PUBLISHED MONTHLY, AT FIVE DOLLARS PER ANNUM-THOMAS W. WHITE, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR.

VOL. IX.

RICHMOND, JANUARY, 1843.

EXTRACT FROM AN UNPUBLISHED POEM.

BY E. B. HALE.

I.

'Twas an Autumn's eve-with the sick man's groan,
As he writh'd in torturing pain,
Came the solemn dirge-so dreary and lone-
Of the autumn wind, and its spirit-like moan,
And its sad and desolate strain.

II.

And the yellow leaves, all sere and dry,
As the hollow wind flew past,

In a funeral march, went rustling by,
With the notes of grief and many a sigh,
As they rode the pitiless blast.

III.

And thro' the bows of the willow tree
That stood by the good man's door,
The wild winds danced with furious glee,
And sung their songs all solemnly,

As they ne'er had sung before.
IV.

But all was calm and as still within,

As the hour of peaceful rest:

And the dying man, in his thoughts had been,
To that beautiful clime where sorrow or sin,
Shall never, no never molest.

NO. 1.

upon the faith of this list, and on the promise of these subscribers that many of our engagements were made they are pressing upon us-this is the time for us to meet them-and these arrearages are our main reliance. They are divided among many hundreds of subscribers, and the sum owed by each is trifling in itself to him, but, in the aggregate, the amount is large, and by us is greatly needed. It is our sole reliance-a mere pittance to the subscriber, but a fortune to the publisher. Many, we know have withheld their fees, on account of the deranged state of the currency. Their motives were good, and are highly appreciated. But we can better lose a part now than we can afford to wait longer. Our distant subscribers who have been thus actuated, are respectfully informed that the currant bank notes of every State, are now received by us at their par value. Any one, may forward his subscription fee, free of postage, through th post-master, who is empowered to frank all such communications.

We cannot close this appeal, without returning our thanks to our numerous contributors for their many favors. Notwithstanding the tightness of the times, there is a noble band of those who have stood by us manfully, and have proudly borne us along the walks of literature.

EDITOR'S ADDRESS.

The ending of the old and the beginning of the new-year, are land-marks in the ways of business;the former is the time for casting back and settling up old scores the latter, for looking blithely ahead, and forming new plans. We have taken a view each way, and are reminded, that, to day, we turn over a new leaf in a new volume of the Messenger. While we are doing this, we beg the attenThis is a neatly printed pamphlet of twenty odd tion of our friends and subscribers for a few mo- pages, the object of which is fully set forth in the ments. Times are hard-our engagements are title page. Our readers, doubtlessly, will recollect pressing; we have wrought the year through, and the letters of Harry Bluff, which, under the alias furnished our subscribers with every jot and tittle of "Union Jack," were addressed in the Messenof what we promised to give them. Have they ger, to Mr. Clay, about eighteen months ago, setdone the same by us? Many, we are happy to say, ting forth the claims of the South and West upon have-and many, the state of our finances reminds the Navy. These letters were nobly responded to us, have not. To the first, we return many and by the press in those regions. In answer to Harry hearty thanks to the last, we appeal for justice. Bluff's appeal to Western patriotism, Tennessee Our subscription list is a large one; had we half has manfully stepped forth, and bravely responded. of what is due by it, we should be satisfied for Memphis in particular, has asserted her claims, and years to come. A few names on this list are marked paid for 1843, some for 1842, but the rest are in arrears, some for one year, some for two years, some for three and some ever since the Messenger began. If one moiety of these arrearages were paid up, we should ask no favors and give no duns. It was

THE NAVY AND THE WEST.

Western members of Congress—of the Western press, and
We respectfully and earnestly invite the attention of
of the Western people to the subject treated of below.
Ed. Sou. Lit. Messenger.

VOL. IX-1

* Proceedings of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Memphis, Tennessee, on the subject of the Establishment of a Western Armory and Naval Depot and Dockson, Civil Engineer, the Report of the Committee appointed Yard at Memphis: together with the report of Col. D. Morriby the I ard, &c. &c. Printed at the "Appeal” Office, Memphis, Tennessee, 1842.

