LITERARY MISCELL AN Y.
for the National Ira.
BBOOLLSOTIOVaOF MYQttAHDFATHKK'B HOMK.
chap" V.
My Sttp-Urandmother.
" Hosts around m? tread?
The intensely bright, th? beautiful, the dead?
Phantoms of heart and brain ! "
Benny vu gone ; the sunshine of childhood
had left the old farm-house, and it devolvtni on
me to fill the little niche by my grandfather^
hearth. Not so joyous was this second part
ing, for the seriousness of girlhood had come
prematurely upon me. This time, it was my
tarn to bide my glistening eyed, and bid thi>
trembling good-bye. The forests were no
longer interminable to my enlightened vision,
and the Dead Sea of yore was now only a little
wayside pond! Oh, why can you not linger,
mystic romance of childhood! why fly away so
soon, with bo much of our innocence and pu
rity! why leave us so far away from Heaven !
The huge gate opened and cloned behind mo
and 1 stood on the worn threshold of the farm
house, shot into a new home. From that day,
every person connected with my grandfather's
household became linked in my life's history;
every inoident, woven into their daily life and
mine, one groater or smaller way-mark for
afterthought.
And bore I am, after the lapse of many
years, rummaging in the shut-up storehouse*
ol memory, bringing out, now and then, aomo
old portrait, a landscape sketch or two, and
pictures of in-door life. Made sacred by per
eoual ties, they undo the floodgate of feeling,
tears flow last, and vain longings arise for tho*<
pure, rustic enjoyments of my childhood I*
there no lellow-being, with kindrod ties and
tastes, to tread this old gallery with me <
My step-grandmother! Second in the lift,
ol faded portraits stands my step-grarulmother
proud, erect, and stately. To the first youth'
ful vision of my step-grandmother, I owe my
lasting penchant for stately dames. Slight
iurme, mild eyes, and their usual concomitants
figure well in the corners of romanoe, and suit
some tastes, but not mine. Like waxen dolls,
they make bright the drawing-room; but for
the stern battles of life, for the woman of work
aud influence, we want firm muscles. 7 lovo
that beauty which is made up of erect stature
stately mien, marked yet delicate features?in
short, that undefinable tout ensemble of marked
outline and gentle undnlation which oombine
to make an elegant, stately woman. Such a
woman was my step-grandmother. Above me
dium height with large, open features and a
well-rounded form, my step-grandmother was
an imposing and nevertheless feminine-looking
woman. As waiting maid to Queen Bess, she
would have demeaned herself her mistress's
equal.
Thie gty ie ?f beauty is not bo common, nor
jet so universally popular, as many others;
and even I confess that, in some phases of life
U is not agreeablo. We give up to the decided
glance; we turn aside before the stately mien
ihi? I^ralr.,n?ly ? in the sick room,
when the feverish brow is to be cooled, little
done> ***hing
words of affection whispered, there i* something
wanting. We tarn then to the little fairy, who
iptoes so lightly round the room, who strokes
our pillow so gently, and administers nourish
ment with snow white little hands. It is well
Si*7a??7 Md Wpiness, that God has pro
action ?PProPriat? "pherc of
Nevertheless, a very fine woman was my
Btep-grandmother; yet 1 would fain have you
?an her portrait with an indifferent critic's
HL Wrt perehance you may disclose a sou!
m Mysteriously veiled from my childish m,
K ??'? ??. to. worn*, wJrtS
terror, the ogreasof my childhood! No favorite,
Jim: ^rirTJTJz^.;
?Mwing that mysterious eiaoulation, "O dear
fij t-TT' 0,?fr into lhe ??rn?r of the old
brown kitchen, despising kind-hearted Han
oej ? consolatory advances, and cringing more
e?d mow to the stately woman. Such is no"
?koe a child s spirit. So goes the world, bow
iug befire the incomprehensible. and eringir.g
UDT*ml P? on, impof
torjipread your amis; move quick, and make
wooi tor the new comer.
tJ? ??y ?tep-frandmother had a great, kind
r^1 No b^r ever went unladen from her
door;no unbidden gue* uncheered from her
IT If there has ever lived, in
Tk 7' ,after tha f??4 Saxon
meaning of the word, a true lady was my aln.*
SUT* ?rT1Tt ?r . She did ?* lore us chil
wano, iWuT11 "**? with *** n>*oifbld
WMts,ol?ldish helplessness, and silly prattle ?
of h?r???n Wood had ever lisped
tm, mother?no little dead Benny had rrar
tSStfiSL* kh* of oh''dif<h
?r t i ^ and k?P* ?? Warm : slio
7 M; bot ko<>w with
later *!** dld DOt ,0T" u* Io
U, when reason bad usurped the nla^e
SLSttTS? t n b*r NP?d form
toll ? ilST Bibl? M ?*?? usrd
thaolTOJ^ ?*> the middle of
irice ak n i "?* * rev- I
t am r w- ""j" ****? 6 loag drawn
b mi tremulous accents still sound
VUUt St!7 - * ,*???** oome* to
rwTT 7 Tf,v^rmbi# wo?*?
^Pm>* fumpT told flattering tslcn of ,?v
it wJT^atB'thh7i,T? ooru^l*,?t,l Certain
"?? the first of her three spotises wn.
ST- ^^SJenfl
*7,' T ?K?,on" Were held in
0?M domestic repute The second ? ah. Jet
a bLa of'filth, ^ hi" P*?'Ptery exit.
5*i ?* ,Uflre behind Bro?ade? Hn.t
siega(MM, wMb a *ii| of huge gold beadn
??T^T'? , 1? *"* "P?"-'
2STt?Thi?ll. "f th" firnt
She f?,,ar* of th* "?oond
t-SXfisr bo"-Md ,in? s
i nf ?hiw. lo? of
Jtepiay nn her well furnHdwd wardrol* How
L^nt^ril^^d"7 There wal
taSTrf jr?P"?ty al>out the
m^in wbioh **
.."^2^1^ .* W?? d,n0t fX0,'*nge the
pteawnf drapery and natural display of fwn.
^Tste^ h'5h
SS5 sraix:
plftmness, of our grandmother s
^rant that thoao same hrooades
, J ^ h?Kh,7 ?wh?red; yet thoir
y hues were an artistically arranged as to
.*? "p'^did harmony; and our
Prw,M,t^ not the modern
2T*aVLlf^!l r*'nhow" ohange
iliii jm to lake plafw ,n mj visnal organs, b<v
Pr<V
' 7 th* *?fnbre tints
T! Theqna
bewrtW pr-.prW makes her
jpf her religion What color i?
? ? . ?*??, -oft, nentraJ
in which, youth glide* so gracefully
uibond, and thence, with a darker
the vale ot
to os our
Itoemostlih
oral expansion, on brown oambrio. That picture,
tautened by four pins to the wall of the " Kant
Room," wmh at onoe the wonder and admira
tion of my childhood The gray eyes, high
brow, and plainly brushed hair, were there;
iflnp the Sabbath-day hymn book and folded
korchief. But in what sly comer of my grand
mother^ bureau was stored the profusion of riuh
lace which adorned her oap; in what out-of
the-way place stood the rouge-pot, with whoso
contents the artist had bedaubed her wrinkled
; cheek*! what Madam Cinderella had taught
the art of fitting the foot to the slipper; or what
Titian the suiting of the form to the canvas* !
There stand the gray-haired, wrinkled, rosy
oheeked head, on infant shoulders; while, with
an unheard of violation of proportion, the arms
extended would have exceeded twice the length
of the upright body! The feet were a still
greater enigma; and never oould I reoonoile
those delioate French slippers with the stout
walking shoes so visible and audible in my
step-grandmother's daily peregrinations! In
her eyes, this picture was a master-pie oo; and,
from the time when the artist first poised the
tiny feet beneath the gray, old head, till the
day of her death, no profane hand was allowed
to rest on its shining surfacc! Bless these
ohildish fancies of deepening age-?they make
keepsakes for us.
Long years after, when the dwellers in that
house had left me alone?when the dust and
cobwebs of old corners were brought to light, i
and the furnishings of long ago borne, as relics,
to a more modern mansion?that peioeof faded |
canvass, with all ita glaring, bedaubed doform- j
itioH, was eagerly claimed by her who passed
so many dreamy hours of childhood beneath
its fixed gaze!
1 love these old, known relics of the past; the I
sight of them brings up such fresh visions, seen
through the vista of buried years. Not the
antique chair, so modish in ull its adornings,
and smelling too new of patent varnish?nor
yet the tangled-legged table, ogling at us with I
its one-sided impositions?but perchance the
old, rush-bottomod chair, in which a revered
grandfather dozed away the long winter even
ings, or the clock which ticked the hours
mournfully on, as you watched by the dying
bed of the gray-haired, trembling old man.
Around such relics there is a charmed oir
cle, within which we may gaze reverently on
the gray locks, and listen to the tottering foot
steps, that awed us so in childhood!
DEATH OF XLLIOTT CBKSSOH.
We are pained to record the death of Elliott
CresHon, Esq., at his mother's residence, in this
city, early yesterday morning, after a brief ill
ness.
Mr. Cresson was born in Philadelphia, the
Nth of Maroh, 1794, and was, oonscquently, in
the 60th year of his age at the time of his
death. The whole of his manhood has been a
scene of autivity and devotion to public inter
ests, and the general welfare of mankind. For
a short time he was engaged in mercantile pur
suits, but left them, and dedicated himself to
the civilization and Christianization of Africa,
by the agency of her own sons from this land.
In the prosecution of this mission, he oo several j
occasions visited, with great sucoess, various
l>ortions of the United States, and in 1832 made
a voyage to Great Britain, laboring there, as
at home, without fee or reward. At the or
ganization of the Philadelphia School of De
sign, under an act of incorporation, he was
?looted its President; and it is worthy of re
mark, that in addition to many suooessful of- I
forte in its behalf, his last public act was to
attend a meeting of its Board of Directors, on
last Tuesday evening.
Mr. Creaaon was never married. He leaves
a widowed mother, two sisters, and one brother.
Possessed of a handsome competency, he was a
liberal distributor of the means with which a
bountiful Providenoe had blessed him. We
havo reason to believo that by his will, drawn
a few months since, his entire possessions are
s?t apart in individual and associated charities
of the city of his birth. As a friend, he was
t ue; aa a citizcn, spirited and devoted; as a
philanthropist, disinterested and generous. In
all the relations of life, zeal, ability, and intel
ligence, characterised his efforts and servioes.
Phila. North American, Feb. 21.
A CASK FOB SYMPATHY.
The Lynohburg (Va.) Republican bewails, in
appropriate terms, the evils with which the
South is afflioted. Hearken to it, and weep :
" Northern Importation* ?Everybody knows
that the people of the South have for years
permitted the Yankees to palm off upon them
' wooden clocks,' cider lor champagne, and fool
them out of their money in a thousand differ
ent ways. As this only robbed them of their
surplus cash, it was a tolerable evil. But late
ly they have extended the field of their depre
dations, and have assumed through their
presses and their works of fiction a kind of
guardianship over our morals and habits. This
is oarrying tha thing a little too far, and we
feel bound to arrest their influenoe. Any per
son drinking their cide# is oertain to get siok
of it, and not likely to repeat the experiment
The loeklem customer of their eloclu is sure
to throw them away, and prefer losing sooh
time to keeping it But their habits and oode
of morals, onoe fixed, are not so easily got rid
of. Like the shirt of Neesns, or a blister, they
stick, and can be removed only with pain and
?offering. We are therefore, for quarantining
all such importations at onoe."
What *kall lie "the mode and measure of;
redrew ?n
Russian Psivatekrs in th* Uwitbd Statxs. j
Thr Instruments or Despotism ?We yester
day alluded to a report, first promulgated by
the Coiirrier den Ktat? Unitt, in New York, to
the effeot that the Emperor of Rumia had sent
agents to this country, for the purpose of fitting
out privateor* at several of our leading ports,
to wage war against the commercial vemsle of
Kngland and Franoe. Similar information
ba? sinoe reached us from England. Indeed, it
is affirmed, that affairs are in such a condition
of progress, that at the report of the fin* can
non fired in the Black Sea, quite a fleet of
Russian privateer* will start forward from the
American ports, for the porpoae ?f preying
upon the oommeroo of Kngland and France
Oar Government has probably been apprized
of the facts before this, and if immediate
measures should he taken to check this infa
mous movement. It should be remembered
that while the American people not only nym- ;
nathize with Turkey in her struggle agAinvt
Russia, our Government is on the m<wt friendly
t*rms with the Governments of Kngland and
Prance, and that hetioe, any indirect assistance
to Rumia, as alluded to above, would he treach
erous in a double senee?in the first place, to
the spirit of republicanism, and, in the seoond
to our treaty obligations The spectacle would
indeed be disgraceful, to see Kngland and
France liattling against Russia for justice and
right, and at the same time to witness cltweri*
of repubUcan America indireotly co-operating
with the greatest despot of the Kuropean
World. That there is something in the move
ment there is not a doubt, for our information,
like that of the Coiirrier den F.tatu Unit, is froni
a responsible quarter. Wo need scaroely add,
that the Governments of England and France
would use all their efforts to capture such oor
sairs, and to treat them, and very properly, too,
as pirates.?Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 22.
A Bachelor Association has been organized
*t Rockport, Iowa. No one can become a j
member unless he oan prove that he has been
! discarded five times
QjT'The Daily Era can bo had every morning
at the Periodical Htuud of Mr. J. T. Bates, Kx
ohangu. Philadelphia; alio, tbo Weekly Era.
LL7" Mr. Jambs Km.ioii i? authorized to receivs
uod receipt Tor aubaoriptions and advertwoiuenta for
the Daily uud the Weekly National Era, in Cincin
nati and vicinity.
WASHINGTON, D. C.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1854.
WHY. ACKOUBUVB.
Wo have exhibited two of the three reasons
why Slavery is necessarily aud always aggres
sive. The third reason ii, that it is a source of
political power. The white population of the
free States is twioe as great as that of the Hlave
States: they have fifty-nine inoro Representa
tives in Congress ; in the Electoral College, if
united, they oould always elect the President.
And yet the slave States control the Govern
ment in all its departments. They dictate the
creed of the old political parties, prescribe
teats of fitness for offioe, select the candidates
for Fedoral stations, determine the policy of
the Chief Exeoutivo, furnish the majority of
Judges on the Supreme Bench, choose the Pres
ident pro tern, of the Senate and the Speaker
of the House, construct the committees in both
branches, always securing the first places in
dignity and influence to slaveholders, and
make hostility to their pretensions a cause of
political degradation.
How happens it that these States so inferior
to tho froe States, in population, general intel
ligence, in hcienoe, literature, and tho arts, in
wealth and resources, are politically pre-emi
nent and all-controlling ? The answer is easy :
Political Power in the slave States is concen
trated in a small olass, identified with* and rep
resenting a vast Moneyed Interest, valued at
twelve hundred millions of dollars?an Interest
without a rival, holding in absolute subjection
all minor interests, making them tributary to
its aggrandizement. In tho free States, on t,he
contrary, the diversification of labor and enter
prise, the practieal recognition of the equality
of all members of the community, and tho in
dependent character of the relation sustained
by labor to capital, have given birth to nu
merous Interests, each possessing and wielding
a Certain amount of influence, but aoting as a
check upon the others. No ono is paramount;
no ono is strong onough to render tho rest trib
utary, or to combino theiu in a common move
ment for political ascendency.
Tho aggregate political power of the slave
Mates, far less than that of tho free, yet being
concentrated in the single Interest of Slavery,
is more than a match for that of tho latter,
divided as it is among numerous independent
Interests, checking and counter-working one
another. Suppose tho North and West one
vast workshop of manufacturing Industry?
that the farmer and mechanic and small
tradesman had disappeared?that nine-tenths
of all the capital of those sections were owned
by some two hundred and fifty thousand em
ployers, and nearly all the labor under their
oontrol, it is easy to see how overwhelming
would be the power of the free States in Con
gress, on any question between them and the
South. The oaso supposed at the North aotu
ally exists at the South, merely substituting i
planting for manufacturing?with this differ- 1
enoe, however, that the labor of the South is ,
absolutely owned by the capital, and all the I
political power it represents absolutely wielded
by the capitalists.
See, then, how naturally Slavery beoomes
aggressive under this aspect, ft }>eg?te ,
domineering spirit, a habit of despotic, irre
sponsible authority, and intensifies the love of
power inherent in human nature, ft relieves
the Planter from the necessity of labor, and,
having excluded the Interests of a Free Latxw
System, in the cultivation of which so much of
the enterprise and intellect of the North is ex
pended, it leaves him soaroely any reeouroe for
his activities, but Politics. To the art of man
aging and governing free men, he devotes him
self. Politics is his Profession. Slavery has
furnished him with a fit training?and he finds
in its existenoe the souroe of his power, in its
necessities the centre and oiroumferenoe of his
political ereed. Will hs not cherish it as the
apple of his eye, and labor for its growth and
extension, as the enhancement of his own supe
riority * Can you expect him to favor the ex
tension of free territory, to regard with com
plaoency any policy calculated to augment the
politieal strength of the free States? Can
you expect him to be indifferent to the acquisi
tion of slave territory, and the multiplication
of slave States ? Witnessing the rapid growth
of the free States, will ho not turn bis ejes to
Cuba, to Hayti, to Mexico, for fresh aoqnisi
tions, enabling him to maintain in Congress and
the Electoral College the power now secured
to him by Slavery ?
Thus, whether you consider Slavery an ex
ceptional Institution, requiring extraordinary
efforts for its preservation, or an exhaustive
system of labor, calling perpetually for new i
?oil to fatten upon, or as a source of politieal
power, to be oherished and extended, as the
foundation of the slaveholder's preponderance,
you soe that it is neeemarily and always an
aggressive element. The instinct of Self-Pres
ervation, the Love of Money, and the Lust ol
Supremacy, all combine to render the Slave,
holding Class, whatever may he the tempera
ment of individuals belonging to it, a Slavery
Propaganda.
For holding this theory, for acting upon it.
for inculcating it upon their fellow-eitisens,
"Abolitionists," ? Liberty men,' ? Free-Soilera,"
* Independent Democrats," call them by what
name you will, have been denounced and ostra
oised, as men of one idea, disturbers of the
peaoe, agitators, enemies to the Union. The
Historian of the Future will pronounce a very
different verdict. His pages will show, that
had their views l>eon adopted, their Aunsels
followed, the Union would have fulfilled the
expectations of its founders and the hopes of
mankind; that the more prominent aggressions
of Slavery, which from time to time aronsed
even the Conservatism of the country, were
only the developments of the Policy of Propa
gandism, springing from the fundamental na
ture and relations of the Evil; that the disous
sion and agitation of this Evil, and the attempt
to arouse and organise Public Sentiment against
it, ware solemn duties, dictated by sound phi
losophy and genuine patriotism; and that the
policy of oompromioe, evasion, and timeserving
expedient**, with a view to arrest controversy
between the opponents and supporters of the
system, and allay agitation, was absurd, false,
and ruinous.
Just now, the publie mind in the Free State*
seems inclined to anticipate this judgment.
The astounding attempt to repeal a Compro
mise which the faith of an entire generation,
it was supposed, had oonseorated as inviolable,
has aroused multitudes, hitherto indifferent,
and awakened the inquiry, whether, after all,
the Aati-81avery men have not the truth on
thoir side. But, so engrossing are material
interests in the Free States, so strong is the
slavery of Party, so impaired is the forue of
generous sentiments by the sordid love of gain,
?o greatly has the national habit of Compro
mise between Right and Wrong, weakened and j
obscured the National Conmiienoe, that we con
fess our distrust The apostaoy of 1850 is so
recent, as still to o&*t its shadow upon us.
The reoolieotiou that thirteen millions of
Poople, pledged in the most unqualified terms,
by their State Legislatures, to the Principle
and Polioy of positive prohibition of Slavery in
United States Territory, should in less than
twelve months have tamely auquieeoed in the
treaoherous abandonment of both, and then
given their sanction to Parties, degraded and
un principled enough to make such abandon
ment a test and bond of Party fellowship,
awakens within us the apprehension that
should this last, unlocked for, abominable ag
gression succeed, the shameful disloyalty may
be ropeatod. It is & lamentable truth, that
this attempted oggrewion and such apprehen
sions as wo have just expressed, have struck
a blow at the love lor the Union of many who
have hitherto been unswerving in their devotion
to it. The paths of the two sections of the
country seem to them to diverge more and
more every day. They fear that thoir habits,
principles, and interests, are continually grow
ing more and more dissimilar.
So domineering and oppressive has becorac
the slaveholding class, so utterly base the tribe
of " white slaves" at the North, and so blindod
and debilitated are the masses of the North
ern Poople, under the appliances of Pro-Sla
vory Parties and a Pro Slavery Conservatism,
that they are almost tempted to look forward
to the convulsions of Disunion, as necessary
to reclaim the non-slaveholders of the country
from their degradation, and to reinstate Free
dom, Free Labor, and Freemen, iu thoir origi
nal dignity and influence. Whethor such
feelings are fully justified or not by the state
of the country, one thing is certain?lot the
repeated aggressions of the Slave Power fasten
ou the Public Mind of the North the deep,
settled conviction that this Union is to be used
henceforth merely for the aggrandizement of
Slavery and the degradation of Liberty, and
there are millions there who will demand a
dissolution of the Bond.
k WORD FBOM KENTUCKY.
Louisville, Ky., Feb. 16, 1854.
To the Editor of the National Era:
Enclosed find two dollars, my annual sub
scription for the National Era.
Thinking you would like to know something
of public sentiment in this, the Commercial
Emporium of Kentucky, respecting Douglas's
Nebraska bill, 1 have out out and herewith
enclose you, editorial articles from the Louis
ville Journal and the Louisville Courier of to
day, giving an account of what was to be the
" great Nebraska meeting in Kentucky." I at
tended the meeting in oompany with others
deoidedly opposed to the objects which that
meeting was called to promote, and can testify
to the correctness of the amusing account giv
en by the editor of the Courier.
The meeting, as a demonstration of publio
sentiment in aid of the Douglas Nebraska Bill,
was not only a failure, but a most oontempti
ble and ludicrous failure. With all the office
holder* and office-eeekers to aid them, these
Missouri Compromise repealers oould not drum
up 120 men, all told, out of a population of
60,000; and many of these were mere listless
atteudante or decided opponents.
The opening and closing remarks of the only
speaker, Major Caldwell?an ex-member of
Congress whose speech wan coaxed out of him?
tell the whole tale.
" Gentlemen," said he, " I did not oome pre
pared with a speech; and whon i look around
and see the thinness of this audienoe, and feel
the coldness of this large and bleak room, I
think it absolutely cruel, on your part, to ask
me to speak on this oooasion.'
The Major, however, did make an effort, re
peating substantially the arguments of Senator
boogla. in his attack on Senator Chase, and 1
closing, as near as I can reoolleet, as follows:
" Gentlemen, it is useless for mo to detain
you longer. My sesuranoes from Washington
ars, that this Nebraska Kill will pass the Sen
ate and House of Representatives by dccided
majorities. All the Southern members will go
for it, with ooe or two exoeptions, and enough
of Nobthbrn mem to carry it triumphantly
through. The North will grumble, and growl, i
aBd protest, as she always has-done in similar
cases, but they will finally all submit, with the
rxoeption of a few missrable fanatics; and
then a//, or nearly all, of the Territory of the
Government will be open to Southern Institu
tions, and ths great Democratic doctrine of
Popular Sovereignty be firmly and finally es
tabliahed "
Let me say one word as an Anti-Slavery
Kcntnekian to yourself and readers. If the
North and East are firm and united in their
opposition to ths Nebraska bill, and will arouee
the dormant Anti-Slavery sentiment that has |
for the sake of peace and qniet so long permit
ted itself to slnmber, 1 believe that the honest
and conservative feelings of the people in the
Southern States will generally manifest tbem
selves in opposition to breaking down the time
honored landmarks established by the Com
promise of 1820.
CHBKKIM HONS HI THK SOUTH
Fron the Miaa (Ala.) Re*i?t#r
Common School*.?All hopes of anything
like a general railroad bill being passod by the
present Legislature being abandoned, we hope
the friends of [irogress, and of the present and
future advancement of Alabama, will turn
their attention to the establishment of a sys
tem of oommon sohools in the State. To |
speak of the advantages of such a system in
this enlighted age would seem to be superflu
ous, and jet there are some legislators in Ala
hama who seem not to know it, or if they do, |
are indifferent on ths subject. A glance at the
difference between the intelligence of the peo
ple of parts of this oountry where suoh a sya |
tern is established, and of other portions where
it is not should convince the most skeptical
without having reeourss to foreign nations for j
illustrations. In foot, upon tho education of |
the masses for ths rich can provide for them- j
selves?depends the future prosperity and even
ths permanenny of this Government. Educate
the people, and no danger need be apprehended
from demagogues or tne ambition of military
chieftains Rut 1st them sink into ignorance
from generation to generation, and the fate of
thin Government is easily foretold. It will fall
the ea*y prey of some Cromwell, or will be en
gaged in constant broils, like the republic* of
South America?a fate to be equally avoided.
We perceive with great pleasure that the
House of Representatives of Alabama has j
adopted by a decisive vote a plan of ooutmon
sjhool education.
AH EXCITING SUBJECT!
' Next in importance to " the Eastern Ques
tion " is that relating to the " Plain Dresb " of
American diplomatists in Europe?of which,
however, we may as well confess that wo feel
somewhat ashamed!
The Liverpool Times says that "some stir"
wasoaused in diplomatic oiroles by the absence
of the American Ambassador from the opening
of Parliament. It appears, from the statement
of another paper, that Mr. Buchanan had
written two letters for cards of admission to his
suite, and others, and that he received no other
answor than a printed form, statiug that court
dress OQuld ?ot be dispensed with, and two
tickets?one for a lady, who does not evon ex
ist ! This was oool treatment, to be sure; but
| the Morning Adveitiser adds the following in
structive particulars:
"In this manner, Governor Seymour, United
States Ambassador to the Court of Russia, who
is now on his way to St Petorsburgh, was pre
vented from being proscnt, although he applied
to his Minister to get him a ticket of admis
sion.
" General Webb, also, was disappointed in
the same manner. This gentleman is ex-Min
ister from the United Slates to Austria, and
was, we understand, head of Ike Engineering
Department in the American army. The eiu
bossy is said to feel the affront deeply."
In view of all the trouble the regulations
promulgated by Mr. Marcy have occasioned,
we doubt not he has repented of his work.
Military men and diplomatists, it appears, like
peacocks, arc more impressive and important
lor the feathery ornaments they woar. If, how
ever, he wishes to retiro from his position with
out discredit, we would submit the suggestion
that he might make the conformity of our dip
lomatic agents abroad to the costume of each
Court dependent upon the conformity of the
representatives of suoh Court at this oapital to
the costume of all other civilians. We do not
know that we should gain anything by this;
but as it is accordant with the usages and eti
quette of international intercourse, when one
nation makes an exhibition of its folly, for its
competitor to go beyond it in a similar effort,
we may in the present instance gain our point
and oovcr our nation with unendiug glory !
We remember something of an incident oc
curring in our own Presidential mansion, wor
thy of naming in this connection. A point in
volving a question of precedence, in some mat
ter too minute for the common apprehension,
arose between the representatives of England
and France, and each personage had his hand
upon his Bword, when the offices of mutual
friends were fortunately interposed; and a long,
sanguinary and disastrous war between the
two nations was thus possibly averted.
As we are now at peace with all mankind
beyond our own domains, we trust this argu
ment of the sable ooat may be disposed of
before our ministers at foreign oourts come
pouting homeward with their fingers in their
mouths. It is hard enough for these gentle
men to bear the snubbings they receive; but
how much worse would it be were our whole
republic called upon to settle the important
controversy, by a reference of the subject to a
oonfliot at arms, and an appeal to the umpire
whom the Christian nations of the nineteenth
century denominate "the god of battle" a
deity, permit us to say, not revealed to us in
the volume in whioh the religion of Christ is
taught
When the " Envoys Extraordinary and Min
isters Plenipotentiary" from tho Kiokapoos or
other "nations" of their oomplexion, with
whom we very often make treaties, visit our
Capital, without asking their leave, we forth
with encsse them in pantaloons and frook
*nd throw aside their leggings and
blankets. Were a similar oourse to be pur
sued by the nations of the Old World toward
our untinselled Plenipotentiaries, the latter
surely oould not be held responsible, and might
not even be offended at the summary prooeed
ings. At the relative positions of the parties
are presumed to be about the same, why not
try the effeot as Mr. Swills would say, of this
"rummy start?"
Seriously, however, we trust Mr. Maroy will
maintain his position If the representatives
of American Sovereignty cannot appear "at
Contt," except as monkejs, we hope they will
be men enough to oome home. What we have
to do with foreign nations can for ths moot
part ha done by biiMness agents.
Water-Works for thk District or Co
lumbia.?Professor John C. Fr. Salomon has
presented to us a pamphlet containing his
memorial to Congress on this subject, and let
teis commendatory of his scheme from Robert
Mills, Esq., Engineer and Architect, and Hon
Francis O. J. Smith, together with a largo
lithographic view of his plan.
This plan is similar to that of the Fairaiount
Water Works at Philadelphia, but, m is
claimed, poaswetH superior advantages to
it. Reservoirs are proposed to be made at
an elevation of 382 feot above the Potomac, or
142 feet above the apex of the dome of the
Capitol; and, it is alleged, the work can be
completed within two years, at a oost of less
limn $1,000 000. It in stated for this plan also
that it is cspnble of indefinite expansion. The
supply now prop,)sed is fifty millions of
gallons per day. I'aris is said to hare but
twenty-two millions per day; London, forty.
five; Boston, ten; New York, thirty; and Phil
adelphia, fifteen.
Mr. Salomon institutes a oomparison, or con
trast, Iwtwoen his project and that of the able
military engineer now prosecuting this enter
prise. We shall notentor into an examination
of this, but simply remark that wo believe it
to be the duty of Congress to do so, and to
vote the reqnisite appropriations only after tbo
most thorough examination of the subject.
A correspondent of the Trenton American
says: "It may not lie uninteresting to your
readers to know, that there is a lady in Phila
delphia county, sixty years of age, who four
weeks ago gave birth to her fourteenth ohild ;
and, what is unusual, the children are all liv
ing at home."
roKDoa coubmpoiidwicb of th* *iu
Loudon, Feb. 1, 1854.
?..b
sian as?nrct*Mou has provoked such a torren o
just tnSiguaUon fc/tlio
iwuss fc ?Seofxrc
Europe, we are apt to overlook the ^aloon
dition of Turkey, and the facilities it PreBln^
for oonquest, intrigue, or dibiiieniberniont. The
facts we take to be, that the Modem are a.
i bigoted, intolerant, and oppressive, an in the
days of Bajawrt; and that out of the pale of the
capital and the seaport? liable to foreign ob
Bervation, all the population of the country are
subject lo the grossest tyranny. The ?"Bn,??
aud worthies* Greeks, ground down by th h
oppression, are more spiritless and effeminate
than women; and to expect manly action from
them, in any way, is ridiculous. They are
Hlaves and cheats; and their oompatnota, the
Armenians and Jews, are in precisely the tamo
condition, the three divisions hating each other
perhaps more than they detest their Turkish
rulers Out of such an incongruous mass, what
good can be expected? All that we kn?w>. 1H>
that Russia must be prevented from extending
her power to an extent inconsistent with the
independence of every other State in Europo
and Asia; but as for Turkey itself, it is little
matter, indeed, how soon it breaks up, and
what is made of the pieces, so that the grange
inent conduces to the progress of civilization
and the well-being of millions of mankind.
It is said that Austria has ordered a oorpw
of 40,000 men to advance to the frontiers of
H unitary, to keep all quiet there.
Messrs. Pease, Sturge, and Charlton, three
Quakers, have gone Irom England to St. re
torshurgb, to endeavor to make all quiet there.
We dare way the Czar (if he has time) will givo
them a Friendly reocption, and assure then,
that he is only anxious to beooiuo a member <>t
the Peace Society! . . .
Spain is a land of crisiscp, it is to be presum
ed, preparatory to an aotual one of real import
ance; lor the peddling affaire wliioh agitate
the Government from time to time (we hear
nothing of the country) are too contemptible
for history. The last move stated, is the exile
of a number of military and other leading per
sonages, who are hostile to the Ministry. '
arbitrary oonduct must end in a new order of
thing*, and the sooner the better.
The Indian mail brings some rumors of the
Persian movements, which savor of uncertain
ty. The principal report is, that an army <d
60 000 men is moving towards Bushire, and
threatens the invasion of Bagdad. We attach
little consequence to what must be an exagge
ration, if a faot at all. .
