United States, and also at Drennon's Lick, 70 miles from Louisville. In Hart county, natural curiosities are said to abound, as the following description will evince.

"There is a large spring near Green River, which, at certain hours of the day, rises twelve or fifteen inches above its level and then gradually recedes again, resembling the ebb and flow of the tides. The flood occurs at the hour of twelve each day-recurs at the same hour every day, and is marked by the utmost uniformity in the time occupied in the ebb and flow. Near Munfordville a circular hole, sixty feet in diameter, runs down into the earth in funnel shape. Thirty feet below the surface its diameter is about ten feet. The depth is unknown, and on throwing down a rock it will ring against the sides, fainter and fainter without appearing to strike bottom. A hundred cart-loads of rocks have been thrown in by visitors, without the least effect. There is another hole, called Frenchman's Knob,' which has been explored 275 feet, by men descending with ropes, without reaching bottom."

GEORGETOWN, in Scott county, is the seat of a flourishing college with over 100 students. There is also a female institute here, and a military institute under Colonel Johnson. We understand that they are both prosperous, and regret that circumstances have not yet allowed us to visit them, so as to form any opinion.

Kentucky has but few public works except her turnpikes and the "lockings" of some of her rivers, of much value. The state owns about 400 miles of turnpike road stocks, 29 miles of rail-road and 290 miles of slackwater navigation, yielding in all about $135,000. Her public debt is $4,608,735 86. A railroad is now in course of construction between Louisville and Lexington.

The subject of public education as in other southern states is not very perfect. Although the number of academies and colleges is considerable throughout the state, complaints of the school system are heard. We have before us the report of Mr. Breckenridge the superintendent, for 1849. It appears the question was submitted last year, to the people, if they would be taxed the one-fifth of one mill to the dollar, on all taxable property, for the establishment of a common school system, and decided in the affirmative by a large majority. Including this tax, the whole revenue for school purposes is estimated at $120,000 per annum. The report of the superintendent is very imperfect and shows that out of 183,458 children, 31,501 only are reported in attendance. We cannot infer how many attend without being reported. Despite of all these difficulties, however, Kentucky has given many eminent citizens to the republic of native birth or adoption. Among these are twenty govern

ors

and lieutenant-governors of other states, thirteen ministers and charges to foreign powers, one president of the United States, (Taylor,) one vice-president, ten cabinet officers, three major-generals of the army, eleven judges United States and other state courts, nine senators, eight presidents of colleges in other states, &c.

The state, as we have seen, has nearly 200,000 SLAVES-about one-fourth of the population. The question of emancipation is now (1849) in agitation, and a convention will pronounce upon the subject. What the result will be we are very clear. Although it it be demonstrable that free labor would be more advantageous to Kentucky than slave labor, which we are not prepared to admit, but which might be true without affecting the question in the more southern states, yet Kentucky is by no means prepared for emancipation; with such a proportion of blacks it is impossible that she can be. She would not incur the perilous risk of retaining in her midst such an army of lazy, worthless free negroes, as would result. It would be a blight upon the prosperity of the state not easily to be overcome an army of paupers which no wealth could sustain. To send them off by colonization is a scheme altogether impracticable in such magnitude. Kentucky "must be free" we admit, but it will be when the superior southern demand shall draw off by degrees her slaves, and the continued increase of white population shall make the relative proportion of colors but a fraction of what it now is, and altogether unimportant.

KEY WEST-WRECKERS OF FLORIDA.A correspondent of the Charleston News gives many interesting particulars in relation to the wild life of the wrecker among the Florida Keys. "The wrecking business, as it is called, is a source of very considerable revenue to the government, and is the principal support of Key West; there are generally from six to eight vessels engaged in it.

