Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

Mr. WELLER moved the previous question, but withdrew it to allow Mr. McCOXNELL to say a few words, who was very laconic and pointed in his remarks. He warned the Northern mem bers to be cautious about what they were doing. Mr. HENLEY rose to n point of order. The CHAIR explained. Mr. McDOWELL inquired of the Chair if the law would, as it stands, sell the negro, if he proved his freedom ? The CHAIR said he had not examin ed the law. The previous question was again re newed. Mr. CAMPBELL :osc to a point of order. The CII AIR explained. Correspondence of the Courier. WASHINGTON, Jan. 1. The President’s House was thronged to-dav, for some hours, with visiters of all descriptions, foreign ministers, mem bers of Congress, strangers and citizens. The mansion was so crowded at an ear ly hour, that it was difficult to obtain an entrance into it, and still more difficult to accompiisli an exit. It was a crowd, however, of well-dressed, well-looking, and well-behaved jiersons. The most fastidious could take no other exceptiou to it than this—that it was a crowd of the universal public, without any distinction •of degree. The Democratic mem 1 ers "were there, almost in mass, but many of the Whigs held back. The President received all with his habitual courtesy. Messrs. Madison end ex-President Adams iilso received numerous visiters. The holidays are now ov6r, and there must be n summons to business to-mor row. The politicians, however, will exert themselves to make the eighth of January another national holiday. For the sake of political effect, the Van Buren •Senators and Members have got up a public dinner for that day, with Thomas 11. Benton as President. Both parties are now striving to make as much as they can of every incident and proceeding, for effect on the Presi dential election. The Van Buren men are evidently apprehensive of the effect •of the abolition movements in Congress -on their cause. They are endeavoring to turn them to account, but with ill sue •cess, inasmuch as their vast majority in ■the House is responsible for all that may ibe done there. Much interest is felt in the pending nominations. The President now cares little for the fate of his Democratic. Ile is deeply chagrined at the course of the Van Ilnren majority, and particularly .at their election of Blair and Rives as prin ters. The nominations of Messrs. Up sliurand Nelson have been favorably re ported upon in secret ses ion. and will pass without opposition. The other Cabinet nominations are still in doubt, particularly that of Mr. Porter. WASHINGTON, Jan. 2. The Senate, this morning, went into executive session for a short time, and confirmed this nominations of Messrs. Upshur and Nelson, the former ns Secre tary of State, and the latter as Attorney General. It is now sufficiently well understood that Mr. Spencer, will be nominated as Justice of the Supreme Court, in the place of Justice Thompson, deceased -- The qualifications of Mr. Spencer and the relation of Mr. Tyler towards him. are such as to render it impossible for Mr. Tyler to refuse him the nomination under present circumstances, he might lie inclined to do so. But, the Senate, it is also understood, will not act upon the nomination of Mr. Spencer as Judge, un til he has resigned his place as Secretary of the Treasury. The President will them some trouble in this matter, for he will nominate a person as Secre tary of the Treasury, at the same time that he sends in Speucer’s nomination as Judge. The nomination for the Treas ury will, in this case, be first acted on. Mr. Woodbury, to-day submitted a plan for reducing expenditures, by di minishing the discretionary power of the Departments, in the settlement of ac counts, of long st: nding ; and by requir ing a more careful examination of all the estimates. Several memorials, in favor of the re duction of the rates of postage were pre sented. Mr. Merrick stated that Iris bil on this subject would soon be forthcom ing. In the House, Mr. Adams, from the Committee on the rules atie orders of the House, made a report, by instruction of the committee, promising a revision of the rules, in several particulars. The report recommends that the 21st rule be abolished. Mr. Wise was at first, chair man of this committee, but he afterwards declined serving, and Mr. Adams took his place, as the second named. The bill to restore Gen. Jackson’s fine was debated again at great length, in committee of the whole. It is discussed chiefly with a view to political effect—the speeches in support •of the bill being made to “Buncombe.” It is stated in several of the Virginia papers that tbe lion. Win. ('. Rives of the United States Senate, is engaged in writing a life of James Madison. An