The New York Herald Newspaper, March 20, 1851, Page 6

@RIGINAL REVIBWS. Literary — Polttieal — Medical. @URIOUS LATTER OF GRNERAL HAMILTON AND THE COURIER AND ENQUIRER. The Courter and Enquirer of Monday, contains | @ long letter from Alexander Hamilton to James | Duane, dated Sept 3, 1750, on the subject of the ‘weakness of the government of the confederation formed about the commencement of the revolu- tionary war, and giving a sketch of the form of | govermment which the writer proposed to substi- | tute for that confederation, to enable the colonies | to prosecute the war successfully. The true | ‘friends of the country and of the Union, and, if we do not greatly err in our judgment, the friends of | Genera) Hamilton, will all deeply regret that this | epistle, written waen he was a mere boy of twenty- three, should have been dug up and published at ‘this crisis, as the result of his deliberate reflection nd judgment, in relation to the permanent govern- | ment of the American States. This letter waa | ‘written ia camp, while the revolutionary struggle | ‘was going on—when the country was in great | distrese——when no government whatever could | f ‘ave afforded full relief—when the feelings of the officers and soldiers of the army were exasperated | and embittered, by privations and sufferings which they attributed to the neglect or imbecility of the | ton, of 1789, ("87) were nothing more than aa em- bodying and erranging of the work cut out tor them by a boy in camp, several years before.” Again the editorial says :— “Here we bave the origin of our glorious constita Alexander Mamiltoo was emphatically thor and tether of that imperishable instru- the men! Alithisis supremely ridiculous, and must be ex- | ceedingly mortifying and disagreeable to the high- ly intelligent and worthy relatives of Gen, Ham- ilton, who may read the Courter and Enquirer. It j8 is well known the plans and projects of Gen. Hamilton, offered in the convention, were not fa- vorably received; that most of the propositions made by him, and most of the amendments he suggested te propositions by others, were not ac. ceded to. General H. was generally in a minority inthe convention. He was, as before observed, for the establishment of a much stronger centra! or federal government than was organized. Not- withstanding the announcement now so pompously made by Mr. Webb, above quoted, he was leas the author of the constitution than any member of th® convention that framed it, as the recorded journals will show. Though he succeeded ia getting but a ew of his important details incorporated in that | \nstrument, regarding it as preferable to the old ar- ticles of confederation, he patriotically supported it, and, as we have before mentioned, contributed, with Madison and Jay, to the Federalist. Doubt- Congrees of the confederation. General Hamilton Gays, in that letter :—“* Without a speedy change, the army must dissolve. It is now a mob rather than an army—without clothing, without pay, without provisions, without morals, without dis- cipline. We begin to hate the country for is meglect of us; the country begin to hate us for our | ‘@ppreesions of them. Congress have long been | jealous ofus. We have now lost all contidence in | them, and give the worst construction to all they | do. Heid together by the sienderest ties, we are | Fipening fore dissolution.” {t is foully unfair to | the memory and tame of General Hamilton, to | aliow this production, written under the influence | Of the circumstances thet surrounded him, thus | depictured in his letter, and with the feelings | matural to the position he held in the army, and | which epistle, he states, was “ hastily written,” and with “confidential freedom,” and should be re- | garded as the “ reveries of a projector, rather than | the sober views of @ politician,” to be put forth as | tan index of the convictions of mature judgment, as | ‘to the character of the goverament of the federa- | tion to be established after independence was achieved. The feelings of Congress and of the | ‘Country were at tha! time, as is obeerved by Gen | Hamiltom, “sore at the prevailing clamors” of rmy, and sposed to yield to what with | ous feelings berty” they called “the dic word; ’ aad so violent and tierce had the contest became at the time of the publication of General Armstrong’s celebrated Newburg letters, Uhat General Washington was constrained to exert | his utmost influence to avert the most disastrous | Fesults. But for the patriotism and prudence of that greatest and best of men, the close of the revolu- | tion of thi theuary war would, in all probability, have found | P the thirteen colonies, though independent of Great | Bnitaia, subject to the rule of a military dictator, | and governed by military law. The origin of the Uumextinguishable hostility of the American people | ®@ standing armies, doubtless originated in the op- | pressions of the British military authorities, before the Revolution, and a thorough consideration cg | ‘the vicious principles and evil results of such ays- | | excites united resistance to, and the overthrow | controlled the convention — whose lees, he hoped to get its provisions expanded by latitudinous construction, and his sagacity was no, at fault. Such has been, asis yet, the tendency | of things, end will be, till some fearful encroach: | ment on the rights of the States, or of the people, of, those who attempt the usurpation. Every tede- ral or whig administration hitherto ia power, have exhibited a proneness to practice upon the doctrim advanced by General Hamilton, and they have all met the rebuke of the States and of the people. It is curious to note the process by which such ueur pations are attempted and sustained. A striking exemple is given in the firat part of (seneral Hamil- ton’s letter, in which he proposes the usurpation o supreme authority by the Congress of the Confeder- ation, and this defends it in advance:— ‘The manner in which Congress wae appointed. would warrant, and the public required, that they should have considered themeelves as vested with full power to pre- serve the republic from harm. They have done many of the highest acts of sovereignty, which were always cheerfully submitted to. The declaration of indepen- dence; the declaration of wi ying an army; creatit ® Davy; jog alliances with Yoreign powers; appointing a dictator, &e. ull these implications of s complete sovereignty never disputed, and ought to have been a standard the whole conduct of administration. jefined pow- ers are discretionary powers, limited only by the ob- ject tor which they were given. And again:— A convention one at all events. succeed in the contest, and be happy hereafter. As I said before, to engage the Btates to compiy with this mode. Congress ought to copfees to them. plainly and unanimously. the impracticability of supporting our affairs on the present tocting, and