The daily republic. [volume], July 11, 1853, Image 2

About The daily republic. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1853-1853

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tHE REPUBLIC.
*" WA8HI NGTJJN:
MOflfDAY MORNING, JULY 11, 1853.
FrrttMe Party Divisions.
* It scarcely require* the skill ?f Profeseui
Eerv to foretell a disturbance in the political
t elements vhen the indications are too plain to
be mistaken by the most ordinary political me
^ teorologist.
From Maine to California the atmosphere is
rife with discontent. Mr. Burks having pro
uonnced against the bounty system, lias been
soundly rated for his audacity. The Lagisla
tore of New York has given a very scanty and
ragged rote upon resolutions approving the
action of the Administration.
The State Convention of Georgia, which
nominated Mr. Jenkins as the Union or Ue
publican candidate for Governor, very clearly
repudiated some of the more immaterial issues
which have heretofore divided the Whig and
Democratic parties.
The conveution seems determined not to di
vide the State upon those measures of legislative
expediency which, with the right to turn
the treasury key, have fur some years past
constituted the chief distinction between Whigs
and Democrats.
Nor are these symptoms of dissatisfaction
confined to the instances enumerated. The
j Tribune, a leading Whig newspaper, intimated
some time since that Dew issues would arise tt
divide parties. Recently the St. Louis Democrat
expressed the opinion that the ronte of the
Pacific railroad is a question above party, li
commends the Baltimore American (Whig)
because it "allows.no political feeling to interfere
with a subject which is above party?
which is national in its character?which ia
identified with the wealth and power, the glory
and permanence of our institutions, and
which is now to become the leading and atv
sorbing measure of national policy. Congresi
is hereafter to be occupied with this subject
and it requires no prophet to tell that then
will be a marked division of parties upon it?
one national, me omer sectional?ana mat party
organization will be brakea-ap and overthrown
in this paramount question."
The same paper moreover openly charges
."that the real cause ofdifficulty with Mexico is
' because a route for a southern not a national
' road that is wanted; that want now extends
' beyond the Mesilla valley, and includes the
' whole valley of the Gila. The Topographical
' Bureau has found out, at the end of some yean
' surveying, what everybody else knew before?
and that is, that no road can be made down the
' Gila; that the nearest approach to it is th<
' route that Cooke's wagons went, which is one
' hundred miles deep into Sonora, almost to its
' capital, Arispk ! almost to latitude 31, and fai
' enough south to include the head ot the rivei
' Man Pedro, the main southern fork of the Gila
"This is certainly showing a great passion foi
a southern road, and is well calculated tc
' awaken the apprehensions of those who wish
' a national road to the Pacific?a road on na
' tional principles, to suit the present nation ol
I ' the United States. Now we should not be in
' favor of making a railroad through Sonora
* even if it belonged to us, much less to forct
' Mexico to grant it to us for that purpose, unda
' the penalty if being blotted from the map."
The lines italicised by us in the last para
graph contain evidence that this Democratic
paper will not sustain the Administration ir
maintaining the American title to the Mesilh
valley.
In regard to the Cuban question, the Evening
Post has entered a distinct protest against
the policy of the Administration as announced
by the Union, and given notice that the Democratic
party will not unite in sustaining any
intervention for the support of slavery in the
Island of Cuba. In consequence of this and
other offences, the Post and Buffalo Republic
have been duly excommunicated by the Union,
and those daring journals seem to treat the buli
in a very contemptuous manner.
Whether these latter difficulties have arisen
because the bonds of party are not strong
enough to restrain sectional impulses, or
whether the quails and manna hare proven insufficient
to satisfy the turbulent followers
whom General Pjerce is leading into the
official Canaan, we cannot say. The facts,
however, speak for themselves.
With these symptoms of insubordination,
there is in hie magazine of events many question
of sufficient potency to disorder, by their
explosions, the battalions of party, and to dislocate
the most judicious plans of political strategy;
and such an explosion may take place at
any moment, or from any accident.
The Government papers are of course indignant
at any proposal to discuss any other subjects
than those which have heretofore divided
the country. They consider the much mooted
questions, whether a forge or cotton-mill may
be legally worked under the protection incidentally
afforded by a revenue tariff; with
the corollary inquiry whether it is the duty of
Congress "to discriminate against protection,"
as yet unsettled, and invite their ancient
antagonists to renew the fight upon their
decision.
The Union particularly insists that the
T\nlis*ir fit 1 hp Whirrs is fn lil/o t hp
Apaches, and that they will become more difficult
to conquer. It fears a cat in the meal
tub, and warns the Democrats lest they enter
their camp in disguise and sow sedition and
defeat around them.