impartial biography of that great and good man by a gentleman of Mr. Rives’s acquirements would be a desideratum. The N. Y. Sun attributes the custom of placing ladies at the extreme end ol the pews at church, to the precaution ob served by the early settlers of placing themselves at the o|>eniiigs of the j-ews in order to guard the females against sudden attacks of savages. Unfortunate ly for this .acute antiquary, the same cus tom has existed in England almost from time immemorial. POLITICAL From tiio A rgiw. Tin* C mmerciai uiiutv of public Faith* We have read nothing in a long while that has given us more pleasure than the late message of Governor McDowell to tiie Virginia legislature. It is beautifully written, and the sentiments tire admir able. He may he too ardent an enthusiast on the subject of’internal improvement; but on the great topic of a rigid adher ence to Public Faith, it is rare that we meet with remarks so happily expressed. I fe presents the practical advantages of a prompt payment of state debts, in a light so striking that no one can fail to see that no America)) ssate can gain by the re pudiation of its just and honest debts, but that even the burden of taxation is amply repaid in the general prosperity and sound activity which is given to the whole community. Public Credit may tvell be called the life blood of commerce —depression stagnates it—but confidence grounded upon art exhibited disposition to pay pronfptly, sots this blood in motion and gives it that tone and vitality so ne cessary to the perfect health of the whole system. Gov. McDowell, after alluding to the pleasure every son of Virginia must feel at the increasing credit of their own gov ernment, even in tlie estimation of the timid capitalist, adds with point: “ But this is not the only advantage re sulting from the appreciation of these bonds that has come in a welcome mo ment to be felt and enjoyed by our citi zens. Os the outstanding debt of the state amounting to seven millions three hundred aud fifty thousand dollars, near three millions of it are held by foreigners and by citizens of the other states, and the residue is divided between our own citizens, and our internal improvement, literary and sinking funds, together with the Commonwealth proper \ the citizens holding two millions niue“hundred and seventy-seven thousand dollars of it, and the state and her funds one million three hundred and eighty-six thousand dollars. The whole amount, therefore, of this debt which is held within the stale, is four millions three hundred and sixty-three thousand dollars, aud as the difference between the value of it before the law in question was passed and what it is now —that is, between 78 to 100 is the dif ference in favor of the holders, it follows that the State, through her funds and her citizens, has been a gainer by the operation of this law to the amount of something more than nine hut,dred and fifty nine thousand dollars ; a greater sum than the ordinary annual revenue of the State, and tenfold greater than the increased lax -the imposition of which lias been so decided and beneficial an effect iu producing it. It thus appears j that whilst a hundred and eight or ten ! thousand dollars have been drawn from the people for the ncce.-sary and honest purposes of [laying the debts of the State that the very act of doing this has been the means, substantially and in effect, of distributing back again amongst them an active and available property of near ten times that amount ; or if the stock held by others than individuals be excepted from the calculation, then more than six times that amount.” But the convertibility of state stocks —that is, the power of realizing money readily for the obligations of a state is the great desideratum which shows not only the intrinsic soundness, but the de gree of confidence in the Public faith— and tliis is eminently dependent upon the conduct of the borrower, When stocks are going down, very few willing to l uy or even take them for debts, at the market price of to-day, from a reasonable apprehension that they may be worth less to-morrow ; but on the contrary, when stocks are rising, or are perfectly steady in value—buyers, or those who are willing lo take them in payment of debts are readily found, and thus high public credit acts both as capital and as circulation to the extent of the stocks is sued ; for the debtor transfers them to the creditor, and he accepts them as readi ly as he would bank notes, redeemable in gold and silver. In the following, Gov. McDowell un folds the commercial advantages of a sound public credit. It is clear, that when the wheel of public credit is fairly in motion, it also moves the inner wheels of private credtt. “ \\ hilst the rise of twenty-two or ihree dollar- iu the hundred in the value of state stock is an obvious benefit, a mountmg to the aggregate stated, let it not be supposed that it is the mere addi tion of a fifth to the rateable value of pri vate property in the benefit of which the public at large does not participate.