2 a lit .- t -K i Jj TWO DOLT.AKS PEK ANNUM, ? HAbF-VEAKLY ' IN ADVANCE. 5 i IF NOT PAID U fTI JIN THE YEAR, i $i 50 WILL DE CM AKGEU. rillNTED AND PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY J O N AT II A 1ST it O W, SOMERSET, SOMERSET COUNTY, PA. "Tew Series. 1 t I From the Cincinnati .News. , ". SERLX4DE. BY THOMAS WALLING FORD. " The stars are shinmg brightly love, Down from the beauteous sky, While I under thy window, love, Am singing merrily. The moon is gently beaming, love, From her ethereal bed of blue; The gay guitar is sounding, love, And all, yes all for you! The dogs are barking loudly, love, I wish the varmints dead, ; " I know if you were near them, love, You'd knock 'em on the head! The theatre is just out, love, The people come this way; But t'aixt no use to stop me, love, In this sweet rondelay! Now open wide the shutter, love, And show thy lovely face, Hallo! By Joe! ,rFis the old black cook! " I swear I've missed the place! Exit, running with the dogs after him. CAMPAIGNING IN MEXICO. Correspondence of the St. Louis Repub lican. " . Camp San Juan de Buexa Vista, "J Five miles south of Saltillo, V Mexico, January 20, 1847. J This thing of writing letters for publi cation, in camp, i3 neither so pleasant nor so easy as might be imagined. Draw the picture of a man of common size, sitting cross-legged on a blanket spread on the ground, with his portfolio on his knee, and an old broken lantern holding a piece of candle, propped up on a well-worn lea ther trunk, and an earthenware inkstand on the ground close by, covered, by the by, with a small tent, in which old boots, old clothes, old guns, swo-ds, pistols, are strewed around in the background, all striving to withdraw themselves from no tice and you will have an accurate da gueneotype of the writer and his raivh. And then there is no such thing as with drawing from the noise of the camp, as is the wont of book-makers, whose busi ness is to digest the thoughts of others; but all is written in the midst of perplex ing interruptions. He has commenced a letter, and is endeavoring to recollect an event, or perhaps to philosophise on some new facts presented to his notice, when in walks the Quartermaster: "Colonel, one of my wagoners is sick, and I must have another man petailed to drive his wngon. Very sorry, sir, to have to make the request known the Captains are all mad about taking their men for wagoners but think, sir, the ammunition will have to be left behind, if we don't get a driver." The Quartermaster is scarcely dispatch ed, when in pops the head of an Orderly Serjeant: "Colonel, the butcher has sent up to our company a quarter of beef that is so blue it looks like it was dyed with indigo, and it is stringy enough to make halters. Just come and ee it." A "board of seventy" has to be summoned to condemn the mean beef of the rascal ly butcher, who is getting seven cents a pound for beef, when he is only giving two or three cents for it. ' Five minutes more, and another sen tence is half finished, when in comes the Sergeant Major to inquire whether he shall make a detail to go for wood to morrow. . "Yes," shouts the angry wri ter, "detail half the regiment, and order the other half to let me alone until I finish this letter." Seventy miles from the Prcsidio(which means a fort, or fortified place) we cross ed a ransre of hills. The ascent was not steep, nor would they be remarked, were it not that we had been travelling through a perfectly level plain, and that the forma tion was changed to gravel and limestone. Ascending a high hill, which lifted itself up near our road, a magnificent panorama was spread before us. Behind was the wide expanse of plain over which we had passed, skirted, in the far distance, by the thickets bordering the Rio Grande. In the southwest was a chain of moun tain;:, which modestly raised their heads in the distance, and broke the even line of the horizon. The range of hills on which 1 stood rose smoothlv from the plain, and as gently rolled into repose in the lap of the plain on the southwestern ido. To the north, the column of dra poons, rrtillcry and infantry, marching along the ecooked road beneath meoked like a. huge variegated snake, slowly rrawling " dawn the hills. Behind was the "immense train of . wagons two hun chi'd and fifty in number followed by the Arkansas rr-jriiuent of cavalry- the whole making a line five miles in extent. Right brave and g.dlant looked that col umn of mv cojintrymcn, marching with all tliti materikl f war through this lonely 'Mexican wilderness. r JSuPty miles from the Presidio we en c unped on the b inks of the Almos. On the creniitg of uur arrival did not go down to the stream, and was told? by a stair officer that it was about seventy feet wide, and we would soon cross it in the morning. By 'the -way,, these staff offi- ! cers seem to consider it a part of their duty to shorten distances and diminish ob-, struclions, whenever they are inquired of on these subjects. At an early hour next morning, the whole command was on the .. banks of . the Almos, ready to cross. ; But the first view of the river dissipated all hopes of crossing it easily.. It was : seventy yards wide, and four feet deep, and swept downward with amazing velo- ;' city, foaming, roaring, ! and tearing along as though it were determined to prohibit any invasion of its light and transparent waters. Men, could not wade it -their feet were swept from under them in three feet water, before they had reached the centre of the current; neither mules nor horses could pull their wagons across. It became necessary to take the horses and mules from the wagons and attach long ropes to the wagons, which read ed across the stream, and men on the oppo site side pulled them across, By eleva ting the leading wagrons, as had been done at the Rio Grande, they were safely taken over with their contents. The meu crossed on the wagons or by holding to them. r - - The current of the river was as rapid as the Ohio at the Falls near Louisville, or the Mississippi at the Rapids. An ex amination of it for several miles showed no decrease in its velocity. The volun teers took hold of the ropes with alacrity and fairly worked themselves into favor by their good conduct Juring the day. Leaving a portion of the troops to as sist the provision train across the stream, the principal part of the army, wiih the baggage and ammunition wagons, march ed on to cross the Sabinas, five miles dis tant, before camping. This ' was found not to be so wide, but, if possible, more rapid than the Almos, with quicksands on either bank. The men were fatigued with the labor of the morning when they reached it; but here was an obstacle still ta be overcome, and with redoubled ener gy they set to work to master it. The same course had to be pursued in crossing the wagons as at the Almos. Men and ropes were found far more serviceable than horses and mules. There were not wagons sufficient to cross the men ou, and a bridge of empty wagons was made across the main part of the stream by fastening the wagons loeth.r; still the men had to wade to their waists to get on and off the wagons. This was bad enough, but the hard ships of the day were aggravated by an other circumstance. It took so much time to cross over the artillery and staff wagons, (who were given a preference over the volunteers,) that more than half the company wagons ef the regiment of volunteers had to be left on the opposite side of the river from the troops. The consequence was that, after . tugging all day at the ropes, pulling wagons over, and going without any dinner, the majori ty of the men had to lie down at night in their wet clothes without tents, blankets, or food. - - - - - " I cannot omit to mention that Captain Eustis, of the dragoons, learning our con dition, promptly sent down in the night some provisions, which was most accep table to the men. This was by far the hardest day's .service - we had seen, and, owing to the occurrences of the morning, officers and men amongst the volunteers lay down to rest in no good humor. Many were the accidents and narrow escapes of the day. Several men were washed away from the wagons, and were only saved by extraordinary exertions. One of the artilerists was washed off the gun carriage, and both wheels passed over his legs, yet they were not broken, as the swiftness of the current doubtless pre vented the whole weight of the cannon from coming upon him. Several mules were drowned. A quartermaster's wagon was upset ifl the Sabinas, and! his papers and stores floated down m admirable con fusion. ; . :' " '."J"' . V Neither was there any. want of com manders; for both the generals, with all the colonels, the whole staff, and all the wagonmaslers, were giving orders at the top of their lungs, and with the most vio lent gesticulations. - ; ' ' :' In the midst of this babel of orders and counter orders, mingled as it was with the roaring of the mountain torrent, the shouting of officers, and the imprecations r vtr ' .1-. ui w.i:om;r, .uaj. arren quieuy sup ned off to one side amonorst the hushed 1 - .. . o . to take the matter, more easily. Under some brush by the side of the river, he discovered an Arkansas volunteer sitting down, from whose clothes the water was still, dripping. His head was between bis knees, and he was deeply soliloqui zing. ' : ... ' ' " " . ;. ' "Well," said he, "if this is war, I ain't in no more. " -.. "What is . the matter!" inquired the major.: " ' . "Why," answered the' RaekensackeY, "I was standing on the bank up there with my' hands in , my pockets, thinking I might as well take it easy, as I did'nt own anv of them wajrons, when alonv comes the general, and shouted out, what are you doing there on the bank, you Jaxy ' , fellow? f Why don't you jump-in and help that wagoner?' Without taking time to take a chew of tobacco, I pitched . in like a frog and seized bold of the wagon and worked as hird as if I had been at i gander-pulling. And was still -at it,' a giving of orders equal to the best of them, when here comes a general's aidercong and screamed out What the d- -1 are you doing there in the .'way?; With that I leaped out of the river like a water dog. Now you sec, stranger, v I came here to fight them Mexicans, and hot to make a mule of myself to haul wagohs,and I say again, if this is war, I ain't in no more" Yours, ILLINOIS. - From the New York Tribune. . MEX ICAN WARHOPE OF A PERMANENT PEACE FROM ' J THE THREE MILLION FA-V LACIOUS. V -X ; "' I wish to make a few remarks on the present prospect of Peace with Mexico, and I wish that your readers would mark what I say, as I have proved myself a prophet more than once during this strug gle. 1 consider the appropriation of, the Three millions, together with the $50,000 for Diplomatic serviecs, a3 calculated to prolong the war. Mr. Benton., in filling his pockets, may not think so, but I will give you my reasons, and I think that you will find that they are not without weight. t . , - I have witnessed the various revolu tions in Mexico tor the last ten years, and have studied their character in. the towns and in the villages, and have had good op; portunities to observe every feature in the Mexican character. It is well known that the cjusc of their frequent revulsions is nothing more than a struggle between o to the Ixs and Outs, as not one principle of civil liberty in involved iii the contest. The Government cannot give .employ ment to all officers who figure in epaulets in that distracted country; consequently, about one half are always struggling to overthrow the present Government, no matter what its character may be; and e ven in this foreign war, they cannot give employment to half who depend "solely on the Government for support. Those who are thrown out, generally live in idle ness until the next revolution, and will run iuto debt until they get embarrassed and overwhelmed, while the mass, the poor Indians, are thrown into the scale as easily as one flock of sheep are driven from one pasture' to another. I think that this hint will be sufficient for my purpose at this time, and 'now we" will irant that all the rumors relative to the distress in Mexico be 'true that they have no money and their councils are di vided. . . :-f " This 3rou will say will induce them to grasp the Three Millions eagerly, and conclude a treaty granted! But where will be the opposition party? They will keep quiet until the money is paid over, and then down goes the Government and they rise on its ruins, and proclaim those traitors who hrve sold their country, per haps with, the secret hope that another $3,000,000 will be awarded them. Whit pretext have they had for the last twen ty years eqnal to this, to inflame the Mexican people? And it will take place as sure as that the above - measures will carry on a harrassing guerrilla warfare on our border, which we must protect at e normous expense for the benefit of per-, haps slavery. When I commenced,' I in tended to dissect their policy in connec tion with the department of Yucatan, but I believe that you like short stories best. AN AMERICAN. THE WAY IT WAS DONE. : A correspondent of the Union gives the following account of the manner in which Capt. Headv's party of. 17 were . sur rounded. , It -illustrates the; craft of the Mexicans: ' V - - At the time of Major Gaine's departure on the duty before alluded to, a large por tion of the Kentucky cavalry lay encamp ed at the Palomas pass, ten miles east of Saltillo After the time had elapsed for the return of Major Gaines, and finding ha did not come back,, Lieut. Col. Fie ds detached another command of .one cap tain, one subaltern, two sergeants, three corporals, and eleven privates, io. search for him. The party toole the same rout the major had at first marched upon- Af ter proceeding thirty miles, it had arrived at a sin ill haciendi called San 'Antonin, just at night. This it had surrounded be fore any of the inmates had escaped. Capt. He.tdy, who was in command of the party, determined that none of the people , residing at the hacienda should leave until after he should himself, start the following morning, fearing they would convey intelligence to the enemy. During the evening, but before dark, the Mexicans got up a little bull fight for the amusement of the troopsj and, taking ad: vantage of the time when the animal was outside of the line of sentinels, one 6 its pursuers managed to escape. He, no doubt, carried information to the enemy, for - during the night the hacienda was surrounded by : 1,500 troops, and every man of Capt. Ileady's command was cap tured! ' . -' ' . : ..' J ' "MASON AND DIXON'S LINE." , Wrhat ,was the origin and purpose of it? We frequently hear it spoken, of as connected with slavery, and as originally relating to that subject. Nothing can be further from the truth at the time that ! 