Funding for the digitization of this title was provided by R.J. Taylor, Jr. Foundation.
About News & planters' gazette. (Washington, Wilkes County [sic], Ga.) 1840-1844 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 17, 1842)
BATTLE OF THE RANCH. The people in that part of Mexico know as the “Department of Santa Fe,”have for many years been harrassetl and annoyed by the depredation of the American Indi ans. An American by the name of Kur ker, at the time of our visit had just enter ed into contract with the government to whip the Indians and bring them to a per inanenttreaty, for the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, part of which was paid to him in advance, to commence operations. Kurker is now carrying on the war, and his first skimishes occurred while we were at Toas within two miles of the town at which we were sojourning. lie is a man of daring and reckless disposition, who has himselfsuflered from the villany of the In dians, and he now hunts them as much in revenge for injuries they have done him as in prospect of the emolument. The battle which forms the subject of the j present sketch, occurred close under the ; black mountain of Toas, in the valley of the J same name near to a small town called the i “Ranch ” Kurker, with about fifty men, i was here encamped, when a party of thiev ing Abachus crept upon them in the night j and stole a number of horses. The Indi ans were not aware that Kurker’s party were prepared for war, but supposed they were stealing from an encampment of tra ders who •cruld not dare to pursue them. The robbery had scarcely been committed when it was discovered, and in a few mo ments more, Kurker and his fifty men were in close pursuit of the Indians. Knowing that the thieves would endeavor to escape over the mountains, by ascending a ravine that opened in the valley near the spot where the robbery was committed, Kurker led his men quickly round a by path, up the mountain side, and as the grey light of morning spread over the valley, the pur suers found themselves upon an eminence commanding the ravine up w hich the Indi ans were hurrying, mounted on the stolen horses. The marauders numbered about a hundred and twenty, more than doubling the force of the pursuing party; but al though these vagabonds hold the Spaniards in great contempt, they are the vilest cow ards when opposed by the Americans.— Cunning as they were they did not discover their danger until fifty American rifles were levelled, each with deadly aim, at a sepa rate victim. The first cry of alarm from the Indians was the signal to fire, and as the early sun beam penetrated the ravine, echo started suddenly from elifFto cliff, and away among the distant crags like the spirit of fear spee ding from death and danger. Twenty In dians fell from their horses at that fire, some with a struggle & frightful yell expiring on the instant, while others with clenched teeth and the desperate energy ofdeparting life, clung to the reins, and were dragged about and trod upon by the alarmed horses. The Indians rode like devils, and without pau sing an instant, they turned and fled to wards the valley. Some that were wound ed fell from the frightened animals while they were in full speed down the ravine.— Kurker and his men followed without re loading their rifles, and chased the Indians until they emerged from the ravine and took refuge within the walls of the- Ranch. This town, called the Ranch, lies at the base of a gigantic mountain, and is watered by a swift stream that rushes from the ra vine we have mentioned. It contains a bout three hundred houses, and these are built compactly together, forming a wall and enclosing a large square, and in the centre of which stands the church ; into this square the Indians rushed and endea vored to force their way into it, having been taught to believe that the sacred roof is pro tection against all danger. But Kurker’s nien felt no disposition to let the savages off so easily, and reloading their rifles they re sumed the attack within the walls of the town. It was still early in the morning, and the inhabitants sprang from their beds in the wildest eofusion and alarm. First we had the thronging of‘.he Indians in the town—their murmurs of fear and terror, then the shouts of their pursuers ; children screamed within the dwellings, and there was a rapid closing and barring of doors and windows. Then came the report of fire arms followed by the most fiendish screams and yells from the victims, over which again arose the loud hurras of the Americans as wild and savage as the dread ful wa r-whoop of the Indian. The men seemed to grow delirious with the excite ment, and to become inspired with the sav age nature of their enemies. One man af ter discharging his rifles and pistols, rushed madly among the Indians with his knife, and actually succeeded in taking a scalp before he was killed. The fight lasted for but half an hour, when the Indians begged for mercy and were suffered to depart. Kurker s men are mostly robust, daring fellows