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Disunion Commercially Considered.
The agitation of the subject of slavery
which threatens to dissolve the Union, involves
some very serious reflections, particularly
to that portion of the community engaged in
commerce, and tho inland trade between the
North and South.
A glance at some of our business streets
exhibits the immence trade with the South and
Southwest, and we contemplate with satisfac
tion the importance and value of the South to
the North.
It would be better if some of our legislators
understood more thoroughly the statistics of
trade between the North and the South, and
between the United States and foreign coun
tries. They would be better enabled to esti
mate the consequences that would be sure to
follow disunion, upon the value of every spe
cies of property at the North, as well as its ef
fect in revolutionizing trade at the North, and
changing its location to the South.
Gould these important points be seen by
our public men at Washington, a better feel
ing would prevail, and less acrimony would
show itself in meeting the questions which
now agitate the whole country.
The Agricultural interests of the United
States are paramount to all others, for, upon
this branch of industry, Commerce is support
ed, and Manufactures thrive. If we look at
that section of the Union which grow for ex
port the largest in amount, and by far the
most important commodity of any of the pro
ductions of this country, or of the whole world,
we see that the South, where slave labor is
employed, furnishes in cotton alone, the
whole Uuion a large proportion of the means
to pay for the imports from foreign coun
tries.
The following table will show the value of
such articles of Agriculture produced at the
.South, as will always command a foreign mar
ket —for the past three years, viz:
1849. 1848. 1847. I
Cotton, - - 895,250,000 7 1,020,000 72,905,000 1
Tobacco, - - 0,616,741 8,756,360 11,008,200
Rice,- - - 3,841,964 3,575,895 3,091,255
Aaval Stores, 1,624,190 1,861,319 1,798.612 1
8107,332,895 88,810,574 88,803,027
To flic above
may be ad
ded SuLrar
ses, - - -$18,417,500 16,180,000 22,746,130
Total Agricul
tural Pro
ductions of
the slave
States, 8125,750,395 105,302,574 111,549,457
Os which, there were exported to Foreign coun
tries, during the same period, derived from offi
cial returns, viz:—
1849. 1848. 1847.
Cotton, - - 06,396,907 61,998,294 53.415,878
Tobacco, - - - 5,804,207 7,551,122 7,242,086
Rice, - - - 2,569,362 2,331,824 3,605,896
Naval Stores, - 815,161 752,303 759,221
875.615,700 72,633,513 65,023,051
ft will be seen by the above tables that not
only did the South furnish the staples, amount
ing to 875,615,700, in 1849, to pay for our
imports in part to foreign countries, but re
served a large amount for domestic consump
tion. Every dollar of these exports from the
South, was the productions of her own soil,
and without which, our foreign trade would
have been just so much the more circum
scribed.
It is well known that the North receive the
great bulk of the importations from foreign
countries; —that without the moans furnished
to us in Cotton, Rice and Tobacco, avo should
lie without tho elements for conducting so
profitably, and to such an extent, foreign com
merce. Without these staple productions of
the South, we should be enable to buy, or in
other words, to pay for the numerous articles
of necessity, and luxury, that make up our
catalogue of importations.
We annex the following tables to show the
extent of tho import trade carried on almost
exclusively by Northern capital.
Statement of the value of imports into the Uni
ted States for the last three years, designat
ing the proportion received at the North and
at the South:
1849. 1848. 1817.
New York, - 92.736,497 94,525,141 84.167,352
Boston, -- - 26,327,874 28,647,707 31,477,008
Other Northern
Torts, -- 14,716,030 11,200,013 11,161,667
Total N’th., 133,780,361 137,372,891 129,806,027
Now Orleans, - 8,077,910 9,380,139 9,222,969
Charleston,-- 1,310,501 1,185,299 1,580,658
Other Southern
Torts, 1,G88,577 6,760,298 5,931,978
Total South, - 14,077,078 17,626,036 16,738,605
From the above it is clearly shown that the
North acts as the great shopkeeper for the
South. She employs us to take her produc
tions, send them to foreign countries to be
sold, and returned in iron, cloth, and other ar
ticles. Dissolve the Union, and she would
act. as her own shopkeeper. She employs us,
because we have ships and capital invested in
commerce. Compel her to establish a South
ern confederacy, and she must act for herself.
She can build her own vessels, till them with
the products of her own soil, and imporf ncr
own goods, not from the North, but from those
foreign countries who now- buy her cotton,
rice and tobacco.
This trade the North would lose. If wc
look at the wealth and splendor in our large
Northern cities, wc see cvidencies of the pro
iits derived from commerce and tradewith
the South. It is safe to estimate fifty per cent,
after paying duties, upon the cost piice of
most of the articles imported into the United
States before they reach the consumer. Who
gets this fifty per cent? It is divided between
the commission merchant, ship-owner, import
ter, banker and wholesale and retail dealers.
All, except the latter, are identified with the
institutions of the North —and who’ in a body
realize in profits out of this foreign trade an
amout equal to the whole value of the Cotton
crop.
What would be the consequences if the
North were deprived of this immense inland
trade with the South, by far the most impor
tant of any branch, connected as 4 is with
their shipping ami manufacturing interests.
Destroy the intercourse between the North
and South, and one of the very first acts that
claim the attention of the South would be to
engage in foreign commerce. They would
not only do it in preference to buying from
■he North, but would be compelled to take
articles of foreign manufacture in return for
their cotton, rice, tobacco, Arc. which the
North would be shut out from, just to the ex
tent the consumption of the Free States woukl
permit; for it is not fikely the South would
allow the North to compete with her in the
manufacture of coarse eotton goods’ when
they would have the ability of fixing an export
duty on raw cotton to the Free States, that
would ensure a preference of their own man
ufactures in foreign markets, where Nothem
fabrics have had the preference of the whole
work!.. What a picture for the North to con
template! What articles of production, be
fci< les manufactured goods, would they be en
abled to export to carry on even a competition
“fill the South in commerce ?
The following tobies show the extent of the
exports from the Free States for the last three
years:
Summary of the value of exports of such arti
cles as tr ere produced by the Free States, or
from abroad by the capital of such as are
identified urith the interests of the Free
States, viz:
1849. 1848. 1847.
Fisheries- - - - 512.177 718,797 795,850
Oil& whalebone 1,876,074 1,075,327 2,480,716
Candles 159,403 186,839 191,467
Skins, Furs and Gin
seng------839.194 770,427 811,612
Lumber and articles
manufactured front
wood 3,718,033 5,066,877 3,806.341
Ashes 515,603**100,477 608,000
Trovision est. - 10,000,000 8,800,000 7,300,000
Breadstuff's “ 19,000,000 18,000,000 42,000,000
Miscellaneous “ 1,*00,000 1,500,000 1,200,000
38,420,484 36,584,744 59,203,986
Add manufactur
ed goods, esti
mated - - 12.000,000 11,000,000 9,000,000
§50,420,484 48,584,744 68,203,986
This table goes farther to show the conse
quences that would result from disunion, than
any other proof we could have adduced. It
would not only be mortifying, but disastrous
to all of the great interests the North have at
stake, to have their foreign trade cut down
from 150 millions to 50 millions of dollars.
How would such a state of things-afi’ect real
estate in the cities of the North ? What would
be the effect in this oity alone! Such a falling
off in the commerce of N. York, would at
once be felt in every department of business.
If the Slave States are driven to a separation
rom the Free States, the decline of the North
hi her commercial ascendency may be dated
from that event, it would require more space
than we can allow here, to trace the ruin that
would follow to commerce, trade manufac
trues and to credit generally. We, at the North,
would have, besides a deranged currency at
home, most of our own State and Government
securities now owned in Europe, back upon
our market, to absorb what ready capital we
possessed, and which would be required at
such a crisis to assist in establishing anew
order of things ; for it would be folly to sup
pose that we could go on and supply, for any
length of time, the South with the manufac
tures of the North, upon the same terms as
heretofore.
The tarilF upon Northern Manufactures
woukl be so framed as to give preference to
those of Europe; consequently, one of the
new changes would be the removal to the
South of hosts of importers many of whom
are foreigners, and have no particular predi
lection for the North over the South. They
could as well conduct their business in Charles
ton and Savannah, as New York and Phila
delphia. Another change would be, the re
moval of numerous small manufacturers, and
in time many large ones too. It is impossi
ble to depict the consequences of disunion
upon the trade and commerce of the whole
country, for it cannot be denied that the
South would at first suffer, but past experience
shows that the North has every thing to lose
while the South has but little to gain. We
trust that, with these facts before the whole
commercial people of the United States, the
North w ill not refuse to meet the subject now
agitating the whole length and breadth of the
land, in such liberal manner, as will perma
nently settle the great questions at issue.
New York Courier Sp Enquirer.
From the London Time?, April 19.
Ueatli of Mr. Calhoun.
By the death of John C. Calhoun, of which
the mail just arrived from the United States
brings us the intelligence, America has lost
one of the brightest ornaments that have grac
ed the federal councils since the estabishrnent
of the government. It will be difficult to
supply the void created by this melancholly
event, the South being left, at so critical a
moment in her affairs, without a leader in
whom she cau rely, and at the mercy of a
set unscrupulous politicians, who are chiefly
remarkable for their recklessness in debate,
and their incapacity in action. The departed
statesman has been so long and so intimately
connected, in oue way or another with the
Federal Governmant and legislature, that, for
the greater part of the last half century, he
has been one of the acknowledged pivots on
which public affairs in America revolved, and
however mistaken, in the opinion of many,
he may have been in some of his long and
brilliant career, the good has predominated
greatly over the evil, in the influence which
he has exerted over the general fortunes of
his country.
Mr. Calhoun was a native of South Caro
lina, where he was born in 1782; and was
just entering his G9th year at the time of his
decease. Ilis father was an Irish emigrant;
his mother Virginian, but Irish by descent.—
11 is early inclinations were for the quietude
and even tenor of a planter’s life; but the so
licitations of others drove him first into a pro
fessional and afterwards into a political career.
It was not long after his return from Yale
College, at which he greatly and rapidly dis
tinguished himsef, ere he vaulted into the po
litical arena—serving with great credit to him
self, for two cessions, in the local Legislature
of his native State. But it is from 1811 that
his public life may be regarded as really da
ting its commencement, when he took his
seat in Congress as one of the Representatives
of South Carolina, at a most critical juncture
in his country’s affairs, with a view to which
both he and his colleagues were chiefly select
ed to represent the State. His first session at
; Washington was what is known in American
; history as the war session of the twelfth Con
gress, the events of which took a turn, which
| has rendered it almost as memorable in Brit
ish as in American annals. In these events,
| young and inexperienced as he then was, Mr.
| Calhoun bore a very prominent part. His
; reputation having preceded him to Washington
’ he was appointed second of the Committee
; on Foreign Relations, always the most im
portant committee of the session, but at that
time peculiarly so. The Chairman of the
: Committee soon afterwards retiring from
Congress, Mr. Calhoun, in his twenty-nigth
year, occupied that honorable and then high
ly responsible post. It was in this capacity
that towards the close of the session, he re
ported and carried through the House, the
bill declaring war against Great Britain. So
prominent was the position assumed by the
young and rising statesman, on the occasion
of his first appearance in Washington.
