Newspaper Page Text
MR. WEBSTER’S SPEECH.
A tremendous mooting of the Whigs of
Canton, convened in the “Old Cradle of
Liberty,” Eanucl Hall, on the 9th instant,
to receive the Massachusetts Delegation on
their return from the Baltimore Conven
tion. Among the speakers on the occasion,
was the Hon. Daniel Webster. We have
► not room to give his remarks entire, and
therefore, content ourselves with the
Billowing extracts:
W Gentlemen, I think there can be no doubt !
that the proceedings of the Baltimore Con
vention were such as, in their great re
sults, both do, and ought to gratify the
Whigs of the whole country. (Applause.)
In regard to the nomination for the first
office, the convention had nothing—or, at
least, but little—else to do, than to give ut
terance to the general, 1 may say universal,
feeling which had taken possession of the
public mind. It was not necessary for any
one there, neither is it necessary for me,
here, to enlarge in the discussion of the pro
priety of that nomination.
I do not come among yon to-night to ex
tol the oliaract^rof. the ocr.tlcman who iias
JhokfrsefecTed as the” Whig candidate for
President. I have already said that the .
nomination meets my entire ami hearty ap
probation. (Cheers.; 1 come neither
To praise, to commend Henry Clay
For nte, who have spoken so often, here
and elsewhere, my opinion of the merits of
him whom the Whigs have selected as their
candidate, without—so fur as my know],
edge extends—a dissenting voice, for me to
praise him were indeed
“ Wasteful and ridiculous excess.”
And as to burying him, gentlemen, howev
er appropriate that may be to those who are
his competitors, it is very inappropriate to
him. (Great laughter and cheering.)
1 concur with equally sincere gratifica
tion, gentlemen, with the nomination for
Vice-President. (Applause.) I hardly
dare venture to speak of the gentleman na
med for this office, because, besides my
great respect for him as a public man, be
sides my high regard for his public virtues
and public services, I cherish a particular,
I may say an affectionate, esteem for the
\ - “‘ r - -)JU>U ngrtvate chjfacter, for all
to.,c- iirtues which adorn lis private life.
(Obeers.
Gt .Hitmen, our candidates arc now be
°ilre before as under auspi
perfect union, so far ass know, and
11 i 2—-Y question which remains f
• consider is, whether bv ‘ „ ours a
reasonable w- j-metous effort—We can e
wicdl.
With regard to the candidate for Vice- j
President, it has the entire concurrence of
the party. No doubt Massachusetts would
have been gratified, if the gentleman whose
name she sent to the convention had been
chosen, and if the good of the cause had al
lowed that body in its conscience and dis
cretion to select the gentleman whom this
State had recommended. But, as has been :
remarked, there were several candidates;
and for one I can only say, that they all
were worthy, and that whoever had been
selected would have received my hearty
support.
*■*■** *
Now, gentlemen, our candidates being
before tiie people, t he question naturally
“cefifes’ up, what are we to do ? The field
is open—the career is before us. What
remains for us to do, in order to accomplish
our own wishes and the desire of our whole
party ?
Gentlemen, the first pledge of our com
ing success is our own union. A union of
purpose, a union of action.
Next, gentlemen, to the good omen we
have in this our own union, is that which is
nearly as advantageous for us, though not
so good for our adversaries—the notorious
disunion in their ranks. It is quite certain
that the party opposed to us is broken into
fragments, and undecided which way to
look. But we may not rely too much on
this discord of theirs. They have among
them strong principles of cohesion, and we
do not know what glue and putty and plas
ter may do to bring the party together a
gain. (Laughter.)
1 am happy to say that during iny polit
ical life, I have known no time when the
great principles of the Whig party, which
I consider the cardinal principles of good
government, were so generally received by
Whigs in all parts of the country as now.
(Applause.) I will allude to but one of
these—a just and reasonable protection of
American industry in raising a revenue ;
in other words, a Tariff. (Great cheering.)