But all this will signify nothing. Although
the Whigs may not hare the temerity to aspire
to office, they will entertain their own
opinions of the comparative obligations of their
duty and political interest*. The Southern
Whigs may have the same repugnance to coalesce
with the Freesoilers that the Democratic
adherents of the platform profess. They have
not the same hold upon their Northern Freesoil
allies that the Democratic Administration
and its platform supporters boast of.
The Freeeoil appointees of the Administration
hold office upon condition that they do1
not disturb the Platform Compromise; bet the
> I
|
L- -
Whig* of Gatrgia bare no power to restrain
the Freeaoil Whig* from agitation by admiuistehng
the sacramental sop of office to them.
We are satisfied that the signs portend novel
and important combinations of party, against
which those who are not satisfied may rail or
' remoiartrate without effect When the thon
> ?ler ef popular warfare arises, the voice of the
political partisan is inaudible.
Congress and the Public Business.
The people well remember the scandalous
manner in which the public business was delayed
and baffled during the last two sessions
of Congress, in the Senate there was a degree
of decorum and propriety observed, but as
to the other branch of the Federal Legislature,
it is not too much to say that a more disorder!y
and incompetent assemblage of the same number
of men was never got together for purposes
of law making than were collected in that
House which expired on the 4lh of M&Tch.
To be sure, the evils to which we allude were
very much aggravated by the organization of
that body. A Speaker like Mr. Boyd, and a
party leader like Mr. Houstom, would embarrass
the business of any House ; but a House
inti couiu perpetrate an organization tuat derated
two such individuals to its highest places
must have been bent on turning the business
of legislation into a farce. It is too much to
thitik of without laughter?the idea of the col,
lected wisdom of this great country represented
in the persons of gentlemen to whom Heaven
had granted stalwart frames and sonorous
voices, but unfortunately not a single spark of
iutelleetual illumination. What would John
Randolph hare said, if he had revisited the
earth, to find Houston, of Alabama, occupying
his old place at the head of the Committee
of Ways and Means?
Still, it was not entirely owing to the incaI
pacity of these functionaries that the public
business was so scandalously neglected as it
was during the last two sessions of Congress.
They could not have mismanaged so misera'
bly if they had not been aided and sustained on
the floor by kindred and congenial spirits, who
!1. I il 1 -f .L- I *L
availed lueuuieiTts ui me ruies ui me uuuoo iu
stifle and obstruct legislation. There was no
invention or cleverness in the movements of
these gentlemen. Their tricks were as old as
legislation, but were the less unworthy on that
account. It is remarkable that seventy-five
years ago Mr. Hosmek, a delegate from Connecticut
to the Congress of 1778, wrote to the
Governor of that State in terms very similar to
' those which the Republic has habitually eraployed
for two years past in criticising the
conduct of Mr. Boyd's House of Representatives.
We find his letter in the collection recently
published by Messrs. Little & Brown,
of Boston, with the title of Correspondence
of the American Revolution, edited by Mr.
Sparks. The following extracts may suggest
useful reflection to those who are disposed to
profit by it:
" I wish I could with truth assure your excellency
that in my view our atfairs are in a happy
train, and tliat Congress has adopted wise and effectual
measures to restore our wounded public crer
dit, and to establish the United States, their libl
erty, union, and happiness, upon a solid and per(
manent foundation. I dare not do it while my
, heart is overwhelmed with the most melancholy
, presages. The idleness and captiousncss of some
gentlemen, maugre the wishes and endeavors of
an honest and industrious majority, in my apprehension,
threaten the worst consequences. The
' Southern States are fixed against holding Congress
1 more than once a day. Our hours are fixed from
1 nine in the forenoon to two in the afternoon. If
these were punctually attended, it would be, perhaps,
as much as could be spared from commit
; tees and other business which must be done out of
j Congress hours. Nine States make a Congress.
Some States have delegates so very negligent, so
much immersed in the pursuit of pleasure or business,
that it is very rare we can make a Congress
before near eleven o'clock; and this evil seems
incapable of remedy, as Congress has no means to
: compel gentlemen's attendance, and those who
, occasionally delay are callous to admonition and
I reproof, which have been often tried in vain.
" When we are assembled, several gentlemen
i have such a knack of starting questions of order,
. raising debates upon critical, captious, and triflng
amendments, protracting them, by long speeches,
by postponing, calling for the previous question,
and other arts, that it is almost impossible to get
an important question decided at one sitting, and .
if it is put over to another day, the field is open 1
to be gone over again, precious time is lost, and j
the public business left undone. I am sorry to ^
add that the opposition between States, the old j
prejudices of North against South, and South
against North, seem to be reviving, and arc in- '
dustriously heightened by some who, I fear, would
be but too well pleased to see our Union blasted,
and our independence broken and destroyed."? i
Vol. 2, pp. 197, 198.
