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1793—1S39. —Notes and Anecdotes, POLITICAL AND MISCELANEOUS. Drawn from the Port Folio of an Officer of the Empire. translated from the French for the Southern Literary Messenger. THE GLOVES. During the short period that intervened between the-peace of Amiens and the re sumption of hostilities, nil officer of (he French army, called to England by some family affairs, tried to turn his journey to account, and thus diminish the expense to which it subjected him. He was advised, and he accepted the advice, to carry over a quantity of French gloves, which were then, as at the present time, much sought after on the other side of the channel, and j sold at a very high price. lie purchased about 12,000 francs worth of gloves, had them carefully packed, and set o(T on his journey. On arriving at Dover, the officers of the customs asked him if Ire had any thiagto declare; he acknowledged that he had among his baggage a supply uf4flku?s, and offered to pay the duties. questioned as to the value of his merchan- i dize, wishing to make the best bargain possible, he replied 6,0U0 francs, and signed his declaration. The officers examined the baggage, and perceiving that the real value of the gloves j was at least double that which he had de clared, took advantage of the privilege given them by law, and seized the goods, paying the proprietor 6,000 francs, and 10 per ct. premium for the privilege. The poor officer thus found himself al most ruined ; he was in despair ; however, after mature reflection and a profound study of the English custom-house laws and usages, he flattered himself that he had discovered the means of revenging his wrongs on the English custom-house otii cers, and of securing his money with in terest. Deferring his business to a subsequent period, he immediately repassed the chan* I ticl and returned to Calais. Without los- 1 ing a moment, he wrote to Grenoble, to a 1 lady with whom he had formerly been on very affectionate terms, confiding to her his newly conceived project. This ladv, who was the head of a large glove man-1 ufactory, finding the project which lie sub mitted very practicable, hastened to des patch to him a quantity of well assorted gloves to the amount of 40,000 sanes. Our traveler knew that the custom house regulations caused all goods seized in the different ports of Great Britain, to bs sold at. auction on the same day, and on the same hour throughout the kingdom; this was the important point in his specu lation. Dividing his gloves into two parcels, perfectly equal in size, he confided one to a who was to enter them at Brigh ton, and kept the other himself, which lie proposed to introduce through Dover. The two friends embarked. Each ar rived at the custom-house and declared himself the bearer of gloves; their value was asked; they replied 10,000 francs.— As on the first occasion, after examining them, they seized the two parcels, paying 10,000 francs and 10 per cent, premium. The day arrived when the merchandize which had been seized was to be sold at ■fiction. Our two friends repaired to the bureaux of the customs, the one to that ! at Dover, the other to the bercaux at Brighton. Presenting themselves, they; examined with an air of indifference, the 1 objects exposed for sale; the gloves ap peared handsome and in good condition. Suddenly, they manifested great surprise : at Dover, all the gloves were for the right hand; at Brighton, all belonged to the left. The two custom-house officers acted j separ: ‘cly at thirty leagues from each other; not having examined the packages I before hand with sufficient attention, they were taken by surprise. The auction is begun : the gloves must he sold imme diately. At an extreme low price, and in I the midst of the jokes of the assistants, our two Frenchmen are declared the highest bidders. Meeting the next morning, they re-sort their gloves into pairs.and hasten to pub-! lish the adventure in the newspapers of the day. Forty-eight hours after, they dis-! posed of all their merchandize at an im mense profit. FUF.NCII PoI.ITENESS. 