The New York Herald Newspaper, February 20, 1848, Page 1

NEW YORK, SUNDAY MORN FEBRUARY Italy. Genoa, Jan. 23, 1848. Excitement in Italy—King of Sardinia Prepared against Austria with 100,000 Men and 200 Can- non—Entry of the Austrians into Modena and Parma—'The Pope—The Herald’s Editorials in Europe— Remarks in Vindication of American Democracy—Effect of the New York Address and of the President?s Message—Progress of Free Trade Principles— Opinions on the Fate of Mex- ico— Public Spirit in Italy—The Peers of France going for Italy—An English Squadron on the Coast of Italy Supporting the Pope—Slaughter at Milan by the Austrian Troops—Immense Ex- citement it has Caused—All Going to Prayers— War Threatening—The Pope’s Refusal to let Troops Mareh through his Territory against the Sicilian Insurgents—Anecdote of the Tri-color Flag in Sicily—Fanny Elasler a Sufferer from Hatred against Austria. All Italy is in a state of excitement, and some parts of it are filled with alarm. The march of the revolution is still uninterrupted—what the consummation avill be, God only knows. All the governments are arming themselves, and in many portions of the Peninsula, there is every appearance of war; but it seems highly impro- bable thet Austria will risk the hazards of gene- ral hostiliti Charles Albert, the warrior king of Sardinia, has quadrupled his army within two weeks, and he can now file a hundred thousand soldiers, and some two hundred cannon, along the frontier of Austria, which would constitute aserious barrier for the imperial troops. Al- ready, at the request of the ‘dukes of Modena and of Parma, some 3000 Austrian troops have enter- ed those territories, from which points they threaten all Italy. The Grand Duke of Florence who had no army, has granted a national guar: to his people, and in all hi , for the last six months, dis layed the most fearless and earnest advocacy of the principles of reform. __ It is needless to talk of the Pope. Pio Nono is the most glorious pontiff Rome ever had, and already he sways from his pontifical see the mightiest influence of any sovereign in Europe. He isa man of our times. He has nothing of the monastic age about him—his sympathies are all with the popular ss. He began this new one in I pemieh is sileatly sad powerfully changing the i ions and society ot all rope. Americans can have no ade- quate conception of this man—they cannot think of him except as a Pope, and such he is not, in the ordinary acceptation of that word. He isa sovereiga of the people, educated asa man, which no other sovereign been. His heart is with the livi 3 his eye is onthe future; his work is but Ft it and yet its beginning has shaken the whole feudal system on which the society of Europe based. We are apt to overrate our American in- fluence abroad—it amounts to very little out of France, for the Ete reason that we have never had an organ in Europe for the expression of our opinions. Frenchmen could not read our lan- guage, and hence the mass of that people could never be reached by our press. The plan you have ado) of putting your prin cipal, editori- als into French, in your steamer Heralds, will do more than the free circulation of a score of American journals onthe continent. I observed that those articles were republished all over Eu- rope, for French is the universal language— where one reader would be found for an English editorial, ten thousand will be found for one in French. I hope you will preas this department of your paper, and you pay be sure that in leasthan one year, your principal editorials will be repub- lished in an hundred of the continental journals. Thave been exceedingly interested in tracin, the progress of one’of those French articles o yours particularly. It was on the pace sub- ject of the Mexican war, in which the great fea- tures of its romantic history, and its stupendous consequences on the civilization and commerce of the old and new worlds, were clearly brought out. The Europeans reprinted the article, and extras containing it were sold in the streets of many of the great cities. The Europeans saw at a glance what they would have been long in discovering, viz: that the grand result of all this conflict would be, that the Anglo Saxons would find their way to the Pacific, sweeping the half- barbarous structures of old Spanish superstitions and feudal institutions away. Americans who have been abroad have had abundant ‘occasion to know, that from the very foundation of our government, the English pre: have given the continent all its ideas about Ame- rica and its institutions. We should long ago have established, in Paris, a great paper, whose object should have been to communicate directly with the mind of Europe, and the advantages of such a press would have been—ist, That Europe would have had the truth, and not a part of it, and even this small dose so mixed up with false- hood and prejudice, that no man could forma co rect conception of us or our history. 2d, The pure, lofty and sublime principles of re, nblican- ism, of which our nation affords the only tolera- ble sample in the world’s history, would have been brought before the people of Europe, and no limits could have been fixed to the influence that would thus have been put forth. 3d, The progress of a free, intelligent people, in the arts of peace, would have been made apparent, and a final answer given to the old, but still ever recur- ring, pepmnent, tise clstaaaracy, means anarchy ; for in Europe this has always simple reason that no people in Europe are capable of self-government. “It is all a dream,” say even the Latayettes and Pellicoes of, the Continent, ‘ that we can introduce republics— they will not last—the people are not qualified to govern themselves ” America might have done much to render them so, if we could have brought ourselves, our mind, our history, our institutions, our thoughts and our feelings, in collision with the mind and heart of Europe.— We have never done this, and we never shall until we can have an organ on the Continent through which, in the Janguage of the Continent, we can reach its people. French is this language, and we must make use of it if we would put forth that influence abroad which our history, our in- stitutions, our great men, our civilization and our ec renning power give usa title to exact. The address of the people of New York and the Message of the President, reached Europe about he same time. The one was well written, cleer, dense, simple, lucid and moderate; a fair sample of the feelings and the principles of the Americans. It was at once translated into every Janguage on the Continent, and many of its dia- lects. It had a glorious effect. No docu- ment has come from the other side of the sea, since the times of the Revolution, which has been read by so many peoples or probably put forth so much power. The Message of the Pre: sident was quite a different affair. It was so jong it was barely translated into French—hard- ly another language on the Continent; and wher- ever it was read, it was regarded as his poorest State paper. Your remarks on the message went very currently over the Continent,and were con- sidered very just. The mere announcement that Mr. Walker’s free trade tariff had increased the revenue some six millions of dollars, was worth all the mes- sage. It startled every cabinet in Euroj Tam sure that within ten days an hundre ticles have appeared on the Continent on that wonder- ful fact. Here popular sentiment is drifting ra- pidly towards freedom of commerce, and the greatest journals in Europe are giving us their warm hearted “ d-speed” on our d to em- pire on the land and.on the sea. It is, indeed, a new and a sublime spectacle to see a great nation, which has fifty thousand of her sons on the battle field, with an exhausted treasury, come forward and proclaim the great principle of policy, that the only remedy for such a financial exigency is a reduction of duties. It is a cheering spectacle to see iis triumph. The common opinion in Europe is that we shall be obliged to absorb Mexico, and all the States and territories which lie between us and the shores of the Pacific. However perilous this may seem, we shall be compelled to do it—how- ever startling it may now be, we shall soon grow familiar with the idea. Railways and telegraphs are annihilating distance, and the w of Farman progress, which seems to be carrying society along in America with the same electric swift- ness, will probably render the work much easier than many things we have already achieved. It seems to me to be but an accelerated motion giv- en by political events to the enterprise begun two centuries ago on the rock of Plymouth and the bavksot the James river. By removing the In- dian tribee beyond the Mississippi, we been staving off an evil that ina few Fone wil | een true, for the | stare us in the face. We seemed to think that we had got finally rid of those outraged people by sending them away from their homes, in- to a distant forest—but we have already pass- ed beyond them. In California and Oregon and from those distant shores, we shall soon be pressing up around them on every side. Why all that enthusiasm about ‘all of Oregon,” in which every body joined, and why all this out- cry against the acquisition of a foot of land be- yond the Nueces? Short-sighted politicians, and jugglers of all sorts, in political clubs, may say and do all they like. The movement which be- gan on the shores of the Atlantic. two hundred years ago, has already crossed the Continent, and any attempt to arrest the tide, will be the vainest of all political dreams. Better for all ra- tional men to join in controlling and guiding the progress of a stream which no united power can stop. Such ere the views which the leading journals of Italy, and France, and Germany, in ve eX) to this matter. Tn Italy there is now but one feeling, and that 1s a national spirit. For the first time in many centuries, the people of this country have united their sympathies and their efforts on one com- mon point—the achievement of the indepen- dence of the Peninsula. Tothis point are direct- ed all the efforts ef those three sovereigns who have joined the new freetrade league. Pio Nono began thismovement, and Charles Albert, of Sar- dinia, and the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and e ion of Itely, and the sympathies of the world, arewith him. Austria has been foiled in all her diplomacy thus far, and unless some event transpires w. hurls the hopes of Europe to ruin, the power of that infernal government is lost in the Peni She has held it unbroken for nearly a sand years. She haa inmade popes—she has id the Italian na- tion into the duet—she hes robbed them of thelr treasures and their indepen ¢ has sown discord between their prince and —| has every reform, and blotted out the light of Searyshing but undying hope itself. Her long, dark, dreary reign is closing—gradually her hold on Italy is loosening—her power melt- ing away. She is arm‘ng for @ conflict she dare not begin, and preparing for a war she knows will prove her ruin. | Just at the moment, the Chamber of Peers in France has spoken out for Italy, and the house has listened to many a brilliant eulogium on Pope. Guizot, who was once the most earnest and powertul advo- eate of constitutional government in Europe, the warmest friend of the new civilization, the most eloquent writer in Europe against the Jesuits, has been forced to declare that, in the event of fos Si 3 on the part of Austria and the ene- mies of liberty and progress to stop the Pontiff in his reforms, France would espouse the cause ot liberalism, and maintain the peace of Europe. This fact created a great sensation in Italy, and it 1s quite probable that Guizot will es forced to abandon his intrigues with Austria. England, too, has an immense squadron on the coast of italy, and the admiral (Parker) 1s now in Rome, assisting at the festivals in honor ot the Pontiff and the recent martyrs to liberty in Milan. The entente cordiale, which has within the mat year been so apparent between Guizot and Fiqualmonte (the successor of Metternich in the diplomacy of Vienna) has aroused the jealousies of England, and her fleet is hanging the shores of Italy, with instructions, it is supposed, to oppose any advance of the Aus- trians. Indeed, Eogland would be compelled to interfere in that case, if she would preserve a balance of power on the Continent. The slaughter at Milan has ceased, and a pall of death bangs over the city. Eighty citizens were murdered in cold blood by the Austrian (reogs. be followed them into their houses and stabbed them around their own fire-sides. The strongest appeals were made to the Viceroy, and to the Emperor at Vienna, and, for some days, fair words calmed the people. The city is still under martial law, and the Emperor has published a proc!amation which leaves things where they stood. There is the peace of the grave ; but the first moment an opportunity offers, there willbe another insurrection. Some most biting reproofs have been administered tothe tyranny of Austria since that bloody af- fair. The Milanese set apart a day to say mass for the dead, and the churches were crowded by the population, all dressed in bes e venerable parish priest of the Duomo, who is &5 ears old, went with his white locks to the pa- lace, and boldly charged the