It was during this session likewise that he
first developed to the public that firm and un
compromising hostility to all restrictions upon
trade winch, ever afterwards distinguished
: him. Even at the time when they were re
j sorted to as defensive measures by the gov
: ernment at Washington, he bold}}-, and at no
little risk to his popularity, attacked the em
bargo and the restriction and non-importation
acts as measures highly prejudicial in an eco
nomical point of view, whilst they failed to
secure the political object which had led to
their adoption. It w*as in delivering himself
j of those opinions that he enunciated those
! broad principles of economical science to
which he ever afterwards steadily adhered
and in the early espousal of which he was so
far in advance of nine-tenths of the leading
statesmen of his time. Notwithstanding this
he has been falsely accused by some, as the
author of the protective system tn America.—
The cliarge, than which none can be more un
founded, is made to rest upon the fact that he
assented to and chiefly promoted the high
tariff of 1846. But that tariff was neither
proposed nor adopted with a view to protec
tion, but simply with a view to revenue, the
policy of the government then being to raise
as large a revenue as possible, with a view to
the speedy extinguishment of the debt occa
sioned by the the war. That the tariff in
question gave a great stimulus to the manu
facturing interest, which has since been in
cessantly clamoring for protection, is not to
be denied; but this was one of the results,
though not the object of the tariff. Since
that time he struggled to regulate the exigen
cies of the treasury by a constant regard to
the strictest economy, and to adjust the
tariff on an exclusively revenue basis. It was
during one of the most memorable of the con
tests which this question gave rise, that, in
1832, he threatened to dissever the Union,
unless regard were had, in the financial poli
cy of the country, to the interests of the
South. At that time, he obtained only a
compromise, but his views and principles tri
umphed in 1846, when Congress, confiding
itself with a view solely to the exigencies of
the revenue.
To detail Mr. Calhoun’s progress in public
life would be but to recapitulate the history of
his country for the last 40 years. Suffice it
to say, that in or out of Congress lie was ev
er a man of action—lns name was associated
more or less with all the more prominent e
vents of his time. It was during the Presiden
cy of Mr. Monroe, that after having distin
guished himself for many years in the capac
ity of a legislator, an opportunity was afford
ed him of developing his administrative power.
For upwards of seven years he presided over
the war department, during which time he in
troduced reforms and enforced an economy
which some of our ow n administers would do
well to study. About the close of Mr. Mon
roe’s second term, he Avas nominated with five
others for the Presidency. Ilis name, howev
er, was soon afterwards w ithdrawn, but al
though there was, on that occasion, no elec
tion of President by the people, Mr. Calhoun
was chosen Vice President by a large majori
ty. On the expiry of his term he returned to
the Senate, as one of the two representatives
of South Carolina, in which body he remained
till the hour of his death. It was also in that
body that, in 1846—lie who had in 1812 suc
cessfully advocated a resort to arms, when he
regarded a different course inconsistent with
either honor or safety; calmly, resolutely,
and successfully opposed the warlike projects
formed by a reckless band upon an imbecile
administration for an incommensurate object.
If Mr. Calhoun was the author of the decla
ration of the war in 1812, it was to his tem
perate counsels and great influence that the
world, in a great degree, owed the mainte
nance of peace in 1846.
The subjects with which Mr. Calhoun, du
ring his long public career, was most promi
nently mixed up, were such as had reference
to banking, currency, the tariff, the independ
ent treasury system, state l ights, and the ap
propriation and the distribution of the pro
ceeds of the public lands.
In statue and appearance Mr. Calhoun was
tall, and thin almost to being emaciated. He
was a man of great energy, both mental and
physical, although never possessed of robust
health. II is temperament was highly nervous
notwithstanding which he had schooled him
self into great self-command. His action was
prompt as his preemptions were quick. His
eloquence was nervous, but seldom impassion
ed, a strong vein of common sense constantly
characterising his most ambitious efforts at
oratory. Ilis action, whilst speaking, was
devoid of animation, but his Avords flowed
forth in a torrent at once rapid and voluminous.
Ilis reading was great, his aequirments were
comprehensive. His mind was prone to gen
eralisation, and there was scarcely an occur
rence on which he commented, which he did
not readily refer to its governing principle.—
In his private relations he was accessible and
affable to a degree. His honesty and sincer
ity of purpose, even in his most mistaken
moods, w-ere too obvious to be doubted. His
society and conversation had about them a
charm and a fascination that drew multitudes
about him, but particularly the young. There
was sweetness in his voice, kindness in his
deportment, and truthfulness in the mild lustre
of his large grey eye. Every one in his pres
ence was at once at his ease, for w hilst there
was nothing sinister in his glances, so there
was no ambiguity in his words. In this, as in
many other respects, he was in perfect con
trast to Mr. Webster, that powerful, magnifi
cent, but repulsive man.
It is not easy to determine whether, in tins
crisis of her affairs, America has gained or
lost by the death of Mr. Calhoun. The great
error of his life was his position with regard
to slavery. He was early selected as the
champion of Southern interests, and what be
gan by being a policy, became at length with
him a creed. His chief object was to main
tain, in the federal councils, a balance of pow
er between the Northern and Southern sec
tions of the Union, audit was because he fore
saw- the danger to that policy, which would
arise from the spoliation of Mexico, that he
resolutely resisted the Avar, so iniquitously
precipitated with that republic. The event
has justified his fears. The two sections of
the Union are iioav arrayed against each oth
er in a conflict which can only terminate by
one or the other going virtually to the Avail;
and this crisis has been superinduced by the
acquisition of California. Had Mr. Calhoun
led the moderate section of the Southern party
his death at this moment Avould have been an
almost irreparable loss. But placed as he
Avas necessarily at the head of the violent and
sectorial party in the South, who regard the
Union as a secondary consideration to the
maintenance of slaA-erv, under his poAverful
guidance it is not easy to say to Avhat lengths
this faction Avould have gone; but iioav that lie
is struck doAvn, it will he abandoned to the
direction of a host of incompetent and reck
less leaders, Avhose extravagances aa ill very
soon rally a majority even in the South around
the standard of the Union. Under all the cir
cumstances of the case, therefore, it is per
haps better for the Union and for himself that
Mr. Calhoun has been withdraAvn, although
his death Avill be a great bloAv to that interest
in the South, w hich he devoted so large a share
of his energies to maintain. His last testa
mentary speech to the Senate Avas an appeal
on behalf of slavery.
Taking liim all in all, with his virtues, Avhich
Avere many,, and his faults, AA-hich, though
great, Avere few, America, in the person of
Mr. Calhoun, has lost a Statesman &f which
she ought to be, is, and ever Avill’be r proud.
The last and worst conundrum is, “what is the
difference between a stubborn horse and a post
age stamp ?” You lick one with a stick, and stick
the other with a lick.—[Yankee B|ade.
Sir. John Franklin. —There are statements
in the papers lhat news has been received over
land by the west of facts which it is said, lead to
the hope that Sir John Frankling is alive and
safe.
The English papers sav that tAVO women, while
in the clairA-oyant state; ha\’e seen and describ
ed the luckless naA-igator and also his position
in the rock-iibbed fastnesses of the arctic regions.
One of them lives at Balton, and according to
her account, the A-essels of both Sir John Frank
lin and Sir James Ross, are frozen up in a place j
supposed to be Prince Regent’s Inlet, in sight;
of each other. Sir John expected to be out of
the ice and on his way home within nine months. ]
Os the other case the following narrative is j
given. The woman was a resident ofLi\-erpool,
and Avas put into the clairvoyant state by re- :
quest of Lady Franklin. What she said Avhile i
in this situation, is thus narrated :
“Did you say,” inquired the operator, “that
Sir John Franklin is dead?” And to this and
other questions the clairvoyan s e .ponded, “that j
cannot be, for I see him ; poor fellow, he looks :
sad and wearied, and not so Avell as when I Avas ;
last here. [The girl had previously been sent in
search of the missing expedition.] lie says he
is poorly and tired, and almost worn out Avith
hopes deferred; but his men con o'e him and
behaA'e nobly. God never made a path through
these desolate Avastes. What could induce him
to try to break through these icy mountains?—
He frequently thinks of the folly of his daringto
do so. Such thoughts humble him, and make
him sad and hopeless ; and yet he thinks he will
succeed in returning to Englant. He is right.
He will return in six months and three or four
days. The ships are at great distance from each
other. They look dirty and battered. They
ha\-e no sales set. They (the seasmen) are cut
ting the ice before them. In some places it ap
pears as thick as two houses; in others, like
mountains They (the A-essels) are in a differ
ent places now to what they Avere Avhen I was
last here. They are now where ships neA-er sail
ed before. They are not returning the same
road they went. They are going that way,
(pointing to the Avest.) What can be the use of
this road. It ought neA-er to have been sailed.
It will never-be sailed again. lie has seen some
of tne natures. They are wild, stupid and un
communitative. The vessels sent out to search
for him (Sir John Franklin) will not find him ;
they will cross each other, and he will be first
heard of at. a place called the G’ape. It appears
to haA-e no other name.”
It is singular that a Yankee clairvoyant avo
man about the same time declared the safety of
the navigator, and also that he Avould return
home at the same time stated above. We shall
see how true these things are presently.
Problems in Natural History.
The greyhound runs by eyesight only, and
this A\-e observe as a fact. The carrier pig
eon flies liis two hundred and fifty miles home-
Avard, by eyesight, viz., from point to point
of objects Avhich lie has marked; bat this is
only our conjecture. The fierce dragon-fly,
Avith tAvel\-e thousand lenses in liis eye, darts
from angle to angle Avith a rapidity of a flash
ing BAvord,and as rapidly darts back—not turn
ing in the air, but Avith a clash reversing the
action of his four Avings, and instantaneously
calculating the distance of the objects, or he
Avould dash himself to pieces. But iu what
confirmation of his eye does this consist?
No one can ans Aver.
A cloud of ten thousand gnatsdance up and
doAvn in the sun, the minutest interveal be
tween them, yet no one knocks another head
long upon the grass, or breaks a leg or a Aving,
long and delicate as these are. Suddenly,
amidst your admiration of this matchless
dance, a peculiarly high-shouldered vicious
gnat, Avith long, pendent nose, darts out of
the rising and fallen cloud, and settling on
your check inserts a poisonous sting. What
possessed the little Avretcli to do this ? Did
he smell your blood ii* the mazy dance ? No
one knows. A four-horse coach come sud
denly upon a flock of geese on a narrow road,
and drives straight through the middle of them.
A goose Avas never yet fairly run over; nor
a duck. They are under the very Avheels and
hoofs, and, yet, somehoAv, they contrive to
to flap and Avaddle safely off. Habitually
stupid, heavy, and indolent, they are neverthe
less equal to any emergency. Why does the
lonely Avoodpecker, when he descends his tree
and goes to drink, stop several times on his
way—listen and look round—before ho takes
his draught ? No one knoAvs. Hoav is it. that
the species of ant, which is taken in battle by
other ants to be made slaves, should be the
black, or negro ant ? No one knows.
A large species of the star-fish (Luidiafra
gillissima) possesses the poAver of breaking
itself into fragments, under the influence of
terror, rage, or despair. “As it does not gen
erally break up,” says Professor Forbes, “ be
fore it is raised above the surface of the sea,
cautiously and anxiously I sunk my bucket,
and proceeded in the most gentle manner to
introduce Luidia to the upper element.—
Whether the cold air Avas too much for him,
or the sight of the bucket too terrific, I knoAv
not, but in a moment he proceeded to dissolve
his corporation, and at every mesh of the
dregs, his fragments were seen escaping. In
despair I grasped at the largest, and brought
up the extremity of an arm with his termina
ting eye, and spinous eyelid of Avhich opened
and closed Avith something like a Avink of
derision.” With this exquisite speciman of
natural history Avonders, for Avliicli naturalists
can only vouch that “such is the fact,” and ad
mit that they knoAv no more, Ave shall close
our digression. You see that young crab
bloAving bubbles on the seashore —such is the
infancy of science. He A\-aits patiently for
the rising tide, AA-hen all these globules of air
shall be fused in a great discovery.
[The Poor Artist.
The Outwitted Coachman.
On last Saturday a coach was waiting at
a late hour of the night, near the Parg of St.
Cloud, on the Sevre side. There are always
on Saturday a large number of citizens who
fear are too late for the railroad, and of this
class the ingenious coachmen speculate bring
ing their coaches, accidentally, of course, in
the path which leads to the station.
The coachmen never depart until they have
secured the four passengers necessary to fill
their seats. Outside the barriers the coach
men are sovereigns, and they use their right.
The excellent comedian G ,of the
Comedian Francaisc, having dined too late
at the house of a friend at Sevres, found that
the last train had left when he reached the
station of Montretout, and noticing a fiacre
near, he said to the coachman :
“Will you set out immediately ?”
“Yes,” responded the coachman, “if you’ll
pay for four places,”
“How much
“Twenty francs.”
“It is too dear.”
“Well, get in, three other passengers,”
said the coachman, “will not be long in com-
The actor determined to punish, by a trick,
the exorbitant pretensions of the coachman.
He entered the coach, with the lightness and
agility of a young man ; the coachman clos
ed the door and gazed down the Sevres road
to watch the arrival of the three other pas
sengers.
While the coachman was making his ob
servations, G , opened the other door
of the fiacre, and glided out in the dark; leav
ing his overcoat, and making a long circuit,
he presented himself, limping to the coach
man, and in a cracked voice, demanded if he
was going soon.
“Immediately,” said the coachman; “you
are second and two others will soon coine.”
G mounted painfully into the carriage;
the door was closed, and the other door open
ed without noise. The third disguised was
that of an old man. G had all the
masks and all the voices at his disposition.
“Sir,” said the coachee to the pretended
old man, “I will set out immediately. You
are the tliird, the fourth passenger is in the
house, just getting his hat on ”
The fourth, as the others, was a fantastic
image to the coachman’s mind, who would
never have come had not G , using for the
last time stratagem, resumed his overcoat and
appeared before the coachman as a young
man excited by the wine of a feast of at least
twenty-four covers.
“If you are in as great a hurry as you say,”
cried the coachman, with a triumphant air,
“jump in and we will start immediately, as
you make the load complete.”
“Get on your seat, then,” said the artist, as
he closed the door.
The fiacre started ofF on a gallop. It bore
but one passenger. The horses did not com
prehend the mystery ; and the coachman was
astonished at their swiftness. At the Palace
de la Concorde,as ordered, the coach stopped.
The artist, G , opened the door himself,
gave his five francs to the coachman, and dis
appeared. The coachman waited at the steps
for the throe others to dismount. Nobody
came. “They are sleeping,” murmured the
coachman ; and he stuck his head in the coach
to awaken them. Darkness was in the inte
rior of the fiacre. He reached his hand and
felt on the seats for the three other passengers.
Nobody ! lie remained as petrified and im
movable as the neighboring obelisk.
Matrimonial Anecdote.
The Rev. Mr. D , a respectable cler
gyman in the interior of a certain State, relates
the following anecdote. A couple came to
get married; after the knot was tied, the bride
groom addressed him with,
“How much do you ax, Mister?”
“Why,”replied the clergyman, “I generally
take what is offered me. Sometimes more,
sometimes less. I leave it to the bridegroom.”
“Yes, but how much do you ax, Isay?”
repeated the happy man.
“I have just said,” returned the clergyman,
“that I left to the decision of the bride-groom.
Some give me ten dollars, some five, some
three, some two, someone, and some only
give a quarter of a dollar!!”
“A quarter, ho!” said the bridegroom,‘well,
that’s as reasonable as a body could ax. Let
me see if I’ve got the money.”
He took out his pocket-book; there
was no money there; he fumbled in all his
pockets, but not a sixpence could be foumd.
“Dang it,” said he. “J thought I had some
money with me; but I recollect now, ’twas
|in my tother trowser’s pocket. Hetty have
I you got such a thing as two shillings about
! you ?”
“Me ?” said the bride, with a mixture of
shame and indignation.
“I’m astonished at ye, to come to be mar
ried without a cent of money, to pay for it!
If I’d known it before, I would’nt come a step
with ye, ye might have gone alone to get
married, for all me.”
“Yes, but consider, Hetty,” said the bride
groom, in a soothing tone, “we are married
I now, and it can’t be helped ; if you’ve got sieh
; a thing as a couple of shillings ’
‘Here, take ’em,’ interrupted the angry bride
I who during this speech had been searching
| for her workbag, ‘and don’t you,’ said she*
! with a significant motion of the finger,’ don’t
you serve me another sieh a trick.!
“So there’s been another rupture of Mount
Vociferous said Mrs Partington, as she put
down the paper and put up her specs—“the
paper tells all about the burning lather run
ning down the mountain, but it don’t fell us
how it got afire. I wonder if it was set fire
to. There aro many people full wicked
enough to do it, or perhaps it was caused by
children playing with frictious matches. I
w ish they had sent for our Boston firemen;
they would soon have put a stop to the rag
ing aliment; and I dare say Mr. Barnacle
and all on ’em would have gone for they
aro what I call real civil engineers.’ There
was a whole broadside of commendation of
our fire department in the impressive gesture
accompanying her words. “Time and space”
for a moment became annihilated, and imag
ination figured the Boston engines pouring
their subduing streams upon the flames of
Vesuvius, and “hold on seving,” “break her
down twelve,” rising above the vain roarings
of the smothering crater.
Dissatisfied with iiis Counsel. —An
Irishman, a few days since, was convicted in
the Municipal Court of an offence for which
Judge Bigelow sent him to the House of Cor
rection. Just as Patrick was stepping- into
the coach, his legal adviser approached him
and whispered something in his ear—the na
ture of which the reader will divine by Pat's
answer, which was rendered in a wry deci
sive tone:
“Not a cint!—ye tliafe o’ world! had yez
been workin’ the hafl’ as haird to git me clare
as the ould white-headed divil did to convict
me, I wuldn’t bin in this dirtily ould cart now!
D’ye mind that ?—son o’ the divil that ye are !
Nixt time I’ll be gittin’ that ould grey-headed
giutleman to defend me, an’ sure yell be git
tin’ no more o’ me patthronage if yes starve
for the nade iv it, —och, ye palthry pitty-/pg
gcr, don’t be bodtherin’ me jist as yez sec I’m
to start on a tlira moonths journey !”—Bos
ton Bee.
Standard of Excellence. —“ Who is
that noisy, drunken fellow, that Mr is
dealing so gently with?”
“Who ?—that man with the green flannel
coat on ?”
“Yes.”
“Hush k—don’t let him hear you !”—(hol
ding his head close to his companion’s ear) —
“that man works forty hands ’ He’s on a lit
tle spree now—but lie’s a perfect gentleman
when he’s sober!
The speakers parted and we turned sorrow
fully away, marvelling greatly why any man
who is entitled to the epithet of “gentleman”
while sober, should even forfeit that title by
getting drunk ? The ways of man, as well as
Providence, are sometimes mysterious!
“Dimity.” —Nothing can so fortify the
heart against vice as the love of a virtuous
woman. If you would avoid State Prison,
therefore, tie yourself to calico as soon as
possible. For the morals, there is nothing
like “dimity,” after all. It is even ahead of
rattan.
Scotch Anecdote. —An old lady was tel
ling her grand-children about some trouble in
Scotland, in the course of which the chief of
her clan was beheaded;
“It was nae great thing of a head, to be
sure,” said the good old lady, “but it was a
sad loss to him.”
‘•What are you writing such a big hand
Pot?” “Why, you see. my grandmother’s dafe.
and I’m writing a loud letter to her.”
English Sailors Won’t Fight Against Ame
rica.—A series of inquiries is now going on in
England, which is decidedly alarming to British
naval supremacy, evidencing, as the results do
to a great extent, a better feeling towards Amer
ica by British sailors than to their own country.
The superiority of American merchant captains
over British was lately admitted by Mr. Labouc
here, to the British Parliament; and the follow
ing curious and interesting details from the Lon
don Morning Chronicle, of 12th ult, from the
mouths of sailors examined, show not only how
much better is our merchant service generally,
but an alarming disaffection among British sail
ors, which would prove most disastrous to Eng
land in case of war with us. One of the British,
a man of very quiet, sedate demeanor, express
ed himself thus: —
“It’s a far better service than the English—bet
ter wages, better meat, and better ships. No
half-pounds of meat shorter there; eat when
you are hungry, and the best of grub. What
goes into and English ship’s cabin goes into an
American ship’s forecastle. The Americans are
fast getting the pick of the English navy.
“Nothing will check the desertion in the Eng
lish service but better wages, better treatment,
and better food. The discipline is much the
same on board the American as on board the
English ships. An English seamen is very lit
tle thought of in his own country, but lie’s well
thought of in America. He’s a man there.
“I would'nt fight for England against Ameri
ca, but for America against England. I'll not
tight for a country that starves and cheats you.”
Another—a fine fellow, who had been oil and
on in the American service these last years, held
this language:
“If a war broke out with the United States,
in my opinion, the sailors on board the British
merchant ship wouldn’t fight against America.
What have they to tight for ? An English sea
man feels he hasn’t his just rights; give him
them, and he’ll fight like a bull for the island.
That’s my opinion, and I feed it, and its the opin
ion of plenty that I know. It is this, and such
iike things, that make us care nothing for the
country. Why should we ? Now, what have
we to care for ? We are slaves on salt water,
and the captain is a god. ‘Britains never shall
be slaves,’ is all stuff now—regular stuff, sir.—
I’m disgusted to hear it. Why, a Russian is
happier in his slavery and his ignorance than is
an Englishman with any feeling, if lie’s poor.”
Several others testified to the same effect, de
claring that arguments as to sides in fitting are
very common on board ship.
A lisping, bashful sort of a genius went to
see his sweetheart one night, and being rather
hard run for matter of conversation said to her
after a long pause.
‘Tlially did you ever thee an owl ?—What
cuthed big eythes they got, haint they Thally ?
The other day Mr. invited his doctor to
dine. As dinner was being served, a beautiful
little blue-eyed girl exclaimed: “Oil! lam glad
when you come to dine, doctor.” “You are very
fond of me, then, my child ?” inquired the doctor.
“Oh! no; but we always have a pie when you
come ?” [Yankee Blade.
From the (Milledgcvillc) Southern Recorder.
The Improvement of land.
Messrs. Editors:—We have heard and
read so much about the improvement of
land, and seen .so little practical demonstra
tion of it, that it has become as a “sounding
brass or tinkling cymbal!” Many of us, when
we see an article on the improvement of land,
pass it by without reading it. Why is this the
case? Are our farmers less energetic, more
indolent, and more careless, than the farmers
of other sections ? Are not our lands as ea
sily improved as the land in other States and
other countries ? Perhaps the answer is this:
the plan of improvement recommended is not
adaptnd to our section. Whether this be the
case or not, is for others to judge ; hut one
thing is certain, the farmers generally will not
go into the practice of manuring their
land, until land become scarcer by being more
thickly inhabited, and until it commands a
great deal higher price than it does at pres
ent. The great trouble and expense of ma
king manure, of hauling it out and spreading
it on the land, will prevent mauy from at
tempting it. Indolence will prevent others.
The fact is, making manure in lots, hogpens,
eowpens, or what not, is not adopted to the
cotton plantations of the South, the assertions
and recommendations of others to the contra
ry notwithstanding. Readerifyou doubt this,
let us hear from you; tell us of your plan, and
what is still more desirable, whether you ac
tually do manure your laud or not. Ido not
mean one acre nor five, hut all the land you
cultivate.
A gentleman in Hancock county, a few
years ago, recommended the plan of making
a manure crop (if you will have it by that
name) at the same time with the other crop
with separate hands to work in each the year
round, those who worked at the manure were
not to go in the crop, except at a push of
time, (or rather a push of grass,) which is
shure to come. These hands were to make
the manure and spread it; they were to be
provided with all necessary implements, wag
ons, &c., hut so far as my information ex
tends, no one has adopted the plan, and I
reckon the author of it has failed to sdopt it
himself. -
Blit after all,, I am in favor of making ma
nure: Make what- you can ;if you can’t ma
nure your whole crop, manure a part. Save
what manure you can, and if you have any
spare time, haul in leaves, straw, &c., and
when it is \Velltrod, throw it up in pens to
rot. Then haul it out and spread it on your
land broadcast, and you will get well paid for
it. Better have five acres of rich land than
none. Having rambled thus far, I will come
to the subject which I intended to discuss.
RESTING LAND AND TIIE PEA VINE.
Most farms have a sufficient quantity of
open land to rest a portioji every year; and
where this is not the case, it can easily be
made so. Every farmer should have open
land enough so as not to be compelled to cul
tivate any field every year. Every other year
would do, but one in three would do better
now—than it was twenty years ago. To
the truth of this many are ready to testify.
This land has been cultivated in cotton,
then corn, then small grain, and lay out the
next year. It might have been greatly ben
efitted by a [tea crop the last year. The pea
vine is worth more to the South as a renova
tor than clover is to the North ; that is, it im
proves land faster than clover. Any worn
out old fields in the South can be reclaimed
and made to produce good crops by raising
pea vines on the land every year. If the
large old fields which are to be found on al
most every farm, were plowed up in the spring,
or rather burned over, and then in April or
May laid off in rows three feet apart, and
planted in peas, they would pay their owners
well for the trouble and expense. They j
would only need scraping off when about to j
come up, and in about three weeks run round :
them with a turning plow, or any other that j
would throw dirt to the vine. I believe that
any old land worked in this way would be
better than planted in corn and peas both ;
and one thing is certain, it would lie infinite
ly better for the land. An interesting article
on the great value of the pea-vine in renov
ating old land, may be found in the Southern
Cultivator for 46 or 7, from the pen of Mr.
Cade of this State; a brief synopsis I will give.
He had a field of 25 acres lying on a river,
or in the junction of two, which was overflow
ed in 1840, and so badly washed and damag
ed that he turned it out, several years; final
ly be concluded to experiment on it with the
pea-vine, and accordingly he commenced in
the spring and planted it with peas. In the
fall, just before the time to sow wheat lie
turned in his stock and let them stay aliout
two weeks, and then sowed it in wheat, ma
nuring the washed and pooT places with cot
ton seed, 30 to 40 bushels per atfre.- The
next year he harvested 100 bushels of wheat
The stock were put in the field for about two
weeks again, and then planted in peas, and
thus he continued, peas and wheat, for three
years. His next crop of wheat was dressed
with perhaps 15 to 20 bushels of cotton seed to
the acre, on the poorest spots —not all over
the field broadcast —the yield 300 bushels.
The last crop with a still lighter dressing of
cotton seed on the poorer spots, \Vassoo bush
els. The next year it was to be put in corn ;
the result I have not learned. Will Mr. CV
please inform us ?
The result of this experiment is certainly
sufficient to encourage others to do likewise^
In raising peas to improve land, we should
raise those kinds which make the most vino - ,-
as they will shade the land better. Reader,
will you he so good as to toll us what kind of
peas you raise in your section, and describe*
their peculiarities. If yours are any better
than ours, I should like to exchange with youV
Twenty or thirty peas may be enveloped-in a
letter and sent any where in the United States
for about 20 cts. postage. We raise here the
tory, cow, white 3 kinds, black, speckled,
yellow flint, and some others. Some making
a great deal of vine, others very little. Some
early, others late. Some you may sow in
the fall when you sow wheat, and they will
come up next spring and make a tremendous
crop of vines and peas. Such crops improve
the land greatly, and the effect can be plain
ly seen in the succeeding crop. This is less
trouble than the plan above slluded to, and
equally certain.
None of our land is to poor too make peas
when planted alone. I have seen a pretty
fair crop of peas made on land that looked
like it would not make more than a bushel of
corn to the acre.
Wm. C. Dickson.
From the London Times.
Culture of Cottou in Uritish Dependencies.
“The law of supply and demand in the lever
age which moves the commercial world. When
an indispensable article of consumption becomes
scarce, the value, as a natural consequence, rises
in the market, just as it falls in value when there
is a superabundance. Applying this incontro
vertible tact to cotton, you would imagine, to
hear certain sapient persons talk, that they de
sired a bill of indictment against the whole of the
Southern planters, because they cannot control
the sessions, and furnish abundance of the raw
material for all the spindles in the world.—
These grumblers forget that the grower can no
more regulate the price of cotton than he can
mete out the sunshine which feeds, gr the frost
which kills the plant. The Southerners engag
ed in the cultivation of the staple might justly
retort upon the lords of Cottonopolis in the lan
guage of the ancient Briton : “If Ca\sar can
hide the sun with a blanket, and put the moon
in his pocket, we’ll pay tribute to him f .rdight ”
“At the same time, when the equilibrium of
prices has been destroyed by an unlooked for
casuality.—when exclusive dependence upon a
particular country for an essential article of com
merce is found to interfere with the legitimate
course of capital and labor, it becomes not only
necessary but imperative to look elsewhere for a
supply fully equal to the requirements of the
times, so as to be provided lor every contingen
cy ; and in this spirit we can discern nothing to
censure, but, on the contrary, much to commend
in the pains which are now taken to procure a
supply of cotton from other parts of the world, to
compensate for the unquestionable dtficie .cy of
the American cron.
•‘Much has been said and written about the
capabilities ol India to send us as much cotton
as we require, and to a certain degree of faith in
the capacity ol” that country may be traced the
anxiety with which the public has watched the
formation of Indian railways, and the eagerness
with which their progress and completion has
been regarded. The East India Company has
partaken largely ot this feeling, and has extended
j a helping hand to two companies which have
! taken the field, and for which Acts of Parliament
were passed in the last season. One of these
companies will cut a line from Calcutta to Delhi;
the other a line from Bombay to Kalliar, in the
direction of the great cotton field of Ghauts.—
These undertakings may be regarded as in prac
tical operation, for the East India Company has
guarantied a dividend on the outlay, which
makes their completion a nfotter of certainty.—
A third line from Madras to Arcot is also pro
jected; but whether it will struggle into exist
; ence is at present somewhat questionable. Nev
i ertheless, grave doubts exist whether the best in
j ternal communication in the world would enable
; India to grow cotton in quantities suliicient to
i affect the price in the home market. At pres
i ent, India grows littie more than is required for
I its own consumption and the export tradfc of
China; and as to quality, it is impossible, under
any circumstances, that the cotton of India can 1
| ever compete with the long staple of America.
“Port Natal is also mentioned with encourage
ment as a cotton growing district, but the small
ness of the population, and the fact that no ves
sel has ever yet sailed from D’Urban, the only
port in the colony, direct to England, shows that
a long period must elapse ere its developments
can produce tangible results.
“The most feasible scheme, of the many, which
have been broached, is one put forward by the
owners of property in British Guiana. The
West India Association, in their petitions to Par
liament, as well as in their memorial to the Col
onial Secretary, make out a strong case on be
half of the West Indies generally, and of Demer
ara more especially. The labor question is at
the bottom of all our West Indian difficulties.—
Every plan adopted since the emancipation of
the black population to secure a sufficiency of la
bor has failed, and the Association ask, through
Mr. F. Shand, their chairman, permission to en
gage blacks on the coast of Africa on the plan
which the British factories on the river. Bonny
adopt with the natives of the Kroo coast—name
ly, to hire them, say for five years, at the expira
tion of which time they can return, if the y desire
it, to their native country. In the estimation of
many persons, this would be equivalent to a re
newal of the slave trade; but if similar arrange
ments were permitted in the case of the Coolies,-
and in the one referred to—that of the Krotv
blacks—we can see no sufficient reason why
precautions might not be taken on the Africa is
coast, as well as at Demerara, to protect the
blacks who might willingly enter into these en
gagements, from the possibility of wrong or inju
ry. To no higher practical end could the naval
force which excites Mr. Hutt’s antipathy be di
rected, and judicious relations to the moral and
physical condition of the laborers, instead of be
ing deteriorated, would in reality be improved
and elevated by the boor, which the West India
Association solicit at the hands of Government
and the country. If the experiment were tried ‘
in British Guiana, it might, if successful, be ex
tended to the West India islands.
“In the mean time the Southern planters of
America, stimulated by the prices wntch now
prevail, have every inducement to extend the
cultivation, of cotton with, if possible, increased
power and capital. Probably the next crop
may, in its amplitude, compensate for the short
ness of the last one, and the outcry which now
exists for other fields of cultivation in various
quarters of the globe, would, in the event of such
a result, correspondingly abate. But at the
same time they will read the signs which are
every day passing around them very imperfect
ly, if they do not perceive a fixed determination
on the part of the merchants and
ot this country and its Government, to rely less
exclusively than heretofore on the cotton of the
United States. —Expientia d<xct.'’