11l COHSCqUCnCC of its having been made known to the French Chamber of Deputies that a rule existed in the House of Representatives of the United States, {riving the privilege of seats on the floor within the hall, during the sittings of Congress, to members of Foreign Legislatures, they were resolved to manifest the same civility to members; of tlie American Congress. The difficul ty ' vas how- the affair should be managed ; to place Mr. \\ hite, of h lorid.i, on a foot ing witli their members at Washington, as ! there were no privileged seats within the hall of the Palais in which the Deputies sit. It was proposed to give a place in the Tribune, reserved tor tbe Ministers and those invited by them, and finally to man ifest the espirit de corps of National Leg islatures, they have furnished Mr. W. with a medal of a member of the Chamber which gives the entre to all the palaces’, reviews, and other public establishments which a deputy has. All bad feeling, arising from the recent unhappy difference between the two coun tric*, lias passed away, and the best feel ing is manifested for all Americans Tight Boots. A physician of New York says that during the past week lie lias attended four cases of apoplexy, caus ed by wearing tight boots. A pair of new boots always reminds us ofpurgatorv. Wc succeeded last week, with the aid of a 4rong pafr»of hooks and 'anfl a half hour’s .close tugging in getting .into anew pair of boots. For one hour and more we suffered ail the torments im aginable: the Asiatic Cholera was noth ing to it —pains issued from every pore of our body—the mercury of our system as cended to fever heat and the perspiration stood in big drops upon us—we could neither sit still, nor stand upright, hut on the contrary hobbled, skipped and jump ed about in indescribable anguish; if we | commenced a storv or a dissertation, a | terrible twinge would cut it short nd drive the theme completely from our mind. The hoot-maker said they would stretch i by wearing,—we took his word, and bore j our troubles with the true spirit of a mar tyr —but as the pains increased we me chanically laid violent hands upon the j leather and made several essays for a re | lease, hut all to no purpose ; a powerful friend took hold ofottr •> ole, and pulled us from one end of the room to the other.— We followed him upon one leg, until both became exhausted. Fatigue and agony brought on sleep. We dreampt of Span ish inquisitions and all their tortures —the rack, the bow-string, straight-jacket artd whipping-post flitted by in dismal arr.iv— we twice descended with Pluto into tlie infernal regions anrf woke up just as a hydra-headed monster was going to swal low ns as a Jonah did the w hale We ran into the street to escape suffocation, and went into the path of a green-mountain strapper—he placed a thick pair of cow hides upon our toes and bent his whole -weight upon them. For a moment we felt as though we were screwed up in a cider mill. ‘Beg your pardon,’ said Jon athan—we gave him an expressive look of forgiveness, and hobbled off, resolved to live no longer in torment. We enter ed the first cobbler’s shop and tugged away for dear life—two white oak boot jacks were broken instanter, but the third conquered—glorious victory. We sought our old boots with all the eagerness of a i ‘first love,’ and have resolved to eschew all tight ‘leather and prunella’ hereafter. [Boston Herald. Great Aoriculturistn. The names of those who have enriched our gardens with rich valuable plants are deserving of record and remembrance. Sir W. Raleigh introduced the potitoe. Sir Anthony Asldcy first planted cab bages in this country —a cabbage appears at his feet on his monument. Sir Richard Weston brought over clov er from Flanders in 1645. Figs were planted iji Henry the Eighth's reign at Lambeth, by Cardinal Pole—it is said that the identical trees are remain ing. Spilman, who erected the first paper mill at Hartford in 1593. brought over the first two lime trees, which lie planted and they arc still growing. Thomas Lord Cromwell enriched the gardens of England with three different kinds of plumbs. It was Evelyn, whose patriotism was not exceeded by his learning, who largely propagated the noble oak in his country, so much so that the trees lie planted have supplied the navy of Great Britain with the chiefproportion oftli it timber.