Now, gentlemen, I feel much respect for
the Whigs of the South for the nationality
of sjtejjwit they have manifested upon this
t nl them for
for
eracy ? Clearly to support the men we
have chosen as fit to carry out our princi
ples, with our hearts and our hands—to
slacken not our efforts till we see the day—
which we confidently believe will arrive—
when the peopleofthe whole country shall
ratify the nominations just made by their
representatives. (Tremendous applause.)
* * * * * +
Fellow.citizens, in my opinion, the great
principles of the federal constitution and
the real interests of the country received a
shock sixteen years ago, in the election of
| General Jackson to the Presidency, from
which it is but just recovering. (Great j
cheering.) It is hardly too much to say !
that he caused a revolution, (Renewed ap
plause,)—l do not so mean in the strict
sense of the word, —but 1 do mean to say
that by the strength of his determination,
by the force of his iron will, which would
submit to no counsel, by the principles he
carried into his cabinet, by the opinions to
which he adhered and on which iie acted,
pretty much in defiance of law arid the con
stitution—he did much to unhinge the lib
erty and destroy the well-being of the re
public. His doctrines tended directly to
i the subversion of all free government. He
pronounced distinctly that he was the only
representative of the whole American peo
‘ple. Where did he learn that doctrine ?
The constitution speaks of no sole repre
sentation of the people—it speaks of the
President as no representative at all. The
people choose their representatives them
selves by states and in districts ; our whole
fabric of government is a limited system,
and when any one man takes it upon him
self to say he is the whole representation of
the people, he means just what Gen. Jack
soudid. And what did he mean? I will
not say he did not mean to govern well—as
he understood the matter (laughter) —but
he meant to govern at any rate. No will
but his own should have any effect. This
was his idea, and while the constitution
speaks of checks and balances, his idea, his
understanding was that his single depart
mentof government embraced Mid absorbed
all the others. (Plaudits.)-
I think the country returning from
this doctrine. Certainly, no one now pre
tends to walk in the footsteps of General
Jackson, with his own gigantic strides,
(laughter and cheers,) and I therefore in
cline to the belief, that we are coming back
to a just review of the various relations of
government, and to a reasonable consider
ation of its powers and duties. (Much
, , , , , -...0 point no
plause.) But I will
r.
The Whigs have selected their candi- j
dates and presented them to the people.— j
The principles they profess and will main
tain, are consistent with those which the
W hig party has maintained up to the pre
sent time. And what change do we want
in those principles ? We see, under their
influence when they are carried out, all in
terests of the country springing up fresh
and budding, like the shrubs and the plants
and the flowers, under the genial ministry
; of spring, putting forth their shoots luxuri
antly, and bearing abundant fruit. What
need, therefore, of change from these prin
ciples and these effects? Why not con
tinue tosupport such principles and enjoy
such fruits undisturbed by new agitations,
j unseduced by novel experiments ? (Cheers)
As 1 have said, we can elect both our
candidates. (Vociferous applause.) It is
r.ot in the chapter of probabilities, hardly
in that of accidents, tlia! they can be bea
ten. Whether one or ihc other of the gen
tlemen spoken of as opposing candidates
shall be run against us, or whether they
shall all unite in a joint team, that team is
sure of defeat. (Cheers.) Let us, rejoice,
then, in the prospect before us. Blessed
by Providence with personal good health,
with prosperity in business, with bright
hopes for the laboring and industrial clas
ses. and with a certainty of success in the
political contest to come—l beg to ask what
is there which should not inspire us with
joy ?
Gentlemen, I wish once more, on this
public occasion, to signify my hearty con
currence in all the ptoceedings of the Bal
timore Convention. (Enthusiastic ap
plause.) And I pledge myself, my char
acter, to exert whatsoever influence I may
1 possess to carry into effect the nominations
I of that body ; to sustain the men who will
| uphold the principles of the Whig party— ;
that party which I regard as the true A
tnerican party of the revolution and for all
corning ages—nay, which I look upon as
holding in its hands all that makes us great
at home, or respected by foreign nations.
