Ayes.—Messrs. Baldwin, Benton, Bright, Cass, Chase, Clarke, Clay, Cooper, Davis of Mass., Dayton, Dickinson, Dodge of Wisconsin, Dodge of Iowa, Douglas, Ewing, Felch, Frémont, Greene, Gwin, Hale, Hamlin, Houston, Jones, Norris, Seward, Shields, Spruance, Sturgeon, Underwood, Wales, Walker, Whitcomb, and Winthrop—33.
Nays.—Messrs. Atchison, Badger, Barnwell, Bell, Berrien, Butler, Davis of Mississippi, Dawson, Downs, Hunter, King, Mangum, Mason, Morton, Pratt, Sebastian, Soulé, Turney, and Yulee—19.
It was taken up in the House of Representatives on the 15th and passed by a vote of 124 to 47.
By the action of Congress during the past month, therefore, bills have been passed upon all the topics which have agitated the country during the year. The bill in regard to the Texas boundary provides that the northern line shall run on the line of 36° 30' from the meridian of 100° to 103° of west longitude—thence it shall run south to the 32d parallel of latitude, and on that parallel to the Rio del Norte, and in the channel of that river thence to its mouth. The State of Texas is to cede to the United States all claims to the territory north of that line, and to relinquish all claim for liability for her debts, &c., and is to receive from the United States as a consideration the sum of ten millions of dollars. The law will, of course, have no validity unless assented to by the State of Texas. No action upon this subject has been taken by her authorities. Previous to the passage of the bill, the Legislature of the State met in special session called by Governor Bell, and received from him a long and elaborate message in regard to the attempt made, under his direction, to extend the laws and jurisdiction of Texas over the Santa Fé district of New Mexico, and to the resistance which he had met from the authorities of the Federal Government. After narrating the circumstances of the case, he urges the necessity of asserting, promptly and by force, the claim of Texas to the territory in question. He recommends the enactment of laws authorizing the Executive to raise and maintain two regiments of mounted volunteers for the Expedition. A bill was introduced in conformity with this recommendation; but of its fate no reliable intelligence has yet been received.—A resolution was introduced into the Texas Legislature calling upon the governor for copies of any correspondence he might have had with other states of the Confederacy, but it was not passed. A letter has been published from General Quitman, Governor of Mississippi, stating that in case of a collision between the authorities of Texas and those of the United States, he should deem it his duty to aid the former.—Hon. Thos. J. Rusk, whose term as U.S. Senator expires with the present session, has been re-elected by the Legislature of Texas receiving 56 out of 64 votes. He voted in favor of the bill of adjustment, and his re-election by so large a majority is looked upon as indicating a disposition on the part of the authorities to accept the terms proposed.—Both Houses of Congress have agreed to adjourn on the 30th of September.
Intelligence from the Mexican Boundary Commission has been received to the 31st of August, on which day they were at Indianola, Texas. There was some sickness among the members of the corps, but every thing looked promising.—Hon. William Duer, member of Congress from the Oswego District, New York, has declined a re-election, in a letter in which he vindicates the bills passed by Congress, and earnestly urges his constituents not to encourage or permit any further agitation among them of questions connected with slavery. Hon. E.G. Spaulding, from the Erie District, and Hon. George Ashmun, of Massachusetts, also decline a re-election.—Captain Ammin Bey, of the Turkish Navy, arrived at New York on the 13th, in the United States ship Erie, being sent out by his Government as special Commissioner to collect information and make personal observations of the character, resources, and condition of the United States. He is a gentleman of ability, education, and experience and has been employed by his Government on various confidential missions. He was the secret agent of Turkey on the frontiers of Hungary during the recent struggle of that gallant people with Austria and Russia. He has been warmly received here, and enjoys every facility for prosecuting the objects of his mission. Congress has appropriated $10,000 toward defraying the expenses of his mission.—Hon. A.H.H. Stuart, of Virginia, has been appointed Secretary of the Interior, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Mr. M'Kennan. He has accepted the appointment and entered upon the duties of the office. Mr. M'Kennan resigned on finding, from an experience of a day, that his health was not adequate to the performance of the duties of the place. Mr. Stuart has been a member of Congress, where he was universally recognized as a man of ability, assiduity, and character.—Mr. Conrad, of Louisiana, on accepting the office of Secretary of War, addressed a letter to his constituents, explaining and justifying the course he had taken in Congress. He said that opinions on the subject of the extension of slavery might be classified as follows: 1. There are those who seek, through the direct agency of the Federal Government, to introduce slavery into this territory. 2. Those who wish, by the same means, to prevent this introduction. 3. Those who resist any interference with the question by the Federal Government, and would leave to the inhabitants of the country the exclusive right to decide it. He claims to belong to the latter class. The Union, he says, is too [pg 703] great a blessing to be staked upon any game of hazard, and the prolongation of the controversy upon the subject of slavery, he deems in itself a calamity “It alarms the South and agitates the North; it alienates each from the other, and augments the number and influence of those who wage an endless war against slavery, and whom this discussion has raised to a political importance which, without it, they never could have attained.”—Dr. Henry Nes, member of Congress from the Fifteenth District of Pennsylvania, died at his residence in York on the 10th.—Several American citizens residing in Paris, having observed in the London papers an account of a gross insult said to have been offered to Hon. Mr. Barringer, United States Minister at Madrid, by General Narvaez at Naples, wrote to him, assuring him of the cordial response upon which he might count to such measures of redress as he should choose to adopt. Mr. Barringer replied by declaring the whole story to be false in every particular. In all his personal and official intercourse with him, he says, General Narvaez had been most courteous and respectful.—An election for state officers was held in Vermont on the first Tuesday of September, which resulted in the choice of Charles R. Williams (Whig) for Governor, and the re-election of Hon. Messrs. Hebard and Meacham to Congress, from the Second and Third Districts. Thomas Bartlett, jun., Democrat, was elected in the Fourth District, and no choice was effected in the First.—Professor J.W. Webster was executed at Boston on the 30th of August, pursuant to his sentence, for the murder of Dr. Parkman. He died with great firmness and composure, professing and evincing the most heartfelt penitence for his crime.—Intelligence has been received of the death of the Reverend Adoniram Judson, D.D., who is known to all the world as the oldest and one of the most laborious missionaries in foreign lands. He left the United States for Calcutta in 1812, and has devoted the whole of his life since that time to making Christianity known in Burmah. He translated the Bible into the language of the country, besides compiling a Dictionary of it, and performing an immense amount of other literary labor in addition to the regular preaching of the gospel and the discharge of other pastoral duties. He returned to this country in 1847, and married Miss Emily Chubbuck, with whom he soon returned to his field of labor. His health for the past few months has been gradually declining, and during the last spring it had become so seriously impaired that a sea voyage was deemed essential to its restoration. He accordingly embarked on board the French bark, Aristide Marie, for the Isle of Bourbon, on the 3d of April; but his disease made rapid advances, and after several days of intense agony, he died on the 12th, and his body was committed to the deep on the next day. Dr. Judson was attached to the Baptist Church, but his memory will be held in the profoundest veneration, as his labors have been cheered and sustained, by Christians of all denominations. He was a man of ability, of learning, and of intense devotion to the welfare of his fellow-men.—Bishop H.B. Bascom, of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, died at Louisville, Ky., on the 8th of September, after an illness of some months' continuance. He was in many respects one of the most influential and distinguished members of the large denomination to which he belonged. He enjoyed a very wide reputation for eloquence and was universally regarded, by all who ever heard him, as one of the most brilliant and effective of American orators. His person was large and commanding, his voice sonorous and musical, and his manner exceedingly impressive. His style was exceedingly florid, and elaborate, and his discourses abounded in the most adventurous flights of fancy and imagination. He shared the merits and the faults of what is generally and pretty correctly known as the Southern and Western style of eloquence, and always spoke with great effect. His labors in the service of the church have been long, arduous, and successful. He has exerted a wide influence and has exerted it in behalf of the noblest and most important of all interests. His death occasions profound and universal regret.—John Inman, Esq., favorably known to the country as a literary man, and as editor of the New York Commercial Advertiser, died at his residence in New York, on the 30th of August, after a lingering illness of several months. Mr. Inman was educated for the bar, and practiced law for some years in New York; but left the profession for the more congenial labors of literature. He was engaged for some years upon the New York Mirror, and soon after became associated with Colonel Stone, in the editorial conduct of the Commercial. Upon the death of that gentleman in 1847, Mr. Inman became the principal editor, and held that post, discharging its duties with ability, skill, and unwearied assiduity, until failing health compelled him to relinquish it during the last spring. He wrote frequently for the reviews and magazines, and sustained confidential relations, as critic and literary adviser, to the house of Harper and Brothers. He was a man of decided talent, of extensive information, great industry and of unblemished character. He died at the age of 47.
The most exciting event of the month has been the arrival of the celebrated Swedish vocalist, Jenny Lind. She reached New York in the Steamer Atlantic on the 1st of September, and was received by a demonstration of popular enthusiasm which has seldom been equaled in this country. More than twenty thousand people gathered upon the wharf where she landed, and crowded the streets through which she passed. She gave her first concert at Castle Garden, in New York, on the evening of the 12th, and this was rapidly followed by five others at the same place. The number of persons present on each occasion could not have [pg 704] been less then seven thousand. The receipts on the first night were about thirty thousand dollars, and Jenny Lind immediately bestowed ten thousand upon several of the worthiest charities of New York City. The enthusiasm which she excites seems fully justified not more by her superiority as an artist than by her personal qualities and character. Of her life a brief but spirited sketch, from the graceful pen of her distinguished countrywoman, Miss Bremer, will be found in another part of this Magazine. Her charities are already well known and honored wherever there are hearts to glow at deeds of enlightened benevolence. A young woman, who has not yet seen thirty years, she has already bestowed upon benevolent objects half a million of dollars, not inherited or won at a throw, but the fruit of a life of severe and disheartening toil, and has appropriated to the benefit of her native country the profits which she will reap from the willing soil of America. As an artist she has powers which are met with but once or twice in a generation. Her voice is in itself a wonder, and unlike most wonders is beautiful to a degree which causes those who come under its influence to forget surprise in pleasure. It is compared to all things beautiful under the sun by those whose grateful task it is to set its attractions forth in detail: to the flood of melody from the nightingale's throat, to light, to water which flows from a pure and inexhaustible spring. We shall be content to say that it appears to us almost the ideal of a beautiful sound. It would puzzle the nicest epicure of the ear, we think, to say in what respect he would have its glorious quality modified. He might object possibly at first to the slightest shade of huskiness which appears sometimes in its lower tones, or to an equally slight sharpness in the very highest, but if he listened long he would surely forget to object. The purely musical quality of Jenny Lind's voice is its crowning charm and excellence, in comparison with which its great extent, brilliance, and acquired flexibility are of but secondary worth. Its lowest tone can be felt at a distance and above, or rather through, all noisy obstacles and surroundings, whether they be vocal or instrumental. Another of its chief charms is its seeming inexhaustibility. It pours forth in a pellucid flood of sound, and always produces the impression that there is more yet, amply more, to meet all the demands of the singer.
M'lle Lind's vocalization is to the ordinary ear beyond criticism. Her intended effects are so completely attained, and attained with such apparent ease and consciousness of power, that the hearer does not think of questioning whether they could be better in themselves or better performed, but gives himself up to this unalloyed enjoyment. Her intervals are taken with a certainty and firmness which can not be attained by an instrument, so nicely, so rigidly accurate is her ear, and so absolute is her power over her organ. Her abilities have been best displayed in the first aria sung by the Queen of Night in Mozart's Zauberflöte, and by a taking Swedish Herdsman's Song. In the former she vocalizes freely above the lines for many bars, and in one passage takes the astonishing note F in alt. with perfect intonation. In the latter, which contains some very difficult and unmelodic intervals, her performance is marked with the same ease and accuracy which appear in her simplest ballad, and the effect of echo which she produces is to be equaled only by Nature herself. M'lle Lind's shake is probably the most equal and brilliant ever heard. There are some critics and amateurs who object to her manner of delivering her voice and to her unimpassioned style; but although these objections seem to have no little weight, their consideration would involve a deeper investigation of questions of pure Art than we are at present prepared for, and are content to offer our homage, with that of the rest of the world, to the Genius and Benevolence which are united in her fascinating, though, we must say, not beautiful person.
The Gallery of the American Art-Union was re-opened for the season in New York on the 4th of September, Jenny Lind honoring the occasion by her presence. The collection is unusually large and excellent. It already numbers over 300 pictures, several of which are among the best productions of their authors. The number and variety of works of art to be distributed among the members at the coming anniversary will be greater than ever before. The rapid and wonderful growth of this institution is in the highest degree honorable to the country, and affords marked evidence of the energy and spirit with which its affairs have been conducted. We understand that the subscription list is already larger by some thousands than ever before at the same time.
The Literary Intelligence of the month is devoid of any features of startling interest. G.P.R. James, Esq. has commenced in Boston a series of six Lectures upon the History of Civilization, and will probably repeat them in New York and other American cities. The subject is one with which Mr. James has made himself familiar in the ordinary course of his studies for his historical novels; and he will undoubtedly bring to its methodical discussion a clear and sound judgment, liberal views, and his characteristic felicity and picturesqueness of description and narrative. The lectures are new, and are delivered for the first time in this country.—All who are interested in Classical Education will welcome the appearance of the edition of Freund's Lexicon of the Latin Language, upon which Professor Andrews has been engaged for several years. The original work consists of four octavo volumes, averaging about 1100 pages each, which were eleven years in passing through the press, viz., from 1834 to 1845. By the adoption of various typographical expedients, such as adding another [pg 705] column to the page, and using smaller type, the whole will be comprised in a single volume, an improvement which, while it diminishes the cost, adds greatly to the convenience with which it may be used. This Lexicon is intended to give an account of all the Latin words found in the writings of the Romans from the earliest times to the fall of the Western Empire, as well as those from the Greek and other languages. The grammatical inflexions, both regular and irregular, of each word, are accurately pointed out; and the etymologies are made to embrace the results of modern scholarship in that department as specifically applicable to the Latin language, without invading the proper province of comparative philology. To the definitions, as the most important department of lexicography, particular attention has been given; and the primary, the transferred, the tropical, and the proverbial uses of words are carefully arranged in the order of their development; the shades of difference in the meanings and uses of synonymous terms are pointed out. Special attention has been given to the chronology of words, i.e., to the time when they were in use, and they are designated accordingly as belonging to all periods of the language, or as “ante-classic,” “quite classic,” “Ciceronian,” “Augustan,” “post-Augustan,” “post-classic,” or “late Latin,” as the case may be. The student is also informed whether a word is used in prose or poetry, or in both, whether it is of common or rare occurrence, &c, &c.; and each of its uses is illustrated by a copious selection of examples, with a reference in every instance to the chapter, section, and verse where found. To those familiar with the subject, this brief description of the work will suffice to show its vast superiority over every dictionary of the Latin language at present in use among us, and how much may be expected in aid of the cause of sound learning from its introduction into our seminaries and colleges. It will appear from the press of the Harpers very soon.—“The History of the United States of America, from the adoption of the Federal Constitution to the end of the Sixteenth Congress, in three volumes,” is the title of a new work by Mr. Hildreth, whose three volumes, bringing down the history of the United States to the adoption of the Federal Constitution are already favorably known to the public. The present volumes, the first of which is already in press, are intended to embrace a fully authentic and impartial history of the two great parties of Federalists and Republicans, or Democrats, as they were sometimes called, by which the country was divided and agitated for the first thirty years and upward subsequent to the adoption of the Federal Constitution. The volume now in press is devoted to the administration of Washington, a subject of great interest and importance, since, during that period, not only were all the germs of the subsequent party distinctions fully developed, but because the real character and operation of the Federal Government, from that day to this, was mainly determined by the impress given to it while Washington remained at the head of affairs. This subject, treated with the candor, discrimination, industry, and ability which Mr. Hildreth's volumes already published give us a right to expect, can hardly fail to attract and reward a large share of public attention.—An Astronomical Expedition has been sent out by the United States Government to Santiago, Chili, for the purpose of making astronomical observations. It is under the charge of Lieut. J.M. Gillis, of the Navy, one of the ablest astronomers of his age now living. The Chilian Government has received the expedition with great cordiality, and has availed itself of the liberal offer of the United States Government to admit several young men to instruction in the Observatory, by designating three persons for that object. Letters from Lieut. G. show that he is prosecuting his labors with unwearied zeal and assiduity—having, up to the 1st of June, catalogued nearly five thousand stars. Humboldt, in a letter to a friend, which has been published, expresses a high opinion of Lieut. Gillis, and of the expedition in which he is engaged. In the same letter he speaks in warm terms of the great ability and merit, in their several departments, of Ticknor, Prescott, Fremont, Emory, Gould, and other literary and scientific Americans.
From California our intelligence is to the 15th of August, brought by the steamer Ohio, which reached New York on the 22d ult. The most important item relates to a deplorable collision which has occurred between persons claiming lands under titles derived from Capt. Sutter, and others who had taken possession of them and refused to leave. Capt. Sutter held them under his Spanish grant, the validity of which, so far as the territory in question is concerned, is disputed. Attempts to eject the squatters, in accordance with the decision of the courts, were forcibly resisted at Sacramento City on the 14th of August, and a riot was the result, in which several persons on both sides were killed, and others severely wounded. Several hundred were engaged in the fight. As this occurred just upon the eve of the steamer's departure, the issue of the contest is unknown. There is reason to fear that the difficulties to which it gives rise may not be very soon or very easily settled. Among those killed were Mr. Bigelow, Mayor of Sacramento City, Mr. Woodland, an auctioneer, and Dr. Robinson, the President of the Squatter Association.—The news from the mines continues to be encouraging. In the southern mines the dry season had so far advanced that the Stanislaus and Tuolumne rivers were in good working condition, and yielded good returns. Details are given from the various localities showing that the gold has been by no means exhausted. From the northern mines similar accounts are received.—The total amount received for duties by the Collector at San Francisco from [pg 706] November 12, 1849, to June 30, 1850, was $889,542.—During the passage of the steamer Panama from San Francisco to Panama the cholera broke out, and seventeen of the passengers died. It was induced by excessive indulgence in fruit at Acupulco.—Rev. Horatio Southgate D.D., formerly Missionary Bishop at Constantinople, has been chosen Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church for the Diocese of California.—In Sonora the difficulties which had broken out in consequence of the tax on foreign miners had been obviated, and order was restored.—Mining operations are prosecuted with the greatest vigor and energy, and were yielding a good return. Companies were formed for carrying on operations more thoroughly than has been usual, and new locations have been discovered which promise to be very fertile.