Newspaper Page Text
THE
®!EnißWSya 9
Will be published every S.ITERD.I Y Afternoon,
In the Tico-Story Wooden Building, at the
Corner of Walnut and Fifth Street,
IN THE CITV OF MACON, GA.
By wm. B. H AKKISO
TERMS:
For the Paper, in advance, per annum, $2
if not paid iu advance, $3 00, per annum.
03*Advertisomonts will he inserted at the usual
rates—and when the number of insertions de
sired is not specified, they will be continued un- ;
til forbid and charged accordingly,
O’Advertisers by the Year will be contracted
with upon the most favorable terms.
O’Sales of Land by Administrators,Executors
or Guardians, are required by Law, to be held on j
thetirst Tuesday in the month, between the hours
0 f ten o’clock in the Forenoon and three in the
afternoon, a* the Court House of the county in
w hich the Property is situate. Notice of these
must be given in a public gazette Silty Days
previous to the day of sale.
p*Sales of Negroes by Administators, Execu
tors or Guardians, must be at Public Auction, on
the ftrstTuesdav in the month, between the legal
hoursof sale,before the Court House of the county
where the LettersTestainentary ,or Administration
or Guardianship may have been granted, first giv
ing notice thereoffor Sixty Days, in one of the
public gazettes of this State,nnil at the door of the
Court House where such sales are to be held.
[jj*Notice for the sale of Personal Property
must be gitfcn in like manner Forty Days pre
vious to the day of sale.
r£}*Notice to the Debtors and Creditors olan es
ate must be published for Forty Days.
t £]p.Notice that application will be made to the
Court of Ordinary for leave to sell Land or Nc
groes must be published in a public gazette in the
State for Four Months, before any order absolute
can be given by the Court.
Lj*Citations for Letters of Administration on
an Estate, granted by the Court of Ordinary, must
be published Thirty Days for Letters of Dismis
«ion from the administrationofan Estate,monthly
pr Sir. Months —for Dismission from Guardian-
s hip Forty Days.
for the foreclosure of a Mortgage,
must be published monthly for Four Months —
for establishing lost Papers, for the full space of
Three Months —for compelling Titles'from Ex
ecutors, Administrators or others, where a Bond
hasheen given by the deceased, the full space of
Three Months.
N. B. All Business of this kind shall receive
prompt attention nt the SOL THERA' Tillßl .YE
Olficc, and strict care will be taken that all legal
Advertisements arc published according to Law.
qj*AII Letters directed to this Office or the
Editor on business, must be post-paiii, to in
sure attention.
D o 1 1 1 ita l.
Extracts from Mr. Soule's Speech.
O/i the Pending Measures of Compromise,
delivered in the U. S. Senate, Mat) 12,
ISSO.
Mr. Sfiui.E said : * * # The ques
tions of controversy between the North
and the South may be reduced to four, all
arising out of claims of constitutional
rights asserted and insisted upon on one
side and directly or latterally asssailed on
the other.
The first rela'es to the clain set up by
the South to have an equal share in the
Teriitories acquired from Mexico.
The second grows out of the denial on
the part of the South of any right in Con
gress to interfere with slavery in the Dis
trict of Columbia, or obstruct the slave
trade between the States.
The third refers to the rtght of the slave
holing States to have the pn.visions of
the constitution commanding and ordering
the delivery of fugitive slaves effectively
enforced.
The fi unit embraces the boundary rights
of Texas, as defined in her constitution and
taws, as secured to her under the compact
of annexation, and quieted of all Mexican
counter-claims under the treaty of Guada
lupe Hidalgo—a question more immedi
ately affecting the rights of sovereignty
and eminent domain of i exas, certainly,
yet presenting many obvious features as
well as principles which render its solution
of vast moment to the South.
Reversing the order in which I have
mentioned these points of the controversy
between the two great sections, let us sec
how they have been disposed of in the
6chcme of compromise reported by the
committee.
The fourth comes back to tho Senate
with Texas shorn of her sovereignty over
not only 5J° North of the line of 36° 30',
and stretching to tno Southern boundaiy
lino of Oregon, upon the 42° North lati
tude, hut embracing no less than of
the slave territory of Texas, situate South
of 36° 30', which, if tho frank expose of
the honorable chairman, (Mr. Clay,) is to
he trusted for the vie
are to be converted into free loi ntories
bv the operation of the Mexican law, a
hoiishing whatever slavery may exist there
now, ami prohibiting its introduction here
after, in derogation not only of the compact
, .-t, States and 1 exas, m
between u'.e .
which the South bad large interests at stake
but destructive ofthe vested interest un
der the compact, of the people dwelling I
within the limits ofthe sunendeted tem
tory—an act of power to which neither
the United States nor Texas is competent,
without their consent.