The boilers and engines, instead of being made on the banks of the Hudson, should be manufactured on the banks of the Mississippi-and the hemp too of Kentucky, instead of being sent round to the rope yard at Boston to be spun into cordage, should be stopped at the Memphis boat-yard, and be manufactured there-so too with chain cablesand so too with the cannon for these boats. Are gentlemen aware, that the best and cheapest guns, that have been procured for the Navy, are cast on the Western waters from Western iron? These cannon have been delivered at ninety odd dollars, whereas Eastern founders received under former contracts-from $135 to $140, for like pieces.

preferred them with such force of reason and argu- lise-the Gulf of Florida is the outlet for Western ment that has fairly brought them to the favorable no-commerce-therefore the defences of the Gulf of tice of Congress. Though the shores of the West, Mexico, are only those of the Mississippi, extended. be not washed by the tides of the Ocean, they are These defences operating more immediately for the by noble streams that load the Ocean with com- protection of the South and West, in whose hands merce; and anything that is "tarry and briny" should they be placed, but in those of Southern and closely concerns many of their best interests. Let Western yeomen? Is the West willing, in case of us see therefore, what connexion the South and war, to entrust the defences of the Gulf to Eastern West have, or ought to have, with the Navy: sailors? the Western boys are its natural defenders. There is a steam man-of-war; let's look at her, and Those defences must consist of steamers-the West examine whence came the materials of that smoky is the land of steamboats, and Western river boatleviathan. Her bulwarks, her sides, her timbers men would furnish our man-of-war steamers with and her ribs, are of oak and pine. Where did the best crews in the world. The steamers inthey grow, and whence were they taken? They tended for the gulf should be built in the Westgrew in the South and West, and were taken to equipped in the West, and manned in the West. the East, to be moulded into shape. Her machi- There their crews should be shipped, and there nery is made from Western iron, by Eastern me- they should be paid off and discharged. chanics. Her cordage and her canvass were produced in the West; but the profits of their manufacture filled Eastern pockets. The copper and the lead used in her construction, though smelted on the waters of the Upper Mississippi, were carried away in Eastern ships, bought by the government of Eastern merchants, manufactured in Eastern workshops; and for why? that Eastern states might monopolize Navy disbursements. And though she be intended for the Gulf of Mexico, and therefore, more immediately for the protection of Southern and Western interest, her crew are Eastern men, shipped and paid off in Eastern ports, and fed on Western pork and beef, taxed with Eastern profits: the very fuel that gives her power, though it may be had on the banks of the Western rivers for five cents the bushel, is bought in Eastern towns of Eastern men, at a good round Eastern price, and then transported in Eastern ships, by Eastern crews, and Eastern masters, for Eastern owners, and deposited at the door-way of the West, at more than double cost. The coal, that is supplied to our steamers at Pensacola is supplied from Boston-which is supplied from an English province, and costs the government, we are informed, by the time it is landed at Pensacola, from $15 to $20, per ton-whereas better coal--coal that burns freely--that will neither "clink" nor "choke," may be furnished from our Western river banks, and landed at Pensacola, or any where in the Gulf, at less than half that price. Verily, Southern and Western legislators are strangely blinded to their interests in relation to the Navy. Why should not all this timber, and all this iron, and all this hemp, and all this copper, this lead, this coal, this beef and this pork; aye, There is another subject too, besides the estaband this crew, be supplied directly from the West? lishment of a National Boat-Yard on the MissisWith the Memphis Aldermen, we think they should, sippi, which would redound greatly to the advanand we hope to see the attention of Western mem-tage of the West-and which we have time now bers in Congress, turned, in good earnest, to this only to glance at. We allude to a survey, or rather subject, for the general, not less than the sectional an "index" of the Western rivers, by which their interests, require that the links in the chain which navigation may be improved, and rendered more cerbinds the West to the Navy, should be made bright. tain, as well as more safe. The public coffers have The mouth of the Mississippi is not at the Ba- been, for years, opened with a liberal hand for what

When a vessel is crippled in the gulf, it certainly would be nearer, and safer, and cheaper, to send her to the Boat-yard at Memphis for repairs, than it would be to send her to New-York or Boston. View this subject as we may, reason, justice, and public weal, all point to the banks of the Mississippi, as the proper site for the National Boat-yard, and to the Western rivers as the best nursery for armed boatmen.

We should be much pleased to hear that Lieut. Hunter, in his newly constructed steamer, the Union, had been sent by the Department up the Mississippi, that the Western people may see a steam vessel-of-war, and be reminded of the interests they have at stake in this matter; they would recognize in her, the produce of their hills and their valleys, which had been carried away in the rough, wrought up into shape, and sent back again to their doors;--then, perhaps, their eyes would be fully opened to our course of reasoning.