THE STAR OBTHE NORTH. _
kit w, nttvery rriyrMth]
VOLUME 8.
TfcE STAR OF THE NORTH
is FVBUSIIEO EVERT WEDNESDAY JCONJNU BT
t-i.J . . H. w. wrAyEit,
OFFICK-Ifp sf aire. in the uhtt brick build
ing, on the south Me of Main Street,
third square be'ow Market.
TERMSTwo Dollars per anoiiin, if
paid within six months from thetifne of tbb
hcribing ; two dollars and fifty cents if not
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ceived for a less period than six monies ; no
discontinuance permitted until all arrearages
are paid, Unless at the option of the editor.
Advehtiskmentsnot exceedingonesquare
Will be inseried three limes for One Dollar
and twenty five cent*for each additional in
sertion. A liberal discount will be made to
those Who advertise by the year.
©tlgiHdl Poetrii.
Ehr the "Star if the North
OTH lilt DA VS.
Gibers may love to gain renown
* And court the worM'a vain praise;
My greatest bliss I find in this—-
To muse of other days.
Though many round with sweetest soanld
The songs of joy may raise {
Yet once again give me the strain
4 heard in other days.
The friends "more new" are not moretiue,
I care not for their praise—
For dearer far to me are those
I loved in other days.
And though the lip the smile has worn
In fashion's giitdy maze—
Thoughts unexpressed have filled the breast
With sighs for oiher days.
Buckhorn, Col. Co., Pa. [lillian.
INSECT I'OWliltS.
The muscular power ol insects is immense.
We once were surprised by a feat performed
by a common beetle in the United States.—
We had put the insect, for want of any box
at hand, beneath a quart bctile foil of milk
upon a table, the hollow of the tiOtlom al
lowing him room to stand upright. Present
ly, to our surprise, ike-bollla began slowly to
move, and glide along the smooth table, pro
—jrt-lle.t by the muscular power of the impris
oned insect, mid continued (or some time, to t
preambula'o lite surface, to ihe astonishment j
of all who witnessed it. The weight of the
bottle and its contents could not have been
less thaw three pounds and a half, while that
of tbe b<Ale was but half an ounce, so that
tl readily %oved a weight eighty-one and a
half limes exceeding its own. A better no
tion than figures can convey will be obtain
ed of this feat by supposing a lad of fifteen
to be imprisoned under the great hell at St.
Paul's, which weighs 12,000 pounds, and to ]
move it to and fro upon n smooth pavement !
by pushing within. Mr. Newport has given
other instances of insect power equally re
markable. Having once fastened a small
kind of Carabus, a elegantly fiomeJ ground
beetle, weighing three and a half grains, by
a silk thresd, to a piece ot paper, lie laid a
weight pn the latter. At a distance of li-ti
inches frotri its load, the insect was able to
drag after it, upon us inclined plane of 25
deg., nearly eighty-five grains; but when
placed on a plane of five degrees inclina
tion, it drew after it one pound and twenty
five grains, exclusive of the friction to be
overcome in moving its loaJ, as though a
mail were to drag up a hill of similar incli
nation a wagon weighing two lona and a
half, having first taken the wheels off. Ac
cording to the same excellent authority, the
atag beetle—imrantucerutii-has been known
to gnaw a hole an inch in diameter through
the side of an iron canhter in which it was
Confined, and on which the msrks of its jaws ;
were distinctly visible, as proved by Ste- j
'phetif, Who exhibited the canister at one of j
the meetings of the Entomological Society, j
Let us look at the powers of insects exer
cited in the act of flying. The house flies—
Alutea domittica— iliat wheel and play be
neath the ceiling for hours together, ordinar-1
fly move at the rale of about five feet per;
second; but if excited to speed they can 1
dart along through thirty-five feet in the
same brief space of time. Now in this pe- j
riod, at Kirby and Spence observe, a race
horse could clear only ninety feel, which is
at the rale of more than a mile a minute.--
Our little fly, in her swiftest flight, will go j
more thsn one third of a mile. Now com-1
pare the immense differences of the size of •
the two animals—ten millions of the fly:
would hardly obunterpoise one racer—and f
how wonderful will the velocity of this min
ute creature appear! Did the fly equal the :
race horse in size and retain ita powers in
the ratio of ita magnitude, it would traverse
the globe with the rspidrty of lightning.—
Some of the flies tbst haunt ous gardena
shoot along so rapidly that the eye cannot
follow them in flight.
Nor are these liny creatures less masters
of the arts of running aud leaping. Da
Lisle mentions a fly so minote as almost to
bo invisible, whicti tan pearly six inches In
% seoopd, and in thai space was calculated
to have made one thousand and eighty steps!
ThM, according to the calculation of Kirby
sod Bpsnee, is as if a man whose steps
measured only two feel, should run at the
Incredible rale of twenty miles in a minute.
Every one has bad occasion to observe, not
elways without an emotion of anger,' the
leaping powera ol the flea—Puff* irritant.—
A bound of two hundred timet it* own
length;!** common feat, at if a man should
Jam p, twelve handred feet, ore qdkrter of a
rails! What a pity that insects were not
allowed to bo competitots in the athletic
game* of old/ Creolt.
Vl * -—I,' 1 . siiVs
Otr An aflecied singer, at a .theatre, was
told byt*wag in the gallery, "to come out
Irom behind hlk nose and si tig like othbt peo
ple."
BLOOMSBURG, COLUMBIA COUNTY, p||IirEDNESDAY. SEPTEMBER 17. 1856.
I W "*"■ '■t."' l ' rtuiMUV.
I BUCHANAN'S SPEECH.
Thai no man who desires information may
be deceived, we publish below an extract
from the able and insSle'rfy irgomenl of
.lames Bucharran upoa live Independent Trea
sury bill, delivered in the United States Sen
ate in 1840. Any one who reads the speech
entire, or the following extract, and J>en re
peats the stale slander that
was or is the enemy ot the Jarring classes,
or that he would policy preju
dicial to their interests, lias uublushiog ef
frontery and brazen hardihood enough for a
regiment of ordinarily unscrUDulous people.
"On Friday last, when i very unexpected
ly addressed the Senate, I stated a peinciple
of political economy whioh I now shall read
from the book, iw is this: 'that if you
dduhla the amount of the necessary circufa-
Tog medium m any country, you thereby
double the nominal price of every article.—
If, when the circulating medium is fifty mil
lions, an article should cost one dollar, it
would cost two if, without any increase ol
the uses of a circulating medium, the quon
titv should be increased to one hundred mil
lions.' Tha same effect would be produced,
whether the circulating medium were specie,
or convertable bank paper mingled with
specie. !l is the increased quantity of the
medium, not its character, which produces
this effect. Of course I leave out of view ir
redeemable bank paper.
"I do not pretend that, on questions ol po
litical economy, you can attain mathematical
certainty. All you can accomplish is to ap
proach it as near as possible. The principle
which I have slated is sufficiently near the
truth to answer mf present purpose. From
this principle, I drew an inference that Ihe
extravagant amount of our circulating me.
dium, consisting, ill a great degree, of the
notes thrown out upon tha community by
eight hundred banks, was injurious to our
domestic manufactures, (n other words, that
extravagant banking ait.l domestic manufac
tures are directly hostile to esch other.
"I did not understand that the Senator from
Massachusetts [Mr. Davis! contested the
general proposition that an increase in the
currency of any country, without an increase
of the uses of a circulating medium, would,
in the same proportion, enhance the price of
all the productions of that country whose
value w-as not regulated by a foreign de
mand. He could not have contested this
principle. If he had, all history and all ex
perience would have been arrayed against
him. .
'•The tli&covery of llie mines of South |
America, and the consequent vast increase
or die precious metals put inlo circulation in '
the form ol money, have greatly enhanced I
the nomine! prices ol all properly throughout
die world. Indeed it is frow a matter of
curious amusement, to contrast the low prices
of all articles three centuries ago, with their
present greatly advanced rates. The Banlt of
England recognize*, and constantly acts up
on this principle, though often without suc
cess. When prices become so high, in con
sequence cf redundancy of paper currency
and fault credits, that it is more profitable (n
export the precious metals from the kingdom
than its manufactures, this bank constantly
diminishes its loans, raises the rate of inter
est, and reduces its circulation, with the
avowed object of reducing prices to such a
standard as will render it mote profitable to
export merchandize than bullion. It is in
this manner thai the Bank seeks to regulate
the foreign exchanges.
