JEFFERSONIAN rep ublican
JEFFERSONIAN REPUBLICAN
Slroudsbursr, IVorcmber 17,
Terms, $?,C0 m advance; $2.25, naif yearly: and S2,$Mf not
paid beToic the end oi me vear.
General Scott.
In our paper of to-day, will he found a letter
from fhis dwinguished gentleman, drawn from
him by numerous letters of inquiry, from vari
ous parts of the United States. We publish
it without comment, leaving it to ach individ
ual to form his own opinion of its merits or de
fects. The legislature of New JeTsey adjourned on
Friday last, to meet again on the 1 1th of Janu
ary next.
Gov.
Pennington
has appointed Thursday,
Public Thanrsgiving in
Dec". 9, as a day
New Jorsev.
of
Two hundred and twenty-two persons have re
cently signed the Temperance pledge at llolli
daysburg. The Governor has pardoned Dr. Chauncey
who was convicted in Philadelphia about a year,
ago of manslaughter.
The Miners' Journal, at Poltsville, contains,
a graphic sketch of the now village of Shamo
Tiiu, and its resources. Vc detach the follow
ing paragragh :
Shamukin.as all the world knows--and if they
dnn'uhey should is located in Northmnher-
iand county, about nineteen miles, or thcrea
wav, irom tile winding and neauutui ousouo
hauna. It is a thriving, healthy little town, of
some eighty or a hundred houses, which con
tain about six hundred souls, and is indebted
for its existence, as it will be for its ultimate
prosperity and wealth, to its coal and iron ore.
A large portion of the town lots, and nearly all
the coal land in the neighborhood, is owned by
the Shaniokin Coal and Iron Company. This
Company, as the name imports, is the union of
two Companies. The charter was granted in
March, 1840, and expires m 1857. The capi
tal is S300,00Q The united companies own
-about 1,400 acres of coal and iron land, 750 of
which are .situated in Columbia county, and the
imlance in Northumberland, on the line of the
Danville and Pottsville railroad. On ihis tract
there are twelve excellent veins of coal running
principally a disiance of three hundred and
twenty rudhrnugh the tract, varying in thick
ne..s from live feet up to -elevo-n, and in eleva
litm "from two hundred Ui four hundred feet -a-buve
the waier level. There is one vein indeed
sixty iVel thick, but we do not think it can be
worked to advantage ; besides the coal from
Jhi vem is bony, and of an inferior quality. Of
the twelve vein-, only four are partially work
ed. A fifth the. "flat vein" has been opened
for about one hundred yards. The flat vein is
a red ash vein, and the only one in the Shamo
khi region.
"The New York Tribune suggests that the
name of Samuel L. Southard be put on the tick
et with that of Henry Clay-ihe latter as the
Whig candidate for President, the former for
Yice President.
. The New York papers slate that five hun
dred thousand pounds of butter are on the way
.-tnNew York., via Erie Canal, from Buffalo.
.The larger portion of this supply is from Ohio.
U. S. Troops. The steamboat Marietta ar
rived at St. Louis on the 27th from Pittsburg,
Jtaring on board about one hundred and twenty
men of the 1st. regiment of dragoons from Car
lisle Barracks, PaM destined to Fort Leaven
worth. '.New York State Canals There was re
reived for toll on all the New York State Cu
naN, during the first week in November, $82,
503,79.
According to the N. Orleans Crescent City,
the number of beautiful women in mourning in
that city is immense. Some are widows, bereft
of a husband's tenderness; some mothers, deprived
-of a son's or daughter's companionship; others
are sisteis and maidens, desolate in the world,
seeking in vain a brother's kiss or a lover's pas
sion. The Miner's Journal says that a largo number
of men have been discharged, both in 4he mines
rand on the landings, in consequence of the opera
tois being unable to forward as much coal as for
merl)vowing to the partial obstruction in the Ca
iial. Tho Norfolk Beacon says it is reported that th
JJon. Caleb Pushing is about to lead to the altar a
daughter of President Tyler-
3Iassacliuset? stands Firm!
