CONTENTS. HISTORICAL REGISTER OF 1850. United States, Mexico, Central America, South America, West India Islands, Europe, Great Britain, France, Ger- many, Austria, Prussia, Denmark, Italy, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Tur- CHRONICLE of interesting incidents and events, among which, are: Pursuit of the Apache Indians, Iron in China and Wales, The spindles of the world, Exhibition of languages at Rome, Meeting of the American Colo- nization Society, Lion hunting, Steamers for the Atlantic, Indian outrages, Naval work in Russia, Explosion in New York, The past Winter, Semi- nole Indians, Manufacture of Beet Sugar, Eruption of Vesuvius, Disco- veries at Nineveh, Flood in California, African explorations, Trial of Webster, Hungarian refugees, Disaster at Angiers France, Storms of April, Explosion in India, Franklin expedition, Cholera in United States, 128-152 THE AMERICAN REGISTER AND MAGAZINE. VOLUME IV. HISTORICAL REGISTER OF 1850. UNITED STATES. CHAPTER I. Commencement of the year.... Thirty-first Congress.... The progress of agitation.... Balance of political power between north and south....Admission of California into the Union opposed.... Resolutions of southern legislatures....Address of members of Congress....Call of a southern convention....Reception of the proposition in the south....Election of delegates... Slavery question in Congress....Bills offered by Messrs. Foote and Butler....Resolution of Mr. Clemens....Speech of Mr. Dickinson. At no period since the adoption of the constitution, in 1789, had the United States occupied a more imposing attitude before the world, than at the commencement of the present year.* With a territory reaching from the St. Lawrence to the Rio Grande, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, rich in the precious metals and in the products of agriculture and manufactures, with ships navigating every sea, warehouses filled with the merchandise of every nation, the people intelligent and enterprising, and wor President Taylor, in his annual message to the thirty-first Congress, remarked: "Sixty years have elapsed since the establishment of this government, and the Congress of the United States again assembles to legislate for an empire of freemen. The prediction of evil prophets, who formerly pretended to foretel the downfall of our institutions, are now remembered only to be derided, and the United States of America at this moment presents to the world the most stable and prosperous government on earth." VOL. 4. A shipping the true God in thousands of sanctuaries throughout the broad land, it seemed to all observers that this great Union was as stable as it was prosperous, that it had an inherent capability of endurance proof against all assaults. But the thirty-first Congress had been only a short time in session before it was apparent that the spirit of discord was ready to strike at the very existence of the confederacy, and if unchecked, would eventually weaken, if not sever the bonds that hold it together." One great absorbing question (the question of slavery in the territories) divided the country, and produced the wildest confusion in the national councils; and, during the first six months of the present year, the capitol at Washington has been the scene of stormy debates and fierce altercations, such as never before have been witnessed there. Legislation was for a time entirely superseded by sectional disputes, and the great interests of the country appeared to be disregarded. In the midst of this melancholy scene of disorder, fuel was added to the flame by the announcement that the people of the territory of New Mexico, in consequence of a proclamation of the military officer in command, had held a convention, and formed a constitution. Thereupon the state of Texas, which claims the right of property in a large portion of that territory, immediately commenced the organization of a sufficient force to march into it, and take possession of Santa Fe. While the elements of strife were thus convulsing the nation and threatening civil war, the venerable president, Zachary Taylor, who had so confidently referred to the stability and prosperity of the Union, suddenly died, an event which threw the whole nation into mourning. But the troubled waters were not yet calmed; even so solemn an event, though it paralyzed for a moment, did not subdue the angry spirit of rival parties. The contest was again renewed, and it is to be feared that, though California may be admitted, the territories organized, and Texas soothed, yet, with protests on the part of the south, and another session of the southern convention contemplated, the end is not yet come. We do not believe that the frame-work of the Union can be taken to pieces without a protracted effort, but it may be undermined by continual agitation: and during the year 1850 it seems to be passing *On the 8th February, 1850, the first business announced as the order of the day in the Senate of the United States was the question on the reception of a petition for the dissolution of the Union. See, also, the address of the Florida delegates, on a subsequent page, the debates on the admission of California, &c. |