Imágenes de página
PDF
ePub

REPUBLIC OF HAYTI.

Since our last, the important news has been received of the death of Alexander Petion, president of Hayti. He died on Sunday, March 29th, after an illness of only eight days. It is supposed that his malady was brought on by distress of mind, occasioned by an attempt, on the part of a desperate wretch, to assassinate him, which wrought in him an incurable despondency, that left him without a wish to live. He was buried with much pomp, on the 31st. His body was interred under the liberty-tree, opposite to the capitol;-his bowels, which had been previously taken out, were deposited in the national fort, and his heart was given as a bequest to his daughter. He is universally deplored. By the people to whom he gave independence, he is styled their Washington. Immediately upon his death, general Boyer was appointed his successor. The decree of the Senate, making the appointment, is as follows:Liberty. Equality.

REPUBLIC OF HAYTI. DECREE OF THE SENATE, Directing the nomination of the general of division, Boyer, to the office of president of Hayti.

The Senate, considering, that since the foundation of the republic, it has never experienced an event which was so painful, or deplorable as that which has just afAicted unfortunate and stedfast Hayti,

Considering that it would be to expose the republic to evident danger, to defer the election of the citizen who shall henceforth direct the executive power, in the place of the virtuous Alexander Petion, deceased, the same who was the idol of the Haytians, and who, on that account, merited the surname of Father of his Country;

Wherefore, exercising the rights conferred by the 123d article of the Constitution, it decrees as follows:

Article I. Citizen John Peter Boyer, general of division, commanding the guard of the government, and the arrondisement of Port-au-Prince, is named president of Hayti.

Article II. The present decree shall be addressed to the secretary of state, exercising the executive authority, to have his execution to follow it, and to be printed and published throughout the whole extent of the republic.

At the national palace of Port-auPrince, the 30th March, 1818, 15th year of Independence.

PANAYOTY, President,
LAMOTHS, Secretary.

For the sake of exhibiting to many of our readers the manner in which the business of state is transacted by this government, in addition to the above, we give the following public documents:

IN THE NAME OF THE REPUBLIC.

The secretary of state, provisionally charged with the executive power, having seen the vacancy of the presidency, orders that the above act of the Senate of the republic, be printed, published and executed according to its form and tenor, and that it be invested with the seal of the republic.

Given at the national palace of Portau-Prince, 31st March, 1818, 15th year of the independence of Hayti. JN. CME. IMBERT, By the chief of the executive power. The secretary general, B. INGINAC.

[blocks in formation]

John Peter Boyer, president of Hayti. We cannot, we think, commence the exercise of the power which the nation has delegated to us, better than by imitating the goodness that characterised all the actions of our illustrious predecessor. We have cast our eyes on suffering humanity, on those who, although culpable, have need of a moment of indulgence; wherefore we have thought fit to proceed agreeably to received principle, and not in opposition to the spirit of our laws, by enlarging all prisoners who are not stationed by capital crimes bearing the penalty of death. This favour is extended, for this time, to those under sentence, either on account of an offence against public order, or a fault against military discipline; the prisoners for debt shall also be enlarged, on furnishing security.

We trust, that by this act of clemency every one of those who shall receive the benefit of it, will consider himself bound to conform to the laws, never relapse into his faults, and prevent us for the future from employing a just severity. Declaring that nothing shall ever divert us from the greatest watchfulness over the public order, the respect due to the laws; and that we will always be inflexible against those who dare to contravene them.

Done at the national palace of Port-auPrince, the 2d of April, 1818, the 15th year of the independence of Hayti.

The secretary general,

BOYER. By the president: B. INGINAC.

Boyer is a coloured man, about 40 years old; he was one of the commanders who expelled the French invaders of St. Domingo under Le Clerc and Rochambeau, and although he is not supposed to possess as high talents and as comprehensive views as Petion, yet he is reputed to be a man of great energy and precision in business, and accounted a skilful and intrepid general.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The war with the Seminole Indians has been vigorously prosecuted by gen. Jackson, who appears to have nearly subdued or annihilated them. Gen. J. is said to have demanded permission of the governor of Pensacola to transport to the head of the bay of Escambia, provisions for his troops. A most horrid massacre of friendly Indians, on the Georgia frontier, has been perpetrated by a partizan corps under the command of one Wright, soi-disant captain.

