The republic. [volume], June 15, 1849, Image 2

About The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853

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T H E RENJ li 1.1 ('.
From the She York Triiunr.
REVIEW OK NEW BOOKS.
H. D. THOREAU1S BOOK.
A Wkk on thb Conoobd and Mkskimac Rivkbs:
By Ht try D. Thorcau, (pp.'tis, I'2hiu.) Homiuii: j
Munror k Co. New Vort O. P. Putnam.
A really new book?it fresh, original, thoughtful
work?is sadly rate in this ag> of omniferous publicatious.
Mr. Thoreau's, if not entirely this, is
very near it. Its observations of Nature art- as
Cmal as Nature herself, and the tones of hi.- harp
ve an AEolian sweetness. His reflections are always
striking, often profoundly truthful, and his
scholastic treasures, though a little U>o ostentatiously
displayed, are such as the best instructed
J :ii ?:? r..- h;?
rcaucr Will ClIJUJ auu uia<in isuss iu*. jJimumr
phy, which is the Pantheistic egotism vaguely
characterized aa transcendental, does not delight us.
It seems second hand, imitative, often exaggerated,
a bad specimen of a dubious und dangerous school.
But we will speak first of the staple of the work.
Mr. Thoreau is a native and resident of Concord,
Mass., a scholar, laborer, and in some sort a
hermit. He travelled somewhat in his earlier years
(he is still young,) generally trusting to his own
thoughts for company, and his walking cane for
motive power. It would seem a main purpose of
his life to demonstrate how slender an impediment
is poverty to a man who pampers no superfluous
. wants, and how truly independent and self-sufficing
is he who is in no manner '.he slave of his own
appetites. Of his fitful hermit life and its results
we have already given some account: Now for his
"Week on the Concord and Merrimac."
The Concord is a dull, dark, sluggish creek or
petty river which runs through the Massachusetts
town of that name, and is lost in the Merrimuc at
Lowell. On this stream Mr. Thoreau and his
friend embarked one Autumn afternoon in a small
row-boat, and rowed or sailed down to the dam
near its mouth, thence across by the old Middlesex
Canal to the Merrimac above Lowell, thence up the
latter to Hookaet, N. H., where theyleft their boat
and varied their experience by a pedestrian tour
through the wild and rugged heart of the Granite
State, returning to their boat alter a week's absence
and retracing their course homeward. They had
a tent which, while boating, they pitched in the
most inviting and secluded spot, generally a wood,
when night overtook them; they cooked and served
for themselves, only approaching the dwellings
rarely, to purchase milk, or fruit, or bread. Such
is the thread of the narrative; let us give a single
specimen of its observations of Nature. It is
a description of the commencement of their aquatic
journey.
"Gradually the village murmur subsided, and we
vmcd to tie embarked on (lie nlarid current of our
dreams, floating from past to future ax silently ax
oue awaken U> fresh morning or evening- thoughts.
We glided noiselessly down the stream, occasionally
driving a pickerel from the covert of the pads,
or a bream from her next, and the smaller bittern
uow and then sailed away on sluggish wings from
tome recess in the shore, or the larger lifted itself
out of the long grass at our approach, ami carried
its precious leirx away to dep<jsit them in a place of
safety. The tortoises also rapidly droppiil into the
water, as our Ismt rutfled the surface amid the willow.-,
breaking the reflections of the trr?-s. The
banks bad passed the hrighth of their beauty, and
some of the brightest flowers showed by their failed
tints that the season was verging towards the afternoon
of tlie year; but this sombre tinge enhanced
llieir sincerity, and in the still unabated heats they
seemed like tne niossy brink of some cool well. The
narrow-leaved willow lay along the surface of the
water in masses of light greeti foliage, interspersed
with tin- large white balls of the button-hush. The
rose-colored polygonum raised its head proudly
above the water on either hand, and flowering at
this season and in these localities, in the midst of
deuse fields of the white aperies, which skirted the.
sides of the stream, its little streak of red looked
very rare and precious. The pure white blossoms
of tlie arrow-head stood in the shallower parts, and
a few cardinals on tlie margin still proudly surveyed
themselves reflected in the water, though the
latter, as well as the pickerel-weed, was now m-urly
out of blossom. The snake-head, chrlonr glabra,
grew elose to the shore, w hile a kind of coreopsis,
turning its brazen lace to tin- sun, full and rank,
ami a tall, dull red flower, rupatortum paryarram, or
trumpet-weed, formed the rear rank of the fluvial
array. The bright blue flowers of tlie soap-wort
gentian were sprinkled here and there in tlie adjacent
meadows, like flowers which Proserpine had
uroppeo; ami mm laruier m me ik kik. or iiigncr on
the (*111 k, were seen the Virginian rhexia, ami
drooping neottia or ladies' in wwi; while from the
more distant waysides, whit li we occasionally passed,
and banks where the sun tiad lodged, was reflected
a dull yellow beam frttin the rank* of tansy,
now in its prime. In short, nature seemed U- have
adorned he rself for our departure with a profusion
ot fringes and curls, mingled with the bright tints
of flowers reflected ill the w ater. But we missed
the white water-lily, which is the queen of river-'
flowers, its reign being over for this season. He
make* his voyage too late, perhaps, by a true water
cka'k, who delays so long. Many of this species
inhabit our Concord water. I have passed down the
- river before sunrise on a summer morning between
fields of lilies still shut in sleep; and when at length
the flakes of sunlight from over the bank fell on the
surface of the water, w hole fields of white blossoms
seemed to flgsli open tiefore me, as I floated along,
like the unfolding of a banner, so sensible is this
flower to tin- influence of the sun's rays.''
Here ia another in a similar vein ;
Whether we live by the sea-side, or by the lakes
and rivers, or on the prairie, it concerns us to attend
to the nature of fishes, since they are not phenomena
confined U> certain localities only, but tortus and
phases of the life in nature universally dispersed.