— such an idea would be wholly erroneous. As long as this stock remained at the dis count to which a causeless apprehension had reduced it, it was necessarily locked up in the hands of its holders , and not withstanding its vast capacity for service, was almost valueless for any. It could not be used iu the liquidation of debts, nor iu the transaction of other business except at a ruinous sacrifice, and there fore, ns a whole, it was scarcely used at all. The moment, however, this dis credit was thrown off, and it rose to par under the double pledgee!' the law and the honor of the state to redeem it, that moment it acquired in many respects the qualities of money, could be used for all purposes, except those of circulation, as money itself be used, and was equivalent to the addition of the full amount held by individuals, or three millions of dollars to the available capi ta! of thestate. To what extent, in point of fact, it has been employed as such, it would be difficult to say, so indefinite are the modes in which it might have been made to discharge the functions ol capital without involving the formality of a transfer at the auditor’s office. But that it has been liberally used in this w-.y. is far more consistent with the [ ro babilities of the case than the contrary, as it is hardly possible that so immense a sum, so capable of advantageous appli cation, could have been held back horn the field of employment, and kept in profitless in-action when the most im portunate motives of necessity, intereit and kindness were hourly persuading and impelling to its use. Looking at these several results upon public and pri vate credit, as fairly derived from the re venue law of last winter, it is manifest that its failure to produce the aggregate amount that was hoped for, is nothing iu comparison with the substantial and sea sonable benefits which it lias otherwise rendered lo the State.” Relying upon the steady and irresisti ble influence of principles so manifestly advantageous, we believe that the West ern States will yet pay every dollar of their debts, because they will find it their interest to pay. The odium and dis credit of the State jn such cases, so soon attaches to private individuals in all their transactions, that, in the aggregate, they thus suffer pecuniarily far more than if they had paid their whole state debt.— This retribution also seems natural, for it gives force to that sound axiom, that “ honesty is the best policy,” and that whenever man in his rnthlessness or recklessness violates those just laws which God lias established for bis moral government in bis worldly relations, the very advantages which he thinks he has reaped, are oftimes turned in his own hands, as instruments of punishment. We would also call to inind that “ the honest payment of our debts arid the sa cred preservation of the public faith,” was laid down in the inaugural of Presi dent Jefferson, as one of those duties ne cessary to the sum of good government; and we allude to this the more readily, as there are few statesmen who have lived in ancient or modern times, who not only felt so great a horror of debt and taxation upon the peWpie. but who fear lessly evinced it in the administration of his government. GENERA L IXT ELLIGENCE. The Washington Spectator of the 21st ult. seems to have been on a South Wes tern expedition, as we received it only yesterday. We find in it the following editorial remarks, to which vve recommend the attention of our own people, as well as all Bank managers throughout the Uni ted States. In fact we believe the “Bank of the State of South Carolina” to he the best, or at least to he near (if not quite) at the head of those, which are the best managed Banking institutions in the U. States. South Caro'in.i and her Dank. We have just risen from the perusal of a most able and elaborate report of the Hon. F. H. Elmore, President of the Bank of the State of South Carolina. In answer to certain proposals of Governor Hammond, as to this Bank and the pub lic debt of South Carolina. This State has been fortunate in selecting the Presi dent of its Bank; hut never more fortu nate, than in calling this distinguished citizen to its head at the time she did.