The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume], November 30, 1860, Image 6

About The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865

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the crisis of the raios.
Patriotic and Interesting Letter from
Senator Douglas.
CORRESPONDENCE.
New Orleans, Monday, Nov. 12, 1860.
Hon. Stephen A. Douglas — Sir: We,
the undersigned, citizens of New Orleans,
irrespective of party, being desirons of hear
ing your views on the present condition of
the affairs of our country, would earnestly
request you to designate a time when it
would be agreeable to you to address your
fellow-citizens:
Pilcher & Goodrich, Hillard, Summers & Co*
Thos. K. Price, J. F. Shaw,
Fellowes & Co., J. Altmeyer,
Martin, Cobb & Co., H. L. Goodrich,
J. M. Lapeyre, I. S. Holden,
Given, watts & Co., R. Geddes,
Jas. Turner & Co., J. P. Harrison.
Sumpter Turner, Richard Lluyal,
P. A. Shaw, Horrel. Gayle & Co.,
And several hundred prominent citizens of
New Orleans.
HR. DOUGLAS’ REPLY.
Gentlemen : Your request to address the
citizens of New Orleans “on the present
condition of the affairs of our country,” has
just been placed in my bands. An invita
tion so numerously signed by the most emi
nent business men of this great commercial
city implies a compliment which I duly ap
preciate, and am exceedingly reluctant to
decline.
These are not the times for patriotic men
to affect indifference, or to degenerate into
despondency, or to rush madly into violent
and extreme measures. Just in proportion
as our common country is environed with
peril, it becomes the imperative duty of
every patriot in the land to increase his
efforts and exert his utmost powers and
energies to rescue the Republic from the
disasters which threaten its integrity.
No man in America regrets the election
of Mr. Lincoln more than I do ; none made
more strenuous exertions to defeat him ;
none differ with him more radically and ir
reconcilably upon all the great issues in
volved in the contest. No man living is
prepared to resist, by all the legitimate
means sanctioned by the Constitution and
laws of our country, the aggressive policy
which he and his party are understood to
represent. But while I say this, I am bound,
as a good citizen and law-abiding man, to
declare my conscientious conviction that the
mere election of any man to the Presidency
by the American p*eople, in accordance with
the Constitution and laws, does not, of itself,
furnish any just cause or reasonable ground
for dissolving the Federal Union.
It is not pretended, as far as lam informed,
that any provision of the Constitution has
been violated in the recent election. No act
has been done which impairs or destroys the
constitutional rights of any State or citizen.
Nothing has yet occurred to release any
citizen from his oath of fidelity to the Con
stitution of the United States, which is the
supreme law of every State and of every
citizen. But while it is conceded that no
act has yet been done which impairs the
rights or endangers the peace and safety of
any portion of our country, it is apprehend
ed that the election of Mr. Lincoln carries
with it the assurance that the policy and
principles of the party by which he was
elected will prevail, and be carried into
practical effect in every department of the
Federal Government, and thereby will en
danger the peace and safety of the slave
holding States. Is this apprehension well
founded? Do the results of the recent
election justify this apprehension? The
President can do nothing except what the
law authorizes. His duty is to see the laws
faithfully executed. If he fails to perform
his duty he will soon find himself a prisoner
before the High Court of Impeachment.
Fortunately that tribunal is so constituted
aB to command the confidence of the people
of the entire South as well as of the con
servative men of the North. We have this
security that the existing laws will be faith
fully executed.
I have yet to learn that the people of the
South complain of the acts of Congress now
on the statute book, upon the subject of
slavery, as applicable to the States or the
Territories, or to the District of Columbia.
These laws were enacted, mainly, if not
entirely, by the joint action of the conserva
tive members of the North and South, in
opposition to the Abolitionists and Free*
soilers, and have been acquiesced in by the
Southern people, as well as by their Sena
te 8 and Representatives, under the present
and preceding administrations of the Fede
ral government Consequently, it is fair to
presume that the South, so far from de
manding the repeal of the existing laws
upon the subject of slavery as essential to
her safety and equality in the Union, will
insist upon their being retained upon the
statute book and faithfully executed. Nor
are we permitted to infer that the Southern
people require any additional legislation by
Congress on this subject, for the reason that
the Southern Senators and Representatives
have not introduced and advocated any
changes in the existing legislation upon the
slavery question under the present Admin
istration and that of Mr. Pierce, when the
Abolitionists and Free-soilers were in the
minority in both Houses of Congress.
Assuming, therefore, that the Southern
people and their Senators and Representa
tives deem their rights and institutions en
tirely safe nnder the Constitution and laws
as they now stand, and only desire to be let
alone, without any interference by Congress,
with their domestic concerns, the question
arises whether Mr. Lincoln and bis party
will have the power, even if they have the
disposition, to disturb or impair the rights
and institutions of the South, either in the
States or Territories, or in the District of
Columbia? They certainly cannot do it
under the existing laws. Will they have
the power to repeal or change these laws,
or to enact others ? It is well known that
they will be in a minority in both houses of
Congress, with the Supreme Court against
them. In the Northern States there have
been elected already a sufficient number of
Democratic members of Congress, bold and
true national men, pledged to the Cincin
nati Platform and the doctrines of non
intervention by Congress with the question
of slavery in the States and Territories, and
the District of Columbia, who, added to
the Southern Representatives, will give at
least twenty majority against Mr. Lincoln
and his party on all these questions. In the
Senate there is also a decided and reliable
majority. Hence no bill cad pass either
House of Congress impairing or disturbing
the rights or institutions of the Southern
people in any manner whatever, unless a
portion of the Southern Senators and Repre
sentatives absent themselves so as to give an
Abolition majority in consequence of their
absence.
In a minority in both Houses of Con
gress, with the Supreme Court to ex
pound the laws and restrain all illegal and
unconstitutional acts, the President will be
utterly powerless for evil, if he should have
the disposition to do wrong. Even in the
distribution of his patronage, he would be
dependent upon the Senate lor confirmation
of his nominees to office, so that he cannot
appoint a bad man to office without the con
sent of those in whom the South confides.
A partizan President, thus tied hand and
foot, powerless for good or evil, without the
consent of his political opponents, should be
the object of pity and commiseration, rather
than fear and apprehension, by a brave and
chivalrous people. What good or harm
can he do to anybody, except to humble the
pride and wound the sensibility of a large
portion of the American people by occupy
ing the chair once filled by Washington,
Jefferson, Madison and Jackson ? Does
this fact furnish sufficient cause for destroy
ing the best Government of which the his
tory of the world gives an example ? Four
years will soon pass away, when the ballot
tox will furnish a peaceful, legal and con
stitutional remedy for all the evils and griev
ances with which the country may be af
flicted.
If, in the mean time, any act shall be per
petrated which shall violate or impair the
rights of any citizen or State, or shall en
danger the peace and safety of any portion
of our people for which the constitution and
laws shall fail to provide adequate and effi
cient remedies, the time will then have ar
rived for those who think the constitution
has been disregarded and the federal power
perverted to purposes inconsistent with their
safety, honor and equality, to consult and
deliberate upon the nature, extent and mode
of redress.
I do not anticipate, nor do I deem it
possible, in the present condition of the
country, that, under the administration of
Mr. Lincoln, any act can be perpetrated
that would destroy or impair the constitu
tional rights of the citizen, or invade the
reserved rights of the States upon the sub
ject of slavery ; but, if I should find myself
painfully mistaken on this point, I have no
hesitation in expressing my deliberate con
viction that such an outrage would not only
make the Southern people a unit, but would
arouse and consolidate all the conservative
elements ot the North in firm and deter
mined resistance, by overwhelming mejori'
ties.
In such an event, the South would occu
py an impregnable position. With her
own people united and animated by one
sentiment—the unfaltering resolve to main
tain and defend their rights and liberties as
won by the Constitution of their country,
they could safely rely upon the justice of
their cause &Dd confidently expect the sym
pathy of the civilized world and the choicest
blessings of Divine Providence while strug
ling for the right. Under these circum
stances I can perceive no just cause, no
reasonable ground for such rash and pre
cipitate action aB would pluDge into the
horrors of revolution, anarchy and bank
ruptcy, the happiest people, the most pros
perous couotry aud the best Government
the sun ol Heaven ever shed his genial rays
upon.
To those, if any such there may be, who
look upon disunion and a Southern Con
federacy as a thing desirable in itself, and
are only waiting for an opportunity to ac
complish that which had been previously
resolved upon—the election of Lincoln may
furnish a pretext for precipitating the
Southern States into revolution. But to
those who regard the Union under the Con
stitution as our fathers made it, the most
precious legacy ever bequeathed to a free
people by a patriotic ancestry, and are de
termined to maintain it as long as their
rights and liberties, equality and honor, are
protected by it, the election of Mr. Lincoln,
in my humble opinion, presents no just
cause, no reasonable excuse, for disunion.
Having discussed all the questions at
issue freely and elaborately in my addresses
to the people during the recent canvass, I
do not perceive that any patriotic objects
can be advanced by any further public dis
cussions on my part prior to resuming my
seat in the Senate. That the passions and
animosities engendered by recent contests
may soon give place to reason and patriot
ism; that calm and wise counsels may pre
vail, and fraternal feeling be restored ; that
the Constitution may be preserved inviolate,
and the Union maintained forever, is the
ardent hope and fervent prayer ot your
friend and fellow-citizen,
S. A. DOUGHS.
New Orleans, November 13, 1860.
Touching Incident. —ln Portland, the
other day, a horse aud cart ran over a little
pig. The squeals of the dying pig brought
together a crowd of people, including sev
eral medical men. There was considerable
anxiety respecting the unfortunate pig, and
whether he bad any relations. Just then
Salisbury, the comedian, came rushing out
of the house without his hat, while bis hair
was “tossed by the wind.” “Make way
there, gentlemen—for heaven’s sake, make
way,” he cried iD supplicating tones. The
crowd respectfully divided, and Salisbury
approached the spot where the pig was suf
fering the agonies of death. He knelt down
reverentially, wiped a tear from bis eye,
and, as the poor sainted little pig gave his
last gasp, the comedian exclaimed, in a ten
der and impressive manner, “Let me kiss him
for 'his mother /”
In a communication to the London Me
chanic’s Magazine, Thomas Allan, Esq., a
distinguished electrician, states that of J 2,»
000 miles of submarine cable which have
been laid in various parts of the world,
only 1,200 miles are in working order at
present.
THE WEEKLY PIONEER AND DEMOCRAT.
Billiards.
The New York Commercial Advertiser
gives an interesting account of one of Mr.
Berger’s Billiard Levees in New York, a
few days since. The upper tendom of the
city were in attendance. After his usual
fancy and masse shots, Mr. Berger beat
Dudley Kavanagh (French carom game)
58 points in 100, Berger’s best runs being
12,14 and 18—Kavanagh’s being four s’s
and B—and then beat Mr. Phelan 20 points
in 50, making runs of 11 and 12. The
table used on the occasion was made by
Phelan & Collender, after the model of M.
Berger'B table. The Advertiser says:
The taste for the French carom game is
increasing every day, the science in playing
it being so much greater than in the Amer
ican four ball pocket game, and the size of
the table—which stands lower and is small
er than the American table—being much
more convenient in private houses, where
ladies desire to practice the game, as they
do in England and France, and other con
tinental States. The size of the French
table is 10 feet by 5 feet, and the balls are
2% inches in diameter—those with wh'ch
M. Berger makes his masse shots, being only
2 inches in diameter. The American table
measures 12 teet by 5 feet, and the diameter
of the balls is 2% inches.
At the evening exhibitions M. Berger
has beaten his antagonists in all cases, dis
counting amateurs, and playing even games
with professionals, beating W hite by 26 in
100 points, and 73 in another 100; Bhelan
73 in 100; Lake 60; Geary 71; and Tieman
81 and 59. In his game with Phelan, last
Saturday evening, M. Berger made the
wonderful run of 63—a1l these games being
at the three ball French carom game; but
it is the general opinion among billiard
players, that if he played the American four
ball carom game, he would not cease count
ing till his physical powers were prostrated.
Lawyers in England.
From the New Yirk Commercial Advertiser.
In England lawyers are designated ac
cording to their special department of the
prolession, as barristers, attorneys, counsel
lors, conveyancers, &c., while in this coun
try lawyers take all cases that come along.
Iu England or Ireland a young man must
pay $125 for admission as a student to
Idu3 of Court, and tkenfor admission to the
Bar in Ireland must pay $l5O, and in
Scotland or England, $250. If he is arti
cled as a clerk with any respectable attor
ney or solicitor be must pay from SSOO to
$2,000 premium; must, if a university man,
serve three, or otherwise five years for noth
ing; must pay S6O stamp duties on his arti
cles of clerkship, and $125 on his admis
sion to the profession, for which also the
passing a very rigid examination is neces
sary. After admission the average income
ranges from SSOO to S7OO a year, higher
prizes being accompanied by a correspond
ing number of petty ones or blanks.
A recent English magazine deplores the
fact that there are now fewer great lawyers
in England than there have been for one
hundred and fifty yeanw-and as proof of this
fact refers to Sir Frederick Thesiger, Sir
John Jervis, Sir Fitzroy Kelley, Mr. Math
ew Hill, Mr. Cockburn, Mr. Jarman and
Mr. Hays as the only men in the front rank
of their profession. Mr. Cockburn is an
accomplished and elegant scholar, Mr. Kel
ley a great mercantile lawyer, Sir John
Jervis an acute and fluent speaker, and the
others referred to are great men, but not ODe
of them it says is equal to the illustrious
predecessors of the last century.
Cottou Culture Abandoned in India*
Our foreigu files contain the following
very significant paragraph, showing that
after all the protracted efforts to grow cot
ton in the British Indian possessions, the
attempt has been at length abandoned as
hopeless:
la the annual report of the Bombay
Chamber of Commerce a statement an
nounces that the Indian Government had
finally abandoned, as being hopeless failures,
their experiments at cotton growing in that
country. These experiments had commenced
as far back as 1789, and were prosecuted
almost without intermission during the
seventy-two years that have since elapsed.
They had cost, from first to last, £350,000,
and, as the report states, had absorbed “the
energy and intelligence of governors, col
lectors, commissioners, American planters,
and painstaking amateurs.” Yet the result
of all this prolonged effort and enormous
outlay had been nothing but a continued
series of disappointments. One solitary
success is recorded as having been achieved,
on “a small scale,” by Mr. Shaw, collector
at Dharwar, who, taking up the enterprise
in 1840, upoa an area ot only 220 acres,
developed the results so rapidly, that in
1851 there were 31,688 “kupas” planted
with American, and 224,314 with native
cotton, and in 1856 the area increased to
156,316 kupas appropriated to the Ameri
can, and 230,567 to the native variety of
the plant. It does not appear that Mr.
Shaw was assisted by any government grant
in this work ; and, at all events, all direct
co-operation of the State with the cultiva
tion of cotton is now summarily abandoned.
Old Families. —The Welsh nobility,
perhaps more than any other, affect ances
tral trees whose roots are buried in antiqui
ty. For instance, the Mostyns ap Mostyn
have preserved for three hundred years a
pedigree which is not less than seventy feet
long and one foot broad. It very modestly
begins with Noab, twists about through
several Royal families of the Old Testa
ment, until it reaches Edward 1., of England.
The French nobility, however, are not far
behind. The Dnkes de Levis consider
themselves as the descendants of the Hebrew
Kings, and possess an old picture in which
one of their ancestors, with his bat in his
hand, bows before the Virgin Mary, who
graciously says to him: “Pray keep your
bat on, cousin 1” The Decroys possess a
similar painting. Noah, with one foot
already in the ark, calls back: “tJave the
papers of the House ofDecroy!”
J DEFECTIVE PAGE P
I 1 1 I
Prentu*’ Intel with Gholaon.
A writer in the Vicksburg Sun furnishes
the following incident of the celebrated
duel between Judge Gholson and S. S.
Prentiss of Mississippi:
The facts are these : At the first fire,
Gholson leaped exactly three feet one inch
and a half from the ground,not with a ball
through his heart, because the ball had
struck the toe of his right foot, glancing in
a westwardly direction, hitting Gholson’s
second in the pit of the stomach, causing
him to “ double up” with such violence that
an empty pistol he bad in bis hand flew
forward with such a force as to hit his
principal on the head, causing him to jump
aforesaid, because he was so completely
astonishedy believing his antagonist’s ball
had hit him on the back of the head! Gholson
was cured «f a corn on his right foot, but
had the tostbache for a week. Gholson’s
second took the cramp colic.
The ball of his adversary passed so close
to the lips of Prentiss as to take away his
breath, causing him to fall upon the ground,
from which ever afterward he had a slight
lisp in his speech.
The parties were reconciled on the ground
in this manner : After they bad untangled
and unrolled Gholson’s seconds out of the
hard knot, and somewhat relieved him,
Prentiss, lisping considerably, said, “Ghol
son, you owe me a dollar.” “What for?”
said Gholson. “For curing your corn,”
says Prentiss. “ No,” says Gholson, “ you
owe me a dollar.” “What for?” says
Prentiss. “ Because,” said Gholson, “your
ball hit my second in the stomach and
caused him to hit me on the head, which
gave me a toothache, and now I’ll have to
have the tooth pulled, which will cost me a
dollar.”
“ Well,” says Prentiss, “ let’s call it
square.”
They shook hands on the spot.
The Lawyers of New Yorlc City*
The New York Commercial Advertiser is
publishing a series of articles on law and
lawyers generally, from which we take the
following facts in reference to lawyers in
the metropolis. ’ There are about twenty
six hundred practicing lawyers in New
York city, this being one-tenth of the whole
number in the United States. All these are
not residents in New York. Very many
of them live in Brooklyn, Jersey City, in
Connecticut, or elsewhere, and have offices
in the city. It is extremely difficult to get
into practice in New York. A lawyer who
now makes sixteen thousand dollars a year,
states that for nine months after he opened
office, he did not make money enough to
keep him in boots. A young lawyer is
doing extremely well if he makes a living
during the first three years, and even then
getting into a good practice depends in a
considerable degree on luck. There are not
twenty lawyers in New York who realize
over ten thousand dollars a year by their
profession. The average income will Dot
exceed, if amount to one thousand dollars a
year. W. C. Wetmore is said to have a
more profitable practice than any other
lawyer in the city. He has a very high
reputation as a conveyancer. Charles
O’Conner is said to have the next most
profitable practice in the city, and stands
very high as a nisi prius lawyer. His man
agement in the celebrated Forrest divorce
case was admirable, and attracted much
attention. As a clear legal logician, a
learned and ready practitioner, and an im
pressive speaker he has few equals. James
T. Brady, James R. Whitting, John Mc-
Keon and Ambrose L. Jordon, have few, if
any superiors. Either in this country or
England, in criminal law, Greene C. Bron
son and Marshal S. Bidwell are recognized
as standing in the first rank of constitution
al lawyers. F. B. Cutting ha 3do superior
in insurance cases. Daniel Lord, E. W.
Stoughton, and John E. Burrell are well
read in mercantile law, and most other
branches of their profession. James W.
Gerard and Luther R. Marsh manage jury
cases admirably. David Dudley Field, W.
Curtis Noyes, and Stephen Cambreling, are
very able and well read lawyers; and there
may be hundreds of perhaps equal learning
and ability who follow alter them.
All Saints’ Day In New Orleans
Yesterday (November Ist) the people of
New Orleans spent the greater portion of
the day in the “ cities of the dead.” To
residents in the Crescent city this was a
customary event, for, in New Orleans, one
of the most beautiful traits that adorn hu
manity, reverencing and remembering lov
ingly the dead, prevails on All Saints’ Day,
to the partial, nay, almost entire exclusion
of every other occupation. A strange and
yet most pleasant sight, indeed, it was, to
see the cemeteries thronged by thousands
and thousands, who appeared for the day to
have laid aside the excitement “of the
times;” to have forgotten the contest now
upon us fraught with such great import
to every individual in this broad country,
and remembering only that the day was
dedicated to the haliowed memories of
friends aod relatives gone to that bourne
from whence no traveller returns.
Beautiful, exceedingly, yesterday were
these ordinarily sad places. Tokens of
affectionate remembrance about the tene
ments that line those narrow, innumerable
walks, some adoroing mausoleums beautiful
and grand, others lending a charm to the
bumble graves where lie those who have not
won the world’s riches nor the world’s
honors, but far better, the great wealth of
true friendship or the inextinguishable affec
tion of kinship. Stately tombs and lowly
resting places-alike evidences that, though
they had forever quitted this world of joys
aod sorrows, there were those that remem
bered all that was good of them, aDd visited
their graves with every feeling for the dead
that did honor to the living. The orphans
were not forgotten. The Portugese, the
Spanish, the New Lnsit&nos, and other
benevolent societies were at several of the
cemeteries taking up collections for the little
ones left to the charity of the world.—
New Orleans Crescent , Nov. 2.
Capturing Cities toy Contract.
The Paris Journal des Debats , in the
course of a letter from Shanghai, dated
August 16th, states that a Dumber of for
eign adventures have joined the Imperial
troops, and, in their conflicts with the Tai-
Ping rebels, are achieving a desperate and
bloody reputation. Among those soldiers
of fortune is an American named Ward,
who, it appears, agrees to capture cities by
job-work. The correspondent writes:
Ward had collected a troop of four to five
thousand Tagals, belonging to Manilla, and
about a dozen sailors from different sea
ports of the East. He and his men were
paid by the Tou-Tai, or Mayor of Shang
hai, three hundred and fifty taels, or about
three thousand francs a month, and he en
joyed the title of Colonel. But that was
not all. When he retook a city from the
insurgents he received a reward proportion
ate to the service he had rendered. For
instance, the retaking of SuDg-Kiang
brought the gallant Colonel the sum of $7,«
500 francs. Such remuneration would have
stimulated the ardor of men more scrupu
lous than Mr. Ward.
The city of Tsing-Pow, near Shanghai,
was taken by the rebels. The Tou-Tai was
in a great trepidation, but Ward re-assured
him, and offered to make all right for a
personal reward of 300,000 francs. Ar
riving at Tsing-Pow, he gave the signal of
assault, and was received by a shower of
balls. But Ward is brave, and be deter
mined to prove himself worthy the confi
dence of the Tou-Tai. Twice repulsed,
twice he returned to the charge. Climbing
the walls, with but about fifty of his fol
lowers, he found himself face to face with
the chief of the Tai-Pings; he fired at him
twice, but missed. “ You rascal," replied
his adversary, in good English, “ I’ll show
you I can fire better than you;” and he did
show it by shooting the Colonel in the
stomach and leg. Yet Ward escaped,
though the greater portion of bis men were
lost. He is now in Shanghai; and as he is
of good constitution, it is probable that in
a few weeks he will be up and again at the
head of a band of brigands, anxious to re
pair his ill-luck.”
Complimentary to Postmaster Dix---
A Good Example.
The New York correspondent of the Phil
adelphia Press, says:
A lact was communicated to me yester
day of a character so unprecedented in the
political annals ot this city, and so creditable
to the distinguished gentleman who was
its author, that it deserves to be published
and commeuded in every paper ol every
party in the country. It is the first instance
in this city where a high Federal officer has
flatly refused to permit his clerks to be
assessed for political purposes. I allude to
the Postmaster, Gen. Dix.
At the usual time for calling upon the
clerks in the Postoffice for the payment of
the usual percentage of their salary for the
party, and when the person selected as the
tax gatherer appeared at the office for that
purpose, he was informed by the General
that he would not permit the assessment of
a single cent to be made upon a single clerk
for any such object, that the clerks were
the hardest worked and the poorest paid of
any employees of the government, and that
it was an outrage to exact from their small
pittance means to defray the expenses of the
campaign. He was opposed to the prac
tice in toto, and would not allow it to be
enforced. More than that, as Postmaster
of New York, he would not submit to aDy
political assessment, believing the practice
to be subversive of the public interest; but
as Mr. Dix, a private citizen, he would
cheerfully give the committee five hundred
dollars, which he did. The thanks of every
government clerk in the country are due to
General Dix for this bold and manly act in
their behalf. It is worthy the emulation of
every Postmaster and Collector of Customs
in the United States, and especially deserv
ing of the heartiest commendation of the
press.
The Hayes Arctic Expedition.
A letter has been received in New York,
from Dr. Hayes, who has command of the
Arctic expedition, in search of an open
Polar Sea. It is dated Upper Nairk,
North Greenland, August 14. We make a
few extracts from the letter :
I shall endeavor by every mean 9 to avoid
a third year’s absence. We carry with us,
however, food aod fuel for that period, and
in the event of our being so loDg detained,
Ido not fear adverse results. With the
fresh supplies we have on board, I believe
we cau resist the scurvy.
I shall, however, avoid every unnecessary
risk ot being caught by the winter in the
middle of the ice. Should the prospects of
success appear to be peculiarly discourag
ing,! shall return southward and winter at
one of the Danish settlements.
My party are in excellent spirits, and
earnest in the performance of their duties,
and you may rest assured, that no effort
shall be spared to accomplish the object of
our undertaking in the shortest possible
time. To favor this, we have every facility
which experience has indicated.
Our camp equipments are of the most
compact and portable description. The
food prepared expressly for the expedition
by the American Desicating Company in
New York, consisting of soup, beef and
potato, is excellent, and fully equals my
expectations. Of this food we have three
thousand pounds—equal to about thirty
thousand pounds of the raw material. 1
have tried it during the passage, and con
sider the several articles united prefera
ble to the ordinary pemican. Pemican ot
the finest quality may at any time be made
of our beef by the addition of lard, of
which we have an abundant supply. With
good and sufficient food, with every essen
tial for the promotion of health and com
fort, with nnited and earnest companions,
and with a vessel well suited for the ser
vice, 1 have, upon leaving this last outpost
of Christian settlement every reason to feel
greatly encouraged and to expect success.
the president elect.
LETTER FROM HIS HOME —HI3 PECULIARITIES
—COL. ELLEWORTH.
The New York limes has a daily letter
from the house of the President elect. We
take the following paragraph from the last:
Mr. Lincoln, since his election, has been
quietly receiving such as chose to call up
on him at the Executive Chamber in the
State Capitol. < Jrowds of honest and sturdy,
though rough looking larmers, come in to
see their old friend, “Honest Abe,” and
shake him by the hand. They find him the
same jovial, pleasant, sociable, affable, story
telling companion, while they cannot but
admire the renmrkable shrewdness, the keen
insight into human nature, and the active
intellect which a moment’s conversation is
sure to developie. He has a pleasant word
and smile for 8.11, and his oldest friends say
that they do not see that he has given way
one particle to the natural self-esteem which
most men would develop under such circum
stances. His fatial contortions and animat
ed gesticulat ions are the same as ever, and,
though som<; may deem them undignified, all
admit that they are expressive. There is
no likelihood of his ever being misunder
stood, for lie says a thing emphatically, and
yet urbane !y.
Mr. Lincoln’s memory of persons is re
markable and he seems to know the per
sonal history ol nearly all visitors—many
of whom have known him in his younger
days, before the rail-splitter bad become a
hair-splitter., and left off mauling rails to
drive his wedges oi argument into the knot
ty points of law.
The politicians begin to flock hither
rapidly—they could not have the impudence
to come until the returns were counted.
Yet, I do n ot think any newly elected Pres
ident ever hud a more respectable set of
visitors tin iu has Mr. Lincoln. During my
frequent vi sits to his room I have not met
a man wk( > looked as if bis personal char
acter would disgrace the friendship of aDy
President. To be sure, there are men with
rough clot lies, who put their muddy boots
on the stove, roll up their pants, wear seedy
hats and £.re bronzed with toil iQ the open
air—hard -fisted, sharp-featured, blunt-spo
ken men, Who say “Uncle Abe ” before they
think of ijt, and then beg hispaidon. They
can’t help it. They know him as “ Honest
Abe,” or Mr Lincoln, and he tells them to
cali him V/hat they please.
The sce uesof cordial greeting are really
noteworthy. There is little of the obse
quious fawniug, peurile flattery of the office
seekers—c f course there is some, but it is
the exception and not the rule. Now and
then a blunt old farmer will bluit out some
thing about the Cabinet, and perhaps sug
gest the difficulty ol meeting the Secession
ists. But, the truly Republican President
passes it ofl with a smile, and simply keeps
mum. I never knew a public man who
knew so well how to hold his tongue, and
yet not ofleDd his best friends. And yet
Mr. Lincoln is so honest, that it seems to
me a miracle that he does not commit him
self in some way by telling too much truth.
Perhaps he has taken warning by the Scar
let letter—the Donel ly letter of Gov. Wise,
the epistolary mislofltunes of Mr. Buchanan,
or the thousand otier instances of confi
dence betrayed, secresy violated, or devel
opment of correspondence not intended for
the public eye.
From the anecdote s in circulation here
concerning the humorous disposition of Mr.
Lincoln, one would bti almost led to suppose
that he would absolutely write a funny Pre
sident’s Message. That would certainly cre
ate a more general des ire to read those uu
usuaily dry documents- One illustration of
his peculiar faculty for enlivening a dull
subject is mentioned in hi 3 introduction to
a lecture on “Discoveries and Inventions.”
He commenced by saying that “one of the
first discoveries was that of Eve, when she
discovered her nakedness; and one of the
first inventions that of the fig leaf to hide
it.”
Among the active speakers for Lincoln
and Hamlin iu this locality was our old
friend Coi. Ellsworth, ot the (Jhicago Zou
aves—now studying law in Mr. Lincoln’s
office. He will probably be admitted to the
bar next March, and settle do’ffn lor two or
three years ioto legai practice .
Col. Ellsworth, on his ref urn from an
electioneering trip a few da;ys since, found
no less than three hundred letters, mainly
asking information concernin g the Zouaves.
One inquiry about the unifoc m has been re
peated so maDy times that he has been
obliged to have his answe r lithographed.
He is now engaged in preparing an elegant
diploma for presentation to the various
companies that entertained the Zouaves ou
their recent tour. The diploma will be of
large size, suitable for fraiming, and will
have a /ac simile of the Zoua.ve uniform.
Several novel propositions have been
made to Col. Ellsworth for a Zouave Euro
pean tour. One plan is to take four men
from each State (with the necessary time
and meyns) and drill thorn to the perfection
of the Chicago Zonaveo, and theD to make
the tour of Europe—se mi-pedestrian. An
other plan is to take one hundred young
men from the city of J few York, and pur
sue the same course. That would give Eu
ropeans rather an extdted idea of our mi
litia.
A Strangs Encounter. —When Louis
Phillippe and his que en were in exile, in
Olearmount, they vis ited the convent of
the Sacred Coeur. Th e nun who conducted
them through the ho use was so amiable
and agreeable that tho queen, on leaving,
expressed her extreme satisfaction. “ Per
haps,” added her majesty, “ you will be in
terested to know wl io your visitors are.
This gentleman is Louis Phillippe, I am
the Queen Amehe.” The nun, bowing pro
foundly, replied, with a gentle smile, “ and
I am Mademoiselle Bonaparte.”
The census just takem gives lowa a pop
ulation of 675,000. In 1850 her popula
tion was 192,214. Increase in ten years
482,786. This, we believe, is the largest
precentage of increase of any State in the
UnioD.