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HENRY CLAY.
[an extract.]
VV'ho does not know him, upon whom
the hopes of Whig America aro fastened,
and lowborn (he eyes of Christendom are
directed ? Who does not know the most re
markable man of this age—the man whose
youth was without the blessing of a finish
on education, the support of wealth or the
prop of powerful connexion ; and who thus
naked of all armor, savo that of his own
great genius, indomitable courage, and
unspotted honor, has urged himself to w hat
the writer of this article considers as higher
than an imperial station. In a democracy
with tlie popular bun upon him ; in a de
mocracy wherethe people are supreme, and
where the will of a majority, a law resistless
as the deluge, is spoken of by men with o
riental reverence, —three times barred from
the highest office, ho hus still maintained
his place at the head of a minority, battling
witli iindiminished ardor, for the true pol
icy of this country, and clinging with the
tameless energy of an unconquered giant,
to the pillars of her constitution.
“ His friends have struggled with and
suffered under him, without die hope of e
molumont, proscribed from the honors of
their common country. He had no office
to give, no power to bestow, no patronage
to extend, no emolument or reward to offer.
The principle of union among them lias
been the love of country alor —the light
which led them, was the hop one of pre
serving from utter destruction > ose eternal
principles of organic law and constitutional
Government, upon which the liberties of
mankind depend, until the nation should
recover from that .spasm of delusive admi
ration into which the splendid success, over
hearing popularity, and daring pride of one
great chief had thrown it.
“ They have felt it no depredation to re
cognize him as their head and leader in a
conflict, in which they were ail sufferers,
and fie the greatest sufferer of all. In his
adversity they have never deserted, in his
darkest hour thoy have clung the closer to
his side, to cheer and to soothe. As it is
not degradation to obey, so they feel it is not
adulation to praise him, who lias no power
but the love of his friends, no moans to
punish, reward, or compel.”
Extract from the speech of the Honorable
Daniel Webster at the agricultural meeting
at Rochester, New York :
“ Without to-night entering upon any de
batable ground of politics, upon any thing
that does not partake of elementary truth—
and I say it under the conviction that it is a
matter ofelementary truth—to which every
true American citizen who will not give
way to names, hut thinks that there is some
thing in things, I say that it is in the power
of Government, that it is the duty of Gov
ernment, to a considerable extent, to lake
care that there should be a demand for Agri
cultural products. lam not about, gentle
men, to enter upon tho question—the deba
teable subject—of a Protective Tariff’, to
any considerable extent. But I, neverthe
less, do say—at least I do think—and why
should I not say it ? Ido say, gentlemen,
that the Agriculture of this country is the
great matter which demands Protection. It
is a misnomer to talk about the Protection
of Manufactures ; that is not the thing we
want or need: it is the Protection of the Ag
riculture of the Country ! It is a furnish
ing to the surplus productions of that Agri
culture a market, a near market, a home
market, a large market!
Why, gentlemen, many of my friends and
neighbors in my own State have invested
their capital in Manufactures. Os course
they desire employment in this branch of
industry. But suppose they do not get it:
cannot they turn their capital into other
channels, into a thousand other pursuits to
morrow ? Are they shut out from all other
ways of living ? Do you suppose that the
Protection of this interest is as important to
them as to you. Is it as essential, as abso
lutely necessary to their interests as to
yoursl Not by ten thousand times! Y’ou
want a market for your productions. You
want consumers. You want open mouths
and unclad bodies to eat and drink and
wear the surplus productions you have pro
vided for them ! You want a home mar
ket, a steady demand for your Agricultur
al products. And this is, and must be,
furnished by the commercial classes, the
sea-faring classes, and all other classes of
non producers. Now, gentlemen, I cer
tainly admit that those who have invested
their capital in Manufactures have a great
iuterest at stake, and it is just that they
should have secured by law a reasonable
protection to that interest. But I do also
insist, in spite of all the sophistry and all
the folly (as I must call it) of this age—and
this age is full of sophistry and folly on this
subject—that the great thing to be looked
for is, that we have at home a demand for
the surplus products of our Agriculture,
and, on the other side, a home demand for
the products of Manufacturing industry.—
This neighborly exchange it is, this sup
plying our own wants from city to city,
from village to village, from house to house,
this, this it is which is calculated to make
us a happy and a strong people.