— 'l'he people of this State are certainly a peculiar people. We understand that this Bank, belonging to the State, has never had a single embezzlement, by a single officer, since its institution in 1812. We understand further, that not a sin gle Bank lias ever broken in that State, excepting one, (which never got fairly into operation,) through the knavery of its President, a foreigner. Independent of the private business of this Bank, it appears that “since its incorporation, there has been collected and paid into the Bank, to the credit of the State Trea sury, about 512,747,207 11 and there has been paid out on that account, about $11,778,057 02; making an aggregate of $24,525,7(34 1 3 of receipts and pay ments, withoutcosting the State anything, or the loss of a cent.” It appears, too, that on its capital during the thirty years of its existence, it has realized an average profit of seven per cent.; and its losses, from had debts, have not exceed ed the notes of the Bank lost in circula tion. It is really comforting, amidst the general depravity which has pervaded the hanking institutions of the country, to see such integrity, and such succeess, too, abiding in anyone of our States.— Honor to the tough Palmetto ! and hon or to the whole country where it grows ! When the Batiks lately suspended specie payments from New York to the Gulf of Mexico, the batiks of this State alone refused to suspend. They stood up, strong in their integrity and strength ; and although assailed by the suspended banks of all the neighboring States a gainst whom they had no protection, by returning on them their paper for redemp tion, they rode through the storm tri umphantly, without the failure of a sin gle bank, or the defalcation of a single bank officer. And, to understand the full difficulty of their situation, it ought also to be remembered, that during this period of general distress and convulsion, Smith Carolina had peculiar losses to en counter which no other Stare had to meet. Her citizens lost $2,000,000 by the failure of the United States Bank; and $3,000,000 more by the burning of Charleston. Yet, amidst the general distress, in which she must, from these ■causrs, have largely participated—peace has been amongst her people, ams integ rity in all her councils. The law lias had its accustomed sway, without any new devices for relief, which usually end in accumulated ruin. During this period, too, a branch of the Charleston and Cincinnati Rail Road has been com pleted to Columbia. Honor, we repeat, to the Palmetto, mid the country where it grows! A child was lately born in Toronto, with three eyes, having two half an inch ! apart, on the side of the face. Havana—Pa.t and Present. Ad vices from Havana represent that ! City and the adjacent country to Ire in a most flourishing condition, owing to the energy of the Government. General O’- Donnell’s recent enactments entitle him ■ to the thanks of every foreigner visiting the Island of Cuba. He has done away 1 with some oppressive and vexatious sour ces of taxation which were as impolitic as they were burdensome upon every ' one whom business or pleasure led to the island. The formalities of a passport, upon those who desired to leave the coun try, were attended with no less an ex pense than fifteen dollars. This expense has, vve learn, been diminished to four dollars, more than two thirds. Consid ering how large a revenue the island de rives from the influx of strangers, it ap pears the strangest thing in the world that so many obstacles to their comfort and convenience should have been im posed. It is gratifying however to reflect, up on the whole, how much the policy and general arrangements of the island of Cuba have altered for the better. Little more than twelve years ago, assassina tions aud robbery were nightly, and ev en daily, practised iu the streets with al most certain impunity. A most scanda lous system of piracy was regularly or ganized by a lawless banditti of Havana and Regia, and was even countenanced and protected by the subaltern authori ties of the island. The pirates were so numerous and da ring, aud their leaders had acquired so much wealth by plunder, that the timid were awed, and the corrupt were bribed, to pass unnoticed their frequent and fla grant violations of the laws. From Re gia (a suburb of Havana) vessels procee ded on piratical cruises, and returned o penly. The plundered goods were sto red and sold with scarcely a decent at tempt to conceal the manner in which they vveie acquired. Articles plundered on the high seas were publicly exposed for sale in the Ci ty, and when identified as such, persons have been brought to swear that they were their property, an 1 brought by them from other parts of the island. These men cared not to elude detection, for they were sure to escape punishment, or even the restitution of their plunder.— Added to this, die most cruel outrages and indignities were inflicted upon our citizens by the vile rabble of Havana. Repeated instances were wont former ly to occur, when vessels were plunder ed at the quay, and the masters and crews cruelly maltreated while defending their own property. American citizens were insulted by officers and soldiers, and if they dared to reply, were seized, dragged to the guard house, put in the stocks, and exposed during a whole night to the scoffs and ribaldry of a li centious soldiery. This was however, previous to the establishment of a con sulship in the city. Every one is acquainted with the ter rible assassinations which occurred night ly- H was absolutely dangerous to cross the streets. Individuals returning from any place of amusement were compelled to band themselves into parties for the purpose of mutual protection. When the governor who preceded the energetic Tacon was remonstrated with generally by the merchants, and urged to use his efforts to establish a police for the sup pression of this state of things, all the satisfaction he condescended to afford them was contained in the following ad vice—“if you dread assassination by night, go to bed as I do by seven o’clock, and then you will have nothing to fear.” Happily such a desperate state of things no longer exists. General Tu con effected a reform for which every in habitant of Havana ought to feel grate ful. He completely suppressed the [li ra tes—broke up their infamous dens, and brought all who were engaged in their nefarious calling, whether high or low, rich or poor to condign punishment —he rendered the streets of Havana as securely passable at any hour of the night, as those of any of the best ordered cities of Europe or the United States.— He was indeed a terror to evil-doers—an effectual check upon the misdeeds of the rabble of Havana, than whom a more lawless, bloodthirsty set did not exist in the universe. He appeared to know them intuitively. What is still more to his praise, he was (unlike most of his predecessors) inaccessible to every spe cies of bribery or corruption, and not all the wealth or influence of the rich crimi nal could save him from the Garotte- Ile communicated his energy and integ rity in a great measure to his successors. Havana has been secure, with regard to life and property, ever since the period of his administration—but to Tacon is due the primary merit of effectinged re form in the general policy of the Island, and rendering it the delightful place of resort to strangers that it has ever been since his time.— Sav. Georgian. From tiie Charleston Mercury. Some irace of the Counterfeiter. “Extract of a letter received in this city, dated “WELDON, Jan. 1, 1844. “I have succeeded in tracing Brown to Goldsboro’, where he said lie was go ing to Raleigh. The conductor teHs me he staid one night at Warsaw, where he got drunk and was not sober when he left the car at Goldsboro’—making qui e a display of his large quantity of money. I take the stage to-night at l o’clock for Gaston and then the Rail Road for Ral eigh, where I will get a horse and bug gy and an officer, and endeavor to en counter him at Waynesboro’ or Smith field. I write by this mail to Washing ton City and Baltimore (in case he should pass me whilst in Raleigh) to keep a look out for him. If 1 cannot find him in the above places, I shall return to Weldon and proceed to Baltimore. 1 am in hopes that when 1 write again 1 will have the man, if not the money.” From the Xi iv Orleans Tropic, Doc. 23. Late ftom Havana—Reponed Innuriectiou— -500 Xrgroes Slain. By the steam ship Alabama, which arrived from Havana yesterday, we are placed in possession of the following in telligence : [Correspondence of the Tropic ] HAVANA, Dec. 23, 1843. Dear Tropic—The approaching holi days lias stopped in a great measure what little was going on in a business way. Our city presents its usual quiet ap pearance at tli is season. Every convey ance for the country is in requisition, and thousands are leaving to enjoy fresh air and homely games and dances on the beautiful coffee estates. Yesterday Te Detun was chanted at the Cathedral and in all the churches in the city, in gratitude for the happy ad vent of our young Queen to the throne. Solutes were fired, and all the shipping in port hoisted their flags during the sa lute. An eight pound shot came on shore from one of the quarter guns of the Spanish frigate; hut fortunately did no damage. It is said that iliere are to be three special holidays sometime at the last of next month, during which the troops are to be exercised in a sham fight and storming a castle; the ships and steamers in a naval engagement. Bails to be given and returned ; the city to be illuminated and masquerades licensed, and a tournament to be held. If true, our carnival will be a most lively aud attractive one. Yours. In addition to the