Appointments.

Indian Agents, appointed by the president, under the act passed at the late session of congress, and confirmed by

the senate.

David B. Mitchell, agent to the Creek

nation.

John M'Kee, agent to the Choctaw nation.

R. J. Meigs, agent to the Cherokee pation.

Henry Sherburne, agent to the Chickasaw nation.

Thomas Forsyth, agent to the Missouri territory.

John Johnson, agent to fort Wayne and Pique.

William Prince, agent to Vincennes. Richard Graham, agent to Illinois territory.

Reuben Lewis, agent to Arkansas. Nicholas Boilvin, agent to Prairie du Chien.

John Jamieson, agent to Nachitoches.
Charles Jourett, agent to Chicago.
John Bowyer, agent to Green Bay.
Alex. Wolcott, Jun. agent to the lakes.
Jacob Tipton, agent to Michilimacki-

nac.

Superintendent and Factors to the United States' trading houses, appointed as aforesaid.

Thomas L. M'Kenney, superintendent of Indian trade, Georgetown, D. C. George C. Sibley, factor, Osage trading house, Missouri.

John W. Johnson, factor, Prairie du Chien, N. W. territory.

Isaac Rawlings, Jun. factor, Chickasaw Bluffs, Tennessee.

Matthew Irvin, factor, Green Bay.

Jacob B. Varnum, factor, Chicago. John Fowler, Sulphur Fork county, of Natchitoches.

Geo. W. Gaines, factor, Choctaw trading house, Mississippi.

Daniel Hughes, factor, fort Mitchill, Georgia.

Appointments by the president, with the concurrence of the senate.

Albion K. Parris, judge of the United States for the District of Maine.

Henry Y. Webb, of North Carolina, judge of the Alabama territory.

Victor Adolphus Sasserno, consul of the United States at Nice, in the kingdom of Sardinia.

John P. Marberry, of Ohio, receiver of public moneys at Marietta.

John C. Wright, attorney of the United States for the district of Ohio.

Augustus Chouteau, commissioner to treat with the Illinois, Kickapoos, Pottawatamies, and other tribes of Indians within the Illinois territory.

Robert Walsh, attorney of the United States for the Missouri territory.

George Washington Campbell, of Tennessee, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States to Russia.

William Clark and Augustus Chouteau, commissioners for holding a treaty with the Quapaw tribe of Indians.

Jonathan Jennings, Lewis Cass, and Benjamin Park, commissioners for holding a treaty with the Indians in the state of Indiana.

Isaac Shelby and Andrew Jackson, commissioners for holding a treaty with the Chickasaw nation of Indians.

John M'Kee, William Carroll, and Daniel Burnet, commissioners to treat with the Choctaws.

John Brown, of Tennessee, agent for taking the census of the Cherokee Indians on the east side of the Mississippi river.

Wm. Young, of Tennessee, agent for taking the census of the Cherokee Indians on the west side of the Mississippi river.

Henry Hitchcock, secretary for the territory of Alabama.

Samuel Hodges, Jun. of Massachusetts. consul of the United States for the Cape de Verd Islands.

James Schee, of Delaware, consul of the United States for Genoa.

Alexander M'Rae, of Virginia, consul of the United States for Amsterdam.

C. A. Murray, consul of the United States for Gottenburg.

Decius Wadsworth, formerly of Connecticut, register of the land office for the district of Howard county, in the Missouri territory.

ART. 13. DOMESTIC OCCURRENCES.

MASSACHUSETTS.

THE sea serpent has returned to his old haunts on the coast of this state; and, if we may credit well-attested accounts, has very much increased in bulk since his last

visit.

Frederick Tudor, Esq. has obtained from the French government the exclusive privilege of supplying the islands of Guadaloupe and Martinique with ice, for ten years, commencing on the first of Jan. 1819. The use of this article has been introduced at hospitals, and it is expected, will have the happy effect of counteracting the fatal diseases of tropical climates.

CONNECTICUT.

Oliver Wollcott has been re-elected governor of this state for the ensuing year.

NEW-YORK.

The ship Sea-Fox, under the command of capt. Fanning, has performed a voyage from the port of New-York, to the South Sea and back, in the short period of seven months and twenty-three days, having filled herself from stem to stern with oil and skins. Capt. F. states that an extraordinary change of weather has taken place in the vicinity of Cape Horn, and on the coast of Patagonia during the last summer: the winds, which usually prevailed from the westward, have, in that time, almost uniformly blown from the eastward, with frequent gales.

The snow on the Catskill mountains is stated to have been 18 inches deep on the 17th of April.

PENNSYLVANIA.

In this state are published more than 84 newspapers, of which 15 are printed in the German language.

The following interesting letter was published in a Philadelphia paper.

TO MR. POULSON.

Having some fine grape vines in my garden which afforded a luxuriant crop of grapes last fall, I was led to ascertain, with a few of the remaining branches, how long I could leave them on the vine, notwithstanding the frosts of the season.-For this purpose, I selected about half a dozen bunches, and pulled them at various dates, from the earliest part of October to the latter part of November. They continued unaffected by the frosts which, during that time, took place the only effect produced was a very slight shrivelling, and which might have been anticipated from the advanced season of the year. In taste, I think them equal, if not superior, to those antecedently gathered. But an extension of the experiment occurred to me, perhaps of more utility than the above, and which may give rise to the preservation of this delightful fruit among ourselves, for winter use, as we preserve apples and other articles of horticultural and agricultural industry. On the 12th of October, I carefully cut off a very fine

bunch, and placed it in an earthen-jar, covering it with dry white sand, and put it away to be opened on Christmas day. On the 29th of the same month, another of the few remaining bunches was cut off and put away in a similar manner, and was intended to be opened on the 1st of February. On Christmas day, about twelve weeks from the time I gathered the first bunch, it was taken from the jar, as firm and as fresh as when first deposited. The other was forgotten until the 22d of February, when it was found quite as sound and perfect as when pulledfrom its having been on the vine so much longer than the first, it was, when pulled, rather shrivelled; but this had not increased from its long confinement of nearly three months. As to its taste and éxcellence it is equal to any before eaten, and infinitely superior to those which, at so much expense and trouble, are brought to us from Spain and Portugal. JOHN R. COXE. Philadelphia, March 5, 1818.

DELAWARE.

"Agricultural Society of New Castle County." Under this title, pursuant to the provisions of a law of the 31st Dec. 1817, there has been a society organized, and a committee of five appointed to draft ordinances, by-laws, and regulations for perpetuating, well ordering and governing the affairs of the society. A resolution was passed on the 4th, adjourning the meeting to the last Saturday of May, inst.-then to meet at the court-house of New-Castle county, to receive the report of the committee, &c.

A letter from the upper part of this state says, the late frosts have entirely destroyed the favourable prospects of a wheat crop.

MARYLAND.

It was estimated that, on the 29th April, in one day, 2,000,000 of herrings, besides great numbers of shad, were taken near Havre de Grace.

VIRGINIA.

A melancholy instance of hydrophobia occurred in Richmond a few weeks ago. A boy of fourteen, who was bit in the hand, was attacked with all the symptoms of the disease about six weeks after the wound was entirely healed. He died in the greatest agony upon the fourth day. The India stone, generally applied in such cases, was placed upon the wound a few hours after the accident happened, and other medica! remedies were also given, He appeared to experience no uneasy sensations from the time he was bit until the symptoms of the hydrophobia appeared; but attended school as usual.

This furnishes another proof to many others, of the inefficacy of the India stone, which has frequently sold for several thousand dollars.

NORTH CAROLINA.

The president and directors of the Neuse river navigation company, have entered into a contract with Mr. John D. Delacey, to open and render the river at all times navigable, from judge Stone's mill to Newbern, for boats of seven tons burthen, within six months, and for boats of four teen tons barthen, within three years. Another contract, it is expected, will be made to bring navigation much nearer to the city;

Died.] In Richmond county, on the 13th day of April, at the seat of colonel T. Pate, Thomas Hathcock, aged 125 years.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

Letters from Columbia, in this state, under date of 28th April, say, the weather, during the last week, has been extremely cold for the season; in some parts the coldest since Christmas. The damage done by the frost is incalculable. In the low country, where the cotton had attained a considerable growth, the crops have been entirely cut off; and in the up-country, the small grain has felt its effects, equally severe. Our vegetable and flower gardens have also suffered severely; and all nature bear marks of its destructive ravages. What adds much to the evil, is the great scarcity of cotton-seed for re-planting, not a tenth of which it is feared can be procured.