They are fine large sloops and schooners, each officered and manned by eight or ten persons. The crews generally are not on wages, but on shares. The owner furnishes the vessel with all necessary materials, provisions, etc.; and in the event of a wreck one half the amount of salvage is taken by the vessel, the other is divided among the officers and crew; that is to say, the captain receives three shares, the mate two, and each of the crew one. These vessels are generally stationed at different points of the reef, where a constant look out is kept for vessels which may perchance get ashore upon any part of it, when they immediately proceed to their assistance. Sometimes two or more wreckers will unite in saving the goods from wrecked vessels, in which case an

equal share is allotted to each, in the proportion that they may save. At times, when vessels are not damaged to such an extent as to prevent them from continuing their voyages, an agreement is made between the captain and the wrecker for the payment of a stipulated price, as compensation for the services rendered. In most cases where a vessel has been relieved, she is taken down to Key West, where there is a port of entry and an Admiralty Court; in the absence of the court, the case is generally determined by arbitration, which has been so often arranged, as to have enabled the parties interested to defraud owners and underwriters of very large amounts. In many cases, the captains of the vessels shipwrecked, for certain weighty considerations, allow the wreckers to appoint the arbitrators, who, of course, are in their interest, and would give any amount which they were required to do. I hesitate not to say, that in a very large majority of instances where owners and underwriters have been swindled, the fault has been with the captain of the vessel ship wrecked, consigning to irresponsible agents. From what I can learn, there has been a better condition of things latterly, and a state of moral feeling in the community of Key West calculated to repress the evil practices which formerly existed.

Key West being an isolated place, and having no back country, is not likely to become a town of any considerable size; the resources consisting principally of the wrecks which are almost constantly occurring on the Florida Reef; and of the Salt Ponds, which are now in full operation, and of sufficient extent to furnish a very large quantity of salt for consumption. The income derived from shipwrecks is very considerable, as will be seen by the following statement:

ment of Louisiana by Europeans; in rescuing from threatened oblivion the records of its first colonization; in efforts to bring to light and to perpetuate by means of the press, all such documents as would form the elements of an authentic history of our multiform population, and the successive changes in the forms of colonial government, and the progress of its settlement under the different sovereigns who have successively ruled this country. But the time has arrived, I trust, when pursuits of a character purely literary, will have their value among us; when those who engage in researches, having only truth for their object, although barren of immediate results, will be regarded as contributing in some measure to the public good, by adding something to the stock of our national literature. As contemporary history is liable to be discolored by interest, by prejudice and passion, each generation as it passes away, is under obligation to its successors to furnish them those authentic materials by which alone its true character can be known to posterity, and to perpetuate the public documents and correspondence which accompany and explain every public transaction. But we, who are enjoying the fruits of the labors, and fatigues and sufferings of our predecessors, owe it also to their memory, to snatch from oblivion the record of their actions, and no longer to leave their fame there to rest on the loose and garbled and exaggerated narrations of contemporary writers, or catchpenny authors of what the world calls history. History, as it is generally written, is at best but an approxima tion to truth, I had almost said, an approximation to probability. It is true, the exagge rated and marvelous statements of travelers, ior discoverers and settlers, as to the physical features and productions of a new country, and the character of its aboriginal inhabitants, may be corrected by subsequent observation and experience. The width of the Mississippi, for example, below this capital, has dwindled from a league to less than a mile; St. Louis is no longer in latitude 45° north, and 276° longitude; quarries of emer alds, silver mines and gold dust, are no where to be found in Louisiana. But the narratives of events and transactions, by real or pretended eye-witnesses, or by the authors of histories and memoirs, can only be tested by reference to authentic records, or by their own intrinsic evidence of falsity or truth. This latter is not always to be relied on, for the true is not always probable. Tradition, ornamented and colored by fiction, has proved from the earliest records of our race, a large ingredient in the composition of history. Hence the origin and early annals, not only of the people and states of antiquity, but of many of comparatively medern date are involved in mystery and fable.

But it would be a matter of just reproach, if a people, whose first lodgment on the continent was made long since the discovery of the art of printing; whose entire annals embrace a period of the highest civilization; if such a people, I say, should suffer to perish the monuments of its early history, and the mists of fiction to settle on its origin and progress. In many of the states of this Union, of British origin, historical societies have been organized, whose labors have been eminently successful. A mass of materials has been accumulated and preserved by means of the press, which excludes the possibility of future misrepresentations in regard to the true history of the country, and the times to which they relate. It is singularly interesting to look at the conduct and character of our ancestors through such a medium. We see them as they were; we hear them speak the language of their own age, we are brought in immediate contact with the founders of our rising empire; we trace the gradual progress of their settlement, from the sea-board to the interior; we witness their privations, their sufferings, their unflinching purpose and constancy of purpose. At a more recent period, we are introduced into the primitive assemblies of the people; we observe the gradual development of those opinions and principles, which at this day lay at the foundation of our free popular institutions; the first discussed, when the threatened encroachments of power upon right were met and resisted, and the blood of the Barons of Runymede cried out for Magna Charta, in the wilderness of a new world.

The field of research which we propose to explore, is vast and in a great measure new. It is proposed to extend our inquiries into the history of all that country formerly possessed by France and Spain, under the name of Louisiana; to endeavour to bring to light and perpetuate by means of the press, all authentic papers relating thereto; to collect interesting traditions, private histories and correspondences, and pictures of manners; to investigate the progress of our jurisprudence; the state of religion, and the condition of the Indian tribes in that whole region. It is obvious that many of the original documents and records, relating to the settlement and colonization of that extensive region, must exist in the public archives at Paris, Madrid, and Seville, as well as the Havana; some in the archives of the former government of this city, at St. Louis and Natchez; others again at notaries' offices here; in the parochial records of the different posts in the interior, and much interesting matter in possession of the families of some of the earlier settlers of the country. It is becoming more and more difficult every day, to bring together from sources so various and so widely dispersed, such memorials as may yet exist. It

is time, therefore, to begin the work in earnest and methodically.

Before I proceed to make a few remarks on the several heads into which the programme of our proposed researches is naturally divided, let us pause and take a momentary survey of the population of the country as it exists, whose origin and first establishment it will become us to investigate more minutely in the progress of our labors. Like the rich soil upon our great rivers, the population may be said to be alluvial; composed distinctly of colored strata, not yet perfectly amalgamated; left by successive waves of emigration. Here we trace the gay, light-hearted, brave chivalry of France: the more impassioned and devoted Spaniard; the untiring industry and perseverance of the German, and the bluff sturdiness of the British race. Here were thrown the wreck of Acadie, and the descendants of those unhappy fugitives still exist in various parts of this state. Little colonies from Spain, or the Spanish islands on the coast of Africa, were scattered in different parts of the country. Such were New Iberia in Attakapas, Valenzuela in Lafourche, Terre aux Boeufs and Galveston. They still retain to a certain extent, their language, manners and pursuits. There are, in the Western District, some families of Gipsy origin, who still retain the peculiar complexion and wildness of eye that characterize that singular race. The traces of the Canadian hunter and boatmen, are not yet entirely effaced. The Germans, I believe, have totally lost the language of their fatherland. country of the German coast is, perhaps, the only existing memorial of the celebrated John Law, the author of the most stupendous scheme of banking, and stockjobbing, and fraud, that was ever practised on the credulity of modern times. Among the earliest concessions of land in the province, was one in favor of Law, situated on the Arkansas, and prior to the settlement of New-Orleans; he had sent over a small colony of Germans to take possession and improve it; but on the downfall of the grantee, his colonists broke up the establishment, and returned to this city, where they obtained each for himself, a small grant of land on the Mississippi, at a place which has ever since been called the German coast. The little colonies of Spaniards at New Iberia and Terre aux Boeuf, never had any written concessions, they were put in possession by the public surveyor, and it was not until long since the change of government, that their descendants obtained an authentic recognition of their title from the United States. But time does not permit me to pursue this subject any farther; these few hints are intended merely to direct your attention to it, as one of curious interest.

The

I proceed to submit a few remarks on some of the several heads of our proposed plan. First, The general history of the province from its first discovery to the present day. Second, The progress of our jurisprudence and state of religion; and Third, the condition of the Indian tribes. It is by no means my purpose to attempt to give you a full view of the present state of our knowledge on these topics, much less to collate or criticise the various histories and memoirs which have appeared, even if I were capable of the task. But let us see in what particulars our knowledge is clearly defective, and whether it be probable that by proper diligence the deficiency may be supplied, and errors or misrepresentations corrected.

sources of the river, finding it easier to de scend than ascend, had proceeded down, and reached the Balize in sixteen days—“ if his word can be taken for it," says the authorfrom the time of his departure from the mouth of the Illinois. In the next place, the author represents that De la Salle, in 1683, after laying the foundations of Cahokia and Kaskaskia, left M. de Tonti in command of those establishments, returned to Canada, and thence made all haste to France, to solicit the co-operation of the French Ministry in his views. In addition to the utter improbability of this whole story, it is completely refuted by the testimony of the Reverend Father himself. His first publication was after his return to France, and the first edition of it is now in my possession. It was pub

I. I think it cannot be controverted that Robert Cavalier de la Salle first discovered the mouth of the Mississippi on the 7th of April, 1681. Accompanied by the Chevalier de Tonti and a few followers, he descended from the mouth of the Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico, passing through numerous tribes of Indians, not in hostile array, but his most effectual arms, the calumet of peace. De la Salle was, without doubt, a man of great energy and enterprise, ardent and brave, sagacious and prudent, and of conciliatory manners. He appears to have been, at the same time, feared, respected, and even beloved by the natives. I should not have considered it necessary to mention this fact of the first discovery, as one well settled, if attempts had not been made to create doubts about it, if not to deprive him of that honor, and to confer it upon Father Louis Hennepin, a missionary of the order of St. Francis. In the first volume of "The Condensed Geography and History of the Western States, or the Mississippi Valley,” published a few years ago at Cincinnati, under the particular head of "history," not a word is said of De la Salle having explored the course of the river as far as the Gulf, and of his having taken formal possession of the country in the name of the King of France. Ou the contrary, it is asserted, that in the spring of the previous year, Hennepin, who had been instructed, in the absence of De la Salle, to explore the

being then in Paris, and was dedicated to the King of France. The work is entitled, “ Description de la Louisiane nouvellement découverte au sud-ouest de la Nouvelle France.” He gives a minute account of his voyage from the mouth of the Illinois to a consider able distance above the Falls of St. Anthony; of his captivity, during eight months, among the Indians of the Upper Mississippi; and finally, of his return to some of the French posts in Canada about Whitsuntide, (May,) 1681. The "Privilége Du Roi," for the pub lication of this work of Hennepin, was granted on the 3d of September, 1682. Not only is the author silent as to any voyage by himself down the river as far as the Gulf of Mexico, or of his having descended below the month of the Illinois, but the concluding paragraph shows conclusively that he at that time set up no such pretensions. He says, in corelusion-" They sent me word, this year, (1692) from New France, that M. de la Salle, finding that I had made peace with the tribes of the north and north-west, situated more than five hundred leagues above, on the river Colbert, (Mississippi,) who were at war with the Illinois and the nations of the south, this brave captain, governor of Fort Frontenae, who, by his zea! and courage, throws new lustre on the names of the Cavaliers, his ancestors, descended last year, with his followers and our Franciscans, as far as the mouth of the great river Colbert, and to the sea, and that he traversed unknown nations, some of whom are civilized. It is believed he is about to return to France, in order to give the court a more ample knowledge of the whole of Louisiana, which we may call the delight and terrestrial paradise of America. The king might there form an empire, which, in a short time, will become flourishing in spite of the opposition of any foreign power."

In another part of the same work the good Father says: " We had some intention to descend as far as the mouth of the river Col bert, which probably empties into the Galf of Mexico, rather than into the Vermillion