"But why need we resort to foreign na
tions for illustrations of truth of this position
when it has ben brought home to the actual
knowledge of every man within this coun
' try? Have we not all learned by bitter ex
perience, that when out periodical expan
| sions commence, the price of all property
!| begins to rise t It goes on increasing with
the increasing expansion, until the bubble
, bursts; and then bank accommodations and
bank issues ate contracted, the amount of the
! currency is reduced, and prices fall to their
former level. This is the history of our own
country, and we all know it. A certain
amount of currenoy is necessary to represent
| the entire exchangeable properly of the
country; and if this amount should be great
' ly increased, without a corresponding iu
' crease in the exchangeable productions ot
j the country, the only consequence would be a
i great enhancement in nominal prices. I say
nominal; because this increased price will
not enable the man who receives it to pur
chase more real property or morq of the ne
cessaries and luxuries of life than he could
have done before.
' Lei me now recur to the proposition with
which t commenced ; and I repeat that I do
not pretend to mathematical accuracy in the
illustration which! shall present. The Uni
ted States carry on a trade with Germany and
France ; the former e hard-money country,
and the latter approaching it ao nearly as to
have no bank notes in circulation under the
denomination of flee hundred francs or near
ly one hundred dollars. Gn the contrary,
the United States la a paper
money country, having eight h'tindred banks
of Issue ; all of them emitting notes of a de
nomination.as low as fire dollars, and most
of them one, two, and three-dollar notes.—
For every dollar of gold and silver in the
vaulu of these banks, they issue three, foer,
five, end some of them as high as ten, end
even fifteen dollars of paper. This prod trees
a vest but ever ohanging expansion of the
currency; and a conseqnent increase of the
prices of all articles, the vglne of which is
not regulated by l.be foreign demand, above
the prices of similar articles in Germany and
France. At particular stages of our sxpan-
I eions, we might with jutfiee apply the prln
ciple which I have Stated tb OUT trade to these
countries, and a'ssert that from the great re
dundancy of our currency, articles are mann-
I factored in France and Germany (of Cne half
!of their actual cost in this country. Let me
present an example. In Germany, vhere
the currency is pwrely metallic, ar.d the cost
i of everything'!* reduced to a hard.monov
standard, a piece of broadcloth can be manu
factured lor fifty dqllars ; the manufacture of
which, in our country, from the expansion of
our paper currency, Would cost one hundred
dollars. What is the consequence ' The
.foreign Trench or German Manufacturer Im
ports his cloth into ouf country and sella it
for one hundred dollars. Does not every
person perceive that the redundancy of our
currency is equal to a premium of one hun
dred per cent, in favor of the foreign manu
facturer! No tariff of protection, unless it
amounted to prohibition, cou,ld counteract
this advantage in favor ol foreign manufac
tures. I would to Heaven that I could rouse
the attention of every manufacturer of the
nation to this important subject.
"The foreign manufacturer will not re
ceive our bank notes in payment. He wil[l
take nothing home except gold and silver,
or bills of exchange, which are equivalent.
He does not expend this money here, where
he would be compelled to support his fami
ly, aud purchase his labor and materials at
the same rate of prices which ho receives for
his manufactures. On the contrary, he goes
home, purchases his labor, his wool, and all
other articles which enter into his manufac
ture, at half their cost in this country; and
again returns to inundate us with foreign
woolens, and to ruin our domestic manufac
tures. I might cite many other examples:
but this, I trust, will be sufficient to draw
public attention tu the subject. This depre
ciation of our currency is, therefore, equiva
lent to a direct protection granted to the for
eign over the donjestic manufacturer. It is
impossible that our manufacturer should bs
able to sustain such an unequal competi
tion.
"Sir, t solemnly believe that if we conld
but reduce this inflated paper bubble to any
thing like reasonable dimensions, New Eng
land would become the most prosperous man
ufacturing country that the sun ever shone
upon. Why cannot we manufacture goods,
and especially cotton goods, which will go
into successful competition with British man
ufactures in loreign markets 1 Have we not
the necessary capital ? Have we not the in
dustry ? Have we not the machiner> ? And
above all, are not our skill, energy, and en
lerprise, proverbial throughout Ilia world ?■*-
Land is also cheaper here than in any nth
re country on the face of the earth. We
possess every advantage which Providencp
can bestow upon us for the manufac
ture of cotton; but they are all counteracted
by the folly of man. The raw material costs
us less than it does the English, because this
is an article, the price of which depends up
on foreign markets and is not regulated by
our own inflated currency. We therefore,
save the freight of the cotton across the At
lantic, and that of the manufactured article
on its return here. What is the reason that,
with all these advantages, and with the pros
pective duties, which our own laws afford
to the domestic manufacture ol cotton, we
cannot obtain exclusive possession of the
home market, and successfully contend for
the markets of the world? It is simply he
cause we manufacture at the nominal prices
of our own inflated currency, and are com
pelled to sell at the real prices of other na
tions. Reduce our nominal to the real stan
dard of p.ices throughout the world, and you
cover our country with blessings and benn
fits. I wish to Heaven 1 could speak in a
voice loud enough to be heard throughout
New England ; because if the attention of
the manufacturers could once be directed to
tbe subject, their own intelligence and native
sagacity would teach them bow injuriously
they are affected by our bloated banking
and credit system, and would enable them
to apply the proper corrective.