—FEmr ]isli paper. The Spartan YYume.n. In their do mestic life, the Spartans, like the rest of the Greeks, had but little pleasure in the society of his wife. At first, the young husband only visited their wives by stealth —to be seen in company with her was a disgrace. But the women en joyed a much greater freedom and received a higher re spect in Sparta than elsewhere; the soft Asiatic distinctions in dignity between the respective sexes did not reach the hardy mountaineers of Lacad.rmon : the wife was the mother of men ! Brought up in robust habits, accustomed to athletic exercises, her person exposed in public processions and dances—which, but for the custom that made decorous even in decency itself, would have been, indeed, licentious—the Spartan maiden, strong, hardy, and half a partaker in the ceremo nies of public life, shared the habits, aid ed the emulation, imbibed the patriotism, of her future consort. And, by her sym pathy with bis habits and pursuits, she obtained an influence and ascendancy over him which were unknown in the rest of Greece. Dig«, ified, on public occasions, the Spartan matron was deemed, however a virago in private life; and she who had no sorrow for a slaughtered son had very little deference for a living husband.— —[Bulwer’s Athens. A young Adventurer. The New York Evening Star states, that on board the Peruvian, recently arrived at that port from Cronstadt, is a boy named Mo ses, about 11 years old. lie was picked up in the Baltic, seventy miles Iroin land, in a little skiff, with a gunny bag for a sail, and had put to sea, with provisions, in consequence of a quarrel with his step father, a fisherman in Sweden. The following toast was given at a late Rail Road celebration in Carlisle, Pa. Ifi/omn.—The Morning Star of our youth—the Day Star of our manhood— the of our age. God bless I our Stars. BRUNSWICK ADVOCATE. [From the New York Knickerbocker.] The American House of Represen tatives. What a mass of representatives there are here! What singular samples of our vast country ! Here sits a Tennes seean, and there a Mississourian, educat ed among buffaloes, and nurtured in the forest—as intimate with the passages of the Rocky Mountains, as the cit with Broadway—who cares no more for a Pawnee than a professed beau for a bright plumed belle. Here is a man from the prairies—and there another from the swamps and morasses, whose blood the musketoes have utterly stolen away.— There is a sallow face from the rice I grounds, and here the flushed cheek from the mountains—and by his side a man from the pine grounds—laud of tar and turpentine. What a people we are ! What a country is this of ours ! How wide in extent—how rich in production—how va rious in beauty ! I have asked in iny trav els for the West, in the streets of the Queen of the YY'est—a fairy city, w hich but as yesterday was a wilderness. They smiled at my inquiry and said it was among the “hoosiers” oflndiana or ‘the suckers’ of Illinois. Then I journied long. I cross ed great rivers and broad prairies, and again I asked for the West. They said it was in M issouri. I arrived at'the capital. They complained that they were “too far down cast.’’ “But go,” they said, “if you would see the West, days and days, and hundreds and hundreds of miles up the Missouri—farther than from us to New England, and beyond the Rocky Moun tains, and among the Snake Indians of the Oregon, and you may find it.” It was the work of a dozen years to find the West, and 1 turned about in despair. Indeed 1 have found no hounds to my country. I have searched for them for months, in almost every dime—under the torrid sun of Louisiana the land of the orange and the olive, and beneath the cold sky of Maine. I have seen the rice planter gathering rich treasures from a bountiful soil, and the fisherman anchoring Ins little hark on the rocky Island, dropping Ins hook carefully as if the ocean were full of pearls, and not of—mackerel. I have seen the mill man sowing wood in all variety of forms, on the furthest soil of New England; and I have beheld the same wood floating down the Savannah, or the beautiful Alabama, in the strangest metamorphoses; it may be in a clock reg- ■ ularly ticking off the time, or in the pail,! perchance in a button; .and for aught i know, in a tasteless ham, or an unfragrant nutmeg! I have never been off the soil of my own country : and yet 1 have seen the sun go down, a hall of fire, without a moment’s notice, twilight, flinging over j rich, alluvial lands, blooming with mag nolias and orange trees, a robe of gold ; j and rfgiin I have stood upon the hare! rocks of colder climes, and when the trees j were pinched by the early frost, 1 have! marked the same vanishing rays reflected j from the leaves, as if a thousand birds of paradise were resting in the branches; j and when the clouds stroamiriT with red. 1 and purple, and blue, tinged and tipped by the pencil of beauty, were floating afar, like rainbows in motion, as if broken from their confinement, now mingling and in terlacing their dyes, and glittering arches, and anon sprinkled over, and mellowing the whole heaven; then I have fancied that I was indeed in a fairy land, where the very forests danced in golden robes, responding to the setting sun, as the statue of fabled Memnon gave forth its welcom ing notes as the rays of the morning play ed upon its summit. I have been where the dog-star rages, scattering pestilence in its train ; where the long moss h mgs from the trees ; where the pale faces and sad countenances give admonition, that this is a region of death. 1 have stood by the wide prairie, and beheld the green hiilows rise and fall, and the undulations, chequer ed with the sim light and shadow, chasing one after the other, afar over the wide ex panse. And I have gone amid the storms of winter, over the hi ;h lull, upon the loud cracking crust, and the music of the merry sleigh hells. And here are the Representatives from all these regions, here in one grand council, all speaking one language, all impelled bv one law!— Oh, my Country, my Country! If our destiny he always linked as one, if the same flag, with its glorious stars and stripes, is always the flag of our Union, never unfurled or defended but Ivy Free dom. then Foctry and Prophecy, stretch ing to their utmost, cannot pre-announce that destiny ! A now custom house on a magnificent scale has been erected at Liverpool, En gland. The corner stone of the edifice was laid by the Mayor of the city in 18*28 since which time a million and a half of cubic feet of stone and about ten millions of bricks have been used in its construc tion. The ground on which it stands, valued at .£80,00(1 sterling, was presented by the corporation of Liverpool. The cost of construction amounting to £150,-1 000 sterling, is to be reimbursed to the city by the Government at the end of twenty years from the completion of the building, the money to be paid in annual instalments of twenty thousand pounds. The Excise, Post, Stamp and Dock of fices are to be comprised under one roof. In its style of architecture the structure is remarkable for its simplicity. _ [Balt. American. High Life. Five persons including a baronet have been indicted at London for swindling a young gentleman of fortune* out of .£IO,OOO. From the Gentlemen’* Magazine for August.] BIG SHIPS. The Pennsylvania —the most perfect spe cimen of modern handicraft—has been safely committed to her destined element. The launch was perfect, and created enthusiastic delight in the minds of the largest body of spectators that ever congregated’ on or about the river. The Pennsylvania is undoubtedly the monarch of the seas; we have heard of larger craft—we have seen longer—but we doubt if it is in the power of man to frame a vessel more completion all the essential qual ities. Objections hilve been made to the enor mousness of her bulk, but it is confidently as serted by experienced shipwrights and nauti cal veterans of high repute, that owing to the superiority of her build, she will be as easily handled as any of the crack seventy-fours. ‘• Big ships” have uniforjnly been unfortun ate in their career; the huge monsters built to gratify the fancies of various nations, although scarcely exceeding the tonnage of many of our Atlantic packets, have generally proved heavy useless craft, unmanageable in a gale and ridiculously impotent in war. The Dutch in the meridian of their naval greatness, never exceeded ninety-gun ships; and though first rates, as they are termed, have been built in England and France, they have been regarded rather as vessels of superior show than of ad ditional practical power. There is very little doubt but that the an cients occasionally constructed vessels equal in magnitude to any of the monsters of mod- , ern times. The recorded size of the Isis, built by Ptolemy Philopater, or the cedar ship of Sesostris, or the wonderful craft built by Archimedes, by order of Hiero, containing sufficient wood lor the construction of fifty galleys. The curious classicist may read a lengthy account of this leviathan in Athensous least oj the Sophists. This ship contained, beside the requisite arrangements, a magnifi cent temple of Venus, superb banqueting apartments with floors inlaid with scenes from the 11 1 ia.il, elegant galleries, baths, stables, and fish-ponds. \Y hen this floating city was fin ished, the monarch perceived that there was not a port in Sicily capable of receiving it: he. i therefore, filled the ship with grain, and sent! it as a p.esent to Ptolemy of Egypt, who was 1 much in want of corn. Constintius built a vessel of sufficient, ca ! pability to remove the largest of the obelisks | tj lat stood before the temple of the sun at He liopolis, and weighed fifteen hundred tons. I Ilis father, Constmtine, had removed two of the obelisks to Byzantium, but, frightened at the size of .the third, had abandoned all idea :ot disturbing it. His son succeeded, and even transported the enormous block to Rome, and erected it in the circus of the Vatican, where jit now .stands. Besides the crank, unmanage i a !)l ° burthen of the obelisk, the vessel was i filled up with eleven hundred and thirty-eight j tons of grain—making in all twenty-six imn j di ed and thirty-eight tons, almost the burthen ! of the Pennsylvania. llow this craft would | Im o astonished Coro, who mentions a ship of l fifty-six tons as a vessel of remarkable capacity. After these ancient leviathans, the largest ships on record are the celebrated Santissima Tnnidada, the pride of the Spanish navy ; the : gigantic Commerce tie Marseilles, the English Great Harrij, 'Flic Caledonia, and 'l'he Great Michae \ whose warlike appurtenances are des | cribe.l is “bissils, mymrds, higters, culver i in j's, flings, falcons, double dogs, and pestilent I serpenters.” These specimens of naval ar ; chitecture in the olden time, had prodi l giously high bows and figured sterns, immense 1 beaks and solid castles at the stem, with tow iat each side of the poop and gangways— looking like the turrets of a castellated cha-■ teau. The signal lantern on the poop of the Great Harry was on a level with the round tops, owing to the height of her extremities,, and the sudden singing-in at midships. She j had four masts, with tops actually round, an 1; shaped like huge inverted cones. Gilt work, carving, and gaudy streamers were profusely scattered over her hull and rigging. She cost | 8350,0110 dollars, an enormous sum in those ! days, yet was not over one thousand tons bur-! I then. Shewas burnt at Woolwich through the ; negligence of persons on board. Henry VIII., in the year. 1512, built “the I largest ship in the world.” It was thus -that: ! the Englisli denominated The Recent, yet she j did not exceed one thousand tons. She was burnt while engaging the great carrack of Brest; both ships were blown up, and sixteen 1 hundred men destroyed. To replace the Re gent, the king built a larger ship, and named it Henri. Grace dr Dieu. The East India Company, in the reign of; James 1., built a ship of twelve hundred tons, and named it The Trades Increase. She was also considered the greatest ever built, and the ! Royal Family attended her launch. She was lost when returning from a voyage to the Red Sna, and nearly all her crew were cast awav. Alter this mishap, J unes himself built a ves sel of fourteen hundred tons, and mounting ! sixtv-lour -pieces of ordnance ; lie gave it to : liis son Henry, who named it after his own dignity, The Prince. The unfortunate but gifted monarch, Eric XIV., of Sweden, lost, in a sea fioht with the fleet ot Frederic 11, of Denmark, his main-; inoth ship, which is described as having been [of enormous, bulk, and mounting two hun dred pieces of brass cannon. The vessels of the enemy surrounded her, and being difficult to manage, was easily overpowered, and set on fire. She is presumed to have been the larg est man-of-war tint was ever built. The English navy boasts of several vessels of one hundred and twenty guns, two of which, Ihe Lord Howe ami The If atcrloo, have never been in commission. The Lord Action, launched July the 4th, 1814, from the Kings Yard, Woolwich, is