Now there is on this subject, especially
among our bretheren at the South, a strange
infatuation. They are respectable—rea
sonable men—candid men, in some res
pects—in most respects : and yet see how
they-reason upon this subject. Gentlemen,
I belong to Massachusetts. I have taken
the pains to inquire what sum of money
Massachusetts pays to Virginia and Caroli
na, to say nothing of New York, every
year for their agricultural products : and it
amounts to several millions. If we take
the Eastern part of Virginia, and the East
ern part of North Carolina, what have they
for sale but agricultural products purcha
sed by the manufacturing ana commercial
classes of Hew England ? Nothing on the
face of the earth —and we pay them many
millions. Does England take their grain ?
Certainly not: and yet, owing to causes
which it would be easy to explain ifit were
proper, owing to prejudice, owing their pe
culiar notions—for notions ore quite as
common there as in New England, though
New England is the ‘land of notions!’—
there is a perfect reprobation of any idea
of protection giving them any sale for their
agricultural products, although they find,
day by day, that we buy and pay them for
their products by manufactures of the North
—and it is the only tiling they got a dollar
for: and are ready to drive us into raising
corn and agricultural products for our
selves—they being agricultural, and find
ing the article continually becoming chea
per, and no persons except ustobu v oftliem!
Now that's a strong case—though perfect- |
ly true of Eastern Virginia and of Nortli j
Carolina.
Why, gentlemen, 1 live on the sandy sea
shore of Massachusetts, and I get along as
well as 1 can. lam u very poor farmer
upon a great quantity of very poor land.—
But my neighbors ami I, by very great care
—1 hardly know how—continued to live
on. We pay for what we purchase ; though,
for my life, 1 could hardly tell how ; this
only I know, they all get paid in some way.
And yet these men complain that we do not
raise what we want ourselves, but buy of
them ! There seems to bo much truth in
an old saying, that “Maxims which have a
seeming sense take firmer hold, and endure
longer in the mind, than those which are
founded on nature and experience.” Men
like dogmas ; they like theory. Iftheycan
pick up or scrape together a string of apo
thegms or enigmas—the fact and truth and
all the human talent in the world can ne
ver argue them out of them. Equal delu
sions prevail in other parts of the country,
as, for instance, the notion that protection
to manufactures is a thing peculiarly bene
ficial to those engaged in those pursuits
Far from it. As 1 have said, the capital of
Massachusetts can go to commerce, or can
! goto fanning. But what can he do, whose
, farm is his sole estate, but till it ? Can lie
i transport it or go into other pursuits? The
! fact is, protection to this ciass of society is,
next to the beneficence of Hoaven, whose
sun shines and whose rains fall upon us,
the highest object, the most absolute neces
sity to those who cultivate the land, and
raise from it more than suffices for the wants
of themselves and their families.
Now, gentlemen, we are Americans.—
We have a vast country, a variety of cli
mate, and various pursuits. We have ag
ricultural States, and we have plantation
States. We have manufacturing interests
and commercial interests. And our busi
ness is not to array our various interests in
to a belligerent and hostile state, not to in
flame our own passions or the passions of
others concerning the measures of govern
ment for the protection of our own particu
lar interests ; —but let us make the whole
a great national, I may say a family con
cern. We should not aim to produce the
impression that one interest is set against
another, but that we all go for those laws
and measures which will be most condu
cive to the general good. We should re
member that we are citizens of the United
States; that as such we are interested in
the United States and in every State, —that
we are interested in the concerns of all
classes and of every class ; and 1 do firmly
believe that moderation, and wisdom, and
perseverance, and truth, and reason, will
ultimately prevail over all the influences
which seem to separate the interests of one
class fro'm those of another.
