Indiana State Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 34, Indianapolis, Marion County, 11 February 1847 — Page 4

Speech of Jttr. Kenton In, vindication of the President for Kating proposed the creation qf iZe rjjxce ff Lieutenant (Jeneral. I tue U. 3. Ssxate, Ja. 25, 1947. Mr. EENTON asked the indulgence of the Senate to make an exposition of the. circumstances under which tlio President had proposed the appointment of a lieutenant general tu command the army in Mexico, and with which appointment Lis name had become connected. It had been iutimated. he said, on the

fljor of the Sonate hypothetical!, to be sure, but , not the less intelligibly and forcibly on that account luai mere mirM De an ulterior and covert desi"Q in the proposition nothing less than a design on the part of the Tresident to appoint hi successor. The Senator from North Carolina, Air. Badges, in his speech on the lieutenant general bill had indulged in that hypothesis; and as no supposition could be more unfounded, or more injurious to the President or to the public service, or could descend from a higher source ; and as Le (Mr. Benton) happened to be in possession of all the facta necessary to Uie vindication of the President, he desired to make an exposition which would show the supposition to be unfounded, and would save the President's character and the public service from the injury they would 6ufler if the intimation was allowed to go out uncontradicted from the Soor of the Senate, lie asked leave, for as the bill for the lieutenant general was laid upon the table, and as he would not have it taken op, (and would not speak to it if it was,) and as he did not choose to commit the irregularity of hanging a speech on some irrelevant bill, he must throw himself upon the indulgence of the Senate for leave to make the exposition of facts which the case required, and which the intimotions of the Senator from .North Carolina rendered necessary. Leave was given, and Mr. Benton proceeded: I feel myself called upon by the remarks of the Senator from North Carolina Mr. Badger to vindicate the President from the unconstitutional and dangerous design which the hypothetical observations of that Senator would attribute to him ; and shall do so in the simplest form of narrative, repeating to the Senate all that has taken place between the President and myself in relation to this appointment, and thereby enabling the Senate and the people to judge of the justice of the accusation. - It was at the beginning of the month of September last, and in the moment that I was about setting out to the west, that the President sent for me, and informed me that he had done so for the purpose of offering me a high appointments He named it. It was the mission to France, then becoming vacant by the return of the gentleman (Mr. King of Alabama,) so long an ornament to this chamber. I declined the appointment, and for reasons which had induced me to decline high appointments from Presidents Jackson and Van Bure. Mr. Polk was kind enough to ask me to take time to consider; but I answered him that there was no need for time, : that the answer would still be the same, after any length of consideration ; and so, with thanks for the honor he bad done me, the appointment to the French mission was definitively declined." This was the be-; . ginning of September last, so that, at that time, it is certain that the President could have had no such design as has been attributed to bim by the Senator from North Carolina no design to make me his successor by virtue of military feats to be performed on the low lands or the table land of the republic of Mexico. On the contrary, a fertile imagination such as the Senator from North Carolina so happily possesses might have seen, or thought he saw, in this proposed appointment, a sort of political deportation something like an exiling and burying in a foreign court for a purpose the very reverse of what the Senator from North Carolina has supposed. I say an inventive imagination might have seen, or thought it saw, all this. Possessing no such imagination, I saw no such thing. And taking the offer in the sense in which it was made, as eminently honorable in itself, and a signal evidence of the President's confidence in me, and good will for me, I made him my thanks for it privately, as I now do publicly ; and the affair was dropped. This, I repeat, was at the beginning of September last only three months before the meeting of Congress ; bo that, at that time, it is quite clear the President had no such momentous and fearful design as the Senator from North Carolina has attributed to him. Up to that time up to the first day of September, in the year 1313 the republic was safe. Immediately after refusing the mission to France I went off to the west, was gone until the month of November, and had no communication of any kind, direct nor indirect, nor upon any subject whatever, with President Polk. This makes all safe again for two months more. I returned to this city in November, where my family was, and where Congress was soon to meet. The day after my arrival I called upon the President ; and here we approach the dangerous ground ! Fr in that first interview, he actually asked me my opinion about the future mode of conducting the Mexican war. For reasons not proper now to be stated, bat of the validity of Which the country will so. ne day have an opportunity of judging; the President saw fit to ask me my opinion upon the future mode of couduc ing the war. This request did not strike me as being anything strange or unreasonableeither unbecoming in him to make, or for me to comply with. In my Senatorial capacity I was his constitutional adviser on many great questions, those of peace and war inclusive. In my political capacity I was the supporter of his administration, and ready to give him my opinion on any subject. As chairman j cf the Senate's Committee on Military Affairs, and! . accustomed, in that character, to communicate on ! ' military subjects with all administrations for about a J quarter of a century last past, I saw nothing in the nature of the request he had made to implicate either j of us. He asked me for my opinion as to the future j mode oi conducting the war. I gave it to him, first in speech, face to face, and afterwards in writing. -And here it is! holding up a roll of paper, for I chose to retain the original for myself, while sending j a eortv to him. Here it is ! and at the n roner time I r j - i 1 the public shall see it, but not now; for 1 do cot belong to the school that makes publication of plans of campaigns- even rejected plans in time of war. The President approved the plan ; and it so happened that the nature of the plan required a head to the army one head to the whole body to unite and combine the whole into one harmonious and consistent movement. It so happened, also, that enough was known of the ideas of the two highest in rank of the officers of the army to know that their plans were different; and it is a maxim of fundamental observance in war that no general is to be required to execute a plan which he disapproves. A new commander became indispensable ; and as any new major general would be subordinate to all no.v in commission, the solution of the difficulty lay in the creation of a new rank, superior to that of major general, and inferior