ELECTORAL VOTES FOR PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT.

On the 14th of February, 1849, the senate and house of representatives of the United States assembled in joint meeting to ascertain and declare the electoral vote of the several states, Hon. George M. Dallas, Vice President of the United States, presiding, the following result was obtained on opening the certificates:

List of votes for President and Vice President of the United States for four years, commencing March 4, 1849.

30,482 31,363

N. Carolina
S. Carolina

Alabama

Electors chosen by the legislature; voted for Gen. Cass.

39,287 43,232

37,740 26,084

Indiana

Illinois

Missouri

Michigan

Wisconsin

13,747 15,001

Iowa

11,084 12,093

Arkansas

7,588 9,300

Florida

4,539 3,238

Texas

3,770 8,695

69,907 74,745 8,100 70,181 67,887 2,106
53,047 56,300 15,774 57,920 45,528 3,570
32,671 40,077
41,324 31,250

23,940 30,687 10,389 27,759 24,337 3,632

10,418 Admitted since 1844.

1,126 Do. do. do.
9,546 5,504
Admitted since 1844.

Do. do. do.

(ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.)

MEMOIR OF GOVERNOR BELCHER.

One of the most distinguished of the provincial governors appointed for America, during the reign of Charles the Second, was Governor BELCHER, a native of Boston, who was for ten years governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and afterwards, for nearly as long a period, governor of New Jersey. Prince, in a strain of adulation, perhaps too common in all times from men of letters to persons in authority, dedicates to him his Annals; and the celebrated Dr. Watts, on hearing that Mr. Belcher had been invested by the king with the government of Massachusetts, addressed to him a poem, concluding in the following strain of panegyric:—

"Go, Belcher, go, assume thy glorious sway;
Faction expires, and Boston longs to obey.
Beneath thy rule may truth and virtue spread,
Divine religion raise aloft her head,

And deal her blessings round. Let India hear
That Jesus reigns, and her wild tribes prepare
For heavenly joys. Thy power shall rule by love;
So reigns our Jesus in the realms above.
Illustrious pattern! Let him fix thine eye,
And guide thy hand. He from the worlds on high
Came once an envoy, and returned a king;
The sons of light in throngs their homage bring,
While glory, life, and joy beneath his sceptre spring.

99

JONATHAN BELCHER, the only son of the honourable Andrew Belcher, and grandson of Andrew Belcher, who came from England in 1640, and settled soon after at Cambridge, was born in Boston, on the 8th of January, 1682. His father was born in Cambridge, 19th of January, 1647, and removed to Boston in 1677. He became the most opulent merchant of his time in Boston, and is mentioned as "an ornament and blessing to his country." He was for some years an assistant of the colony, and was one of the council of safety appointed by the people on the occasion of the deposition of Andros in 1689. He was afterwards a member of the council of the province, from May, 1702, until 31st of October, 1717, when he died, at the age of 70 years. His son received the best education which the country afforded, and graduated at Harvard College, in 1699, in a class distinguished for talents and character.

Mr. Belcher did not incline to enter upon professional studies, and soon after leaving college, commenced business as a merchant in Boston.

To extend his business and correspondence, as well as to reap the advantages of foreign travel, he went to Europe in 1704, spent several years in England and on the continent, where he became known to many eminent characters, and received the highest marks of their esteem. Returning to Boston in 1710, he enlarged his business, and was generally successful in his commercial enterprises. He also became an active politician, and a candidate for public honours. He represented his native town in the provincial assembly, and was afterwards a member of the council. In this body he became distinguished for his activity and devotion to the interests of the province. He had been, from his entrance into public life, the intimate associate of Governor Shute, and an advocate of the measures pursued by him, and followed up by his successor, Governor Burnet. These measures were unsatisfactory to the people, who generally returned a majority of the assembly opposed to the governor. Perceiving no smooth road to preferment in this direction, Mr. Belcher, with that facility which has distinguished a certain class of politicians in later times, suddenly changed his ground, and joined the party in opposition to Governor

Burnet.

Mr. Belcher's commanding abilities and popular manners were circumstances that operated in his favour, and in 1731, he was chosen as the agent of the province to repair to the court of George II. On the 28th of May, 1729, while Mr. Belcher was making his arrangements to proceed to London, the assembly sent up to Governor Burnet for approval, the list of counsellors and assistants at that time chosen. The governor approved of all but two; one of the two being Mr. Belcher, who was designated by the governor as "a leader of the opposition." Belcher soon after left for England. There he represented to the king the true situation of the province, and in particular, the general opposition which existed among the people to the establishment of a fixed salary for the governor, in whose appointment they were permitted to have no choice. While in England, Mr. Belcher was also appointed an agent for the colony of Connecticut, and rendered important services at a time when they were apprehensive of the loss of their charter. After his return to Massachusetts, the legislature of Connecticut voted him the thanks of the colony, and sent a committee to Boston to congratulate him on his appointment as go

vernor.

The spirit of resistance which the people of Massachusetts manifested against the instructions to Governor Burnet, gave great offence in England, and for a time the government seriously contemplated measures which would subject them to a still more absolute dependence on the crown than that of which they complained. But Mr. Belcher being on the ground, and being supported by a strong interest at court, aided also by that of the former Governor, Shute, who generously waived his own claims, the English government determined on appoint

ing him to the office of governor, rendered vacant by the sudden death of Burnet. They supposed that being a native of Massachusetts, and acquainted with the temper and wishes of the people, Governor Belcher 'would have influence enough to conquer the opposition by carrying the favourite point of a fixed salary, which the assembly had so long resisted. On the other hand, the people, whose agent he had been, were also gratified at his appointment, believing that he would not perplex the legislature by pressing those instructions which had occasioned so much difficulty with his predecessors. In this, however, they were soon undeceived.

Governor Belcher arrived at Boston on the 10th of August, 1730, and at his first meeting with the general court, proposed to have his salary established and provided for by the province, according to the instructions accompanying his commission, which were precisely like those given to his predecessors. He could scarcely have adopted a more unpopular course, and yet it was one which, bound as he was by the royal instructions, he could hardly avoid. The prominent leaders among the people, who until this time had been the warmest friends of Governor Belcher, now became his opponents. They at first dissembled their opposition, and attempted to avoid altercation; but when he refused his assent to a bill which they had passed for his support, they assumed a bolder attitude, and he found them not to be moved by his arguments or persuasions, but resolutely bent on supporting the views of former legislatures. The governor, anxious to avoid further collision, finally induced the assembly to apply for such a modification of the royal instructions as to permit him to receive their grants from time to time, and thus the controversy was ended.

In Governor Belcher's commission was included the government of New Hampshire; and on the 25th of August, he met the assembly of that province at Portsmouth. Here he at first accepted an invitation, and resided at the house of the Lieutenant-governor, Wentworth; but soon became his enemy, from the following circumstance. While Belcher was in England, and when it was uncertain whether he or Shute would be appointed to succeed Burnet, lieutenant-governor Wentworth, like some politicians of more modern schools, anxious to secure the friendship of the successful competitor, wrote complimentary letters both to Shute and Belcher. This coming to the knowledge of the latter while in Portsmouth, he resented it as an act of duplicity, and reproached Mr. Wentworth in severe terms, and refused to visit him. Nor did his resentment stop here. He limited Wentworth's compensation to certain fees and perquisites amounting to about fifty pounds sterling a year; and removed some of Wentworth's connexions from office, to make way for his own friends. Atkinson, who married a daughter of

The news of Gov. Burnet's death reached London on the 24th of Oct., 1729, and the appointment of Gov. Belcher was announced on the 29th of November following. The royal commission, however, bears date of the 28th of January, 1730.