from Kentucky and Missouri, wag oners and speculators who yielded to the se ductions of the Monster Bank, and were ruined : men of rough, yet chivalrie and ro mantic natures, who love the wild life they are leading. Their pay from Kurker is a dollar a day and half booty, so that their interest and love of excitement leads them to make battle whenever opportunity oc curs. In this battle forty Indians were kil led, and of Kurker’s party, but one Amer ican and one half breed. The stolen hor ses were taken as booty. Kurker himself is .as brave as a lion, and a man of great en terprise, as well as skill in this kind of war fare. Having but just commenced opera tions, his force is small, but men were thronging to join him every day, and he soon will be head of a very powerful army. — N. O. Picayune. Eating and drinking. —lt will rather take the reader by surprise, we think to be told that in a life of 65 years duration, with a moderate daily allowance of mutton, for instance, he will have consumed a flock of 350 sheep ; and that altogether for dinner alone, adding to his mutton a reasonable allowance of potatoes and vegetables, with a pint of wine daily, for 30 years of this pe riod, above 30 tons of solids and liquids /trust have passed through his stomach. HORRIBLE BARBARITY. The wife of Joseph Jellison, of Brooks, in this county, came near being murdered, by having hot lead poured into her ear.— Her husband has been examined before a Magistrate, but was not recognized to ap pear at Court. All the material circum stances which we can gather are these : The family consisted of Mr. Jellison and wife and three small children. Ho retired to bed early and requested his wife to re tire early, saying that he wished an early breakfast, as he was bound away. She did not, however, retire until about 10 o'clock, j Her husband slept upon the back side of the bed against the wall of the house, I and her infant child was with her. About j two o’clock she was awakened by a sens*- ( tion as though her head was on fire, and screamed. Her husband seized hold of her and asked what was the matter, but whether he came from the backside of the bed, or was standing beside of the bed, she could not tell. She told him to get some water and pour into her ear, which relieved her somewhat. They sat up together the remainder part of the night, she receive and nothing but kind treatment, though no phy - sician was sent for. Nothing was seen ‘oy her of any ladle or shovel, but she for aid some pieces of lead in the bed in the me >rn ing, and her neck and shoulder was b u.rnt a little, as also her child ; but her ea r in the part exposed to sight, was not burnt at all. The physician testified that the cav ity in the ear was filled with either 1 ead or some fusible matter —that it was visible upon examination, and that the ca.vity of the ear was sofirmlv filled that the y could not remove it with their instumenti i, though they had taken out several piec<j;s. The woman, as may be supposed, has nearly if not wholly lost her senses, and w'n ether she will survive is doubtful. It is n< it probable from her situation, that she eoub 1 give a ve ry accurate account of all that transpired after her consciousness, and how long it was after the time the lead was poured into her ear and her consciousness, no one can tell. We have never before had occasion to give publicity to such a tsJe of horror!— Belfast, Me. Signal. The best story ofthe se.ason—it is from the Palquemine Gazette It is generally the case* with editors, that when giving accounts of the destruction of lives and property by fi re, they first men tion the particulars about the loss of prop erty, and then merely a ilude to the loss of! life. This always ren finds us of an acci j dent that happened to a neighbor of ours down east. Deacon Sweet was an even tempered, good hearted sort of a man, and Mrs. S. was ditto, loved her h usband, and was very economical in her Viabits. The Deacon took a can die and a two quart pitcher (a j piteher that Mrs, S'meet had kept whole, minus the nose, for ten years) one cold night, and started to go down to the cellar to draw some cider. The old gentleman’s foot slipped at the to pof the stairs, and le went down, head fin it. Mrs. Sweet heard the noise, and ran, v cry much alarmed, to see vvliat bad happei led. The Deacon, in the mean time, had g inhered himself up, and was rubbing his shir is. ‘Lord! Gustus!’ exclaimed Mrs. S., ‘what’s llie matter !- —have you broke the pitcher?’ ‘No!’ replied the -old man, grunting ; and then growing iurioui ;—‘l haintyit, but dod darned if i don’t do it now, though! and j he smasJied the long cherished pitcher a i gainst t he wall. A hovel Case of Difficulty. —We are in j formed of a novel ci ise which Ims recently ! transported in Was! fington County, in this I State. Some years ago a man and woman I were married, and confined to reside to | gefiher as man and wife. Recently they j discovered that the person before whom the j ceremony was performed was not authoris j ed by law to tie the : marriage knot, and their marriage was a nullity. When this dis j covery was made, the woman insisted upon | having the ceremo:ny gone over again be fore legally cons tituted officer, but the husband refused ; subsequently the lius j band having reflected that the principal | part ofthe property which he held, had been | derived from his wi fe, changed his resolu ; tion and became desirous to have the knot legally tied; but at this period the woman had altered herpurp oses, and therefore re fused. Following up her resolution to re main free, she ejected the husband from his | possession of the property, and our infor mant says that the la st he heard of the case, was the application of the husband to a Justice efthe Peace for some process to re store him to what he h id once supposed to |be his own. Can any ofthe St. Louis law yers find out a suitable process for the ex igency of the disappointed husband.— St. Louis Rep. Expensive Profanity. —The Editor of the Crescent City says he was once in a county court up the count ry, when a weal thy, devilma ycare farmer, ripped out an oath, for which the Judge lined him. With much nonchalance he pulled out his pock et book, and paid a S2O hill for the outrage. The lawyer wont on v/ith his argument, and touching the feelings of our farmer, he again broke out with— “ D—n my eyes! if it ainta lie!” Again he was fined. He still, however, kept on swearing, and regularly paying his fine for each oath, until at last he found himself in a terrible passion, and only se venty-five cents in his pocket-book. He. could contain himself no longer, but jump- ingup from his seat, exclaimed “See here Judge, that ere lawyer is a cursed scound rel, and I aint got but ix bitts, and I want to swear at him eternally bad. Now, ver honor, jist tell me of an oath that’s worth three quarters of a dollar, and if i don’t pitch at him, d—n me!”’ “Keep cool,” said the pitcher of water to the bottle of brandy. “I could, friend,” re -1 plied the bottle, “were not mv spirits more’ ! ardent than yours.” *27 il\ ( oii^ress, MR. CLAYS SPEECH On the Bill to Repeal the Bankrupt Law. In Sumate, Friday, Jan. 29th. Mr. Clay said that the power to establish a system of Bankruptcy was expressly granted in the Constitution upon the condi tion only that the law should he uniform ; and the motive which influenced the States in making this grant, was t hat the creditor and debtor in one portion of the Union should bepla< yd upon the .sam footing with tlios ■ ofanotlt 1? would not speak with rt: 0 J i,i to the retroactive or prospective op era) ion of a Bankrupt La ; but it might not he improper to remark that the ancients in times of calamity and distress, expunged tb e pecuniary obligations of the unfortu ii ate debtor, and passed other measures for I ii.s relief. There was a high obligation on the part of General Government to perform the duty growing out of the investment of the power to establish a uniform system of Bankruptcy. Was it supposed that the commercial States would ever have consen ted to invest in Congress this power, if they had supposed that it would have remained a dead letter in the Constitution ? No: they conceived that Congress would exercise it, and pass a Bankrupt Law uniform in its operations throughout the Union. The Constitution was an aggregate of power, of which the States stripped themselves, and vested it into the General Government for die general good of the whole ; and with this view, the power to regulate commerce was exercised for the benefit of the naviga ting interest, which was enjoyed by but few of the States ; and so with other pow ers ; and this was the case too. with regard to the power to establish a uniform system of Bankruptcy, a few states only being in terested in the exercise of it. But it was the duty of Congress to examine into the in terest of all the States. If, for example, in some States, there was a slight interest, or an adverse feeling, and in other States a vi tal interest, what ought to be done? The Union was a family of States, and their fra ternal affections, and their harmony, could only be preserved by mutual concession.— Therefore, if any man believed that a par j tieular measure would inflict partial inju j ry on his own Slate, he would content liitn j self with the reflection that it was deman ded by the peculiar interests of the other ! States. Under these views, then, of slight interests on one hand, andof great interests ! upon the other, it seemed to him that Con gress was bound to legislate without regard jto sectional divisions, but for the entire | country. The States tied their own hands j that Congress might act; but, it'it would not act, the hands of the states ought to be un tied. About twenty years ago, when a state of tilings similar to the present existed he took the ground in the House of Repre sentatives that Congress ought to exercise the power to establish a Bankrupt Law, or j surrender it; and Iwo years ago, when his j late colleague (Mr. Crittenden) introduced j a bill of that character, he