GEORGIA.

The season has been very cold, and the frost has done great injury to the crops, in this as well as the other southern states.

The capital employed in the steam-boat company of Georgia, is 800,000 dollars, divided into 1600 shares of 500 dollars each.

By a statement, extracted from the custom-house books, and published in the Savannah Museum, it appears that no less than 61,797 bales of cotton, 13,680 tierces of rice, and 1,500 hhds. of tobacco, were exported from Savannah, from the 1st of October to the 31st of March last. The value of these exports is estimated at $6,264,697.

An association for improving the navigation of Savannah river-another for building a steam-ship, to ply as a packet between Savannah and Liverpool, and a third for a building and insurance bank, have all been fully subscribed for at Savannah.

ALABAMA TERRITORY.

The inhabitants of Huntsville, (which, by the late division of territory between Mississippi and Alabama, is located in the latter) have subscribed $7,200 to clear out Indian creek and make it navigable to the Tennessee river.

MISSOURI TERRITORY.

The rapidity with which this remote country is populating is astonishing. Distance cannot awe the spirit of American enterprise. Arkansas county contains 10,000 males, and Boone's settlement 8000. The whole population of the territory is now estimated at 60,000. Old col. Boone, (says Mr. Niles,) the first settler of the powerful state of Kentucky, yet living, we believe, who lately seated himself so far up the Missouri as to possess a well grounded hope that a teeming population would not again compel him to seek a new abode, to enjoy unmolested his favourite manner of life, may yet be driven to the rocky mountains, and even there be disturbed in 8 or 10 years, if he lives so long.

ART. 16.

From the Philosophical Magazine. ON A CASE OF FORMATION OF ICE ON AN ALKALINE SOLUTION. BY MR. GAVIN INGLIS. To Mr. Tilloch.

DEAR SIR,

A

CURIOUS case came under my observation this morning, of a formation of ice on a solution of ashes. It had so much attracted the attention of the servants before I got sight of it, that a number of them were ranged round the boiler in a state of admiration, looking at what they called the pattern, alluding to beautiful six-pointed stars of the most regular formation which covered the surface of the liquor, each point bearing a most striking resemblance to the termination of a full-spread fern leaf. The most beautiful and perfect were in the centre, towards the sides the same form of a leaf continued, but they were laid rather like a parcel of stars, previously formed, thrown confusedly over one another. The complete stars measured from the centre to the point of the figure 24 inches. The first

ANALECTA.

glance of this ice struck me as bearing a strong and marked resemblance to the snow observed by Dr. Clarke during his stay in. St. Petersburg. I immediately sent for that volume of his Travels, and on the spot compared the figure given in vol. i. p. 12, and found it was impossible to give a more exact representation, than by extending the dimensions of Dr. Clarke's fig. 1. The beautiful radiations of this ice must have proceeded from the component parts of the solution which was made from ashes recovered from waste lees highly carbonated, containing some ammonia and a portion of nitre. The latter is formed in considerable quantity in the lees during the operation of bleaching, particularly when cottons are under operation. The specific gravity of this solution was 1.115. Two other boilers containing a solution of carbonate of potash, the specific gravity 1:057 and 1·073, were covered with a coat of ice, soft and porous, better than an inch in thickness, rather resembling wet snow slightly compressed,

[ocr errors]

having no regular figure, and little more adhesion than to admit its being taken off in flat pieces: no appearance of lamination whatever, whereas the laminated ice was thin, solid, and shining.

