The Texan Mercury. (Seguin, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 3, Ed. 1 Saturday, October 1, 1853 Page: 1 of 4
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MERCURY.
H.T.
editor and proprietor
SEGrUIN, GUADALUPE COUNTY, OCTOBEK 1, 1853.
VOLUME ONE—NUMBER III.
s
BT
OF FLORIDA—CESSION OF
ISIANA.
THOIAS H. BENTON.
St
J- ieal party lines, and the introductien of the
f slavery question into the federal elections and
. . legislation, and bringing into the highest of
I was a member of the bar at t °^' ™ I those elections—those of president and vice-
the then territory of Missouri, in t e year , presj¿ent—a test which no southern candidate
whan the Washington City newspapers ma e I could stand. The repugnance in the north-east
known ihe progress of the treaty with Spáui was no^ merejy ^ territorial aggrandizement in
whkii was signed the 22d of February following, ^Qth-west, but to the consequent extension
and which, in acquiring Florida gave away exas. I ^ sjavery ¡n that quarter; and to allay that
I was shocked at it at the cession of exas, an repUgnance) an(j to prevent the slavery extension
the new boundaries proposed for t e nit qQestion from becoming a test in the presidential
States on the southwest. The acquisition o I election, was tLe true reason for giving away
Florida was a desirable object, long soug t, an Texas, and the true solution of the enigma in-
to be obtained in the progress of events; | yojve¿ ¡Q the strange refusal to accept as much
bal the new boundaries, besides cutting off ag gp^ 0£fere(j The treaty was disapproved
dismembered the valley of the Missis- L m jefferson, to whom a similar letter was
mutilated two of the noblest rivers, ^tten to that sent to General Jackson, and for
'brought s foreign dominion, (and it non-slave- [ ^
holding,) to the neighborhood of New Orleans,
wild
a wilderness barrier between
ÜÉT Hew Mexico, to interrupt their
t aeparafccthexr inhabitants, and shelter the
Indian > depredators upon the lives and
same purpose—to obtain his approbation—
but he who had acquired Louisiana, and justly
gloried in the act, could not bear to see that
noble province mutilated, and returned his dis-
sent to the act, and his condemnation of the
policy on which it was done. General Jackson
property of all who undertook to pass from one Uj yjej(ie(j to the arguments of Mr. Monroe,
to the other. I was not then in politics, and an(j consented to the cession of Texas as a tem-
had nothing to do with political affairs; but I p0rary measure. The words of his answer to
saw at once the whole evil of this great sacrifice, M(mroe>g ietter were—"I am clearly of
.and instantly raised my voice against it in arti- yQur 0pjnj0Ilj that, for the present, we ought to
des published in the St. Louis newspapers, and ^ ^tented with the Floridas.
ill; which were given, in substance, all the na-i But Mr. Jefferson would yield to no temporary
tíonal reasons against giving away the country, y-nyrs 0f policy, and remained inflexibly opposed
which was afterward, and by só many tongues, to treaty; and in this he was consistent with
and ai the expense of war, and an hundred mil- own conduct in similar circumstances. Six-
lions/given to get it back. I denounced the
teen years before, he had been in the same cir-
treaty, and attacked its authors and their mo- cumstances—at the time of the acquisition of
tyeB, Mid imprecated a wo en the heads of those j^niáana-r-when he had the same repugnance to
who should continue to favor it. south-western aggrandisement to contend with,
"The magnificent valley of the Mississippi is I d ihe «me bait (Florida) to tempt him.
ours, with all its fountains, springs and floods; j rpjjen eastern men raised the same objections;
and Wo to the gteüesnan who shall undertake to ^ M g^yjy ^ August, 1803—only four months
surrender one drop oí. its water, one inch of its ^ 0f Louisiana—he wrote to
soil, to any foreign power." Dr. Breckenridge:
I* Aeee terms I spoke, and in tins spirit I «Objections are raising, to the eastward, to
wrote, W# % treaty wn even ratified. Mr. jthe vast extent of our boundaries, and proposi-
John Quincy Adams, the Secretary of State, tions are made to exchange Louisiana, or a part
negotiator and ostensible author of the (treaty, Lf for the Floridas: bnt, as I have said, we
was the «tateman against whan my censure was | ^ the Floridas without; and I would not
directed, and I was certainly sincere in my belief gjTe 0Qe inch of the waters of the Mississippi to
of his great capability. But the #declaration I any f^ign nation."
which he afterward made, on the floor of the g0 that Mr. Jefferson, neither in 1803 nor in
House, absolved lim from censure on account of jgi9, would have mutilated Louisiana to obtain
that treaty, and placed the blame on the major- the cession of Florida, which he knew would be
ity in Mr. Monroe's cabinet, southern men, by obtained without that mutilation; nor would he
whoec vote be had been governed in ceding have yielded to the threatening discontent in the
the boundary whieh I so much east
After this authoritative declara- j have a gratification that^áthont knowing
-w-agtplacaia the SenatMhe hon- U ^ atfl thousand miles MpTiTin, I took the
ito Mr. Adams, which was equally game ground thaf Mr. Jeffereon stood.on, and
due té Mm and to myself. -I even used his own words—" Not an inch of the
«rtfta** ' signal *ro. the aflnivprsary of I watersof the Mississippi to any nation;" but I
the birth-day of Washington, and sent to the was mortified, at the time, that not a paper in
Senate the awe day, and unanimously ratified the United States backed my essays. It was
on the next day, with the general approbation my first experience in standing " solitary and
of the country, and the warm applause of the I alone;" but I stood it without flinching, and
newspaper press. This unanimity of the Senate even incurred the immitation of being " opposed
and applause of the press made no impression I to tBe administration^—had to encounter that
upon me. I continued to assail the treaty and objection in my first election to the Senate, ant
its authors, and the more bitterly because the was even viewed .as an opponent by Mr. Monroe
official correspondence, when published, showed himself, when I first came to Washington. He
that this great sacrifice of territory, rivers, and had reason to know, before his office expired,
proper boundaries, was aD gratuitous and volun- and still more after it expired, that no one (o'
tary on our part—"that the Spanish government the young generation) had a more exalted opin-
had offered us more than we acceptecf"; and ion of his honesty, patriotism, firmness,* ant
that it was our poliey, and not hers, which had general soundness of judgment; or wonld be
deprived us Of Texas, and the large country, in more ready, whenever the occasion permitted, to
addition to Texas, which lay between - the Red do justice to his long and illustrious career o'
mw and upper Arkansas. This was an enigma, | public service.
the selnfion of which, in my mind, strongly con- j The treaty, as I have said, was promptly ant
nected itself with the Missouri controversy then un&nimously ratified by the American Senate
raging, (1819,) with its greatest violence, not so on the part of Spain. She hesitated
threatening existing political parties with sub- delayed, procrastinated, and finally suffered the
and the Union with dissolution. My time limited for the exchange of ratifications to
went there—to that controversy—for the expire, without having gone through that indis-
m, but with a misdirection of its applica- pensable formality. Of course this put an ent
I blamed the northern men in Mr. Mon- to the treaty, unless it could be revived; ant
The private papers of General therefore new negotiations, and vehement expos-
which have come to my hands, enable tulations, against the conduct which refused to
me to correct that error, and give me an inside ratify a treaty negotiated upon full powers ant
view ff that whieh I could only see on the I in conformity to instructions. It was in the
outside before. In a private letter from Mr. course of this renewed negotiation, and of these
Monroe to General Jackson, dated Washington, warm expostulations, that Mr. Adams used the
May 83, 1880—more than one year after the strong expressions to the Spanish ministry, so
ratified^) of the treaty, written to justify it, enigmatical at the time, " That Spain had
and evidently called out by Mr. Clay's attacks offered more than we accepted, and that she
upon it—are these passages: dare not deny it." Finally, after the lapse of
" Having long known the repugnance with year or so| the treaty was ratified by Spain. In
which the eastern portion of our Union, or the mean time, Mr. Clay had made a movement
rather some of those#rho have enjoyed its confi- against it in the Honse of Representatives, un
, deuce, for I do not think that the people them- successful, of course, but exciting some sensation,
selves ¿ave any interest or wish of that kind,) both for the reasons he gave and the vote of
have seen its aggrandizement to the we3t and some thirty-odd members who concurred with
sSuth, I have been-decidedly of opinion that we him.
aaght to be content with Florida for the pres- This movement very certainly induced the let-
eat, and until the public opinion in that quarter ters of Mr. M|proe to General Jackson and Mr.
shall be reconciled to any further change. I Jefferson, as they were contemporaneous, (May,
mention these circumstances to show you that 1820,) and also some expressions in the letter to
,oar difficulties are not with Spain ajo.'ie, but are General Jackson, which evidently referred to
Jtfcewise internal, proceeding from various causes, Mr. Clay's movement. The ratification of Spain
which eertain men are prompt to seize and turn was given October, Í820, and, being after the
to the account of their own ambitious views." | time limited, it became necessaty to submit it
Hiis paragraph from Mr. Monroe's letter lifts again to the American Senate, which was done
the certain which concealed the secret reason for at the session of 1820-21. It was ratified
ceding Texas—that secret which explains what
events soon gave tie an opportunity to manifest
my opposition, and to appear in the parliamen-
tary history as an enemy to it. The case
was this: While the treaty was still encounter-
ng Spanish procrastination in the delay of ex-
changing ratifications, Mexico (to which the
amputated part of Louisiana and'the whole of
Texas was to be attached) itself ceascd to be-
ong to Spain. She established her independ-
ence, repulsed all Spanish authority, and re-
mained at war with the mother country. The
aw for giving effect to the treaty by providing
'or commissioners to run and mark the new
joundary, had not been passed at the time of
he ratification of the treaty; it came up after
;; took my seat, and it was opposed by mc. I
opposed it, not only upon the grounds of origi-
nal objections to the treaty, but on the further
and obvious gronnd, that the revolution in Mex-
ico—^her actual independence—had superseded
the Spanish treaty in the whole article of the
boundaries, and that it was with Mexico herself
I
1,hat "we should now settle them. The act was
passed, however, by a sweeping majority, the
administration being for it, and senators holding
hemselves committed by previous votes; bnt
he progress of events soon justified my opposi-
ion to it. The country being in possession of
! Mexico, and she at war with Spain, no Spanish
commissioners conld go there to join ours in ex-
was incomprehensible — our having refused to
áccept as much as Spaiu had offered. Internal
dlflculües, it was thus shown, had induced that
and these difficulties grew out of the
of leading men in the north-east to
aee*fthe farther aggrandizement of the Union
south and west. The -repugnance was
then in
I he Mi
v_ .:r. opor. ' form, in the shape of
immediate
vovc:
ecuting it; and so the act remained a dead let-
ter upon the statute-book. Its futility was after-
ward acknowledged by our Government, and
ihe mis-step corrected by establishing the bound-
ary with Mexico herself.
This was done by treaty in the year 1828,
adopting the boundaries previously agreed upon
with Spain, and consequently amputating our
rivers, (the Red and the Arkansas,) and dis-
membering the valley of the Mississippi, to the
same extent as was done by Si Spanish treaty
of 1819. I opposed the ratification of the
treaty with Mexico for the same reason that I
opposed its original with Spain, bnt without
success. Only two Senators voted with me,
namely, Judge William Smith, of South Caro-
ina, and Mr. Powhatan Ellis, of Mississippi.
Thdflppw this treaty, which repulsed Texas,
and oKiembered the valley of the Mississippi,
which placed a foreign dominion on the upper
lalves of the Red river and the Arkansas—
)laced a foreign power and a wilderness between
Missouri and New Mexico, and which brought
a non-slaveholding empire to the boundary lirib
of the State of Louisiana, and almost to the
south-west corner of Missouri—saw this treaty
three times ratified-fey the American Senate, as
good as imanimously every time, and' with the
hearty concurrence of the American public, ant
the fall applause of the American press. Yet,
I remained in the Senate to see, within a few
years, apolitical tempest sweeping the land and
overturning all that stood before it, to get back
this very country which this treaty had given
away; and menacing the Union itself with dis-
solution, if it was not immediately done, ant
without regard to consequences. But of this
hereafter.
