Sir:-Circumstances have occurred in the course of your Administration, and chiefly in the exercise by you of the veto power, which constrain me to believe that my longer continuance in office as a member of your Cabinet will be neither agreeable to you, useful to the country, nor honorable to myself. Do me the justice, Mr. President, to believe that this conclusion has been adopted neither capriciously, nor in any spirit of party feeling or personal hostility, but from a sense of duty, which, mistaken though it may be, is yet so sincerely entertained, that I cheerfully sacrifice to it the advantages and distinctions of my office. Be pleased, therefore, to accept this as my resignation of the office of Attorney General of the United States. Very respectfully, yours, &c. The President. J. J. CRITTENDEN. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, September 11, 1841. S Sir-After the most calm and careful consideration, and viewing the subject in all the aspects in which it presents itself to my mind, I have come to the conclusion that I ought no longer to remain a member of your Cabinet. I therefore resign the office of Secretary of the Treasury, and beg you to accept this as my letter of resignation. To avoid misunderstanding, I distinctly declare that I do not consider a difference of opinion as to the charter of a National Bank a sufficient reason for dissolving the ties which have existed between us. Though I look upon that measure as one of vast importance to the prosperity of the country, and though I should have deeply deplored your inability or unwillingness to accord it to the wishes of the people and the States, so unequivocally expressed through their Representatives, still upon this, and this alone, unconnected with other controlling circumstances, I should not have felt bound to resign the place which I hold in your Administration. But those controlling circumstances do exist, and I will, in my own justification, place them in connexion before you. It is but just to say, that the bill which first passed the two houses of Congress, and which was returned with your objections on the 16th of August, did never, in its progress, as far as I know or believe, receive at any time either your express or implied assent. So far as that bill was known to me, or as I was consulted upon it, I endeavored to bring its provisions as nearly as possible in accordance with what I understood to be your views, and rather hoped than expected your approval. I knew the extent to which you were committed on the question. I knew the pertinacity with which you adhered to your expressed opinions, and I dreaded from the first the most disastrous consequences, when the project of compromise which I presented at an early day was rejected. It is equally a matter of justice to you and to myself to say that the bill which I reported to the two Houses of Congress at the commencement of the session, in obedience to their call, was modified so as to meet your approbation. You may not, it is true, have read the bill throughout, and examined every part of it; but the 16th fundamental article, which became the contested question of principle, was freely discussed between us, and it was understood and unequivocally sanctioned by yourself. The last clause in the bill, also, which contained a reservation of power in Congress, was inserted on the 9th of June, in your presence, and with your approbation; though you at one time told me that, in giving your sanction to the bill, you would accompany it with an explanation of your understanding of that first clause, In this condition of things, though I greatly regretted your veto on the bill as it passed the two Houses of Congress, and though I foresaw the excitement and agitation the changes which the bill had undergone in its passage, and which it would produce among the people, yet, considering its variance from the one you had agreed to sanction, I could not find in that act enough to disturb the confidential relations which existed between us. I was disposed to attribute this act, fraught with mischief as it was, to pure and honorable motives, and to a conscientious conviction on your part that the bill, in some of its provisions, conflicted with the Constitution. But that opinion of your course on the bill which has just been returned to Congress with your second veto, I do not and cannot entertain. Recur to what has passed between us with respect to it, and you will at once perceive that such opinion is impossible. On the morning of the 16th of August, I called at your chamber, and found you preparing the first veto message, to be despatched to the Senate. The Secretary of War came in also, and you read a portion of the message to us. He observed that, though the veto would create a great sensation in Congress, yet he thought the minds of our friends better prepared for it than they were some days ago, and he hoped it would be calmly received, especially as it did not shut out all hope of a bank. To this you replied, that you really thought there ought to be no difficulty about it; that you had sufficiently indicated in your veto message what kind of a bank you would approve, and that Congress might, if they saw fit, pass such a one in three days. The 18th being the day for our