The republic. [volume], July 18, 1849, Image 2

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

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From the W. Y. TribuneHUNGARY
AND ITS POPULATION.
We have already published several articles on
this country, to which the eyes of the world are
turned with fear and hope, according us the sympathies
of the beholder are engaged on the side of
absolutism or of liberty. We liave spoken of the
Magyars and the great quarrel in which they stand
opposed to the Auslrians and Russiuns with the
muignution natural to any unprejudiced mind in
contemplating the most outrageous and giguntic
injustice, and with the ardent desire that they may
triumph, and, triumphing, strike to death that reaction
which has been steadily, and often savagely
und bloodily, at work in Europe, ever since the revolution
of February came to shock the old world
and procluim the elevation of the people to the enjoyment
of their rights. Of course, in these articles
we have dwelt mainly on social und political considerations,
and have not had the S|?ce t? present such a
daguerreotype of the country and people of the
Magyars as is greatly needed. We now sunply
this deficiency by translating from the French of
M. Auguste Degcrundo the following vivid and picturesijue
description. Mr. Degerando is well known
as one of the most interesting and authentic writers
on Hungary, which he traversed just before the
breaking out of the present revolution. The following
article has just been condensed and prepared
by him for a leading journal of Paris
Our purpose, friendly reader, is to conduct you
into a new country, where your eyes and your
mind will be astonished. If you chance to be in
one of those moments when every one yields to the
first distraction which offers, mount with us upon
this boat whose heated furnaces announce its speedy
uc^aimic iii'iii iitc vjiiihuii icrnuincs, or, Mllll
belter, enter this low and swift carriage, wilh which
five small but ardent horses are about to dash away.
You Bee the ground dies from beneath our feel.
The country we are traversing does not yet exhibit
any thing striking; all around we seeonly the
peaceful plains of Austria. On, on, still on!?these
posts striped with black and yellow, the unlucky
color which the House of Hapsburg has had the
tancy lo adopt, mark uie boundaries ot the domains
of his Apostolic Majesty. But we do not stop
there; like the steeds of the ballad, ours pass
through cities and villages, and only stay their feet
when they touch the plains which gave them birth
Now look around you. As far as your eye can
reach spreads the immense, the boundless plain.
Nothing troubles the majestic and savage solitude
of nature, except it be the grave and silent stork.
No road is marked on the burning sand, or on the
thick herbage beneath your feet. You would doubt
whether that strange soil were inhabited, did there
not appear, from lime to time, on the horizon a
horseman with garments streaming in the wind; or
if you could not here and there perceive vast fields
crrain with thirl* sfitlks IwnHirio- in urnvco nt
if your ear were not struck by the sound of the
shepherd's trumpet or a distant bell. The vigorous
race which dwells in this region has a true passion
for the soil it inhabits. Mountains are a horror to
the Hungarian; they arrest his eye and check
his horse. " What a beautitul country is mine!"
he says, waving his hand horizontally from left to
right, as if to describe its surface; "in it I am free!"
In beholding this country and these men one
spontaneously demands if he is not in another continent.
Nothing can be truer than this impression.
Europe finishes at the frontier of Austria. Hungary
belongs to Asia.
In spite of the diversity of language and manners,
.you feel that the same civilization prevails among
the nations between the AtlanticandtheCarpathians
There nature has been subjected to man, whose
active and industrious hand has triumphed over the
anil. He has made the earth subservient to his
wants. His roots are fixed in it, if I may so speak,
so deeply that from time immemorial his history is
confounded with that of the region he inhabits. On
that vanquished soil he has built an edifice, a society
which every where presents nearly the same
characteristics, which haa been modified and is still
modified by analogous laws in every country.
In Hungary a new world opens before you.
What first strikes you there is the desert, those
infinite steppes which stretch out under a burning
skv. There the mirage shines bv dav and hv
night the fire* of the caravan*. Around theae steppes
are impenetrable forests and mountains, whose
summits no foot has ever reached Every where
Oft these illimitable prairies you meet herds of cattle,
horses, buffaloes, like those of pastoral and nomadic
tribes To complete the spectable, the rare
though large villages art of low houses, white, and
% pitched in Itnea like tents. Their occupants do not
form a nation, but twenty different and separate
races, as if they had just arrived and were seeking
for some new abiding place. Around these bivouacs
lie cultivated fields, where the fertility of nature
supplies the place of human industry. Man is less
the master than the slave of the soil. The rivers,
oAen dry, refuse to transport him; and then filled
by the heavy rains, they flood the whole country.
Amid this unconquered nature live still fresh the
recollections of frightful invasions and interminable
combats, of populations driven forth or exterminated,
and the inhabitants still preserve the attitude
they have acquired during ten centuries of war.
Do not seek in those deserted fields for the animated
nan omnia vou left at home, for the hum of
a hire in labor. You will find there the silence
of a camp reposing the day after battle.
I said lhat the camp waa reputing:, but I mistook;
it 1a in motion already. And thia it it which renders
still more striking the contrast between Europe
and Hungary. By observing the efforts of the
Magyars to become civilized, we can better judge
the present aiate of their country. The institutions
to which they have just given so generous a development
came from the Orient The people which
brought them retain their Asiatic manner.* and
physiognomy. Their costume would alone l?etray
their origin, as would their primitive tastes whuh
belong to themselves, and their language which differs
from all those of the European continent, and
can hardly be compared with any but the Turkish
At this day the herdman or the cavalier, living amid
his flocks in the broad plains, watered by the
Danube, and the laborer in mustachea and clinking
spurt cultivating that almost virgin soil, are the true
aona of those Magyars, who ten centuries a'?o set
forth from the steppes of Asia.
The curiosity of the tourist is largely satified, if
from the soil he turns his observations to the inhabitants
of Hungary. Nothing is more varied
than that population. In the west are the Germans.
(of these there are J.Oil.jle, lesides 210,0(10 in
Transylvania,) introduced into the country since
the time of the House of Hapsburg Living oh the
borders of Austris, they are a aort of reflex of the
two countries between which they are placed
Hungarians in costume, they have remained Swhbians
in feature and bearing, and wear the dress of
the hussar in the most pacific fashion. If by the
vicinity of their mother country they have preserved
their individuality, they are stifl under the
Hungarian influence, and the Magyar language
gains ground among them, notwithstanding the
constant current of immigration from Germany.
At the other extremity of the country towards
Transylvania dwell the Wallarhtans, (of these
there are IJ2II.M4. beside 1,100 000 in Transylvania,)
descendants of colonies planted by Trajan.
This peopleshows it* Italian origin by iu | li) I'jnc,
its language, its habits, and even its superstii. >ns
Picturesque in its originality, it has borrowed some
thing from the nations which surround it; there is
something Oriental in those Romans in red lioots.
garments of embroidered linen, with their hair
plaited and adorned with coin*.
TheSclaves, who, with the W.illachians, are the
aboriginese of Hungnry, have not so strongly
marked a physiognomy a* they. Enslaved at different
epochs by all the nation* with which they
have fought, the Sclavonic race is every where more
or leu* (mm mi la ted to it* victoriou* antagonist*. In
Russia you find in it a certain Asiatic stamp; that
is a relic of the Mongolian domination. Bohemia,
earned away in the movement of Europe, wear* a
German aspect. The 8rlaves of the Danube have
borrowed of the Turk* many of the peculiarities
of their dre*? and language. Those who live in
Hungary have adopted the costume of the Magyars,
and some features of their manner*. .Near th<
frontier* of Styrm this i* more striking than elsewhere
On the Hungarian territory tne Sclave*
are dressed like Hungarians (>*** the fictitious
barrier which separate* the two countries, and you
nee only the German costume, and yet the anil and
the people are the same.
The Sclaves inhabit the mountains which surround
Hungary on the North and South They
are divided into Slovarks (1,6.17,25b) and Ruthenian*(44ii,903)
in the North; and Wendes,(4tl.NW, i
Croates, lHRf>079,) and lllyrians, (l.257.W>3.) in
the South. The rest are Bulgarians, Clementine
and Montenegrins, who are scattered in srmv -i ,
hers among the preceding trihea, and who have
taken refuge in Hungary from Turkish oppression.
Each tribe ha* it* dialect, and aome of them differ
from otnera more than Russian from Polish.
Amid these various and important populations,
there are to be noticed some thousand* of Greeks,
and an equal number of French, that is to say, of
colonists brought from Lorraine and Luxembourg,
dunng the last century I'he Jews, who are found
* *S < ?)
every where, have increased singularly ill Hungary
[255,000] since the lawn became favorable to
them. They are dispersed through the whole
I country. Sometimes you see litem wearing robes
and cafluns, and all of them wear the beard long.
It is especially with the sous of this greedy race
that we must contrast that vagabond population
which, under the name of Gipsies or Bohemians,
[00,000,] adds its strange jieculiaritiea to the varied
picture we have just gone over.
The Hungarians, or Magyars as they call themselves
in their language, form the most numerous
race, [4,330,088, ana in Transylvania 530,000 ]
They have given their name to the country which
they conquered in the lXth century. Fuiihful to
i their Asiatic tastes, they took possession of the
steppes which form the centre of Hungary. Endowed
with an astonishing energy, equally fitted
: tor attack or resistance, they have carried along
wiui mem in ine process oi their development the
other rucei around them, which, when united, are
in number superior to themselves. At the sumo
tune, though for three centuries they have been
i ruled by Austrian princes, they have been able to
i repel Uieir encroachments and preserve the integrity
| and the liberty of the kingdom. And now, at least,
[ m the alternative of combat or submission, they
! huve taker up arms, and we know to what exirenuj
ty they have reduced Austria.
The overflowing population of Germany, which
j seeks a new home even in America, tends also toward
Hungary. This has ulways been a tendency
of that race to which the Danube offers an attractive
route, its silent and continuous invusion produces
a movement of the population in Hungary,
which for fifty years has been growing remarkable.
The Germans come in and establish themselves in
the villages among the Hungarians. More industrious
and more active than their new neighbors,
they gradually become owners of the greater part
of the soil, which at last the Magyars abandon to
them. Though hosnituble and friendly to all who
kdock at ilia uoor, tne Magyar peasant ones not
like to be crowded by strangers who establish
themselves on his territory, bringing with them
their language and customs; least of all does he like
the Germans, because they have been used by the
Emperors of Austria as the means of spreading
their influence. But instead of entering upon a
struggle in which he would come of second best,
because it would not be to his taste, he leads his
flock away and sets up his lent elsewhere. The
armed conqueror yields the ground to the pacific
invader. Retiring towards the east, the Hungarian
presses back the Sclave, who then crosses the
Danube, and the Wallachion, who goes into Transylvania
and Wallachia. This movement is hardly
noticed, because it goes on gradually. We can
foresee the time when it will cease, and when the
natives who have not yet abandoned the frontier
will be able to resist the pressure of the new
comers.
It has been observed that the half-civilized man
does not readily become habituated to contact with
a superior culture. His first instinct is to shut himself
up in his own ideas and habits, with the greater
obstinacy the more they are in contrast with those
opposed to them. To measure the distance which
separates the German from the Hungarian, to appreciate
the qualities peculiar to each, it only needs
a glance cast into their respective habitations. The
u..? r:_ ...:n-i ' i .--i- i
HUM. v/i me Vjrci man Will BX1UW yuu guuu UJU18, t'A?XI"
lent instruments of industry; in that of the Hungarian
you will see the saddle, the harness, and his
arms in perfect order. The former is a laborious
workman, has habits of order and economy, and
lives in u certain comfort; the latter is an intrepid
horseman, and loves to breathe in the free air of
heaven; above all he desires independence; this
makes him prefer his light and floating costume, the
vast etreets of his village where his horses meet no
obstacle, and the plain where nothing checks his
rapid course. He nas a filial love for the soil, which
suits his free life, and which resembles the cradle of
his fathers, while the German has his fatherland
wherever he is well off". The Hungarian thinks little
of the prosperity of his neighbor, and regards those
things as important for which the latter has no esteem.
Never without reason does he lay aside that
gravity of gestures and bearing proper to the Oriental.
Booted and spurred, he is always ready to get to
horse, and to look picturesque when mounted. For
him this is an affair of dignity, and he notices with
disdain the tortyos nemet, the ill-dressed German.
Pacific by nature, the German is inoffensive and
obedient. He only demands to employ his activity
in certain limits, and then Rhuts his door and discreetly
enjoys the goods he has acquired. The
Hungarian is of a mind more prompt, more active,
and more impressible; and nothing that passes in
the country finds in him an indifferent spectator.
He has the sentiment of justice as strongly as the |
I'urk or the Arab, and will not suffer oppression.
Not long since the magistrates of a small Hungarian
city seized the property of several persons
who had not paid the taxes, and offered them for
sale. The chance of buying cheap was good, but
no buyers appeared, and they were obliged to remove
the articles to a great distance in order to sell
them The Hungarian is less disciplinable than the
German, and more sensible to a moving appeal
than to threats. Each acts from a different motive,
which the one owes to his more advanced civilization.
the other to his military education. When, in
1832, a Hungarian theatre was opened at Buda,
the people thronged to it. One evening a tumult
arose in the galleries, which, as every where else,
were occupied by the poorer part of the population.
The director, M. Dobrentei, immediately went
there, and addressed the excited crowd: "Gen|
tlemen," he cried, " wtoim.' in the name of the
Magyar honor, I adjure you to behave properly
i At these words every body peaceably sat down.
Thr. M....-r.^ ,1.. U.. A.CC.
iiui .aniui anu w?*~ \jiciiiiaii ati U? Uiliricil'
ystem* of morality, the former according to the
impulse* of nature, the latter according to the law*
| of an organized society; hence it happen* that the
' <me will abstain from u deed that tne other perform*
w ithout scruple. The Hungarian takes care
not to 1* wanting in hospitality,'which he carriea to
devotion; he honors courage, mock* neither the
lunatic nor the idiot, and aid* the unfortunate. The
j Cierman does not make it his rule to apply these
precepts, a? they would have littie weight with a
j jury ; hut he ha* a great respect for property concerning
which the Magyar professes singular theories,
none the less opf osed to our ways of thinking
j because they came from Asia.
i rememoer mat in one 01 my excuraiona 1 had
an homat German coachman all one day. In going
from a village with whoae vicinity he waa not acquainted,
I took along a Hungarian peaaant aa
guide. It hapi*ened at a apot where the road waa
deep that botn got off* to walk. The coachman
picked up a young pigeon, juat trying ita winga,
and without thinking wan about to caat it down
where the wheela would pan* over it. The guide
noticed hia movement: " What are you doingf"
aaid he. " Kill to he fed, but not for |>aatime ; that
bird i* a creature of God'a 11 The coachman nmiled
from ear to ear, but hia wriat waa held no firmly
that he opened hia hand, and the bird eneaped out
of danger.
The Hungarian who'had thia elevated thought
waa a pure eon of Nature, and perhapa a few daya
after waa brought up before the police for having
j hunted here and there according to hia own pleasure,
on the pretence that all the animaln of the
foreat were not made for a aingle pereon. You
divine the reaulta of there two aorta of morala.
i Moat frequently the law baa nothing but praiae for
the German and puiuahment for the Magyar. But
I you, reader, will not lie ao urijuat; and if you have
a great eateem for the former, 1 defy you not to
love the latter.
AURICt'LTlRAL.
Prnfe??or Mspes' Km 111 mid Karmlii|(.
In the Farmer and Mechanic we find a letter from ,
' Professor Map?>, netting forth hia method of farming,
aa lately put in practice on hia farm in thia
vicinity. We extract auch portiona aa may be interesting
and useful to agricultural readers generally.
Pi oroniNCi.?The whole farm is ploughed thus:
Surface plough Ruggles, N'ourse fk Mason's Kngle.'
No. 25, in all cases, running two inches deeper than
the surface soil, and followed in the bottom of the
furrow by a horae aulesoil plough, running in full
to the beam, say 20 inches: this auleeoil plough,
in all cases, passing entirely through the clay and
mixing the kellis with it, but not intermixing the
sub-soil with the surface ; it merely lifts what it
cuts, and lets it fall again in the name place, but
turna nothing over ; thus you will perceive that,
although a slight mixture may take place between
the clay and kellis, from the action of the sub-soil
plough, still it dr?es not intermix the upper surface
-.f the clay with the surface soil ; any intermixture
there must depend upon the depth to winch the
-urfnee plough is set to turn its furrow. Not an
inconsiderable benefit arising from the use of subsoil
ploughs is the slight lifting it gives to the upper ;
furrow?thus causing ita disintegration, which is
not perfect from being merely turned over with the
surface plough.
Mam *?.?.?My greatest resource for manures is
the (iresi Jersey Meadow, reaching from Newark
to Bergen, every foot of which ia Capable of being
converted into manure of the l?eat quality A single
inspection of this meadow will convince the ob
server that its upper stratum is composed of organic
matter not in a stale of decay; and from ita surface
being parallel to the water level, it is ulao evident
that this mass of mutter is the resylt of washings
from the uplands by rains for centuries past. Since
its deposit, such portions of its own decayed vegetable
matteis receiving their carbon from the atmosphere
huve increased the mass. Does it not
naturally suggest itself, that to restore vigor to the
upland this matter must be carried buck to where
it came from.
To render this material suitable fur manure it is
only necessary to put it in a stale of decay, and this
1 do by several methods; indeed, I have tried all
the methods given by Johnson, Dunn, and others,
and they all answer the purpose perfectly well.
The Cattle Stall.?This contains six oxen
und three cows, and will make more than one cord per
uuy, equal in quaiuy 10 norse manure. 1 arrange
it thus:
Under the hind feet of the cattle is dug a cutter
two nnd-a-luilf feet deep and three and-u-half feet
wide; its surface should be covered with Rosendule
cement made fluid with water, and put on with
a watering-pot until the earth refuses to absorb the
moisture. In two duys it will be solid and hurd as
stone. Fill this trench with meadow muck to the
level of the stable, and cover it with salt hay or
straw as bedding. The manures voided by the
cattle will pass through the bedding and lie absorbed
by the muck. Every four days this mass
is taken out, that time being found sufficient to supply
it with the materials for decomposition. It is
then placed under a shed, and in three weeks in
summer or ten weeks in winter it will be as fine
as the best stable munure, having gone through the
heatings and fermentation. I am perfectly convinced
thut the urine of animals received by muck,
with the animal warmth of the body of the animal
lying upon it at night, will decompose ten times as
much as would be decomposed by the same amount
of urine previously suffered to cool in a cistern.
Each time this trench is emptied the surface is
covered with charcoal dust, thus all smell is prevented.
The Hog Pen.?My hog pen is also made a
valuable adjunct for the manufacture of manure
from meadow muck. It is thus constructed: A
trench is dug two feet wide and five feet deep around
a piece of ground as large as wanted for a piggery?
fill this trench with stone, and then grout between
the stone with a fluid grout composed of one part
Rosendale cement and two parts sand, the whole
made very fluid with water and poured in as fast as
mixed until full to the surface. In a few days this
wall will be solid as one stone, and impervious to
water. Then dig out the trench inside the wall
three feet deep, vaiying the depth in different parts
so as to render this ditch a series of inclined planes.
Before digging out this inner ditch, saturate the
earth on the inside wall with soapers' waste or spent
ley, and as dug out it may be used us manure.
Thus we have a cistern of stone, with a mound of
earth in the centre and a ditch between the mound
and the wall.
At one end of this enclosure place your hog pen,
and make this mound of earth the running ground
for the hogs. Every day (if you have ten hogs)
mrow a cortl ot muck on tins mound, all your
weeds, and occasionally a handful of shelled corn.
The hogs will incessantly root, mix up and turn
over the muck, giving them exercise and you manure.
As fast as the muck is made it washes down
into the ditch, and with the water received from the
rains this ditch will make a good wallowing place
for the hogs. Alongside of the hog pen place a
covered shed with the bottom cemented and so
placed ns to discharge fluid into the ditch of the
hog pen. Once in ten days throw the contents of
this ditch into the shed, and should there be uny
more fluid than necessary, it will run back into the
ditch. Should the quantity of fluid seem too great
k A- - f i ?_ i? ? :
unci iiciiv j rums, etc., you imve oiny iu umic n
upon the muck on the centre mound with a pail on
the end of a pole, thus decreasing the quantity by
evaporation and absorption. This, however, will
seldom be the c;ise, as the hogs prefer the mixture
in the ditch to be of a consistency not quite fluid,
and will push the muck from the mound,and make
the mixture to suit themselves. The contents of
this shed are always ready for use us manure, and
the quality is most unexceptionable,
A similar arrangement to that used in the cattle
shed is also practised in the horse stable.
All the house wash should be absorbed by the
meadow muck.
With six oxen, three cows, three horses, ten
hogs, and the results from house, &c., at least two
cords of manure of prime quality may be procured
per day, by the proper use of salt marah or meadow
muck ; and, if the manure should not be
wanted for three or four months in winter, the
quantity of muck may be doubled by mixing it intimately
with double the quantity of muck, and per|
milling it to remain under cover free as possible
from currents of uir. Should the muck heaps at
any time show great heat, cover them with powdered
or fine charcoal, or well-dried muck, and the
gases will be retained and absorbed.
Remarks.?Professor M., in regard to the extraordinary
depth of his ploughing, observes :
1. 1 wish to perfectly disintegrate my soil, and
take up a portion of the clay each year to be converted
into soil?thus deepening the soil.
2. To incorporate the kellis with the clay so as
to render it penetrable to water, and still more important
to admit the atmosphere.
3. The advantages'to arise from sub-soil ploughing
are:
Less liability to sutler from drought ; the roots
can go down and find moisture. More surface of
particles are exposed to the action of the atmosphere
and for the reception of ammonia and carbonic
acid. The absorption of these ingredients by
soil being, not in proportion to the quantity of soil,
but to the surface of disintegrated soil exposed.
REVOLUTIONARY RELIC- No. 3.
Extract from the journal of Rev. David Avert, i
a chaplain in the Continental army:
May 28, 1775.? About holf-nast 11 o'clock, adetachment
of four hundred ana seventy men from
several regiments marched from Cambridge under
the sommand of Colonel Doolittle I was one of
the number. We arrived at Chelsea at three o'clock. !
Here we took some refreshment, and went to the
relief of the guards about six o'clock. There has
been occasional firing a good part of the day. Considerable
treasure has been got out of the British
schooner.
May 29.? We got two large and one small anchor,
a quantity of iron, and a barrel of pork out
of the schooner to-day.
About noon, Captain Yoking and 1 rsconnoitersd
the ground east of the schooner, and judged the taking
off the cattle practicable. The Caotain. with
three men, took a canoe and went about a mile and
a quarter upon the north aide of the river from the
ferry, and went acroaa to Noddle's inland and reconnoitred
and acouted round about an hour and a
quarter, when he fixed his sentries
Another canoe then went over to hi* aaaiaiance,
and they soon took two horaea and mired one,
when a cannon ball fell pretty near them. Four
British barges aoon landed their men, upon which
ail the acout retreated to the main ahoreand came
over. Upon thia, I adviaed that tney ahould go
back and get the atock. They did no, and got off
the ntock about aunaet.
I stood upon guard to-night two houra, near Winnmimmii
ferry. Also prayed with the company.
May 30?Major Cady, Captain Noble, and I,
returned to head-quartern early thin morning.
June 2-?Several aoldiern died thia week I attended
their funeral*.
June 14.?A number of transport* from Ireland
have arrived at Boston thin week.
June 17.?Lant night our men cant up an intrenchment
on Bunker's Hill. Thin morning the /.ireiy,
man-ot-wnr, dropped down near the ferry, fired at
our breastwork and killed one man, who imprudently
exposed htmaelf.
Our army made ready for a sudden alarm.
/iiKtiii iiiur o ciock, p. m , trie regulars lanaeu at
Charlestown.aet fire to the meeting-house, and took
advantage of the smoke which covered them. Our
men re[?eatedly received them with brik and deadly
firea. At length the regulars entered the fort and
our men retreated. General Warren was slam.
June 18.?Last night we intrenched on Prospect
Hill, and the work went on to-day under a heavy
cannonade from the eriemv. I visited and prayed
with the sick and wounded.
June 19.?Captain Foster planted a twenty-four j
pounder upon Prospect Hill, and made much preparation
for defence.
June 20.?The British have discharged but one I
cannon at us to-day.
June 91.?Visited Shattock, who is likely to recover
of his wounds.
The schooner Homt, arrived at New Orleans on
the 7th from Tampico, brought late Mexican dates.
They contain little but what relates to California,
and the accounts from thence are contradictory in
theextreme. Gold is said to lie most abundant,
and the last advices state that the necessaries of life
are easily obtained at the mines This is very different
from the stories told by the Trail d'L'nirm of the
9th June.
The insurgents of the Sierra Gorda, under lAueros,
have been driven frdm the town of Rio Verde,
lositig twenty of their number. 4
?
THE REPUBLIC.
T H E R El' T B LIC.
WASH1MGT0N:
WEDNESDAY MOWING, JULY 18, 184J.
THE HEMIBUC.
We receive very rumerous letters in
relation to the non-re<eption of the Republic
by subscribers and the journals with
Ufhirn uru a-voko n rro W? Bauo nn rlnnKf
that these complaints are generally well
founded, but the diftculties unavoidably
incident to an enterprise weighty as ours,
must, for the present, be taken by our
friends as an excuse. Arrangements are
now being made, however, of so complete
a character, that if the paper be not duly
received hereafter, the fault will not have
originated in this office.
PRESIDENT TAYLOR AND HIS CABINET.
The opposition presses have been making
merry for several weeks over a falsehood
that has been industriously circulated, to
the effect that President Taylou is merely
one of eight in his Cabinet; that he is in
the habit of submitting his nominations for
office to that body, giving a vote with the
rest of them, and abiding by the result.
It is said, in terms, that he has abnegated
the Presidential power, and is of no more
weight or account in public affairs than
anv one of his seven Cabinet officers.
We have never thought it worth while
to contradict this absurd falsehood. It
never occurred to us that a sane man
would give it credit for a moment. It is
so entirely inconsistent with General Taylor's
well-known character, with his habits
of thought and his habits of life, that we
supposed the statement carried the lie on
the face of it. To believe that a man whose
whole career has been passed in a school
in which the relations of position and duty
are so well understood, and so uniformly
regarded?to believe that a soldier of forty
years' service could so unlearn all that
forty years lave taught him, as to place
himself in such a false attitude with regard
r? tlnhirmf n?ip<?rs nf his nwn aiinr?intm<?nt
... .. ..
requires sucl a marvellous development of
the bump of credulity, that we could not
imagine the e was a man outside of a
museum, or a lunatic asylum, who honestly
believed it.
But it is unfortunately true that the continual
repetition even of an absurd falsehood,
gives it ultimately some sort of credit
with those who are disposed to believe
it. Perhaps, if it should be published daily
in the opposition newspapers that President
Taylor wore his head under his
shoulders, some people, in the course of
time, would believe it, and fortify their belief
on the ground that, if it was not true,
his friends would contradict it. It is this
which leads us to notice and to contradict
the statement to which we have alluded.
We aver, therefore, most distinctly,
that all the statements which have appeared
in the opposition newspapers, of the
character and effect of those to which we
above refer, are absolutely and unquali?
II.. ?_!??
iicui\ idpr.
The President of the United States in
no instance submits his prerogative to the
chances of a vote in the Cabinet. The
appointments vested in the President, the
President has made on his own responsibility.
The applications for such appointments,
that have been refused, have been
refused on his own responsibility. He has
never sought to implicate the Cabinet, or
any member of the Cabinet, in the responsibility
of such refusal. Every diplomatic
appointment of any importance has been
made by the President himself, of his
own motion, and from his own judgment,
on the merits and claims of the respective
candidates. With regard to the inferior
and local appointments, which belong properly
to the Heads of Departments, he has
left them where they belong, without seeking
to interfere. In making these appointments
the members of the Cabinet have,
of course, been compelled to consult to
gather, in order to arrange and equalize
the appointments in different sections, and
to prevent conflicting or double appointments,
or too great preponderance in particular
localities. These appointments the
President has not interfered with, because
it is no part of his Presidential duty. It has
never been considered a part of the Presidential
duty, except by one or two of our
Chief Magistrates, who have been afflicted
with that species of egotism which germinates
in the temper of a despot or a demagogue.
President Tavi.or does not interfere
with the clerks, porters, and messengers
in the Departments. In our judgment he
ought not to interfere with them. It is.
difficult for us to conceive that any gentleman
could remain at the head of a Department
without being left at perfect liberty
to select the subordinates for whose attention,
capacity, and fidelity he is responsible.
We do not know any President who
ha?*, at any times undertaken to regulate
these matters, except possibly the late
Chief Magistrate and President Jackson.
It was matter of notorious complaint against
the late President that he was continually
intermeddling in ap|>ointments that belonged
to the Heads of Departments; and
it is very much to the discredit of the several
members of his Cabinet, that they condescended
to retain their places in spite of
such interference.
President Tavlor, then, has done precisely
what all other well-advised Presi- j
dents have done. Where it was not his
province to interfere, he has permitted
the Cabinet to arrange their appointments
in their own way. Where the responsibility
of an appointment was in the President,
he has exercised it; and the idea
of a conflict, or collision, or comparison of
opinion as between himself and the Cabinet,
and of his voting with or against
members of his Cabinet, or his being outVntpri
nr unfo A /lrk\i/r\ ap l\iu Ito irimr fniUrl
^ vjl 1110 ,itt "d
in any instance to exercise the entire
Presidential power as vested in him by the
Constitution and the laws of his country,
is all a fable and falsehood. It has never
been General Taylor's habit to shirk
responsibilities, or to interfere with the
duties that properly belong to his subordinates.
He has lobked to his officers for
the proper discharge of their duty, and
has not sought to thwart or embarrass
them in the mode of doing it. Nor has
he ever permitted them, in any situation
in which he has been placed, to control
his judgment, or to substitute their will
for his own.
Will the opposition journals which have
given currency to the falsehood, give
room also to the correction of it ?
MR. 1KERRITT AND CANADA.
The Sole Organ out for Queen Victoria. .
The Washington Union, which is becoming
incorrigible in its sympathies for
crowned heads, is again out in its foreign
costume. Its first essay was in favor of
the King of Prussia, in the miserable affair
of the war-steamer United States. It now
takes up the cudgels for Queen Victoria.
In commenting upon a letter which appeared
in the Boston Courier, which stated
in effect that Mr. Merritt, of Canada,
had been here to sound the Government
upon a treaty for the reciprocal interchange
of products between Canada and
the United States; and that Mr. Clayton,
though he had received the proposition
and the agent with due respect, had given
no assurances that such a treaty would be
perfected, the Union denounces the Cabinet
as having abandoned " the course
which justice and honor dictate."
As usual, the Union 'attributes a bad
motive for a proper act. It is its vocation
10 ao so, ana man musi noi quarrel witn nis
vocation, however disreputable it may be.
In the first place, Mr. Merritt had no
power to make a treaty for the reciprocal
interchange of the products between Canada
and the United States, nor any other
sort of treaty. The Government could
therefore give him no assurances of what
it would do, unless Mr. Clayton chose
to submit himself to be pumped by Lord
Elgin's envoy. Again, Mr. Merritt
had not even power to commit his Government
to a negotiation, much less to
specific agreements ; and an American
minister could do little else than suggest
the topics which an accredited envoy with
full powers should be authorized to embrace
in a negotiation, before one could be
begun on the responsibility of the Government,
or a recommendation to Congress
for authority to act could be promised.
Everybody knows that it is not within the
competency of Lord Elgin to send an
agent from Canada to Washington city with
powers to bind the British throne by a
treaty. The Union knows this well enough;
but its love of royalty and the things that
pertain to royalty is so tender of late, that
if it can only get a glimpse of a star and
garter on the other side, it is ready to join
the lists against its own country.
Moreover, a bill to provide for the reciprocal
interchange of products between
the United States and Canada was brought
before the last Congress, and, after mature
debate, it failed in the Senate?that body
being composed at the time of a large majority
of Locofocos. Did the Senate abandon
"that course which honor and justice
dictate?" This is what the Union now
contends. This charge falls upon its own
friends, for they had an overwhelming
ascendency in the Senate which defeated
the bill. Congress had entire control over
the subject. There was no question of
right or power to act in the premises with
them. With the Administration it is dif
ferent, for at best It is a ha/.ardous assumption
ul power for the (Jovernment to
exert the treaty-making power to enact a
measure which Congress, after full and
solemn debate, rejected.
But what does Congress, the Adminis
tration, the people, the peace, and dignity,
and good faith of the nation weigh in the
estimation of the Union, when compare*!
with the whim of a crowned head, or dimly
foreshadowed wish of a noble lx>rd? Nothing.
The "sole organ" is in the loyal
vein just now. Its efforts in the cause of
liberty, humanity, "honor, and justice,"
are confined to the congenial task of serving
every monarchical government and vilifying
its own.
Saturday was the anniversary of the capture of
the Bnslile in 1789, just sixty years ago. Il was
once the custom in some part* of the United Stales
to celebrate the day with salutes, Ac. The frightful
atrocities of the French Republic of that day
mnde the celebration unpopular, and it was aba itI
doned.
The moderator of the General Assembly of ihe
Presbyterian church hns published a circular advising
that the duty ol keeping the day of humiliation,
fasting, and prayer, recommended by the
President, lie enjoined by ministers to lie kept, as i
well as the fixed on previously by the General I
Assembly. I
THE LAST El'HOPE AN NEWS.
Full tiles of European papers and correspondence
having been received, we are
at length able to form a definite opinion of
the condition of Europe at the departure
of the last steamer. The siluation of
France seemed in atatu quo, the influence
of the state of siege being every where perceptible,
not the least in the fact that only
the journals friendly to the Administration
had the right to comment on public affairs,
and that those of the opposition could
exist only by the observance of the greatest
care. "They see," says the Courrier
dts Etais-Unis, "that sword of Damocles,
which the Assembly confided to the Executive,
perpetually suspended above their
heads." France is evidently in a state of
deej) anxiety as to the future, and the permanence
of the government seems to depend
on the fate of Oudinot's army at Rome.
If that general be successful, it is not too
much to expect that the constitutional
military enthusiasm of the people will
be excited, and that the government of
Louis Napoleon will be triumphantly sustained.
If unsuccessful, it would not improbably
find that it had lost the support
of the army. The Romans, too, seem
aware of this, and defer the surrender by
every means in their power, trusting that
some lucky event will rescue them from
their difficulties
German affairs are also of engrossing interest.
The Central Directory, formed,
by common consent, of Prussia, Saxony,
and Hanover, is installed at Berlin, thus
adding to the anarchy of the German
union. On the other hand, the remnant of
the Assembly has been driven from Stuttgard,
and wanders homeless from city to
city. The course of Wurtemberg in relation
to this, and the defeat of the insurgents in
Baden, declare that the influence of the
Frankfort Assembly is over, and that the
league of sovereigns is destined to solve the
difficulties of the establishment of a literary
union. The Russian armies, however,
continue to advance into Hungary, and
the next steamer may bring the news of
the restoration of Austrian influence.
TRAVEL.
The facilities for communication with
the various countries of Europe and South
America, afforded by the, many lines of
steamers sailing to and from the United
States, are producing a silent but rapid
effect on the development and improvem
ont nf f Ko CaiiI K A marieon r*r\r\ f inonf on/1
IIIV1II KJl 111V UUUUi i&lllVl 1 v. ttl I VV/11 till VII i UllU
the Antilles. Men of talent and fortune,
who, had the means of communication
remained what they were ten years ago,
would never have left their homes, now
visit the United States, and bear back with
them new and valuable ideas, which are
fast superseding the antiquated notions of
I Spanish and South American policy. From
a single journal we gather a striking proof
of this in the record of the arrival at New
York of the Seflores Ormacheas, of Puerto
Rico, men of wealth and intelligence, on
a tour to examine into the industrial
resources of the United States, together
with the penitentiary and governmental
systems. We also find the record of the
arrival of Don Rafael Perez Vento, a high
functionary of Spain, in the I sland of Cuba.
This gentleman is accompanied by Don
Leon Acuha, one of the wealthiest bankers
of the Island of Puerto Rico, and
who is deeply interested in the various
improvements now being made in the
Spanish colonies.
A few years ago, these gentlemen would
have gone directly to Europe, and the
large disbursements they purposed to make
would have been expended in England or
France. In addition to this manifest advantage
to ourselves, the national vanity
may be excused for fancying that, leaving
out of question the cheapness which our
closer neighborhood to these countries enables
us to promise, institutions which have
stood the test in our own young land will
be better calculated for the climate and
country of our neighbors than any thing
they could import from the old world.
The advantages of this intercourse to South
America will be immense, for it is in a
knowledge of the practical working of
republican governments that the people
of its several States are deficient. With
constitutions almost translations of our
own, with the exception that in all but
Chili the Catholic church alone is established
and protected by law; with trial by
jury, a judicial system, State and federal
authorities?they have had scarcely a year
of uninterrupted tranquillity, but have
undergone the ordeal of a hundred contests
and conspiracies, the result of which
has been merely to transfer them from
the hands of one anarchist to another. If
travel continue to increase as it has done
for a few years to come, it is not too much
to expect that ultimately the HispanoAmericans
will correct their errors by the
example of the United States, and advance
towards prosperity in the pathways of
order and of peace.
Dr J P. Wright, of Greenfield, Ohio, has inrented
* machine to print the names of subscribers
in newspapers, by which eighteen hundred papers
can be directed in an hour with the greatest accuracy
It is to be patented.
It is more than probable that such a machine has
long Iwen in use in Kngland and France, ss the
Time* of London and Journal dri Debatt hare for
some time been received in this country with print
ed wrap|?ers The machine will, however, fill s
great dtmilrralum
OROAVI.
The Pennsylvaniun of yesterday echoes
the Union's retraction of its slurs and insinuations
in relation to the Philadelphia
North American and the Secretary of
State. Organs, like smaller instruments,
should be tuned in consonance, and in
that case it would never happen that the
opposition cathedral organ and the organ
of the chapel of ease at the same time, and
in hearing of each other, would sound dife
f
iciciii ivcjn. /
The Pcnnsylvanian comments as follows:
The North American.
The personal organ of the President has been
authorized by Mr. Clayton to say that he is not, >
nor has ever been, a proprietor of any part of the
North American newspuper, nor of any other newspaper.
The impression long entertained here und
elsewhere to the contrary appears, therefore, to be
without foundation. The rumor, it seems, grew
out of the fact that he had furnished at one time to
one of its proprietors the means to enuble him to
purchuse part of the paper. We make this correction
in justice to Mr. Clayton und to the proprietors
of the NorIh American.? Washington Union.
We are Mr. Clayton's decided political foe; but
we cannot refrain from stating, in reference to the
allegation so handsomely corrected by the able editors
of the Union, that circumstances which have
recently come to our knowledge place Mr. Clayton
in a most favorable light in regard to the ownership
of the North American; fully affirming all that his
friends have claimed for him on the subject. If
ever the whole of the facts of the case oome to the
knowledge of the public, no man will hesitate to
say that Mr. Clayton has acted with a degree of
disinterested liberality in the premises not often
found in political life. An opportunity to know the
whole of these facts determined us to give the Secretary
of State credit for a noble act.?Pennnilva
num.
Will the Pennsylvuniun also endorse the
following extract from the Union of yesterday
?
11 He furnished the means to a friend to jpurchase onethird
of the property of the establishment. He thereby
attained his object, which was to secure a political
interest in the paper. It would not have been either
decent or politic to do this in his own name, und it
was therefore done in the name of another. If,
under these circumstances, the echoes of the organ
of the Secretary can console themselves that the
Union is mistaken in this matter, we would not be
so cruel as to wish to deprive them of such a sorry
satisfaction. We think any fair jury of twelve
men would, upon the admission ol the honorable
Secretary, bring in a verdict to the effect that he
had a pretty considerable interest in the newspaper
referred to, and that it was not becoming to deny
it."
OFFICIAL.
Department op State,
Washington, July 17, 1849.
Information has been received at this Department
from John B. Williams, esq., U. S. Commercial
A -A C .U. D-:.- 1-1 1- -r .L. A 1- r>
ngcni. iui inc rejee imnnus, ui me ueain 01
Gebrge Barrows, of Norwich, Connecticut, and of
Captain Thomas Ellis, of Fairhaven, Mass.; the
latter, late of ship "Kingston," was wrecked in
schooner "Coll Castle," of Sydney, and drowned.
The Steam List of the British navy is as follows:
Acheron, Alecio, Adder, Avenger, Basilisk,
Bloodhound, Bulldog, Crocodile, Erebus, Firebrand,
Fury, Goliah, Gorgon, Harpy, Hecate,
Hound, Jackall, Mastiff. Pluto. Rattlesnake. Re
venge, Salamander, Savage, Scorpion, Scourge,
Serpent, Spider, Spiteful, Spitfire, Styx, Sulphur,
Tartar, Terrible, Terror, Vengeance, Viper, Vixen,
Virago, Volcano, Vulture, Warspite, Wildfire,
Wolf, and Wolverine. The number ia 44.
Father Mathew has viaited the navy yard in
Brooklyn, New York, and been received with due
honors on board the line-of-battle-ship North Carolina.
He administered the pledge to seventy peraons
in the yard.
The New York |>apers announce the death of
David B. Ogden, esq , who expired at his residence,
Port Richmond, on Staten Island, on the 15th inst.
Mr. Ogden, for many years, has been among the
foremost and most distinguished citizens of New
York. Eminent in council, eminent at the bar, always
ready, always active, always intelligent, in
every good work, as a citizen he was universally
esteemed and beloved.
Mr. Ogden was very much engaged on Friday,
in court, and undoubtedly was deeply interested and
excited by his business A walk aAerwards, and
an exposure to the sun, developed symptoms of
disease that led to his sudden death. His loss will
be deeply felt, not only in New York, hut throughout
the country, where his high talents are well
known and appreciated. He has been a prominent
man for over half a century, and among the very
first at the bai.
Gcnkroui Act.?Judge McLean, of the United
Stat** Supreme Court, who has a number of tenant*
in Cincinnati, haa written the following letter to hia
agent. It wa* made public without hit knowledge:
Columbus, July 2, 1849.
Da*a Sia: The cholera teem* to hare made
dreadful ravage* in Cincinnati, The deatha daily,
1 perceive, are exceedingly numerous. There must
be great suffering among the poor. Have not several
of our tenants fallen by the di*eas*; Where
you find suffering among these administer to their
relief as for a* you are able, in every possible way.
I saw some accounts?I fear the tenant* near the
gaa works have suffered much. I wish you would
visit them, and by advice and by contrihuuon of
money, if need lie, or that which shall relieve them,
medicine Ac., I wish you to give or procure for
them.
Very respectfully, yours,
JOHN McLF.AN.
Or part ore of the Astronomical (expedition.
The observatories and instruments of the astronomical
expedition to the southern hemisphere
were emhtrkwi onboard the whip Louis Philippe,
under charge of assistants?
Passed Midshipman Archiliald MacRnc,
Paused Midshipman H. C. Hunter;
Captain'* Clark, E. R. Smith; and Mailed from
Baltimore for Valparaiso on Wednesday last.
The Southern mail of yesterday afternoon
brought us no papers from beyond Petersburg, Va.
Cholera at Portimnnlh, Va.
Extract from a letter received yesterday by the
Editors, dated?
" Post*mouth, Va., July 16. 1849.
"The cholera is at this date raging herewith
great violence. In a population of about 8,000, we
have had in the last twenty-four hours 18 deaths.
The physicians are totally unmanned, there appearing
to be no specific for thia moat terrible of
all epidemics. Yesterday was the most gloomy
day this community has witnessed since IR.1Q,
when no less than 2/> interments took place in one
day. May God speedily deliver us from this fell
destroyer. In the city of Norfolk it is not so fatal."
Mr. Hassisoir Damikl, who had announced
himself as the Loeofoco candidate tor Congress in
the Lexington district of Kentucky, has withdrawn.