union," at the Apollo Gallery. In 1837 he exhibited

several heads of the Academy of Design, which attracted much attention.

In 1844 he exhibited a head of a brother artist, which was more

generally admired than any similar production for years. In 1846 Mr. W.

received a commission from the State of Georgia to execute two

portraits--one of William H. Crawford, former Secretary of the Treasury,

and the other of Gen. Jackson. After a tedious and troublesome journey

to the North, in search of Jarvis's portrait of Crawford, which could

not be traced, he returned to Charleston, and while copying from

Vanderlyn's portrait of Gen. Jackson in the City Hall, he was presented

by Charles Fraser, Esq., with a proof engraving of Jarvis's Crawford,

from which, on his return to Augusta, he produced a most striking

portrait of Georgia's greatest statesman. These pictures of Jackson and

Crawford, which adorn the State House at Milledgeville, will be lasting

memorials of his excellence as an artist."

JAMES WALLACE, D.D., the distinguished Mathematician, several years

Professor of Mathematics in Columbia College, New-York, died in

Lexington District, South Carolina, on the 15th of January. After

completing his course of Theology, he was ordained a clergyman of the

Roman Catholic Church, and was then appointed to the chair of

Mathematics in Georgetown College, D.C. A few years later he removed to

Columbia, S. C., and was appointed Professor of Mathematics in South

Carolina College. While in New-York he published his justly celebrated

"Treatise on Globes and Practical Astronomy," and had prepared materials

for an entire course of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, but was

compelled to relinquish his design on account of ill-health and advanced

age. He was also the author of numerous scientific articles in the

Southern Quarterly Review. He possessed one of the choicest and most

extensive scientific libraries in the United States, which was almost

entirely destroyed by the great conflagration of 1837: the remnant of

it, with his scientific apparatus, was bequeathed to the Catholic

Theological Seminary of Charleston. He was a resident of South Carolina

during the last thirty-eight years.

JOSHUA MILNE, the author of the celebrated treatise on "Annuities and

Assurances," we see by the English papers died recently near London at

the advanced age of seventy-eight. He is said to have left behind him

the most complete collection extant on subjects connected with the

statistics of vitality, of which a portion at least will probably be

given to the public.

The Hungarian General BEM, expired with the half-century. Born at

Tarnon, a Pole, he died at Aleppo, a Turk. In early youth he served in

the Russian army against Napoleon in his disastrous campaign. He was the

friend, companion, and favorite of the Grand Duke Constantine, until

certain indignities to himself and cruelties to his countrymen made him

the implacable foe of Russia. He joined the Polish insurrection of 1831,

and performed prodigies of valor at the battle of Ostrolenka. Like many

others, he became a fugitive and a wanderer. Unsuccessful patriotism

reduced the companion of royalty to be a pensioner on the charity of the

friends of Poland in London. 1848 gave Bern once more a career. He went

to Vienna, and when the people were in the ascendant, in October, he

held a command. But the Viennese could not trust the Pole. Incompetent

men were placed over him. Vienna fell before the artillery of

Windischgratz and Jellachich in November. Slaughter, terror, violation

reigned. Never will the Viennese forget the red cloaks of the Croats.

The educated youth of Vienna were shot in clusters. Robert Blum was led

out to perish. The Odeon, although used as an hospital, was laid in

ashes, with the wounded in it. Great rewards were offered for the

apprehension of the popular leaders and generals still alive. The search

for Bem was vigilant. He doffed the costume of a hackney coachman,

filled his vehicle with a Hungarian family of nurses and children,

mounted the box under the eyes of spies and soldiers, laughed at

inspection, and drove off to Hungary. For ten mouths he was victorious

there over the Austrians. "Bem beat the Ban." Splinters from an old

wound escaping from his leg all the time, and able only to sit on

horseback.

T. S. DAVIES, F.R.S., F.A.S., and a Professor of Mathematics in the

Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, died on the 6th of January at

Shooter's Hill, Kent, in the fifty-seventh year of his age. Mr. Davies

was a very distinguished mathematician, and the author of several works

on mathematics. He possessed, also, extensive and varied acquirements in

different branches of science and literature. Nor was he unmindful of

the claims of the more humble aspirant to mathematical honors; his

encouragement and advice were liberally bestowed, as many deserving

young men could testify.

HENRY CHRISTIAN SCHUMACHER, the celebrated Danish Astronomer, died at

Altona on the 28th of December, aged about seventy years. He commenced

his professional career at the age of twenty-five, as professor of

astronomy in the University of Copenhagen. In 1822, his royal master,

Frederic VI., caused to be built, expressly that Schumacher might be

placed at the head of it, the Observatory of Altona. From 1820 to 1829

he published his "_Auxiliary Tables of Astronomy_", in ten volumes,

_quarto_. His _Astronomical Annals_, continued from 1830 to the date of

his death, have, with his _Tables_, given him a high and wide

reputation. In 1832 the King of Denmark established the reward of a

golden medal for the discovery of new microscopic comets; and it was

upon his favorite Schumacher exclusively that he devolved the duty of

verifying the title of claimants and assigning the medal. Since 1847

Schumacher has been the correspondent of the Academy of Sciences of

Paris.