voted for it— j not because his own State was particularly J interested, (he did not believe that five hun ! died citizens of Kentucky would avail ! themselves of it,) hut for the reason that, in | looking to the interest of the whole, it was : necessary to make a slight sacrifice for ihcir benefit. When they met at the Ex tra Session, they matured a series of meas ures which were to effect different purposes in tin Union, and in different degre es ; and gentlemen who voted for these measures voted for them as a whole system, taking I the part least disadvantageous to their own ! Slates, because the system carried with it the relief which they desired to obtain. — | That was the reason why he voted for the Bankrupt Law. He considered the hill proposing to repeal this act as a sort of en tering wedge in the whole system, to he fol lowed up by the measure of the Senator from Missouri, (Mr. Linn) to repeal the Land Distribution Law. He did not com plain of this, as some gentlemen disapproved of the proceedings of the Extra Session ; hut he called upon those who had concur red in this system and would inquire wheth er they were ready to undo the blessed acts which were then passed, and strip the peo ple of the United States of these benefits ? llis colleague (Mr. Morehead) thought ihat he (Mr.Morehead)might vote forthe repeal but he (Mr. Clay) with a knowledge ofthe magnanimity and the justice ofthe people of Kentucky, knew well that, when the question was rightly put to them, they would not refuse to extend their hand lo their fellow-citizens who are now writhing ! under the distress which a measure of this j kind could assuage. Had there been any j mitigation ofthe'public distress or any re j turn of prosperity in the country to favor the repeal ? Was not the reverse of all this true ? Were not all the considerations which existed when the law was passed much stronger now than they were then ? and were these considerations likely to be diminished in the future ? No ; the future j presented to the mind the gloomiest forebo dings, instead of a cessation of embarrass ments. And should they, this moment, when the country was writhing in distress, repeal this law ? What was the condition of the unfortunate class of debtors? Three days only were to elapse before the law would go into effect; and the spectacle that was now presented resembled the scene of unfortunate men incarce rated in jails and the gloomy cells of dungeons, looking for the operation of this measure to bring to them health and vivacity ; but repeal the law, and all their hopes and happy antici pations were blasted. In another view of I this subject: the prison doors were almost opened wide ; they rushed to enjoy the light of Heaven—and, at this moment, what was asked ? Why, that they should be flung back again into gloom, and doomed, with the grating of the doors upon their hinges dwelling on their ears. If the Senate could do this, he could not ; he could not- do it, and he would not do it. . I In the county of Westmoreland. England ! according to the last census, there are 28,- 234 males, and 28,235 females. From the Savannah Republican. JUDGE BERRIEN'S SPEECH, against the repeal of the hankrupt law. We regret that our limits do not allow us to publish entire, the speech of our dis tinguished Senator. Our exchange papers from every part of the Union have spoken of it in the highest terms, and we can only say, that it well deserves the encomiums which have been lavished oil it. We oiler our readers a brief outline, hut would re commend ail to read the speech as reported, and especially the friends of the ia\V . The peroration is very brief, and the Judge at once enters on his subject, with the confidence of one who is certain he has the right side of the argument. He enu merates the objections under six heads, and then begins systematically to demolish them. The first division is in answer to the al legation of those opposed to the law ; that it is imperfect, impracticable, and cannot be carried into operation. Under this head, he gives a beautiful detail of the simplicity of the law, and how easily those entrusted to carry it into effect had prepared to fulfil their duty. lie also shows, that the amend ments offered, would entirely defeat the object of llie bill. The second objection lie considered, was ihe unconstitutionality of the law. On this point, of course, we are not so well qualifi ed to judge as those of the legal profession, but to our mind the argument is conclusive. Indeed, we cannot see how a doubt on this part of the subject can he raised. He shows by referring to the debates on the formation of the constitution, that the whole power was left, after mature deliberation, to Con gress, with the single restriction that it .should he uniform. Under this head also, he demolishes the Jacksonian heresy,which Mr. Calhoun has lately adopted, and intro duced into this debate : namely, that every one is to judge the constitution for himself, and pay no regard to the decisions of the Supreme Court. He