mm
■
RICH AND ANOMALOUS CORPORATION.
The British East ludia CompaDj, according to
recent and authentic documents before U3, now
rules, directly or indirectly, an empire of 1,500,000
square miles, with a population of more than one
hundred aod sixty millions. This vast empire, no
less remarkable for its healthfulness and the
beauty of its scenery, than for its extent, embraces
almost every variety of soil and climate, producing
not only the cereals of the North and the tropical
fruits of the South, but many valuable articles of
commerce peculiar to the East. The nominal
money capital of the Company is set down at j
£16,000,000 sterling, or eighty millions of |
dollars. Its annual revenues are estimated at i
one hundred and thirty-live millions, :inl with the j
development of country, and the eouseiiuent j
enlarged trade of the^’oinpany, they are annually 1
increasing. {
The East India Company, at date of last report, i
consisted of 17o0 stockholders, privilcjjed to meet,
in general eouiicil. The holder of t'>’)000 of stock ^
has one vote; of §15,000 two; of S30,000 three; I
and of 850,X)0 four; provided always he has been
in pos.session of the same twelve months. The
whole number of votes at the present time is esti
mated at about *2)00. These stockholders, thus |
qualified, meet oiice in three months, in general j
council They elect the court of directors and '
board of control, in whom is vested the actual
government, we had almost said the sovereignty
of India.
The employees of the Company are divided into
five distinct classes: civil, clerical, medical, mili
tary, and naval; comprising nine or ten thousand ’
persons. The salaries of the principal officers are
as follows:
(jovernor General, S12n,000, perqui
sites 8200,000 -?U-2r),000
Members of Governor’s Clouncil •4>i,0t)0
Bishops Sl-,000 to 25,0(>0
Law Judges, thirty in number 15,000
Collectors and Magistrates, 45, ?G,000 to 19,0(K)
In striking contrast with these salaries is the
pay of the native soldiers, (sepoys,) 5id per day,
from which it would appear far bettei to be (lOv-
ernor General of India than a sepoy.
Territorial aggrandizement is an established
principle of this anomalous corporation. The do
main acquired the la.st few yearo, during" the ad
ministration of the Marquis Dalhousie alone, com
prises many thousands of square miles—whble
empires rather—adding 4,*2!S0,000 pounds ster
ling, f21,400,000, as follows:
Punjaub £1,500,000 §7,500,000
Pegu -270,000 1,850,000
Nagpore 401,000 *2,050,000
Oude 1,400,000 7,000,000
Satarrah 150,000 750,000
Shousi 50,000 250,000
Hyderabad 500,000 2,500,000
Of the revenues of the East'^India Company,
the land tax is most productive, the annual in
come from that alone being §75,000,000. Next
in importance are the revenues from the opium
trade, of which the Company enjoys a monopoly.
In 1846 the opium export duties at Bombay alone
amounted to ?5,000,000, at Calcutta to §15,000,-
000. Since then, they have vastly increased.
The sales of opium the last five years at this lat
ter port were as follows:
Sales of 1850, 35,888 jhests, 35,482,070 rupees
“ 1851, 84,409 “ 82,250.88!* “
1852, 38,561 “ 37,245,185 “
“ 1858. 39,468 “ 38,348,038 “
1854, 48,319 “ 36,727,584 “
The price paid the producer is about 240 ru
pees (S120) the chest. The profit was formerly
so great that opium growing superseded almost
every other business. It has of late been sub
ject to constant fluctuation, though it is still the
best business of India. The native population
are engaged in its cultivation wherever it will
grow. The East India Company reap the profits.
But it is out of this, a trade condemned by na
tive and foreign writers alike, that they have
grown most of their difficulties in the Ea.st. Cap
tain Elliott, of the British Navy, once remarked
in one of his official despatches:
•‘No man entertains a deeper detestation of the
disgrace and sin of this forced traffic than the
humble individual who signs this despatch. I
see little to choose between it and piracy; and it
is rapidly staining the British charactei with the
deepest disgrace.” |
The standing military force of this powerful
company is about 800,000 men, European and
natives, the former the flower of the British
army. The department of topographical engi
neers is remarkable for its skill and efficiency,
and has done much for the material development
of the country. Railroads, completed and in con
struction, now span the whole extent of the F]m-
pire, from the Carnatic to the Himalayas, open
ing a brilliant prospect for the agriculturist at no
distant future. There are also in operation at
the present time more than four thousand miles
of the magnetic telegraph, with which connection
will soon be made, along the southern coast of
Arabia, and through Egypt, submarining the lied
Sea, with the Mediterranean lines, thus commu
nicating directly with the whole Western World.
LOCOMOTIVE EXPERIiiNCE.