MAXWELL, the Irish novelist, and author of innumerable humorous sketches

in the periodical literature of the day, expired on the 29th of

December, at Musselberge, near Edinburgh. His generally vigorous health

had of late broken down, and he crept into the retirement of this

sequestered village to die. He had been in early life a captain in the

British army, and was of course the delight of the mess-room, and a

general favorite in social circles. He subsequently entered the church,

and was some years prebendary of Balla, a wild Connaught church living,

without any congregation or cure of souls attached to it; though it

afforded what he was admirably capable of dealing with, plenty of game.

Of a warm-hearted, kind, and manly temperament, he made friends of all

who came within the range of his wit or the circle of his acquaintance.

He was the founder of that school which counts the "Harry Lorrequers"

and others among its humble disciples; but the "Story of my Life," and

"Wild Sports of the West," will not be easily surpassed in the peculiar

qualities of that gay and off-hand style of which he was the originator.

Among his other more successful works are "Stories of Waterloo," "Hector

O'Halloran," and "Rambling Recollections of a Soldier of Fortune."

Besides his novels, he wrote "Notes and Reflections during a Ramble in

Germany," "Victories of the British Armies," and a "Life of Field

Marshal the Duke of Wellington".

ALEXANDER MACDONALD, well known to the public as an antiquary, died

early in January at Edinburgh. He was one of Mr. Thompson's earliest

assistants in the publication of the "Acts of the Parliaments of

Scotland," and other works, undertaken by the Record Commissioners. He

was long a most active member of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland;

and the library and museum of that body owe much to his industry and

intelligence. He edited several volumes of the Maitland Club, to which

he contributed "The Register of Ministers in the year 1567"--the

earliest extant record of the ecclesiastical appointments of the

Reformed Church in Scotland. Mr. Macdonald also largely supplied the

materials of Sir Walter Scott's notes and illustrations of the "Waverley

Novels." He held many years the office of Keeper of the Register of

Deeds and Protests in Scotland.

Scientific Miscellanies

MR. WALSH writes from Paris to the _Journal of Commerce_, in the last

month, as follows:

The _Annuaire_, or Annual for the present year, has been issued by the

Board of Longitude. M. Arago has appended to it nearly 200 pages on the

Calendar in which he treats of all the divisions of time among the

ancients and the moderns. This celebrated astronomer does not belie, in

this notice, his reputation for handling scientific subjects so as to

make them clear to common apprehension. He announces, in his second

page, that he has completed and will soon publish a _Treatise of Popular

Astronomy_; a desideratum for France. Sir John Herschel has supplied it

for English readers, in his Outlines. The present history and

explanations of the Calendar may be recommended, as material, to your

Professor Loomis. In the section concerning the period at which the

Paris clocks were first regulated on the mean or true time, Arago

observes: "It will not happen again that an astronomer shall hear for a

half hour, the same hour struck by different clocks, as Delambre told me

he had often experienced. M. Chabrol, the Prefect of the Department of

the Seine, before he would introduce this useful change, required, as a

guaranty for himself, a report from the Board of Longitude: he was

fearful that the change might provoke the working population to

insurrection; that they might refuse to accept a mid-day or noon which,

by a contradiction in terms, would not correspond to the middle of the

day; which would divide in two unequal portions the time comprised

between the rising and the setting of the sun. But this sinister

anticipation was not realized; the operation passed without being

perceived." It is all important, on the railroads, that the clocks at

the different stations should be so regulated. Arago remarks that among

the ancients it would have been dangerous to announce the existence of

more than seven planets, owing to the "mysterious virtues" ascribed to

that number; to complete it the sun was counted among the planets. He

discusses the point--which is the first day of the week, and decides for

Sunday. He devotes a section to the question--"Will the period come when

the days will be equal between themselves, and have the same temperature

throughout the year?" He concludes, of course, in the negative. He

decides, also, that the nineteenth century began only on the 1st of

January, 1801. Particular interest may be attributed to the section on

the long series of ages which the ancients invested with the title "The

Great Year." The high names of Plato, Cicero, Seneca, Plutarch, should

not prevent us from regarding the opinions of antiquity on the relations

of the great year, with the events of every kind observable on the

earth, as among the crudest conceptions that have descended to the

moderns.

At the sitting of the _Academy of Sciences_ on the 24th ult., M.

AUGUSTIN CAUCHY read a memoir on the transversal vibrations of ether,

and of the dispersion of colors. He furnished a simple, and easily

intelligible mathematical theory of the various phenomena of light, and

particularly, the theory of the dispersion of colors. Lord Brougham read

a paper of his _Researches, Experimental and Analytical, on Light_. His

Lordship's ambition is to shine in optics, as in every thing else; but

you will see by a London paragraph that his researches have nearly cost

him his eyesight. Dr. Aran submitted a Memoir, which seems to be quite

important, on local anesthetic medication. "In the medical point of

view," he remarks, "the number of cases in which local anesthetic

applications may be employed, is truly immense. My experiments and

researches, during many months, have conducted me to this practical

result, which is worthy of all attention. Whenever an acute pain exists

in any part of the animal economy, whether the pain constitute the

malady in itself or be only an integral and principal part of it, the

physician can relieve the patient of it for a longer or shorter time, by

one or various local anesthetic applications. Great service, too, may be

rendered by the precedent use of them in various surgical cases. The

medication is wonderfully useful in articular acute rheumatism."

"Local anesthetic properties belong to all the agents in which the

general have been found. They depend on the degree of fixity of the

substance. A number of the anesthetics are irritating for the skin;

chloroform in particular. According to Dr. Aran, the best agent for

topical use is _ether chlorhydique chlore_. This is efficacious in a few

minutes. Monsieur Recamier has submitted to the Academy of Medicine a

_galvanic cataplasm_, by which, when it is applied to the skin, the

benefit of electricity is fully conveyed, without the least pain. The

reporter exclaims, 'Yes, who would have thought it? Electricity is

transformed into cataplasm. This mysterious power, which, perhaps, is

life itself, is reduced to an humble and common part in pharmaceutical

science.'

"At the sitting of the _Academy of Sciences_ on the 30th ult., a very

interesting memoir (the 4th) was read by M.A. Masson, with the title,

Studies of Electrical Photometry. He thinks that he has ascertained the

cause of electrical light. He ascribes the Aurora Borealis to currents

of great intensity situate in the higher regions of our atmosphere." The

Report of Lieut. J.C. Walsh on his soundings, was referred for

examination to Duperroy, the member most eminent in hydrography.

MONSIEUR POUILLET, the great Professor of Physics, has published in

Paris a work entitled _General Notions of Natural Philosophy and

Meteorology, for the use of young persons_; and Mr. Boussingault,

eminent as a scientific agriculturist, the second edition of his _Rural

Economy considered in its Relations with Chemistry, Physics, and

Mineralogy_. The _Treatise of Mineralogy_ by Dufresnoy, the celebrated

Professor, who is of the Academy of Sciences, is complete, and at least

equal to any other extant. There are four volumes octavo. The 22d volume

of the memoirs of the Academy was ready in September last; the 23d is in

the press; the 11th volume of Foreign Communications will appear this

month. Twelve vacancies from death of foreign correspondents, are soon

to be filled by election. All merit is ascribed to the work of Dr.

Fairet, entitled _Clinical Instructions respecting Mental Maladies_. The

author, pupil and successor of Pinel and Esquirol, is the physician of

the Salpetriere. Along with the able Doctor Voison, he has a noble

Lunatic Asylum of his own, not far from the capital.

SIR DAVID BREWSTER, it seems, has become a convert to that part of

Animal Magnetism called Electro Biology, and which consists in willing a

person to be somebody else. After describing some wonderful experiments,

made in the presence of several scientific gentlemen, by a Mr. DARLING,

he says, "they were all as convinced as I was, that the phenomena which

we witnessed were real phenomena, and as well established as any other

facts in physical science. The process by which the operator produces

them--the mode by which that process acts upon the mind of the

patient--and the reference of the phenomena to some general law in the

constitution of man--may long remain unknown; but it is not difficult to

see in the recent discoveries of M. DUBOIS REYMOND and MATTEUCIA, and in

the laws which regulate the relative intensity of the external and

internal impressions on the nerves of sensation, some not very

indistinct indications of that remarkable process by which minds of

peculiar sensibility are temporarily placed under the dominion of

physical influences developed and directed by some living agent."

[Illustration]

Ladies' Fashions for Early Spring.

More attention than previously for many seasons appears to have been

given this winter to ladies' fashions, and some that have come out are

remarkably tasteful, while generally in fabric and manufacture they

appear to be unusually expensive. We compile this month mainly from the

London _World of Fashion_.