4iae was established, slavery existed 1 on both sides of it. A brief account of its ( origin may be of some interest just at this tune, "" ' i . , ; ' r;.As, early as the year 1682 a dispute a-ro-se between William : Penn anil Lord Baltimore respecting the. construction of their respective grants, of what now form the Stales of Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. Lord Boltimore claimed to anil including the 40th degree of. north latitude; and William Penn mildly, yet firjnly resisted the claim. The debata ble land was one degree of 09 English miles? on the south of Pennsylvania, and extended west as far as the State itself. The matter was finally brought into the Curtof, Chancery in Engtend, and, af ter i tedious delays, on the 15th day of May. 1750, Lord Chancellor Hardwicke made .a decree awarding costs against Lord Baltimare, and directing that com missioners should be appointed to mark the boundaries, between the parties. The commissioners, so appointed, met at New castle, oa the. 15th , day of November, 1757, and, not being able to agree, separ ated. After a further litigation and delay, the whole matter was sealed by the mu tual agreement between the surviving heirs of the original litigants. , In the year 1761, Mr. Charles Mason, of the Royal Observatory, was sent to Pennsylvania, with all the needful astro nomical instruments, to measure a de gree of latitude., That duty he perform ed, and a report , of his proceedings was made to the : Royal Society, of London, for the year 1767. ThHyear Mr.Mason andJeremiah Dixon were appointed to ruii the line in dispute, which appears to have been done in con formity with the Lord Chancellor's de cree;. This is : the famous "Mason and Dixon's line," and the boundary between Pennsylvania .on the south and Maryland on the north. Any one desirous of more detailed-information, will find it in Doug las's Ilisiory of America, published in Boston in ,1751; Protid's History of Pennsylvania, and 1 Vesey's Reports, 352, Peun, Lord Baltimore. . - Little did the actors in this matter think that in aftertimes the line established with so much trouble and expense would ever be connected with a subject calculated to shake a great nation to its centre.. GENERAL TOM THUMB. , The wonderfully small pattern of a man, who is known by the above name, returned a few weeks ago from a visit to Europe. A London paper contained the annexed notice of him just before his de parture thence: "Ddpartcre of Tom Thumb for A mecica. This astonishing and clever lit tle protege takes his departure for Boston in the Cambria to-day. . lie is accompa nied by his protector, Mr. Barnum, and his parents. In taking our leave of this miniature hero, we would briefly glance at bis unparalleled success since his arri val in Europe. He has appeared before more crowned heads than any person liv ing that is to say, any person in the ex- lilBlTIO.X LINE, "He has been absent from . America be tween three and four years, and weighs no more now than the day he left his na tive shore; and his intellectual faculties have improved immensely. He speaks French fluently; he plays , the piano; is learning the violin and other instruments. He played in a French piece in Paris and the principal French cities; was elec ed member of the Dramatic Society in Par is; has played Hop o' my Thun.b and Bombasles Furioso, with great eclat, in London and elsewhere. "He has received manyaluable pre sents from the principal sovereigns of Eu rope, has kissed more than a million and a half of ladies, has exhibited before 3, 000,000 of persons, and the gross receipts of his exhibitions, including his theatrical performances and his private levees at va rious places, and at the houses of the no bility :j of England, France, Belgium, Spain, v&c. exceed 150,000, which, reckoning 56 sovereigns to the pound av oirdupois, would make .2.678 pounds weight of gold; , and, as the General weighs hut 15 pounds, ii follows that he has received 178 times his own weight in gold. In silver, the weight would be 46 875 pounds, and would make 3,125 silver statues of the General of the same weight as himself. . "The General has achieved all his tri umphs under the direction yf P. T. Bar num, Esq., proprietor of the American Museum, New York, who first brought him before the public in America, and who has personally