foregoing letter from our regular correspondent, we have 1 een furnished with the following extract from a letter written by a merchant in Havana, whose statements, we are as sured, are entitled to great credit. Our correspondent has means of obtaining in formation equalled but by few persons in Havana. Still it is possible that the au thor of the annexed has received the la tesj and most direct information. Our readers must judge for themselves. “Things here are getting worse and worse every day, aud it strikes me a change must come very soon. The ne groes in the country give a great deal of trouble. They rose a day or two ago, upon the estate of the Aldama’s and the Alplionso’s. It appears there was an ex tensive conspiracy, in which the best slaves were engaged.—Nearly five hun dred negroes, inarms, were killed, and a large number of prisoners were taken. Tiie Americans residing in Mntanzns have asked for an American man-of-war to Ke in that port, in ease they are com pelled to flee die island.” Volcanoes. A generally admitted characteristic of volcanic phenomena is the absence of flame. The appearance of it has been supposed to be illusive, produced by the rapidity with which the red hot stones and ashes projected from the chasm as cend into the air, drawing after them a train of light; just as a burning coal when revolving swiftly around a center, describes a circle of fire. To determine the accuracy of this belief, Mr. Leopold Pilla made some careful observations, un der particularly favorable circumstances, the result of which he communicated to the French Academy. Profiting Ly a moderate eruption of Vesuvius, he sta tioned himself upon one of the summits which border the crater, and at the peril of Iris life, bent over the base of one of the funnels that may be called escape chimnies of the furnace. He had thus in view, at a depth of between two and three hundred leet, the mouth of the burning cavern, and was able to follow all the phases of die eruption, with near ly as much minuteness of inspection as a chemist could exercise while supervising the progress of nil experiment in disown laboratory. The spectacle presented by the phe nomena incident to the explosion of in expressible magnificence. A loud noise | and violent shock preceded it; but al most in the same instant, the cavern re l sounded seemingly with die discharge of f cannon, and vomited forth a column of black smoke, followed with the rapidity of light, by an enormous torrent of burn ing gaseous substances, and by the pro jection of innumerable stories, present ing the form of a sheaf, —those in the center falling back into the gull* and the | others around the margin. The flame, far from rising into the atmosphere above the mountain, or even from attaining the level of the summit, became extinguish ed within fifteen feet of its base, losing itself in a whirlwind of smoke, so that it would have utterly escaped the observa tion of all save those whose view pene -1 trated to the bottom of is tunnel of es | cape. Hence results the erroneous opin j ion which excludes gaseous combustion 1 from volcanic phenomena. Smoke, of a red violet color, enveloped the column, whose centre remained dark, because contact With air is essential to the com bustion of gas. Isolated flames, disper sed in a very picturesque manner over the bottom of the abyss, leaped sportive ly around and blazed m lambent flashes over the walls of the tunnel. Magna componere parvis, M. Pilla likens its appearance to that presented by the burn ing of alcohol. The central pyramid of fire is ornamented at its base by the small isolated flames which seem to play around it. At night, M. Pilla also saw jets of flame darted as if through pipes from the fissures of another volcano, which had burst out from below, at the bottom of the principal crater. M. Pilla having established the exist ence of flame in the eruption of volca noes, attributes it, from the presence of a great quantity of steam and of muriatic or of chlorous acid, and sometimes, also of sulphurated hydrogen, very distin guishable from its odor, to the combus tion of hydrogen, lie is of opinion that the supplies of marine salt combined with the lava, and of steam intermino-led with the smoke of volcatfoes, are deriv ed from the sea. The water of the sea infiltrating through the intervening stra ta, comes in contact with subterranean masses, whence result chemical reac tions producing all the phenomena of volcanoes The disengagement of <r as observed often at the surface of the sen lias no other origin than the volcanic fur nace, whence it escapes through the channels by which the water found its way into this cavity. The short dist ance which commonly separates volca noes from the sea coast, is, in the cstima tion of the author, an additional support to his theory. It is true that many of the great volcanoes of the world are not lar fiom the sea or from lakes. But it is equally true that to any many more wa ter has no apparent access. There is said to be in Central America a volcanic district, having an era of nearly three thousand geographical miles, between three and four hundred leagues distant from the sea. 'i’he central range of the Andes has, likewise, several volcanic vents. There is no necessity, however of in ferring any thing in favor of this theory lrom the contiguity of volcanoes to t(ig sea. In respect to those so situated, it is probable enough that their phenome na are evolved through the agency of subterranean communications with the ocean: while in respect to others, it is just as reasonable to suppose, that the hidden waters confined iu the interior of our globe, supply accordant instrumen tality. The theory is old and to a great extent accredited. M. I'ilfi, has Over thrown an obstacle to its admission, in establishing the fact of the existence of flame, and (lie probability that this re sults from the combustion of hydrogen extracted by the decomposition of aque ous vapor. The absence of hydrogen has been urged as fatal to this theory: but M. Pilla’s observations justjfy ihd belief that it is evolved, even though its presence may not be absolutely determ inable. Woman shot !,j |,or Husband. The Kingston (Canada) Herald, of the 12lh uit. states that a tragedy was epncK cd on the Saturday afternoon previous, about eight miles front that place, \ man, woo called himself Morgan Hamil ton Giffeii, shot his wife, (formerly the widow Adzof) and afterwards shot'him self. The bail entered luv breast and lodged in her back, near the spine. She was alive when last heard from, and there is hop-es she may recover. He marriid file o and lady about twelve mouths ago, but they lived unhappily together, and on Saturday he told her to pack his tilings,as he was going to leave her. She did so, when he called her into tire room vhare he stood with two pistols in his hands. On seeing them she hesitated,- hut he went up to her, presented the pistol and tired. She ran out of the home shouting murder, and soon fell otr her face, when she was picked up bv two men, who carried her into a house near by, a:.d on their going to search for Giffcn, ihey found him lying under the table iu Iris own house, dead, tlu; l-all having gone through his heart.—He was an American, and it is supposed that the name he went by was an assum ed name, and that he had been an in mate of some penitentiary in the States, for one of his hands was branded, and part ol one of his ears was cut off. A New Staple tor tbe South. An ingenious citizen, of the State of New Jersey, has recently taken out a patent, Horn the office iu Washington, for a discovery which he has made, which enables hint to manufacture pa per ot various qualities, and of a very firm ail 1 strong texture, from the Cam, which grows iu such abundance in the swamp lands in the .Southern States.— The mode is to remove the outer coat by a very simple proceess, when the re mainder ol the cane is easily converted into a pup, of which the pnjier is made. Is 31nn a >!i«e-al T Arguments have lately been qffered before the French Academy, to prove that men are partly composed of copper. A waggish cotemporary knew before that some men had brass, in their faces. iron in their sinews, and had in their brains; and now it seems they have no small share of copper. We wonder if the North American Indians have not more than a common share—they are copper colored. This is an imp»ortant discovery; for some i: things" in human shape, that we supposed were worth J® 1 nothing at all, can now be melted up for “small coin.” Mount Etna is in a state of erapiw n > and repeated shocks of earthquakes have been felt, causing much consternation among the inhabitants of Messina. WIICE BRIDGE ACROSS THE OlU°\ Memorials are in circulation at St. Lo llls and other places in the west, asking Con gress to provide for the construction ol* wire suspension bridge across the Ohio at the junction of the National Hail road with said river. The estimated expend is $130,000. According to the plan signaled "there is to he a space of filjj feet between the bridge and the topsc the highest steamboat pipes, at an no nary st ge of water, rendering H * r f from any objectionon the grounds uf° l structions to navigation. Three brothers purchased 300 acres rj prairie land in Wisconsin, 18 mont‘l since. It cost them 10s. an acre, n’T] leucing $1 an acre, and the breaking 14s. nti acre. Every item of expense ter harvest, shows an aggregate of The three hundred acres produced ti,W i bushels of wheat, which sold i