the times, there is yet fair reason to presume that the laggards will, ere long, redeem their pledges, and achieve for themselves a more hon ourable distinction.

Mr. Everett, American minister in London, in the month of March, addressed a letter to the holders of certain American state stocks, who had presented a memorial to him on the subject. After the usual preliminary remarks, he, continues: "I concur with you fully in protesting against the doctrine that a state which has pledged its faith and resources can release itself from the obligation, however burdensome, in any way but that of honourable payment. Fatal delusions, in times of great distress, occasionally come over the minds of communities as well as individuals; but I rejoice in the belief that the number is exceedingly small of those who have, in any form, advanced the idea of what has been called repudiation." I am convinced that those states which unhappily have failed to make provision for the interest due on their bonds have done so under the heavy pressure of adverse circumstances, and not with the purpose of giving legislative sanction to a doctrine so pernicious, immoral, and unworthy. "The memorialists are pleased to give me credit for sympathy with their sufferings. There is, perhaps, no person, not himself directly a sufferer, who has had so much reason as myself to feel deeply all the evil effects-the sacrifice not merely of material prosperity, but what is of infinitely greater consequence, of public honour-resulting from this disastrous failure. The reproach which it has brought on the American name, has been the only circumstance which has prevented a residence in the land of my fathers from being a source of unmingled satisfaction to me.

1

"The position, gentlemen, of some, at least, of the indebted states, is as singular as it is deplorable. They have involved themselves most unadvisedly, in engagements which would be onerous to much larger and richer communities; and they yet possess, under an almost hopeless present embarrassment, the undoubted means of eventual recovery. I will take the state of Illinois, for instance, and what I say of that state will hold good of the others, making allowance for difference of local circumstances. The state of Illinois, undertook a few years since the construction of a ship canal of about 100 miles in length, to unite the waters of Lake Michigan with those of the Illinois river; and more recently projected and commenced the execution of 1,300 miles of railway. On these works she has borrowed and expended above £2,000,000; the works are incomplete aud unproductive. The population of the state is that of a second sized English county, short of 500,000. It is what in good times would be considered an eminently prosperous population; but I am inclined to think, that if the English income-tax of the last year were, by the legislature of Illinois, laid on that state, more than one half the population possessing in the aggregate that proportion of the taxable property would in the present period of general distress, fall below the point of exemption, and that of the other half, a small number only would rise much above that point; and yet the undeveloped resources of Illinois are almost boundless. The state is larger than England and Wales. By the Mississippi it is connected with the Gulf of Mexico, by Lake Michigan with the St. Lawrence; and it has a most extensive internal navigation, by is mild; it con

means of several noble rivers. The climate of table, but highly

tains, I suppose, as large a body of land not merely cultivable, but highly fertile, as can be found lying together in the United States; it abounds in various kinds of mineral wealth; it is situated about in the centre of a horizontal field of bituminous coal, which Mr. Lyell pronounced the other day to be as large as Great Britain; and it is inhabited by an industrious, frugal, intelligent people, most rapidly increasing in numbers. such a people will for any length of time submit to lie under the reproach and bear the loss incident to a total prostration of public credit, I can never believe.

That

1

"In addition to these public embarassments, private fortunes almost with out number have been destroyed in the general wreck, of which the fail ure of the states, as cause or effect, is one of the principal elements. doubt if, in the history of the world, in so short a period, such a transi tion has been made from a state of high prosperity to one of general dis tress, as in the United States within the last six years. And yet, gentle men, the elasticity and power of recovery in the country are great beyond the conception of those who do not know it from personal observation. Even within the disastrous period to which I have alluded, a private commercial debt to this country, estimated at £25,000,000 sterling, has been paid by the American merchants, with as little loss to the creditor as would attend the collection of an equal amount of domestic debt in this or any other country.

!