regular Cabinet meeting, we assembled all except Messrs. Crittenden and Granger, and you told us that you had had a long conversation with Messrs. Berrien and Sergeant, who professed to come in behalf of the Whigs of the two Houses to endeavor to strike out some measure which would be generally acceptable. That you had your doubts about the propriety of conversing with them yourself, and thought it more proper that you should commune with them through your constitutional advisers. You expressed a wish that the whole subject should be postponed till the next session of Congress. You spoke of the delay in the Senate of the consideration of your veto message, and expressed anxiety as to the tone and temper which the debate would assume. Mr. Badger said that on inquiry he was happy to find that the best temper prevailed in the two Houses. He believed they were perfectly ready to take up the bill reported by the Secretary of the Treasury, and pass it at once. You replied, 'Talk not to me of Mr. Ewing's bill; it contains that odious feature of local discounts which I have repudiated in my message.' I then said to you, 'I have no doubt, sir, that the House, having ascertained your views, will pass a bill in conformity to them, provided they can be satisfied that it would answer the purposes of the Treasury, and relieve the country.' You then said, 'Cannot my Cabinet see that this is brought about? You must stand by me in this emergency. Cannot you see that a bill passes Congress such as I can approve without inconsistency?' I declared again my belief that such a bill might be passed. And you then said to me, What do you understand to be my opinions? State them, so that I may see that there is no misapprehension about them.' I then said that I understood you to be of opinion that Congress might charter a bank in the District of Columbia, giving it its location here. To this you assented. That they might authorize such bank to establish offices of discount and deposit in the several States, with the assent of the States. To this you replied, 'Dont name discounts: they have been the source of the most abominable corruptions, and are wholly unnecessary to enable the bank to discharge its duties to the country and the Government.' I observed in reply that I was proposing nothing, but simply endeavoring to state what I had understood to be your opinion as to the powers which Congress might constitutionally confer on a bank; that on that point I stood corrected. I then proceeded to say that I understood you to be of opinion that Congress might authorize such bank to establish agencies in the several States, with power to deal in bills of exchange, without the assent of the States, to which mous People whose suffrages elevated your predecessor to you replied, Yes, if they be foreign bills, or bills drawn in the station which you now fill, and whose united voices apone State and payable in another. That is all the power ne- proved his act when he summoned us around him to be his cessary for transmitting the public funds and regulating ex-counsellors; and I felt that what was due to his memory, to changes and the currency.' the injunctions which he left us in his last dying words, and to the people, whose servants we are, had not all been performed until every means was tried, and every hope had failed of carrying out the true principles upon which the mighty movement was founded that elevated him and you to power. This bill, framed and fashioned according to your own suggestions, in the initiation of which I and another member of your Cabinet were made by you the agents and the negotiators, was passed by large majorities through the two Houses of Congress, and sent to you, and you rejected it.— Important as was the part which I had taken, at your request, in the origination of this bill, and deeply as I was committed for your action upon it, you never consulted me on the subject of the veto message. You did not even refer to it in conversation, and the first notice I had of its contents was derived from rumor. Mr. Webster then expressed, in strong terms, his opinion that such a charter would answer all just purposes of Government, and be satisfactory to the People; and declared his preference for it over any which had been proposed, especially as it dispensed with the assent of the States to the creation of an institution necessary for carrying on the fiscal operations of Government. He examined it at some length, both as to its constitutionality and its influence on the currency and exchanges, in all which views you expressed your concurrence, desired that such a bill should be introduced, and especially that it should go into the hands of some of your friends. To my inquiry whether Mr. Sergeant would be agreeable to you, you replied that he would. You especially requested Mr. Webster and myself to communicate with Messrs. Berrien and Sergeant on the subject, to whom you said you had promised to address a note, but you doubted not that this personal communication would be equally And to me, at least, you have done nothing to wipe away satisfactory. You desired us also in communicating with the personal indignity arising out of the act. I gathered, it those gentlemen, not to commit you personally, lest, this be- is true, from your conversation, shortly after the bill had passing recognised as your measure, it might be made a subjected the House, that you had a strong purpose to reject it; of comparison to your prejudice in the course of discussion. but nothing was said like softening or apology to me, either You and Mr. Webster then conversed about the particular in reference to myself or to those with whom I had commuwording of the 16th fundamental article, containing the nicated at your request, and who had acted themselves and grant of power to deal in exchanges, and of the connexion induced the two houses to act upon the faith of that comin which that grant should be introduced; you also spoke of munication. And, strange as it may seem, the Veto Mesthe name of the institution, desiring that that should be sage attacks in an especial manner the very provisions which changed. To this I objected, as it would probably be made were inserted at your request; and even the name of the cora subject of ridicule, but you insisted that there was much poration, which was not only agreed to by you, but especialin a name, and this institution ought not to be called a bank. ly changed to meet your expressed wishes, is made the subMr. Webster undertook to adapt it in this particular to your ject of your criticism. Different men might view this wishes. Mr. Bell then observed to Mr. Webster and myself, transaction in different points of light, but, under these cir. that we had no time to lose; that if this were not immediate- cumstances, as a matter of personal honor, it would be hard ly attended to, another bill, less acceptable, might be got up for me to remain of your counsel, to seal my lips and leave and reported. We replied that we would lose no time. Mr. unexplained and undisclosed where lies, in this transaction Webster accordingly called on Messrs. Berrien and Ser- the departure from straightforwardness and candor. So far geant immediately, and I waited on them by his appoint- indeed from admitting the encouragement which you gave ment at 5 o'clock on the same day, and agreed upon the to this bill in its inception, and explaining and excusing principles of the bill in accordance with your expressed your sudden and violent hostility towards it, you throw into wishes. And I am apprised of the fact, though it did not your Veto Message, an interrogatory equivalent to an asseroccur in my presence, that after the bill was drawn up, and tion that it was such a bill as you had already declaired before it was reported, it was seen and examined by your could not receive your sanction. Such is the obvious effect self: that your attention was specially called to the 16th of the first interrogatory clause on the second page. It has fundamental article: that on full examination you concurred all the force of an assertion without its open fairness. I have in its provisions: that at the same time its name was so met and refuted this, the necessary inference from your lanmodified as to meet your approbation: and the bill was re- guage, in my preceding statement, the correctness of which ported and passed, in all essential particulars, as it was when you I am sure will not call in question. it came through your hands. You asked Mr. Webster and myself each to prepare and present you an argument touching the constitutionality of the bill; and before those arguments could be prepared and read by you, you declared, as I heard and believe, to gentlemen, members of the House, that you would cut off your right hand rather than approve it. After this new resolution was taken, you asked and earnestly urged the members of your cabinet to postpone the bill; but you would neither give yourself, nor suffer them to give, any assurance of your future course, in case of such postponement. By some of us, and I was myself one, the effort was made to gratify your wishes, in the only way in which it could be done with propriety; that is, by obtaining the general concurrence of the Whig members of the two Houses in the postponement.It failed, as I have reason to believe, because you would give no assurance that the delay was not sought, as a means and occasion for hostile movements. During this season of deep feeling and earnest exertion upon our part, while we were zealously devoting our talents and influence to serve and to sustain you, the very secrets of our cabinet councils made their appearance in an infamous paper printed in a neigh boring city, the columns of which were daily charged with flattery of yourself and foul abuse of your Cabinet. All this I bore; for I felt that my services, so long as they could avail, were due to the nation-to that great and magnani Your veto to the first bill you rested on constitutional ground and the high convictions of conscience; and no man in my opinion, had a right to question your sincerity. I so said, and I so acted, for, through all the contest and collision that arose out of that act, you had my adherence and support. But how is it with respect to this? The subject of a bank is not new to you; it is more than twenty years that you have made it an object of consideration and of study, especially in its connexion with the constitutional powers, of the General Government. You, therefore, could not be, and you were not, taken unprepaired on this question. The bill which I reported to Congress, with your approbation, at the commencement of the session, had the clause relating to agencies, and the power to deal in exchange, as strongly developed as the one you have now rejected, and equally without the assent of the States. You referred specially and with approbation to that clause, many days after, in a conversation held in the Department of State. You sanctioned it in this particular bill as detailed above. And no doubt was thrown out on the subject by you, in my hearing, or within my knowledge, until the letter of Mr. Botts came to your hands. Soon after the reading of that letter, you threw out strong intimations that you would veto the bill if it were not postponed. That letter I did and do most unequivocally condemn, but it did not affect the constitutionality of the bill, or justify you in rejecting it on that ground; it could affect only the expediency of your action; and whatever you may now believe as to the scruples existing in your mind, in this and in a kindred source there is strong ground to believe they have their origin. Land Officer. Territories of Wisconsin and Iowa. If I be right in this, and I doubt not I am, here is a great public measure demanded by the country, passed upon and approved by the Representatives of the States and the people, rejected by you as President, on grounds having no origin in conscience, and no reference to the public good. The rejection of this measure, too, continues the purse with the sword in the hands of the Executive, from which we strove to wrest it in the contest which elevated your predecessor and you to power. I cannot concur in this your course of policy. In or out of office my opinions remain unchanged. I cannot abandon the principles for which, during all my 1 political career, I have struggled; especially I cannot be one of the instruments by which the Executive wields these combined, accumulated, and dangerous powers. These, sir, are the reasons for the important step which I have felt it my duty to take, and I submit them as its justifiI am, very respectfully, yours, T. EWING. cation. To the President. WASHINGTON, SEPTEMBER 13, 1841. To Messrs. Gales and Seaton : Gentlemen: Lest any misapprehension should exist, as to the reasons which have led me to differ from the course pursued by my late colleagues, I wish to say that I remain in my place, first, because I have seen no sufficient reasons for the dissolution of the late Cabinet, by the voluntary act of its own members. I am perfectly persuaded of the absolute necessity of an institution, under the authority of Congress, to aid revenue and financial operations, and to give the country the blessings of a good currency and cheap exchanges. Notwithstanding what has passed, I have confidence that the President will co-operate with the Legislature in overcoming all difficulties in the attainment of these objects; and it is to the union of the Whig party-by which I mean the whole party, the Whig President, the Whig Congress and the Whig people—that I look for a realization of our wishes. I can look no where else. In the second place, if I had seen reasons to resign my office, I should not have done so without giving the President reasonable notice, and affording him time to select the hands to which he should confide the delicate and important affairs now pending in this Department. I am, gentlemen, respectfully, your obedient servant, James D. Doty, Governor of Wisconsin. Major S. Churchill, to be Inspector General of the Army, in the place of General Wool, promoted. Promotions and Appointments. By and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Promotions. Commanders to be Captains, from Sept. 8, 1841. John Percival, 2 John H. Aulick, 7 William Mervine, 8 Thomas Crabb, 9 Thomas Paine, 10 James Armstrong, 11 Joseph Smoot, 12 Samuel L. Breese, 13 Benjamin Page. Lieutenants to be Commanders. Frederick Varnum, from the 8th March, 1841. From September 8 1841. 1 Joseph R. Jarvis, 3 Samuel W. Le Compte, 5 Wm. M. Armstrong, 6 Wm. F. Shields, 7 G. P. Pendergrast, 8 Wm. C. Nicholson, 9 James B. Cooper, 10 E. W. Carpender, 11 John L. Saunders, 12 Joseph B. Hull, 13 John Stone Paine, 14 Joseph Moorehead, 15 Thomas Petigru, 16 John S. Chauncey, 17 Irvine Shubrick, 18 John Kelly, 19 Edmund Byrne, 20 Edward S. Johnson, 21 William H. Gardner, 22 David G. Farragut, 23 Stephen B. Wilson, 24 Edward C. Rutledge, 25 William S. Harris, 26 Thomas A. Dornin, 27 R. B. Cunningham, 28 James Glynn, 29 Joseph Myers, 30 William C. Wetmore, 33 Victor M. Randolph, 39 William W. McKean, 40 Franklin Buchanan, 41 Samuel Mercer, 42 Charles Lowndes, 43 L. M. Goldsborough, 44 George N. Hollins, 45 D. N. Ingraham, 46 John Marston, jr. 47 Henry Bruce, 48 William D. Newman, 49 Henry A. Adams, 50 Alex. B. Pinkham, 51 James D. Knight, 52 Joseph Mattison, 53 William S. Walker, 54 Alex. S. Mackenzie, 55 George F. Pearson. Boat building in Rochester. A person needs to become intimately acquainted with the city of Rochester to form a just conception of the immense amount of business done here. Our city is justly celebrated for its large and numerous flour mills, and for the immense quantity of flour manufactured here in the course of the year. There are, however, other branches of business carried on on an equally large scale, of which comparatively little is known. We refer to the manufacture of iron ware and boat building. It is of the latter of which we shall speak particularly to-day. There are in this city in all, eight yards in which boat building is carried on. In these there have been built within a year, about one hundred and fifteen boats-most of which are of the first class. The average value may be estimated at $1,600 each, making an aggregate of one hundred and eighty-four thousand dollars. Add to this the sum paid for repairs upon old boats, which, in some yards go as high as from $6,000 to $8,000, and the sum total will be more than $200,000! In these different yards there are employed more than six hundred hands, engaged building, preparing the lumber, &c. We have not been able to procure the amount of capital invested in the business except from one or two yards, but we shall present a full statement at the close of the year. From the above estimate, which is proba bly a low one, it will be readily perceived that this branch of industry is one of the most important carried on in this city. It ought to be borne in mind that these extensive operations have been maintained during a period of unexampled distress in the business relations of the country. This has of course suffered with the rest. The constantly augmenting trade of the Erie Canal, and the increased demand for boats when the new canals shall have been finished and the enlargement completed, will in a few years more than quadruple the boat building operations of this city. This place must become the seat of the business, as there is every facili ty for procuring lumber through the Genesee Valley Canal and from Canada.-Rochester Democrat. Canal Receipts of Wheat and Flour at Cleveland. As we are now at that period of the year when the old crop of wheat is deemed exhausted and the new is coming forward, we compile for the benefit of the trade such statistical information as we have yearly presented to them, under the belief that they will be found as interesting as heretofore, and valuable for future reference. The receipts of wheat and flour at this port via the canal, from the opening of the navigation to the 1st of September, are as follows in the years named: The Dubuque (Iowa) Miners' Express, states that some Sept. 1, 1838.... miners recently sinking a shaft near that place, struck a large cave seventy or eighty feet below the surface of the ground, which contained large quantities of "Flour of Sulphur," similar to that obtained at the stores. 66 1839... 1840. 1841 District Court. September 13, 1841. Minot vs. Bank United States.-The plaintiff had brought several suits on different days, but all returnable to the same return day, on the notes of the defendants. A variety of other suits by different plaintiff's had also been brought under the same circumstances against the Bank. In all of them judgments had been entered for want of affidavits of defence. On the same day the judgments were taken, and before they were entered, Mr. Brooke, for the Bank, took a rule to show cause why all the actions brought by the same plaintiff, should not be consolidated. His reasons as stated were: 1. The saving of costs. 2. That on consolidation of the judgments, the Bank would, by entering bail in stay of execution, be entitled to the time allowed for sums over $500. On all judgments over that sum, the defendant by statute is entitled to a year's stay. The plaintiffs had so brought their suits, that in all cases the judgments went for $490. The effect of which was to give the Bank a stay for only nine months. The Court had given the judgments upon condition that they should not prejudice this motion. No declaration had been filed, only the usual copy, on which judgments had been given in default of affidavits for defence. Perkins for plaintiff, objected, because it did not appear that the several causes of action all existed at the time the first suit was brought, and that there were no declarations filed. The Court refused the motion, on the ground that no declaration had been filed. The matter was discretionary.But no instance had occurred of a consolidation before declaration. The nature of the causes of action would not appear on record till then. Some discussion having arisen, as to the power of the Court to consolidate for the second cause stated, a majority of the Court declared they would exercise it, and had done so on that ground, if there were no other difficulty. The proper course as indicated by the Court, when no declaration is filed, but judgment is about to be asked, for want of affidavit of defence would be for defendant to rule, plaintiff to declare on return of the writ, and on the filing of the declaration to move to consolidate.-North American. Some account of very large fossil bones found during the present month in Clarke County, Alabama. Having been informed by Madam Rumor, that the bones of a large lizard-like animal 60 or 70 feet in length were on the plantation of Judge J. C. Creah of Clarke County, I went to the spot. The Judge told me that there was little probability of getting anything like an entire skeleton- that he had been anxious to get one for many years-that a few years ago, he had a Mr. Wilson on his plantation, of Wilson, 3 miles from Judge C's, who commenced digging out the bones of one which appeared to approximate to something like a skeleton. They dug out 13 vertebræ, (this was in the fall) when they desisted from their labors, intending to resume them in the spring. In the spring Wilson informed the Judge, that the frost had caused the bones dug out, and left on the same spot, to crumble so that they were of little value-and so the matter rested. We repaired to the place-found 10 of the 13 vertebræ, in a tolerable state of preservation; and immediately begun digging for the remainder. After digging for several days, found 34 vertebræ, making with the other 10, 44, which were nearly entire.These were generally found in a continuous line, nearly joined together. These vertebræ, are mostly from 12 to 16 inches in length, and from 6 to 12 inches in diameter, all measuring 50 feet in length! Only 3 of the tail and 2 of the neck vertebræ were found; besides many fragments of the ribs, and some few of the leg bones. We labored hard and sought in vain for a head. The head to correspond with the other parts of the animal, must have been 10 or 15 feet long. Since very few of the tail and neck bones have been found to make the 50 feet in length obtained, the entire animal cannot have been less than 70 or 80 feet long! Some idea of the immense size of these bones may be formed, from the fact that they made two heavy wagon loads for two yoke of oxen, over a good road. They are now laid out at their length in Judge Creah's door yard, for the inspection of the curious. They will be shipped for New York towards the last of next December. These bones were found nearly at the foot of the hill, inclining at an angle of about 15 degrees. The tail vertebræ, were about a foot deep; those of the back increased in depth towards where the head ought to have been, till they were 6 or 7 feet beneath the surface. The soil has been in cultivation for thirty years; and to the depth of from one to two feet, is the rich black land peculiar to the prairies; beneath which is a whitish marl 2 to 4 feet thick, containing a few shells. At the depth of about 7 feet is a black clay or blue marl, soft and tenacious to the touch.Many shark's teeth, oyster and other shells of species now living in the neighboring seas, are found scattered over and beneath the surface, clearly showing it to belong to the upper tertiary or miocene formation of Lyell. These bones belong to an extinct species of Saurian (or lizard-like animal) whose principal element was the water, called the Basilosaurus (or king lizard,) by Harlan, from some few bones received a few years ago at Philadelphia from Louisiana. Subsequently Judge Creah sent a few vertebræ, some ribs and part of a jaw bone to Philadelphia; an account of which was published in the transactions of the Geological Society of Pennsylvania. These animals must have once existed in great numbers, especially in the vicinity of Judge C's, where in almost every limestone field, fragments of bones (mostly vertebræ) are scattered in profusion over the surface. Great numbers have been burnt to get them out of the way of the plough. The inhabitants have often used the vertebræ as andirons. Even now, cart loads of the broken fragments of different skeletons are there. These bones lie so near and upon the surface, and so many of them have been destroyed, that there is now little hope of getting anything like a perfect skeleton. Judge Creah has corresponded for several years with scientific men at the North, for whom he has been anxious to procure one without success. The nearest approximation to the skeleton of any one animal yet obtained, is that part of one now lying in the yard at Judge Creah's. S. B. BUCKLEY. [Mobile Register. Salt. We congratulate our fellow citizens of the Grand River Valley, and of Western Michigan, upon the fortunate result of the undertaking of Mr. Lyon to obtain salt water at this place. His efforts are crowned with success co-equal with his wishes, and in one particular far exceeding his imaginings. For about eighteen months the work has been progressing-which many doubted, and all hoped, but few were sanguine of success. At a depth of about 300 feet indications of salt first became apparent, but for a long distance after, nothing further seemed to be gained, and many began to think they had been cheered for nought. The works were continued until the shaft had been sunk 661 feet, when the evidences were such that the operation of boring was suspended, and tubes sunk to ascertain the quantity and quality of the brine. On Saturday last (the 28th ult.) the tubes were put down to the depth of 360 feet, but little over half the depth of the well, when, to the joyful surprise of all, pure brine, of the quality of one bushel of salt to from 50 to 58 gallons, ascended and poured out of the tube with immense force.-Grand Rapids (Michigan) Advertiser. Highly Complimentary. Within a day or two past, the Humane Society for the recovery of drowned persons, presented to Captain Henry Wilson a beautiful silver pitcher, as a complimentary testi mony of regard for his generous and praiseworthy efforts in saving from drowning nine different persons.-N. Ame. |