The amount of purchase, above stated, is predicated on the supposition that slaves could be purchased for emancipaton at $200 per head, which is below half their value. If a certain number could be purchased at that, and colonized, the price of the remainder would be raised. The death of some twenty thousand by Cholera, advanced the price twenty-five per cent. The removal of a portion of our slaves would not diminish their number at home. The law of population is as certain as any law of nature, and can be read by all who use their eyes. What country in modern times has had its population diminished by emigration? Africa for nearly a century, parted annually with about one hundred thousand of its inhabitants; and whilst half America was blackened by the trade, Africa has experienced no diminution of its population. The exportation of a certain number of slaves, would render those that remained more valuable, and more attention and care would be paid to populating.

Colonization, under the most favourable circumstances, is no easy matter. Read the history of every Colony 'tis a record of privations, suffering, disease and mortality. Every page portrays the necessity of adding, very gradually, to the number of the colonists To colonize great numbers of the blacks, would be misguided humanity, would be sending them from their own country to a new and dangerous climate, and to means of subsistence to which they are totally unfitted. It is much to be regretted that a misplaced notion of philanthrophy has led persons to agitate the question of domestic slavery; its tendency is to create bitter feelings and rigid discipline towards the slaves, and cause unhappiness to their masters.

189

prophets were mistaken, or else our capital of ruin is so great that no drafts can exhaust it.

There is no danger to the union; the objections to its formation have been rapidly dwindling for half a century; every trial has made it stronger, our wide spread territory is concentrating every day by every improvement, our people are increasing in intelligence they know that union and freedom are one and indivisible, and whatever agitating questions may be raised to excite the feelings of our citizens, let real danger make its slightest approach, and all local and partial feelings will be buried, and a firm and united people will frown it down.

I have presented a few leading points, the subject is so extensive that the occasion will not allow it to be treated in all its minutiæ. I thank you for the attention which you have paid, and will say no more.

From the Pittsburg Gazette.
FLOATING DRY DOCK.

We find the following article in the New York American, of Thursday last.

"Folger's Floating Dry Dock.—We have examined the model of this new and ingenious invention, now exhibiting under the Exchange, and see no reason to doubt that it presents a mode, both cheap and effectual, of repairing-and building too, for aught we see-ships, in Dry Dock.

The principle is simply this-a floating cradle, water tight, and of the dimensions proportioned to the vesone extremity; this being lowered, the cradle sinks, so sels to be docked, is constructed, with a falling gate at that the vessel may pass into it-when by windlasses the gate is closed-the water within pumped out by a steam and supported along the inner sloping walls of the craengine, and, as it is withdrawn, the vessel is shored up,

dle.

In Pennsylvania we have a large colored free population, and notwithstanding the prejudice that may exist against them, I assert, from the best opportunity of knowing, that as a class they are quiet and innoffensive, and many of them intelligent and respectable. The agitation of the slave question is only calculated to ren der the free blacks unhappy and to excite the prejudices of the wicked and ignorant against them. Several such docks, of sizes proportioned to merI know that it is fashionable to prophecy that some half chant ships and vessels of war, would cost little, comcentury hence, a servile war will ensue with all its hor-pared with a permanent Dry Dock, and would have the advantage of being available for use any where-withcommend the invention to the notice of the public." out regard to locality-where they could float.

rors.

Such prophecy is based on an ignorance of human nature; I have no fear of a general insurrection, and believing that we have enough to do in our day and generation, am willing to leave to posterity the business of posterity. Those who succeed us will be quite as able to attend to the business of their times as we are to attend to it for them.

Many persons talk of the curse of slavery; yet without slavery, it is, to say the least, doubtful whether the Southern States could be cultivated and furnish their im mense exports; whether the free labor of emancipated slaves would be any thing like equal to the servile labor. Whether sudden emancipation would not be irretreviable ruin to the Southern States and sorely injurious to us all. The children of Israel were liberated; it required the exercise of miraculous power, and the outsretched arm of God to lead and colonize them.Yet from the moment of their departure, the glory and prosperity of Egypt had departed, she sunk to rise no more, and the monuments raised by her slaves are almost the only evidences of her existence. Remove the slaves of the South, and Egyptian solitude would supercede the cultivation and prosperity of our southern country.

If slavery be a curse, leave its removal to those who know and feel it--we have nothing to do with it; let us mind our own business, the South will attend to theirs. We have enough to do at home.

We have croakers among us who cry that slavery will ruin the country. I have heard in my short life! time, frequent and loud predictions of the country's ruin. The storms have passed over us, and either the

We

surprized to learn that this new and ingenious invention The able editor of the American, will, no doubt, be of Mr. Folger has been in actual and successful operation in this city for four or five years. Moreover, a suit was brought against the constructor, Thomas Cunningham, of this place, for an alleged violation of a patent right, by Capt. of Cincinnati, and Mr. Cunningham relied for his defence upon the fact that such docks had been in use, for many years, in England and Hol land.

Folger's Dry Dock, as described in the American, is so precisely similar to that now in use here, that we could not give a better description.

We can assure the editor of the American, and all others, that the Floating Dry Dock possesses all the advantages which he supposes it to possess. It has been thoroughly tried here, and has been found to be a cheap, speedy, and convenient contrivance for repairing steam boats of great size.

Before this Floating Dock was introduced by Cunningham, the plan of operations was to take the boat to be repaired over some flat, even beach, in time of high water, and there wait until the water had fallen. In this mode of proceeding, the boats would sometimes be detained weeks after they were repaired; and sometimes the river would rise before the repairs were completed, and interrupt the work

Such being the inconveniences of the old mode, our steam boat owners and masters were well able to appreciate the advantages of the Floating Dry Dock.

My constiuents have already suffered much from delay in the recovery of their just and lawful claims; their

rights having been ascertained and fully recognized by
the judicial tribunals of the country, I must be permit
ted to say, that your request seemed somewhat novel.
Without, however, recognizing the right of the com-
mittee to interfere with or controul the discharge of
my duty to my constituents, I will suspend all adversa.
ry proceedings for a short time, so as to give you an
opportunity of performing the duties of your appoint-
ment.
Very respectfully,

Sir:-At a stated meeting of the. Lot owners of the city of Lancaster, on the 27th of July last, J. Buchanan, Adam Reigart, Samuel Dale, Redmond Conyngham, Amos Ellmaker, John F. Steinman, and Dr. Samuel Humes, were appointed a committee to confer with the proprietors of the ground rents, and ascertain the most favourable terms on which the said rents can be liquidated.

Three of the said committee are now absent from Lancaster: We, therefore request you, as agent of the proprietors, not to proceed or act further in collection of said rents, till the whole of the committee have an opportunity of conversing and conferring with the proprietors on the subject of the liquidation of said ground

E. C. Reigart, Esq. to the Committee. To Adam Reigart, Samuel Dale, Redmond Conyngham, and Amos Ellmaker, Esqrs.

Gentlemen, I received your note of the 13th inst. yesterday, and would have replied without delay, but was prevented by immediate and pressing engagements.

their agent, and ascertain the most favorable terms on which the said rents can be liquidated, and report the same," &c. now proceed to perform the duty thus enjoined. They address you as the agent of the proprietors, rather than the proprietors themselves; because from your residence in this city and your intimate knowledge of its inhabitants, you must be well acquainted with their situation and with the state of feeling which now exists among them. This knowledge, the committee trust and believe, you will communicate to your constituents.

It is well known that the ground rents for many years past are now in arrear. They have not been generally paid since the death of Andrew Hamilton, in 1825.You must be fully sensible of the cause. of Lancaster knows that for several years after that Every citizen event, no regular demand was made upon the Lot holders, and there was no agent amongst us who could exhibit a competent authority to receive the ground rents. No regular chain of title for them was produced, and the Lot holders were not informed, nor did they know who were the real owners. For this neglect and for its consequences the proprietors have themselves to blame. Serious doubts and suspicions were thus cast upon their title; and the Lot owners ceased to pay their ground rents. These ground rents have thus accumulated to such an extent, that many, very many of them, would be wholly unable, without sacrificing their property to meet the demand.

Under such circumstances, what ought to be the course pursued? The committee firmly believe that the true interest of the proprietors is to meet the Lot holdders in a spirit of liberal and enlightened conciliation. A strong and a general feeling now exists in Lancaster against the payment of these arrearages. The ground rents in future, we believe, might be collected without serious difficulty, if the question of the arrears were settled. In that event, the Lot holders would generally be disposed to purchase immediately upon reasonable terms: and it would certainly be the interest of the proprietors to sell.

But what, in the present state of public feeling, would be the consequence, if a compulsory course should be adopted, and the proprietors should attempt to enforce the payment of these arrearages? A resistance almost universal. Many hundred suits must be brought the city must be thrown into agitation-the Lot holders must be harrassed by the trouble and expense of these law suits, and in the end, the proprietors would discover that they had mistaken their true interest. Many examples might be adduced to prove the extreme difficulty, or rather the impossibility, of enforcing separate claims, though clearly legal, against a great number of individuals in the same vicinity, who are impelled to oppose them by a strong sense of their injustice, whether well or ill-founded.

191

effected, could not, in the opinion of those who know
them, influence their conduct in the slightest degree.
Yours, respectfully,
JAMES BUCHANAN,
ᎪᎠᎪᎷ ᎡᎬIGᎪᎡᎢ,
SAMUEL DALE,
REDM'D. CONYNGHAM,
AMOS ELLMAKER,
JOHN F. STEINMAN,
SAMUEL HUMES, Jr.

NO 6.

Mr. Reigart to the Committee. Gentlemen,-Your second note of yesterday, was rephia, and will submit your note to my constituents, who ceived late last night; this morning I leave for Philadel I know are disposed to do what may be fair and honora

ble.

from me fully.
On my return to Lancaster you may expect to hear

I am, very respectfully, &c.

E. C. REIGART.
To the Hon. James Buchanan, Adam Reigart, Samuel
Dale, Red'd. Conyngham, Amos Ellmaker, John F.
Steinman, and Samuel Humes, Jrs., Esqrs,
Lancaster, 3d Sept., 1835.

NO. 7.

Mr. Reigart to the Committee.

Gentlemen, I have submitted to my constituents your letter of the 2d inst., and am instructed, in reply, to express their gratification at the opportunity which your correspondence affords them of making known their views and sentiments concerning the collection of the art cars of their ground rents. They believe, as I do, that you are mistaken in your impressions of the neglect paying the rents accrued during several years causes which have led so many of the Lot holders to ever was a time when there was not a regular chain of past. It is, we think, a mistake to suppose that there title to the rents, or parties ready and competent to receive them: these parties have always been duly represented by an agent, in Lancaster, except on one occa. sion, for about a year, in consequence of the death of one of the parties. who represented the owners of the rents, at the time to It may be, that the gentleman which you refer, may have been remiss in his duty in not producing the title by which he claimed to collect the rents, when properly called upon for that purpose. All these matters, however, have recently undergone judicial investigation, before a jury, in the District Court of this county, and before the Supreme Court of the state, and the concurrent decision of both these tribunals, serves to show that the proprietors of the rents are not the parties to be blamed for the delay of the Lot holders to pay their rents. In questioning the

Besides, such a course of conduct might endanger the interest of the proprietors, upon a point which the committee do not believe will otherwise be put in jeo-correctness of your impressions on these subjects, my pardy. It might and probably would produce a hostility on the part of the Lot holders to pay or to extinguish their ground rents in future, and thus the present value of the estate to the proprietors might be seriously impaired.

If there ever were a case, then, in which conciliation is the interest of all parties, it is the present. We trust, therefore, that a liberal and generous proposition may be made by the proprietors-such an one as the committee may be able conscientiously to recommend to the adeption of their fellow citizens,-and such an one as will promote harmony between the parties and se cure the best interests of all concerned.

In conclusion, the committee owe it to themselves to observe, that their own interests, minute and trifling as they are, even if any of them should be disposed to take advantage of the compromise which they hope may be

constituents have no desire to recriminate the same charges upon the Lot holders. They have the highest respect for the inhabitants of Lancaster, and, while they always regretted the existence of any difference of opinion between them, have always felt assured that honest one, and would be candidly acknowledged by the mistake, on the part of the Lot holders, was an them, when the decision of the Supreme Court should be obtained, as it now has been.

bility of future doubt or question, that the rents are The decision of this Court places it beyond the possirecoverable by course of law: But a legal course is the last one to which my constituents would willingly resort. necessary, they have patiently awaited the result of the Trusting that such a course might not ultimately be late proceedings in the Supreme Court: this time being troversy. It is settled that the arrears are due, and the now arrived, there exists no longer any subject for con

amount in arrear is in every case ascertained, or easily
ascertainable. Under these circumstances, the pro-
prietors of the rents, in the same spirit of conciliation
by which they have been hitherto governed, have re-
solved to institute no legal proceedings before the 1st
day of December next; and have resolved to place it in
the power of every Lot holder to make an easy arrange-
ment before that day, by which they will be enabled to
pay the arrears without any inconvenience or pressure.
I am, therefore, authorised to say, that, to those who
come forward before the first day of December next,
and pay one year's rent on account of arrears, I am in-
structed to allow a liberal indulgence in the way of ex-
tending the time for payment of the balance of arrears,
without interest. It will be expected, however, that in
every instance, he person asking such indulgence, will
give some personal obligation for the payment of such
balance of arrears, by annual instalments or otherwise,
according to the circumstances of the party and the
amount of arrears. In cases of poor widows, and other
poor, helpless, and infirm persons, I have a large dis-
cretion, as to treating them with humanity and indul
gence. Such cases will be acted upon individually, as
they arise, and will invariably be viewed most favorably.
In the same friendly spirit, it may not be amiss to re-
mark, that, if the proprietors of the rents are obliged to
resort to legal proceedings in any cases, the law will
authorise the recovery of interest on all the arrears. A
settlement on the terms above suggested, will there-
fore have the effect of saving to the Lot holders the
interest previous to the 1st December next, on all the
arrears of rents; the annual rents hereafter to accrue
will of course be punctually paid:-they will be punc.
tually collected in all cases, with due regard, however,
to the situation of destitute widows, and poor, helpless
and infirm persons. Some of you, who personally know
the character of those whom I represent, can unhesi-
tatingly assure our fellow citizens, on your own and my
responsibility, that no person will be harshly dealt with.
The extinguishment of the capital of the rents, must,
of course, be a matter of special arrangement in the
case of each Lot. It would be impossible to discuss
the question in a general shape: but my constituents |
are willing to place it upon an easy footing to the Lot
holders. These observations will, it is expected, be
received by you as friendly intimations in reply to your
communications. The details of arrangement can be
made in particular cases as presented.

My general instructions are, to be indulgent to all, and kind and humane to the poor; and I call upon my fellow citizens, through you, gentle nen, to meet me in a spirit of conciliation; feeling confident that I shall be able to execute my instructions with satisfaction to my constituents, advantage to my fellow citizens, and with the approbation of my own conscience.

I am gentlemen, very respectfully,

E. C. REIGART.

To the Hon. James Buchanan, Adam Reigart, Samuel
Dale, Red'd. Conyngham, Amos Ellmaker, John F.
Steinman, and Samuel Humes, Esqrs.
Lancaster, 7th Sep'., 1835.

EDUCATION.

A very rich man, a citizen of Lancaster county, when the necessity of adopting a system of education for all the people of Pennsylvania, was pressed upon the Legislature, opposed it with great violence, and in his closing remarks, said-What shall we do for laborers? What shall we do for servants? What shall we do for i hirelings, if all are educated?" "In the first place, my friend, remarked one of the company, pay better wages in the second place, wait upon yourself-in the third place, work yourself!-It never was known yet, that a man was less willing to work, be

cause he could read and write-It never was known yet, that a servant, if you must have servants, made a worse one because he could keep accounts-It never was known yet, that a man made a worse hireling, because he could read for himself the moral lessons which the Saviour left as his legacy to the children of man in the New Testament."

Comment.

A Captain M. whose residence is in Lebanon, arrived in the spring at Marietta, with a load of Pine Grove Coal, consigned to Captain G. While the account of the coal was being made out, Captain G. asked the coler how the School Law was received in Lebanon county? "We are all opposed," was the coal Captain's reply. "We had petitions out against it all over the county, and I rode three days and got more as five hundred signers against it." "Well Captain M." said Mr. G., "I am sorry to hear so bad an account of my friends in Lebanon: Here is the money for the coal, and here is the receipt, which you will please to sign.”"Bless my soul," replied M., "I can neither read nor write!" "Indeed!" said his astonished friend—“ And yet, you, who feel the want of education, yourself, are laboring to prevent, the children of your fellow citizens, and your own children from receiving its benefits.". Lancaster Journal.

A LEAD MINE.

The Well-borough (Tioga Co.) Phoenix of the fifth inst says:- Major Ezra Long, of Troy, Bradford co. has succeeded in discovering a considerable quantity of Lead ore in Union township in this county. The specimens we have seen are, we think, equal to the best Galena Lead ore, Major Long is confident that he shall be completely successful. No doubt exists that lead to a considerable extent is embedded beneath our soil, as it has already been discovered in three or four places in different parts of the country."

From the Lancaster Journal.

THE SUSQUEHANNA CANAL.

the Baltimore American, we are given to understand, By a semi-official communication, which appeared in that a proposition will be submitted, on the part of the make the Maryland Canal, from the Pennsylvania line Maryland Company, to the Susquehanna Company, to to Port Deposit, to correspond in depth and width, and in tife size of locks, with the plan which may be adopted by the Pennsylvania Company, and to bind themselves to impose the same rates of tolls, and as we understand, to be governed by the same rules, as the Susquehanna Company shall adopt. They conclude by observing, that this will be complying with one of the propositions offered for their acceptance.

to be considered, will be accepted, depends upon the Whether the concession, as the above offer appears views which the directors of the Susquehanna Company may now entertain. To put the most favorable construction on the past conduct of the Maryland Company, it must be considered equivocal, and the tardy acceptance now made, after having been refused, in the first instance, certainly leaves the Susquehanna Company at full liberty to receive or reject it, as they may think best for the interests the directors represent. We hope, however, a conciliatory spirit may rise out of this proposition, which will eventuate satisfactorily to both parties.

Printed every Saturday morning by WILLIAM F. GEDDES, No. 9 Library street.

The publication office of the Register has been removed from Franklin Place, to No. 61, in the Arcade, West Avenue, up stairs.

HAZARD'S

REGISTER OF PENNSYLVANIA.

DEVOTED TO THE PRESERVATION OF EVERY KIND OF USEFUL INFORMATION RESPECTING THE STATZ. EDITED BY SAMUEL HAZARD.

VOL. XVI.--NO. 13.

PHILADELPHIA, SEPTEMBER 26, 1835.

The following Anecdote from the Cincinnati Mirror, we have thought sufficiently interesting to be inserted in our Register, the more so as we have reason to believe that it is substantially true, having conversed with a gentleman who held a confidential office under the United States, during the Revolutionary War, and who has told us that from circumstances within his know. ledge, but which we are not at liberty to state, he has no doubt of the truth of what is here related, except as it refers to individuals, of which he has no recollection.

