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CHRONICLE & SENTINEL.
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The British House of Commons.
London, Jan. 2, 1849.—The Lower House
of Parliament consists of 608 members—soo
English, 53 Scotch and 105 Irish. The body,
as its name imples, purports to be the represen
tation of the “commonalty” of the realm, but
yet the aristocratic element enters largely into
its composition. It contains 39 eldest sons of
Peers, who upon the death of their fathers will
step into the Upper House, 170 brothers,
younger sons and immediate relatives of Peers,
and 367 other members, who by birth or mar
riage are connected with the nobility. The
superabundance of place men in the represen
tative branch, which our constitution so wisely
guards against, and which was one of the prin
cipal causes of the late revolution in France,
exists to a grievous extent in the British Com
mons. The body contains 63 government of
ficials drawing large annual salaries. 56 Gene
rals and Colonels, 84 military otficers of a low
er grade, 8 lieutenants, 74 deputy and vice
lieutenants, 53 magistrates, and 108 patrons of
church livings, who are all more or less con
nected with the government, and of course are
all more or less interested in the preservation
of present abuses.
It has long been the theory of the British con
stitution that every citizen in the kingdom was
present, either himself or by proxy, in the
House of Commons, but the reconcilement of
this theory with the actual system of represen
tation is enough to baffle any ingenuity. The
famous Reform Bill of 1832 abolished some
rotton boroughs, and somewhat enlarged the
area of representation, but yot the evils of the
old electoral law were not removed, nor in fact
materially ameliorated. The elective franchise
still remains most unjustly limited. Only
those who hare a freehold, the annual value of
which is forty shillings, and those who pay ten
pounds house rent annually, are privileged to
vote ; and in consequence, notone million out
of the twenty-eight millions ofthe’United King
dom, can exercise the dearest right of freemen.
In England only one out of seven male adults
have the legal right to vote; in Scotland only
one out of eleven, and in Ireland only one in
seventeen.
But the present electoral law is not only very
limited in its range: it is also extremely un
equal in its application. It not only most un
justly refuses votes, but it most unreasonably
denies all equality of value to the voles it ac
tually gives. A vote in one constituency may
be worth twenty, thirty, and even fifty times as
much as a vote in another. One-sixth of the
whole number of electors, and less than one
fortieth of the adult male population, have the
power of electing a majority of the House of
Commons. The law in its apportionment of
members pays little regard to the sum total of
population, to the number of electors, to the
amount of wealth, to extent of territory, to the
degree of intelligence, or to any other stand
ard whatever. It appears to resolutely set all
principles of justice or political philosophy at
defiance. The immensely wealthy city of Liv
erpool, with a population of 282,656, of whom
15,559 are electors, returns two members, just
the same number as the miserable little bo
rough of Harwich, with a population of 3,730,
and with 233 electors. Manchester, with a
population of 240,000 and with 1,200,000
pounds rateable property, sends two members
to Parliament, while Buckinghamshire, with a
population of 17,000 and 760,000 pounds rate
able property, sends 31. Kensington, a dis
trict containing 14 square miles, with a.popu
lation of 110,000, and 18,345 qualified voters,
has not been thought worthy of a single mem
ber, while the petty boroughs of Caine, Dart
mouth, and Medhurst, with a voting popula
tion under 300, have one member each, and
Thet ford, which has not 200 voters, has two
members. In fact, all the great towns and
cities of the kingdom, the centres of wealth,
• nterprize, and intelligence, are virtually dis
franchised, their voice being completely swal
lowed up by a multitude of little boroughs,
which have comparatively no claims whatever
upon the national consideration. There are
no less than thirty-five electorates, which send
one or two members each, although each has
less than 300 voters. One-half of the House
are elected by towns, with less than 10,000 in
habitants. Eight particular boroughs, with an
united population of 32,516, have the same
number of representatives as London, with its
population of a million and a half. The five
cities, Loudon, Liverpool, Manchester, Bir
mington, and Leeds, send, in all, twenty-four
members, while a certain number of counties
and boroughs, with the same population, send
one hundred and forty two. Thirty-one En
glish boroughs, with a united constituency of
9,8b2, return to Parliament as many members
as all Scotland ; and seventy English boroughs,
containing 26,443 electors, return as many as
all Ireland. As gross an inequality exists among
the different Scotch and Irish constituencies, as
among the English.
By the present system, the aristocracy have
potentially a controlling voice in the com
position of the lower House. By virtue of
the clause of the Reform Bill which denies the
suffrage to tenants at will, the 249 county con
stituencies, are subjected to the entire control
of the landlords. The 69 members of those
boroughs which are mere appendages of aris
tocratic houses, and the six University mem
bers, who are always appointed by the nobility
make up the number of ” national representa
tives,” dependent on the peerage, to 324, six
less than the majority of the House. But this
deficiency can be supplied twenty times over,
if necessary, from among the 160 other seats,
which the land-lords always successfully con
test. The actual extent of aristocratic influ
ence, in the so-called popular branch of the le
gislature, is not then a matter of wonder.
A society has been recently formed at Bir
mingham, the special object of which is the cur
tailment of aristocratic power in the national
representation. This association is called the
Birmingham Freehold Land Society ; it has
about a thousand members, and its income is
aboutfive hundred pounds monthly. Its funds
are expended in purchasing large tracts of
land in the electoral districts where there is a
chance of success, and retailing them in forty
shilling freeholds (which it has been found can
be done for £l9 each,) to men of liberal prin
ciples, who do not now possess th? property
qualfication. It is probable that,by this meahs the
liberal cause will obtain the complete control
°* 6 ectora^es » where it has never yet suc
cessfully waged a contest. h is not the case
in England, as in our good State of Virginia
that a man has a right to vote in every electo
ral district in which he holds real estate. The
Reform bill requires a personal residence with
in seven miles of the place where the vote is
given.
But the present system of representation is
not only full of inherent defects; much of the
good it is capable of is brought to nought by
malignant extraneous influences. The elec
tion in many of the contested boroughs, instead
ofbeing a contest of principles, are only trials
of the relative length of the purses of the con
tending parties. Horne/Tooke declared in his
day that seats in Parliament were bought and
sold as notoriously as stalls for cattle at a fair.
Down to the passage of the Reform Bill, in
many of the electorates, head money as it was
termed, varying in amount from one to two
pounds, was systematically and publicly paid
I'qj* ©vQry vote* Th© cftfldidßt6B p&icl it, ftiid
the voters received it, all as a matter of course, j
The Reform Bill has not much mended mat
ters.
There are now scores of constituencies from
which no man can obtain an election without
expending a vast sura, either in direct or in in
direct bribery. Votes are considered as mere
marketable commodities, and are paid for in
solid cash, in clothing, provisions and fuel, in
subscriptions to specified public charities, and
in other ways, according to the tastes and ne
cessities of the electors. An expenditure of
three or five thousand pounds by a candidate at
a single election, is by no means a rarity. The
London Times is certainly no mean authority ;
and the extent to which corruption is practiced
in British elections, can be safely judged from
the statement made in its columns last summer,
that there are not twenty members ofthe House
of Commons who had not directly or indirectly
implicated themselves in acts of bribery. Men
of the highest repute for integrity and patriot
ism are obliged to submit to the humiliation of
buying votes, at the penalty of their political
existence. A most disgraceful system of treat
ing also prevails. In many constituencies, vo
ters absolutely revel in debauch for weeks be
fore the election, at the expenses ofthe candi
dates.
No political scenes that ever occur in the
most uncivilized districts of Western America,
can match in vileness the electio n contests of
many places in England that pride themselves
on their intelligence and decency. It is a mat
ter for special wonder, that a people so moral
and patriotic as the mass of Englishmen unde
niably are, should havelolerated for a moment,
much less for generations and centuries, a sys
tem so humiliating to candidates for public of
fice, and so destructive of that self-respect and
probity that ought to characterize freemen.
The public mind is now, in a measure, roused
to this subject. A bill imposing very severe
penalties for acts of bribery was carried last
session, to an advanced stage, but owing to a
press of other business, did not reach its final
passage. The system of corruption, however,
is so extensively interwoven into the election
contests of England, that it will be impossible
to eradicate it. As long as the constituencies
themselves possess a mercenary spirit, so long
will ways be devised of profiting by it with
impunity.
But it is not only bribery that perverts and
vitiates English elections. Intimidation is also
very frequently brought to bear with great
force and complete effect. The advantages
whic’ the natural structure of society, and the
mercenary dealings between man and man,
give to the rich over the poor, is much more
frequently exercised against the political inde
pendence of the latter in England than in
America. This is particularly the case in the
country towns and boroughs. Nothing is
more common than forthe wealthy landlord to
extort votes by suspending, in terrorem, over
the tradesman and mechanic, loss of patronage;
and over the farmer, higher rent, if not sum
mary ejectment. This mode of procedure is
so common that it seldom provokes reproba
tion. It seems to be regarded as a fair and le
gitimate use of the advantages which fortuue
has bestowed. There is a very large number
of British freemen who regard the possession
ofthe franchise as an evil rather than a bless
ing, since it imposes upon them public duties
which they cannot conscientiously discharge,
without ruinously sacrificing their private in
terests. The comparative fewness of the elec
tors makes every vote in contested elections a
prize of great value, and no ordinary, and few
extraordinary, means are ever spared to secure
it.
A favorite method with many to give secur
ity and independence to the electors, is to sub
stitute the ballot for the present viva voce sys
tem of voting. This would strike an American
republican, as a measure promising great ben
efit. But this mode of voting is foreign to Brit
ish usage, and is not generally regarded with
much favor. It is thought inconsistent with
true frankness and manliness of character ;
and, moreover, it is represented that its effect
would be to superinduce additional evil. It is
said that bribery and intimidation would be em
ployed as freely as now to procure promises to
vote ; and that withal, facility for lying and
fraud would be afforded which does not now
exist.
Notwithstanding all the defects of the pre
sent electoral law and the corruption of elec
tion contests, the House of Commons contains
a large number of most capable and faithful
public servants —men ofthe soundest intellect
and the roaturest experience. A really meri
torious civilian is in fact much more sure of
finding and of permanently retaining a seat in
the national Legislature in England than in
America, and simply because he is not depen
dent, as among us, upon the pleasure of a sin
gle constituency, but can appeal to as many
different electorates as he pleases. The Eng
lish people are seldom deprived for any great
length of time of the services of an eminently
valuable statesman.
Public opinion in Great Britain is strong and
ever active ; and it has a great number of
ways of expressing and enforcing itself other
than through parliamentary elections. The
British House of Commons, though not its
own created, is its efficient agent, and never
holds out long against its behests. When pub
lic sentiment upon any subject of great na
tional moment has fairly formed and clearly ex
pressed itself, neither party discipline nor the
predominance of any social caste in Parliament
can long successfully resist it. Thus the aboli
tion ofthe Corn Laws, which dealt to the land
ed interests ofthe country so severe a blow,
in spite of all the means and appliances which
the aristocracy brought to bear against it, was
carried by the irresistible force of the public
will. If the chartist Petition, presented by
Fergus O’Conner last spring to the House
had really, as was affirmed, contained five mil
lions of bona fide signatures, if it had been the
“collected will” of a majority of the nation and
not the miserable humbug of a reckless faction,
its speechless energy would have shaken the
existing British Constitution to its very base.
In supplying the personnel and in regulating
the administrative details of government, the
aristocratic influence in England is predomin
ant; but in the settlement of those great ques
tion which vitally concern a nation’s weal and
woe, the middle class is the ultimate control
ling power in the country. Sooner or later it
is sure to overmaster all opposing interests and
influence. SIGMA.
The existence of the mind, or the soul, is as
certain as any other known thing. That the
body and the soul are not one, or the same, is
as demonstrable a truth, as that fire and water
are not identical, or that the sun and the earth
are not the same thing. The body moves from
place to place, grows by eating matter, is subject
to certain forms, color, heat and pain. The
miud, or soul, thinks of the future; remembers
the past, collects facts, forms theories, has neith
cr color, heat nor form. In a word, mind and
body, of all known things, have fewest proper
ties in common. If, fien, there be in all na
ture two distinct entities, they are soul and mat
ter. But gross, untinging matter is composed
of elements which are imperishable—in other
words, matter is everlasting. How much more
then, is the ethereal thinking soul immortal.
Since the mind, then is immortal we are induc
ed to believe that its character is unchanged
in a future state; the good is good still, and the
bad bad. Fnture rewards and punishments
then, seem necessary sequences of the im
mortality ofthe soul, the truth of which has
been demonstrated.— Simms.
A letter from Jacmel, dated Jan. 23d says :
“ An American schooner has anchored in our
roadstead, bringing M. Reybaud, Consul-Gen
eral of France, and 160 of our iellow country
w^om 24 are officers, 4 women and
1 child, who have been prisoners at St. Domin
go since 1845, under Ex-President Pierrot.
.Ve have supplied them with food and lodging
and have opened a subscription in their favor.”
Chronicle tmi> Sentinel. ’
AUGUSTA, SA:
TUESDAY MORNING, FHB. 27, 184®.
Exclusion of Staves from the Cotton
Growing States.
As was to be expected, the proposition in
Georgia and Alabama to prohibit bj law the
further introduction of slaves has checked the
abolition movement in Kentucky for a season
at least. The favorite plan of the emancipa
tionists has been to send a large portion of
their slaves into the more Southern, and almost
exclusively planting States, preparatory to
making Kentucky a free State. This scheme
they fear is now likely to be frustrated. Speak
ing of this subject the Louisville Journal has
the following remarks :
“We have just received a copy of a letter of S,
Heydenfelt, of Alabama, to the Governor of Alaba
ma, in which the same view is enforced with very
remarkable point and vigor. The movement is bo
interesting and important, especially at the present
time, that we have thought it proper to subjoin Mr.
H.’s letter. We think that no one can have much
doubt, after reading this letter attentively, that the
older cotton States, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia,
and South Carolina, if not some other States, will
speedily adopt the policy here recommended. The
culture of cotton no longer affords a fair remuneration,
and though we believe that the cotton region, with
its slave labor, possesses very decided advantages over
the North, and even over the West, in the manufacture
of cotton, to which a large diversion ofslavelabor from
the cotton field might be made, yet it is obvious that
manufactures and other modes of industry will be in
troduced in the South much more rapidly if the in
vestment in slave property is discontinued. This is
well explained in the letter.
“ The bearing which this policy will have upon
Kentucky, Virginia and Maryland is too plain to
need to be enlarged upon. That policy will proba
bly be followed at no distant day in Louisiana, Mis
sissippi, and Arkansas, in which case the only outlet
for the slaves in the principal Northern slave States
will be
tive on Kentucky absolutely to prohibit the introduc
tion of slaves ; while the project entertained by many
of rapidly transferring the slaves she now has to the
cotton and sugar States is rendered much less feasible.
II the policy of restriction should be| adopted once by
most of the Southern States, none of these schemes for
transferring the slaves to the South would be effectual
to any great extent ; and those who favor emancipa
tion in Kentucky must make up their minds to drop
the subject altogether, or to take the alternative of re
moving the manumitted slaves beyond the limits of
the Union, or ofleaving them in Kentucky.
“Whether either Kentucky, Virginia, or Maryland
shall adopt the policy of post nati emancipation or
not, can have little bearing upon the question of prohi
biting slave importation in most of the Southern States.
The fact, that slave labor is no longer profitable iii
most of them, that the number of slaves is rapidly in
creasing in the natural way, and that nearly all the
surplus capital is even now invested in slaves, will
make it very nearly as imperative to adopt the re
strictive policy as if emancipation were determined
upon in all the three Slates named. It ig a great mis
take to suppose that the negro does not multiply as
fast in the Southern States, for the most part, as in
Kentucky or \ irgmia. In Alabama, Georgia, South
Carolina, Tennessee, and the interior of Mississippi,
the births in proportion to the number of female ne
groes are as numerous as in Kentucky, and the
chances of raising the children much greater. Our
own personal observation enables us to make these
statements without the fear of contradiction from any
one acquainted with the subject. Nine tenths of the
whole area of South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama
is healthier than the healthiest portions of Kentucky.
Fevers are very rare in summer, and the children
are exempt from consumptions, and nearly exempt
from all winter diseases. They thrive with little at
tention, and they can be fed about as cheap as in
Kentucky, while their clothing costs much less. The
sweet potato affords them a healthy and nutritious diet
through a great part of the year,costing less per bush
el than the Irish potato in Kentucky. On the large
sugar and cotton plantations on the Mississippi, and
on the rice plantations in South Carolina, the natural
increase is not near so large as in those regions of which
we have spoken, and these exceptions have been ta
ken for the rule.”
There can be no question, we think, that the
natural increase of the slaves already in Geor
gia will be fully equal to the just wants of the
community for this kind of property, without
any farther importations. Truly does the
Journal say that, “ if the policy of restriction
be adopted by most of the Southern States,
none of the schemes for transferring slaves to
the South would be effectual to any great ex
tent; and those who favor emancipation in
Kentucky must make up their minds to drop
the subject altogether, or to take the alternative
of removing the manumitted slaves beyond the
limits of the Union, or of leaving them in Ken
tucky.”
No one acquainted with the facts will deny
that, the Southern demand for the slaves of
New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania,
greatly facilitated the extermination of slavery
in those States. It was the Planting States
which bought the slaves of the North at a high
price; and thus gave a bounty on emancipa
tion in all the strictly farming States. Mary
land, Virginia and Kentucky now ask us to do
as much for them as was formerly done for
New York and other slaveholding States that
have sold their slaves and abolished the institu
tion. It we desire to avoid the total exhaus
tion of our soil, the over production of cotton,
and hope to see mechanical and manufacturing
industry flourish in Georgia, it is not our policy
to send all our surplus capital out of the State
to pay for more Negroes and mules, and wear
out our best farming lands, ae speedily as pos
sible.
A Short Lesson for Planters to Study.
Ws clip the following from the Petersburg
(Va.) Intelligencer:
Thirty years ago ours was the roost powerful of
the States—exercised a leading and controlling in
fluence in the affairs of the nation—possessed the as
cendancy not only as to talents, but as to numbers in
the Federal Councils. From this proud picture we
turn with painful emotions to the changes which it
has undergone, and with which it is now presented
to our eyes. We have become the fourth in popula
tion and in representation in Congress. We have had
our trade reduced to a degree that makes it barely
respectable. We have, with our loss of political and
commercial pre-eminence, proportionably declined in
our moral strength. We are surrounded by the evi
dences of decay, whilst, strange to say, we abound
in exhaustless materials of renovation. The last
Oensns inflicted upon us a blow mere severe and hu
miliating than we have ever yet sustained, and it re
quires not the gift of prophecy to announce that ano
ther such blow will prostrate us beyond recovery.
Prom 21 Representatives in Congress we were cut
down to 15 at one sweep. If like causes produce like
effects, what is to save us from a similar calamity in
1850 1 And if it comes, what will be our position in
the Union 7 Absolutely powerless. Is not this con
sideration enough to alarm us for the future 7 Should
it not invite us to the immediate and resolute adop
tion of measures of a sanitary and restorative ten
dency 7”
Planting alone will not answer. You must
have a due proportion of artizans, mechanics
and manufacturers. Without these, no State
ever did, and never can long prosper. They
are indispensable elements of civilization. Let
Georgia show all her Southern sisters, by ac
tual demonstration, that she is able to spin
every pound of cotton grown within her am
ple borders, and thus can more than double its
value in the markets of the world. Georgians
have capital and labor enough to do this with
all ease. Let the citizens of Augusta set an I
example by erecting anew mill on their Cana! !
with 20,000 spindles and no looms. A single 1
steam engine in Manchester drives 75,000.
The yarn from this mammoth mill is all ex
ported ; and not a little of the raw material goes
from this city. England annually exports one
hundred and fifty-seven millions of pounds of
cotton yarn. Georgians, think of the dollars
to be made by carding and spinning your great
staple.
Lecture before the Library Association.
Mr. Barnett, of Washington in this State,
instructed and delighted a respectable audience
last evening, in his lecture on the “ Causes of
the Inferiority of American Literature.” The
speaker displayed good taste and sound com
mon sense in keeping out of the clouds, and
treating his well-chosen subject m a plain way,
being content with an admirably reasoned dis
course.
Cold Weather. —Thus far, the month of Feb
ruary has favored us with unusually cold weather.
Last Sunday was a day as cold, dry, windy and dis
agreeable as we ever experienced in this latitude,
only exceeded by the cold Saturday of 1835. On
Monday at sunrise, our Thermometer stood at only
five degrees above Zero —and another instrument of
the kind, in a more exposed situation, (as we learn
from a gentleman in this town,) indicated only one
degree above Zero! This is colder than it has been
at any time since the “ csld Saturday” of February,
1835. Those having Ice houses in the Village availed
themselves of the opportunity to fill them with a
thicker and bettter article than they have been able to
obtain for several years. It is to be feared that the peach
and plum orchards are severely injured, the more
forward varieties especially. Buds and blooms were
beginning to appear on some trees, —Greenville
Mountaineer.
There is reason lo fear that fruit, oats, and
early peas, have been damaged pretty exten
sively by the late severe weather in this section.
Railroads in the United States.
A tabular statement of the number of miles
of railway in actual operation in the Union,
was recently published in Hunt s Merchants'
Magazine, compiled from Daggett’s Railway
Guide, which was extensively copied into the
newspapers. This statement, upon examina
tion by the Editor of the American Railroad
Journal,.was found to be incorrect, and the
Editor of that paper has been at considerable
labor to prepare the following corrected table,
showing the roads in operation in each of the
Stales, on the Ist of Juno, 1848, and those open
ed during <he year;
In operation Opened du~ I'otal,
Jan. 1, ’4B ring 1848 Jan. 1, '49
Miles. Miles. Miles.
Maine 76{ 34* 11I|
N. Hampshire. 167* 96* 263*
Vermont 91$ 91$
Massachusetts , 704| 172 876 f
Rhode Island.. 64* 64*
Connecticut, •• 194 751 270*
In N. England-1207* 470| 1678
New York 744 275 1019
New Jersey... 202 J 35* 239*
Pennsylvania,* 720* 720*
Delaware 40 40
Maryland 253 252
Virginia 406 406
N. Carolina •• • 255 255
S. Carolina.. • 204 204
Georgia 602 602
Florida 26 26
Alabama, 92 19 111
Mississippi.... 95 95
Louisiana 50* 50*
Kentuck y .... 28 28
Tennessee • • • •
Illinois 53 53
Indiana, 86 86
Ohio 262 32 294
Michigan, .... 264 264
Total, 5589 832* 6421*
Silver Springs.—The Editor of the Abbe
ville Banner, who has recently made a tour in
Florida, furnishes for his paper the following
account of these extraordinary Springs :
“ Five miles east of Ocala, and three from Fort
King, is one of the most remarkable Springs in this
or in any other land, known as the Silver Springs.—
It is a number ofSprings that unitedly form a stream,
nearly if not quite as large as the Savannah, and of
amazing depth. Language fails to convey an adequate
idea of the beauty of this place. The water is so re
markably clear, that the smallest objects can be seen
fifty or sixty feet below ; to test this we threw into it
a pin, and actually saw it until it lodged in the grass
that covers the entire bed of the stream. The Springs
are indicated by the most beautiful prismatic colors
that assume quite a variety of shapes, and in looking
down upon them, the visitor is apt to imagine what he
sees is not real. Fish from three to eighteen inches
in length may be distinctly seen, either floating lazily
in the depths below, or resting upon their emerald
beds, watching every movement of the boat above
them. We tried to catch some of them with a hook
and line, but could not succeed, although the hook
was placed almost in contact with them. It is said
the deepest part of this Spring is eighty feet, having
a couple of lines with us making forty feet in length,
we attempted to touch the bottom with it, but came
far short of it. Boats sixty feet in length come up to
its very source, and carry off cotton and the various
products of the country to Palatka. This water al
though so clear and beautiful is exceedingly unpala
table in consequence of the rotten lime stones which
abounds in it. In the immediate vicinity it is said to
be sickly aijd there are no habitations near it, except
a small store where considerable business is transact
ed in the way of barter, deer and bear-skin, potatoes,
cotton, <fec., are given in exchange for goods.
“ Whilst floating in our light canoe over these wa
ters,and gazing upon the fairy scene below, we thought
that if the enthusiastic Ponce de Leon had ever look
ed upon them, he must have concluded here was the
“ Blessed Fountain ” for which he had been search
ing. This must one day be a noted place, and were
it not for the widening out of the stream in one small
place, steamboats of any size could approach its very
source. ”
jgp-OuR New York exchanges received last
night, furnish pretty full telegraphic despatches
of the Europa's news, but we have before giv
en the substance of all they contain in a more
condensed form.
A Warning to Dram-Drinkers.—The St.
Louis Organ of the Bth inst., lias a paragraph
in its first column, stating that a man had been
taken to the calaboose in thatcity, in a state of in
toxication, and left alone during the night. He
died, and when the body was found in the
morning, it was more than half devoured by
rats.
The Cincinnati Times of the 17th instant
says:
CoK J. W. Weller, the Mexican Boundary
Line Commissioner, and Suit left this city, yes
terday for New Orleans, on the steamer Daniel
Webster, en route for life field of their opera
tions. The party consists of Lieut. Col. Emo
ry, Topographical Engineer, Mr. Gray of Tex
as, Surveyor, Dr. of this city
Surgeon C.L. Weller disbursing officer, Cant
O Donnell, Commissary. H. A, Robinson Se
cretary. They are to meet the Mexican Com
mission at San Diego, in May next, and then
proceed to work.
. ThxWeather in Tallahassee. —The Sen
Unel of ,he 17th say. : - The mercury s.oofon
Sunday morning last at 32° an ,i ,
morning at 22°. „ is doubtfu| J.ethefth"' oft
•T* 'K" treM ar °- not killed—the young
™ , l Wa ? pu . tt .' n e forth so rapidity,
must all drop, and amoitious gardeners have
hrown away all their labor. A friend tells us
that yesterday morning he directed water to be
I thrown upon his orange and lemon trees, but
1 , 11 con o ea l®d as soon as it touched the
i leaf.”
I From the St. Louis Republican of Feb. 13th. I
Later from Santa Fe.
We received yesterday from our friend.F.
X. Aubry, of Santa Fe, the Santa Fe Republi
can as late as the 16th December. Mr. Au
bry, it will be recollected, left this city late last
fall, on his return to Santa Fe, with a large
stock of merchandize, Many persons supposed
that he would have to encounter great hard
ships in a winter trip across the plains, but he
seems, so far as he himself was concerned, to
have triumphed over all difficulties. We learn
from an article in the paper that Mr. Aubry
left his train of wagons before crossing the Ra
lone Mountains, and hurried on to Santa Fe to
procure forage and extra animals for the re
mainder of the journey. About the Ist Decem
ber he set out to meet the train, with fifteen
men, but when in the vicinity of Red River
seven of his men deserted, and he was com
pelled to return to Santa Fe. He could learn
nothing of a satisfactory character in regard to
his wagons—some reports stating that they had
been robbed by the Indians, and others that
they were at Fort Bent or the Piquet Ware,
unable to move on account of the severe cold
weather and unusual drift ofsnow.
Mr. Newman, who left Santa Fe ou the 20th
November with a mail for the United States,
was compelled to return after reaching the
Cimerone, on account of the depth of the
snow and the coldness of the weather.
Major B. L Beall, in command of the dra
goons at Taos, arrived at Santa Fe in the early
part of December with several Apache Indians
as prisoners. The Major was soon to take the
field against a large party of Indians, in the vi
cinity of Red River or the Piquet Ware, with I
the determination to punish them, or lo force
them to make peace.
Mr. William C. Skinner arrived in Santa
Fe in the early part of December, from Chi
huahua. He represents that the American tra
ders, generally, in Chihuahua, were disposing
of their merchandize at fair prices. The In
dians were constantly committing depreda
tions on the inhabitants of the State of Chi
huahua.
A mulatto boy by the name of John Siglon,
killed another by the name of James Adasus, in
Santa Fe, on the Bth inst. It occurred at a
“ bow-fling” Mexican fandango. This, the
Republican says, is the sixth or seventh murder
committed within the last year, none of which
have been punished. “ Theft, robbery and
murder,” the paper says, “ have become the
order of the day.”
Prom the C 'harleston Courier of yesterday.
Latest from Havana.
Yesterday afternoon, the steam ship Isabel, arrived
at this pert from Havana, bringing ns files of papers
and letters to Thursday last.
The steam ship Crescent City arrived at Havana
on Thursday morning last, at 7 o’clock, from Cha
gres, and was to hare sailed from thence for New
York on Saturday. She had but few passengers on
board, and as far as we can learn, brought no news
of importance from the gold region.
The quarantine at Havana, as far as vessels from
the United Slates are concerned, is not enforced, ex
cept from those arriving from New Orleans.
The weather at Havana was unusually cold and
unpleasant.
“HAVANA, Feb. 22. —Our Sugar market has
exhibited increased briskness during the past month
at advancing prices, the Spanish houses having taken
the lead. Wequote:—Cucuruchoa 4* to srs. at 14
per ct. prem.; ordinary yellows 5* a o*; middling
do 5f to 6* ; fine do 6* to 7; florete do 7* to 8 ; or
dinary whites 8 to 8* ; middling do. 8| to 9* ; fine
and florete do 9f to 10* ; Muscovadoes 4* a 6. As
sorted parcels for Spain command 7* a 9* to 9 a 13rs.,
latter for two choice brands. The supplies from the
country are on the but the accounts from
most districts in regard to the extent of the crop con
tinue of an unsatisfactory character.
“ Molasses has been in active demand and the
price has advanced to 2* rs. per keg (12 cents per
gallon on board) at which there are still buyers. The
recent advices from the United States being less fa
vorable for the article, we may soon see a decline.
Exchanges have declined, the lasttransactions on
London being at 13* a 14* per ct; prem.; on Spain at
3 a 6 per ct. prem.; and Boston par a
2 per cent. prem.
Evidences of Cold.— A N. York letter, of
Tuesday, to the Pennsylvanian, says :
“ Rumor has it, that at Throg’s Neck, where
the East river empties into the Sound, the ice is
so firmly wedged in that people are walking a
cross—never done before in the memory of
this generation.”
The N. York Commercial, of Tuesday eve
ning, says :
“ The Sound was frozen over forty miles be
yond here, but the State of Maine,'which left
N. York, made her way through it. The Tra
veller made her trips yesterday, but was much
delayed by the ice.”
“ There was a thick snowstorm six or eight
miles beyond Boston light, on Sunday, kt
Cape Cod, on Saturday and Sunday, the most
severe snowstorm was experienced which has
occurred this winter. At Scituate snow fell to
the depth of eight or ten inches, and further
down the roads were rendered almost impasai
ble.
“The Connecticut river is frozen over at
the Swing Ferry, just below the South Hadly
Falls, so that teams can cross on the ice with
safety. The river has not frozen over at that
place before for many years.”
The Boston Traveller, of Monday evening,
gays in reference to the snow storm :
“The gale was very severe, and probably
was the cause of many disasters to ships on
the coast. We have beard of some.”
The Thermometer in Boston on Monday,
the 19th inst., when highest, 16* ; atTO P. M,,
5* ; Tuesday morning, at sunrise, 94 ; at 10
o’clock 11.
That morning (with the exception of the 11th
of January, when it was a degree and a half
colder,) was the coldest in Boston this winter.
At the Observatory at Cambridge, Tuesday
morning was the very coldest this season, the
standard instrument indicating 7 degrees below
zero, or more than 7 degrees lower than in the
city, the wind during the night being very light.
The Legislature of New York have adopted
a resolution awarding to Major Bliss a gold
medal, with suitable inscriptions and devices.
Triplicates of the medal are lo be struck—one
to be presented to Major Bliss, another to be
deposited in the fetate Library, and another in
the Military Academy at West Point.
The mails from the South, to go out by the
steamer Niagara to Liverpool, all arrived at
Boston indue season.
Lxrge Organ.— Messrs. Simmons & MTn
tire, of Boston, have just completed a splendid
Organ, for St. Paul’s Church, Philadelphia—
the largest ever built in that city.
A bill has passed the Virginia House of Del
egates constituting juries of seven instead 'of
twelve men.
Gen. Quitman is suggested in many of the
papers as the democratic candidate for Govern
or of Mississippi at the next election in Novem
ber.
James D. Freaner, the celebrated “ Mustang”
of the Delta, has been engaged as the Califor
nia correspondent of the Picayune. Ke left
some days ago in the steamer Isthmus, for Cha
gres, en route for San Francisco. He is a man
of genius and enterprise.
The Cincinnati Gazette mentions, that du
ring the recent fire in that city, a gentleman a
sleep in hts room was awaked by his dog. which
took hold and pulled him from his bed. H©
s P ran .ff a P and began to beat the animal,
thinking him mad, when his intention was ar
rested by a light; running to the window, he
perceived the house was on fire. He hastily
fled from his room, and with difficulty found
ns way to the street ; in a few moments the
room was enveloped in flames.
's2 % fHagwcttc folegraph.
Transmitted for the Ctironlcle & Sentinel.
New York Market.
Baltimc.be, Peb. 24, p. m -Cotton wa. firm
to day. The sales amounted to 1000 bales, at (c, ad
vance since the arrival of the steamer’s news.
Flour. Common Western and Genesee 85 65 a
85.75; Howard-street 85.37*. Wheat. Genesee
$1.31; prime Red 81.15.
Provisions Slack— Mess Pork 810.87 J a !!■
Prime, 810.
Sugar and Molasses firm and prices looking up.
Rice —Quoted at 3*c.
Stocks. —Treasnry Notes have advanced to 12*
per cent prera.; New Loan 14* per cent. prem., and
holders firm.
Aw interruption in the Telegraph line be
tween Petersburg and Washington last night,
pievented the receipt of our New York des
patch.
Charleston Market.
Monday, Peb. 26, . m.- Cotton,— The sales to
day amount to 1,088 bales at extremes ranging from
5| to 7c. Prices irregnlar—occasionally in favor of
buyeis.
Savannah Market.
Monday, Peb. 26 Cotton.— Sales 3,400 bales
at extremes ranging from 5| a 7p*. The market has
advanced *c.
From the charleston Courier of Yesterday—By
Telegraph.
From Washington.
Washington, Feb. 26.
In the Senate, Mr. Hale objected to the sec
ond reading of the Civil List Bill. There was
a debate on a proposition made for the tempo
rary Government of California,in which Messrs
i Walker, Hale. Butler, Webster, Calhoun, Day
ton and Douglas, participated.
In the House, the Bill granting lands to Lou
isiana, and the Post-office Appropriation Bill
were passed, a discussion arising, and speeches
made, however, on the slavery question, which
appears to be brought into every matter that
becomes a subject of debate. The California
State Bill was taken up. Mr. Chapman made
a speech, but no decision was had on any mat
ter that would give an indication of the feeling
of the House.
There was nothing known in Washington,
in reference to the selection of Gen. Taylor’s
Cabinet, beyond the fact that Mr. Clayton has
been designated as Secretary of State.
Oyster War. —We learn from a gentleman
just arrived from the Eastern Shore of Virginia
that a serious collision took place, a few days
since, in the neighborhood of Drummondtown,
between the citizens of that section and a num
ber of depredators from Philadelphia. The
facts, as we learn them, are these: A fleet of
some twenty boats from Philadelphia recently
entered that quarter of the Bay and commenc
ed taking oysters from the Virginia banks with
dredging machines, in direct violation of the
known laws of the State, which prohibit that
mode of taking oysters, under a penalty of
$250, and in open defiance of her local author
ities. The people whose rights were thus in
vaded determined finally to take the matter in
their own hands, and to drive the marauders
from their shores or aid the authorities in ar
resting them. Accordingly, five small boats
were manned and armed with two pieces of
cannon; thus prepared the Virginians came
upon the Philadelphia fleet, and an engagement
ensued, in which one oysterman was killed
and a mast of one of their schooners cut away
by a cannon shot. The fleet was then driven
into the mouth of a creek, where the Virginian*
succeeded in taking ninety of the party prison
ers, which they conveyed to Drummondtown,
in Accoraac county, where they were lodged in
jail. By some informality in the original war
rant the legal proceedings were quashed, but
the magistrates had issued a new process, and
strenuous efforts were making to bring the ag
gressors to justice. In the course of the skir
mish one of the Virginians was shot, the ball
entering near the mouth and coming out at the
side of the head, carrying away one of his ears.
Our informant stales that great excitement pre
vailed throughout the neighborhood of Drum
raondtown.—Baltimore American.
A series of resolutions has been introduced
into the Senate of Missouri as amendments to
the Constitution, in relation to the subjects of
banks and banking, leaving their existence to a
popular vole. The resolutions declare thu
after a given period, banking in every shape
shall be abolished in Missouri. The scope of
the clause on this subject, adopted by the late
Convention is embodied in the resolutions.
.Serial Navigation.— The Tabernacle was
filled on Wednesday night by a crowd anxious
to hear the lecture and see the operation of the
new Aerial Locomotive. The model, which
was about ten feet in length, was tolerably suc
cessful. Sometimes it would get too near the
gas-iighte of the gallery, and once or twice it
was in danger from the canes of meddling
spectators. It did not make a complete circle
through the air, but obeyed the rudder with
sufficient exactness to show the practicability
of the plan. We understand that a machine
of sufficient size to carry two or three persons
is now being constructed. This would test the
matter thoroughly.— New York Tribune.
The ExportofDomestics. —TheshipThosJ
W. Sears, which cleared at Boston on Monday
for Canton, has a cargo of domestics valued at
$67,681.
A Sewing Machine. —The Manchester Ex
aminer (an English journal) gives an accounl
of an apparatus, which has been constructed
for the purpose of sewing. It has been for
some time in use in the south dt France, and
is the invention of M. B. Thimonier, a native
of a small town near Lyons. A number of the
machines have recently been constructed in
Manchester. The machine takes up no more
room than a small work table, nor is there
anything un-ightly in its appearance. The
linen, or work to be operated upon, is passed
across an aperture on a small table, under which
is an apparatus for fixing the bobbin of thread,
and above which is a peculiarly constructed
needle holder, supplied with a needle of the
desciiption commonly used in crotchet work.
Upon the pressure of a small foot board, nnde r
the table, the needle, only the point of which
is seen projecting from the case, passes through
the cloth, down the aperture in the table, and
hooks up the thread, thus commencing the
stitch. By successive pressure on the foot
board, the needle in thus lowered and raised
and each succeeding stitch is brought up within
the former one, thus forming what is* known
by ladies as ‘‘back stitch.” The work produced
is of the most elegant description, and the
machine is applicable for all kinds of work,
fine or coarse.
Letters received in Boston from Buenos
Ayres, state that the British Ambassador was
living there as a private citizen, the govern
ment still refusing to recognise him.
Messrs. J. C. Riddle & Co, of Montgome
ry, (Ala.) have made proposals to the Govern
ment to convey the mails across the Isthmus, to
and from Chagres and Panama, for the sum ol
$12,000 per annum. These gentlemen, it will
be recollected, were the conductors of the cele
brated “ Pony Express,” which furnished us
with Mexican news in advance ofall other con
veyance, during the war in that country. It
the government should employ our favorite
little team, we have no question that they will
perform their duty to admiration. Mr. Riddle
understands how the thing should be done, and
has the energy to do it. —Charleston Courier.