without a solid coer. cive upion. The editorial of the Enguirer states, further, that— gE grant of power, almost without a solitary ex- which Hemilt urged should be made by the nt, was made; and that, 1y proves, who it was that too, in s men: nius and whose spirit it was, which led the minds of that assembiaze of dots, to tl option of admirable provi- ei hich hav ered us @ happy and prosperous people, as well as @ great and powerful nation. A more egregious aad ridiculous blunder was never made, even by the Cowrier and Envyutrer, than is made in the first aseertion contained in the tems ; but that hostility wes etrengthed by the dis- | sentence quoted. Hamilton advocates, in this epia- position menifested by portions of the revolutiona- | tle, the giving to Congress ‘complete sovereignty;” ry army, officers and men, at the close of the war, | that, for example, allowing them to appoint a “dic- to control the government. Military life is mot | gator ;* and he contends that Congress should congenial to the siprit of republicam liberty. A | make such government “the standard” of its “con- camp is of necessity a despotirm. The genius of | duct,” &c. He is in favor of an uncontrolled con- sdemecracy ia silent amu the clang of arms. When | Solidated government, upon which the States are the feelings nurtured in the army, and especially | 1 be “dependent;” and he would leave the States a@mosg its most talented and ambitious young | nothing except that “‘part” of “internal police which ‘officers, and which induced many of them to long — ¢lates to the righis of property and life among ia- for the esteblishment of a military republic at the | dividuals,” &c ; ell else he would leave to the ple- peace of 1781, were repressed by the patriotic firm- pary contro! of Congress, and degrade the States to ness of General Washington, most cf those officers | he scele of mere municipal corporations, emana- maturally became the advocates of a strong cou- ting from the parent central and supreme govern: solidated federal government. Of this party, Al- | ment, and emasculated of all sovereign atiributes | exender Hamilton was the edmitted leader and and power. He says :— wcad. He denounces in this letter to Mr. Duane, | ‘The confederation, in my opinion. should give Con | he weakxess and imbecility of the confederation, | oo women, voice vameaes on eho _ he Togad ond bel ie and he persisted in thove denunciations afer peace | gard jite among ind'viduals, end to raising money by was reetored, and until after the formation and internal taxes, It is necessary that everything be- adoption of the present constitution of the United labs Comes en oe eee es States. He was a prom‘sent member ot the con- | ty ia all thet relates to war, p: vention that formed the federal constitution, and | t¢ tbe management of forelgn Sicalae cotta: Uh in fact, for some me, the only member represent gng the State of New York. Though, after the mew conetituiion was submitted to the States for ratification aad ade wo, he joined with Jay and Madison in writi able papers called the Federeist, commendimg it to public favor, aad defending its provisions; yct it is well kaowa, that the stipulations it coutaiard in favor of or guarding the righte of the States and of the people from the absolute control of federal authority, were by no means acceptable to him. This was, at that era, the dividing line of political parties. Ia fact, it was the commencement of the formation of the qWo great parties that have ever since divided the country. The advocates of a strong, splendid, con- solidated federal or central government, with un- limited sovereign power, and regardiag the States @s mere ceogrephical divisions, and entirely subor- dinate to the central authority, were called fede- raliets. Those who were for restraining the pow- ers of the federal goverament to the con:rol of our foreign relations, of the war power, of the coin- fleets and doing the same with them; of building torti- festions, arrenals, magazines, Ko, Xo.; of making peace on such conditions as they think proper; of ing trade. determiaing with what coumtries it adulgenei-s, laying pro of export or import; im onis giving oregit to theBtates om whom they are raired, im the general account of revenues and expenses, instituting acmirslty courts, &c , of colming money. establishing Danks on such 4 T revenues, producti ia tax, poll tex, or the like; which together wit! duties on trade, and the unlocated lands, would Congress a substantial existence, and a stable founda- tion for their echemew of taaue pees of Now, we expreesly deny that “every” one of these euggettions is incorporated in the federal consti tution, and we thank God that some of them are not. age, currency, commerce, navigation, Indians, The project as to a bank by Congress, was pro- and other subject eeesarily and maturally posed in the convention and rejected. We are mational, called republicans or demo- | aware that by some fifty-two and odd thousand crate, of whom Patrick Henry and Thomas modes of casuistical reasoning, and by inference that he was in 1780, at the age of 23, superior to the veverable sages of the revolutionary Goagress, or that he was the * master epirit of the conven- tion of 1787,” and “led the minds” of that body, is oll fustian, romance, and twattle, and nen- wense. If the letter now so toolishly thrust before \he public is authentic and genuine; if it really sets forth his deliberate judgment as to the per- Manent government of thie country after the war was over, and if the reading of it by Mr. Webb is correct, then we are forced to say, it af- fords evidence that he was not at heart @ true pubhean, and that inthe conduct of a republicar government, for that reason alone, hia acts and his opinione, and his doctrines, should not be regarded ee authority in this country. If the fact that he wes not a republican in principle is once estab- lished, bis writings are not enttled toa whit more respect from the American people than the opinions ond ects of Field Marshal the Duke of Wel- ington, Lord Castlereagh, Prince Metternich, Count Nesselrode, Talleyrand, or Haynau, or any other illustrious anti-republican aristocrat, noble- man, ambassador, general, diplomat, editor politi- cian, or individual man or woman. One ‘hing in the editorial of the Courier and Enquirer is dreadful! Itis that paragraph in which the editor discourses thu: We meen no disrespect to Mr Jefferson, nor would we, for an instant, question bis patriotinm; but regard for truth, and @ conviction how necessary it is that the rieing generation should know the trath of our own history as it is, compel us to say, that if Jefferson, with his Frenob notions of democracy end republi- canism—his philosophical theories, and his irreligious opinicns—} te declarations of the universal equality of madett of all epecies of intoxication, some wild and painful vagaries lingered around his mind and haunted bis fancy, such as that he had a living hippopotamus in his stomach, and that his body, (De Quincy’s,) was likely to turn out to have been manufactured for no loftier purpose than to furnish lodgings to this strange animal, who was fed and taken care of with every species of solicitude, leat his feelings might be offended in some slight re- weet As the story goes, he was once talkiag with his friend, Kit North, the polar star of Black- wood’s ime; and, a8 dinner time was ap- proachin, Quincy hud be; a to indulge ina dolorous dixeeriation upon his “animal,” as he called it. * Well,” says Kit Noth, * let us give the animal some soup, then.” ‘The bell rang, and they went to dinner. De Quincy, they say, is offended if apy of his friends doubt the existence of this fabulous hippopotamus in his carcass, regard the hy a8 as @ real essere and livin; monster, devouring the poor opium eater, hip an thigh. At another time we read about De Quiucy the following story can get slee he is obliged to walk ten mules during the day; and, if it raing, he goes into 4 rope walk, or some other convenient shelter, and carries @ cart load of stones from one end of the walk to the other, aud back again. Well, we have heard of stranger things than this, and we have no sort of objection to the fancies of Mr. De Quincy, not even bis hippopotamus. He is welcome to them so long as he will throw off from the Ixion map, trom the credle to the tomb, with his practice In direct bostility to it—had been the firet Preside! and porreased the po of our government should at this moment have been pretty mush ii situation of the South Amerie: Who is there that will be Peurprised, if the spirit of the departed “* Apoetie of Liberty” should, on bearing of this atrocious assault, burst forth from the other world and visit Gotham, to meet his auda- cious vilifier face to face? But we presime, on fur- ther reflection, there is little dager of this, for Gen. Jackson, or President Polk, or most other of the great men who have lef this world within the last cycle, could admonish the Sage of Moaticello taat little heed should be given to the wanton traducer jor of the Declaration of Independence, ince. If, perchance, Old Zack was in- quired of, he might, in friendly feeling, volunteer en apology in the exasperated feelings of the offender, caused by certain eer me ns sentences, acertain rejection by the United States Senate, and the outrages of the Hudson Railroad Company, which may bave excited him just now against re- eae government and republican imstitutions and law: There is a portion of the letter of General Hamil- ton, and some of the editorial comments upon it, to which we J, hereafter, again public atten- tion. It be that in the publi of this let- ter, at this crisis, and in these editorials, there is more than at first meets the eye. We allude to that part of the letter in which General H. speaks of the necessity of a “coercive union!” We doubt not that the expression was meant by Gene- ral H. to refer solely to the necessity for such government during the revolutionary war, and we consider the attempt of the Courier Enqutrer to apply it to the preeent state of affairs, and to invoke 1! as authority for the present fede- ral government to use military force, in certain conungencies, egainst a State and its citizens, i8 @grors perversion and misrepresentation. The editorial saye:— And it will not escape the careful reader, that in sketching what the government should be, he exprees- ly provided for a* ocerci ”” We would espe- claily invite thi h Carolina to this fact; and it will be prudent, at least, tor Verment to bear it mind. And again :— In skort, he only faithfully depicted the evils of the confederati a thi oessity of a “ coerciv upion,” with ¢ pointed out in 1780, epeci: hould be, what the provisions lon, the precise grant of its consti powers by the Btates. and the mode ot makingeuch « atrong pationsl government scceptsble tothe people. We do not hesitate to say that we have no idea that the present federal goverument of the United States waa intended to be, or is a “coercive Union.” God fort ii that the loyalty of the Ame- rican people for the Union should depend only on the force employed to iaduce it. e have no idea that a ** coercive union” can exist as such, during a single term of a Premdent; and it is to this topic that we propose hereafter to devote a portion of our columns in comment upon the editorial quoted. In what we ehall say, the con- duct of the federal adminisiration now in power, with respect to the ect of the Legisiature of Ver- mont legalizing resistance to the Fugitive Slave Jaw, with reepect to the Boston fugitive slave Cratts, and the Boston fugitive slave Shadrach, and he nigger mob rescue ot that fugitive, and re. speet alee to the action of the Siate of South Caro- lina, femding to a withdrawal from the confederacy, already had, and that anticipated, will all be freely | examined. We do not think the subject in all its bearings has been fully understood and properly discussed. As somewhat pertinent to the subject, we preeent our readers with an impert int, genuine and authentic letter, written in October, 1834, by Hon. John McLean, of Ohio, now a Judge of the Supreme Court of the United Sates, and who was a Judge when he wrote it, and upwards of forty years of wge. We ask for this letter a care- ful end considerete perusal, by the American people, and we invite notice of the fact that it is not the doctrine of “ nullitication,” by South Caro- line, thatis to be met, but itis the act of * seces- sion.” ** Nullification’’ was reeistance to a law by a State, while in the Union ; * seeeasion,” or with- drawal from the Union, w a totally different thing. ‘The letter was addressed to a citizen of North | Carolina. Kxoxvitin, 234 October, 1834 My Dean Pin.—Ae lam about leaving this place for Obio, I bave but a few moments to reply to your favor of the 2ist i In my vie powers can be exercised by the fede. ral government, except those which are legated to it; ard I sbould think that we have had. ought to oonvin tension of th: mo All jocieial uestiors which arise under the eon- stitution and laws of the Union, ere refertabls to th Court of the United States and its deol- uch cases Tho tribunal in exprosely power to decide such questions by the which was adopted by the pro, ao the decisions are binding | But if @ political power be asserted by the federal | bh is comtroverted by # dtate and it tution er laws of mon to the parties: be given to th State in such © care is as good as the decision of the deral government, and, of necersity, there must be utual forbeara: An ligation on a State, or the people of # State, and may be ‘an individual or a community. No one, Jefierson were the chiefs. General Hamilton g54 implication, and deduction and conclusion, some has been accused, by come of his opponents, with oiher people contend the power to incorporate a being without confidence in the virtue, patriotiem, bonk, “on euch terms and with such privileges as oF intelligence of the nu and some have @* they think proper,” notwithstanding the proposition werted thet he was a mo: ist. We believe that to put it im the constitution was rejected, Ml # has been stated, upon the authority of Mr. Jef | there; but we do not agree tothis. The ex-Charge ferson, that be avowed bimeelf, either before of 1% Austria, when he says that “every grant of during the seerion of the Constitutional Conven- Fower, almost without a solitary exception, (we tion, a8 preferring * limited monarchy to any form omit comment on the grammar and sense of the of government. We by edourselves, hitherto, es iregsion used) which Hamilton urged, should be to disregard all the evidence tending to sustain | made, “was made,” we presume, relies on these thin accusation, and to believe that it was an @® | reasonings, inferences, implications, and deductions persion upon his charscter; and we deplore tha and conclusions to sustain his avertion. Perhaps, the indiscreet publication of this letter, if it is @& when he qualifies his assertion by the expression thestic, tends to weaken our resolution in this “almoat,” be does, in fact, mean “‘not quite,” and reapect. We percerve, in this epistle, unmistake- that “without a solitary exception,” means thet able indications of the leaning of the writer's | severs) exceptions, not solitary, do exist. If 90, mind, which, ii existing at his early age, and the editor is for once right; for most surely, while holding a commission in a republican army. Congress is given the power by the federal im daly converse with euch repubdlicas Wash- fon “erent oat ee eo and oflay- oy u 5 1c * ington and Knox, and Greene, and their compa 4 treateg bouns a for trieta, would, in al! probaBility, not become weak- alsin g, exporting or importing,” and all the di- ened when the writer was beyond the influence of versified powers of “complete sovreignty”’ specified in the exiracts we have quoted from the “boy- man” letter. On the contrary, the terms of the constitution, and of the amendments to it, clearly show that the federal goverament is one of dele- gated, and oot of original or imherent powers; and i powers of every character, not cleariy delegated to it, are “reserved to the States re- eperctively, or to the people.” Mid wos an ee Hamilton’s fame in- justice. ough it does not seem to have been letter to the public with nearly column of edi- | Drcentible to the stolid Courier und Empwirer, it torial reme: displaying an unusual degree of te fost to presume that he suggestions in his letter pe of the “details,” and even of the date of | 0! }, Were not as to the governi the federul constitution; and about the uaual ex. be formed afer independence was achieved, and " “ ace ¢ . ¢ tempor hibition of stupidity in reference to the general government to accomplish the work of indepe - principles of that instrument in the Courier and he Ci ence. Courter and Enquirer's view of this Ewqurer. The editorial states, “in this boy-man | letier only mekes it cause of reproach to his Jetter, (thie felicitous expression is invented by their precept, association, andexample. Ia ¢ his letter, General Hamilton openly and boldly advo- cates the plan of an executive department which ‘shall (to wee his own words) blend the advan- tagee of a monarchy and republic in our con- stitution |!" The Courier and Enywtrer bas ushered this memory. We find some of Gen. Hamilton's sug gestions in the Articles of confederation, and, in the Courier and Enquirer) we have, years before | fact, one or ote pe objec ae tion met, the foreshadowin f what articles were formed and to“ years before” percha 0 preg a this boy man” letter, ( genuine) was writ- yt should do—the details of what was required; and, in short, that identical constitution which, in 1780, (qt. ‘87) the convention framed.” And We ask the reader to compare this let. ver of 1780, and its description of what the powers of the new government should be with the pro. {uumiten, bee ito ia Mer, that of the “ your ient servant,” a Seam peel stam Go leew el eo creation vat ion. Gen milton was a statesman 0 ten by General Hamilton. Some of these same suggestions were contained in the constitution of 17*7, (not 1789 as the ©. and E staves,) and some were excinded; and 80 we find in the constitution other suggestio d the authorship of whie to in hia letter, t | pleasure, the feder ‘nt that should generation. His writings, at first blush, seem to ability, and of great purity of character,’ bu, | I believe, will comtrovert this Bat pay | from (he federal gv po. Itrbould remonstrate «, and Dd useless. A remenstrance is vain be made to the other tiomed by the oonstit uth. ven forrefiection Bw aoe no effect, and the oppression be continued ‘ession which withers bopes of the State, and ar the rerources of it the people of the Brate are forced t ‘under svoh circum: and should reject o je right. ev orm Instead of en a#raction, which m t# by a rale of con. be coatra or extended at | goverpment should act withia | rider that the trae the sphere allotee? to it, sat ¢ | glory of our federal rystew eo ine the | great objects of its formation least pomsible | action upon the diversified ficting interests ot | the rf only can which hay of the world, be made perpetual what every intelligent indivir its per- pe Ave ® more detailed reply to your isqeirt: this very hasty sorawi under the ge py will = received v eo erely youre, gig z .. IS0UN MLRAN. DE QVINcy’s WRITINGS. De Quiney once wrote a book and called him- self the “ Opium Eeater,” and the world has been inclined to call him #0 ever since. He is one of those meteoric men who flish up before the vision, shoot down on] the brain of a whole | be either the mere ravings of a literary Casper | Hauser, or a kaliedeecope of affectation. From time to time, as his productions came out from the | Britieh prese, they divided public opinion. Now that they are being collected and brought out in library form, from the elegant press of Tieknor, Reed and Fields, criticism is crystalyzing itself into positive opinions; and, moreover, we have some streak of information about the man and his bietory that edd a peculiar piquancy to his author. ship. Weare not quite sure, ae we are obliged | to write rapidly from chaotic recollection, whether | | we may not be somewhat apocryphal in some of * | cur statements, that he was a classical scholar, who pretty much broke down his constitution by chewing cpium, and afier he recovered from thie i | ble | dark place. wheel of his genius such sparks of fire. People will have their fancies, and if a man will eat opium the first part of his life he mey expect somet! worse tamuses at the other end of it. _ How otraoge it is that the most brilliant things in the universe seem to be begotton