crime upon the i “7 have lived,” says he, “‘to see the 8, Russians, Prussians, and French en- as conquerors, an the point of the bayonet—and I have seen much blood flow in all these revolutions; but I have never seen a day like thie. [t was a legalized cre.” The most stirring and melting appeals were made to the people; and while they celebrated the solemn mags with which the Catholic church dismisses believers to the future world, many a secret oath was sworn to revenge their blood. These same solemn ceremonies have been re- peated in other parts of Italy—and everywhere with the greatest effect. Theatres are deserted to fr and pray for the martyrs of liberty who tell at Milan. This is one of those ceremonies which cardinals and bishops can order when the please, and it is one of the most powerful of all means to stir the popular national feelings of Ita- ly against their great enemy. Austria has already marshalled an hundred thousand men in Italy. She is making vast reparations, and, to all appearances, there will e war. Not unlikely this steamer may bring ie the report. that war has actually bro- en out. But 1 can hardly believe that Austria will risk the hazards of battle. She knows what sort of a feeling exists amon, the Italians. She has friends in the Dukes o} Parma and Modena, and she has occupied those States—in the king of Naples too, and she de- manded of the government of the Pope permission to pass through his territory with 30,000 soldiers on the march to the two Sicilies. Some of the Pope’s councillors are said to have voted in fa- vor of the proposition—but Pio Nono, firm as he hgs always been, resolutely refused. It was tan- tamount to asking him to put his head into the ee mouth, and it is quite natural he refused to do it. The delegation which went from Genoa two weeks ago, with the mammoth petition, were refused an audience of the king. The minister told them the proceeding was irregular, and the king could not be dictated to by his people. He should do what he [at and do it when he pleased, &c. This cold reception and tyranni- cal reply excited universal indignation through- out the kingdom; not, perhaps, so much the refusal to grant the reforms requested, as the manner ia which the refusal was made. He would not listen to his subjects, to hear what they had to say, and some of these delegates were the proudest nobles of his State. The fact is, he will grant no more reforms than are necessary to insure him the support of his people in a trying crisis. He has no idea of divesting himself of his power. I expect- ed by this steamer to tell you that Ferdinand of Naples had reached end of rope— as the homely saying goes. But he is still alive— still a tyrant—but in avery scared state. A few nights ago he was persuaded to go to the theatre; it was his birth-day, when his friends had got up some display in his honor. The play was inter- rupted by furious shouts and cries for Pio Nono, and the timid tyrant fled trembling to his palace, and there fainted away! He lives in a state of tremendous alarm is Austrian allies cannot come to him by sea, for an. immense English fleet darkens the coast by which they must s: and all Italy would ru-h upon his army if they were to attempt to march down by land. Sicily is in open insurrection, however, and it will be 0 bring it back again to subjec- ¥ desperate feeling being mani- fested in that kingdom. They cannot hear the shout of treedom from their brethren in the other parts of the Peninsula without shaking their own fetters. Ina public square in Sicily the Italian tri-color flag was seen floating one morning from a standard planted there during the night, and it bore these bold words— ‘Woe to him who touches it.”’ One of the gens- @armes went up, and as he reached out his hand a ball from some unseen quarter struck his heart He fell; but the flag was left floating; and no other man dared a; i proach. it. Poor Fanny Elssler has been compelled to le Milan. She danced to empty boxes, dressed mourning. The same fate is shared by other reat artistes in Italy. The people will not be ced out of their liberties this time ; the joke has been repeated so often it has grown stale. Even in Modena, the ladies will not invite the Austrian officers into their boxes, nor to their soirées. In fact, there is not, probably, in the world a people that feels, in their very souls, so implacable an animosity against another nation as the Italians do for their Austrian oppressors. Such are some hurried lines J have made out for you in the moment ot leaving for Milan, where I have some curiosity to look on soojety for my Tknew the ty wwolly butt wish te be on the ground at this interesting moment, to judge for myself. You will now hear from me regularly by every Cunard steamer. I have no confidence in those French affairs they call steamers. Rely upon it, all that transpires here you will be duly informed of. I send the files of oe Italian papers. Yours, truly, and in great aste. Paris, Jan. 20, 1848. The State of Commercial and Financial Affairs in Europe-—‘The Difficulties in the American Army, Fe. §c. The Bank of England and the London bank- ers, create the same difficulties in the commer- cial affairs of England, as did the United States Bank in those of the United States. The bank is @ great gambling machine, which controls both commerce and ministers in England; and the great bankers of Europe co-operate with it to produce distress in the commercial commu- nity; because, from such a condition of things, they experience immense profits. A crisis has passed, in technical language—that is, the bank has ceased to crush the busiiess community for the present, and those persons only now fail who have been so injured by its past operations, as to be unable to recover from the shock. This combination of stockjobbers are now turning their attention to the United States; im- porting specie from that country as fast as_pos- sible, to affect the pecuniary condition of our banks and merchants, and, consequently, the price of produce and exports. They are pre- aring the way to buy, and to import from the nited States; and, by restoring the credit of European merchants, and, again, apparent Eu- ropean prosperity, to sell again at immense pro- fits in these countries. It is to_be regretted that the power of this moneyedEnglish monster is not limited to England, which gave it existence, and continues its being, and that the merchants, and banks, and people of our own country, are more or less affected by itsgambling eperations. Eng- land, and other parts of Europe, need our pro- duce, and must pay for it, if our people are able to hold on upon their stocks until the point of necessity arrives. England paid last yout one hundred and sixty-five millions of dollars for breadstuffs imported, and, notwithstanding the crops of last year, a very considerable part of her own population, as well as the masses in Ire- land, are suffering from want of food. Import, she must, or her population will starve to an ex- tent that may cast a shade upon her humanity, and endanger the existence of social order among her own population. fe Any one can see, at a glance, that the United States can raise and export their produce to Eag- land cheaper than it can be prcceres by England from her own people; and that, for the tuture, the grain of the United States will find a mar» ket in England; and that there can, he: , exist only temporary interruptions to our trade in American produce, at remunerating prices. How far the people of the United States will be made to sufler from the present operations of the Bank ot England, and its allies of stock jobbers, remains to be determined; and the coming cri- sis will tend to develope, in some measure, the comparative commercial strength of the two countries. : x The recent large failures at Vienna have created some anxiety in Paris and London; but itis to be hoped, that the effects of them will be less extensively felt than was at first anticipated. There have been also some heavy fallures in [n- dia; and, among the rest, the Usion Bank, which have fallen heavily upon many Baatish families, and deprived others of their all. In Europe, people suddenly deprived of their property, have not the recuperative power which exists in the United States; they sink under the stroke, and seem ‘to feel that there 1s, for them, no hope for the future, and that they must immediately take and occupy a lower place in society than their former one, and resign themselves to the evils which are so severely felt by the European poor; or by those with very limited means. Here, there are tore pe: thaw ineane; “with uy, more means than people; and a man of energy, struck down one. , in the United States, rises up the next jome new business or pusi- tion, and the past is forgotten. The recent notice which has reached Europe. of the difficulties between our gallant officers o! the army, has created a feeling of profound re- gret and sorrow among the friends to ourcountry, and all deplore an event which may tend to affect injuriously the reputation of the Bria, and di- minish the admiration which all feel for their rallantry, and unexampled achievements. All the papers unfriendly to our country, copy the letters and proceedings, and give them the great- est publicity in Europe ; while the pages ot his- tory, in which are written their mighty deeds, and heroic achievements, are not referred to, and all disposed of with the least possible noto- riety. How sensitively an American feels for the honor of his country, and his country’s glorious defenders, when residing abroad, and especially among the European nations. Our Comey is a republic—our eneroies stand ready to revile us ; and the friends of our institutions moan over any event which tends to bring dis- credit upona government or people, whose exam- ple has reflected so much light upon Europe, and tended so effectually to modify the worst fea- tures in the most absolute governments in these coun _ The diplomatic controversy between the Eng- lish and French cabinets, is pretty severe, over the affairs of Greece ; and the English charge the French minister with being the author of the despatch to which Lord Palmerston made so caustic a reply. Opserver. Affairs In Mexico, &o. Catrrornta, August, 1847 Affairs in California—Sale of Real Estate. It matters not to you from what town in Cali- fornia I write, nor the day of the month—any month or from any town in the ‘‘farthest west,” Thope will please you, and perhaps your read- ers. The first and last rise of the Californians in September, 1846, was put down and ended in January of this year by Commodore Stockton— the revolt cost the natives and Americans the lives of some fifty men. Capt. Jose Maria Flores, dubbed Gen. Flores, in his own des; atches, which made a flare up in the city of palaces and poverty, informed the Mexican govern- ment that sueh Americans in California as had not been killed, were being driven into the “Mar Pacifica.” (en. Flores, theretore, tri- umphed in Mexico as the third ‘Napoleon,”— the second of that name of the west; Santa Anna a excellence, being the first on the tongues of his countrymen, it would be too much to say in their eyes or thoughts. Flores was enabled to car- ry on the revolt against Com. Stockton by purcha- Tr from the Spanish vice consul ot California, and an English merchant in the Pueblo de los Angeles, some $30,000 worth of goods at retail prices, paying with his draft on the supreme government of Mexico for $60,000; with these oods to the in- prods he opened a store, sold abitants, and paid his men in dry goods. When they would not take fair words, some agreed to take the latter, if he would give an equivalent in broad cloth—poco de un, y poco de el otro. You may ask had not the Spanish consul in Cali- fernia any other business here, than to assist the Californians in rising against the United States? We may hope he fede Commodore Stockton paid no attention to him, or any other person assisting the natives against his forees ; he was well aware they would tind it a losing ee and knew their empty pockets would curb them the second time. fi ‘ Most of the foreigners, old residents, and new comers, are driving a flourishing business in this territory ; even many of the Californians are exerting themselves to meet the coming and sure effects ; but some very careiul ones among the foreigners yet hoard up the gold ounces, and deny they have (habit is strong upon them) waited for peace, and to be sure that Uncle Sam has California, before they invest in ranchos or town lots and buildings; others have taken from the alcalde town lots of 50 varas square, (one hundred and fifty feet) at $15; (the deed being void if there is no house on it within twelve months,) and within the year sold them for $200 or $300. Lots in San Francisco of 50 varas, granted by the alcalde in 1844, for $15, are now worth $100, the building, to save the lot, being worth $50 or 100 ; water lots, of 50 varas, that could have been obtained of the governor of California up to July ’46, by asking for it and pay- ing $2or 8d for the stamp paper, sold in July, of The alealde of a ear, for OI ee v vn kr » on ry P ale, ast Stuy, wold 900 water Jo, 45 feet by 138, from $50 to $500; a few sold less, some even higher. Lots near the beach in Mon- terey, worth, the any before Commodore Sloat hoisted our flag in that town, $500, have since been quartered, and the quarter sold at that price. Ranehos worth in June, 1846, $300 a league of nine miles, in June, 1847, sold at that sum the single mile. You may suppose, in this case, for those who are to come, there will neither be cheap farms nor town lots. Such ig not the case, places that are now too far off to think of, will, when the all-powerful steamer spouts in Cali- fornia, be nigher a market than some farmers now are, who send their heavy clumsy cartsonly ten orfifteenleaguesto town. Places that are now one thousand or two thousand dol- larsa league, that at present no one dreamsof, will ere long, be laid off in towns, selling their 50 varaghouse lots at $100 to $1,000 each. The Su of Carquines (30 miles from the entrance to Francisco) has a place laid off for a town calléd Benicia, being the name of the former owner. This town has five miles on the bay— ing lots of a large size now sell at $25. This may produce a city, and the owners of the land, which two years ago was of no value, may realize thousand of dollars. In this manner will spectlation spring up every year, giving to each suceseding emigration opportunities of profitable investment, and improving themselves ; but few think or care what Mexico may have to do with California hereafter, should our country by some unaceountable event give it up to Mexico. Still, it will belong to Yankees, if not to Yankee gov- ernment ; all the principal natives of Monterey, the capital of California, have their children at English schools. Alcalde Colton, formerly chap- lain of the United States frigate Congress, will immortalize himself in Monterey, by the exten- sive buildings he is putting up for schools and other public purposes; his school house is not only large in size, but a model for the people to build by. Native alcaldes, of former years could never more than pay their secretaries; an retiring from office often showed a balance coming to themselves; yet it was not an uncom- mon affair tor them to have a larger yelling house of their own in December than they ha in January. Pagano. 8 4 Mazattan, Dee. 27, 1847. Hunting up a Fight.—Sailor Battle on Shore, §c. The times are exciting here, and although we are mow at Mazatlan, and have for our protection the fgigates Congress and Independence, and are Gonsequently safe, yet but a little back of thé town all are enemies, and all are hostile. This tends to depress business, as the town and the country are no way connected. Lagut. Montgomery Lewis took a party of sail- ors add went out a few nights since, but a little distagce, and surprised and routed one hundred and fty Mexicans, killing eight, among them a colo! I saw _a gentleman, to-day, who said that @ captain of cavalry had sent by him to ask Liew Lewis ifhe would not be kind enough to retura him an order of three hundred dollars from)his coat pocket, which he (Lewis) had ta- ken an the affray. Lieut. Lewis said, in my pre- seneé, to the geuleman, “most certainly, and his coat also, asl only took it to protect me from the cold.” The truth was, Lewis charged in a dark night upon them, and those that were not killed fled, leaving every thing, and, as he said, he put this coat cn to protect him from the eold,jand in it, after arriving at Mazatlan, found the paper sent tor. ‘This was all done between sunset and sunrise, and by this you see those who wish a fight have not agreat distance to ride to hunt one up. In- the enemy have been in sight of the town, but such attacks have caused them to retreat a little. California is quiet about San Francisco, they anticipate trouble at the ‘City of the Angels,” and Lower California is in a state of impurrection at this time. They have had more fighting within a month at St. Joseph’s and La Paz, in Lower California, than all the others ce the war commenced; and yet the Californians keep the field in large numbers. 20, 1848. Wasurnaton, Feb. 12, 1848. A Brief Review of the War Debate in the Senate, and of the Debaters. It is said that in the States bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, there,is a plant peculiar to the marshes in that region, which absorbs for its support the mephitic gases that rise ‘with the nightly exhalations over all the lowlands,—thus arresting to some extent the fatality of the sickly season. Our armies in Mexico, in the midst of astate of war, seem to act on the converse of this principle, for in the heart of a region most sickly in its moral atmosphere, instead of absorb- ing the contagion, they diffuse around them a heathful oxygen, marked and immediate ia its benign influences, and for which the leperos of the National Plaza are utterly at a Joss to account. It is gratifying to know that the horrors of war are thus converted by the contact of a superior people into the agency of the amelioration of an inferior, oppressed, and misgoverned race. It 1s very agreeable to have the evidences that have been afforded us since the occupation of the city ot Mexico by the invincible Macedonians of Gen. Scott, that an invasion of freemen is an invasion of freedom itself, and though a nation may be extinguished, an oppressed people will be disen- thralled. The only danger is, that in giving too enlarged an interpretation to the divinity of the enterprise, we may carry it into an assumption of rights which belong to others,—into disputes upon the booty acquired, and the costs of its ac- quisition, into quarrels of sectional jurisdiction, and into a severance of the federal organiza- tion. The question of the turther prosecution of this first Punic war in which we find ourselves in- volved, embraces all these momentous conside- rations. i ce : The ten regiment bill in the Senate, which has been some two months before that hady, has eli- cited the most ample discussion upon the origin, and results of the war, and also upon the probable consequences to us, if we should push it to the extreme of absorption, annexation, oc- cupation and association with the existing sover- eignties of the Union. jG 2 We purpose rapidly to follow this discussion through down to the adjournment of yesterday, with a passing observation or two upon the seve- ral speakers. f : Mr. Cass, as the head of the military commit- tee, introduced the bill, and urged the recom- mendations of the President’s message for the vigorous prosecution of the war. He undertook this duty of pressing the bill upon the Senate with singular confidence, and enthusiasm.— There was a little pride, too, betrayed in the evi- dent delight with which he assumed the exercises of his important position. We was surrounded with the glory of the American arms—he was transported with the plaudits of the American poo ne had heard of the cry of annexation— e was bold to give it an echo in the Senate—he dreaded not the result, it would not kill us — Give us the regiments, let us prosecute the war it leads to annexation, so be it, ] am ready, I defy you to the tournament! It was precisely the way in which he opened upon the Oregon question in 18456. Where he found himself, we leave it to Col. Benton to tell, as hemay yet, per- haps, tell us, on this very question. ‘he impres- sion trom Mr. Cass’s first speech, and its accom- panying explanations, was that he had received hiscue—that he must “hurry up those cakes,” and look for his quid pro quo atthe Baltimore Convention. It would appear that the adminis- tration had arrived at the same conclusion, and that the chairman on military affairs was travel- ling out of the record, and must be taken in a button or two; which having been done, as the sequel will show,the Senator from Michigan be- came correspondingly tractable and reasonable, and patient of delay. causes, ! x riff gives great dissatisfaction, and will auto’ the jogs of the Californias to the United States unless repealed, as they are unlike Mex- ico, and have all surrendered, and should be protected and not oppressed. But the rulers will never learn until too late, I fear. ; The sloop-of-war Portsmouth sailed on or about Dec. 20, for the United States, and will be home probably in April or May. R. G. OPINIONS OF OUR OFFICERS IN MEXICO, RELATIVE ‘TO THE WAR. [From the Washington Union | In addition to the indignant letters which we have published from our gallant army in Mexico, we are in- formed by an accomplished officer that the Azteo Club, ia the city of Mexico, consisting of near 150 of our best officers, have discussed thi most unanimously for the mos fact, he remarked that when he and read the President’s m strack with the str Italmost appeared as ifthe President had been listening to their councils, and carrying out their own deliberate and decided suggestions. Extract of » letter to s member of Congress, dated Mexico, January 13, 1843.—The Colonel (who ity of Mexico) says that the move against San itponed, and that the talk is of peace. been receiv the former — a8 The lat! universally condemned, by ARMY INTRLLIGENCE: The schooner in Page, Horner, and schooner Emma Norton, Capt. Webster, for the Brazos; bark Touro, Capt. Welsh, for Tampico, and ship American, Capt. ‘Stuart, for Vera Cruz, left last evening. with some government stores. General Towson, Colonels Wilson, Belknap, Bohlen, and Mejor Dashiel, went as Passengers to Vera Cruz, inthe ship Ameri-an. The United States steam bark Edith, will leave this morning for Vera Cruz Lisutenant Colonel Staniford leaves to-day, for Vera Cruz,in the Edith. It is probable that the Colonel will take command of the next train to the city of Mexico. I¢ he does, the guerillas will have to look sharp, as Col. Stanitord will be down upon them in the same smashing style. in which, at the head of the gallant Sth Infantry, he met the charge of their famous lancers at Palo Alto.—N.w Orleans Delta, Feb. 10. APPOINTMENTS BY THE GOVERNOR AND Senate, Feb. 18 —New York—Elbert Latham and David Bruce to be port wardet Richard Scott, not public. Queens—James Hernman, of Jamaics, and pjamin Rushmore, of Hempsiead, to be commissioners for loan- ing certain moneys of the U. 8. vice Jarvis Jackon and Peter Lystor. Alexander Hodden, of Hempstead, to be & notery public, vice 0. 8. Denton. Gilbert Sayre, of Jamaica, and Charies F’. Stewart, of Oyster Bay, notaries public. Kings—John B. j of Williamaburgh, to bs y Paterson omd Peter V. Remsen. Daniel T'. 1 it Sam’ Goodwin, Richard J. Wood, David Dean, and Benjamin D. Silliman, of Brooklyn, to be notaries public, vice David Trembly, John L. Cowenboven, Robert T. Perrine, Alexander Campboll, and Benjamin D. Silliman ots en to a leap at Charlestown, V 7 a close kin to the famous leap by Putnam's horse, in revolutionary times. Running off from fright, he countered @ mill race 12 feet in depth, whioh he tempted to leap 10 feet from its edge, b opposite bank with his head, dis back, and expired. The distance be twer ve feet.—Baltimore Sun, Feb. 14. A girl named Eliza Durant, about 20 z of ace living in the family of John Goodrich, in Springfield, Mass., committed suicide on Thursday by taking poison. From her recent behav four, it is supposed she was in- sane. Ship buil it West Somer th jum nid to be essing steadily in eohooner is 10 be Taunched "heat th night of Monday, 7th instant, & man named James Curren, an Irishman, sald to be of steady and industrious habits, was called up from his bed by two men, who knocked and inquired for him.— door yht dress, and has not His clothes still remain at the house. Foul play is suspected, and legal investigations are being made. The Richmond Whig has heard nothing of the duel said to have taken place at Farmville, Ve, and thinks there is some mistake about the matter. Gen. Brooke, who officiated as president of the Fre- mont court martial; Mejor Eaton, aid to Gen. Taylor, ‘and Col. Joseph P. Taylor, a brother of the general, ar: rived in Cincinnati, from Washington, on the 10th inst Major Eaton south; Gen. B. and Col. T. re- mained at Cincinnati. Mejor General Quitman returned to Philadelphia on Monday. ‘The smell pox has disappeared from Rochester. The followlag statistios appear in the Evho de Ves co ing each of these to lay 120 eggs per id be @ total of 3,611,020.000 ‘eggs, which at 40 cen- times (64.) pee Goan, would produce an annual revenue of 126,446,080 francs, Thissum gives an idea of the enor- mous gain to be got by France out of this sii artiole were ite working ich is not bie, Franoe ly understood. If, wi b were to add to the population of ita Mr. Cass, in appearanc: suporific and phlegmatic. In debate, he 1s quick, pointed, diffuse, a little too frank, and, withal, so rapid in his manner, as to be constantly run- ning himself out of breath, being frequently compelled to pause in the midst of a sentence for an inhalation upon his exhausted lungs. He is always listened to with attention, however. and seldom without instruction. Mr. Calhoun’s speech (upon_his resolutions) which.we had the pleasure of communicating to the Herald, in advance of all competitors, ex- plains his policy and his position, his fears of approaching desgeri and the reasons upon which they are founded. He is a man who “ Fears nothing mortal, bu: to be uvjust ; Who js not blown up with the flattering puffs or hes 4 sycophants: who stands unmoved, Despite the jostling of opinion.”’ ay licy is the policy of Gen. Taylor, as de- fined in the letter to Gen. Gaines ; for the pub- lication of which Old Buena Vista was so se- verely eyo by the Secretary of War, and which reprimand brought down upon Mr. Marcy, not a ‘‘ hasty plate of soup,” but the old dish of the “wolf and the lamb,” done up in cayenne pepper. But as principles, apart from the “spoils,” are unavailable capital in the po- litical market, Mr. Calhoun finds himself in the Senate, standing almost as en as Old Bullion, when he set the expunging ball in mo- tion. And yet his position and his speech have not been lost even upon the Senate, where ever; man’s mind is understood to be made up in ad- vance, and where speeches, as a rule, are made not for/the conviction of the unconvinced, but for home consumption, and for the latitude of the Aroostook or the Tombigbee, as the case may be. But, although Mr. Calhoun has but two or three disciples, his opinions upon this question, as upon the Oregon question, are gathering strength and reflection, as the furor of enthusiasm subsides into dispassionate reason- ing. a Mr. Crittenden wields the spear of Ithuriel. Whatever he touches, however plausible its dis- guises, assumes its proper identity, and comes out with an explanation. If not satisfactory, he touches his victim again and again, till tortured into a full confession. Mr. Cass has had some- thing of this experience; but his frankness in the outeet, in telling all that he knew, has saved him the dangers of the searching cross-exami- nations to which he has been subjected. Mr. Crittenden denies the necessity of the bill. Mr. Mangum, bold and emphatic, strong, fresh, and sonorous as a summer wind in a mountain gorge, takes the same position; but that which Crittenden extorts by his searching ingenuity, Mangum demands from the tenure of his position and the rights of his place. Mr. Clayton holds the same views. The troops are not wanted. The war should be stopped. As a speaker, the man, the manner, and the matter of Mr. Clayton are unwieldy and heavy. His style is monotonous, though compact and argu- mentative—his indignation is without wrath, and hig humor without brilliancy. Mr. Badger takes the broadest whig view of the case. He collates, he dilates, he collects and compares. Though not so pungent, his sa+ tire is scarcely less keen than that of Crittenden —though not so emphatic, his denunciations are scarcely less bold than those of Mangum ; though not so diffuse, his style of analysis is even more torcible than that of Clayton. Mr. Reverdy Johnson has been remarkably un- fortunate in this discussion, in taking both sides of the question; and yet no man in the Senate could have made out a better case in a legal ar- gument than did Mr. Johnson in his special pleading upon the causes of the war. He de- nounces Mexico he denounces the President— he proclaims the wararighteous war—he de- clares it unconstitutional—he would not have any indemnity—he desires peace ; and yet, with a View to the vigorous prosecution of the war, he will vote the supplies. fi Mr. Pearce has an open field. The whigs of Maryland are indignant at the Janus-faced case of their Senator, Ajax, in the Senate. Mr. Pearce, thus far, has been content to stand off in the shade ; but here is a legitimate occasion for is heavy and obtuse, not vote them a dollar for any other purpot Ja this view of the subject, we doubt whether Mr. Hale can be elected to the presidency short of the abolition of siavery in South Carolina. | Mr. Foote, of Mississipnt, is a propagandist— one of the progressives. He advocates the ab- sorption or deglutition of Mexico gradually, not allata mouthful. Ifeis a reader of the poets, of the historians, modera aad ancient; of the philosophers—from Diogones, up aad down; of the sages, statesmen and politicians of the world. Of the classics, he reads Cicero in the original, and Demosthenes from the Greek. He is a scholar, a lover of books and of anthors, and we therefore like him. We think such men are worth having. But his speech was so full of Horace and Demosthenes, of Cicero and Hanni- bal, and Allison, and Byron, aad Goldsmith, thatthe thread of the narrative was totally ob- scured in its meretricious ornaments. But Mr. Foote is also a champion where a point of honor is involved. He therefore demanded of Mr. Clayton what he meant by charging that this war for indemnity was highway robbery in its. mo- rality. Mr. Clayton explained, because if he had not, he would have been called to a strict personal responsibility; and we rather think the extreme to which the allegations of robbery and piracy were tendirg, required an estoppel like that applied by Mr. Foote. We dismiss the senior Senator from Mississippi, with these lines from Horace :— “ Pallids mors coquo pultat pede Pauperum tabernas, reguinque turres, beate Lexti. Vitw summa brevis, spem nos vetat in choare longem.”” Mr. Dix is one of the best Speakers in the United States—one of the clearest and most didactic of orators. His voice, his action, his whole system of thought and of speech are har- monious and melodious. He advocated the war —the supplies—and the holding of our present positions, with power for sorties when neces- sary, as the readiest way to an honorable pesce. He judiciously waived the Wilmot proviso, thus far proving his desire for a reconciliation with the Barn-Burners and the Old Hunkers. ‘ Mr. Dickinson, like Mr. Calhoun, not having scope enough on the war bill, spoke upon his own resolutions, favoring the project of indefi- nite annexation, and throwing the Wilmot pro- viso into the hands of the people who maybe ab- sorbed. Mr. Dickinson isa great reader of th oets, and hence that which appears to the caleu- Teng mind of Mr. Calhoun as the box of Pan- dora, without a drop of hope at the bot- tom, is to Mr. Dickinson the sheep of the golden fleece, the gardens of Hesperides, and the divine @promise, in course, of providen- tial fulfilment. There may be some gammon in this magnificent enthusiasm; there may be some political scheme, working to the ostracism of all the Van Burens in this matter; but we leave it all for the future for its solution, Aga speaker, Mr. Dickinson appears to feel his way, and even then to deliver his tone before they are fully fledged. His prime fault is his poetry. He dresses up every thing in similes and hyper- boles, and, notwithstanding his sound judgment, he is as fond of the ‘‘airs of the sweet south,” and the “howling tempest on the briay deep,” asa young freshman in his first annual recita- tion. But where a man’s heart is full of poe- try there is always something genial and conge- nial at the bottom. a Mr. Butler sides with Mr, Calhoun, or goes for a peace commission. He has a strange air about him,a sort of absent-mindedness in his appearance, as if he were not thinking of the ob- ject upon which he is speaking. Yethe isa sound reasoner, a high-minded statesman, and ever ready at such repartee as would have been accounted legitimate by Sir Richard Steele. Mc. Douglass, the “little giant,” of Illinois, is one of the most promising men of the dav, and a close and methodical orator, blending the anima- tion of youth with the still increasing discretion of maturity. Of course he goes, for the bill, and the time, and the administration, and for the whole of Mexico in preference to none. Mr. Jefferson Davis has made several inci- dental speeches in the discussion, rather explana- ory of military science than of anything else; and in this view indicating the well-e fucated acholar of West Point. He goes for a military line on the frontiers of the table lands; but for Interior operations or positions, in combination with the salient line of occupation, as the means ot reducing the enemy to peace. Mr. Miller goes for withdrawing the army to a defined boundary; believes it just to denounce the administration, and right and proper to up- hold the integrity of the whig party. Mr. Downs speaks as Hamletread to old Po- lonius : “* words,” ‘ words,” *‘ words.” . He goes forthe administration the whole length.— We hope, however, that Mr Soule, (a French- man) his colleague, will be permitted, when he comes to the Senaté, to express his sentiments upon this foreign war, if he should desire to do so, notwithstanding Mr. Downs is so indignant that Albert Gallatin, an alien, should presume to speak so loudto the American people, without saying ‘by your leave;” though to tell the truth, Mr. Gallatin has scarcely advanced the object ot peace in his animadversions upon the war. Mr. Beil has made the most striking speech of of the session, eliciting all the information that could be had in regard to the objects of ‘ in- demaity and security,” and getting a frank ac- knowledgment from Mr. Cass, Mr. Sevier, and Mr. Jefferson Davis, Severn ty, that they are op- posed to the annexation of Mexico, cag Mr. Sevier has given a more lucid exposition of the official state of the case than any other Senator, and while he repudiates annexation, he a to meet the issue, if it is forced upon him. Mr. Phelps has presented the case in its. most striking financial aspects, showing, that if the war is continued, it must end in a general revul- sion of trade, currency and commerce. There is no fustion about Phelps; he 1s a matter-of- fact Yankee, and argues the subject upon busi- ness estimates; glory and laurels and all that class of materials, being with him mere tinsel atrial. He comes up to the work. He demo- lishes the structure of his colleague, and lays the ruins around him right and left. It wili do. He goes the whole whig figure. ‘Lhe Annapolis delegates forthwith reappoint him. ‘They va- lue that speech as equivalent to a six years’ term in the Senate. Mr. Hale, who was among the first in the de- bate, was the most fearless and sweeping o. all, in his allegations and comdemnations of the President and of the war. He isa forcible and animated speaker, and his wit is pointed and acute. He believes the war originated in the annexation of Texas—that that originated in %, yards a hundred millions of hens, 15,000,715 200 of rege Would be istd, whioh would produce » events of seven jhenteed ane miaty ‘milifone eighty thousand | shortest route, slavery—that the present war will end in enslav- 10g Mexico, if coatinuec—and that the war, be» that does not pay the cost of its acquisition. Mr. Hunter is a,deep thinker upon elem ry principles of government, or abstractions, if you please, those things upon which all governments depend, and out of which they all originate. He will vote the supplies, though he recommends the defensive line, and agrees with Mr. Calhoun as to the hazards of annexation. Mr. Underwood strongly recommended the plan ot Mr. Clay. There is nothing very remark- able in the elocution of this gentleman ; nothing of marked deficiency, or marked superiority; but while there ,is nothing in it to charm the galle- ries, there are no extraneous classical digressions as with Mr. Foote, and no saperfluity of poetry as with Mr. Dickinson. 4 Mr. Clarke is another of your New England men who deal in substantials. The war is costly and ruinous, and it oughtto be stopped. This 1s enough for him in this case, at all events, Mr. N is one of the most independent democrats that we know of. His senti- ments, though somewhat peculiar, were the views of a strong and active judgment, and were expressed ina bold and masterly manner. He proposes another effort at negotiation, and to enforce its aceeptance “aon the Mexicans he will vote the troops, but if the experiment fails, he would fall back upon the defensive line. Mr. Turney, we think, has clearly established the fact, that the annexation of Texas was the cause of the present war with Mexico, and that that aet having been accomplished and brought aboutin too much of a hurry by John Tyler, and Mr. Tyler having been placed in power by the whi gs, the whigs are responsible for the war while President Polk, as the conductor of the war, is entitled to the credit of its achievements Here we stop. Some ten or fifteen senators will yet, we suppose, speak upon the bill, and among the number we expect Mr. Sturgeon will deliver his views. The following will be the probable vote upon the ten regiments, after the debate 1s reeled off. siiteull aie a ey, Atherton, Atchison, Bagby, dave, Foor oy een Bright, Cameron, Cass, Jef ferson Davis, Dix, Douglass, Downs, Feloh, Foote, Han- negan, Houston, Hunter,’ Reverdy Johnson, Henry Johnson, Lewis, Mason, be Niles, Rusk, Sevier,Stur- |, Westoott— ORO a upaager, Baldwin, Bell, Berrien, Butler houn, Clark, Cley ton, Corwin, Critteaden, John Dayton, Greene, Hulse, Mangum, Miller, Pearce, Phelps, Spruance, Underwood, Upham, Webster, Fulee—23. Two whigs in the affirmative, and three demo- crats in the negative, marked by italics. This vote assumes that there will be a full Senate Upon the whole, but little has been gained by the discussion thus far, except delay, and thot may yet save a large expenditure, it the sigas of the peace with Mexico mean any thing. ‘oall exceptions to this hasty recapitulation of the de- bate and the debaters, we submit the saving qua- lification of Respectiully, Tux Docror. — A delegation of Soaawands Indi at Washing- ton, urging their claims in relation to an application now pending bet the Untied States, to reverae aou modtly Lov realy vy which the Ogden oom t,he would call home the army by th: ent and the cheapest road, and will pany ¢laimed to have purchased the Tonawanda lands.