11l GEO. W. BOWWA V.
]\EW SERIES.
_ Select poctvt}.
The Child's IMajhutisr.
rv a\N prerroN.
Who has not been a child, and made
A playhouse 'nf.ith Ilie trees f
And oho so old but growth young,
While passing one of these f
] saw one in a cool green nook,
And near a cottage wall,
Uiii',l cunningly, with many rooms.
And stored with playthings small.
Prompt little hands had built stone walls,
And swept the mossy lioors;
Anil sticks across the openings laid.
Were gravely called "the doors."
On showy shelves, which oft would fall,
Were treasures rare, 1 ween;
The tnokeii china glistened there,
In blue, and red, and green.
The golden tight of childhood's morn,
While gazing, round me stole,
And fragrance from its far sweet shores
Swept, breeze-like,o'er my soul.
Dure more I trod the green mossed hank,
Where, 'neath a school-house tree,
From tinv acorn cups we drank,
And called it "taking tea."
We played our "meeting o'er again,
And ! was preacher there;
Ami with mock gravity we wore
Our serious Quaker air.
But thou who put on matron airs.
And plaved the "mother" then,
The faire-t one of all our school,
Now walketh not with men.
Thou, too, whose dark eyes proudly bearn'd,
The queenliest of that hand.
\M;d summer Toil* ha<t gone away
Linto the Spirit land.
'i no-e mosses still their little cheeks
"(iain-t -ister mosses lay;
While of the three w lio leaned on them,
But 1, the weakest, stay.
Ob, earth would lie one funeral vale,
Ami life a tlnng of pain,
if beauty did not live for aye,
And Doit and l.ove remain !
From the Democratic Review for December.
lflu every ,11aj* NhottM be a i'olifician.
Never be last at a feast nor first at a fray.—
Smiid philosophy. Our t>■ >xl bilk, our worship
ers ol the almighty dollar ncem to intei piet the
adage thus : Never lie first to undertake a ser
\ 1 to v or country, nor last to animadvert up
on those who do. To them, money-making is
a perpetual least; politics a perpetual fray.
Nop and think, gentlemen. Is not vour nrioney
making so intimately hound up with politics
tnat, as a mere calculation of business it would
be well for you to think ol it well lor you to
try ami get at the principle of the thing ? We
mean no disrespect to the men who are power
ful upon 'Change—no slur at the spiiit of trade.
To that spirit we owe our unparalleled march
"I empire. But we are forced to speak the truth.
Something more powerful than our will, always
i impels us to say what we believe or know.—
It is, therefore, a remarkable Get, gentlemen,
rich men, great merchants, inagniticos, that the
mechanic, lite tradesman, the laboring mart in
America is commonly a better reasouer irt poli
tics than you—any of you—are. Shall we hint
tbe reason ? He stops and thinks. He reasons
not things lor himself. By a shrewd, though
lien rude logic, he arrives at great truths which
always escape your finer sense. Thus he is
almost invariably a Democrat: fur Democracy
is the logical of all just political reason
ing. Thus, too, (Tie hard-fisted are no lovers
l "isms.'' no followers ol new prophets-; no
-'icklt-rs for small distinctions. They stand
upon bromi ground. Their Democracy is na
tiona'- it is American: it embraces the continent:
d ignores the imaginary geographical lines: it is
universal and catholic. As truth is the first,
lue last, and every part of real greatness, arid
'he people always discover it in the end, its
counterfeits never long impose upon them. So
'1 happen- that the great men of the people—
'avir idols —>uch, lor instance, as Andrew Jack
y ufiare in their lifetime commonly hated by you
vv hohave not time lo stop and see into the char
acter of such a man as the people have. You
a!> in too great haste to be rich at the expense
"I the people, and he, or such as he, put stumb
ling blocks in your way, fiv "removing the de-
P" s 't>' from your "Foiled Stales Banks," or
setting up "Sub-Treasuries" wherein the peo-
P'ess money may he kept for the people's rises,
'•otead ol Air. Brddle's and the "financiers,"—
nut, lo you ! when he is dead, when he has had
"quiet consummation," and "malice domestic"
cirn not harm hint further, how you renown
us grave ! It becomes one of your Meccas. You
- ,! >ake pilgrimages to it. You applaud his vir
■Ues to the echo. You would even give five dol
lar.* to raise a monument to him, so liberal is
}our late-learned admiration. What! have
vou forgotten, Dives, that he was a Democrat,
a ;p ry I nan o( Democracy, scaling the heaven
-Four exclusive privileges, and pulling its Ju-
P'Fr from his marble Olympus in Chestnut
"■■vet? Have you forgotten "Perish credit per
utl commerce," but yet the Republic lives pure
' l,i ' undefih-d; the great principles of mart's e
"• "al rights live on immortal ? Coijne, those
PBBr e worth thinking of. It is worth your
11 p too,'° inquire curiously how you came
'truss dm light which was in them, and never
v d till |( g aurole hung aliove the quiet grave
' Hermitage! You missed it bv being poor
politicians.