then goes on to show, that as the States have parted with the power to make bankrupt laws, it is the duty of Congress to do so, and also demonstrates how impossi ble. it would be for the States to enact uni form laws. He next goes into an examina ! tion of the nature of contracts, and proves the retroactive provision of the bankrupt law to be constitutional. The third objection , which Mr. Berrien notices, is that “ the law is immoral and corrupting in its tendencies.'” As the gen eral reader will be bette- able to judge of the argument on this part of the subject, than when the legal & constitutional ques tions are discussed—and as we feel that we j could say nothing iu praise of it which j would do it justice, we shall here quote a [ portion of his speech as reported in the In- \ telligencer. After acknowledging that no j law can be made which may not in some instances be evaded, he goes on to observe : “ But some fraudulent debtors, it is said, will avail themselves of this act. Yes, sir, (said Mr. B.) with all the guards which your skill can devise, that result will fol low. It is the ordinary consequence ofthe ! infirmity ofthe legislator, and ofthe wick- J edness of the man. What, then ? Must | relief therefore he withheld from the honest but unfortunate debtor ? There is a better rule on this subject, to which we would do well to refer. It is better that ninety and nine guilty persons should escape, than one innocent man should suffer. 1 don’t know know whether it has occurred to you, sir, hut the fact is, that the only inexpiable crime in the catalogue of offences among us is debt, and the inability to discharge it. To the murderer you are comparatively merci ful. You doom him to death, and you ex ecute your sentence. With time to pre pare for his entrance into another world he expiates his offence by leaving this. To the wretched insolvent the law accords no such boon. He must drag out the misera hie existence to which you have doomed him, or superadd the crime of suicide to that of debt. Minor offences arc punished with imprisonment for a limited period, or with corporal punishment, not extending to loss of life. When the victim ha? undergone these, his offence against society is atoned for, and ho is restored to the rights and im munities of a free citizen. He only who is unable to pay his debts has sinned beyond forgiveness and the possibility of expiation. To him there is no spes recuperandi —no hope of recovering his lost estate. Upon him no morning can dawn. He is destined, in the impenetrable gloom of unbroken night, in sadness and sorrow, to grope his way lo the grave. The true and practical mode, Mr. Berri en said, of testing the question of the ten dency of this law to produce immorality, is to compare the bankrupt and insolvent laws, not in the operation of the former, on the mass of insolvencies, which our neglect of duty has suffered to accumulate, but to examine each in its ordinary operation, as a permanent portion of a system of jurispru dence. The bankrupt, when he is declared so to be, either by his own confession or the proof adduced by his creditor, is instantly divest edofall control over his estate. He has no hope of relief but from perfect honesty of conduct, and the relief w hich it promises him is great and permanent. It is no less than entire emancipation from his thral dom. Thus the law presents every stimu lus to honesty—every motive to abstain from fraud. Superadded to this, is ihe knowledge of the fact that no time affords him protection. If he has succeeded in concealing his fraud, has obtained his cer tificate, amassed propoity. and resumed the station in life from which he had litllen, that certificate may he rendered invalid, his newly acquired property may he sub jected to the claims of Ins creditors, and he himselfmust be doomed to ignomy, if at a ny period of his life, however remote, a sin gle act of fraud be established against him. Looking to the ordinary motives of human action, these would st em to be safeguards against dishonesty, which would be efficient even with had men. VViial now is the situation of the insol vent ? His most valuable effects have been assigned to the confidential creditors, who have enabled him to sustain his failing credit, and given him an appearance of sub stance, by which he has been able to de lude the rest of the community. At last the hour of reckoning comes, but it finds him stripped of the means of satisfying even a small portion ofthe demands against him. His confidential creditors are safe, and therefore indifferent, and so is he. He has committed no fraud in the eye of law in rendering them so. All others are remedi less. He is arrested, imprisoned, and w ith out some gross act of fraud, detected, du ring the process, is discharged. The boon which is awarded to him is that of dragging out a miserable existence, with the privilege of locomotion indeed, but he is destined for life to he the slave of his creditors—living moving, and having his being for their ben efit. What motive has he for the honest surrender of his property, if he has any left, which is covered from the view of his creditors ? Why, all his hopes for the fu ture depend upon concealment. He is doomed to a life of deception. If he is de tected, what then ? He looses his adven ture : it is seized by his creditors ; but his discharge is untouched. He may try again. The privilege of dragging his wretched limbs from the market to the strand is still accorded to him. Look, now, (said Mr. B.) at the condi tion ofthe bankrupt and insolvent, when the respective processes against them are closed, and say which is likely to prove the better and more upright citizen ? The bank rupt has surrendered his all he is poor, nay. destitute, penniless ; but he is free, and there is the charm. He is really, truly free. It is not merely the poor privilege ot loco motion which is accorded to him. His hands are unshackled. The energies of his mind are unfettered. He is free to ex ert them for his own, and the benefit of those who nature and affection have en deared to him. His recovered freedom his true and active stimulus. The les son of experience which adversity has taught him, is his safeguard. The al most utter impractabilitv of receiving a se cond time the boon which has been once ac corded to him is his voice of warning. Thus | stimulated, thus fortified, thus warned, he ! enters upon his new career. If in this word of trial, which we have divested of its original beauty and loveliness, any man may be delivered from temptation, by feel ing, by reflection, by external circumstan ces, this man is secure. The path of duty, of uprightness, of honesty, whicliis the best i interest of all to pursue, is that from which j lie is almost without temptation to wander. And the insolvent, what (said Mr. B.) is | his condition ? He, too, has surrendered his all ; at least all which which he dare j openly claim ; and for what? To pur chase exemption from imprisonment. He breathes the free air of Heaven, hut not as ; a freeman. He is still the “doomed slave” j of his creditor. The fruits of his labor ho- ; long to that creditor, and can only he with- j held from him by fraud. The necessities j of a helpless family appeal to him. The | ! eagle eye of his creditor is upon him. He j j looks upon that creditor as his enemy If j j he be merciless, he is indeed his enemy, of those who are dearer to him than life, whom he is proud to protect even at the sa crifice of life itself. What then? As an enemy lie fences himself against his credi- i tor. He resortsto fraudulent conveyances : to secret trusts, to a regular system of ha bitual deception ; and his children, into whose young minds it would have been, under more propitious circumstances, his grateful task to have instilled the lessons of virtue, are trained up under the blighting influence of that system of concealment to | which he and they are indebted for the com- ! j forts and conveniences of life. Such is the | actual condition of multitudes under the operation of State insolvent laws. Look at the progress of this operation, and judge of its effects upon public morals. The dis charged insolvent escapes from his cell, or his prison bounds, to the wretched hovel which benevolence ntay have secured to him, for he has nought which he can claim as his own. The wants of his family call him to labor, and he does labor. His ear liest efforts are rewarded by the pound of beef and the loaf of bread with w hich he appeases their hunger. Evert these are filched from his creditor, for the law awards them to him. Your law did award them. But there is a public opinion, to the moral force of which even laws must yield, and the wretched insolvent is secure in the en joyment of these. By-and-bv he is ena bled to provide some little comforts for his helpless wife and infant children. These must be enjoyed by stealth, or the hand of ; the creditor may wrest them from their grasp. In process of time his labors are rewarded with the means by which he can do something more than provide for the pre i sent wants of his family. He considers their dependance, his liability to be taken . from them, and the desire to make some provision for the future becomes strong, > irresistible. He has no right to indulge f this desire. His e arnings are the property of his creditor. If they are discovered, the s law will give them to that creditor. In strict ■ morality he is bound to yield them. But t Nature urges her own strong claims, and a s wife whose spirit, has been broken by udver . sity, and his children who has been reared . in penury, are the advocates through whom i she prefers them. The appeal may not be ■ resisted. The morality which conflicts s with it becomes, in his view, cold, heartless t and disregarded. He is a man. with the affections and imperfection of our common I nature. He yields to it; he hides his ear nings ; he cheats his creditor ; and then with a newly awakened spirit, labors to in crease his little store. The repetition of the fraud is more easy. Habit renders it familiar, it becomes the business of his life. J There is an occasional twinge of consci ence ; hut that passes, and all that now disturbs him is the apprehension which sei zes him, perhaps on his bed of death, that the depositoiy o! Lis secret earnings may he ~ t'ai'.lii his trust as he has been Jo the i.f his c idiiors. Such >. ii, . . o. alher more frequently occur id j. puli-''on of our great ci.ii. • i ’ ely bevound their lim it... .y ■ ‘.'i -re i :le i of the conn: ■ .•’iic fin t! m But who and : . i no. the in r recur niggle betv. claims c ejection, mid ruer dc man . justice ■’ And we sit li .:ing in ci .! dci i. tlier men slmn aved from moral lied ness like this? Under the > ‘-/7i head, P > r>c the. allegation ilia “he law L • ..alii nt,” by showing that the States e’.iMir.i enact uni form laws, and that no 5t..., ic . . binding except within its own ten it >rv. The fifth point, viz: “tic ’ this law will encourage a wild spirit of speculation,” is ably refuted : Sir, said Mr. 8., the precisely opposite result must follow from the confined opera tion of this law. Senators who urged this objection, at the same time assert that the bankrupt law will diminish the security of the creditor. Is it not, then, most obvious that it will increase his caution ? I hat it will render him more careful how and to whom he gives credit? He will look to the pres ent means of the debtor, not to his hopes and expectations in the future, and will lim it accordingly the credit which he extends. Such will be its operation on the creditor. Why should it temptthe dhbtor to wild spec ulation? The benefit which will result to him will he. that he will he stripped of his property, and if his conduct lias been hon est, that his certificate of discharge ‘’•ill protect his future acquisitions ; but he en ters upon his new career with the unenvi able character of a certificated hankrupt, and with the certainty tiiat, however pru dent may he his operations, if misfortune should again attend them, the door of relief is forever closed to him, unless his estate should pay seventy five cents in the dollar. Sir, this does not seem to me to present any very strong temptation to wild speculation. No, sir, the natural effect of a bankrupt law is to diminish the amount of dealings on credit, while it renders those dealings more secure. Under the sixth head, lie examined the fallacy which has been put forth by the op ponents ofthe bill namely that the bankrupts hold an amount of property which it wouldA be inconvenient for the solvent portion of the community to buy. Mr. B. says this is the highest ecomium on the law which has been yet passed ; and if, as its enemies say, it will release, and make active and transferable property to the amount of$10(UH>0,000. it will prove to be a measure of greater relief than any ; other which could be devised. After shewing the benefit of having the i law perpetual, Mr. B. closes with a fervid | appeal to the Senate to do its duty ; and al j ludesto tho fact, that chamber was inten | ded to contain the conservative power, and | be a check on the others by the framers of j the constitution. The truth is, the only objection to this | great and good measure, is that it has been i introduced by the Whigs and carried ; through by their efforts. Nothing has ever shown the hollowness of the professions of { the Loco Focos about being the friends of j the poor man so clearly, as their opposition j to this measure, and nothing will soeffectu : ally tend to defeat their machinations as for j the Whigs always to pursue a course which i will compel the leaders of the opposition ! to take the wrong side. i MR. CLAY AND THE CILLEY DU EL. Our readers must have observed the in sinuations thrown out by Mr. Wise in the House on Friday, while stung to despera tion by the bitter revilings of Mr. Adams for bis share in the Cilley duel, that one farabove him instation —alludingofcourse to Mr. Clay'—was responsible for its incep tion and its issue. As the public eye will be naturally turned towards that distingui ed Senator, in regard to a duel which, bad as it was, was no worse than any other fought there or elsewhere, and the fatal conclusion of which was pre-eminently duo to the determination of Mr. Gilley to ad here to the use of the murderous weapon with which he had the greatest facility of use, we copy the following notice of its eiil cumstances from the United States Gw| zette : 1 So much time has transpired since that! unfortunate affair, and so many stirring e-B vents have beer, crowded into the space.* that we recollect with difficulty, many °B the more public circumstances of the due* but there were some private details may throw some light upon the subject oB Mr. Wise’s insinuation, or assertion, if ini deed our memory should not prove treaclul rous in the matter. I Our readers will probably recollect MB Graves bore a message from Col. Webb, fej Mr. Gilley, in consequence of language sed in debate by the latter, injurious to C<H W. Mr. C. made a verbal explanytioj and then Mr. Graves subsequently
