V
il i
BY S. 13. ROW.
OLEAREIELD, I5!., WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1858.
YOL. l-W. 49.
GEXTLE WOBDS AUD LOVING SMILES.
. The son may warm the grass to life,
The dew, the drooping flower,
And eyes grow dim and watch the flight.
Of Autumn's opening hour;
. 13 ut words that breathe of kindness,
. And smiles we know are trne,
Are wanner than Iho summer time,
. .. And brighter than the dew. .
It li not much the world can give,
With all if subtile art,
And gold and gems are not the things
To satisfy the heart;
But, oh, if those who cluster round .
The altar of the heart,
Have gentle words and loving smiles,
' liow beautiful is earth '.
From the National Magazine.
JttFERSON AND HIS TIMES.
Conclusion.
' The political campaign preceding his first
election to tiie Presidency, was one of the
most acrimonious and excited that the country
ever saw. Jeflerson was assailed with partisan
malice, and many efforts were resorted to to
blacken his reputation and destroy his influ
ence. Lies pon red out their malignity, and
rlander was unblushing in its defamations.
Yet lie never deigned to write one word lor
the papers in his own defense. lie seemed ut
terly regardless of felf, and fought only for
las principles. For thesa he contended in
Washington until all hopes of success Hod.
He then turned to the Slate Legislatures. lie
drew tip the famous resolutions which were
passed by Kentucky and" Virginia, declaring
the Alien and Sedition laws unconstitutional,
und asserting the rights of the states to inter
pose their authority and power for arresting
:vi!s growing out of the usurpation of powers
ly Congress. Those resolutions checked the
insane career of the monarchists, and saved
the Constitution in its last struggle.
After a long and fierce contest, Jeflerson re
ceived a majority of the popular votes, and of
the votes of the Electoral College, for Presi
dent; but as no distinction was then made on
the ballots between President and Vice-President,
it happened that Jeflerson and Burr re
ceived the same number of votes : and though
everybody knew that Jeflerson was meant lor
President, yet his opponents took, advantage
f the omission and claimed that there was
no election. The matter was then referred to
the House of Representatives, where the Fed
eralists, in order to defeat Jeflerson, dropped
their own candidate and voted for Purr, a man
who had not received one popular vote for
that office, and who was in no respect qualified
for it. On the thirty-sixth ballot Jeflerson tri
umphed, receiving the vote of ten states a
gainst four for Burr and two blanks.
His inaugural was in perfect keeping with
the republican simplicity of the man. When
his predecessors were inducted into the samo
office it was with regal pomp and parade. Ev
erything was done to impress the popular mind
with the importance of the occasion and the
majesty of the President. Washington pro
tested long against this silly mimicry of a
kingly pageant, but at last yielded. The Re
publicans were disgusted with it; Jeflerson
Hbhorred it ; and hence when bis turn came to
go through the ceremonies, he positively re
fused. Jn a plain citizen's dress he walked,
unattended, into the capitol. entered the Sen
ate chamber, approached the table, on which
lay a Bible, and by which was standing the
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The
Senate arose to receive him. He took the oath
.t office; and then to the Senate, and a few
friends present, he delivered a brief yet noble
address.contnining the principles which should
govern bis administration. Those principles
comnictd themselves to everyAmerican heart.
He commenced at once the Herculean labor
if administrative reform ; he discontinued the
courtly custom of levees, with their atten
dant trair of ceremonies, their aristocratic
parade of ribbons and garters; their idleness
and dissipation of time ; their corruption of
morals and manners ; their waste of health and
money, and their paraphernalia of despotic
courts. And in the place of these levees he
introduced the dignified courtesies, the sub
stantial virtnes, and elevated simplicities of
republicanism.
He removed from office all who had been ap
pointed by Mr. Adams on the eve of his retire
inent from the chair, many of whom were ap
pointed purposely, it was thought, to embar
rass Jefferson, lie cut off every one who had
used his official influence to effect any elec
tion, lie dismissed en masse the large body
of Treasury inspectors, and appointed none in
their places, lie suppressed every superflu
ous office dependent upon executive patron
age, and removed every idle clerk in all the
departments. With the consent of Congress
he dismissed every gatherer or the internal
tax, and these collectors comprised more than
three fourths of all the officers of the general
government. He rednced the diplomatic corps
to three ministers. He reduced the standing
army from nominally one hundred thousand to
three thousand men." By these various retrench
ments ho saved, of the annual current expell
ees of the government, about three millions
or dollars; and thus with the slowly increas
ing revenue was enabled, in three years and a
half, to pay of inteiest on the public debt a
bout fourteen millions of dollars, and on the
principal thirteen million five hundred thou
and dollars. The odious Sedition Law died a
natural death; the Alien Law was essentially
modified and stripped of its objectionable lea
tnres; agriculture and manufactures flourish
ed - commerce was extended ; the internal re
sources of the country were rapidly develop
ing, and wealth, from every quarter, was pour
ing into the nation. That was, indeed, a gold
n epoch in our history.