To be a good one. it needs that you should
love your fellow man, and have a little respect
to the golden rule ol Hiin who gave the charge,
"Little Children, love one another." To he a
good one, it needs that you should be interested
in the political movements of the riav lor some
great object,some purpose sanctified by princi
ple, and not "to be stirred in without great ar
gument
The time we live in, the country we inherit,
the duties we owe her, the complications, fore
ign and domestic, in which the turn of the die
may involve her, call for activity of thought
and action. He who sits down by the way-side
to-day to enjoy lite as an amusement, and drink
his wine and gossip pleasant I v of the graceful
ness of life, mav be diiagreeabl v aroused from
his day-dream by the tramp and noise of the
great crowd, surging pas! him on the march,
under new leaders, and rushing to poss- ss the
world in the intoxication of new ideas of victor
ies to he achieved over all established principles
of human association. Who knows? Do von,
great man? Do you, dallier by the wav-side ?
Do ynu, whose desire is to he let alone in the
enjoyment of your pleasant things—who knows
how far the mine has penetrated beneath the
soil whereon ye walk?— Have you lead the signs
ol the times, or are they more occult than the
symbolism of the Pyramids to you ? You (lat
ter yourself that all this will last your day.—
That you shall walk securely till the last scene
of all closes your peaceful history of enjoyment,
and six feet of that earth, a little mine of your
own, is all you need to lie in. But there is a
secret mine there, and mystery is still reverend
to the vulgar eye. Do you doubt it ? How
else could the vulgar mystery and clap-trap of
Know Nothingism have deluded so many honest
men ? Ifas it not appealed to that prurient cra
ving after the secret, the mysterious, which is a
law of man's being? And on this mine you
have walked placidly. You have never work
ed into the heart of this mystery. It has been
to your thinking onl v a machine for changing
men, for turning out one set of office-holders
and putting in another. But you have never
thought how it was sapping the foundations, and
drinking the life-blood of" that old Saxon frank
ness, the generous boldn"ss of action and of
truth and of thought which has made us the
conquering and absorbing race in the modern
world. You have never paused to reflect how
nearly allied to each other the stem virtues of
the old Roman stock of Bruti and Gracchi, and
lite slock of American virtues were. It is worth
the trouble of a pause, nevertheless. It is worth
while comparing the character of different races
and people, to see what the effect upon the one
hand of openness, bravery, frankness, decision
of character, determination to declare, in Hea
ven's fare and al] men's sight, principle and [en -
pose and tight an enemy with open manly steel
foot to (hot eye to eye—iri the broad daylight
live or die for it; and on the other of treach
ery, deceit, maneuvering, plotting, midnight
skulking, oaths of secresv, distrust, conspiracy ;
the stealthy step creeping ghostlike to its design,
the assassin's dagger, the coward's life of faith
alone in all men's villainy as he knows his own!
The first will goto make up the character of" a
Democrat; the last a Know Nothing.
