He notices the greater productiveness of the tariff of 1846, notwithstanding the predictions to the contrary, and recommends a continuance of it, as equally beneficial to the people and the treasury. He also recommends the constitutional treasury, to which he attributes an exemption from that inflation of the currency which the heavy import of the precious metals would otherwise have caused.

He strongly urges the adoption of a system for the certain and early reduction of the debt, and suggests a reduction in the minimum price of such public lands as have long remained unsold.

In the notice of some particulars relative to the departments of War, Navy, and Post-Office, he states, that within the last four years eight treaties had been made with Indian tribes, by which, for the sum of 1,842,200 dollars, 18,500,000 acres of land had been regained, and that with some insignificant exceptions, the title to all the Indian lands within the limits of the existing territories has been extinguished; that in the course of another year there would be not less than 17 war-steamers afloat, which in time of peace will be employed in the transportation of the mail. The importance of a line of steamers from New York to Chagres, and from Panama to California and Oregon, is pointed out: the success of the policy of low postage has been so great, that a further reduction is recommended.

Something less than two-thirds of the Message having been given to customary and official topics, the remainder is a dissertation on the true construction of the federal Constitution, which, he thinks, denies to congress the power to establish banks; or a protective tariff; or a system of internal improvements; or to distribute among the states the proceeds of the public lands; and he concludes by giving his reasons for refusing his sanction to two bills (for internal improvements,) and with an elaborate defence of the exercise of the executive veto on the ground of expediency no less than of constitutionality.

Without offering any opinions on these important topics-we take the liberty of remarking, that they are all questions on which the two great parties of the United States are divided; that the doctrines urged by the President are those which are most strenuously maintained by most of the democratic party to which he belongs; and that they are as strenuously opposed by nearly all the whig party; and that, if the election of Mr. Polk as President may be regarded as a sanction to those doctrines by a majority of the people, the election of General Taylor may be with equal propriety regarded as the disapprobation and rejection of them by a more recent popular majority; but we consider all such inferences unwarranted, for the reasons already stated.

On the 11th of December, Mr. Douglas of Illinois introduced a bill for the admission of the newly acquired territories of California and New Mexico into the union, and to be entitled to two representatives until the next census. This admission of a new state before it had passed through the probationary course of a territorial government,

was prompted by the wish to get clear of the question of slavery in the new territories, on which two great divisions of the states were directly opposed and apparently unchangeably fixed. . . It soon, however, appeared that there was as little probability of evading the question as of settling it.

This agitating subject was presented to the House of Representatives in a new form. On the 18th of the month, Mr. Giddings, of Ohio, obtained leave to introduce a bill to give the people of the District of Columbia an opportunity of expressing their sentiments on the question of abolishing slavery in the district; and in answer to inquiries as to the persons who were to be permitted to vote on the question, he promptly replied, that the bill meant to comprehend both whites and blacks, bond or free, between whom he knew no difference on this question; a motion to lay the bill on the table was carried by 105 votes against 77.

On the 21st, a resolution offered by Mr. Gott of N. Y., instructing the committee on the District of Columbia to bring in a bill prohibiting slavery in the district, was passed in the house, by a decided vote of 98 to 87. These movements on the part of the anti-slavery members, produced a great sensation among the members of the slaveholding States, and a few days afterwards a meeting was called of these members, at which 68 attended. Resolutions in vindication of their rights were offered, but were not finally acted on, and the meeting was postponed for further deliberation. Subsequent meetings were held, and their final action will be stated in our next number.

The question of slavery and that of aiding in providing a communication by railroad across the Isthmus of Panama, were the only measures of importance brought before congress during the month of December, and the last appeared as little likely as the first to be brought to a successful termination.

MEXICO.

The armies of the United States had scarcely left the Mexican Territory before the civil dissensions from which that ill-fated country has been never free, broke out into open war. Political rivals contended for power with arms, and some frontier states already formed schemes of independence. Herrera, who had been elected President in the preceding May, was supported by Bustamente; and Paredes, who opposed him, was the friend of Santa Anna, who was still in exile-Paredes was finally defeated, and saved himself by flight. The new President had now to contend with the difficulties of an empty treasury, a precarious revenue, a mortified and discontented people. He seems to have met them, however, with firmness and prudence. Under the relaxation of the laws, and the interruption to regular industry, numbers had taken to highway robbery, and the frontier States were harassed by incursions of the Indians. One of his first measures was to establish three military colonies on the frontier; one at Tamaulipas and Cho

lula, another at Chihuahua, and a third at Sonora and Lower California. The three millions of dollars received from the United States, afforded a very seasonable, though temporary relief.

On the 6th of June, President Herrera officially informed the President of the United States of his election, to which Mr. Polk answered on the 9th of August, in a letter of congratulation, with the expression of sentiments of amity, and a desire for the continuance of peace between the two nations. The suspense in which the treaty, after it was amended by the United States, remained in Mexico, had doubtless caused the delay of Mr. Polk's answer. On delivering it, Mr. Clifford, the American minister, took occasion to make a brief address to President Herrera, in which he enforced the friendly sentiments expressed by President Polk.

Immediately after the Congress of the United States adjourned, rumours were afloat that an expedition was in preparation in the United States against Sierre Madre, in Mexico, for the purpose of forming an American settlement, with a view to its future annexation to the United States, and to disguise its purpose, it was got up under the pretext of a great Buffalo Hunt. The government, on hearing of this lawless scheme, lost no time in taking steps to arrest it at once. The Secretary of State, Mr. Buchanan, immediately directed the District Attorney of the United States in Texas, to prosecute all enlistments and other measures contrary to the act of Congress respecting military enterprises against nations at peace with the United States, and Mr. Mason, the Secretary of the Navy, instructed the naval commander on that station to prevent the execution of such enterprise. It was of course abandoned.