Why, what I have said in relation to the
necessities or wants of agriculture, is strict
l v true with regard to our brethren of the
South engaged in the Plantation interest.
The first market for their cotton, and the
best market, is with the Northern and New
England manufacturers of that article, and
it is absolutely astonishing that this is not
perceived. The North takes one third of
their cotton, and that the first third, and fix
es the price ;it is sold with small charge
for freight, and still brings a high price.—
And l say it is absolutely astonishing that
those whose living depends on the produc
tion and sale of this article, should riot -see
to what an extent it depends upon the man
ufacture and consumption of the article in
our own country. These truths—these el
ements o f political economy, are as true
on the James river and in Alabama as here;
and let popular prejudice be informed, and
kind feeling mark all discussions of the
subject, and we shall come to see how much
our happiness and honor depend upon a
free, and just, and liberal intercourse a
mong ourselves.”
LOCOFOCO ELOQUENCE!! !
The Huron, Ohio, Reflector, gives the
following verbation report of the “Speech”
of General Brinekerhoff, the Locofoco nom
inee for Congress in the Lorian and Huron
District. It breathes the very soul of elo
quence:
“Gentlemen, I return you my thinks for
my nomination for your member of Con
gress. Gentlemen, I don’t pretend I’ve got
much learning ; 1 make no pretensions,
gentlemen. Gentlemen, I’m no speech
maker; I’m a plain honest man ; that ain’t
my business, gentlemen. Gentlemen, my
business is for to hold the plow. Gentle
men, ifyou elect me, gentlemen, I shall
serve to the best of my abilities ; I shall be
in favor of Democratic measures, gentle,
men. [Applause.] Gentlemen, I’m in fa
vor of harbors and piers, gentlemen. They
make the farmer’s produce; such things
brings a fair price, gentlemen. Gentle
men, I’m in favor oftariffs—[Here the wire
pullers scowled, and the orator continued,]
but, gentlemen, I’m not in favor of a Whig
tariff; I ain’t in favor of a tariff to protect
and build up manyfacters, but I’m in fa
vor of sich a tariff as’ll give the farmers a
fair chance. [Tremendous applause.]
I’m in favor of the independent sub treas
ury ; I shall vote for it, if it’s introduced a
gain ; maybe it will be altered some, but I
shall vote for it if the democracy wants it.
I’m in favor of Martin Van Buren, 1 know’d
him in 1822, as long ago as that, gentlemen,
in the State of New York, which we both
came from. He is my political and per
sonal friend, gentlemen. VVe was acquain
ted when he was the Governor in New
York. 1 kaow’d him in the Convention,
gentlemen —I*mean the convention that
formed the Constitution of the State of New
York, which we reside in. Martin Van Bu
ret) is a dimocrat, gentlemen ; I consider
him a dimocrat. [Applause, with the ago
ny piled very high.] I consider him a man
of talents. 1 consider him a very talented
man. We always was friends, and I con
sider that lie’s a man that’s in favor of his
country, and will ho next President. [Un
limited and indescribable manifestations of
applause.]
Gentlemen, I am against a United States
Bank ; Martin Van Buren is against a Uni
ted States Bank. I know’d Martin Van
Buren when he was Secretary of Slate un
der General Jackson, and when he was
President of these United States, and Vice
President, and Foreign Minister to Europe,
and likewise Senator of the United States
and of the State of New York. [Here the
Speaker paused, either to commune with
himself, or expecting applause ; but his au
dience were silent, except a few near the
door, who shuffled their feet a little, and he
proceeded.] Gentlemen, lam in favor of
the independent subtreasury, and the far
ming interests of our country. I concur
entirely in harbors If you elect me to the
Congress halls of ourcountrv, 1 shall serve
you to the best of abilities. I return you
my thinks, gentlemen, for your kindness
and I—l thank you for listening to my
speech.” [Whooping, stamping, clapping,
&c.]
Col. Johnson’s reputation, as is well
known rests mainly on two alledged ex
ploits;—one in having written the famous
Sunday Mail report, and the other in hav
ing killed ‘Tecutnseh.’ He has accom
plished minor achievements which lend a
shade of brightness (if the bull be allowa
ble,; to his character : but these are the two
great facts on which his fame is principal
ly based. With reference to the first a
chievement it is stated in Southern papers
that the original draft of that Sunday mail
Report of which Col. Johnson was the re
puted author, was found among the papers
of the late Dr. Cooper. Thus fades one
half of the Colonel’s glory. The other is
disposed of by a correspondent, who men
tions a fact we have never seen before, and
the accuracy of which we have no means of
determining, as follows :
“ Allow me to relate an anecdote which
was communicated to me a short time since
by an old inhabitant and early settler of O
hio ; whose veracity and general intelli
gence are beyond questionable doubt. He
says at the battle of the Thames when Col.
Johnson was wounded, he was brought into
the town of Urbana, in a state of much ex
haustion and pain from his wound, and
immediately placed under medical assis
tance and advice. Owing to a weakness,
which would naturally prevail under such
circumstances, the Colonel became very
much alarmed for his life and fancied that
he would certainly die—calling around him
those who were near and giving instructions
relative to the disposition of his effects and
the iutermentof his body. The state of the
Colonel’s mind was communicated to a wag
about the place at the time, who immedi
ately repaired to the Colonel’s sick bed and
told him he must abandon the foolish and
absurd notion of and) ing then—iliat the very
idea was ridiculous and absurd—that the
country could not spare him—that the ser
vices of a man of his courage and bravery
could not be dispensed with—that he had
killed Tecumseh the greatest Indian war
rior that ever lived, and that he must still
live to receive the reward of his labor and
enjoy the fame of his achievement. Now
this man says he concocted tire story and
told it to Col. Johnson only for the purpose
of animating his his spirits and inspiring
with fresh hopes of recovery, and he says
the effect was perfectly magical when he
told him he was the hero of Tecurnseh’s
death.” N. Y. Tribune.
Fisher Ames. —The following passage
from the Biography ofFisher Ames, by the
late President Kirkland, is worthy of being
printed in letters of gold. Would that it
could be read and regarded, as its impor
tance demands, by every young man in this
country :
‘•When vice approaches the youthful
mind, in the seductive form of a beloved
companion, the ordeal becomes threatning
and dangerous in the extreme. Few pos
sess the prudence and unyielding firmness
requisite to pass it in safety. Those who
have been accurately observant to the de
pendence of one part of life on another, will
readily concur with us that Ames’ future
character derived much of its lustre, and
his fortunes much of their elevation, from
the untainted purity and irreproachable
ness of his youth. Masculine virtue is as
necessary to real eminence as a powerful
intellect. He that is deficient in either
will never, unless from the influence of for
tuitous circumstances, be able to place and
maintain himselfat the bead of society.—
He may rise and flourish for a time, but
his fall is as certain as his descent to the
grave. He who holds parley with vice and
dishonor is sure to become their slave and
victim. That heart is more than half cor
rupted that does not burn with indignation
at the slightest attempt to seduce it.”
Col. Johnson stands the regularly nomi
nated candidate of the Locofoco party in
Kentucky for the Presidency of the United
States. In his late letter to the Indiana
committee he says that a protective tariffis
one of the leading tenets of the Democrat
ic creed. Now, do not the Locofoco papers
in this state exhibit a queer spectacle when
they avow themselves the Colonel’s zeal
ous advocates, and yet daily denounce a
tariff ol protection as a wholesale system of
Whig thievery, rapine, and plunder ?
THE SUB-TREASURY AND THE
LOCO FOCO PARTY.
The Sub-Treasury is now called a Re
publican measure by the Loco Foco party,
and all who oppose it are denounced as
Federalists when, but a few years ago, the
Sub-Treasury was denounced by that par
ty as a Federal measure. Thus showing
that whatever measure they advocate, how
ever Federal it may he, is purely Repub
lican. And whatever measure the Whigs
advocate, however Republican it may be,
is denounced by that party as a Federal
measure.
When Gen. Gordon, of Virginia, first
introduced the Sub-Treasury into Congress,
it was opposed by the whole Loco Foco par
ty ; and only supported by a few Whigs.—
But it was not only opposed by the whole
Loco Foco party, but was denounced by all
the presses of that party at that time, and
by a large number after it was recommen
ded by Mr. Van Buren. In 1834 the
VVashington Globe, which decides the or
thodoxy or heterodoxy of every measure,
for the Loco Foco party, spoke of the Sub-
Treasury in the following language :
“ The proposition [the Sub-Treasury] is
disorganizing and revolutionary, subver
sive of the fundamental principles of our
government, and its entire practice from
1789 down to this day. It is as palpable
as the sun, that the effect of the [Sub-Treas
ury]scheme would be to bring the public
treasure much nearer the actual ‘custody
and control of the President, than it is now,
and expose it to be plundered by a hundred
hands, where one cannot now reach it I!”
At the time the above was written, the
Globe could much better form an opinion
than now, for at that time it was not a par
ty measure. But now the opinion of the
Globe must bn biased, by the committal
of Mr. Van Buren and the party of which it
is the head, for that measure. Thus show
ing that what the Globe considered the
rankest Federalism in 1834. it now consi
ders thi’ purest Republicanism. What did
Thomas Ritchie say when it first recom
mended by Mr. Van Buren ? He denoun
ced it in the most unmeasured terms. It is
fresh in the minds of almost every one in
the State. Mr. Ritchie said :
“ We objected to the sub. Treasury sys
tem, so called, that in the first place, it will
enlarge the Executive power, already too
great for a Republic ; 21dy, that it contri
butes to endanger the security of the public
funds —and 3d Iy, that it is calculated to
produce two currencies ; a base one for the
people, and a better one for the Govern
ment. The more we reflect on the matter,
the more we read the speeches of the ora
tors on both sides, the more firmly are we
satisfied of the strength of these objections.
There is no security in it, and it will in
volve heavy and unnecessary expense.”
And what did Mr. Van Buren’s organ at
Albany, the Albany Argus, say when it
was introduced by Gen. Gordon ? It de
nounced it as the deepest kind of Federal
ism. That paper of all others, spoke near
est the sentiments of Mr. Van Buren. The
Argus said :
“ The germ of the sub-Treasury system
ts founded in a report of Alexander Hamil
ton, [that great Federalist,] to Congress in
1790. It was not a Republican measure
then ; on the contrary, it was denounced by
the friends of the Administration ; the pro
fessed followers of Jefferson, and by those
too, who are now so vociferous in its fa
vor.”
At this time every one of these papers
calls the sub-Treasury a Republican meas
ure ; and calls the Whigs Federalists
because they oppose it. According to the
opinion of the Argus it must be more Fed
eral than a National Bank, being recom
mended by the rankest Federalist (Alexan
der Hamilton) the United States ever pro
duced. Now, what reliance can be placed
in a party which changes its tests of Re
publicanism almost every year? Making
some men who have never changed, at one
time Republicans and at another time Fed
eralists.—Lynchburg Virginian.
ON DOMESTIC REFORM.
I believe vve are beginning to find out the
folly of making sacrifices to keep up ap
pearance. The credit of a man of business
is now strengthened if he resides in a house
plainly furnished, is frugal in his living,
manages to save a penny, make a decent
appearance without the aid if fashionable
extravagance, does nothing for effect, and
makes no costly entertainment. How dif
ferent it was in 1836. It was a furious
contest for extravagant and costly rivalry.
If one man in business hired a large house
and furnished splendidly, another caught
the infection, hired a larger house and fur
nished it more splendidly than his neighbor;
and thus competition, rivalry and fashion
able opposition involved great outlays;
failure followed failure, and in a short time
they crowded close upon each other in the
list of bankrupts. It is incredible how evil
examples are closely imitated. If my
neighbor no betteroff than myself, lives ex
travagantly, sees company, gives good din
ners, and keeps a fast trotter, I am in a
measure restless and discontented till I can
do the same; the contagion spreads—we
are all in the infected district, all have a
touch of the disease, all take the same me
dicine, and all are equally prostrated.—
Now if we are more disposed to imitate
what is worthy of imitation, economy, pro
priety, comfort without ostentation, simpli
city in living, plainness of manners, and
absence of all prideand self-sufficienv, how
much better we should be offin the world.
When shall the reform commence ? We
answer now from this very moment. Bet
ter times prevail: say what we will we
have better times. Confidence is begin
ning to be restored ; what business is done,
is done with less profit it is true, but with
more security; it is difficult to earn the
silver dollar, yet, with ordinary manage
ment, it will go farther and provide much
more than it did in 1836. Let us improve
the present by introducing everywhere a
rigid economy and save a sixpence whenev
er we can do so. Let us begin by discard
ing everything looking like show and osten
tation ; let us study comfort and give up
luxuries. — Major Noah.
SINGULAR SALT DEPOSITORY.
An Officer ofthe U. S. Dragoons, writing
from Waclnta river,'Aug. 5, gives the fol
la wing statement of the salt plain of the
prairies, which we copy from the Cincinnati
Gazette:
“ About 200 miles from Fort Gibson we
came to the great salt plain, riiis was
one object of our journey, and the sight was
truly gratifying. The “bed of the river (the
Nescutunga) was widened being near 0
miles in width, and 10 in length ; the river
running by one side of it, through a small
channel in the sand, while this upper plain
throughout was covered by a crust of salt
as white as snow. We approached it thro’
sand hills, and when within 4 or 5 miles of
it, the plain looked like an immense salt
lake which had dried up and left the salt
in its bed. We found the salt to have a lo
cal origin. It comes to the river in a creek
which is very salt. This overflows the
plain and leaves the water to crystalize on
the surface. Heavy rains will wash the
salt away ; but the overflow from the creek
comes at the same time to bring more salt
water for chrystalization. At this point we
first began to find Buffalo.
Within 2 days’ journey of the Great salt
plain we came to the Salt Rock, as it is cal
led. VVe found it to be in the bed of the
Semirone, a stream south of the one of the
great plain is on, and is an immense spring
of salt water, rising at the base of a high
clay hill, and boils up over a space of ICO
acres, chrystalizing as fast as it reaches the
surface, forming a rock of salt all ovpr the
cove, so hard that wc broke one mattock in
vain attempts to get a mass of it. The
holes where the water comes out are lined
as far down as the arm could reach.
■’ ‘ j
Influence of Knowledge. —The Danville
Tribune says that several of the leading
Locofocos of Adair county opposes the com
mon school system avowedly on the ground
that it would cause all the youth to grow up
Whigs\ We cannot but admit that there
is very good ground for their apprehensions.
If any Locofoco wishes his child to grow up
in his own politics, he had better keep the
little fellow’s mind as dark as a wolf’s
mouth.— Louisville Journal.
That odd fish Parson Brownlow, the ed
itor ofthe Jonesborough Whig, has the fol
lowing queer announcement in his last pa
per:—“Flour wanted at this office a little
of the worst ! It is rather too strong to let
a printer and his crew starve in a country
where there is a boat load of flour due him,
and from persons, 100, whom have the article
by them.’ Whigs may do the like, but the
measure is democratic !”
You want a Tariff to protect all inter
ests, you say, and to afford adequate yet
not excessive Revenue. All right,sir: the
present is just such a tariff as you describe
in every respect, and imposes much lower
duties on most articles than those voted for
by Van Buren, Wright, Benton, Dickerson,
&c., in 1828. That it does not injure com
merce or diminish revenue, the state of the
country and of the Treasury abundantly
proves. Then what are you growling at ?
IV. Y. Tribune.
Dreadful Explosion !—We learn from a
passenger who came up last night in the
steamboat South America, that a powder
mill, at High Falls, about 7 miles west
from Cattskill, was blown up yesterday af
ternoon, about 5 o’clock. There were six
persons in the building at the time of the
explosion, all ofwliom were blown to a
torns ? Some 300 kegs of powder are said
to have been in the mill when the accident
occurred. The foreman was indisposed,
and the person having charge of the pack
ing, and drying house is supposed to have
been intoxicated The report of the explo
sion excited considerable alarm at Cattskill,
many taking it for an earthquake. A sim
ilar accident occurred at the same place
three or four years ago, when four persons
were killed.— Alb. Evening Journal, 4th
inst.
Melancliolly Accident. —On the evening
of the 6th inst. Mr. Thomas 11. Pratt, of
this county, was accidentally shot by a pis
tol, while walking out ashort distance from
his house by himself. He was holding it
at the time, when it was discharged, and
its contents lodged in his body just above
the hip. He was able to reach a house
nearby, but died a few hours after. Ver
dict of the Coroner, “Accidental death.”—
Mr. Pratt was an Englishman by birth, a
Painter by trade, and an honest and indus
trious man.— Macon Messenger.
INSECTS AND THEIR YOUNG.
The dragon-fly is an inhabitant of the
air, and could not exist in water; yet in
this last element, which is alone adapted for
her young, she ever carefully drops her
eggs. The larvte of the gad-fly are des
tined to live in the stomach ofthe horse.—
How shall the parent a two-winged fly,
convey them thither ? By a mode truly
extraordinary. Flying round the animal,
she commonly poises her body for an in
stant, while she glues a single egg to one. of
the hairs of his skin, and repeats this pro
cess, until she has fixed, in a similar way,
many hundred eggs. These, after a few
days, on the application of the slightest
moisture attended by warmth, hatch into
little grubs. Whenever, therefore, the
horse chances to lick any part of his body
to which they are attached, the moisture of
the tongue dislodges one or more of the
grubs, which, adhering to it by means of
the saliva, are conveyed into the mouth, and
thence find their way into the stomach.—
But here a question occurs to you. It is
but a small portion ofa horse’s body that he
can reach with his tongue—what, you ask,
becomes of the eggs deposited on other
parts ? I will tell you how the gad-fly a
voids this dtlema ; and I will then ask you
if she does not discover a provident fore
thought, a depth of instinct which almost
casts Into the shade the boasted mason,
man. She places her eggs Only on thosyu
parts of the skin which tho horse is
reachwi.h his tongue; nay,she confines theV
utmost exclusively to the knee or shoulder
which he Is sure to lick. What could the
most precise adaption of means to an end do
more ?— Kirby and Spence's Introduction to ■
Entomology.
c o m mUnTc ationT
FOR THE NEWS (Si PLANTERS’ GAZETTE.
IMPORTANT DECISION.
John Griffith, 1 Trespass for killing a
vs. > Slave; tried at Elbert
Leroy Cleveland. J Superior Court,
September Term, 184,'i-r'^
The facts in this case were thest/: The
Plaintiff being in Madison county , was pos.
sessed of a valuable negro majti, who ran
away from him in the month of June, $42,
and after wandering about in that and tho
surrounding counties, was killed in Elbert
county iii the following manner.—ln No
vember, 1842, Leroy Cleveland went to a
cabin in Elbert county, where this runa
way slave frequently met other negroes and
danced. Upon his coming to the door of
the cabin, the negro <jif Griffith’s stepped
dancing and rushed towards the door wifi *
his hands upraised, not for the purpose of
striking, but to escape more readily. Be
ing checked in his course at the door, the
negro rushed back and seizing a large
butclier-knife usually carried by him,
jumped out of a window in the rear of the
cabin and fled. While fleeing and utter
ing threats of murder if stopped, Leroy
Cleveland, the Defendant, who pursued,
shot the negro, and killed him. It was pro
ven besides upon the trial, that the negro’s
character was very bad. Col. Lumpkin
contended, that upon this state of facts, De
fendant was liable for the full value ofthe
slave.
In support of his position, he read from
Ist Nott & McCord, p. 183, Witsell vs.
Earnest and another, where Defendant’s
were held liable upon this statement of
facts. Earnest and Parker having been
greatly annoyed by depredations commit
ted upon the property of their employer,
went to the plantation of a Mrs. Witsell to
hunt runaway slaves. Prior to starting
upon the search they loaded their guns.
Upon reaching the plantation of Mrs. Wit
sell, they suddenly started a runaway, who
immediately fled to a swamp. The runa
way was killed by them while in flight be
fore reaching the swamp. ’ Judge Colcock,
with whom all the Judges concurred, deci
ded this case thus: Afier reciting the va
rious statutes of South Carolina relative to
slaves and bearing upon the case, before
him, he remarked, “ In all other respects
whether considered as persons or chattels,
the law applies to them. The Defendant’s
cannot be justified by the Common Law if
we consider the negro as a person ; for they
were not clothed with authority of Law to
apprehend him as a felon, and without
such authority he could not lawfully be
killed while fleeing from them. The kill
ing then not being justified by statute or
common law, the Plaintiff has sustained an
injury in the loss of his property
titled to compensation.” Col. L. retferred
to the different statutes relative to slaves
arid showed conclusively no authority
could be derived fiom them to kill a negro,
running from any one. not guilty of a crime.
Ist. He pointed to 12th Sec.of Constitution,
Pr. Dig. p. 913, inflicting the same punish,
ment upon persons killing or dismembering
slaves, maliciously, as would be inflicted
on white persons, except in case of insur
rection, and unless death of slave happen
in giving moderate correction.
2d. To 65th Sec. Penal Code, Pr. Dig.
p. 624, reciting that killing a slave in the
act of revolt, or where the slave forcibly re
sists a legal arrest, shall be justifiable hom
icide.
3d. To 297th Sec- of Penal Code, Pr.
Dig. p. 656, where it is enacted that the
owner of a slave may re”over in a civil suit
damages of any persons wounding such
slaves without sufficient provocation.
4th. To Sec. 35th of Statutes relative to
slaves and free persons of color, where l*.is
enacted that any person may apprehend a
slave armed and found out of his master’s
premises and after disarming whip him.
sth. To 15th Sec. of same Statute, en
acting that a slave found out of his mas
ter’s premises alone, and refusing to be ex
amined by any white person, shall be pur
sued, taken, and moderately corrected. —
Col. L. here argued, after reading the fore
going authorities, that the slave in question
was running away from his pursuer with
all his speed, was not in a state of insurrec
tion or revolt; was not forcibly resisting
an arrest, and had given the slayer no suf
ficient provocation to take life ; and there
fore, the Defendant could not be justified by
our Statutes.
Col. L. said, that at Common Law, an
officer with a warrant to apprehend could
not for a misdemeanor be justified in kill
ing a fugitive, nor could he be justified in
killing to execute any civil process what
ever.
After proving that by no part of the com
mon law could Defendant be justified, and
that the statues which made slaves chattels
gave no licence to kill negroes merely be
cause they were runaways. Col. L. con
cluded with an eloquent appeal to thfjury
to check, by their verdict, the course of
those men in our country, who regarded
slaves as of no more consequence than
stocks and stones.
Col. B. F. Hardiman, Counsel for De
fendant, who offered no evidence, contend
ed without producing any authority, that
the very character of the slave ; his being
armed; his repeated threats to kill any
white man who should arrest him; thf
threats made by him while in flight; thr
dangerous example set by him ;
influence upon slaves in the neighbor;’a>
seducing them from their obedience;
language repeatedly used by him in rela