Dii uveriife omen ! Is it not time that eve
ry man uas a politician ? And now, indeed,
when every other party has pandered to the
hideous lust of these night-prowling defilers of
their country's name—is it not time that every
man should a-k himself, why is this? What
virtue is there in this principle of Democracy
which keeps it unspotted from the taint ? Js it
not time that every true man should be a Demo
crat ?
The abstract and the concrete are governed
by the same rate. Apply it,then. How many
—how, indeed, do all pretend t<> admire the
beauty and perfection ofonr institutions. With
their fruit! How they prate of civil and reli
gious freedom your rankest Know Nothing
the ioadest mouther ! And. lo you! whilst they
are exhibiting it with the stimulated glow of
patriotic pride, and telling you how here tiist in
the history of man it has been permitted to ripen
fully for "the healing of the nations," they are
laying deep plans to steal that glorious fruit,
smuggle it awav into a Know Nothing lodge
room, and serve it up to a select and virtuous
party of the friends of Mr. Senator Seward.—
Generous and immaculate conservators of the
Constitution : felicitous exponents of liberit y of
conscience, patriotic admirers of the virtues of
misguided ancestors, who spread their table, and
invite tiie oppressed of every clime to come
and eat that delicate and luscious fruit of free
dom: pious defenders of the faith once delivered
to Americans hv the months of her Republican
prophets, by Jefferson, and Madison, and Jack
son— how shall we find words to magnify vour
services to vour country ? Shall we not pull
down the Whashington Monument : preach a
crusade against all Dutchmen, Irishmen and
others who were such unheard of villains as to
go beyond (be sea to get themselves born ;
slaughter them at once, and on the site raise a
pyramid of tli-ir bones higher than that of Che
ops: and crow n the whole with a dark lantern ?
Look you now, this is what you aim at, or you
aim at nothing.
So our modern patriots, our wise philoso
phers, our professors ol the .science of humani
ty. our devout believeis in political rr.illeni
ums, and devout sceptics as to the Biblical one,
go about to manufacture political microscopes.
Thev direct them through the sunshine of the
press. They throw upon the wall monstrous
exaggerations ofchoice atoms, such as the triple
crown of the unfortunate gentleman who sleeps
upon French bayonets in the Seven-Hilled City:
arid all to convince the poor dear people that
what they have been considering a tine .Repub
lican fruit, is nothing more than a terrible col
lection of distorted and pernicious animn!cu!a > ;
that the real fruit has been munched up by Je
suits, and other frightfully wicked persons, and
this awful conglomerate left to poison them.
Is it not monstrous that such inconceivable
lies should find men stupid enough to belive
them ? But they do; they have done so ever
since the days of Guy Fawkes, and Sir Edmons
horg Godfrey. Now you, who are playing the
looks-on here in America, is it not time that
you asked a few sensible questions about these
political combinations ? Suppose you take the
trouble to inquire what has the Democratic par
ly ot the I nion done to forfeit its character ?
Is this new system, which proposes to take its
business out of its hands, and given it to a mon
grel and hybrid aggregation of Whiggerv, Black
Republicanism, and Exeter-Hall philanthropy,
ail paired., not matched, in the precious union
of Know - Notliingism, a true system? Is it
good philosophy ? Is it true political science?
Does it tend to promote the moral health and
digestion oi the people ; Or is it not rather a
miserable empiricism and bare-faced charlatan
ry Ah ! you are too comfortable to lie a poli
tician, perhaps. You care for none of these
things. For your time'ambles withal. These
questions, you sav, shrugging your shoulders,
will find their solution without us as soon as
with us. Don't disturb us. We are very com-
li>i table as we are. Let us alone. Not so, gen
tlemen. We commiserate you: but we must
disturb you. If you will not li-ten to Thomas
Jefferson or Andrew Jackson, hear at least a
good Whig; accept a won! from Daniel Web
ster : "We are not to wait till great public ir.is
chiels come: till the government is overthrown;
or liberty itself put in extreme jeopardy. We
should not be worthy sons of our fathers, were
we so to regard great questions affecting the
general freedom." Does not that teach the les
son, that in every thing which affects any, all
should be interested ? that lor the rights of all,
all should watch, and work, and pray ?
The price of liberty is not only eternal vigi
lance: it is eternal activity also. It is not
enough to know truth, or foresee danger. It is
necessary to act the one, and to confront tfie
other.
It is our province to support a party, and dis
cuss political issues; but we do so because it is
the solemn conviction of our reason and our
hearts that the Democratic pariy is worthy of
all good men's support, and the issues which it
makes u ith all other parties such as will bear
tile nicest scrutiny, and come out the mote
strongly fortified and built up in their integrity
bv the wiliest latitute of discussion.
The question of the administration of the Fe
deral Government is already before the country.
Not many months, and it will he decided upon
what principles that government shall be con
ducted for the ensuing four years. Already
Know Notbingisrn, Abolitionism, lilack Repub
licanism, ami all their intermediate shades and.
types ol dangerous heresies, are begit djwog jtki
stir the passions, atid l<> warp tie VifsOftt
merits of the people. Should either succeed to
power, farewell to the greatness—farewell to
the happiness of America.
Shall these poisonous shoots he grafted upon
tin* old American tree f ()r are you belter sat
isfied with the favor of the good fruit it hon
our fathers, and upon which we have thriven
and grown fat as a nation '?
You must look at these things. You cannot
escape them. Re wise, therefore, in time.—
Until this fatal proclivity towards mediaeval er
rors—this crab-like movement backwards—is
arrested, let every American citizen he a poli
cian. S. W. C.
From the Morns ami Willis Home Journal.
The Night Funeral of a Slaw.
Travelling recently, on business, in tbe inte
rior o! Georgia, I reached, just at sunset, the
mansion of the proprietor, through whose estate
for the last halt horn ol my journey, I had pur
sue!) my way. i\lv tired companion pricked
his ears, and with a low whinnv indicated Ids
pleasure, as J turned up the broad avenue
leading to the house. Calling to a black boy
in view, ] bade him inquire of his owner if I
could be accommodated with lodgings lor the
night.
My request brought the proprietor himself to
tlie door, ami from thence to the gate, when,
alter a scrutinizing glance at my person and
equipments, he inquired my name, business,
and destination. 1 promptly responded to his
questions, and he invited me to alight and en
ter tlie house in the true spiiito! Southern hos
pitality.
lie was apparently thirty years of age, and
evidently a man of education and refinement.
I soon observed an air of gloomy abstraction
about liini : he said hot little, and even that lit
tle seemed the result of an effort to obviate the
seeming w ant of civility to a stranger. At
supper, tlie mistress ot the mansion appeared,
and did the honors ot the table, in her particu
lar department : she was exceedingly lady-like
and beautiful, only as southern women are, that
is beyond comparison with those ol any other
portion of this republic 1 have ever seen. She
retired immediately alter supper, and a servant
handing some splendid llabannas on a silver
trav, we hail just seated ourselves comfortably
before the enormous lire or oak wood, when a
servant appeared at the end door, near rnv host,
hat in hand, and uttered in subdued hut distinct
tones, the, to me, startling words—
"Master, de colfin hah come."
"Very well," was the only reply, and the
servant disappeared.
My host remarked my gaze of inquisitive
wonder, and replied to it
"I have been very sad," said he, to-day. I
have had a greater misfortune than I have ex
perienced since my lather's death, I lost this
morning the truest and most reliable liientll
bad in the world—one whom I have been ac
customed to honor and respect since my earliest
recollection : he was the playmate of my fath
er's youth, and the mentor of mine : a faithful
servant, an honest man, and a sincere christian.
I stood bv bis bed-side to dav, and with his
hands clasped in mine, I heard the last words he
uttered : they were, '.Master, meet me in Heav
en.' "
Freedom of Thought and Opinion.
BEDFORD, PA. FRIDAY MORNING, JAN. 4, 1858.