The countl<*HS shoals which annually roast the
shorcs of Europe and Aim rica, are not so interesting
to the student of nature as the more fertile law
its> If. which deposit** their spawn on the tops of
mountains, and on the interior plains- (la- fish principle
in nature, from which it naults that they may
be found in water in so many places, in greater or
less nuiubers. The natural historian is mKafistier
r. - i 1_ ,i_ _.i I i... i.
mail, *im pr*y#> iiii 1 iimiiijt iwjrF mil (umi >
in#-rr|y; bnt ax flailing lutx been *tyl?-d ? a contentulatitr
man'* rwrntKici," inlniHiii'inr hiin profita
bly to wood* ami water. ?i tin- fniit of tin- naturalint'a
observation* in not in m w g#mm or *p??i#-?,
but in new rout#-mplation* still, and wiener 1* only
a more contemplative man'* recreation. Tin-< -< <f?
of tin- lift- of Wii* are rvfrywla-rr diaarminaU-d,
wln-tber the wiwfl waft tin-in, or the water* float
thein, or the deep earth Imltix tln-m ; wherever a
pond i* dug, ?traightway it in nbrltrd with tin* vivarioua
rare. Tln-y hat#- a lea*#- of nature, and it ia
not y?-t out. Tin- Chi new- arc bribed to carry tln-ir
ot a from province uj province in jar* or in holloa
r?-#-d*. or tin- water-bird* to trarixpor t tlx in to tininouiilain
tarn* and interior lake*. There are fialn-*
win-rever tliere ia a fluid medium; and even in eIrani'
and in melted metal* we d?-t#-ct tln-ir m-inhlaiiee.
Think how in winter you can *ink a line down
etraight in a pasture, through ?now and through ire,
ami pull up a bright, ulipp# ry, dumb, *u liter ran#-an
lilt#-r or golden n?h It in < urioo*, aim#, to r#-fl?-< t
how tln-y make one family, from tin- largcxt to tlx
*malle*t. Tin- h-aat minnow, that lie* on tin- ice a#>
bait for pickerel, l??>k? like a huge *ra- fixh < axt upon
tin ?laire."
Our next extract i* 11 apee.imen of hi* more didactic.
mood :
"A* tin- trucet *<*-iety appro*# h#-? alway* near?-*t
to nolitude, no tin moat # *< ? Il#-nt apeech finally fall*
into silence. Milem e i* audibl#- to all men, at all
tune* and in all place*. Sin- i* Mpeeeh when we
hear inwardly, *onnd wln-n we li#-ar outwardly
Creation ha* nut dUplaced her., but i* her \i*ihl#fram?--work
and foil. All wainda are her *#-rvant*
and purvrjnm, proclaiming ? ??* only that tb?ir
matri-M ia. twit in a rare mUtr?xa, and mrnextly to
)>e xoorht after. Thrv are ao far akin to xib n. ?\
thai tln-y arc Irtit buoblea <m her xurfacc, which
atraijrhtway burxl an rvidrnrr of the strength and
pmhficness of Ihr undercurrent; a faint utterance
-.f and then only agre?-ablc to <atr auditory
nrnn wIm thrynrnlrMl tk miwhni with and r?ln
vi the former. In proportion aa they do this, and
re iH i^iaiarn mmI ihtetwiftrn of Ui?' sib nee, tliey
are- harmony and purest melody.
"Silence 1a the universal refuge, the sequel to all
dull diwoweee and all f?x?liah arts, a lailm to our
every chairrin. aa wloanr after satiety ax after flisappointment;
that bark trroond which the painter
may not daub, ha he tna?w or bnnjrb-r, and which,
however awkward a figure we may Iwve made in
the hire-ground, remains ever our in\ iolahle asyInm,
whrrr no indignity > an assail, no peraonality
"Hheturfrua.
T "The orator puts off hia individuality,and iathen
irxait eloquent when miixl sib-nt. H< luO'tu whib
(a xprwkx, and ia a hearer along with hi* audience.
Who lwt* ma hearken. ,1 to her infinite dinr mM- it
Truth'* speaking-trump. t. the ante ora. le. th. trur
Delphi and Od.au, which king* and'eourtari
would do well to COnault, n'fT will they lx- Imulke.
|.y an ambiguous answer. For through her al
revelation* have been made, and juxl in proportioi
a* r11.11 hav e consulted her ora. le within, they hav
obtained a clear insight, and their age bax tx-.
marked ax an enlightened one But, ax oft. n *
they have gone gadding abroad to a strange l>< Ipl
and tier mad priextenx. their age hax been dark an
leader. Huch wore garrulous and noixy era*. whir
no longer yield any -oimd, but th. Dre. lar.or aib t
and mebxltnu* era ix ever aoundingnnd rewa.ndm
in tlx 'wrx of men."
Half the book ia like and aa g.xxl aa ihia. Nearl
every iw?gc ,a inatinct with genuine j.oeiry, e*c*|
Ihoae wherein verae in haltingly wh"
U are for the moat part sorry pro*. Then there ia
misplaced Pantheistic at lack on the Christian faith.
Mr. Thoreau (we must presume soberly) aays:
"In my Funlhcou, Fan still reigns in bis pristine
glory, willi bis rmldy lin e, bis flowing beard, and
his shaggy l**lv, bis pipe ami his crook, bis nymph
Kcho, ami Ills chosen daughter luiube; for ibe great
god Fan is not di-ail, as was rumored. Perhaps of
all (be gods of New Knglumi and ot am'ient Greece,
I am lInist I'olislant al Ills sbrine.
"One memorable addition to llie old mythology
is due to ibis era the Christum fable. V\ ith what
pains, and tears, and blood, these centuries have
Woven this anil added it to the mythology ol uiankind.
The new Froinetbens. With what itiiraculotis
consent, and patience, and persistency, bus ibis
my thus lieen stamped upon the memory of the rare?
It would seem as it it were in the progress of our
mythology to dethrone Jehovah, and crown Christ
in bis stead.
