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PUBLISHED every Thursday morning, BY JAMES VAN NESS, a the “Granite Building,” on the corner of ( Oglethorpe and Randolph Streets. T E R M S: subscription—.three dollars per annum, payable in advance, three dollaig and a half at the end of m* months, or four dollars, (in ail cases) where pay ment is not made before tne expiration of the year. N subscription received for less than twelve months wilho it payment in advance, and no paper discon tinued, except at the option of the Editor, until all arrearages are paid. 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All Sales regtiiateJ by law, must be made before the court house door, between the hours of 10 in the morning and four in the evening—’hose of land in tile county where it is situate 5 those of personal 1 property, where the letters te.staineriiarv, of admin istration or of guardianship were obtained—and are ; requited to be previously advertised 111 some public ; gazette, as follows: ei 11 erieEa’ Sales under regular executions for tliir lv days ; under mortgage li fas sixty days, before ! tlic day of sale. bur.s of land and negroes, by Executors, Adminis- j trators or Guardians, for sixty days before the day j , of sale. & a les of personal property (except Negroes) fortv ‘ , days. Ol r a TlONs bv Clerks of the Courts of Ordinary, upon ‘ application for letters of administration, must he pub- • lulled fut thirty days. - j Ci tations upon application for dismission, bv Exec- ‘ utors. Administrators or Guardians, monthly for six , months. Orders of Courts of Ordinary, (accompanied with a copy of tbs bond or agreement) to make titles to; land, must be published three months. Notices by Executors, Administrators or Guardians, ■ of application to the Court of Ordinar y for leave to sell the land or negroes of an estate, f ,ur mouths. I Notices by Executors or Administrators, to the j debtors and creditors of an estate, for r-ix weeks. Sheriffs’, Clerks ofCourt &c. will be allowed the j usual deduction. ?LT Letter:) cm business, must be post paid, to < entitle them to attention. From the National lutedigeiicer. THE LATE MAJOR GENERAL ALEXAN DER MACOMB. We have a melancholy pleasure in traris* ferring to our columns tlic following Biogra phy ot Major General Macomb, whose Funer al is tins day to be solemnized, in whose death this city has to mourn the decease ol a Virtuous and beloved lelloW-citizen, and in whom the nation laments the loss of the dis- j Anguished and gallant Commander of its Mdi- j tary forces. Major General Alexander Macomb was i born at Detroit Aprils, 1782. The City of] Detroit, at that time, was a garrison town, and utiiong the iirst images that struck Ins eyes were those of the circumstances of War.— Tnese early impressions olien fix the char acter of the man. llis lather was a fur merchant, respectably descended and connected, lie removed to tlic City ol New \ork while Alexander was yet an infant When he was eight years of age he placed him at school at Newark, in New Jersey,- under the charge of the Itev. Dr. Ogden, who was a man of mind, belonging to a lamily distinguished for talents. in 1798, While Macomb was quite a youth, he was elected into a select company, which ‘• ss railed “The New Vork Rangers.” The lirm v3 was taken I ruin that iSpurl.au band o f iLingers selected from the provincials, win, lrom 17.30 to irii-'l, were toe elite of every British commander on Lake George and the borders of Canada. At the time he entered the corps of New-Vork Rangers, Congress It id passed a law receiving volunteers for the defence of the country, as invasion by a Trench tfrmy was soon expected. This patriotic band volunteered their services to Govern ment, which were accepted, but he soon left fins corps, and obtained a cornetcy at the close Os the year 1798, and was commissioned in January, 1799. General North, then ad jutant general of the Northern army, soon Saw’ the merits of the youthful soldier, and took him 1 into his stall", as deputy adjutant gen eral. Undef such a master as the intelligent and accomplished North, Macomb made great progress in bis profession, and in the affections of Ins brother officers of the army. The young officer that Hamilton noticed and N >rth in structed, would not tail to be ambitious of dis tinction. lie visited Montreal in ordeixtoob serve the discipline and tactics of the veteran c >rpS kept at that important military pest, and did not neglect bis opportunities. The thick and dark cloud that hung over the country passed away—a great part of the troops were disbanded, and niosl of the offi cers and men returned to private life ; a few duly retained ; among them was Macomb, who Was commissioned as a second lieutenant ol dragoons, and sent forthwith on the recruiting service, but it was not then necessary to push the business ; and as he was stationed in Phil adelphia, he had tine opportunities to associ ate with the best informed men of the city, and found easy access to the Franklin and other extensive libraries, of which advantages he did not fail to improve. When his body of recruits was formed, lie inarched with it to the Western frontiers to join General Wilkinson, an officer who had been left in service from the lie volutionary war. In the company of Wilkinson, and ol Col. Williams, the engineer, he must have gathered a mass of materials for future use.— With him he went into the Cherokee country to aid in making a treaty with that nation. Ile was on this mission nearly a year, and kept a journal of every thing he saw or heard. Tins was a good school for one whose duty it might hereafter be to fight these very aborigines, and. in fact, these lessons of the wilderness are not lost on any one of mind and observa tion. The corps to which lie belonged was disbanded, and a corps of engineers formed ; to this lie was attached as first lieutenant.