attended him in all his peregrinations.. It is gratifying t know that while this gentleman has reap ed a rich reward for his enterprise, he has also secured a splendid fortune for his lit tle protege and parents." : General Thumb is now in New York, and a paper of th.3t place gives us the fol lowing further . information concerning him : "Gen. Tom Thumb is the same great character here that he has been in Eu rope. The ladies all want to get some of his little kisses, especially as he lias kiss ed so many Queens in Europe. But he will not kiss for nothing. To gain the high honor of a kiss from the General, a book musi be bought, and so valuable is the kiss that many ladies think it "cheap at any price.".' . They take a thousand dollars a day at the American museum on his account, and have a perfect monopo ly of the trade, for nobodv can get up a uother Tom Thumb." ; ' A WHALING INCIDENT. On the 9ih of January last, the barque Harriet of Freetown, Capr. Durfec, crui sing on the line, lowered her' boats for sperm whales. The first and third mate had c-ach secured a whale and made them fast alongside, when they returned to assist the second mate, who was fast to another. Thev came ii r with him' about nine o' clock at niirht. and surreded in kiilinnr ...B..T ... tne wnaie. . 1 hev could then see the ship, but it soon began to blow, and they were obliged to lay by the whale all night. In the morning the ship was not in sight, it still blowing a gale and raining hard. They lay by the whale three d.iys, when they ventured to stand off to the westward, in hopes of f ll;ng in with some ship. On the 7th they caught a shark, which they ate with a good relish. They were then standing for the King's Mill group of islands, but, a new gale coining on, they were obliged to reef down and stand to the eastward, and finally to heave to, where they lay for thirty-six hours, in a gale 'unusual for those lati tudes. On the morning of the 10th day, again stood to the west. Early on the eleveneth day they discovered a sail, aad stood for her, which proved to be the barque Ilanscat, of Hamburg. They were taken on board, and treated with great kindness. They had nothing to eat during eleven days excepting the shark they had caught and one or two flying fish, and no water except w hat they had caught in the line tubs. Some of them had lain down to die two days before they saw the ship, and all of them were so weak that they could scarcely support their weight. Capt. Durfee, after cruis ing for several days in the vicinity, was making the best of his way to this port with the remnant cf his crew, having giv en up all hopes of ever seeing any of his officers ot crew again, when the barque Ilanscat spoke him, January 20. He wa3 not more surprised than delighted to find his men all safe, and receiving all atten tions possible, as the third mate was a brother. Polynesian. THE PEOPLE ALREADY MOVING. . The Whigs of Ilollidaysburg held a meeting ou Saturday evening last, at which the following resolutions approv ing of the nomination of Irvin and Pat ton were pr.ssed with great enthusiasm: Resolved, That this meeting approve of the deliberations of the Whig State Convention recently held; .that we con gratulatate our fellow cilizoiis throughout the Commonwealth in the happy selec tion of a candidate for Governor; that we recognize in Gen. JAMES IRVIN all the qualifications requsite to the faithful performance of the duties incumbent up on the Executive of our great State; and that we not only promise to give him our undivided support, but hereby pledge our selves as Whigs, to use all honorab'e means to secure his election, and thereby promote the great principles ol Protection to American Industry, for which hckso a bly contended, and finally secured, whilst in the t ount-ils of the Nation. Resolved, That wc have heard with great pleasure of the nomination of our late worthy fellow-citizen, Maj. JOS. W. PATTON, for the office of Canal Com missioner because we know him to be honest and compeient a man of sterling integrity and unsurpassed business quali fications, who will faithfully and fairly attend to the interests of the Common wealth, if elected, and not prostitute the patronage and influence of his office to the advancement ot personal, party, or FACTIONAL Cuds INTERESTING ANTIQUARIAN . DISCOVERY. On Friday the 19ih January, the exca vators on the Caledonian Railway, work ing injthe Avon valley, discovered, a few miles above Beutiock, some highly inter esting re'ios of antiquity. The first ob iect which attracted attention was the re- 1 mains of what appeared to have been the I foundation? of a house. Some copper coins were next turned up, about the size of our half-pennies; on one side there is a male head, pr ibably of one of the em perors, and on the observe 