The people stamped their approval upon
Mr. Jeflerson 's administration, by re-electing
him by a very large majority. His second
term of office was commenced under favora
- Me auspices for prosecuting his contemplated
reforms. He warmly recommended internal
improvements, and such a modification of the
Constitution as would permit the establish-
mcnt of a national university for the promo
tion of science and the highest degrees of ed
ncation. But thislatter scheme failed through
sectional jealousies.
During this second term of his administra
tion serious difficulties with England, which
had been accumulating from the close of the
Revolution, approached a crisis. English
aggressions upon our commerce were becom
ing more numerous and assuming a graver
magnitude. It finally became apparent that
trc must go to war with nearly all Europe, or
submit to unrestrained piracy, or else lor a
time stop our commerce, and close cur ports
to foreign vessels. Mr. Jefferson chose the
latter, and recommended the embargo to Con-,
gress. It was adopted; and dire were the
curses which camo down upon its author. It
is his reproach to this day.
But it was not original with Jefferson.
Massachusetts had used it before the Revolu
tion. President Washington also recommend
ed it to the third Congress, by whom it was
adopted March 20,' 171)4, and proclaimed.
Mr. Jefferson was certainly following whole
some examples in proposing his embargo. If,
therefore, there be reproach belonging to it,
let Massachusetts of 1775, General Washing
ten, and the third andlho tenth Congresses
share in it. As a substitute for war it was the
choice of a lesser evil, and at the same time
annoyed the enemy moro than any direct and
open warfare which our government could
then carry on could have done.
While president, J.efferson performed a large
amount of literary and other unofficial labor.
Regular essays on physics, law, medicine,
science, natural history, agriculture, manufac
tures, navigation, morals, education, and re
ligion appear in his correspondence. He
continued his communications with foreign
literary, scientific, and agricultural societies.
He imported valuable -stock. He introduced
vaccination, amid a storm of ridicule. lie
used great exertions to colonize free blacks
upon the coast of Africa, hoping thereby to
suppress the slave-trade, and prepare the way
for emancipating the enslaved in our own
country. He corresponded with Alexander
of Russia, then mediator between the belliger
ents of Western Europe, and endeavored to
procure through him a recognition of the
rights of neutrals on the high seas. He strove
to embellish Washington that city of hills,
and sand, and marshes, of immense distances,
ot marble palaces and negro huts. Standing
in the western portico of the capitol, and
looking down through a mile of Pennsylvania
Avenue to the president's house, you will be
struck with the beautiful colonade of trees
which' adorn the whole distance on both sides.
Those trees were planted under Mr. Jefferson's
direction, and some of them by his own hands.
He was rarely seen returning from his daily
rides withont bringing with him some sapling,
or shrub, or bunch of flowers, for the adorn
ment of the infant capital.
In the spring of 1809, he made his last and
happy retreat to his own Monticello. Noth
ing could induce him to become a candidate
for re-election, lie threw off the shackles of
power with as much joy as ever a prisoner did
his chains. lie wrote to a friend : "Nature
intended me for the tranquil pursuits of sci
ence by rendering them-my supreme delight.
But the enormities of the times have forced
me to take a part in resisting them, and to
commit myself on the boisterous ocean of
political passion. I thank God for the oppor
tunity of retiring without censure, and car
rying with me the most consoling proofs of
public approbation." He retired to the peace
ful repose of private lilu to his "family, his
books, and his farms.
The beloved companion of his early man
hood had gone; she died in his arms in 1782.
With her he lived only ten years; but, to use
his own language, those were years of "nn
checkercd happiness." When he retired
from the presidency two daughters ad sever
al grandchildren remained to gladden his
home, and in their presence his cup of joy
seemed full.
With his books he found sweet pastime.
His library was the largest and best private
collection of books in this country. And
their owner knew well their contents and com
parative merits.
His farms also occupied much of his atten
tion. Pv inheritance and marriage be posses
sed five thousand acres, eleven hundred and
twenty of which were under cultivation. His
was a model estate, for system and perfect ar
rangement. It w-as divided into four farms,
and every farm into seven fields, on which he
raised seven crops in rotation. Each farm had
its overseer, its quota of .slaves, horses, and
cattel. Around his family mansion, which
was a splendid structure, costing more than
the AVhite House at Washington, he had h
manufacturing village; carpenters, black
smiths, cabinet and shoe shops, grain mills,
and manufactories of cotton and woolen. Al
most everything needed at Monticello was
produced there. And yet with all this com
pleteness that estate, like most slave estates,
was bankrupt. It had been lett to overseers,
who cared but little for the interests of its
owner, rod was worked by slaves who had no
motives for thrift and industry.
And the man who, by his wisdom, had paid
off thirty-three millions or dollars or debt
for his county, and more than doubled her ex
tent or territory, and greatly enriched hei,
tf at man went from the national capitol a poor
man. And finally he had to apply to the state
Tor permission to parcel out his property and
sell it by lottery, for by no other means could
he realize its value and pay his debts.
One other public work remained for him.
lie coticeived the plan or benefiting the youth
of his native state by founding the University
or Virginia. That plan he carried into exe
cution. And until his death he presided over
the destinies or the young and promising in
stitution. Thomas Jeflerson was a full grown man.
lie had a heal of good size and ample propor
tions. His intellect was strong, penetrating,
clear, and comprehensive. The amount ot
intellectual labor which he performed was
immense, and it was well done.
His heart was fully developed, and accus
tomed to beat for humanity. His was an un
sclSsh nature. He was unambitious, unaspir
ing. When he returned from France in 17S9
he wrote to a friend thus : "I had rather be
shut up in a very modest cottage, w ith my
family, and books, and a few old friends, di
ning on simple bacon, and letting the world
roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most
splendid post which any human power can
give." He courted no popular favor. He
made no grand tours through the country, and
no speeches for Buncombe. He never asked
an office, nor indirectly sought one. He only
accepted it as a duty when it was imposed by
his friends and constituents. He often prefer
red others to himself, and secured distinctions
for them which he might have gained for him
self. He had a deep sympathy for the masses,
and devoted his life and labor to the improve
ment of their coudition. His labors for the
Indians, for the emancipation of the enslaved,
for seenring political equality and general
education, all sprang from his generous heart.
His attachment to his friends was firm and
unbounded; and to them;' when in distress,
his gifts were princely. Jlis treatment of the
prisoners taken at Burgoyne's surrender was
humane and benevolent almost to a fault. In
his own family no man was more affectionate
and indulgent. -. i- '
He was a stranger to intimidation and fear.
When he saw the path of duty he entered it
without hesitation, and walked straight on, re
gardless of cost. ' He was not a man to be
tampered with, bought, or sold. He was.no
craven disciple of expediency.
By birth and education bo belonged to the
aristocracy, yet in sentiment and feeling he
was a Democrat. He had unlimited confidence
in the masses, and wns willing to trust the
government in their hands. During the Con
federacy, when the peoxle wero warmly discus
sing various modes of providing an executive,
in a table talk, there was an eloquent effusion
in favor of birth as on the whole furnishing
the best chance for a suitable head of the gov
ernment. Mr. Jeflerson derisively replied
that he had heard or a university where the
professorship or mathematics was hereditary !
Mr. Jefferson was thoroughly American in
his feelings aud views. 'Our country first,"
was one ot his mottoes. And he strove to the
utmost of his ability to promote our commerce,
agriculture, and domestic manufactures. Nor
would be suffer any ruinous foreign competi
tion when it lay in his power to prevent it.
lie wished to have America in all respects in
dependent of Europe.
But it may be expected that we should
speak of his anti-religious character, his athe
ism. Wo do so cheerfully. Never were a
man's.religious sentiments more grossly mis
reprai ted than Jefferson's. He was not an
atheiit? He believed in God, the Creator of
all things; in his overruling providence, in
finite wisdom, goodness, justice, and mercy.
He believed that God hears and answers pray
er : and that human trust in him is never mis
placed nor disregarded. He believed in a fn
turo state of rewards and punishments. He
believed in the Bible precepts and moralities
He had unlimited confidence in the self-sustaining
power of tri;th, and thought that it lost
nothing in being subjected to the severest
tests; while it gained nothing by the support
of states and privileged hierarchies. It should
be remembered that ho lived in an age distin
guished for its free discussion of first princi
ples. Vigorous efforts were made to throw off
the shackles of both civil and religions tyran
ny ; Jefferson repudiated all tyrants, whether
crowned or mitercd. He boldly asserted the
right of man to think and act for himself. He
allowed no man to think for him either in pol
itics or in religion. He submitted to no creed
nor formulas of faith. He yielded to the dic
tation or no Church. lie associated aud cor
responded with the noblest free-thinkers of the
age; and none was bolder than he. He sub
jected every proposition to the severest test of
logic. V hat he could satisfactorily prove ho
embraced ; all else he rejected.
He overthrew the State Church, and, in con
sequence, was denounced as its enemy. Yet
no man in Washington ever gave so much to
build so many churches as Jefferson. True,
he was not a Church member ; the spirit of ex
clusiveness, selfishness, and denominational
pretensions repelled him from the Churches ;
yet he respected and cherished the friendship
ot truly pious men. .
Jle never wrote for the pullic eye one word a
gainst Christianity. At the request of some
friends, and under the special injunction of se
crecy, he wrote some strictures upon it. Had
he supposed that those letters would ever have
been set up in villainous types, by order of
Congress, they would never have been written.
Religiously Jefferson now would be classed
with the liberal Unitarians. In public and in
private he exhibited the estimable Christian
virtues. He was a man of humble, sincere,
and habitual prayer.
On the 4th of July, 1S2G, he closed his
earthly career. To bis friends he gave assu
rance that be had no lear of death. He said :
I have done for my country and all mankind
all that I could do ; and now I resign my soul
w ithout fear to my God." - Subsequently, at
frequent intervals, ho was heard repeating, in
Latin, the prayer of good old Simeon, "Lord
let now thy servant depart in peace." He ex
pired with these words hanging upon his lips:
"Xitnc dimitlis, Dominc."
Peace to his ashes ! Cherished and immor
tal be the memory of the wise, good, and in
corruptible statesman the model Democrat
and President !
The Appetite for Scandal. After all our
moralizing, says the Brooklyn Times, the fact
cannot be denieil that the public love a bit of
scandal. In this respect we are all like a co
terie of old maids sipping their tea in a coun
try village, and pulling their neighbor's char
acter to pieces at the same time. While we
protest against it we listonlo it with none the
less avidity, and in scriptural phraseology,
'roll it as a swoit morsel beneath our tongues.'
In nothing are we more hypocritical than in
this very matter. The very people who loud
ly asseverate that they "never, no never," read
such stuff as the newspapers print concerning
private aud personal matters, arc the ones who,
in private, gloat with the greatest delight over
columns ol solid type, chronicling prurient
details and the most unmitigated indecency.
Such persons should not prate too loudly con-
cernins the licentiousness of the press. If
they refused to read, editors would refuse to
publish such matters. It is a mere matter of
demand and supply. If the public eagerly buy
and read filth and nastiness, publishers will
supply them with it without any very agoniz
ing scruples of conscience. We have in our
mind's eye, as we write, the ridiculous and
disgusting De Riviere scandal. Had the At
lantic Cable been successfully laid, the account
of the enterprise could hardly have occupied
more space in New -York papers than is devo
ted to this miserable aflair. Ilaira dozen col
umns a day to record the details of a disgrace
ful scrape in which figure who 7 nobody wnom
the world had ever heard about before, there
would have been some little excuse for it,then ;
but a couple of sill women and a broken down
adventurer? This is the intellectual ailiment
which i furnished the nublic now-a-days, and
j from all appearances, this is what is liked.
lrulv a bcauuiui commemaij uu iud luwgico.-.
of mental enlightment and amelioration! Let
journalists chant jeremiads as mey win, anu.
let the sacred desk declaim as it will, people
will read and be interested in what is piquant
and amusing. But this De Riviere affair is
neither one nor the other. It is the stupidest
trash in the woild ; and how people can be
found to read its long drawn-out details passes
our comprehension.
THE WARRIOR MAIDEN.
. Sometime just before or about the beginning
of the revolutionary war, Sergeant Jasper, of
Marion's Brigade, had the good fortune to save
the life of a young, beautiful and dark-eyed
Creole girl, called Sally St. Clair. Her sus
ceptible nature was overcome with gratitude
to her preserver, and this soon ripened into a
passion of love, of the most deep and fervent
kind. She lavished upon him the whole
wealth of her affections and the whole depth
of passion nurtured by a southern sun. When
he was called upon to join the ranks of his
country's defenders, the prospect of their sep
aration almost maddened her. ; Their parting
came ; but scarcely was she left alone, ere her
romantic nature prompted the means of re
union. Once resolved, no consideration of
danger could dampen her spirit, and no tho't
of consequence could move her purpose. She
severed her long and jetty hair, provided her
self with a suit of clothes, and set forth to fol
low the fortunes of her lover.
A smooth faced, beautiful and delicate strip
ling appeared among the hardy, rough and gi
ant frames that composed the corps to which
Jasper belonged. The coutrast between the
stripling and these men, in their uncouth
garbs, their massive faces, embrowned and dis
colored by the sun and rain, was indeed stri
king. But none were more eager for the bat
tle, or so indifferent to fatigue, as was the fair
faced boy. It, was found that his energy of
character, resolution and courage, amply sup
plied his lack of physique. None ever sus
pected that she was a woman. Not even Jas
per himself, although she was often by his
side, penetrated her disguise, but treated her
with kindness aud respect, and often applaud
ed her heroic bravery. The romance of her
situation increased the fervor of her passion.
It was her delight to reflect that, unknown to
him, she was by his side to watch over him in
the hour of danger. She had fed her passion
by gazing upon him in the hour of slumber ;
hovering near him when stealing through the
swamp and thicket, and always ready to avert
danger from his head.
But gradually there stole a melancholy pre
sentiment over the poor girl's mind. She had
been tortured with hopes deferred; the war
was prolonged, and the prospect of being re
stortd to him grew more and more uncertain.
But now she felt that her dream of happiness
could never be realized. She became con
vinced that death was about to snatch her a
way from his side ; but she prayed that she
might die, and he never know to what length
the violence of her feelings had led her.
It was the eve before a battle. The camp
had sunk into repose. The watch fires were
burning low, and only the slow tread of senti
nels fell upon the profound silence of the night
air as they moved through the dark shadows
of the forest. Stretched upon the ground,
with no other couch than a blanket, reposed
the warlike lorm of Jasper. Climbing vines
trailed themselves into a canopy above his
head, through which the stars shone down
softly. The feint flicker from the expiring
embers of fire fell athwart his countenance,
and tinged the cheek of one who bent above
his conch. It was the smooth-faced stripling.
She bent low down, as if to listen to bis dreams
or to breathe into his soul pleasant visions of
love and happiness. But tears traced them
selves down the fair one's cheeks, and fell si
lently but rapidly upon the brow of her lover.
A mysterious voice has told that the hour of
parting has come ; that to-morrow her destiny
is consummated. There is one last, long, lin
gering look, and the unhappy maiden is seen
to tear herself away from the spot, to weep out
her sorrows in privacy.
Fierce and terrible is the conflict that on
the morrow rages on the spot. Foremost in
that battle is that intrepid Jasper, and ever by
his side fights the stripling warrior. Often,
during the heat and the smoke, gleams sud
denly upon the eyes of Jasper tire melancholy
face of the maiden. In the thickest of the
fight, surrounded by enemies, the lovers fight
side by side. Suddenly a lance is leveled at
the breast of Jasper ; but swifter than the
lance is Sally St. Clair. There is a wild cry,
and at the feet of Jasper sinks the maiden,
with the life-blood gushing from her white bo
som. He heeds not the din nor the danger of
the conflict ; but down by the side of the dy
ing boy he kneels. Then, for the first time,
does he learn that the stripling is his love ;
that often by the camp-fire and in the swamp,
she has been by his side ; that the dim visions
in his slumber, of an angel face hovering a
bove him, had indeed been true. In the midst
of the battle, with her lover by her side, and
the barb still in her bosom, the heroic maiden
dies !
Her name, her sex and her noble devotion
scon became known through the corps. There
was a tearful group gathered around her grave;
there was not of those hardy warriors one who
did not bedew her grave with tears. They
buried her near the river Santee, "in a green
shady nook, that looked as if it had been sto
len out of raradisc."
Curiosities A plate of butter from the
cream of a joke. A small quantity of tar,
supposed to have been left where the Israelites
pitched their tents. The original brush used
in painting the 'sign of the times.' A buck
et of water from 'All's well.' A piece of
soap with which a man was washed overboard.
The st fap which is used to sharpen the water's
edge. The lead-pencil with which Britannia
ruled the waves. A portion of yeast used in
raising the wind. A dime from the moon
when she gave change from the last quarter.
The saucer belonging to the cup of sorrow.
A fence made of the railing of a scolding wife.
The 'chair in which the sun sets,. The ham
mer which broke up the meeting. A buckle
to fasten a laughing-stock. Eggs from a nest
of thieves. Hinges and lock from the trunk
of an elephant. A sketch from a politician's
views.
Governor Wise, of Virginia, is a queer fel
low. He don't believe in the South Carolina
doctrines on the subject of "white slavery"
and mechanical "mud-sills." In his speech
at Richmond, over the remains of President
Monroe, he said : "I say that labor Is not the
"mud-sill" of society ; and I thank God that
the old colonial aristocracy of Virginia, which
despised mechanical and manual labor, is near
ly run out. Thank God we are beginning to
raise miners, mechanics and manufacturers,
that will help to raise what is left of that aris
tocracy np to the middle ground of respecta
bility." (Laughter and applause.) Mr. Wise
is after the Presidency, it is understood, and
South Carolina don't poll all the votes of the
Union.
"WHY DO WE NOT OWN FBAZEB'S BIVEE 1
Many of our readers will remember that the
Polk party in 1811, when the Oregon bounda
ry question was up, insisted upon our right to
the territory up to 54 d. 40 m. Mr. Polk him
self daclared our title np to that line was clear
and unquestionable ; and the party cry, then,
was "Fifty-four forty or fight." Yet in 181G,
the Polk administration, Mr. Buchanan being
Secretary of State, made a treaty surrender
ing all our territory north of latitude forty
nine and west of Puget Sound, to Great Bri
tain. The extent of territory thus relinquish
ed was 150,000 square miles. Within the re
gion thus surrendered lies the Frazer's river
Gold Mines. Mr. Polk claimed great credit
for acquiring the gold region of California ;
but the gold was not discovered when Califor
nia was acquired. It was a conquest
and was considered at the time a barren
one; but the region voluntarily surrendered
north of 49 d. was ours by right and was in
trinsically valuable. It thns turned out that
we gave up, through the cowardico and sla
vishness of Buchanan and a democratic ad
ministration, a valuable region of 150,000
square miles, embracing the immensely rich
gold-bearing valley of Frazer's river, and then
fought for the acquisition of a barren region
f rom Mexico, which was afterwards accidental
ly discovered to be rich in deposits of gold.
The Albany Evening Journal justly says :
"Amid the cultivations which greet the Dis
coveries of Gold at Frazer's River, are ming
ed some very natural regrets ttiat the said
Gold belongs to Queen Victoria's dominion
instead of our own.
"Queen Victoria derives her title to it,
whether well or ill founded, through the Dem
ocratic party of the United States. Every
body remembers the vociferous b:ag of "Fifty-Four
Forty or Fight !" with which Presi
dent Polk's administration was ushered in.
The Boundary between us and the British Pos
sessions was then unsettled, and the country
was assured by the proclamation of Democrat
ic Presses and Politicians that the Treaty a
bout to be made should secure us all the Ter
ritory up to the line ol 54 deg. 40 min., or else
we should try the virtue of "force of arms" to
compel Great Britain to accede to that line.
"But in this case, as in that of Kansas, our
Financial Policy, and others "too numerous to
mention," Democratic profession proved to be
very diflerent from Democratic practice. The
brag served to carry Elections, and then came
the "hacking down." Not only did we not
get "Fifty-Four Forty" nor '-Fight," but we
submitted to take only up to 49 deg., and to
give up all claim to Vancouver's Island even
as far south as 48.
"Thus it happened that Frazer's River, Trith
all its pppurtenant 'bars,' 'placers, 'gulches,'
mines aud other depositories of golden wealth,
which are in the latitude or 494 fell into the
hands or our British neighbors, and the new
Gold Colony to be founded there will enrich
the coffers of the Chancellor or the Exche
quer instead or those of the Secretary or the
Treasury.
"Either our claim of 54 40 was just or Hwas
unjust. If it was unjust, the Administration
had no business to make it. If it was just,
they ought never to have backed out of it.
Imagine what malediction and railing an 1
storming at the cowardly "British Whigs"
would have graced the columns of our Demo
cratic cotemporaries just now, had it been an
Administration ot opposing political opinions
which made this unlucky concession. But as
it is, they find silence in regard to the past
history of Frazer's river, as convenient as it
is expressive.
now they were Rewarped. The follow
ing items tell their own story and a sad story,
for our countr3', it is, too. No wonder the na
tional treasury is depleted, and that the Sec
retary of that department of the government
is in the market, among shavers and money
lenders, asking for additional loaus, in order
to keep the wheels in motion :
"Senator J. C. Jones, of Tennessee, (old line
Whig,) had a contract to supply 1,700 horses,
at $159 each, which will make the neat sum of
$270,300. It is stated that the horses were to
be of a particular color and size, but when
they arrived at Fort Leavenworth, they were
found to be of all sizes and all colors, but were
nevertheless accepted.
"The brother of Hon. J. A. Ahl, member
of Congress for the Cumberland, York, and
Terry district, h:.d a contract to supply for the
army 300 mules, at 175 each, making $52,
500 ; also, an order for 200 from Russell and
Majors, Government contractors, at the same
price, amounting in all to $87,000. The kind
of mules delivered could be bought readily at
$120 each. It is unnecessary to add that Mr.
Ahl voted for Lecompton, and is a candidate
for re-election.
"Some of the other members of Congress
from the rural districts have been providing
for their friends at the public expense, in the
way of contracts for barley, at fine prices."
This is a strong chapter on Lecomptonism,
and in time will prove a millstone at the necks
of those who compose the present administration.
TnE Veiled Mcrdress. The veiled mur
deress, Mrs. Robinson, of Troy , gives the keep
ers at Sing-Sing a deal of trouble. Latterly
she has become so troublesome that the officers
are forced to confine her to her room a great
portion of the time. For an hour"br two each
day, while the other convicts are engaged in
the shops, she is left at liberty in the prison
yard. Her universal employment there is to
hunt over the grass-plot for "four-leaved clo
ver." Four-leaved clover is an ingredient in
her imaginary cauldron, over which she mut
ters incantations scarcely less weird and wild
than that ot the "sisters three." Mad or not
mad, she is a puzzle . and torment to those
whose misfortune it is to have her in their
charge.
.They tell a story of an Irish reporter at To
ledo, who took down the Declaration of Inde
pendence as it w-as read, under the impression
that it was "the greatest oration, be jabers,
he had ever heard." When he wrote it off,
from his notes, it was so highly embellished
that the editor scarcely recognized it, till he
came to the "names or the signers," reported
us the "committee or arrangements !"
Keep out of bad company, for the chance is
that when old Nick fires into a floek, ho will
be pretty apt to hit somebody.
A physician once advised Sydney Smith to
take a walk upon an empty stomach.. "Whose
stomach T" asked the wit.
THE YANKEE FOX SKIN.
"Mornin' Squire," said a down caster,' giv
ing a nod and a wink to Lyman 8c Towle, as
those gentlemen stood in their store one mor
ning, '-up and dressed" for business.
"How are you, sir?" said the merchant.
"Pooty well, considering the state of things
in general. I say, yeou sell skins here, don't
yeon V
"We do, occasionally," was the response.
'Wal, sol calkelated; buy fox skins tew,
Ircckenf"
"Sometimes. Why, have yon got somo
lor sale?" -
"Some. Yes, I gaess I Lava one ; it's one
tew, I tell yeou.?'
"Let's look at it," said one of the mer
chants. The owner of the skin tugged at the capa
cious pocket of bis old yellow overcoat for a
few minutes, and out came a pretty good-sized
bang-up ijt a venerable rcynard.
"There it is a perfect bewty it is too. -Ain't
it?" - '
Seen finer ones," said Towle.
. "Praps you have, and praps yeou haint;
but I dew think it's a rale bewty, slick and
shiny as a bran new hat."
"When did you get this skin?" said tho
merchant.
"When did I get it ?" Why, when I killed
the darned critter", of course."
Yes, we know, but was it in the fall or in
the summer, or when 1"
"O! yes; well I recken 'twarnt far, from
the Fourth or July, anyway, fori just clean
ed np my old shootin' piece for p'rade on the
glorious anniversary, and along comes the old
critter, and I just gave him a rip in the gizzard
that settled his hash mighty sudden, I tell
yeou."
"Fox skins," said the merchant, "are not
very good when taken in hot weather; the
fur and skin is very thin, and not fit for much
iu summer."
"Wall," neow, I reckon since I come to
think it over, 'twarnt hot weather when 1 shot
the critter ; no, I'll be darned it it was ; made
a thunderin' mistake 'bout that, for 'twas
nigh on to Christmas was, by golly, for I
and Seth Peurkins wor goin' to a frolic. I
remember it like a book, cold as sixty, snow
in' awful was by ginger."
"Well," says the merchant, "was tho fox
very fat ?"
"F-a-t ! O, Molly, warn't it fat ! Never did
see such a fat fellow in all my born days.
Why, yeou, the lat came clean through the
fellow's side, ran down his legs, till the very
airth was grexsy where the darned varmint
craw led along. Did by Peurkins."
"Too lat, then, we guess, to be good," said
Towle. "Fat skins, sir, are not so good as
those taken from an animal not moro than or
dinarily fat."
" Wal, guess it warn't so darned fat nnther,
come to think abeout it, 'twas anuther fox our
Siah shot last fall ; this warn't so darned fat,
not overly fat I guess it was rayther lean,
kind o' lean, tre-men-jous lean; poor old var
mint was abeout to die of starvation ; never
did see such a darned eternal, lean, lank, fam
ished critter on airth before I"
"Very poor, ch ?" says Lyman.
"Very poor J I guess it was; so mighty
poor that the old critter's bones stnek clean
eought, almost through his skin ; had'nt killed
it just when I did, 'twould have died beforeit
got ten rods further along. Fact, by golly.
'Ah! will, s il the merchant, we see tho
skin is poor; the fur is thin and loose, and
would not suit ns."
. "Wont suit yeou ?" Now,look ahcro yeou,"
says the Yankee, folding up his versatile skin,
"I don't kind 'o like such dealin' as that, no
heow, and I'll be darned to darnation, ef yeou
ketch me tradin for skins with yeon agin
there ain't no lumber in the State of Maine."
And the holder of the skin vamosed.
The Seves E's It is common to say that a
man should mind his P's and Q's, but we see
a case in the New-York Time in which a man
got caught because he did not mind bis E's.
It was the case of an Englishman named El
liot,who was a military store-keeper near Lon
don, and who, pocketing some 10,000 desert
ed a wife and family, and came over to this
country with an actress Miss Sinclair. Elliot
is in the shade of 50, and Miss Cinclair is just
21. The English government pursued Elliot,
anu puiimg me mauer in me nanas Ol ajNew
York detective, the rogue was traced and
caught. Elliot passed his baggage through
the Boston Custom House under the name ot
Brooks. Elliot had a peculiar "hand write,"
and these peculiarities were next found at tho
Delaven, Albany, where the name was Everett
and wife ; next at the American, Buffalo.whera
it was Mr. and Mrs. Edwards ; next at the In
ternational, Niagara,where it was Mr. and Mrs.
Evans; next on the steamer Isaac Newton, as
Mr. and Mrs. Ewin ; next at Jones', Philadel
phia, as Mr. Emerson and wife ; next at the
Eutaw, Baltimore, as Mr. Enesley and wife ;
next at old Point Comfort, as Mr. and Mrs.
Elmslie ; next at Newport as Elmslie ; next at
the St. Nicholas, New-York ; and all the way
round that fatal E, which he stuck to as if no
other name, save one beginning with an E,
would suit his purposes. The detective very
summarily called Messrs. Brooks, Everett, Ed
wards, Evans, Ewin, Emersor, Elmslie and El
Hot, out of the bed Miss Sinclair occupied,
early Monday morning, and put him in El
dridge street Jail. Cleveland Herald.
Frogs are now a regularly quoted article in,
the New York market. The last report reads,
"frogs are in demand and sell at one dollar per
dozen. These are fast becoming a favorite,
dish, and the demand for them is becoming
constantly greater."
A lady having written a letter, concluded
it as follows : "Give everybody's love to every
body, so that nobody may be aggrieved bv
anybody being forgotten by somebody.
The Ostrich has been domesticated in Alge
ria. Nine young ones are now in a brood.
The flesh ol the grown bml is expected to be
come eatable in its new state.
Two million two hundred thousand new
cents were coined at the Mint, in May, and
and about four hundred thousand of the old
ones returned. -
mmm. ., s
Among the patents lately issued is one to ft
boy ot fourteen, E. Trumbull of Springfield,
Ohio, lor an improved locomotive whistle..
Be above the world, and act from your own
sense ol right and wrong.