— lie was now sent to West Point, where lie was, by the code there established, a pupil as well as an officer. Being examined and de clared competent, he was appointed an adju tant of the corps at that post, and discharged , his duty with so much spirit and intelligence,! that when the iirst court martial, alter Ins examination, was convened, he was appointed judge advocate. This court was ordered for the trial of a distinguished officer for disobey ing an arbitrary order for cutting off the hair. Peter the Great could not carry such an order into execution, but our Republican country did : and the veteran Col. Butler was repri- j mauded for not throwing his white locks to the wind when ordered so to do by his supe rior. The talents and arguments exhibited by JVlacomb, as judge advocate on this court mar tial, brought him into very great notice as a mm of exalted intellect as well as a line sol dier. lie was now called upon to compile a | treatise up >n martial law and the practice of courts martial, which, in a future day of leis ure, he effected, and fa s book is now the stan dard w >rk upon courts martial for the Army jof the United States. In 1305 Macomb was promoted to the rank o‘ captain in the corps oi j engineers, and sent to the se aboard to super intend the fortifications winch had been or-j dered by an act of Congress. By this service he became known to to ; iirst men in the coun try, and hss merits wore duly yereciated from New Hampshire to the Fh-r.d.is- In ISJ3 ho was promo e i to the rank of major, and acted as suprmite i .lent <>t fortifi es.tons ui'-jt just before too va M when he was VOLUME I.] advanced to a lieutenant colonelcy, lie was again detailed to act as judge advocate on a court martial for the trial of General Wilkin son, who had called the court on Col. Butler. He added to his reputation in this case.— Wilkinson was his friend, but Macomb dis charged his duty with military exactness. At the breaking out of the war ol 1812, he left the seat of Government, where he had discharged an arduous duty, in assisting to give form and regularity to the army then just raised by order of Congress. All sorts of con tusion bail prevailed, from the want of a uni form system of military tactics ; he was for tunate in his exertions. When there was honorable war, he could not be satisfied to remain, as it were, a cabinet officer, and w ear a sword only to advise what should be done, which seemed to be the regulations ol the Army in respect to engineers ; he therefore solicited a command in the corps of artillery tha‘ was to be raised, and was gratified by a j commission as colonel of the third regiment, | dated July (j, 1812. The regiment was to I consist of twenty companies of one hundred 1 and eighteen each. It was, in fact, the com mand of a division, except m rank, Hisrepu- I tatiou assisted in raising this body of men, and j in November of that year he marched to tlic : frontiers with his command. Macomb and j bis troops spent the winter at Sackett’s ilar | bor. lie contemplated an attack upon Kings -1 fun, but was defeated in his plans by the fears j of some and the jealousies of others ; but he | soon distinguished Jumseil at Niagara and ’ tort George ; at the same time Commodore ; Chauncey was endeavoring to bring the ene | my’s fleet to battle on Lake Ontario. The next service performed by Col. Macomb was I under General Wilkinson, and if the campaign j was not successful, Macomb was not charge able with any portion of the failure. in January, 1814, he was promoted to the rank ol Brigadier General: and was appointed to a command on the east side of Lake Cham plain. Nothing of importance in the history ot Gen. Macomb transpired, although he was constantly on the alert in the discharge of his duties, until the coronal of his lame was won at the defence of Plattsburgh. This de fence our limits will not permit us to describe with any minuteuess, but suffice it to say, that, in the summer of Ittl i, Sir George Prevosi, Governor General ol the Canadas, had re ceived a great augmentation of his regular forces, by detachments from the army -which had lougln m Spain and Portugal under the Duke ol \\ ellmgton. (These were among the best troops in the world, and he now deter mined to strike a blow upon our frontiers that should he decisive i.l flic war, and bring our nation to terms at once. His fleet, on Lake Champlain, was considered superior to that of ours, and he was well informed that we bail not there any army of consequence. Early in September he pished on towards Platts burgh, and met, lor Several days, with little opposition. IPs error was delay; but lie wished to move safely, and saw nothing to prevent his progress. Previous to the flth, there Pad been some smart skirmishing, in which the British found more courage and effi ciency than they expected from troops so has tily called out. Early on the 11th the British gave battle by land and water—fifteen hun dred of the regular troops and uncertain bod ies of militia, made up Macomb’s army. The enemy was fourteen thousand strong. The battle was a decisive \ ictory on the part of the American lorces; Macdonough captured the British licet: and Sir George returned to Can ad:t the next night. The victory was as brill iant as unexpected. Honors were voted in every part of the country. New-York and Vermont were foremost in their tributes of respect The President promoted him to the rank of Major General, dating his commission on the day of his victory. The event had a happy effect on the negotiations then going on til Ghent, and unquestionably paved the way for a treaty of peace. After the close of the war he commanded at Detroit, his birth-place. He was received at his military post with distinguished honors; many remeuibereo his person, and all had kept his reputation in view as reflecting honor upon that territory in which he was born. lie contnued at that post attentive to his duly, and devising liberal things for the people of that region, without confining his exertions to any particular portion of the territory, until, in 1821, he was called to Washington to take the office of chief of the engineer department. On the receipt of this information, he was ad dressed by all classes of the people of Detroit in the most exalted language of friendship and regard. On repairing to Washington, he as sumed the duties of Lae bureau he was called to, and discharged them to the satisfaction of the Government and the Army. On the death ol Gen. Brown, Commander-in-Chief of tlic Army, Gen. Macomb was appointed to the station, which he has ever since held, and in which he died.