S. W, Weaver, Proprietor.] VOLUME 8. THE STAR OF THE NORTH IS PUBLISHED EVERT WEDNESDAY MORNINU BY K. IV. IVRAVER, OFFICE!— Up stairs, in the new brick build" ing, on the south side of Main Street, third square below Market. TERMS: —Two Dollars per annum, if paid within six months from the time of sub scribing ; two dollars and fifty cents if not paid within the year. No subscription re ceived for a less period than six months ; no discontinuance permitted until all arrearages are paid, unless at the option of the editor. ADVERTISEMENTS not exceeding one square Will be inserted three times fot One Dollar and twenty-five cents for each additional in sertion. A liberal discount will be made to those Who advertise by the year. ORIGINAL POETRY. Jor the "Star of the North." . ALL EARTHLY JOYS ARE FLEETING. Where are the friends that once I knew In youth's bright sunny hours? They've passed away, as morning dew Melts from the summer flowers. Where are the gleams of hope that cheered My lonely path awhile ? They've vanished, like the meteor's ray, Or Irieudship's fickle smile. Where are the hours that once I spent Without one troubled dream? ' Like friends and hopes,they've passed away Adown life's rapid stream. Oh, withered is llie wreath we wove Of friendship's fragrant flowers ; And dead the hopes that cheered our hearts In childhood's sunny hours. With some, life is one sunny day ; Why are such joys not mine? Cease wicked heart, thy murmuririgs, j How dat'sl thou so repirte ? I As gold is melted in the fire, \ To free it from the dross ; So sorrows here to us are 6ent To guide us O the Cross. Lord, guide my erring feet aright, And shield me wi'.h thy love : So may I live, that 1 may share A home with Thee, above. LILLIAN. Hemlock, Col. Co., Pa. From Benton's Thirty Years View. ; DEATH OF SILAS IVRIGIII'. He died suddenly at the age of fifty-two, I and without the suffering* and premonitions] which usually accompany the morial transit ' from lime to eternity. A letter that he was-i reading was seen to fall from Ins hand ; a physician was called: in two hours he was dead—apoplexy the cause. Though dying at the age deemed young in a statesman, he had attained all that long life could give—high office, national fame, fixed 1 character and universal esteem. He had run the career ot honors in the Slate of New York—beeu representative and senator in Congress—and had refused more offices, and higher, than he ever accepted. He refused cabinet appointments under his fa6t friend, Mr. Van Buren, and under M. Polk, whom he may be said lo have elected ; he refused u seat on the bench of the Federal Supreme Court; he rejected instantly the nomination of 1844 for Vice-President of the United States, when that nomination was the elec tion. He refused lo be put in nomination for the Presidency. He refused lo accept for eign missions. He spent that time in declining office which others did in winning it; and of those he did accept, it might be well sard they were 'thrust' upon him. Office, not greatness, was thrust upon him. He was born great, above office, and unwillingly descended to it; and only took it for its burdens, and lo satisfy an im portunate public demand. Mind, manners, morals, temper, habile, united in him to form the character that was perfect, both in public and private life, and to give the example ol a patriot citizen—of a farmer statesman— of which we have rea-J in Cinoinnatus and Ca to, and seen in Mr. Macon and some others of their stamp—created by nature —formed in no school: and of which the instances are so long between. <His mind was clear and strong, his judg ment solid, his elocution smooth and equa ble, his speaking always addressed to the undenlandiug, and always enchaining the atteniion of those who had minds lo under stand Grave reasoning was his foite. Ar gumentation was always the. line of his speech. He spoke to the* head, not to the passions ; and would have been disconcerted to eee anybody Jpugh or anything he ■aid. His thoughts evolved spontaneously, in natural and proper order, clothed in lan guage of force and clearness; alt so naturally and easily conceived that an extemporaneous speech, or the first draught of an intricate report, had all the correctness of a finished composition. His manuscript had no blots— a proof that his mind bad none ; and he wrote a neat nompaot hand, suitable to a solid mind. ?He came into the Senate, in the beginning of \General Jackson's administration, and re mained daring that of Mr. Van Buren; and took A ready and active part in all the great debates'i of those eventful times. The ablest speakers^of the opposition always had to an swer bins; and when he answered them, they showed by their anxious concern, that the adversary was upon them whose force they dreadfti most. Though taking his full part upon till subjects, yet finance was his particular department, always chairman of that committee, when his party was in pow. er, and by the lucidity of his statements ma king plain the most intricate moneyed de tails. He had a just conception of the dif ference between the functions of the Finance Committee of the Senate, and the Commit tee of Ways and Means of the House—so little understood iu