Alexandria gazette. [volume], December 23, 1834, Image 2

About Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974

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THE GAZETTE.
Bt EDGAR SNOWDEN. §3?
Terms.
Daily paper - * * * *| ££raainttm*
Country paper 5 P®* !•?“"*
The ALEXANDRIA GAZETTE fortbecpun
tryis printed on Tuesday, TUamfilf, ®nd
All advertisements appear in both jjaperi, and
are inserted at the usualjate^gljg
GOV. McDUFFIE'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
Gentlemen of the Senate,
and of the House of Representatives:
Ifanv thing could increase the intensity of that
▼ivid sense of gratitude, which has been ex
cited in my bosom by the generous support and
sustaining confidence I have uniformly receiv
ed from the people of South Carolina, ever since
I first entered into their service, as a represen
tative in this Hall, it would be the distinguished
honor they have now conferred upon me, by
vour kind and partial agency, in summoning me
to the helm oi their affairs, in a manner so high
ly fl ittering to me, and under auspices so ex
ceedingly gratifying to us all. But while we
sincerely rejoice, as every patriot must, in the
restoration of harmony to the too long distract
ed counsels of the State, let us not be tempted
to withdraw our most vigilant attention from the
dangers which surround us, or to neglect the cor
responding duties of precaution and prepara
tion they so inperiously enjoin upon us. It can
not’be disguised, that we have reached an
eventful era in the history, not only of South
Carolina, but of the whole American Contede
racy, and whether our descendants, of the very
next generation, shall recur to it with exulta
tion and pride, us an era of constitutional liber
ty or wi'h h nniliution and sorrow, as an era or
consolidated despotism, will very much depend
upon the manner in which we now discharge
the duties of our respective stations. In entering
ui>on the high and eminently responsible trust
you have committed to my hands, l bring wit 1
me, gentlemen, if nothing else, an absolute and
unqualified devotion to the State of South Ca
rolina After an absence of thirteen years in the
councils of the Federal Government, 1 return to
the councils of the State, with a heart unaliena
ted by absence, unseduced from its true alle
giance by the blandishments of federal power,
and undefiled by the worship or false gods and
foreign idols- flavin* anxiously and attentive,
lv marked the progress, and studied the tenden
cv of the Federal Government, during the whole
period of my service in Congress, I am firm
ly and solemnly impressed with the conviction,
that the sovereignty of the several States, prac
tically asserted and maintained, is the only bar
rierwhtch can arrest the Federal Government
in its fatal proclivity towards absolute despo
tism and the only means under heaven, by which
therights, the liberties, or the property of fhe
planting States, can be rescued from impending
destruction. And I have the more confidence in
this opinion, because it has been gradually and
deliberately formed, as the result of actual ob
servation and experience, in opposition to the
preconceived theories of youth and inexperi
ence. with which l entered upon the tlieatie of
^However they may be amalgamated in the
crucible of an executive proclamation, or of
speculative theory, history bears testimony, that
the States are. in point of fact, distinct and sepa
rate communities, mutually independent of each
other, and each possessing the inherent and
underivtd attribute of sovereignty. Not only
are they separated geopraphically. and by a dis
tinct and independent political organization,
* but they are still more practically separated by
the diversity of their staple productions, creat
' ing a direct ami irreconcilable conflict of in
terest between the exporting and manufactur
ing States, as decided as ever existed between
anv two independent nations, ancient or modern.
It is. f >r example, the undoubted interest, as it is
the'sacred right of the planting States, to ex
change (heir staples for the manufactures ofLu
* rone free from every obstruction or incum
brance. It is the interest of the manufacturing
Stab's to abstract, incumber, and even prohib
it commerce of exchange, between the planting
states and the manufacturing nations of Europe:
and because it is their interest, they have avail
ed themselves of the ascendency of superior
numbers in the federal Legislature, to impose
high and prohibiting duties on imported munu
facturesin violation ol every principle of natura
justice and the mod sacred of our constitutional
rights. A more vital opposition of interest cannot
be conceived. Fut the full extent and depth of
the danger which impends over the planting
States, has not yet been disclosed,and del1 cate as
the subject is. I feel it to be my painful duty to
present it distinctly to your view. The great
agricultural staples of the planting States, are
produced by a species of labor, peculiar to those
states, ami cannot be successfully produced by
anv other It is demonstrable.that cotton could not
be produced by the labor of hired freemen, for
double the average price it has commanded for
ten years past. As it is the cheapness only of
our staples of exportation, that enables us to ini*
port foreign manufactures cheaper than they
?an*he made by American manufacturers, it
is obvious that the abolition or that kind of labor
wh.ch is the basis of our wealth and prosperity,
would annihilate at a single blow that entire
branch of foreign commerce, which brings the
indusiryofthe exporting States into competition
with that ofthe manufacturing States. Here,then
is the deep foundation of our past oppression
and our future danger. The labor of hired free
men cannot successfully contend with the labor
of slaves; and it has been and openly avowed
in Congress, by a distinguished representative,
that thelabor of a Northern freemen should nev
Serbe putin equal competition w ith thelabor of a
Southern slave. With these facts before his
eyes can any Southern statesman, who is not
blinded by some strange infatuation, contem
plate the relative position of the Southern States,
without being deeply impressed with the sense
of their insecurity?
Here is a conflct ot pecuniary interest uc
; tween seperate and distinct cotnmuniiies of men,
£nrgravate<l by the prejudices of a blind fanati
^ cism against our domestic institutions, on the
nartof a large portion of tha people of the North
ern and Middle States. And shall we. under
these circumstances, fold our arms in fatal apa
' thy and permit the Federal Government, to es
I ♦■hlish its supremacy and omnipotence upon the
subverted sovereignty of South Carolina? When
up that it is the interest of those states which
control the operetion of the Federal Govern
I. * ent ,o shackle our commerce and destroy our
® «hall South Carolina prostrate the en
S«e sovereignty before them and submit
! and liberties to their maenanmity and
lusttc?" Let not deceive ourselves, nor vam
Iv hope to avoid danger by closing the eyu of
! n.1„j-rctandinir against the evidence of its
aDDroaches However melancholy the fact may
• befall history is but a bloody testimonial to es
lablish it, that no community of men upon the \
race of the earth, in any age or under any dis
pensation, political or religious, ever has been
governed by justice in its negotiations or its con- (
tticts with other states. No, gentlemen, it is not
justice and magnanimity, but interest and ambi-.
tion— dignified and disguised under the name of'
State Policy—and ever has governed, and
ever will govern masses of men, acting as politi
cal communities. Individuals may be actuated
by a sense of justice, but what citizen in any
country, would venture to contend for justice to
a foreign and rival community, in opposition to
the prevailing policy of the state, without forfeit
ing the character of a patriot? W e habitually
speak of Roman virtue and Roman patriotism
as proverbial, and they are held up, throughout
Christendom to the rising generation as models
for imitation. And yet, in every period of the
republic, with scarce an interval, these virtuous
and patriotic citizens were engaged in vexing
the ocean and desolating the earth, by wars of
plunder and conquest. These are not mere ab
stracted truths and barren speculations, but they
practically illustrate the peculiar and perrillous
condition of the exporting and slave holding
states, as members of the great North American
confederacy, and demonstrate the imperious ne
cessity of rallying all parties around thestandard
of State Sovereignty, resolved in the spirit of
our glorious motto—“ Animis opibusque parati”
to maintain and preserve it untarnished in every
emergency and at every hazard, as the last
hope of transmitting to our posterity the bles
sings of constitutional liberty.
The entire legislation of Congress, on tne con
flicting interests of the planting and manufactu
ring States, has been a war of communities
against communities, carried on by making un
just and unconstitutional laws, instead of fight
ing hazardous and bloody battles. In this legis
lative warfare, I have seen the truth of all that I
have said as to the injustice of communities, ac
ting as such, most strikingly illustrated. I have
seen men ol high honor and unblemished integri
ty in all the relations of private life, w ho would
shrink with abhorrence from the perpetration of
an act of individual injustice, voting with an un
disturbed concience for measures of legislative
plunder; and though fully convinced ol their un
equal and oppressive operation, it would have
been just as vain to think of restraining them by
shewing their injustice, as it would have been to
arrest the march of a Roman army by demon
strating the injustice of the war.