| "What ia the reason that, our manufae
turers have been able to sustain any sort of
competition, even in the home market, with
those of British origin ? It is because Eng
land herself is, tu a great extent, a paper
money country, though, in this respect, no
to De compared with our own. From this
very cause prtcea in England are much high
er titan they are upon the continent. Thi
exponas of living is there double what i
costs in France. Hence, all the English wh<
desire to nurse their lortuoes by livinj
cheaply emigrate from their own country n
France, or some other portion of the corn
ent. The comparative low prices of Fraqoe
and Germany have afforded such astiumulus
to their manufacturers that they are now
rapidly extending themselves, and would
obtain possession, In no small degree, even
of the English home . roarset, if )t tyere not
for their protecting duties. \ybtl|st British
manufactures are now languishing, those of
the continent are springing into a healthy and
vigorous existence- It, was but the other
day that 1 saw an extract from an English
psper which stated that wbijst the cutlery
manufactured in Germany wasuqual in qual
ity with the English, it. was so rsducsd in
price that the latter would have to abandon
the manufacture altogether.
* • • • • • * .
" But the Senator from Kentucky leaves
no atone unturned. He says that the friends
of the Independent. Treasury desire to der
molish an exclusive metallic currency, a the
medium of all dealings, throughout the Uni
on ; end also, to reduce the Wages of the poor
man's labor so that the rich employer may
be able to sell his manufactures at slower
prioe. Now, sir, t deny the correctness of
Truth aud Right Ood nfwf fuuiury.
both these propositions; and, in tha first
place, 1, for one, am not in favor of estab
lishing an exelosive metallic ourrenoy for the
people of this country. I desire to sea tbe
banks greatly reduced in number; and
would, if I could, confine their accommoda
tions to such loans or discounts, for limited
periods, to Ihe commercial manofactoring,
and trading classes of Ihe community as the
ordinary course of their business might ren
der necessary. 1 never wish to see farmers
and mechanic* and professional men templ
ed, by the facility of obtaining bank loans
for long poriods to abandon their own proper
and useful and respectable spheres and rush
into wild and extravagant speculation. I
would, If I could, radically reform the pres
ent banking system, so as to confine it with
in such limits as to prevent future suspen
sions of speoie payments; and without ex
ception, 1 would instantly deprive each and
every bank of its charier which should again
suspend. Establish these or similar reforms,
and give us a real specie basis for our paper
circulation, by increasing the denomination
of bank notes first to ten, and afterwards 10
twenty dollars, and 1 shall then be the friend,
not the enemy of the banks. I know that
the existence of banks and the circulation of
bank paper are so identified with the habits
of our people, that they cannot be abolished,
even if this were desirable. To reform, and
not destroy, is my motto. To confine them
to their appropriate business, and prevent
them from ministering to the spirit of wild
and reckless speculation, by extravagant
loans and issues, is all which ought to be de
sired. But this I shall say. If expeiieuce
should prove it to be impossible to enjoy the
facilities which well regulated banks would
afford, without, at the same lime, continuing
to suffer the evils which the wild excesses of
the present banks have hitherto entailed up
on the country, then I should consider it the
lesser evil to abolish them altogether. If the
Slate Legislatures shall now do their duly, I
do not believe that it will ever become nec
essary to decide on such an alternative.
" We are also charged by the Senator from
Kentucky with a deeiie to reduce the wages
of the poor man's labor. We have often
been termed agrarians on our s-.de of the
House. It is something new under the sun,
to hear the Senator ar.d his friends attribute
to us a desire to elevate the wealthy manu
facturer, at the expense of tho laboring man
and the mechanic. From my soul, I respect
the laboring man. Labor is a foundation of
the wealth ol every country ; and the free
laborers of the North deserve respect, both
tor their probity and their intelligence.—
Heaven forbid that I should do them wrong!
Of all the countries oil the ea'ih, we ought to
have the most consideration for the laboring
man. From the very nature of our institu
tions, the wheel of fortune iB constantly re
volving and producing such mutations in pro
perty, that the wealthy man of to-day may be
come the poor laboftir of to-morrow. Truly,
wealth often lakes to itself wings and flies
away. A. large fortune rarely lasts beyond
the third genertyioit, even if it endure so long.
We must all know instances of individuals
obliged to labor for their daily bread, whose
grandfathers were men of fortune. The reg
ular process of sooiety would almost seem to
consist of the efforts of one class to dissipate
the fortunes which they have inherited, whilst
another class, by their industry and econo
my, are regularly rising to wealth. We have
all, therefore, a common interest, as it is our
common duty, to protect the righte of the
'laboring man; and if I believed for a mo
ment that ibis bill would prove injurious
to him, it should meet my unqualified oppo
sition.
Although this bill will not have as great
an influence as I could desire, yet, as far us
it goes, it will benefit the laboring man as
much, and probably more than any other
class of society. What is it he ought most
to desire ? Constant employment, regular
wages, and uniform reasonable prices for the
necessaries and comforts of life which he
requires. Now, air, what has been his con
dition under our system of expansions and
contractions? He has suffered moreby them
than any other class of society. The rate of
his wages is fixed and known ; and they are
the last to rise with the increasing expan
sions and the first to fall when the corres
ponding revulsion occurs. He still contin
ues to receive his dollar per day, whilst the
price of every article which be consumes, is
rapidly rising. He is at length made to feel
that, although he nominally earns as much,
or even more than he did formerly, yet, from
the inoreased price of all the necessaries of
life, he cannot support his family. Hence
the strikes fpr higher wages, and the uneasy
and excited feelings which have at different
periods, existed among the laboring classes.
But the expansion at leugth reaches the ex
ploding point, and what does the laboring
man now sufiet? He ia for a season thrown
oat,of employment, altogether. Opt manu
factures are suspended; our public wprks sre
stopped; our private enterprises of different
kinds are abandoned; end, Whilst others are
able to weather the siortn, lie can scarcely
procure tbe means,of bare subsistence.
''Agalb, sir; who do you suppose held the
greater part ol the Worthless paper of the one
hundred ar.d sixty-five broken banks to which
I have referred ? Certainly It was not the
keen and wary speculator, who snuffs dan
ger from afar. If you were to make the
search, you would find more broken bank
notes in the cottagee of the laboring poor
than anywhere else. And these miserable
Shioplestere, where are they 1 After the re
vulsion of 1837, laborers were glad to obtain
I employment on any terms ; and they often
I received it upon the express condition Ibat
they should accept this worthless trssh In
payment. Sir, an nnlire suppression \A il
bank notea of a lower denomination th*n
the value of ona week's wages of the labor
ing man is absolutely necessary for hie pto
teotion. He ought alwaya toieceive hie wa
ges in gqld and silver. Of aH men on earth,
the laborer is most interested in having a
sound and stable currency.
"All other circumstances being equal, I
agree with the Senator from Kentucky that
that country is prosperous where labor
commands the highest wages. 1 do not,
however, mean by the terms 'highest wages,'
the greatest cominai amount. Daring the
Revolutionary war, one day's work com
manded a hundred dollars of continental pa
per ; but this would have scarcely purchased
a breakfast. The mote proper expression
woOld be, to say that that country is most
prosperous where labor oomtnands the great
est reward ; where one day's labor will pro
cure not (he greatest nominal amount of a
depreciated currency, bat most of the neces
saries and comforts of life. If, therefore,
you should, in some degree, reduce the nom
inal price paid for labor, by reducing the a
mount of your bank issues within reasonable
and safe limits, and establishing a metallic
basis for your paper circulation, would this
injure (be laborer I Certainly not; becau-e
the prlc* of all the necessaries and comforts
of life are reduced in the same proportion,
and be will be able to purchase more of
them for one dollar in a sound state of the
currency, than lie could have done, in the
days of extravagant expansion, for a dollar
and a quarter. So far Iron) injuring, it will
greatly benefit the laboring man. It will in
sure to him constant employment and regu
lar prices, paid in a sound currency, which,
of all things, he ought most to desire ; and it
will save him Itom being involved in ruin by
a recurrence of those periodical expansions
and contractions of the currency, which have
hithetio convulsed the country.
"This sound slate of the currency Will
have another most happy effect upon the la
boring man. He will receive his wages in
gold and silver; and this will induce him to
lay up, for future use, such a portion of
them as lie can Spare, after satisfying bis im
mediate wants. This he will not do at pres
ent, because he knows not whether the trash
which he is now compelled to receive as
money, will continue lobe of any value a
week or a month hereafter. A knowledge
of this fact lends to banish economy from his
dwelling, and inducee him to expend all his
Wages as rapidly as possible, lest they may
become worthless on his hands.
" Sir, the laboring classes understand this
subject perfectly. It is the hard hand and
i iiifn of the country tjn whom wo
( rely in the day of danger, who are the most
friendly to the passage of this bill. It is they
i who are the rqjpst ardently in favor of infu
[ sing into the currency of the country a very
> large amount of the precious metals.
| " The Senator has advanced another posi
| lion in which I am sorry that I cannot agree
I with him. It is this: that a permanent high
| rate of interest is indicative eh the prosperity
of any coun'ry. Now, sir, a permanenthigh
rate of interest is conclusive evidence of a
scarcity of capital, and is indicative ot any
thing but prosperity. I think, therefore, it
would puzzle htm with all his ingenuity, to
establish his proposition. To render a coun
try truly prosperous, capital and labor must
be so combined as each to receive a fair re
ward. In England, when the rate of interest
was vety high, the country was not at all in a
flourishing condition; but as capital gradual
ly accumulated, and the rale of interest con
sequently sunk, she became more and more
prosperous, though she did not reach her
highest elevation until money yielded consid
erable less than Ave per cent. But this sub
ject is so little relevant to the question under
discussion, that it is scarcely necessary to
pursue it. If it were, it would De easy to
! show that a high rate of interest, generally,
if not universally, enters into direct conflict
j with the wages of labor, which the Senator
!is so anxious to maintain. Suppose, for ex
ample, that it required a capital of 820,000
to put ot and preserve sn iron manufactory in
successful operation. In one country the in
terest on this sum at ten per oont. would
amount to 82,000; while in another it could
be procured at four per cent., or 8800.
The difference would be 81,200; and uu
less this amount can be saved either by a
reduction In lite wages of labor, or in some
other manner, the manufacturer who pays
the higher rate of interest cannot endure the
competition. A higher rale of interest al
most always presses upon the wages of la
bor.
" If the gentleman's theory be correct,
Wall street must be a perfect paradise of
prosperity. There, the rate of interest for a
long time has been permanently high, vary
ing between two and four per cent, a monlb,
or between twenty-four and forty-eight per
cent, per annum. Post notes of the Back or
the United States have been discounted fteely
at two per per month. With these
facts before him, Mr. Jeffrey would not now
declare, as the Senator informed us he form
erly did,'that this country was tfte heaven of
the poor man, aud the hell of the rich.' He
might probably revorse l he position, though
it would be equally extravagant one way
as the oiher. A country ID which a tich man
can realize from 24 to 48 per cent, for the
money, would certainly be anything but a
place of torment for him. Bnt what is the
condition of a poor man in such a country 1
When capital commands such an extrava
gant interest to liquidate commercial debta,
it will no longer be used in the employment
of labor; and hence poor men must neces
sarily be thrown out of employment. Such
a condition is anything but "a heaven for
them."
From the -Daily Terrs Haute Journal.
Letter from the Hon. James B. Clair.
[The following fetter from the Hon. Jas.
B. Clay, son of the immortal Henry Clay,
written to a gentleman living in the vicini
ty of this place, has been kindly furnished
us tor publication. It will for ever put to
rest, in the minds of candid men, the charge
of "bargain -and corruption" now urged
against Mr. commends itself
to every National man and Old Lioe Whig in
the country:]
ASHLAND, near Lexington, July 14,'56.
DEAB Stat—l have received your letter of
the 7th inst. I am gratified to learn that
you are still an Old Line Whig, who has
not given in to the modern heresies which
have come so near sweeping our noble par
ty from the face of the earth. We are too
few in numbers to present separate candi
dates to the people, for their suffrages for
the highest office in their gift, but we are
not too few to adhere faithfully to the prin
ciples of our fathers, and believing them to
be true, and that truth must eventually pre
vail, to hope lor better times, when the
country may have recovered from the mad
ness which appears to have seized upon it.