The evils complained of in the foregoing
paragraphs have been growing more and more
intolerable till they reached, we think, iheir
climax in the last Congress. How much time
was lost during the last two sessions in
" starting questions of order, raising debates
upon critical, captious, and trifling amendments,
protracting them by long speeches, by
postponing, calling for the previous question,
and other actt"?among which may be
reckoned that most efficient time-killer, the
demand for the yeas and nays? To say that
nine-tenths of the actual time of their sessions
were occupied in this manner by the last House
of Representatives, we are satisfied would be t
? moderate and just statement of the lamentable
and disgraceful fyct. How arc these abuses i
to be corrected? One way is, |o make them <
familiar to the people, and to brand the iodi- J
viduals who degrade the representative char- \
acter by reaortiog to sunh pettifogging and dis- I
reputable tricks. We tried this to some ex- 1
tent last winter, and we think with useful
results. We shall not lose sight of the (
subject during the recess; and if we And the <
evil prevailing at the next session, we shall i
not fail to expose and comment on it. Mean- 1
while, we hope that both constituents and re
presentativea wiil " pause and ponder."
European News. <
The arrival of the Bteamer Atlantic at New 1
York furnishes four days later intelligence j
from Europe, s "ketch of which will be found
under our telegraphic head, ,
The New York Evening Pa?f is facetious
over the Union'* late quasi ball of exoommu
aication, and thinks that the organ has undertaken
an extensive work in exscinding the
Freesoil prints of the State of New York from
the true Democratic church. We quote the
Poti't remarks:
A Heavy Job fur Hot Weather.-?The
Washington Union has been cutting out work
for itself. Our example, in publishing the edict
of political excommunication fulminated against
us by the Union the other day, has been followed
by the Albany Argus, which expresses its surprise
and regret that the edict did not include a large
number of journals in this State, quite as deserving
of such a fate us the Buffalo Republic or the
Evening Post. The Argus adds:
"We allude to such prints as the Albany Atlas,
Oswego Palladium, St Lawrence Republican,
et cetera, et retera. all of them as her?f icj,l un/l l.,r
pocritical as the Evening Post and Republic, and
to such ]>artisans as are represented by those extraordinary
Democrats in the Assembly of this
State, who, when invited to unite in an expression
of approval of the salieut doctrines and
avowals of the Inaugural, ran out of the House,
headed by the speaker, to evade the vote !"
The Union will see here how one good-natured
thing draws on the necessity of doing another.
Those who scribble for that print must gird up
their loins, and go to work in earnest. There is a
great deal for them to do. Here are forty or fifty
journals to be turned out of the Democratic party;
a1 large number of Democratic members of the
New York Legislature, and all the immense constituency
of these members. There is work
enough of this sort to keep the Union busy till the
next meeting of Congress, and it is heavy work
for hot weather. Perhaps the Argus will lighten
the labor by furnishing a list of the heretical journals
alluded to in the two et ctteras, and in preparing
articles of denunciation and excision against
the petty offenders, leaving the Union to pronounce
sentence upon the more hardened and audacious
enemies. By this friendly division of
labor the task may, according to our computation,
be finished about the end of dog-days.
A Sixpenny Savings Institution has been
chartered and has gone into operation in New
York, whore deposits as small as five cents are
received. Zadock Pratt is president, and John
A. Dix and a number of other names equally respectable
in a pecuniary point of view are included
in its list of directors.
When are we to have a chartered Savings Institution
in Washington?
Ex-President Tyler's Health.?In correction
of certain rumors to the contrary, the New
York Herald, is authorized to state that the only
ailment of ex-President John Tyler is the natural
infirmity of approaching age, and that otherwise
his health is as good as it has been for some years
past.
Mr. Wise, who is dubbed a professor, (of balloons,
we suppose,) was to have made an aerial
ascension at Pittsburgh on the 4th instant, but his
balloon not having been sufficiently inflated, he
failed to go up. A Mr. Kinney was blamed for
the failure. The mob, as is usual on such occasions,
was disposed to be unruly.
Judge Warner Resigned.?Hon. Hiram Warner,
judge of the supreme court of Georgia, has
resigned his office, and Hon. Ebcnczer Starnes
has been tendered the appointment. The Hon.
Andrew J. Miller has been appointed to the bench
of the Supreme Court, vacated by the promotion
of Judge Starnes.
A Fire in Dismal Swamp, in the lower part of
Virginia, has been raging for some days. The
fire was visible at Norfolk, twenty-five miles distant,
and the smoke much annoyed that and other
nlU I V'ullUllIg IWUlllll^O,
For Congress.?Hon. Richard J. Bowie, Gen.
Thomas F. Bowie, and Dr. Joseph Isaac Duvall,
have been severally named by their friends as
suitable persons to receive the Whig nomination
for Congress in the sixth district of Maryland.
Table Ware for the White House.?A superb
breakfast, dinner, dessert, and tea service,
has just been completed by Messrs. H&ughwout &.
Dailey, together with a full set of richly-cut and
engraved table-glass, got up to the special order
of General Pierce, President of the United States.
The exquisite manner in which these goods arc
finished would do credit to any of the royal porcelain
and glass manufactories of Europe. It is a
matter of pride and self-congratulation that to one
of our citizens is accorded tno honor of supplying
the first fancy decorated American service of China
ever made for the White House. When samples
of European and American manufacture were submitted
to Mrs. Pierce for selection, she expressed j
a decided preference for the Jnttcr, as being in
better taste, and more elegant. The manufacturers,
and especially the late firm of Woram &
Haughwout, and their two managing artists,
Messrs. Maddock & Leigh, are in some measure
rewarded for the great efforts that have been
nado and expense incurred in bringing this
iranch of the fine arts (hitherto cultivated with
jreatest success in foreign countries) to such a decree
of perfection. The dining service numbers
450 pieces, and the glass, fifty-five dozen. The
whole cost is $1,500.??\*. Y, Jour, Com,, Of/i.
Lightning Rons.?The Scientific American, in
some remarks on this subject, gives tlio following
as the essentials of an effectual rod:
"A thick iron or copper rod extending above
the highest part of a house, continuous in its connexion,
perfectly insulated, kept separate and distant
from any large metallic body, and tcrminatiner
in a moist oart of the earth, such as a nool
or well, is a perfect lightning conductor."
The same journal says that copper is preferable
to iron, though it is somewhat more expensive.
Where the chimneys of a house arc not near together,
branch rods pointed with gold should run
from each to a common stein.
The Papal Nrvcio at Paris, Monseigucur
Antonio Garibaldi, Bishop of Mira, died on the
17th of June, with apoplexy, while conversing
with his friends,
The official majority of Smith over Snowden
in the late election in the seventh district of Virginia
is 291.
The Fredericksburg (Va.) Mies, a Whig semiweekly
paper, has been purchased by A. Alcxanier
Little, esq., who is now the sole editor and
proprietor. The retiring editor says that the repui-ttlon
of Mr. Little as a ripe scholar, his fealty
lo Whig principles, and his invincible energy, are
ruarantees that the Mnvs, under lps control, will
fully maintain its former position among the Whig
: i- ..r tt:
|Ouriuiib ui v iigima.
Thf. Stockiioi.dkrs of the Philadelphia. Wilrnington,
and Baltimore railroad met at Wilmington
on the 30th Juno, when they accepted unaniwoiudy
the act of the Legislature of Maryland,
seding to them the right of building a brjdge over
the Htittquehanna, for which purpose they resolved
to issue new stock at $40 per share.
Cott'C Fal*ei.y Packeit.?The Memphis Enfuirrr
says that d "jreat deal of cotton, falsely
;a?kod. was shipped from tail port the post seaion,
one baje of which was returned to the commission
merchant a fevy days since at Memphis,
who suffers a loss of $48 on the bale, unless he
should be able to recover from the planter.
WASHINGTON GOSSIP.
Washington, July 10, 1853.
Mr. Buchanan is getting "no better" very fast.
Indeed Ins "indisposition" (towards the Administration)
is apparently assuming a chronic type.
The rumor on everybody's tongue in, that the
Pennsylvania bachelor will certainly "throw up
the English mission." If, by accomplishing that
feat, he succeeds in throwing oft" any superabundance
of bile, his case should (replaced on record
with that of the Irishman who "threw up" his
boots, und thus experienced un astounding cure.
If Mr. Buciianan does not disappoint Dame Rumor
in this particular instance, he will certainly
do a very foolish thing?something not calculated
to improve his chances before a Democratic National
Convention, which I take to Ire the subject
of his careful consideration. To decline, without
satisfactory apologyf I he most important mission
in the gill of the President, after having once ac
copied it, will be to declare open war against the
Administration?an Administration, too, whicli
thus tar lias been the most popular with his party
of any since the days of Jackson. The tendency of
such treachery must be to divide and weaken the
Democratic forces, and mako victory doubtful or
impossible even if Mr. Buchanan should still sue-1
coed in holding fellowship with the orthodoxy.
H is declination, too, will subject him to the
suspicion of designing an internecine feud. It is
clear that General Pierce is already looking to a
second term. And why should he not? The
convention which nominated him carefully abstained
from any advocacy of the one-term principle.
Its silence certainly was a distinct avowal
that its candidate, if successful, was to be considered
eligible to eight years' service. And if
General Pierce has any honorable uspirations of
that sort, lie is only following up the line of policy
marked out for him by the convention that made
him. There are thoso who suspect?with good
show of reason, it must be confessed?that Mr.
