4 Imti a .1.- - Irt aft VOL. VII, No. 2.] Tmnrao OF TE Ii HHIUNTINGDON JOURNAL. /Wednesday " JOURNAL" will be published every /Wednesday morning, at two dollars a year, c paid IN ADV ANC E, and if not paid with- Odix months, two dollars and a half. 'PsEvery person who obtains five subscribers, 1 . ". !.'sl forwards price of subscription, shall he .arnished with a sixth copy gratuitously for ine year. , No subscription received for a less period than six months, nor any paper discontinued until all arrearages are paid. communications mnst be addressed to the Editor, POST PAID, or they will not • be attended to. Advertisements not exceeding one square, will be inserted three times for one dollar, • and for every subsequent insertion, twenty live cents per square will be charged. If no definite orders are given as to the time an advertisement is to be continued, it will be kept in till ordered out, and charged accor-, dingly. AGENTS FOR The Flantinadon Journal. Daniel Teague, Orbisonia; David Blair ,Esq. Shade Gap; Benjamin Lease. Shirleys• ..."ftrg; Eliel Smith, R un ; Cilcottstown; Jas. 4 Entrik.en. jr. Cr ff ee Esq. Springfield; Dr. S. S. Dewey, Bir t:ltingliam; James Morrow. Union Furnace; ohn Sisler. Warrior Mark• James Davis, :sq. West township ; D. H. Moore. Esq. Frankstown; Eph. Gabreath. Esq. Horn- daysburg; Henry Neff. .dlexandria; Aaron Burns, Williamsburg; A. J. Stewart, Water street; Wm. Reed. Esq. Morris township; Solomon Hamer. J4e ff 'B Mill; James Dysart. Mouth Spruce Creek; Wm. Murray, Esq. , Graysville; John Crum. Manor Hill; Jas. E. Stewart. Sinking Valley; L. C . Kessler ''. ' Mill Creek. Bold Stroke for a Unsband The following incident, combining a touch of the tragic and the comic, with a considerable dash of the most intense and highly wrought melo dramatic effect, occurred a few days ago in New York, as we learn from the Sun, and we copy it entire as a caution to bachelors. It shows to what desperate• remedies love wilt resort when pushed to extremity, and is indeed a striking illustration of the fact of what bold strokes the girls will some • times resort to procure a husband, Here's, the tale: Our heroine, "a fair fatly of light blue eyes and flaxen hair," became enamored with a young man of the town oldie op posite style of beauty—one of raven locks and dark blue eye. Things went on smoothly until our fair lady heard that her intended lord was unfaithful, and that he had industrious bps, and a bee-like propensity for stealing. sweets from every rose of beauty. On last . Thursiliy even ing she determined to test his love and the power of her art at the one stroke; and accordingly she went to a neighboring ap othecary, ordered sixpence worth of cream of tartar, directing the shopman to label it"arsenie," and very quietly returned' td her lodgings. At the expected mos tttent the lover arrived—performed his amorous reverences to his lady, and for some time was in the soft dalliance of love --she in the rocking chair, and his raven locks upon her bosom. Suddenly, when her deep art had dictated the moment, she said, "my dear F, why not rest on this bosom forever'!" The youth started-- she held him fast. "What means this coldness, F?—you do not love me !" Then jumping up and throwing herself in ;to a tragit attitude, she exclaimed, "To-1 night—this night I die—die for you and my blood shall fall upon your heart and brain, withering and burning theta with my perpetual curse." The draught was prepared before this red hot dialogue was let off—and then stepping to the sideboard, with the firm ness of a Socrates she seized the poison• ed bowl, and swallowed its contents. Then (act 2d,) she seized him by the roat, and exclaimed, "My murderer— die for you!" Then came the melting mood—" Will you but marry me ere I die? Say, my F., will you?" The youth frightened almost to death trembled out the "Yes, my davy." "Then send for the minister at once, beforedeath strikes me 1" she exclaimed; and one of the household hastened, and in the twink ling of an eye the priest came—the I , not was tied- % —the fair one exclaimed, "Let me die in his arms, and meet the stroke of death at the appointed time and place -1 reel—l reel—darkness gathers around me—hold me, F.—lead me to my couch?" !Lind they led her to her nuptial couch, the 'Meal of her ambition. _ . . —.-. Thus was her nrt triumphant, and now, as the fruit of her skill, she rejoices in the Agnomen of her lord, and is happily do miciled in a comfortable brick house on he avenue. The winds came howling through the ',battered windows, arid the rain tell bea ing on the dilapidated roof, then, as the thunder roared, and the lightning flashed buttonedl my strum, THE JOURNAL. HUNTINGDON, PENNSYLVANIA, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12, 1842 From the November Knickerbocker, The Spirit World. It is related by an elegant writer, once greatly admired, but we fear only occa sionally talked nt, and seldom read in those (lays of the "thrilling" and "exci ting" in literature, that there is a tradition among a certain tribe of our Indians, that one of their number once descended in a vision to the great repository of souls, as we call it, the other world; and that upon his return he gave his friends a strict ac count of every thing he saw among those regions of the (lead. He stated that af ter having travelled for a long space un der a hollow mountain,' he arrived at length on the confines of the world of spi • rite, but could not enter it by reason of thick forests, made up of bushes, brambles and pointed thorns, so perplexed and in terwoven with one another, that it was impossible to find a passage through it. While he was looking about for some track or pathway that might be worn in any part of it, he saw a huge lion crouch ed under the side of it, who keeps his eye upon him in the same posture as when lie watches forhis prey. The Indian im • mediately started back, while the lion rose with a spring and leaped towards him Being wholly destitute of all other wea pons, he stooped down to take up a huge stone in his hand; but to his infinite sur prise, he grasped nothing, and found the supposed stone to be only the apparution of one. If he was disappointed on this side, he was much pleased on the other, when he found the lion, which had seized his left shoulder, had no power to hurt him, and was only the ghost of that raven ous creature which it appeared to be. He no sooner got rid of his importent enemy than lie marched up to the wood, and hay ing surveyed it for some time, endeavor ed to press into one part of it that was a little thinner than the rest; when again, to his great surprise, he found the bush• es made no resistance, but that he walked through the briars and brambles with the same ease as through the open air; and in short that the whole wood was nothing else but a wood of shades. He immediately concluded that this huge thicket of thorns and brakes were designed as a kind of fence or quick-set hedge to the . ghosts it enclosed; and that probably their soft substances might be turn by these subtile points and pickles, which were too weak to make any im pression upon flesh and blood. With this thought he resolved to travel through this intricate wood; when by degrees he felt a gale of perfumes breathing upon him, that grew stronger and sweeter in proportion as he advanced. He had not proceeded much farther, wl•n he observed the thorns and briars to end, and gave place to a thousand beautiful green trees covered with blossoms of the finest scents and co lors, that formed a wilderness of sweets, and were a kind of lining to those rugs ged scenes which he had - before passed through. * * * He had no soon er got out of the wood, but he was enter tained with such a landscape of flowery plains, green meadows, running streams, sunny hills and shady vales, as were not to be represented by his own expressions nor, as he said, by the conceptions of oth. era. This happy region was peopled with innumerable swarms of spirits, who ap plied themselves to exercise and diver sions, according as their fancies led them. Some of them were pitching the figure of a quoit; others were tossing the shadow of a ball; others were breaking the appari tion of a horse; and multitudes employ ing themselves upon ingenioushandicrafts with the souls of departed utensils. As he traveled through this delightful scene, he was very often tempted to pluck the flowers that rose every where about him I in the greatest variety and profusion, hay ing never seen several of them in his own country, but he quickly found that, though they were objects of sight, they were not ' liable to his touch. He at length came to the side of a great river and being a good fisherman himself, stood upon the banks of it some time to look upon an angler, that he had a great many shapes of fish. es, which lay floundering up and down by The tradition goes on to say, that the Indian had not long stood by the fisher man when he saw on the opposite side of the ricer the shadow of his beloved wife, who had gone before him into the other, world, after having borne him several love ly children. Her arms were stretched out towards him; Hoods of tears ran down her eyes; her looks, her hands, her voice, called him over to her; and at the same time seemed to tell him that the river was impassable. Who can describe the pas sion, made up of joy, sorrow, love, de. sire, astonishment, that rose in the Indic an upon the sight of his dear departed. He could express it by nothing but his tears, which ran like a river down his cheeks as he looked upon her. Ho had not stood in this posture long, before he plunged into the str earn which lay before him; and finding it to be nothing but a "ONE COUNTRY, ONE CONSTITUTION, ONE DESTINY." A. W. BENEDICT PUBLASHFiR AND PROPRIETOR. phantom of a river, stalked on the bottom of it till he arose on the other side. At his approach, the loved spirit flew into his arms, while he himself longed to be disen cumbered of that body which kept her from his embraces. After many ques tions and endearments, she conducted him to a bower, which day by day she hod embellished with her own hands from these blooming regions, expressly for his reception. As he stood astonished at the unspeakable beauty of the habitation, she bromg,ht two of her - children to him who had died some years before, and who resided with her in the same delightful dwelling; imploring him to train up those others which were still with him, in such manner that they might hereafter all of them meet together in that happy place. Bereaved mourner treasure this record in thy heart of hearts. To the untutor• ed mind, even this poor Indian, was vouchsafed, in a vision of night, a glimpse of that spirit land to which we all are tending. There we shall met th e loved and lost: "The dear departed gone before, To that unknown and silent shore, Sure we shall meet as heretofore, Some summer morning." WILL BY AND WYE."— ZolltidS ! sir, you may as well swear that you will nev er do it. I'm out of all patience with these "by and bye" folks. An hour of the present time is worth a week of the fu ture. Why, I know a bachelor, who is as well calculated for matrimonial felicity as ev ery virtue and every accomplishment can render him ; but he hty , been putting off the happy time, from one year to another, al ways resolving that he would marry "by and bye," till the best ten years of his life are gone, and he is still "resolving" and I fear "he will die the same." He that would gather the roses of mat rimony must wed in the May of life. If you wish only the withered leaves and thorns, why, poor Richard says, put it off' till September.—"Procastination is the thief of time." I made a visit last winter to see my old • friend Jeremiah Careless. When he put my horses into a stable, he took me to hi; barn floor to see some fine wheat he had just threshed. I observed to him that one of the boards of the barn was near falling and he had better nail it. "I will by and bye," said he. Things about the farm looked as though "by and bye" folks lived there. Next morning the boys came run• ning in with sad news. An unruly bull had tort off the board, and the cattle bad supped and breakfasted on the white wheat and old brindle, the best cow in the flock was foundered so that she died. Now two nails worth a penny, and five minutes of time would have saved the life of old brindle and the white wheat in the bar gain. Passing by my neighbor Nodwel Ps the other day, I saw that his wife had made a fine garden, and the early peas were shooting above the ground. "It looks well,nsaid 1, "neighbor—but there is a hole in the fence, which you haul better mend, or the hogs will ruin your garden." "I will by and bye," said he. Happen ing to go by there two days after, I was deafened with the cry of "Whoee, who.eo —stu -boy; stu-boy"—a do ove of hogs had come along, and while my neighbor was taking a nap, they had crawled through the broken fence and destroyed the labor of a week.—" Never put oft till to mor row what you can do to-day," poor Rich ard says. MATTERS OF Comtsa.—There are cer tain things in this world which have so uniformly turned out in the same way, that nobody dreams of them resulting in any other. In short, they are set down as "matters of course"--that is, events have al ways happened from the same cause or attended by the same circumstances, or produce the same effects. For Exam• ple: NVlten a bank suspends specie pay. ments, it Is always done for the public good, as a matter of course. If the said bank become irretrievably insolvent, and is forced to liquidate its af fairs, the directors publish a card stating that the assets are amply sufficient to pay every thing as a matter of conrse. P;;ople who put any degree of confi• dence in such statements are always de ceived and disappointed, as a matter of course. When a man commits a murder or a forgery or runs away with his neighbor's wife, anti is detected and tried, he is prov ed to be insane as a matter of course. When a fire occurs, whether it proves destructive of property or not, it is the work of an Incendiary its a matter of course. When a man is detected in some act of unmitigated rascality, which must de stroy his reputation forever, he requests the public to "suspend their opinion," as a matter of course. When two locomotives come into colli. sion on a railroad, destroying each other, knuckin ? in. I►all a dozen cars to pieces, kill• a dozen passengers, and wounding twice as many more, the public are promised full information concerning the same, as a matter of course. When such information comes, if it comes at all, it exculpates every body li•om blame, as a matter of course. When a young lady has had five or six offers of marriage, and having rejected them all, finds herself "turning the first corner," with a small chance for the fu ture, she is generally satisfied that good hus'ands are not always coming along, as a matter of course. When a quack medicine is invented, it is tremendously puffed, as a matter of course. But every body whc believes one half that is stated of its wonderful virtues, gets egregiously humbugged, as a matter of course. Every man of intelligence and common sense is a subscriber to a newspaper, and if he is honest, he pays his subscription punctually, as a matter of course.—Boston Transcript. MESSAGE. TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE COM MONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVA NIA. FELLOW CrrrzExs:—ln performance of the duty enjoined on me by the Con stitution, I proceed to give you such in formation of the state of the Common. wealth, and to recommend to your con sideration such measures, as I think ex• pedient, at the present time. The dis charge of this duty is, in many respects, beset with difficulty, but this does not ab solve me from the obligation created by my official station. In a spirit of perfect frankness, I shall snbmit to you, the best dictates of my judgment, and shall be happy if, in your wisdom and experience, you can so modify and improve them as to promote in a greater degree, the wel fare of our common constituents, the peo pie of this Commonwealth. The subject of deepest interest, and greatest perplexity, that calls for our at tention is, the financial condition of the State. Although •I have, on several for. mer occasions, entered into a full and minute exposition of this matter, I can not refrain from again presenting it to your consideration, in a manner so dis tinct and plrin, as to preclude, I trust, the possibility of misconception on the part of those who feel an honest desire to understand it. lam persuaded that how ever embarrassed may be the pecuniary affairs of the Commonwealth, nothing is needed to induce the people to provide means to extricate them, but a clear and candid exposition of the nature and ex tent of the liabilities, to which they are subject. 'fire time for concealment, e vasion and deception on this point, is at an end.— The contract has been made. The faith of the State is pledged, and ev ery consideration of duty and of honor re quire of us, to know our true condition, and to provide adequate means to meet our obligations, and to redeem our plight ed faith. There is due by this State, to the Uni ted States, on account of deposite of sur plus revenue, the sum of 82,867,514 78. The funded debt of the State, amounts to $36,331,006 68. This debt is reimbur• sable as follows— 8270,081 87 in the year 1841 62.500 00 •' " 1844 5,516,568 81 " " 1846 50,000 00 .. " 1847 1,000,000 00 .. 1850 2,000,000 00 " .. 1853 3,000,000 00 " " 1854 2,783,161 00 " 1856 7,070,661 00 .' 1858 1,250,000 00 " 1859 2,648,680 00 " .. 1860 120,000 00 " .. 1861 3,225,000 00 " " 1862 200,000 00 .. 1863 2,515,000 00 .. 1864 1,797,010 00 1865 2,524,000 CO .. 1868 1,457,362 00 " " 1870 340,981 00 at the expiration of --- certain bank charters Tot'l $36,3.: 1,005 63 This debt has been contracted for the following purposes— For Canals & Railways, $30,055,013 68 To pay interest on public debt, 3,804,303 00 For the use of the Treasu• ry, 1,571,689 00 For Turnpikes , State Roads, Bridges, &e., 930,000 00 For the Union Canal, 200,000 00 For the Eastern Peniten tiary, 120,000 00 For the Franklin Railroad 100,000 00 For the Penn's and Ohio Canal, 50,000 00 Total 536,331,003 68 The value of public im provements estimated at cost, is $29,292,165 33 The state owns bank stock which cost, at par 2,108,700 00 The State owns Turnpike and bridge stock, 2,843,048 89 The State owns Canal and Navigation stock, 831,778 66 The State owns Railroad stock, 350,546 90 Money due on unpatented lands, estimated at t,000,000 00 Total, 825,426,239 78 The immediate (faculty of our situa tion. arises mainly from the payment of the interest annually accruing on this debt. This interest is about 81,800,000; and this sum, it is incumbent on the state to provide as it becomes due. The incon ' siderable portion of the funded debt, now redeemable, can be, doubtless, postponed until more auspicious times, but tlie in terest admits of no such postponement. This is in a great measure payable to those who cannot afford to procrastinate its re• ception, and whose mean of subsistence depend, on the faithful adherence of the State, tolts solemn engagement with its loon holders. The income especially ap propriated to the payment of this inter est, is derived from the following sources to wit;---tolls on canals and railways, auc tion duties, tax on collateral inheritances, dividends on turnpike, bridge:and naviga tion stocks, escheats and the tax levied on real and personal property, &c. The amount received from each of these several sources, during the last fiscal year ending 30th November last is as follows: From tolls on Canals and Railways, 41762,260 44 " Auction duties 77,022 15 " Collateral inheritances 21,591 43 " Dividends on turnpike, Bridge, and navi gation stocks, 80,355 72 " Escheats, 336,64 "Taxes on real and per sonal property, &c. 33,292 77 -- Total, 8924,859 15 The sum in the treasury, applicable to this object, on the first day of this month, independent of what will be received du ring the month, was $1,020,936 38, be ing $124,042 02 more than is necessary to pay the interest due on the first of Feb. ruary next. In relation to the assessment and col , lection of the state tax under the act of the 11th June 1840, the greatest delin quency is found with the county commis sioners. No return or statement has been received from several of the coun ties, although required by the 6th section of the said act, to be transmitted to th e Auditor General on or before the firs t Monday of September, in each year. It is, therefore, out of my power to inform you of the amount assessed under said act. From the information however re ceived I feel warranted in saying that it will amount to about half a million, or within a fraction of it. That amount will 'be considerably increased by the valua , tion and assessment provided by the 'act to establish a uniform mode for the valua tion of property and assessment of taxes,' passed 15th Slay last; the returns of which are required to be made to the Aug ditor General within the present month, and will be laid before you as soon as re ceived. The duty of the county commissioners to make returns of the assessments, &c., to the Auditor General, imposed by law, seems not to be designated and enforced with sufficient precision and certainty. To secure its faithful performance, I re commend a revision of the law. During the existing state of things, the continuance of taxes assessed, for the payment of this interest, or at least of taxes of some kind for this purpose, ap. pears to be indespensable. If the distri bution of the objects of taxation, or the mode of levying and collecting the tax he unfair, or onerous, undoubtedly the evil should be promptly corrected. I have heretofore declared my deter mination to do all that belongs to this de. partment to meet faithfully the engage ments of the state, and to maintain unsul lied, the credit and fidelity of our Com monwealth. My sentiments in relation to these matters have undergone no change, and I am pleased to find that on this subject, there is no diversity of opin• ion amour , . ' the groat mass of the citizens of the state. All agree that, whenever the constituted authorities of the Com monwealth, have entered into engage ments conformably to the constitution and laws, whether these engagements have been characterized by due prudence and a proper regard to the interests of the public, or not, the honor of the state, the permanence of the republican institu • tions, and a sacred regard to the sancti ty of public engagements, require that the resources of the Commonwealth, and the energies of her citizens, be put in re. quisition, to meet her public engagements [%V RULE No. 314 I promptly, punctually, and unhesitatingly It is therefore respectfully and earnestly urged upon the Legislature, to take the necessary steps, at the earlies possible day, to ensure this desirable result. As the most efficient means that have occurred to my mind, I would suggest the following course, Let the Legislature as certain from the financial departments, both the ordinary revenue, and the amount necessary to be raised, annually, for the payment of the interest on the state debt, and the ordinary expenses of government. Let provision also be made to cover all possible contingencies and losses on collection. Add to th s sum, though ever so small, for a sinking fund, to be applied annually to the extinguish ment of the principal of the public debt, and apportion it among the several coun ties of the Commonwealth, designating the amount to be paid by each, by a uni form apportionment according to the triennia!, or last assessments, with such corrections and equalization as shall be found necessary, and on the same objects now taxable, or any others that the Legis lature may think preferable, Let ade• quate and certain penalties be imposed on each county commissioner for omitting to have the duplicates issued in time, and on each assessor for the non-performance of his duties, and allow the county such a premium, as shall be thought right, if its full quota be paid into the Treasury, on or before the day required by law. It is believed that a committee of the Legisla. ture would be as competent a board as could be raised, to apportion the quotas of the several counties, as above mentioned, aided as they will be, by the late assess ments and census. The establisliment of this system by law, would place the fund to meet the interest on the the public debt, on a permanent foundati on, and si lence forever all doubts which interested speculators might seek to raise on this sub ject. But it is not only to the loan holders of the Commonwealth, that she ought to be just in Just meetiug her engagements. A re gard to economy, as well as justice, to the men who Libor uron the repairs of our canals and rail-roads, requires that they should be punctually paid. The laborer is worthy of his hire, and is as meritori lous a creditor as the Commonwealth has, and it is absolutely disreptable that he should be dependant on the borrowing of money for his pay, and b 2 unable at times, for months together, to procure as much for his labor as will buy him a loaf of bread. It is respectfully suggested, that ! when abundant means from taxation are provided to meat the interest of the state debt, that the tolls on the public works 'shall first be applied to their repairs, so that we may know, at a glance, to what the nett revenue, if any, arising from them respectively amounts. It is not to be disguised that we are deeply in debt; and that the times call for an unquailing fearlessness in our pub lic functionaries, to meet the emergency, and to provide the means for our extrica tion. The people are already burdened with taxation, and those burdens cannot be diminished, if we expect to pay our debts. The conduct and motives of those who make provision to pay them, may be misrepresented, and for a time misunder !stood. Prejudice, from the sordid feel ings of interest, may be invoked, and de magogues and unprincipled politicians will, doubtless, attempt to use it, to an swer their own purposes. But the re sponsibility is one which every honest public functionary must meet fairly and Frankly, and in so doing he will be event ually sustained by the people at large, who never deliberately err, and who always will reward, with their confidence, an honest and fearless devotion to their true interests, even though it may, at first, have met with temporary disapprobation. The means to pay off the loan under the act of 4th May, 1841,—t0 pay the foregoing creditors of the state, and the. interest on the public debt, must be pro ! vided before the Legislature adjourns..-- I Some policy, nay common honesty, de mands this much at our hands, and I am persuaded no member of the Legislature will shrink from a duty enjoined by such considerations as these. It will be found in reference to the amount of taxes paid by the people, that comparatively a small portion is levied to discharge the interest on the public debt. Although in the aggregate the taxes are onerous, by far the greater amount bs absorbed in the ordinary purposesof town ship, city and country affairs. I take great pleasure in stating the fact, that the increase of the taxes for the maintenance of the faith and honor of the state, has been regarded in a spirit of patriotic duty by the public at large, and has been borne without repining, unless, indeed, we ex cept a very few persons, residing in por tions of the state which have reaped al most the entire benefit of the expendiLure of the vast bums of money. for the pay ment of interest on which these taxes ars imposed. I felt satisfied when I recom-
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