the largest man-of war in the service, but is something smaller than the Pennsylvania, as the following com parison will evince. Penruv/’vania. I A.JYelson. Feet In. Feet In. Length from figure-head to stern gallery, *247 6 244 0 Length on the range of the lower gun-deck, 205 6 205 1 Length of the keel for tonnage, 173 (j J7O 1() Breadth extreme, 58 1 1-2 54 0 Depth in the hold, 25 0 28 0 Perpendicular height from bottom of keoT to rail amidships, 54 0 55 2 Length of the foremast, 120 0 JlB 1 Diameter of ditto, 3 8 33 Length of the mainmast, 132 0 127 2 Diameter of ditto, 4 0 3 2 Length of the main-top mast. 70 0 77 2 Length of the mainyard, iJO 0 100 3 Diameter of ditto, 2 0 2 2 i Draft of water, 25 0 25 0 Tonnage, 3000 0 2617 0 Number of guns, 136 0 120 0 Later from France. By the arrival of die Havre packet ship Burgundy, Capt. Rock ett, we have Paris dates to the 7th and Havre to the 6th July, inclusive. I aris, July 7. I’lie accounts frojn the French manufacturing towns still speak of great embarrassments ; the number of work-1 men in the different manufactures is daily re- [ duced ; the warehouses remain encumbered, j with produce without any demand. The fairs of the South have been looked to for the sale ! of goods from Rouen, Mulhouse, Lyons, Ni- i mes, &c. but the competition in these articles ! caused a considerable decline in the price, 1 and thus increased the embarrassment of hou- j ses, which had calculated on considerable re- j turn. t roin Lyons, however, the accounts are rather favorable. Business has become j much more brisk than it lias been for a long I time and purchases li ive been so great as to j create a rise ot from JO sous to 1 franc in al- j most every article of silk. The state of as-j fairs in America has for some days ceased to be talked of; attention being entirely turned j to the rise on cotton in every country where ! it is grown. At St. Etienne, also, the ribbon | trade, lias become much more animated. Or-! ders from Germany, and more pa.ticularly from England, on account of the mourning for the late King, to the amount of 3,00U,0L0 francs have been received. “ In tiie first six months of 18.37,” according to the Bon Sens, two hundred and seventy-six bankruptcies, have been declared, whose unit ed debts amount to irotn fifteen to eighteen millions of francs. Merchants, wine dealers, cabinet makers and builders, always form a majority in the list of bankrupts.” Our read ers acquainted with the same period, in Amer ica and England, must be struck with the dis prportion they j icsent with the above, the whole two hundred and seventy-six bankrupt cies being for a sum very inferior to half of that for which a single failure is not unfre quently declared in the United States in Lon don or Liverpool. Charles Dupin and the Duke of Orleans are stated to he qui e ill. Marshal Clausel was thought to hive ac cepted the command of the Spanish forces on I the Peninsula. A wealthy merchant of Cain, named M. Le mannissicur, committed suicide on the first of July. Paris, July 6. It appears that the Govern ment is actively engaged in making prepara tions for the expedition against Aclimet Bey, and that it will be ready by the end of August, Stock Exchange —July 6, half past four market has been very flat. For cash, Fours have improved 10s ; Fives and Threes have declined 15c.; Neapolitan sc; Roman 1-8: Spanish 7-6; Portuguese, 1-1. For the end of the month Fives have declined sc; Threes 15c ; Neapolitan. S fain. It will he seen by the following extracts, that the Carlists had passed the Ebro, thus confirming the account we gave to the same effect yesterday, received by the way of England. Paris, July 6.—The following telegraphic despatch has been received by the govern ment : 11 ivonne, sih July, noon. The passage of tiie Ebro by the Carlists on the 28th and 29th, has been confirmed by the correspondence from Sargossa. Eight Carlist battallions also arrived in the Incartaciones upon the 27th. Germany. Extract of a letter of the 22d ult. from Dresden. “ It is stated in our saloons that a considera ble number of the French legitimists are dis satisfied with the projected union between the Duke de Bordeaux and even at the invitation which the Bourbons of the older branch have received to be present at the manoeuvres ot the Russian cavalry. Several of them say that “to form an alliance with Russia is to lose all chance of one day returning to the throne of France.” A letter ol the 25th ult. from Hamburg says, “ Our colonial trade assumes a certain degree of activity. Raw sugars, in particu lar, arc in demand. The supplies from Cuba find a ready sale as soon as they are lande 1, and cargoes arc even sometimes disposed of before their arrival. Medium and superfine qualities produce high prices, and even the ordinary qualities are sc iree in the market. The prices would be still higher, but the ac counts lrom the Brazils. Speculators are very cautious in dealing in this produce, as in Cotton. Foreign bill arc in gre it request.” According to the official accounts, the pop ul ition, the population of the capital is 347,- j 662 souls, including the garrison of 12,000 men. [Journal de Frankfort, July 2. Austria. Vienna, June 22. The North American government h is intimated its wish to accredit an Ambassador Extraordinary to this Court. This wish has been acceded to by the Imperial Govern nent., and an Ambas sador from the Emperor will be accredited at Washington. [German piper. Still later from England. Tiie Bos ton papers ot W ednesday contain extracts from London journals of July Bth and Liver pool of the 10th. W r e however find but a very few items of news. It is stated that th° Goo. Washington, pack et of June Bth from New York, brought 8110,- 000 in specie, and the Iliberriia, packet of the 16th, 830,000. The King's funeral took place on the Bth, agreeably to appointment. Tiie ceremonies were similar to those adopted at the funeral of George the 4th. Anew coinage was speedily to be issued, hearing the likeness of Queen Victoria. Four lmndiAd thousand pounds sterling in gold had been received in London from St. Petersburg. I’he London and Birmingham Railway was to be opened to the public for a distance ot more than 20 miles from London on the 20th of July. Appealing to Thunder. The ultima ratio rrgum , or the argument of force, is well illustrated in the story told by Luci an : Jupiter and a countryman were walking together, conversing with great freedom and familiarity upon the subject of heaven and earth. The couDtryinan listened with attention anil acquiescence, while Jupiter strove only to convince him; but happening to express a doubt, Jupiter turned hastily round and threatened him with his thunder. “Ah! alt!” says the countryman, *“noiv Jupiter 1 know that' you are wrong; you are always wrong) when you appeal to your thunder.” [From tiie Commercial Register.] Mobile, Aug. 14. The U. S. Sloop of War Vandalia, Commo dore Thcmas Crabb, arrived at Pensacola on Saturday morning fiom Vera Cruz—from which port she sailed on the .‘ld inst. By the steam boat Champion which left Pensacola yesterday, came over to this city on his way to Washing! ton, Mr. Rol eit Gxeenhow, a passenger in the Vandalia, who had been despatched! by our government, with important communications for that of Mexico. He left the city of Mexi co on the 3Uth of July last, at w hich time all was tranquil throughout the interior, so far as publicly known. Santa Anna was tending quietly at his plantation Mtnga de Clavo near V era Cruz; the rumors respecting the despatch of troops to apprehend him, are unfounded. Mr. Greenhow relates, that when about to leave Jalapa, at 3 o’clock on the morning of the 2d inst., a violent eirthquake occurred, which on his arrival at Vera Cruz he learned had caused much damage to the city, and pro duced the utmost consternation among its in habitants, many of whom took refuge on board of the shipping in the harbor. The shock was felt on board of the Vandalia, about which it occasioned much agitation of the water, and shook the chain cables. The Vandalia remain ed for t#enty-one days at anchor in the nar row pass between the island of S icrificious and the mainland—and her crew enjoyed better health in that situation, th in at any other period ol the —although the yellow fever was raging in tiie city. There is no prospect of an invasion of Texas, and ceitainly not the remotest chance of suc cess if the attempt should be made';® Mobile, Aug. 16. _ Steamboat Explosion. The steamboat Caroline, Capt. Griffin on her passage from N. Orleans to this city, burst iier boiler near the Dog River bar, yesterday evening. Capt. Giitfin despatched a messenger over Iml, for assistance, from whom weWearned that the boilers were both bursted, and the chimneys thrown down. The steersman was terribly scalded, and not expected to survive. The cook has not been found. Five or six persons were repo ted as dead or badly scalded. The steamboat Fox, Captain Gayle, went down about six o’clock, to the assistance of the suf ferers. Since the above was written theCiroline has reached tiie city, in tow of the Fox, whose enterprising niamgers deserve great credit tor their promptness on this occasion. YVeleirn the following particular: The Caroline blew up at 1 o’clock P. M.