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r POLITICAL.
M lt.is'nn .l/o’-HI-I.C /’"si.
Mr. Crittenden's Hilf, to prevent office holders from inter
fering in elections, is one of the most absurd and pernicious
I measures ever proposed to Congress, and of course it receives
the approval of the entire whi< press. It provides that if any
officer under government shall, in any way, dare to exercise
' the commonest rights of' Anu rican citizenship, such as the
using of' argument with a neighbor or friend, ns to the manner
in which he shall vote for a candidate for any public office
whatsoever, he shall he punished by a fine of SSOO, one half
of which shill be paid to the informer, and also shall be ren
dered incapable of holding any place of trust. Now, to say
nothing ol’ the absurdity of disfranchising a man merely be
cause he has been deemed worthy the confidence of a govern
ment elected by a majority of his fellow-citizens, we will ask,
if the people of this country have sunk so low as to be willing
to set a premium on rascality, for we consider an informer as
the most unprincipled rascal in exisu nee? There is no surer
evidence of the decay of virtue in a people, than the existence
among them of a class of miscreants who live fry the practice
of the lowest villatiy. Ihe truth of this statement will be ad
mitted by every one at all conversant with history. There are
certainly causes enough, growing out ofthe infirmaries insepa
rable from human nature, which render men sufficiently had,
without government throwing in its aid to assist the grow th of
vice.
As to the absurdity ol the bill, it will be apparent to every
one who r< lle< ts a moment on the subject. It proposes the
passage ol a law not at all consonant to the spirit of the age
—:t seeks to inll.ct punishment without any regard to the mag
nitude of the offinee* committed The uffieer who receives
SSOOO per annum, if the measure becomes a law, win FeTFtvr
no greater punishment for an infraction of it, than the officer
who is in the receipt of, comparatively, nothing. Let us sup
pose a case. Air. A, to accommodate his neighbors, consents
to act as postmaster of Pumpkinopnolis, which eminent station
yields Irini the enormous yearly salary of $1,50, ami of conse
quence he becomes a dangerous man, owing to the immense
influence which the handling of'so much of the public money
concentrates in his person. Some file afternoon, about an
election time, w hile w alking out, luxuriating in the idea that he
has a momentary respite from the fatigues and perplexities in
cident to the discharge of a high public trust, he falls in with
Mr. B, ol whom he inquires as to the manner in which he in
tends to vote. B tells him that he shall vote for the opposition
candidate, whereupon A, doubtless actuated by a desire to pro
mote the interests of the party which has bestowed upon him
such a signal mark of its favor and confidence, seeks to induce
him-to support the candidate friendly to the government.
VS hethcr convinced by the cogency of A’s arguments, or awed
by his high standing, it matters not; but the result is, that B
votes for the sitppoi ter of the administration. Such an out
rageous exertion ofthe powerand influence conferred byplace,
soon comes to the knowledge of C, who enters a complaint
against the offending official, who is tried and convicted, and
compelled to pay a fine, the amount of w hich is more than the
salary of his office would be for three centuries. Besides this,
he forfeits all the rights which are enjoyed by the citizens of the
republic, ami for what ? Why, for simply doing that which all
«>f ns do at every election, endeavoring to gain over to his
views one who differed from him, in political sentiments, but
whom he believed to be open to the force of argument. This
may be whig justice, but it is very different from that kind of
justice which good men like to see practised in the world.
From the Waxhiiigton Globe,
•‘A CHANGE CAME O’ER THE SPIRIT OF HIS DREAM.”
In the Senate to-day Mr. Clay appeared in a new part. For
some years past fie was one of those who saw no harm in the aboli
tion movements. His biographer, Mr. Prentice (of the Louisville
Journal) in bis sketch of his life, has taken pains to varnish up for
display in the light of Northern philanthropy, Mr. Clay’s early
r mancipation principles. This, Mr. Clay carefully kept alive him
self by proposing to set apart in his distribution of lite public lands
a portion to carry out this scheme. In 1830 he voted against the
effort made by thn Administration to prevent the circulation of in
eendiary prints in the South, tending to excite insurrection; and even
as late as the last session, he voted against Mr. Rives’ resolution
throwing cold water on the firebrand petitions continually sent into
Congress. Bur, to-day, w hat a sudden change we have had in all the
Senator’s courtesy, kindness, and forbearance for Abolition no
sudden flaw of our variable city weather equals it. During the first
part of the session, Mr. Clay dodged every vote, and avoided, bv n
retreat behind the columns, any expression of opinion about the re
ception of Abolition petitions ; but, to-day, he brought in an anti-
Abolition petitior, and never was a patty so belabored in a set
speech of floors as the fanatics! fanatics!! He denounced them
nil, and did not spare even the fair spinisters of the,East. He con
jured them to remember that, when, with their fair hands, they dip
ped their pens in ink to sign an Abolition petition, they dipped them
in blood ! ! lie exhausted bis pathos in portraying “conflagrated
cities,” “ desolated fields,” and scenes of “ butchery and murder.”
There was not a man in the Senate who did not see through this
new act of the drama the moment the curtain rose. Mr. Clay finds
Harrison has the start of him with the Abolition-Antimasonic-Whigs.
“ 1 he dark spirit of slavery” which Ritncr conjured up in vain.
II J had expectations from it, but it embraced Harrison, and perished
with Tltaddeus Stevens. The Northern friends of Mr. Clay began
to question bis availability, also, and then a new coalition presented
itself as his only alternative. Mr. Tallmadge and Mr. Rives pro
posed to embalm him with Conservatism, and this sudden hope
makes it necessary that a Southern aspect shall be given to his poli- i
tics, to enable Mr. Rives to deci.tie openly on his side.
It will be remembered tint Mr. Clay opposed the bill to arrest the ;
incendiary attempts nt the threshold.
“ Jt xE 2,1836. —0 n motion of Mr. Calhoun, the Senate resumed
(as in C< nimittee of'the Whole) the consideration ofthe bill No.