"If it is not a tragical life we live, then I know not
what to eall it. Such a story us thul of Jesus Christ
?the history of Jerusalem, say, being a part of the
Universal History. The naked, the embalmed, unburieil
death of Jerusalem amid its desolate bills?
think of it. In Tasso's poem 1 trust some things are
sweetly buried. Consider the snappish tenacity with
which they preach Christianity still. What arc
time ami space to Christianity eighteen hundred
years, aud a new world? That the humble life of a
Jewish peasant should have force to make a New
v...-I, i.;^i...n i.; ... i t. i a
of king*, now burning in a place callcuthe lioly
Sepulchre?u church boll ringing--some unaffected
tears shod by u pilgrim on Mount Calvary within
t!>o week.
" 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, when I forget thee, may
my right hand forget her cunning.
"'By the waters of Babylon there we sat down,
and we wept when we remembered Zion.'
"I trust that some may be as near and dear to
Buddha, or Christ, or Swedenborg, who are without
the pale of their churches. It is necessary not to be
Christian, t?) appreciate the beauty and significance
of the life of Christ. I know that some will have
hard thoughts of me, when they hear their Christ
named beside my Buddha, yet I am sure that 1 am
willing they should love their.Clirist more than my
Buddha, for the love is the main thing, and I like
him U>o. Why need Christians be still intolerant
and superstitious?
"The reading which I love best is the Scriptures
of the several nations, though it happens that I am
belter acquainted with those of the Hindoos, the
Chinese, and the Persians, than of the Hebrews,
which I have come to last. Give me one of these
Bibles, anil you have silenced me for a while."
We have quoted a fair proportion of our author's
smartest Pantheistic sentences, but there is another
in which he directly asserts that he considers the
sacred Books of the Brahmins in nothing inferior
to the Christian Bible. It was hardly necessary to
say til addition that he is not well acquainted with
the latter; the point worth considering is, rattier,
might not un author to make himself thoioughly pcqjaunted
with a book?which, if true, is of such
transcendent importance?before uttering opinions
concerning it calculated to shock and pain many
readers, not u> speak of those who will be utterly
repelled by them r Can that which Milton and
Newton so profoundly reverenced (and they had
studied it thoroughly) be wisely turned off by a
youth, as unworthy of even consideration? Mr.
Thoreau's treatment of this subject seems revolting
alike to good sense and good taste. We ask
him to weigh all he has offered with regard to the
merits of the Christian as compared with other
scriptures against the following brief extract from
the last Edinburgh Review:
"The Bible, supposiuir it other than it pretends to
be, presents lis with a singular phenomenon in the
space which it occupies throughout the continued
history of literature. We see nothing like it; and
it may well perplex the infidel to account for it.
Nor need his sagacity disdain to enter a little more
deeply into its possible cauaeit than be is usually inclined
to do. It has not been given to any other nook
of religion thus to triumph over national prejudices,
ami lodge itself securely iu the heart of great comiiiuuities?varying
by every conceivable diversity
of language, rare, manners, customs, and, indeed,
agreeing in nothing but a veneration for itself. It
ailapts itself with facility to {he revolutions of
thought and feeling whieh shake to pieces all things
else; and rtexibly accommodates itself to the progress
ol society and the changes of civilization.
Even conquests- the disorganization of old nations,
the formation of new?do not affect the continuity
of its empire. It lays hold of the new as of Uie old,
and transmigrates with the spirit of humanity; attracting
to itself, hy its own moral power, in ali die
communities it enters, a ceaseless intensity of effort
for its propagation, illustration,and defence. Other
systems of religion are usually delicate exotics, and
will not l??r transplanting. The gods of the nations
are local deities, and reluctantly quit their native
soil; at all events, they patronize only their lavoriu
races, and perish at once when the tribe or
nation of their worshippers becomes extinct, often
long la-lore. Nothing, indeed, is more difficult than
to make foreigners feel anything but tfie utmost
indifference (except as an object of philosophic curiosity)
aliout tlx- religion of odicr nations: and no
portion of Uieir national literature is regarded as
more tedious or unattractive than that winch treats
of their theology. The elegant mythologies of
Greece and Rome made no proselytes ulliolig other
nations, and fell hopelessly the moment thry fell.
The Koran of Mahomet has, it is true, been propagated
hy die sword; but it has been propagated by
in>diing else, and its dominion has been limited to
dsue nations who could riot reply to dial logic. If the
Bible he false, tlx- facility with which it overleaps
die otherwise impassable liouiidarics of race and
clime, and domiciliates itself among so many different
nations, is assuredly a far more striking and
w onderful proof of human ignorance, pcrvcracncss
ami stupidity than is afforded in tile limited prevalence
of even die most abject superstitions; or, if it
really has merits which, though a fable, have enabled
it to uiipiMc so comprehensively and variously
on mankind, wonderful indeed must have been the
skill in its composition; so wotidcful that even the
infidel himself ought never to regard it hut with
the profoundest reverence, as far too successful and
sqhfuiic a fabrication to admit a thought of scoff or
,..i;....u. i.. i.;. i..** ill...... . i. .. .e.... i^.r..,.. n;_
death. Sir W. S ott asked Mr. Isirkhart to read to
him. Mr. khart inquired what l??>k he would
like. '("an yoti .isk '' said Sir Waller; ' thrrr in
tail om; ' and riqutnlid linn In rend a chapter of
the ir"ap< I nf John. Win n will an equal genius, to
whom all ih?' malum nf fiction arc an familiar an
In him, say the lik?* nf some professed revelation,
originating among a nu'c and aw?M'iatrd with a
history and a clinic an foreign ax those connected
with tin- birth plm c nf lit*- Bible fmin those nf tinam
entry nf Sir Walter Scott! Can we, by any
stretch nf imagination, nuppou nutnr Waller Sentt
nf a new nu e in Auntraliu <>r South Africa, saying
the name of the V?-das nr the Koran !"
Valie or Straw in Warfare.?Extract of a
letter, dated on hoard her Majesty'* steam-sloop
Inflexible, Trincomalee, December 9, 1848: "Our
captain offered to move an entire regiment, by
taking 400 men on board the Inflexible, and low at
the same time any large merchant ship with the
remainder, which vessel could at the same time
take all their Imggage and tent equipage in her hold.
