The Southern sentinel. (Columbus, Ga.) 1850-18??, September 05, 1850, Image 2
them now to determine whether it shall be
preserved or not. In point of money va
lue, I think it is worth more to the North
than to tho South. Wo have heard but
little from gentlemen from that section,
for eight months past, but eulogies up
on the Union. If they are sincere in
the expression of this deep devotion to the
institutions of our fathers, it is time for them
to present the offering which they are willing
to make upon the altar of our common coun
try for its preservation. If they expect the
South to make all the sacrifices, to yield eve
rything, and permit them to carry out their
sectional policy under the cry of “our glorious
Union,” they will find themselves most sadly
mistaken. It is time for mutual concessions.
This Union was formed for the protection
of the lives, the liberty and the property of
those who entered it, and those who should
fill their places after them. Allegiance and
protection are reciprocal; where no protec
tion is extended, no rightful allegiance can he
claimed. And no people, in my judgment,
who deserve the name of freemen, will con
tinue their allegiance to any Government
which arrays itself, not only against their pro
perty, hut against their social and civil or
ganization. If you, gentlemen of the North,
then, intend to engraft upon the policy of this
common Government your anti-slavery views,
and to make its action conform to your sec
tional purposes, it is useless to say any thing
more of compromise, settlement, adjustment
or union. It is as well for us to come to a
distinct understanding upon the subject at
once. I do not [dace a low estimate upon j
the value of the Union to the South ; hut I do \
not consider its dissolution, with all the man- j
ifold attending evils of sucli an event in full :
view before me, as the greatest calamity that’
could befall us. ‘Far from it. There is no
evil which can fall upon any people, in my
opinion, equal to that of tho degradation
which always follows a submission to insult,
injury, outrage and aggression. And when- |
ever this Government is brought in hostile ar
ray against me and mine, I am for disunion—
openly, boldly and fearlessly for revolution.
I speak plainly. Gentlemen may call this
“treason” if they please. Sir, epithets have
jio terrors for me. Tho charge of “traitor”
may be whispered in the ears of the timid and
craven-hearted. 1. is tho last appeal of ty
rants. It is no new word of modern coinage.
It is a term long since familiar to those
who know how freedom is lost and how free
dom may be won. And I say here, in the
presence of this House, in broad day, that I
will acknowledge allegiance to no govern
ment. that puts the property of the people to
which I belong out of the pale of the law, and
which attempts to fix public odium and repro
bation upon their social order and civil or
ganization.
When that day comes, if it ever does,
“down with the Government,” will be my
motto and watchword. When lam outlawed
by you, I shall become your implacable ene
my. 1 shall never kiss the rod that smites
me. And no people who do not deserve to
be seeded at, trampled upon, and kicked by
their oppressors, will. I told you that we
might as well talk plainly upon this subject,
and 1 intend to do it. And it is for you now,
who have nothing on your lips but “union,” if
you are earnest in your profession, to come
forward and assist in devising the ways and
means of sustaining it. 1 have, on a former
occasion, given my views upon the subject of
our differences, and 1 intend to repeat them
before 1 close ; but I have not yet heard any
thing from those who compose the majority
in this House of a conciliatory character. If
your only reliance for harmony, peace and
union is force, come out and say so ; or if
you have any plan of conciliation, submit it.
1 am for conciliation, if it can be accomplish
ed upon any reasonable and just principles.
I am also for making a clean business of it. I
am for no partial arrangement. If we aim
at peace, let us have no temporary truce, but
permanent quiet and repose. This, in my
opinion, can only be done by a settlement of
all the questions growing out of these territo
rial acquisitions upon liberal and proper
terms. \\ hat are such terms ? This is the
practical point for us now to consider.
The gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr.
W ilmot] said the other day, that these agi
tations would never cease until the South
ceased her endeavors to force the General
Government to conform its policy to their
sectional views and interests. This was the
purport of his remarks, if I heard him cor
rectly. In this he virtually charged that,
these agitations came from the South, and
without just cause. And the correctness of
this accusation I deny. When, let me ask
gentlemen, did the South ever attempt to con
trol the action of this Government for the
promotion of her peculiar interests? When
did she ever ask this Government to pass any
law for the promotion of her interests? The
North has repeatedly asked for tariff acts
and navigation acts, upon which their inter
ests so much depend—which have been re
peatedly granted. It is tme that men from
the South have often voted for such meas
ures when presented and urged by the North
—not because the South was particularly in
terested in them, but because the North was,
and they were willing to advance the inter
ests of the North, when, in their opinion, they
could do so without injury or detriment to
other sections. But when did the South ev
er invoke the action of this Government for
its exclusive benefit? I ask for the instance
to be named. I recollect but one, and that is
the passage of a law more effectually to se
cure the rendition of lugitives from labor,
which is our right expressly guaranteed
under the Constitution; and this you continue
to refuse us. And how is it upon this very
territorial question which is now the source
of die excitement which the gentleman from
Pennsylvania says will never be allayed un
til the South ceases her endeavors to gain an
unjustifiable control over the action of the
Government? How does this case stand?—
Who is it that is attempting to control the
policy of the Government to carry out their
sectional views and purposes?
A public domain has been acquired bv the
common blood and common treasure of all,
aud the South who is charged with endeavor
ing to control the Government for their pur
poses, asks nothing but that the common ter
ritory, which is the public property, may be
opened to the entry and settlement and equal
enjoyment of all the citizens of every part of
the Republic, with their property of every de
scription; while it is the North who comes
here and demands that the whole of this com
mon domain shall be set apart exclusively
for themselves and such persons from the
South as will strip themselves of a certain
species of their property, and conform their
views to the policy of the North. I submit
it to every candid man in the world, outside
of the House, if this is not a fair statement of
the question? The South asks no-discrimin
ation in her favor. It is the North that is
seeking to obtain discriminations against her
rid her people. And who leads in this en
deavor to control the action of the Govern
ment for sectional objects? It is the gentle
man himself, who brings his charge against
the South. Sir, I deny the charge, and repel
it. And I tell that gentleman, and the House,
if these agitations are not to cease until the
South shall quietly and silently yield to these
demands of the North, it is useless to talk of
any amicable settlement of the matters in con
troversy. If that is the basis you propose,
we need say nothing further about agreement
or adjustment—upon those terms we can nev
er seitle. The people of the South have as
much right to occupy, enjoy and colonize
these territories with their property, as the peo
ple of the North have with theirs. This is
the basis upon which I stand, and the principles
upon which it rests are as immutable as right
and justice. They are the principles of natu
ral law, founded in natural justice, as recog
nized by the ablest publicity who have written
upon the laws of nations and the rights per
taining to conquests. These acquisitions be
long to the whole people of the United States
as conquerors. They hold them under the
Constitution, and the General Government,
as common property in a corporate capacity.
Mattel, in treating on this subject, in his
work on the laws of nations, says, (book 1,
chap. 20, p. 113):
“All members of a corporation have an
equal right to the use of the common property.
But respecting the manner of en joying it, the
body of the corporation may make such reg
ulations as they may think proper, provided
that those regulations be not inconsistent
with that equality of right, which ought to be
preserv ed in a communion of property. Thus
a corporation may determine the nse of a
common forest or a common pasture, either
alloting it to all the members, according to
their wants, or alloting each an equal share,
but they have not a right to exclude anyone of
the members, or*to make a distinction to his
disadvantage, by assigning him a less share
than that of the others.”
The principles here set forth are those up
on which 1 place the merits and justice of our
cause. Under our Constitution, the power
of making regulations for the enjoyment of
the common domain, devolves upon Congress,
the common agent of all the parties interest
ed in it. In the execution of this trust, it is
the duty of Congress to pass all laws neces
sary for an equal and just participation in it.
And so far from this common agent having
any right to exclude a portion of the people,
or “to make distinctions to their disadvan
tage,” it is the duty of Congress to open the
country by the removal of all obstructions,
whether they be existing laws or anything
else, and to give equal protection to all who
may avail themselves of the right to use it.
But you men of the North say, that we of the
South wish to carry our slaves there, and
that the free labor of the North cannot sub
mit to the degradation of being associated
with slave labor.
Well, then, we say, as the patriarch of old
said to his friend and kinsman, when disputes
arose between the herdmen of their cattle:
“Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between
me and thee, and between my herdmen and
thy herdmen, for we be brethren. Is not the
whole land before thee ? Separate thyself, I
pray thee, from me. If thou wilt take the
left hand, then I will go to the right; or, if
thou depart to the right hand, then I will go
to the left.” In other words, we say, if you
cannot agree to enjoy this public domain in
common, let us divide it. You take a share,
and let us take a share. And I again sub
mit to an intelligent and candid world if the
proposition is not fair and just ?—and w heth
er its rejection does not amount to a clear ex
pression of your fixed determination to ex
clude us from any participation in this public
domain.
Now, sir, all that we ask, or all that I ask,
is for Congress to open the entire country, and
give an equal right to all the citizens of all the
States to enter, settle and colonize it with
their property of every kind, or to make an
equitable division of it. Is this w rong ? Is
it endeavoring to control the action of Con
gress improperly to carry out sectional views
and interests ? And am Ito subject myself
to tho intended reproach of being an ultraist
for insisting upon nothing but what is just and
right ? If so, I am willing to bear whatever
of reproach the epithet may impart. If a
man be an ultraist for insisting upon nothing
but his rights, with a willingness to compro
mise even these upon any fair and reasonable
terms, without a total abandonment of them,
then lam an ultraist. And lam mistaken in
the character of that people amongst whom I
w r as born and with whom I have been reared,
if a large majority of them, when all their
propositions for adjustment and compromise
shall have been rejected, will not be ultraists
too. Be not deceived and do not deceive oth
ers—this Union can never be maintained bv
force. AVith the confidence and affections of
the people of all sections of the country, it is
capable of being the strongest and best Go
vernment on earth. But it can never be main
tained upon any other principles than those
upon which it was formed. All free govern
ments arc the creatures of volition—a breath
can make them and a breath can destroy
them. This Government is no exception to
the rule. And when once its spirit shall
have departed, no power on earth can ever
again infuse into it the Promethean spark of life
and vitality. You might just as well attempt
to raise the dead.
Mr. Chairman, when I look to the causes
which lie at the bottom of these differences of
opinion between the North and the South,
and out of w r hich this agitation springs;
when I look at their character, extent and
radical nature—entering, as they necessarily
do, into the very organization of society with
us, I must confess that unpleasant apprehen
sions for the future permanent peace and qui
et of the different States of this Union force
themselves upon my mind. I am not, how
ever, disposed to anticipate evil by indulging
those apprehensions unless compelled to do
so. It may be that we have the seeds of dis
solution in our system which no skill can
eradicate, just as we carry w ith us in our bo
dies the seeds of death which will certainly
do their work at the alloted time. But be
cause we are all conscious that w r e must die,
it does not follow that we should hasten the
event by an act of suicide. We have the
business, duties and obligations of life to dis
charge. So with this Government. Because
I may have serious apprehensions of the
workings of causes known to exist, I do not
conceive it, therefore, to be in the line of duty,
to anticipate the natural effects of those caus
es by any rash or unjustifiable act. lam dis
posed rather to hope for the best, while I feel
bound to be prepared for the worst. What is
really to be the future fate and destiny of this
Republic is a matter of interesting specula
tion ; but I am well satisfied, that it cannot
last long, even if the present differences be
adjusted, unless these violent and bitter sec
tional feelings of the North be kept out of the
National Halls. This is a conclusion that all
must come to, who know anytliing of the les
sons of history.
But our business to-day is with the present,
and not the future; and I would now invoke
every member of this House who hears me,
with the same frankness, earnestness and sin
gleness of purpose with w hich I have address
ed them throughout these remarks, to come
up liko men and patriots, and relieve the
country from the dangerous embarrassments
by which it is at this time surrounded. It is
a duty we owe to ourselves, to the millions we
represent, and to the whole civilized world.
To do this, I tell you again, there must be
concessions by the North as well as the South.
Are you not prepared to make them ? Are
your feelings too narrow and restricted to
embrace the whole country and to deal justlv
by all its parts ? Have you formed a fixed,
firm and inflexible determination to carry
your measures in this House by numercial
strength, and then to enforce them by the bay
onet? If so, you may be prepared to meet
the consequences of whatever follows. The
responsibility will rest upon your own heads.
You may think that the suppression of an out
break in the Southern States would be a hol
iday job for a few of your Northern regi
ments, but you may find, to your cost, in the
end, that seven millions of people fighting for
their rights, their homes and their hearth
stones, cannot be “easily conquered.” I sub
mit the matter to your deliberate considera
tion.
I have told you, sincerely and honestly,
that I am for peace and the Union upon any
fair and reasonable terms —it is the most
cherished sentiment of my heart. But if you
deny these terms—if you continue “deaf to
the voice” of that spirit of justice, right and
equality, which should always characterize
the deliberations of statesmen, I know of no
other alternative that will be left to the
people of the South, but, sooner or later, “to
acquiesce in the necessity” of “holding you
as the rest of mankind, enemies in war—in
peace, friends.”
SOUTHERN SENTINEL.
COLUMBUS, GEORGIA:
THURSDAY MORNING, SEPT. 5, 1850.
O’ Several articles intended for publication this
week arc necessarily omitted. Among them an
interesting letter from “Rambler,” and the favors of
“R. S. A.” and “S. J. A.” We hope our corres
pondents will be patient. We are also compelled to
omit a number of editorial articles designed for this
itsue.
“Laugh and Grow Fat.” —We find on our table
anew work of one hundred and twenty pages, the
title page of which is as follows: “A Ride with Old
Kit Kuncker & other Sketches, & Scenes of Alabama
Life, by J. J. Hooter, author of Simon ‘Suggs,’ &c.
Jonce Hooper’s name is a sufficient recommenda
tion of any thing in the way of humor. Every body
has read, or ought to read, “Simon Suggs,” and no
body who has read that, will fail to get this, the lirst
opportunity. It is for sale at the book store of B. B.
deGraffenried.
Tiie CRors. —From all sections of the cotton coun
try we receive gloomy intelligence of the crop*. A
correspondent from Russell writes us : “The damage
to the crop from the storm has been very severe.—
We must have a very dry fall, or the cotton will rot,
most of it being on the ground.”
Later from Europe. —A Telegraphic despatch
to the Times , announces tho arrival of the Atlantic
with three days later European intelligence. Cotton
had declined 1-4. Jennt Lind came over passenger.
ID” Professor Webster was hung last Friday.—
He made no farther confession.
From Texas. —The Governor’s Message was re
ferred to a committee of thirty-four members from
both branches. Bills had been introduced author
izing the Governor to raise 5000 troops, to whom a
bounty of three hundred and twenty to twelve hun
dred and eighty acres of land was to be given.
Judge Berrien’s Letter.—Who is to Blame?
We find in the Macon Telegraph , a number of
letters from different gentlemen, in reply to invita
tions to attend the Mass Meeting at that place.
Among them is a letter from Judge Berrien, from
which we extract the following paragraph :
“ The immediate object of your assemblage, the
Compromise bill, has been disposed of in conformity
to your wishes; but questions of deep interest re
main, and will, no doubt, engage your attention. Al
low me to speak frankly with you, although I must
necessarily do so briefly. The efforts of your repre
sentatives here, have been paralyzed by our divisions
at home. Georgia occupies a high position among
the States of the Union. If her citizens had united
in a firm and temperate demand of her rights, we
could have obtained them. The absence of this union
of sentiment has weakened us, and strengthened
onr opponents. With a numerical superiority in both
Houses in Congress, they have felt that they could
exert it without hazard, as their interests or inclina
tions might dictate. Looking, as they have studiously
done, to the course of the press, and to conflicting
results of the various public meetings in our State,
it has been impossible to make them believe that we
could be brought to unite in any mode of determined
resistance. These considerations have also had their
influence on Southern representatives. They are
adverted to in no querulous spirit, but to urge
you respectfully, but earnestly, as you value your
constitutional rights, to union in future. Stimu
lated by the prospect of success, which awaits
a system of measures calculated to destroy your polit
ical equality, our opponents will not pause in this
crusade against our domestic institutions, unless thev
are met by united counsels and a spirit of determined
resistance, a calm, deliberate firmness, which shall
manifest its sincerity. That political equality is in
dispensable to our position in the Union. Its obtain
ment should be the great leading principle of our po
litical action, and every patriot Georgian, under what
ever party banner he may have heretofore ranged,
should rally to the standard of a great and united
Southern republican party, whose motto should be
‘equality of rights,’ under our constitutional bond of
union, and determined resistance to all who oppose
them.”
We agree with Judge Berrien in all he says about
the necessity for union among Southern men, and
we sincerely unite with him in deploring the evil
consequences which have resulted to the cause of the
South, from the absence of such unanimity, but we
hope that if censure has been merited in this matter,
it may rest whore it belongs. A few of our presses
at home, and a number of our aspiring politicians
here, have done us immense injury, but the un
fortunate differences which have so nearly ruined our
cause are to be attributed to other influences than
these. In the party parlance of the day, our repre
sentatives in Congress are called the servants of the
people, but they really are the leaders. Their con
stituents look to them for direction, and, as is invari
ably the ease, where the representative has had the
mind and the will, he lias given tone to public senti
ment at home. We think we say no more than will
be generally admitted, when we declare that there is
not a Representative in Congress from this State,
who could not with ease have decided the course of
his District on the questions now before the country.
We have elected our best men and sent them to
Washington to look after our interests ; we have
stationed them as sentinels upon the watch-towers of
liberty with the expectation that they would not only
defend our rights, but keep us advised of the in
roads that were made upon them. We naturally
look to them for advice, and reflect, incur own course,
the indications afforded by theirs. Well, what has
been the consequence in this crisis ? One of our
Senators has taken bold ground against the Clay
Compromise. He has done well, and we thank him
for it. Our other Senator has taken ground in de
fence of that Compromise. We are divided, then, in
the Senate Chamber. In the other House, one of
our Representatives lias, twice, ably advocated the
Missouri Compromise, but has not indicated his posi
tion on the Clay Compromise. Another lias come
out distinctly in opposition, to the latter scheme, and
his position abundantly illustrates the remark just
made, that a Representative may give tone to senti
ment at home. Another has, with equal boldness,
avowed his preference for the Compromise, and the
other five—alas ! where are they ? Echo answers
where. There is not a man in Georgia who can
positively locate either of our Representatives on this
question. And, now, whose fault is it that \vc are di
vided ? Are we to be told that these differences at
Washington are the result of divisions at home ?
Without intending to impugn any of our servants
there, we may say, that if, instead of “looking, as
they have studiously done, at the course of the press,
and to conflicting results of the various public meetings
in our State,” they liad watched the progress of
things at Washington with an eye single to the good
of the country , they would not have found so much
difficulty in “uniting in any mode of determined re
sistance.” And, now, in the language of Judge
Berrien, these things “are adverted to in no
querulous spirit, but to urge our Representatives and
Senators in Congress, respectfully, but earnestly, a*
they value our constitutional rights, to union in future.
Stimulated by the prospect of success, which awaits
a system of measures calculated to destroy our politi
cal equality, our opponents will not pause in this cru
sade against our domestic institutions, unless they are
met by united counsels and a spirit of determined re
sistance, a calm, deliberate firmness which shall man
ifest its sincerity. That political equality is indis
pensable to our Union. Its attainment should he the
great leading principle of our political action, and ev
ery patriot Georgian, under whatever party banner
he may have heretofore ranged, should rally to the
standard of a great and united Southern republican
party, whose motto should be ‘equality of rights’ under
our constitutional bond of union, and determined re
sistance to all who oppose them.”
[correspondence of the southern sentinel.]
“Washington, August 24, 1850,
In this city of illustrious memories, I ought to be
inspired to write something worthy of an editorial
correspondence. The journey from Columbus to
this place, is so well known, that it would seem an act
of supererogation to speak of the features that distin
guish the country through which we pass. But the
rays of light vary in hue, and brightness, according to
the medium through which they are seen, and differ
ent minds receive and present very different impres
sions. To me, the city of Savannah appeared beauti
ful ; wc approached it when the intense rays of an
evening sun were beginning to melt into gold, and
the majestic monument, erected to Pulaski, the Pol
ish hero, who shed his 1 iff-Mood in our country’s
cause, was the first object that greeted the stranger’s
eye. The courts alternating with the streets, sha
ded by luxuriant"trees, gave an air of repose and ru
ral beauty to the city, that was exceedingly refresh
ing.
We beheld Charleston by the light of the morn
ing sun. Its fine harbour, guarded by numerous
forts, seems to defy the power of invasion. Some
of these fortifications frown upon you in dark, gray
stone, others wear a modern brightness of aspect,
showing that the sons of the revolutionary fathers arc
determined to preserve tho liberty purchased by their
blood.
As it was Saturday, the Jewish Sunday, we visit
ed the Synagogue, a very elegant building, where we
witnessed some of the interesting rites of their ancient
religion. Hieroglyphic characters glittered over tho
altar and reminded one of those days when God led
his chosen people through the wilderness, when tho
pillar of clouds went before them by day, and the pil
lar of fire illumined their darkness.
We visited the old churches and wandered amidst
their ancient monuments. There was something ex
tremely impressive in the subdued light comm”
through the stained glass, the inonumented inscrip
tions beneatli the feet, the weeping marble statues
that filled the niches of the walls. But more inter
teresting still, were the church yards, populous with
past generations. Weeping willows iJvept, with long
veiling boughs, over many a lofty monument and low
ly grave, and the long grass sighed beneath the
steps that carefully avoided desecrating each name
less mound. My companion, who was equal to old
Mortality in decyphering moss-grown stones, read
some inscriptions written more than a hundred and
fifty years ago, to immortalize the dead, who sleep
beneath. The magnificent and solemn lines of Gray
came back to the memory, with power, in this place
of graves—
“Can storied urn or animated bust,
Back to the mansions call the fleeting breath,
Can honor’s voice provoke tho silent dust,
Or flattery soothe the dull, c<sld ear of death ?”
I thought, too, of the sublime Thanatopsis of our
own poet, Bryant, and felt the truth of his assertions,
“that all that dwell on earth are but a handful to
the tribes that slumber in its bosom.” We came
near having an adventure in one of these solemn lo
calities, for we found ourselves locked in, the living
with the dead. I felt almost willing to remain, eve
ry thing looked so peaceful and serene, the sun shone
so calm on those white marble stones, the willows
wept so gently over the silent dust.—l can say, with
Greenwood, “I never shun a grave-yard.”
The voyage from Charleston to Wilmington was
delightful. The old “Vandervelt” bore us triumph
antly along. I felt the joy that bounds in the sailor’s
heart when on the bosom of the deep, deep sea—
when, nothing was seen but the blue of the sky and
the blue of the sea, meeting in onebroad, magnificent,
ring, at night, clouds skirted the horizon, and the
lightning, incessantly flashing, reddened the white
foam of the waves and made the most brilliant fire
works the immagination can concieve. The boat was
excessively crowded and the cabins close and warm,
but we sat on the hurricane deck, till near the mid
night hour, feeling the freshness aud inspiration of
the sea-born breeze.
The Railroad journey from “Wilmington is too
tedious and uninteresting to deserve a record. The
most amusing, perhaps I should rather say, mourn
ful incident, I recollect, was seeing a man—in all the
glory of inebriation, leaning against a post, in an at
titude of studied grace, with a smile of ineffable satis
faction on his countenance. He flourished his arms, as
the ear approached, and seemed to rejoice, when it
stopped, that he might have an opportunity of giving
out some of his superfluous eloquence. He said he
liked to see men consistent. If they were temper
ance men, he liked to see real total abstinence ones ;
if they got drunk, he liked to see them do it in a
gentlemanlike manner, as he did. “When we depart
ed, he waved his hand gracefully after us, repeating
Byron"* beautiful lines—
“ Fare thee well—and if forever—
Still forever fare thee well.”
It seems to me, that old North Carolina was deem
ed a privileged place, for there was no end to the
witticism that the gay passengers perpetrated on the
negroes and market women that greeted the #ar at
every stopping place, with bushels of fruit and cake.
Owing to some defect in the engine, we did not ar
rive at Petersburg in time for the morning ears, so
we were detained one day on the banks of the Appo
matox.
Tlio scenery around the city is picturesque and
beautiful, and there is much that is interesting with
in its suburbs. TV hat excited my admiration most of
all, was an everlasting oak in the heart of the city, |
that looked covered with.time itself. Far and wide it I
stretches its gigantic branches, forming beneath its j
boughs a grand amphitheatre. It stood in green un- I
” hhered prime—not one leaf had faded on its lnftv j
coronet, no scar liad marred its massy, noble trunk. ;
I forget whether they call it Carlu's or Harrison’s
oak, but whatever name it beais, its grand old image
is daguerreotyped on my memory in itrong enduring
tints.
We visited the old Blaridford church in the sub
urbs of the city, around whose mouldering walls the
dead are deposited. A short time sirtco this old
brick church, as a friend informed me, was literally
covered with garlands of ivy, that trailed over its
damp and time-worn walls, presenting that appear
ance of ruin so seldom seen in our new and young
looking country. But think of the vandalism of the
age! Those rich, luxuriant wreaths have been all
swept away that the ruined walls might be repaired,
and you see nothing but an old, ugly brick building,
where those ivy-mantled towers so lately stood.—
The moping owl may well now complain to the moon,
of those whose barbarous hands have desecrated
as will as “ molested her ancient solitary reign.”
There are many beautiful and striking monuments
around this old monument of an edifice. There was
one that struck me from its beautiful simplicity. It
was a plain marble obelisk, rising to a lofty height,
with nothing on the pedestal but a wreath of roses,
carved in bas-relief, with the sweet and simple name
of Mary enclosed within, llow much more eloquent
was this memorial than all the pomp of words. —
Those wreathing roses breathed of youth arid beauty
and love. That simple name seemed associated with
woman's loveliest attributes. That sweet, unrivalled
song, Burn's “ Highland Mary,” came to my re
collection like a strain of plaintive melody sighing
round that beautiful monument. Just as we left the
grave-yard, the setting run, tinged with golden crim
son, or crimsoned gold, the white stones, the old
church and tho whole town of Petersburg, that
spread out before us. You wall probably think I
have a peculiar passion for grave-yards, as I have de
scibed so many, but I hope, before this correspondence
is closed, to take you to Mount Auburn, that Paradise
of the dead. I will close this letter by transcribing
some beautiful lines, which were traced with a pencil
on the walls of the once ‘‘ivy mantled tower.” The
authorship is unknown, but they are ascribed to Pow
ers, the celebrated sculptor, as they were found im
mediately after he had visited the church. 1 have
promised to make a reply to it, and if the inspiration
comes upon me, I will add it to niy next letter, which
will be descriptive of the city of magnificent distances
and stirring recollections.
Lines written nn the Walls of the Old Blaridford
Church, near Petersburg, Va.
“Thou art crumbling to the dust, old pile !
Thou art hasting to thy fall!
And around thee, in thy loneliness,
Clings the ivy to the wall—
The worshippers are scattered now
Who met before thy shrine,
And silence reigns where anthems rose,
In days of auld langsyne.
.Tnd sadly sighs the wandering wind,
Where oft in years gone by,
Prayers rose from many hearts to Ilim,
The highest of the high ;
The tramps of many a busy foot
Which sought thy aisles is o’er—
And many a weary heart around
Is stilled forever more.
llowdoth ambitious hopes take wing?
How droops the spirit now 1
Wo hear the distant city’s din —
The dead are mute below;
The sun which shone upon their paths,
Now gilds their lonely graves—
The zephyrs which once fanned their brows,
The grass above them waves.
Oh ! could we call the many back,
Who’ve gathered here in vain—
Who’ve careless roved where wo do now,
Who’ll never meet again—
How would our very souls be stirrod,
To meet the earnest gaze—
Os the lovely and the beautiful,
The light of other days 1” C. L. H,
[XKW YORK CORRESPONDENCE.]
New York, August 27, 1850.
Fancy Dress Ball at Saratoga—Murder and Sui
cide at Troy—Jenny Lind—Rejected Address
es— The Poets of This Age—Return of Henry
Clay—Accident to Mrs. Gen. Avezzana, i J-c.
Dear Sir : Since my last letter, the great event of
the fashionable season, the Fancy Dress Ball, lias ta
ken place at Saratoga. Several days of wet and chil
ly weather, about a week before its occurrence, dis
'pelled many of the visiters, who, like butterflies flit
ting around flowers, remain only so long as there arc
sunshine and pleasant weather; owing to this, and
the fact that there was very little talk about the grand
event, it was generally supposed that the Ball would
be a failure. A day or two beforehand, however,
brisk preparations were made, and on the evening in
question a most brilliant assemblage graced the Hall.
We have not space here to describe the various cos
tumes worn, or to enumerate the distinguished per
sons present; we would only say that the whole affair
went off finely, and that there was dancing and fro
licking enough to satisfy the nimblest Diana, and the
gayest Lothario. But tho next morning, when the
Hamlets, the Falstaffs, the Courtiers, the Sailors,
and the Countesses, the Rebeccas, the Ilebes, the
Pompadours, tho Nuns, tho Flower-girls, had
laid aside their fustian, and appeared in propria
persona, there was a sad re-union at the breakfast
table, and a hundred head-aches in those well-dress
ed heads of a hundred different degress of intensity.
Immediately after the ball there was a perceptible
diminution in the crowds at the Springs, and every
train has been more than comfortably filled. I omit
ted to state that the price of tickets to tho ball was
$lO, or without costume sls.
The cities of Troy, New York, and Brooklyn,have
been thrown into considerable excitement by a sad event
which happened in Troy on Tuesday of last week. Two
persons calling themselves Mrand Mrs W A Caldwell,
arrived at the St. Charles Hotel in that city on Sun
day 7, the 1 Sth instant, and after remaining there for
two days, during which time their singular conduct
attracted much notice, were fonnd dead with their
throats cut from ear to ear. Caldwell, the man, left
several letters, from which it appears that they had
made up their minds to suicide some time before. He
was recognized as a worthless and profligate fellow,
and had seduced the woman to desert her husband
and elope with him. Her maiden name was Van
Winkle, and sho was related to several highly re
spectable families of Brooklyn. She was married to
ITenry Knapp, formerly a printer, but of late keeper
of “The Arbor,” a drinking house in Murray street,
New York. In this establishment her beauty was
a great attraction, and it is this probably that first ex
posed her to her seducer. Her remains have been
taken to Brooklyn for interment.
I must keep you posted up in all that relates to
Jenny Lind. She was expected in London on the
10th instant, where she was to be the guest of our
minister, Abbott Lawrence. She was expected, be
fore leaving to go to Osborne House, Isle of Wight,
to bid farewell to Queen Victoria. At her concerts
in Liverpool, on the 17th and 19th instants, every
place was filled, although five hundred additional
seats were placed round the hall. Enormous pre
miums were offered for tickets. Meanwhile the furor
here is still on the increase. Barnum’s offer of S2OO
for the best “Welcome to America” for M’lle Lind
has operated as quite a stimulus to the poetic genius
of our land. Songs are said to be inundating the
committee at the rate of thirty or forty a day. It is
proposed to collect them afterwards and publish them
in a volume, after the manner of Horace Smith’s
“Rejected Addresses.” It would possess one attrac
tion at all events—variety—and would, we are sure,
be very 7 entertaining. The great number of candi
dates for this prize proves sufficiently how strong is the
impression in the breast of each individual member
of the community that he or she ia a poet. “Rhyme
ster*.” quaintly says an old writer, “rhymesters, in
this generation, spring up as thick asjstalks of wheat
in a rich field, and as suddenly ns a mushroom;” and
’ cril y our generation seems not to differ much from
bis. maxim is now reversed, and we see
daily instances that pacta fit , non nascitur.
Henry Clay passed through this city on Saturday, |
last on his return to Washington, having left New
port on Friday night. He seems much invigorated.
Mrs. Avezzana, wife of the General, while seated
by the window in Broadway, tell asleep, and losing
her balance, was precipitated upon the pavement be
low, a distance of twelve feet. She was so severely
injured that her recovery is hardly expected.
Yours, &c. r* Q
(taNKE* CORRESroNDENCE.]
Boston, August 25, ISSO.
The Weather—-Bank Abolished—Professor Web
ster's Execution —Sanctimonious Rogue—New
Way of Daguerreotyping — Paine's Light too
Costly—Calhoun's Statue—Mr. James, the No
velist—A Big Chimney, j-r.
The weather in the North here has been very re
markable. The erv front all quarters, for the past
week, is, that the season is most inconsistently cold.
At Saratoga the mercury was at 48 three mornings,and
fires Were needed ; next morning it mounted up to
60, and the fires were partially put out. At Glou
cester and Newport, the people who desired to be
comfortable had their fires and top coats in active ser
vice. Letters from Vermont and the North state
that hail lias fallen in several places, and that anthra
cite and flannel were in great request. Within tho
last two days there ha* been a seasonable change,and the
weather feels more like summer. Rain is failing to
day, and the atmosphere is altogether moist and
muggy.
A bank in this city—the Haymafrket Square Bank
—has been abolished in consequence of an injunction
carried into the Supreme Court by sundry stockhold
ers. It seems a Mr. Way, stated in court to be a
bold, fraudulent speculator, got the control of the
bank by securing to himself shares to the value of
SIOO,OOO, choosing directors devoted to his views,
and acting, in various ways, as if tho whole concern
Were his own. Way’s character and course of pro
ceeding were very roughly handled in court; and,
to make a complicated story short, the result now is,
that he hits promised to make good all the claims of
the stockholders, in the fullest and most satisfactory
manner, and retire into a comparatively private life,
carrying his conscience along with him.
Mr. Ware, a defaulting clerk of the Western Rail
road Company, who had eloped to New York last
week, was arrested there and carried back to Spring
field, to answer for the defalcation in his accounts,
amounting to $60,000, they say.
Mr. S. A. Eliot lias gone to Congress for our first
Congressional District. In his election Boston is
said to have indicated a condemnation of the Wihnot
Proviso, Ainsi soit-il.
John W. Webster is to suffer next Friday 7. No
body seems to think lie will anticipate his fate on the
gallows with poison. He appears sedate and re
signed. Somebody made a sort of demonstration in
his favor, yesterday, by sending to tlie Transcript a
letter written by Professor Webster to a friend in
1841, inculcating caution in the use of spirit lamps.
This friend says that the convict having read in the
papers of the numerous fatal accidents that have late
ly occurred in this place, earnestly desired that his
letter should be published to check, in some degree,
the general carelessness in the manipulation of these
tilings. It is a deplorable thing to see a man capa
ble of doing so much enlightened service to society
about to die the death of a felon. A report is in cir
culation that Webster lias made a complete and true
confession of the murder of Dr. Parkman, not to be
promulgated till after he shall have passed into the
world of spirits. I do not implicitly believe thi*.
Webster is not a man to feel remorsefully and give
way to bis conscience. His confession of the mur
der, imperfect and unworthy of credit as it is gener
ally considered here, was made with a view to a com
mutation of sentence. This is now impossible—lie
must die. And Ido not think that he will make the
gratuitous sacrifice to truth and repentance implied in
that reported confession. It is also reported that a
sum of $12,000 is about to be collected for his family.
But there is no truth in this. The truest charity and
sympathy for them would be to let them pass away
from the public mind. They will not be left desti
tute, by any means, and such an attempt at collecting
money would mortify them, by the failure of it. In
spite of the fact that Webster seems resigned to his
fate, we are by no means sure that lie will come out
and die on the scaffold. Wo shall soon know ; only
four days lie between him and the place where Dr.
Parkman ha* been for the last nine months.
A remarkable clerical impostor lias been just ar
rested in this city. He i* tt gentlemanly young man
about twenty-five years old, who booked himself at
•oxeral of oitr principal hotel* as Rev. Mr. Sclilegel,
for some three weeks past. Deleft these hotels ab
ruptly, “without paying his stint,” and went away
“down East.” At Manchester, (N. II.,) and else
where, he victimized some stabler? and others, and got
hi* name up there. News of his doings came to
Boston, and the hotel-keepers were warned about
him, and desired to give the police notice if he should
call again. He did call again, the day before yester
day, to th# Montgomery House, which place he had
in reserve for a week's sojourn in Boston. An offi
cer called on him there and found him calmly and
gent#e!ly at breakfast. When invited to go to the
Marshall’* office, he *aid it was a mistake, and went
politely. But it was no mistake. A variety of let
ter* were found upon him, addressed to clergymen,
in all parts of the country—one of his schemes being
to collect funds for building a German Baptist Church
in Lafayette, (La.) His card-case was filled with card*
bearing the name of Dr. Ncander, the distinguished
theologian of Prussia. He tried to pass for a Ger
man. Daguarreotypes of himself and a young lady
were also found in his pockets. The Rev. gentleman
was carried off to Manchester to be tried for feloni
ously disposing of a horse and buggy.
There is an artist in this city, Mr. Hawes, who
professes to have discovered a plan by which an or
dinary sized miniature can be magnified to life size,
and thrown on canvass or any fiat surface, retaining,
in this way. all the miniature clearness of the daguer
reotype. This discovery would facilitate the work of
the portrait-painter, and save a world of time, to the
sitter.
Mr. Paine's hydrogen light is not yet extinguished,
though certain New York chemists damaged his
pretensions a good deal, by saying that his gas was
oil gas—not hydrogen gas. Mr. Mathiot, of the U.
S. Survey, a metallurgist and man of practical sci
ence, publicly asserts that hydrogen can be rendered
brightly combustible by cold turpentine, just as Mr.
Paine asserted. He found this by experiment. The
end of all the elishmaclaver, as they say in bonny
Scotland, is, that zinc, with the due quantity of vi
triol and water, gives out hydrogen, which, passing
through turpentine, makes a bright blaze. But this
is not a cheap discovery. A blaze from coal gas
would be cheaper. There is no doubt the hydrogen
blaze can be evolved : but the question is, to make it
available, to make it cheap. At pr#sent it is no bet
ter than a theory. In the Providence Journal , I
see a letter from Mr Paine, in which he says pecunia
ry consideration will not permit him to give his dis
covery to the world. lie says experiments are being
made with his apparatus in a “far more important
branch than either light or beat.” I don’t know
what he mean* by this. But the truth seems to be
that his discovery is too costly for the public. Zinc
is too dear a material for the business. Chemistry
must try about, and lay hands upon another, and
I have no doubt she will do so before long. I see, by
the Pittsburg Gazette, that Mr. Sutter, a respect
able mechanic of Alleghany City, has found out a
method of decomposing water by mechanical means
without the use of the magnets —such (is Paine em
ploys. He gets hydrogen, he says, at a merely nomi
nal expense. Now, that is where Paine fails ; zinc is
a serious expense. If both these discoverers would
hut club their inventions, we should be all right; the
problem would be solved for the world. But the
thing is evidently “coming along,” and we s ] ia Uhave
one “cheap fire” some of these mornings.
I am happy to see that Powers’ fine statue of the
lion. J. C. Calhoun, has been, found, in the wreck of
the Elizabeth, by the officers of the IJ. S. Cutter
Morris. Liout.Martin is about to get a sub-marine ar
mor for tlio purpose of having the box slung for hoist
ing.
Mr. James, the English novelist, who i9 now liv
ing at Staten Island with his family, is about lecturing
on the “Chivalrie Ages,” in our chief cities. Ho
knows a good deal about the history of these age*,
having rummaged a great deal in them, for them#*
and plots. It would be somewhat fresher and mere
to tho purpose if he would lecture on these Cotter
monger Ages of ours, and show the coutrasts of the
old world and the new world civilizations, and point
out the tendencies of this multitudinous progress that
is for ever in our ears—for ever hurrying us on, on—
never back —never to the middle ages. Chivalry is as
threadbare a thing as Mr. James’ own talent at nov
. el elaboration, in which, be it said, the elaboration is
not novel, at all!
We liavo got anew Glass Factory Chimney at
East Cambridge, near us, which towers ten feet above
the Bunker Hill monument. It is 230 feet high, and
carries otF the smoko from half a dozen furnaces in
the’ establishment, in such a way that it is dissipated
in nubibus —among the clouds, instead of being evt
into the dwellings, eyes and lungs of the public. T 1 e
monument is no longer the tallest feature in the Bos
tonian landscape. Look out for the big brick chim
ney in the future engravings of us.
YANKEE DOODLE.
Proceedings of the Convention.
MACON, August 22, 185 ft.
Agreeable to a call of a large number of
the Citizens of Bibb county, thousands of
the citizens of Georgia, friendly to the ad
justment of those causes which now distract
our Federal relations, on the basis of the
Missouri Compromise line, known as 36-30,
north latitude, converted in tho Warehouse,
occupied by Messrs. Field & Adams.
The Convention was called to order by
calling Col. Wm. C. Redding, of the county
of Bibb, to the Chair.
On motion of Alajor A. H. Colquitt,
Ex-Gov. C,J. McDonald, of Cobh county,
J udge C. B. Strong, of Houston,
were erected Presidents of the Convention.
On motion of Mr. S. J. Ray, the following
gentlemen were elected Vice Presidents:
Col. H. G. Lamar, of Clarke county.
J. H. McMath, of Merriwether ‘ r
J. A. Tucker, of Stewart “
Gen. 11. 11. Tarver, of ‘Twiggs “
Dr. Wm. C. Daniell, of Chatham “
W. Cleveland, of Crawford ”
Col. J. Edmundson, of Murray “
Joseph L. Holland, of Jones “
Col. Allen Cochran, of Monroe “
Maj. J. 11. Howard, of Muscogee
On motion of Mr. Ray,
C. A. L. Lamar, of Chatham, and
Thomas Hardeman, Jr., of Bibb county/
were requested to act as Secretaries of the
Convention.
The Convention having been organized by
the election of the necessary officers, the
meeting was opened with prayer, by tho
Rev. Wm. Martin, of the county of Merri
wether.
Judge Strong, and Ex-Gov. McDonald,
then made a few appropriate remarks as to
the objects of the Convention, and expressive
of their gratitude for the honor conferred
upon them.
Col. 11. G. Lamar moved the appointment
of a Committee of Six to report business for
the action of tho meeting; whereupon the
chair appointed the following gentlemen :
Col. 11. G. Lamar, of Clarke county;
John W. Green, of Upson county; Major
John 11. Howard, of Muscogee county;
John Bilbo, of Chatham county ; Hon. John
D. Stell, of Fayette, and Joseph Law, of
Decatur county, said Committee.
The Committee having retired, tho Hon.
Robert Barnwell Rhett, of South Carolina,
was loudly called l’or, who ascended the ros
trum, and entertained the audience in a'speech
of near two hours length, clearly and elo
quently setting forth the aggressions of the
North upon Southern Rights.
Tho Committee appointed by the chair to
prepare business for the Convention return
ed and reported the following resolutions,
through Col. 11. G. Lamar, their chairman :
Resolved, That we approve the Resolutions
and Address of the Nashville Convention,
and recommend them to the cordial support
of the people of Georgia.
Resolved, That in recommending tho peo
ple of Georgia to acquiesce in the applica
tion of the Missouri Compromise line of
36-30, to the Territories of the United States
with a recognition of slavery south of that
line, we propose the acquiescence for tho
sake of the peace of the country, and tho
preservation of the Union.
Resolved, That it is the constitutional right
of the citizens to he protected in the enjoy
ment, on the public Territory, of any pro
perty, which, by the laws of the State, of
which he is an inhabitant, he is authorized to
own, and to withhold from him this protec
tion, is to debar him of a constitutional right.
Resolved, That the admission of Califor
nia into the Union, with her present pretend
ed organization, will be the sanction of tho
most unjustifiable aggressions of intruders
upon the public Territory, on the rights of
the people of fifteen sovereign States of this
Union.
Resolved, That the Territorial policy of a
majority in the two Houses of Congress, ia
to prevent forever the admission of another
slave State into the Union ; subvert the rights
of the South in the public Territories, and
eventually to abolish slavery in the States—
thus converting a Government, which was
established for the protection of all, into an
engine of attack and spoliation of a portion
of its members.
Resolved, That we invite those who medi
tate these aggressions, to pause before they
perpetrate a wrong which they cannot reme
dy, and to which a people having the spirit
of freemen will never submit.
Resolved, That should the events occur, in
which it shall become the duty of the Gov
ernor, under the direction of the last Legis
lature, to call a Convention of the people of
Georgia, to consider of the necessary mea
sures of safety to the State, it is the opinion’
of this meeting that our Senators and Repre
sentatives in Congress should immediately re
turn to their State, and unite with their con
stituents in consultation and action on such
measures.
Resolved, That the territory claimed by
Texas to be within her boundary, is hers otr
every principle of National law; that it is
recognized by the resolution of Congress,
admitting her into this Union. That the de
mand of a portion of it now by the Govern
ment, with a sword in one hand, and a purse
in the other, is unbecoming the dignity of the
nation, is grossly immoral, and cannot and
will not be approved or sustained by a virtu
ous and enlightened people.
Resolved., That the message of President
Fillmore to Congress, strongly intimating his
determination, by force of arms, to prevent a
sovereign member of this Confederacy from
enforcing its laws in Territory which it bona
fide claims tb be within its boundary, is with
out warrant in the Constitution or laws, and
if he attempts to carry his purpose into effect,,
the public liberty and the safety of the Coa-