Removal of an Ancient Deposite.—Con
siderable excitement and curiosity was
created among our citizens, a few days
past, by an excavation recently made in
the large mound near East Macon, about
half a mile from the city. It is about six
feet in diameter and ten feet deep. In the
ifittom of it, when first discovered, was the
Ifcybrm of a box of 15 to 18 inches
M&fhc digging was undoubtedly
ngfcht ; and it was discovered
Bfe were perfectly frr■ h
LETTER OF GEN. CASS.
To the Editor of the Globe.
Washington, May 16,1844 j
Sir : The following letter having been i
submitted to my disposal, 1 ask you to give j
it an immediate publication in your paper. ,
I run satisfied that you will take pleasure j
in complying with this request, that the i
public may be apprised of the sentiments of :
another distinguished democrat upon the in
teresting subject to which the letter refers.
Your compliance will much oblige yours, j
C %
W. T. COLQUITT.
Detroit,* May 10, 1844.
Dear Sir : In answer to your inquiry,
whether I am favorable to the immediate
annexation of Texas to the United States,
I reply that 1 am. As you demand my
opinion only on this measure, and briefly
the reasons which influence me, I shall con
fine myself to these points.
I shall not dwell upon the policy of uni
ting coterminous countries, situated like
ours and Texas,with no marked geographi
cal feature to divide them, and with navi
gable streams penetrating the territory of
both ; nor upon the origin of die people who
inhabit them, upon their common language,
manners, religion, institutions, and, in fact,
their identity as a branch of her human
family. Nor shall I urge the material in
terests involved in the measure, by the free
intercourse it would establish between the
various sections of a vast country, mutual
ly dependent upon, and supplying one an
other. These considerations are so obvi
ous, that they need no elucidation from me.
But, in a military point of view, annexa
tion strikes me as still more important, and
my mind has been the more forcibly im
pressed with this idea from reading the a
ble letter of General Jackson upon tills sub
ject, which has just come under my obser
vation. With the intuitive sagacity which
makes part of the character of that great
man and pure patriot, he has foreseen the
use which a European enenij l, might make
of Texas in the event of war with the Uni
ted States. A lodgement in that country
would lay open our whole Southwestern
border to his devastations. We could es
tablish no fortress, nor occupy any favora
ble position ; for the immense frontier may,
in a vast many places, be crossed as readi
ly as a man passes from o 1 '” l la,v 1 >'-•
farm to another rr, “'‘ ai van tages an ac
—.„wy would enjoy under such ctr
cumstances, it requires no sagacity to fore
; tell.
j These considerations recall to my mem
| ory an article which made its appearance
j just before 1 left Europe, in a leading tory
periodical in England, which is understood
to speak the sentiments of a powerful party.
This is Frazer’s Magazine ; and a more
nefarious article never issued from a profli
gate press. It ought to be stereotyped and
circulated from one end of our country to
the other, to show the designs which are in
agitation against us, and to teach us that
our safety in that mighty contest which is
coming upon us, is in a knowledge of our
danger, and a determination, by union,and
by a wise forecast, to meet it, and defeat it.
The spirit of this article is sufficiently in
dicated by its title, which was, “a war with
the United States, a blessing to mankind.”
I cannot refer to it at this moment, but
must speak of it from recollection. I have
often been surprised it has not attracted
more attention in our country. Its object
was to provoke a war with the United
States, and to lay down the plan of a cam
paign, which would soonest bring it to a
fortunate conclusion for England. The
basis of this plan was the organization of
the necessary black force in the West lnd:a
Islands, and its debarkation upon our
Southern coast. The consequences which
our enemies fondly hoped for, in such a
case, hut with an entire ignorance of the
true state of the country, were foretold
with a rare union of philanthopy and ha
tred. I wish I had the number at hand, to
cull some choice passages for your reflec
tion. The result was to be the destruction
of the Southern States, the ruin or depres
sion of the others, ant] the dissolution of this
great and glorious confederacy, on which
the last hopes of freedom through the world
now rests.
What more favorable position could be
: taken for the occupation of English black
troops, and for letting them loose upon our
Southern States, than is offered by Texas ?