— Abridged from Aational Por trait Gallery. From the Charleston Mercury, June 29. UNCONS l i t UTIONALITY—MR. CHE VES. The following is the first of the series of numbers by Mr. Clieves under tiie signature of ‘“Bay” published in this paper in 1837. This with the admirable article we lately re published from the Southern Review, ieavts nothing to be added ibr the thorough demon stration of lire Unconstitutionally of a Na ional Bank. We shall follow it with extracts from the other numbers of “Sav.” A BANK OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE CURRENCY. Ii is again proposed to establish a Bank of the United States with a view to ;lte reform ation of the currency and llie subsequent pre servation of its soundness. I think it will nei ther be constitutional nor expedient to do so, and therefore propose to discuss, as briefly as l can, these questions. Such is the mutability of human nature, that there are fashions in the most solemn things. The Constitution was once a vener ated instrument. It united, in its defence, a noble bmu of distinguished statesmen and patriots. We see it now abandoned by its old and zealous friends lor no other reason that 1 can discover than that it has been re peatedly violated. “But yesterday, the word of Caesar might Have stood against the world ; now lies he there, And none so poor to do him reverence.” In speaking of the c institution ality of a Bank of the United States, 1 do not mean to enter into a discussion of the general ques tion, but simply to contend that the Consti tution remains as it was adopted, unaffected bv construction. If that should be decided affirmatively there ought to be little difficulty. The friends of the Constitution triumphed when Congress refused to re-charter the first Bank of the United States, and the question was understood to be settled. But what open j enemies could not sustain, hollow friends ac- ] complished by the new doctrine, (not the old Federal doctrine,) of constructing the Con stitution. It is asserted, that it has been con strued and settled by the action of Govern ment so as to vest in Congress the power to establish a National Bank. This I controvert a Constitution cannot be settled in its con struction like an Act of the Legislature. Ibe latter may be fixed in its meaning by a single decision of a Court of Judicature and put be yond the Legislative power, unless enforced “bv au Act us posterior prospective Legi&lu- THE COLUMBUS TIMES. lion. It is the proper function of the Judi ciary so to decide and finally and authoritively so to decide by one judgment as well as by fifty. But the judgmeut only decides the im mediate case between the immediate parties. It would die there but lor the nature of the tribunal. \\ bat it has decided once, to be consistent, it must decide again. It becomes a law to itself and to all judicial tribunals suboidinate to it. Hence the operation and authority of precedent, it is entirely Judi cial. If the rights to a parly be founded on the Constitution, it does not alter the case. The Constitution is alaw —the fundamental and supreme law. Where there is a collision, Ihe Court must decide which shall he obliga tory —the law of the Legislature or the law of the people. The last, ol course, if the first be derogatory to ii, must prevail.— Hence the right and the necessity of the Ju diciary, for itself and in the particular case only, to construe and say what the Constitu tion means. The right extends no further than the necessity, and that no further than the particular question and the particu lar parties to the particular suit, and would die with it as in the case of a common Legislative Act, but that having once given a construction, to he consistent it becomes a law to the tribunal, and to the tribunals sub ordinate to it, but no lurther. Hence it is merely a judicial precedent. It has no politi cal etlicl and cannot at all influence co-ordi nate branches of the Government, nor oper ate beyond its own forum. Its whole power, immediate and consequent, only binds the liti gants and sustains the tribunal. It cannot effect the Legislative function, either to en large or diminish it; or the political construc tion of the Constitution. This power of the Judiciary necessarily belongs even to a Court of Pie Poudre, subject however to reversal, which might gravely consider what construc tion the Constitution ought to bear in deciding the question before it, and not go beyond iis theoretical power. It belongs alike to a for eign tribunal —a Court of France ora Court of Great Britain—which, if a repugnance should atise between the law of the Legisla ture and the law of the Constitution, in deci ding upon rights affected by them, must de termine for itself what it considers to be the true meaning ol the Constitution, and wheth er the Act of the Legislature he repugnant to it. It is true such a tribunal will rarely, if ever, venture deliberately to enter into the question of the Constitutional validity of a loreign law, hut it will nevertheless virtually decide the question hv taking the Act of the local Legislature as sufficient evidence of its Constitutionality. There is neither in the Constitution, nor in the nature of Judicial functions, any director incidental or analogi cal authority given to the Judiciary to limit or enlarge the legislative power or to fix a meaning on the Constitution for any other purpose than the government of its own ac tion. A foreign tribunal lias precisely the same authority, and its judgments l ave just as much binding efficacy. When it has once decided, its judgment will be a law to itself and to tribunals subordinate to it. The law of precedents will originate and operate on the same principle and extend just as litr, namely, to the limits of its own Jorum and no further. Indeed, in either case, duty la ther than right cbaracleriz.es the Judicial function. Why then has it been so often af firmed, that Judicial precedents can construe and settle tlie meaning ol Constitutional in struments, conlraiy to the natural import ol the Constitutional language, and almost with Papal oiimipotency, bind and unloose llie Le gislative conscience? By a lalse analogy founded on ihe abuse and misapplication of Judicial precedents. The harmony and ge nius of our Constitution require dial the Ju diciary shall be beyond Legislative control, and that it shall have the power, within its own forum, even to control the legislative meaning. Its forum and magic circle, within which it is omnipotent, but let it pass one jot beyond it and it becomes impotent. The De partments of the Government, exercising their respective functions exclusively, present a most gratifying view to the lovers ol’ Consti nnioiial law ami older, each in its orbit, and sphere within sphere,-moving like the planets iii the method ordained by the creative pow er. But attempt to give a Judicial control over, not the Legislative ac s when brought within Judicial attraction, but over the Legis lative functions; over the very being of Le gisfative power, and they instantly jostle and throw the system into wild confusion, and, perhaps, precipitate it to ruin. It is, indeed, asserted, that, the Jud-.ciury can change, in crease, or abridge the Legislative power, con trary to the will of the Legislative body?