Like myself and thousands of our follow
citizens, you are casting about to endeavor
to ascertain what may the course your
duty to your country ought to impel you to
pursue in the .contest which is approaching
between the candidates of parties, to none
of which you yourself belong. You do me
the honor to ask my advice and my opinion.
I give my opinion cheerfully and freely.
I regard the stability of the Union as in
greater peril than it ever has been since tho
foundation of the government. In 1820 the
wisest and best men thought it in danger
from the slavery question. The so-called
Missouri Comportnise was passed for the
purpose and with the hope that it would
put that question finally at rest. In 1850 it
was plainly seen that the hope was futile
and the purpose without avail. The whole
country was distracted and torn in pieces,
and the boldest and wisest Statesman trem
bled for the Union. By the efforts of the
best men of all parties the Compromise of
1850 was effected, and men once again
breathed freely in the feeling that the coun
try was safe. How vain, how futile their
hopes ! Scarcely aro some of the noblest
actors in the scones of 1850 cold in their
I graves when again the question of Slavery
—in other words of Union or Dissolution
is presented to us, and in a form more tan
gible and direct than it ever befoitt was.
The anti-Slavery parly of the North deter
mined to accomplish its purposes, has pre
! sented a purely sectional candidate, North
against South, in the person of Col. Fremont
for the Presidency. It is my opinion that
there is now no other issue than this—North
against South—Union or Dissolution of the
Union;—upon this issue what aro we to do
| as lovers of our couutry, who know no
1 North, no South, no East nor West.
J The Whig party, to which alone of pres
' ent parties I can belong, has not thought it
prudent and advisable to present candidates
to the country. We have offered for our
suffrages opposing Mr. Fremont two dantli
dales, Mr. Fillmore and Mr. Buchanan, both
of whom I believe to be, upon the Slavery
I question, as true to the Union as I am my
self. Each of them is the representative of
principles to which lam opposed. So far
as regards my own convictions and my own
principles neither Mr. Fillmore or Mr. Bu
chanan is my choice; but I must choose
between them, or snffer, so far as I am con
cerned, the Black Republican party to de
stroy the glorious Union under which 1 was
born and live. It is but a choice of evils,
but both far less evils than would be the
election of Fremont. In making the choice
I shall be governed, not by personal attach
ment or personal repugnance to one or the
other. 1 shall vote for that one who 1 be
lieve will be most likely to defeat Fremont
and save the Union. It is my lamest belief
that Mr. BUCHANAN, has a better thance of
successs than Mr. Fillmore, and it ts my opinion
that 11 is the duty of eveiy man, and of every
Old Line IVhig, ulio pretends to love his coun
try to VOTE FOR HIM as the surest means of
saving the Union.
It has been repeatedly urged to men that
Mr. Buchanan was the political enemy and
the villifier of my father. Were everything
that has been said true, I should reply, I
loved my father better than I loved any mortal
man, but I love my Country more. But I do
not believe the charge against Mr. Buchanan
to be tiue. 1 know that for more that twen
ty-five years, politically, he was the oppo
nent of my father. Ido not for an instant
believe that he hud any complicity with
Gon. Jackson and others in the charge of
bargain and corruption, made against my
lather in 1825. If I believed this I must at
the same time believe my own father to
have been false ; for publicly and privately
he exonerated Mr. Buchnnan from the
charge; witness his private letter, never in
tended for publication, to his old friend Judge
Brook,'page 169 of Coltin's private corres
pondence of Henry Clay, in which he says
"he could not desire a stronger statement
from Mr. Buchanan ;" and hie' public
speech 1 at Washington on him retirement
front the office of Secretary of State, in
which he use* the following language:—
"That citizen (General Jackson) has dond
me great injustice, it was inflicted, as I
must eter beKeVe, for the double' purpose
of gratifying private resentment, and promo
ting personal ambition. ■ Who*;! daring the
late canvase, he earn* fbhsML in the public
prints under tod' priipil MM, with hk
[Two Dollars itf ttatai
NUMBER 35.
| charge against m and summoned before
the public tribunal, hts fricml and only wii
ness (Mr. Buchanan) to establish It, the
anxious attention of the whole American
people waa directed to the testimony which
that witness might render. He promptly
obeyed the call, and testified to whist ha
knew. He could say nothing, and he taid
nothing which cast the slightest sbeide upon
my honor or integrity. What he did say
was the reverse of any implication of me."
iThrse are enough tor me; other men may
pretend that they are greater friends of my
father than I urn myself; they have done so,
and they will for miierable party purpose#
do so again. Suffice it that he was my fa*
tber, my partner, and my beet friend in life,
f nevet forgave, and never Will forgive, real
injuries and real treachery to him; and it is
my firm belief that if I were to attempt a
crusade againat all those who were guilty of
wrong and ol injury 14 htm, t should find
m) hands most abundantly occupied with
those whose mouths are now most full of hla
name. 1 make no war upon ihem, and
if I could only see them willing to abandon
their wretched hunt after office, it the ex
pense of sll principle, and to strike one blow
for that Union my father to loved that be
gave his life for it, mufch of my rancour to
wards them would be appeased.
I have thus, my dear sir, with perfect free
dom and candor, given you thy views ihct
opinions. You are free to are them as you
please, publicly or privately.
I am, very respectfully, &e.,.
Your obedieul servant,
JAMES B. CLAY.
PICKLCS—A correspondent alludes to the
fact that the season of the year has ar
rived when almost every housewife ia
busily employed in replenishing her an
nual store of pickles, and desires our
opinion on their value in a dietetic point
ol view.
Certainly no one considers pickles, as we
usually meet with them on our tables, as ar
ticles of food—they can be viewed in no
other light than as exciters of the appetite,
or as a means of imparting an additional fla
vor to tho more substantial Viands of which
the meal is composed.
The articles generally selected for pick
ling, are unripe vegetable substances, and
those of the more indigestible class; as for
instance, immature cucumbers, or melons,
peppers and the like. Whatever principle
in any degree soluble by the stothach these
may contain, previous to their conversion
into pickles, they are completely destroyed
by the latter process ; hence, when served
at table, a picklo consists simply of Sn indi
gestible sponge saturated with vinogar.
A moderate quantity of vinegar, it is true;
is by no means an unwholesome addition
to many articles of food. When made use
of, however,in the form of pickles, its whole
somenoss is materially destroyed, as well
by tho indigestible mass with which it is
combined as by the spices by which it is
highly flavored. These, besides disorder
ing the stomach of themselves, are very apt
to produce a factitious appetite, or to pro
long the desire for food after the natural ap
petite has been satisfied—in either case C'lft
dangering the loading of the stomach with
a quantity of ailment far beyond its powers
of digestion, or the actual wants of the sys
tem— Med. Reformer.
Discoveries of (be Arfrt.
Some of lite most wonderful resulte of Hu
man intellect hare been witnessed in Ibe Isst
fifty years. It is remarkable how the mind
of the world had run into scientific investi
gation, arid what achievmeuts it has effected
in (hat short peiiod.
Fulton launched die first steamboat in 1807,
now there ate 3,000 steamboats traveling the
waters of America ouly.
In 1826 (he fiisl railroad Mis put in Opera
tion in Massachusetts.
In 1800 there was not a single railroad id
the world. In the United Stales atone there
are now 8,797 miles of road costing $285,-
000,000 to build, and about 22,000 miles of
railroad in America.
The electric telegraph had its beginning
in 1845.
The eleotio magnet was discovered in
1812, and electrotypiug is a still later inven
tion.
Hoe's printing press, ctfpable of printing
10,000 copies an hour, is a very recent dis
covery.
Qas light was unknown in 1800 ; how ev
ery city Aid town of any pretence is lighted
wi Ih gas, gnd we have the announcement of
a still greater discovery by which; light, heat,
and motive power, may all be produced from
water, With scarcely any cost.
Daguerre communicated to the world hi(
beautiful invention in t839.
Gun cntton ond chforolorm are discoveries
but a few years old.
Astronomy has added 8 number of new
planets to their solar system.
What will tbe next half century aooora
plisb 1. Wo. may look for (till greater discov
eries ; for the intellect of men ia awake ex
ploring every name of itdOwledge, and search
ing for useful information in every depart
ment of art end industry, is r. : -v ;l .
- it . I' ' .
. He FetmsOoT.—Gov. Letcher, in a space*
at a barbucue in Kentucky, asked: '!■ Whet
ie John C. Breckinridge I"
An old Democrat replied that he *ae'/ifce
stripling Democrat wbe beet Leteher for Con
gress is toe strongest Whig, dietricl hi the
State."
Iria hardly heoeesery to gdd that ibeGow
edusrdld net put thnt question again.