\
The poiht to be now noted of this treaty o
1819 is, that it completed, very nearly, the ex-
tinction of slave territory within the limits
the United States, and that it was the work o
Southern men, with the sanction of the South
It extinguished or cut off the slave territory be-
yond the Mississippi, below 36 degrees 30 min-
utes, all except the diagram in Arkansas, which
was soon to become a State. The Missouri Com-
promise line had introduced slavery in all the
vast expanse of Louisiana north of 36 degrees
30 minutes; this treaty gave away, first to
Spain, and then to Mexico, nearly all the slave
territory south of that line; and what little was
left by the Spanish treaty was assigned in per-
petuity by laws and by treaties to different In-
dian tribes. These treaties, (Indian and Span-
ish,) together with the Missouri compromise
line—a measure contemporaneous with the
treaty—extinguished slave soil in all the United
States' territory west of the Mississippi, except
in the diagram which was to constitute the State
of Arkansas; and, including the extinction in
Texas consequent npon its cession to a non-slavc-
holding power, constituted the largest territorial
abolition of slavery that was ever effected by
the political power of any nation. The ordi-
nance of 1187 had previously extinguished sla-
very in all the north-west territory—all the
country east of the Mississippi, above the Ohio,
and out to the great lakes; so that, at this mo-
ment—era of the second election of Mr. Monroe
—slave soil, except in Arkansas and Florida,
was extinct in the territory of the United States.
The growth of slave States (except of Ar-
kansas and Florida,) was stopped—the increase
of free States was permitted in all the vast ex-
panse from Lake Michigan and the Mississippi
river to the Rocky Mountains, and to Oregon,
and there was not a ripple of discontent visible
on the surface of the public mind at this mighty
transformation of slave into free territory. No
talk, then, about dissolving the Union, if every
citizen was not allowed to go with all his "prop-
erty/' that is, all his slaves, to all the territory
acquired by the "common blood and treasure''
of all the Union. But this belongs to the chap-
ter of 1844, whereof I have the material to
write the true and secret history, and hope to
use it with fairness, with justice and with mode-
raliuii. Tiie out ! ic view of the ?!ave question
in thi* United Btate.^ at t-hi;; t'nie, which atiy
¡chronicler can write, is, that the i
ree Sta tes were permitted an almost unlimited
expansion. That is the outside view; the in-
side is, that all this was the work of southern
men—ciindidates for the presidency, some in
abeyance, some in prascnti, and all yielding to
that repugnance to territorial aggrandizement,
and slavery extension in the south-west, which
Mr. Mor.iroe mentioned in his letter to General
Jackson as the "internal difficulty" which occa-
sioned the cession of Texas to Spain. This
chapter in a point in the history of the times
which will require to be understood by all who
wish to understand and appreciate the events
and actors of twenty years later.
Prayer by . Dr. Chalmers.—We present to
our readers on this day appointed for fasting and
humiliation, a portion of a prayer that was offered
up by the celebrated Dr. Chalmers during the
pestilence in Glasgow.—[New Orleans paper.
"Do Thou, O Lord, ward off from us the
farther inroads of that desolating plague which
in its mysterious progress over our city, has
made such painful ravages amongst our families
and friends. Hitherto, O God, thou hast dealt
mildly and merciful with this the city of our
habitation. Do Thou pour out the spirit of
grace and supplication upon its inhabitants) and
spare them, if it be thy blessed will, the inflic-
tions of that wrath which is so rightfully due to
a careless and an ungodly generation. We pray,
O Lord, in a more especial manner for those
patriotic men whose duty calls them to a per-
sonal cnconnter with this calamity; and who,
having all the hazards of infection, may be said to
stand between the living and the dead. Save
them from the attack of disease—save them
from the obloquies of 'misconception and preju-
dice, and may they have the blessings and ac-
knowledgments of a grateful community to
encourage them in their labors. Above all, we
pray, O God, that infidelity which places all its
reliance in secondary causes may never sway
either the councils of this city, or the councils of
this nation. May there at all times be the pnb-
lic recognition of a God amidst us. And let
not defiance, or the levity of irreligious men ever
tempt us to forget the Mighty Unseen Being,
who has all the forces of nature at his command
—who sits behind the elements he has formed,
and gives birth, and movement, and continuance
to all things."
again, aud almost unanimously, but not quite—
four votes being given against it, and ail by
western senators, namely, Colonel R. M. John-
son, of Kentucky; Colonel John Williams of
Tennessee; Mr. James Brown, of Louisiana, and
Colonel Trimble, of Ohio. I was theu in Wash-
ington, and a senator elect, though not yet cuti-
tled to a seat, in conscqncnce of the delayed ad-
mission of the new State of Missouri into the
Union, and so had no opportunity to record iay
• aeainst the treaty. But the progress of' confined within narrow territorial limits while
A Magnificent Scheme.—We learn that
distinguished gentleman of this State, who re-
cently visited Europe, has succccded in organ-
ising a company, with a capital of ten millions
sterling, for the purpose of establishing a more
direct route of transportation thence between New
York, San Francisco and China. The object o
the company is to construct a railroad direc i
from Savannah to Pensacola, Mobile and New
Orleans, and another road from the Gulf to the
Pacific. The connections on the Atlantic, the
Gulf and Pacific, are to be made with first class
steamers—the time between San Francisco ant
New York to be reduced to from fifteen to
eighteen days.
We give the rnmor as we received it, withont
pretending to be minute in the details. We
have no reason to doubt either the organization
of the company, or the practicability of the
scheme. It is, indeed, a magnificent project, ant
will accomplish at one-half the cost all that is
contemplated by the great overland route,
carried into execution, it will make Savannah
the Queen City of the South, and place her at
once npon the great thoroughfare between China
and Liverpool. Extensive as this sehemc ap-
pears to be, it is designed to be carried into
execution, because it is demanded by the com
mercc of the world.—[Savannah Courier.
To Brixg the Drowned to Life.—Intcndet
to be put into every man's hat.—Immediately as
the body is removed from the water press the
chest suddeidy and forcibly downward aud back-
ward, and instantly discontinue the pressure
Repeat this violent interruption until a pair o!
common bellows can be procured. When ob-
tained, introduce the muzzle well upon the base
of the tongue. Surround the mouth with
towel or handkerchief, and close it. Direct
bystander to press firmly upon the projecting
part of the neck, (called Adam's apple) and use
the bellows actively. Then press upon the chest
to expel the air from the lungs, to imitate na-
tural breathing. Continue this at least an hour
unless signs of natural breathing come on.
Wrap the body in blankets, place it near a
fire, and do every thing to preserve the natura
warmth, as well as to impart an artificial heat
if possible. Every thing, however, Ls secondary
to inflating the lungs.—Send for a medical man
immediately.
Avoid all frictions until respiration shall be in
some degree restored.
Valentine Mott,
Surgeon-General of American Shipwreck Socicty.
" Mr. Jones, don't you think marriage is
means of grace?"
" Certainly, my dear madam; any thing is
meats of grace that breaks up pride and leads to
repentancc."
Exit Mr. Jones, under the influence of a mop
handle.
ot
slaver)'was liier arrested, circumscribed ami
Coughing in Consumition.—The Herald, of
uly 10, says,that, during the week preceding, fifty
>ersous died of the consumption in New York
City. Per contra, a gentleman called upon us
cstcrday, who actually escaped from the fangs
of this disease some years ago; and we arc iu-
uced to present the circumstance.
You speak of coughiug continually. Let me
suggest to you the query, whether this is not un-
necessary and injurious. I have long been
satisfied, from experience and observation, that
much of the coughing which precedes and attends
consumption, is voluntary. Several years ago 1
warded with a man who was in the incipqnt
stages of consumption. I slept in a chamber
over his bed-room, and was obliged to hear him
cough continually and distressingly. I endured
the annoyance night after night, till it led me to
reflect whether something could not be done to
stop it. I watched the sound which the man made,
aud I observed that he evidently made a volun-
tary effort to cough. After this 1 made experi-
ments on myself, aud found that I could prevent
myself from coughing, sneezing gaping, etc., in
case of the strongest propensity to those acts,
>y a strenuous effort of the will. Then I re-
lectcd- that coughing must be very irritating and
injurious to. the delicate organs that are con-
cerned in it, especially when they are in a diseased
state. What can be worse for ulcerated
>ronchia, or lungs, than the violent wrenchings
of a cough? It must be worse than speaking.
A sore on any part of the body, if it is con-
stantly kept open by violent usage, or made raw
again by a contusion just when it is healing, (and
of course begins to itch,) will grow worse, and
end in death. Certainly then a sore on the lungs
may be expected to terminate fatally, if it is
constantly irritated and never suffered to heal;
and this, it seems to me, is just what coiighing
does for it. On the strength of such considera-
tions as these, I made bold to ask the man if he
could not stop coughing. He answered no. I
told him wrhat I thought about it, as above.
He agreed to make a trial; and on doing so, he
bund to his surprise that he could suppress his
cough almost entirely. The power of his will
over it increased as he exercised it, and in a
few days he was mostly rid of the disposition to
cough. His health, at the same time, evidently
improved, and when I last saw him, he was in
strong hopes of getting out of death's hands."
This occurred eighteen years ago, aud the man
comes round now, an active business man, avering
that he has not liatl a sick day since.
Nothing to Do.—We would now speak of
the aimless cxistcnce—-thai strange auomaly in
ereation, a human being with nothing to do.
Most miserable, worthy of most profound pity,
is such a being. The most insignificant object
in nature becomes a source of envy; the birds
warble on every spray, in ccstacy of joy; the
tiny flower, hidden from all eyes, sends forth its
fragrance of full happiness; the mountain stream
dashes along with a sparkle and murmur of pure
delight. The object of their creation is accom-
plished, and their life gushes forth in harmonic
work. Oh plant! stream! worthy of admiration,
of worship, to the wretched idler! Here are
powers ye never dreamed of, facilities divine,
eternal; a head to think, but nothing to con-
centrate the thoughts; a heart to love, but no
object to bathe with the living tide of affection;
a hand to do, but no work to be done; talents
unexercised, capacities undeveloped; á human
life thrown away, wasted as water poured forth
in the desert. Oh, birds and flowers, ye are
gods to such a mockery of life! Who can
describe the fearful void of such an existence
the yearning for an object, self-reproach for
wasted powers, the weariness of daily life, the
loathing of pleasure, of frivolity, and the fear
ful consciousness of deadening life—of a spiritua
paralysis, which hinders all response to human
interests—when enthusiasm ceases to arouse
and noble deeds no longer call forth the tear oi
joy—when the world becomes a blank, humanity
a far-off sound, and no life is left but the heavy,
benumbing weight of personal helplessness ani
desolation.
Oh! happier far the toiling drudge who coins
body and soul into the few poor shillings that
can only keep his family iu a long starvatiou
he has a hope nnceasingly to light him, a duty
to perform, a spark of love within that can not
die; and wretched, weary, unhuman as his life
mav be, it is of roval worth.
• ' V
Seeing the Elephant.—The origin of this
now common and expressive phrase is thus de-
scribed in one of our exchanges:
Some years since, at one of our Philadelphia
theatres, a pageant was in rehearsal in which it
was necessary to have an elephant. No elephant
was to be had. The "wild beasts" were all trav-
eling and the property man, stage director and
manager, almost had fits when they thought of
it.
Days passed in the hopeless task of endeav-
ouring to secure one, but at last Yankee ingenu-
ity triumphed, as, indeed, it always does: an
elephant was duly made to order, of wood, skins,
jaint and varnish. Thus far the matter was all
well, but as vet they had found no means to
make the said combination travel. Here,, again,
the genius of the manager, stage director and
property man "stuck out," and two of the
' supes" were duly installed for the legs.
Ned C , one of the true and genuine
'b'hoyp," held the res] onsible station of fore-legs,
and for several nights he played that heavy part
to the entire satisfaction of the manager, and
he delight of the audiencc. The part however,,
was a very tedious one, as the elephant was
obliged to be on the stage for about an hour,
and Ned was rather too fond of the bot tle to
remain so long without " whetting his whistle,"
so he sets his wits to work to find a way to a
carry a " wee drop" with him. The eyes of the
elephant being made of two porter bottles, with
uhe necks in, Ned conceived the brilliant idea of
illing them with "good stuff." This he fully
carried out, and elated with his success, willingly
undertook to play the four-legs again.
Night came, the theatre was crowded with the
denizens of the Quaker city, the music played its
sweetest strains, the vftiistle sounded, the curtain
rose, the play began. The elephant was greeted'
with round upon round of applause.' The dacor-
ations, the trappings were gorgeous—thé^npte
seated on his back—all were loudly cheered.-
The play proceeded, the elephant was marched
round and ronnd the stage. The fore-legs got
dry aud withdrew one of the corks,
hind-legs, and drank the health jof the
in a bumper of genuine elephant-eye
brand, by the way, till then
went the play, and on went Ned drinking,
ooncludiog march was to be made—the
was given, and the fore-legs staggered'
the front of the stage. The
the ear of the elephant to the
legs staggered to the left—the foot lights ob-
structed his way; he raised his feet and stepped
•plump' into the orchestsa!
0X
*
I
% .1
*r-
Bacr, a German
when we shall have
powerful thaii that of Lord
abb to descry object> in !li<4
man.
astronomer, calculates that
a telescope nine times more
Rosse. we shall be
moon a>
ill
as n
General Jackson's First Appearance in
Congress.—When Mr. Gallatin was a member
of Congress, in the year 1796, Tennessee was
admitted as a State iuto the Union, and sent
her first member to .Washington. One day
when in his seat in the House, Mr. Gallatin no-
ticed a tall, lank, uncouth looking individual,
with long locks of hair hanging over his browh
and face, while a cue hung down his back, tied
with an eel skin. The dress of this individual
was siugular—his manner and deportment that
of a backwoodsman. The appearancc of so sin-
gular a character on the floor of the House of
Representatives naturally attracted attention,
and a member of his' side asked who he was.
Mr. Gallatin replied that he was the member
from the new State. " Well," said his friend,
! " he seems just tiie sort of chap one might ex-
j j ect from such an uncivilized region as Tennes-
see.'7 The individual in qucs' <p was Andrew
Jackson.
legs on the leader^ fiddle—over of
the elephant, sending the Prince, cl<
by the hind-legs, into the middle of the pit.
The manager stood horror-struck—the Prince
and hind-legs lay confounded—the l)oxes in con-
vulsions, the actors choking with laughter. And
poor Ned, casting one look, a strange blending ,
of drunkenness, grief, and laughter, at the scene,:
fled hastily out of the theatre, closely followed
by the leader, with the wreck of his fiddle, per-
forming various cut and thrust motions^ in the
air. Imagine the scene, paint it for mé, some
one, if yon can. ;
?Thc result, reader, tan you not picture it?
The curtain dropped on a "scene behind the
scenes!" Ño more pageant; no more
but every body holding their sides; now
pit, gallery and boxes, rushing from the
shrieking between every brefcth, " have
the elephant?"
Mrs. Partington*.—" How do you like
Mrs. P.?" Asked her neighbor of
as she stood listening to the Germania Band last
evening, on the Common, and beating time on
the cover of her snuffbox. " Beautiful,"
she, enraptured, "uncommon beautiful; it
almóst like the music of the syrups. I^nk
the German. Band the sweetest of any of Jt
Can you tell me," said she in a big
per, " which is Mr. Bergamot?" The
Bergamot was associated with her rappee,
hence her solicitude. She was told that Mr.
gainan belonged to the Germania Society, and
that the leader of the Germania Serenade Was
Mr. Schnapp. A smile lit up her face, revealed,
in the declining twilight, as she asked if he was
akin to Mr. A romantic Schnapp, the gentleman
who imported so much gin. Her ear was 'ar-
rested by the strains of the music, and the black
bonnet waved in unison with a waltzing measure,
as Isaac sat upon the grass in contemplation of
a dog's tail before him, wondering what the
effect would lie if he was to stick a pin m it.—r
[Boston Post. '
A Ray from Sir John Feankuk.—Inform-
ation has been received by the Russian govern-
ment- that several of what arc called glass ball*
probably bottles, hare been found at the mouth
of the river Obi, which falls into the Arcti^^
basin at the seventieth parallel of east longitude.^
This locality is where such articles would be •
found, if they had been thrown from Franklin's
ship, in case they had attained a high northern
latitude. The British government has, re-
quested that some of the balls be transmitted to
the foreign office.
'J,
V
" I h; \ (j ; reut
a would-be musician.
" So hí.s n ifK-kass.
v oi'oerto' i*
-■j
In 1769 occurred the first visitation of the
Yeiiow Fever at New Orleans, it being intro-
rep
!>\ • .t i n"
duced Ov u
from ti
lint.
• 'i es.-
Afri'
il with o ra root of slaves
A jrriter in the IntelHgencer
curious incident. A little girl was
window before which was a young
After a brilliant flash of lightning,
image of the tree was fonnd „
liooiv. This is not the first instance oí the kind,
but it is a singular phenomenon.—[Newark-4^
vertiser ,
1 .V
«L ,1
A
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Burke, H. T. The Texan Mercury. (Seguin, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 3, Ed. 1 Saturday, October 1, 1853, newspaper, October 1, 1853; Seguin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth180478/m1/1/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.