these latter times; those of the latter founded in the prerogative of the House to originate all reveue bills; those THE STAR OP THEJVORTH. of the former to act upon the propositions from the House, without originating meas ures which might affect the revenue, so as to coerce either its increase or prevent its re duction. In 1844 he left the Senate, to stand for the Governorship of New York ; and ne ver did his self-sacrificing temper undergo a stronger trial, or submit to a greater sacrifice. He liked the Senate; he disliked the Gov- to absolute repugnance. But it was raid to him (and truly, as then believ ed, and afterwards proved} that the Slate would be lost to Mr. Polk, unless Mr. Wright was associated with him in the canvass; and to this argument he yielded. He stood the canvass for tho Governorship—carried fi end Mr. Polk with him; and saved the pres idential election that year. Judgment was the character of Mr. Wright's mind; purity the quality of the heart.— Though valuable in the field of debate, he was still more valued at the council table, where'sense and honesty are most demand: ed. Gen. Jackson and Mr. Van Buren re lied upon him as one of their safest counsel lors. A candor which knew no guile—an integrity which knew no deviation—which worked right on, like a machine governed by a law of which it was unconscious—were j the inexorable conditions of his natuse, rul ing bis conduct in every act, public and pri vate. No foul legislation ever emanated from him. The jobber, the speculator, the dealer in false claims, the plunderer, whose scheme required an act of Congross; all these found in his vigilance and perspica city a detective police, which discovered their designs, and in his integrity a scorn of corruption which kept them at a distance from the purity of his atmosphere. His temper was gentle—his manners sim ple—his intercourse kindly—his habits labo rious—and rich upon a freehold of thirty acres, in much part cultivated by bis own hand. In the interval of senatorial duties this man, who refused cabinet appointments and presidential honors and a Beat upon the Supreme Bench—who measured strength with Clay. Webster and Calhoun, and on whose accents admiring Senates hung: this man, his neat suit of broadcloth and fine lin en exchanged for the laborer's dress, might be seen in the harvest field or meadow, car rying the foremost row, and doing the clean ' est work : and this not as recreation or pas time, or encouragement to others, but as work which was to count in the annual cul tivation, and labor to be felt in the produc tion of the needed crop. Hie principles were . Democratic and innate, founded in a feeling, ' still more than a conviction, that the masses were generally right in their sentiments, llio' sometimes wrong in their ac tun, ami it... there was less injury to the country from the honest mistakes of the people, than ftom the interested schemes of corrupt and intriguing politicians. He was born in Massachusetts, came to man's estate in New York, received from that State the only honors he would ac cept ; and in choosing his place of residence in it gave proof of his modest, retiring, un pretending nature. Instead of following his profession in the commercial or political cap ilal of his State, where there would be de mand and reward for his talent, he constitut ed himself a village lawyer, where there was neither, and pertinaciously refused to change his locality. In an outside county, on the extreme border of the Slate, taking its name of St. Lawrence, from the river which washed its northern side, and dividing the United States from British America—and in one of the smallest towns in that county, and in one of the least ambitious houses of that modest town, lived and died this pa triot statesman —a pond husband (he had no children) —a good neighbor—a kind relative —a fast friend—exact and punctual in every duty, and the exemplification of every social and moral virtue. MEXICO. The government and the clergy of Mexico appear to be 8t dagger's point; but so far Commonfort has proved equal to the emer gency, and, by his energy, asserts the law above all other powers in Ihe State. The Bishop of Puebla, one of the principles in the late insurrection, has been banished the country. He attempted to rouse a feeling in his favor, but the troops promptly escorted him on shipboard. Several priests have been arrested for preaching sedition, and one was arrested in the street armed with a rifle.— These priests were claimed by the Bishop ad interim, Don Angel AlonzoW Pautiga, but the governor of the city refused and insisted that they should be tried by the civil suthorilies. Instances of vigor in the government in Mex ico are so rare that the energy of the present rulers gives some hope of restoration ol order in lhat disliacted quarter of the globe. ID r GEN. WALKER'S star being now in the ascendant, there will be a rush of "material aid" to his assistance, in the persons of all the "floating" gentry about the cities, whom rum and idleness have ruined for any industrious occupation. Such citizens should be allowed lo extirpate themselves as fast as possible.