UNITED STATES.

CONGRESS.

The Pension Bill, which passed both Houses of Congress, and has now become a law, enacts That each of the surviving officers, non-commissioned officers, musicians, soldiers and Indian spies, who served in the Continental Line, or State Troops, Volunteers or Militia, at one or more terms, a period of two years, during the war of the revolution and who are not entitled to any benefit under the act for the relief of certain surviving officers and soldiers of the revolution, passed the 15th day of May, 1828, be authorized to receive, out of any money in the Treasury not other wise appropriated, the amount of his full pay in the said line, according to his rank, but not exceeding in any case the pay of a captain, such pay to commence from the 4th day of March, 1831, and continue during his natural life; and that any such officer, noncommissioned officer, musician or private, who served a term or terms in the whole, less than the above period, but not less than six months, shall be authorized to receive in the same manner an amount bearing such proportion to the annuity granted to the same rank for the service of two years, as his term of service did to the term aforesaid; to commence from date. The act also provides that the officers, non-commissioned officers, mariners, or marines, who served for a like term in the naval service during the revolutionary war, shall be entitled to the benefits of the act, in the same manner as is provided for the officers and soldiers of the army of the revolution.

The Apportionment Bill, having passed the House of Representatives, was amended in the Senate, apportioning the representatives among the sev

eral states agreeably to the principle proposed by Mr. Webster, [see N. E. Mag. for April, p. 339] and returned to the House. The bill was then referred to a committee, of which Mr. Polk was chairman, who made a long and elaborate report against the new bill, and recommending a non-concurrence with the Senate. Mr. E. Everett, from the minority of the committee, made a counter-report, sustaining the principle of the new bill. After a brief debate, the House voted to adhere to the origi nal bill, and returned the new one to the Senate, non-concurred. The Senate subsequently receded from their amendment, and passed the original bill, by which the representation for the next ten years is thus apportioned :Maine, New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode-Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New-York,

New-Jersey,

Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia,

8

12

40

6

28

1

8

21

North-Carolina,

13

South-Carolina,

Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, Alabama,

240

Patents. A bill has been discussed in the Senate, providing for the appointment of a Recorder of the Patent Office, and prescribing the manner in which patents shall be issued. Mr. Forsyth moved to strike out the whole

bill, after the enacting words, and to insert an authority to use a fac simile, and the employment of a private Secretary of the President, to be employed in its use. Mr. Poindexter moved to amend the amendment, by introducing the words "for the time being," after the words "President of the United States," and by adding a provision that each President, at the end of his term of service, shall cause the fac simile to be destroyed. Mr. Forsyth accepted the amendment. The change of system was advocated by Mr. Clay, who said that by the present mode an unreasonable amount of mechanical labor was imposed on the Chief Magistrate, interfering with duties of an intellectual character. He wished the friends of the administration to settle the mode among themselves, and pledged himself on this question to support the administration with all possible zeal. Mr. Poindexter opposed the principle of substituting any other signature to transfers of the public domain, than that of the President himself. He preferred the adoption of a fac simile. It was stated by Mr. King and Mr. Forsyth, that there were near 10,000 patents lying before the President, waiting for his signature, and 40,000 others were prepared. Mr. Ewing preferred the fac simile mode to the other.

The

amendment was opposed by Mr. Bibb, who stated that he never would authorize a Chief Magistrate, on the pretence that he had not time to sign his name, to have a fac simile made of his own name. The amendment of Mr. Forsyth was then agreed to, Yeas 21, Nays 20. The bill was then laid on the table and has not since been called up.

United States Bank. A bill renewing and modifying the charter of the United States Bank has passed the Senate, but has not yet received the definitive action of the House of Rep

resentatives.

The Tariff. The House of Representatives has been almost daily, for some weeks, engaged in discussing various projects for modifying the Tariff; but no bill has yet been brought to maturity.

Steam-Boat Explosions. In the House of Representatives, May 18, Mr. Wickliffe, from a select committee, to which the subject had been referred, made a report, accompanied by a bill" to provide for the better security of the lives of passengers on board of vessels propelled in whole or in part by steam."