His voice faltered a moment, and lie con
tinued, alter a pause, with increased excite
ment—
His loss is a melancholy one to me. If I left
my home, I said to him, 'John, see that all
things are taken care of, and I knew that my
v ile and child, property and all, were as safe
as though they were guarded bv a hundred sol
diers. I never spoke a harsh word to him in
al! my lilt', lor he never merited it. J have a
hundred others, many of them faithful and true,
hut his Joss is irreparable."
f come from a section ol the Union where
slavery does not exi-t, tand J brought with me
al! the prejudices which so generally prevail in
the fiee States in regard to this "institution."
I had already seen much to soften these, but the
observation of years would have failed to give
me so clear an insight into the relation between
master and servant as this simple incident. It
was not the haughty planter, the lord I v tyrant,
talking of his dead slave, as of his dead horse :
hut tiie kind-hearted gentleman, lamenting
the loss, and eulogizing the virtues of an old
friend.
Alter an interval of silence, mv host resum
ed :
"There are," said he, "many of the old man's
relatives and friends who would wish to attend
his funeral. To afford them an opportunity,
several plantations have been notified that he
will be buried to-night; some, I presume, have
already arrived : and desiring to see that all
things are properly prepared for his interment,
I trust von will excuse my absence for a few
moments."
"Most certainly, sir : but," J adder!, "if there
is no impropriety, i would be pleased to accom
pany you."
"There is none," lie replied ; an;] I followed
bim to a long row of cabins, situated at a dis
tance ot some three hundred yards from the
mansion. The house was crowded with ne
groes, who all arose on our entrance, and many
of thent exchanged greetings with mine host,
in tones that convinced me that they felt that
Ire was an object ol sympathy from them! The
corpse was deposited in the cofhn, attired in a
shroud of the tine.-t cotton materials, and the
cofiin itself painted black.
I he master stopped at its head, and laying
his hand upon the cold brow of his faithful bonds
man, gazer! long and intently upon features
with which he had been so long familiar, and
which he now looked upon for the last time on
earth ; raising his eyes at length, and glancing
at the serious countenances now'bent upon his,
jie said solemnly and with much teeling :
"He was a faithful servant and a true Chris
tian -. if you follow his example, and live as lie
d.veri, none of you need tear, when llie time
D#<ftiMJx>r you tat lay here." .
A patriarch, with the snow of eighty win
ters on his head, answered :
"Master, it is true, and we will try to live
like him."
There was a murmur of general assent, and
after giving some instructions relative to the
burial, we returned to the dwelling.
About nine o'clock a servant appeared with
the notice that they were ready to move, and
to know if further instructions were necessary.
My host remarked to me that, bv stepping into
the piazza, I would probably witness, to me, a
novel scene. The procession bad moved, and
its route led within a few yards of the mansion.
There were at least one hundred and fifty ne
groes. arranged four deep, and following a wa
gon m which was placed the coffin. Down
the entire length of the line, at intervals of a
lew feet on either side were carried torches of
the resinous pine, and here called light wood.
About the centre was stationed the black prea
cher, a man ol gigantic frame and stentorian
lungs, who gave out from memory the words of
a hymn suitable for the occasion. The South
ern negroes are proverbial tor the melody and
compass of their voices, and I thought that
hymn, mellowed bv distance, the most solemn
and yet the sweetest music that had ever fallen
u|>on my ear. The stillness of the night and the
strenglii of their voices enabled rue to distinguish
the air at the distance of hall a mile.
It was to me a strange and solemn scene, and
no incident of my life has impressed me with
more powerful emotions than the night funeral
of the poor negro. For this reason I have hasti
ly and most imperfectly sketched its leading
features. Previous- to retiring to my room, I
saw in the hands of the daughter ot the lady
at whose house 1 stopped for the night, a num
ber of the Home Journal, and it occurred to un
to send this to your paper, perfectly indifferent
whether it be published or not. J am but a
brief sojourner here. I hail from a colder clime,
where it is our proud boast that all m-n arp free
and equal. 1 shall return to my Northern home
deeply impressed with the belief that dispen
sing with the name of freedom, the negroes of
the South aie the happiest and most contented
people on the (ace of the earth.
INHUMAN TREATMENT.—The Liverpool .Mail
says :— "Yesterday a seaman, named William
Pollock, who arrived here on Sunday last, in
the ship Assyria from New Orleans, died in the
Northern Hospital, from injuries alleged to have
been inflicted by Mr. Wilson, the second inate.
An inquiry will be held before the coroner to
day. Several other men, seamen on board the
Assyria, are also at present in the Northern
Hospital, in a very critical state, and one nam
ed Ritchie, w hose arm is broken, is in so dan
gerous a condition, that Mr. Hawthorne, the
American Cousel, attended at the hospital yes
terday to take his deposition. Ritchie, and the
other men, who were all horribly mutilated say
that on the voyage, two men, who were severe
ly kicked and beaten, jumped overboard in de
spair."
HI-.wv DAM AUKS AWARDED.—Mrs. E. C. Hud
son has obtained a verdict of $f,:)00, in the Su
preme Court at Lancaster, against the Pennsyl
vania Railroad Company, lor injuries to her
husband, resulting in his death, in 1851. In
February, 1854, during a severe snow storm,
and when (he railroads were heavily blocked
up with snow, a train of cars left Lancaster a
bout six o'clock in the evening, for Philadelphia,
but when they had gone about four miles they
stuck fast in Urn snow, but subsequently became
disengaged and commenced backing toward
town, when they carne in collision uith anoth
er fiain, which had subsequently left Lancaster,
injuring the husband of plaintiff, in consequence
of which he died.
From the St. I'ati! (Min.) Pioneer Dec. 13.
Return of the Last Party of Arctic Explo
rers—The Death of Sir John Franklin and
his Party Ascertained.
We enjoyed the pleasure vesterdav, the 11th
instant, of a lengthened conversation with Mr.
James Green Stewart, a Chief Trader of the
Hudson's Bay Company, and learned from him
interesting facts concerning an exploration of
the Arctic region, lately made by apart}' under
the joint command of himself and Mr. James
Anderson, another employee of that Com pa
ny.
On the return of Dr. Rae, the celebrated over
land explorer of the Arctic region, in the sum
mer of 1854, bringing with him the report that
the Esquimaux of the extreme Northern lati
tudes, had in their possession relics of the Frank
lin expedition, the British government deter
mined to make one further effort to penetrate
(he mystery which had so long enveloped the
fate of that expedition, and which had been par
tially solved by the information thus gained by
Dr. Rae. In furtherance o! this desire of the
British government to follow up the clue thus
unexpectedly obtained by the adventurous ex
plorer,—to rescue, if possible, the survivors of
any of the party ol whites who were rejiorted
by ihe Esquimaux to have been seen near the
outlet ol Back's liver in latitude about 68 deg.
north, or at least to procure any records they
might have deposited, the Hudson's Bay Com
pany was directed to fit out a party oftried men,
accustomed to the hardships of a polar life, to
explore the region indicated by Dr. Rae.
Acting under this command, of the home
government, the Governor of the Hudson's Bay,
Company, on the JBth day of November, 1854,
issued instructions to Messrs. Stewart arid An
derson to man and equip a party for the purpose
stated. Mr. Stewart, with a party of fourteen
men, therefore, started from his post, the Carl
ton House, in 54 deg. North latitude, on the 7lh
day of February, 1855, and proceeded to Fort
Chipewyan, at the head of Lake Athabasca, in
latitude 58 deg. North, at which point thev ar
rived on the sth day of March. It had been
determined to make the trip to the Arctic sea
bv watef # jp far as was practicable, and the par
ty, t lie re lore, retrained at this jiost until the
26th of May, busily engaged in constructing
boats, and making other preparations lor their
dreary journey. At that date the party left
Fort Chipewyan, and journeyed by canoe on
the Peace river, which connects Lake Athabas
ca with Slave Lake, some three hundred and
fifty miles in a northwesterly direction, till, nti
the .'?Uih day ol May, they arrived at Fort Res
olution, which is situated on an island in Slave
Lake, about lat. 61 deg. North.
At Fort Resolution the party was joined bv
Mr. Anderson, who, with Mr. Stewart, had
been appointed to the command of tiie expedi
tion. Here another delay was made, for the
purpose of reorganization, and making thela.it
preparations, before attempting to penetrate the
interminable fiozen North. These arrange
ments completed, the party started out on the
22d day of June, for the head of Great Fish riv
er, or as it is known on the map, Bark river, in
latitude about 64 deg. North. Thence they fol
lowed the course of the stream to the Arctic
ocean. Mr. Stewart represents the navigation
of this river as exceedingly dangerous—being
obstructed by over one hundred difficult rapids.
Over all these, however, with nothing more
substantial than birch hark canoes, they passed
in safety, and arrived at its mouth on the 30th
of July.
Here they n-"t with Esquimaux, wiio corrob
orated the reports of Dr. Rae, and directed them
to Montreal Island, a short distance from the
mouth of Hack river, as the spot where, accord
ing to their instructions, thev were to commence
minute exploration. From this time until the
9th August, the part} - were industriously en
gaged in searches on the Island, and on the
main land, between (>7 deg. and G9 deg. North
latitude. We cannot recapitulate the perils
escaped, and privations endured, by the brave
band, while seeking to find traces of their coun
trymen who had perished on those desolate
shores. Three times they providentially es
caped being "•nipped," as Mr. Stewart express
ed it, or crushed between moving mountains of
ice. At last on Montreal Island, where their
explorations commenced, they found snow
shoes, known to be of English make, with the
name of Dr. Stanley, who was surgeon of Sir
John Franklin's ship, the Erebus, cut in them
by a knife. Afterwards they found on the
same island a boat belonging to the Franklin ex
pedition, with the name "Terror" still-distinct
ly visible. A piece of this boat containing this
name was brought along with him by Mr.
Stewart. Among the Esquimaux were found
iron kettles corresponding in shape and size with
those furnished the Franklin expedition, and
bearing the mark of the British Government.
Other articles known to have belonged to the
expedition, were obtained from the Esquimaux,
and brought by the party for deposit with the
British Government. No bodies, however, were
found, or traces of any. The report of the
Esquimaux was, that one man died on Montreal
Island, and that the balance of the partv wan
dered on the beach of the main land opposite,
until, worn out by fatigue and starvation, they,
one by one, laid themselves down and died
too.
The Esquimaux reported further—that Indi
ans far to the north of them who |iad seen the
ships of Franklin's party, and visited them, sta-
TER.TES, $2 PER YEAR.
ted that they had both been crushed between
tile icebergs. Mr. Stewart took especial pains
; to ascertain whether the party had cotne to tln-ir
I death by lair means or ton! ; but to every in
! fjuiry the Esquimaux protested that (hey had
I died of starvation.
Lathering together the relics found, Hie party
set out on their return on the 9th day of Au
gust last. The return route did not vary mate
rially from that taken on their way north.—
Mr. Stewart has occupied the whole time since
, in reaching our city—having come by the way
i of the Red river country, and having been ab
sent in ail about ten months. Mr. Stewart lelt
I St. i'aui yesterday en route to the Hudson's Ray
; hi-adtjuarti-rs at Lactone, Canada, to submit an
account of hjs adventures.
And so, at last the mystery is solved. Biave
; Sir John, whose fate has awakened the sympa
thising curiosity of the civilized world, it is
i now known "sleeps his last sleep" by the shores
jof the frozen seas through whose icy - islands lie
had vainly sought to pass. Four winters back,
as the Esquimaux said, the noble party, after
I escaping Irom the ships which could no longer
float on those dangerous seas, found release from
suffering in death. Died manfully, too, as they
| had lived; bravely, for consolation, that they
met their fate as became spirits adventurous and
I noble. No traces were found by the Esquimaux
ito indicate even in their last extremity they
j had forgotti n their manhood, and preyed on one
i another.
Tim last party of generous hearts, who sought
! to carry succor to the lost ones, or bring consola
j (ion to the living, are returned, and the Arctic
, wastes are solitudes indeed. And, in view
of the suffering endured, and the noble
! lives sacrificed in fruitless efforts to widen the
bounds of human know ledge, we believe it to
jbe (lie prayer of all men, that so they nay re*
j main forever.
CHINESE FINERAL IX CALIFORNIA—CI-
KlOl'S CEREMONY.
j We find the following in a late number of
the San Francisco Herald :
j "Yesterday was a great day in Chinadom.—
I A rich man had died. He had, during life,
i been a prominent merchant, and occupied a po
sition of influence among his countrymen.—
His death was, therefore, considered to be an
I event. If he had been a poor man he might
j have been carried out, rolled up in a winding
sheet, on the back of his son or some faithful
| friend, and tumbled into a hastily-constructed
grave, and with the last sod laid over him would
j have perished all recollections ol his virtues or
his faults. With the rich man it is different.
His good qualities are enhanced in the public
j estimation by a knowledge of his wealth. Vir
| tne, when associated with large possessions,
■ shines out with pure refulgence, while pover
ity obscures the brightest rays. It is so in civ
ilized communities, and the Chinese have not
been bad imitators. The Chines*- merchant at
! whose grave a most curious ceremony was per
[ formed yesterday, died about three weeks ago.
i He was interred in the L'>ne Mountain Cemete
'rv without any pomp. Yesterday, however, a
| large number of his relations and friends pro
ceeded to his grave for the purpose of making
I offerings to his maims. A reverence for the
dead is one of the most striking characteristics
;of the Chinese race. It is, in lact, the corner
stone of their religious belief. On arriving at
the grave the whole company alighted from the
carriages in which they had been conveyed, and
commenced the ceremony by spreading mats
all around it. A roast pig was placed at the
foot, something else at the head, while all over
it were strewed apple dumplings, fruits, and
i flowers. To an outside barbarian it looked
| verv much like a well gotten up pic-nic, and,
to all appearances, all that the Chinese at pres
ent required in order to make a very good meal,
which would certainly be a very practicable
and sensible way of testifying their respect for
the memorv of their deceased friend, were the
chop-sticks. The <!• licacies wi i>, iiowe\er, ail
, intended for the use of the hungry soul of the
deceased merchant, which had not tasted hud
for three weeks, (a privation that would no
doubt have been seriously felt if it bad b-eti in
tlie flesh.) and which it was supposed was ho
vering a round, smacking its lips over the dain
ty food they had provided for it. As soon as
all the eatables were laid on the grave, the
widow of the deceased hobbled up and took her
stand at the foot. Around her head several
vards of white cloth were roiled. A priest with
a very curly pig-tail, a very long blue gown
reaching to his leet, and a very long face, stood
jat the head. The friends and relatives stood
around. As soon as the woman commenced to
wail, nil the clothes of the deceased were taken
out of a trunk and set on fire. Among the
i clothes were several pieces of tine silk, which
j had apparently never been worn. The whole
prohablv was worth over SSOO. Four canary
i birds were let hxrse in order to help the soul of
the deceased in its flight to another world, and
! when the clothes were all consumed, and the
i canary birds had taken shelter in the neighbor
ing shrubs, the priest with the long face rang a
; bell which he had in his hand, at the time nmt
: tering a prayer or incantation. A general howl
; followed.
The ceremony was concluded bv the whole
I corn pan v marching around the grave, headed
| by the priest, who rang his hell at every step,
and looked very solemn, indeed. The pig and
| the apple-dumplings and the fruits and the
flowers, and the matting, were all carefully
i packed up and placed in the carriages, and the
j whole party then returned to town where, we
are informed, the eatables exposed in the grave
! will be sold in small pieces at exorbitant prices
| to those who are religiously inclined."
Qjr™A Western paper publishes marriage no
tices under the head of "fusion."
| Oyil a small boy be called a lad; is it proper
• to call a bigger boy a ladder ?
VOL XXIV, NO. 19.