Riding ou the engine of an express train is ex
citing business. We made intercession with the
powers that be, the other day, and secured a pas
sage for the distance of ten miles on “the ma
chine.” It is interesting to watch the track
ahead, and imagine yourself going down the banks
from some obstruction. You look at the steam
guage and wonder if a hundred and ten pounds
of steam is a safe quantity. As the speed in
creases, the sway of the engine attracts especial
notice. Every little roughness of the track is ;
felt, and the machine goes knocking about from
side to side with force enough to tear the rails !
froni the tics. The flat ribbon of rail, extending
so far before you, seems utterly insufficient to
hold the vast, ponderous weight of iron upon it. I
For relief from the terrors you have conjured up,
you turn to the engineer and venture a remark.
He does not look around, his hand is on the lever, i
his eye steadily fixed on the track. Just theii
the fireman rings the bell for a crossing. You |
can see it swing, but in the crash and thunder of,
your progress you hear no sound, and then you
think that the engineer perhaps did not hear your
voice. !
The fireman is constantly busy. lie piles up i
the wood in easy distance and then “stokes.”
As the dry sticks are cast in the furnace, the de
vouring flame seizes them with a fierce avidity,
eats into their substance, penetrates their pores,
and tears them to pieces almost in a moment. It
is an awful fire, unlike any you ever witnessed.
You take another look at the track and gain a
new sensation, for wherever the rail is a little set
tled the engine sinks down upon it, and it seems
as if the wheels and trucks were giving way, and
the whole machine about to crush down in one
fatal smash up.
These are daylight observations, but the night
is the time to enjoy a locomotive ride. The light
from the engine lamp extends only for two or
three rails forward—beyond that all is darkness
and you go plunging on into the black unseen be
fore you, without a possibility of a forewarning of
any danger. You can see the switch lights, or
that of another locomotive, but a log or a drunken
man may be on the track, or a rail may be broken,
and you none the wiser until with one tremendous
(*rash you meet your doom upon it.
From the N. Y. Commercial .Advertiser.
NOTICES OF BOOKS.
Abridhement of the Debates op Congress,
FRQM 1789 TO 1856. Vol. II. New York—D.
Appleton & Co.
Mr. Benton is proceeding with his work ra
pidly. Two of the fifteen or sixteen volumes
which the Abridgement is to compose are already
published—two stout octavos of about eight hun
dred pages each. The first volume closed with
the first se.ssion of the fourth Congress, June
1796; the .second volume begins with the second
session of the same Congre.ss, December 1796,
and end.s with the second session of the seventh
Congress, March 1808. During the period eni-
braced by this second volume. President Wash
ington retired from office. Presidents Adams and
Jefferson were elected, ruptures with France and
with the Barbary powers occurred, and important
debates were held in regard to the free naviga
tion of the Mississippi, the alien and sedition
laws, naturalization, the judiciary system, taxa
tion, the naval establishment, &c. The debates
are abridged by Mr. Benton with much care and
excellent judgment, and his notes, some of which
are elaborate, are very instructive and useful.
Andrew Jackson, the after hero of New Orleans,
first appears in the Congressional debates in De
cember, 1796, when he spoke in the House of
Representatives in defence of Geti. Sevier’s expe
dition against the Cherokees. In a note on this
debate, Mr Benton says:—
“The true ground on which the United States
becomes liable to a state for its expenses in sup
pressing or repulsing Indian hostilities turns upon
the idea of an actual invasion, or such imminent
danger of it as not to admit of delay: then the
contingency happens in which the state may en
gage in war, and all the acts of Congress, and the
Government orders give way before a constitu
tional right. Tennessee, like other new countries
in the United States, was settled without law,
and against law. Its early settlers not only had
no protection from the Federal Government, but
were under legal disabilities to pursue the enemy.
This urose from the policy of the Government to
preserve peace on the frontiers bj restraining the
advance of settlements, and curbing the disposi
tion of the people to war. The history of all the
new settlements, from the Atlantic to the Pacific,
is the same; people go without law and against
law; and when they can neither be stopped by
the Government, nor driven back by the Indians,
then the Government gives them protection.”
In 1797, slaves were recognized as property by
a vote of the House of Representatives (yeas 68,
nays 28,) imposing a direct tax upon them. Most
of the members from the slave states supported the
tax. and the reason assigned for their doing so was
that “the taxation of lands and slaves went toge
ther in the slave states—the people were used to
the association—and to omit slaves in the direct
tax would be unjust and unpopular, as sparing the
rich and making the tax fall heavier upon persons
of less property.”
In 1798, the House of Representatives was the
scene of the first debate on the prohibition of
slavery in a territory which took place under the
Federal Constitution. Messrs. Rutledge, Otis,
Gallatin, Harper, Varnum, and others :ook part
in it, and it is remarkable that the constitutional
power of Congress to make the prohibition was
not questioned b}’ any speaker.
In the same year, by a close vote, the Navy
Department was created, and, as the proceedings
show, by a party vote—the Republicans of that
day being against a navy.
Mr. Benton directs attention to the fact that
in the earlier Congresses, the speakers were held
to the point even when the House was in commit
tee of the whole, and hence the debates were
brief, forcible and instructive.
The first instance of a President's Messaire be
ing sent to the two Houses at the commencement
of a session occurred in 1801, when Mr. Jefferson
adopted that plan. In a note accompanying the
Message he said:—“In doing this I have had
principal regard to the convenience of the Logis-
liiture, to the economy of their time, to their re
lief from the embarrassment of immediate answers,
on subjects not yet fully before them, and to the
benefits thence resulting to the public affairs.”
Mr. Benton says:—
“It was one of Mr. Jefferson’s reforms—the
former way of assembling the two Houses to hear
an addre.ss in person from the President, return
ing an answer to it, the two Hou.ses going in form
to pre.sent their answer, and the intervention of
repeated committees to arrage the details of these
ceremonious meetings, being considered too close
an imitation of the royal mode of opening a Bri-
tish Parliament. Some of the Democratic friends
of .Mr. Jefferson doubted whether thischacjje was
a reform, in that part of it which dispensed with
the answers to the President. Their view of it
was, that the answer to the Speech, or .^Iessage,
afforded a regular occasion for speaking to tha
state of the Union, and to all the topics present
ed; which speaking, losing its regular’vent, would
afterwards break out irregularly on the discu.ssion
oi particular measures, and to the interruption of
the business on hand. Experience has developed
that irregularity, and another—that of speaking
to the Message on the motions to refer particular
clauses of it to appropriate committees, thereby
jelaying the reference; and, in one instance du
ring Mr. Fillmore’s Administration, preventintr
the reference during the entire session.” °
In 1802, Mr. Rutledge, of South Carolina, de
clared in a speech in the House that Mr. Jeffer
son’s opinion on slavery was an obstacle to his
receiving the vote of that State for the Presidency.
Mr. Benton’s note on our relations with France
in 1799 is quite elaborate, and contains some cu
rious and interesting extracts from the dispatches
of the Ministers of that day, which we have not
seen elsewhere. At the end of each presidency
he briefly reviews the history of the Administra
tion, and these notes are such neat and conve
nient historical summaries that we quote them in
full:—
the presidency of george Washington.
The close of the fourth Congress terminates the
Pre.sidency of General W^ashington, and presents
a proper point for a retrospective view of the
working of the Government for the first eight
years of its existence. Such a view is full of in
struction, and deserves to be taken; and first of
the finances. Moderate expenses and moderate
taxes were the characteristics of this branch of
the service. The support of the Government
called the Civil List^ and comprehending every
object of civil expenditure, was, for the vear
1796, (the last of Washington’s Administration,)
8530,392, and the duties on imports about five
millions of dollars—or nearly ten times as much
as the support of the Government required
leaving nearly nine-tenths to go to the preserva
tion of peace with the Indian tribes, defence of
the frontiers, protection of commerce in the Me
diterranean, and other extraordinary objects.
This amount was produced by moderate duties
the ad valorems, 10, 12§, 15 and 20 per centum
■ and mainly produced by the first two rates, the
latter two chiefly applying to objects of luxury
not used by the general mass. Thus: The amount
of imports subject to the 10 and the 12 i rates
was 828,267,000, while those subject to 15 were
87,850,000; and those subject to 20 per centum
on.y the third of one million. The average of
the whole was about 13 per centum. The specific
duties were on the same moderate 'scale; and the
cost of collecting the whole was 3.78 per cent.
The intcre.st on the public debt was three mil
lions and a quarter; the Military Department,
$1,300,000; Naval Department, 8140,000; tri
bute to the Barbary powers, veiled under the
name of foreign intercourse expense, was 8800,-
000; while the regular diplomatic intercourse was
only about 840,000. The whole expenditure of
the Government was about 5§ millions: its whole
revenue something more—the excise on distilled
.spirits producing some 8400,000. Thus, order
and economy were established in the finances.
Abroad peace had been maintained. The pro-
clama^on of neutrality, unanimously agreed upon
in the Cabinet, saved the United States from the
calamity of being involved in the wars of the
French revolution. The commercial troaty with
Great Britain stopped the depredations which the
British had commenced upon American vessels
carrying provisions to France, and obtained in-
dojunity for depredations already committed.
With Spain the serious question of the free navi
gation of the Mississippi was settled; and in ail-
dition to the right of navigation, a place of deposit
for American produce and merchandise was ob
tained at New Orleans—the right to be absolute
for three years, and afterward until an equivalent
place should be provided. (It was the subse-
sequent violation of this right of deposit which
led to the acquisition of all Louisiana.) Safety
to the persons and property of American citizens
in the Mediterranean Sea had been obtained, ac
cording to the means usual at that time and upon
terms to be endured until strong enough to do
better. The formidable Indian war in the North
west, and the troublesome hostilities in the South
west, had been terminated, and peace given to
the young commun’ties, on the Kentucky and
Cumberland rivers, which commencing without
authority, were laying the foundations of future
great States. A domestic insurrection (that of
Western Pennsylvania) had been quelled, and
happily without bloodshed—the exhibition of a
large force, with Washington at its head, being
sufficient to forbid resistance, and a wise human
ity sparing all punishment. The new Govern
ment was solidly established, and amid difficul
ties which might have been insufferable under
any other President. Public credit, which had
sunk so low under the Confederation, had risen
to a high standard under the new Government,
and a general commercial and agricultural pros
perity pervaded tt>e land.
THE PRESIDENCY OF JOHN ADAMS.
The .\dmini.Htration of John Adams fell upon
difficult times, and involved the nece.ssity of meas
ures always unpopular themselves, and never more
so than at that time. The actual aggressions of
France upon our commerce, her threats of war,
and insults to our Ministers, required preparations
to be made for war; and these could not be made
without loans and laxes. Fifteen millions was the
required expenditure of the last year ofhisadmin-
tration; a large sum in that time, but almost the
whole of which went to three objects; the army
the navy, and the public debt. The support of
the Government remained at the moderate sum
which it had previously pre.sented, to wit, S560,-
000. The duties still remained moderate—
vdhrems, 10, 12i, 15 and 20 per centum; and
the latter more nominal than real, as it only fell
upon a few articles of luxury, of which the im
portation was only to the value of 8.‘>0,000. The
main levy fell upon the 10 and 12i per centum
clas.ses of which to the value of2*)i millions were
imported; of the 15 per centum class only 7§ mil-
liona were imported, and the average of the whole
was 18 per centum and a fraction. The specifics
were increased, but not considerably; and the cost
of collecting the whole was 4* per centum. Di
rect taxes and loans made up the remainder. The
whole amount collected from duties was about
10 millions; to the preci.se, 810,126,218; that is
to say nearly twenty times as much as the support
of the (lovernment comprehending every civil ob
ject required. The administration of Mr. Adams,
though condemned for extravagance, was strict
ly economical in support of the tiovernment,
ami in the collection of the revenue: the army and
the navy, those cormorant objects of expenditure,
brought the demands for money, which injured the
Administration.
This Abridgement of the Congressional debates
combined with Mr. Benton’s notes will furnish
almost a complete political history of the United
States since the adoption of the federal constitu
tion and will be an invaluable work of reference
for legislators, politicians and historians. It is
to be hopeil that nothing will occur to prevent its
completion.
Fafse Educntinn.—The early breaking down
into invalidism of our American women is the sub
ject of frequent remark. Our young maidens are,
as a class, beautiful but delicate, and hardly do
hosts of them get out of their teens before they
become more or less the victims of disease. Seve
ral of our contemporaries, we perceive, are calling
attention to one cause of this evil, viz: the over
working of girls at school. Where the blame of
this is to be laid we are not prepared to .say. We
doubt, however, whether it is all to be put at the
doors of teachers, for we have heard many of them
lament it, especially those having charge of public
schools. The docility, love of approbation and
emulation, quite characteristic of the sex, taken
in conncction with the early age at which they are
seated at the desk, and the early age at which
they are called from their studies, may account for
much of the error. Not only the acquisition of
the common branches of education, but likewise
the acqui.sition of accomplishment, is crowded into
a few years; and this, too, with a premature en
trance, oftentimes, into the excitements of society.
Natural consequences of this are headaches, crook
ed spines, disordered nerves, weak eyes, debility,
chronic complaints, that occasion more mischief,
moral as well as physical, than many may ima
gine. W’^hat must follow where the wife and
mother is the victim of ill health, can be easily
fancied. And how many instances there are of
this ill health traceable to the grievous mistakes
of parental vanity or thoughtlessness, in subject
ing mere children to the inevitable deleterious ef
fects of overtasking the brain, keeping to seden
tary pursuits, involving confinement, unnatural
positions, unrelieved by vigorous open-air exer
cise? This is not a subject on which it is our pro
vince, were we competent, to speak in detail. But
it is a subject which demands very serious con
sideration. It concerns the prosperity and hap-
pines.s of thousands. It concerns the comfort and
joy of numberless homes. It concerQs the cause
of humanity; inasmuch as the abuses alluded to,
threaten to bring on, in some respects, an alarming
degeneracy in posterity—and that posterity only
a generation or two behind us. The hosts of phy
sicians, the statistics of the death of infants, daily
occurring facts within the observation of every
one, are all indicative of a great wrong, which
threatens to produce bitter fruits, to disappoint
many of the hopes of a progressive and prosperous
civilization.—Boston Courier.
PIERCE’S PUNGENT PROVERBS.—.\PRIL FOOLS.
Considering what a natural tendency man has
to folly, it was a wise dispensation of popular
custom to limit the privilege of making fools of
our fellow crcatures to one day in the year. It
might however, have sprung from its being the
only day to spare, sincc men make fools of them
selves every day.
When the poet said, JaJcc rsf /Jeaiprre in torn,
he possibly might have been made a fool, on
some ancient first of April, by some little shaver
of the Augu.stan era, as he crawled in tmja to liis
Roman school! One day in a year to be made a j
fool of, is certainly getting off very lightly, al-1
though a man may commit cnoujrh folly in a^ay ]
to last him all his life, live ho as long as .Methu- i
saleh. Nay, a man may do as much hanging, '
marrying or speculating in an hour as will ruin :
him forever.
We have thus always considered April Fool ! . .
Da\’ an institution to be honored, as a debatcable ' created against its use; but when the researches
■ of Stephenson, Hodgkinson, and rairbairn,
IRON AS A BUILDING MATERIAL.
A resolution having been passed by the United
States Senate during its last .session, instructing
the Committee on Manufactures to inquire how far
it would be practicable and expedient for the
Government to employ iron as a building material
in the construction of the various public edifices,
a report has bcsen made highly favorable to its
extensive use for those purposes. In the opinion
of the committee few of the improvements and
discoveries of the age promise more important re
sults than the substitution of iron in the construc
tion of buildiiig.s for the materials heretofore em
ployed; and that “in beauty, durability, polish,
and susceptibility of ornamentation, it is .su
perior to every other material except marble.’' In
the infancy of iron constructions, the report says,
cast-iron w:is employed for beams and girders, and
failed, from its natural unfitness for the purpose
to which it was applied,* and a prejudice was thus
the
COMMUNICATIONS.
FOR THE OBSERVER.
space for the excrcise f>f wisdom, aggressive and
•lefensive.
Let us inquire what a genuine April fool really
is. Our dismal man defines him to be one who be
lieves what is toll! him on the day in question —
such as, if your wife swears she loves you for
your own virtues and not for the diamond rings
and cashmere shawls, or that .Mr. Jones has just
fallen down and broken his promise, or his leg,
or any other little commodity.
Our excellent friend Burkhardt was the victim
of one of these inventions last Fool day, b}' a boy
hardly bigger than the Doctor’s boots, crying, !
“Sir, you’ve dropt your tail!” Now it happened
that the worthy editor had a tule in his coat
pocket behind, which he had just finished for the
New York Dispatch, and instinctively feeling be
hind, to see if his package was safe, the boy natu* '
rally mistook the action, and nearly laughed his
buttons off.
A man, however, may be iuo wide awake—too
incredulous on this celebrated day, as our friend
Wild was, who got up one fir«t of April deter
mined not to be made a fool of. lie was rou.sed
from a witty article in the Daily News by the
fair Kate telling him that a gentleman from
Ohio was waiting to pay him some money at his
store; giving a knowing wink, he sent his compli
ments to the honest debtor, and begged him to
keep it till he came for it! Next morning he
found the Ohioian had taken him at his word,
and left a letter full of grateful thanks!
Not an hour after, our tall friend Shanghai,
who had made a similar vow of wisdom for this
one perilous day, was told that his coat tails were
on fire. “Let them burn!” he replied, chuckling
his fair Mrs. Applejax under the chin. In an
other minute the boarders had to roll him in the
rug to put him out, and the burnt remains of his
coat tails bDrc sad testimony to his wisdom!
Our excellent City Clerk, who is one of the
neatest dapper little figures in the world, paraded
the Jersey shores with a placard announcing,
“These spacious premises to let,” and Garry him
self walked about till dinner time with a bill on
his hat, “This vacant lot for sale—apply within.”
When a benevolent little boy went up to the
(/ity Father to tell him to look behind his hat, he
nearly got kickcd for his pains.
There is a description of April jokes which we
consider illegitimate. One of this kind was
played upon the Doctor last year. Some very
facetious fellows .sent him twelve tons of coal, in
separate carts, all of which wero dumped down
at his door, rendering the street impassable.
When, however, Mace, the undertaker, went to
measure him for a coffin, he considered the joke
assuming far too grave an aspect; and he succeed-
•1 in convincing Mace that he was far too lively
a corpse for rosewood yet.
We consider these as absurd hoaxes, not com
ing within the scope of th« original intention.
We also object to making bogus offers of marri
age to inflammable widows, under cover of an
April joke! We would rather play with a cam-
phene lamp than a widow,—not that we mean
they are both wicked things; but because we do
not like to play with flames!
The difficulty is to really discover what a fool
is! Nothing is more common than to hear one
man call another a fool; whicn means that he
does not think or act as he considers wise. But
what is ichr. in one is oth rwise in ar other! It is
wise, no doubt, for Jones to take Mrs. Jones to
the theatre, but it would be very unwise for
Smith to do it!
Brown called Robinson a fool for speculatino'
in
reference to the great tubular bridge over the
Menai Straits, had fully developed the appro
priate provinces of cast and wnmght-iron, and
when the successful erection of that bridge, fol
lowed by the crystal palaces in London and New
York, had fully demonstrated the adaptibility
and security of iron for building purpose.s, it only
remained to remove a few mechanical difficulties
in order to secure the general use of iron in all
first-class structures. One of the most formidable
difficulties encountered arose from the expensive
and contractile nature of the metal, causing a
displacement of materials with every change of
temperature; but it appears that this has been
wholly overcome.