The committee express in the com

mencement of their report the opinion that Congress have no constitutional power to prescribe the mode or form of vessels, or the principles upon which they shall be propelled. They affirm that it is beyond the rightful legislation of the Government to interfere at all in directing the mode of construction of steam-boats or steam-engines. They limit the power of Congress to an inspection and regulation of vessels and boilers, as a condition upon which a registry shall be made or license granted under the laws of the United States. The causes to which the explosions of steam-boilers has been referred by scientific and practical men, are stated by the Committee. The most obvious are faulty construction of boilers, defective materials, and age. These are controlable in some degree by legislation, and the Committee consider that the appointment of officers at suitable points upon the navigable rivers, &c. of the United States, to inspect boats and boilers, and test the strength of the latter by hydraulic pressure, will be sufficient to detect and remove all danger from these causes. This examination is to be made every three months. To enforce this suggestion, it is remarked that in the West, experience has proved that a steam-boat after six or seven years of navigation is unfit for use, and that the original strength of its machinery must, under the same circumstances, diminish very much. Besides this, there does not, so far as the Committee learn, exist, in any part of the United States, any system or practice by which the strength of steam-boilers is tested; and generally, the first evidence of its defects is an explosion or collapse. To these causes of steamboat accidents, the Committee add several others, for which they offer no preventive measures, some of them being municipal control of the states, and beyond their powers,-belonging to the others being beyond any control except that of care and science. These are

principally, carelessness or want of skill in engineers; an undue pressure of steam beyond the capacity of the boiler, although sound in its construction and perfect in material; and lastly, a deficiency in the supply of water, producing an overheated steam, and increasing the heat of the flues, the consequence of which is that when water in increased quantity is thrown in by the supply pump, a quantity of steam is produced, which occasions disastrous explosions. The Committee repeat the complaint so frequently made against steamboats,

that when they are stopped at landing places, on their way, the engineer often neglects to ungear his wheels, and keep the engine in motion, trusting to the safety valve and the strength of the boiler. Thus it is that explosions frequently take place while the boat is stationary, or immediately after getting under way. To guard against such accidents, it is proposed to impose a heavy penalty upon the master and engineer who neglect, when the boat is stationary, to ungear the wheels, and work off the steam.

In connexion with this subject, the committee have inquired into other causes of danger by steam-boats, among which are danger by fire, and by contact in the night when coming in opposite directions. As precautions against the first terrible calamity, it is recommended that every boat should be compelled to keep itself provided with a sufficient number of boats and yawls, according to its tonnage, for the escape of the passengers, and a suitable fire engine and hose, as part of the furniture. To prevent the other danger, that of contact in the night, the report suggests that a light should be suspended in the bows of every boat, at least three feet above deck, and that on the Western waters, the descending boat should be compelled to let off her steam and float with the current, whenever two boats come within a half mile of each other. The Committee state as the result of their investigations into the number and extent of steam-boat disasters, that there have been fifty-two explosions in the United States, by which two hundred and fifty-six persons have been killed, and one hundred and four wounded.

The Public Lands. In a former number of the Magazine we presented a sketch of Mr. Clay's Report on the Pubfic Lands. The following is a similar abstract of a Report made to the House of Representatives on the same subject, by Mr. Wickliffe,-taking a somewhat different view of it:

This report expresses a decided opposition to the views of the Secretary of the Treasury, upon the subject of disposing of the public lands in the several states in which they respectively are situated, and of a division of the proceeds of the sale thereof among the several states.

The public lands are regarded, in the report, as one of the sources of public revenue, and the proceeds arising from the sales thereof are argued to be as much the public revenue as the pro

ceeds of the custom-house. The power of Congress is said to be the same over both, and the one can be as well divided out among the states, for state purposes, as the other. The power so to divide either is denied by the report.

The report proceeds upon the presumption, that the law of Congress, and the changes of the system by which the United States have acquired and disposed of the public lands, are understood by the community. The committee has, therefore, refrained from going much into detail on these points. There is, however, attached to this report, some tabular statements, which will be of great utility to those who are in pursuit of accurate and detailed information as to the costs and expenditures on account of the public lands, the quantity sold and unsold in each state and territory, and (what has not before been published) a statement of the amount abated or relinquished by the United States of the purchase money of the public lands, (sold under the credit system.) by the operation of the Relief Laws of 1821,-2,-3, &c. and 1830; by which statement it appears, that the whole number of acres relinquished was 4,602,573 11-100; the purchase money due on the same being stated to have been $14,983,631 10.

The report assumes it to be the duty of Congress to reduce the revenue of the Government "to the reasonable demands of the public service, after the payment of the National debt." This reduction, it is earnestly recommended, should be made at the present session of Congress.