— Military discipline may do them some good, though fever will carry off more than gun powder. The resource of the country is great and as soon as afiaira assume a settled com- I plexion and peace is restored, there will be a better kind of emigration from the United States, which will colonize the country with energetic and enterprising men, and assist to permanently build up the Slate. VESSELS IN PORT.— On the 17th nit. there were in the port of New York 770 vessels, in Boton 202, and in Baltimore 130; and on the 10th nit. in Charleston 68, in Savannah 31, in Mobile 60, and in New Orleans 193. BLOOMSBURG, COLUMBIA COUNTY, PA., WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 1856. A CAPITAL HIT. We clip the following from the lowa State Gazette: The Black Hepubllcan Pegnnini, 08, THE MAN THAT PLAYED UPON THE HABP OF A SINGLE STRING. In these modern days, preachers and poli ticians, of a certain stripe, have become as thick together ae pickpockets—in fact a po litical meeting, composed of the friends of freedom, fusion and first-rate whiskey, is no longer considered complete without a liberal eprinkhng of the cloth, and it is seldom that one ie allowed to proceed to business until some sanctified brother shall wall his eyes heavenword and put up a politico-religious petition suited to the emergency of the case, and as an offset to heathenism and hypocrisy which may immediately follow. Preachers, too, are sometimes found mingling pretty freely in the discussions that take place at these political assemblages and olherwise manifesting a zeal to pot house matters which goes to show that we live in the age of progress, such as it is. At the recent Re publican State Convention, the cloth (minus the sack) were present in goodly force; and : taking off their coals and rolling up their ' sleeves, it is said that they pitched in with a looseness known only to the shoulder-strikers and short boys of the Five Points, and by their new-born zeal for free whiskey, in abandoning the temperance plank, gained for themselves high praise among the unannoint ed outsiders. A sketch of the remarks made by one of them had been forwarded to ue for publication. It is as follows : * My Breethering! We are.lold somewhere —lt needn't be particular where—that the psalmists of old could play upon a harp of a thoiisand strings, ah—but, my breethering, in these days of getting down stairs from grace —a Samist aint expected to do more tban spread hjmself on a single string, ah. There fore, my breethring, ah, let usgive ourselves, no uneasiness about the nine hundred and ninety-nine strings that we can't handle, ah, but let us unite in playing upon the harp of a single string, spirits of white men made black, ah. My Breethering! As we came stringing along into this convention, like pack mules crossing the Isthmus, I thought to myself that each one of us might have astringV his own to pull and that muy be many of us might i have several strings to his bows, ah. I hope | 1 hurt no man's feelings by Ihis discourse, ah. My motto always is to tell the truth and shame the devil, ah—an institution of sin and wickedness who is always toaming about like a toaring lion seeking where he can kill somebody, ah. But, my breethiug, now that politics and religion have got so mixed up that vuu can't tell one from the other, 1 think it would be good for us lb let go ail holtls, except the main one, and go our Billy best [ upon a harp of a single siring, spirits of white men made black, ah. My Breethering ! There are a great many kind ot strings in this world, ah. First there I is the latch suing bung nut. and the latch string pulled iu. ah. Then there is the fid- { die string—and a very wicked string it is, ' my breelhoring—and the bag siring, and the pudding string, which some pious souls con- ' aider the proof of the pudding, ah ! And | then there is string beans, and that audacious i varmint, Stringfellow, ah—but, my bteether- i ing, to return to my discourse, let me im- I press upon you the popularity of playing up- j on a harp of a single string, spirits of white men made black, ah. My Breethering! I suppose you have all heard of a religious society called the Know Nothings, ah. Well, my breethering, al though I say it, who shouldn't, I've . i.lways been one of 'em—but, my hearers, I r.ow I feel to believe that that siring won't do to lie, ah—for it is liable to break in two in the mid- | die and let us fall several ways for Sunday, ah. No, my breethering, though Sam, at the outsat, gave promises of immortality and sul vation, vet in these latter days this "sons of the sires" he is seen to g'ray off far beyond the travels of the prodigal son, and if we don't look out the fatted calf will grow to be a bullock before he comes back again, ah. Therefore, my breethering, let us take to our human bosoms the sweet-scented form of Sambo, that dark emblem of political equal-' ly, ah—and let us play upon a harp of a sin gle string, spirits of while men made black,ah. My Breethering ! We shouldn't be asham ed or afraid to own our color, ah. It is a very -wicked thing indeed to turn up the human snout at the work of nature, ah. Who cares for color in a dog fight? A rose by another name would smell as sweet, ah. What, thdl), if we do fool the foreigners? What