The old 'Bay State' is the Whig State after all,
nextto, if not before, gallant Kentucky. Troubles
at Washington or elsewheie, perplexities, disap
pointments, and quarrels, may shake but they can
not overturn her. She is proof eve.i against ' per
ils and false brethern,1 and nothing less than fif
teen gallons of the ardent can make her sound head
ewim. In spite of clouds overhead and disasters
thickening on every side, she has nobly sustained
herself in the recent election, re-electing 1 Honest
.John havis1 Governor by '5,000 majority over Mar
cus Morton, end 1 or 2,000 over all the Locofoco,
Abolition, and scattering votea. Tribiaic.
A revolutouary soldier named Capt. James
Chapman, recenly died at New London, Conn.
The Great Western arrived at New York on
the 9th inst.with news seventeen days later
from -England not however, of much import
ance. Mr. Stevenson, late Minister to Eng
land, and family were passengers.
Tire Britannia arrived at Boston on the Sun
day previous, but with news not so late as the
Great Western.
The preliminary proceedings in the McLeod
case had reached England, and were the occa
sion of much remark.
O'Connell had been elected Lord Mayor of
London.
An insurrection had broken out simultane
ously in several cities of Spain ; but was sup
pressed. At madrid, an attempt was made to
seize tho Queen 1,000 men entering the pal
ace, and it is said there was figiing even in the
Queen's drawing room. Hunterdon Gazette.
One of them Punished. A Court Martial, in pur
suance of the directions of Sir Robert Jackson,
was recently held in Montreal on Mr. Johnston,
an officer in Dyer's corps, lor participating in the
capture of Grog.nn in the territories of the United
Stales, and that, having pleaded guilty, and after
addressing the court in mitigation of punishment,
he was sentenced to be discharged from the corps.
A Caution to Water Drinkers. A woman re
siding in the lower part of the county, a few days
ago placed her mouth over the spout or nozzle of a
small hydrant for the purpose of slacking her thirst;
but little tune elapsed befoie she was taking with
nausea and cast forth a live eel. about four inches
long. Applicants at hydrants should supply them
selves with a tumbler or some other convenient
vessel, and thereby save themselves from the dan
ger of swallowing other things that might slip
down, as "slick as an eel." -Sat. Chron.
Divorce Case -At the recent term of tho
Stark Courtly, Ohio Supreme Court, a divorce
was granted to the wife of Jacob Cope, on the
ground of cruel treatment. The Court decreed
in the wife the exclusive use of the whole of
Cope's real estate during her life, and besides J
ordered him to restore to her her wearing ap
parel, or pay a fine of one hundred dollars.
Latest from Mexico. The Schooner Em
blem arrived yesterday from Matamoras. She
brought with her $9,000 in specie. Pseudo
revolutionary movements are the order of the
day, and business is at a stand, as usual. It is
very sickly ; the British Consul) Mr Breeze,
among others has died there
It is said that Matamoras has declared in fa
vor of Santa Anna, and the rumor that prevail
ed to the effect thai Tampico had declared in
his favor, is partially confirmed by this arrival.
We hitherto refrained from noticing the latter
rumor, as it was authenticated. N. O. Pica
yune, Nov. 5.
Tobacco a Remedy for Arsenic. A young lady
in New-Hampshire fell into the mistake, so often
committed, of eating a porton ofarsenic which had
been prepared for tbe destruction ofrats. Pain
ful symptoms soon led to the inquiry; and her mis-
lake was discovered. An elderly lady who was
present, advised that she should be made lo vomit
as speedily as possible; as she had always felt a
perfect loathing for tobacco in every shape, it was
supposed that ihis would at once effect the pur
pose. A pipe -was used, but without producing a
nausea. She next chewed a large portion of
strong tobacco, and swallowed the juice, and that
even without a sensation of disgust.
A strong decoction was then made of hot "water,
of which she drank perhaps half a pint. Still
thcie was neitheir nausea nor dizziness, nor did it
operate at all, either as an emetic or cathartic.