This offer was made in conoequeace of an urgent
requisition fmm the government at Calcutta for two
native regiments. We were lying in the Madras
roads when the Bengal steamer, Fire CAueen, arrived
with the requisition. The captain's offer was
accepted immediately, and the Claudine barque
was freighted. As the Claudine had not grtod
Rccommridations, and there being upwards of 900
camp followers, the Fire U.uceii had to take a portion.
We started with the Claudine in tow about
three hours and a quarter after the Fire CAueen, she
leaving at a quarter past nine, a. m., of the 17th of
October, the Inflexible at half-past twelve o'clock.
Fire Q.ueen was out of sight when we got away,
yet by eleven that night we were at?eam of her.
At daylight next morning nothing but her smoke
] could be seen, and at ]0a. m., of the lHth instant,
I smoke and all wan out ot Night. vve unchorea in
! the harbor of Khyoub Phyoo, on the Arracan
I <>nat, juat 24 hour* before the Bengal steamer
" Fire Cgueen," thua beating her with a veaael ol
i .r>60 tona (new meaaurement) in low by 27 houra on
the run. fhir average velocity, per |>ntent log
while ateaming, waa eight and a half knot* pel
hour. We anchored at noon of the 22d, in Khyout
Phyoo, landed ihe 2Sth Madraa Native lnfar.tr)
there, and embarked the 40th Bengal Native lo
fantry for (Calcutta; Bailed from the latter at 2, p. m.
of the 2f>ih, and anchored off Fort William at 2
p. m , of the 29th, thua moving aboot l,f?00 mer
1,400 mile* m 12 day a, out of which time four da vi
were taken up in embarkirife and diaembarking tin
troops, their baggage, and tent equifiage. Wi
muat havraieamed with the Claudine in tow nearlj
two knota an hour faaier than the Fire lAueen
After havintr coaled at Calcutta, we tailed, ant
arrived at Trincnrnalee on the .list of laat month
' We are now coaled, proviaioned, and have wate
on hoard, and are ready to atart when the Cam
, brian arrive* with our order* Rear-Admiral Si
I Franri* Collier i? collecting all hia aqundron, ii
? j ''.aae of any di*turban?e breaking out.'"
n I The Po*imn*ler General ha* our tharika, and ci
u" thi* ' 'immunity, for ao promptly answering a ea
"j made on him hy u* for directing the mails for tin
'' place to U made up in Baltimore when north n
j that place, by which arrangement wf receive on
poper* and letw-r* (he *am< day they are receive
in Norfolk, and not compelled to wait iwenty-frni
hour* a* heretofore, by nendnig them to Norfolk t
y be re-mailed die next clay. The name arrarigemei
pt will enable letter* written here to reach Baltimoi
h the next morning after l>eing mailed from hen
a Thi* i* a* it ahould be.?Suffolk ( V?.) IrUelhgtnce
THE RE PUR 1, MI.
WASHINGTON:
FRIDAY MORNING, JUNE 15, 1849.
OFFICIAL.
APPOINTMENTS BY THE PRESIDENT
A. A. Pettingall, of Connecticut, to
be Marshal of the United States for the district
of Connecticut, vice Benning Mann,
resigned.
George W. Lakin, of Wisconsin, to be
Attorney of the United States, for the district
of Wisconsin, vice A. Hyatt Smith,
removed.
LAND OFFICERS.
Paraclete Potter, of Wisconsin, to
he Register of the Land Ottiee, at Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, vice George H.
Walker, removed.
Moses Gibson, of Wisconsin, to be
Receiver of Public Moneys at Willow river,
Wisconsin, vice Jno. G. Floyd, who declines
the otlice.
Samson Clayton, of Alabama, to be
Register of the Land Otiice, at Lebanon,
Alabama, vice Hugh P. Caperton, removed.
Merriwether Lewis Clarke, of Missouri,
to be Surveyor General for Illinois
and Missouri, vice F. R. Conway, removed.
Stephen F. Page, of Michigan, to be
Receiver of Public Moneys at Ionia,
Michigan, vice Frederick Hall, removed.
collector of the customs.
L. H. Trigg, Richmond, Virginia, vice
Thomas Nelson, removed.
surveyor of the customs.
Ezra Hotchkiss, New Haven, Connecticut,
vice Chas. S. A. Davis, removed.
Franklin Haven to be Assistant Treasurer
at Boston, Massachusetts, vice Heni
ry Hubbard, removed.
post office department.
John B. Robertson, Deputy Postmaster,
New Haven, Connecticut.
Were the approaching Congressional
elections to take place in the Northern instead
of the Southern States, we apprehend
that the Union's denunciations of
the Cabinet, though equally remorseless,
would be pitched to a different strain.
We would hear nothing of the injustice
done the South by taking the Postmaster
General and Secretary ot the interior from
New England and the Northwest. The
fact that the State Department was offered
to Mr. Crittenden of Kentucky, the Post
Office Department to Mr. Gentry of Tennessee,
and the War Department actually
bestowed upon Mr. Crawford of Georgia,
before the Home Department was created,
would be relied upon to show, that whatever
of patronage the Northern members
of the Cabinet enjoy, was the leavings and
refusals of the South. The patronage of
the Post Office Department is no greater
now than when it was offered to Mr. Gentry;
and of the array of office holders subordinate
to the Home Department, which
the Union displays in confirmation of a
baseless assault, the district attorneys,
marshals, and deputy marshals; pension
offices and pension agents; the Indian bureau,
with Indian agents and sub-agents,
and the Patent Office, were under the control
and attached to the State and War
Departments, when they were actually
tendered to gentlemen from slaveholding
States. It was no fault of General Taylor
that Mr. Crittenden and Mr. Gentry
refused Cabinet appointments, nor is he
accountable for the inequality in the distribution
of the patronage of the Govern
ment, which the Union complains of in
the establishment of a new department.
If the equilibrium of patronage was disturbed
by the law creating the Department
of the Interior, the last, and not this, Administration
is lesponsible for the act.
We would not regret that this matter
has been brought to the notice of the country,
were it not for the inflammable hurnor
in which it has been seized upon as a topic
to produce sectional irritation. The facts
here elicited show conclusively that, in
forming his Cabinet, General Tayi.or was
guided by a national and catholic spirit.
Had he been controlled in his selection of
i constitutional advisers by a narrow desire
; to propitiate the North, he would not have
j offered apj?ointments of such patronage to
I southern gentlemen ; or, had he been
[ under an undue southern influence, he
. would not have bestowed them on gentle,
men of the North. Whatever of patronr
? 1 a at IT .1/1.. .1 n A
age oeiongs 10 me nome ana ??enerai rosi
, | Office Departments, the Land office ap,
pointmentn excepted, wax tendered in one
way or another to the South. There could
not, therefore, have been any anworthj
truckling on the part of the President tr
i any division of the Union. The Cabinel
' wax formed with a view to the interests ol
r
- the whole nation. The claims of the whole
^ country were regarded, rather than the pre|judices
of either section; and the proofi
of this are found in facts, connected wit!
the formation of the Cabinet, which the
Union, with other journals, at the time
published tei the world.
In what has already been done by the
Postmaster Cene-ral and Secretary of the
Interior, the Union descries certain ineli
I cations of a vigor in the administration o
THE REPUBLIC,
their respective departments, which stir
its bile more than pondering upon the localities
whence they were invited to the
Cabinet. We have an abiding faith that
neither of these gentlemen will go faster
or slower in the performance of the great
work before them, for any thing that
may be said of them in the style of the
Union's habitual manner of speaking of
them; and we have faith also that they will
not weary of the task before the reforms
demanded by the exigencies of the public
service are fully accomplished.
Were the remaining elections, to complete
the returns for the approaching Congress,
to take place in the North, we
would hear little else than laudations of
the coalition between the abolition and old
hunker branches of the Democracy of the
North, which just now seems likely to
swallow up the Baltimore platform and all
who stood upon it. "The natural allies
of the South" in Connecticut, Vermont,
and Wisconsin, have gone through the
operation of mastication, whilst in other
States they are getting themselves ready
to be dished up. Where sleep the thunders
of the Union, that this unholy alliance
goes unscathed of its anathemas? Does it
imagine that the South can any longer be
deceived as to the treachery of its vaunted
northern friends, by daily denunciations
of the Cabinet? The defection of Mr Van
Buren, who was once the idol of Southern
infatuation, has, we trust, taught the South
to appreciate at their worth the professions
of those who claim to be exempt from the
influences of birth, education, and association.
And perhaps, too, they will not bar
away the valuable teachings* of experience
for the cheap detractions of a press
which gives the cue to its partisan followers
in sneering at the chief magistrate of
this Union?a single-hearted and devoted
patriot, who has done his country more
good than they can ever do him harm.
The opposition press have adopted,
systematically, a style of scotiing, belittleing,
and contemptuous remark, when
speaking of General Taylor, which, how
ever it suits the tastes of those who indulge
it, will scarcely command the sympathies
of the American people. They
allude to him as an imbecile, a cypher in
his Cabinet, the tool of his Secretaries.
This is much in the manner of these
same gentlemen when they heard he was
surrounded by a large Mexican army on
the Rio Grande. A number of noses
which affect the air in complacent mockery
now, were then turned up at his imbecility,
his good hearted good-for-nothingness,
his feebleness, his unskilfulness, and
such like watery cockneyisms, until the
thunders of Palo Alto were wafted upon
the wings of the press throughout the land.
Do they remember what effect the council
of war, held upon the battle-field of Palo
Alto, had upon him? Against almost the
unanimous opinion of that board, the battle
of Resaca de la Palma was fought next
day. When these presses feel like turning
up their noses hereafter, let them be
advised by the history of the last war, lest
they be too much shocked when it thunders
next time. One of the most distinguished
Generals, except those who belonged
to the regular army of the United
States, the last Administration despatched
to Mexico, might read them a lecture on
that point. We allude to Santa Anna.
He turned up his nose to the wind, but he
smelt something he did not expect to find
in it.
Aero and (intrral Taylor.?A writer in
the Union runs a parallel between Nero
and General Taylor. The Union commends
the effusion to the nfttice of its
I readers in an introductory, in which it din
claims all thought of General Taylor's
having the cruel and blood-thirsty despotism
of Nero. On the contrary, our present
Chief Magistrate is mild and kindhearted;
that is to say, he is very much
like Nero, except that he is not like him
at all.
But the Union contends that Mr. Secretary
Kwing would have been a Nero if he
had lived in the days of that distinguished
old hunker, and tha! Mr. Collamer would
have been another. If we recollect aright,
it was Nero who played the fiddle whilst
Rome w as burning down. This goes verj
far to prove that,, if Mr. Kwing and Mr.
i Collamer had set ire to Rome, they woulr
i have had a fiddle apiece. ,
Now, this is an inquiry which our ac
complished Charge to the Ktcrnal City
might employ himself upon to great advan
i tagn whilst making up his mind as to wha
he is to do with his credentials.
Wc learn from tiio Norfolk Hfocrm that fwent]
' cases of cholera brolo? out on Imard the Unitri
r States steamer Water Witch, in fourteen or fifteei
> hour* after ahe had lieen at sea. Aa the wenttie
^ wiw too Imd to admit of h?r lieing ventilated, Lt
p Com'j Totten very prudently" returned Twi
deal ha occurred lie fa re he reached here?aevera
since There arc now five cases on board, bu
" they are of a mild character.
Navai Coirt Martiai..?The Norfolk Renew
' of Wednesday morning says that Lieutenant Wari
appeared on .Saturday, and Lieutenant Kenned]
? yesterday, and were sworn aa memltera of lh
court. '
) The cross-examination of Com. Read was cor
tinued on Msnday and Tuesday.
A vessel lately arrived at Boston from Rio Ji
neiro, having as part of her cargo 55,000 1ooodr
f | toothpick*
DEMOCRATIC MORALISTS.
We are somewhat amused at the gravity
with which certain opposition journals announce
that they propose to make an issue
of morals with the Whig party on the
question of removals from otiice. General
Tatlor promised to be the President ol
the people, and this they choose to interpret
as a promise to preserve the monopoly
of office in the hands of the Democrats. In
this view, it is a fraud upon the people
to make any removals. Nobody can be
a President of the people who disturbs
Locofocoism in its supposed property in
all the places of honor, trust, and profit
under the Government.
Without discussing the logical accuracy
of this conclusion, let us ask who are the
men that raise this issue ? " Who drives
fat oxen should himself be fat." The
censor should himself he a little of a saint.
Can any sensible man refrain from laughter
when he sees a question of political morals
raised by the men who were the friends
and allies of the defaulters who plundered
the public treasury during the Administration
of Mr. Van Buren ? Does it lie in
the mouth of those men to talk of broken
pledges who aided and abetted the gross
imposition that was practised upon the
citizens of Pennsylvania, through the medium
of the Kane letter, and the assurances
that were given in the canvass of
1844, that Mr. Polk was opposed to disturbing
the tariff of 1842 ?
Let us see who have been the political
associates of these eminent moralists, who
threaten to convulse the country because
the Administration will not acquiesce in
the Democratic construction of General
Taylor's letters. Do they all show clean
hands ? How is it with Mr. Eli Moore >
It was a great hardship to that worthy
man, no doubt, to lose his office ; but he
was no more unfortunate in its administration
than some score of others who
were retained in office by the Democratic
Mr. Secretary Woodbury long after their
gross deialcation had become a public
scandal. How is it with those great lights
of the Democracy, which tlared out in the
western land ollices ? How is it with the
collectors and district attorneys, who embezzled
the public money in the Southern
district of New York ? Where is Littlebury
Hawkins, with his cool $100,000
of the metallic currency ? Where is Wile y
P. Harris, with his $109,178? Where
are all the minor defaulters?your $'20,000
men?whom these penitent "pious 'uns "
; shielded and upheld in their depredations !
Really, our moralists must b? blessed with
; very short memories, if they have forgot!
ten their old friends. These wholesale
| embezzlements produced the state of pubi
lie opinion and feeling which led to the
{ political revolution of 1840. The fraud
| practised in Pennsylvania with regaid tc
1 tKo TanlT oa IKa r*n rl . 1 ? . 1 ?
vuw iaiui^ .1??CU IUC |?ai IV i'I UCldUIlCrS II
1844. When these men rallied agair
under their two great leaders, Genera
Cass and Mr. Van Buren, in 1848, the)
were again defeated, because the people
recognise no such statute of limitations a.?
these gentlemen plead in bar to their olc
transgressions.
But on this question of morals involvec
in the matter of removals, we have a wore
or two more to say. Dr. Johnson was
considered in his day a pretty rigid moral
ist. He was a little too much infusec
with the notion of a strong Executive, ant
in this respect his Toryism was on a pai
with the Locofocoisin of the present day,
He looked to the throne with as mucl
reverence as the most devoted admirer o
the Veto power looks in the year 1849
1 But this cannot impair his authority in thi
eyes of Democracy^ on a question of Ex
1 ecutive administration. And what sail
Dr. Johnson on this subject? He heh
the very doctrine that Locofocoism re
joices in. "The administration," he sail
to Boswell, some time in 177/), "is feebh
and timid, and cannot act with that au
1 thority and resolution which is necessary
1 Were 1 in power I would turn out ever)
man who dared to oppose me. (iovern
menI has the distrilnition of offices that i
may be enabled to maintain its authority
' This is the Democratic theory, as we un
I TX 9
derstand it. But good Democrats limit thei
theory to a single asjwct of the case. The]
' say that Democratic Presidents have tin
' distribution of offices to maintain their au
' thority, but that Whig Presidents mus
' maintain their authority and leave all th<
offices in the hands of the Democracy
Otherwise, they will make a moral ques
' _c :? i o 'i? /-i
nun ui u, aiiu uvcnnniw uie uovrrn
" | ment by a general indignation meetin]
1 of the people. When they call tha
meeting, we heg to be consulted in re
f gard to appropriate inscriptions for thei
1 banners, and becoming resolutions. Mean
1 while, to facilitate their movements, w<
r respectfully suggest that they should tak
for one motto "Polk, Dallas, and th
9
I Tariff of 1842." For one resolution, w
i would recommend they should adopt tha
of the Young Hickory Club of Morris
town, New Jersey?"Resolved, that w
j agree with our (late) candidates for th
Presidency and Vice Presidency, Jame
y K. Polk and Ceorge M. Dallas, that th
Tariff of '42 ought not to be repealed.1
To make the whole matter agreeable, the;
'* should invite Mr. Eli Moore to official
i as the grand marshal of the occasion, Mr
I Postmaster Morris to prepare the "pa
? pers," and Mr. Minister Bancroft t
| write the history of its proceedings.
riuui ~- | .
FRANCE.
I The third proof to which universal suffrage h&a
bean submitted in France, has passed in a manner
worthy of a great nation, which comprehends liberty
and its privileges. The election has passed
with remarkable calm and solemnity. In vain did
' certain persons and journals endeavor to excite fear
of agitations. Every where the people exercised
. peaceably this attribute of their sovereignty.' It
would seem that the mosses now understand that
they have no further need of violence to defend
their rights, or to manifest their will; that the
weapon more powerful than insurrection is universal
suffrage; that each man has in his vote a weapon
I more powerful than a sword, with which to adapt
t lawn and government to his wants.
The late elections have brought bitter disappointment
to the existing Government; they have expressed
in thunder-tones the dissatisfaction which
the Ministry have excited throughout the land.
How different from the vote of the 10th December!
i Napoleon then was elevated to the Presidency by
more voices than his uncle received for Consul.
He came into power the popular idol, and with but
a modicum of common sense and knowledge of
human nature, could have succeeded in keeping
himself still the favorite of the people. But his
i every step has been unfortunate. He chose a Ministry
which did not represent the true Republican
party of France. He put himself, through that
Ministry, in antagonism with the Constituent Assembly
and with France ; allowed hasty and illjudged
measures to be passed, which have compromised
him with the people, who, upon the first
opportunity given them, expressed their dissatisfaction.
The new Assembly now in session, and a new
Ministry is doubtless formed, which shall better
understand the situation, and better respond to the
wants of the people.
Let us observe a little more closely the causes
which have excited France against its present Government.
Instead of being what a good government ought,
the exact echo of the general needs?the mirror in
which is reflected the entire country?it has been,
as has already been observed, the great mistake of
the Ministry to have kept themselves in a continual
, state oftmtagonism and defiance towards the masses.
After the election of December 10, and in
spite of the favorable votes by which the Assembly
firMt APtn rtf tho Prpuulpnt nf th*? PpnnK.
lie, the minority endeavored to make it appear hos,
tile to the new government.
It endeavored to make it suapicioua in the eyes
of France. It provoked against it petitions from al'
parts of the country. Call to mind, later, the violen1
debates which were raised between the military
power of Paris?a power unconstitutional and exorbitant?and
the President of the Assembly.
The unfortunate attempt of 27th January?the disdain
with which the President of the Republic and
the General Changarnier treated the decree of the
National Representatives?and, lastly, to crown all,
these defiances thrown at the first power of the
I State; that unfortunate circular to the Department
t>f M. Leon Faucher, and under which he has
fallen, without a voice daring to raise itself to defend
him.
In every thing have blindness and want of address
been shown. It would seem that the Ministry
1 had had for object to discontent all parties, all classes
of society ! The army appeared devoted to the
Government; till now it has implicitly followed the
wills of its chiefs. And now we see that the Government
alienates this powerful force by a succession
of arbitrary measures, which pushes the army
> into the ranks of the extreme opposition. Officers,
| whose opinions are suspected, ostracised; all political
^ readings, all access to electoral meetings, forbidden
to the soldiers, who have nevertheless the right of
1 voting and of discussion. Those men who dared
i to offer themselves as candidates, Boichot, Rattier,
I and Lieutenant Demay, imprisoned arid punished
r with unjustifiable rigor; right of suffrage forbidden
to the garde mobile, through an equivocation unworthy
of a government. The garde rCpublicaine
dissolved, and two thousand men, without resource,
' turned out into the streets.
It is by such measures that the army has been
1 mnftp diM4ntiMfi#*d And whnt hns h#v?n f-nin?*d hv
1 this imprudent policy ? The army, which in June
^ decimated itself against the Socialist insurrection,
votea now throughout for the most ardent of the
Socialists.
Add to this the unhappy war waged against the
1 Roman Republic, which the French soldiers exer
cute with regret and in protesting, and it will be allowed
on all sides that more than enough has been
done to alienate from the Government those troops
heretofore so devoted to it.
f'
Thus do we now see in France discontent in the
* army, antagonism with the National Assembly,
5 defiance with the masses. Here is the result to
- which five months of government by Louis Napo]
leon has arrived.
} The news by the steamer now nearly due will be
interesting as telling how the ^Isarviblu Coru/iluante
^ drew its last breath, and what severe blows in its
dying agonies it may have dealt at the Ministry
* that it would bring down to the grave with it. The
- Ministry had.thrown unjustifiable defiances at the
Assembly, which, its mission fulfilled, had prc^
pared to go quietly out to make way for the Legislative
Assembly. It had succeeded in exciting
all the bad and violent passions; and from the
' tenor of the last news we may expect some crowning
act to mark its termination. The telegraphic
. drsjsitch to the Prrftlt of the Deportments, by M
Leon Faucher, in which, spreading a falsehood on
lightning wings to all portions of France, he repreV
sentsd those members of the Assembly who had
1 voted against the Ministry as leaders of rebellion,
- as being ready to rush to the barricades, raised the
t indignntion of the Assembly to the highest pitch, and
n from this time dates their most energetic movements
against the Ministry. Faucher was driven out by
the most terrible vote ever given against a minister.
Of 524 members, 519 protested against this most
S..U.LI. -I -1 a 1 41
",ui|jniiir Biniw r?i riotuuni miiurmx.
? The imp'il upon wines nnd liquors (koiwotu) wa?
t repealed, and near a hundred and fifty millions
? thus struck off from the budget. Chan farmer haa
r been driven from hia double poat aa commanderin-chief
of two distinct arms in the service?the
National Guards, and the troops of the line in Paris.
p What else the Assembly may do to close its career
f we have yet to see
'' The Ministry will be changed, and it is to be
p hoped ihnt one which will respond more nearly to
j the wishes of the people may be named.
The late papers speak of Bugeaud'a being app
pointed to form a cabinet in order, doubtless, to
p give the army a sop. Such an appointment is
s nevertheless much to be doubted. France would
p look with suspicion iifion it, nnd would fear more
' than ever some coup d'etmt, fhr which everylwidy
y seems to be now looking.
p Odillon Parrot, at the head of a new Ministry,
would by no means be unpopular in France. No
r one doubts his patriotism or his probity ; and he
0 has for years been foremost in the ranks of opposition
to the old dynasty.
M. De Tracy is another who aeema to have preserved
the reaped of all paruee. ?<
De Palloux, who is the actual representative in
the Cabinet of the Jesuitical-legitimist faction, who
is just as much haled as was Paucher, cannot remam.
These two were the promoters of the violent
dissolution of the ateliers luitionaux. 4
Droyn De Thys will doubtless pay the penally
of weakness in allowing more artful men to make
him their mstrumeut in his external policy.