to the constitutional commander-in-chief. The creation of the rank of lieutenant general, as had been done in the year 17D3, at the time of the expected war with France, was the solution of the difficulty. This rank appeared to be the natural and regular derivation front the President's own political and military character, and the proper connecting link between him and the army. As President, he was both the civil head of the government and the military head of the army. He was commander-in-chief of the army and navy, and of the militia or volunteers in service. They were all then in service, and in a foreign country. He could not go to Mexico to command in person; paramount duties r equired him to remain here, lie could not send orders from the closet in this city. That was a folly of which there had been no example since the time that the Prince Eugene (of Savoy) was accustomed to return unopened, at the end of the campaigns, all the orders which the Aulic Council was accustomed to send him from Vienna. The President was bound to command : he could not go to Mexico to command in person ; and he could not command from Washington. The solution of the difficulty, which reconciled all contradictions and permitted the exercise of all duties, civil and military, was the appointment of a military deputy a legatus a locum tenens a lieutenant to take the place of the constitutional commander-in-chief in the field ; to give orders in his name, and to take the responsibility of plans and movements, while the generali, at the heads of divisions or columns, would only have the responsibility of execution. This, for reasons too well known to require rehearsal in this chamber; it was thought would be entirely agreeable to the generals of highest rank in our army in Mexico; it would secure their rear at home, and leave them free to contend with the enemy in front. It was not intended to diminish the fighting vocation of tl two generals, but to reconcile and accomplish two desirable objects, namely, the execution of the President's plans, and the release of the major gene rals from the responsibility for plans and movements. Tili wast the view of the rffice of lieutenant general : as to the proposed (fficr, there was no broach of military rule7 law, etiquette, or propriety in thepropo3?d

appointment. The office was original, and belonged to no person. The President had a right to nominate, and the Senate to confirm whom they pleased. Personally, I would take no concern in it. I only asked the President to make known the name intended for the place to the members of Congress, that all objections to the officer, as well as the 'Jp.ce, should be open to full inquiry. I forbade my friends to say a word on my account. I would not say a word for m) self. 1 would not even obviate a prominent objection by reminding any one that, in 1&1-, I was the military superior of every general now in the service, and had a right to have commanded the whole of them if we had chanced to serve together. I was then colonel in the service of the United States, commissioned by President Madison, under a law of Congress, and led a regiment of my own raising from Tennessee to the lower Mississippi, under General Jackson, to meet the British then expected at New Orleans, but

who CA not come till 1314. I was then ot a rank,

and in a position, to have commanded, if we had endanger the success of our arms. We make these met, every general now iu service. Even in the reg- remarks on the supposition that the letter trulr preular army, in 1313, 1 was lieutenant colonel while j Eent3 tje pan of lhe campaign, cf which, however, most of the present generals were company officers, i we are entirely ignorant. and only oue of them of the rank of colonel. Yet II it IS onjy iu yiw of public mischief resulting

scorned to mention these things, even to bosom menus, while the measure was depending, and only do it now for the purpose of rescuing the President from the supposed breach of military decorum which the appointment of a citizen from civil life (myself being that citizen) to the command of the army. Finally, and to conclude the vindication of the President in this particular, I can say that Mr. Polk is not the first President who proposed to give me the command of the army against Mexico that Gen. Jackson himself proposed it in liG, when our affairs with that country looked warlike ; and that then, as now, I agreed to take it. And here, Mr. President, having fulfilled my task of vindicating the Chief Magistrate of the Union from the design, hypothetically imputed to him, of wishing to appoint his successor, in my person, and by means of this lieutenant generalship, I might close my remarks : but as my name has been coupled with this business, and as I have remained silent, and even left my seat, while the measure was depending, I must now take leave, with the kind indulgence of the Senate, to proceed a step further, and to say a word on my own account ; and to show that service, and not rati!;, was my inducement to agree to the offer of the President ; and that there might have been cases in which I would not have accepted the office of lieutenant general even if it had been created. I have already said that I will not now show what my own plan was; but I can say of it that it was a plan which looked to a result, and promised an issue, and that briefly ; and that I would have had nothing to do with any plan of any other kind ! nothing to do with any plan that contemplated a long and moderate war, or a war of masterly inactivity, or of retreat upon the Kio Grande, or of defending a line, or of Httack upon the idle and solitary castle of San Juan of Ulloa especially at the commencement of the season for the black vomit. In no one of these cases would I have been lieutenant general, or captain general, or major general, or colonel general, or any other sort of general that ever was heard of. I know very well that the President had no idea of any one these most amiable plans ; but there is a way to give him an idea of them, and even to force them upon him ; and that would be, by the simple process of denying him the means of doing anything else. I shall not state my plan ; but I will say of it that, besides intending a result, it proposed to carry on the war, while thcro was a war, according to the usage of all nations in the case of invasive war the invaders to be paid and subsisted by the invaded. Contributions regularly levied duties regularly collected would accomplish these objects, and leave the United States free, or nearly free, from the expenses of the war. I can say, further, that my plan was not limited to a mere military view of the subject; that it comprehended a union of policy and of arms the olive branch to go with thj sword ; ministers to treat, as well as an army to fight. A diplomatic mission, nationally constituted both in a geographical and in a political sense was to attend the headquarters; and, while the ministers stood ready to negotiate at every step, the army was to take an organization and an attitude to give emphasis to negotiation. And this combination of arms and of policy was not mere guess-work, the the idle conception of fancy ; but the result of a knowledge of the state of parties in Mexico a peace party, for honorable peace; a war party, for endless war as was so luminously shown by the Senator from New York Mr. Dix a few days ago. My plan was adapted to both of these parties honorable peace for one ; the sword for the other. The military part of the plan has fallen to the ground ; the diplomatic part falls with it : and now it devolves upon those who have frustrated the plan of the President to present him a better. I counted much on the efficacy of the diplomatic part of this plan ; for great errors prevail in Mexico with regard to our designs and feelings towards them, and which nothing but an authentic mission could remove. The war party is incessant iri its calumnies against us, artfully contrived to operate on every class of the people, and to render peace impossible. It has a falsehood for every class To the religious orders the war is represented as a war of religion the Protestant against the Catholic and a war of sacrilege the spoliation of the churches. To the Creole Spaniards and the Indians cf mixed blood, they present it as a war of races the Anglo-Saxon against the Spanish-American and the subjugation the latter intended. To the unmixed Indian race, (nearly one-half of the whole population, and the sole resource of the army for its rank and file,) it is presented as a war of extinction, or of slavery their race to be extirpated, like so many tribes in our North America ; or, to be carried into slavery to work the fields of their masters, like the slaves brought from Africa. And, to all, it is presented as a war of ambition and of conquest, m which there is no peace for Mexico but in the degradation of her citizens and the loss of her independence. A mission, such as I proposed, would authentically contradict all these calumnies, and show the deceived people of Mexico that just and honorable peace is all that we want; and that, far from wishing her degradation, both policy and interest unite in making us wish to see her prosperous, heppy, and independent. She is a republic our neighbor who did us the honor to copy our form of government, and had a great commerce with us. The injuries of which we complain were the work of a few, while the great majority of the people have done us no harm, are willing to do us justice, and reciprocate the wih for that close connexion, political and commercial, between the two republics which is necessary to their own prosperity, to the stability of the republican erstem in all the Spanish American States, and to the complete independence of the New World from the Old. I counted much on the emcacy of the diplomatic part of the plan, and not less on the military part, if the other failed. Of this I can say nothing but that it was not framed in total ignorance of Mexican character, Mexican country, and Mexican resources. Forty years ago I studied Humboldt, and did not overlook hi3 chapter on the military defences of the country, and especially his imposing development of the great elements of defence with which Nature had endowed her; the dangers of the coast when the north wind was blowing the black vomit when it was not and the deep defiles of volcanic mountains. The plan may have been faulty, but it was not conceited without some knowledge of the subject; and it promised a result peace to the coun try if it succeeded! and to the soldier that died, a death worthy of the soldier the battle-storm bis em brace, the field of honor his bed, the lofty summit of the Cordilleras his monument and his grave. A Feat by the Mexicans. The Mobile Tribune has a letter dated on board the 6teaTi-frigate Trince ton, on th? 20th ulL, of which the following is an extract: "The Mexicans have at last performed one feat to challenge surprise and praise. They have cut out and burnt our prize schooner Confederatione," ashore on Green Island. On the night of the loth party approached the schooner in boats, and, as there was nobody on board to resist, they fired her and es caned back to Vera Cruz without loss. The John Adams was anchored at the time, about one and half or two miles distant, and the first notice received of the hostile attempt, was the blaze of the burning vessel." The Constitution of Iowa makes ample provision for a magnificent school fund. In the organized coun ties, 412,107 acres of land have been reserved for th t ourpose; 4G3 ,043 acres in counties not yet or ganized, and 500,000 acres of the public domain, to which the State is entitled on her admission into the Union making an aggregate of 1,405,155 acres ap propriated to the purposes of common school educa

From the Union, Jan. 26. Gen. Taylor's Letter. We deeply regret the publication, in the "New York Ex press," of the following letter from Major General Taylor to a friend, the authenticity of which on its first appearance, we were disposed to doubt. We cannot now, however, but consider it as genuine; and uncontradicted rumor points to Major General Gaines as the friend to whom it was addressed and by whose permission it was published. In justice to General Taylor, we will not suppose that this letter was ever intended for publication, because its effect will be to place Santa Anna in possession of information which cannot fail to prove most injurious to us and advantageous to the enemy. Santa Anna will thus be encouraged by the high and authoritative source from which it proceeds, to direct portions of the large force collected at San Louis Putosi to oilier points

where it is clearly indicated by the letter that a blow n,,v k PTnortpd nd in thi nmnner it mavseriousl only iu view of the public we regret that this letter has ever been written or pub lished. We have no fears but that the administration, whose course towards General Taylor is known to the world, vill le able to show that there is no just foundation for the complaints made against them in this pub' lication. It has already been transferred to the columns of so many respectable journals that we no longer feel at liberty to withhold it from the readers of the Union. From the New York Express, Jan. 22. Letter from Major General Taylor. We lay before our leaden the following letter, which tells its own story too well to need any comment. It is but just however to it heroic wii'tr, whose coutge and judgment are equalled only by bis honesty and modesty, to state that it wai written to a near f.iend and relative, cow resident in this ci'y, endeared to him by very many yeart of peisonal intimacy, tj whom he unbosoms all hi purpose, opimou, and ftelings, without the least reserve. We bare more of this sott to communicate, and shall soon be able to show that, in his defence (gainst his own seciet personal entmie', as well as against the armed enemies of hiscountiy, the old hero of the Rio Grande is ever "ilouh and Ready." IiEAixiUATEas AaxT or Ccctpatioh, or Ixvasio, Monteiey, Mexico, Nov. 9, 1S46, Mt deab ; Your very kind aud acceptable letter of the 31st of August, reached me only a shoit lime since, for which I beg leave to tender you my sincere thatiks. A few confidential remaiks on certain public transactions are here omitted After considerable apparent delay on the part of the Qmrteimaster's Depaitment, in getting steamboats into the Rio Giande adapted to its navigation, I succeeded towards the latter part of August, iu throwing forward to Camargo, (a town situated on the San Juan liver, thiee miles from its junction with the Rio Grande, on the west side, nearly 500 