— only one boiler burst Mr. Levi, the engineer, was badly scalded, but is expected to recover. Mr. John Smith the steersman, died while coming up. Two negroes, deck passengers, were drowned. There were 5 cabin passen gers, none of whom received any injury. Five firemen, McCarty, Hart, Crawley, Corn, Mc- C'intick, badly scalded. Latest from Florida. Major Childs, of tiie U. S. Army, bearer of Despatches from Gen. Jesup to the Secretary of War, arrived at this port on Saturday, in the steamer John M’Lean, from Florida. MijorCniLDs informs us that as the M’Lean was getting un ler way, in Ashley River, Capt \V. S. Maitland, of the. 31 Regt. U. S. Artillery, in a temporary fit of derangement threw himself from the stern of the boat and was drowned. The stern boat was instantly lowered, but in vain, the wind, which was blowing very fresh and a strongtide, h id carried the unfortunate Maitland beyond the reach of succour. Captain Maitland was highly esteemed by his companions in arms, as a gentlein in and a gallant officer—had serv ed with reput ition from the commencement of Indian hostilities, and his gallantry in action during the last sunnier, received the brevet rank of C :pt an. Capt M titland was severely wounded at the battle of the Wahoo Swamp in November 1 ist, from which wound he had not entirely recovered, when the unfortunate event above recorded took place. His body was recovered yesterday morning, in Ashley River, back of the Race Course, and was interred in the afternoon, in the U. S. bu rying ground, at Fort Johnson. YVe learn also from M ijor Childs, that about 50 Seminoles were encamped at a short dis tance from Fort King —that the post wis healthy, and all was quiet Major Childs informs us, that a few days previous to his leaving G irey’s Ferry, he wrote to an officer of the Army at" St. Augustine, to know if there were any vessels at tint port for Charleston, and he was informed in answer that there was a schooner in port for Ch irles ton, which he thinks was called the Medium, but the no uni', Jnhn M’l.e jn- offering him a direct conveyance, he paid no further intention trthc-m ttcr, and throw the letter aside. The Medium, Capt. Magee, sailed hence for St. Augustin" l on the Ist inst. and up to the sth inst. she had not arrived—great anxiety has been felt for tiie passengers and crew.— [Charleston Courier. From St. Augustine. Capt. Ilebbard of of the steamboat Florida, arrived yesterday from St. Augustine informs us, that Col. Har ney, commanding U. S. troops east of St. Johns, left St Augustine on Tuesday last with twenty United States troops 011 an expe dition to Indian Itiver, and in attempting to cross Mi tanzas Bar, his boat swamped among the breakers and unfortunately lost five of the men and in consequence of which was com pelled to return to St Augustine. Capt 11. reports also having passed at S ipelo, on Mon day morning, Dutch brig Unike dismasted. No news from the army.—[SavannahGeorgian. Payment of our Foreic.n Debt. The New York G izette estimates the American debt to England and the probable payment as follows: We owe England, at this time for goods imported’ direct about $7,C00,0G0 For the India trade, 3 000,000 sio,cou,ooo We shall pay them in the course of the two next months— In Cotton, $1.000,000 Dry goods returned, 1,000 000 Indigo, dye woods, and other goods 1,500,000 Specie, 3.500,000 Bad debts, 3,000,000 $lO 000.000 The statement we ’hin'c very newly correct both as to timo and amount, —$1,300,000 ol $3,500,000 in specie has gone to Europe smea the estimate was made. Change. When the poet, or moralist, or whatever he was, wrote “ This is a world of change,” the banks bad not suspended specie payments.