M. ltulhi?res has the misfortune, as Minister of
War, to find himself the responsible editor to the
interior of the illegal position of Oeneral Chan- ^ ?
gamierIt
therefore is almost beyond doubt that the last
three Ministers named will go by the board, and
thus that most important modifications be made in
the Cabinet. Surmises, however, as to its forma- ^
tion, would be here out of place, perhaps, and certainly
uninteresting. We have only to wait for the
coming steamer to see what will be its formation,
and how the Legislative Assembly will commence
its labors. Stormy times may be exhibited there.
The Socialists have, relatively speaking, quadrupled
their forces. The monarchists have also gained
greatly; while moderate republicanism has fallen
behind. The fight will be a bitter one. Let us
hope their only battle-ground may be in the As- /
sembly.
MR. POLK.
Our telegraphic despatch states that the Nashville
papers pronounce Mr. Polk to be in a precarious
situation, and that little hopes are entertained of his
recovery. We hope and believe that this news is
not so late as that received, heretofore, by telegraph*
It is scarcely possible that he should have grown
seriously worse without the intelligence of the fact
having been received in advance of the mails.
There is nothing in the report to increase apprehension
of a fatal termination of his illness.
?Cj"* A telegraphic despatch received here from
Fredericksburg informs us that ?7,000 worth of
gold were obtained on Tuesday last from the
Whitehall mines of Messrs. Stockton & Heiss.
This is a reasonably good day's work; and though j
gold digging has not been generally a very profit- |
able employment, it looks somewhat as if our Virginia
friends were nbout to be favored with a niapi- '
cion at least of California success.
i
The papers complain of a too free use of the Cochituate
water in Boston; and the city council of
Philadelphia have passed an ordinance prohibiting U
the sprinkling of the streets, and imposing penal
ties for its violation. It is thought that the excess '
of humidity caused by excess in the use of water
is unfavorable to health. j
Death of Capt. Edward Deas.?The Brownsville
Flax states that Capt. Edward Deas, 4th U. S.
Artillery, stationed at Camp Ringgold, was drowned
from on board the steamer Yazoo, near Rio
Grande City, on the 6th ult. Capt. Deas served on
both lines during the Mexican war, and was taken
prisoner shortly before the battles of the 8jh and
9th of May, and carried into Matamoros.
Commerce of Boston.?The value of the exports
of merchandise from Boston to foreign ports ,
last week, was as follows : Domestic products, f
$196,174 91; foreign products, $34,989 71. Total
exports corresponding week last year, $170,839 24.
The amount of specie imported last week was 1
$2,360, from Pictou and Halifax?exported, to '
Cadiz $16,225, Buenos Ayres $4,800, Rum Key
$912.
Houie-movino.?Messrs. Bull, silk throwsters,
having bought a large silk factory at Conglelon, *
found it necessary, from the instability of the upper
portion of the brick work, to reduce it from a tourstory
to a three-story building. To pull the roof
to pieces, reduce the walls, and then reconstruct the
roof, would have been very expensive. Thoe. Shipley,
an ingenious mechanic, who had long worked
for Messrs. Bull, offered to lower the roof without
taking it to pieces. After preliminary preparations ('
for conveying the bricks to the ground, he lifted
with long levers alternately the beams which stirv
ported the roof, and aupported them with small
blocks of wood, whilst he lowered the walls one
course of bricks at a time, so that the roof was gradually
and imperceptibly lowered eight feet, to the
top of the third story, without the least accident
occurring, and without the breaking of a single ule,
or crack in the roof.?Bridgnealer Times.
The above paragraph we find in the Jlrtisan, a
scientific and mechanical periodical, published in
London.
When the professional character of the work
from which it was taken ia considered, coupled with
the circumstance of this notice having been published
in a paper previously issued, it is a fair inference
that the performance referred to is some- l
thing of a novelty in our mother country.
Mr. Brown, of New York, and the house removers
of that city, would be surprised to learn of
such an act entitling the performer to the character
of ingenuity; for they are not only in the habit of
reducing buildings a story, but frequently raise
them from their foundation, change their fronts, or
remove them to a new location, and add a Unrtr
tlory and cellar, without disturbing the furniture or
removing the occupants.
ALABAMA. *
A correspondent writes us as follows, under date
of the 9th instant, from Montgomery: "From the
prosj?ecta now before us, we think we can elect four
members to Congress in the first, second, fourth, ?
and seventh districts. We shall Tun them to the
J girth, if we do not succeed in the third district. In ,
ths fi rst district the Whigs have nominated a strong
! man. In the fourth district the Whigs have nominated
Col. J. Baldwin against Juge; we feel confi*
dent we can heat him. In the aecond Mr. HiUard
haa no oppoaition an yet, but he in at all eventa invincible.
In the nevnnlh, Bowdon'a diatrict, three
Democrala are in the field, and we have a "nag"
that we feel confident can heat the trio."
Interior Trade or Mexico.?We have recent
advicea from the interior marketa, aayn the Flag of
the 30th ult., but all repreaenting huaineaa an being
in a deprt aaed and unaatihfactory atate.
AGENTS ON MAIL ROUTES.
The following appointmenta of Route Agenla
have been made by the Poatmaater General.
Philadelphia to Wanhington.
Richard H. Amiot, vice Thoa. J. Oalt, removed.
gl
JVnr York la Philadelphia
Cm a a lea Atkinhon, vice Jamea M. Clark, ermoved.
Ponton lo Neir York.
John M. Shaw, vice George Kcllingrr, removed.
11 'ridon la Wilmington, North Carolina.
William Burnett, vire A. Sherwood, removed
Albany to Buffalo, /Veto York
R S. WiLLtAMa, vice H. H. Boatwirk, removed.
Ronton la Albany.
I.kwih J. Mob urn, vice A. W Chapin, removed.
Troy to Whitehall, iVetn York.
On amok F. Elliot.
Afetr York and Harlem Railroad,
William H. Rbynolda.
Intrrnai. Improvrmrnt.?A convention is to be
held Bt Salisbury, North Caroline, on the 14th innUint,
and one at Memphia on the 4th July next.
The citi7.ena of Norfolk have held a meeting and.
peaaed reaolutiona approving of the tune and appointing
delegates ( i
i
.. -i