miles from Brazos island by water, and 200 by land, and 140 from this place.) a considerable depot of piovision, otdnance, ammunition, and forage, and then, having brought together an important portiou of my command, I determined on moving on (bis place. Accordingly, after collecting 1,700 pack mules, with their attendants and conduclcrs, in the enemy's country, (the principal means for transportation for our provisions, baggage, ttc.) I left, on the 5th of Sept., to join my advance, which bad preceded me a few days o Cerralro, a small village 75 miles on the route, which I did on the 9tb, and, after waiting there a few days for some of the corps to get up, moved on and reached here on the 19th, with 6,250 men 2,700 regulars, the balance volunteer.. For what took place afterwaids, I roust refer you to my several reports particularly to my detailed one of the 9ih ult. I do nut believe the authorities at Washington are at all satisfied with my conduct in regard to the terms of the capitulation entered into with the Mexican commander, which you no doubt have seen, as they have been made public through the official organ, and copied into various other newspapers. I have this moment received an answer (to my despatch announcing the surrenderor Monteiey, and the ciieumstanccs attending the same) from the Secretary of War, stating that "it was regretted by the President that it was not deemed advisable to insist on the terms I had proposed in my first communication to the Mexican commander, in regard to giving up the city" adding that "the circumstances which dictated, no doubt justified the change.' Although the teims of capitulation may be considered too liberal on our part bv the President and his adriseis, as well as by many others at a distance, paitlcularly by those who do not understand the position which we occupied, (otherwise they might come to a different conclusion in regard to the matter,) yet, on due reflection, I see nothing to induce me to regret the course I pursued. The proposi tion on the part of General AmruJu which bad much to do in determining my course in the matter was based n the ground that our government had proposed to his t settle the existing difficulties by negotiation, (which I knew was the case, without knowing the result,) which was then under consideration by the proper authorities, and which be (Gen. Ampudia) bad no doubt would result favorably, as the whole of his people were in favor of peace. If so, I considered the further effusion of blood not only unnecessary, but improper. Their force was abo considerably larger than ours ; and from Uie size and position or the place, we could not completely invest it; so that the greater portion of their troops if not the whole had they been disposed to do so, could any night have abandoned the city, at once entered the mountain passes, and effected their retieat, do what we could ! Had we been put to the alternative of taking the place by stoim, which there is no aoubt we should have suc.-eeded in doinzi we should, in all probability, have lost fifty or one hundred men in killed, besides the wounded, which I wished to avoid as there appeared ta be a prospect of peace, even if a distant one. 1 also wisned to avoid the destruction of women d children, which must have been very great, had the storn in process been resorted to. JJesides,they had a veiy large and strong fortification a shoit distance from the city, which, if cariied with the baronet, must have taken at creat sacri fice of life : and, with our limited train of heavy or battering aitil'ery, it would have required twenty or twenty-live days to take it by regular approaches. That they would have sui rendered a place nearly as stronz as Quebec, well fortified under the direction of skilful engin eers their works garuUhed with forty-two pieces ol artillery, abundantly supplied with ammunition, garrisoned by 7.0C0 regular and 2,000 irregular troops, iu addition to some thousand citizens capable of (and no doubt actually) bearing arms, and aiding iu its dt fence to an opposing force of half their number, scantily supplied with provisions, and with a light train of aitiUery is among the uuaccouctable occur rences of the times. I am decidedly opposed to carrying the war beyond Saltülo in this direction, which place has been entirely abandoned by the Mexican forces, all of whom have been concentrated at Sao Luis Futosi ; and I shall lose no time in (akin? possess ion of the former, as soon as the cessation of hostilities re ferred to exuire which I have notified the Mexican authorities will be the cae on the 13tb instant, by diiection of the President of the United States. If we are fin the language of Mr. Polk and General Scott 1 under the necessity of "cooqucring a peace," and that by taking the capital of the country, we mut go to Vera Ciuz, take that place, and then march on the city of Mexico. To do so in any other direction, I consider out of the question. But, admitting that we conquer a peace by doiiii so sav.at the end of the next twelve mouths will the amount of blood and treaure, which must be expended in doing so. be compensated by the same? I think not especially if the country we subdue is to be given up; and I imagine there ft- . r i ' I , - . hu uui iew luuiriuuais in our country wno ininic ot annexing Mexico to the United States. I do not intend to carry on my operations fas creviouslv stated) beyond Saltillo, deeming it next to impiacticable to do so. It then becomes a question as to what is best to be done. It seems tome, the most judicious course to be pursued on our part, would be to take possession, at once, of the line we would accept by negotiation, extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific, and occupy the same, or keep what we aireaay nave possession oi ; and that, with Tampico, which I hope to take in course of next month, or as soon as can get (he means of transportatian.) will eive us all on this side of the Sierra Madre, and, as soon as I occupy Saltillo will include six or seven States or provinces, thus holding Tampico, Victoria, Monterey, Saltillo, Monclova, Chihuahua, ( which I presume General Wool has possession of by this time,) Santa Fe and the Californias, and say to Mexico, "Drive us from the country !" throwing on her the responsibility and expense of carrying on an offensive war, at the same time closely blockading all her ports on the Pacific and the Gulf. A course of this kiud, if persevered in for a short time, would soon biing ber to her proper senses, and compel her to sue for peace, provided there is a government in the country sufficiently stable for us to treat with, which, I fear, will hardly be the case for many years ta come. Without large reinforcements of volunteers from the United Stales say ten or fifteen thousand, (those pieviously sent out having already been greatly reduced by sickness and other casualties,) I do not believe it would be advisable to march beyond Saltillo, which is time than 200 miles beyond our depots on the Rio Grande, a very long line on which to keep up supplies (over a land route, in a country like this,) for a large force, and certain to be attended with an expense which will be frightful to contemplate, when closely looked into. From Saltillo to San Louis Potosi.the next place of importance on the road to the city of Mexico, is three hundred miles one hundred and forty badly watered, where no's applies of any kind could be procured for men or horses. I have informed the War Department that 20,000 efficient men would be necessary to insure success if we move on that place fa city containing a population of 60.000. where the enemy could bring together and sustain, besides the citizens, an army of 50,000,) a force which, I apprehend, will hardly be collected by us with the train necessary to feed it, as well as to transport various other supplies, particularly ordnance and muni ions of war. In regard to the armstice, which would hare expired, by limitation, in a few days, we lost nothing by it, as we could not move even now, had the enemy continued to occupy Saltillo; for, strange to say, the first wagon which has reached me since the declaration of war, was on the 2d inst., the same day on which I received from Washington an acknowledgment of my despatch announcing the taking of Monterey ; and theo I teceived only 135, so that I have been, since May last, completely crippled, and am still to, for want of transportation. After raking and scraping the country for mile around Camargo, collecting every pack-mule and other means of transportation, 1 could bring here only 80,000 rations, (fifteen days' sapply,) with a moderate supply of ordnance, ammunition, See., to do which, all the corps had to have behind

a portion of their camp equipage necessary for comfort and in some instances among the volunteers, their personal baggage, I moved in such a way, and with such limited means, that bad I not succeeded, I should no doubl have been severely teprimanded, if nothing woise. I did ao to auitain the administration. Of (be two regiments cf mounted men from Tennessee and Kentucky, who left their respective States to join me, in June, tbe latter ha just reached Camargo; the foimer bad not got to Matamoras at the latest dates from there. Admitting that they will be as long in returning as in getting there (to ay nothing of the time necessary to recruit their horses,) and were to be discharged in time to reach their ho.ne, they could serve in Mexico but a very short time. The foregoing

remarks are not made with the view of boding fault with any j one, but to point out the difficulties with which 1 have had to contend. , i Monterey, the capital of New Leon, is situated on the San j Juan uver where n comes out of the mountains the city (which contains population of about twelve thousand) being in part surrounded by them at the head of a laige and beauiiful valley. The houses are of stone, in the Moorish style, with flit roofs, which, with their ttiongly inclosed yaid and gaidens in high stone walls, all looped for musketry, make each a forties within itself. It is the most important place in northern Mexico, (or ou the east side of Sierra Madre,) commanding the only pa or road for criiage fiom Ibis side, between it and the Gulf of Mexico, to the table binds of the Siena, by or through which the city of Mexico can be reached. I much fear I shall have exhausted your patience before you get half through this long and uninteresting letter. If so, you can only commit it to the flames, and think no more about it, a I wiite in gieat haste, beside being iuteriupted every fite minntes ; so that you must make great allowances for blots, interlineations, and blunders, as well as want of connexion in many parts of the same. Be so good as to present me most kindly to your excellent lady, and accept my sinceie wishes forpour continued health, prosperity and fame. I remain, truly and sincerely. Your fiiend, Z. TAYLOR. Great Indian Uattle. A letter from a gentleman at Council Bluffs, dated on the 17th of December, to his correspondent in St. Louis, states that, on the previous day, a band of the Oinahas were met by a band of the Sioui, in the neighborhood of the Bluffs; that a battle ensued between them, and that the Sioux killed sixty of the Omahas before the conflict terminated. The following particulars we find in a letter to the St. Louis Republican: " It was a cold-blooded butchery of women and children, in the absence of all the warriors of the village. On the niht of the 12th and 13th, the letter states, a war party of Yancton Sioux Indians defeated and destroyed fourteen tribes of the Omaha tribe of Indians, located at the time at Wood's Eluffs, situated about sixty miles from this place Belleview. The men and warriors of the Omahas had left the camp on a hunt ; and the Sioux, soon after they reached the camp, discovered that they only had women and children to contend with. The slaughter was terrible seventy-three were killed, and nineteen mortally wounded. Two men made their escape one of them named Jos. Laflcche, a trader in the employ of Mr. Peter A. Sarpy, and at the time in charge of a stock of goods. lie ran from the scene of blood barefooted, and arrived at Belleview with both feet frozen. Mr. Sarpy and Maj. Miller, the present agent, despatched a party of men to ascertain the facts, and they confirmed, on their return, the report of Laflechc. They also reported that five of the Sioux Indians had been killed, no doubt ßtabbed by the Omaha squaws. Going twenty miles further than the ground of the massacre, they found the place where the goods of the trader had been divided among the robbers. "It seems, adds the letter, that fate is against the Omaha Indians. Four or five days before this event took place, one lodge, camping at Cabanne's old trading house, was attacked by a war party of Ayonas, commanded by the well known ehief White Cloud, and four of the men wounded, and one woman killed," Moke Trouble tor Mexico. A letter of the 7th inst. from Havana, which we copied from the Washington Union, states, among other things, that Guatemala Lad claimed the State of Tabasco, and in fact up to the Isthmus of Darien, and was supporting her claim with 4000 troops under Gen. Carrera." There is so much confusion in this statement, that it is necessary to interpret it liberally, if we would avoid nonsense, not to say absurdity. It is well known that the Republic of Guatemala lies btltceen the State of Tabasco and the Isthmus of Darien, having the former, together with Yucatan and Honduras, on the North, and the Isthmus of Darien on the South. Instead of the State of Tabasco, the State of Chiapas, which borders Tabasco on the South, is probably intended. Chiapas was formerly a part of Guatemala, but in ceccded, and joined the Mexican Republic. It is probably on the ground of ita formerly belonging to Guatamala, that Gen. Carrera is now endeavoring to recover it. Las Casas, or Chiapas of the Spaniards, is it capital. It has a sea-coast on the Pacific of ab jut 100 miles. Whether Mexico will undertake to defend it, remains to be seen. At all events, here are three States essentially severed from Mexico for the time being, or so occupied with their own troubles that they can afford her no assistance in the war with the U. States, viz. Yucatan, Tabasco and Chiapas. All these lie together, and constitute, or did constitute, the South-Eastcrn wing cf the Mexican Republic. Jour, of Com. Citt of the Angels. The last accounts from California through the Mexican papers, imply that the above town, which is near the southern extremity of Upper California, about thirty miles from the sea, is again in possession of the Americans. An insurrection of the citizens, headed by a Capt. Flores, led to the capitulation of the small American force there, who, on retiring to the coast, met a body of 300 Americans from a ship of war. These last immediately advanced upon the town, and again took possession of it. The Mexican accounts say that those who capitulated, required, as one of the conditions, that they might take with them for their own protection in case of need, certain pieces of artillery belonging to the town, which, on arriving at the sea 6horc, they were to restore to the Angelites. That they did so, but first took care to spike them well, thus rendering them useless. The only life lost in the whole affair or scries of affairs, was that of a Mexican. The recapture of Los Angeles is of some importance in reference to the expedition of Gen. Kearney, who, with 100 men, leftlsew Mexico for California soon after the capture of Santa Fe, intending, we believe, to strike for Los Angeles, which an express from that quarter had informed him was in possession of the Americans. Gen. Salas, in his address to the Mexican Congress, makes the following philosophical remarks : This struggle is not one of those wars which pride is every day giving rise to. It is simply a phenomenon attending a fact still more important and transcendent, whose causes exist in the very nature of things, and whose consequences it is difficult to calculate in their whole extent. The northern race is developing itself on our continent with a celerity and force, of which, until n jw, there has been no example in any age; and in its progress it threatens to spread over our whole territory, extinguishing in it our race, and establishing the predominance of its own. This invasion takes place as well under the auspices of peace as in time of war ; and therefore, in order permanently to secure our race, we need institutions which will give it solid increase and prosperity. This truth, which the man of foresight easily discovered long siuce, has now been rendered trite by danger, and you, gentlemen deputies, are about to solve the problem in giving the institutions to the people." Another Victort. We find the following in the Pittsburgh Journal : During the stay of the soldiers here, one of those sons of Mars fell desperately in love with the daughter of one of our citizens- His courtship was brief, and he lost no time in leading the willing bride to the altar erected in Squire Steel's office. The Squire made them man and wife, or at least took note that they so declared thetnselver, and the happy pair left his office. Yesterday, however, the mother of the bride thought proper to bring an action against the Squire for marrying her daughter, whom she declares to have been a minor. By a recent decision of the Courts, we believe, it is only necessary for a man and a woman to acknowledge themselves husband and wife before witnesses, to make them so in the eye of the law. We do not perceive, any how, bow an Alderman could be expected to know the ages of people who come to him to be married. Would you have bim ask a lady her age T We understand "that both bride and bridegroom left with the Regiment. The revenue received at New York under the new tariff, is $9,000 per week greater than it wo for the ; corresponding period last year;

Banking. We beliere that every State in the Union will ultimately awake to the evils uf banking, and will suppress it by constitutional provisions. Two new States, Iowa and Wisconsin, have led the van of this reformation ; and we doubt not that the benefits which they will derive from this wisdom at the commencement cf their career in the confederacy, will stimulate their older, as well as their younger sisters, to follow their example. Massachusetts, flooded with corporations, and perhaps some other States in a similar condition, may resist this salutary influence. But we may safely predict that in every State whose corporations do riot control political action, both private and corporate banking will finally fall. The constitutions of Iowa and Wisconsin declare that no banks of issue shall be established within those States. Each of these constitutions also declares that the Legislature shall not authorize, by general or special law, any institution with any banking priileges, or confer such privileges upon any person or persons. It next prohibits any corporation, institution, or person within the State, from issuing paper money of any description ; or any corporation from .receiving deposits of money, making discounts, or buying or selling bills of exchange, or doing "any other banking business whatever." It then prohibits within the Siate, any branch or agency of any bank of the United States, or of any State or Territory within or without the United States. It prohibits the circulation within the State, of any paper money issued without the State, under ten dollars after 1S47, and under twenty dollars after 1849. Thus each of these States prohibits, within its limits, all banking, domestic or foreign, all paper money of domestic issue, all of foreign issue under a large denomination after a certain period, and all under a larger denomination after a certain other period. These wise provisions, strictly enforced, will exempt each of these States from the commercial fluctuations which have been so injurious to the banking States, will render gold and silver coin their only circulation, and protect their agricultural population, and more especially the poor and ignorant of all portions of the community, from the frauds of counterfeiters and insolvent bankers. Counterfeit notes, and the notes of insolvent banks, are always imposed upon the agricultural population, and upon the poor, especially women. The commercial and mechanic population, especially the former, are required, by their business, to investigate that machinery now so complicated, "the money market;" aud hence they generally learn in time to protect themselves, the condi

tion of banks, and also the distinguishing marks of genuine and spurious notes. Another and great benefit of these wise provisions, will be the protection of the landholders from those fluctuations which never fail, in the banking States, to load their estates with mortcao-cs. In Massachusetts, seven-eiirhths of all the farms in the State are mortgaged to two or three money corporations ; a fact which ought to excite attention in every State, especially in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia ledger. Disteess i. Ireland. A Liverpool correspondent, by the last steamer says : 4,I attended to-day a meeting of the members of St. Jude's church, called to do something for Ireland. Letters were read from different parts of that country, giving heart-rending accounts of misery and want. Hundreds live on one meal a day of cabbage and sea weed. Many keep their beds continually, hoping thus to need less food to prolong life, and many who have no beds, huddle together in a heap, to keep each other warm. A letter was read from a laborer on the public works, who stated that out of a number of families employed at the same place, four persons had actually died of starvation provisions being so high that in large families the wages of those able to work would not buy sufficient to keep all alive. He also stated, that some were even denying their nearest relations, in order, if possible, to get rid of supporting them. Such accounts cause humanity to shudder." The manager cf the Mayo Bank has written to Lord John Russell that Pat Hughes of Carrackerbly, parish of Attymass, bad slaughtered and salted his ass the mainstay of his family selling the skin for 8d to satisfy the cravings of present hunger. The manager of the bank doubted the story, proceeded to the cabin of IIughe3, and there saw the withered man, his wretched wife with the aspect of a corpse, and a deaf and dumb son, seated around the fire, near which and beside a nest of straw which served for a bed, was an old barrel emitting a noisome and overwhelming stench, and in this barrel was the greater part of an ass, half Ealtcd and half rotten. The Population of tue West. The population of the United States is very nearly equalized on the Atlantic border and the central basin, or what is usually called the West. Mr. Darley, the geographer, in an interesting paper to the Union, estimates, on certain data, twenty-one millions as the existing aggregate of the population of the United States, at the present time, or year. The entire population by the censuses respectively of 1790 and 1310, the ratio for 50 years, comes out 4.3 VZ or the population doubles in a little les3 than tventy-fite years. The western population, he shows, has augmented seven fold in the thirty years, 1S10, 1310, inclusive. If the increase of the first forty years of the century was continued during the last five years, the western population now amounts to eleven and a half millions. Improved means of transportation, relative prices of land, and other circumstances, must combine to rather accelerate than retard this course of things ; and if so, western will double in about two-thirds the time of that of the general population of the Union. With but partial exceptions, the western population stands on about one million of square miles, or about twelve to the square mile. This Country. The London Quarterly for October, 1913, contains a review of ''The Emigrant, by Sir F. ß. Head," who was for two years Governor of Canada. It must be an interesting and amusing work. He says, that in this country, Nature has not only ontlined her works on a larger scale, but has painted the whole picture with brighter and more costly colors than 6he used in delineating and beautifying the old world. "The heavens of America appear infinitely hisrher the 6k is bluer the clouds are whi ter the air ir fresher the cold is intenser the moon looks larcer the stars are brighter the thunder is louder the lightning is vivider the wind is stronger the ram is heavier the mountains are higher the rivers larger the forests bigger the plains broader ; in short, the gigantic and beautiful features of the new world seem to correspond very wonderfully with the increased locomotive powers and other brilliant discoveries which have recently been developed in mankind." A Hint to Postmasters. A Postmaster in the interior of Pennsylvania, recently had judgment given against him for the price of a subscription of several years, to a distant newspaper, on the plea that he had not given sufficient legal notice to the publisher to stop it, and had continued to receive the numbers for several years, and sell them for the postage ! The magistrate decided that merely returning a copy of "John Smith's" paper, with 44 stop this" written on it, without postmark, or other indication of locality, was not sufficient or legal notice, but a written notic.", with name, place, and reason, must be sent to the publisher, and 44 franked," that it may be taken cut by him. The Anti-septic Power of Ice is illustrated in the following remarkable natural' example : In the year 1303, at Yakoust, on the banks of the river Lena, in Siberia, the body of a mammoth slowly appeared from a mountain of ice, in which it had been en tombed and preserved from decay, according to all probability, from the time of the deluge. The animal WR3 sixteen feet in length, nine feet in height, and th; flesh was in such excellent preservation, that not on'.y did the bears aud wolves devour it with eagerness, but the inhabitants of the district actually cut it up as food for their dogs. Ball Hughes, the artist, has cast successfully his statue in bronze of Dr. Bowditch, at the foundry of Messrs. Goodwin & Garrett, in Boston. Hughes has the distinction of having completed not only the first bronze, but the first marble statute ever made in America, (that of Gen. Hamilton.) His merit in the bronze is as conspicuous as that of bis marble work. It has been said that he deserves much credit ia opening the field of work in bronze, the only material suitable to our variable climate. Iowa. Mr. Conlee, one of the Independent or "possum" members of the Iowa Legislature, is dead. The Legislature of Iowa is now composed of 23 craocrats, 27 Whigs, and 2 Independents;

Abd-el-Kadee. The Arab Chieftain is thus spoken of by an English writer : Many who read romances about tl irrf tv

- j w a44 V Crusades, and whose hearts beat over the romance of history the narrative of horoea like William Tell, who waed a holy war against the invaders of their eountrv are ur.sn'tra that rrront t.ov t ; . : j to - - in ca in our day, and is conducting as holy and undyin" a struggle. How few care to read of Abd-el-KacTer; yet you will venture to say that William Tell was noi.i. Ti, Vm.m 4 i ir j ,l , - u j -1 . uiuu .luuti-iiauci la me inuomiiauie too of the French, w ho have conquered Alters, and colo nized, or attempted to colonize the neighborhood. He is a Mahomedan. and baten the Christi? Ita . native, and hates the intruders. He is a prince, and hates the conquerors of his couutry. He cannot drive them out, but he has done everything short of it. He leaves them no peace or rest. They in fact own no land but w hat they stand on. Every head that is put out beyond the cordon is cut off. Every straggler from the camp disappears. The settlers cannot till the fields, nor go on commercial errands ; for Abd-el-Ka-der comes down upon them w hichever way they go. A company cannot pass from camp to camp without its numbers being thinned. If there is a burning sun Abd-el-Kader pounces upon the troops in their hour of lassitude. If wintry weather comes up from the mountains, Abd-el-Kader comes up with it as if he rode upon the blast. If snow blocks tip the way, Abd-el-Kader issues from the thickest trift. If Uiere is a drought, he drives the foe far from the water brooks by harassing them, flank and rear. He is always cn the eve of being caught, but no man has ever caught him yet, nor any Christian touched his white banner. His tribes are dispersed, his stores taken, his supplies cut off, his horses shot under him, his allies bound over to deliver him up; but he has always yet escaped. He is reported dead; but is presently seen and felt again. He has worn out and brought to d.Fgrace French field-marshals; and caused, destitute as he himself is, an expenditure of men and money such as no nation can long endure for the sake of so wretched a colony. He has now sent a summons to the tribes of the south to be ready to renew the war against the invaders; and all but those who are within immediate reach of the French answer w ith fervor to the call. One cannot but look forward wistfully to see the issue to divine the lot and the death of such & man to watch w hether his pow er of hope can sustain itself against such odds whether he dies on the field, or in a cave of the rocks as a warrior or a prisoner,' or as one of Nature's princes in one of Nature's palaces. The only thing we know of the man himself his soul, will never be conquered." Hoar Fkost. The delicate and elegant frost work; resembling trees and landseanrs. which ;a nnn. fN.,J ö j , n ... uun luuim formed on the inside of window panes, is caused by the congealation of the vapor of water contained in the air of the apartment. The same beautiful appearance is displayed on the glass of a close carriage from the congelation of the moisture exhaled by the lungs of its occupants. The appearance cf a hoar frost upon a window-pane may be artificially imitated by dissolving half an ounce of Epsom salt, that is, sulphate of magnesia, in a wine-glass full of hot water, and then spreading this solution with a sponge evenly over the surface of the pane of glass; as it cools, so it will chrystalise in very beautiful arborescent or tree-like forms. How to be Ricrr. Nothing is more easy than to grow rich. It is only to trust nobody, to befriend none, to get every thing we can. and save all we o-et; to stint ourselves and every body belonging to us- to be the friend of no man ; and to have no man for our friend ; to heap up interest, cent upon cent ; to remain miserable and despised for Fome twenty or thirty years, and riches will come as sure as disease and disap pointment. And Death will come more sure than either, to take his gold, and throw it as an apple of discord, into the hands of thankless he.rs ! The reporters on the New York press have threatened to report the proceedings of the Common Council precisely as they occur, in revenge for beinsnubbed out of the tea room. Steam Ttpe-Setting Machine. The New York Sun publishes a long paragraph set up in type by a recently invented steam type-setting machine. The machine was invented by Cay &. Rosenburgh, of New York, and by the aid of two men and three boys, it is stated, can put up as much printed matter as ten compositors can do by the present system. This is a new raMrap. OrA great meeting was recently held by the Women of the city and county of Philadelphia, for the purpose of taking measures to petition the Legislature of Pa. to abolish the punishment of death. State Debt Bill, Canal Lands, ice. It is provided, by one of the sections of the State Debt Bill, that all the Canal Lands, sold or unsold, where any part of the purchase money is now unpaid, may be re-appraised at its present cash value, without regard to the improvements. The present owners ofthe lands that have been sold may obtain a title on paving the re-appraisement, and the unsold lands may be'sold at the re-appraisement. This provision will relieve many of the purchasers, in the late selec'ions, of a large portion of the payments yet due. The holders of such lands tad better await a re-appraisement. As, under a re-appraisement, a smaller quantity of 44 Dog" will be required to pay out the lands, the effect will be a depreciation in the value of the 44 Dog." Logansport Pharos. 11Y AVTIIOlllTV. An Act for thi suppression of Obscene Iinols, -c. Stcriox 1. ? u enacted by the General Assembly of the Stale of Indiana, That every person who shall piiat, publish, vend, distribute, exhibit or ciiculate or in ny wise cuse to be printed, published, sold, distiibuted, exhibited or circulated, any obscene book, pamphlets, print or pictuie, shall upon cod Tic l ion thereof, on indictment, be fined in any sum not exceeJing five hundred, nor less than fifty dullars, and U imprisoned in the cour.ty jail, any length of time at the discretion cf the jury trying the same. Sec 2. That all persons engaged in vending, distributing, circulating, or exhibiting, cr in any way prepaiing, aucb olcene bock, pamphlet, print, or picture, shall be deemed principal and punished as such, in the same manner at is provided in section one. Sec. 3. That upon complaint made, by affidavit, before" ny justice of the peace, alleging that ao obscene book, pamphlet, print, or pictuie, (describing the same.) is io progress of being printed, published, vended, or distributed, or has been printed and not yet published, sold, or distiibn, and the person, or persons, believed to be engaged in such" woik, it ball be the duty of said justice to isue his attachment to any constable of the township, or sheiiff of the county (who are hereby required to erve such wiit) making the State of Indiana the plaiutiff, commanding said officer, to" attach all the copies, or vulumes, cf euch obscene book.pimphlet, print, or picture, and the cuts, or plates, or engravicgr. and the same safely to keep, and also to take the peison, or persons, alleged to be engaged in piiniing or publishing, or vendinjr.or distiibuting, or cnciilatinK,or exhibiting the same, and them ta bring befoie said justice with. ut delay. Sec. 4. That upon a return of the conslable or sheriff that he has attached such book, pamphlet, print, or pictuie, or cut, or plate, or engiaving, it shall be the duty of said justice, unless the person made defendant shall claim a jury, t proceed to try and deteimine, the character cf tucb book pamphlet, print, pictuie, cut, plate, or engraving) but if juiy is demanded by such defendant a veniie shall issue, aod the jury shall deteimine the character of the book, pamphlet print, pictuie, cut, plate, or engraving, and if the tame is decided to be obscene, the justice shall adjudge thf same to b burned and destroyed, and he shall direct the said constable or sheriff to burn and destroy the same, and from said iudg-' ment an appeal may lie to the Circuit Couit to either of the parties, and aaid cause shall there proceed and be tiled anddisposed of as is provided above before the justice. Sec 5. The justice shall also proceed to examine thm charge made against those made defendants, if they shall bave been taken, and discharge or recognise the tame to an wer to the Circuit Court, as in other alleged crimei, according to the evidence in the case. Sec 6. Thia act to be in force from and after its publican tioa ia the Indiana State Sentinel and Indiana State Journal, ROBERT N. CARNAN, Speaker of the House of Representatives.PARIS a DUNNING, President of the Senate. Approved January S6th, 1S47: JAMES WHITCOMB. STEAM JTIAICIILi: WORKS. Ridge Road, above Spring Garden iStrect, Phila. 'flfS establishment is erected on an improred plan, and br th M. aid of Steam Power, manufactures aii kinds of Marble Work in a superior style, and at the lowest prices fur Cash. The largest and best assortment of Marble Mantles erer offered to the public may be seen at the Ware-Room, to which the atlecuoa of purchasers is respectful jr invited. Imported Garden Statuary and Vases of the most tasteful designs and patterns, made of th finest and handsomest deacrijtion of Italian Marble r Tiles for Flooring, imported, and alwajs oa hand, and for sale at the most reasonable prices. fO1 Marble Cutters can be surriiit! at all timp with n nni. of finished Mantles or Table lop, at reduced wholesale price, -and the Trade will be furnished at the shortest notice w ith aj kindi of Marble in the block, or cat to siie for Monuments, .c. JOHN BAI KD, Ridn-e Road, Abora Erring Garden Street. Philadelphia, Feb. 1,1 67. ??-2w3a