The committee declare themselves to be opposed to the abstraction of the proceeds of the sale of the public lands from the revenue of the Government, but urge that the price of the public lands should be reduced for the two-fold purpose, first, of reducing the amount of revenue derived from the sales thereof, and, secondly, with the view of placing it more immediately within the power of every man, however poor, to acquire a home for his family.

The report adverts to the effects upon the Western states of annually withdrawing so much money from the West as the price of these lands amounts to, and expending it in other portions under the present system, mitigated, as it has often been, by the justice and liberality of the National Legislature; and deprecates the state of things which it declares to be inevitable, should the funds arising from the sales of the public lands be divided in any

form, and in any ratio, among the several states for state purposes.

The Report recommends that Congress should retain the unrestricted control of the public domain, and that the national legislation over the same should be guarded by a policy which shall regard it rather as a mean to build up flourishing communities, than as a profitable source of revenue to the General Government, or of wealth to the individual states.

POLITICAL CONVENTIONS.

The Young Men's National Republican Convention, pursuant to notice, assembled in the city of Washington, on the first Monday in May. It was composed of about three hundred delegates, from the states of Maine, New-Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode-Island, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, South-Carolinia, Ohio, Kentucky, Louisiana, and from the District of Columbia. It was organized by the choice of WILLIAM C. JOHNSON of Maryland, President; WILLIAM LUSH of NewYork, CHARLES J. FAULKNER of Virginia, WILLIAM P. FESSENDEN of Maine, and GEORGE W. BURNETT of Ohio, Vice-Presidents; GEORGE P. MOLLESON of New-Jersey, and J. R. ANGELL of Rhode-Island, Secretaries. The Convention held its sittings daily through the week. Resolutions were unanimously passed, approving the nomination of HENRY CLAY, and JOHN SERGEANT, as candidates for President and Vice-President; and another, "approving the wisdom and firmness of the Senate of the United States in rejecting the nomination of Martin Van Buren as minister to Great-Britain. Mr. Clay, having received an invitation to visit the Convention, and it having been announced that he was in the ante-room, a committee introduced him to the presiding officer, who thus addressed him :—

"Sir: As the organ, and in the name of the National Republican Young Men in this convention assembled, I welcome your presence on this interesting occasion, and tender to you, in their behalf, the respects, the gratitude, and the admiration of those that surround you. Your private worth and public services have placed you before them--the object of their patriotic labors and hopes.

"About to close the duties that brought us together, we could not, as a body, separate, without this offering of our feelings and sentiments to the man whose name and principles are associated with the liberty and glory of our beloved country.

"With such a name, and such principles, we go forth united and active in a great cause-and feel assured that, in an appeal to the Young Men of America, the CONSTITUTION and HENRY CLAY will be triumphant."

To which Mr. Clay responded as follows:

"Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention:

"In conformity with your resolution, communicated through a Committee of your body, I have the honor of presenting myself before you; and I avail myself of the occasion to express the deep and grateful sense which I entertain for the distinguished proofs which you have on this, and other days of your session, given to me of your esteem and confidence. Should I be called by the people of the United States to the administration of their Executive Government, it shall be my earnest endeavor to fulfil their expectations; to maintain, with firmness and dignity, their interests and honor abroad; to eradicate every abuse and corruption at home; and to uphold, with vigor, and equality, and justice, the supremacy of the Constitution and the Laws.

"Our greatest interest, in this world, is our liberty. Derived from our ancestors, by whose valor and blood it was established, it depends upon the vigilance, virtue, and intelligence, of the present generation, whether it shall be preserved and transmitted to posterity, as the most precious of all earthly possessions. Next to that, in importance, is our Union, indissolubly connected with it, also derived from the fathers of our country. But what we want is a practical, efficient, and powerful Union; one that shall impartially enforce the laws towards all; whether individuals or communities, who are justly subject to their authority: a Union which, if it shall ever be deemed necessary to chide one member of the Confederacy, for rash and intemperate expressions, threatening its disturbance, will snatch violated laws and treaties from beneath the feet of another member, and deliver the Free Citizens of the United States from unjust and ignominious imprisonment.