The third returns here with provisions
so c ntrived that, far fr. m remedying the
evil of which the South complains, they
most obviously embarrass and obstruct the
exercise oflior acknowledged ligits ; so
that any one, unaware of the terms of the
Resolution of the honorable Senator Irorri
Kentucky (Mr. Clay,) upon this subject,
referred to the committee, must have con
cluded that the evil complained of was not
any delinnuency, on the pait o tu. ice
States, in complying with a most explicit
provision ot the constitution, but, on
contrary, that the main evil was the abuse
on tin! part of Southerners,in claiming // "
men as *lare», in the exercise of the rights
of reclamation of fugitives tVom service m
tiie fiee Slates , tor, the only plotlaicti-
THE SOUTHERN TRIBUNE.
NEW SERIES —VOLUME 11.
reported are such as would greatly embar
rass, delay and add to the expenses of re
clamation, to say nothing of the absence of
all constitutional authority in this govern
ment to exercise jurisdiction orerthe State
Courts of the South, enlarge their jurisdic
tion, assign them new duties, or require at
their hands records of matters to which
their functions do not pertain, and laying
I aside the absence of all constitutional au
! thority in this government — beyond and
I after enforcing the extradition of fugitive
slaves—of exercising a federal jurisdiction
| within the slave States upon the subject of
i slavery, under the guise of a penal bond
payable to the United States, conditioned
! for the performance of those duties of hu
! inanity and justice, to which every one of
the slave States have bound themselves
and their courts by their own State laws,
j without the encroachment of these federal
! requisitions.
The second comes back with a virtual
j surrender to Congress of that vety power
j and jurisdiction over slavery in the District
which the South have hitherto resisted so
strenuously, and which there is reason to 1
believe she will resist to the las! ; for if,
under the guise of breaking up as uuisau
ces the public slave marts, (which are mat
ters of municipal regulation,) Congress
may prohibit slaves from coming here, and
may emancipate them when they come,
(tho’ brought fbt the honorable purpose of
being sold to pay slaveholders’just debts,)
is it not an obvious assertion of a power to
emancipate them, if brought here for any
other purpose ? and no one who admits
the power of Congress to legislate against
this species of property which may be
brought here for the payment of debts,
and convert (without a breach of faith to
wards the ceding States) this District into
free territory, so far as it i elates to slaves
brought here for sale by their owneis, can
reasonably dispute either the power or
good faith involved in making it free terri
tory altogether.
As to the first, after surrendering the
unconditional admission of California as a
State, which an honorable Senator now in
my view, (Mr. Foote,) but a few days held
to be a sufficient cause of active resistance
on t lie part of the South, if admitted alone
—after surrendering by that unconditional
admission every inch of soil in the new
Territories susceptible of slave settlement
and culture the committee tenders to the
South, as the only boon in which she is to
seek a compensation for all the sacrifices
extorted from her, (lie section before me,
which is the tenth of the bill under debate.
Such being the state of the question now
presented to the Senate, 1 propose to in
quire into the nature, extent and value of
that compensation thus proffered to the
South, as saiisfaction for her grievances
and in security for her rights.
The section reads as follows :
And be it fur Jur enacted, That thelrgis
lativc power of the Territory shall extend
to all rightful subjects of legislation consis
tent with the provisions of this art ; but no
law shall be passed interfering with the pri
mary disposition ofthe soil, nor in respect to
African slavery ; no tax shall be imposed
upon the property of the United Stales, nor
shall the lands or other property of non-resi
dents be taxed higher than the lands or other
property of residents. All the laws passed
by the Legislative Assembly and Governor
shall be submitted to the. Congress of the
United States, ands disapproved shall be
null and of no effect.
What is it that this section concedes to
the Sou'h I Why, nothing but the statu
quo in the Territories, after the relinquish
ment, required in prior sections of the bill,
of all pretensions to any portion of the vast
and important country embraced within
the boundaries of California, and South of
36° 30'—the statu quo, with an unqualified
inhibition to the Territorial Legislature
from passing any law in respect to African
s’avery ; and thus, besides the solemn as
sertion repeated lime and again, here and
elsewhere, that the Mexican law prevails
in the Territories,and that by its provisions
slavery is prohibited there, the committee
gives the North the still further assurance
that this stain quo shall never be disturbed
by any law which tho Ten Uoria), I^9,2A
teefton of the just lights of slaveholders,
either migrating to the Territories with (
their slaves, or passing through them on.), i
and hence, as to slaveiy, the Mexican laws
are not only to continue in force there, but
to be paramount and irrepeulable by the
. . .* .* w/L.vt bo
local legislature. ” ,
comes of all the boasted and lauded for
bearance of this compromise, in saving the
South’s equality, and sparing her the fla
grant injustice and galling degradation oi
the odious Wilmot Proviso ?
were idle to tell us that the free and slave
States possess equal and common t’g llls
under the constitution, aud for the N‘>rtli
to refuse the South that protection to her
~m pe rt,i».TcrrUor,ofllu.U..»»Wl;
she affords to her own properly meic.
The section of the bill now under con
sideration is the hopeful progeny of the
most remarkable and exceptionable ot all
lo original resolutions ofthe honorable
Seimloi'Vroni Kentucky. That r« U lu..o»
vvas as hdlowß.. ([g sJavcnj docs no'
exist by law, and is not likely to be
3 Jo any of the Tcrritones acquired by
the United States from the Republic
I Mexico, it is imxpedicnt for Congress
provide by law either for its introduction
j’ nUI or exclusion ftotnuuy parted said ici-
MACON, (GA.,) SATURDAY AFTERNOON, JUNE 29, ISSO.
ritory ; and that appropriate Territorial
Gov ernnients ought to he established by
Congress in all of said Teiritory not as
signed as the boundaries of the proposed
State of California, without the adoption of j
any restriction or condition on the subject of
slavery.
* * Now the Report represents that
the Wilmot Proviso is not imposed in the
bill, because the coicmittee thought it teas
unnecessary in this instance. * * While
that portion of the bill relating to Territo
ries remains as it is, it is not possible that
I can afford it my sanction and support ;
for I assert, what is beyond the power of
refutation, and what it behooves every
Southern Senator deeply to ponder on,
that no Senator can cast his vote for this bill
as it is,without explicitly admitting, through
an irresistible implication, a power in Con
gress to pass the Wilmot Proviso ! * *
When our conquering armies entered
Mex ico at various points, nobody doubts,
I imagine, but that the constitution of the
U. States and their laws, 100, so far as they
were applicable to American citizens, intir
sc, accompanied and abode with them du
ring their sojourn there. Now what be
came of the Mexican laws and constitution
during the invasion, while the American
armies took and held possession l The
! law of nations would pithily respond with
! die leges silent inter artna, which attests
the presence of the conqueror and abide
the pressure of military domination. Rut
the superior humanity and characteristic
forbearance of the American invaders left
them in the free enjoyment of those civil
and religious rights and privileges which
the treaty of peace afterwards, more for
mally, but just to this extent and no more,
guarantied and assured to them ; and so
things remained during tho hostile occu
pa'ion. As to all public, political rights,
whether derived from the Mexican law or
the higher sovereign authority of her con
stitution, l hey were of course, and of ne
cessity, superseded while that occupation
lasted. When on the return of peace, the
American army feiired, then, and simul
taneously with it, the Mexican laws and
constitution resumed their political func
tions, and just as they were before the in
vasion, in all such parts of Mexico as were
not embraced in the treaty of cession.—
That is clear. Rut what were the legal
consequences of the cession in the ceiled
Territories? The political laws of Mexico,
as well as her national constitution, were,
and already had been, fiom the time ofthe
invasion, and up to the very moment of the
ratification of the treaty, suspended. Now,
l submit trustingly to the candor of honor
able Senators to fix the point of lime there
after when, in their judgment, those laws
and that constitution were revived within
those localities and in that jurisdiction, and
the constitution of the United States with-
drawn from there, to give place to the
constitution of Mexico 1 If revived, how?
and by whom ] The whole history of ihe
negotiation, as well as the treaty of cession
itself, shows conclusively, as 1 shall pre
sently attempt to show, that although Mex
ico explicitly asked a revival of so much
ofher laws and constitution as prohibited
slavery, yet the United States explicitly
refused it. * * * But sir, those
who maintain that the Mexican laws pro
hibiting African slavery still obtain in these
Territories will have to encounter another
startling consequence, and must rid them
selves of it as best they may ; and that con
sequence, i3, that the same laws which
prohibit African slavery there tolerate
Mexican slavery ; and so the free soilers
will have to make their choice between
black slavery and white slavery ! The
victims of Mexican peonage are the slaves
of debt ; and the dominion of the master is
quite as absolute, and the prospect of the
peones quite as changeless, as those of the
Africans in any of the slave Stales. * *
Mr. Soule then introduced an extract
from the constitution of Vermont, and prov
ed plainly, that all persons, male or female,
■white or black, with or without their con
sent, are liable to be holden as slaves in
Vermont, if within twenty-one and eigh
teen years of age respectively ; with their
consent, without any limitation nt all, and
mnk u^Tfr,-tines, ’and tub
ukc.” Yet, with this organic sanction ot
while slavery, of Vermont peonage prehx
j0 and as ihe very frontispiece of her constitu
i tion, she deliberately announces in her
legislature, and proclaims iu the Senate
! chamber of the Union, that southern slave-
ryisacßiMßl „ . I
Clearly, then, tlio s'lpulattons ot the i
treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo contain the
full •iauge of all the rights and privilege.'
secured to the inhabitants of the cedet
Tenitoiies. Let us. then, look into tint
treatv, and see if there be any thing theie
which would deprive a Southern slave
holder from exercising such lights of pro
perty in such Territories as he might ex
ercise under the constitution of the t in
ted States any where out of these bun h .
and not within one of the free States, un
less under a claim of extradition ot iugt-
We “front service. I have that treaty »
‘ my hand ; and l beg leave to refer to he
ninth article in it, vv Inch 1 will now read to
the Senate: *
Article. 9<A of the Amended Treaty.
••The Mexicans who, in the I cm'ones
aforesaid, shall not preserve tl.o charactei
of citizens of the Mexican republic, com
formibly with what was stipulated in he
p™o.Vu, S oriole. .h.» .l-'Ert
into the Union of the United States, and
be admitted at the ptoper time (to be
judged of l>y the Congress of the United
States) to the enjoyment of all the rights
of citizens of the United States, ac
, cording to the principles of the constitu
tion, and, in the mean time, shall he main
tained and protected in the free enjoyment
of their liberty and property, and secured
in the free exercise of their religion, with
out restriction.”
* * The important words, “ and
the civil rights now rested in them according
to the Mexican laic,” were stricken out
from the original treaty, and have ceased
either to devolve any duty upon tho Uni
ted States, or to confer or secure to the
Mexican residents any privileges or immu
nities whatever in regard to them. All
that is secured to them in the ratified trea
ty —all that the United States are bound
for—is their maintainancc and protection
in the enjoyment of their liberty and p/ro
■pearly; and it would be difficult to con
ceive how the enjoyment by American
citizens in the Territories of their liberty
and property would interfere with that
of the Mexican residents, or be a breacli
of faith or of duty in regard to the protec
tion secured to them iu the treaty of ces
sion. * * * *
It will be remembered that the honora
ble Senator from Kentucky, in the very
able speech lie delivered at an early peri
od of the session in support of his origi
nal resolutions, read us, with his character
istic impressiveness, an interesting extract
from the confidential despatch (No. 15) of
Mr. Trist to the Department of State, da
ted Tueub'jya, Mexico, September 4,1847,
minutely setting forth what had occurred
in conference between the Mexcan com
missioners and himself upon this very
question of the introduction or exclusion
of slavery into or from the Territories to
he ceded to the United States. I agree
with the honorable Senator, that this pas
sage has an important bearing upon some
of the issues he presented, and which arc
under debate ; and 1 ask leave to refresh
the memories of Senators by calling their
attention to that passage once more. In
reference to this part of the conference,
Mr. Trist says:
“Our conversation upon this subject was
perfectly frank, and no less friendly; and
the more effective upon their minds, inas
much as I was enabled to say with perfect
sincerity that, although their impressions
respecting tho practical effect of slavery
as it existed in the United States were, 1
had no doubt, entirely erroneous, yet there
teas probably no difference between my indi
vidual views and sentiments on slavery,con
sidered in itself and those which they en
tertained. I concluded by assuring them
that the hare mention of the subject in any
treaty to which the Uuited States were a
party was an absolute impossibility; that
no President of the United States would
dare to present any such treaty to tho Sen
ate ; and that if it were in their power to
offer me the whole territory described in
nor project, increased tenfold in value,and,
in addition to that, covered afoot thick all
over with pure gold, upon the single con
dition that slavery should be excluded
therefrom, I could not entertain the offer
for a moment, nor think even of commu
nica ing it to Washington. The matter
ended in their being fully satisfied that
this topic was one not to he touched, and
it was dropped with good feeling on both
sides.”
The title prefixed to these instructions
reads thus :
“Points which must be treated of in
the conferences with the United States
commissioners, and must serve as the basis
of those of Mexico, laid before his excel
lency the President by the Minister of
Foreign Relations, and approved by his
excellency in a council or ministers.”
Now, the 13th article of these instruc
tions makesknown, iu unmistakableterms,
tae deliberate and anxious purpose of Mex
ico to secure the exclusion of slavery
from the Territories as follows:
“ The United States shrdl bind themselves
not to permit that slavery be established in
the territories ceded by the treaty.”
These instructions hear date Me'vrre
imposing names of j.optz etc oanta Anna,
1. li. Pacheco, N. Romero, Alcorta, ami
Ronderu; and the whole document attests
tle'solemn earnestness of Mexico upon the
suiject referred to. * * *
•laving established, I flatter myself, that
in t»e same moment of the ratification of
tho'reaty, when Mexico parted with tho
ownrship and jurisdiction, the United I
State mid without the lapsa of a single
install required both—as the United
Statesg is conceded, held exclusive juris
diction |„ r j n g the whole of the period of
their ho(| 0 occupancy, it would be mar
vellous, Ijeed, if, by adding to their rights
as invade jheir rights as conquerors, and
to these tii.. i as purchasers, they di
minished U nghts they had before. * *
At an extpj ve Beßs j ( ,n of the Senate
of the l m le Statcs, held March S, IS4B,
the folU>'viiir? eruoiiiblo proceeding took
place, as it staL recorded upon the jour
nal of the Sen at that date.
On motion nL Baldwin, to insert the
following words\ w - t;
“Provided theVi ia j| |j C ne ;tj, er slave
ry nor involuntary - (u j o }n t]lc ton . ilo .
ries heteby cm e >v crvv j ße tlia.n in pun
ishment otciimes, V. eo p ( j ie ~a , ty shall
have been duly co,l \ ( |,”
And it was iicterniu - n ,j 10 negat i ve _
yeas 15, nays Jb. \
NUMBER 25.
Those who voted in the affirmative were:
Messrs. Atherton, Baldwin, Clark,
Clayton, Corwin, Davis, of Massachusetts,
Dayton, Dix, Green, llale, Miller, Niles,
Phelps, Spruance, and Upham.—ls.
Those who voted iu the negative were—
Messrs. Allen, Ashley, Atchison, Bad
ger, Bagby, Bell, Benton, Berrien, Brad
bury, Breese, Bright, Butler, Calhoun,
Cameron, Cass, Crittenden, Davis, of Mis
sissippi, Dickinson, Douglass, Downs,
Felch, Foote, Hanegan, Hunter, Johnson,
of Maryland, Johnson, of Louisiana, John
son, of Georgia, Lewis, Mangum, Moore,
Pierce, Rusk, Sevier, Sturgeon, Turney,
Underwood, and Yulee.
* * Only look at it; out of the Sen
ate of GO, it commanded but 15 votes; pre
cisely one-forth of the Senators elect, and
not a Senator more! And thus went
down the IVilmot Proviso, in a struggle
for the mastery among its friends. But
time has developed that this was a sham
fight, after all; the object was to disarm
the South, and lull her distrust, and she
joined in the acquisition. But when the
1 acquisition was made, hack came the Pro
viso, galvanized into life, with anew vigor
atul bolder face. The seeming rupture ex
ists no more. Its friends rally fiercer and
stronger than over; and although, waging
war under conflicting devices, they differ
in many points, they are unanimous in one
—in spoliating the South of her constitu
tional rights,to prevent tho expansion ofher
limits and the extension ofher dominion.**
Why, then, was it, that so many of the
Wilmot provisoists joined the ani-proviso
ists in voting it down ? But one answer
occurs—the adoption of tho amendment
would most undoubtedly have defeated
the treaty. The ratification of a treaty
requires that two-thirds of Senators pre
sent shall vote in its favor; and in a Sen
ate of 60, with 30 members from the free
Slates, and 30 from slave States, it would
have been ultetly hopeless to have looked
for the consent of 40, after it had been
so unacceptable and odious to southerners
by the insertion of the Wilmot Proviso.
The ratification immediately and abso
lutely depended upon tho Southern vote
of tho Senate; and not an inch of terri
tory would have been acquired with it.—
This every Senator knew; and the prompt
and decisive rejection of Mr. Baldwin’s
amendment involved an implication, and
indeed a promise, as binding in conscience
and justice as a formal compact, that the
Wilmot Proviso should never be applied
to the ceded Territories while their terri
torial condition lasted. * *
But, Mr. President, I must say, in all
candor, that I do not see in these measures
any such compromise, or indeed any com
promise at all. Concessions,and many of
them I see, but all of them are concessions
from the South ; and this being so, where
is the compromise 1 Will honorable Sen
ators point out to me a single coucesssiou
from the North to the South which these
bills contain 1 I ask for but one. Sir,
there is none. No; no not one. The
characterestic features of all the measures
before us are exactions on the onehandand
yieldings on the other. The South gives,
the North takes. In truth, unless it can
be said that when the North is content to
take less than all, she concedes all that she
spares from the spoliation, there is not a
concession in t lie whole scheme to give ev
idence, l will not say of her magnanimity,
hut of her justice * *
Put the question to any of Northern
Senators who favor the plan, and I venture
the opinion that you will scarcoly find any
among them who does not concur fully
with the Senator from Kentucky, ihat the
Mexican laws survived tho cession, and
are now in force in the ceded Territories,
that the introduction of slavery there, is
wholly prohibited, atul that a binding
obligation rests upon the Senators from
the free States to admit either of the Ter
ritories as a free State into the Union * *
Will the South think you, be satisfied
with such a piece of patchword as this ?
with every point she contended for surren
dered and lost to her; with every claim
she presented disallowed ; stripped of ev
slat ery-i vta J Uisirict, toils, icc.;
with her rights to the extradition of fugi
tives from labor, clogged and obstructed,
gaining nothing and loosing all? I repeat
it, again, sir, will the South be satisfied
with this ? Never, sir; never ! * * *
It is deeply painful to me, Mr. Presi
dent, to part on such an issue with any of
my Southern fiineds. It shall not be my
fault, sir it such modifications arc ndT in
serted into the plan ot the committee us
will enable me conscientiously to give it my
support. Should 1 fail in this, no course is
left me but to stand where I am. 1 cannot
support this ominous measure as it is, and
have the approbation of my constituents.
I cannot support it as it is,and have my own.
I nintu'ly alive to all the responsibilities
which surround me and weigh me down.
L realize lully the perilous condition of
Louisiana and the South ; but 1 will not
seem to be contented when 1 am not. If
we are to he crushed, let us not, at least,
lose our self-respect. Brave rnen.stuggling
fortheir rights.may he stricken down in the
strife; but, even when all is lost, a manly
resignation and gallant bearing may im
part a dignity to misfoilunc which will
command the respect even of an enemy,
while the vain-glorious boasting of pre
tenders, over attainments wrought where
all has been disaster, brings upon them
his sileu,t pity aud deliberate contempt.
BOOK AND JOB PRINTING,
Will be eXecUted in the moil apjrrored style
and on the best tttms.at the Office of the.
SCtTTSEB.H’ TILXBTJH*
—BY—
WM. B. HARRISON.
Mnstotloii Remains in Florida.
We have been much interested ftV aft
account which we fine published in t'hs
Wakulla (Fla.) Times, by Mr. Geo. S.
King, of the discovery of the bones of a
supposed Mastodon in the great Wakulla
Spring. The depth of the spring, as as
certained by the line and plummet, is one
hundred and fourteen feet; and the dis-*
tanco across it at the surface is nearly
four hundred feet. At the bottom distance
across is two hundred feet. The shape
of the spring at its brim is nearly or quite
a regular circle, and I his shape maintained
on the souih side of the bottom, on the
opposite, of north side, at some distance
from the surface, there is a large cavern
in tlieaide,' or wall ~f ilio spring, the mouth
of which is eighty-nine feet in perpendic
ular height, and about two hundred Vflf
breadth. Through this cavern, which Is
supposed to ho horizontal, an immense
amount of water flows into the main body
or basin ofthe spring. Theroof.or upper
part of the cavern, composed of lime rock,
presents an irregular and jagged outline;
and, commencing on the east and west
side, at about equal distances
at the depth of sixty feet, it rise?in the
form of an arch to within twenty-five feet
of the surface of the water.
The water of this truly magnificent
spring is so transparent that any bright
substance, as small even as a half dime,
can he seen on the bottom at its great
depth. It is highly refractive, and, aided
by the white sand on the bottom, every
hue of the rainbow .may he ?ften distinctly
seen and reflected and flashing from any
subsbuicc thrown into it. , There is no
preccptiblecurrentor boiling in thespring,
in consequence of the great size of the
inlet to it from the side, and the great
quantity of water it contains. It is the
principal source of Wakulla river, ai.d
pleasure parties may be ofteu seen upon it
in boats.
There were no bones to be seen except
in one spot, which was on the north-eait
sido of the spring, and scattered promis
cuously over an area of about thirty by
eighty feet. They were lying upon the
white sand, where they could be almost
as distinctly seen, in consequence of the
transparency'of the water, as if they had
been vioVvod through an airy instead of a
watery medium. Having prepaid tho
necessary aparatus for raising the bones,
Mr. King, assisted by Mr. Bkokenkroigh,
went to work, and soon succeeded in rais
ing them. The outer formation of the
bones, to adopt the words of Mr. King, is
for the most part enamel, of from | to J
of an inch thick, generally of beautiful
whiteness, and very hard—too hard to cut
with a knife. The upper or lower (we
cannot tell which at present) hone of each
fore-leg, which were obtained, measures
a little upwards 3 feet in length, 13 inches
in diameter, at what appears to be the
knee joint. A single joint only obtained
of the vertibra, belonging either to the
neck or small of the back, measures 17
inches (and was appearantly 1 to 3 indies
more originally) across* one way, and 10
tho other, and the apavture which admits
the spinal cord, measures 3 by 4J inches.
The principal part of each hip-bone ob
tained, indicate a length at least 4 feet or
more. They are so much broken howev
er, as to render it difficult to determine
what were their real size in every particu
lar. The socket alone where the hip anti
thigh bones joined measures nearly 23 inch*
es iu circumference, or about 8 inches in
diameter. A part of one blade, bpne, and
several others, were obtained. That
which proved to be a part of a tusk, taken
from a depth of 45 feet, when lying upon
the bottom, presented a length of not less
than 4 feet. '1 lie shapeof the pait of the
tusk seen was, lengthwise, a little curved,
and is nearly round. There was no per
ceptible diminution of size for the whole
length of this part—and at each end it ap
peared to have been broken nearly square
oft'. It is to be regretted that this piece
of tusk could not have been secured entire.
When it had been raised, perhaps ten feet,
not having strength enough to hold its
ouiTonvy thta ttke lirgfcst piece’t fie n to be
seen was but lilile over a foot. This was
raised again, but misfoitune still pursuing
this piece of tlietusk, it fell from the hook
into the boat, and broke again into many
pieces. It measured 8 inches in diameter,
and judging from the fact that there was
an apparent diminution in size' for the
length of four feet or more, and from its
enormous thickness, it could not have been
less than ten, and was probably near twelve
or fifteen feet in length. The pieces ob
tained prove t he tusk or tusks to be pure
ivory, encased by enamel of almost trans
parent whiteness. The weight of these
tusks or tusk was beyond a doubt also en
ormous. The piece which it was attempt
ed to raise, and partly accomplished, was
quite a heavy pull for both Mr. King and
Mr. Brockenbkougu. It must have
weighed 150 pounds, and the whole weight
i«f the entire tusk could not have been less
than 300 pounds, and it is quite probable
it weighed as high as 400 pounds. Ono
of the leg bonos already described weighs
GO pounds, and could no A, orignally have
weighed less than 75 or 80 pounds.—
T bey arc more or loss hollow, and inure
was a hollow in the part of the tusk secur
ed of 2 1-2 to 3 inches. There were no
thigh bones to he found. Their length,
judging relatively, mus bo near or quite 5
feet.— Sao. Rep,
