"Iffi : p TWO DOLLARS TER ANNUM, 7 HALF-YEARLY IN ADVANCE. 5 AND FARMS' Mid MEGHAN1GS1 REGISTER. ctf not rio wmnx the vear. I S3 5s WILL HU ClIAUUL'D. PRINTED AND PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY JONATHAN ROW, SOMERSET, SOMERSET COUNTY, PA. New Series. Cfjaurjco. Yes, we are changed! there is not one Throughout the earth, from whom Seme lovely treasure hath not gone, . Of beauty or of bloom: And every year, and every day A something bright shall pass away, Until we reach the tomb! But there shall fane each earthly slain, And we shall be pure again. CONGRESSIONAL. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Monday, July 20, 184G. The House then resolved itself into the Committc of the Whole on the State of the Union, (Mr. McDowell, of Ohio in the chair,) and resumed the considera tion of the bill reported from the Com mittee of Ways and Means, making fur ther additional appropriations for the pay, &c, of members of Congress, and lor cer tain objects of expenditure in the Indian Department, connected with negotiations and with delegations from various tribes cf Indians in Mexico and Texas. " The question recurred on Mr. MeKay's amendment, moved audpcudingonThurs r.y last, to amend the item for pay &c, of members of Congress; by striking out $IG0,700, and inserting $17G551S the increase having been rendered necessary by an extension of one week of the pre sent session; the bill having been based on " the presumption that the session would close on the 3d of August; whereas the two Houses have subsequently fixed on the 10th of that month as the day for the termination of the session. The amendment was at once agreed to. And the question recurred on the mo tion made by Mr. Cobb, on Thursday last, to strike the item the altogether from the bill. Mr. Stewart said he should vote for the amendment proposed by the gentleman from Georgia, (Mr. Cobb.) He hoped it would be adopted; and he here gave no tice that,if it should not be adopted in com mittee, and the previous question should not be called, he should himself move the same amendment in the House, and call the yecs and nays. He wished to see who the gen'.lemen were who were ready to anticipate their own pay, while hun dreds of applicants were waiting at the door of the House, and hundreds of thou sands of dollars, to which they were just Iv entitled, were withheld from them by delay. For one, he was willing to wail the action of the Senate on the general appropriation bill, just as all others were obliged to wait who were concerned in that bill. But if the gentlemen were de sirous of discussing amendments, he thought they had much better turn their attention to the amendment which Mr. S. had ofiercd a day or two since, which provided that, after Congress had been in session six months,the per diem should be reduced to six dollars; and after eight months to .two dollars. Mr. S.'s object in ottering this amendment had not been to reduce members' pay, but to shorten the session of Congress; and this, in his apprehension, was the only way in which that object could ever be effected. This bill was professedly to provide against a deficit; and Mr. S.' could tell gentlemen that there would be other deficits of far greater amount. There would be a defi cit, and a very great defieiy shortly expe rienced in the revenue of the country. The contemplated passage of the new tar iff bill, of the sub-tre3surv bill, and the warehousing bill, and the land bill, taken together, would reduce the revenue of the country one half. And was this proper time to provide in anticipation, for mem bers' own pay! Mr.Chipman here called Mr. Stewart to order. He perceived that the gentle man was about to inflict upon the House another tariff speech. He hoped that he w ould not be allowed to proceed. ' Mr. "Stewart said the House was in Committee of the Whole ou the state of the Union, and he claimed the same liber ty of debate which had been allowed to other gentlemen. This was a bill to ap propriate money, and the money to be appropriated was a part of the revenue: it was certainly, therefore, in order to speak on anything which affected the revenue. The chair ruled Mr.. Stewart to be in order. Mr. Stewart said that whatever touch ed the revenues of the country, affected the people throughout the Union & form ed a legitimate subject of discussion in the people's House of Representatives. This was a question which, as the government organ maintained, affected the Adminis tration only; it was a question for the peo ple as much more than it was a question for the Administration. He had said that there would shortly be other deficiencies of far more importance than that which Uiis bill proposed to provide for. If gen tlemen carried their proposed measures they would find themselves without mon- ey to pay the troops who were fighting our battles. The House had passed a bill creating a Treasury bank, and authorizing it to isfue ten millions of dollars in Gov ernment p-pcr; tut, then, ten millions of paper money would prove but a drop in the bucket. Gentlemen had sacrificed their own principles, but. they had done it in vain, professing themselves the friends of an exclusive met alic currency, and passing a bill which forbade any oth er currency to be received or paid by tha Government. They had, in the face ot their own measures and their own prin ciples, authorized the issue of a paper currency. They had erected a Treasury bank in the face of their own Subtreasury bill, the consequence of which was that the Treasury would not get a dollar in bullion, but would only get back its own Treasury notes. But, worse than that, gentlemen would not get sufficient revenue to meet the or dinary expenses of Government. What w ere those ordinary expenses, and what were their amount? Mr. S, called the attention of the chair man of the Committee of Ways and Means to the fact, and he should like to hear his explanation of it. The esti mates made by the Secretary of the Treasury-, before there was a word said about war or the prospect of war estimates rendered in a time of profound peace to meet the ordinary expenses of the Gov ernment had been more by six millions and a half than the expenditures of the preceding year. If gentlemen doubted it, he would refer them the Secretary's re port. He wished the chairman to ex plain how it was that the peace estimates for this year exceeded by more than six millions the peace expenditures of the last year; and besides this, we had a bill ap propriating a million and a half to make good deficient appropriations. Add this million and a half to the six millions and a half he had just mcmtioned,and it would make eight millions, by which amount our peace expenditure, for the present year surpassed those of the last. There stood the fact in the Secretary's own re port, and Mr. S. challenged the chairman of the Committee of Wavs and Means.or any friend of the Secretary or of the Ad ministration, to deny it. Was this war brought about to conceal these enormous and unprecedented expenditures in a time of peace, exceeding by six or seven millions the expenditures of the preceding years? The war wonld smother up all this extravagance, and conceal it from the ; public view. All wasteful expenditures would now be attributed to the war. The war would be a blanket wide enough to cover all up. But Mr. S. would leave this point, and refer to a suggestion made this morning by the gentleman from Missouri, (Mr. Bowlin,) who had introduced an amend ment for deducting the pay of Members for absenteeism. Mr. S. concurred in the justice and propriety of that amend ment, and he believed that this word ab srn'eeism was a new word in the debates of Congress. Mr. S. had seen it this morning em ployed for the first time, in the columns of the Union, and he thanked the editor for the word. The government organ said that absenteeism was the root of all evil. The government editor had given out that there would be no reply made by the Whig friends of the tariff of 1812, but that, as the new free trade tariff Sen ators were not going to make any reply, he, the learned editor, would do it for them He had accordingly commenced, and the very first word he employed was this word of absenteeism; and a most pov erful argument he had made upon it. An able Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Davis,) had attributed the destitute condi tion of the British colonies to the fact of having free trade w ith England; but. the sapient editor corrected that the low con dition of the colonies was owing, not to free trade, but to "absenteeism" a most excellent word "thank, thee Jew," for that; that they employed others to manu facture every thing for them; and that wras the true reason why they were so greatly depressed. Now, Mr. S. would ask, what was the policy of this Administra tion? Was it any thing else but "absen teeism," from beginning to end! Was it not a regular system of absenteeism? Let that policy be carried out, and all the tradesmen and mechanics who worked for the people of this country would be absentees; they would not reside in this country; they would reside all abroad; and, what was further, not only our me chanics and tradesmen, but our farmers to were to be absentees. The agricultu ral products we consumed were to be rais ed in England. We were to have absen tee mechanics, absentee farmers, absentee laborers. He thanked Mr. Ritchie for this excellent word, it was one of the most admirable exponents of the policy of this Administration- which he could have hit upon. The worst of the matter was, that the poor man knew nothing of the subject he was writing about, and the natural consequence was that he display ed his ignorance. At this step, while en deavoring to avoid one difficulty, he only fell i:.to another; and, like the ; persecuted fish, jumped out of the frying pan into the fire. - But the learned editor had given us 'a. nother illustration of the use of this term. He tells us that the capitalists of Boston j had built up Lowell and Manchcstcrm I New Hampshire; and this was ruinous to 1 TUESDAY, AUGUST 11, 1846, Lowell and to the people about Manches ter. This was "absenteeism." It was the capital of Boston which had gone to ' Lowell, and it was the same thing with ' Manchester, in New Hampshire. That ' too had been built up by absentee capital j from Boston. And now he supposed, if I maisame capital snouiu travel uown Irom Boston into Virginia and North Carolina, and create other manufacturing establish ments of similar character, at which the surrounding farmers would find a market for their beef and flour, their hams and chickens, and thus be enabled to make themselves comfortable and happy, that too would be ruinous "absenteeism." The editor of the Union complained of this in dolorous strains, and yet his own scheme was nothing else but this in a dif ferent form. Instead of Boston capital going to benefit the people of New Hamp shire, and the people of Virginia, and the people of North Carolina, this editor and his masters proposed to destroy Ameri can capital, and employ not only British capital, but British labor to supply all our wants. It was not Boston absenteeism; it was British absenteeism. If this was the only tune which this government organ could play, he thought the sooner the Ad ministration and the advocates of the Bri tish bill stopped it the better it would be for them; for it was playing most villian ously out of tunc. But he wished it to go on, for it had certainly suggested some of the strongest arguments, against the free trade tariff that had yet been' offered. Mr. S. had said that the effect of the proposed legislation wonld be to strike down the revenue one-half. lie would present one or two instances by way of illustration. He would take as an exam ple the article of iron. It was now under a protecting duty of seventy-six per cent. The Secretary proposed to reduce its pro tection to thirty per cent. Why? What for? Why, to increase the revenue. Well, how was the Secretary going to manage to increase the revenue of the country by redcucing the iron duty from seventy six to thirty per cent.? In order to get the some amount of revenue from this article that we got now, it was obvi ous we must import more than double the present amount. But how was the Sec retary going to do this? He had no mag ic power to increase the consumption of iron in the United State?; and the Vffecl of his policy, instead of increasing, went to destroy consumption by destroying the ability of the people to consume: yet, un less he doubled consumption, he could not command the present amount of duty, far less increase it. Why, then, did he want to reduce the duties to thirty per cent? NVhat was it for? What object did he wish to obtain? The only object 'lie would obtain was to employ absentees to the. destruction of our own laborers. This must be the inevitable effect of his scheme of reducing duties. The Secretary told us in his report that he expectet! to bring in two million of dollars from the impor tation of iron. Now Mr. S. undertook to say that if the bill reduced the iron duty to thirty per cent., instead of increasing the revenue on that article, there would be a falling off of two millions. He put him self on the result, and experience would show that he was right. And this was the great measure of the Administration? Instead of increasing, the bill would re duce the revenue on iron fifty per cent. The Secretary tells us that our dutiable imports are one hundred and one millions; say one hundred millions; the present duties, lie says, average 32 40 per cent., say thirty-three per cent, and he proposed to reduce them to twenty, or say twenty-two per cent., one third off; then it is manifest that to get the same revenue he now receives, he must add fifty millions to our imports; he must have one hundred and fifty instead of one hun dred millions of imports. Well, now he would ask the Secretary and the Chan cellor of the Exchequer, (Mr. McKay,) why send fifty millions of dollars out of the country to buy foreign goods without thereby increasing the revenue one cent? The only effect was to increase the bur then of the country fifty millions. Now we pay one hundred millions to foreign ers and twenty-seven of revenue to Gov ernment one hundred and twenty-seven millions of dollars. By this bill we pay one hundred and fifty millions to foreign ers, and twenty-seven millions to Govern ment, making one hundred and twenty seven millions; just 'fifty more than the people now pay; and why? To favor foreigners and destroy Amarican labor. That was the effect of this measure. You cannot increase consumption; and of course you must destroy fifty millions of ysur own home supply to make room for this fifty millions of increased foreign imports. It was a system of absur dity, and a system of destruction. But gentlemen w ere in love with the scheme and the party had ordained that it should be tried. Let its advocates go home and tell the shoemakers and carpenters and blacksmiths and tanners and hatters that they had voted to take 20 per cent, off those articles which were the products of their labor. Tell the shoemaker that the Secretary of the trsasury proposed to bring into the country one , hundred and fifty thousand dollars worth more of shoes for the purpose cf increasing the revenue, Tsui itiof flio roil ffpft wnnld hp to rp- ! duce the revenue; and when these honest and hard working men asked their repre sentatives why tRcy voted for such a scheme, their only answer must be, to break up your labor. Let them go into their districts and tell the hatters that the Secretary intended to bring in fifty thou sand dollars more of foreign hats. Tell the blacksmith that Mr. Walker intended to bring in fifty thousand dollars of iron manufacturers. Go tell the tailors that he intended, in a like manner, to bring in two hundred thousand dollars worth more of ready-made clothing, reducing the pro tection on that article from fifty down to thirty per cent., and let them understand that the fruit of this retorm would be to reduce the revenue and reduce the price of their work twenty per cent., to throw multitudes of them out of employment, and to supply the place of them in the market by the labor of English and French shoemakers, English halters, English blacksmiths, and English tailors, and how was it probable these men would be pleased,& what was of more comsequence to gentlemen, how was it likely they would vote? TA. gjeat restlessness was here manifested. Mr. S. said he knew it was a very unpleasant topic in ccrlain quarters, but what he said was true, the gentlemen would find it to be true. He warned them to remember his words, just so sure as they passed this new tarifl bill so certainly would they destroy the reve nue, destroy the country, aod destroy their parly; and, if the last 'was the only consequence, he would not regret it it would be a godsend to the country. lie told them bafore hand they would not have money to pay the ordinary expenses of the Government, let alone the expen ses of the war. Mr. S. was willing to risk all he had iri the world on the correctness of this pre diction. Let gentlemen carry out the ad volorem tariff, their subtreasury bill, and their warehousing system, and they would not get next year onehalf the reve nue that they got this not half mark the prediction. Yet their scheme was called a revenue measure, but it was in truth a system to encourage fraud and perjury, to cheat the Government of rev enue, and the farmers of their market, and labor ol its employment, and indus try of its just and fair rewards. And here Mr. S. would take the liber ty of suggesting to the chairman of the Committee of Wav s and Means the prac tical contrast between the sliding scale of Sir Robeit Peel's bill and the ad valorem scale of the new tariff bill. By the bill of Sir Robert Peel, when the prices ran down, the scale of duiies ran up; and when the prices ran up, the scale of du ties ran down; but the scale of the chair man's bill worked in a manner directly the reverse of this. When the price abroad ran down, the duty randown; and when ihe price ran up, the duty ran np with it. Sir. R. Poel's scale prevented fluctuations of price, and the committee's promo'.ed it. Mr. Joseph R. Ingersoll begged Mr. S. to call it the Secretary's scale, and not the scale of the Committee of Ways and Means.. It was the Secretary's bill, and nobody else's. Mr. Stewart resuming, said, come, the bill from where it might, it would give the It laborer protection when he did not want protection, and would take it away from him when he wanted it the most. " When the prices of his labor was high, foreign goods would be kept out by a high duty, but when the price of labor was low, foreign goods would be let in upon him by a proportionally low duty. When iron, for example, was sunk down to twenty four dollars a ton, and of course would be largely imported, then the duty was but seven and a half dollars, but when iron rose to fifty dollars a ton, and could not be imported, then the duty rose to fifteen dollars. Such was the practical operation of this ad volorem system; be sides, it was a system of fraud and per juries, by which dishonest foeigners were enabled to destroy drive out of business every honest American importer. Could any man deny the truth -of this? Why, then destroy the present admirable tariff, that has worked so well, and adopt such a miserable and rickerly system as this? Why destroy a tariff that had paid since 1842, inclu sive, no less than $34,307,224 of the principal and interest of your pub lic debt, and leaving ii . your Treasury, on the 1st of July, 1945, a balance of $7,658,306, which, added to the above gives a surplus revenue, over and above the ordinary expenditures, of $41, 965, 520, derived from the tariff of 1842, in eluding the payments of that year. This he stated from official annual Treasury reports ot 1843, page 31, of 1844, page 19, and of 1845, page 25. Yet this tar iff, which had yielded this large surplus is to be destroyed in the midst of war, and, instead of doubling the duties, as was done in the last war, it is now pro posed to reduce them one third. Mr. S. said he had risen this mornin unexpectedly. He had not intended to make a speech, and had already said more than he bad intended. He was opposed to this appropriation, and would vote for the amendmeni proposed by the gen tleman from Georgia, (Mr. Cobb.) , The- question recurred cn Mr. Cobb's amendment to strike out the item for pay, ! &c. of members; when i Mr. Stewart moved to add to Mr. Bow lin's amendment the following additional proviso: "Jlndbt it further provided. That the pay of members ot Congress, after the session shall have continued six months, shall be six dollars per day, after seven months four dollars per day, after eight months two dollars per day." This was rejected. And the proviso of Mr. Bowlin was then also rejected, without a count. Movements ou the Rio Grande The New Orleans Times" of.the21st instant embodies in its account of tfic late nows from the Rio Grande some informa tion which we have not seen in other ac counts, as follows: "The steamer Big Ilalchcc reached Camargo on the evening of the 13th, having on board troops and provisions a company of the 7th Regiment. Two companies of the same regimeut had pre viously arrived on the steamboats Browns ville, Enterprise, and J. E, Hoberts. The river was falling rapidly, and the Rancheros were resuming their usual oc cupations. Col. Hays's Rangers were not there at that date. They, however, had been in, after making a reconnois sance of the country as far as Monterey. Our informant states that it was reported by the Rangers that they had penetrated to the precipitous cliffs that overhang Monterey, when a trooper (a very adven turous soldier named Cimkixs) reached a point overhanging the Bishop's Palace, which commanded a view of the whole city. The utmost activity seemed to pre vail among the Mexicans, who were busi ly employed in repairing the old fortifica tions and erecting new ones. The num ber of troops was not ascertained, but, from the movements observable, it was evident they were preparing every means of defence. " General Taylor is now encamped with four. regiments, (Colonels Walton's, Davis's, Dakin's, and Marks's,) with the Alabamians, under Captain Desha, at Bucna Vista, on the borders of a lake, sev enteen miles north west ol Matamoras. The health of the volunteers here, with General Taylor, had much im proved, owing to the fine air they enjoy ed and splendid encamping ground they occupied. , The steamer fiercer arrived at the mouth of the Rio Grande, all safe, on the 17th iust. There were no signs of Mexi can soldiery in the vicinity of Camargo. This town is but a paltry one, after all, as regards houses and population, the for mer not being over twenty. " Capt. Walker had returned from his expedition to Monterey, and delivered a report, which is said to be a very inte resting one, of the state of the country through which he passed, the lulling places, itc. There is no probability of any opposition being made to the advance of the American troops between Camargo and Monterey, and, from what could be collected, the Mexican force concentrated at the latter point is extremely insignifi cant. Nothing regarding the reported ap proach of Paredes with the army of re serve of an authentic nature has been as certained at Headquarters, although scouts are out in some numbers for that purpose. Every thing however, seems to announce that the possession of Mon terey will be fiercely disputed, as it is, by nature and art, one of the most power ful strongholds in Mexico. The inhabi tants and soldiers arc daily employed in improving defences." Transporting a Steamboat over Land. The transportation of the steam packet Julila Palmer, of about four hundred tons, around the falls between Lake Superior and Huron, has been commenced. She has already been raised seventeen hun dred feet, and moved more than half the distance with complete success. The following extract from a -Buffalo paper contains the particulars of this astonish ing enterprise: Saclt De Marie, July 9th, 1816. Thus far we have met with success far beyond our most sanguine hope. We have overcome all obstacles, such as ra vines, rocks, hills and morass, with ra pidity and 3afety truly astonishing, and are now on the summit level, 1700 feet from the water of our staring point, in 101 working days, and without accident of any kind. This hauling as thoroughly tested ana proved the superiority of the strength ana fastenings of the vessel, as i .l; ' ocry uimg oeionging to ner engine iwi-, ler, boats, sails, rigging, furniture, pro vis ions, and a goodly number of nanus are on board, and she makes no complaint. Ahead of us all is smooth sailing, a queer name to call it by 2500 feet to the water i 1-11 1- 1 above the portage, which with ordinary success will be overcome in thirteen wor king days. Then for a good launch and fair start upon the father of Lak?. I think wc shall be rcadv to nog tnc Vol. 4. No. 39. starting b Thennom bell by the first of August. eter at 90 deg. in the shade tr day; we are anxious to get on to the lake to get cool. Daylight from half-past two j A. 31. till hall-past nine l 31. ami moon- '.light for the balance. Beautiful even- ings. A SCEE 1 COAGRESS. We expect quite a scene in the House of Representatives in a day or two. -Gen. McConnell, of Alabama, a few day.-! since, in the House of Representatives, proposed to locate a Land Office sums where in his District for the convenience of some of his constituents. A member from Ohio (Mr. Sawyer) moved to lay the motion on the table. The following conversation then occurred: Mr. McConnell What has become of my motion Mr. Speaker? The Speaker It was laid on the ta ble. Mr. McConnell At whose instiga tion? The Speaker On motion of the gen tlemen from Ohio. Mr. McConnell Which gentleman? Was it Sawyer? The Speaker nodded assent. Mr. McConnell (addressing Mr Saw yer) Old Sausage, if you ever put your finger in my mess again, I'll present you with a fat sausage, which will last you for a few days. (I omit some hard words.) The next morning General McCon nell was up very early, went to the mar ket and bought a very large sausage, a bout six inches long, and nearly as ma ny in circumference, which he carried up to the House of Representatives. He laid it on his desk during the day, but had no opportunity to dispose of it. Some of McConnell's colleagues have been trying to dissuade him from carry ing out his purpose. They say it will give the Ohio man cause of offence. He says he intends it for that, and swears that the first opportunity he will present him with the sausage accompanied by the best speech he can make on the occasion. N. Y. Tribune. Sub-Treasury and xYcsurj Notes, This Administration stands before the People in a singular attitude. One of it leading meaures was avowed to be a Sub Treasury. The House af Representatives therefore, passed a bill providing that from October next the Gavcrnment should neither receive nor pay out anything but Gold and Silver. And yet that same House of Representatives, before its mem bers leave Washington, has passed a bill authorizing an issue af ten millions of Treasury Notes ! The Sub-Treasury Law rejects the notes of specie-paying Banks; but Congress authorizes an issue of paper which does not even rest upon a specie basis The government has spent its surplus. It has rendered the Public Lands valueless for all the purpo ses of Revenue. It is about to emascu late the Tariff. And then, to carry on its War, it puts "irredeemable paper cur rency" afloat. Yes, while repudiating the notes of Banks whose paper repre sents specie, the Government resorts to "shin plaster promises" to pay its cred itors ! We do not see, after passing the Treas ury Shin Plaster bill how the Senate can have the face to touch the Sub-Trecsury abortion. It requires great assurance, on the part of the Administration, after issu ing paper without capital, to say that it will neither receive nor pay out Bank Notes. But we suppose our Govern ment is about to imitate the example of the Matron who, after living for years in, dependence upon her neighbors, finally becoming the owner of a "brass Kettle," made proclamation that thereafter "she should neither borrow noi lend" Alb. Journal. SOLDIERS PAY. Major-General; $376 per month; aul to ditto, additional pay, $38; Brigadier General, $246; aid to ditto, additional pay, 28; Colonel of Infantry, $166; Lieutenant-Colonel, $145; Major, $129; Capain, 80; first Lieutenant, $65; Adju tant, $33; Surgeant, $13; Corporal, $10; Privates, each $8; Colonel of Cavalry, $184; Lieutenant-Colonel; $102; Major, 141; Captain, $106; first and second Lieutenants, eash $90; Adjutant, $100; Privates, self aud horse, $20. Bank Robbery. A man went into the bank of the State of New York, in Wall street, on Wednesday afternoon, and pre sented a check for $1600. The telhr took the check, and went to the book for the purpose of comparing signatures, and while he was gone, the man who present- cd the check seized a pile of fiify doinr , ! t ... f i ... o i s iving on me,counter.K Deiore me letter had returned, made off with 'hrm, io the amount of $2,5t'0. There has Iwn do l 1- I . I I 1 I .Ll - i c;ue uiscovereu to tne com ro&Der. u 13 almost needless to say that the check was a forgery, so that the robber fc guiltv of a w . double crime. The Governor f New York his fc C i i t cer?. - 1 r
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers