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J3Y J ARIES W. JONES. Th® Southern Whig, PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY MORNING. TKRMS. Three dollars per annum, payable within six months after the receipt of the th st number, or four dollars if not paid within the year. Sub scribers living out of the State,‘will ,be-expect edin all cases, to pay in advance.. No subscription received for less than one year, unless the money is paid in advance; and no paper will be discontinued until all arrear ages are paid, except at the option of the pub lisher. Persons requesting a discontinuance, of their Papers, are requested to bear in mind, a settement of their accounts. Advertisements will be inserted at the usual rates; when the number of insertions is not specified, they will be continued until ordered out. All Letters to the Editor or Proprietor, on matters connected with the establishment, must be post paid in order to secure attention Notice of the sale of Land and Negroes, by Administrators, Executors, or Guardians, must be published sixty days previous to the day of sale. The sale of personal Property, in like manner, must be published forty days previous to the day of sale. Notice to debtors and creditors of an estate must be published forty days. Notice that Application will be made to the Court of Ordinary for Leave to sell Land or Ne groes, must be published four months. Notice that Application will be made for Letters of administration, must be published thirty days and Letters of Dismission, six months. For Advertising—Letters of Citation. 8 2 75 Notice to Debtors and Creditors, (40 days) 32a Four Months Notices, 4 00 Sales of Personal Property by Executors, Administrators, or Guardians, 3 2o Sales of Land or Negroes by do. 4 75 Application for Letters of Dismission, 4 on Other Advertisements will be charged 75 cents for every thirteen lines of sin' ll type, (or space equivalent,) first insertion, and 50 cents for each weekly continuance. If published every other week, 62 1-2 cents for each continuance. If published once a mouth, it will be charged each time as a new advertisement. For a single insertion,-SI 00 per square. x a®B3 & FIREPROOF WARE HOUSE. AUGUSTA, THE undersigned take this method ofinform ing his friends and the Planters of Georgia, and Carolina, that he continues the Warehouse and Commission Business at the same stand, and have, in addition to the above large, com modious and Fire Proof Ware-house, taken a lease of the Fire Proof Ware-house on Mclntosh street, convenient to the River, and the Geor gia and Carolina Rail Roads, formerly occupied by Heard & Cook, and recently by Gen. Daw son. By this arrangement he will be enabled to have room to place all cotton sent to be stor edin secure Fire Proof Buddings, and ample Fire Proof Close Stores for the receiving and forwarding Goods to the country. W itha strict adherence and punctuality, in all business con fided to hie care, he hopes to merit a continu ance of the very flattering support which he Las met with for the two seasons past. Sept. 7, 1837. EGBERT B. BEALL. city papers,Recorder, Joun.al and Standard of Union, Milledgeville ; Macon Mes senger, Columbus Enquirer, Athens Whig, Savannah Republican. Charleston Courier, and Edgefield Advertiser will copy the above in their respective papers, fsitil first November, and forward their accounts for payment. E. B .B. Athens, Sept 16—20—tNI. ' NEW URYG dol)S AN» GROCERY STORE. rpHE undersigned having removed to the up- I per tenement of the New brick range, next below the Ware-House of Stovall, Simmons, Ac Co., are now receiving a fresh, and general assortment of Sfioes, and Groceries, recently purchased at the North, chiefly for Cash, at reduced prices;—all of which they offer low, and respectfully invite a call from those who may be in market, believ ing that such inducements will be offered, as to secure a liberal share of the patronage of the public. STOVALL & HAMLEN. Augusta, September 9,1837. Wholesale Dry Good Establisment is in the second story —over the Grocery. Sept. 16, —20—2m "COMMISSIONTIWESSr AU&USTA, Ci A. STOVALL, SIMMONS, & Co., in express ing their gratitude to their patrons, for their continued confidence, and generous support, would renew the offer of their services in the Factorage and Commission business, nt their Fire Proof Ware-House, South side Broad street. Liberal advances will be made on Cotton, &c Ate, as heretofore. Sept. 16,—20—2m rACTOEAGD AND sign FTUIE undersigned having removed to Savan nah, has opened in No. 5. Bolton’s Range, a few doors above the Exchange, an extensive WARE-HOUSE for the transaction of a general FACTORAGE and COMMISSION business. Expecting to devote his time exclusiveljßo this business, he will attend to the selling of Cotton, Rice and other produce—receiving and shipping Goods, &c, and to such as may give him their patronage, he pledges himself to the faithful performance of his duties. THOMAS 11. HARDEN. Savannah, Oct. 14, —24—4t N. B. Liberal advances on all Cotton and oth er produce in store. The Georgia Journal, Southern Whig, Columbus Enquirer,Macon Messenger, Augus ta Chronicle and Sentinel, Darien Telegraph, At Charleston Courier, will give the above four weekly insertions, and forward their bills to lhe Republican office for payment. STOVALL, Co. WOULD inform the public, that in addition to the FIRE PROOF WARE-HOUSE, which they have for vears occupied, they have taken the FIRE PROOF W ARE-HOUSE, re cently in the occupancy of Messrs. J. W. & I. T. Heard, but a short’distance above, on Broad Street, and respectfully invite an increase of patronage, as they are now prepared to store with safety and convenience, a large amount of Cotton. They pledge their accustomed devotion to the interest of their friends in all business confided to them. Augusta, Oct, 14, —23,—3t x ——x /] o Fjzg ill ® . < A *1 rijJr I‘M >9 IS >B OX THE DEATH OFAFBIEKD. 1 The parted spirit-- Knoweth it not our sorrows ? answereth not Its blessing to our tears ?’ The circle is broken —one seat is forsaken— One bud from the tree of our friendship is shaken; One heart from among us no longer shall thrill With the spirit of gladness, or darken with ill. Weep! lonely and lowly are slumbering now The light of her glances 1 the pride of her brow; Weep I sadly and long shall we listen in vain To hear the sad tones of her welcome again. Give our tears to the dead—for humanity’s claim For its silence and darkness is ever the same; The hope of that world whose existence is bliss Mny not stifle the tears of the mourners of this. For oh, if one glance the freed spirit can throw On the scene of its troubled probation below, Than the glow of the marble, the pomp of the dead, Touhat glance will be dearer the tears which we shed. Oh, who can forget the rich light of her smile, Over lips moved with music and feeling the while? The eye’s deep enchantment, dark, dreamlike, and dear, In the glow of its gladness, the shade of its tear ? And the charm of her features, while over the wuole Played the hues of the heart and the sunshine of seul; And the low, mellow voice, like the music which seems Breathed faintly and sweet in the ear of our dreams. But holier and dearer, our memories hold Those treasures of feeling more precious than gold; The love and the kindness, the pity which gave Fresh hopes to the living and wreaths for the grave. The heart ever opened to Charity’s claim, Unmoved from its purpose by censure and blame: While vainly alike on hereye and her ear, Fell the scorn of the heartless, the jesting and jeer. For though spotless herself, she could sorrow for them Who sullied with evil the spirit’s pure gem; And a sigh or a tear could the erring reprove, And the sting of rebuke was still tempered with love. As a cloud of the. sunset, slow melting in heaven— As a star that is lost when the daylight is given— As a glad dream of slumber, which wakens in bliss, She hath passed from the world of the holy from this. She hath passed '. —but oh, sweet as the flow’rets shall bloom From her last lonely dwelling, the dust of her tomb, The charm of her virtues, as Heaven’s own breath, Shall rise like an incense from darkness and death. From the Knickerbocker for October. Aanerican Asatiquilaes, three. ‘ Even in thy desert, what is like to thee ? Thy very weeds are beautiful; thy waste More rich than other climes’ Thy wreck a glory, and thy ruins graced With an immaculate charm.’ If, as has been stated in previous numbers, this coutinent is distinguished by the remains of great cities, magnificent structures, and in numerable other ingenious specimens of an cient art; and if, as has likewise been shown, these things existed at a period of time un known to history or tradition, the inquiry, ■ Who were the people that inhabited these cities, who constructed these edifices, and who executed these varied arts ?’ becomes of intense interest to ail men of curiosity and of learning. The inqutry is also inseparably connected with the description of these arts; and, as a con sequence, demands attention, as we proceed with the subject of American Antiquities. For a long time, the majority of men were satisfied with the reputed discovery of thiscon tinent by Columbus, even though they were acquainted with the fact that he found the ‘ new world’ thickly inhabited by different va rieties of mankind, and though subsequent re searches proved these inhabitants to nave ex isted ages before, and from one end of the con tinent to the other. So little reflection is still manifested upon this subject by many, that, they blindly assent to the opinion, that Colum bus was, indeed, the first European discoverer of America; forgetting, seemingly—to say nothing of its repeated discovery by tin- 'North- , men,’ and probably by others, from, the ninth ; ( to the twJfth cent tty —that, according to the I same popular idea, the primitive inhabitants I must thems Ives have been the discoverers, lime iriftu moriab'y past, and, like Columbus, have sailed from the eastern continent, across a wide and trackless ocean, to our far- famed ‘new world.’ The truth is, men arc too prone to consider that w hich is new to themselves, as actual discovery ; and, during the novelty of the occasion, and in their love of praise, are very little inclined to reflect upon the eviden ces of antiquity, though they stare them full io the face. Should we concede the correctness ’ of the common opinion, as to the origin of these j inhabitants, the discovery of America by them must have been a much more eventful circmn- ■ stance in tin: history of man (han that by Co lumbus. How many aid how exciting must have been the incidents attending that, di-cov cry I How bold the enterprise, how Jong aid i how perilous the voyages I How starthog the ' hair.Ln adtli ’scapes, and how iniposi gto th. in ; must have been a ‘netrworZd’ indeed! Wh it I strange objects, animate and inanimate, must have been presented io them, on first reaching, and while traversing, the great continent of America! How little know ledge, in fine did . Columbus possess of this continent, compared with that acquired by the observations of the , millions who had occupied it for time unknown! • These w ere tneti, reasoning and feeling men, ■ like ourselves; why, then, should we not rea son upon the times and the events which rnark ' ed their discovery of the ‘new world?’ We might imagine, perhaps, stinielhiitg like those events, or conceive of the records to which they might have given birth, when, without tho compass that guided Columbus, or the means which safely protected him against the fury of the elements, they made successive discoveries of, and peopled, so vast a coutiiient. It is not impossible that th j African, the Malay, and the Tartar, found here by Columbus. ‘ monarchs of ail they surveyed,’ possessed such a knowledge ofthe arts Ind sciences as to have enabled them to navigate the boisterous ocea-i with equal security, us certainly they had done with eqii ’.l success. History, in fact, informs us, that the remote knowledge of many ofihesn people was of superior order. .It might have equalled that of ths Caucassian, at tho time el his discovery of America. The event proves that it even did, it; many important p; rticulars, “WHERE POWERS ARE ASSUMED WHICH HAVE NOT BEEN DELEGATED, A NULLIFICATION OF THE ACT 13 THE RIGHTFUL REMEDY.” lejferson. notwithstanding our boasted preeminence.