— The statement of the proposition alone excites astonishment. It makes the Judiciary, where the people have parted with their control with a view to secure their independence, superior as a co-ordinate branch of the Government, to that in which the direct power and majes ty of the people are represented. The Le gislature cannot abridge the Constitutional power of the Judiciary, but according to this pretension, the Judiciary can almost at plea sure increase or diminish the Legislative lunc tions. The analogy ol Judicial precedents, will also permit the Judiciary to re consider any decision wnich it shall have made, and after gtave advisement, say that the Constitu tion shall mean something else than i: had be fore determined, and the Legislature must, in its enactments, change with them. If it can thus abridge or enlarge, it can abolish or cre ate; and a branch of tlic Government, as it were set apart lrom the action of the Govern ment for other functions, is to control all its action. The doctrine is as monstrous as it is alarming. It will also put the Judicial pow er above the People, whose constitutional will it is to mould and cootiol at pleasure. They cannot say such is their Constitution, and have it so established, though they sign it with tlrir own hands. Nine men (formerly seven) by a majority of one vote, according to this doctrine, can alter, increase, or abridge the Legislative function and virtually depose the power of the people themselves, and they can do this by one single decision, irrevocably, unless they shall see fit themselves to change. To these absurd and extreme cor sequences, does Judicial construction of the poliiical meaning of the Constitution, and the political power of the Legislature, lead us ; and meie- Iv instate litem, is to show I tow preposterous and unfounded they are. We will now pail with the Judiciary for a while, and turn to the Legislative branch. This has no more power to alter, abridge, or increase its own Constitutional functions, than the Judiciary has to do so ; nor to alter rhe import of the language of the Constitution. They find in the Constitution, as adopted, their chart and compass. I. is not necessary to dweli on this point, because no one contends for such a Le gislative power. If the Judiciary, whom the People trust with no political power, give a wrong construction, it becomes, nevertheless, as absolute and unchangeable as the laws of the Medes and Perians; but if the Legisla ture, to whom the People confide all political power, shall do the same, we are entirely free u> examine the correctness of it; and all this arises from the application of the technical rules of a limited forum, to great political questions, and the fundamental Constitutions ut the State, without any show of authority, “ THE UNION OF THE STATEsj AND THE SOVIREIGNTY OF THE STATES.” COLUMBUS, GEORGIA, THURSDAY HORNING, JULY 8, 1841. reason, or analogy. The construction of the Constitution on Legislative questions, is al ways a politicalquestion; a off UwLegislature, which is a political bodv, with great show of reason, may be allowed to be tiie expounders of it, in reference to the principles “ol their own vital functions. But uo, tne Judiciary have thought for them, and have decided how much life and vital power they have. Tne Judiciary, which is properly a satelite to the Legislature and the People,is to govern the action ol both. But it may In said, that it is admitted oil all hands, that Judicial and Le gislative acts, do sometimes hare an influence in stamping a settled meaning oil a political Constitution. I admit it, and vill state the principle which governs the sufijtct. Ist. I admit, that a written, as well as an unwritten Constitution, may be construed and altered, and made to mean something differ ent from what was originally its probable meaning, by the acts and operatbus of Gov ernment. 2d. That this is always done, and only done, by presumptive evidence of the papulai assent. This implied popular assent is the founda tion of all unwritten constitutions, —that ol England lor example. It is only then as any act oi the Judiciary or Legislature, shall have appealed to receive the as>enl ot the people, tbal they can have the least weight. ‘lhe mere authority of function docs not txisi at all in either ease. We now come to inquire whether the Con stitution stands unchanged, according to the import of its language, aiui, whether, in rela tion to the power ol Congress to incorporate a National Bank, we are to be governed by that, or whether we are bound to consider the people to have assented to a change ol its meaning by their acquiescence in the acis o! the Government which may have contraven ed that meaning? If the impoilol the con stitutional language autlioiiz.e the establish ment of a National Bunk, there is an end ol the question, If on ihe contrary, it do not authorize that act, we are to consider what the acts ol the Government are, winch have a tendency to change the import ol llie lan guage of the constitution; whether they are of character to effect that change, and what degree of assent, if any, the people have yielded to lhem? Here one of the first sub jects of reflection that urists in the mind, is me nature of the Government. As that Gov ernment is more or less a popular Govern ment, so will iis acts be more or less, accoid ing to their nature, evidence of the popular assent. The Government of the United States is not, 1 think, essentially a popular Go vernmeni. It is a conledeiacy ol sovereign ■Slates. It is true, it has many leatures of a popular Government. In part it is the rep resentative of the people, but it is equally tne representative of the States. Just so lar as it bears the latter cliaiacler it is removed fiom the people, and its acts will in a proportional degree fail to represent the popular assent. The evidence of the popular assent must in such it case be the stionger. Written Constitutions are anew thing.— Our own are the first that deserve the name. All other Constitutions are unwritten. To the establishment ol’ unwritten Constitutions, all History, confirming good sense anti sound reason require, attests, iliat 10 foun and settle an unwritten Constitution, ages are required. There must lie mutations of time and genera tions. There must fie sunshine and cloud, storms andjcalms in the political atmosphere. The people must try, enjoy, suffer. There must be war, peace, tranquility, prosperity and adversity. All ihe vicissitudes of ages are necessary to prove the assent of the peo ple to a scheme of Government winch may a Constitution, when it is unwritten. If it be written, is it not reasonable that as much lie required losubmilil. The written Constitu tion is indubitable evidence of the popular will. If so, would it not be trifling with the understanding, would it not be a violation of all logical rules, t<> snv that any thing the least dubiiable, shall he allowed to subvert than which is so iudubitable as a written instru ment. We ought to conclude that nothing, at least, less than what would establish an unwritten Constitution can subvert or alter a wiilten Constitution. But we ought further to enquire, whether the written Constitution contained in itself the means of change, in a constitutional way, by popular suffrage, and whether these means were easy of employ ment and of ready access? li ihe affirmative be the fact, we can hardly conceive a case where the popular assent to a change can be presumed from circumstances, not even llie lapse of any length of lime n r any number of violations of the just construction of the language of the instrument; litr such pre sumption will always be opposed by the very strong presumption; may I not say the al most irresistible presumption; may 1 not say, if allowed the expression, the only constitu tional presumption, that il the people had willed a change, they would have made it in the ready and easy mode which the Constitu tion provides. Really this view of ilie subject seems to abolish the doctrine of presumption against the language of the Constitution. It must, I think; require such circumstances as any length of time will very rarely produce, to authorise its adopt on. Let us now apply this reasoning and these rules to the question beloie us. But teally it our premises be sound how can we need to attempt, m a formal manner, to make the ap plication? Truth Hashes upon us in such a lull blaze, that the conclusion becomes sell ev ident. No considerable time has elapsed.— Phe constitution is not yet tidy years old, a period Iliat in a nation,is like a day in individ ual lile. ‘Phe Constitution is yet tut in its in fancy. These constructions and presump tions do not belong to the freshness ol youth. They always resemble more the crutches ol senility. Thete is no single circumstance consis tent with the foregoing reasoning to auti.orze a presumption that lire people meant a change. They could have made a change constitution ally ma lew months, had they been eager to do so. Have they not often been urged to make the alleged change? But they have nut even yielded a listening year to the syren.— Is not even litis strong evidence ol dissent. — They seem to adhere with tenacity to the original meaning ol their great jfuftdamerrul law, and in the spirit oi old Hngush liberty to say, Leges nolumus mmare. VV edo not wish to change the Constitution. But though it may be supererogatory labor we shali examine the actsoi the government on which the presumption ol cl ange haa been alleged. Soon after the establishment of the Federal Government, the first Bank ol United States was chartered. Ihe people of the Union were divided -into two greai national parties, (would to God they were still so!) each embracing great virtue and tal ents and high character. The party then tn power and by whom the Bank was chartered, were the advocates of strong government and constructive powers. Not, however, such constructive powers as we have been combat ting, but such as might, in their opinion, he logically deduced from the language of the Constitution. The construction of thsdav does not belong to the Constitution—has no affinity with it. but tt is a fungus which has stealthily adhered to its ha-k and is preying upon its juices. One of tb; strongest deve!_ opemeuts ol these constructive claims, was the establishment of the first National Bank. Nothing transacted by that great party car ried their doctrine iuithw. It was one of the great trial poiuts between them and their op ponents. it was ranked with the Alien and Sedition Laws. Their opponents contended Tor a strict construction of the Constitution, and an exclusion of these lar-letched pre sumptions. The contest raged twelve years, and terminated in the triumph of the fatter, who have held the reigns of government for almost lorty years, all the time alleging an in violable adherence to the principles which brought them into power. Il was no com mon triumph. It was no common deltat.— W ifli ihe loss of power, the very principles ol ihe Federal party-1 mean those of a strong Government and constructive powers, were extinguished and deemed contrary to the ge nius of the Constitution. Their fruits, the Alien and Sedition Laws and the Bank, fell witli them under the loud condemnation of the people. This aclof tiie government, there fore, affords no evidence of popular assent. T ne second Bank of the United Slates was utterly repugnant to the principles off the Re pub. ican Tarty, by whom the first was put down. The pretence upon which it was chartered was precedent. A precedent which had been abolished, repudiated, cried down by public proclamation like lalse halfpennies, was the pretence upou which the last Bank was established. This second Bank has been put down by the people, and although with not quite so much emphasis still it leaves no evidence of popular assent. What more?— Why in reference lo this last institution there has been a judicial decision. We have al ready inquired, what is ihe value of a judicial precedent unconfirmed by the assent of the people, and we have shown that it is precise ly nothing—lar below that of a L gisialive precedent, and that even of very little weight 1 . A Legislative Act is entitled to some little con sideration. That body represents the people. Its members have recently come from among them, and may be supposed to know their leel ings and wishes. But it is not so with the members of a judicial tribunal. They are cut oil lrom the people like the Jewish Priesthood —like the tribe of Levi, they have a seperate inheritance. They neither come from nor re turn to the people. They have been made in dependent of the people. They have been made irresponsible. Their emblem is a blind goddess! They are by the genius of the Constitution required lo be blind to the popu lar will, deaf lo the popular voice, and insen sible to the pulsations of the popular heart. — Their glorious and exclusive motto is “ Fiat Justitiu ruat Caelum ” They have no power and no right to decide politically, and the meaning of the'Constitution, out of a judicial forum, is always a political question. ‘The distinction is very important between Judicial and Polit.cal views oi the Communion. A ju dicial tribunal may tc compelled to declare a law to be Constiluona! which its members were they legislators, would unhesitatingly pronounce to be politically a gross violation of the Constitution For example.: The Ju diciary could not declare the tyrannical impo sitions of llie Tariff laws to be unconstitution al, because with a judicial eye, they could dis cover in them only llie’ features of revenue law*. But looking at. them politically, who does not see, at least on this side of Mason and Dixon’s line that they are gross violations of the Constitution. Are there any other’ acts of the Govern ment sustaining a National Bank? O yes, here are numerous suits, which have been instituted by.the Bank against its debtors, and the Courts haveg.ven judgement in then la vor though their jurisdiction has never been made a question. They have, too, held sundry pieces of real estate, in fee simple, which have not been escheated. These are indeed profs of civilization and good faith, but we cannot see in them any proofs of the public assent to tbe metamorphosis of the Constitu lion. Those who stood op as defenders of the Constitution did not intend to become highwaymen. The public faifli required tbe immunities. Tbe Arab of the desert, the Indian of the Wigwam, where he has given his pledge, will not violate his engagement. — A civilized Christian people could not do less. But all this will not afford the least proof of (heir assent to an unconstitutional law. I be lieve, then, there is not tbe shadow of evidence that the people have assented to any change ot the Constitution, and that the instrument stands in the lair characters in which it origi nally came from the hands of tfie jieople, free from any interpolated constructions, complete ly “ regenerated and disenthralled,” SAT. Naval Regulations. —The lion. Secre tary of the Navy (says the l’diladelphia N. American) has issued bis orders changing and prescribing the uniform and dress to be worn by the officers of the Navy of the United States. No embroidery will hereafter be worn by Captains of the Navy, and in several of the others grades changes are made in the dress. The same button is prescribed for ail officers, and none other than blue or white pantaloons or vests are permitted to be worn by any offi cer in the Navy. When uniform is worn itj must be the entire full-dress, and uniform is or dered to be worn by all officers attached to vessels, navy yardsstation the recruiting ser vices or hospitals. Strict obedience to these or ders is enjoined. The hair of all persons in the Navy is to be kept short, no part of the beard is to be worn long except whiskers, which shall not descend more than one inch be low the tip of the ear, and then in a line to wards the mouth. Judge Wright, who edits the Cincinnati l Gazette, and one of Harrison’s late confiden tial committee, thus speaks of the appoint ment of Baer, the buck-eye blacksmith: ‘‘Afpointment—Sub-Indian Agent.— We have regarded the intercourse of the Govern ment of the Union with the Indian tribes of great delicacy and importance, calling for a careful selection of agents for the service—j agents of known character, talents, and pro- j hitv. The agent or sub-agent exerts great in fluence upon the Indians—they regard him as a father, and confide in him accordingly. The above remark was suggested by the annuncia tion, in the Ohio Statesman, that John W. Baer, has been appointed sub-agent to the In dians, at Upper Sandusky, in the place of Pur dy Mclilvainc! We hope this is not true — because, we know no reason for removing Mr. Mclllvaine ; because we do not believe Mr. Baer has the character, or other qualifications to win the respect, or secure the confidence of the Indians; and because, the’change of agents, at this time, when negotiations are on foot to obtain the consent of these Indians to remove West of the Mississippi, will interrupt the negotiations, if not wholly defeat any ar rangements to effect that object. Wrecks.— The number of wrecks and cast aways on our Atlantic seaboard, says the Sa lem Gazette, is astonishing. It averages from four hundred to five hundred a year. In January, 1839, there were ninety one Ameri can vessels of all sizes wrecked on the Atlan tic coast, —ntaking on an average, a case of shipwreck once in every eight hours for a month. [NUMBER 22. Kroai ihe National iuleiligeucer. To the Editors :—My recollections of what I had heard and read being irreconcilable with the statement in your paper of June 15th as to the facts and circumstances which oc curred when Gen. Washington had the bank bill under eonsideratiji, and Leing incredulous too, that a paper of the great length of the one which Gen. Hamilton submitted toGen. Wash ington on that occas.on couid have been drawn up “atone sitting,” as represented, 1 have been induced to turn to the documents, and lind the following facts corroborative of my reco lections and contradictory of your state ment. The bank bill, involving a constitutional question, was first submitted by the President to his law officer, the Attorney Genera , (Ed mund Randolph. (His written opinion was sub mitted to the {Secretary of State (Thomas Jetl'erson) for his views of it, which were con veyed in writing to the President. These two opinions, both adverse to the bank were trans mitted in a letter to.the Secretary ol the Treas ury (Alex. Hamilton) by the President, Feb ruary 10, 1791, for ids opinion, and, as the President said, “that lie may le fully possessed of the arguments far and against the measure before lie expressed any opinion of his own and be said he was desirous to receive General Hamilton’s views on the subject as soon us might Le convenient. On the 21st of February, General Hamilton wrote : “The Secretary of the Treasury pie sents his respects to the President of the United States and requests his indulgence for not having yet finished his reasons on a cer tain point. He{has ever since been sedulously engaged at it, but linds it will be impossible to complete it before l uesday evening or Wednesday morning early, lie is anxious to give the point a thorough examination.” February 23J, General Hamilton wrote : “The Secretary of the Treasury presents Ins respects to the President and sends him the opinion required, which occupied him the greater part of last night.” This opinion is dated February 23, 1791, and was received by General Washington, February 23J, at noon. This statement shows that General Hamil ton had the subject under consideration, and was “sedulously engaged in it,” seven days — that is, from February Kith to February 23d, and, therefore, and that it could not have been “a matter of astonishment to the Secretary of the Treasury (Gen. H.) that the President should have held the bill in suspense until the ten days limited by the Constitution bad al most expired”—nor could Gen.J Washington have said to Gen. Hamilton, the next day alter lie had received bis opinion, that lie bad s gned the bill, as ho did not do so till February 25th. While I have my pen in hand 1 will com municate an anecdote, connected with the ap proval of the charter of the first Bank of the United States,’ which I do not recollect ever to have seen in print, but which 1 have often heard Mr. Madison relate ; and is interesting as an additional fact to the length of time ta ken to consider the subject, that General Washington hesitated much, and previously to his acting on the bill, was assiduous to obtain all the light he could, as well in as out of his Cabinet, to guide his judgment to a correct de cision. . , { General Washington, through Colonel Lear, his Secretary, having expressed a wish to see Mr. Madison, he called on him, when the President said he was desirous of seeing and conversing with him, about the Bank, which he then hud under his consideration— he had not made up his mind on the subject—and after alluding to the speech’ Mr. Madison had made against the bill in Congress, and expres sing his belief that he (Mr. M ) had given much time aud consideration to the question involved in the charter, Gen. Washington ex pressed his desire that Mr. Madison would sketch off such reasons as he, the President ought to assign, if he should ultimately make up his mind not to approve the bill. This Mr. Madison accordingly did, aud sent the sketch to the President. There is another anecdote, derived from the same venerated authority, in close connexion with the one above, which 1 take the liberty here to add. It is the more interesting from the fact that the question involved in it lias never even vet been decided by Congress’ It is well known that General Washington de layed his approval of the bank bill to the last moment allowed him by the Constitution, but it is not known, I believe, that, if he had dis approved it, the validity of his veto would have-been, questioned and resisted in Con gress on the ground that the ten days given the President by the Constitution to consider bills had expired, and consequently the b nk bill had become a law. In proof of this, I have frequently heard Mr. Madison state that, from the delay of the President to return the bili to Congress and other causes, the friends of the bank had become alarmed for its fate. Under tliis siate of feeling, Mr. Wm. Smith, one of the members from South Carolina, came to Mr. Madison and exultingly said, we have t lie hank in despite of the President.— The committee, he said, who laid the bili be fore the President fur his approval, did :o on aday and hour which he (Mr. Smith) named, and pulling out his watch, he said that hour had now passed, and the ten days have con sequently expired, and the bank bill has be come a Jaw. Mr. Madison inquired if he were certain of his facts, and of the correctness of his conclusion from them, lie said the mem bers of the committee would swear to 1 lie facts, if necessary, and the conclusion he had drawn was from a clear and explicit provision of the Constitution’ Mr. Madison had just commenced questioning the certainty of his conclusion, and whether fractions of days, or Sundays, could be counted, &e. when his re marks were interrupted and put a stop to, by the annunciation of the approbation by the President of the Bank bill, Cofrespdademe of the New York Hereld. Washington, June 23. A gentleman of this city has in his posses sion a very curious letter, written to him by Gen. Harrison, a short tune anterior to the Harrisburg Convention. The letter evinces a strong ieelihgof hostility towards Mr. Clay ; and when publised, as it is soon to be, will pro duce some sensation among the politicians here and elsewhere. In iho letter, Gen. ilar ison speaks of his correspondent and Mr. Cuthbert Powell, of Virginia, as two of his most trusted friends; but as they were also the devoted partizans of Mr. Clay, he felt a de icacy in communicating freely with them on the subject of the Presidency. After speaking of Mr. Webster in high terms, and adverting to the position of Gen. Scott, he re fers to Mr. Clay, and expresses his enmity in unequivocal,and decided terms. The follow ! iugis substantially his language:—(”/ have been fur years the devoted friend of Mr. Clay ami he has repaid me by acts rs black ingrati tude.”) It is not pretended that this is the precise language, hut it conveys the spirit of the pas sage- The committee from Cincinnati have great difficulty in removing the remains of Gen. Harrison. They are as badly off as the crier of a court, who had taken a cup too much, and could not pronounce the usual formula tor opening the court “Why do you not open the court, sir!” said the Judge. “ Bless your Honor’s heart,” stammered the crier, “ it’„ the d—dest hard court to open that lever see.”- A - Just so with the Cincinnati committee. They cannot get away with the patriot’s bones, any how. They came here principally for tho purpose of looking out for some bones with a little meat upon them, and they are hard to find. Almost every man of the committee has some personal object in view—some office, lor which he urges the promise of Gen. llar risou, and tho ashes of the brave and honest old man, cannot be removed until their own interests are subserved. They have been here now some eight or ten days, living in clover at Brown’s hotel, drinking their Champagne and Madeira, all of which is to be paid lor out, of the appropriation by Congress, or by the the city of Cincinnati gloryfying one another and expatiating upon their own services to thu cause of the country. As soon as their jiersonal objects are accom plished, or tiie patience of the administration is exhausted, it is to be hoped that the remains of the veteran will be removed with appropri ate ceremonies. ‘The solemnity of the occa sion, however, will be diminished by the open and almost indelicate manner in which tho committee have mixed up selfish and personal matters with the legitimate object of their mission Their business will probably be fin ished by Saturday. In that event, the remo val will then take place.