122, prohibiting deputy postmasters from receiving or transmitting
through the mail to any Slate, in which, by the laws of said Slate, j
certain papers therein mentioned, (the incendiary pamphlets and
pictorial representations of the Abolition societies,) the circulation of
which, by the laws of said Stale, may be prohibited, and “the
amendment of Air. Grundy having berm agreed Io” on the question, 1
shall this bill be engrossed and r -ad a third time, it was determined !
in the affirmative—yeas 18, navs 18.”
Air. 11. Clay and all his Northern liig friends voted in the nega- I
rive. The Senate being equally divided, the Vice President (Mr. >
\ an Buren) voted in the affirmative.
As another index to Air. Clay’s policy, as late ps the last session, I
we give Air. Rives’ resolution, against which he voted ; and add the I
t -mperate and mild expressions in which he then encountered Abo
lition petitions, thiljimay be contrasted with the vehement and vio-
I nt declamation in which the whole cause of the fanatics was coo
s mnded and denounced by him to-day.
“ Air. Rives offered a resolution,
“Tint any interference with the subject of slavery in the Terri
tories of the United States in which it may exist, is inhibited by all
the considerations in regard to the rights and interests of lite inhabi
tants of slid Territories, the security of the slaveholding States, and
the danger to the Union, which are contained in the preceding reso
-1 ition, as forbidding atty interference with, or action on, the subject
of slavety in the District of Columbia; and for the further reason
tliat the people of these Territories, when admitted into the Union
ms States, will be exclusively entitled to decide the question of the
existence of slavery, in their respective limits, for themselves.”
Against this Mr. C'lny voted. He then, in his speech of last ses
sion, blamed the Senate as being too bard on the Abolitionists.
‘• rite course which the Senate lias pursued in regard to these
Abolition petitions for two years past is this : a Senator states, from
his place, that he is charged with the presentation of one of them,
and moves that it be receiver!. Another Senator theteupon rises,
aid moves tint the motion to receive be laid upon the table, and the
Senate accordingly order the motion to receive the petition to be laid
•<n the table; and thus the petition is not received in the parliamen
tary sunse. Tho Senate rit es not decide the question of reception.
This course I have always thought unfortunate. It is unsatisfacto
ry. • • The mode of disposing of these petitions which the Senate
lias lately pursued. Iris certainly not produced the tranquilizing ef
fect so anxiously desired. Ilin’S, on the contrary, aggravate!), and
will continue to aggravate, the disease.
I would receive, respectfully receive, their petitions, refer them,
nod occasionally present calm and dispassionate reports against
them.”
After Mr. Clay concluded bis metamorphosis of this morning, (re
versing bis former position,) Mr. Calhoun arose, and congratulated
the side of lite House which had supported him in resisting the Abo
litionists by the opetation of the State Rights doctrine, on the happy
conversion of Air. Clay. He said the triumph was completed. The
l -aderof the Northern force, which alone made the phrensy, of the
fmatics dangerous, in surrendering, disarmed them. Air. Calhoun’s
brief conclusion of the scene was so appropriate that Mr. Clay had
rot a word to say. He had capitulated, resigned hissword, it was
courteously received, and so there was an end of all swaggering.
From the tVashiugton (Holte,
SWART VVOLT COMMITTEE.
From what frdlorvs.it would seem that the National Intelligencer is
in flic secrets of die w/'«r«cresof Whiggery, who are secretly working, in
< ommittce, to drown the memory of their friend Swartwout’s defalca
i'oil ami peculation, by raising a clout! about honest Democratic func
tionaries. There is mi doubt but licit all the contrivance and chicane of
t’ c most tricky attomejs w ill he employed to raise suspicious, by draw
■g out of corrupt ami disbanded officers, all the false suggestions w hich
•'teir malice ci.ii invent; ami that they will arrest the investigation
ithuut examitiing the full proof, which would convict the accusers, and
■ ow the Iraiisactioi.s in their trite and proper light; that, having done
this, they will, ns is intimated in the New York Evening Post, return
an c.r parti inquiry, and the falsehood it has elicited, into the House too
late lor an exposure, in that hotly, by the parties aggrieved, ami will
then rim w ith it before the people as an official document to electioneer
on. -Ihis, we t iidcrstand, is the course they have taken towarils one
ptt die officer, w hom they impeached by inuendo mid a corrupt witness,
not permitting the accused to confront him witheven one of thirty wit
nesses. by w hom the assailed party proposed to prove him utterly un
worthy ot credit, and what he had sworn to, to be miserable calumny
ami misrepresentation.
, Ihe course of the majority of the committee w ill show it to be worthy
| ol its secret ballot origin, ami altogether in character w ith tho means ami
instruments it employed. Honest public functionaries, standing before
i an enlightened community, hnvo nothing to fear from the inquisitorial
practice w hich these party attorneys have introduced. Their secret
proceedings w ill be probed by a virtuous ami fair minded public.
From the N. F. Evening Post.
- We fi id the following article in the National intelligencer, relative to
l the Swart wont investigating committee
“Some members of tho commit tee appointed hy the House of Represen
tatives to inquire into tho defalcations of public olliceis, which has been
I for some time absent at New York on the business confided to them,
I have returned to the city, and attended the House of Representatives
I yesterday.
| *‘\Vc understand that the committee is not expected to make a report
to the House of Representatives for several days to come.”
j If the report be not presented for several days to come, it will not be
j presented till Congress is about to rise, ami too late to make its contents
, tho subject of discussion. It appears to be the object of the committee
to elude the examination of their report in Congress, ami to make use
I ol it ns an electioneering document in the vacation.
STATE RIGHTS an I RIGHTS.
the tree issue.
Of ' THE RANKS, ora GOV-
TUTlO\4r rpr[L P P' PLEf Shalt ,l!,re " CONST!-
TIOXU B 4 \r i n ' °, rt!n NA
KPVrv r Ayk ' Shall we have a CONSTITUTIONAL CUR
PFIII , A> ’ D S,LVEH oro "° of IRREDEEMABLE PA-
I? 4 zk- 1 “ r , llvt l ,nJtr llir despotism of a MONIED AIIISTOC
it.-iL 1, or untie r the safeguards of a FREE CONSTITUTION ?