— Let the records of the at.cicut Chinese, Ara bians, and East Indians, the monuments of Asia, and of the Peloponnesian Islands, and the arts of Palnnque, speak for the early condi tion of the human intellect. But a long night of darkness has intervened; and, like men at all ages of the world, ‘we reason but from what we know.’ It cannot be inferred from evidences deriv ed from the relics hitherto discovered in the United States, that the primitive inhabitants of onr country were not, for centuries, contempo raneous with the Tultecans. That they were, indeed, will appear extremely probable, in solv ing the question ns to their ultimate destiny. It is a verv common and a very important question, ‘ What became ofthe numerous peo ple who once populated our western valleys?’ Though we mny not give a conclusive answer to the inquiry, yet it may be shown that, in tho final overthrow ofthe Tultecan nation, and synchronous with the desertion, and perhaps destruction, of the city of Palenque, the bar barous northern nations of Aztiqucs and Chi chimecas, before alluded to, were none others than the primitive inhabitants of the Mississip pi valley; who, in the order observed in the rise and fall of nations, were expelled from their country by hordes of a still more north ern and warlike nation of Tartars. We find. to begin with the human family in | Central America, and the earliest arts which arc at present revealed to us, that the Tultecan people, or a people analogous in their grts, cus toms, etc., inhabited, at the period of their glory, the provinces of Yucatan, Chiapa, and Guatemala. Which ofthe two first named portions of that delightful country was the scene of their primeval history, does not clear ly appear. Should it be determined that this people actually traversed the great Atlantic, agreeably to tho somewhat plausible and in genous story of Votan, of which we shall here after speak, the province of Yucatan may be supposed to have been the snot where they first established themselves, and reared their stone edifices ; and, indeed, if the fact goes for any thing in illustrating this position, the ruins of their architectural monument are actually found shewed along the province, from near its eas tern point, toward the famous city we have mentioned. But if the Tultecan metropolis, situated cm an elevated paradisian plain, far removed from any other similar ruins, was rZs facto, the first residence of man in America, we shall be at a loss to assign any other than an indigenous origin for lha Tultecan people. On a question thus undecided, there can ba no cause of wonder, if there arc those who are conscientiously Pre Adamites. But. without designing to favor one opinion more than an other, independent of the evidence actually of fered, it may bo confidently affirmed, that there does not appear any satisfactory proofs adduc ed by thost who have attempted to trace the origin of that people, that they partook more of the character of one eastern people than another. There has been, in truth, no distin guished nation of people with whose ancient history we are acquainted, who had not man ners and customs resembling those ofthe Pa lencians It is not strange, therefore, that men, ii <ue r ced by preconceived opinions, should have assigned various reasons to ac count for 11k; commencement of human popu lation itt America, and that, in the height of their zoai to reconcile al! things with those opinions, they should hive propounded their own imaginings, and the sheerest invention;, ns sober matters of fact. Such, melancholy as is the fact for moral troth, has too often been the ease, whenever favorite theories have been in jeopardy, or have stood in need of op portune evidence to render them plausible or reconcile:! ble with popular dogmas. The sto ry of Votan, though im/enious, and though ac credited by many, for the same reason, is in debted, wc may believe, to the same ideal source for its origin. This story, however, claims notice, and a mention of the circumstances on which it is founded, in speaking of the begin ning of our race on this continent. With his tory, as with science, there have been at al! times those who have stepped forth, and gra tuitously proposed theories, probable and im probable, in ai l of opinions involving individ ual interests and sectarian views; but, in the case before us, we are left alone with facts and probability to cs'ablish cur conclusions, which we are not at liberty to waip by pieju dicc, or tho favor of others’ opinions. There are found among tho ruins ofPalen que, of Copan, and ofseveral places of ancient grandeur in Centre.! America, specimens of j arts so closely resembling the Egyptian the 1 Carthaginian, the I’emans, the Grecian, and {the East Indian, that tn.my h ive thought the people of each have, at different times, visited America, tied instructed the Tultiques in use ful and orinirner.ta! knowledge. Siime suppose t that the Romans remained just long enough to | afford the Tulteeims the knowledge of buiiding their dykes, aqueducts, bridges, etc., and then > 'to have returned to the eastern comment. — | The Hindoos must also, for the same reason, i have instructed these Am rican people in their i religion and th -ir arts; and so with those of j some other nations. Tims it was, according j i to this hypothesis, bat a trifling affiur for the ; ■ people of trai'.sntla’ tic finne to make visits to j tb.is continent for the purpose of giving its an- ■ ) cienl inh ibita :ts (he r quisite mturroatioii for j. the constriicimn of Itieir edifices, etc. A sin - giil.ir difficulty would, seem, however, to stand : in the way of this siq.position ; and this is, that ths ruins oflltese arts themselv.'S in-iietito a greater a t qnity than those oi the eastern world, in the ex< cution of which fli.'Se. s.ige * school-mast- rs tire supposed to have acquired all th. ir skill. May it not be equally preb.t --' ble, from this view of the subject, that the Americans instructed the people ot Asia in a knowledge ofthe arts, sciences, and mysteries, of which their history so much boasts ? The fact is conclusive, that the Ttiitiques, were highly proficient in both the arts and sciences, at an immeasurably distant period of time; even more so. as fir as we are enabled to learn, than most natio >s of men on the other conti nent. Tht: science of astronomy, by which i this people was enabled to calculate, lime with I a precision, which, tin is thought, it. is the pride of modern science alone to claim, need only b.‘ cited as evidence iti point. Their • knowledge of the useful and ormuneatal arts was not behind that of any other people ofthe ; earliest tim s, as we sit ill ace by reference to the ruins which, for thousands of years, have survived them. Wm e we, iu fact, ‘o compare that knowledge, aS i meated by those ruins, with that ofthe Chaldeans, mid other remote people, as evince 1 by th irs, we could not hes- : itat. l to i lui:i a. u .if im’y iavmabla decision for the great antiquity of the I tiltiques. Il is • unhesitatingly -i.ltmited, that the Mexicans derived ail ilmir knowledge cf art and of sci- ; mice from these people, whom they succeeded; , and it is equ illy certai.!, that they were a bar- ATS2SKB, GEORGIA, SATURDAY, 4, a837. barons and ignorant race of men, lo ig after the extinction 6f the Tultique nation. Admit ' ting the Mexican people,then, io have had their origin in the northern nations, existing, as we have reason to suppose, within the vast extent of country between the ancient Tultiques and the present south-western boundary lines of tim United States, the lapse of a long period of time must be supposed necessary f»r their ac quirement of that extraordinary proficiency of which they were found to be possessed by the tyrant invader, Cortes. The Tultecan people, it has been observed, were completely isolated on a mountainous plain, more than five thousand feet above the level ofthe sea, where they enjoyed a climate more temoerate and genial, an air more salu brious, and natural productions more rich and abundant, than it has been the lot cf any other people ofthe earth to enjoy. It is therefore from this paradisial location that we are to date our knowledge of this people, since we are provided with no facts which prove them, or any other people, to have had an anterior ex istence on this continent. The ruined arts of Yucatan and of Guatemala do not satisfy us that those provinces were inhabited previous to that of Chiapa, and the delightful vale upon tha.Cordil!era mountains, where we now find the astonishing remains referred to. On the contrary, their present condition shows them to have been construct -d long pos’ermr. The people whose they were, should bo considered as colonists from the great Paleaci.iu city, which must, have overflowed with population. The arts nnd customs of these colonists arc seen to have been precisely those ofthe parent citv. as Wff’-I also as their religion. So late, tn fact, was tho origin oi Copan, that we are led to believe it to have been a ci’J' built subsequent to the destruction of the Palenctitn capital. Some of the edifices, and many of the m >(?’• ments, still remain: the coloring matter used in the drawings upon the obelisks is also as fresh and as bright, apparently, as it was when first, put on : notwithst? nding the m.itarials of which the buildings, etc., are composed are more exposed to moisture, and consequently, more liable to disintegration, than those of Pa. lenque. In these obelisks, we have a novelty among the arts preserved for our admiration, as relics of the ancient American people.— Nothing resembling them has yet been found at Palenque, though it is possible st;ch may have existed, both in that city and in tho province of Yucatan ; but they Long since crumbled in the general wreck of ruins. It may ba in place hero to introduce a .otice ot some of these ancient structures, now existing m a state of tolerable preservation in the city of Copan, tn the Province of Honduras and on a river of the same name. From the bay of Honduras, the traveller pro ceeds up the river Matayua, two hundred and fifty miles, when he arrives at the mouth ofthe rizer Copan, a tributary to the Matayua. En tering this river, he ascends it for about sixty miles, when the ruins of an ancient city are presented to his vi.:w on its banks, ami run ning along its course for several miles. Mas ses of stone fragments and crumbling edifices stretch along the river as far as it was explore !. Otte of the principal objects of attraction, is a temple of great magnitude, but partially in ru ins. This magnificent biiildi .g stands imme diately upon the bank, one hundred and twenty feet above the river. Z? fs seven hundred, and fftyfect in length, and six hundred fee' broad f Stone steps conduct from the base of the rock on which it is situated to an elevation, from which others descend to a large square, in the interior of the building. From this large square you pass on and upward through a small gallery to still higher elevations which overhang the river. A splendid view of the j extended ruins is h;re presented to ihe admit’- mg observer, traversing the banks as far as they can bo followed by the eye. Excavations were here made, in order to lay open passages which had been blocked up by the crumbling fragments of the building. At. he opening of the gallery into the square, a passage was dis- - covered which led into a sepulchre, the floor of which was twelve feet below the square. This vault is ten feet long, six high, and five and a half broad, and runs north and south. It contains great numbers of earthen dishes and pots, in good preservation. Fifty of these were filled with human bones, closelv packed in lime. Several sharp and pointed knives, mades of a hard and brittle stone, called itzli, were also found ; likewise a head representing Death, the back part of which was perforated with small holes; and the whole wrought with exquisite workmanship, out of a fine green stone. There were also found in this sepul chre two other heads, numerous shells from the sea shore, nnd stalactites from a neighbor ing cave, all of which indicated the supersti. tion of the people who placed them there. Tho ; floor was of stone, and strewed with moulder l ing fragments of bones. Great numbers of other rooms were entered, .allot which, as fin as they could be traced, j showed the most singular cu'-'toms of the peo j pie, and 'he most grotesque specimens ofsculp- I lure. Many monstrous figures were likewise I found among these and neighboring ruins.— i There was one representing the head of a huge ; alligator, having in its mouth a figure with a ■ humat: face, ai d paws like an animal. An ’ other was discovered of a gigantic toad, in an I,erect position, with claws like a tiger, on hit ; man arms! Numerous obelisks w re seen m 'various directions, both standing and fallen. These were gem-rally abo ’t ten fest high, nnd three feet thick. Ono of h im, still standing, is covered with repress -tntio s of human fi »gures, sculptured in, r |>ef, all presenting a front view, with their hands on their breasts, sandals on their feet, caps on th ir heads, and other wise richly adorned with garments. Oppo site to this, and ten feet~ distant, were stone altais, which are likewise covered with sculp tured designs. The sides ofthe obelisks con tained numerous phonetic hieroglyphics.— 1. here was one of these-curious obelisks in the temple before mentioned, the top of w hich was covered by forty-nine square tablets of hiero gly| hies. The sides were occupied by six-j teen human<gures in relief, sitting cross-leg ged on cushions, carved in the stone, and holding fans in their hands. Ona neighboring hill stands two other obelisks, which were also covered with hieroglyphics. These were painted red, with a paint made of a rich deep i colored stone, obtained from a neighboring quarry. Unlike any usher pyramidal monu ments of the kind arming the antiquities of the eastern continent, these were both broader and thicker at the tup than at tho base ; and the colors with which they were richly' ornamen ted, were still ofthe brightest titles. Among the moiiniahious piles of stone ruins which are to be seen in tfiq country round about, tin very great difference is observable in tho style of w’orkinatiship or of architecture, so far as could be observed, from that noticed among tlio relics at Falenqne. Thia similarity ■ is a striking feature, and is calculated at once to induce the opinion, as we have before sug gested, that the first inhabitants of this city were colonists of the Tultiques, or that they fled thence on the fall of their metropolis. The name of Palenque, it would seem, had, long before the cwnqitesf, passed into oblivion, while a part of the.city of Copan, then offering a shelter for the natives, was occupied- by them at the time of Columbus’ discovery of America, ihree hundred aud forty-five years ago. The materials of the Copan edifices, were, howe ver, evidently much fess durable than those of Palenque. The former, being constructed of sand-stone, disintegrated by exposure to the action ofthe atmosphere, though not more rea dily, perhaps, than ordinary building stane. of the same geological character, yet obviously more so than the materials of which Palenque was built, which are remarkable for their in durated quality. Hence our astonishment is increased, on reflecting, that neither the Pa lenquans northe Copanians, had any knowledge of the use of iron tools, but nevertheless quar ried, shaped, and planted, those massive blocks and pillars of stones, which composed their magnificent Teoculi, and all the great works which adorned and defended their cities. But one solitary hut, beside the fabrics mentioned, now stands on the ruins ofCopen! The pie sent natives deserted it only about seventy-five years ago. Many of them, hereabout, were engaged in the cultivation oftobacco, for which the soil was very good ; and this ancient place was celebrated as a depot forthat article, un der the Spanish conquerors. It is worthy of notice, that the water of this place is remarka. ble for its great purity, and the climate is equally distinguished for its healthfulness; circumstances which the primitive inhabitants of America would seem to have considered of primary importance in the location of their ' cifies. We have aii’?.atfy said that the people of whom we are speaking’ enjoyed a felicity une qualled by any other. This is attributable to their peaceful character, their simple yet effec tive government, their industrious habits, con joined with their choice location, uniting as it did al most every natural advantage of situation and production. But the present period ex hibits their successors the most wretched of the human species. The Indian race, once the most happy and numereusof mankind, may be traced from the vigor ofyouth through the strength of its manhood to the present decline and decrepitude of old age. Total extinction, in the usual course of events, will soon follow. It is indeed fast approaching at the present moment urged on as it is by the mad ambition ot the Caucassian, who, in Zristura is rapidly approximating the zenith of his power and numbers. Throughout the world this miv now be seen at a glance. The native of In dia is rapidly falling before the gigantic pow er, the cunning, and the oppression of England now herself at the acme of her strength and numerical force. Ignorance, superstition, and imbecility, press the Indian forward to his last hopes. Availing itself of these inevitable re sults of old age, the power that is slowly but effectually crushing him, rises elastic and buoyant upon the dead body of the old native Tiie tree Indian of United America, in like m inner, is fast closing the scene of his glory and the fulness of his manhood. He too is de clining into old ago; and already are the marks of death observable upon his withered visage. He too was flushed with the hopes of youth, and spread out his vigorous energies like the green bay tree. He too realized the measure of his glory, and proudly exulted in his power and possessions. But, alas! he too is fast wasting in the last stages of decline and I d ath. So it is with the Indian of Central ! America. From the fruition es bis hopes and I numbers, and the full consummation of his glory, he has sunk to the deepest degradation, to numerical insignificance, and to the most abject wretchedness. A stronger contrast in the relative condition of a people can nowhere be found. Turni )g from the period of which we have been speaki g, that saw the Tulte cans the happiest people ofthe earth, to the present, that reveals their miserable descend ants tamely bowing their necks to the gulling yoke of their Spanish masters, and how forci ble are the marks of distinction ! Take this people, amalgamated with the reputed barba rous Aztiqucs, or Chichimecas, and constitu ting the Mexican nation at the time of Cortes’ mad invasion, and how deplorable is their pre sent situation, contrasted with what it then was! VI here are the promised blessings of ihe ‘ Chiisfian.’the boasted charms of civiliza tion, etc. ? Away with the idle and supersti tious fantasies, and the base schemes of the sel fish and ambitious, under the garb of reason and of philanthrophyy! Let truth and justico speak for themselves. How much better, we would ask, is the poor Indian ofCentral Amer ica, how much more rational and how much more numerous is he now, than when the proud Caucassian, ‘the most honored ofthe free,’ first cssayad his renovating influences? Let the past- and tho present ansiver? Suffice it to say, that like his native compeer of our own states, he is rapidly disappearing under the operation cf these cau'-cs, nnd oblivion, mean while, closes over his history. Like the ill. fated Indian, it will be in turn for the oppres sor to yield to the force of recurring circum stances. Yes ! time, ton, will bring along Zris destiny, and it will be that of the oppressed, the cheated, the extinct Indian ! Civilization, as some one has observed, is and ever has been travelling westward. We believe it. The relics of America go far to prove if; and those of the pacific Islands, if possible, still farther. Giving then to America an indefinite antiquity, its earliest monuments should have mingled with the soil on which they were erected. They should have crum bled before the all-crushing power of time. And such is the fact. Its people should have passed onward to Asia; and they should have left other monuments by the way. Such ap pears also to have been the fact. Remains of magnificent structures are slili to be seen on the isl :nd» which intervene, even those of great and splendid cities. These, too, defy the scrutinizing inquiries of mankind, at this so distant date. Tho arts are those of ancient America. To one conversant with the speci mens now to be found in some of those islands, ihe iutereoce will appear conclusive. It be longs to the geologist to prove, that the inter vening land has undergone extraordinary revo. hitions. We are prepared to say. that he is enabled to prove that man) of those islands are of recent geologic?.! cpocha, and that most of them are of volca ie origin. By the way of these islands, then, it was both easy and natural to h ive peopled India, China, and those nations claiming with them the most distant antiquity. The arts of those times arc nearly the srnne in execution and design. The Chinese Tartars, those wander ing hordes that stretched along ths Pacific, in t.me again found their way to this continent, by means of the continuous chain of the Fox Islands and Alaska, nnd across Behring’s Straits. Farther notice of this fact will ac company some remarks on the present race of North American Indians, for they are the Tar tars referred to. If wa are to do credit to a recent philological work, published in London, displaying great research and learning, we shall be struck with the general proposition, that man had a common ancestry, far east of the hitherto reputed source of his origin. I'he evidence adduced from the analogy of the Ara bic, the Chinese, the Tartar, and generally the Asiatic languages, with the Greek, etc., throws much light upon the subject of our inquiry. Late researches, also, among the Pacific Is lands, nnd those more particularly bordering on the Asiatic coasts, are replete with interest touching Tae antiquity and former character ot their inhabitants. Ruined walls, monu meats, and sepulchres, of antique and massive masonry, of which tradition has preserved no memorial among the descendants ofthe people, clearly prove the existence of a different state and character of people at some very remote period. But recently there have been discov ered the buried walls of an extensive city, and also u strange race of people in New Holland. A colony hitherto unknown, speaking the Eng lish language, with European countenances, manners, etc., has quite lately been discovered in the interior of that yet unexplored continent. These facts are exciting no little inquiry and astonishment among the curious M Europe. 1 Still farther, and it, is hoped and presumed still more important, discoveries will, ere long, re veal new truths upon this subject, and tend, in a striking manner, to enlighten mankind in re. lation to their early history. To effect this, means more effective could not be devised than ‘exploring expeditions.’ That now con. templated by this government, if conducted in part, with reference to this subject, cannot fail to be highly fruitful of discovery. The ancient Aztec cities, on the vast and beautiful plains, and upon the southern banks of tho Pio Gila, in New California, with nu merous other remains of arts, and evidences of former civilization, now to be seen among what.have been denominated the ‘lndependent Indians,’on the north.west coast of America, from the thirty-third to the fifty.fourth parallels of latitude, will bo seen to throw much light on the original people, both of Mexico and of our own country. For tho preset:?, attention is still farther called to the origin of theTultiques, the first and the most remarkable people, an cient or modern, that have inhabited the Amer, ican continent. In reflecting upon the period at which the Tultiques flourished, one cannot but smile at the determination of some to give comparative ly modern dates to the Palencian city, and its ruined arts ; as if it were impossible that it should have preceded a certain time to which previously supposed data had limited their faith or comprehension. Some give its origin but about two hundred years anterior to the conquest by the Spaniards. Others, again, extend (heir views several hundred years be yond this; but such are careful, at the same time, to circumscribe their belief within a de finite period, viz: the Christian era. The ma jority. perhaps, derive their dates from the dis persion of the tower of Babel. Again, there are those who place entire confidence in the theory given by Cabrera, derived from anoth er source, and paraded with the utmost assur ance as having been obtained from some ‘pre cious documents,’ found in a cave, where they had been hid by Votan himself! From the tenor of the facts in this case, but more parti cularly from the language used by the Bishop of Chiapa, Don Francisco Nunez de la Vega, whoso book was printed at Rome in 1702, we are fercud to think that many, vary many, im portant memorials, and those which would have afforded us the means for discovering the his- ‘ tory of this people, were destroyed by the big ots of his sect. In this superstitious crusade, ho himself gave the most distinguished exam- , pie,by destroying, according to his own con fession. the ‘precious documents’ in question. It is important that the truth or falsity of this ‘memorial for future ages,’ as Cabrera calls it, ■ should bo inquired into; as it is either to be ! considered hereafter as settling the great ' question,‘who were theTultiques,’ or it is to be thrown aside as an idle and credulous story, got up by the bishop himself, for the purpose of giving himself eclat, and of confirming those who otherwise might be sceptical upon so interesting a point in history, or, perhaps, in his own peculiar faith. The evidences already presented of the an. tiquity ofthe Tuitecah monuments cannot, we must suppose, but destroy all the statements, (for they are mere statements, without one I clear and rational fact to support them.) which ) have been mad ', giving a comparatively mod ern date to the Tultique nation. It is true, ' that the monuments of Tultecan greatness bear I a siriki :g resemblance to those of the Egyp- | tions and Romans, not to say several other eas- i tern natio. sos people. But what does this prove ? Just nothing at all. If the relics which so much astonish us at Palenque, give evidence of age coeval at least, if not greatly anterior, to those of Egypt, from which, it has been affirmed they were copied, the Cyclops cannot be supposed to have been their authors. I A long period of time should have elapsed from < that in which these ‘wandering masons,’ for j such it is said the Indian traditions ol Central America style tho builders of their ancient ed ifices, were exterminated from Egypt, wan dered to the Atlantic coast, prepared ihem selves for a long voyage—totally uuacquaint. ed. as they were, with marine navigation—and actually traversed the unknown sea for three thousand miles! How long, will it be suppos ed, they were engaged in thus acquiring a taste so unsuited to their habits, and in contriving suitable vessels, which, in Upper Egypt, they never could have seen, to embark on the track less sea for America, without a compass to guide them, and without the possibility of thetr knowing whither they were going? Is it to be presumed, that vessels ot theirs, nt that time, if they built any at all, or were, in fact, in a situation to build them, if they had a mind, were furnished with the requisite materials, provisioned etc., to navigate the Atlantic ocean? Should we admit all this as probable, for the sake of speculation, ii would appear remarka ble ifthey, first and fortunately, touched upon 11 the coast of Yucatan, and located, at once, in the finest country on the globe, and that, too, in sufficient numbers to have built and peopled even one ofits large cities. We shall not ven ture to name the time required at that stage of man’s history to have accomplished all these things, or attempt to < yplain how the moulder ing arts which this people have left from un recorded time, could exhibit still greater anti quity than those of tho Egyptians. This dis crepancy between suppostH-on and Tier is bet ter referred to thoge who, rather than doubt Vol. V—Ye. 97. , what they have previously believed, adopt a« truth the must inconsistent theories. i The Carthageuiaus, ahh- ugh more advec turous, and more accustomed in their belligar ! ent prows to the dangers of the sea than any . other ancient maritime nation of people, are as little entitled te the credit of having first , peopled America, as the native Egyptians. sr> far as positive evidence is cot/cerned. The , latter will not be supposed to have inspited ' their successors with the requisite information : and skill, nor will it be presumed that they were so far the masters of navigation them selves. as to have accomplished voyages to this continent. The reasons which apply to these people, are equally applicable to all oth ers during the early conditions of society. Neither the Greeks nor the Romans, ambitious as (hey were of fortune and of fame, can be conceived capable of having executed voyages of three thousand miles on an unexplored ocean Nor will the colonies of the Carthaginians and Romans, said to have been established by tbent upon the sea-coast and on neighboring Islands, be imagined to have afforded the parent pa, tions the necessary impetus to embark in quest of discovery on an ocean, ever considered by them of boundless extent, or have prompted them to plant colonies at the distance of four thousand mil. s, admitting them to have con ceived the existence of another continent. W ere we so credulous as to believe this, wt; should be driven to the admission, that they not only made one, but numerous voyages across the Atlantic; arid eventually reared a great nation under their auspices. And if so. why, we might very naturally inquin', is ai) history silent upon the subject, and without even a hint of its truth, or the possibility of the performances ? The wreck on our shores of some solitary vsssel, a circumstance dwelt upon by all who have attempted to get over the o’iffiaulties in accounting for the origin of the American peo, pie, is equally unsatisfactory; for it is but a bare supposition at best. We might as r?a. sonably suppose any other means of peopling this continent. It is even less probable that a female was upon such a wreck, and survive the catastrophe,to constitute an American Eve, Yet supposing even this to have been the cas>', how' long a time would have been required, from the earliest history of Carthaginian or Roman prow navigation, for the luckless navi, gators of their craft, wiih each a surviving partner, a circumstance still less probable, to have explored Central America, built nomer. ous cities—one containing at least two millions of people—reared the most stupendous and df, rable edifices, and other monuments, and then to have become extinct, or identified withother species of me >, and all their monuments of ‘eternal rock’ to have crumbled into one gen, eral wreck of matter? Could all this have happened, we ask. even supposing, for the love of conjecture, that all the rest actually did hap, pe.i ? We leave reasonable men to answer for themselves. But there is another reason why the Tultiques are derived from no such reputed stock, and one which every scientific man will deem conclusive, if his prejudices preclude all other sources of evidence. There are physical peculiarities, we all know, by which species of men, as well as all lower an, imals, are contradistinguished. These in tho Tultcque have so little resemblance in commo:, with other species of mankind, ancient or mod, ern, that no effort of the physiologist can give him, according to distinctive criteria, a homo, logons arrangement. He is completely alone in this respect, and consequently could net have been indebted to the people in questin’, from whom he most of all differed, for hia orj. gin. The fact also, if it needs be, that the Car, thaginiaua visited parts of the United States, either from choice or necessity, as is believed by many archaeologists, would go far to prove / that they were not the people of Tulteca. If ! this be still supposed, where, we would in. I quire, are their descendants? They would ' have been as likely to bavff peopled this couu ! try as any other. The reasons why they did i not flourish here, would answer alike for th'ir rot peopljng Central America. The same remains of great cities would appear here a < i in Chiapa, Guatemala, etc., had they or their ' descendants been the authors of those in the latter places. Faint evidences do exist, of the preser.ee of a peculiar people in this country, nt some distant period of time, other than those who raised the tumuli of the western states the Tartars, the Scandinavians, or Welch, The mist remarkable of three—perhaps three are the only evidences worthy of note —are in. scriptions on rocks in various parts of tho United States. The charactets are believed to be Carth'ginian. In not less than twel e places are they to be seen at ths present day. ' Bui whatever others may think, in relation to 1 the authors of these blind, though curious in. scriptions, we are ourselves little inclined to Ibi lieve them Carthaginian. 11 is quite as pro, ' bible, in fact, that they were the work of the ! original inhabitants of the western valleys, as of any other people, for they are tbera to be seen, as well as upon the Atlantic coast. Sim ilar characters have been discovered on speci. mens of arts left by ihat people. Confidenca may have been obtained for the supposition that they were Carthaginian, from the fact that I the remains of a vessel, clearly Carthaginian < in form and style, are said to have been dis. covered imbedded in the soil n t far distant from where inscriptions are now to be seen on rocks, near our Atlantic coast. But at that time, these supposed to be the only in. scriptions to be found in our country; many others, however, are now known to exist, as far distant even as Georgia, and in the interior. The walls of cities lately discovered at the west, in Wisconsin, Arkansas, etc., prove no thing in respect to the ruined cities of which we have been speaking in Central America, except that they are entirely unlike in every particular, and were built by people as differ, ent in their character and knowledge, as our present India’s and ourselves. They prove much, however, in relation to the remains of cities on the north west coast, heretofore no. ticed, also to the temples, ci'ies, e’c., of t|io valley of Mexico. These with others equally remarkable, will be Hilly discussed in subse. quent numbers. - Newspapers in. Schools.— - Newspapers have been introduced as a part of the re gular exercise of the scholars, in the aca. demy of Plattsburgh. This cannot but have a beneficial effect on the minds of the scholars, and we have long wondered that the practice has not generally obtain, ed in our seminaries of education, ft cer tainly must be as profitable to our youth, to be informed of the events of the day, both in our own country and in foreign lands, as it is to spend their time in readin” accounts of the quarrels of the gods, and love ofthe goddesses of beathen