A conspiracy is said to have been discovered
and defeated at Rangoon, and Lord Dalhouaie
has proceeded to Bnrrnah. The Russian ships
have returned Irom Japan to Hong Kong, and
mention the death of the Emperor, or by what
ever title the ruler of that select country styles
himself. ? .
In England, everybody appears te be anx
ious for the meeting of Parliament, in the ex
pectation that the Prince Albert affair will be
sifted, that the status quo of relations with all
other countries will be explained, that the
strikes will be dealt with, and that reform will
be alluded to, if not brought forward, accord
ing to circumstances. We continue to con
aider the strikes as the most important of all
these matters. The spirit of Communism is
far more widely spread than appears on the sur
face, ugly as it looks on that expanse. There
is scaroely a little shop-board of six individu
als where it is not operative, and not a third of
the mechanio aud artisan world who are not
deeply imbued with its principles. The in
creasing rise in the prico of provisions adds
fuel to the flame ; and on all the prospect, it
is out of the heart of the most sanguine to
sing, There's a good time coming, boys!
A melancholy shipwreck off the Bay of Dub
lin of the Tayleur, a fine emigrant ship from
Liverpool for Australia, has cast quite a gloom
over the public. Throe hundred and fifty souls,
mostly helpless women and children, perished.
P. S. The reports to the latest hour are not
worth oanvawing. .
The dislocation of the commercial system,
in consequenoe of the long-oontinued uncer
tainty of peace or war, is reaching a crisis ol
enormous difficulty. Sales, except ol the necessa
ries of life, and these at ruinously high prices,
are circumscribed to a fearful extent; and the
evil resulting from this state of things, per
vading the trade ol the whole world, is almost
beyond calculation. Hundreds of millions ar.>
involved in the desperate aggrewion of one
man.
London, February 2, 1854.
The Queen's speech is, perhaps wisely, in
definite. It is indeed in perfect tunc and tenor
with all the antecedent proceedings of the
Government.
In the procession to opeu Parliament, sbo
experienced the coolest roception she has ever
met with from her people, and the partial to
kens of disapprobation, here and there, as her
Royal Consort was recognised, evidently agita
ted her much. We ask not, here, if founded
on actual grounds" or disloyal calumnies ; but
we ought not to conceal the veritable certain
ty that this was tho first oocasion on whioh the
Sovereign and Prinoo Consort taeted even ui
the slightest degree, the insecurity of popular
applause Supposing alt tho rumors about the
Prince to be utterly false, this temporary
cheok may not be without beneficial moral
and national coneequencss. The life-homaae
and almost slavish adulation lavished upon the
Queen and Prince has been almost disgusting
The thing has been overdone, over-acted, liko
the humbug of a puffing performer or theatr.v
The Queen looked j.alc and disturbed, but
the effort of reading the speech restored her
to animation, and she ferl<?rmed her ta*X, a?
usual with fine effect. The Russian ambassador
Baron Brunow, was not in the House of Peers
among the foreign ministers, to hoar her; and
the Turkish representative was badly cheered
on his way thither. The rest was drema rl
a less absorbing kind, and the next day tin
real climax took place, by delivering, the an
swers of France and England to the last Ku-<
si an ruse, in the shape of an inquiry "what
d'ye mean by neutrality? " (applied of course
to the Enxine sea,) to which, probably, the At
test answer to send would havo l>een a copy ol
Johnson's Diotionary, and a " demonstration
in sinking the first ships under the Hag of Rus
sia between tho Bosphorus and sea of A soph.
There is a roport that a collision has hap
pened iff Batoum, whither western frigate,
have conveyed Turkish vessels, with arms and
men, (no mistake, one should think;) but ?mr
readers will 1* on their guard al?o?it the tel.
graphic dispatches. In spite of all artiftos and
delay, France and England continue firm and
united. The other great Powers are in great dd
Acuities; but if they pauee and *ftvor, the im
minent disruption of the ^menta most bring j
all to the CTiioihle, and ? God help the^right. ,
It will cost muoh bloodshod and misery. I j
they could be firm, the bullyisin of
be quashed for tlio nonce; and then
fatal problem, would it not be safer and bettr
to bring it to arbitrament now
True, most true, it is, that the impending
war possesses this monstrous peculiarity, that
every one engaged in it must be hurt; tha
nono can be benefited-not one. And is not
this a cruel exigency to l?o imposed on the hu
WMollis monent, England is feeling alt the
evils of war, ex ept the sanguinary curse ol
carnage Her commerce is crippled,n?r ex
penditure increased , and, in spite of coo e.
statistics, and a really fair condition of rev<
nue, the is in u very uneasy a position that
war would be a relief?a certainty!
At length, the Ku?-ian ambat-sadors, Brunow
and Kiuiloff, have shut up their ChaucellarieH,
and departed from London and Pari*. Thus
there is no more direct dipli malic intercourse
between the disputants aud war. As each has
Hhowu intern* aversion to strike the first blow,
it may be that no declaration of war may bo
issued, but that a collision in the Blook Sea?
though there is a strange, isolated, and incred
ible report that the oombined fleet* have re
turned to the Busphorus?or in nomo other
quarter, will bring the matter to tho issue ot
the sword.
Belgium and Switzerland forming an alli
ance, offensive and defensive, with Prance aud
England, is a significant hint, if the German
States do that which they ought not to do, and
leave undone that whiob they ought to do.
We might t?ee tho Rhine running as red us the
Danube, and no popular enthusiasm to arise
and repel the invasion.
Tho recruiting for the army goes on rapidly;
and we oan state, on good authority?though
the secret has not yet transpired-?that though
the press-gang would not be resorted to, steps
have been taken by wbich, in the event of peril
to our coast, a large body of able-bodied sea
men would be embodied m a few days, and the
Salus Populi supreina lex be found adequate to
the ccoasion.
JcOHKKSPONDXNClC OF THK BALTIMORE SUN J
Washington, Ftb. 22, 1854.
The Conklin treaty iH not proporly before
the Senate. Tho President has only sent in a
copy of it for the information of tho Senators.
The Gadsden treaty is not walking on a bod
of roses, and may yet l>e considerably amend
ed before it has a ohanco of beiDg ratified.
Some of thoHO .amendments may come from the
White House, others wi'l, no doubt, be offered
by the Committee on Foreign Affairs. X.
The opponent-* of the Nebraska bill are be
ginning to be seriously alarmed, lest it should
not pass. The failure of the bill will lie the
death of the most promising i f all tho schemes
of Anti-Slavery agitation ever yet fur Died*. The
repeal of the Missouri restriction will bo with
them, not pouco, but a sword. It will serve
them for a long conflict.
The Homestead bill will oeoupy a day .tr
two more jn the House, and will pass by a largo
majority in that body, and the Nebraska bill
cannot become a law without it. Thus, while
Non Intervention is professed by the Nobraska
bill, here is absolute intervention, by inducing
hosts of free Northern laborers to go and take
exclusive possession ol the oountry, belonging,
of right, both to tho South as woll us the
North.
It is gratifying to perceivc that some move
ments have been made in Congress towards
the ereotion of suitable edifices for the Execu
tive departments. The bill reported from the
Senate Committee on Public Buildings, to-day,
provides for tho completion of the Treasury
building, and the erection of a suitable edifice
for tho Interior, War, and Navy Departments.
Mr. Sumner mado a masterly and eloquent
oration in the Senate, on the Slavery question,
yesterday?the chamber and gallery being, as
usual, very much thronged. Ion.
INCIPIENT ST ATI; S.
At tho present tiiuo wo have attached to the
Union five organized Territories, named respect
ively Minnesota, New Moxioo, Utah, Oregon
aud Washington. Three c,f these will proba
bly form State Constitutions within tho next
two years, and apply for admission upon equal
terms with tho rest of tho national sisterhood.
A local census, just completed, shows us that
Oregon has over forty thousand inhabitants,
and Washington over three thousand. When
the census of 1850 was taken, both of the*e
Territories together had bnt 13,294 inhabitants.
The people of Orcgou are already agitating
the subject of forming a State Constitution, as
thej expect the next two seasond of emigration
to givo tEem a large increase of population.
By the census of 1850, the Territory of Min
nesota had but 6,097 oiviliied inhabitants, but
| since then, emigration has flowed into it in
j large numbers, and its oontiguity to Wiscon
sin and Iowa, and easier aooess from the great
oentres of population, will in all probability
; bring it in>o tho Union quite as soon an Oregon.
The census of 1850 also showed New Mexico
to hare 61,547 oivilixod inhabitants. This is a
rouoh less number than any previous census
; had given, though the enumeration may this
time have been made with greater care. The
j natural increase of population alone would be
sufficient, in a few years, to give New Mexioo
the requisite oompleiuent of population for ad
mission as a State ; but besides that, tbore are
other cause* which will contribute to swell its
number*. Tho great drawback operating
against New Mexico, is that its population is
not American, but Mexican, and that their ed
ucation has not fitted them to nndei>tand the
spirit of our laws. Late accounts from Santa
Fo, however, furnished by highly intelligent
American officials, go fur to prove that the
Cvalent impression about these peoplo has
n a widely mistaken one. It now appoars
that their leading men are peculiarly apt, and
that they are no longer liable to he deceived
by the few American politicians who have been
accustomed to lead there, proceedings in the
Territorial legislature are conducted with the
utmost propriety, and the native orators display
great natural shrewdness. It is true thoy re
fuse to levy taxes for the support of the Gov
ernment, but this is probably owing to the fact
that previous to the Ameriean rule Armijo had
always managed to pay the expenses in some
wav without direet taxation.
Besides these Territories, we have several
other organ:s<itions in nrnspeot Mr. Douglas's
bill, now pending in (.ongrcss, proposes to or
ganize two new onea to be called Nebraska and
Kansas, and his end, judging by present indi
cations, seems very likely to be accomplished
The Gadsden treaty also brings in a region
containing a few Mexican villages, :tnd for
which a Territorial Government must be pro
vided 1
A convention has also been called in onr
Paoifla (tomesgions, having for its object an ap
plication to Congress to form a new Territory,
to be composed of the southern part of Oregon
and the northern part of California; hut it
does not seem likely that the State of Califor
nia will consent to this dismemberment. The
governmental ueoeanties of these incipient States
require large appropriations of money from
the national funds annually. The provisions
of Mr. Douglas's bill cover all the unorganized
territory now in the Union, and should it pre
vail, it will make the number of Territorial
Governments seven. The thirty-second Con
gress will probably diminish this array by ad
mitting New Mexico, Oregon, and Minnesota,
into the Union as States. Utah will, no doubt,
experience great difficulty in gaining admis
sion, with tbo pi oient state of public feeling
against her |>oople, rules, religion, laws, and
customs.?Philadelphia American aiul Gazette.
A self-expanding petticoat has just been
invented in Paris, and is all the rage with the
" fashion.'' It is filled with air through a con
cealed pipe, by tho wearer, and ran be enlarged
or reduced in size at pleasure. Doubted.
A good locomotive engine costs from ft9,000
to ft 10 500, and it would take nine men a
whole year to build one well, with nil the ma
chine power of the best machine shops to aid
them in the work.
The original manuscript of Byron's "Curs*
of Minerva," sold recently in London, tor ftl07.