Buchanan understands this proclivity of the President
towards the double term, and while scheming
to out-goneral him, forgets that civil war is
not the best way of securing victory against a
common foe. Of course the ex-Secretary of State
never thought of spending four years at the Court
of St. James. He would like to lay out his own
plan of operations there, take up the negotiations
which Mr. Marcy has already put in a state ot
forwardness, complete them, and secure the credit
attaching thereto, and then return to the United
States to stump for the convention. Neither Mr.
Marcy nor the President could be expected to
yield implicit obedience to demands springing
from such motives; and self-respect forbade it still
the more when taction was intimated as the penalty
of refusal.
No one knows better than Mr: Buchanan that
his refusal of the mission to England would give
reason for just such comment as the foregoing;
and that his position in the Democratic party
would be greatly hazarded thereby. I am not yet
prepared, therefore, to believe ho will venture the
"throwing up" operation aforesaid, and will not
believe it until 1 sec the awkward despatch from
"Wheatfield" itself.
While in the way of administrative gossip, let
me volunteer a word or two in defence of Mr.
Dobbin, the amiable Secretary of the Navy, who
has been somewhat severely censured for having
introduced the usages of political proscription into
his Department. This is not true or just.
Tliose who know Mr. Dobbin are aware that no
duty is so disagreeable to him as that of making
changes of his subordinates. Some seemed necessary
in order to a fair distribution of the clerkships,
and were made; but a comparison of removals
made under the last and present administrations
show well for Mr. Dobbin on that particular score.
The correspondent of tho New York Daily Times
states, correctly as I know, that Mr. D. has made
only eight removals against fourteen by Mr. GraImm
iii urhiitinn tn <ai v vnp!iii/*ii>u prnntod Itv dpnili
and resignation, which the latter filled. Among
Mr. G.'s appointments were seven from North
Carolina, three of whom have recently been removed.
With these changes, the clerkships in
the Navy Department arc now divided?eighteen
among Whigs and twenty-one among Democrats.
The Hon. Thomas II. Bayly, of Virginia, is in
town. Rumor says there is a probability that the
mission to France will be tendered him, and that
the Hon. Henry A. Wise, in that event, will succeed
him in Congress. Mr. Bayly modestly refrains
from either admitting or denying the soft
impeachment, which fact gives currency to the
rumor. Mr. Dix's friends do not, however, give
up his prospect of visiting the court of St. Cloud.
The longer the delay the better his chance doubtless.
He has a shrewd set of wire-working
friends, is withal a man of merit, one of the
ablest of the Frcesoil leadors who adopted the
Baltimore platform, and may yot turn up a trump
Ex-Senator Bradbury, of Maine, is here, probably
to look after the commissionership to the
Sandwich Islands, for which ho was 'among the
earliest candidates. His wing of the Maine Democracy
are uppermost just now, having nominated
their candidate for Governor. This fact gives
the ex-Senator a position and influence with the
Administration which his personal and political
calibre wore insufficient to secure him three
months since.
Mr. George Marston, of New Hampshire, has
been appointed a clerk in the office of the Commissioner
of Customs, to fill the vacancy occasioned
by the removal of A. R. Wadsworth?
salary $1,200. It was* generally understood when
Mr. Hunter's scheme for tho classification of
clerks was adopted by Clingrcss that a system of
promotions would be carried out under it?that
the man who proved faithful and competent at a
salary of $000 would rise to the higher rates of
compensation, as vacancies should occur. One
great point of value in the arrangement was to
lie the repudiation of the system of fiivoritism
which kept sonic men eternally in a "streak of
IUCK, at me expense ui ouiere mure experienced (
and quite as worthy. ,
I would ronpactfully beg leave to ask the Commissioner
of Customs whether he has carried out ]
this exceedingly just and proper intention of Con- i
gross in passing the classification law; and if
not, whether he has not clearly and wantonly vio^ 1
latcd the spirit of his oath to administer the law J
in its purest simplicity ? The record of the offico ,
of the Commissioner of Customs shows three $90Q i
plcrks. all of whom have served the Gorernmon^
for years. I take it they qrp competent, or they ;
would not have bepn retained, Why, thon, is a i
new man brought Iti nnd placed over their heads; 1
ZEKE. ;
Washington, July 10, 1853.
The Prcsdcnt pays weekly visits to the Departments,
drops into the offices of thb heads of bureaus,
and, so far as his time will permit, makos
himself acquainted with the business and practi- \
cal operations of the several co-ordinate branches i
of the Government?a practice which everybody
will commend, and whtch will lead the people to ,
bclicvo that he will endeavor to "take care that
^
the laws be faithfUUy executed." This very terse
requirement of the Constitution imposes upon the
President a responsibility that few appreciate, and
which, if strictly complied with, would keep him
pretty busily employed.
There is no general api>eal to the President
from the official decisions of his Secretaries
or heads of bureaus, as many etippose.
If fraud or corruption influence or biaa the
decisions or official action of his subordinate officers,
it is within his provinco to examine the evidence,
and, if he thinks proper, remove from office.
But this is all. He cannot execute the
laws, but it is his duty to "tuke care that the
laws be faithfully executed." If a Secretary in
his judicial capacity makes a decision in good
faith, although ho may err in judgment, no appeal
lies to the President. So in reference to the
opinions of the Attorney General?they are only
advisory. The Secretary referring a question to
him is not hound by his decision thereon; but
upon most questions referred to him his decision
is readily adopted, as it "shifts the responsibility,"
and if it happens to be unsound, he ulone
bears the odium. The Attorney General may
well lie called the "pack-horse of the Administration."
Wo allude to this subject of appoals
IM9CUUHU, inmost aauy, ieuors 01 appeal are audressed
by claimants to the President or Attorney
General from the decisions of the heads of Deportments.
The rigid rule in the Department of Interior requiring
clerks to report themselves at 8 a. in. and
work until 4 p. m. has been relaxed, and the
usual hours fVom 9 until 3 again adopted. Six
hours is long enough this hot weather for any decent
man to be required to sit or stand at a Government
desk. If he is disposed to do his duty he
will perform as much in six hours as ten, and if
he is not disposed to do his duty, the longer he is
required to stay the less he will perforin.
However, since the examinations have taken
place, so thorough, so practical, and so scholastic,
it is not to be presumed that any gentlemen arc
left in office who are either unfaithful or incompetent.
We shall look with a good deal of interest
to the official reports which will be made by
the "Examining Boards," in responso to the call
which the next Congress will make upon them.
Of course a careful record has been preserved of
jail the abstruse questions propounded, and the
many problematical answers given. Our primary
I school committee have long needed some official
sanction for their system of examination. We
shall write a few words upon this subject at a
future day.
It is said the Gardiner cases will not come
up for trial for some months to conic. They
will await the return of the Commissioners, who
will, now that the localities arc fixed, be likely to
make a decisive report.
A refreshing shower is cooling the hot and dusty
atmosphere. QUILL.
Correspondence of the .AT. F. Journal qf Commerce.
Washington, Thursday, July 7.
It is said that Mr. Borland will soon proceed
upon his mission to Central America, and that u
vessel of war is waiting for him ut Pensacola. But
as he lias not resigned his senatorship it may be
doubted whether nc intends to go. It is said, however,
that he is holding back his resignation with
a view to the selection of his successor. Further
1 learn, in regard to his plan, that he does not intend
to remain long in Central America, and will
return in a year, and run again for the Senate. It
may be of importance therefore, for his purposes,
that his successor should agree to give up his seat
to him upon demand.
Where was the Declaration of Independence
Written??This is a question which lias
excited much discussion. The following letter
from Mr. Jefferson settles the question. The
house lie designates is at the corner of Seventh
and High (or Market) streets, Philadelphia, the
lower story of which is now occupied as a clothing
store, and the upper stories as a printing
olhcc:
Monticello, Sept. 26, 1825.
To Dr. James Mease, Philadelphia:
Dear Sir: It is not for me to estimate the importance
of the circumstances concerning which
your letter of the 8th makes inquiry. They
prove, even in their minuteness, the sacred attachments
of our fellow-citizens to the event of
which the paper of July 4, 1776, was but the
declaration, the genuine effusion of the soul of our
country at that time. Small things may, perhaps,
like the relics of saints, help to nourish our
devotion to this holy bond of Our Union, and keep
it longor alive and warm in our affections. This
effect may give importance to circumstances,
however small. At the time of writing that inclrmnonf
I 1a/1 rrn/1 in tlm Iiahoa nf? A/T?. -
new brick house, three stories high, of which 1
rented the second floor, consisting of a parlor and
bed-room, ready furnished. In that parlor 1 wrote
habitually, and in it wroto this paper particularly.
So far 1 state from written proofs in my
possession. The proprietor, Graaf, was a young
man, son of a German, and then newly married.
I think he was a bricklayer, and that his house
was on the south Bide of Market street, probably
bctwoen 7tli and 8th streets, and if not the only
house on that part of the street, I am suro there
wero few others near it. J have somo idea that it
was a corner house, but no other recollections
throwing light on the question, or with communition.
I am ill, therefore only add assuranco of
my great respect and esteem.
Th. Jefferson.
John Bull has Done it at Last.?It is re- ,
ported by the officers of the steamship America
that the Cunard steamship Arabia, which loft this
port on the 15th of June, at half-past twelve |
o'clock, had arrivod at Liverpool at ten a. m. on ,
the twenty-fifth. If there bo no mistake in the ,
given hour, the Arabia has made the trip in nine ,
days twenty-one and a half hours, clock time, or ,
nine days sixteen and a half hours real time, 1
which is three quarters of an hour quicker than ,
that of the celebrated trip of the Arctic in 1852, ,
which, until the present, was the shortest eastern (
passage. It is but fair to sav, however, that the ,
Arctic's passage was in the dead of winter, while 1
the Arabia's is in midsummer. I
The following arc tho quickest passages both ,
ways: .
Clk.Tr. Rl.Tr. i
I). If. I). 11. |
Baltic?Western passage (Aug.).. .9 14 !) 1!) ?
Arctic?Eastern passage (Feb.).. .,.9'SSl 1) 17J .
Arabia?Eastern passage (June)...9 21J 9 1G? ,
This shows the Arabia's trip to be the shortest (
ever made across the Atlantic, by three quarters j
of an hour. \?/l Ynrl- ffrrnlii
Death of Jvdck Taliaff.rro.?The Lynchi- "
burg Virginian of Wednesday announces with *
deep regret the death of Judge Norbourne M. *
Taliaferro, of the Bedford circuit, which occurred 11
it hia residence, near Franklin Court-House, a few '
days since. Judge T. was universally esteemed ?
for his virtues as a man, and his probity and abili- 1
ty as a public officer. His death will be widely "
md deeply deplored. J
Departure of the Baltic.?The United l
States mail steamship Baltic, Captain Comstock, ^
lefl her wharf at Canal street at twelve o'clock t
to-day for Liverpool. She carried out one liun- r
drod and seventy-five passengers, among whom t
were Mr. Kdwin DeLcon, Consul General to Egypt, |
ind Mr. ^ R. Barton, of Philadelphia, and #20."),- g
132 in American gold ingots on freight. jj
[.Veio York Evening I'out, 9th. v
General A. Brainaho, an old companion in
irms of General Riley, is at Cleveland, under
treatment for a cancerous affection similar to that
which caused the death of that gallant officer.
Rev. Dr. Achii.i.i, well known for his controversy
with Rev. Dr. Newman, has arrived at New h
lforlt from Liverpool, w
~1
EuMft tad Turkey. 1
The following "oircular note" has beat ad- ,1
dressed by the Cabinet of St. Petersbuig to the
iiiininter* and of the Ep^icor.
It i* published iu the OmteUt dt St. Pi teraboonrg on
the 13th ultimo:
titceui.
Sir: Ah the mission of Prince Meiisehikoff to
Turkey hae already given riee to the moat exaggerated
rumor*?rumor* to whioh hie departure,
and the interruption of relation* consequent upon
it, will no doubt give additional force?I think it
my duty to transmit to you upon the subject some
general information, which mav serve to rectify
the false data which may have been spread about
iu the country in which you reside.
I think it superfluous to inform you that there
is not a weed of truth iu the pretension whioh has
been fastened upon us by the newspapers of Muting
either at a fresh territorial aggrandisement, or
a more advantageous regulation of our Asiatic frontier,
or at the right of nomination or revocation
with regard to tlie Patriarch of Constantinople,
or, in short, at any religious Protectorate which
would have a tendency to exceed that whieh we
exercise, in point of fact and traditionally in Turkey,
by virtue of previous treaties. You are sufficiently
aware 01 the policy of the Emperor to
know that his Maiesty does not aim at the ruin
and destruction ot the Ottoman Empire, which he
himself on two occasions has saved from dissolution:
but tliat, on the contrary, he has always regarded
the existing statu quo as the best possible combination
to interpose between all the European interests,
which would necessarily clash in the East
if a void were actually declared ; and that, us far
as regards the protection of the Russo-Greek religion
in Turkey, we have no necessity, in order to
secure its interests, ofuny other rights than those
which are already secured to us by our treaties,
our position, and the religious sympathy which
exists between 50,000,000 Russians of the Greek
persuasion and the great majority of the Christian
subjects of the Saltan?influence immemorial and
inevitable, because it exists in facts, and not in
words?influence which the Emperor found existing
in full force when he ascended tho throne, nnd
which ho cannot?out of deference to the unjust
suspicions which it awakens?renounce without
giving up the glorious inheritance of his august
predecessors.
This is, in point of fact, to inform you how
little founded are the reports which have been
spread abroad of the mission of Prince Menschikoff,
which never had any other object than the
arrangement of the affair of the Holy Places.
It would be too long, sir, to recapitulate to you
in detail the history of all the pnases through
which this afiair has passed since the year 1850.
Wo are satisfied in our own consciences that we
are not the first to raise the question. We knew
too well all the consequences it involved, as far
as the peade of the East was concerned?perhaps
the peace of the world. We have never ceased,
since its commencement, to call the attention of
the great Cabinets to tho position in which it
would involve us, and to the grave eventualities
which must arise from it; and tho successive developments
which it has assumed, until it finally
produced the existing crisis, have but too well
justified our sad prognostications. It will be sufA.
ti.? ?11 ? ii?
lion, that after the first concessions which had
been obtained by France in favor of the Latins at
Jurusalein, to the detriment of the immemorial
privileges jvhMi had been conceded to the Greeks,
the E111 peroarHeeeing, every day, the evidont partiality
of the Porte for the Latins, leading it to
concessions of a graver and still graver nature,
with regard to the rights and interests of the East ern
worship?found liiinself under the obligation
of addressing the Sultan upon this point, in a serious
yet friendly letter. The results of this step
were the convocation of a commission composed
exclusively of Turkish Ulcmos, which occupied
itself with the task of reconciling the reciprocal
pretensions; then, after long negotiations,a letter,
in reply, from the Sultan to the Emperor, which
announced the definitive solution of the question,
and containing the most solemn promises of the
maintenance of the ancient rights which had been
conceded by the Porte to the Greek communities.
A firman, which contained the details of this arrangement,
was at the same time communicated
to us. At the top of this firman, a Hatti Sheriff,
in autograph of the Sultan, acknowledged and
consecrated in the most formal manner the an
terior acts which had been conceded to the
Greeks, at different epochs, had been renewed by
the Sultan Mahmoud, and had been confirmed by
the reigning Sultan.
Although this letter and this firman wore conceived
in a spirit which departed in some measure
from the strict statu quo, which we had always endeavored
to maintain, nevertheless, as these documents
appeared to the Emperor to satisfy, up to a
certain point, his just solicitude for the interests
and immunities of the Greek Church at Jerusalem,
a desire of conciliation induced his majesty
to accept them. He took official record of them,
so as to give them a solemn and definitive value.
In the presence of these categorical documents,
officially communicated at the end of a long and
painful negotiation, the imperial government had
certainly a right to consider that a discussion,
from which its moderation had succeeded in removing
danger, and which lefl the Latins in possession
of now advantages, was forever closed.
You know that, unfortunately, this has not been
the case.
I should be carried too far if I related hero all the
acts of weakness, of tergiversation, and duplicity
which have signalized the conduct of the Ottoman
authorities when it became a question of fulfilling
the engagementsswhich they had undertaken towards
us, and of proceeding, according to usage
at Jerusalem, to the promulgation, the registration,
and the execution of the firman. When the
Turkish Commissary, who had been sent to the
Holy City, according to the explicit assurance
which our mission at Constantinople had received,
arrived at his destination, he had the audacity to
declare to our Consul, who insisted upon the reading
and registration of the firman, that ho had 110
knowledge of the act, and that there was no mention
of it in his instructions. Although later, upon
our remonstrances, the firman was finally read ami
registered at Jerusalem, this was only done with
restrictions injurious to the Eastern form of worihip
But as far as concerns the act itself, with
the exception of the accomplishment of these simple
formalities, its principal provisions have been
openly transgressea. The most flagrant violation
of it has been the delivery to the Latin Patriarch
of the key of the principal church at Bethlehem.
This delivery was contrary to the express terms of
the firman. It wounded deeply the clergy, and
ill the population of the Greco-Ruse faith, because,
according to the ideas which arc current in |
Palestine, (lie possession of the keyseems to imply
oy itself alone that of the temple in its entirety,
flic Turkish Government, then, against its own
oroper interests, established in the eyes of all men
fie supremacy which it accorded to another form
l..*~ il ' iL. ? x a
n wuimiip liiu.ii uic unu 10 which hid majority or
tfl subjects submit themselves.
Such a forgetfulness of the most positive proiniies
which had been solemnly made in the letter of
he Sult&n to the Emperor, so patent a breach of
kith, aggravated still more by the proceedings
md by tno derisivo words of the councillors of his
ligliness, were certainly of a nature to justify our
ingust master?wounded as he was in his dignity,
n liis friendly confidence, in his fonn of worship,
ind in the religious sentiments which lie shares
vith bis subjects?in demanding ample satisfacion.
Mis majesty might have done so if, as he
ios been accused by opinion which has been per'ertod
at its sources, Iks had only sought for precxt
to upset the Ottoman empire. But he did
lot choose this course. He preferred to obtain
his satisfaction by means of a pacific negotiation,
de has striven yet another time to enlighten the
Sovereign of Turkey upon the wrongs which he
as been guilty of with regard to us as well ns
ith regard to his own interests, and to appeal to
is own wisdom against the faults of his ministers;
nd it is witli this view that he despatched Prince
fenschikoff to Constantinople.
His mission had two objects always relative to
ic affairs of the Holy Places: ,
1. To negotiate, in place of the firman which
ad been nullified, for a new arrangement?which,
ithout taking away from tho latins that which they
*?
i
I
? I