Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

‘ME SOUTHERN SENTINEL IS i’LJiLlSlltl) EVE iIY THURSDAY MORNING, MV T. LOMAX & CO. TRN T XEXT LOMAX, picip.l editor. CC n;i / ‘ I‘ldnlfth Stve<t. Citcranj Department. ’’ovorcTED bt CAROLINE liEE HENTZ. THE SPIRIT RAITIXGS. The spirit lappings are again engrossing a lion’s share of the talk; and the electro biologists and mental alchemists are again upon their winter’s beat. As faithful chroni clers of the times, we cannot let them go bv unnoticed. The biologists are eompaiative ly vulgar, and do not extend their operations beyond making a m in smell brandy out of a pup of pure \vate\ or fancy that a red nose i sinmUtak ifilv green. Their province is com para Lively limited, and does riot as vet ex tend into the spirit world. Not so, however, of the rappers and table •movers Tin* media are, we understand, mol tipiyiug day by day to tiiseh no extent, that presently no live man v ill be sure of his side board, and no dead tasu will by sure of his soul. We do not tfttfin to speak too flippantly of what the eery respectable wed in will tell us we do net eonipreheud ; ami we only object to the blatter that it takes oil’ so much from TOC dignity of th spirit life ; and if Heaven grants us the gift of übiquity, when once litis dull mortality is shaken off, wo do humbly hope and pray, and, as in duiv bound, will ever prav, that we shall not come, down to such scurvy occupation as rapping upon an old lady’s table, or guessing at a dead matt’s age! We have, with all modesty, laid out for ourselves what seems to us better employ ment; and if worse comes to worst, we would hope for no bu.-iaess at all, and no übiquity, rather than to stand the catechizing of in quisitive mortals. There rati be no doubt at all that the m ist ext a<> dimiry answers have been returned to many querists, sufficient ill most to shrike our common sense. And there js still less doubt, tint tables have moved, or seemed to move', without the application of any apparent bo-re. This lust may depend pit some truths of animal maguethm, or elee tiic influences, which me not yet fairly un derstood. It is certainly somewhat easier t<> believe this, than to believe that eithei good /);■ bad spirits are at the bottom of the mat ter; and being easier, we alio into it without any harm to our consciences. As for the spi it-eomniauications, we had .rather count them strange, than to count them -pii itnal; cur faith is taxed enough in the grappling of weightier matters —matters •which belong to Death and the Deity; and •until it appear that anew faith, in these new -come spirits, will make ns either healthier, or heartier, or happier, we shall not cultivate •faithfulness in them. We happened the other day, upon an old dissertation, by Increase Mather, upon angel ical apparitions. The old gentleman, it will be remembered, wrote and lived at a day not faixremoved from the deviltry of witchcraft; and as lie was himself a quasi believer in both good and bad spirits, we shall bolster up our friends of the nippings with a few pertinent quotations: “No good angel ev’er told a lye. lienee , that spirit whieh shall Ik* onee found in a lye, i Comes not from Heaven. Or, if it does per suade to any dishonest tiling, it is an evil spirit. By thi< it was manifest, that the spir its which Dr. Dee and Iviilet were so famil iar with, supposing tilings* he good angels. ; were unclean Devils: for. although those j spirits did, for a long time, pretend ro great sanctity, they, at last, advise to filthy tilings. Or. if the seeming angels shall endeavor to establish any notions in Religion not ground ed in the Scripture, they are not from Heaven. “Or, if they shall speak any tiling which is .not grave or weighty, it is easy to judge what spirits they are. it is beneath the ma jesty of an angel to speak or do any thing whieh is trivial, mean, or little. “If the apparitions are frequent, and the spirits that come use familiar converse, it is much to he feared that they are not from Heaven, lint from Hell. If these spit its ap pear to Females only, who are the weaker sex (deluded Increase Mather!) and more ea y to He Imposed on, that renders the case vet mote suspicious. It was part of the Dev -ii’s subtlety in the tirst.temptation which he assaulted mankind w ith, that lie began with the woman ; and he hath found such success, as to hold on in the same course [ever since] Flow manv women have been lanioits in some former dark ages, on account ot pre tended angelical revelations and apparitions! There was tSt Iliidegardis, with whose reve lations as wise a man as Bernard was de ceived. There was Lntgardis, whose many revelations me re; > ded by Sin ins. There was St. Bridget, Klizahc thn, Liduiria, Cath- Arina, Agnes. Politiana, and l know not how many more such, of whose converse with spirits, Sandenus, Dolrio, and other such au thors, have published strange things. Ifeveran age for angelical apparitions shall come, no question but men, and not women only, will be honored with their visits, of which 1 hear little or nothing at present.” He further tells this strange story —not .without its pertinency to the present fever— of a certain Christina Poniatovia, the pious daughter of a pious minister, who was of a noble family in Prussia: £ “This, her Father, was a learned and a ju dicious Divine, and a great opposer of Reve lations and Visions, wjto, when he understood that his daughter pretend#! t t ? ha did, YOL. 111. with great solemnity and severity, lay obtesta tions on her, that she should not regard tiierr.. Neveitheless, he himself did at the last think rhat they were Spiritual and Divine. Those superemiuent Divines, Yedelius and Diodat, and other learned men in Germany, had a fa vorable opinion ot them. C’ommenitis, who was her Tutor and Spiritual Father, has re lated such things of her as are marvellous and unaccountable. Once, when an aged minister came to visit and comfort her, being sick, as soon as he was gone, she said to her Tutor: ‘That good old mao little thinks that I lie will be the fiist of all the Pastors that shall ‘ go into the Eternal City/ “Her Tutor asked her how she knew that ? To whom she replied. ‘I was with the Lord) and 1 saw the Pastors that live here coming one after the other, of whom he was the first.’ She likewise told him that she saw Stadias, who was a young, and a strong, healthy man, come after him. And that because she did not see Comrneniiis, site asked the res •on. She was t**hi that God had work for him to do on earth, and therefore he must not go to heaven as yet. “These things happened nccoMiingly 1 That Pastor dyed first, and then the rest; ami Stadias when he was but in tj;e fortieth year of his age. But < ‘nipnipiiius five:l above i forty years after. “An angel appeared to her, and told her she should speedily dye of an Apoplexy : she was that night smitten with that disease. : She made her will, and took her leave of all her friends; was for some time thought to be really dead: there was no breath perceived in her, but she was grown quite cold; her hands and feet were become stiff, like a dead person’s. Vi! persons went out of the room, | leaving only two nurses to Jay her out. But on a sudden she rose up in her bed, and called for Iter clothes, and was in such per- j lect health as before she had not been in, her i lame hand and foot being whole and perfect, j to tiie astonishment of all about her. “ The account which she herself giveth of t'n.s matter is, that on the day before, there uas a knocking or striking on the Table— first, one. stroke ; and after that, Jive; whence she concluded that tire next day she would dye at five o’clock in the afternoon ; that she i heard a voice saving, ‘Come ! come! rime/’ j VY hen that evening came, her sight and speech failed; and (say s site) ‘I felt myself go foith with my Spirit, and he carried into j heaven, where, surrounded with a groat shi ning, I saw a huge company clothed in white : and the Lord stepping forth, took me in his j embrace/ She added that the Lord told her s.ie should return again, and behold his good ness in the land of the living; that her dis ease should leave her. Whereupon she wor shipped him, and was restored to life, and to full vigor, health and strength, in that very moment. “This, surely , is a strange relation ; yet re- j posted as credible by as grave and learned a i man as Commetiius. Now, 1 must confess, I am not easy to believe that Christina’s death, I or her ascension into Heaven, was real, but ! that they were both fantastical.” Mr. Mather’s opinion jogs rather severely upon that of the German pastors; the story, however, goes to show, if nothing more, that the spirits of old time were not unused to rapping* upon tables; and that the devils— if devils they are—have alway s Lad a gilt of the* knuckles.— Harper’s Magazine. \ MADAME DE YAI.LIERE. Some graceful French feuilletonist has told latterly a pretty storv of an episode in the ; life of Mad line de Valliere, which does not, | we fancy, appear in the biographies. It appears that when the gallant Louis XiV. took possession of the splendid palace ; of \ ersailks, and the court (of which the V dliere was even then a petted member) were amusing themselves upon the parterres, and in the magnificent alleys which Le Notre had wrought, the younger graces of the cir cle (La Yallier among them) contrived the frolic of walki. g blindfold down the main avenue, to the great fountain of Neptune. La Valliere, with pretty feet and coquet tish air, and eves hound up with scarf, bear ing the royal cipher, strayed more wildly I than any ; and with pretty naivete, appealed to the grave Bnssuet to know why it was, I that she could not walk in a direct path, but was forever going astray ? “They who walk upon the parterres ot tiie court,” said Bossuet, “if they be young and beautiful, must neither bandage their eyes nor their conscience.” Time went on, and the pretty wearer of tiie scarf, with the royal cipher, was as good as queen. Poets made ditties in her honor; and courtiers won her to their suits. Racine threw at the feet of the gallant monarch that perfumed drama of Berenice, in which lie had wrought up ancient story into delicate flat terv of the lover monarch. Rut, with the lapse of years, La Valliere had lost her hold upon the affections of the king; loving him still, as such wronged wo j man will love, through all her vices, she bore up in the hojie of winning again the distinc tion that seemed slipping from her grasp. The night for the show of Berenice had come; and La Valliere, wandering tearful in her apartment, searches in her jewel-box for that old and tenderly cherished scarf, bear ! ing the cipher of the king. But the scarf is j gone: and taking only a simple gold ring, | which is (Oldest memento of jgt royal Ipve, j y i’ . ‘’ j| f she plumes herself to the air of the time, and takes her place in the royal box. The drama lias its sad touches; and not a few which chimed to the wayward life of the royal lover, who was the courted listener. I rider all, however, the Valliere bore up bravely, until the hero of tiie piece savs to the desponding fair one that loves him: “It is ended; we must part!” Poor La Valliere, riot so barren of imngi nation, or so bereft of forecast, but that she saw in this, the heralding of her own sad sto ry, with difficulty could hold her place. And “hen the drama ripened into actual and ag onizing grief, her courage sank, and the roy al theatre-goers, pushing their way out of the princely scene-room, Lit La Valliere in tiie hands of t| K . tiring women, and to the kind ness of the pin sieian. There was no Valliere at the ball which followed the play: but alone, forgotten, un called for, she paced those chambers which had been the scene of so many of her ribald joys. The laugh and the shout of that beau ty of Montespan, which was fast eclipsing her fallen fortunes, reached to her princely chambers, and echoed like sepulchral mock ery between the walls of her royal tomb. Again site sought her casket, to replace that ring—the pledge of so much and of so little—when she found, to her amazement, the old and tenderly cherished scarf in its place. But. alas, for La Valliere, and alas, for her presentiments of the evening, the royal ci pher was torn a.vay, and tiie scarf bore onlv now toe name of Berenice. Fatality had crowded oil her, and the heroine of tiie play was but she herald of her woes. Again, at the feet of tiie mild Bossuet, in this day of her affliction, she threw hers ‘if: confessing, tearfully, how with bandaged eyes and bandaged conscience, she had stray ed through the sweet gardens of the court; and “Now—now, sire, guide me to repose!” “Repose, madam 1 Alas! God only can guide you there through paths of'grief.” And the grief came quick and heavy; and in after years, when u ith fortunes all fallen, La V allit-rc went out, on iter way to the Con vent of the Carmelites, she gave up the last trophies of her palace life to tlso se who smi led at her wreck : a ling to one, and a neck lace to another; but to the .Montespan, who had supplanted her in the king’s favor, she gave, with a vengeance that she did not know, the long cheiished scarf—once broid ered with the cipher of tiie king—but now bearing only the bitter words, “the scarf of Berenice ” A vengeance it proved; because, in her turn, the .Montespan yielded to another, and served only as a stepping-stone for the proud and gallant king, on the way to his “deep damnation.” And with this we close our budget, until the winds shall have piped the refrain of the dying year, and we greet our readers upon the threshold of ’s!>. A MARTIAL I'iG. During the last war with Knghnd, a com pany of volunteer soldiers, de-giaed to join Shelby’s army for the invasion of Canada, had their rendezvous at Harroilshurg, in Kentucky, and remained there some time, while others were gathering there to prepare for their march towards’the Oiiiogtiver; they saw two pigs fighting each other, and halted to see the battle ended. Wuen they resun eel their march the victorious pig was seen fol lowing the soldiers, and at night when the troops encamped, the pig found a shelter near by and halted also. Flic next day the ; pig marched on again with the troops, ami continued to accompany them till tiiev reach ed the river opposite Cincinnati, where they crossed on a ferry boat. The pig, on g filing to the water’s edge, plunged in and swam across and waited on tin* other side till the troops were again prepared to march in the same way the pig kept on with the troops till they came to Lake Erie. As the men had their attention turned to the pig, it became a pet, and they gave it full share of the rations which they received ; and although the troops themselves were of ten almost destitute of food, they never ! thought of putting the knife to the throat of ■ their fellow-soldier, tire pig. At times it fa red rather scantily, but it still grunted on j ward ami manifested as much patriotism, in its way, as its biped comrades whom it accom panied. At the Lake the pig embarked with i the soldiers and went as far as Bass Island. ; Some of the horses were left at that place, and although the pig was offered a passage ! over to Canada, it refused to go any further. Some of the soldiers attributed her conduct there to constitutional scruples , and ob served that she knew that it was contiary to tiie Constitution to force a milifnrv pig over the. line. When the campaign was ended, and the troops came back, as soon as the line of march was formed, they were astonished to see the pig on the right of the line, ready to resume the march with the rest. By ibis time the winter had set in, and the pig suf fered very much on its way back again. It, however, reached Mavsville, Kentucky, where the troops re-crossed the Ohio River. There the pig gave out, but was placed in trusty hands by Gov. Shelby, and finally was taken to the Governor’s home, where she passed the rest of her days in ease and idle ness. There are many living who were wit nesses to the fact I have stated, which I read a few vears since in a work containing many COLUMBUS, GEORGIA, THURSDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 9, 1852. interesting incidents and historical facts re specting the early .settlements of Kentucky. A TIGHT PLACE. Duiing tiie process of re-building the low er portion of Xew-York City, which was de stroyed by the great fire of i835, two Irish men, employed as hod carriers upon a block of brick stores in Beaver street, were seen loitering about half an hour after the other workmen bad left the premises one evening. 1 here was a quantity of staging and other lumber lying about, loose, in different parts of the building, which these men had not j lost sight ot daring tiie day, and they re- i mained behind to secure a back-load of! boards, which they had found leisure, in the ! afternoon, to get together at the top of the i house where they had been at work. YV hen it had got to be thoroughly dark, Patrick ventured to ascend the ladder lead ing to the half-finished roof, followed by Ins : friend .Michael, for the purpose of securing the plunder they had gathered together. Having gained (lie upper storv, the two friends leisurely commenced to “wood up,” ” hen Patrick suddenly dropped his pile, and turned wildly to his companion with the in terrogation : “YVhat’s that V* “Mnrther,” shrieked Michael in response; ! and in another instant the two lumber thieves ‘ had scrambled, one over the oilier, out upon the edge of tiie rear wall of the building, as n \ the entire trout went down with a crash into ; the street! i lie hack wall trembled violent ly with the shock, the heavy timber gave wav at one end, ami, Patrick having seized upon I it as it partial!v descended, Michael clum* to i bis sifirts witn the desperation ot a drowning , >i .... ! man ; and the two friends found themselves, ! on a sudden, dangling between heaven and j oarth, in the darkness, from the edge of the j frail limbers! I “Oeh! bad luck to it, Michael!” shouted j Patr iek as he clung to the conductor, “what ‘ are ve doing ?” “Faith, Patrick, I’m houldia’ mesel” fast ; to that, beautiful futof yours!” “Ah, begorra, Michael, we’re done for! Let go the fut, man—let go the tut, or we’re murthered, the both uv us, so we are !” “All, bejabers, Michael, mind yer business “id the timbers now, fornint ye, there; and don’t be botherin’ yersel’ wid the fut. It’s! sure ye may be that Michael Maloney,, will I take care us the fut.” “Let a lope yer houit, v.e spalpeen ve! It’s mesel’ as wudu’t bo kilt wid ye! l say!” “Geli, Pat, is this the way ve bate a friend that’s clung to ye fer nigh a year? Bv the powers ye may well say that Michael Malo ney won t quit ve now!” and, inditeuinir hi gripe, Michael seemstl determined upon ad hering to the only chance apparently left him for safety from a terrible death. Michael shouted “murther !” at the top of : his voice, and really did ail in his power to attract any aid which might chance to bo within hearing distance; but Patrick found it impossible to support liis own weight and his friend’s beside, and after several violent I kicks and struggles, Michael found he must 1 go for it, or bring down his companion.— Deciding it to be better to leave liis friend to the chances than to destroy Patrick as well as himself, he made up his mind to swing off, ■ though a. broken skull, shattered limbs, or | certain death, seemed inevitable. Having received a most unchristian-like hint on the i top ol his cranium from the boot-heel of his friend’s “iui,” which happened to he at lei sure, his determination was hastened. “Oeh, then, good bye, Patrick,” said Mi chael, in a suit of dying speech, “bad luck to it; but 1 didn’t stale the boords, Patrick, j mind ye. Goodbye; I’ll he smashed into pergatory, for cert’n, I will. Mould on the ! limber, Patrick, and look to me wife and childrens —owl” and with a most unearthly ! scream he quit his grip upon his friend’s foot, ! uho gave him a final “to the divil wid ye!” and down went Michael with a rush. It so chanced, in the darkness, that the frightened irishmen had not the remotest idea !of their real position. One end of the ti mber : to which Patrick clung, had lodged, as it was falling, upon tiie adjoining building, distant only about fifteen feet from the ground ; so ; that. Michael had been dangling all tire while, in fact, but abont a foot from the earth! At the moment he quit his hold upon Patrick’s foot, he imagined he was being launched into eternity, and his surprise may be conjectured when lie found that instead of this, he was launched safely into a muddy passage way which ran between the buildings ! “llowly Murther!” continued poor Pat rick, still clinging in despair to the gutter, some six feet from terra firrna, “Oh, me wife and chiiders ! Help! Murther! help!” “Come down out o’ that, ye blulrdherin* fool!” exclaimed Michael, evidently disap pointed to find that he wasn’t hurt at all. “Down wid yer, I say ! It’s a mighty fuss ye’re makin* up there about nath’n !” j “YY 7 hat, Michael, is it yersel’ there?” “Bejabers, ve’re wak- in’ the whole sthreet wid yer bloody howlin’—come down, I say, and leave the boords till niorniu’.” Patrick was soon released from this plight by the aid of a short ladder which Michael procured near bv, and the two friends jogg ed along homewards, declaring that they had i never been in so “tight a place” before. , | Whenever they had occasion to provide | themselves with fire-wood afterwards, both j Michael and Patrick did it by day-light! PRESIDENTS MESSAGE. Fellow citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives : The brief space which has elapsed since the j close of your last session has been marked by no extraordinary political event. The quad- ■ rennial election of Chief Magistrate has passed . off with less than usual the excitement. Mow- j ever individuals and parties may have been dis- j appointed in the result, it is nevertheless a sub- j fi-ct of national congratulation that tiie choice j his been effected by tire independent suffrages j of a free people, undisturbed by those intluen- j ces which in other countries have too olten j affected the purity of popular elections. Our grateful thanks are uue to an All-mer- : cifui Providence not only for staying the pes- , tilence which in different forms has desolated j some of our cities, but for crowning tiie Labors ■ of rhe husbandman with an abundant harvest. I and tiie nation generally with tiie biessiugs of • peace and prosperity. Withii a few weeks the public mind lias been ; deeply affected by the death ot Daniel \Y tb- i ster, filling at his decease the office ot iseereta ry of State. His associates in the Executive I government have sincerely sympathized with [ his family and the public generally on this j mournful occasion. His commanding taients, ; his great political and professional eminence, 1 his well-tried patriotism, and ins long and faith- j fut services, in the most important public trusts, j have caused liis death to be lamented through out tfie corn !rv,and have earned tor him a last ing place in our history. In the course of the last summer considera ble anxiety was caused for a short time by an official intimation from the government of Great Britain that orders had been given lor the pro tection of the fisheries upon tiie coasts o; tiie j British provinces in North America against tiie . alleged encroachments ot the fishing vessels . of the United States and France, i’iie snort- i ness of this notice and the season ot the year j seemed to make it a matter of urgent impor- ! tance. It was at first apprehended that an in- j creased naval force had .been ordered to the j fishing grounds to carry into effect the British interpretation of those provisions in theconveu* j tion of 1818, in reference lo the true intent ol : wliidi two*.he governmets differ, it was suon j discovered that such was not the design or ; Great Britain, and satisfactory explanations ol\ the real objects of the measure have been given j both here and in London. The unadjusted difference, however, between j the two governments us to the interpretation i of the first article of the convention in 1818 i.- j still a matter ol importance. Amencdii fishing ■ vessels within nine or ten years have neon ex- ; chided from waters to which they had free ac- : cess for twenty-live veins alter the negotiation ; of the treaty. ’ In 1845 this exclusion was re-j taxed so far as concerns tiie Biy old utidy, but i the just and liberal intention ol the Home gov- j eminent, in compliance with what we think, the j true construction of the convention, to open j all the other outer bays to our fishermen, was ! abandoned, in consequence ot the opposition ol the colonies. Notwithstanding this, the United States have, since the Bay of Fundv was re opened to our fishermen in 1845, pursued the most liberal course toward the colonial tisiuug interests. By the revenue law of 18 Uk the duties on colonial fish entering our ports were very greatly reduced, and by the warehousing ; act it is allowed to he entered in bond without i payment of duty. In this way colonial fi-h has acquired the monopoly ot the export trade ;n | our rnarkf t, and is entering to some extent into j the home consumption. These facts were i among those which increased the sensibility ! ! of our fishing interest; at the movement in i ! question. j These circumstances and the incidents above ! 1 alluded to have led me to think the moment fa- j I vorablc for a reconsideration o! the entire subject ! of the fisheries on tfie coasts ot the British | provinces, with a view to place them upon a ; more liberal footing of reciprocal privilege. A . willingness to meet us in some arrangement oi : this kind is understood to exist, on the part or Great Britain, with a desire on her part to in i elude in one comprehensive settlement, as wen ! this subject as tiie commercial intercourse be- I tween tiie United States and the British pro : viuces. I have thought that whatever arrunge ! meats may be made on tfie e'w-; •• u jecis it is j expedient'that they should be embraced m se|)g ; a rate conventions. The illness and death ot i tiie late Secretary of State prevented the coni | msneement of the contemplated migration. — l Pains have been taken to collect the i .forma ! tion required tor the details ot such an arrange -1 meet. The subject is attended with eonsider j able difficulty. If it is found practicable to come i to an agreement mutually acceptable to the I two parties, conventions may be concluded in : the course of the present winter. The control I of Congress over ail the provisions oi such an | arrangement, afiectiug the revenue, will oi ! course be reserved. ; The affairs of Cuba formed a prominent toj>- |ic in my iast annual message. They remain j in an uneasy condition, and a feeling ol alarm i and irritation on the part of the Cuban authon j lies appears to exist. This feeling has interfe red with the regular commercial intercourse be j tween ihe United Slates and file island, and ied | to some acts of which we tnve a right to com i plain. But the Captain General of Cuba is I clothed with no power to treat with foreign gov j enuneiits, nor is he in any degree under the I control of the Spanish Minister at Washington. ! Any communication which lie may hold with j an agent of a foreign power is informal acd mat | ter of courtesy. An xious to put an end to the j existing inconveniences, (which seemed to rest t on a misconception,) l directed the newly op- I pointed Munster to Mexico to visit Havana, on j iiis way to Vera Cruz, lie was respectfully re j ceived by tiie Captain General, who cjulorred | with Him freely on tiie rece t occurrences ; hut i no permanent arrangement was effected, i In the mean time the refusal of the Captain j General to allow passengers and the maii to be ! larniwd in certain cases, for a reason which does ; not furnish in tiie opinion of tins Government j evc-ii a good presumptive ground for such a ! prohibition, has been made the subject of a seri | oils remonstrance at Madrid, and I have no ; reason to doubt that due respect will be paid by j the government of Her Catholic Majesty lo the : repesentatious which our Minister has been in structed to make on the subject. I It is but justice to the Captain General to add, j tiiat iiis conduct toward tiie steamers employed l to carry the maiis of the United Slates to Hava- Ina has, with tiie exceptions above alluded to, ueen marked with kindness and liberality, and 1 indicates no genera! purpose of interfering with the commercial correspondence and intercourse i between the island and this country. Early in the present year official notes were received from the Ministers of France and Eng land, inviting the -Government of the United States to become a party with Great Britain and i France to a tripartite Convention, in virtue of i which the three powers should severally and ■ collectively disclaim, now and lor the future, ail intention to obtain possession of the Island iof Cuba, and should bind theinseives to dis | countenance all attempts to that effect on ; the part of any power or individual whatever. This invitation has been respectfully declined, for reasons which it would occupy ioo much space in this communication to state in detain but which led me to think that the proposed j measure would be of doubtful constitutionality, . impolitic, and unavailing. I have, however, in ; common with several of my predecessors, di -1 rectea the Ministers of prance and England to j be assured that the United States entertain no designs against Cuba; but that, on the contra ry, 1 should regard its incorporation into the Union at the present time as fraught with seri ous peri!. Were this island comparatively destitute of in-1 habitants, or occupied by a kindred race, I j should regard it. it voluntarily ceded by Spain, j as a most desirable acquisition. But, under on- j isting circumstances. 1 should look upon its it - j corporation into our Union as a very hazardous j measure. It would bring into the Confederacy j a population of a different national stock, speak- J mg a different language, and not likely to liar- t momze with the other members. It would pro bably .affect in a prejudicial manner the hunts- j trial interests of the South ; and it might revive j those conflicts of opinion between the different j sections of the country, which lately shook the j Union to its centre, and which have been so I happily compromised. The rejection by the Mexican Congress of the Converiti >ll which had been concluded between that Republic and the United States, tor the pro tection of a transit w-ay across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and of the interests of thus-- citi zens of the United States who had become pro p’„ ors of tiie rights which Mexico had cotifer reu none of her own citizens in regard to that transit, lias thrown a serious obstacle in the way of the attainment of a very desirable national object. lam s’ill willing to hope that the dif ferences on the subject which exist, or may hereafter arise, between the gov- rmnents, will j be amicably adjusted. This subject, however, j has already engaged the attention of the Senate j of the United States, and requires no further comment in this communication. Thr settlement of the question respecting the port of San Juan de Nicaragua, and of the con troversy between the Republics of Costa Rica and Nicaragua in regard to their boundaries, was considered indispensable to the commence ment of the ship canal between the two oceans, which was lire- subject of the Convention be twe< n the United States and Great Britain oi the 19th of April, 1850. Accordingly a propo sition for the same purposes addressed to the two governments in that quarter, and to the Mosquito Indians, was agreed to m April last by the Secretary of State and the Minister of her Britannic Majesty. Besides the wish to aid in reconciling the differences between the two re publics, I engaged in the negotiation from a de sire to place the great work of a ship canal be tween the two oceans under one jurisdiction, and to establish the important port of San Juan de Nicaragua under the government of a civili zed power. The proposition in question was assented to by Costa Rica and the Mosquito In dians. It has not proved equally acceptable to Nicaragua, but it is to be hoped that the furtheP negotiations on the subject which are in train, will be carried on in that spirit of conciliation and compromise which ought always to prevail on such occasions, and that they will lead to a j satisiactory result. I have the satisfaction to inform you that the executive government of Venezuela has ac knowledged some claims of citizens of the Uni ted States, which have tor many years past been urged by our charge d’affaires at Caraceas. It j is hoped that the same sense of justice wiil ae- j finite the Congress of that Republic in providing j the means for their payment. The recent revolution in Buenos A v rev and j the confederated (States having opened the pros pect of an improved state of tilings in that quar ter, the governments of Great Britain, quid France determined to negotiate with the chief of the new Confederacy for the frgj access of their commerce to the extensive countries wa ited by the tributaries of the La Piata; and they gave a friendly notteq of this purpose to the United (States, that we might, if we thought proper, pursue the same course, -kin compli ance with this invitation, our minister at Rio Janeiro and our charge d’affaires at Buenos Ayres have been fully authorized to conclude treaties with the newly organized Confederation, or the States! composing it. The delays which have taken place in the formation of the new government have as yet prevented the execu rion of those instructions; but there is every r ‘a.-on to hope that these vast countries will be eveiitmi'lv opened to our commerce. A treaty of commerce has been concluded be tween! the United States and the Oriental Re public of Uruguay, which will be laid before the Senate. Should this Convention go into opera tion, it will open to the commercial enterprise of our citizens a country of great extent and un surpassed in natural resources, but from which foreign nations have been hitherto almost whol ly excluded. The correspondence of the late Secretary of S aie with the Peruvian charge d’affaires rela tive to the Lobos Islands was communicated to Congress towards the close of the last session. Since that time, on further investigation of the subject, the doubts which had been entertained of the title of Peru to those islands have been removed; and I have deemed it just lhat the temporary wrong which had been unintention ally done her, from want of information, should be repaired by an unreserved acknowledgment of her sovereignty. 1 have the satisfaction to inform you that the course pursued by Peru has been creditable to the liberality of her government. Before it was known by her that her title would be acknowl edged at Washington, her Minister of Foreign Affairs hnd authorized our charge d’affaires at Lima to announce to the American vessels which had gone to the Lobos for guano, that the Pe ruvian Government was willing to freight their? on its own account. This intention has been carried into effect by the Peruvian Minister here, by an arrangement which is believed to be ad vantageous to the parties in interest. Our settlements on the shores of’he Pacific have already given a great extension, and in 1 some respects anew direction, to our commerce in that ocean. A direct and rapidly increasing . intercourse has sprung up with Eastern Asia. 1 Tim waters of the Northern Pacific, even into the Arctte sea. have of late years been frequent ed by our whalemen. The application of steam to trie general purposes of navigation is becom ing daily more common, and makes it desirable j to obtain fuel and other necessary supplies at con j ’-enient points on the route between Asia and our Pacific shores. Our unfortunate countrymen who ; from time to time suffer shipwreck on the coasts i of the eastern seas are entitled to protection. Besides: th-v.-e specific objects, the general pro ! peri tv of our Slates on the Pacific requires that I an attempt should be made to opc-n the opposite i regions of Asia to a mutually beneficial inter i course. It is obvious that this attempt could be made by no power to so great advantage as by ’ the United States, whose constitutionar system ; excludes every idea of distant colonial depen dencies. I have accordingly been leu to order an appropriate naval force to Japan, under the I command of a discreet and intelligent officer ot ; ihe highest rank known to our service. He is j instructed to endeavor to obtain from the gov j eminent of that country, some relaxation of the I inhospitable and anti-social system which if has > pursued for about two centuries. He has been : directed particularly to remonstrate in the stron ; gest language against the cruel treatment to j which our shipwrecked mariners have often ! been subjected, and to insist that they shall be ; treated with humanity. lie is instructed, how ; ever, at the same time to give that government ; the amplest assurances that the objects of the United States are such and such only as I have , indicated, and that the expedition is friendly and j peaceful. Notwithstanding the jealousy with j which the governments of Eastern Asia regard ; ail overtures from foreigners, I am not without ■ hopes Gs a beneficial result of the expedition. Should it be crowned with success, the adva.n ----j tages wiil not be cqnfiiied to the. United States, | hut, as in the case of China, will be equally en j j ived by all the other maritime power?. I have TERMS OF I’UBUCATION. One Copy, per annum, if paid in advance,...B2 GO “ “ “ “ “ in six mor.ihs, 250 “ “ “ ■* ** at end of year, 300 RATES OF ADVERTISING. Oaa square, first insertion, - - - - -$1 00 “ “ each subsequent insertion , - 5u A liberal deduction made in favor of those who advertise largely. NO. 50. nuch satisfaction in staling that in all the steps preparatory to this expedition, the. Government of the. United Slates has been materially aided >)Y the good t ffices of the King of the Nether lands, the only European power having any commercial relations with Japan. In passing from this survey of our foreign relations, ! invite the attention of Congress to the condition of that department of the Govern ment to which this branch of the public busi ness is entrusted. Our intmourse with foreign powers has of late years greatly increased, both in consequence of our own growth and the ‘in troduction of many new States into the family of nations. In this wav the Department of Lit te has become overburdened. It has,’ by the recent establishment of the Department of the Interior, been relieved of some portion of the domestic business. If the residue of the business of that kind, such as the distribution of Congressional documents, the keeping, pub lishing and distribution of the laws of the Uni ted States, the execution of the copyright law, the subject of reprieves and pardons, and some other subjects relating to interior administra tion, should be transferred from the Department of (State, it would unquestionably be for the benefit of tiie public service. I would also sug gest trial the building appropriated to the State Department i not tire-proof; that there is rea son to think there are detects in its construc tion, ami lhat the archives of the Government in charge of (lie Department, with the precious collections of the manuscript papers of Wash ington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, and Mon roe, are exposed to destruction by fire. A simi lar remark may be made of the buildings ap propriated to tiie War and Navy Departments. The condition of the Treasury is exhibited in the annual report from that Department. The ca.-h receipts into the Treasury lor the fiscal year ending the 30lh June last, exclusive of trust funds, were forty-nine millions seven hundred and twenty-i ight’theusand three hund red and eighty-.nx dollars and eighty-nine cents, (49,728 386 89.) and the expenditures for the same period, likewise exclusive ot trust funds, were forty-six millions seven thousand eight hundred and ninety-six dollars and twenty cents, (49,007,996 20;) of which nine millions four hundred and fitly-five thousand eight hundred and fifteen dollars and eighty-three cents (9,- 455.815 83) was on account of the principal and interest of the public, debt, including the last instalment of the indemnity to Mexico, un der the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, leaving a balance of $ 14,632.139 37 in the Treasury on the first day of July last. Since tins latter pe riod, further purchases ot the principal oi the public debt have b en made to the extent of two millions four hundred and fifty-six thousand five hundred and fortv-seveu dollars and forty nine cents, iS~ 45(5.647 49,) and the surplus in the Treasure will continue to be applied to that ■bj- 'fit, w!;* never the stock can be procured! within the. limits, as to price, authorized by lavy.4 The value of foreign merchandise import* during the last fiscal year was two hundred amj| seven millions two hundred and forty one hundred and one dollars, J :) ’ ;uui Dm valm of do juoduetfo.i-’ • ‘.pm;- i• ■JsjrtßMpwiinemillions i ight hundred and !.-<!s thousand nine hundred; and “ ! i-stir- ($149,861,911 0 besides se vore:t.-oiM4ii!i!ons two hundred alio four thousand and uventy-six dollars ($17,204,026) ot foreign .merchandise exported; making the aggregate of tiie entire exports one hundred and sixty seven millions.sixty five thousand nine hundred and thirty-seven dollars, ($157,065,937;) ex clusive of the above there was exported forty two millions five hundred and seven thousand two hundred and eighty-five dollars ($42,507,- 285) in specie; and imported from foreign ports five millions two hundred ami sixty-two thou sand six hundred and forty-three dollars. ($5,- 262,643 ) In my first annua! message to Congress I called vour attention to what seemed to me some delects in the present tariff, and recommended such modifications as in my judgment were best adapted to remedy its evils and promote the prosperity of the country. Nothing has since occurred to change my views on this important question. Without repeating the arguments contained in my former message, in favor ot discrimina ting protective duties, l deem it my duty to call j your attention to one or two other considerations I affecting this subject. The first is, the effect of large importations ot foreign goods uj.cn our currency. Most of the gold ol California, as fast as it is coined, finds iis way directly to Eu rope in payment tor goods purchased-: in the second place, as our manufacturing ef-ifr-r-t**- meats are broken down by competition with foreigners, the capital invested in them is lost, thousands of honest and industrious citizens are thrown out of employment, and the farmer to that extent is deprived of a home market for the sale of his surplus produce. In the. third place, the destruction of our manufactures leaves the foreigner without competition in our market, and he consequently raises the price oi the article sent here for sate, as is now seen in tho increased cost of iron imported from England, ‘fhe prosperity anu wealth of every nation must depend upon its productive industry. The farmer is stimulated to exertion by finding a j ready market for his surplus products, and'beu ! efitted by being able to exchange them, wehoutj I loss of time or expense oi transportation, for tire; j manufactures which his comfort or convenience j requires. This is always done to the best are j vantage where a portion of the community in; | which ire livrs is engaged hi other pursuits.’ 1 But most manufactures require an amount of ; capital and a practical skill which cannot,’.*£ j commanded, unless they he protected for; ri .. “ | from ruinous competition from abroad. Hence ; the necessity of laying those duties uron in.- j ported goods which the Constihilfore-.'i.ufhofizes j lor revenue, in such mancfcv as to protect and j encourage tiie labor of our own citizens. D-wf/Av i however, should not be fixed at a rate so high j as t*> exclude the foreign, article, but should be j so graduated as to enable the domestic mann j faciurer fairly to compete with the foreigner in I our own markets, and by this competition to re ! duce the price of the manufactured article to i tho consumer to the lowest rate at which it gan j be produced. This policy would place the me i cha nic by the side of the farmer, create a mu j tual interchange of their respective coumi&di j ties, and thus stimulate the industry of lire whole i country, and render us independent of foreign j nations for the supplies required by the habits I or necessities of the people, j Another question, wholly independent of pro-, j lection, presents itselfi had mat is, whether the i duties levied should be upon the value of the j article at tiie place of shipment,, or, where it is j practicable, a specific duly, graduated accord- I mg to quantity, as ascertained by weight or measure. All our duties are at present ad va lorem. A certain ner centage is levied on ihe, price of the gobds at the port of shipment in a foreign country. Mostdomtitercial nations have found it indispensable, for rtuFpiiirpose oi pre venting iraud and perjury, to make the duties specific whenever the article is ofosuch a uni form value in weight or measure as to justify such a duty. Legislation should never encour age dishonesty or crime, it is impassible tha't the revenue officers at the port where! the goods are entered and the duties paid, should know with certainty what they cost in the foreign country. Vet the law requires that they should levy the duty according to such cost. They are therefore compelled to resort to very unaat ! isfactory evidence to ascertain what that cost was. They take the invoice ol the importer, at tested by his oath, as the best evidence of which the nature of the case admits. But every one must see that the invoice may be Fabricated,arid the oath by which it is supported false, bv rea sou of which the dishonest importer pays a