Gentlemen, it belongs to you, and the young men of your age, to decide whether these great blessings of Liberty and Union shall be defended and preserved. The responsibility which attaches to you is immense. It is not our own country alone that will be affected by the result of the great experiment of self-government which will be shortly committed exclusively to your hands. The eyes of all civilized nations are in

tensely gazing upon us; and it may be truly asserted that the fate of Liberty, throughout the world, mainly depends upon the maintenance of American Liberty. May you, gentlemen, be deeply penetrated with the magnitude of the sacred trust confided to you. May you transfuse into the bosoms of your contemporaries the enthusiasm which burns in your own; and may the career, on which you are all just entering, be long, and happy, and illustrious!"

On Saturday morning the Convention adjourned: Agreeably to previous arrangement, at half past nine o'clock, the members, preceded by their officers, marched in procession to a steam-boat, on which they embarked, and proceeded down the Potomac, to the shores of the place where lie deposited the relics of the great patriot and warrior of our country. On landing at Mount Vernon, the procession resumed the order in which it embarked, and moved, uncovered, in solemn silence, to the sacred depository of the Remains of the illustrious Washington, Mr. Flag, of SouthCarolina, then read to his associates the last admonitory counsels of the Father of his Country.

Baltimore Convention. On the 21st of May, a convention of delegates from all the states, composed of the friends of the administration, assembled at Baltimore, for the purpose of nominating a candidate for the Vice-Presidency, to be placed on the ticket with General Jackson for President: Of this body Gen. ROBERT LUCAS of Ohio, was chosen President; Peter V. DANIEL of Virginia, 1st Vice-President; JAMES FENNER of Rhode-Island, 2d Vice-President; JOHN M. BARKLEY of Pennsylvania, 3d VicePresident; A. S. CLAYTON of Georgia, 4th Vice-President; JOHN A. Dix of New-York, STACY G. POTTS of NewJersey, ROBERT J. WARD of Kentucky, Secretaries. After debate, it was voted that each state be entitled, in the nomination to be made of a Candidate for the Vice-Presidency, to a number of votes equal to the number to which they will be entitled in the Electoral Colleges, under the new apportionment, in voting for President and Vice-President; and that two thirds of the whole number of the votes in the Convention shall be necessary to constitute a choice. It was also voted that the candidate for the Vice-Presidency shall be designated by the ballot or ballots of the person or persons selected for this purpose, by the respective delegations without nomination in Convention-and that if a choice is not had upon the first balloting, the

respective delegations shall retire and prepare for a second ballotting, and continue this mode of voting, until a selection is made.

The Convention then proceeded to ballot for a candidate for the Vice-Presidency, which being concluded, it appeared that MARTIN VAN BUREN had received the following votes: From Connecticut 8 votes; Illinois 2; Ohio 21; Tennessee 15; North-Carolina 9; Georgia 11; Louisania 5; Pennsylvania 30; Maryland 7; New-Jersey 8; Mississippi 4; Rhode-Island 7; Maine 10; Massachusetts 14; Delaware 3; NewHampshire 7; New-York 42; Vermont 7; Alabama 1-being in all 208. That RICHARD M. JOHNSON had received the following votes: From Illinois 2 votes; Indiana 9; Kentucky 15-being in all 26 votes. That PHILIP P. BARBOUR had received the following votes: From North-Carolina 6 votes; Virginia 23; Maryland 3; South-Carolina 11, and Alabama 6 votes-being in the whole 49 votes. MARTIN VAN BUREN, having received a majority of more than two-thirds of all the votes given, was declared to be selected as the candidate nominated by the Convention for the Vice-Presidency.

Subsequently, the delegations from Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana, declared their concurrence in the vote of the majority. A committee, consisting of one from each state was appointed to draft an address to the people of the United States. Mr. Archer of Vir

ginia, chairman of this committee, afterwards reported that the committee, having interchanged opinions on the subject, submitted to them, and agreeing fully in the principles and sentiments in an address of this description, if such which they believe ought to be embodied an address were to be made, nevertheless deem it advisable, under existing circumstances, to recommend the adop tion of the following resolution:

Resolved, That it be recommended to the several delegations in this Convention, in place of a general address from this body to the people of the United States, to make such explanations by address, report, or otherwise, to their respective constituents, of the objects, proceedings and result of the meeting, as they may deem expedient.

Which report and resolution were read and adopted unanimously. A general corresponding committee for each state was appointed. Votes of thanks to the President, Vice-Presidents, and Secretaries, were passed. A resolution that the Convention should visit the