by a spirit of medness, coatortion, chaos, and desolation. The pearl divers tell ue, and naturalists, too, that the oriental peari ig never found except in diveased oysters, und that they only expect a very brilliant pearl when they fish up an oyster that is scraggy, distorted, and malformed. Byron had a clump foet, and hated all the world on that account, but he wrote ‘* Childe Harold” and ‘Don Juan.” Pope, who, take him all in all, was, perhape, the master gevius of his age, was a drivelling, suarlish, puppy- looking fellow. Dr. Watts was mean and insig- nificant in stature; and even his gentle and chas- tened oe rebelled reo the man who heard a friend that approached the great poet say, ‘ There goes Dr. Watts.” ** What,” rejoined he, ** that meignificant looking litle fellow—is that Dr. Waits?” And Watts turned round, in the indig- pation of his soul, and ustered those memorable words :— Were I go tall as reach the pole, Or grasp the ocean with a span, Btill I'd be measured by my eoul— The mind's the standard of the man. Dean Swift eclipsed everybody when he took up a per, and yet his last days juatitied what Pope said of him— And Bwift descends a driveller and s show. So it 18 with men of wonderful genius some- times ; although we are not diaposed to encourage the idea that a man must eat opium, or have a clump foot, or die mad, or be of a very small stature, or look mean, snivelling, or insignificant, in order to bea genius. Newton was a man of genius, anda magnificent Jeoking ‘mia he was, too. So was leo ; 80.13 Hi It ; 80 is Arago ; so is Lamar- tine. We are satisfied with such pearls as are got from commendable looking oysters; and, 01 pinch, we like an oyster that is too good to have ny pearl. Young men and young women very frequently start out upon the world with false ideas about genius. Dr. Channing says that genius is the consciousress of the unshaken power of self control. In his case, this is true; but it is almost as hard to define genius as it is wit. Atall events, Quincy is a man of genius. A COMMON SENSE VIEW OF THE CAUSES OF SIP FEVER AND ASIATIC CHOLERA. The recent arrival of the Shannon, with the cecurrence of forty deaths on board during her pagsage, and some forty sent to the Hospital; end the arrival of the packet ship DeWitt Clinton, reporting the death of thirty-one passen- gers during her voyage, and forty-one on board still afflicted with the same disease; as well as the numerous other arrivals, within the last two years, of ships laden with pestilential disease and human misery, with your permission, I will expose the re- mote and exciting causes of these terrible visitations It wilkbe borne in mind (with many exceptions how- ever), that the great mass of steerage passengers, or emigrants, is composed of the poorest and worst fed of the various European peasantry, and hapless worn down artizans of manufacturing districts, who, by some inexplicable problem, manage, from their daily earnings, to save a portion to pay for their passege, and to purchase food sufficient for an Atlantic voyage. The German emigrant procures dried or smoked sausoge meats, prepared from what, Heaven and the manufacturers alone can tell; the Irish emigrant procures a few potatoes, a little salt, and a netto boil them in; the English, Scotch, and others, procure cheep pilot bread, (damaged generally,) dried cod fish, smoked her- ringe, and such like luxuries, par excellence, as a hem or some bacon, warranted to endure a sea voyage toany part of the world! These execrable viands water will not soften, nor any known natu- ral functions digest. It is not necessary here to exhib't by what spe- | cious or nefarious promises, and wicked falsehoods, many of these wretched people are lured from their homes, induced, or eatrapped, on board ship, and consigned to this “ land of promise,” by the nu- merous unprincipled *‘ runnere,” who receive a per centege upon every “head” (passenger) that they procure for shipment—of course [ do not al- lude tothe many honorable exceptions. In this mancer, with the voluntary emigrants, who advis- edly make their arrangements for emigration, some three to six hundred human beings are crammed away in a narrow epace between two airtight decks, in bunks, made up temporarily for the voyage, from old lumber. [ach bunk or berth'—heaven save the mark—on an average, accommodates two per. eons, in a space of about six feet in length, by three feet in width, and two and a half feet in height. These bunks answer for sitting apartments, sleep- ink ditto, store-room, kitchen, &c. &c. &c., fora voyege of indefinite duration across the turbulent Atlantic, which, with the narrow passages between the bunks, from one end of the veesel to the other, filled with boxes, trunks, bags, bundles, and mys terious looking vessels, often answering the multi- tudinous offices and purposes of culinary, chamber, and parlor utensils, make up the grand towt ensem- Some stow away their provisions under their bedding, such as it is, to secure them from marau- ders, and others lock them away amongst their clothing and rags; and others ornament the insides of their berth with numerous ancient-like hierogly- phie-looking tongues, hams, and chains of sau- | sage meats, and some, cunningly, make pillows of their provisions. Five times out of ten an “ emigrant ship” leaves port, with the “ evening's tide,” either enveloped in a misty damp atmosphere, or in a ‘ mizzling” rain. The poor passengers are kept upon deck, penned end huddled together, like pigs on board an Irish steamer for a Liverpool market, exposed to the noxious atmoepheric influences, whilst answer- ing to their names, that they have paid their pas- sage money, and preparatory to their being paseed * down below” to their several accommodations ' If they are fortunate enough not to be “wet through,” they are sufficiently moistened not only to be rendered uncomfortable, but miserable and wretched in the extreme, in a strange, close, In this deplorable condition they are unable, even when they possess clothing, to effect achange. Their bedding unprepared and damp, prostrated with mental anxieties, and from physi- cal expoeure and sufferings, they “turn in! Their condition made still worse by the moans of the aged, the heart piercing wailings of maternal solicitude, the erying of children, the cursing,, swearing ant blasphemies of the selfish; combin- ing all these with that horror of horrors sickness” —with the “ rolling,” the * hea’ ¥ and the pitching of the vessel, and the reader has a true picture of five hundred haman beings, after God's own imege, packed and crammed in an emi- grant veevel’s steerage, parsif their firet night at fea Kent —" Good, my lord; The tyranny of the night's too rough For nature to endure Leor—-Poor, naked wretches, whoroe et yo That bite the pelting of this pitilens How shall your houselers heads sides, Your cnoped and window's raggednom a From seasons cach as these Each passenger ia now in the fall enjoyment of obout trrenty cubic feet of atmosphere, which, aa a healthy mediom of respiration, is exhausted io leee than one hour. J9 addition to the absorbtion of the vital portion of the atmosphere by the lungs and climination ofa deadly poisonous g1s from these and ® precious littie of anybody who doc® not | as ** bilge water”—an unctious, oily, black, thick, ‘Before this celebrated author | abe, ee well es the poisonous moisture ooziog in the ingeusibte perspiration from the pores of the we find the putrid evaporation from their dump, filthy bedding aod clothing; combine with these the corrupt exwere of their unwashed flesh, which putrifies upon their bodi from the time they embark to the period of their arrival on these shores, their limited quantity of drinking water, their abominably prepared, spiced, dried or salte: food, prepared and cooked in sea water; the nume- rous vermin infesting and covering their berths bodiee; all unite, and by their united influence: superinduce the moet direful diseases upon those Constitutions debilitated by starvation, or predis- posed to, and dependent upon, such poisonous and exciting ses as these, to destroy the equilibri- um of the enimal functions. But we have other ceuses of great end overwhelming potency, still more destructive to health and life than even t! 5 in which cases no vital reaction takes place, arising from the poisonous exhelations of various gases, from the filthy collection in the ship’s bottom known. muddy and disgustingly fetid fluid. These gasee are produced from the mixture and decompositions, and new chemical combinations of portions of the numerous substances, eacaping from the various cargoes, such as bitumiaous coal, acids and alkalies, metals, wines, aparita, sugars, malt liquors, pitch, tar, rosin, &c. &c. In addition to these is the powertul decomposing egent, in the electro-galvanic action of the copper sheathing in connection with the other metal, and the seawater, upon all the above named substances. Thus, the moet virulent and malignant poisonous gases are tormed end evolved, fillingthe body of the ship with their noxous and deadly influences. Add to these the various and multitudinous ane of stale animal and vegetable food upon the berth deck, the accidents of children and sea sickness, the mouldering provisions an! clo:hing, from their close confinement and dampness, all more or lees putrifying, and sending forth their noxious aid, with ‘no outlets but the limited hatchways—the wonder then presents itself—not how or why ships of this class become sailing pest houses, but how 80 few are affected by these causes, and how so many, a6 it were, moreesionaly escape altogether. If these phenomena, although daily demonstrated, escape the unobserved or waprepared minds of sea- faring men, while coud inthe (to them) more important object, the abstract principles of meteor- ological phenomena of the clouds and winds upon the ehip’s course, it must strike the ‘philanthropic and observant mind, that to these vitiated combina- tions, acting upon the animal eystem,the consequent de! ement of the animal functions, to the men- tal and physical prostratione, we must look for the several diseases termed “‘ship fever,” and the im- ported Asiatic (!) cholera, &c. Sc. There can ex- ist little doubt that the proximate cause of these ship diseases produce the same phenomena as do those which superinduce the genuine epidemic, Asiatic cholera, viz.: the non-electric and carben- ized state of the blood; or, in other words, these gases destroy the animal electricity, or vitality vital power of the blood. Should bad weather over- take the emigrant veseel, requiring the closing of the “hatchways,”’ the pent up poisons immediately produce their Jireful efiects upon the battened down and half suffocated living mass. And now, when vitality and nourishmentare most required to resist these exciting causes, by supporting the animal system, the passengers cannot get upon deck for a “mouthful” of fresh air, or for the purpose of cocking their provisions, judge, then, the tenfold power and action of sucn causes, brought to bear upon these unfortunate beings, and attending a winter paseage. Disease immediately makes its appearance amongst the infantile and aged portions of the living cargo, and a hundred voices echo and re-echo, «We've Eat the ship fever” —“ the Asiatic cholera’s on board.” It is a remarkable fact, which emphatically speaks trumpet-tongued as to the real causes of these disasters. e find few. in comparison, of the cabin paesengers of emigrant vessels, simian affected. Enjoying more space, as they do, wil well ventilated ‘after cabins” and berths, purer atmosphere, with stern windows and open sky- lights to admit aud to allow a free egress of the freeh sea breezes, with fires in the cabin in winter. To such as these, and the large and numerous gun portholes, in connection with cleanliness and a proper sanatory discipline, are ships of war and jovernment trangport vessels, with crews, Xe. | a five hundred to ene thousand mea, indebted for their immunity from disease and infection, un- leas they are taken to en infected climate of conta- rs diseases. How is it, 1 would ask, that our ships, eailing eastward from this continent, never, i Ty with them into “ Asiatic cholera,” because they are better fed, well ciothed, and possessing ample space. Being mostly sailors, they have ample ex- ercige and exposure to the pure atmosphere of the oceen wilderness, which invigorate their blood and nervous system; whilst the wealthy passengers, with all these, and the goods the gods provide, was t ere ever acase of ship disease known amongst them, otherwise than the ordinary sea sickness? The question presenting itself is, how are these difficulties to be obviated or prevented? | answer by some of our nume philanthropists, who spend millions for the ion of the unknown heathen, taking the matter ind, and consiructing emigrant vessels, especially adapted to the comfort, accommodation, and health ef the unfortunate, but still brother christians! The vessels to be so con- structed that a free and heaity ventilation of fresh air can be secured throughout the eleeping and habital parts of the vessels. The passengers to be supplied with @ properly cooked and changeable nourishing diet, by the officers of the vessel. The consuuction of several port holes, so as tu be reedily opened, weather permitting; hammock nettings for the stowage of (if not of bedding) bed clothing in properly constructed bags ; gutta percha um elastic mattrasses, so that they can be washed. ‘heve would also answer, in case of need, as life berths fixed and constructed of , 80 that a free passage of air itted throughout the wnole line of facilities for washing and cleansing the ; funnels and tubes should be supplied, berih dec! es in our first clase packet ships, to cause a free draught of air between the casing and sheathing of the ship's bottom; bilge pumps should be sup- plied, both for pumping out the last drop of bilge water, as well as for pumping in clean water, and disinfecting or neutralizing agents to purity these parts. These are but a tew of the suggestions, without entering into detail of what might be doae for those unfortunate emigrants whose oaly erime is mizery and poverty. It is not our province to speculate upon their earthly tribulations; but we cap, with conscious propriety, raise our voice aguipet every worn out ship being brought to this base purpose at last, witha remote hope that we may thereby awaken or induce the milk of human kindness in the breast of the philanthropist, to ad- minister one ray of hope, if not of sunshiae, where darkness and mieery have taken up their abode— to afiord one drop ot comfort to this hold full of wretchednese, yearly overwhelming huodreds and thousands of our fellow beings. Perchance, thereby, in the place of the periodical fear and the hve and cry, that the ship fever, or Asiatic cholera, has arrived, to welcome to our jshores sinewy limbe, sleek and rosy cheeks, and happy faces, that would even be acceptable to the most ultra of native American prejudice. A C. Casriz, M.D. The Altercation in south Street, TO THE BDITOR OF THE HERALD. Allow me to correct an error which appeared in your paper of yesterday morning, in relation to the stabbing case in South street, on Friday — Your report says David McLachlan had an alter- cation with a person named C. Sullivan, &c. The facts of the case are as follo' Friday night five men came into the store 91 South street, end, having drank, one of them (McLachlin) sat old man named Tilford, who was nd commenced cuarreliog with him, pulling cap over his eyes, kc. The old man resented this, aud used some opprobrious epithet, upon which McLachlan seized him by the throat, and attempted to strike him, wi I and threw him down. Some of fered ana were rougs!y Saiared utes afterwards, when they had shaken hands around, and all was quiet, the barkeeper sent Til- ford up staira to close the shutte: he had just reached the stairs when Mclachlan rushed athim with a knife, but was stopped by Lynch, when he inflicted the wounds for which he was arrested. By ineerting this in your valuable paper you will oblige, Yours reapectfully, Corngtirs M New Yor«, March 17, 1851. Swindiing nt the West. Sanvesky, Jan. 7, 1851. J. G. Bexsert, Eeq., New York Herald On or about the 26th Nov. last, we met an Irish oa who claimed to be in your employ, said ¢ had been reporter for your paper a number of years, and wae,at the time, on his return from Nash- ville, bound for New York. He took an interest with us 19 Our new project for a railroad to Toledo, and seid he would give us a puffin the Herald, There were four of us subscribed for the paper, ond pie him $3 each for the MWeekly Herald, an he eaid we would get the first number issued in December. He enid he wrote under the signature of Otho. His real name we do not know, and were ateen enough not to take a receipt. We now write to krow whether we are really cheated, or whether there is some neglect or mistake in his atyjag ia the sames and residences. F Barney and Geo. Riber, Sandusky City, Obio; ©. T. Smead and J. H. Magruder, Port Clinton, Ohio, paid $3 each. Yours, irvly, F. T. Baaney. Svuitivan. The meil begs, on board the steamboat Detroit, and intended for Chicago, Racine, Kenosha and Wankegsn, from Milwaukie, were all robbed on the 25th wit. It is net yet Known, what amount of money waa stelaa. | Central Awertes, TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK HERALD. Allow me to add a few more remarks, concern- ing Central America, to the many that have already appeered in the columns of your journal—so ready always to receive communications which tend to enlighten as well as amuse the American public, In the first place I will epeak, in a few words, of the inhabitants of that country. Being estimated at about one million and a half of inhabitants, and occupying the peninsula extending from Mexico to New Granada; and ‘hat peniosula being covered principaily by the range of the Cerdilleras, lakes, sivers, gulfs, volcsnos, and innumerable tacts of TO-ky Mountains, Blerlie, aba UNproducuve to w degree, Jeavea but a emall portion of land to be cultivated; and much of that, to the contrary not- withstanding of what hay been said, very, very pace tnd unproductive indeed. Consequently, om the fact of the Cordilleras running perrallel with the coast of the Pacitic, at about twenty to thirty miles distant in the interior, thence to the Gulf of Mexico, the mouataias most prohibiting cultivation, has induced the ma- tives to settle, as is pow the case, commencing at San Joré in Costa Rico, to the town of Nicaragua, Granada, Leon, San Miguel, San Salvador, up to Guatemala, all ranging from fifteen to thirty miles from the coast. They have formed themselves into towns for mutual protection, arising from the fact of their internal feuds, and not from aay com- mercial beers. as to position, but comparative- ly from that egriculture, as the most, 6nd, in fine, ]_ may say pearly all composing a town in Central America are perth de wna hacienda, or owners of a plantation, by which they live, owning @ house in town, and living there from the product of the farm, which may be ten, twenty, or fifty miles off. The governor of a town or ore owns his hactenda, aud in the corner of his house in town, will have a “ Tienda;” which is a retail shop, attended by no one, except upon occasiois when the Indian (after having toiled throughout the week upon an indigo plautation, or more la- bonously, with crowbar in hand, has made the towering peak jof some high mountain shake, as it were, by pecking at its base ina dark and dismal hole, where the wily Spaniard, in the days of Cortez, sought the precious metal that now induces him to waste his life and substance con- tending with the vapors, S&e.,) brings his little gain, probably two to four ounces of silver, to ex- change for afew yards of muslin, tape, or, possi- bly, a bottle of some spirituous liquor. You see all ever the country this same state of things. There are three Spades of society: —First, those holding the reine of government, comprising the higher order of society, being itiaelpaly whites, es @ general thing, men of covsiderable attainments, particularly in a political point of view, rarer | even the iutrigue and diplomacy of the celebrat Frederic Chatfield, the instigator of interaal feuds in that connie ene the proud champion and vindi- cator of her Ma, ’s rights and pretensions on the coast ofthe ic, trom Tigre lslandto Tur- tle bay, and back again the other way, from Mus- ge, to Balize, meluding half way up the St. obn’s river, over the mountains and valleys of Henduras, to the devil only knows where. The second class of society is what we would call half-breeda, or, in other words, they are de- scended from the Spanish and Indians, and area very decent race of beings. The girls in this class of society are very pretty, and well behaved, but, of course, ignorant. The third and last class are the Indians, and workers, poor devils indeed, igao- rant to @ letter, but harmless as mice—having no great vices, neither do they drink much; but will pilfer a little, and are given to idleness. 5 here you have the Central American people. When you eee the picture of one class, ’ of the whole ; and I venture to a: people living on the face of the globe, eave our- selves, more favorably disposed towards strangers then these very same Central Americans; | know it. Humble and modest ia deportment, social and kind, | kuow them to be—not like the proud Mexi- cap, who, looking alone upon the picture of the Montezumas, forgets that the moral world is fast approaching the halls of his former greatness. No, iow their ignorance, and are willing to re- medy it. The question now arises—as we have com- menced operations in that country for its future greatnees and our gain, and as we have rejected the treaty made forthe protection ot Americans’ interests in that country, by Mr. Squier, and as we now have three ministers from Nicaragua, Hundu- rag, and San Salvador, I ask the question, what are we going to do with these ministers, and Ame- Ticans’ interests there? First, the so-called Clay- ton and Bulwer tieaty amounts toa mere matter of moon shine, to Americans, with their all em- barked in that wade, because it has nothing to do with Central Americans. The Central Americans ere forgotien, and treated 22a shipcanal. What have we to do with ship canals, ** entre oceantc,”” that may be commenced twelve or twenty years from hence? 1 have said, and repeat, that he Central Americans want to cultivate commer- cial relations ‘with the United States, and the Amencans, who have engayed the trade of that country, not from the fact of a ship caval being pro- jected or contemplated, but from the fact of a ore potent lever having come to bear upon it—California and its gold. This is what is opening the com- merce of Central America—ond this it what will meke itequel to Peru or Chia. Therefore, why rejecta treaty by which an American can claim the protection of bis government, notwithstandiag whet the Board of Commis:ioaers on the Mexican indemnity say? If we were to make some com- mercial weaty with Nicarsgue, and appoiat a Charge, with full powers to act as such, aad not treat nim #8 shab.ly es Mr. Squier was, why, thea, the commerce of our country would be protected from their civil commotious, and Mr. Chatfield might blockade and keep them in a state of war, only 89 long as it was convenient for our people to let him do so. Now, all this fumbling about the canel muy do for future generations. | believe in it—I feel confident it is practicable ; but, before at is buili, why, many of us, we hope, will ha’ lired trom the contest for gaia there, and, glu eweetly o’er the Erie, in eur dear native land, with @ brecing air around us, only wondering if they are going to Commence the eniré oceanic ¢ or ne T hope and trust we may make come special treaty with the State of Nicaragua. Now, we have so many ministers here, I caunot see the great objec- tion ¢f entering into some amicable arrangement, If not, there will a derk cloud arive in the south- ern horizon, and we may be brought into collision with Great Britain on this trivial question, The Americans will colonize Nicaragua, LMB The Island of Roatan. As the public attention has again been called to the British aggression oa the coast of Central Ame. rica, by the seizure of the island of Roantan, we think the following account and description of the ieland willbe found interesting :— The soil of the island is of the first quality; there is little waste land on it, and the whole might be advantageously cultivated. In approaching the island it has @ singularly beautiful appearance. The mountains rise gradually in height to a eum- mit of 900 feet, which seem suceeasively to follow each other, intersected by valleys, and the whole thickly and most luxoriantly wooded. Palm and cocoa nu trees encircle the shores, and other trees: cover the hills. These furnish an abun good and useful timber, euch as the San aria wood, extensively useful for ship building, those varieties of oak, cedar, Spanish elm, aad lance wood. At present, the island produces in abun- dance, cocoa nuts, plantains, yams, bananas, pive apples, &c., &e.; and Captain Michell expresses bis conviction that bread fruit, European vegeta- _ ond ated, many of the fruits and productions of more temperate regions, would Wthere. It is admirably adapted to produce Oi'the = staples—sugar, cotton, coffee, and tobacco—which soon extensive articles of export. The greatest abundance of game is found there, includ- ing fowls, wild hogs, &c.; and quaatities of domestic enimals are raised. A great deal of rain falls during the winter montis, from Septem- ber to February, which has the effect of making the air cooler than in the Weat Indiaa islands gene- rally, and @ constant breeze tempers the influence of the fe The dry months are warmer, but not oppressive, and durin; — »Michell’s stay the thermometer aver: deg. lahrenheit. He thinks the climat not only healthy to those born in warm latitudes, but that Europeans, with pany we here enjoy good health z lives. The population is now about 2 000, id rayidly increasing ; the proportion of births to deaths being as three to one. It is confined almost exclueively to the sea coast, for purposes of conve- nienee he people here erect their dweilings in the midst of their palm am tain groves, hav- ing their little veesels and fii ig boats in quiet and sheltered nooks, and conveying their produce, and supplying their wante, by water. he areatest nomber are located at a place called Coxen Hole. bie is and sheltered harbor, but Captain Mi- chell thinks “they were directed here by chance, and not by the superior intages of the place.”’ T ‘of the people liberated slaves from the Grand Cayman, who have also boen followed by many Of their former masters, who had Roatan a better position. There is another portion ef the population made up of Spanish, settlers from the edjacent cor evides which area few Europeans and Americs C in Michell says that ‘the maee of the population isa fine Tace—etreng, ac- tive, athletic, temperate, and quiet in their habits, and not given to excess. Crimes are rare. They are familiar with the rude mechanical arts, of which they s'and in need; some are carpente Others ropemakers, and they have a Knowledge of boat on _ Phip building, the makieg of lime, ete. Their trade is in their plantaia, cocoa mats, pine ap- ples, ele , which they cerry to the ports of Hondu- - on the main land, to the Belize and New Or- ane.”