_Bonnets_ are remarkable for a novel form, the front of the rims

continuing large and open, the crowns round, low, and small. Of an

elegant style are those made of Orient gray pearl, half satin, half

_velours epingle_, having a very rich effect, and decorated with

_touffes Marquises_, composed of _marabouts_. Then, we see bonnets of

green satin, ornamented at the edge, over the front, and upon the crown,

with a stamped velvet imitating lace, and decorated upon the left side

with a small _plumet_ in a weeping feather, the ends of which are tied

or knotted with green, of two different shades; this is a very favorite

and _recherche_ style. Also a bonnet of grayish green velvet, ornamented

with a bunch of feathers composed of the _grebe_ and the ostrich.

Drooping low feathers of every description are in request for decorating

bonnets.

_Ball Dresses_ of light materials are most in vogue, and are generally

made of two and three skirts; as white _tulle_, with three skirts,

trimmed all round with a broad, open-worked satin ribbon; the third

skirt being raised on one side, and attached with a large bouquet of

flowers, whilst the ribbon is twisted, and ascends to the side of the

waist, where it finishes; the same kind of flowers serves to ornament

the sleeves and centre of the corsage, which is also trimmed with a deep

drapery of _tulle_. Feather trimmings are in vogue, disposed as fringes

of _marabout_, and placed at the edges of the double skirts of _tulle_.

Another pretty style, composed also of white _tulle_, and _a double

jupes_, the under one having a border of white _marabout_ fringe

sprinkled with small golden grains falling over them in a perfect

shower; the second _jupe_ having attached to the edge of the hem a

narrower fringe; the two sides of the upper skirt being open to the

waist, is ornamented upon each side with an embroidery of gold and white

silk, caught at regular distances with _noeuds_ of white and gold

gauze ribbon, the floating ends of which are edged with fringe; body _a

la Grecque_.

_Capotes_ of velvet are considerably lightened in appearance, by a

novelty consisting of a kind of open stamped velvet, which is placed

over satin; either a pretty contrast in color, or of the same hue;

whilst those of plain velvet are relieved with trimmings of black lace,

with _mancinis_ formed of the convolvulus, made in green velvet. The

form of the present style of _capotes_ is very open in front, flat upon

the top of the head, and shallow and sloping at the back. Some are of

green satin, trimmed with ribbons of an open pattern in black and green.

Others are decorated with rows of fancy ribbon-velvet, the interior

having loops of narrow ribbon-velvet of two colors, charmingly blended.

I. A high dress of green silk, the body opening in front _a la demi

coeur_; the waist is long and rounded in front; the sleeves, reaching

a little below the elbow, are moderately wide, and finished either by a

_ruche_ or rich _guimpe_ trimming; the skirt is plain, long, and full.

_Pardessus manteau_ of claret velvet, fastening to the throat; it is

ornamented with a narrow silk trimming: this _manteau_ is lined with

white silk, quilted in large squares. Bonnet of green velvet, with

feathers of the same color placed low at the left side.

II. _Robe_ of blue _brocade_; the high body opens in the front nearly to

the waist; the fronts of the skirt are lined with amber satin, and a

fulling of the same is placed on the edge of the fronts, graduating in

width towards the top; it is carried round the neck of the dress; the

sleeves are very wide from the elbow, and lined with amber satin; the

edge of the sleeve is left plain, but there is a _ruche_ of satin round

the middle of the sleeve, just above the elbow. Under dress of jaconet

muslin, trimmed with lace or embroidery. Cap of _tulle_, with blue

trimmings.

[Illustration]

III. A dress of pink _tulle_, spotted and _brode_ in silver; the _jupe_

composed of three skirts, each waved round the lower part; plain

close-fitting body, made very low, and pointed at the waist; the upper

part decorated with a narrow cape, descending in a point upon the front

of the corsage, and decorated with a splendid bouquet of roses; a second

row of frilling forms the loose short sleeve; the whole worn over a

dress of pale pink satin; a narrow row of white blonde encircling the

neck. The hair is arranged in a similar form to figure I; the only

difference being that the _noeud_ of ribbon is replaced by a beautiful

drooping branch of pink shaded roses and light foliage; a spray of the

three green leaves being placed upon the centre of the front, just over

the parting of the hair.

IV. A dress of green satin; the skirt, long and full, has four rows of

braid up the front; the body is high, open a little in the front, the

braid being carried round it; it is plaited from the shoulder to the

waist; wide sleeves, with broad cuffs turned back; they have three rows

of braid on them. _Mantelot_ of grey cachmere, the sleeves _a la

Maintenon_; the edges are all scalloped and trimmed with braid. Bonnet

of ultra marine velvet; a broad black lace is turned back over the edge;

it has a deep curtain.

_For a Young Lady's Dress_, _Capote_ formed of rows of narrow pink fancy

ribbon. Frock of dark blue cachmere; the skirt trimmed with two rows of

ribbon-velvet; the cape formed of narrow folds, open in the front,

continued across with bands of velvet. Pantaloons of embroidered

cambric.