The painful sensations at her stomach, however,
subsided, and she began to feel well. On the ar
rival of physicians, an emetic of blue vitriol wras
administered, and produced one operation. One
or two days after there was a discharge of a dark
green color, approaching to black. No ill conse
quences followed.
Another case occurred in the same place a few
years subsequently, in which arsenic was taken
through mistake, by a sick person, and she em
ployed tobacco with the same success. She, too,
had always loathed the article, but now chewed it,
and swallowed the saliva without producing sick
ness at the stomach. No emetic was administer
ed nor any other remedy. Sillimait's Journal.
...
A Thrilling Incident.
The Havre Journal mentions anin
ciilent which occurred to some whale
fishers during a recent voyage, which,
it observes, would be incredible if it
were not attested by the captain and
his men. Capt. Deglos, of the Gas
tave, whaler, was fishing off the coast
of New Holland, and was giving
chase, in a boat with five men, to a
large cacholot whale, which they soon
came up with and harpooned. The
animal, as soon as he felt the instru
ment, went down perpendicularly
and earned out a great quantity of
line. 1 he crew remained with their
oars raised, waiting for his reappear
ance, when on a sudden they saw. ah
enormous jaw rise on each side of the
boat, far above the gunwale, which
was thus caught in the mouth of the
whale, and was ready to be crushed
in an instant.
ine men were so paralyzed by
tear tnattliey could not obey the cap
Jf A 1 . .1
tain s uruers to get out tneir saws
and work away at the animal's mouth;
hut gradually the jaws began to sink,
and, after giving the boat's side a ter
rible grating,. disappeared beneath the
water. One of the men fainted away
orrhis seat.--&z. Chron;
The Cost of a Frolic.
A very serious affair occurred
at Washington on the evening 0i
Washington
the last day of October. A party
of 3roung individuals determined to
amuse themselves by a frolic of steal
ing cabbages, and accordingly vent
ured upon the premises of a gardener
near the city, who expecting some
thig of the kind on "Holly Eve," laid
in wait for the aggressors, and fired a
gun, which severely wounded one
of the persons engaged in the sport.
Finding the individual severely
wounded, the party retired to a dwel
ling adjacent, when strange to tell, n
examination disclosed the fact that the
sufferer was a young girl, dressed Jn
man's clothes! lb. &r":
Bigamy. A writing-master'namecl
Wellington, alias Smith, jit Rich-
mond, Va., lately duped one of his
female pupils into a hasty marriage
with him and went off to Warrenton,
N. G. to soend the honeymoon. He
had. hardly gone when a prior wife
came on posthaste fromfche North in
search of him; whereupon he was
overhauled, brought back to Rich
mondj and put in a snug place. He
is likely to escape from punishment,
however4, on the plea tlat he had an
other wife when he married No. 1,
and was therefore not legally married,
to her at all, but perfectly free to form
new engagements. lie will, how-
ever, be tried for swindling" and false
pretences. His two, wives are in
great distress .
Moral. Never marry in haste one
of whom you know notliincr but what
he (or she) tells yon. .A hurried
marriage with a stranger is a very
poor disguise for sednuction. lb.
Death froiu: Poison. On Friday
the 5th inst. the body of Mr' William
Wilson, of Erie, Pa. was found dead
on the pavement in front of the Asso
ciate Reformed Church, on Eighth
street. It appears that the deceased
was intoxicated the evenning pre
vious, and had been on the steps in
front of the Church, from which he,
fell and killed himself.
N. Y. Tribune.
Defective Guns. An able writter
at Washington is addressing a series
of letters to Mr. Clay, on the subject
of Southern and Western Armories.
In one of them the writer says: "In
urging the importance of good guns,
such as a national foundry would give
to our vessels of war, it is only ne
cessary to remind you of the fact that
in the last war we had more men hilled
on the Lakes by the bursting of our own
guns than by the shot of the enemy.
It isa terrible thing m action, and a
great damper upon the bravery of the
most gallant tar, when he is afraid of
his own piece."
From the Newark Daily Advertiser.
ILctter frosia General cot.