About the same time, schemes were formed in the State of Tamaulipas, especially in Tampico, and also, it is said, in the States of Vera 'Cruz, Cohahuila, and Nuevo Leon, to separate from the Mexican confederacy, and some of the agitators had the further object of annexation to the United States, and were probably connected with the projected enterprise called "The Buffalo Hunt." But this restless spirit, enkindled by the war, has already effervesced, and under the restoration of law and order, is not likely to revive. Much, however, remains to be done to effect that restoration. The Indians on the frontier are still troublesome-the highways are still infested by banditti-the revolt in Sierra Madre is not yet quelled-and Santa Anna still has his partisans who desire his recall. The Congress too sees ruin before it, without reducing and regulating its tariff, by which the revenue would be increased, and the government finds it very difficult, if not impracticable, to borrow $800,000 at 1 per cent. per month on the credit of the $3,000,000 which the United States is to pay to Mexico in 1849.

Under these circumstances, the future of this fine country is involved in gloomy uncertainty.

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Yucatan, which had withdrawn from' the Mexican confederacy, has, since the peace with the United States, received aid from the Mexican government, and is now recognised as one of the Mexican states, but the war between the whites and the Indians, in which each party has alternately prevailed, still rages with its original fierceness and barbarity. A regiment of volunteers under the command of Col. White, which was permitted to go to the assistance of the whites, has had several severe encounters with the Indians. On the 24th December, a detachment about 300 strong, under Lieut. Col. Besancon, engaged a large body of Indians at Tihosuco. The Indian force was estimated at six or eight thousand. Capt. Kelly and Lieut. Campbell were severely wounded. The next morning, (Christmas day) the action was resumed, Col. White being now in command. The Indians were driven back several miles through a constant rain, when the Americans, having expended their ammunition, returned to Tihosuco, with a loss of thirtyeight in killed and wounded. Lieut. I. H. Gallagher was among the killed. On the 27th, Col. White marched for Tela, an Indian town, six leagues distant. The road was barricaded in many places, and the Indians made a desperate resistance; but after a hard day's work and much fighting, the Americans reached the town and burnt it. They lost, on this day, eight men killed and wounded.

A still more decisive battle was expected with the celebrated chieftain, Pat, who is represented to be in great force near Bacala, a port on the bay of Honduras.

GUATEMALA.

This southern neighbour of Mexico, and the largest of the states of Central America, having separated from the other four, in March of the preceding year, has been ever since the scene of political contests, and of civil war. A part of the population in the mountainous districts, following their example, formed themselves into an independent state. The late president, Cabrera, having resigned, Don Juan Antonio Martinez has been elected in his place, and there is some reason to hope that under his auspices, the confederacy of Central America will be re-established as it was. Their federal government was modelled upon that of the United States, but the population of the five states is less than two millions, of whom, more than two-fifths are Indians, and two more fifths are of mixed races, called there hadinos.

VENEZUELA.

The contest between the two parties, of which Monagas heads one, and Gen. Paez the other, appears to be nearly terminated. Monagas being in the possession of the power and resources of the government, had so far succeeded, as to compel Paez to leave the country. In September last, the latter went to the Dutch Island of Curaçoa, off the coast, where

he remained, while his whole fleet had possession of the fine harbour afforded by lake Maracaybo, ready to take him back to Venezuela, as soon as the expected ascendency of the constitutional party should offer him the promise of success, or an addition to his fleet would give him the superiority at sea. The two fleets, then nearly equal, engaged on the 13th December, and the result was disastrous to Paez. On the 31st, a still more decisive action took place. The insurgents, to the number of 1200, were surprised by the government troops, at a place called San Carlos on the river Zulia, and after a lively combat of four hours, were defeated. The steamer Buena Vista, with several feluccas and piroques belonging to the Paez party, were captured-Among the prisoners taken, were three sons of Paez. Congress was to meet on the 20th January, when Monagas intended to announce the pacification of the Republic.

BUENOS AYRES.

Montevideo, the only part of the republic of Uraguay, or Banda Oriental, that had not submitted to the victorious arms of Rosas, had not surrendered on the 16th of September. The city has been sustained by a subsidy from the French government of $40,000 a month. Rosas continues to defy the intervention of the English and French, and makes heavy exactions from both for affording them the benefits of a commerce with Buenos Ayres.

FRANCE.

The insurrection of June, which had sacrificed so many lives, both on the part of the insurgents and the government, and filled the friends. of the revolution every where with alarm and anxiety, afforded ample occupation to the national assembly, and the new administration under General Cavaignac. Their purpose was to punish the offenders; to make provision for the sufferers; and to investigate the causes and circumstances of the insurrection so indicative of military skill, and so marked by daring valour and unappeasable ferocity.

The punishment decided on by the national assembly was transportation. In the month of July, it decreed that such of the prisoners as should be proved to have taken part in the insurrection should be transported to some distant French colony, Algeria being excluded, and that their wives and children should be permitted to accompany them. It was also decided to abolish the national work-shops; to close the political clubs for the time; to disarm the insurgent quarters of Paris; to maintain a force in the city of 50,000 men, and to interdict anti-social and anarchical publications.

In proposing the abolition of the work-shops, General Cavaignac stated to the assembly that the number of workmen engaged in the insurrection did not exceed 50.000; and as the whole number employed amounted to 105,000 or 106,000, less than one-half were actually en