It will be seen that we assume the probable permanence of our own constitutions, and ascribe to this circumstance much of the force, which our example is to have, in accelerating the march of reform. We know it is a favorite idea with some, that these constitutions have not been put to the test. But why not? Several of them, in their great features, are near two centuries old. It is true, till 1775, we were under a colonial superintendence; but we do not think the Crown did any thing by way of promoting the permanence of our institutions. It neither kept the peace by an armed force, nor supplied, by a paternal administration, any supposed deficiency in the colonial institutions of government. On the contrary, we were traversed and embarrassed, at every step, by ungracious and unfriendly foreign interference. Since the revolution, we have certainly passed through a series of political changes, of a nature adapted to put the stability of our institutions to the severest test. It is sometimes said, that the abundance of vacant land operates as the safety valve of our system. Be it so; and we may promise ourselves, for centuries, all the security derived from this source. Rapidly as our population increases, it must be centuries before North-America is full. But it must not be too hastily inferred, that the strength and efficiency of our forms of government, have been tried only, over a very thin population. Massachusetts has a population of seventy-eight to a square mile. The average population of Europe is but sixty-six to the square mile. We know that our Massachusetts population is any thing but crowded; and the idea that a radically different form of government would be required, if our population should be, like that of England, thrice as dense as it is now, will seem to us, on this side of the water, the merest chimera. On the whole, we believe that the first leaves only of the book of revolutions, we had almost said revelations,-are opened for Europe. God grant, as its successive seals are broken, that dispensations, not of confusion and bloodshed, but of peace and improvement, may diffuse their blessings over its inhabitants. SONNET. ON SEEING A FLOWER GATHERED FROM JULIET'S TOMB. LADY! Sweet victim of imperial Love! Who welcomed Death to share a husband's grave, From human hearts, a sigh! Heaven's airs above In requiem, the flowers that o'er thee wave! To hang their offerings of flowers, and grieve A. TO MARY. I WISH I had a casket, Love, of jewels rich and rare ;— The sapphire and the emerald, where rainbow beauty lingers, But I'd choose, of all my jewels, Love, the richest and the best, And then, around thy slender waist, I'd clasp the sparkling sheen Yet, Mary, would thy clear blue eye, amid this wealth of light, A BRIEF FAREWELL. PAST Year, farewell! Beneath the solemn pall, I see Time's lengthening shadows darkly fall Around thy grave,—and, like a mourner, keeping His vigil in some solitary hall, Through which the dirge-like wind of night is sweeping, On the dimmed glory of departed days. Go to thy rest upon the eternal plain; For countless multitudes will shortly pass, Of centuries, that ofttimes in a train, Like sceptered kings, o'er memory's magic glass, Before my vision glide. Once more farewell to thee; P. B. MONTHLY RECORD. JANUARY, 1832. POLITICS AND STATISTICS. UNITED STATES. Congress. The twenty-second Congress assembled at the Capitol in Washington on the 5th of December, and is composed of the following members. Senate. Maine, John Holmes, Peleg Sprague; New-Hampshire, Samuel Bell, Isaac Hill; Vermont, Horatio Seymour, Samuel Prentiss ; Massachusetts, Daniel Webster, Nathaniel Silsbee; Rhode-Island, Ashur Robbins, Nehemiah R Knight; Connecticut, Samuel Á. Foote, Gideon Tomlinson; New-York, Charles E. Dudley, William L. Marcy; Pennsylvania, George M. Dallas, William Wilkins; New-Jersey, Mahlon Dickerson, Theodore Frelinghuysen; Delaware, Arnold Naudain, John M. Clayton; Maryland, Samuel Smith, Ezekiel F. Chambers; Virginia, John Tyler, Littleton W. Tazewell; North-Carolina, Bedford Brown, Willie P. Mangum; South-Carolina, Robert Y. Hayne, Stephen D. Miller; Georgia, George M. Troup, John Forsyth; Kentucky, George M. Bibb, Henry Clay; Tennessee, Felix Grundy, Hugh L. White; Ohio, Benjamin Ruggles, Thomas Erving; Indiana, Robert Hanna, William Hendricks; Illinois, Elias K. Kane, John M. Robinson; Louisiana, Josiah S. Johnston, George A. Waggaman; Alabama, William R. King, Gabriel Moore; Mississippi, Powhatan Ellis, George Poindexter; Missouri, Thomas H. Benton, Alexander Buckner. House of Representatives. Maine, John Anderson, James Bates, George Evans, Cornelius Holland, Leonard Jarvis, Edward Kavanagh, Rufus McIntyre; New-Hampshire, John Brodhead, Thomas Chandler, Joseph Hammons, Henry Hubbard, Joseph M. Harper, John W. Weeks; Massachusetts, John Quincy Adams, Nathan Appleton, Isaac C. Bates, George N. Briggs, Rufus Choate, Henry A. S. Dearborn, John Davis, Edward Everett, George Grennell, Jr., Joseph G. Kendall, John Reed, (two vacancies;) Rhode-Island, Tristam Burges, Dutee J. Pearce; Connecticut, Noyes Barber, William W. Ellsworth, Jabez W. Huntington, Ralph I. Ingersoll, Wiliam L. Storrs, Ebenezer Young; Vermont, William Cahoon, Horace Everett, Jonathan Hunt, William Slade, (one vacancy;) New-York, William A. Angel, Gideon H. Barstow, Joseph Bouck, William Babcock, John T. Bergen, John C. Broadhead, Samuel Beardsley, John A. Collier, Bates Cook, C. C. Cambreleng, John Dickson, Charles Dayan, Ulysses F. Doubleday, William Hogan, Michael Hoffman, Freeborn G. Jewett, John King, Garret Y. Lansing, James Lent, Job Pierson, Nathaniel Pitcher, Edmund H. Pendleton, Edward C. Reed, Erastus Root, Nathan Soule, John W. Taylor, Phineas L. Tracy, Gulian C. 10 VOL. II. Verplanck, Frederick Whittlesey, Samuel J. Wilkin, Grattan H. Wheeler, Campbell P. White, Aaron Ward, Daniel Wardwell; NewJersey, Lewis Condict, Silas Condit, Richard M. Cooper, Thomas H. Hughes, James F. Randolph, Isaac Southard; Pennsylvania, Robert Allison, John Banks, George Burd, John C. Bucher, Thomas H. Crawford, Richard Coulter, Harmar Denny, Lewis Dewart, Joshua Evans, James Ford, John Gilmore, William Heister, Henry Horn, Peter Ihrie, Jr., Adam King, Henry King, Joel K. Mann, Robert McCoy, Henry A. Muhlenburg, T. M. McKennan, David Potts, Jr., Andrew Stewart, Samuel A. Smith, Philander Stephens, Joel B. Sutherland, John G. Watmough; Delaware, John J. Milligan; Maryland, Benjamin C. Howard, Daniel Jenifer, John L. Kerr, George E. Mitchell, Benedict Í. Semmes, John S. Spence, Francis Thomas, George C. Washington, J. T. H. Worthington; Virginia, Mark Alexander, Robert Allen, William S. Archer, William Armstrong, John S. Barbour, Thomas T. Bouldin, Nathaniel H. Claiborne, Robert Craig, Philip Doddridge, William F. Gordon, Peter Johnson, John Y. Mason, Lewis Maxwell, Charles F. Mercer, William McCoy, Thomas Newton, Joseph W. Chinn, Richard Coke, Jr., Thomas Davenport, John M. Patton, John J. Roane, Andrew Stevenson; North-Carolina, Daniel L. Barringer, Lauchlín Bethune, John Branch, Samuel P. Carson, Henry W. Connor, Thomas H. Hall, James J. McKay, Abraham Rencher, William B. Shepard, Augustin H. Shepperd, Jesse Speight, Lewis Williams, (one vacancy ;) South-Carolina, Robert W. Barnwell, James Blair, Warren R. Davis, William Drayton, John M. Felder, J. R. Griffin, Thomas R. Mitchell, George McDuffie, William T. Nuckols; Georgia, Thomas F. Foster, Henry G. Lamar, Daniel Newman, Wiley Thompson, Richard H. Wilde, James M. Wayne, (one vacancy ;) Kentucky, John Adair, Chilton Allan, Henry Daniel, Nathan Gaither, Albert G. Hawes, Richard M. Johnson, Joseph Lecompte, Chittenden Lyon, Robert P. Letcher, Thomas A. Marshall, Christopher Tompkins, Charles A. Wickliffe; Tennessee, Thomas D. Arnold, John Bell, John Blair, William Fitzgerald, William Hall, Jacob C. Isaacs, Cave Johnson, James K. Polk, James Standifer; Ohio, Joseph H. Crane, Elutheros Cooke, William Creighton, Jr., Thomas Corwin, James Findlay, William W. Irvin, William Kennon, Humphrey H. Leavitt, William Russel, William Stanberry, John Thomson, Joseph Vance, Samuel F. Vinton, Elisha Whittlesey; Louisiana, H. A. Bullard, Philemon Thomas, Edward D. White; Indiana, Ratliff Boon, John Carr, Jonathan McCarty; Mississippi, Franklin E. Plummer; Illinois, Joseph Duncan; Alabama, Clement C. Clay, Dixon H. Lewis, Samuel W. Mardiz; Missouri, William H. Ashley. Delegates. Michigan, Austin E. Wing; Arkansas, Ambrose H. Sevier; Florida, Joseph M. White. Mathew St. Clair Clark was re-appointed Clerk of the House of Representatives by resolution. Upon balloting for a Speaker, 195 votes were taken, 98 of which were necessary for a choice. Andrew Stevenson, of Virginia had 98, Joel B. Sutherland, of Pennsylvania, 54, John W. Taylor, of New-York, 18, Charles A. Wickliffe, of Kentucky, 15, Lewis Condict, of New-Jersey, 4, scattering 6. Mr. Stevenson was accordingly elected Speaker. Executive Message. On the ensuing day, the President transmitted his Message to Congress. It is neither so long nor so elaborate as the Messages of late years, but it treats of the usual topics, and is, perhaps, as little liable to exception from political criticism, as any of the documents emanating from the same source. The President states that arrangements have been made with GreatBritain, relative to our claims upon that government, which have been productive of mutual good feelings. One of these, which he mentions, is the Treaty regulating the intercourse with the Colonies. This trade employed, up to the 30th of September, upwards of 30,000 tons of American, and 15,000 tons of foreign shipping in the outward voyages, and nearly an equal amount of American, and about 20,000 tons of foreign shipping in the return voyages. Advantages, however, have resulted to our agriculture," which may prove more than equivalent" to the injuries sustained by our commerce, on account of this treaty. Respecting the claims of our citizens upon France, which have lately been settled by Treaty, the President says: "The French government engage to pay a sum which, if not quite equal to that which may be found due to our citizens, will yet, it is believed, under all circumstances, be deemed satisfactory by those interested. The offer of a gross sum, instead of the satisfaction of each individual claim, was accepted, because the only alternatives were a rigorous exaction of the whole amount stated to be due on each claim, which might, in some instances be exaggerated by design, in others overrated through error, and which therefore it would have been both ungracious and unjust to have insisted on, or a settlement by a mixed commission, to which the French negociators were very averse, and which experience in other cases had shown to be dilatory, and often wholly inadequate to the end. A comparatively small sum is stipulated on our part to go to the extinction of all claims by French citizens on our Government; and a reduction of duties on our cotton and their wine has been agreed on, as a consideration for the renunciation of an impor tant claim for commercial privileges under the construction they gave to the Treaty for the cession of Louisiana." A special messenger has been sent to the Spanish government with instructions to press the settlement of our demands, notwithstanding the unfriendly tone of that court. A special minister, Mr. Nelson, of Maryland, has also been sent to Naples and the Sicilies, for the purpose of urging our claims for indemnity upon those governments. We have, also, unsettled demands upon the Government of Portugal, for spoliaade of Terceira. The friendly dispositions committed during the late blocktion of that power, supposed to be manifested by the reduction of the duty on our Rice, induces the belief that they will be attended to at an early day. The Treaty with the Porte, which was ratified by the Senate during the last session, has been accepted by the Sul tan. In regard to our commercial operations with other parts of the world, the Message states that an armed vessel has been sent to require satisfaction for the plunder of one of our vessels at Sumatra; our treaty with Mexico has not been ratified by that government, owing to the unsettled state of the country; indemnity has been stipulated by the Colombian Government, for illegal seizures of American property, and the duties on our Flour have been reduced; we have an unsettled claim upon the Brazilian Regency, for the destruction of property during the excesses consequent upon the abdication of the Emperor; and our trade with the Falkland Islands has been interrupted by a party acting, as they asserted, under the authority of the Government of Buenos Ayres. Having given a satisfactory exposition of our foreign relations, the President recommends a revisal of our consular laws, as necessary to their better operation. It is stated that, since the last annual message, Treaties have been made which extinguish the Indian titles in Ohio. It is confidently expected, also, that one half, or two thirds of the Cherokees will emigrate. Those who prefer remaining, says the Message, "will hereafter be governed by the laws of Georgia, as all her citizens are, and cease to be the objects of peculiar care, on the part of the General Government. 'It is confidently believed," that "the present policy of the Government" will soon extinguish all Indian claims within the United States. 66 With regard to the Finances, the Message says "The revenue received in the present year will not fall short of twenty-seven millions, seven hundred thousand dollars; and the expenditure for all objects, other than the public debt, will not exceed fourteen millions seven hundred thousand. The payment on account of the principal and interest of the debt, during the year, will exceed thirteen millions and a half of dollars; a greater sum than has been applied to that object, out of the revenue, in any year since the enlargement of the sinking fund, except the two years following immediately thereafter. The amount which will have been applied to the public debt from the 4th of March, 1829, to the 1st of January next, which is less than three years since the administration has been placed in my hands, will exceed forty millions of dollars. "From the large importations of the present year, it may be safely estimated that the revenue which will be received into the treasury from that source during the next year, with the aid of that received from the public lands, will considerably exceed the amount of the receipts of the present year; and it is believed that with the means which the Government will have at its disposal, from various sources, which will be fully stated by the proper Department, the whole of the public debt may be extinguished, either by redemption or purchase, within the four years of my administration. We shall then exhibit the rare example of a great nation, abounding in all the means of happiness and security, altogether free from debt." In consequence of this prosperous condition of the Finances, the Message recommends "a modification of the Tariff, which shall produce a reduction of our revenue to the wants of the Government, and an adjustment of the duties on imports with a view to equal justice in relation to all our national interests, and to the counteraction of foreign policy, so far as it may be injurious to those interests." The Message calls the attention of Congress again to the Government debtors, and to certain defects in the law of the last session in relation to them; and recommends a modification of all laws for enforcing the payment of debts due to the United States, or individuals suing in the United States Courts, in such a manner as to restrict the imprisonment of persons to cases of fraud. An amendment to the Constitution, giving the election of President and Vice-President entirely to the people, and limiting the service of the former to a single term, is recommended again, by a reference to former messages, and it is again intimated that members of Congress ought to be disqualified from receiving an office at the hands of the President. An extension of the Judiciary system is again proposed, in order to give the Western States the benefits of a Circuit Court; but the subject of the United States Bank is left to the discussions of the people. $30,100,000 00 $13,365,202 16 The expenditures for the next year, not including the public debt, are estimated at Which being deducted from the estimated receipts, will leave a balance in the treasury of $16,734,797 84 A letter from the Secretary of the Treasury contains the following estimates of the appropriations necessary for the service of the year 1832, amounting to $11,551,154 38, viz: Civil list, foreign intercourse, and miscellaneous, Military service, including fortifications, armories, ordnance, Indian affairs, revolutionary and military pensions, and internal improvement, Naval service, including the marine corps, $2,407,065 65 5,736,470 02 3,407,618 71 |