The following circular letter from Major
General. Scott has been handed to us for publi
cation, li has been drawn from him, we un
derstand, by numerous letters from various parts
of the Union, including applications from New
Jersey, asking his opinions concerning the pol
itics of the day.
Washington, Oct. 25, 1841.
Gentlemen:--I have lately had the honor to
receive many letters from as many different
States, eireh propounding, on the part of the
writer and his neighbor, nearly the same polil
cal interrogatories lo which answers are re
quested. The scope of the inquiries is a flattering proof
of the interest that some of my countrymen take
in the opinions that 1 have formed on certain
great principles of abiding importance to the
success of our systems of government; and as
1 have nothing to conceal, if nothing of value to
communicate, 1 shall, at once, without policy
or reserve, and in the form of a circular, com
ply with their several requests.
Parly Politics. Although from early manhood-,
1 have, by he profession of arms, in the
defence of my country, been thrown out of the
ereitaf party.-politics, yei I have never ceased
to be an attentive ohserrer of public events, and
and ihus, I believe, there has scarcely booh a
discussion of moment in Congress within , my
time, on which I did not form and modestly hut
firmly express a passing .opinion.
A mero youth, I felt the liveliest joy when
the alien and sedition laws expired in the tri
umph of Mr. Jefferson. From 1806, 1 was old
enough, by speech and pen, to call for a prompt
and energetic redress of our wrongs suffered
from Great'Britaio under her orders in Coun
ctlptho attack on tho Chesapeake frigate; and
long continued impressment of our seamen? and
when the war of 1812 at length came, I was
among the first and longest in the presence of
the foe. The insults received from the Frencht
Directory their depredations on our commerced
renewed under Napoleon s decrees,(Bcrhiraud
Milan) which followed, tho British Orders in
Council, also largely shared in ihy indignant
reprobation. f$$j$?''-
The administrpjrof 'Mjgjvladison and Mr.
Monroe, likehat of.Mr. Jefferson, had, in their
respectivo periods, my humble but hearty ap
probatioifand 1 have ever since censured noth
inr in either but the sale of a part and the dis
mantling of our Navy; the gun boat system of
defetice that followed, and the indefinite em
bargo, which, crippling us for war, by destroy
ing our commerce and finances, and oppressing
agriculture, wars long continued without re
dressing one outrage from abroad.
1 give this little sketch of the growth of my
party feelings or opinions unimportant, per
haps, except to myself and a few partial friends,
to show that if I have never been a Federalist
in any party sense of the term, so neither have
I been a Jacobin, an impracticable or abstract
ionist in ati)r sense whatever, but always an old
fashioned republican, devoted to the support of
law and order; a democratic Whig fjusl as all
my family had been Whigs in the great strug
gle for national freedom and independence.
The, Judiciary From an early and long con
tinued study of elementary law, my mind has
ever been imbued with deep reverence for the
Bench State and Federal; an independent de
partment in our system of government, and
which, holding neither the Purse to corrupt,
nor the Sword to terrify, addresses itself only
with the mild force of persuasive reason, to the
intelligence and virtue of the whole communi
ty; By the Federal Constitution, every possi
ble safeguard is provided to shield its Judicia
ry against fleeting prejudice, political rancor
and party dependence, to which legislators and
the Executive are unavoidably, drrectly and
constantly exposed. Hence, "to the one Su
preme Court" is widely extended (by "appel
late jurisdiciion'5) "all cases in law aud equity,
arising under the Constitution, the laws of the
United States and treaties made, or which shall
be made under their authority."
Looking to this express provision, I have al
ways held that when a doubtful question, aris
ing under the Constitution itself, the supreme
law of the land; under an act of Congress or a
treaty, has once been solemnly adjudicated by
that Court, the principle of the decision ought
to be taken, by all, as definitely settled; tinless4
indeed, it be upon a re-hearing before the same
tribunal. This appears to me too clear for dis
putation; for the Court is not only declared to
be supreme, and hence there can be no bench
beyond it; but to Congress is only given the
power to -constitute inferior tribunals. By ap
peals to the Supreme Court, a settlement was
intended to be reached, aud anarchy, through a
long distraction of the public mind, -on great
questions of legislative and executive power
kthus rendered impossible. Practically, there
fore, for the people, and especially their func
lionarfes, to deny, disturb, or impugn principles
thus constitutionally established, strikes me as
of ovil example, if not of a direct revolutionary
tendency, Except, indeed, in the case of a judi
cial decisiofehlarging power and against lib
erty; and any dlfngorous error of this sort can
be always easi lycdrrect ed, (and should only
be corrected) by an amendment of the Consti
tion, in one of the modelhprescribed by that in
strument itself the organic aw of the States
and iho people. Misconstructions jijf Jaw, othe
er than the Constitution arc ymolf.eredaily
corrected by amendatory or declalory acis.of
Congress.
The Elective Veto. This by the framcrs of
the Constitution, could only have been design
ed 1. To enalble the President to defend his
own rightful powers againM' usurpations on the j is known to be necos.sury., 2. Because many of
part of Congress. 2. To enable htm to forbid j fice-holders, appointedmder even reckless ad-
omer legislative lnirac.ions ot ine onsuuiuon;
and 3. To guard the country against other
acts of hasty or violent legislation.
It is hardly possible to conceive a case un
der the first or second of these heads, against
which the Judiciary the balance wheel of the
system does not afford, of itself, all the secu
riiy that the people can require.
But without ihc protection of either the
Bench of the Veto, would the executive depart
ment, (become so super-judicial of late years)
bo too weak to fulfil the strictly executive func
tions for which it was more particularly crea
ted? -Or rather, would not that department slill
be the most powerful, for evil, in the govern
ment? The President is under the checks of the
constitution aud law, rightfully invested with
the power of the Sword, andillc; has again and
again had that of the P.urso a!s?. The Mouses
of Congress, it is true, lay taxes, on impOrls
and regulate tho sales of the public domain; but.
it is he (through his agents) who handles the
proceeds. From 1S33 to 183C (tosay nothing
of the present) he alone nominated and dis
missed all the agents who kept as well as those
who collected, distributed and disbursed the
public revenue. The apothegm make us your
executor : tee care not who arc your legislatdrs;
has a rightful application to such immense
treasure as annuallypasses through their hands!
The rapid increaho and spread of population;
tho growth of national wealth; the amount of
revenue collected and disbursed ; the new re
lations (by the extension of commerce) with
foreign countries ; the additional appointments
at homo aud abroad ; tho number and value of
contracts all constantly and necessarily on the
increase; a general decayjn morals, perhaps as
groat in Congress as elsewhere; tho habit that
we have seen prevail (hiring several presiden
tial terms of filling public officos with little or
no regard to moral standing; have, taken to-,
gether, already openod loth head of iho gov-
ernrrient element 6r power and corruption
...t.; t. . m i- . i
wa3'pussiuie lor we Cramers and a.
dgptera of-the constitution to foresee or to con
ceive. Who, at that distant day, for example,
over dreamed of tho spectacles which have re
cently disgusted every honest citizen ofpoAi.
mastwrs, mail-contractors, mail-agents, and census-takers
covering the land with government
pamphlets, handbills, and extra-gazettes, sufli.
cient (if read) to sap tho morals, public and
private, of aa entire generation? ofihe cin-tnm-house
mercenaries in the large cities liviua
on the public, neglecting every duty for par y
meetings and the polls, and rendering to Few
er the most bribe-worthy services? of District
Attorneys and Collectors, rambling missionaries
defending every abuse, of office their own th
most indecent in order to maintain power ir
the hands of their patron ? All who have re.
fleeted on the foregoing facts must be ready to
affirm that Executive. Patronage "has increased,
is increasing, and ought to be diminished V
I hope, then, : bYlan early amendment nf t!8
constitution, to see a reduction of the Prtxi
dent's veto. The regulation of patronage woulj
properly follow.