if we do kiss the nigger babies, ah ? The Egyp tian mummies, who have been mummied* these thousand years, and none the worse or the wiser now lor anything tnat they did while in the flesh, ah. It will be the same with us, my breethering, in the lapse of a few centuries, ah. When Gabriel shall blow his trumpet, ah—when the moon shall turn to blood, ah—when the sky shall be roHed back as a scroll, and all nalur shall be done up in a rag, ah, then the kissing of a few in nocent little niggers and the running away of a few big buck ones, will oome back to our memories as a sweet smelling savor, and give us a lick forward towards Jordan, ah! My Breethering! There is another string which we have all been pulling at for lo! these many years, ah, but which, in the lan guage of one of our great guns, we must now "let slide," ah—l mean my breethering, (hat Eious piece of two-twist, called Temoerance. iquor, my breelhenug has color as well as twang, ah. We must be consistent, ah. We can't run niggers through on the underground railroad, unless we also say to liquor, "let it run," ah. "Spirits ot white men made black —spirits of liquor mailt tree"— them must be our sentiments, ah. We can't oppose the laws of government and aid the insurrections in Kansas, unless wn set the example at home of spitting upon our Maine liquor law, ah. We most be consistent, ah. I confess that I have been a great Temperance man, anil that I have been pulling the temperance string for lo 1 these many years, ah, going around like a thief in the night and prying into the affairs of my neighbors, and every now and then jerking them up with a round turn for violatiug the whiskey'laws, ah—but, my breethering, I have found that this busi ness don't pay, ah, and for the balance of my daysj I'm going to play on a harp of a single string, nigger ism triumphant forever, ah! Truth and Right God audi oar Country. DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM. The following is the platform adopted by the Cincinnati Convention last week, and comprehends the resolutions of the Balti more Convention in 1852, to which are added such appropriate declarations of prin ciples as the times and political condition of the country show to be proper. The following is the Baltimore platform of 1852: | Besolved, That the American Democracy place their trust in the intelligence, the patri otism, and the discriminating justice of the American people. i Resolved, That we regard this as a distinc tive feature of our creed which we are proud to maintain be iota tba mrfk r eh a great moral element in a form of government, springing from and upheld by popular will; and we. contrast it with the creed and practice of Federalism, under whatever name or form, which seeks to palsy the vole of the constit uent, and which conceives no imposture too monsltouß for the popular credulity. Resolved, therefore, That entertaining these views, the democratic parly of the Union, through their delegates assembled in a Gen eral Convention of the States, convening to gether in a spirit of concord, of devotion lo the doctrines and faith of a free representa tive government, and appealing to their fel- Jow citizens for the rectitude of their inten tions, renew and reassert before the Ameri can people, the declarations of principles avowed by them, when, on lormer occasions in general convention, they presented their , candidates for (he popular suffrage. 1. That the feder&f-gwjrTTmenl is one of liberal powers, derived solely from the Con stitution, and the grants of power made there in ought lo be strictly construed by all the departments and agents of the government; and thst it is inexpedient and dangerous to exercise doubtful constitutional powers. 2. That the Constitution does not confst upon the General Government the power to commence and carry on a geneial system of internal improvements. 3. That the Constitution dees not confer authority upon the Federal Government, di rectly or indirectly, to assume the debts of the several Staloa, contracted for local inter nal improvements, or other Slate purposes: nor would such assumption be just or expe dient. 4. That justice and sound policy forbid :he Federal Government to foster one branch of industry to the detriment of another or to cherish the interests of one portion to the injury of another portion of our commog country; that every citizen and every section -e 4i._ t, k.a a rieht 10 demand and insist upon an equality of rights and privi leges, and to complete an ample protection of persons and properly from domestic vio lence and foreigh aggression. 5. That it is the duly of every branch of the Government to enforce and practice the most rigid economy irfconducting our public affairs, and lhat no more revenue ought to be raised than is required to defray the neces sary expense of the Goverjjpient and for the gradual but certain extinction of the public debt. 6. That Congress has no power to charter a National Bank; thst we believe such an institution one of deadly Jipslility to the best interests of our country, dangerous to our republican institutions aixljjie liberties of the people, and calculaleiTfo place the busi ness of the country within the control of a concentrated money power, nnd above the laws and will of the people; and that the results of Democratio legislation in this and all other financial measures upon which is sues have been made between the two polit cal parties of the country, have demonstra ted to practical men of all parties, their sound ness, safety "nd utility, in all business pur suits. 7. That the separation of the moneys of the Government from all banking institutions is indispensable for the safely of the funds of the Government and the rights of '.be people. 8. That the liberal principles advocated by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independ ence, ar.d sanctioned in the Constitution, which makes ours the land of liberty, and (he aqylum of_the oppressed,nf every nation, have ever been cardinal principles in the Democratio faith; and every attempt to abridge the privilege of becoming citizens and owners of soil among us, ought lo be re sisted with the same spirit which swept (be alien and sedition laws from onrstalule book. 9. That Congress has no power, under the Constitution, to interfere with or control the domestic institutions of (he several States, and lhat all such Stales are the sole and prop er judges of everything appertaining to their own affairs not prohibited by the Constitu tion; that all efforts of tha Abolitionists or others made to induce Congress to interfere with questions of slavery, or lake incipient steis in relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most alarming and dangerous consequences, that all such efforts have an inevitable lendenoy to diminish the happi ness of the people and endanger the stability and permanency of the Union, and ought not to be countenanced by any frier.d of our political institutions. Resolved, That lha foregoing proposition covers and was intended to embrace, the whole subject of slavery agiiation in Con gress, and, therefore, the Democratic parly of the Union, standing on this national platform,' will abide by "and adhere to a faithful execu tion of the acts known as the compromise measures settled by the last Congress, the act for reclaiming fugitives from service or labor included ; which act being designed to carry out an express provision of the consti tution, cannot, with fidelity thereto, be re pealed, or so changed as to destroy or impair its efficiency. Resolved, That the Democratic psity will resist all attempts at renewing in Congress, or out of it, the agitation of the slavery ques tion, under whatever shape or color the at tempt may be made. Besolved, That the proceeds of the public lands ought lo be sacredly applied to the na tional objects specified in the constitution i and that we are opposed to any law for the distribution of. such proceeds among the Slates as alike inexpedient in policy and re pugnant lo the constitution. Besolved, That we are decidedly opposed iu taking from the President the qualified Veto power, by which he is enabled, under restrictions and responsibilities, amply suffi cient to guard the public rmcieew, panti the passage of a bill whose merits cannot se cure the approval of two-thirds ol the Sen ate Rnd House of Repiesentativss until the judgment of the people can be obtained thereon, and which has saved the American people from the corrupt and lyiannical do minion of the Bank of the United States, and from a corrupting system of general In ternal Improvements. Resolved, That the Democratic parly will faithfully abide by and uphold the principles laid down in the Kentucky and Virginia res olutions of 1792 and 1798 and in the report of Mr. Madison lo the Virginia Legislature in 1799—that it adopts these principles as constituting one of the main foundations of its political creed, and is resolved to carry them out on their obvious meaning and im port. That in view of the condition of the pop ular institutions in the Old World a high and eacred duty is involved with increased re sponstbility upon the Democracy of this coun try , as the party of the people, to uphold and maintain the rights of every Slate, and there by the union of the Stales—and to sustain and advance among them constitutional lib erty, by lo resist all monopolies and for the benefit of the few, ai'jhe expense of the many, and by a vigilant and qflhant adherence to those principles and compromises of (he constitu tion—which arc broad .though and strong enough to embrace and' uphold the Union as it is, and the Union as it should be—in the full expansion of the energies and capacity of this great and progressive people. And whereas, since the loregoing declara tion was unanimously adopter! by our prede cessors in National Conventions, an adverse political and religions test has been secretly organized by a parly claiming lo be exclu sively Americans, and it is proper that the American Democracy should clearly define its relations thereto ; therefore Resolved, That the foundation of this Union of States having been laid in its prosperity, expansion and pre-eminent example in free government, built upon entire freedom in matters of religious concern, and no respect of persons in regard to rank or place of birth, no parly can justly be deemed national, con stitutional or in accordance with American principles, which bases its exclusive organi zation upon religious opinions and accidental birthplace. That we reiterate with renewed energy of purpose the well considered declarations of former Conventions upon the Sectional issue of domestic slavery, and concerning the re served rights of the States ; and that we muy more distinctly meet the issue on which a sectional party, subsisting exclusively on sla very agitation uow relies, to test the fidelity of the people, North and South, to the Consti tution and the Union— Resolved, That claiming fellowship with and desiring the co-operation of all who re gard the preservation of the Union, under the constitution, is the paramount issue, and re pudiating all sectional parties and platforms concerning domestic slavery, which seek to embroil the States and incite to treason and armed resistance to law in the Territories, and whose avowed purposes, if consumma ted, must end in civil war and disunion, the American Democracy recognize and adopt the principles contained in the organic laws establishing the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska, as embodying the only sound and safe solution of the slavery question upon which the great national ides of the people of this whole country can repose in its deter mined conservatism of the Union : non-inter ference by Congress with slavery in States and that this was the basis of the compromise of 1850, confirmed by both the Democratic and Whig parlies in National Convention, ratified by the people in the elec tion of 1852, and rightly applied to the or ganization of Territories in 1854; that by the uniform application of this Democratic prin ciple to the organization of Territories and the admission of new States; will, or without domestic slavery, as they may nlect, the equal rights of all the States will be preserv ed intact, the original compacts of the con stitution maintained inviolate, and the per petuation and expansion of the Union ensur ed to its utmost capacity of embracing, in peace and harmony every future Amirican State that may be constituted or annexed with a republican form of government. Resolved, That we recognize the right of the people of all the Territories, including Kansas and Nebraska, acting through the fairly expressed will of the majority of actual residents; and whenever the number of their inhabitants justifies it, to form a constitution with or without domestic slavery, sad-be ad mitted into the Union upon terms of perfect equality witb the other States. [ Reidved, finfHy, That in view of the oon ' dition of the popular institutions of the Old World, and the dangerous tendencies of sec lional agitation, combined with the attempt lo force civilized and religious disabilities against the rights of acquiring and enjoying citizenship in our own land, a high and sa cred duly has devolved an increased respon sibility upon the Democratic party of this country, as the party of the Union, to uphold and maintain the rights of every State, and thereby the Union of the Slates, and sustain the advance among us of Constitutional lib erty by continuing to resist all monopolies, and all exclusive legislation lor the bent-fit of the few at the expense of the many and by a vigilant and constant adherence to those principles and compromises of the Constitu tion, which arc broad enough and a'rong enough to embrace and uphold the Union as ■I shall bei in the full expanse of the energies and capacity of this great and progressive V— pi— _J t 1. Resolved, That the questions connected with the foreign policy of the country are in ferior to no domestic question whatever. The time has come for the people of the United States to declare themselves in favor of free seas and a progressive free trade throughout the world, and by solemn manifestations lo place their moral influence by the side of their successful example. 2. Resolved, That our geographical and po litical position with reference to other States of the Continent, no less than the interests of our commerce and the development of our growing power, requires that we hold to the sacred principles involved in the Monroe doctrine. Their bearing and import, whtoh admit of no misconstruction, should be ap plied with unbending rigidity. 3. Resolved, That the great highway which nature as well as the assent of the States most immediately interested in its maintenance, has marked fnr a free communication be tween the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, constitute one of the most important achieve ments realized by the spirit ol modern times and the unconquerable energy of our people and that this result should be secured by timely and efficient exertion, ttie control which we have the right to claim over it.— No power on earth should be suffered to im pede or clog its progress by any interference with the relations that may suit our policy to establish with the governments of StatesjWith in whoso dominions it lies. We can under no circumstances surrender our preponder ance in the adjustment of all questions arising out of it. 4. Resolved, That in our view of so com manding an interest to the people of the Uni ted S>ates, that they cannot but sympathize with the efforts which are being made by the people of Central America to regenerate lhat portion of the Continent which covets the passage across the Oceanic Isthmus. Resolved, That the Democratic parlv will expect from the next administration every proper effort made to ensure our ascendency in the Gulf of Mexico, so as to maintain the permanent protection of the great outlets through which is emptied into its waters the products raised on the soil and the cojn moilities created by the industry of the peo ple of our western valleys and the Union at large. From the Middle States Med. Reformer. MEDICAL JI/KISPKIJUENCE. A REVIEW. BY R. W. WEAVER, E6U. The wonderful and mysterious manifesta tions of the human mind are not only the most important but also the most entertain ing divisions of study and practice, both to the medical and legal profession. Hitman ken cannot sometimes discern line that divides eccentricity from insanity; for while no two minds in all respects*agree, whose shall be the standard f True, some facts are so fixed by the common consent of ages that we say only a fool will deny them; but so too was once the old, but now obsolete, system of astronomy; so that the rack and dungeon were the lot of any Gali leo who dared to say the world revolved. In our day the Mormons shock the refine ment of our modern civilization, but then quote David, Solomon and the patriarchs lor good exemplars, and deny that tneir creed is eitlieV a delusion or fanaticism.— The Wakeinanites say they are the true Lat ter Day Saints, and these a jury decides to be crazy, because they kill such persons as will not let them have their way. But is this willfulness of the Connecticut Sly a new or a strange phenomenon! lie put out of the world such as stood in his way, and what sou of Cain has not done or tried to do the same in some delicate or indirect way? Was there not a fearful method in his madness ? The mind ran in the same channel of selfishness, malice, avarice and revenge which has been worn deep by the frailty of human nature through centuries of vice, violence and crime. Neither the motives nor their manner of development seem new or inexplicable. Alas that trail flesh and blood must be the judge in these cases, and that there is no standard which fallible human nature can define! Juries are often perplexed, and physicians stag gered to understand some character on trial, or to define the temperaments, passions and emotions that run into each other, like colors on canvass, until it is impossible to tell where one ends and the other begins. We have been led to these thoughts by a new work on Medical Jurisprudence lately prepared by Francis Wharton. Esq.. and Moreton Stille, M. D., of the Philadelphia Association for Medical Instruction. It con tains many new subjects of study in this department; and it must be remembered that each country and each age has its pe culiar considerations in the study of the human mind. The constitution of modern society and the higher civilization of this age affect the production of nervous dis eases, and even the duration of life. As the world becomes more crowded man lives through a thousand more emotions, anxie ties, incidents and adventures than in the antedeluvian time. In the busy tumult of this practical age, and its whirl of excite ment, he is tossed about each day by a thousand hopes and fears—joys and sorrows. ctwo Dollars per Annum* NUMBER 21. Ami henco it is that you see in cities the attenuated and emaciated forms of young men prematurely old—the mark of that Se vere mental wear and tear of nerve which the stoutest physical constitution cannot en dure without suffering and decay. But es pecially are wo to look for the existence of nervous diseases where society is constitu ted as in America. Here the spirit of our institutions urges to constant progression . and change. Here is no fixedness of social position ; for the rich man of to-day becomes the poor man of to-morrow, and the wheel barrow man comes back from California to be one of the princes of the land. There is a continual strife or rivalry for advance- * merit, because here the highest prize is ac- • cessible to all. These things beget a rest lessness and nervousness totally unknown under the old patriarchal governments, and so we find that now, under the absolute monarchies of Russia and China insanity and nervous diseases are very rare. Our fast American civilization of steam,' telegraphs and chloroform has its accidents, r —,. r , n i OU vvnnar.in nn former lime or other land) and in judging ot these there are no precedents in the old black letter volumes to guide us. Thus the Beale case, which we find referred to at length in this volume, requires us 10 siudy how far a mind laboring under a delusion may even af terwards believe that delusion to have been a reality. Who can tell how firm, fixed and indellible a hallucination may be ? De Boiamont, in his "Rational History of Hal lucinations" gives us many instances where delusions and hallucinations became fixed in the moid, when they were the result of accident or disease. How far this may be the case in such artificial nppliances as chloroform, opium, alcohol, &c. has not yet been so fully determined ; but science has already proved that there is much likeness between the results from natural and artifi cial means in these cases. Indeed the whole difficulty seems to be in finding any divid ing line to define na'ural and artificial cases. The case of the Count and Countess Bocarme who were tried in the Belgian Court, for poisoning a brother of the Count ess with nicotine is also given at full lenglh in this work, and is entirely sui generis to both professions. The parties were as eminent in society as Prof. Webstor in this country; and their case like his illustrates that in the peculiar vice or unfortunate hab its of the criminal or his associations or cir cle we can alone find a clue to explain, detect and prove the crime. In the Chap man case, which is also in this book, the character of the adventurous impostor was very faintly covered, and that ot the vain, giddy woman still mofe exposed. From such seed crime would be very sure to grow. It is by the study of character and of the peculiar mental development of ihe parties in these cases that we can best conceive the proof of crime. And let 110 one after reading these cases attempt to excuse crime by talking about the "victim of circumstances." In all these cases the mind sought pvil rather than good, and in no one was the victim driven, except by the passion to which a full surrender and sale of soul had been voluntarily made.— Bocarme and Webster had all that man need covet for the few years of earth. Airs. Chapman lived in an earthly paradise, and invited the spirit of evil to stay. If half the power were used to resist evil fend shake off the demon that lures, which'tfl the dark calender of crime we see temptmg seduc tion, the world would be much better.— Human nature, in framing a specious cuse for its frailties, lays entirely too much of its sufferings and misfortunes upon a gracious Providence; and forgets too much the prayer "lead us not into temptation." This book is useful in the fact that it has not been wfltten to sustain any system, plat form or ism, but leaves the mind free to gen eralize from the facts given. The difficulty in generalizing by induction will always be that 110 two cases are far parallel; and that the thousand incidental circumstances vari ously modifying each one, never twice com bine in the same connection and proportion. The physician finds every day in practice some illustraiion of this to perplex lnm; and the best key for him is a knowledge of the mysterious connection between mind and matter. Fortunately mind retains the mas tery over the sensorious part of our nature, and a proper knowledge of this influence can often be turned to good account in the cure of diseases. The delicate fastidious ness of a patient often interferes with the operations of a nauseous medicine, and then again intense anxiety for the operation of a remedy prevents its action. All nerv ous power seems in such cases drawn into the brain or mind, so that no vigor is left to. carry on the work of nature in the body.— Often when the body is enervaied by dis ease and the blood flows sluggish and dull, a new hope in the mind will rouse a new fountain in the heart, and inspire a deeper and quicker throb to the current of life, until tne pale cheek bloom again with the glow of health. l'ythagoras directs certain mental disor ders to be treated by music: and Martinius Capella affirms that fevers were so removed. A strong sudden emotion of the mind often works such a revolution in the system as to cure disease. Thus Holler quotes a case of gout which was cured by a (it of anger. ilut more frequently these sudden emo tions work such a violent change in the physical system, and exert such a powerful influence on the body that life itself ceases. John Hunter, the great surgeon, died sud denly in a fit of ragp. The Emperor Nerva died of a violent excess of anger against a Senator who had "offended him. Commo dore Morgan died at Washington from the excitement induced by a violent debate in Congress upon the subject of his conduct as the Commander of the Mediterranean squadron. Sophocles is stated to have died of joy on being crowned for a successful tragedy. Pliny records the death of a Ro man lady from excessive delight at receiv ing her son safe from the battle of Cannae.— Pope Leo X. fell into a fever, from which he never recovered, upon hearing the joy ful intelligence of the taking of Milan. The Doorkeeper of Congress fell dead of joy at hearing that Cornwallis had surrendered. So far as human ingenuity-has succeeded by the inductive process in drawing from mechanical and physical indices the truth which underlies them, no case equals the fictitious one for which we aro indebted to Edgar A. Poe—"The murder in the Rue Morgue." The authors of this work have dono justice to genius, and present it as an instructive study and a model of close rea soning. The mind of the unfortunate Poe itself presents a RUbject lor the deep study of the mental philosopher. All minds are after all vory much alike, and it is only the active ones that show a true development of what the sluggish ones by a stimulant might become.
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