The rights and liberties of the minority States
—so to speak—are in much greater jeopnrdy
from the majority States, acting thro’ the feder
al government, under an assumed and practical
omnipotence, than they possibly could be, if
there existed no compact of Union, and each
were separate and independent. I do conscien
tiously believe that the smallest State on the
continent of Europe, amidst the gigantic strug
gles of wrarring monarchies, holds its rights and
liberties by much surer guaranties, under the
law’s of nations, than South Carolina now holds
her rights and liberties, under the Federal Con
stitution, subject to a construction which abso
lutely inverts its operation, rendering it a chain
to the oppressed and a cobweb to the oppressor.
It is not to be doubted, for example, that if a
league of the mightiest potentates of Europe
were to assume and exercise the power of pro
hibiting the trade of the most insignificant king
dom with the other nations of the earth, or of
imposing restrictive duties upon that trade, w ith
the avowed purpose of promoting the interest
of the confederated powers, the whole commer
cial and civilized world would be animated by
one common sentiment of indignation at the
outrage, not less vehement than that which was
excited, some hnlf century ago, by the infamous
partition of Poland. And yet, strange and ex
traordinary as it may appear, this is precisely
j the outrage, with no circumstance of mitigation,
I but many of aggravation, which New York,
I Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and their associ
I ates, have committed against the planting States
1 of this Union, through the perverted agency of
! a government, created to prevent such outrages,
! and which that government hud deliberately
j prepared to enforec against the sovereign State
1 of South Carolina, by the bayonets of mercen
| ary soldiers, under all the pretended sanctions
! of human authority.
The federal government has already passed
through the first stage of its progress to military
(despotism. Congress has assumed and prac
j lically maintained the right of deciding in the
: last resort, the extent of its own powers—which
; is but another form of affirming that the nets of
Congress are paramount to the constitution.—
And in the natural course of things, the chief
magistrate of the confederacy, following the
example of the legislative department, has assu
■ med and practically maintained the right of de
i ciding, in the last resort, the extent, not only of
his own powers, but of the powers of all the
l other departments, thus making his own arbi
trary will, paramount to the acts of Congress,
I the adjudications of the courts and the constitu
tion itself.
[Gov. McDuffie here enters into an examina
tion of the principles, w hich governed those who
! were in favor of the law called the “Test Oath,”
and then proceeds.] *
| Our attention has, for many years past, been
so exclusively directed to the Federal Govern
ment, from the necessity of resisting its alarm
ing encroachments, that we have too much ne
glected the appropri ate field of State legislation
and State policy, and permitted our domestic
institutions to fall into the most deplorable state
of decay and dilapidation. The present condi
tion of the college—an institution established
by an enlightened patriotism, and munificently
endowed by the State, calls for our most prompt
and anxious attention. Jn that state of intel
lectual excitement and activity by which the
whole civilized world is remarkubly character
ized, in which the ascendancy of mind over
matter, is illustrated by the daily triumphs of
science, in all the departments ol industry and
art , an educated and enlightened population is
the great and primary element of the wealth
and power of states and empires; and what is
much more important, the only substantial ba
sis of free political institutions. As our College,
therefore, is at the same time a pillar and an or
nament of the social fabric, we should carefully
explore the causes of its declining and almost
ruinous condition, and devote our zealous and
united exertions to the work of its revival.—
Among the most sacred of the obligations which
we owe to posterity, is that of preparing the ri
sing generation to* act well their part on the
grand theatre of human affairs, according to
the emergencies in which Providence may place
them; and I am impressed with a solemn and
painful conviction, that however rude have been
the storms which we have had to buffet, they
are but refreshing zephyrs in comparison with
those which some of our children, that are now
in all the security of unconscious infancy, will
yet live to encounter.
Under this impression, I shall devote my
most zealous and indefatigable efforts, to infuse
into the militia that high military spirit, which
recently animated that patriot hand of citizen
soldiers, “ the volunteers of South Carolina,
and to introduce the most efficient organization
and the highest possible state of military im
provements, in stratagy, tactics, and general
discipline. In this great labor, I earnestly soli
cit and confidently anticipate your hearty co
operation. Some of the profoundest maxims of
political wisdom, have been so long the hack
neyed themes of declamation, that they have
come to be regarded rather as mere idle topics
for the hustings and the rostrum, then as the
basis of a wise and practical statesman. Among
these maxims, none seems to have been more e
minently destined to be preached and not practi
sed, than that which affirms that a well regula
ted and well trained militia is the palladium of
our liberties. To what portion of the whole
world is this maxim more strikingly applicable
than in the slave-holding states, of this confed
eracy, and in which of these states should it be
more solemnly and impressively realized than
in South Carolina.
ii very buiau enuo^iurm ui uioi.|»whmvm.
gacity ‘ which looks before and after,’ will ena
ble any statesman to perceive, without looking
very far back or very far forward, that among
those probable contingences against which it is
the high office of wisdom and patriotism to pro
vide, is the occurrence of a crisis in our politi
cal relations, at no distant period, in which
Sou'll Carolina, in common perhaps, with all or
a portion of the other states, will have to main
tain her sovereignty, and defend the rights .and
liberties of her citizens before the great tribu
nal of ultimate resort, by muniments of title and
guaranties of quiet enjoyment, much more po
tent and efficacious than the miserable mockery
of blurred and obliterated and tattered parch
ment, the Constitution of the United States.
If communities will ever learn w'isdom from
experience, can it be more than necessary to
appeal to the impressive lessons wre have receiv
ed from the occurrences of the last two years,
as an admonition for the regulation of our future
policy? When my distinguished friend and pre
decessor, entered upon the duties of that station,
which he so signally illustrated by that rare com
bination of prudence, patriotism, wisdom, and
energy, that has so largely contributed to carry
ustriumphantly through thedifficultiesand perils
of an unequal contest, what was the condition
and whut the attitude of South Carolina? It is
true that almost her entire population, of all ages
—and 1 might almost add sexes—were prepared
to march forward as a forlorn hope of constitu
tional liberty, animated by a spirit not less self
devoting and heroic than that w hich prompted
Leonidas and his three hundred Spartan follow
ers to offer up their lives at Thermoplyae, for the
common liberties of Greece.
And here,fellow-citizens, permit me to say, tha1
it was a proud and glorious day for South Caro
lina, w hen her public functionaries, in all the de
partments of her government, fired by a spiri
of patriotic indignation which pervaded the
whole state with an electrical rapidity, hurled
back with scorn and contempt, that bloody edici
of federal despotism, which its infatuated advi
sers confidently anticipated, would instantly in
i duce a terror-stricken people to furl the bannei
; of their pretended sovereignty, and prostrate ii
at the feet of their oppressers! But no, thank
God, on that eventful occasion, South Carolina
exhibited a spectable of the moral sublime, un
surpassed by any thing recorded inhistory—
: standing alone amidst all the combined fury 01
the surrounding elements,
“ Firm as a rock of the ocean, that stems
A thousand w ild w aves on the shore.”
It was that imposing spectacle, and the prepa
rations which followed it, that enlisted in our
cause the advocates of constitutional liberty
every where, and commanded the respect and
! admiration even of our oppressors; and it is not
to be doubted, that it was the unequivocal evi
dence thus given that the state could nof be dra
gooned and frightened into submission, which,
operating upon the patriotism of some and the
calculation of others, led to the adoption of that
adjustment of the tariff, which restored harmo
ny to the country.
But I never look back to that trying anti peri
lous crisis without instinctively shuddering at
the reflection, that if the madness of the fede
ral authorities had driven the country to the
dreadful extremity of a civil war, thousands of
the chivalry of the Slute would have been
slaughtered by federal mercenaries, solely for
the want of that strategic and tactical skill in
the officers, and that exact discipline in the sol
diers wnich could only be acquired by assidu
ous study and laborious training. Let us not,
then, permit ourselves to be lulled into a fatal
security by the peace and unexampled prospe
rity which have crowned our exertions, or se
duced by the spirit of acquisition, or the allure
ments of indolence, to relax our efforts to put
the State in an “armor and attitude” adapted
to the worst emergency that can arise. It is a
melancholy reflection, forced upon us by histo
ry, that skilful generals and well trained armies,
have been generally found fighting for emperors
and kings, or in wars of ambition and conquest,
while the cause of liberty has been almost ex
clusively defended by armies badly trained,
commanded, to be sure, by brave patriots,
but hardly ever by great captains. Let us blot
out from the page of history this deep reproach
upon free institutions.
Liberty is surely as well worth the labor, and
toil, and expense of military preparation, as any
object of ambition possibly can be; and we
have read history to very little purpose, if we
have yet to learn that, in this world of injustice
and violence, liberty can be preserved only by
being prepared to defend it. But for a State
having the peculiar institutions, and occupying
the peculiar position ofSouth Carolina, to think
of preserving her libeities without a vigorous
state of military preparation, is thatsort of mad
ness with which the heathen gods of antiquity
were supposed to afflict a State which they had
predestinated to destruction.
I am aware that the wealth and intelligence
of the northern and middle States, are opposed
to any direct and unconstitutional interference
with our domestic institutions and our rights of
property; but I am also aware that there exists
a fanatical spirit of blind and heartless philan
thropy, embodied in the form of abolition socie
ties, which looks with cold indifference upon the
starving white pauper in the next street, and at
the same time sheds tears of commisseration
over the hard fate and imaginary sufferings of
the distant black man of separate and indepen
dent communities. This fatal and ferocious spi
rit—the same that covered St. Domingo with
blood, and more recently coerced the British mi
nistry to depopulate their West India islands,
combined with the kindred spirit of agrarian
ism which is now making the most alarming
progress in those States, will soon obtain an in
fluence over public opinion which neither wealth
nor intelligence, nor authority, can control.—
When these two combined elements of anarchy
and mischief shall be embodied by needy and j
desperate politicians, into an organized politi- \
cal party, no human institution will be regarded
as a guaranty of any human right and the proper-1
holders of the North, so far from being able to
t.
do any thing to secure our property from these |
fanatics ana plunderers, will tremble for the se-1
curily of their own. It is my deliberate opinion
that the unbalanced democracy of the middle
and some of the Northern States will pass, by a
rapid transition, through anarchy to despotism,
and I am thoroughly convinced that the institu
tion of domestic slavery, paradoxical as it may
seem, is an indispensable element in an unmixed
representative republic. _
How sacred, then, is our obligation to provide
our posterity all the necessary means of defend
ing and preserving an institution, as essential to
their existence and their liberty as it is obnoxious
to the prejudices of those who have the greatest t
possible facilities for assailint it. Under these
solemn convictions 1 should be a faithless and ;
treacherous sentinel upon the watch tower of
the State, if 1 were to lull my fellow citizens in- ,
to a false and fatal security, by crying “alls
well” when the incendiary,brandishing his torch, j
is in the very act of passing the barriers of the
fortress, with the purpose of putting fire to the
temple. i
It is in vain that we labor to transmit to our
children a barren inheritance of wealth, ii unac
companied by an adequate guaranty that they
will enjoy it as freemen. And I do awfully ap-,
prehend that if we do not now provide such a
guaranty, after all the admonitory lessons we
have had from experience, and all the porten
tous signs we have seen in the heavens, the next;
generation may not pass away, before the crits
of our posterity, from amidst the smouldering
and bloody ruins of the Slate, will rise up in
judgment against us. .
I am now prepared, sir, (said Mr. McU., ad
dressing the Speaker) under the solemn sanc
tion of an oath, to pledge my undivided alle
giance to the State of South Carolina—and at
the same time to pledge myself, under the same
sanction, to “ preserve, protect, and defend the
Constitution of the United States,” even against
the violations and infractions of those who may
pretend to act under its authority._
From the Albany Microscope.
THE QUILTING.
The following is a description of a scene in
which I lately participated with a circle of my
friends in this city. If you publish it. you will
have the approbation of NANCY.
The day is set, the ladies met,
And at the frames are seated,
In order placed, they work in haste,
To get the quilt completed.
While fingers fly, their tongues they ply,
And animate their labors,
By counting beaux, discussing clothes,
Or talking of their neighbors.
“ Dear, what a pretty frock you’ve on”—
“ I’m very glad you like it.”
“ I’m told that Miss Micomicon
Don’t speak to Mr. Micate,”
“ I saw Miss Bell the other day
Young Brown’s new gig adorning—”
“ What keeps your sister Ann away?”
“ She went to Troy this morning.”
4 ’Tis time to roll—my needle’s broke”—
* “ So Tabor’s stork is selling;”
“ Abhy’s wedding gown’s bespoke,”
“ Lend me your scissors, Ellen.”
“ That match will never come about”—
“ Now don’t fly in a passion.”
“ Corsets, they say, are going out”—
“ Yes, busks are all the fashion.”
The quilt is done, the tea begun—
The beax are all collecting;
The table’s clear’d—the music heard,
His partner each selecting.
The merry band, in order stand
The dance begins with vigor—
And rapid feet, the measures beat,
And trip the mazy figure.
Unheeded by. the moments fly,
Old Time himself seems dancing,
Till night’s dull eye is op’d to spy
The steps of morn advancing.
Then closely stow’d, to each abode,
The carriages go tilting,
And many a dream has for its theme,
The pleasures of the quilting.
DRAWS TO-MORROW
Literature Lottery of the State ol Delaware,
Class No. 52 for 1834,
To be drawn in Wilmington,Del. on Wednesday
December 24,
HIGHEST PRIZE $7,000
Tickets 82 25; halves 1 12$; quarters 56$ cents.
To be had in a variety of numbers of
j. roitsr.
Lottery $ Exchange Broker. Alexandria.
5Cj*An Official List of the drawing of the pro
perty lottery at Ellicott’.s Mills, is received, and
may be examined at CORSE’S Office.
DBA IPS TO-MORROW
Literature Lottery of the State of Delaware,
Class No. 51, for 1834.
To be drawn in Wilmington. Del. Wednesday
December 24.
CAPITAL PRIZE $7,000,
Tickets 282 25—shares in proportion.
To be had in a variety of numbers of
J. W. VIOLRTT,
Lottery and Exchange Broker,
Near the corner of King and Fayette Streets,
_ Alexandria. D. C.
DBA WS TO-MORROW
Literature Lottery of the State of Delaware,
Class No. 52,
To be drawn at Wilmington, Wednesday, De
cember. 24.
HIGHEST PRIZE $7,000,
Tickets $2 25—shares in proportion.
For sale, as usual, in great variety, by
JO*. Iff. CLARKE,
(Sign of the Flag of Scarlet and Gold,) King at
Alexandria. D. C.
'DBA WS TO-MOBHU H
Literature Lottery of the State of Delaware,
Class 51,
To be drawn at Wilmington, Del. Wednesday,
December 24,
HIGHEST PRIZE $7,000
Tickets $2 25—shares in proportion.
On sale in great variety by
JAS. RIORDAN.
Uncurrent Notes and Foreign Gold pur
chased.
NOTICE.
THE Stockholders of the Farmers’ Bank of
Alexandria are notified, that an election j
of Directors for the ensuing year will be held at |
their banking house, on Monday, the 5th day of
January next. JOHN HOOFF.
dec 3—lawte
ROOKWOOD, J
A ROMANCE in two vols., from the 2d Lon-'
don edition, price 81 25 Just received by i
dec 20—eo3t E. KENNEDY. I
LATEST FROM FRANCE
By the packet ship Normandie, arrived
New York from Havre, files of the Paris j0ur '!
ties Debats and Galignani’s Messenger d ^
to the 14th ultimo, inclusive have beenVec ^
We have copied the extracts furnished in n?
New York Journal of Commerce and the <•
mercial Advertiser, from which doubt arises"1
regards the dissolution of the Bassano mini **
In our latest numbers of the Paris 7*
the statement is questioned. But the articl
the 15th, quoted in the Journal of Comm*0'
and the Courier and Enquirer, are positive^
Paris, Nov. 14.—There is no longer anv \i
nistry. We have this moment learned fro n
source that does not allow us to doubt tha»m a
Council held to-day, all the Ministers deliv 5
in their resignations. Nothing has yet corri
light upon the immediate causes of this »tra l°
change. 4 an8e
The Journal des Defeats, gravely repeats ih
article reporting the resignation of the Mil
ters. and adds— ' nb‘
*• We should not have repeated this news
on the authority of that Journal alone, if a T
mor of the dissolution of the new Cabinet had
not been generally circulated last night.'1 a<1
Whereupon the Constitutionnel and the Jm
partial state that, “ The report so positively a<
serted by the M°ssager occasioned no little n.er
riment to the Ministers and other personal
who diined with M. Dupin.” *
Paris, Nov. 15.—The Moniteur of this morn
ing is still silent upon the dissolution of the t'a
binet.
The Journal des Debuts says—“The Mi
nister of the Interior, President of the Council
the Minister of War, who has also performed
the duties ad interim of Minister of Foreign Af
fairs, the Ministers of the Marine, of the Pj.
nances, and of Commerce, yesterday tendered
their resignations to the King, which his Maje*.
ty accepted.”
The Constitutionnel mentions only four Mi
nisters as having resigned, the Duke de Basia
no, and Messrs. Teste. Pasav, and Charles Du
pin. It adds—‘‘On Thursday evening. afterM
Dupin’s dinner, the Ministry still existed and as
gambled in Council. There the first important
question submitted to the new Cabinet, the bill
lor 25 millions claimed by the United States
was discussed. It appears that the Doctrinary
coterie. although expelled from the Cabinet, was
still powerful enough to give ascendancy to it*
opinions, since the bill for 25 millions, precisely
as it had been rejected by the Chamber, was re
commended.
The anathema hurled against the Ministry,
by one of the gravest organs of the Opposition
(the Courier Francais) seemed to have produc
ed an unfavorable impression on the mind of a
man, who, nevertheless, had been accustomed
to sacrifice to his convictions the transitory
sweets ol popularity, which can be be only ren
dered durable by knowing how to lose it, in
case of need, in order to recover it anew.—
Be this as it may, M. Passy thought he saw and
we are on this occasion of his opinion, a con
tradiction between the principles which fie
maintained, and the course into which he was
to tie led by this disastrous bill. He firmly sta
ted that he could not consistently present, as a
Minister, a bill which he had opposed as a depu
ty. He insisted, w ith the most honorable eager
ness, that it would be flying in the face of the
Clianiber to reproduce, w ithout a single modifi
cation, a law rejected by the most significant
majority. Messrs. Teste and Charles Dupin
seem to have supported M. Passv in this strug
gle, wherein tlie? word resignation,” which is
the reto of every honest Minister, was several
times pronounced. The Council was broken
up, and Messrs. Teste and Passy, having previ
ously concerted together, sent in their resign**
tior» at midnight.
M. Charles Unpin, on hearing the fact, very
early on the following morning sent in his own,
which was followed by that of the DukedeBas
sano. Messers. Male and Thiers are commis
sioned to recompose this Cabinet, twice found
to be impossible. To complicate the embarrass
ment of the affair, M. Bresson, whoseaccrpt
ance was guaranteed, is doublets on his road to
Paris, and will learn on the frontier that there is
but one resignation more to givein. Hisreturn
to Berlin is impossible, for lie would he over
whelmed by ridicule, although he is innocent of
this deception, which France has participated
with him.”
The Impartial notices the resignation of the
four Ministers mentioned, and adds: ‘‘It was
asserted last night that M. Thiers, who seems to
have become an indispensable personage, was
charged to reconstruct the Cabinet. But how
ever strong may he the wish to collect again
the elements which composed the preceding
Ministry.it is probable that M. Guizot will not
be invited to make one of it—but we should des
pair of nothing. We have been also informed
that Conn! Mole has declared in the most posi
tive manner that he will never consent to come in
to any Cabinet, and has expressed the utmost
disgust at the intrigues to which he has been a
witness during the last fortnight.”
We discredit the supposition that the Ameri
can affair had so much influence in the case. De
puted cardinal points of domestic politics were
more likely to produce so sudden and violent
a change. We have read a number ol the Pan*
editorial articles on the formation of the Bassa
no cabinet, and not found a word in relation to
the American affair. The despatches which it
is probable that the Normandie lias brought from
Mr. Livingston to our government must possess
considerable interest. He had, we may pre
sume, ascertained the dispositions of the se'e*
ral cabinets respecting the execution of the
Treaty. Our impression still is that it w as ma
terial for success, that the American question
should be rendered important and urgent in the
eyes of the principal French statesmen of eve
ry party. In what we may term the violent es
tuation of domestic questions and party-con
tests at Paris, our business was merged, or dis
regarded comparatively.
NOTICE.
THE Bank of Potuinac will be closed, on
Christmas day next. All notes falling due
on the 25th, are requested to be paid on Wednes
day, the 24th; and all notes intended to be of
fered for discount, are to be put in Bank on
Wednesday, before I o’clock, P. M.
dec 22— 3tC. PAGE, Cashier.^
CASH FOR 400 NEGROES,
INCLUDING both sexes, from 12 to 25 years
of age. Persons having likely Servants to
dispose of, will find it to be their interest to give
us a call, as we will give higher prices in cash
than any other purchaser who is now, or may
hereafter, come into this market,
dec 17 FRANKLIN 4 ARMFIELD.