No. 403.

and strict regard to engagement which was as remarkable in him as in Washington, entered the committee room; he found in it an elderly gentleman, lame, and having the appearance of a French officer. The Ameri can at once introduced himself as one of the committee who had been appointed to receive the communication referred to. With many thanks for his kindness, the French gentleman began to open his business; but Mr. Jay desired that nothing might be said upon the subject until those associated with him arrived; at his request the officer dropped the subject-but after a little general conversation, again skilfully approached it. It was a maxim of Jay's to separate himself from his enemy: and it was his practice never to commit himAN ANECDOTE OF THE REVOLUTION. self, and particularly upon public affairs, with a stranThe year 1775 was to the civil, though not to the ger: while therefore with that politeness and kindness military councils of America, more rife with doubt and which he could never be driven to abandon, he conanxiety than those years which followed. The first tinued the conversation, he at once, by taking the lead, battles had been fought—the first blood shed; the wea-passed from America to Europe; and by direct inquiries pon of death was bared, and the arm nerved to the contest: but it was the child arrayed against the parent, and many a patriotic heart bled at the seeming sacri. lege. The petitions and remonstrances of congress and the nation, had been treated with contempt; and it was plain to all men that submission or resistance to the death must thenceforth be the choice. Yet few dream.

ed of independence, and those to whom the dream did come, started at the dim, gigantic shade. The wise still wished to heal the breach: in the language of one of the public addresses, “though insulted and abused, they wished for reconciliation; though defamed as seditious, they were ready to obey the laws: what more could they say what more could they offer?"-But reconciliation was daily becoming more difficult; the gulf which sundered America from England was hourly widening; but even when they saw that gulf impassable, there were few who dare I think America might stand alone, self sustained-few who dared believe that she, an infant, could single handed, contend with the Queen of nations, "the mistress of the ocean:" and though to bow the neck and receive the yoke again, was what never entered their thoughts, yet annihilation, if not physically, at least politically and morally, did flit before their eyes, and make them burn in their sockets.

The summer passed, and the melancholy autumn laid her hand upon the forest and field. The enemies of liberty took heart, while her friends shrank from her side. It was in the latter part of November, and even the calm Jay and the fiery Adams trembled for their country, when all were aroused by a message wh ch was sent to Congress, saying that there was a foreigner, in Philadelphia, who wished to make to that body a confidential communication of great importance. At first Congress considered it beneath their dignity to notice a private, anonymous message of this kind; but after it had been repeated several times, they at length appointed a committee, consisting of Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and Thomas Jefferson, to hear what the foreigner wished to communicate. The committee agreed to meet the gentleman in one of the committee rooms in Carpenter's hall.

At the hour appointed, Mr. Jay, with that punctuality

VOL. XVI.

25

which could not be evaded, he learned much of foreign matters before his colleagues arrived; thereby making him who had thought to be the receiver, the giver.

At length Franklin and Jefferson appeared, and the committee declared themselves ready to hear the gentleman who had met them.

"My friends," said the officer, "I have long looked with delight and enthusiasm at this noble people. My heart has yearned to be with them, to consult with them, to do battle with them for the great principles of popular freedom."

sneer.

"A demagogue," whispered Jefferson to Jay with a The Newyorker made no answer; he was too wise, even at thirty, to think a man of course a demagogue because he used the language that the hypocrite affects to use.

"I have fought," continued the Frenchman, "for these great principles in my own land; and were I but what I once was, I should be proud to fight for them again in this land, with this virtuous people."

"Sir," interrupted Mr. Jay, with that gravity which gave him while a youth, the tone and the manner of age-"we came to hear your communication."

The soldier bowed as if rebuked, but his eye caught that of Jefferson, and with a Frenchman's tact he read in its glance the spirit of the man. "My communica. tion," he continued, and he addressed his discourse to the Virginian," my communication, gentlemen, shall be made; and if I have rightly guessed the spirit of the sons of this free land, if the master-minds of the South have their due weight in your councils"-(he bowed,) then will my communication be received with joy: but if the cold and unconfiding councils of the north". "Stop, sir," said Franklin, whose tongue had till wish no reference to our then been silent-"we councils, or our patriots-to your secret, sir, if you please, at once."

The voice of the sage produced the desired result, and the officer stated that the king of France had heard with pleasure of their struggle for freedom, and stood ready to aid them, "By whose authority do you state this?" said Mr. Jay. The Frenchman smiled, shrugged his shoulders, and drawing his hand across his throat, said, "Gentlemen, I shall take care of my head.'