Crawfordsville Review, Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, 29 March 1856 — Page 1
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{Prom Pntr.atiVa Monthly.]
A LEGEND OF THE PALISADES. Long before the white Bails of Europe oast their baleful shadows over the waters of the Western Continent, a vast portion of tbis territory, bounded by perpetual snow and perpetual summer, was occupied by two mighty nations of red men. The Iroquois, by far the most warlike nation, dominated, with its united tribes,'the inland from Canada to North Carolina, and east and west fromJCentraJ Pennsylvania to Michigan while the great Algonquin race peopled the sea-board, frfcn Labrador almost to the Floridas, and extending itself westward, even to the borders of Oregon, again stretched along, beyond the waters of the Mississippi, unto the bunting-grounds of the swarthy Appalachians. This bright river, in those days flowed downward to the sea, under some dark, Indian name and, where yonder village glitters with its score of spires and myriad windows, the smoke of numerous camp-fires curled up amidst pointed wigwams, of poles and skins, and birchbark, wrought with barbaric characters.'
Of the Algonquin tribes that formerly inhibited the banks of this mighty stream, tradition has scarcely preserved a name.— A handful of ^J.ored earthern beads, a few flint arrow-heads, are the sole memorials of a once great populace. But tradition, with wonderful tenacity, clings to its legends.— Even from the dross of nameless nations, some golden deed shines forth, with a lustre antiquity cannot tarnish. So among the supernatural songs of the Iroquois we find a living parable.
Long before the coming of the pale faces, there was a great warrior of the OnandagoIroquois by the name of Big Papoose. He had a round, small, smooth face, like that of a child but his arms were long, and his ehoulders broad and powerful as the brandies of an oak. At the council fires he poke not at hunting parties ho was indolent and of the young squaws, none could say: "he loves me." But if he spoke not at the council fires, the people knew the scalps in the wigwam were numerous as the cones upon the pine tree and if he cared not for hunting, vet he wore a tripple collar, mnde of grizzly bears, and. the old braves loved to sing of the great elk lie had pursued and killed with a blow of his stone axe, when his feet were as the wings of a swallow.— True it was, the love that is GO common to man, the love of woman, was not in his breast but the brightest and boldest maiden eyes dropped 1n his presence, and many a time the bosoms of the young squaws would heave—just a little. Yet the Big Papoose was the friend of children. Who bound the tiny arrow-heads to the featu red shafts, and strung the little bow with the sinews of deer, iind practiced the boy warriors of the tribe in mimic warfare, and taught them to step with the foot of the sparrow, and to trap the fox. the rabbit and the beaver, and to shout to death the whoop, the sa-sa kuan! Who was it but the Big Papoose, lying yonder, face downward, on the frozen crust of the lake, his head covered with skin®, and around him a score of boys warrior*, lying face downward, too, watching the below, through the holes in the ice, that they might strike them with the pointed javelin, the a'tshlun? Yes, he was the friend of children, the Big Papoose! There was then a very old brave of the Onondaga tribe, his ir wa? like the foam of the waterfall, nnd his eyes were deep and dark as the pool beneath it. He was »o old that he could lay his hand upon the bead of a hundred years and say—"bov!" He it was who had found in (he north, under the uttermost stars, the sacred pieces of copper he it was who hud seen the great fish, so large that a single one could drink up the lake at a mouthful and the great Thunder Water he had seen—Niagara and the cavern, big enough to contain all the Indian tribes, the Iroquois and the Algonquins, and the stone nreh that held the skies, the sun and moon, and the clouds he had stood beneath, and he had seen it. lie was called the White Cloud, and sometimes, when the summer's heat had been too powerful upon the earth, and the green leaves of the maize drooped too much, ho would bring forth the magic red pipe, nnd snioke, and blow the smoke towards west, and then the vapors would rise
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the great Lake Ontario, and npI him, and overshadow him and the rains would fall, and the leaves rise up refreshed, and the little birds would sing loudly in the wet forest. Then, too, would th« Big Papoose sit on the same log with the White Cloud, and ask him to teli of the mysteries of the skies: and the Sachem would chant of the White Rabbit of the north, the Queen of the Heavens that holds dominion over the uttermost stars, and the snows of winter that hides in the summer, when the sun is powerful, that she may rival his brightness in the season of frost.
One day the Big Papoose said to the old chief, "Why, oh White Cloud, do you ever blow the great smoke of the calumet towards the west, is there not rain, too, in the cast?" Then, the white haired answered, "Because I like not the visions I see, when I blow the smoke towards the east. As the smoke from the calumet moves westward, I behold in all nations of red men, moving, and ever moving towards the caverns of the sun. But when I blow the smoke towards the east, I see the red man no more, but the glitter of mighty waters nnd winged canoes, in size like the lofty hemlocks of the forests, and potent arrows of fire that dart forth with clouds and thunderings. And further, and further towards the east, I see more and more of the winged eanoes, in number like the leaves that are blown by the winds of autumn and the winged canoes bear many nations, and in the approaching nations, I see not one red man." "I have dreamed," replied the young warrior, "of maidens, whose eyes were in color like yonder lake, and whose skin was beautiful as the snow at sunset." "Do you not think of her often, more than of the women of the Onondagas?" said the White Cloud. The ycung warrior bowed his head. "The time will come," said the old chief, "when the women with blue eyes will think of the young chief of the Onondaga." "When?" said his listener, eagerly. The White Cloud touched with his finger a young pine, whose stem was not thicker than a stalk of maize, one moon old, and replied, "When this trunk has grown so a man may stretch his arms around it ar 4 yet his right hand cannot meet his left,
then will the young chief of the Onondagas live in the thought of the maiden with the skin like the flush of sunset on the snow." "You speak truth," answered the young chief, "so, too, have I dreamed." "Tell me," continued the white-haired prophet, "whom do you envy of living men?" "No one," replied the young warrior. "Whom of the dead do you envy?" "The warriors who are dead in battle, and yet who live famousest in the songs of the Iroquois."— "Look!" said the prophet. A volume of smoke arose from the red pipe, and the old man blew it gently towards the east. The Iroquois saw it spread into a plain, variegated with hills and rivers, and the villages of his tribe. Then it passed beyond the boundaries of his nation, and he recognized the habitations of the Algonquins, he saw their burial places, and the stretched skins which the accursed totems of his hereditary enemies: he saw, loo, the noted warriors of their tribes, the women, the medicine men, and the children. Then the cloud rose up over a mountain, and he looked from its level summit down upon a sparkling river, broader than the rivers of his own country, and beyond, on the opposite side, were villages of Algonquin tribes, the wigwams of the Nepperhams. And he was standing on the brink of gigantic cliffs, whose vast shadows lay midway across the sparkling river and as he looked his foot touched a fragment of rock, and it fell sheer down from the summit of the precipice to its base, and struck nothing as it fell. And just beyond him WHS a shelf of rock hanging over a terrible shore, huge splinters of stone were under his feet, and as his eyes wandered up and down the sparkling river, as far as his vision reached, the great shadow of the precipice, and the savage walls of stone, and the fragmentary shore went on unending. Then the sparkling river grew dimmer, and the rocks faded from view, and he saw only the blue sky, and the clouds, and, far off in the east, au eagle.— "My
have seen it. To-morrow night loosen the thongs of your moccasins beyond the wigwams of the Iroquois. In the country of the Algonquins are those wondrous precipices, and before seven days you will see the eastern sun rising over the sparkling river. Take with you this bag of pigments, and painting implements. On the bare rocks above the platform you have seen inscribed the totem of your tribe, and the record of your achievements. Go! I say no more."
Then the White Cloud put the tube of the calumet to hi-j lips, nnd as the smoke arose from the kinidinic, the bowl of the red pipe expanded wider and wider, and the blue vapor spread out like the mist that rises from a lake in a midsummer morning. Then there came a powerful wind from the east, and the smoke rolled away before it, and was driven with inconceivable swiftness over the Lake Ontario, until it grew red under the sinking sun, and passed to the far-off hunting grounds of the Dccotahs.— The young chief watched until it vanished, and then turned to his companion. There was nothing near him but the green grass, and the slender pine the.. White Cloud had touched with his finger. 7
Then the Big Papoose took the bag of pigments to his wigwam, and prepared for the journey. Around his broad chest he drew the folds of a gorgeous hunting-shirt, decorated with many-hued barbs of the porcupine, and secured it with a gaudy belt of wampum. Ilis leggins were fringed with the hair of scalps, and Indian beads and shells of various colors, and his moccasins were wrought with quills, tinted like flowers of the prairie. Then he took from the notched poles of the wigwam his tufted bow, and a sheaf of arrows tipped with brilliant feathers, and he thrust the stone axe through his belt of wampum, and shook once more the slender spear-staff with its ponderous head of painted flint. And as lie passed on beyond the wigwams of his tribe, the young squaws gazed after him with wondrous dark eyes, and the old women said, "Perhaps he will bring with him, when lie returns, a Chenango woman, or a squaw from the blue Susquehanna.
Twicc the moon rose, and lie saw the maize fields of the Algonquins. Laterand later she glittered over his solitary path by the rocky gorges of the Delaware. Then he saw in the North the misiy mountains of Shawangonk and lodges of hostile tribes without number, and other maize fields, and at night the camp-fires of a great people. Then he came to shallow rivers dotted with canoes, and these streams were less broad than the river of the Oswegos. And then he saw before him a slopiug upland, and just as the moon and the dawn were shining together, he stood under tall trees on the summit, and beneath him was the platform of rock, and the waters of the sparkling river.
There was a pathway to the platform as it might be, a channel for the heavy rains, that sometimes pour from the table-lands of the precipice to the ravine, and tumble, in a long, feathery torrent, over its rocky breast. It was a narrow passage, with walls of stone on either side, and ended just a few feet south of the jutting ledge so that the young chief had to leap from the brink of the gorge to the edge of the platform. There he looked around, and behind him rose up the flat surface of thunder split rock. Then he walked to the further end of it, and laid upon the ground bis tufted bow and sheaf of arrows, loosened his belt of wampum, cast down Lis terrible stone axe,~ ana leaned his pointed spear against the vast wall of the terrace. Then he took from the bag the pigments and the painting implements, and before mid-day he had sketched upon the rocky background the vast outline of his picture.
It was at this moment, when he had completed the totem of his tribe, when he was nearest the gorge and farthest from his weapons that a fawn darted from \he chasm to the plateau, gathered up its affrighted form at sight of him, and then sprang sheer over the brink. The next minute an Algonquin warrior leapt upon the ledge. A startled look at the Iroquois, a contemptuous glance at the piclograph, two panther bounds and the hereditary foes were in the death grapple, upon the eares of the precipice. Sometimes they leaned far over the brink, and then unitedly, bent back, like
twin pine trees, over blown. Both were unarmed for the Algonquin had not sus-1 &e former# of Southern Texa# had
peeled an enemy in a place where the foot! t*» plant corn two weeks before.
VOLUME VII. CRAWPORDSYILLE, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, INDIANA, MARCH 29, 1856.
of an Iroquois had never trod, and the weapons of his adversary were distant from them a bow-shot. J*o, with terrible strength and zeal, and skill, each sought to overthrow the other, until, in the struggle, they fell, still clutched together, upon the rocky floor of the battle ground. There, with tremendous throes and throbs of anger, they lay, until the shadows of the cliff had stretched far over the bosom of the spaikling river. "Let us rise," said the Algonquin. The warriors rose to their feet and stood gazing at each other.
There they stood, upon that terrible brink. The touch of a hand would have precipitated either upon the fragmentary shore below. "Let us not perish," said the Algonquin. "Tell the warriors of my tribe to come, that they may witness it, and I will leap with you from this ledge upon the death below.
The Iroquois smiled. "Stay," added the Algonquin, "I am a child. Do I not know the fate of an Iroquois, who would venture within the camp of my people? Remain you, until my return, that the history of my deed may be inscribed, with that you have pictured upon these rocks."
The Iroquois again smiled and said, "I wait." The Algonquin bounded from the parapet, and was gone.
Left to himself, the Iroquois collected together his painting implements, and filled with brilliant colors, the outlines he had sketched upon the wall. Then he cast his spear far into the sparkling river, and sent the stone axe circling through the air until it splashed far out in the stream, and broke the tufted bow with his powerful arm, and snapped his feathered arrows one by one. Then he girded rn his gorgeous belt of wampum, and waited. Of whom was he dreaming, as he sat. beneath the shadow of the pictocraph? Was it not of the blueeved maiden, with cheeks like the flush of sunset on the snow?
The Iroquois waited. Then he heard a murmur, as of the wind stirring the leaves then the rustle of rapid footsteps, and, as he started to his feet, the rdiffs above him were thronged with Algonquin warriors.— There was silence for an instant, and then an hundred bows were bent, an hundred bow-strings snapped, an hundred arrows converged through the air and struck him. But as he turned to hurl defiance at his enemies, a warrior form bounded upon the parapet it caught the figure studded with arrows and tottering on the brink, in its aims, and screamed in its dying ears, "I am here, 0 Iroquois!" and then except the pictograph, nothing human remained upon the platform of the Palisades!
MKXTCO.—Who shall describe Mexico— the Mexico of that age? It ought to be one who has seen all the wonders of the world and he should have, for an audience those who had dwelt in Venice and Constantinople, who had looked down upon Granada from the Alhambra, and who had studied all that remained to be seen of the hundredgated Thebes, of Babylon, and Nineveh.— The especial attributes of the most beautiful cities iu the world were here conjoined and that which was the sole boast of many a world-renouned name, formed but one of the charms of tbis enchantress among cities. Well might the rude Spanish soldier find no parallel but in the imagination of his favorite romance. Like Granada, encircled, but not frowned upon, by mountains fondled and adorned by water, like Venice as grand iu its building as Babylon of old, and rich with gardens, like Damascus—-the great city of Mexico was at that time the fairest in the world, and has never 6ince been equaled. Like some rare woman, of choicest parentage, the descendant of two royal houses far apart, who joins the soft, subtile, graceful beauty of the south, to the fair blue-eved, blushing beauty of the north, and sits enthroned in the hearts of all beholders—so sat Mexico upon waters with a diadem of gleaming towers a fair expanse of flowery meadows on her breast, a wo-man-like, rejoicing in the reflection of her beautiful self from innumerable mirrors which were framed by her streets, her courts, her palaces, nnd her temples.—The Spanish Conquests in America.
A REPUBLICAN SCREW LOOSE.—A meeting of citizens of Baltimore has been held at which a protest was adopted against Mr. Francis P. Blair professing to represent the citizens of Baltimore at the lato Republican Convention. So strong was the feeling against Mr. Blair's assumption that Mr. Corcoran, who was president of the meeting that appointed Mr. Blair, was not permitted a hearing. By the way, when the Republican party was inaugurated. is it not strange that Mr. Blair, a slaveholder, should beshosen presiding officer of thfit convention? How do the anti slavery men of the North like that fu:ther intimation of unsettled principles by this new party? How can they reconcile it with their own convictions? It is queer.
Jf3T Canada seems to be alive to Railroad enterprise, and as fast as one is completed, another is "under weigh." The Hamiltou Spectator says the Contractors on the Great Western Railway are busily engaged driving piles for their wharves, and excavating and levelling along the whole line from Strathroy to Stratford. The completion of the Great Western Railway to Sarnia next autumn, will make that important and rising town the immediate outlet and inlet, tn transitu, of one of the grandest trades in the world—situated as it is, at the foot of the great Lake navigation, possessing a safe and commodious harbor, and connected with the numerous Railways which terminate at Milwaukee. The completion of the Grand Trunk Railway to Sarnia, will add a further impetus to the rapid progress of that place. In short, any person that looks at its peaition on the map of Canada must at once be convinced that Sarnia is destined to become a great Com-, mercial Emporium, having no rival (with the exception of Hamilton and Toronto) in Western Canada.
Q^rThe peach trees were in bloom New Orleans on the 5th of February, and __ began
AN AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADER IN N. Y. The New Yvrk papers contain very interesting accounts of the capture of a Slaver in the harbor of New York on Tuesday morning last.
The leading facts of the case, we derive from the New York Tribune and Times. Early on Sunday morning last information reached the United States District Attorney that a schooner, lying at the foot of Fourteenth street, was fitting out as a slaver, to sail on the coast of Africa, whereupon Deputy Marshals De Angelos I'.nd Nevins were deputised to watch her, and make a seizure, did any suspicious circumstance transpire to warrant them in doing so.
On Monday evening the mysterious vessel hauled out in the stream, and drifted up with the tide to Astoria, and there anchored. There she was joined by another schooner, towed by the steamtug Ajax, from which large quantities of stores were taken and placed on board the Falmouth. This was about dusk in the evening.
The secresy attending all the movements of the vessel and those on board led the officers to suspect all not right and on receipt of the intelligence that 6ho would probably sail during the night, they posted back to the city in great baste, where they arrived late in the evening. They called at the house of Mr. Joachimssen, the Deputy District Attorney, but found that officer had gone to Laura Keene's Varieties, to witness the new play so they started for the theatre and notified Mr. Joachimssen, who immediately sent word to Mr. McKeon, the District Attorney, who was at the dinner of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, at the Metropolitan Hotel.
Mr. McKeon authorized the officers to hire a steamtug and seize the suspected vessel before she left the harbor, and at the same time sent word to the Navy Yard, Brooklyn, for a file of marines to aid the officers.
Thus instructed, the Marshals hired the steamtug Only Son, and with twelve marines, under command of Captain Watson, went down the bay to head off the Falmouth. All this was done after midnight.
Meanwhile the mysterious schooner dropped slowly down the river until she came to Sixty first street, where over fifty hogsheads of water were taken on board, when she continued her voyage, aided by the steamtug Ajax.
Morning had broke before the Falmouth had reached the Narrows, and in another hour she would have been out of all danger of capture, but fate had decreed otherwise. The Only Son ran alongside the vessel, and, before the astonished crew knew what they were about, twelve marines precipitated themselves on the deck. Three of the men rushed for the cabin,' apparently with a view to destroy some papers that might lead to detection, but the officers were too quick for them, and sprang to.the doorway, telling no one to enter under peril of their lives.
The steamtug. Ajax would not come to when ordered, and one of the marines seized an axe and cut the hawser that bound her to the Falmouth, when she steamed up end made way for the city with all possible speed, without an inquiry from on board as to the cause of the stoppage. The schooner was then towed up to the Navy Yard, where she was placed under charge of Lieutenant Decatur.
They found the Falmouth to be a "long, low, black" craft, of about 250 tons burthen, with raking masts, and altogether a very piratical looking concern in appearance, whatever she may be in reality.
On her stern is painted the words "Falmouth, Baltimore," and the American eagle adorns her prow. The vessel was open under deck from cabin to stem, and boards wero found to erect, it is supposed, a slave deck, that would hold as one of the officers remarked, "about 600 niggers." The search of the vessel revealed many curious circumstances. On deck was found a large medicine chest, with castor oil, lint and dmgs, evidently intended for a larger company than those on board the. ship, in which there were only thirteen persons. Between decks were over fifty hhds. of water, large stores of rice beans, farina and meats, such as are used by slavers. Large copper pots and pans for boiling large masses of food at a time, with ladles and spoon6 to match, and many other questionable appurtenances. About the deck was «i number of extra spars. In the cabin were found charts of the west coast of Africa, and a large quantity of bunting to make American flags.
But if these circumstnnces spoke for themselves, the crew on board were not so communicative, but were as silent and as noncommittal as the members of the Know Nothing fraternity are said to be. None of them knew how they had got aboard—who had shipped them—where they were going to—what the captain or owners' names were. All on board the vessel were Portugese and either did not, or pretended not to understand a word of English. The captain was a myth. No one on board acknowledged the title, or could tell who that functionary was. Three of the men said they were passengers, but could not tell who they paid their money to, or where the ship was going, though one of them, who was suspected of being captain, betrayed an accurate knowledge of St. Paul de Loando and Angola, both noted resorts for slavers. "Well, gentlemen," said Mr. McKeon, addressing Marshals De Angelos and Nevins, "you have a fine prize here. According to law those who seize a slaver, or a vessel without an owner, are entitled to half the vessel and cargo. This schooner appears to have no owner." .j "Let us try if that is so," responded one of the officers.
Accordingly, every man on board the vessel were called up, but all in turn denied owning the suspected property, and the most rigid cross examination failed to elicit any light on the subject
After giving the necessaiy instructions Mr. McKeon went ashore, where he was soon followed by the Marshals with the crew handcuffed on their way to the King's County prison. In the course of the afternoon the schooner was hauled up to the wharf, and will be discharged forthwith.— It is said that 820,000 in gold, for the purchase of ber slave eargo is on board. At
any rate she will prove a rich prize. If condemned, her captors will receive one half of her value.
O^rThe Philadephia Ledger snys that the Collins line of steamships is really owned in Englnnd, and that the present (perhaps we ought to say late) commander of the Pacific was placed there by the foreign owners, in opposition to the wishes of Mr. Collins. It is possible this story may have originated in Philadelphia jealousy of New York but if it is true, it constitutes anoth-
hasbeen the fate of the Pacific,) and it is due to the country, not only that the charge that these vessels are owned in Great Britain, but that the general management of the affairs of the company should be thoroughly investigated before further appropriations are made. A great many valuable lives and millions of treasure have already been lost, and it is right that the public should know upon whom to place the responsibility.
WIIAT TII1-"VMI:RICAN NAVY DID. The Philadelphia Ledger, says: "As it is deemed an easy matter in England to crush the American navy from the ocoan at one fell swoop, it would be proper to show how difficult that task was in 1812." The Ledger then gives a list of the British ships-of-war and merchant vessels captured by Americans during our last war with England. The following is a recapitulation:— War vessels, 56 in all, carrying 866 guns merchant ships, 354 brigs, 610 schooners, 520: sloops, 135 various classes, recaptured, 759—making 2,369 vessels, carrying 8,869, guns. To these are to be added 29 vessels of war lost by wreck, or otherwise, carrying 808 guns and we have an aggregate of 2,398 vessels, carrying 9,677 uns.
Q^rThe Paris correspondent of the New York Herald says that M. Guizotmade the following observations, very recently to some of his friends, with whom he was conversing on the difficulties that unfortunately existed between America and England: "The Anglo Saxons are the depositories of liberty. When all her champions are driven tohide themselves in deserted places and eat the cud of bitterness in secret, her true soldier? will be found at each extremity of the Atlantic. The race feels its sacred mission, and will not disparage it by causeless quarrel. This misunderstanding will pass away. Mutual explanations can be made. That the time will come when the dominating influence of the mother country on the seas will cause intense jealousy to the United States, and bring about a collision, is very possible, but forty years must pass'&way before the old story of Rome and Carthage is repeated.
POVERTY, CRIME &C., IN NEW YORT.—A committee has been appointed by the Legislature to make investigation respecting the condition of tenant houses in New York. There are buildings in many of the wards six or seven stories high, which contain from 20 to 112 families. In some instances houses with 40 families have but one outside entrance. In the fourteenth ward one house 50 by 100 feet contains 69 families, one 25 by 100 40 families and so on.
The semi-annual report of the Chief of Police was presented a faw days since, and and showed the number of arrests for six months to be 25,991. During the same period 1,853 lost children had been restored to their parents, and 51 persona rescued from drowning. There were taken from the lodgers at the station houses and drunken people and restored to them, 833,337 65,, and 250 gold and silver watches. Tho total police force was 1,100 men.
FIGHTING THE ISMS ON HIS owx HOOK.— T. B. Stevenson, of Ivcntucky, an influential Whig has written a forcible letter, in which he declares that he shall fight, "on his own hook," the "amalgamated fanati-
cjsm
er good reason why Congress should cease 'ng» the 5th, calamitous fire originated in making the enormous appropriations it has Convent Garden Theatre, which speedily heretofore done to support this line, on the reduced to a mass of shapeless ruins that plea that it was an American one. With-jmagnificent building. During the whole in a brief period two of the splendid 6team- eight the theatre had been the scene of a ships of this line have been lost (if such Masque, under the managementof Pro
treason of Abolitionism, nullifica
tion, and Know Nothingism." He thus writes of Know Nothingism: "I cannot subscribe to such doctrine or policy, nnd until I forget God, renounce the laws of Moses and Jesus, ignore Republicanism, repudiate the Constitution, and despise the policy, peace, prosperity, and glory of the country, I shall not cease to resist them by whatever appropiate means a good and loyal citizen may lawfully oppose to such outlandish heathenism for certain it is that such doctrines could not originate in this land of civil and religious liberty, but were excogitated by the arch enemy of mankind, and first promulgated in the dark ages of the uncivilized and unchristianized people of some distant lands. It is a burlesque to attemp to dignify such doctrines with the name of "American."
OBITUARY.—Mr. Daniel Bowen died in Philadelphia, a few days ago, in the 96th year of his age. He was the oldest printer and publisher in the United States. He Dublished the New Haven Register in 1784.
Roger Sherman of New Haven, died on the 3d inst., aged 88 years. Mr. S. was a son of Hon. Roger Sherman, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and one of the leading men in framing the Constitution of the United States.
TROOPS FOR CANADA.
SUGAR.—The sugar planters in different portions of Louisiana report that the growing crop of cane in that State has suffered material injury from the unusual severity of the winter, and that there is every reason to apprehend another short crop of sugar. This is likely to cause the article to maintain its present advanced rates, if not operas, the Prophete, the Huguenots, Lucto reach higher figures.
Advices by the steamer Hermann, from ing to Southampton Feb. 27th, state that six firstclass screw steamships, and other vessels, are being fitted np in Great Britain for colonial service. It is rumored in Southampton that these ships are being prepared for the embarkation and immediate transportation of a large number of troops and 6,-' series of rooms, is
0Q0 horses to the Canadas. facf, nothing is spared. Four original p"c
Intelligence by the Persia. Terrific and Exciting Scenes.
Total destruction of Convent Garden Theatre—A Grand Ball Ma9qne nnder the Patronuge of Professor Anderson!—All the Scenery. Wardrobe, and Property
Destroyed!—Valuable Dramatis Library Burned!—The Emperor's Speech to the Legislative Assembly!—The Peace Conference!—England's Territorial Policy Sticking out!
At an early hour on Wednesday morn-
fessor Anderson, the so-called Wizard of the North, and the revels of the dancers had not concluded when the conflagration broke out. Many of the dancers left between two and three in the morning others remained much later and as five o'clock approached not more than two hundred persons were assembled in front of the temporary orchestra, which, on this occasion, was thrown back to the extreme end of the stage. The last orgie had been completed, and Mr. Anderson, observing the flagging spirits of his guests, gave the signal to his master of the ceremonies to close the revels with the usual finale of "God save the Queen."— At this moment a man, who was engaged in conversation with Castle, the fireman observed a bright light shining through the chinks and crevices of the flooring in the carpenter's shop, high overhead. In an instant both of them left the atage and hastened up towards the point of danger. Neither their departure nor their errand had been observed, and the crowd, below them still kept up the chorus to music of the National Anthem.
The orchestra had not ceased playing the National Anthem when the sudden decent upon the stage of one of the beams, round which, part of the scenery was rolled gave the first intimation of tho danger to the assemblage below. Mr. Anderson himself was the first to give the alarm of "fire!" and the terror and tumult which this announcement occasioned may readily be imagined. The few remaining masquers rushed precipitately to the various entrances—of which the police took immediate possession and were thus enabled to rescue from the selfish alarm of many of the stronger sex their terror-stricken partners. Several woman were trampled on, and some were carried out fainting, but none wero seriously injured. There was something hideous in this sudden change from mad revelry to ghastly fear.
Already the rush of air towards the roof had funned the fire into brighter life and fiercer energy. Wreaths of white smoke, with here and there a lambent flame, began to curl from under the proscenium into the body of the theatre. The musicians leaped from their seats and fled, in many cases without saving their cherished instruments. The interior of the theatre was almost immediately cleared of its visitors.— There was no time for thought or plan.— The flames rushed forward, and whirling around the interior, made it at once their own. A body of officers under the command of Superintendent Darkin took early possession of the various doors and entrances, and by judicious efforts prevented the excited multitude from forcing their way madly into the burning house.
The proceeds of the night which lay iu the treasury were rescued from danger.
It was now hardly five o'clock, and yet in the few minutes which had elapsed the doors of the theatre had been scaled. The flames had burst through the roof, sending high into the air columns of fire, which threw into bright reflection every tower and spire within the circuit of the metropolis, brilliantly illuminating the whole fabric of St. Paul's, and throwing a flood of light across Waterloo bridge, which set out in bold relief the dark outline of the Surrey hills in the distance. This glare operated as a speedy messenger in bringing up the fire-engines, which now proceeded from every quarter of London, at a tearing gallop to the scene of conflagration. There was no want of water, but neither engine or water were of any avail in saving the property. The theatre blazed within its four hollow walls like a furnace, and at half past six o'clock the roof fell in with a tremendous crash. Showers of burning charcoal and fiery sparks were thrown up and then poured down upon ths streets, which were now crowded with people.
In Bow street, the Royal Italian Opera Hotel and the houses adjoining it were almost on fire several times, and it required the constant application of large volumes of water to cool their blistered fronts. In Hart street, a narrow thoroughfare bounding the theatre on the north, great danger was apprehended and incessant vigilance required. At the south side of the theatre in Bow street, the back of the police office had at one time ignited. The Piazza, Tavistook, and Bedford hotels, were all more or less injured by the fire and had the wind set from the eastward, nothing eould have saved that side of the market. Of the theatre nothing remains but the skeleton and ruined wall. All the scenery— the exquisite productions of Grieve and Telbin—the splendid properties of the theater—the wardrobes—the mountings—the
dramatic library—the valuable operatic soores—some of which can never be replaced, as the ElisircV Amore, of Donizetti, and the Oberon, of Weber—all are gone.
THE PROPERTY DESTROTKD.—The value of the property destroyed is something fabulous. An approximate estimate may be formed from the fact that in producing the several operas contained in the repertoire of the theatre, when under the management of Mr. Delafield, no less than £G0,000 were expended, of which the four
rezia Borgia, and La Donna del Lago cost £25,000. The valuable dramatic library belong1 the theater—unique of its kind—is gone in the general wreck. The original MSS of the School for Scandel, the Miller and his men, the opera of the Slave, and hundreds of other curious work?, were here preserved. The armory, consisting of more than a hundred suits, and occupying a wholly destroyed. In
NUMBER 37.
tures by Hogarth, representing the "Seasons," which hung upon the walls of Mr. Gye's private room, within only a few paces of the box-office, could not be saved, so rapid was the progress of the fire. As to the origin of the calamity, nothing is known at present. ,i
THE LOSSES.—It [has been stated that the building itself is uninsured. This is too true, and the loss will be terrible to those proprietors who hold a large number, of shares. Among them may be mentioned the Kemble family, the family of the lata Mr. Harris, Mr. Surman, Mr. Robinson, Mr. Thomas Grieve, and others.
FILLMORE REPUDIATED IN OHIO.—At the Know Nothing Grand Council ia Ohio, held this week, the following resolution was adopted by a majority of four to one:
We, the Delegates of the Councils of the American Order in Ohio, in State Council assembled, fully approve to the action of those Delegates from Ohio in the National American Council and Convention recently assembled at Philadelphia, in refusing to aeceptthe platform or support tho nominations thon and there made, and WE hereby repudiate those nominations, and embrace this occasion to reaffirm substantially the platform adopted by the State Conucil at its session "in Juno last.
It will thus be soeu that the Know Nothings of Ohio havcopenly and boldly repudiated not only the platfrom but the nominees of the Philadelphia Convention! Fillmore will not receive five thousand votes in Ohio.
IMPARTIAL JUSTICE.—Tho following aol of Roman rigor is related by the Baton Rogue, La, Comet. Judge W. B. Robinson having forgotten the day fixed by law for the present term of the Court in his parish, fined himself twenty-fivo dollars for oversight, and giving a cheek for that amount to the sheriff, ordered him to hand the money to the Orphan Association of Baton Rouge.
J3TThe Rev. Rnfus W Griswold has successfully arrested the application of his former wife to have the divorce 6et aside, but merely on technical grounds. Tho trial, however, has developod an astounding degree of moral trepitudo on bis part—including cruelty and deccit toward his wife, and a general and almost astounding shabbiness of character.
£3TAt the ball given by the Americans in Paris, in commemoration of Washington's birth-day, Lord Clarendon walked about with Mrs. Mason, tho wife of the American Minister, on his arm, which made "the public" perfectly certain that it is out of the question there should bo any war between England and America.
Neither England nor France can approach Russia in the cheapness of sustaining their armies. Russia could support four soldiers and a half for one English soldier, three and ten-twelfths for one French, two for a Prussian, and one and fivo-thir-tieths for an Austrian.
AN HOUR A DAY.:—Andrew Johnson, the present re-elected Governor of Tennessee, at the age of thirty was a journyman tailor, "and coald neither read or write."— Sensible of his ignorance, he had his wife read to him while he was at work and she at leisure—and one hour each day she taught him his letters and the use of the pen.— He constantly improved his one hour each day although very poor and illy able to spare the time and a little over two years ago, and at the age of forty was made Governor of Tennessee by a large majority.
NEW HAMPSHIRE ELECTION.—The Returns from all but a few towns, not casting over 500 votes, give the following result for Governor, Metcalf 31,933 Wells 3I.RS5 Goodwin f,497 Scattering 141
No choice of the people. The Senate consists of 4 Administration to 8 opposition. House, 167 opposition to 146 administration. ---<>---
----->The mail for California from Utah, in January last, was carried over th« Sierra Navada Mountains by a Norwegian who footed it on snow shoes seven feet long and four inches wide, in the form of skates, and shoved himself along with a pole. ---<>---
----->A gentleman of Bridgeton, Ind., in an article in the Scientific American, says a hundred pounds of winter wheat flour will make more and better bread than the same quantity made from spring wheat.— He contends also that millstones exceeding three feet in diameter injure the quality of the flour. ---<>---
IKCREASE OF NAVAL VESSELS.—A Washington dispatch says the House Committee on Naval Affairs will report the Senate bill authorizing the construction often sloops-of-war, which passed the Senate wi one amendment, which is as follows:—That the Secretary of the Navy, provided h® should think it expedient, cause two of said sloops-of-war to be built with side wheels and equipped with a view to the greatest speed attainable, wuh a due regard t» their efficiency as war vessels.
ANOTHER HELKX.—It appears that the difficulty between England and Persia, ha» been caused by the English Ambassador. Mr. Murray, who persisted in keeping in his house a beautiful Persian lady, the sister of the Shah, after having provided for her husband by giving him an appointment in the British consulate—die Shah, it seems not being willing to JeAve hi* relative anv 'longfr in such a povti^c.