[Washington Chronicle.
TUESDAY AIORNING, FEBRUARY 26.
WASHINGTON’S BIRTH-DAY.
The 22d instant was celebrated in this city with every demonstra
tion of respect for the memory of him, “who was first in peace, first in
war, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.’”
The Aletropolitan Greys, under the command of Capt. M.J. Kenan,
paraded in full uniform at an early hour. Their appearance was unu
sually fine, ami all evinced the proud spirit of patriotism which so sig
nally distinguished the immortal hero whose birth-day they commemo
rated, and the gallant baud who stood hy his side in “times that tried
men’s souls.”
After the usual evolutions upon such occasions, a National salute was
fired by the Company.
In the evening, an elegant Gala was furnished at Lafayette Hall, by
I its enterprising host, Mr. P. H. Gmnm, which was attemled by a num
ber of gentlemen, and a brilliant cire’e of ladies ; and a more pleasant
I and social evening has never been spent in this city, upon any former
; occasion.
[ The bill introduced by Mr. Crittenden, “To prevent the interference
of l ederal officers in elections,’’ or in plainer English, to abridge the
right of speech, ami create a swarm of spies and informers through
out the country, has undergone a very animated discussion in the Sen
ate of the United Stales.
It was advocated by Mr. Rives of Virginia, with the greatest zeal,
and opposed by Mr. Buchanan, Mr. Wall, and Mr. Strange in a manner
highly creditable to themselves, ami which justly entitles them to the
applause of the true democracy iu every quarter of the Union.
1 his second attempt to establish the principles of the sedition law,
will be indignantly frowned upon by the great body of the people. 1
cannot pass, becm.se there is yet too much respect for public opinion in
Congtess, to hazard such an outrage upon the Constitution and the right
of the citizen-
The fundamental principle of the bill presupposes that the appoint
ment to an office under the General Government has a direct tendency
to fraud anil corruption, and that the incumbent, however honest and
patriotic he may have been in private life, becomes at once a traitor to
his country, and a dangerous enemy to her institutions.
We have heard a great deal said about collar men, by tho whigs, but
if Mr. Crittenden's bill should become a law, we shall have a class which
may he well denominated the pad-lock party. A class of respectable
citizens, who, if they vote at all, must go to the polls with pad-locks
upon their mouths.
How humiliating would it be, to behold an American citizen, entitled
to all the tights and immunities resulting from the Declaration of Inde
pendence—the toils, the blood, and the glory of the American Revolu
tion—and doubly secured by our admirable constitution approaching
the Ballot Box with his lips sealed—a dozen spies and informers dogging
at bis heels, ami a penal statute hanging over his head, full of fines, for
feitures, and degradations? Theie are people who would witness such
a spectacle with delight, or such a bill could never have found its way
into Congress, but the number of its advocates, could not be or.e to a
thousaml of the whole people.
We have said, it is an infraction of the constitution, and a violation
of State sovereignty, and we shall maintain our position as long as we
have strength to put pen to paper. The States possess the exclusive
constitutional right to protect themselves against fraud and corruption
in the exercise ofthe elective franchise ami to prescribe the punishment;
they have all legislated upon the subject—their statute books contain the
penalties, and whoever claims for the General Government, co-ordinate
jurisdiction over the subject, is not a State Rights man, according to
our conception of the term.
Sovereignty is said to be indivisible, and if the assertion be true, the
whole jurisdiction in this case belongs to the States or they possess none
at all, for we abhor the idea of two Governments exercising co-ordinate
jurisdiction over the same subject matter, because the consequences are
so apparent, that no rational man would contend for the principle.
We stand upon the broad basis of State Rights, and deny to Congress
the constitutional right to define what shall constitute tin infraction of
the elective franchise q,iiliin the States, or punish their citizens for what
she may deem its violation ; because if the right is once conceded, there
will be no security for the citizen. The safeguards of the Constitution
will no longer stand around him, until step by step, the right of opinion,
the tight of speech, and the right to vote, will be swept away, and the
boasted institutions of our country finally perish in the vortex of aristo
cracy and consolidation.
If Congress can compel a citizen of a State to close his lips, ami walk
mutely, with a folded ticket to the polls, under severe ami degrading
penalties, it follows, that she can prevent him from voting altogether,
under penalties ami forfeitures still more oppressive and degrading.
Let the d miocracy, remember, that these were the doctrines which
bioughl forth tho sedition law, and which aroused the spirit of a free
people in 1798 ami 99—ami it will awaken the, same spirit again in
1839. It will call down the indignation of millions, upon the heads of
its authors and abettors.
HEAR MR. CLAY !!!
From the time of Mr. Van Buren’s nomination as a camlidate for the
Presidency, the whig presses of the South wero incessantly ringing the
cry of abolitionism against him, until his tt inmphant success before the
people put them to kilcnce for a time ; but tho approach of a second
contest was bringing up the stale calumny from its grave, when Mr-
Clay of Kentucky interposed to put it down, now and forever. Why
be bad not sooner done so, is a matter over which it was his province to
exercise exclusive control, and for which ho must therefore answer to
his own conscience. As long as there was a prospect of making i.
available in favor of Judge White, Mr. Clay was as silent as death, al
though he knew as well at that time as ho docs now, that it was a vile
slander, intended for no other purpose than to create a false impression
on the mimls of Southern men ; and had he then expressed himself as
he has recently done, his claims to magnanimity ami independence would
have stood on loftier ground. But better late than never, and af
ter bis full and unequivocal exculpation of Mr. Van Buren from the
slightest tincture ol abolitionism, the w hig papers ol the South may be
reasonably expected to ho henceforth silent upon the subject.
We have been induced to make these remarks from reading a speech
delivered by Mr. Clay on the 7th inst.. in which die. uses the following
emphatic language—
“ Previous to the late Presidential election, Mr. Van Buren had been
charged with being an abolitionist. He (Mr. C.) never participated or
believed in this charge. No, sir, ho is no aboi.itionist. Ho denied
that Congress had any power to legislate upon tho subject of slavery,”
1 hits speaks Mr. Clay, of Mr. Van Buren. In tho speech referred
to, Mr. (Jay lias, for the first time, taken open ground against abolition
and abolitionists, ami so far so good. Let the motive be what it may,
we are glad ol it, but still it does not at all recommend him to our sup
port lor the Presidency. The tariff—tho Bank—internal improvements,
w ith a very largo stock of federalism, are rather too much for the palato
of Southern democracy.
Mr. Clay may expect to see himself much applauded by tho whigs of
tho South, for his anti-abolition speech, although It is an eleventh hour
labor, for expressing sentiments hostile to the fanatics, after the battle
had been fought ami won by the democratic party.
As Mr. Clay has now acquitted himself ami Mr. Van Buren of tl e
chaigc of abolitionism, and as both will be candidates for the Presidency,
the contest must turn upon the political principles of each, and wo are
ready foi trial. Let it be a fair fight between the doctrines of federal
ism and republicanism, as it will be. ami w’e have nothing to fear.
We have received several numbers of the Daily Telegraph, printed
on a neat super-royal sheet in the city of Savannah, by C. Alacardci-
Esq. Pho editor says its politics will be those of Jefferson and Madison
—ami will ardently support the saving measure of a divorce of Bank
and State. “
We have also received several numbers of the Mclntosh County Her
ald and Darien Commercial Register, by 11. Styles Bell. Itis a neatly
printer) sheet, of super-royal size. Alay success attend them in their
laudable efforts to disseminate knowledge and intelligence through the
country.
Tice Intelligencer of Wednesday says:
The whole of the Investigating Committee of the House of Repre
sentatives have now returned to this city, ami yesterday met at the Cap
itol- It is said that they are to-day to meet at the Treasury Depart
ment to pursue their inquities.
The Madisonian of Thursday says that.the Committee will prose
cute their labors both early and late, until they are ready to make their
report,”
NEW-ORLEANS. Feb. 11.
From .Mexico.—By the Gen. Foy wo have very late news from Mex
ico.
It appears that tho arrival ofthe English fleet has excited mnrmers
among the French seamen, ami in order to prevent the mischiefs which
they are calculate J to produce, Admiral Baudin addressed to the Eng
lish admiral a letter, in which, with perfect propriety of expression, yet
with sufficient firmness, the latter was given to understand that in the
present state of the dispute between France and Mexico, the unexpected
arrival of so considerable a British armament at Sacrificing, could only
occasion dissatisfaction to the French squadron, and that it was neces
sary the English fleet should retire, in order to avert the sinister impres
sions w-hich its present attitude would otherwise create in the minds of
the I' reach as well of the Mexicans. The result of this letter was an
interview between the two admirals, in which it was agreed that the
two English seventy-fours ami three frigates should immediately with
draw. These five ships actually set sail for Havana, and it was stipu
lated that the rest of the English squadron should remain before Vera
Cruz.
The strictest intimacy existed between the two admirals, and there
w-as no reason to suppose that the English had the slightest intention to
impede the operations of France against Mexico.
A letter from Vera Cruz, which has been communicated to us, states
that the popularity, or rather the influence of Mr. I’ackenham. the Eng
lish minister at Mexico, was so great, that no doubt was entertained of
his being able to put an end to the differences between France and Mex
ico, and to effect a pacification. The foreigners in Mexico had tho ut
most confidence in his ability to accomplish this object. The inhabi
tants of Vera Ci uz were expecting favorable news from Mexico, and
it was thought there that trade would soon resume its former course.
STILL LATER.
Since writing the above, we received later dates from Vera Crnz by
the arrival of the French ship Cornier de Bordeaux No. 3. This ves
sel was prevented from landing her cargo, and consequently was obliged
to return to New-Orleans, consigned to Alessrs. Lizardi &. Co. She
left Vera Cruz on the 27th ult.
Wo learn from some of her passengers that intelligence was received
at Vera Cruz on the 2Gth ult. that General Santa Ana was appointed
President of Mexico ad interim, while President Bustainente at the head
of 4001) men was to march against General Urrea at Tampico. The
law expelling the Fiench was to be rigorously enforced on the sth in
stant.
The ports of Mexico arc positively closed, without excepting, as the
captain of the Courier rle Bordeaux thinks, that of Tampico.
Admiral Baudin differs in opinion from our correspondents in Mexico
respecting the probability of a speedy settlement of differences, and he
awaits with impatience the anival of reinforcements to strike a decisive
blow. A letter from Vera Cruz of the 27th ult. also expresses doubts
of the probability that Mr. I’ackenham will be able to effect an arrange
ment, and in this it coincides with an expression of ‘Admiral Baudin.
This ofliccr thus addressed the captain ofthe Courier de Bordeaux—
" Assure your countrymen that any amicable arrangement appears to
me impracticable.”
Urrea’s aimy atTampico was destitute ofarticles ofthe first necessity,
and it was generally believed at Vera Crnz that it would be very easy
for Bustamente to make himself master of the place.
The town ofVera Cruz was deserted in a great measure ; only a few
foreigners and about one hundred soldiers remained.— Louisianian.
At a late hour we received London papers to the 15th of January and
Liverpool u< the 17tb, both inolweivo, brought by the ship Hibernia,
Capt, Cobh, which vessel sailed from Liverpool on the 17th January.
The packet ship Roscius-sailed in company.
The Liverpool Albion of the 12th, says, that the St. Andrew Penn
sylvania, Lockwoods ami Brighton were or would be total wrecks; that
much of their cargoes was already washed out and strewed along the
coast. We copy from the same paper the following account of the man
ner in which Captain Smith and the passengers of the Pennsylvania
perished.
After striking, and owing to the violence of the gale, which brought
her into collision with the bank, against which she struck with gieat force
several times, she rapidly filled with water. At this evcntful crisis, she
being then about three miles from the shore, a brief consultation was
held with tho passengers. The result was, that Captain Smith ordered
the jolly boat to be launched, into which Mr. Parsons, of Manchester,
Mr. Bariow, of New York, Mr. Douglas, of New York, Mr. Suiter, of
South Ameiica, ami another gentleman entered, accompanied by the
chief male, Mr. Blydcnburg, ami a young Scotchman, named Down
ey, together with five of the crew. The ill fated boat did not long live
in the tempest.
About midway between the vessel and the shore she swamped, and
all on boaid were thrown into the foaming element. Two of the pas
sengers, Messrs. Thompson ami Douglass, had taken the precaution to
provide themselves with swimming hells, ami they sustained themselves;
but the rest of the poor fellows, after struggling in vain for some time,
sunk to rise no more. Mr. Thompson, finding it hopeless to contend
with the waves, threw himself on his back, and, supported by his belt,
trusted to the waves to carry him onward. As the tide was coming in,
he was propelled with considerable speed, ami eventually, much exhaust
ed, reached the shore.
His fellow-countryman, Air. Douglass, was less fortunate; he early
exhausted his strength in a useless conflict with the waves. He succeed
ed in reaching the shore, but so completely prostrated that nature sank
under the trial- He was immediately conveyed to Leasowe castle,
w here every attention was paid to him, but he only survived his escape
a short time. He was a native of Dunfermline, in Scotland, and was
yesterday interred in Wallsey church yard, together with Air. Suiter,
his unfortunate fellow passenger, whose body was cast ashore on the
beach opposite Leasowe. The funeral was attended by a number of
the friends of the deceased from Liverpool.
After despatching the jolly boat, Capt. Smith ordered tho long froatto
bo got ready, when, to their indescribable agony, they could not find the
line for lowering her into the sea. After some delay, however, she was
got ready, provided with a rudder, oars, and other requisites ; but in the
act of lowering her, the vessel shipped a dreadful sea, which stove in
the boat, ami thus cut off their only prospect of escape. The same vi
bration of the vessel threw Capt. Smith with great force on deck ; he
lost his footing, but on regaining it, another sea swept over the devoted
ship, threw him with great violence between two water casks which
were rolling on deck, and immediately after he was sweptiuto the foam
ing abyss beneath.
The crew then got into tho rigging about three o’clock in the after
noon, where they remained from that hour until the following morning
about It) o’clock. Thei-sufferings during this period, without food or
nourishment of any kind, exposed in all the horrors of a night unexam
pled forseverity, have hardly ever been surpassed. Among those on
the rigging during the night was the stewardess, a native of Shropshire,
who survived its severity. Three poor fellows, however, tlie second
cook, John Lettya, the second steward, 1 Dewit Reimer, and a seaman,
sank under the accumulated suffering produced by the storm and intense
cold. They were literally starved to death.
The whole number on board was 40, of whom 15 perished. The
persons saved were Mr. Richards, the third inate. son of the late Silas
Richarils; Mr. Essex, chief steward; the stewardess, and 22 seamen.
The letter bags were received but in woful plight. The letters of
which the superscription could be read have arrived by the Hibernia. -•
One of tho bags was missing.
On board the l ockwoods there were 85 passengers, the crew consist
ed of 23 persons. One of the crew anti 52 passengers perished.
The murderer of Lord Norbury hail not yet been discovered. The
murdered nobleman was the son of the celebrated judge and joker, who
died in 1831.
CONGRESS.
In the Senate, on Wednesday last. Air. Strange, of N*C., occupied
nearly the whole day with a speech on tho Bill to prevent tho interfer
ence of certain Federal officers with elections.
In the House, the bill for the suppression ofdueling in the District of
Columbia, was passed by a n ajority of 107 to 22. A motion to recon
sider, was negatived by 99 noes to 45 ayes.
In tho House, on Tuesday,
Mr. Cambreleng, from tho Committee on Ways and Means, reported
a bill for the construction ami icpair of certain fortifications for 1839
Tho whole amount required is $242,000. It was read twice and com
mitted.
Mr. Camhrelong. from the same Committee,reported without amend
ment, the Senate bill lor allowing a drawback on imported hemp, which
was road twice ami committed.
I he remainder of the day was taken up in tho consideration of bills
relating to tho Territories.
(T7- There wore received, on Monday night last, at our Post Office,
upwards of 500 copies of “Human Rights—Extra,” an abolition paper
published in New York, put up in single copy, and directed to most of
our Postmasters in tho Slate, ami other citizens. Our Postmaster, on
ascertaining the title ami contentsof tho paper,did not hesitate one mo
ment as to the course he should pursue; ail tho copies that could bo
fottml were detained ami destroyed.— Augusta Const.
John Chapman, convicted at the late Superior Court of Bibb county,
for murdering his wife, has been sentenced by Judgo King to be hanged
on I'tiday 22nd March. j o o
TO TH£ VOTERS OF GEORGIA.
Fellow-Citizens :
As the relation of constituent and representative, which has so
long subsisted belwecn its, is about to be closed, allow me a word or
two at parting ; and if I speak of myself in connection with the
tv I | ,lS<! °* l n,^*c in which I have been an actor, bear with me.
ten your partial confidence first advanced me to the high office of
your repicsentative in Congress, you took me upon trust; as I was
person,, ly unknown to a great majority of von, and had never been
t 1011 c m'n y .° Ur "° tice *’>' i,n y employment ‘in public life. How I
have fulfilled yottr expectations, has been evinced by my repeated
re-election, without having canvassed for your suffrages. When 1
trst took my seat in Congress, as one of your representatives, Geor
gia was under the Presidential ban, for having dared to assert her
right to the soil, the Indian occupancy of which had been extinguished
by the treaty of February, 1825. That ban was no more than she
had a right to expect from one, whose hereditary hatred runs back
to the I j residential contest of 1798, shortly after which period t!>e
, ~a , J'hisdiction of Georgia were violated and usurped by the es
tablishment of the Miss. Territory within her well known limits. The
! ]''ccess of the struggle, protracted through the years 1825, 1826; and
10-Z, is fresh in your recollection, bearing honorable testimony to
the steady perseverance and unflinching firmness of our State.—
1 hronghout the whole period of my public service (he Indian question
has been one of the most prominent in Congress in connexion with the
o igations ol the United States to Georgia, until provision was made
during the last session for the removal ofthe Cherokees, the last tribe
lingering within our borders, which was finally accomplished near the
close of the past year. From the year 1802 until 1829, the Execu
tive of the Union had never recognized the right of Georgia to soil
and jutisdiction over Indian tribes within her limits. That conces
sion to her constitutional rights was reserved for the late President
General Jackson. From 1829 until the final removal of the Chero
kees, efforts were scarcely remitted to place Georgia in possession of
a l her territory, freed from Indian occupancy, as stipulated by the
Umted States in April, 1802. That the Cherokees have been re
moved from within the limits of Georgia, is mainly owing to the ex
ertions of General Jackson. It is true that our own State govern
ment co-operated by a series of legislative acts, but what would they
haveeffected apart from, and opposed to the General Government, if it
had been under, the administration of a man who denied to the State
her right to legislate over every person and thing within her limits.
Although the removal of the Cherokees was not completed before
the close of the public career of President Jackson, yet all necessary
measures had been taken to produce that result.
And however we may regret the pledge offered by the Secretary
of War, to intercede with the authorities of the States interested to
procure a postponement ofthe time of their removal, justice requires
that we should award to the present administration the merit of
prompt, unremitted and energetic measures for the furtherance of that
desirable result. While the Indian question has possessed absorbing
interest to the people of Georgia during almost the whole period of
my service as their representative, other subjects of high and general
importance have engaged the public interest and attention.
Among these was the protective tariff system, which, commenced
as a system and prosecuted for the exclusive benefit of a class, may
date its origin with the act of Congress passed in 1816. And twin
sister to this, was the charter ofthe second Bank ofthe United States,
passed cotemporaneously with the protective tarifftret of 1816. The
one for the benefit of capitalists whose means were invested in manu
factures, and the other for those who had banded their wealth and
credit for the purpose of banking. Apart from the consideration that
the constitution ol the United States is a compact of specified powers,
and contains no provision authorizing legislative favoritism, we might
well be surprised that the rights of equality, so eloquently expressed
iu the Declaration of Independence, and carried out in the several
State Constitutions, should so soon have been sacrificed to privilege,
by the enactment of laws conferring peculiar and exclusive advanta
ges upon manufacturing capital and banking corporations. As all
history lias shown, no sooner were the manufacturing and banking
monopolists legalized by powers usurped over the Constitution, than
they attempted, in effect, to exercise all the powers of the Govern
ment of the Union. And after the tariff question was settled for a
time, by the compromise of 1833, the managers of the Bank of the
United Slates boldly assumed jurisdiction over us. The memorable
struggle between that institution and the constitutional Government
ofthe Union, and its successful issue in favor of the people, through
the firmness and energy of the late President, will live beyond the
present generation, for the instruction and encouragement of a long
line of posterity. °
The Indian question being now over, the tariff compromise having
quieted the country on that subject, and tha Pennsylvania Bank of
the United States having voluntarily retired from the contest for
supreme power, we are not left without subjects of the deepest in
terest and most vital importance. That which is most especially in
teresting and important to the whole country, is the scheme of fi
nance presented to Congress by the Message ofthe President at the
opening ofthe extra session in September, 1837. That scheme pro
proses to change the mode of receiving, keeping and disbursing the
public revenue, substituting, in the two latter, the officers ofthe Gov
ernment for banks. The then recent failure of all, or nearly all, the
banks in the United States, had necessarily brought the sub-treasury,
so called, into operation, previous to the meeting of Congress in Sep
tember, 1837 ; as the Secretary of the Treasury was forbidden by
law to receive any thing in payment-of public dues but gold and sil
ver coin, or the notes of specie-paying banks. The question for
Congress, then, was, not whether the connexion of Government with
banks should be severed, but whether that connexion, broken by the
banks themselves, should be resumed. I could not go at large into
all the arguments connected with this subject without trespassing too
much upon your time and attention, and imposing upon myself, what
I would fain hope,an unnecessary labor. But, allow me topresent
them briefly to your consideration. And first, lhe separation of the
Government from all connexion with banks and banking—And be
fore proceeding with the subject, permit me to say, that the present
contest involves nothing less than a national bank, or a league of
State banks, on the one hand, and an independent treasury on the
other—or, to put the question in a different form, between a govern
, ment of one, or a band of corporations, and the Government of the
I Constitution. In either aspect, surely there can bent hesitation
| among the enlightened republicans of this country which alternative
to take. But to the subject. What are the arguments in favor of a
| national bank ? Principally, that it will furnish a currency equally
j available in every portion ofthe Union, and thereby equalize ex
changes between the most distant points of our country. Admitting
, that it would furnish a convenient medium for the transmission of
funds, are you prepared to create an institution which, to be effective
for good, must be clothed with sdeh powers as would enable it,in effect,
to subvert the government of your country? Are you willing to
place in the hands of any corporation the power to regulate the value
of ail property among you, as interest or mistake may induce a con
traction or expansion of its currency ? In short, are you prepared
to make such an institution a political engine in the hands of the
Administration ofthe Federal Government, for he must be blird in
deed who does not know, that in no other character can a national
bank ever be established in this country? 1 leave out ofthe question the
insuperable constitutional objections to such an institution. If it
was able to wage so fierce, and for a time doubtful, a contest with
one of the most popular Administrations which ever presided over
the destinies of our countty, what might not be the result of its co
operation with one to which it owed its existence? And that one
favorable to the exercise of powers not granted by the Constitution,
involving an unequal and unjust distribution of the proceeds of the
sales of the public lands, a protective tariff, and which, from the sup
port of Northern abolitionists, must shape its measures to their will.
Yet, such will be the Administration of the ■ General Government,
before another national bank can be established. After we have
heard so much about the failure of “tile experiment” of depositing
the public money in the local banks, is it possible there can be any
considerable portion ofthe American people disposed to recur to that
exploded scheme? We have heard much within the last two years
about the unfavorable rates of exchange between distant parts of our
country and the great commercial emporium of New York—and
why has this happened ? Because the notes of the local banks in
such places were worth so much less than specie, the constitutional
standard of value. What is the true rate of exchange between two
places ? The risk and expense of .transporting specie from the
one to the other ; all above this must be set down to lhe depreciation
of paper below the standard of coin. Applying this principle, and
we have no difficulty in arriving at lhe great apparent difference of
exchange against the South and Southwestern States for the last two
years. If proofof this was wanting, it is found in the almost magical
effect of the resumption of specie payments by the banks, reducing
exchange to tho standard which I have assumed. It is asserted that
the rejection of bank notes in the payment of public dues will mate
rially and ruinously affect their credit, and that by requiring specie
from public debtors, we should establish one currency for the Gov
ernment and another for the people. But how do these objections
stand together ? If the first means any thing, it proceeds upon the
admission, that should the Government require payments in specie,
the circulation of bank notes would be reduced to their true specie
standard. If that should be the consequence, how will the currency
for the Government differ in value from the currency for the people ?
But to take another view of it, the first objection unavoidably admits
that our present bank note currency is of inferior value to money.—
Are the people willing that it shall remain so, or will they not sanc
tion such measures by the General Goveinmeift as shall reduce them
to equality, and thereby cure the evil ? Further, if the bank note
currency is inferior in value to gold and silver, who has to make
good the deficiency of value to tho Government? Tho tax-paying
people.
Laying a national bank out of tho question, and viewing it exclu
sively as relating to the local banks, who is prepared to make the in
vidious distinction of selecting some twenty-six to thirty, out of the
eight or nine hundred in existence, as depositories of the public mo
ney ? This would indeed be making exclusive privileges still more
exclusive to the selected favorites. But it has been said over and
oyer again, that the establishment of an independent treasury would
increase the patronage of lhe Executive of the Union. The new
plan proposes no additional officers but a receiver at each of the three
great seaports of Boston, New York and Charleston, for the safe
keeping ot tho revenue received from customs, and a receiver at St.
Louis for the safe-keeping of the revenue arising from lhe sales of
the public lands, like duties being imposed on the officers of the Mint
at Philadelphia, and the Branch Mint at New Orleans, and sonic
eight or ten clerks for the offices thus proposed to be created, and for
the additional duties required of the Mint and Branch Mint. How
idle then to talk about the increasd of Executive patronage, when
the proposed plan is contrasted with the employment of twenty-five
or thirty banks, with their numerous officers, stockholders and debt
ors, especially when we take into the account the remaining seven or
- eight hundred banks which will be struggling for the same boon, I
leave you to judge. Besides, what right has any one bank, or an
association of hanks, to convert the public money to their use by
loans to themselves and others, more than exists on the part of every
citizen ofthe United States?
Nor is this all. By making banks the depositories of the public
revenue a temptation is created to make the taxes of the people as
high as possible, that a larger surplus may be always in their hands to
be, loaned out for the private benefit of their stocklialders.
But no part of the proposed plan has received deeper condemna
tion than the requirement of specie in all payments to the Govern
ment. Under tlie present circumstances of the country, there being
no national bank, Congress has nothing to do with the local banks,
except those it his chartered within the District of Columbia, nor has
it any more right to interfere with them than to usurp any other pow
er which the States have reserved for their own peculiar exercise.—
But giving to this objection its due weight, to what does it really
amount ? It is believed there is scarcely a bank in the United States
which is authorized to issue its notes in a larger proportion than three
foroneofits capital. And what is tlie true capital of a bank?—
; Hard money, and nothing else. This cannot be denied upon any
sound principles of banking. Yet a little more than one year ago, the
issues of all the banks in the United States was about seven or eight
for one of every dollar of gold and silver in their possession.
But to recur to the proportion of paper to specie generally requited
bjj the charters of our banks, and trying it according to the test ot
experience, we shall see how the specie feature of the plan would in
directly affect them. From 1818 to 1832, inclusive, a series of fif
teen years, the average annual revenue of the United States was
about twenty-three millions’of dollars, and the average amount in
the possession of the United States Bank, the then depository, about
six millions seven hundred thousand dollars. What has happened in
a series of fifteen years, may be fairly taken as the standard of what
will happen for the future. If, then, the revenue should average
twenty-five millions of dollars, and it should be much less so» th»
economical administration of the Government, and the average
amount of specie withdrawn from circulation will be but little more
than seven millions of dollars Apply then its operation upon tho
banks, admitting that the whole amount would be withdrawn froNk
them, which could not, and would not be the case, sind their circula
tion would only be reduced, according to the terms of their charters
previously assumed, about twenty-one or two millions of dollars. But
it may be fairly assumed, that the revenue being justly adapted to the
expenditures, the average amount on hand would be much less than the
sum I have assumed. It is further urged, that the public money
would be much less secure in the hands of government officers than
in the custody of the banks, partly because the Executive could more
easily turn it to corrupt uses, and partly because banking companies
possess greater pecuniary ability to make good any defalcation com
mitted by their officers. To the first it is sufficient to answer, that
the Executive would have precisely the same facilities to withdraw
the revenue from one set of depositories as from the other, neither
having any power to question the propriety of his drafts, nor to resist
them. But, admitting that the local banks are entirely beyond tha
control of the General Gpvernment, what power could it exercisw
over them to secure a faithful administration of the public reverwie ?
Is there any State Rights man who would sanction the exercise of
such a power ? Certainly not. But the case would be very different
with a depository established by law, and amenable to law. Over
him might be held the pains and penalties such as Congress might
prescribe, and every peculation meet condign punishment.
There is now, no other country in the civilized world, whose crim
inal legislation over public defaulters is so loose and inefficient as
ours. Indeed, 1 believe Ido not go too far, when I assert, that mere
embezzlement ofthe public revenue, is not subject, nor ever has been,
to the slightest criminal animadversion.
Nor could the criminal law of Congress be brought to bear upon th&
officers of the local banks. But the case would be far different with
officers created in the exercise of its acknowledged constitutional ju
risdiction. They might, and they would, if the plan of finance I
have been discussing should be adopted, be rendered infamous upon!
conviction of embezzling, or in any way converting the public money •
to private use, and punished accordingly.
Before taking leave ol this subject, permit me to invite your at
tention to the effect of a general deposit of the public money in the'
banks from the autumn of 1833, to the severance of all fiscal con
nexion between them and Government, in the summer of 1837, in'
the enormous expansion of bank note circulation, and the wild and
reckless and ruinous speculations which went hand in hand with it.’
But for the operation of the so much abused specie circular, to the
receivers of public money at the Land offices ; evaded as it was, and
the suspension of specie payment by the banks in eighteen hundred
thirty-seven, how long would it have been, before all the public domain
would have been converted into the notes of non-speciepaying banks,-
or mere credits to the government on their books? Reflect on this 1
before you give your sanction to a similar union of the Government
with the banks. Bui not only were the sales of the public lands in
ordinately increased, especially within the years 1835 and 1836, but
the foreign imports for lhe political year 1836 ran up to nearly one’
hundred and ninety millions of dollars—exceeding by more than six
ty millions the imports of 1834, which were unusually large, and
about seventy millions above the value of the imports within the
political year 1838, thus showing a most unsound and inflated condi
tion of things in every branch of American enterprise. There are
many who possess a readiness to adopt the system of special deposit
with the local banks, instead of the independent treasury ; and to'
such, I would propound a single question—would you divorce the'
wife and leave her in the custody, and under the control of the hus
band? Your good sense will apply the interrogatory.
Little used as I am to rely upon mere authority, I will refer voir
to theopinion of Mi. Jefferson, that there was imminent danger that
the then existing national bank ‘would upset the government,’ and wilF
add, that the danger would probably be quite as great from a league'
cf local, as from one general bank. Thus far, in treating of tho’
total separation of the government from the banks, I have said noth
ing of its operation upon the banks themselves. On this subject, E
can rely upon an authority in banking and finance which, with u
I; rge portion of the American people is considered to have no supe
rior, and by not a few, no equal in this country. I refer to Mr. Nich-'
olas Biddle, late president of the national, and now president of the
Pennsylvania bank of the United States. That gentleman, when h<r
presented to the stockholders the Pennsylvania charter, on the 20th
of February 1836, offered a series of propositions contrasting the
advantages and disadvantages of the old and the new charter. Anrong
the advantages of the new one be stated ‘its total separation from
all the offices of the General Government, an unnatural connexion,
beneficial neither to the bank nor the government,’ and ‘ its exemp
ption from the expense of doing the business ofthe government, in
loan offices and pension agencies, and in transferring the public funds
without charge ;’ to which he sets off the loss of the ‘ public depos
ites,’ and claims no balance to the account of disadvantage. He
further said on the same occasion, ‘ It was an original misfortune in
the structure of the bank that it was in any way connected with per
sons in office. The instincts of political power make their associa
tion dangerous; useful to neither party, injurious to both.’ Further,
in speaking of the contest between the government and the bank,
he s»ys, ‘How that strife was conducted, you all know; how it has
ended, is proven by the events of this day, which render the bank
safer, stronger, and more prosperous than ever'
Can any one who reads the foregoing, doubt, that Mr. Biddle, an
authority in whom the federal parly is wont to place implicit reliance,
is opposed to the connexion of the government with banks? And if
the connexion between the general government and a bank of ita
own creation, and in which it appointed but one fifth part of the di
rectors, was ‘unnatural,’ and ‘ beneficial neither to the bank nor the
government,’ how much more unnatural and less beneficial must
be such a connection between that government and banks insti
tuted by the several States, over which it neither possesses nor ought
to possess the slightest control? Nor are other considerations want
ing to shew the injurious effect of Government bank deposit and
agency, upon the great body of the banks themselves, in the haras
sing contiol the favorites might exetcise over all other banks through
out the Union.
Suffer me to make an additional observation and I have done with
this subject.
By the Constitution of the United States, no other currency is
contemplateiFbut gold and silver coin. The General Government
cannot issue a paper currency, and has no control over that authorised
by the acts of bank incorporations in the several States. Specie ia
an indispensable standard of value for currencies of every other kind.
Buthow can that standard be diffused and sustained by the Genctal
Government, except by requiring and paying out specie ulone.
In what I have said, let no one understand me as being hostile to
properly regulated local banks; my arguments have been exclusive
ly directed against the propriety of their connexion with govern
ment.
Another subject of high and pervading interest, both for the pres
ent and the future, is the disposal of the public lands, or the money
accruing from it. To treat the subject intelligibly, it will be neces
sary to recur to the various modes by which the'public lands of the
United States were acquired. At an earlv period of the Revolution
the doctrine was advanced, that all the wild, or unappropriated land
lying within the respective Slates, was the common property of the
Union ; but often as tho question was raised in Congress, and lonn
as the ratification of tho Articles of Confederation was retarded bv
it, it was always negatived by that body. But owing to the complaint;
of the States not possessing unappropriated lands, and upon the ur.
gent solicitations of Congress, cessions, were made by various Stales
during the confederation, none of which it is believed, conveyed
any thing but an empty title, except lhat from Virginia. After the
adoption ot tho Federal Constitution, in 1790, North Carolina fol
lowed the example of V irginia and ceded her western territoy, and
Georgia did the like, in 180?. By these three cessions, all the then
unappiopriated land within the original limits of the United States
now constituting portions of the public domain, became the inoner’
Fl ° i th - e Yoin”’ , " wllich Louisiana was added in 1803, and
Honda in 1819. Tho cessions from Virginia, North Carolina
and Georgia constituted in the lands ceded a common fund of the
I nion, to be placed to the credit of the several States according ft