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occasion of which we speak, not less than two hundred and sixty men were assembled, armed, and determined to carry into effect such mad principles. The officers of the law were resisted-and the sheriff in cold blood murdered. For this the grand jury of the county, instead of imitating the reprehensible laxity of their neighbours, indicted and caused the arrest of over one hundred persons, charged with murder and crimes of the highest magnitude; they were tried impartially, two were sentenced to be hung, and thirteen to be incarcerated in the state's prison for terms of seven years and upwards. The punishment of those condemned to death was afterwards commuted by the governor to imprisonment for life. This prompt exercise of power combined with mercy-together with some liberal changes made in the policy of the wealthier land owners, has restored harmony to the excited districts.

The calamity of fire again swept through the country. In Pittsburgh, Pa., not less than twenty-five squares of the city, containing near eighteen hundred buildings, were in one fell conflagration destroyed. A number of lives were lost, and hundreds of families who had conceived themselves to be beyond the reach of want, were in a day rendered homeless and destitute. It is true that aid was liberally extended to the sufferers by their sympathizing fellow-citizens; and neighbouring cities in public assemblages offered such palpable condolence as will, in all probabliity, soon enable the desolated township to resume its former creditable and prosperous condition.-Hardly had the public sympathies returned to their wonted quietude, when a new and unlooked-for infliction visited NewYork. The people of that city were in July of this year painfully awakened from their dream of security against any extensive devastation by fire. It was then proved, at a most deplorable cost, that their bountiful supply of water did not afford any absolute protection against the desolating element. A fire broke out near the scene of the former conflagration in that city, which destroyed, besides a number of lives, over three hundred buildings, and property to the amount of between six and seven millions of dollars. On the occasion of this calamitous occurrence, the corporation of the city appointed a scientific committee of inquiry to ascertain whether saltpetre would explode or not-but the question still remains a mooted one.—In Philadelphia, also, irreparable damage was done, by the ruthless application of an incendiary torch to the Academy of Fine Arts. Many rare and valuable productions of artists now numbered with the dead, were destroyed.-Quebec was next visited by the scourge, and thirteen hundred houses were prostrated.

The statistics of manufactures, show a gross amount of capital invested throughout the Union of between three and four hundred millions of dollars. Perhaps the following is as correct a table, exhibiting the apportionment among the different branches of business, as can be given.

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A statement of the value of commerce of the states for the year:

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17,306

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5,687

80,784

262,229

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31,137

Dist. of Columbia, 29,056

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176,980

33,384

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Total, $100,162,087 $104,691,534

The men who passed away this year, were General Andrew Jackson, in Tennessee, Æ 78; also, Hon. J. H. Peyton and D. W. Dickinson. Senator Bates and Hon. L. Saltonstall, of Mass. General Dawson, of La., and Douglass Houghton, of Mich. Prof. Ware, of Harvard college, and Roger M. Sherman, of Ct. At Princeton, N. J., Prof. Dod. In Hatfield, Ct., Oliver Smith, leaving $600,000 for benevolent purposes. In Cambridge, Mass., Judge Story. In New-York, Rev. Dr. Milnor, of St. George's church; also, Dr. Mallison, Prof. of electro-magnetism. In Philadelphia, Commodore Elliott. By loss of the Swallow, on the Hudson river, 14 persons were drowned: and by explosion of the Big Hatchee, on the Missouri, from 20 to 30 were killed or scalded.

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A. D. 1846.-The most exciting topic of public interest, at the commencement of this year, was the adjustment of the Oregon boundary. This subject, which had been in agitation for the last two or three years, now demanded a permanent adjustment, and with this understanding, full powers were given by the British government to Mr. Pakenham, minister plenipotentiary at Washington, to open negotiations with the secretary of state. Both governments at first claimed the whole territory west of the Rocky Mountains, extending as far north as 54° 40', and from the determined expressions made use of on either side, as well as the belligerent character of the debates in congress and parliament, serious difficulties were apprehended in settling the respective claims.

A proposal from the government of the United States to compromise the matter, by making the degree of 49 the boundary, without conceding that part of Vancouver's Island south of that line, or the free navigation of the Columbia, was rejected by the British minister, and a counter-compromise offered on the part of the latter, met with a similar reception at the hands of the government. The following treaty was finally concluded between Mr. Pakenham and the Secretary of State, and having been ratified by both governments, this threatening question was at length put to

rest:

PROTOCOL.

A Conference was held at the Department of State on the 6th of June, 1846, between Honourable James Buchanan, Secretary of State, the American Plenipotentiary, and Right Hon. Richard Pakenham, the British Plenipotentiary, when the negotiation respecting the Oregon Territory was resumed. The British Plenipotentiary made a verbal explanation of the motives which had induced her Majesty's Government to instruct him to make another proposition to the Government of the United States for the solution of these long-existing difficulties. The Secretary of

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State expressed his satisfaction with the friendly motives which had animated the British Government in this endeavour.

Whereupon, the British Plenipotentiary submitted to the Secretary of State the draught of a convention, setting forth the terms which he had been instructed to propose to the Government of the United States for the settlement of the Oregon question."

JAMES BUCHANAN,
RICHARD PAKENHAM.

THE TREATY.

Convention between the United States of America and Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, concluded at Washington, the 15th of June, 1846.

The United States of America and her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, deeming it to be desirable, for the future welfare of both countries, that the state of doubt and uncertainty which has hitherto prevailed respecting the sovereignty and government of the territory on the Northwest coast of America, lying Westward of the Rocky or Stony Mountains, should be finally terminated by an amicable compromise of the rights mutually asserted by the two parties over said territory, have respectively named Plenipotentiaries to treat and agree concerning the terms of such settlement; that is to say, the President of the United States of America has, on his part, furnished with full powers, James Buchanan, Secretary of State of the United States, and her Majesty, the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, has, on her part, appointed Right Honourable Richard Pakenham, a member of her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, and her Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States, who, after having communicated to each other their re-spective full powers, framed in good and due form, have agreed upon and concluded the following articles :

ART. 1.--From the point on the 49th parallel of North latitude, where the boundary laid down in existing treaties and conventions between Great Britain and the United States terminates, the line of boundary between the territories of her Britannic Majesty and those of the United States shall be continued Westward along the 49th parallel of North latitude to the middle of the channel which separates the Continent from Vancouver's Island, and thence Southerly through the middle of the said channel, and of Fuca Straits, to the Pacific Ocean; provided, however, that the navigation of the said channel and straits, south of the 49th parallel of North latitude, remain free and open to both parties.

ART. 2.-From the point at which the 49th parallel of North latitude shall be found to intersect the great Northern branch of the Columbia river, the navigation of the said branch shall be free and open to the Hudson's Bay Company, and to all British subjects trading with the same, to the point where the said branch meets the main stream of the Columbia, and thence down the said main stream to the ocean, with free access into and through the said river or rivers, it being understood that all the usual portages along the line thus described, shall in like manner be free and open. In navigating the said river or rivers, British subjects, with their goods and produce, shall be treated on the same footing as citizens of the United States; it being, however, always understood that nothing in this article shall be construed as preventing, or intended to prevent, the Government of the United States from making any regulations respecting the navigation of the said river or rivers, not inconsistent with the presen treaty

ART. 3.-In the future appropriations of the territory south of the 49th parallel of North latitude, as provided in the first Article of this Treaty, the possessory rights of the Hudson's Bay Company, and of all British subjects who may be already in the occupation of land or other property lawfully acquired within the said territory shall be respected.

ART. 4.—The farms, lands, and other property of every description, belonging to the Puget's Sound Agricultural Company, on the north side of the Columbia River, shall be confirmed to the said Company. In case, however, the situation of those farms and lands should be considered by the United States to be of public and political importance, and the United States Government should signify a desire to obtain possession of the whole or of any part thereof, the property so required shall be transferred to the said Government at a proper valuation to be agreed upon between the parties.

ART. 5.-The present Treaty shall be ratified by the President of the United States by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, and by her Britannic Majesty; and the ratification shall be exchanged at London at the expiration of six months from the date hereof, or sooner if possible.

În witness thereof, the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the seals of their arms.

Done at Washington, the fifteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-six.

JAMES BUCHANAN,
RICHARD PAKENHAM

IN SENATE. [CONFIDENTIAL.]

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The resolution to ratify the Treaty was passed by the following vote. YEAS.—Messrs. Archer, Ashley, Bagby, Barrow, Benton, Berrien, Calhoun, Chalmers, Thomas Clayton, John M. Clayton, Colquitt, Corwin, Crittenden, Davis, Dayton, Ďix, Evans, Greene, Haywood, Houston, Huntingdon, Johnson of Maryland, Johnson of Louisiana, Lewis, McDuffie, Mangum, Miller, Morehead, Niles, Pearce, Pennybacker, Phelps, Rusk, Sevier, Simmons, Speight, Turney, Upham, Webster, Woodbridge, and Yulee-41.

NAYS.-Messrs. Allen, Atchison, Atherton, Breese, Bright, Cameron, Cass, Dickinson, Fairfield, Hannegan, Jenness, Semple, Sturgeon, and Westcott-14.

Mr. Jarnagin of Tennessee alone declined to vote, on account of instructions. The Senate was full.

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The difficulty with Great Britain having been thus finally adjusted, and the political horizon in that quarter cleared off, attention began to be turned once more to the south, where a dark and threatening cloud, which had long been gathering there, was about to burst in a storm of war. The causes which led to this event, which has cost so much blood and so many sacrifices to two sister republics, and whose consequences in the future can scarcely be over-estimated, ought to be impartially and succinctly narrated, so as to serve for permanent reference.

If we would study the proximate causes of the war with Mexico, we must go back to the banks of the Danube and the early days of the AngloSaxon, and observe the steady, iron-like grasp of his fingers upon possessions and territories not his own. The instincts of races never die out, any more than those of individuals. Both have their different periods of activity and phases of development; but they do not cease but with the life of the possessor. Without seeking either to censure or applaud this spirit, it is enough that we can clearly trace its operation through the vhole history and life of the Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-American race

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down to the present moment, when our pioneers, stimulated by the recent successes in Mexico, are extending themselves over the Sierra Madre, and preparing to play over again the game of Texas and California. Nature, who seems never to gift a man or a species with an instinct without at the same time granting the best means for obtaining its gratification, has not neglected this rule in the case of the Anglo-Saxons. Hardy and enduring beyond all other races, endowed with an incredible endurance and an inexhaustible energy, they never turn back upon a pleasing prospect where once they have fixed their gaze, and never yield to reverses, however severe or crushing. On the other hand, the modern Mexicans are, as it were, the debris of a degraded and enfeebled race-degenerated by intermixture with the inferior blood of African and Indian, and demoralized by a long course of indolence and political corruption. Both physically and morally they are the very antithesis of the Anglo-American. They are as weak as he is strong; they bluster where he sets his teeth and goes onward in silence; they run where he fights; they starve in the midst of abundance, while he knows how to pluck wealth and prosperity from rocks and sterile plains.

4

Such, a few years ago, were the two principal peoples inhabiting the continent of North America. Between them, and occupying the whole space between the river Sabine and the Rio Grande, lay an immense ter ritory, almost unoccupied by man. Nominally under the rule of Mexico, yet it was so remote from the central power, and that power itself was so feeble, that it might still fairly be classed as belonging to the unsettled and savage portions of the globe. With the exception of a few poor and decrepit towns on the east bank of the Rio Grande, and here and there a little village in the interior, the whole territory contained no indications of civilization or of Mexican rule. Even the aborigines themselves seemed to have become decayed and almost extinct. The Camanches of the north, and a few small wandering tribes, were all that remained to dispute the soil with the bold and unflinching Anglo-Saxon.

Such was the state of things when a number of land speculators, one of the principal of whom was Stephen Austin, seeing the inevitable tendency of northern immigration to the west and south, obtained large grants of lands in Texas from the Mexican government, which soon led to an immigration to the new territory, which went on rapidly, accelerated by its own impetus, and which in a few years had created a public opinion, and was sufficiently numerous to feel itself authorized to petition the Mexican congress for admission as a separate state of the confederacy. The Mexican government, recently overturned by Santa Anna, paid no attention to this petition; and Stephen Austin, who was its bearer to the city of Mexico, wrote a letter home, advising his fellow Texans to organize a state government despite the Mexican authorities. This letter was intercepted by Santa Anna's government, and Austin, shortly after his return, arrested and conveyed back to the city of Mexico, where he was imprisoned a year in solitary confinement.

This at once roused the indignation and the vengeance of the AngloAmericans in Texas, as well as a large body of sympathizers in the United States, bound to the Texas adventurers by the ties of blood, acquaintanceship, or, at least, congeniality of feeling and character.

The

It is curious here to observe, that the pretext made by the Texans was, that the Mexican government had committed an outrage on the right of petition-a right which all freemen hold sacred, and are ever ready to protect with their lives; but that, in fact, this was not the case. Mexican government did not imprison Austin for having presented a petition, but for having written a letter, which, as affairs then stood, was an act of treason to the government of Mexico, to which he professed allegiance. This was the commencement of a series of similar mistakes.

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