Incapable of resisting in the event of war
between us and England, she would be ta
ken possession ofby the latter, under one
or another of these pretences, which every
page of her history furnishes, and the terri
tory would become the depot whence she
would carry on her operations against us,
and attempt to add a servile war to the other
calamities which hostilities bring with
them. He who doubts whether this would
be done, has yet to learn another trait in
the annals of national antipathy. It would
be done, and be called philanthropy.
Every day satisfies me more and more,
that a majority of the American people are
in favor ofannexation. Were they not, the |
measure ought not to be effected. But as :
they are, the sooner it is effected the better.
the details of the negotiation.
responsibility of
m.n,st be i!:<
it.-, i “,
Ji
MM t ;i
mwk. ‘ :
From the Savannah Republican.
MR. CHAPPELL.
The address of this gentleman was re
ceived by us only two days ago, though we
have been apprised for more than a week of
its receipt by some of his immediate con
stituents. Why it has thus been withheld
from the press, we are not able to divine—
unless the author was convinced in his own
mind that it contained reflections upon the
doctrines and policy of the Whig party,
both in and out of the State, which would
excite tile most unpleasant feelings among
his old friends.
We have known his position to be equiv
ocal for months past, and after having care
fully observed his whole course in Con
gress, and endeavored to collect his opin
ions, from his speeches, his associations,
and finally from this address, we have con
cluded that Mr. C. himself is in about as
much doubt as we are in regard to his pre
sent position. 110 is certainly in a transi
tion state—his ultimate destiny however,
being probably much more apparent to the
lookers-on than to himself.
We heard an old and consistent Whig at
Milloageville last winter, regretting sin
cerely the wrong-headed position of Mr.
Chappell, on the question touching tiie right
to his seat in Congress, and when asked—
why so much concerned about so small a
matter?—he replied that, “he had never
known a person incorrigibly wrong in small
matters that did not soon run wild upon
great ones!” How strikingly has the re
sult proved the correctness of the observa
tion ! Mr. C. was then supposed to be a
little ultra in his Whig notions. lie had
just passed through a canvass, in which all
the cardinal principles of the Whig party
had been freely discussed, and in which the
tariff of 194” was openly and zealously de
fejidad by tiie Whig press—and to the ad
vocacy of which by Mr. Stephens in the
Cherokee counties, Mr. Chappell himself
was mainly indebted for his election ! If
Mr. C. iiad spoken a word against Whig
principles it was not known to the party
throughout the State. Had such been the
case his election would have been a moral
impossibility, for the Whigs of Georgia
have been taught by sad experience, always
to prefer an open enemy to a half-tonyfriend.
If Mr. C. then entertained such views, (and
he now avers he did,) it was his duty as an
honest politician, to make them known, or
. <o decline the candidacy tendered to him by
i the party, nu km... a.. „e ,t,„
| Whigs on the Tariff question just as well
then as now, and it is useless for him to at
tempt to get oft’under cover of the vote of
the Georgia Delegation in 1842. The ruse
dons not even possess the charm of original
ity. Colquitt, Cooper and Black, proved
the party to have changed four years since;
and Mr. C. will excuse the Whig Party of
Georgia for not submitting to be trundled
about like a foot ball. The feelings of the
people were in advance of the politicians
on this subject, as they were in the election
of Harrison in 18-10.
Mr. Chappell either knew this or ought
to have known it, and shaped his course ac
cordingly. Mr. Cs. peculiar views upon
the question we will revert to hereafter—
remarking here that we have no doubt the
present tariff'might be equalized by a cau
tious and well-informed Congress—but at
present the country wants quiet, it wants
uniformity of system, and it is hazardous to
change thus, on the eve of an excited elec
tion, when it is almost certain that the suc
cessful party will take the whole subject
into its own hands after the 4th of March,
1845.
O i the Texas question also, he professes
to differ from the Whigs, leaving us to un
derstand that on all other doctrines of the
party, he remains sound. Whether he will
hereafter discover that the Bank—the Land
Distribution—the one term principle, &c.