There can be no good reason why the vc'u
should not be overcome by abare majorny in eai h
House of Congress, of all the members elected
to it say, for the hetiefu of reflection, at tW.
end often days from the return of the hill. An
amendment lo this effect would still leave ll;u
President the general representative of every
Stale and district armed with the votes of all
the members absent, at the moment, from
the respective Houses, and ihere will always
be some members absent from both.
Rotation in Office The inquiry under this
head, is not definite in-any letter before me. It,
however, is presumed to refer 1. To governors
and secretaries of territories and some of iho
judges therein ; district attorneys , collectors,
surveyors and naval officers of the customs,
marshalls, post-maters, whose commissions a
mount to a thousand dollars per annum; navy
agents ; registers and receivers of land offices:
surveyors general of lands, and Indian aient3
- -sill of whom are by law, appointed for a term
of four years; but subject by express enact
ment (except the judges) to he removed at plea
sure 2. To a high class of civil officers (next
to the chiefs) in the executive departments at
Washington ; other high functionaries foreign
ministers, secretaries of legation and consuls ;
post-masters, whose commissions amount to
less than a thousand dollars per annum ; super
intendent of Indian affairs, Indian sub-agents,
&c. &c. all appointed without limitation as to
term, yet subject in practice not by express
law to be also removed at pleasure, and 3. To
the assistants allowed by law to very many of
the principals included above which assistants
are called clerks some of them deputies, ap
praisers, weighers, guagers, sub-inspectors,
store-keepers, light house keepers, &c. &c.
all appointed and subject to removal, as under
the second head.
I am asked Whether (in my poor opinion)
all those functionaries (amounting to many
thousands) or any of them ought to he periodi
cally superseded by original appointments? If
yes When? And if it a part only Which !
We have seen that a great number of offices
are filled for a term of years, and more without
any limitation a to tprm. I, however, can draw
no line of just distinction between theclaimsof
the two classes upon the favor of country or
government.
Premising that regular periodical changes in
the subordinate servants of the country, merely
for the sake of change, would necessarily swell
executive patronage, already too much swollen,
I am obliged to add that I more than doubt, on
jjler grounds, the policy and justice of such
cnaugos. . i-fgjsgc: use, mr uic ame aim prompt
execution bfmwilwlHttsiness, much official ex-
perience in a greauriunher of particular stations,
ministrations, such as .we have
seen,) will al
ways after a time bo found of irird integrity,
and of eqttal industry jand abilities. 3. Be
cause, again, some may e found in a state of
honorable poverYy, the resuTtfcno less of stern
integrity than of along and exclusive devotion
to the interests of the public; ami 4. Bemuse,
to remove such servants, or not to re-appomt
them, at the end of a term, would not only dis
courage successors ina faithful discharge of
duty, but could not fail'to outrage the moral
sense of entire communities:.! speak on this
head from what I witno$(iim 1S29--30, of iho
cruel experiment, on a large scale,, then made
upon the sensibilities of the country and tho
mischiefs lo tho public interests which early
ensued.
What I would, therefore humbly advise is
this : To turn out not only a change of Pres
ident, but in any and every week of the yetir,
all office-holders known to he deficient in ei
ther -honesty, capacity,, or industry,-and to ap
point, in their stead, men know.n to possea.i
these qualities. Without an anxious attention
to this rule, a government of the people, resting
on virtue aud intelligence, cannot bug be suc
cessfully mantained'; for a blind or vicious dis
tribution of enormous patronage would soon, by
the force of tho highest example, beat down all
that is ta.uht in the Church, the School House,
and the College.
Otic Presidcntinl Tcrm.Of the eight chief
magistrates that preceded General Harrion
whom a nation vet mourns the first, third,
'fourth, fifth and soventh presided' over this Fn
ton, respectively, two successive terms tho
other three, hut lour years each ; and every
one of th o eight, whilst in ojjicc became a can
didate for a second term.
I consider tho sublime examnle. set hv the
father of his country, in declining a third elec-
tlon---vylnohJhias .been duly followed by our
four xippufar Presidents, and would no-doiilit
have been observed With equal good faith
tr: