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the enlargement of its literature. The graces
of poetry and the charms of eloquence have
been thrown around it. Orators in their speech
es, poets in their songs, dramatists in their
plays, annalists in their histories, and even di
vines in their sermons, have not hesitated to use
expressions couched in its technical language
and to employ metaphors drawn from the move
ments of its mimic soldiery. As in the multi
plicity of its combinations it sets at defiance all
the discovered laws of the science of numbers,
so in its adaptability to minds of unlike forma
tion it seems to repudiate all the theories of
mental philosophy. For eminent skill in the
game is neither limited to any particular class
of individuals nor dependent upon any peculiar
intellectual qualities. Its pursuit is not con
fined to highly cultivated minds. Eulers and
Rousseaus have striven in vain to become prac
titioners of the first class, w hile Grecos and
Maurets have risen to the highest rank. Al
most every profession has furnished its quota of
names illustrious in chess. Damiano was an
apothecary, Lopez was a priest, Salvio was a
lawyer, Philidor was a musician, Cunningham
was a diplomatist, Stamma was a linguist, At
wood was a mathematician, Deschnpelles was a
soldier, Popert was a merchant. Tyros, scarcely
conversant with the moves, appeared to find in
it an enjoyment no less keen and exciting than
those great players who are familiar with all
the mysteries of open games and of close games,
of gambits and of counter-gambits, of openings
on the king’s side and of openings on the
queen’s side. In truth, however we look at it,
at its nature, or at its history, wo shall find
anomalies that surprise and marvels that con
found us. I propose to give a brief sketch of
the rise and progress of this most singular ema
nation of the human mind:
The dato to which I have referred the origin
of chess will probably astonish those persons
who have only regarded it as the amusement of
idle hours, and have never troubled themselves
to peruse those able essays in which the best of
antiquaries and investigators have dissipated the
cloudy obscurity that once enshrouded this sub
ject. Those who do not know the inherent life
which it possesses, will wonder at its long and
enduring career. They will be startled to learn
that chess was played before Columbus discovered
America, before Charlemagne revived the Wes
tern Empire, before Romulus founded Rome, be
fore Achilles went up to the siege of Troy, and
that it is still played as widely and as zealously
as ever, now that those events have been for
ages a part of history. It will bo difficult for
them to comprehend how, amid the wreck of na
tions, the destruction of races, the revolutions
of time, and the lapse of centuries, this mere
game has survived, when so many things of far
greater importance have either passed away from
the memories of men, or still exist only in the
dusty pages of the chroniclers. It owes, of
course, much of its tenacity of existence to the
amazing inexhaustibility of its nature. Some
chess writers have loved to dwell upon the un
ending fertility of its powers of combination.
They have calculated by arithmetical rules the
myriads of positions of which the pieces and
pawns are susceptible. They have told us
that a lifetime of many ages would hardly suffice
even to count them. We know, too, that while
the composers of the Orient and the Occident
have displayed during long centuries an admira
ble sublety and ingenuity in the fabrication of
problems, yet the chess stratagems of the last
quarter of a century have never been excelled
in intricacy and beauty. We have witnessed, in
our day, contests brilliant with skillful manoeu
vres unknown to the sagacious and dexterous
chess artists of tho eighteenth century. Within
the last thirty years we have seen the invention
of an opening as correct in theory and as elegant
in proetice as any upon the board, and of which
our fathers were utterly ignorant. The world
is not likely to tire of an amusement which never
repeats itself, of a game which presents to-day
features as novel and charms as fresli as those
with which it delighted, in the morning of histo
ry, the dwellers on the banks of the Ganges and
the Indus.
Sir William Jones has given it as his opinion
that the beautiful simplicity and extreme perfec
tion of the game, prove it to have been the in
vention of a single mind. Later writers ha' e
rejected this hypothesis. In sooth, it seems in
credible that auy one man, by his own unaided
brain, should have produced in its present sym
metrical completeness, a thing at once So com
plex in detail, yet so simple as a whole. It
seems to me that chess grow, as music grew, as
poetry grew. I believe that it sprang from rude
beginnings, and gradually threw off one imper
fection after another, until it ripened into the old
chaturanga, which is essentially our modern
game.
(to be continued.)
FUN, FACT, AND PHILOSOPHY.
(Carefully prepared for the Southern Field and Fireside)
A good lady, who had two children sick with
the measles, wrote to a friend for the best rem
edy. The friend had just received a note from
another lady, inquiring the way to make pickles.
In the confusion, the lady who inquired about
the pickles, received the remedy for the measles,
and the anxious mother with the sick children,
read with horror the following: “ Scald them
three or four times in very hot vinegar, and
sprinkle them well with salt; in a few days
they will be cured.”
Huntsman, of Attercliffe, near Sheffield, was
the first, in 1760, to make cast steel. Ho kept
his process secret for ten years afterwards.
Creditors have better memories than debtors i
and creditors are a superstitious sect —great ob
servers of Set days and times.— Franklin.
A would-be wit having fired off all his stale
jokes without effect, at last exclaimed: “ Why,
you never laugh when I say a good thing.”
“ Don’t I?” retorted Jerrold. “ only try me with
one."
Calicoes or Cotton Cloths, (unmixed with
linen,) were first executed in England, in 1792.
British muslins were first made therein 1781.
The more grand and noble a man is in his ac
tions, the more simple he ought to be in his
conversation and manners.
A gentleman rode up to a public house in the
country, and asked: “Who is the master of
this house?” “lam, sir,” replied the landlord;
“ my wife has been dead about three weeks.”
The “Vatican” at Rome, the palace of the
Pope, is a pile of buildings covering a space of
twelve hundred feet in length, and sixteen hun
dred feet in breadth, on one of the seven hills
of Rome. The site was once the garden of the
Emperor Nero. Early in the sixteenth century,
the Bishop of Rome erected there an humble
dwelling, and this has been added to from time
to time by the Popes, until it is now one of the
most spacious and magnificent palaces, stocked
with paintings, statues, books, and autiquities
of the rarest kind.
Those who court popularity are afraid to speak
the truth.
80TOSS&X YXK&D VXJUBBX9X.
Moliere was asked the reason why, in certain
countries, a king may assume tho crown at four
teen years of age. and cannot marry before
eighteen. “It is,” said Moliere, “ because it is
more difficult to rule a wife than a kingdom.”
i The number of languages spoken is 4,064.
There are on the earth a fltousand millions
I (1,000,000,000) of inhabitants. Os them .73,333,-
j 333 die every year: 91,824 die every day;
i 7,780 every hour, and 60 per minute, or 1 even
second.
An Italian Bishop, who had endured much
persecution with a calm and unruffled temper,
was asked how he attained such a mastery over
! himself. “By making a right use of my eyes,”
said he. “I first look to heaven as the place
whither lam going to live forever. I next look
down upon the earth, and consider how small a
space of it will soon be all that I will occupv or
want. I look around and think how manv are
far more wretched than I am.”
Russell, the singer, was once singing in a
provincial town “The Gambler's 'Wife." and
having uttered the words—
“ Hush! he comes not yet!
The dock strikes one!”
he struck the key to imitate the sudden knell of
the departed hour, when a respectably-dressed
woman ejaculated, to the astonishment of everv
body:
“Wouldn’t I have fetched him home!” -
The Jenny was the earliest improvement on
i spinning after the one-thread wheel, and was
invented by Richard Hargreaves, in 1767.
Indiscretion lays you open to lie read by every
j body, just like an unsealed letter.
A young chap from New York city, visited the
Shakers at Lebanon, and as lie was wandering
through the village, ho met a stout, hearty spec
imen of the Shakers, and thus accosted him:
“Well, Mr. Broadbrim, are vou much of a
Shaker ?”
“ Nay, not much," was the reply, “ but can
do a little in that way.”
Ho then seized the astouished -Gothamite by
the collar, and nearly shook him out of his
boots.
Os all the sciences, arithmetic is perhaps the
most ancient, it having been taught by the
Egyptians six hundred years before Christ.
A woman who wants a charitable heart,
wants a pure heart.
A man sentenced to be hanged, was visited
by his wife, who said:
“My dear, would you like for the children to
see you executed?”
“ No,” he replied.
“ That’s just like you. You never wanted
the children to have any enjoyment.”
Tho speed of the piston of a steam-engine
being taken as 1, tho speed of the crank-pin
with which it is connected is always 1-57. 7f a
double stroke of ten feet, the crank-pin moves
through 31-4158 feet.
When Alexander was giving away estates and
domains with lavish prodigality, before setting
forth on his eastward march, Perdiccas asked
him what ho reserved for himself. “Hope,”
was the sole reply. And the whole secret of his
wondrous career of insatiable conquest, fear
less intrepidity and boundless aspiration, lies
wrapped up in that sublime answer.
It is said that the first time a horse ever trot
ted in public in America fora stake was in 1818,
when a match was made for SI,OOO that no
horse could be produced that could trot a mile
in three minutes! A horse named “ Boston
Blue ” won the stake, contrary to general ex
pectation, by trotting the mile in a few seconds
less than the prescribed time.
As it sometimes rains when the sun shines, so
there may bo joy in a saint’s heart when there
are tears in his eyes.
PERSONAL.
—Mrs. Fanny Kemble Butler is in Boston.
—The Boston Transeript says that Senator
Sumner is expected home next week.
—lt is said that Madame Jenny Lind Gold
schmidt contemplates returning to the practice
of her profession as a public singer.
—Mr. Thackeray has returned to London, to
commence his now story for Smith & Elder. His
Italian tour did not extend beyond Genoa.
—Wo are informed that a new American op
era, founded upon Mr. Longfellow’s Miles
Standish, will soon be produced. The music is
by Mr. Kielblock, the libretto by Mr. C. Cong
don, of the Tribune.
The Mobile Mercury, of the 19th inst., says:
“ Ex-President Fillmore has written to M’me
Lo Vert of his expectation of coming Southward
the coming winter, in which event it is his in
tention to pay her a visit at her home in Mobile.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, in a lecture at
tho Trcmont Temple, Boston, spoke of John
Brown as “ The Saint, whose fate yet hangs in
suspense, but whose martyrdom, if it shall bo
perfected, will make the gallows as glorious as
the cross.”
Napoleon. —A Paris correspondent says the
Emperor Napoleon, since his return from Biar
ritz, looks ill and care-worn, considerably aged
since his departure, and so much stouter in fig
ure that his head seems fast sinking into his
shoulders, liko people suffering from weakness.
The physicians attending Senator Douglas
have formally stated in writing, that his disease
is gout in tho stomach, to relieve themselves
from tho professional responsibility of a contra
diction which some of his friends prompted.
Senator Douglas is improving, and the crisis is
considered as past, though care is still required.
Mrs. Douglas is gradually convalescing.
—An exchange contains the following:—
“ John C. Fremont headed the list of subscri
bers in California, to the monument to the late
Senator Broderick. He gives $500.”
Tho Charleston Courier adds the following
statement, brief 1 but what a volume of crushing
rebuke does it contain:
“The mother of John C. Fremont was interred
in this city, and her grave, wo believe, is not
marked.”
Surviving “ Women of the Revolution.”—
There are only 35 surviving widows (out of 5000
admitted) who were pensioned for the services of
their husbands in tho Revolution. Three reside
in Virginia, viz: Sally Goodall, aged 105, Green
county ; Sally Stewart, aged 100, Appomattox
county ; and Ann Taylor, aged 102, Madison
county. Among the oldest are Sarah Fitzpat
rick, of Smith county, Tenn., aged 105, and Win
nifred nolly, of Halifax county, North Carolina,
aged 104.
— Gen. Jackson a Schoolmaster. —A con
temporary informs us that Old Hickory began
his career as a teacher of an “ Old Field School”
in South Carolina, and in that vocation earned
iL* money which supported him while he stud
ied iAw. This is one among the many curious
and unexpected facts presented in Mr. Parton’s
forthcoming Life of Gen. Jackson, the first vol
ume of which is now in the hands of the printer.
Many eminent Americans have begun life as
teachers, but we hardly expected to find the in
domitable hero of New Orleans a school teacher.
—The Parents of Cromwell.—Thos. Crom
well, the Lord Protector’s great grandson, was
a grocer on Snowhill, and his son, Oliver, the
last male heir of the family, an attorney of Lon
don. Several of the Protector's grand-daugh
ters’ children sank to the lowest class of socie
ty. One, after seeing her husband die in the
workhouse of a little Suffolk town, died herself
a pauper, leaving two daughters, the elder the
wife of a shoemaker, and the younger of a butch
er’s son, who had been her fellow-servant. An
other of the Great Oliver's great-grand-daugh
ters had two children, who earned the ; r scanty
bread by the humblest industry, the son as a
small-workiug jeweler, and the daughter as the
mistress of a little school at Maidenhall.
Wasßunyan a Plagiarist? —A London wri
| tor says: “ An extraordinary statement is in cir
; dilation respecting Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress,
i which is neither more nor less than that this
celebrated work was not written by John Bun
yan, but that the entire story is made up from
an ancient manuscript. Miss Catherine Isa
bella Curt has published a translation from a
French manuscript in the British Museum, of
: the Pylegremage of the Sowle, by G. de Guile
| ville, a Churchmau who flourished in the fif
| teenth century. A translation of the original
| work was printed by Caxton, in 1483. and
1 Banyan's Pilgrim's Progress is said to be nearly
j a verbatim copy of this extremely rare book. A
recent comparison of the two works, however,
j has been made, and the resemblance between
j the two books is not such that the charge can
|be proved—as might have been expected.”
Washington Irving. —lt is said that Mr. Ir
' vino has received for his works during the last
I ten years seventy-five thousand dollars. A cor
respondent of the Boston Post says: “ A curi
ous scrap of secret literary history is the fact
that, at the expiration of Irving's contract with
Lea & Blanchard, in 1844, there occurred a hia
tus of five years, into which no other publisher
ventured to leap. During this time the genial
author of ‘ Sunnyside' (then in Spain) imagined
himself obsolete and forgotten, his works being
almost entirely out of the market, and no propo
sals being made to him for their re-publication.
In 1849 Mr. G. P. Putnam tendered to Mr. Ir
ving a formal offer to assume tho re-issue of the
various works, in uniform and attractive style,
which proposition the great writer accepted
without suggesting a single change of terms.
And the immense sales I have mentioned are
the frui.ts of the contract then entered into.”
—A writer in Once a Week, gives tho follow
ing account of the death of the great Pitt, (23d
Jan.. 180 G —M. 46):
“ Pitt died at his house on Putney Heath,
near the spot where Canning and Castlereagh
fought the duel, and in a very neglected state,
none of Ids family or friends being with him at
the time. One, who was sincerely attached to
him, hearing of his illness, rode from London to
see him. Arriving at his house he rang the bell
at the entrance-gate, but no one came. Dis
mounting, he made his way to the hall door, and
repeatedly rang the bell, which no one answer
ed. He then entered the house, wandered from
room to room, till at last he discovered Pitt on a
bed—dead, and entirely neglected. It is sup
posed, that such was Ins poverty, he had not
been able to pay the wages of his aervants, and
and that they had absconded, taking with them
what they could.”
The Insanity of Gerrit Smith. —A gentle
man who saw and conversed with Gerrit Smith,
shortly after the affair at Harper’s Ferry, told us
that he was insane—not merely excited by fear
and agitated by the emotions which his complic
ity in the affair might produce, but mentally de
ranged. His eye was wild, and his appearance
haggard, and his motions spasmodic and uncer
tain, but unceasingly restless.
He was in constant fear of being arrested and
carried to Virginia—and suspected his friends of
an intention to betray him into the hands of jus
tice. When the cruel electioneering hoax was
circulated that Gov. Wise had issued a requisi
tion upon Gov. Morgan for him as a fugitive, he
seems to bave become so frantic, that his friends
saw no other hope than to send him to an asy
lum.
We make an extract from a private letter
upon this subject, which gives some particulars
of this sad end of a well meant but misdirected
career, fatal in its consequences alike to him and
to all with whom he involved in his fanaticisms :
Utica, Nov. B.—My Dear Sir : Gerrit Smith
was brought to our Asylum yesterday, and is
quite deranged, intellectually as well as morally,
and he is also feeble physically. He refused to
take an anodyne, alleging that they only wanted
to put him to sleep for the purpose of boxing
him up and taking him to Virginia. When in
formed that he must take it voluntarily or by
compulsion, he opened the door and screamed
(into the hall) “ I protest 1” He then took it.
NEWS SUMMARY.
Codification of the Laws. —Thomas. R. R.
Cobb, of Athens, and Richard H. Clark, of Al
bany, were, on Saturday last, appointed Commis
sioners to Codify the Laws of Georgia; in the
place of the Hon. H. V. Johnson and Iverson L.
Harris, Esq., who declined the appointment.
Messrs. Cobb and Clark had no opposition.
Savannah, Nov. 23.—Hie Jury in the Wan
derer case, brought in a verdict at 12 o’clock to
day of “ Not Guilty.”
New Orleans, Nov. 21.—Tho sloop-of-war
Saratoga, from Pensacola, is below for the pur
pose of watching Fillibusters.
Sackville, Nov. 23.—The steamship reported
aground proves to be the Indian, from Liverpool.
Two boats are missiug, and three persons only
are known to be lost. The steamship broke
amidships, but there are reasonable hopes enter
tained that some of her cabin furniture, Ac., may
be saved. No particulars are yet known about
the disaster.
It has cost Uncle Sam some SBO,OOO to substi
tute benches- for desks in the House of Repre
sentatives, when a thousand ought to have been
more than enough to cover every expense.
The Great Eastern’s Delay. —The follow
ing letter from Mr. Cumberland, the agent of the
Great Eastern Company in Portland Maine, con
firms the news already received announcing the
determination of the directors to postpone the
sailing of the Great Eastern:
Great Ship Company, )
Portland, Nov. 5, 1859. )
To his Honor the Mayor of Portland—Sir: I
liasten to inform you that I have received a com
munication from the secretary of the company in
London, stating that “ the Great Eastern will not
proceed to America for the present.”
The directors have been influenced in arriving
at this conclusion as the fact that the unfortunate
accident which occurred between the Thames
and Hortland has delayed the departure of the
I ship until the American season has been lost;
: it has therefore been thought advisable to com
plete equipment of the ship in ever)’ detail in
stead of deferring it until after the return from
America, as previously contemplated. I have
the honor to be,
Your most obedient servant,
Fred. Cumberland.
Methodist Conference. —The Alabama Con
ference of the M. E. Church, South, will hold its
next session at Eufaula, commencing Novemlier
\ 30th.— [Marion, (Ala.) American, Nov. 17.
Harper’s Ferry Insurrection—Alarm—
Threatened Rescue, Ac.—Washington, Nov.
17.—There is great excitement in Richmond and
Alexandria, in consequence of a report that an
j armed force was in tho vicinity of Charlestown,
; for the purpose of attempting to rescue Brown.
The military have been called out. and will leavo
1 for Charlestown early to-morrow morning.
Washington, Nov. 18.—Nothing has yet been
received here to justify the report that a large
force of armed Abolitionists were near Charles
town. There was another large fire in that
neighborhood last night, and the troops were
called out, expecting an attack, but none was
made.
Three companies from Alexandria went up
this morning to Charlestown, to strengthen the
force that is already there.
Tbe Government to-day forwarded two thou
| sand pounds of powder, and several hundred
pounds of Minnie balls to Harper's Ferry.
Richmond, Ya., Nov. 19.—The Court of Ap
peals of Yirginia refused to award a writ of er
' ror to tho Circuit Court of Jefferson county in
i the case of John Brown. He (Brown) will
j therefore be hung on the 2d of December.
Col. Davis has telegraphed to Governor Wise
that a large body of armed men are approaching
from the direction of Wheeling, Va.
A regiment of four hundred strong has left
Richmond in an extra train, and Gov. Wise is a
passenger. More troops have been ordered to
hold themselves in readiness.
Charlestown, Nov. 19. —Col. Davis has call
ed for more troops. A rumor says that letters
have been intercepted cheering Brown and his
associated culprits, and giving assurances that
they shall bo rescued. The property of several
of the jurors have been burned. Troops leave
Richmond tor Charlestown in the morning.—
There is considerable excitement here.
Washington, Nov. 20.—Gov. Wise, with six
hundred State troops, passed through here en
route for Charlestown to-day. He (Wise) does
not believe the rumor of the approach of an
armed force, but by his presence and an impo
sing force it will give a feeling of security to the
population, protect the prisoners and prevent
any futilo attempt for their rescue.
Tho latest accounts from Charlestown report
that all was quiet.
Harper’s Ferry, Nov. 19—11 P. M.—Various
rumors have been afloat here to-day as to the
approach of a body of armed men from Ohio in
the direction of Wheeling. The respectable
source from which the report originated has cre
ated some excitement about Charlestown, but
there is none here. Our people are very quiet,
not expecting any attempt at a rescue of tho
prisoners. Nor do they fear any, however for
midable, liecause they are prepared for any
emergency. The numerous fires about Charles
town have induced the citizens to anticipate
some annoyance, hence they are more easily ex
cited ; but no one is at all afraid of tho result,
even if an attempt should be made. Col. Davis
has made the most ample provision for any num
ber of the enemy who may make a call. I learn
that more troops are being demanded from tho
Governor, but this may be as much lo protect
the prisoners from the populace as anything
else. There is, as far as I can learn, no cause to
apprehend danger.
Nov. 20.—Gov. Wise arrived at half past 4
o'clock this afternoon, in a special train, with
full four hundred volunteer soldiery, embracing
nine companies from Richmond and yicinity.—
He left about 6 o’clock for Charlestown, with
four of the companies, and the remainder will
follow'in the morning. They have full camp
equipage with them, and it is his intention to
form a military encampment at Charlestown, un
til after the executions. Arrangements have
been made to obtain supplies of provisions for
them from Baltimore.
The excitement on Saturday morning was
caused first by the receipt of a rumor that a des
perate fight was going on in Clarke county, be
tween a party of strangers and citizens; and the
Alexandria Artillery, which was then at Win
chester, was despatched with a number of arm
ed volunteers to the seat of the rumored dis
turbances. Whilst this excitement was at its
height, and before tho report was discovered to
be without foundation, a gentleman named Smith
Crane arrived here from Belair, near Wheeling,
where he reported a number of strange men to
be congregating, between two of whom he acci
dentally overheard a conversation, the purport
of which was that a body of five hundred men
were to seize a train of cars at that place, rush
through to Harper's Ferry, and attempt the
rescue of Brown and his companions. lie im
mediately set out for Harper’s Ferry, to apprize
the inhabitants of what he had overheard.
On reaching Charleston he reported to Col.
Davis, who immediately telegraphed to Gov.
Wise for five hundred more troops. The troops
have arrived. Gov. Wise has gone to Charles
town, and all is again quiet and will doubtless
remain so.
“ Kansas Work ” at the South. —We were
informed, some days ago, by a geutleman whose
statements are entitled to credit, that seventeen
gin houses, with their contents, have been des
troyed in the course of the last two weeks, in the
county of Talbot alone. The number repells all
idea of accident, and especially when we recol
lect that incendiarism was one of the plans of
“old Brown,” and that particular region was
specially designated on his map. A further
statement gives confirmation to this conclusion.
A letter reached Milledgeville a few days ago,
announcing the belief that a squad of Brown’s
emissaries were concealed in the neighborhood
of Pine Mountain, Meriwether county, and that
an express had been sent to Talbotton for a force
to scour that region and capture the miscreants,
if possible.
There is but little doubt that detachments of
Brown’s gang have travelled through and set on
foot plans in nearly all the Southern States; but
with due watchfulness on the part of our people,
we do not think there is the slighest cause for
alarm. A few bad characters may ho seduced
into such plots, but we have no idea that suffi
cient co-operation could be attained to inaugu
rate anything like a serious movement —[<Sa-
vannah Republican.
Wheeling, Nov. 20.—A1l is quiet here, and
there is no enemy in sight. Belair, where the
armed men is reported to have been seen is four
miles below here.
Charlestown, Nov. 22.—1 tis reported that
Gov. Wise received dispatches from Gov. Chase,
and Marshal Johnson, of Ohio, stating that from
six hundred to a thousand men, under John
Brown, Jr., are organiziug for the rescue of Os
sa wattamie Brown.
Gov. Wise, in the face of these telegrams,
I sends two hundred troops home.
; Washington, Nov. 23.—Gov. 'Gist of South
Carolina has tendered Gov. Wise of Virginia,
any amount of Military aid, which was thank
fully declined by Gov. Wise.
Arrests at Culpepper C. lI.—A. telegraphic dis
pa tchfrom Culpepper Court Ilourse, Va., dated
Tuesday aflernoont says: “ A number of ped
lars and suspicious characters have been arrest
! ed here of late, and it is the intention of our
citizens to put all strangers who cannot give a
satisfactory account of themselves in eonfiine
ment. 1
Vigilance. Committees. —A Vigilance Commit
tee has been formed in Barbour county, Va., and
rumor says that all Abolitionists are earnestly
invited to leave the country in thirty days. In
> Alabama, a similar warning has been given at
all the “ crossed ” places on Brown’s map.
Capt. John Broicn's Wife. —Mrs. Mary A.
Brown, wife of Captain Brown, now under sen
tence of death in Charlestown, Va., arrived in
this city yesterday morning, from Philadelphia,
intending to start to Harper’s Ferry in the train
this morning. In the course of the afternoon,
! however, she received a dispatch from the North
requesting her to return immediately to Phila
, delphia, and she left again for her home in the
evening train. She is about thirty-tive years of
age, very tall and masculine, and was evidently
in great distress of mind. A letter from
Charlestown, published in the New York Tri-
I lune, gives the probable reason of her return.
I It says that a dispatch from Boston was re
j ceived there on Saturday morning by Mr. Sen
nott. It said: “John Brown’s wishes to goon
and see Idm. Can you obtain permission for
her?” This was answered affirmatively, but
when the matter was mentioned to Brown, he •
directed that this message should be immediate
ly sent: “Do not, for God’s sake, come here
now. John Brown."— [Baltimore American ,
Tuesday.
Another Denial. —Gov. Chase, of Ohio, is out
in a declaration to the effect that he had no
knowledge of Old Brown’s intention to create
an insurrection among slaves, but admits that he
contributed money in aid of “freedom” in Kan
sas.
Brotvn's Philanthropy. —According to Old
Brown's story, his family, and those of his sons,
are very poor and destitute. It appears that,
while ho and his sons were carrying on the war
against negro slavery, their families were left to
starvo at home. This is a great deal like the
philanthropy of the day—it can be moved so
sensitively by distant and imaginary ovils as to
entirely forget the first duties and obligations
which it owes at home. Brown would have
been moro honorably and philanthropically em
ployed in keeping the wolf from his own door,
instead of trying to raise the hyena in the
homes of the Virginians.— [Baltimwe Sun.
New Orleans, Nov. 18.— Tbolndianola Cou
rier of the 12th, says that the express from the
Sheriff of Nueces county had arrived, who re
ports that Cortinas, with 1500 men and nine
cannons, was in full possession of the Rio Grande
from Brownsville to Roma, and his forces are
scouring the country. All the mail communica
tion west of Nueces has been cut off. Corpus
Christi, however was not threatened.
Capt. Totin, with one hundred and fifty men
from Corpus Christi, had been defeated, and it
was feared cut off. The reports were conflicting
and probably exaggerated, as no Brownsville
dates were given.
St. Louis, Nov. 20.—Tlio Republican's special
correspondent frem Washington, says that the
Government have determined upon the seizure
of the Northern States of Mexico. The troops
from “ Old Point Comfort,” and two companies
from Leavenworth, have beer, ordered to
Brownsville immediately for that purpose.
Washington, Nov. 20.—1 tis asserted that
there was an extraordinary Cabinet meeting yes
terday. The Cabinet were unanimous in favor
of the seizure of the Northern States of Mexico.
Intelligence received by the Arizona, is to the
effect that Brownsville is safe. Capt. Tobin,
with his company of eighty Texan Rangers ar
rived on the 13th, and thirty men from the Re
venue Cutter Dodge. Fifty Artillerymen from
Baton Rouge left Brazos for Brownsville on the
16th. These added to the former force, will;
make about three hundred regular troops aud
volunteers at Brownsville.
On the arrival of Capt. Tobin, Cortinas’ chief
officer was held as a prisonor. He was ordered
to be hung without a trial, and the order was
promptly executed.
Washington, Nov. 22.—Orders were issued on
yesterday countermanding the previous orders
for troops to proceed to the Rio Grande. This
seems to contradict the statement that our gov
ernment intends to quarter any largo body of
troops on or near Mexican territory.
New Orleans, Nov. 23.—The government
quartermaster here has received orders to pro
vide transportation for a large number of troops
to the Rio Grande. Intelligence has been re
ceived that Gen. Twiggs had issued orders for a
section ot light artillery, four companies of in
fantry and two of cavalry, under Major Heintzell
man, to march to Fort Monll on the Neuces, and
await instructions.
The New JTork Times gives the following
statement respecting the leader of the recent
attacks on Brownsville, in Texas:
Public attention is at this moment diverted
from the outbreak at Harper’s Ferry to one of
another sort in the region of Brownsville, Texas,
headed by Cortinas, said to be a Mexican. The
extent of this guerilla chieftain's operations, and
the pertinacity with which he pursues liis mur
derous plans, would lead to the belief that he is
giving free course to deep-seated and long
smothered feelings of revenge. If the informa
tion we have at hand of this man is correct, and
we have every reason to believe it is, such is the
true state of the case.
“ Cortinas is about forty-five years of age, and
was born at a ranche on the Texas side of the
Rio Grande, known as Edinburg, some ninety
miles above Brownsville. During the Texas
war with Mexico, the family of Cortinas was,
according to bis story, robbed and unmercifully
treated by the Americans. Sirce that period ho
has led rather a predatory life, sometimes at
peace, but in the main robbing, stealing horses,
and in various ways evincing liis hatred of the
whites.
A few years since one of his friends or com
panions was executed at Brownsville, and Corti
nas himself was imprisoned at that place eigh
teen months ago, and on his escape or release
he vowed signal vengeance against the sheriff
and other citizens of the town by whom he con
sidered himself grievously wronged. It it in ful
fillment of his oath of revenge that Cortinas is
now, with other disaffected Texans of Mexican
birth, half-breeds, Indians and ruffians of various
grades, endeavoring to lay waste Brownsville
and its vicinity. This affair does not originate
in any ill-feeling on the part of Mexicans on the
other side of the Rio Grande; and whether Cor
tinas or any of his band have in reality experien
ced unjust treatment fronj their fellow citizens of
Texas, woof course do not pretend to decide.
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