into an arena for the display of political gladiators, which has too long characterized the halls of our national legislature, is a lamentable departure from the course pursued by the band of patriots who composed "the first Congress," and whose example, I hope, for the honor of our common country, has not yet been wholly forgotten by their successors. The pernicious tendency of this practice of the national legislature, will not, I trust, be ex ended to the legislatures of their respective States; and I am sure, I need scarcely add, I have no apprehensions of its reaching the Legislature of this Commonwealth. No public functionary who would yield to its influence need expect to retain the confidence and respect of the people of Pennsylvania. In conclusion, I shall beg leave to refer you to the views on several subjects contained in my last annual message. That message being the first which I had the honor to communicate at the commencement of a session of the Legis lature, I went more into detail on the various topics discussed in it, than I supposed would be again necessary, with a view to an expression of opinion on them, as well for that occasion, as for future reference. I therefore refer you to it. for my recommendations on the subject of reform of the Banking System, &c.-the importance of connecting and completing at the earliest day practicable, the disconnected part of our disjointed and unfinished system of Internal Improvements the making of prompt and ample provision for keeping the public improvements in repair-the necessity of preserving unimpaired, the credit of the Commonwealth, and promptly meeting all her pecuniary engagements-the necessary care and caution to be exercised in creating, renewing, and supervising corporations-the subject of education, and as connected with it, that of procuring competent teachers and school books-the subject of the increase of writs of error and appeals in the Supreme Court, and reporting the decisions of that court-the militia system, the encouragement of volunteers and the reduction of militia training to one day in the year-the evasion of the laws relative to collateral inheritance tax-and the revision of the laws relative to the selecting and drawing of jurors. It will afford me great pleasure to co-operate with the Legislature, in these, and all other measures calculated to promote the common good of our beloved Commonwealth. DAVID R. PORTER. Executive Chamber, January 6, 1841. Of these articles we may exclude from men corn, which, though bread-stuff, is in Ohio cheerfully fed to animals, and include potatoes, of which man is the only consumer. We have then, 945,000 bushels of grain, or its equivalent, used as the food of man. Allowing the usual average for the consumption of these articles by the population of Wayne, and the result is that the people there raise four and a half times as much breadstuff as they consume. In other words, of 44 bushels of grain or potatoes raised in that county, 3 may be set down for exportation. In this great fact we see how it is that such enormous amounts of Ohio flour arrive at the ports of Buffalo and New Orleans. At Buffalo, 27,000 barrels of Ohio flour arrived in a single day! But this is only one side of the statistics of this county. There are raised in it: Oats,. Wool, Sugar,. Hogs, Sheep.. ..543,000 bushels. 38,000 fons. ..120,000 lbs. And we may add, there are less that 1,500 barrels of whiskey made in the county. We give these facts as specimens of the domestic industry, and the substantial wealth of this prosperous nation. We doubt whether any thing like it can be found in the history of nations. It is every man (with few rare exceptions) sitting under his own (not vine and fig tree) fruit trees, Ínoking over his own waving fields, enjoying the rewards of his own labor, secured by wise and equal laws, under a free government and a merciful Providence. It brings us back, in idea, to the days of Abraham, with the addition of blessings which Abraham knew not of. This is Democracy in America, which needs neither the comments of Philosophy nor the songs of Poetry to be seen, felt, and understood." Iowa. We take great pleasure in noting the progress of the young states and newly-settled territories of the Far West. They are springing up by magic-a real fiesh and blood magic, about which there is no Aladin's lamp but clear-sightedness, and no sorcery but that tangible sort which grapples with axe and plough, and compels the earth to yield up its treasures. A few days ago we gave some account of what is doing, and is further to be done, in a brace of little towns on the Upper Mississippi, which have sprung up with almost the suddenness of Jonah's gourd. A step further up-only a hundred or two of miles-still greater wonders are showing themselves. Every body knows the history of Burlington, the principal town of Iowa territory. It is a place of yesterday; and yet one of the two or three newspapers already printed in it, informs us that since the setting in of the cool weather, a single business house there, (that of H. W. Moore & Co.) has slaughtered upwards of two hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds of beef, and since the commencement of the pork season, upwards of a thousand hogs. They have, within the same time, shipped by steamboats rising four hundred barrels of beef, pork, tallow and lard, and loaded besides, at the Burlington wharf, two large flat boats. Nearly all the beef was shipped on their own account-the pork chiefly on account of others.They employ at their establishment more than thirty hands. Upwards of one hundred covered flat boats, from "further up," have already passed Burlington the present season, laden with produce of various kinds for the South. N. O. Bee. Book Publishing. The single house of Morgan & Co. has now in the press Book publishing in Cincinnati is an extensive business. 80,000 volumes of Truman & Smith's school books. They keep 5 steam-presses in constant operation. The Chronicle estimates the annual consumption of paper in that city for school books alone at 6,000 reams. These books are scattered all over the West, chiefly in exchange for paper. The house above named received 700 reams at once from the banks of the Holston, East Tennessee, in trade. By these disasters many lives were lost; 684 have been ascertained, and in regard to many others, the crews were missing, and in all probability perished with the vessel. Added to this, 39 vessels have been reported as missing during the year, which, in all probability, went to the bottom, with all their crews. These statistics exhibit in some faint degree the perils of the sea, and teach us, in most emphatic language, that what we do for sailors should be done quickly. Statement of Brighton Market, 1840. 34,160 Beef Cattle-Sales estimated at $1,366,400 277,456 12,736 Stores do do JOHN FITCH. The following advertisement is taken from the Maryland Gazette, published by Miss M. K. Goddard, a lady who was not only the publisher of a paper, but the Post-master, that is, the Post-mistress in Baltimore for several years. The date of the paper is January 6, 1786, and the date of the advertisement is December 20, 1785. This advertisement contains the GERM of the greatest improvement in the arts, except that of printing, that the world has ever received. It presents the views of Mr. Fitch, as well as his efforts to carry his scheme into effect; and in this we have the first use of the word Steamboat. The advertisement is all HISTORY. To the encouragement of Useful Arts. The subscriber humbly begs leave to inform the public, NAVIGATION, with other useful ARTS-that it has been that he has proposed a Machine for the improvement of honored with the approbation of many men of the first characters for philosophical and mechanical knowledge in each of the middle States-that he has laid it before the honorable Assembly of Pennsylvania now sitting, whose committee have been pleased to make a very favorable report on the subject. The result has been that a number of gentlemen of character and influence have undertaken to promote a subscription for his map of the N. W. part of the United States, in order to enable him to make a full experiment of said Machine. He flatters himself the subscribers will think the Maps well worth the money, yet he pledges himself to employ one half the money so contributed, in constructing and bringing to perfection a machine that promises to be of infinite advantage to the United States. JOHN FITCH. The subscriber is of opinion that said Machine will be able to make head against the most violent tempest, and at any time ware a vessel off from a lee shore; and that the same force may be applied to free a leaky ship of her water, and besides the above mentioned conveniences he believes it and that it will produce a constant supply of fresh water, will shorten voyages very considerable: He therefore flatters himself that few gentlemen would think much of contributing toward an experiment so well supported, by such a number of the first characters in each of the Middle States, as he does not ask their aid without a full compensation. N. B. The following opinion was given to said Fitch, 217,321 and subscribed by a number of gentlemen whose names would 129,400 do honor to any projection in philosophy or mechanism. Upon considering the extent of the principles on which Mr. Fitch proposes to construct his Steamboat, and the quantity of motion that may be produced by the elastic force of steam, we are of opinion that if the execution could, by any $1,901,861 means, be made to answer the theory when reduced to practice it might be beneficial to the public, and it seems to be deserving of a fair experiment, which alone can justify the expectation of success. $1,990,577 Subscriptions taken in by the Printer hereof, and Messrs. $2,058,004 Spotswood and Clarke, Booksellers and Stationers, in Market st. $2,449,231 John Fitch ought to be recorded in History as the father of Steam Navigation, for his plan and papers were submitted to Mr. Fulton's examination in France. See Barber's Collection. p. 82. N. WEBSTER. A new kind of Cotton. A sample of a new and rare species of cotton has been left at this office for the inspection of those taking an interest in the improvement of our great staple. It is called the Rio Cotton, and is certainly a most beautiful article, in color and staple, superior to any thing we have ever seen, of the short staple, and we believe equal to the best long staple or Sea Island variety. The sample left with us is part of the produce of about a dozen seeds brought from South America by a traveller, and planted in Marengo county. It is thought that the southern part of Alabama will, on trial, prove to be well adapted to the growth of this new variety of the gossypium. The staple is about three inches long, and of a glossy, silk texture.-Mobile Jour. Bituminous Coal Trade. Our neighbors of Virginia, who have had pretty much the monopoly of the bituminous coal trade on the sea-board, are getting uneasy at the prospect of the competition which Pennsylvania will henceforth carry on through the Tide Water Canal, and which Maryland will commence when the canal is finished to Cumberland. The bituminous coal of Pennsylvania is already extensively used in Philadelphia, to which city it finds its way by the Union Canal; and now that the direct route is open to the Chesapeake, it can be brought to market at a very cheap rate.-Balt. Amer. A writer in the Richmond Whig, in some "reflections on the coal trade of Virginia," says— The coal basin of Eastern Virginia, lying within a space of from twelve to twenty miles of Richmond and Petersburg, (across which the James River and Appomattox pass to the tide water,) is undoubtedly the most convenient field of this mineral to the Atlantic sea-board, in any of the United States. It is bituminous altogether; and when properly raised affords an excellent article for all the purposes to which that kind is applicable. The foreign Cannel coal, for some purposes is better, while the Liverpool, New Castle, New Brunswick, and others, have little or no superiority which cannot be overcome by proper management in our collieries. An imposing competition has recently been found in the bituminous coal mines on the Susquehanna in Pennsylvania. The opening, within the last 12 months of the Tide Water Canal, admits the Susquehanna coal to the sea-board upon terms calculated greatly to interfere with the Virginia trade. While the expenses of transportation from the mines to the shipping point on the Tide Water Canal, is probably greater than it is, or ought to be, on our canals and railroads, that of raising the coal is less than in Virginia. Labor is cheaper, and the veins lie above the water level; so that engines and machinery for raising coal and draining the mines are not required. The Cumberland mines in Maryland will, after the completion of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, be another source of competition with Virginia coal. To this competition in the trade may be added the new application of anthracite to purposes for which the bituminous was formerly used alone. The Anthracite has been placed in the markets of the Northern States, at lower prices than the Virginia coal, to be used for purposes that either will answer full well. Here, then, are objects well worthy the consideration of the colliers of Virginia, as well as all persons interested in the canals, railroads, hire of hands, and the public at large,-whether every effort ought not to be made to supply the Virginia coal to Northern consumers at the lowest possible price-so low that it will maintain its position in regard to former uses, against the anthracite, and so that it shall not be driven out of market by the Pennsylvania or Maryland bituminous coals. It is quite certain, that economy in every branch of the business must be consulted, for this is one of the most important points in all Northern operations. Population of Pittsburg. A statement of the population of several of the principal cities in the Union has been going the rounds of the papers which does not do our city justice. The population of our very contracted city proper, is all that is allowed us in this statement; while Philadelphia is put down at 258,922, although the population of the city proper is, we believe, only about 96,000. Cincinnati is laid out on a very grand scale, and extends along the river nearly three miles, and back perhaps almost as far. We have, perhaps, on the same extent of ground almost or quite as large a population as there is in the Queen City. At all events, Pittsburg should be the seventh, instead of the tenth, in the list. Burning of the Caroline. Message from the President of the United States, transmit- To the House of Representatives of the United States : Washington, December 28, 1840. DEPARTMENT OF STATE. Washington, December 28, 1840. The Secretary of State, to whom has been referred the resolution of the House of Representatives, dated the 21st "to communicate to that instant, requesting the President House (if not, in his opinion, incompatible with the public interest) all the correspondence between this Government and that of Great Britain, or the officers or agents of either, or the officers and agents of this Government with the President or any of its departments, which has not heretofore been communicated to that House, on the subject of the outrage of burning the Caroline on the Niagara frontier; and to the owner of said boat for the loss thereof; and, also, whether there is any prospect of compensation being made whether any communications have been made to this GovMcLeod, by the authorities of the State of New York, for ernment in regard to the arrest and imprisonment of being concerned in said outrage; and, if so, that he commuto the President, in answer to that resolution, the accompanicate a copy thereof to that house :" has the honor to report nying papers. Respectfully submitted: To the President of the United States. JOHN FORSYTH. nication to the department, dated the 2d of July last, (No. With reference to the closing paragraph of your commu74,) it is proper to inform you that no instructions are at present required for again bringing forward the question of the Caroline." I have had frequent conversations with Mr. Fox in regard to this subject-one of very recent date; and, from its tone, the President expects the British Government will answer your application in the case, without much further delay. Mr. Fox to Mr. Forsyth. Washington, December 13, 1840. Sir :-I am informed by his excellency the LieutenantGovernor of the Province of Upper Canada, that Mr. Alexander McLeod, a British subject, and late deputy-sheriff of the Niagara district in Upper Canada, was arrested at Lewiston, in the State of New York, on the 12th of last month, on a pretended charge of murder and arson, as having been engaged in the capture and destruction of the piratical steamboat "Caroline," in the month of December, 1837. After a tedious and vexatious examination, Mr. McLeod was committed for trial, and he is now imprisoned in Lockport jail. I feel it my duty to call upon the Government of the United States to take prompt and effectual steps for the liberation of Mr. McLeod. It is well known that the destruction of the steamboat " Caroline" was a public act of persons in her Majesty's service, obeying the order of their superior authorities. That act, therefore, according to the usages of nations, can only be the subject of discussion between the two National Governments. It cannot justly be made the ground of legal proceedings in the United States against the individuals concerned, who were bound to obey the authoritics appointed by their own Government. I may add, that I believe it is quite notorious that Mr. McLeod was not one of the party engaged in the destruction of the steamboat" Caroline;" and that the pretended charge upon which he has been imprisoned rests only upon the perjured testimony of certain Canadian outlaws and their abettors, who, unfortunately for the peace of that neighborhood, are still permitted by the authorities of the State of New York to infest the Canadian frontier. The question, however, of whether Mr. McLeod was or was not concerned in the destruction of the "Caroline," is beside the purpose of the present communication. That act was the public act of persons obeying the constituted authorities of her Majesty's Province. The National Government of the United States thought themselves called upon to remonstrate against it; and a remonstrance, which the President did accordingly address to her Majesty's Government, is still, I believe, a pending subject of diplomatic discussion between her Majesty's Government and the United States legation in London. I feel, therefore, justified in expecting that the President's Government will see the justice and the necessity of causing the present immediate release of Mr. McLeod, as well as of taking such steps as may be requisite for preventing others of her Majesty's subjects from being persecuted or molested in the United States, in a similar manner, for the future. It appears that Mr. McLeod was arrested on the 12th ultimo; that, after the examination of witnesses, he was finally committed for trial on the 18th, and placed in confinement in the jail of Lockport, awaiting the assizes which will be held there in February next. As the case is naturally occasioning a great degree of excitement and indignation within the British frontier, I earnestly hope that it may be in your power to give me an early and satisfactory answer to the present representation. I avail myself of this occasion to renew to you the assurance of my distinguished consideration. Hon. John Forsyth, &c., &c. Mr. Forsyth to Mr. Fox. H. S. Fox. DEPARTMENT of State, Washington, December 26, 1840. Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge, and have laid before the President, your letter of the 13th instant, touching the arrest and imprisonment of Alexander McLeod, a British subject, and late deputy sheriff of the Niagara district, in Upper Canada, on a charge of murder and arson, as having been engaged in the capture and destruction of the steamboat "Caroline," in the month of December, 1837; in respect to which, you state that you feel it your duty to call upon the Government of the United States to take prompt and effectual steps for the liberation of Mr. McLeod, and to prevent others of the subjects of her Majesty, the Queen of Great Britain, from being persecuted or molested in a similar manner, for the future. This demand, with the grounds upon which it is made, has been duly considered by the President, with a sincere desire to give to it such a reply as will not only manifest a proper regard for the character and rights of the United States, but, at the same time, tend to preserve the amicable relations which, so advantageously for both, subsist between this country and England. Of the reality of this disposition, and of the uniformity with which it has been evinced in the VOL. IV.-4 many delicate and difficult questions which have arisen between the two countries in the last few years, no one can be more convinced than yourself. It is, then, with unfeigned regret that the President finds himself unable to recognise the validity of a demand, a compliance with which you deem so material to the preservation of the good understanding which has been hitherto maintained between the two countries. The jurisdiction of the several States which constitute the Union is, within its appropriate sphere, perfectly independent of the Federal Government. The offence with which Mr. McLeod is charged was committed within the territory and against the laws and citizens of the State of New York, and is one that comes clearly within the competency of her tribunals. It does not, therefore, present an occasion where, under the constitution and laws of the Union, the interposition called for would be proper, or for which a warrant can be found in the powers with which the Federal Executive is invested. Nor would the circumstances to which you have referred, or the reasons you have urged, justify the exertion of such a power, if it existed. The transaction out of which the question arises, presents the case of a most unjustifiable invasion, in time of peace, of a portion of the territory of the United States, by a band of armed men from the adjacent territory of Canada; the forcible capture by them, within our own waters, and the subsequent destruction, of a steamboat, the property of a citizen of the United States, and the murder of one or more American citizens. If arrested at the time, the offenders might unquestionably have been brought to justice by the judicial authorities of the State within whose acknowledged territory these crimes were committed; and their subsequent voluntary entrance within that territory places them in the same situation. The Psesident is not aware of any principle of international law, or, indeed, of reason or justice, which entitles such offenders to impunity before the legal tribunals, when coming voluntarily within their independent and undoubted jurisdiction, because they acted in obedience to their superior authorities, or because their acts have become the subject of diplomatic discussion between the two Governments. These methods of redress-the legal prosecution of the offenders, and the application to their Government for satisfaction-are independent of each other, and may be separately and simultaneously pursued. The avowal or justification of the outrage by the British authorities might be a ground of complaint with the Government of the United States, distinct from the violation of the territory and laws of the State of New York. The application of the Government of the Union to that of Great Britain, for the redress of an authorized outrage of the peace, dignity, and rights of the United States, cannot deprive the State of New York of her undoubted right of vindicating, through the exercise of her judicial power, the property and lives of her citizens. You have very properly regarded the alleged absence of Mr. McLeod from the scene of the offence at the time when it was committed as not material to the decision of the present question. That is a matter to be decided by legal evidence; and the sincere desire of the President is, that it may be satisfactorily established. If the destruction of the Caroline was a public act of persons in her Majesty's service, obeying the order of their superior authorities, this fact has not been before communicated to the Government of the United States by a person authorized to make the admission; and it will be for the court which has taken cognizance of the offence with which Mr. McLeod is charged to decide upon its validity, when legally established before it. The President deems this to be a proper occasion to remind the Government of her Britannic Majesty that the case of the "Caroline" has been long since brought to the attention of her Majesty's principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who, up to this day, has not communicated its decision thereupon. It is hoped that the Government of her Majesty will perceive the importance of no longer leaving the Government of the United States uninformed of its views and intentions upon a subject which has naturally produced much exasperation, and which has led to such grave consequences. WASHINGTON, December 29, 1810. SIR-I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 26th instant, in which, in reply to a letter which I had addressed to you on the 13th, you acquaint me that the President is not prepared to comply with my demand for the liberation of Mr. Alexander McLeod of Upper Canada, now imprisoned at Lockport, in the State of New York, on a pretended charge of murder and arson, as having been engaged in the destruction of the steamboat Caroline, on the 29th of December, 1837. I learn with deep regret that such is the decision of the President of the United States; and I cannot but foresee the very grave and serious consequences that must ensue, if, besides the injury already inflicted upon Mr. McLeod, of a vexatious and unjust imprisonment, any further harm may be done to him in the progress of this extraordinary proceeding. I have lost no time in forwarding to her Majesty's Government in England, the correspondence that has taken place, and I shall await the further orders of her Majesty's Government with respect to the important question which that correspondence involves. Mr. Forsyth to Mr. Fox. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, December 31, 1840. SIR-I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 29th inst. in reply to mine of the 26th, on the subject of the arrest and detention of Alexander McLeod as one of the perpetrators of the outrage committed in New York when the steamboat Caroline was seized and burnt.— Full evidence of that outrage has been presented to her Britannic Majesty's Government, with a demand for redress, and of course no discussion of the circumstances here, can be either useful or proper; nor can I suppose it to be your desire to invite it. I take leave of this subject with this single remark, that the opinion so strongly expressed by you on the facts and principles involved in the demand for reparation on her Majesty's Government by the United States, would hardly have been hazarded, had you been possessed of the carefully collected testimony which has been presented to your Government in support of that demand. I avail myself of the occasion to renew to you the assurance of my distinguished consideration. Joux FonsYTH. Message of the Mayor of Baltimore, afairs. CITY COUNCIL. But I feel it my duty not to close this communication ed yesterday, the two Branches having assembled in the The regular annual session of the City Council commencwithout likewise testifying my vast regret and surprise at the tem. to wait on the Mayor, in conjunction with one from the SecMessrs. Dryden and Gorsuch were appointed a committee ond Branch, and inform him that the Councils were ready After the return of the Committee the following communicato receive any communication he might be pleased to make. tion was received from the Mayor: MAYOR'S MESSAGE. } MAYOR'S OFFICE. Baltimore, January 4, 1841. Gentlemen of the First and Second Branches of the City Council: expressions which I find repeated in your letter with refer- City Hall at 3, P. M. The First Branch was organized by ence to the destruction of the steamboat Caroline. I had the appointment of HENRY SNYDER Esq. as President, STEconfidently hoped that the first erroneous impressions of the PHEN H. MOORE, chief clerk; JOSEPH NEILSON, jr. assistant character of that event, imposed upon the mind of the United clerk. HENRY W. GRAY was appointed chief clerk, pro. States Government by partial and exaggerated representations, would, long since, have been effaced by a more strict and accurate examination of the facts. Such an investiga tion must even yet, I am willing to believe, lead the United States Government to the same conviction with which her Majesty's authorities on the spot were impressed, that the act was one, in the strictest sense, of self-defence, rendered absolutely necessary by the circumstances of the occasion, for the safety and protection of her Majesty's subjects, and justified by the same motives and principles which, upon similar and well known occasions, have governed the con. duct of illustrious officers of the United States. The steamboat Caroline was a hostile vessel, engaged in piratical war against her Majesty's people; hired from her owners for that express purpose, and known to be so beyond the possibility of doubt. The place where it was destroyed was nominally, it is true, within the territory of a friendly power; but the friendly power ha! been deprived, through overbearing, pira'ical violence, of the use of its proper authority over that portion of territory. The authorities of New York had not even been able to prevent the artillery of the State from being carried off publicly at midday, to be used as instruments of war against her Majesty's subjec's. It was under such circumstances, which, it is to be hoped, will never recur, that the vessel was attacked by a party of her Majesty's people, captured, and destroyed. A remonstrance against the act in question has been addressed by the United States to her Majesty's Government in England. I am not authorized to pronounce the decision of her Majesty's Government upon that remonstrance; but I have felt myself bound to record, in the meantime, the above opinion, in order to protest in the most solemn manner against the spirited and loyal conduct of her Majesty's officers and people being qualified, through an unfortunate misapprehension, as I believe, of the facts, with the appellation of outrage or of murder. I avail myself of this occasion to renew to you the assurance of my distinguished consideration. H. S. Fox. The Charter imposes upon the Executive the duty of laying before you whatever of interest that concerns the City, in relation to its Finances, Receipts and Expenditures of Money, Police and Health for the past year, and to recommend such measures as are thought necessary for the future. I may be permitted to congratulate you on the favorable and excitement that pervaded every section of our wide exauspices under which you meet. The whirlwind of passion tended country the last year, of which our City had its full share, has measurably passed away, the public mind is fast settling down to the sober realities of life, reason is again happily exercising its controlling influence over men's actions; and with the manifold blessings bestowed upon us as fault if we do not realize them to the fullest extent. The rea people, by an allwise and good Providence, it will be our sponsibility is great upon those who assume the duties of Legislators. Division of the City into fourteen Wards. Your early attention is called to the division of the City into fourteen Wards. An act of the General Assembly of Maryland, relating to the City of Baltimore, December Sesɛion, 1817, chap. 148, requires that, when the number of inhabitants shall amount to ninety thousand, the city shall be divided into fourteen wards. It rests with the Councils |