&c., are doctrines “ dangerous to the lib
erties of the people” and “ opposed to
Southern interests” or not, we are unable
to say. We think it highly probable from
the following paragraph:
“ Mr. Chappell says—‘ln spite of my
long entertained confidence in Mr. Clay,
and admiration of his chaiacter, I do not
like the position he seems now to occupy
on the Tariff question, nor will I disguise
that, my zeal in his cause has suffered a
batement by a close and anxious observa
tion of the political character and princi
pies of the great national party that must
come into power with him and impress its
policy on his administration.’ ”
After such a declaration of sentiment,
our readers will scarcely be less surprised
titan we have been, to see Mr. Chappell re
ported as one of the delegates from this State
at the Baltimore Convention—voting for the
nomination oj Mr. Clay !
We sincerely hope, on account of the re
spect which we have heretofore had for Mr.
C’s. character, that he was either not in the
Convention, or that there were circumstan
ces connected with his appearance there
which have not yet met the public eye,
and which may sustain his previous char
acter for frankness and singleness of pur
pose.
The Tariff. —The Charleston “ Mercury ”
of yesterday has the following notice of the
rejection of the Tariff bill and the “natural
allies of the South.”
“We have tiie finale of oromise and per
formance on the Tariff, in the proceedings
of the House on Friday. The new bill was
laid on the table by a majority of six—
nearly the same that defeated the resolu
tions of Rhett, Black and McDowell, in the
early part of the session. They blustered
and complained that we took those votes for
test votes, and promised that we should be
convinced of rashness and injustice. Still
promising—still giving pledges to the very
shinplaster banks, that keep
arc called on
good of
vor of retaining unmodified the present n
trocious Turiff, the Democratic caucus of
the New York Legislature issued their an
nual manifesto to their constituents.”
What they Can and. what they Can t. —
The following briefarticlo from the Louis
ville Journal expresses a great deal in a
small space, and characterises the Locofo
co party as truthfully as anything we have
seen. The Editor might have added, that
they could find authority,—not in the con
stitution, but in precedent,—to annex terri
tory to the United States, but none what
ever for improving what we have, or that
which they would add to it:
“It is a little remarkable that the Loco
foco leaders cannot find constitutional au
thority for any thing that is good, hut can
find an abundance of it for every thing that
is had. They cannot find constitutional
authority for making a bank—they cannot
find constitutional authority for opening
roads and improving rivers—they cannot
find constitutional authority for protection
and encouragement to American industry;
they cannot find constitutional authorty for
the distribution of the land money among
the States to which it belongs ; hut they can
find constitutional authority for a Rhode
Island rebellion—they can find constitu
tional authority for a leg-treasury and its
leg-treasurers—they t an find constitutional
authority for disfranchising a Stato of its
whole Congressional representation—they
can find constitutional authority for setting
at naught a law of Congress and creating
representatives in defiance of that law—
they can find constitutional authority for
obliterating a party leader—they can find
constitutional authority for trampling on
the right of petition—they can find consti
tutional authority for the annexation of a
foreign country to the Republic—they can
find constitutional authority for quartering
on the country a standing army 0f200,000
men—in short, they can find constitutional
authority for every enormity, moral, politi
cal or financial, that ever entered into the
imaginations of an unscrupulous party.”
From the Savannah Republican.
A few days since wo found it necessary
to contradict the story which some of our
opponents were endeavoring to set afloat in
this city, that Mr. Frelinghuysen was an
Abolitionist. Little did we suppose that at
the same moment, the Northern Democracy
•—liaTc in oiroulaticfn, flatly contradic
tory statements, all equally intended to af
fect the character of one of the purest and
most patriotic of American citizens.
Between this city and Charleston, by the
inland passage, there is a channel so crook
ed, that four times successively, eacli in the
space of,a single square mile, the pilot is
compelled to steer his vessel to every point
of the compass ! If our readers desire a
tangible illustration of the sinuosities of Lo
cofocoism, they need only take a short trip
to our neighboring city, during which the
Kinderhook policy will be most strikingly
illustrated.
Lest they may not find it convenient to
follow our udvice, we will give them a small
sample, which they can examine at their
leisure. Here it is :
From the Albany Evening Journal.