By a cheap, .simple, and convenient process
lately invented, and by means of which the col
umns, beams, &c. are embedded in clay, or
.some other non-conductor of heat, they are com
pletely isolated, and no longer liable to the ex
pansion which rendered iron next to usele.ss as a
building material. Taking advantage of this in
vention, which, as above stated, is both simple
and cheap, your committee are informed that the
Secretary of the Treasury has lately contracted
for the erection of the marine hospital at New
Orleans wholly of iron. In the proposals issued
by the Secretary for bids for the erection of this
edifice iron was brought into competition with
brick; and the result discloses the fact that an
entire iron building, completely fire and lightning
proof, with a beautiful and elegant external iron
veneering, resembling in appearance the marble
veneering or facing of the Capitol extension, may
be erected in many localities cheaper than an edi
fice of common brick.
In the process here referred to clay-blocks or
plsc are inserted between the outward and inward
facings of the walls, by which the temperature
within is rendered comparatively equable at all
seasons.
Referring to the rapid increase in the use of
iron for building purpo.ses, (not less than 19,000,-
000 pounds having been used by the United
States Treasury Department alone, according to a
letter from Capt. A. II. Bowman, cngineer-in-
chief,) the committee express satisfaction at the
prospect that “an impulse will be given to the
iron trade which will largely increase the produc
tion, and at the .same time promote the prosperity
of this important branch of American industry.”
In a lecture delivered not long since by Mr.
Hewitt, a distinguished ironmaster, the consump
tion of iron was considered a.s the standard by
which the progress of civilization is measured. In
concluding their report the committee remark
that “the application of iron, even for partial pur
poses connected with the erection of our public
edifices of various kinds, has been made with en
tire success, so far as regards strength, economy,
and durability, and is a most important step in
developing this branch of our national industry
and putting it on a permanent basis, provided its
^ture growth is not impeded by any partial leg
islation to its disadvantatie.”
Messrs. Editors:—Your remarks In the .M„
day’s Observer, respecting the Taxes assessed
to be collected the present year to meet the inu
rest upon the Town Bonds, brings to mind .soj
observations made by you, through the sauu'
dium, one year since, commending the actk.n *^f
the then Board of Commissioners iu asscs.sinJ
Tax sufficiently largo to meet the interest uf ^
became due, and also to lay the foundation foV^
sinking fund for the redemption of the hoLl
when they came to maturity. Some of our • ''
zens then thought tho tax unnecessarily larit^'^*
the bonds were not disposed of; but the't—^
generally were freely paid, thinking that wk'
was not wanted to meet the interest, would h
vested in the sinking fund, and there left tf
cumulate until it was wanted. My object noV'-
to make some little inquiry respecting this
in^ fund; and to know who arc the sinkiug fn i
Commissioners? It is a matter of importance'^
our Town, and tax payers would be
have some light upon the subject
e i!i-
RAILROAD PROGRESS.
Some interesting facts in regard to this subject
are gathered from the annual report of the rail-
,road commissioners of New York:
“The first railroad constructed in the United
States was the Quincy road, built in 1827. The
first passenger railroad was the Baltimore and
Ohio, which was opened with horse power for
fifteen miles in 1830. The Mohawk and Hudson
river road was opened for public travel with horse
. ^1 I, * • 1 J • L If - , power in the summir of 1831. Locomotives were
^‘rg^dy tirst used in this country in 1831 on the Mohawk
,n,n tl.„ l..,rWr Th„ f,„., ,|,hough a nudsoD r»iIro.id, and in 188-2 upon the Bal-
“A smile; who will refuse a smile
The sorrowing breast to cheer?
And turn to love the heart of guile,
And check the falling tear?
A pleasant smile for every face.
Oh, ’tis a blessed thing!’
It will the lines of care erase,
And spots of beauty bring.’*
into the Parker vein! The fact
man may now and then, in the very arrogance of
wisdom say: “I was a fool to do so and so!” yet
he never means it It is much safer to consider
that every man’s definition of a fool is, “what
everybody else is, but which he can never be
himself!” In other words, every ?nan is his own
Solomon! But we must not trench upon egotism,
which is a distant relati(m of folly.
From our own experience we should say that
fools, whether April or the common year-day
fools, were happier than the philosophers, who,
after all, may be the prince of folly. To a sane
eye, what a fool Adam was to eat apples! or
Alexander the Great to cry for another world to
devastate! Julius Cuj.sar wrote himself down an
ass when he would sign Impcrator! Solomon,
writing books, tells terribly against his wisdom,
and the Queen of Sheba settled him! Oliver
Cromwell had much better have stuck to the
mashtub, instead of brewing storms of State.
Horace Greeley had been happier had he reinain-
timore and Ohio, and on the South Carolina rail
road. In 1828 there were but three miles of rail
road in the T.^nited States; now there are twenty-
one thousand five hundred miles! On comparing
the safety of railroad travelling on the roads of
this State with those of Great Britain, it is found
that for the last four years there were a greater
number of passengers killed and a less number
injured upon the roads of this State, in proportion
to the number carried, than upon those of Great
Britain. In this State one passenger was killed
out of every 1,262,165 who travelled, one either
injured or killed out of every 841,125. One
passenger was killed for every 47,164,426 miles
travelled, and one was either injured or killed
for every 12,747,142 miles travelled. Excluding
all the accidents growing out of the imprudence
and fault of the passengers themselves, it appears
that one was killed out of every 6,310,828 who
travelled, and one was either injured or killed out
of every 664,300.
Power of the Human Eye.—George Pitt, after
wards Lord Rivers, declared that he could tamo
the most furious animal by looking at it steadily.
Lord Spencer said. Well, there is a mastiff in the
court-yard here which is the terror of the neigh
borhood; will you try your power on him?"
ed on exhibition at Barnum’* as the white niwer, T'L Eieluding the accidents caus-
instead of getting up bleeding Kansas; ^ cd by their own carelessness or imprudence there
- o 55 r o xvas but one passenger killed for every 230,822,-
Dear reader, we cannot be too thankful, that 132 miles travelled, and but one either injured
we are not, like the rest of our fellow creatures, or killed for every 24,823,S82 miles travelled. A
liable to be made April fools of, at all events, for vast number more lives would have been lost if
nearly another year. j}jg game number of passengers had been convey
ed the same number of miles in one-horse wagons
or in the old fashioned four-hor.ie coaches.”
“7 ictVl yiv€ as much as Williams.”—And
W'illi ams, who is thus chosen as the standard of
contribution, is known to give as little as any
, member of the congregation; so that this is an
Pitt agreed to do so, and the company descended excellent mode of refusing to give for some cha-
to the court-yard. A servant held the mastiff by ^ ritable object, and at the same time retaining the
a chain. Pitt knelt down a short distance from ; credit of liberality. But who is Williams that
the animal and stared him sternly in the face, j you adhere so closely to him? Christ says we
They all shuddered. At a signal given the mas- i are to give from self-denying ability, and not ac-
tiff was let loose, and rushed furiously towards { cording to the deeds of others. Besides, you do
Pitt; then suddenly checked his pace, seemed ! not understand his accounts. He may really be
confounded, and leaping over Pitt’s head, ran | unable to give half as much as you think he should,
away, and was not seen for many hours after, j and he may have perfectly satisfactory reasons
During one of my vi.?its to Italy, while I was ^ . >
walking a little before my carriage, on the road
near Vienna, I perceived two huge dogs bound
ing towards me. I recollected what Pitt had
done, and, trembling from>head to foot, I yet
had resolution enough to stand quite still and
eye them with a fixed look. They gradually re
laxed their speed from a gallop to a trot, came
up to me, stopped for a moment and went back
again.—Rogers’s Table Talk.
The Beaufort Journal says that on board the
schr. Emily, which it will be remembered was
abandoned on a voyage from Charleston to Beau
fort, last winter, were two slaves owned in the
latter place. They, with the rest of the crew,
were taken to Liverpool, where they were at per
fect liberty to remain free, but they did not hes
itate in signifying their preference for home, and
have now returned to their duties in Beaufort.
for his conduct, which he does not think it neces
sary to disclose. And supposing him to give far
less than his ability; if you insist on reaching his
standard of contribution, you must also expect to
reach his standard of contractedness, and conse
quently be exposed, as he is, to God’s displeasure.
No, let W^illiams do as he plea.ses, do you act
as responsible for yourself to God. As it is,
when A breaks his arm, B looks around to see
how much C will give, thus showing a more libe
ral disposition with his neighbor's money than
with his own; thus almost every purse is closed
until C opens his, and consequently benevolent
enterprises languish and sometimes die, because
one stands looking at another. However, the
time is soon coming when you must surrender
every thing, and you would do well “to make
to yourse^ friends of the unrighteous mammon,
that when ye fail they may receive you into ever
lasting habitations.’’
to
pltMSeii In
By reterence
to a statement of tlie Town Treasurer, dan’v 1
’57, I find there was on haml at'that dur
84,744 24. Interest on bonds sold, due that
81425. Is that balance invested, as it shnulj C]
iu a sinking fund? Will our (Jity Fathers Cw?
promised to do so much for the benefit dt ^
Town) enlighten us? Tax time will so.u be^at
hand, and our citizens would be pleased to kuow
how our cash account stands. Let us have the
desired information before we are called upou ti.r
more. We pause for a reply. ’
This is written by no opponent of the work ti
of the tax; but by a warm friend of the former, itid
cheerful payer of the latter.
FOR THE OB.SERVER.
AMERICAN MKETING IN .MOXTGomkkv
Troy, April 8, Is.-,7
After a short notice, a large asseuihlatre of the
citizens convened in the Court House Tii,
Meeting was organized by the appoiiitm,nt oflif
J. H. Montgomery, Chairman, and ,Juhu S
Chambers, Secretary.
The Meeting being organized, on motion a com
mittee of three was appointed to draw up Ke.so
lutions expressive of tljc object and will of the
Meeting. The Committee consistins; of S H
Christian, David Bruton and Alvis Jordan hav
ing retired, the Meeting was ably entertained bv
-M. Q Waddell, Esq. ot Chatham, until their re
turn, when through their Chairman, they report
ed the following Preamble and Resolutions which
were unanimously adopted:
Whereas, We the people of Montgomery oountv
view with the deepest interest the importuDce of
the next Congressional election, and much regret
that our able representative the Hon. E
Reade has on account of ill health decliaeJ u re-
election.
Therefore Resolved, That the Chairman ap-
point twelve delegates to meet with other.-, up.
pointed from the several counties iu this Oou
gressional District, in a general Convention, anJ
nominate a Candidate to represent us in the uex’
Congress.
Resolved, That we recommend said Coiiveniinn
to be held in Graham, Alamance county, on tht
20th of May next.
The Chairmau then appointed the followitifr
delegates: S. II. Christian, E. G. L. Barringer, I'i-
lote Fry, D. S. Pemberton, John S. Chambers,
Jeremiah Luther, A. McLendon, Jesse Spencer,
C. J. Cochran, Zebedee Russell, E. J. Christian
and J. T. Bruton.
On motion, it was Resolved that copies of thwc
proceedings be forwarded to the Argus, Observer
and Register, with a request for their publicatiou.
J. H. MONTGOMERY, Chm'n
Jons S. Chambers, Sec’y.
The Bird and the Bee.—It happened once, in
a hot summer’s day, I was standing near a well,
when a little bird flew down seeking water. There
was, indeed, a large trough near the well, but it
was empty, and I grieved for a moment to think
that the little creature must go away thirsty; but
it settled upon the edge of the trough, bent it.«
little head forward, then raised it again, spread
its wings, and soared away singing; its thirot wa>
appeased. I walked up to the trough, and there,
in the stone-work, I saw a little hole about the
size of a wren’s egg. The water held there had
been a source of revival and refreshment; it had
found enough for the present and de,>*ired no
more. This is contentment. Again, I stood by
a lovely, sweet-smelling flower, and there came
a bee, humming and sucking; and it chose the
flower for its field of sweets. But the flower bad
no honey. This I know for it had no nectary
What then, thought I, will the bee do? It
came buzzing out of the cap to take a further
flight; but it spied the stamina full of golden fa
rina, good for making wax, and it rolled its legs
against them until they looked like yellow hose,
as the bee-keepers says; and then, heavily laden,
flew away home. Then said I: “Thou earnest
seeking honey, and finding none hast been satis
fied with wax, and hast stored it for thy house,
that thy labor may not be in vain. This, like
wise, shall be to me a lesson of contentment ”
The night is far spent, the dark night of trouble,
that sometimes threatened to close around us;
but the day is at hand, and even in the night
there are stars, and I have looked out on them
and been comforted; for as one set I could always
see another rise, and each was a lamp showing
me somewhat of the depth of the riches of the
wisdom and knowledge of God.
The Retort Courteous.—Chesterfield was at a
rout in France where Voltaire was one of the
guests. Chesterfield seemed gazing about the bril
liant circle of ladies. Voltaire accosted him: “My
Lord, I know you are a judge: which are the most
beautiful, the English or the French ladies.''
“Upon my word, replied Chesterfield, with his
usual presence of mind, “I am no judge of paint
ings.” Some time‘afterwards, Voltaire being in
London, happened to be at a nobleman’s party with
Chesterfield; a lady in the company, prodigiously
rouged, directed her whole discourse to Voltaire,
and engrossed his whole conversation. ChestertieU
came up, tapped him on the shoulder and said-
—“Sir, take care that you are not captivated.
“My Lord,” replied the French wit, “1 scorn to
be taken by any English craft under French
colors.”
Capt. John Alline, aged 78 years,—a hero of
the last war with Great Britain, to whom the cit
izens of Boston many years ago presented a val
uable sword for services therein,—was married
on the 19th of March in Harrington, Maine, to
Miss Joanna Strout, aged 73 years. Capt. A re
sides in Brookline, Maine.
The N. O. Courier of the 4th inst., says,
flowers are gladdening us in profu-se abundance,
and strawberries are quite plentiful, with no lacK
J other fruit—such as plums of home growth, and
nanas, oranges, &c., from yet more Southerly
climes. Vegetation generally, is rapidly assuming
a summer luxuriance.
A Superscription.—A day or two since the
Treasurer of the United States received a letter
on public business with the following superscrip
tion, written evidently, in dead earnest.
“You night E D Stats Treser.”