—N. V. Herald. Cuba. —By a statement lrom our corres pondent, winch we published yesterday, it ap pears that the exports of that most productive sjHit of earth, amounted in the year 1810 toal most twenty-six millions of dollars ; being four millions and a half more than in 1839. — The quantity of sugar exported was six limes as large as the quantity of beet sugar grown in France during a similar period. The immense wealth of Cuba and tier great pro ductiveness, in despite ot all the embarrass ments imposed upon her iy Spain, render her an interesting object for the contemplation of political economists. The foreign trade of that island is equal to one fifth of the foreign trade of the whole United States, including cotton, tobacco, bread stuffs, and all the rest. Her internal trade is however comparative ly sinail as there is very little variety in the pursuits of her people, almost all of them en gaged in agriculture, and that confined to two articles, the sugar cane and coffee tree. Soda Water. —An English Chemist late ly lecluiing al the Royal Institution, said that the ureal majority ol the article sold as soda water , does not conta none grain of soda, but is merely plain water, impregnated with car bonic acid gas; not because soda is too ex pensive an article, but because lire aparatus for loicemg the gas into the water costs about $75, whereas, ihe cost of the machinery, re quisite to prepare a solution of soda, is from 3 to £4,0U0. K, ii llim Baliiin re it"],uMican Connections, Friends, and Hangers on-.- It would appear from the following that the magic ot Gen. Harrison’s name is last depart ing, and that the whiga are getting tired of his “connections, friends, or hangers on.” Had we have said half wliat is avowed in the fol lowing paragraph taken from a letter of a Washington correspondent of the Patriot, we would have, been charged,with want of feeling, want of patriotism, and a want of every thing else noble or manly. Love for the General s family and friends, begins to evaporate very rapidly. r . “Though lovu is warm awhile, soon it grows cold !* “In the first place, 1 must be permitted to say that 1 think the Harrison family have been very liberally dealt with both by the Execu tive and by Congress. And seconly, let me say that the Executive has appointed four male members of General Harrison’sfamily to offices at Cincinnati, worth SSOOO a year, and another to a land office in lowa, of equal importance,, and now Congress has given the familyat North Bend the very liberal sum of $25,000 more!— Besides, in the distribution of offices, the per sonal frienbs and connection of the dec’d Pres ident, have been dealt with in no parsimoni ous manner. It seems only to be necessary to proclaim that you have been in some battle with the General, or have even touched the hem of his garment, to secure at once a lucra tive appointment, to the exclusion of veterans of higher deserts and better qualifications— -1 could go into particulars, and at the proper time I probaly shall—my only object now is to enter my protest in extenso against the idea that there lias been in any quarter, the least illiberally towards the Harrison family, or any of its connexions, friends or hangers on. The American Navv.— Mr. Buckingham, the traveller, has the following paragraph rela ting to the American Navy. “The American Navy comprises at present, 1 three decker of 120 guns, the Pennsylvania, built at. Philadelphia, and said to be the largest ship in the world, capable of mounting 150 guns, though rated at only 120, and probably carrying no more at present; 11 two-deckers rated as 74’s, though all capable of carrying from 80 to 90 guns each ; 18 frigates, ol 64, 44, and 30 guns respectively ; 16 sloops, of 24 and 18 guns each ; and 10 schooners, of 12 and 10 guns each—making altogether only 50 vessels of every class ; and yet spiall as it is in the number of its ships its efficiency is so great, and the skill of its officers and sea men so conspicuous, that it is superior in ac tual force to any other Navy in the world, ex cept that of Great Britain, and would not shrink, single-handed, from a contest with it,’ gun for gun and man for man, with a proba bility of being victor. The celebrated wall of China, said to have been erected in the year 413, B. C. is 714 German miles long, 14 feet thick, and 20 leet high ; so that, with the same materials, a wall one foot in thickness, and 23 feet high, might, be carried round tbe whole world. Our Minister to France. —The N. Y. Courier, speaking of Gen. Gass; says—“We speak advisedly when we say, that to the day ot his death, Gen. Harrison placed iinplicit confidence in the ability, patriotism, and j>er sonal friendship of Gen. Cass; and we may now be permitted to add, its at, aware of our close personal relations to Gen. Cass, im mediately after his election to the Piesidency in November last; Gen Harrison made us tbe organ of Communication with his old friend and companion in arms, ivi.icli resulted in a determination to continue him at Paris.” The Ne-v Orleans Mint. —The silver coinage at this establishment, from llie first of November to the Ist of April, was 860.000 dimes, and 720,000 half dimes, amuimtintr to §2 2 J 250. The coinage in the month of May was 215,000 dimes, and 190,000 half dimes, equal to 531,000. S.nce the Ist of last month there have been coined 1,785.000 dimes and hall’ dunes, of the value of 8563,000. Notwithstanding the large coinage at Ihe Mint of small change, the demaitj is not abated, but appears to be increasing. Tbe above does not Comprise the whole woi kings of the Mint—for there lias been con siderable coinage ol gold and silver of larger denominations. Bishop England. —The Roman Catholic inh ibitams of Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the 25 li ultimo, paid testimonials of public r<-> spect to this distinguished prelate of thair church. Addresses were made to him, by L <> C. Doyle, with the sanction of the Veiy Re/. the Vicar General, on behalf ot the par ish of St. Mary ; and bv Mr. John Nugent,on behalf of the students of St. Mary; to which B.siiop E. returned suitable replies.—Charles ton Courier. Railroads iTn England. -There are 71 lines of Railroids completed or began in Great Britain, forming a total length of 2,191 miles. Os the se 53 aie open. 18 partially open, and commenced-