“ Theodore Frelinghuysen a Slavehold
er /”—We are done for ! Mr. Frelinghuy
sen is “ a used tip man.” The Emancipa
tor has finally extinguished the Whig Par
ty ! We have nominated a slaveholder for
Vice President! And if you don’t believe
it read what Mr. Leavitt, the Editor of the
Abolition Emancipator says :
‘ Mr, Frelinghuysen is still a New Jer.
soy Slaveholder. On this point we do not
speak with absolute certainty. We know
that within a few years he had upon his
hands an old woman who had been a slave
of his father, and whom he was maintain
ing in comfort, as it was just he should : but
nothing seemed to persuade him that ho
could he just, and just as kind to old aunty
after giving her free papers, as he was now.
None of his neighbors believed it necessa
ry for him to keep himself under the strip
gent coercion of the law to make him do
right in the matter, but he seemed to think
it best that this pious mother in Israel
should live and die a slave. Whether she
is still living, or whether Mr. F. has ceased
to be a slave holder by the irresistible pro
vidence ofGod, we are not advised.”
There it is, right out in meelin'! Mr.
Joshua Leavitt has exposed this wicked, a
bominable, inhuman Whig candidate for
Vice President, who, instead of allowing an
old woman who had been a slave of his fa
ther, to go with “free papers” to die in the
Poor House or starve in the streets, barbar
ously “ maintained her in comfort !” Oh
the monster! And yet the Whigs have
naminated a man for Vice President who
fed and clothed an old negro woman, in
stead of turning her, when too old to work,
friendless, helpless and destitute, upon the
world ! What will Alvin Stewart and Ger
rit Smith say to such “soul-killing” enor
mities?
Do that if you can ! —After an action be
tween an English and Dutch fleet, news ar
rived that peace had been made between the
two countries. Whereupon, the sailors of
the two fleets began to show off feats of agil
ity and strength, in a spirit of rivalry. A
Dutch sailor mounted to the cap of the main
mast ofa 74, and stood upright on his head.
No man, for a time, could be found on board
the English fleet capable of performing this
feat. At last an old Jack tar, who never
stood on his head in his life, says “ I’ll try
it, if I die for it.” His shipmates tried to
change his resolutions, but in vain. He
mounted to the cap of the mainmast of his
ship, turned upon his head and fell over.—
He was fortunate enough to catch by the
rigging, and strange to say, came upon the
deck alive. His comrades ran to pick him
up, but he shook them off, and hobbling to
the side of the vessel roared out to the Dutch
man—“ Do that! if you can.”
Conundrum. — Why is a dog
log like a hoy cyphering a
■ arithmetic ! Bucause he puts down
1
LUDICROUS POLITENESS.
Insincerity and extravagant adulation
often betray people into uttering the nio£
ridiculous absurdities quite unintentional
ly. A great rnun, addressing the House
of Lords, said “It is my most painful duty
to inform your Lordships that it has pleased
the Almighty to release the King from hu
sufferings.” This was equivalent to say.
ing that he was sorry the King’s sufferings
were over. A maid of honor, in France,
being asked the hour by her royal mistress,
obsequiously replied, “What your Mages
ty pleases an answer even less definite
titan that of the cow-boy who, after look
ing up at the town clock, said it was “only
half an inch past eight.” A nurse wishing
to give a very polite answer to a gentleman
who inquired after the health of a sick baby
entrusted to her care, said, “Oh sir, 1 flat
ter myself the child is going to die. A no
bleman told a visiter that he had been talk
ing to him iii a dream. “Pardon me ?” re
plied the other, “I really did not hear you.”
A lady of rank, having had the profession
al services ofa village piper at a little fete
which she had given on her estate, received
the following ridiculously civil note from
him:—“Your ladyship’s pardon for my
boldness in thus applying for payment,
would be almost a sufficient compensation
for the labor of your humble piper, Patrick
Walsh.’ Lord Clarendon, in his essay on
the decay of respect paid to old age, says,
that, in his younger days, he never kept
his hat on before those older than himself,
except at dinner. In the present day, the
wearing ofit at dinner would be thought
more disrespectful than at any other time.
George IV, when Prince of Wales, used to
return the bows of all persons in the streets
except beggars : He justified this omis
sion by remarking, that to return a beggar’s
bow without giving him anything would ho
a mockery, and to stop for the purpose of
bestowing a sixpence would seem ostenta
tious in a prince. Sir Robert Graham be
ing apprised that he had, by mistake, pro
nounced sentence of transportation on a
criminal who had been found guilty of a
capital offence, desired the man to be again
placed in the dock, and hastily putting on
the black cap, ho said “Prisoner at the bar,
1 beg your pardon,” and then passed on him
the awful sentence of death. A country
carpenter having neglected to make a gal
lows that had been ordered to be erected
by a certain day, the judge himself went
to the man, and said, “Fellow, iiow came
you to neglect making the gibbet that I or
dered?” Without intending a sarcasm,
the man replied, “I’m very sorry ; for had
1 known it was for your lordship, it should
havo been done immediately.” While an
officer Was bowing, a cannon hall passed
over his head and decapitated a soldier who
stood behind him. “You see,” said the of
ficer to those near him, “that a man never
loses by politeness.” Napoleon’s hat hav
ing fallen off, a young lieutenant stepped
forward, picked it up, and presented it to
him. “Thank you, captain,” said the em
peror inadvertently. “In what regiment,
sire?” inquired the sub., quick as light
ning. Napoleon smiled, and forthwith
promoted the witty youth to a captaincy.
Notwithstanding the fury with which the
battle of Fontenoy was contested, it began
with a great show of civility. Lord Charles
Hay, a captain of the English guards, ad
vanced before the ranks, and Count d’Au
teroche, a lieutenant of granadiers in the
French guards, stepped forward to meet
him. “Fire ! gentlemen of French guards!”
exclaimed the English captain. “No, my
lord,” replied the French lieutenant ; “we
never fire first.” This reminds us of an
anecdote told ofCurran, who, being called
out to give satisfaction to an officer for
some imaginary offence, was told by his
antagonist to fire first, which he declinod,
saying, “As you gave the invitation, I beg
you will open the ball.” At the battle of
Trafalgar, a generous British sailor, seeing
a brother tar bleeding profusely from a se
vere wound, ran to his assistance. He
had no sooner raised him from the deck on
which he fell than the wounded man said,.
“Thank you, Jack ; and please God, I’ll
do the same for you before the sight’s over.”’
Chamber's Edinburgh Rev.
EXTRAORDINARY DISCOVERY.
Professor Van Grusselbach of Stockholm,
lias very lately brought to a state of per
fection the art of producing a torpor in the
whole system, by the application of cold of
degrees of intensity, proceeding from a les
ser to a greater, so as to cause the human
body to become perfectly torpid, without
permanent injury to any organ or tissue of
the frame. In this (hoy may remain one
hundred or a thousand years, and again T
after a sleep of ages, be awakened to exis
tence, as fresh and blooming as they were
when they first sunk into this frigorific
slumber.
The attention of the learned Professor
was first led to the subject, by finding a toad
enclosed in a solid fragment of calcareous
rock, ten feet in diameter, which, when tak
en out, showed unequivocal signs of life ;
but it is supposed that the concussion caus
ed by blasting the rock occasioned its death
in a few hours after. The opinion of Bar
on Grinthizen, who is at present Geologist
to the King of Sweden, was that it must
have been in that situation for at least seven
thousand years—and his calculations were
drawn from the different layers or stratajty
which it was surrounded. From this hint
the Professor proceeded to make experi.
ments, and after a painful and laborious
course of experiments for the last twenty
nine years of his life, he at last succeeded
in perfecting the groat discovery. Not
less than sixty thousar.J reptiles, shell fish,~*
&e. were experimented on before he tried
the human subject. The process is not
laid entirely before the public as yet, but I
had the honor, in company with a friend, of
visiting the Professor.
I shall give a slight description of one of
the outer rooms containing some of his pre
parations. Previous to entering we were
furnished with an Indian rubber bag, to
which was attached a mask with glass eyes.
This was put on to prevent the temperature