"But I will not detain you by enlarging on these topics. The subject, I need not tell you, is one on which, in all respects, it is proper that I should speak with reserve. I think I shall have done my duty, if I have convinced you that I am keenly sensible of the sufferings of your constituents, and truly solicitous for their effectual relief; and that, amid all the uncertainties and delay which may attend the measures requisite for that purpose, I still feel confident that the time will come when every state in the Union will fulfil its engagements."

The Bunker Hill monument was in this year completed, and a magnificent celebration held to commemorate the event. The day chosen was the 17th of June, the anniversary of the battle; that day upon which the fathers of the country poured out their blood so like water, to redeem the parched land from destruction. Deputations from the seat of government and various quarters of the Union, were there upon the occasion. The immense concourse formed in the city of Boston, Charlestown, Roxbury, and the surrounding towns, and marched to the eventful heights—not as did their ancestors, rudely clad and but half-armed, save with the panoply of virtue and stern patriotism-but now in all the gorgeous colours of a pageant. Upwards of six hundred banners were displayed, emblazoned with innumerable and appropriate devices; and for hours the swaying masses of men filled every avenue, thronging around the hill. One thousand ladies were seated upon ranges of settees conveniently disposed, tier above tier, around the speaker-reminding one of the picture of a Mohammedan paradise. Daniel Webster was the orator of the day, and by a series of brilliant efforts added freshness to his ever-glowing laurels.

The dimensions of the monument are as follows: thirty feet square at the base, and sixteen feet four and a half inches at the top, having a diminution of fourteen feet seven and a half inches above its base. The height, at the top of the apex, is two hundred and twenty-one feet. It is substantially built of hewn Quincy granite, and its entire cost was $119,800. 1he interior is circular, having a diameter of ten feet and seven inches at bottom, and six feet four inches at top, and is ascended by two hundred and ninetyfour steps. The top is an elliptical chamber, seventeen feet high, eleven feet in diameter, with four windows two feet eight inches high, and two feet two inches in breadth-and presents one of the most splendid views in the United States.

To elevate the top stone of the monument to its position required no little skill and ingenuity-as it was a block of two and a half tons weight, four feet nine inches square at the base and three feet six inches in thickness through the centre. The height of the monument entire, as we have said, is two hundred and twenty-one feet, being an altitude some few feet greater than that of the Washington monument at Baltimore, inclu ding its statue of thirteen feet. The Groton monument, an imposing structure near New-London, is but one hundred and twenty-seven fee high. The monument on Bunker Hill, it is said, is higher than anything

120,000,000

Rye,

23,000,000

Barley,

5,000,000

Buckwheat,

9,000,000

of the kind at present erected in the country. The New-York Washing ton monument, however, is intended to be the highest in the world. Estimate of the year's agricultural produce throughout the Union: Value to the grower,

Bushels of Wheat,

$76,000.000

11,000,000

2,000.000

3,000.000

500,000,000

189,000,000

33,000.000 33,000,000 174,000.00C

Flax and Hemp,

158,569

19,028,37€

2,500,000

แ

56,000,000

250,000,000

"

12,000,000

Rice,

111,000,000

3,000,000

Gallons of Wine,

Produce of the Dairy, lbs.

130,748

Orchard, bbls.

6,000,000 700,000,000

Total, $1,358,215,806

This estimate is based upon a "tabular view" by the commissioner of patents at Washington. The prices set down are those which prevail ir the market, or such as are supposed to be a fair average.

The following are the characteristics of the states, in regard to the spe cies of produce, at least for the year specified. New-York produces the most oats, viz., 24,907,553 bushels; also, the most barley, 1,802,962 bushels. Pennsylvania produces the most rye, viz., 9,429,637 bushels; also, the most buckwheat, 2,408,508 bushels. Ohio produces the most wheat, viz., 18,786,705 bushels. Tennessee the most Indian corn, viz., 67,838,477 bushels. New-York the most potatoes, viz., 26,553,612 bushels; also, the most hay, 4,295,536 tons. Kentucky produces the most flax and hemp, viz., 31,728 tons. Virginia produces the most tobacco, viz., 52,322,543 pounds. Georgia produces the most cotton, viz., 185,758,128 pounds. South-Carolina produces the most rice, viz., 66,892,807 pounds. Connecticut raises the most silk, viz., 140,971 pounds. Louisiana the most sugar, viz., 37,173,590 pounds. North-Carolina the most wine, viz., 17,347 gallons.

จ

The deaths in the course of the year, of prominent persons, were as follows: In Washington, Hon. Mr. Burnell, of Mass. In Boston, Hugh S. Legare, of S. C.; also Judge Simmons. At New-Haven, Ct., Æ 85, Noah Webster, L. L. D. In New-York, Ex-governor Mason, of Michigan; also, Judge Smith Thompson. Near New-York, General Armstrong, Æ 85, Secretary of War in 1813. At Troy, N. Y., Commodore Dallas, U. S. N. At Cambridge, Mass., Washington Allston, artist. In Portland, Me., General Eustis, U. S. A.; also, Senator Holmes. In New-Jersey, Judge Halsey. In New-York, Judge Elmendorf; also, Peter Lorillard, by his own industry a millionaire. In Philadelphia, Jacob Ridgeway, the same. In Indiana, Bishop Roberts. In Boston, Judge Thatcher. At Cincinnati, Senator M'Roberts, of Ill. At St. Genevieve, Mo., Senator Linn. In Virginia, General Porterfield. At Norwich, Ct., E 89, Uncas, the last of the Mohegans. At Kingston, U. C., Sir Charles Bagot, being the third Governor-general of the Canadas dying within three years. In London, Robert Southey, poet laureat; also, Richard Arkwright, whose father invented the spinning machine, In Paris, Dr. Hahnemann, founder of homopathy. At Constantinople, Commodore Porter. At Cape Palmas. Africa, Rev. L. B. Minor, missionary.

A. D. 1844--The great subject of attention with Congress, was the expedi ency of annexing Texas. In a few brief sentences, we give here the substance of a score of interminable, speeches, for as well as against the proposed annexation. The favourers of the scheme asserted, on the one hand, that the country of Texas was of incalculable importance to the United States, in an agricultural and commercial point of view: That to a soil of inexhaustible fertility it united a genial and healthy climate, and was destined, at a day not far distant, to make large contributions to the commerce of the world: That the magnitude of its productions under the fostering care of the American government, would give a new impulse to the commercial interests of the whole country, while the addition made to the boundary of the home market thus secured to the mining, manufacturing, and mechanical skill and industry of the Eastern and Middle States, would be of a character the most commanding and important: That Texas being adapted to the culture of cotton, sugar, and rice, and devoting most of her energies to the raising of those productions, would open an extensive market to the Western States, in the important articles of beef, pork, horses, mules, &c., as well as in bread stuffs: That Texas had been chiefly settled by persons from the United States, who carried with them the laws, customs, and political and domestic institutions of their native land; and being thus indoctrinated in all the principles of civil liberty, would bring along with them devotion to the Union, and a firm and inflexible resolution to assist in maintaining the public liberty unimpaired: That justice required that the people of Texas should be shielded by some superior power, from the inhuman description of warfare which was carried on against them by Mexico: That if the wishes of Texas to enter the Union were now defeated by the United States, she would be driven to seek the protection of some other nation, which would prove greatly injurious to the interests of the whole Union; for the government would be sure to suffer seriously in its revenue by the introduc tion of a system of smuggling upon an extensive scale, which an army of custom-house officers could not prevent, and which would operate to affect injuriously the interests of all the industrial classes of the country; and that by a constant collision of the inhabitants, the peace of the nation would be continually violated.

Those who were opposed to the admission of Texas into the Union, asserted that the annexation of that country to the United States without the concurrence of the nation that claimed it by virtue of the treaty of 1819, whereby the United States alienated its title to Texas by solemn compacts, would be a violation of national faith and honour: That in case the treaty should become ratified, a war with Mexico would be the inevitable consequence; as that nation had never acknowledged the independence of Texas, but claimed the right of jurisdiction over it: That the admittance of Texas under such circumstances would place a weapon in the hands of those who look upon us and our institutions with distrustful and envious eyes, that would do us more real, lasting injury, as a nation, than the acquisition of such a territory, valuable though it might be, could possibly repair: That while the lust for power, with fraud and violence in its train, had led other governments to aggressions and conquests, our movements in these respects had always been regulated by reason and justice; but that the annexation of Texas, under existing circumstances, would be a violation of those principles upon which, we can now look back with feelings of honest pride and satisfaction: That the strong sectional feeling which now exists between the North and South would be so augmented by the annexation, as to lead possibly to the dissolution of the Union.

One of the most appalling disasters of which we have any account, oc curred in the month of February, at Washington, on board the steam

frigate Princeton. A select party of between 300 and 400 ladies and gentlemen, including the president, heads of departments, foreign min isters, members of congress, &c., had been invited by the ccmmander of the vessel, Captain R. F. Stockton, to make an excursion down the. river. In addition to the elegance of the ship, a new and tremendous apparatus for war was to be exhibited to the company. An enormous gun, denominated the Peace-maker, which was formed of wrought iron, for safety, instead of cast, was considered so perfect an engine of destruction as to be worthy of attention. Its weight was ten tons; it was fifteen feet in length, and threw a ball weighing two hundred and twenty-five pounds; yet the immense missile was projected a distance of four miles with the same precision that a rifle ball could be sent eighty paces.

"

During the passage down towards Mount Vernon the gun was fired three times, to the admiration of such connoiseurs in the art of gunnery as were on board; but in returning, by desire of the Secretary of the Navy, and others, Captain Stockton consented to increase the charge, in firing a final salute. As they were gathered about the gun to witness the effect, it burst, scattering death and desolation around. Mr. Upshur, Secretary of State-Mr. Gilmer, so recently placed at the head of the navyCommodore Kennon, one of its most gallant officers-Virgil Maxcy, Esq.,' lately returned from a diplomatic residence abroad-and Hon. Mr. Gardiner, of New-York, were among the slain. Besides these, seventeen seamen were wounded, some of them badly. Captain Stockton, who fired the gun, had the hair of his head and face burned off, and was thrown prostrate, with many others, stunned by the explosion. The lower part of the piece, from the trunnions to the breech, was blown off, being subdivided in two large sections and fifteen or twenty small pieces. The only consolation afforded in this calamity, is that none of the ladies were injured, although a number were upon deck at the time.

A disgraceful disturbance in the vicinity of Nauvoo, Illinois, this year resulted in the death of the "prophet" of the Mormons, Mr. Jos. Smith, together with his brother, Hyrum Smith. These deluded people had previously, for a number of years, vexed with their mummeries and fanaticism the well-intentioned citizens of the west; but that they might have been in some instances imposed upon, and ought not to have been so summarily slain, is doubtless true. A brief glance at the rise and progress of the deception, will afford a clue to the causes superinducing that bitter enmity which has always surrounded the "holy city" of the deceived or deceivers.

Smith, the "prophet," was a native of Vermont, but in early life removed, with his parents, to the western part of New-York. The family was remarkable for idleness, ignorance, and superstition. Joseph and his father were pious believers in witches, dreams, and digging for money; but their views in regard to property tenure, and the rights of others, were extremely loose and disjointed. Failing to discover hidden treasure in the earth, or to acquire the means of subsistence from supernatural revelations, the family became separated, and the incipient prophet hired himself out as a labourer near Palmyra. There he became acquainted with a thrifty farmer by the name of Harris, whose credulity was such that ne allowed himself to become security for the publication of the famous "Book of Mormon," the foundation of the new faith.

This book is its own condemnation. It is a duodecimo volume, contain ing 590 pages; and is without doubt one of the weakest productions ever attempted to be palmed off as a divine revelation. It is rostly a blind mass of words, interwoven with scriptural language and quotations, without any leading plan or design. It is in fact such a production as might se expected from a person of Smith's abilities and turn of mind. The fol owing is a verbatim of the title-page :