'Cmser Romre. A sword was next discovered, whifh ap pears to be formed of brass. By far the most interesting discovery, how over. w; that of a small stone trough, inverted and placed upon a flat block of the same ma- tcrial, which was found to contain abra ! zen or bronze case, round in its form, two feet in length and six inches in Utaaieier. ' Within this case was a manuscript; or ra- ther book, written on vellum, in rolls, a ! was the Roman custom, and each roll connected with the other by a slip of the same material. In length it is altogether about thirty feet, and two in breadth. The writing is beautifully executed, in the Latin language, and at the top the words "Historia Romic," in large charac ters, are quite distinct. A cursory exami natiod has led some to suppose that it is , a copy of part of Livy's celebrated history- and as it is expected that the wholo of the manuscript can be deciphered, per chance some of the lost books of the Roman historian mny be now restored to the literary wnr!d. A small manuscript was also found in the case, also written on parchment, and about a foot square in size, but the writing of this is very illegi ble; on the back are the words "Ad Agri colam." These interesting relics, which probably owe their good preservation to the close manner in which their case was sealed up, have been m the meantime, carefully taken to Moffat Manse. Duji fries Courier. A GOOD ANECDOTE. . An Indian and a Kentuckian once made an agreement to hunt in company, and divide equally the game whit h they might chance to kill. Unfonunatcly, a crow and a wild turkey were all that they shot. "Well," said the Kentuckian, at the close of the day, "as we are to divide equally, you take the crow, and I'll take . the turkey; or I'll take the turkey and you take the crow." "How's that?" said ; the Indian. The Kentuckian in rapid accents repeated his proposal, to which the Indian, after a blank and pjzzled look, consented, but with the remarh, "It ! sounds all very fair, but somehow or oth ' er, you always get the turkey and 1 al ways get the crow. ACCEPTANCE OF GEN. IRVIN. We find in the Bellcfonte Whig, the following correpondence between the Committee of the Whig State Conven tion and Gen. Irvin, cn the subject of his nomination: Harrisbcugh, March 10, 1C47. Hon. James Irvin, Sir: The under signed a Committee appointed by the Whig State Convention which met at Harnsburgh on the 9th inst. for the pur pose of selecting candidates for theoiTiees of Governor and Canal Commissioner of this Commonwealth, pursuant to our in structions, have the pleasure of announ cing that you have been unanimously no minated as a candidate for the office of Governor of Pennsylvania, by said Con vention. Yours, very respectfully, THOS. W. DUFFIELD, JNO. J. PEARSON, L. A. MACKEY, RICHARD IRVINE, E. C. WILSON, J.C.ADAMS, R. M. BARD. Bellefonte, March 15, 1847. Gentlemen Your communicauon of the 10th inst., informing me that I have been unanimously nominated lor the of fice of Governor of Pennsylvania by the Whig State Convention that met at Har risburg on the 0th intinf, has been pre sented to me by Messrs. Irvine and Mac key. I accept the nomination with feel ings of profound gratitude, for the high and unmerited honor which has been con ferred upon me by the convention; end assure them, and through them the people of Pennsylvania, that if elected my high est ambition . will be to pursue such a course as will contribute to sustain the credit and promote the best interests of my native State. With sentiments of the highest respect for the Convention and each of you indi vidually I remain your friend and fellow citizen. JAMES IliVIN. To Messrs. Pearson, Mackey, Irvine, Duflield, Wilson, Adams and Bard. ACCEPTANCE OF MR. PATTON. Carlisle, March 12, IS 17. Gentlemen -I this day received your letter of the 10th inst., informing me Gf my unanimous nomination for the otViee of Canal Commissioner, by the Whig Convention which met at Harrisburg on the 9ih. By an entire devotion io the principles of the Whig party, which I believe to l-c identical with the true interests of Penn sylvania, and by wli'uh only sh 3 can ar rive at that proud pre-eminence to which she is deit'ned; and. (in the event of my election to t!ie olTu e of Caiu-d ('orr.mis sincr.) lv d. reeling .ill ioy cnTgie to the promotion of i.V' best inlerr.-ts of t!.o Commonwe. l.h, I shall hope to merit the houor conferred on me by the Conven ti n. For the present, Gnilemen, permit me, through you, to express to the Con ve ion my sincere thanks, and accept for yourselves , assurance of my distinguish ed consideration and rennet. J05 W. PATTON. Messrs. J. J.-Pearsoti, L. A. Marker, R. Irvine, T. W. DuihVlJ. E. C. Wilson, J. C. Adams and R. M. 3urd,
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers