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SOUTHERN TRIBUNE.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY, BY
W M II A II It 1 SON.
W'M. B. HARRISON, 1
and > Editors.
W’M. 8. LAW TON, 3
Southern CoiiveulioM.
The following Resolutions wete intro
duced and referred on the 6th inst.
Resoloed, That California is peculiar
ly well adapted to slave labor, and if te
nure of slave property were by recogni
tion of this kind secured in that part South
of 36° 30', the south part would in a short
time open into one or more slaveholdig
States, to swell the number and power of
those already in existence.
Resolved, That it is too plain fir argu
ment that the slaveholding States would
lose, and the non-slaveholning States
greatly gain, by the surrender to the latter
of nearly the half of Texas, and that the
payment to Texas of ten millions as a
price, however it might minister to her
distress for money, would be no compen
sation to them, and more especially as the
most of the money would come out of
their own pockets.
Resolved, That the people of the slave
holding States by becoming a unit, as re
spects a polttical or party organization,
separate from the people of the nori-slave
liolding States, would place themselves in
a position of great advantage in at least
three particulars.
First —To enable them to turn to ac
count the political parties of the North
by putting it in their power to throw their
undivided weight in the scale of which
ever party then showed the best disposi
tion to do them justice.
Second —lt would enable them to turn
to account the potent sentiment of love
for the Union cherished by the North, oi
to terminate the existence of that Union,
promptly and without internal discord,
whenever the North came to disregard
their rights.
Third —lt would enable them, if the
worst came to the worst, to defend them
selves to the best advantage; and, there
fore, it would be a thing in the highest de
gree conservative of the Union, and the
sentiment of fiaternity between the peo
ple of the North and those of the South.
Resolved, tnereforc, That the people of
the South ought to drop old party disitne
tions and organizations, and for the future
let the test of merit for different candi
dates for office be this only: which of
them is likely to do the most good, friend
ly and fraternal part by the South—and
to this end that conventions, both for nomi
nation of State officers and President and
Vice President of the United States,
ought hereafter to be held without rela
tion to past party relations.
Resolved, That we therefore invite a
convention of the people of the slavehold
ipg States on the 4th of June. ISS!. at .
tor the purpose of determining which a
roong the various aspirants for the Presi
dency and Vice Presidency, ought to re
ceive the suffrages of the South.
_ Resolved, J hat unless the non-slavehol
ding States at the next session of their res
pective Legislatures repeal the laws which
they have passed, obstructing the recovery
of fugitive slaves, and also take effectual
steps for the practical observance by theii
citizens of the constitutional stipulations
for the surrender of such slaves—the slave
holding States ought, without delay, adopt
mcasui es of retaliation and non-intercourse.
Resolved, 1 hat we have little confidence
in the efficacy of any law which Congress
mey pass to secure the observance of this
clause of the Constitution— because pub
lic opinion at the North is so much op
posed to such laws, that it could not be
enforced. We look chiefly to the States
themselves, who are parties to the stipu
lation, jj>r the observance oftlie stipulation
but any law passed by Congress which
gave to the fugitive a jury trial in the
States to which he fled, would, as a reme
dy, be a mere mockery.
Resoloed, 1 hat in case a majority in
Congress should, regardless of the clear
rights of the South, pass any law which
should deprive her of that part of Califor
nia situated south of 36° 30' north, or cut
oil liom 1 exas any part of the territory
lying within die boundary which she claims
as her own, or interfere with slavery or
the trade in slaves in the District of Co
lumbia, then this Convention shall, on tke
Monday after the passage of such law,
reassemble at , for the purpose of con
sidering the remedy to be adopted foi
led ress of the wrong thus perpetrated.
After some unimportant business, the
Convention adjourned until ten o’clock the
next day.wlien Judge 1 ucKtK.of V irgiuia,
submitted the following propositions :
This Convention holds the following
propositions to be incontestable :
1. That the territory of the United
States, not within the limits of any par
ticular State, belongs to all the said States
collectively, and that to them belong the
right of property and the right of empire
in and over the same.
2. That the said States, in forming the
constitution of tho United States, delega
ted to Congress power to administer the
light of property over all such territory.
3. That this power implies a power to
pass all necessary laws for keeping off in
truders ; for disposing of all such territory,
and fixing the terms on which it may be
sold, the persons who may buy, and the
conditions on which it shall be held.
4. That all attempts on the part of anv
other authority to add to, take from, or in
anywise anticipate or modify theconditions
so prescribed or to be prescribed by Con
gross, is a plain usurpation of a power con-
I tvr red on and belonging to Congress alone.
5. That the power of Congress to ad
minister the right of property in such ter
ritory is so modified by the equality of all
the States that Congress cannot lawfully
dispose of the same under such conditions
as shall give to purchasers, being citizens
of one State, advantages denied to other
purchasers, citizens of any other State.
6. That to the full enjoyment of pro
perty in land, it is indispensable that the
proprietor be at liberty to enter upon, oc
cupy and improve the same, taking with
him all bis property of every kind.
7. That a proposition often pressed on
Congress, and called and known by the
name of the Wilmot Proviso, does pro
pose to give and secure such enjoyment to
the citizens of some Slates and to deny it
to others.
8. That the said proposition is there
s re unconstitutional, and that those States
whose citizens would be thereby wronger,
have but done their duty to themselves ly
declaring that they will resist all attempts
to enforce such proposition, at all hazarus
and to the last extremity.
9. That the United States, in forming
their constitution, did not delegate to Con
gress power to exercise the right of em
pire over such territory,and that the same
remains dormant and unrepresented in
the States colectively until the same is
transferred in the only mode known to the
constitution.
10. That Congress has power, under
the constitution, to authorize the erection
and establishment of new States within
the territory ofthe United States.
11. That this power implies a power in
Congress to surrender, on behalf of the
States collectively, the right of empire over
such portion of the territory as may be
marked our portion by Congress as the
limit of such new State, which right of em
pire, until then dormant, immediately awa
kens and becomes active in such new State.
12. That any attempt on the part of Con
gress, or any other, to exercise the right
of empire over any portion of the territory
of the United States, before a State shall
have been thereon erected and established
by metes and bounds, by the authority of
Congress, is a plain usurpation of a pow
er belonging to the States collectively, and
never by them delegated to Congress, or
to any o her agent or representative.
13. '1 bat it is the natural right of every
community inhabiting a territory where
there is no law, to govern, regulate and
manage its members and theiii properly by
temporary laws of their own making.
14. 1 hat it is the right of every commu
nity inhabiting a territory wherein there
is no law but that established by an author
ity which has ceased to exist, to continue
the authority and protection of that law
over its members and their property so long
as they may approve it, unless it be chan
ged by the power which has the right of
empire over such territory.
15. 1 hat such, by the laws of war, and
treatv of peace and cession were the rights
of the inhabitants of the conquered and ce- [
ded province of California, and in their
rights, by the laws of war, and the treaty
of peace and cession, it was the duty of
the Government of the United States to
protect them.
16. '1 hat the character of inhabitant, on
which these rights are predictated, does
not belong to mere sojourners, having no
fixed purposes of permanent residence,
and owning no part of the soil, nor to any
whose mere presence in the territory of
the United States is an offence against the
laws.
17. That to permit and encouraee such
sojourners and intruders to make laws for
the government of the persons and pro.
petty of the actual inhabitants ofthe coun
try, residing there permanently and right
fully at the date ot the treaty of peace and
cession, and entitled thereby to protection
from the Government ofthe United States,
is not to permit and protect, hut to violate
and trample upon the above mentioned
rights of the inhabitants, as ascertained by
the law of nature and nations, and con
firmed by treaty.
IS. I bat to permit and encourage such
sojourners and intruders to make laws in
terfering with the right of the United
States to dispose of the lands itt California
to such persons, and on such terms as Con
gress may by law prescribe, is a palpable
dereliction ofthe duty to make all need
ful rules and regulations for the disposal
ofthe territory ofthe United States, which
has been committed by the constitution to
Congress aloue.
r 19. That to use the military force oftlie
United States for the purpose ot compel
ling the inhabitants ol California to submit
to a constitution and laws, not their own
making, nor established by their former
sovereigns, but imposed on them by so
journers and intruders, is an act of injus
tice and tyranny.
20. .That to accomplish, by means of
such complicated violation of law, treaty,
and constitution, the very wrong which
the Wilmot Proviso was intended'’ to per
petrate, is to multiply the intensity ofthe
wrong by the number of unlawful acts
through which it is inflicted.
21. I hat those States which pledged
themselves to resist the enforcemenl ofthe
Wilmot Proviso at all hazards and to the
last extremity, ato yet more bound by con
cistency, self respect and duty to their own
citizens and to the constitution, to resist
the claim of a loose, wandering multitude
of sojourners and intruders to the sover
eignty of California.
The Convention have put forth an able
address and will assemble again in six
weeks after the adjournment of Congress
rite Report of the Committee charged
with the various Resolutions referred to
them, was unanimously adopted. The
Convention had not adjourned on the 12th.
Kxtrnctsfrom lion. J. A.Woodivurd'g Better.
“1 cannot conclude without adding a
word as to the state of the great ques
tion before Congress. There is no hope
that any concession will be made to the
South, or, to speak more properly, that
any portion of their rights will be left in
theii hands. The North has fully made
up i?s mind to take all. We have grown
too despondent to make an effort to pro
duce a contrary result. The only compe
tition among members seems to be, wbo
shall devise a measure that shall best con
ceal from you the fact that you have
lost everything. The lucky individual
, who shall succeed in this, is destined to
become a distinguished character, and it
is not impossible that two years lienee, the
Northern majority in some Baltimore or
Philadelphia Convention, will commend
him to you as a benefactor; in being the
person to whom you are to stand indebted
for the comforts dependent on the truth of
the saying, that “ignorance is bliss.” * *
But I will proceed to give you a brief
analysis of the “Clay Compromise.”
The people occupying the gold mines
not far from the Bay of San Francisco,with
some scattering settlements, are to be ad
mitted into the Union as a State. They
claim to have dominion over a country six
times as large as South Carolinia. The
country does not belong to them, but to
the people of the United States. Their
constitution pjohibits negro property from
being brought to their piace of habitation,
or being to carried to any part of the vast
domain. This State is to be called Cali
fornia. New States will hereafter be e
rected in the territoiy, but the inhabitants
mentioned, have already declared that no
slave property shall go to those new
States.
Territorial Governments are to be pro
vided for Utah and New Mexico, vvitheut
the Wilmot Proviso. But why ! A large
majority contend that the Mexican laws
are of force there, and will serve to exclude
slavery. And it is pretty well ascertained
that the majority of the Federal Court
will so decide. If, however, a slaveholder
should be foolhardy euough to go tlere
under such circumstances and stand a law
suit, and the court should happen to detide
in bis favoa; no one doubts this that the
Proviso would at once be put upon the
whole enutry. He who tells you the con
trary of this, deceives you wickedly and
wilfully.
Such is the disposition to be made cf all
the country acquired from Mexico. But
the most remarkable feature of the bill
remains to be described.
The bill provides that about one-third
of Texas shall be annexed to New Mexico
and have the same constitution and laws.—
In this teritoro, also, the majority, w.th
Mr. Ciay contend, the laws of Mexico
will be offeree, and the court will so de
cide ; and a slaveholder would go there,
under the same hazards that he would to
Utah. But as (he bill is called a “Compro
mise” you naturally suppose that sure
show of concession lias been made to the
South, and will ask what that concession
is? It is this: If the United States will
pay to Texas ten or fifteen millions,to lie
North for the territory cut off, the ftje
soil agitation shall cease! Do not misun
derstand me. Ido nor say that the bill
provides that the agitation shall ceasei—
I only mean to say (hat the friends of lie
bill entertain hopes that it may cease: uid
will at all events, have the satisfaction of
having made the experiment, whether! it
will or not. Os course, the large bodyiof
Northern members who will vote agaifist
the bill, because its language is a little
merciful towards Southern sensibilities,
are not to be considered as having com -
under pledges: and as to that portion vtho
are expected to vote for it, l have yet to
hear ofthe first instance of a pledge i»e
ing made. But supposing all to htfve
made pledges, who imagines that they
would be kept ? The bill itself is a vio
lation of the Missouri Comproise as prov
ided in the Texas resolutions, and of a6o
lemn compact with Texas.
But, fellow citizens, it just now occurs
to me that 1 may have done injustice to
the bill in saying it makes no concession
to the South. I recollect last week to
have heard a Senator asked in debate, to
name the concession to the South. After
some hesitation, he replied : “Sir we hive
obtained an authentic exposition of the
Texas resolutions.” And what is this ex
position ! It is a shameless perversion,
and at the same time a gross violation of
resolutions that needed no exposition, and
which, for two years, never received but
one interpretation, whether from the North
oi the South, i appeal to the debates ol
Congress*, to bear me cut in the asser
tion, that until recently, Northern men
and Southern men, Abolitionists, Whigs
and Democrats, gave to those resolutions
the same exposition. When Mr. Wilmot
first introduced the Proviso, he referred
to the fact that of his having voted for the
annexation of Texas, and admitted that
slavery existed throughout the territory
claimed by her, and pledged himself to
let slavery stand where it was; saying
that ho only desired that it should go no
further. 1 eave not taken time to exam
ine the voluminous debates, but cannot be
mistaken that at the first session after the
vvar, Mr. Winthrop made the same admis
sion and the same pledge; I do not recol
lect a single Northern speech of an oppo
site charaster.
Thus, in fine, does it appear that a bill
which you are told is a “compromise,” and
lot the support ol which, Southern men
intended to claim the highest honor you
can bestow upon them, goes more than
one step further towards the Abolition plat
form, than David Wilmot himself had
gone at the lime he introduced liis Pro
viso. It is needless to say more upon the
subject. ’
The Cuba Prisoners.
The British steamer brought letters to
this city announcing the military execu
tion of five wounded men left at Carde
nas by Gen. Lopez. Among them was
Capt. Duperu. This gentleman was well
known in this city, where he had acquired
a high reputation for coinage. He was
the master of every species of arms—a
dead shot— skilful swordsman, and a gal
lant man. It will he recollected that he
was selected by Gen. Scott to reconnoi
tre the fortifications of Vera Cruz. He
was a Virginian by birth, but as his name
indicates, of French extraction, and spoke
the Ftench language like his mother
tongue. After obtaining all the necessary
information, he was suspected, and orders
given for his arrest; when, by an act of
great presence of mind, lie saved himself.
A boat was at the landing waiting fora
passenger to go on board a British man
of-war. He stepped on board and order
ed the boat to shove off The men, de
ceived by bis manner, obeyed him, and
carried him to the ship. His information
was of important service to the General.—
He was appointed Captain of Dragoons,
and served with distinction in the cam
paign under Scott. His death will cause
a deep sensation. The right of the Cu
ban authorities to execute these men can
not bo denied : but to the cause of Cuban
independance it will give a moral strength
which will insure its speedy success.—
This was a case where Mercy might well
have turned away the Sword of Justice.
As to the men taken on hoard the re
turning ships, the case is veiy different.
They had committed no overt act. They
had abandoned the expedition, even if at
any time they had entertained the intention
of joining it. They were within the ju
risdiction ofthe United States—sailing un
der the protection of the American flag—
and not even the weakness of Spain will
induce us to overlook the indignity offer
ed to our national honor. These vessels
had been employed in carrying a number
of passengers to the coast of Yucatan.—
This is no offence. While Gen. Taylor
will use all the means at his command for
the maintenance of neutrality he will jeal
ously protect the honor of the Republic.
The lives and liberty of these men are un
der our protectin, and the shedding of
their biood will, be followed by a war
which will terminate only with the inde
pendence of the Island. Sir Henry Bul
werhas communicated to the Secretary of
State, that by a secret treaty, Great Bri
tain is bound to maintain the sovereign,v
of Spain over Cuba. It is time for Great
Britain to learn that site must not interfere
with the Federal Republic. To be sure,
the struggle with that power had better
be put off another ten years—until we
have the railroad communications com
plete, and we can manufacture more of our
raw products—until we have accustomed
ker toiling, starving millions to the cheap
bread of America. One of the weapons
used in the Roman era, was a net,
which the gladiator threw over the head
and arms of his antagonist. It is with the
meshes of our cotton net that we will en
counter our great rival. Is it not a sub
ject of proud, exulting reflection, that,
“From out the labors of a peaceful land,”
has sprung a power, before which the
mightiest nation the world ever saw,
shrinks appelled ? The cotton fields of
the South, the wheat farms of the West,
are the true strength of America. These
are the locks of the modern Sampson.—
Every year adds to the dependence of
Great Britain on America. That power
cannot even now enter into a war with this
country, on a question so remote from the
direct interests of her own people. To
maintain Spain in the possession of a dis
tant colony, will not satisfy the weavers of
Manchester, nor the cutlers of Birming
ham. The millions who are dependent,
directly or indirectly, on the cotton of A
merica, will never consent to short work
and reduced rates for any point less than
national dishonor. It is Spain alone we
shall encounter. She may butcher the
men caught in arms, and the American
Government will not complain ; but for the
men taken out of American ships, while
on the ocean, a strict account will be re
quired. Twenty-five millions of freemen
are bondsmen for their safety.— N.O.Cres.
M A C O¥7 G A~
SATURDAY AFTERNOON, JUNE 15.
0»Y<; are indebted to I lie lion. J. 1., Our,
for a copy of Mr. Woodward’s letter to lus
constituents, an extract from which will be
found in another column
Madame Anna Risiiop. — ft will he seen by
reference to the advertisement in another column
that this accomplished cantatrice will give a
Concert at the “Lanier House,’’ on Monday
evening next.
Mr. I toe iisa, the celebrated performer on the
Harp and I’iano, will lend the aid of his fine skill
to the attractions of the concert—and we have
no doubt but that all who attend will be highly
gratified with their inimitable performance.
Fourth ok July. —We have been requested
to state that the different Sabbath Schools of tliis
city and Vincville, will assemble at the respec
tive Churches at 7 o'clock, A. M., on the Fourth
of Jul v, and proceed to the Academy Square,
where they will form a line and march under,
direction of W. Poe, Esq., to the Baptist Church,
when an Address will be delivered by the Rev.
8- Landrum, commencing at 9 o’clock. After
which the different Schools will proceed in or
der to their separate places of refreshment and
he dismissed.
At 12 o'clock a Eulogy will ho delivered at
the Methodist Episcopal Church, on the life,
character and public services of the lamented
Calhoun, by the Rev l)i Ellison
MU. CLAY AND IIIS PROFESSIONS.
When Mr. Clay returned to the Senate, after
his fussy valedictory, more studied and ostenta
tious by far than Washington’s or Jackson’s,
his friends promised great things for his patriot
ism, and his opponents hoped that they would
not be disappointed. Friend and foe all well
knew that this man, whose ambition and dog
ged pertinacity in pursuit of selfish ends, have
been the marvel ofliis day, was in the wane of
life, and that he had taken on himself vows of a
higher and holier kind, than those that arc paid
to party. All agreed too in thinking, that so
many defeats as he had experienced, after the
fairest trials, were enough and more than enough
to chasten his inordinate ambition, and to direct
its struggles towards a nobler and more enduring
object than his own elevation. We have charity
enough for the bitterest personal enemy of Mr.
Clay to believe that he even, expected in the
present crisis, a fair and an open declaration from
the Kentucky statesman, of Itis honest convic
tions of what was our duty to each other and the
Constitution, in the strife now raging between
the North and South. We do not think that any
one at this late day expected front him any more
party stratagems,covered up under the disguises
of a generous and catholic patriotism, that look
ed only to the good ofthe country and the whole
country. Very many who have heretofore been
classed among the political opponents of Mr.
Clay, were sanguine that be would close his
long and brilliant career as a statesman, by one
last great effort in behalf of harmony and union,
that would make all former honors won by him,
seem tame in comparison. But like an old and
favorite actor, he cannot tear himself from the
stage, and the fascination of the applause of the
house and the blaze of the foot-lights.
To this hour Mr. Clay is as much a candidate
for the Presidency as he was in 1844, and in all
lie does he shews that ho is haunted as much as
ever by the strong delusion, that through the aid
of the free States alone, he can triumph at last.
Mr. Clay is the enemy ofthe South, he has been
for years, and it is no credit to him that like a
manly foe, lie has not avowed what was in his
heart and hung out his purposes upon bis banner.
It was a bold stroke of policy, such as we might
not have expected from him, being “a Southern
man and a slaveholder,” to declare for the North
and put himself in firm alliance with the free
States. He has done this for years past, and not
withstanding lias received a support from South
ern States, that will, in future years, astonisli
thinking men. lie has been well understood by
the free States, and they well know the effect
that bis desertion of his own section must have
on our cause. For what reason could Massa
chusetts have supported him, as she no doubt did
against even Mr. Webster himself, if she did
not, because his exertions in the free soil move
ment would fall with triple force upon us, as the
voluntary offerings of a man in behalfof a good
cause, to which iiis own people bad become ob
noxious. In all our sectional quarrels lie lias
favored the side of our opponents, lie set the
first vicious example of compromising us avvav,
and breaking down the power of our only relia
ble defences which wo claimed under the Con
stitution. But for ra.ny yonis it become llie
rage among Mr. Clay’s Northern supporters, to
urge his claims to the Presidency, upon the
grounds of the Missouri compromise. It was
that they said that saved this “ glorious Union”
from destruction—and for more than a quarter op
a century every change of glorification was rung
on this one theme.
They had not finished their old song before
we heard from the “great embodiment’’ himself
that they were all wrong, and it was not to him
the glory was due. We confess that nothing in
An. Clay’s whole history, checkered and de
vious as that has been,—no, not oven his un
blushing “ Blue Lick” letter, written to Mr.
Clayton, in which he avowed that his Tariff
compromise, by which he swindled the South,
was concocted to save protection, so shocked our
sense of honor and decency, as did this repudia
tion of his own long dandled bantling. While
the North were proud of their bargain—while
many at the South thought the Compromise a
measure of deliverance—while all acquiesced
peaceably in it, why then the Missouri Compro.
mise was Air. Clay s child, horn of his genius
and his patriotism. But now, when the South
is so hard pressed and reduced to such extremity
that she looks to even this poor boon, as some
thing to hold to with a death struggle—and now
the greedy North mutters because this obstacle
to a final triumph over us has been placed in the
way, he utters not one word in behalf of his off
spring—he will nut even father it and shrinks
from avowing it, because its fair fame is under a
cloud, for tlie same reason he vaunted once its
paternity when it stood high in the land. The
North is now inimical to the Missouri Compro
mise, and that is enough for Air. Clay to know.
It is surprising that we did not distrust Air.
Clay’s agency in offers of service in settling the
slavery question iu Congress, when we saw his
course in regard to his first compromise. For if
one compact on this most dangerous and .exciting
topic was set at nought, the very moment one
party to it thought it profitable to do so, what
greater effect could be given to anew compact,
and wiiat more faith should we repose in the
honor of the repudiating party? Cut it was a
fitting prelude to tlie present surrender plot now
before the Senate, to deny and scout the Alis
souri Compromise. And never will Air. Clay
be under a necessity to explain aught to the free
soil party his agency in the present plan. It is
full enough to satisfy the most exacting anti
slavery bigot. The last inch of California is
given up to him—both the remaining Territories
as well as given up, for tho lex loci , as they call
it, has been held by the most distinguished legal
authority “m terrorem," over all Southern tnen
who may have any notion of planting themselves
on this forbidden ground— and as this was not
enough, the great compromiser, a Southern man,
who can shed the bitter tear over the wrongs of
slavery, while lie pockets its earnings, seeks
besides all this to surrender tho territory of a
slavo Stale, under the pitiful pretext of quieting
a boundary dispute between Texas and New
Alexico, but really for tho purpose of casing the
smart to the North of the Texas treaty of annex
ation. Take the whole Report just as it stands,
with the bills that accompany it, and it is a re
corded shame upon that man who shall stand up
and present it to us as the offering of peace front
the hands of friends, or even impartial men
From beginning to end the objoct is to dupe the
South, for it appears even the rashest among the
politicians of the North think this is easier done
than to conquer her. But in the name of human
nature, let the duping or the conquering, come
rom those front whom we ought to expect
nothing better. For to the proud spirit of a
Southerner, it will be a sharp pang to think that
disgraces that hare fallen upon his loved home
might have been repelled, but for the recreancy
of men who were, as lie thought, sharing with
him the fortunes and perils of the same bottom
But how much more bitter even than this will be
the thought, that we have suffered our rights to
be trampled down, because we shrank from that
resistance or those hardships that are the glory of
a manly heart. But let us he saved from tha t
unutterable pain of feeling, that we are duped as
well as injured—and that a silly confidence in
men, whose former infidelities have warned us
of their purposes, have involved us in ruin. If
we fail in the fight, let open, interested enemies
conquer us—let not traitors betray us into the
hands of our enemies.
The Southern Convention.— We give in
another column a series of Resolutions, introdu
ced in the Convention, but have not received an
account of those finally adopted. The principal
features of those agreed to are thus hinted at
by the correspondent of the Charleston Mercury:
“The eventsofthe slavery agitation from 1834
are summed up in brief but intelligible terms'
their significance explained, and the interests
and positions of the South as she has been affec
ted by them, argued and defined. The North
is held responsible for all the fatal results and
promises of this agitation, and the South is rebu
ked for her unwise and spiritless submission to
protracted wrong. The Compromise scheme is
taken to pieces, and after a through examination
of its parts, the whole is denounced as a fraud
and a scheme of poorly disguised encroachment.
Tile Missouri Compromise Lino of36dcg. 30
min. running to the Pacific, accompained by a
distinct recognition of it as the partition line be
tween the North and the South, —all the terri
tory lying South ofit to be open to African sla
very, including the Southern part of California,
—is recommended to the South for acceptance,
if the North chooses to propose it. But it is re
commended ns the Inst and utmost concession.
In tiio meantime the Convention declines,
whilst Congroes has the matter under considera
tion, reccoriiniending any practical mode of re
dress. But the Southern States are advised to
send Dclegrntes to an adjourned meeting of the
Convention after the rising of Congress—from
the States and Districts that have failed to he
represented at Nashville, to take into conseder
alion the remedy which the circumstances may
require.”
Pacific Rail Road —The St Louis Repub
lican says tiiat the work of examining and sur
veying the route is to be immediately commenc
ed. The engineer lias brought with him a set
of new instruments, which are already being
put in order for field service. He is accompa
nied by a first and an assistant engineer, and a
leveller. One company is to be put immedi
ately in the field.
Various routes will be surveyed, and the
whole counnqr thoroughly examined before any
definite location can be made. As soon as the
first party are in tlie field, the president and
chief engineer will enter upon a reconnoisance
of the whole country between that city and the
city of Jefferson. The latter is made by the
charter one of the termini of the road, and ‘.lie
question must first be solved, whether it is prac
ticable to carry it directly there, or to reach it
by a branch before any considerable portion of
the road can be located. Every precaution will
betaken to secure the best, most direct and
cheapest route, having at the same time due re
gard to all the important interests involved.
Acetate of Lead in Sugar. — The British
Government lias appointed Dr. Thompson, of
Glasgow, Prof. Graham of University College,
and Prof. llofTman of the London College
of Chemistry, as Commisioners to examine and
report on the following questions ;—1 st. Is the
use of acetate of lead in the refining of sugar
likely to be detrimental to the public health.—
2nd, Can the process be so followed that all the
lead may, with absolute certainty be removed.
This cominision is highly honorable to the
British Government. Assugar lias become an
article of such universal use, its purity from
poison is of the utmost importance to the whole
civilized world. The eminent scientificgcntie
mcn ofthe Commission, is a surity that the work
will be well done and faithfully reported on.
Dr. Thompson is held to he one of the first
analytic chemists in the world, and is es
teemed, where both arc well known, far
superior to Ure, despite of all the flings which
the latter throws upon him the in Dictionary of
Chemistry.
Black Egyptian Ibis. —One of these rare
birds, says the Boston Post was shot at Middle
town, on the Conne.cticut, May r 9th. It was a
male in full plumage; stood eighteen inches
high, and measured twenty eight inches id
length. It has been carefully preserved, and is
now in the cabinet of Dr. J. Barrett. A smilat
bird was shot at Fresh Pond, Cambridge, on the
Bth. It is highly probable that these birds be
long to one and the same flock, and were driven
so far south by the late storms, and by the abun
dance of snow in the high northern latitudes-"
The one killed at Middletown was observed to
lie very lean. The Ibis fascinclla. is rarely seen
in the United States, and is the first that has
come under our observation. It is supposed to
have left the valley of tho Nile—where the)
are abundant—in or about March last. I ho)
migrate to Siberia in the breeding season, ami
return to Egypt in October. So that this
with his companions, may have been over Cell
ring Straits to this continent, and by the inclem
ency nn.l late melting of the Northern stream-,
compelled to move to tile South, and follo«i n S
the Connecticut may have supposed liinself a
gain on the Nile ! Tho person who shot 1 1
bird remarked liis “lameness.
The gentle manners, and want of caution, -
conspicious in this bird, would entirely tin i
for residence in New England, where there '
such a murderous propensity to shoot the
tlicrcd race.