Dr. Clarke, in his Travels, 4th edit. vol. i. p. 11, marked on the margin "Extraordinary Phenomenon," says, "the season began to change before we left Petersburg, the cold became daily less intense, and the inhabitants were busied in moving from the Neva large blocks of ice into their cellars. A most interesting and remarkable phenomenon took place the day before our departure; the thermometer of Fahrenheit indicating only nine degrees of temperature below the freezing point, and there was no wind. At this time snow, in the most regular and beautiful crystals, fell gently upon our clothes, and upon the sledge as we were driving through the street. All of these crystals possessed exactly the same figure and the same dimensions. Every one of them consisted of a wheel, or star, with six equal rays, bounded by circumferences of equal diameters; having all the same numbers of rays branching from a common centre. The size of each of those little stars was equal to the circle presented by the section of a pea into two equal parts. This appearance continued during three hours, in which time no other snow fell; and as there was sufficient leisure to examine them with the strictest attention, we made the representation given in fig. 1.

"Water in its crystallization seems to consist of radii diverging from a common centre, by observing the usual appearances on the surface of ice-perhaps therefore it may be possible to obtain the theory and to ascertain the laws from which this structure results.

"Monge, president of the National Institute of Paris, noticed in falling snow, stars with six equal rays descending, during winter, when the atmosphere was calm. Hauy records this in his observations on the muriate of ammonia.”

As all regular crystallization must be governed by, and depend on, some unalterable laws in nature, I have no doubt but the Russian snow observed by Dr. Clarke, and the Parisian stars noticed by M. Monge, and the above radiations on this alkaline solution, were identically from the same cause the presence of ammonia and nitre in both. The quantity of ammonia produced in large cities must be immense : independent of every other source, what must be formed in the ordinary culinary operations of the kitchen? this must be driven into the atmosphere. From the same source nitrogen per se may be supplied in no mean quantity, or liberated by the decomposition of a portion of the ammonia. May not condensation be of use in atmospherical combinations, and nitrates as well as ammoniacal salts formed, and the aqueous vapours impregnated with these saline productions, VOL. 111.-No. II.

20

prior to freezing or forming into snow, and the beautiful regularity of this phenomenon proceed from the habitudes of ammoniacal crystallization as recorded by Hauy? May not this also account for the extraordinary quantity of nitre found in some soils where deep vegetable mould predominates? The nitrogen descending with rain or snow, may combine with the potash of decayed vegetables already oxisting in the soil, and become the parent of this native salt. Or can it be possible that the mere abstraction of caloric has any share in the formation of potash, and hence nitre? It is well known that frost alone produces in potatoes a saccharine matter that renders them sensibly sweet to the taste. It is also known to you, that potatoes once gone into putrefaction by the effects of frosts, contain nitre in such quantity as to answer the purpose of making match paper: before the potato undergoes these changes by the effects of frost and putrefaction, no saccharine matter is perceptible, nor nitre to be found: from whence come they?

I remain, dear sir, yours,

Feb. 6, 1818.

GAVIN INGLIS.

DRY ROT.

The Eden British sloop of war (new), which was lately sunk in Hamoaze, to endeavour to cure her of the dry rot, has been raised, commissioned, and taken into dock. On opening her, she has been found defective in every part, and. must undergo a thorough repair. The Topaz frigate, also ordered for commission, which was repair ed not long since, is found to be in the same state. The Dartmouth frigate, built at Dartmouth, three years old, never at sea, is also undergoing a complete repair. Not a ship is taken into dock but is found to be nearly rotten. The very best ships do not average more than twelve years existence. The San Domingo, 74, was ripped up (four years old) at Portsmouth. The Queen Charlotte, 110, was built at Woolwich, sent round to Plymouth, found rotten, and underwent a thorough repair; she was also several months under the care of Dr. Lukin, an admiralty chemist, who received 5000l. for his ineffectual labours to stop the progress of vegetation in the ship. After a short cruise, the Queen Charlotte was laid up at Portsmouth, where she remains in a very defective state

NEW OPINION IN REGARD TO POMPEII AND HERCULANEUM.

It is, at present, the general belief that the two celebrated cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were overwhelmed and destroyed by an eruption of Vesuvius in the year 79. It is now, however, maintained, that this was not the case. Pompeii is said to be covered by a bed of lapillo, of the same nature as that we observe daily forming by the agency of water on the shore at Naples; while Herculaneum is covered by a series of

« AnteriorContinuar »