amounting to twenty millions, thus swelled for the kind pur- to be settled in France, where the list alluded to, with the pose of making his phantom of fraud gigantic and hideous. documents and proofs, were lodged, and the amounts awardA word about the history and cause of this noble and gener- ed were to be paid to the respective claimants on the order ous transfer of Louisiana to the United States. France was of our Minister in France on the Treasury of the United inevitably on the eve of a war with Great Britain, after the States. And so they were paid. Was there ever an oblishort peace of Amiens. She had, a short time before obtain- gation or engagement met more promptly or more honoraed from Spain a retrocession of this province, which was bly. This is the money of which your correspondent avers carefully concealed, and no possession was taken by France."none has yet been paid," and says, further, that in relation Her ownership was not in any beneficial occupancy of the to the agreement made by the United States with France territory, but consisted of such mere right as the retrocession there" has been and still continues a negligence of purpose might give her. In the approaching war with Great Britain, or a determination of injustice," and " contempt of a sathe First Consul, who was then the Government of France, cred obligation." This writer, who has not taken the trouwas conscious he could not retain this acquisition against the ble to look at the official documents which would have furnaval power of his enemy, and also wanting money for his nished him with correct information, has probably plunged exhausted treasury, he resolved as a matter of policy, not into these errors by confounding the claims for French spofrom any motive of generosity to us, to sell this province to liations on the American commerce now depending before the United States. The interest of France plainly dictated Congress with the claims or debts provided for by the Louthis policy. A double object was to be accomplished by it. isiana treaty. They are altogether different as to the treaty He could preserve it from the hands of Great Britain, and on which they are founded and the principles by which they he would transfer it to a people who was looked upon as a are maintained. Even as to these claims his representations formidable and growing rival to the commerce and naval are altogether mistaken. They may be explained in a few power of his enemy, and should therefore be strengthened. words. By the treaty of the United States with France, Such were the declared motives and designs of the French made in 1778, the United States guarantied to France for Government in making the sale of this province to the ever "the present possessions of the crown of France in United States. Our Commissioners did not want the whole America, as well as those which it may acquire by the future territory, but only certain parts necessary to us: but the treaty of peace." This most onerous and dangerous responFirst Consul insisted they should take all or none. He had sibility was assumed in our revolutionary struggle, and in expressed a willingness to his negotiator, M. Marbois, to the fervor of our gratitude for the assistance of France. The take fifty millions of francs for the whole; but his minister Commissioners who negotiated our Convention with France demanded of us eighty millions; the whole to be paid to the in 1830 were not able to agree (see the second article) reFrench Treasury. Our Commissioners agreed to the amount specting the treaty of 1778, nor upon the indemnities muasked, provided that twenty millions of it should be appro- tually due or claimed. These subjects were therefore left for priated and paid to discharge and satisfy certain debts due future negotiation. The American Government agreed to from France to American citizens. The French minister ratify the convention, provided that the second article were agreed to this reservation, but when it was reported to the expunged, as they did not like, even by implication, to reFirst Consul he was exceedingly dissatisfied with it, and was cognise the obligations of the treaty of 1778. France agreed so far from being willing to give this money to his American to expunge this article provided that the two States should creditors in the noble and generous manner now claimed for renounce the respective pretensions which were the object him, that he required it should be paid into his treasury.of the said article. So it was settled, and the effect was to He was induced to give it upon the urgent solicitation of his release us from our guarantee of the French possessions, and minister, on being informed that it was an indispensable con- to release France from the claims of citizens on account of dition on the part of the American Commissioners; and, spoliations on our commerce. It must be observed, that there further, on being reminded that he would now receive ten was no assumption by the United States of these claims, or millions more than he was willing to take. This treaty being any promise or engagement to satisfy her citizens, or to ratified, the claims alluded to, of our citizens on the Govern- stand in the place of France for the indemnities they were ment of France, were assumed by our Government, which entitled to, much less have the United States receive this was the Trustee for them to disburse the money to them, ac- money from France and retain it from their citizens for cording to the provisions of the treaty. The treaty was thus whom it was paid. That our government had a right to ratified on the 30th of April, 1803. The claims provided for make such treaty, such a surrender of the claims of our citiby it were not for spoliations or demands generally, but for zens, without taking them upon itself, is perfectly clear.specific "debts due by France to citizens of the United These claimants cannot be considered as creditors of the States." They were particularly designated and described. United States, nor their claims as debts or pecuniary enIt is expressly declared that "the debts provided for, are gagements due to them by the United States. There is, those whose result is comprised in the conjectural note an- therefore, no breach of promise, no violation of the national nexed to the Convention." Even of these debts, claims faith, in the delay, for I trust it will be more, to satisfy them. which fell within certain specified exceptions were not ad- The resort which these citizens had upon France for indemmitted. We see, therefore, that this money was to be ap-nity for their losses was ceded to France, and the United plied to the payment of certain specified claims or debts due States received in return a release from an obligation of ten from France, and not to be distributed generally to all who times the value of all the claims. They have purchased this had suffered by French spoliations and unlawful captures. release with the property of their citizens. It is undeniable, Now let it be remarked: This Convention was made on then, that they have a fair, honest and equitable claim upon the 30th of April, 1803, and on the 10th day of November their government to make good to them the rights they have following, three weeks after the meeting of Congress, an act thus been deprived of. That they will receive this compenof Congress was passed, directing the sum of three millions sation I cannot doubt. An act has twice passed the Senate seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars to be appropriated making provision for it. It is not, however, the case of an "for the purpose of discharging the claims of citizens of the acknowledged debt, or an absolute promise or engagement United States against the Government of France, the pay- to pay, as was the case with the Louisiana Convention, and ment of which has been assumed by virtue of a Convention it is as to that I am contending with your correspondent. made the 30th of April, 1893." The Secretary of the Treasury was directed to pay, "in conformity with the Convention aforesaid, the amount of such claims above mentioned, as, under the provisions of the said Convention, shall be awarded to the respective claimants, which payments shall be made on the orders of the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States for the time being, to the French Republic, in conformity with the Convention aforesaid." It is to be observed that the amounts due to the several claimants were In your next paper I shall, with your permission, take up the case of our "British Debts "-as to which our national faith has been most unjustly assailed in the other paper I have alluded to. J. H. A Bill has passed Congress, and become a law, prohibiting an investment of Government funds in the stocks of any State. EXPORTS OF COTTON, From the Port of New Orleans, for the last ten years—commencing lat September, and ending 31st August. 8,096 6,272 1,160 676 3,771 702 ... 396,010 459,913 297,793 466,886 329,436 227,530 245,221 271,821 218,974 194,580 2,070 .... .... 6,383 4,412 .... 2,820 .... .... 370 49 754 50 392 .... .... 70 47 636 123 3,039 5,348 1,122 2,088 90 1,044 113 55,930 46,354 62,175 39,384 23,622 29,019 52,678 14,708 31,749 24,405 81,626 54,042 49,497 39,853 39,244 35,982 42,928 26,312 28,625 25,201 3,132 1,811 3,701 1,607 1,177 3,211 5,431 2,849 13,651 4,611 5,721 6,195 6,371 8,224 6,483 6,767 7,918 4,832 3,015 3,450 6,341 2,785 1,128 989 9,025 5,099 5,369 4,819 8,044 11,989 8,707 581 6,020 7,171 5,026 3,781 2,098 5,741 2,478 3,465 520 3,368 8,411 3,548 1,701 4,784 1,573 8,209 4,760 3,343 821,288 949,320 579,179 738,313 588,969 490,495 536,991 461,026 410,524 358,104 RECAPITULATION. 430,310 504,768 309,787 483,204 350,700 237,089 259,243 287,877 228,082 204,623 183,931 210,490 120,767,128,303 133,550 133,140 141,872 102,610 81,754 79,685 9,836 23,742 1,466 7,560 6,431 17,989 4,580 9,530 3,553 4,208 36,364 57,754 9,425 13,992 13,172 12,083 6,904 1,384 1,690 6,387 160,847 122,566 137,734 105,251 85,136 90,194 124,392 59,625 95,445 63,201 821,288 949,320 579,179 738,313 588,969 490,495 536,991 461,026 410,524 358,104 VOL. V.-24 EXPORTS OF TOBACCO, From the Port of New Orleans, for the last ten years—commencing 1st September, and ending 31st August. Total 482 225 .... 916 3,691 684 2,372 2,459 1,559 54,667 40,436 30,852 35,555 35,821 41,634 33,801 25,210 23,637 35,056 RECAPITULATION. .... .... Great Britain.. France. North of Europe Total 20,665 9,139 8,748 9,969 10,458 14,426 5,934 8,112 6,812 6,606 1,770 4,878 3,778 1,137 1,460 8,040 6,005 2,654 2,438 6,760 5,526 4,943 7,047 5,645 5,002 4,806 2,860 3,516 1,594 1,881 1,542 447 1,388 13,505 13,684 12,874 15,410 11,309 18,951 19,583 10,788 14,343 17,096 54,667 40,436 30,852 35,555 35,821 41,634 33,801 25,210 23,637 35,056 Comparative Arrivals, Exports, and Stocks of Tobacco, for ten years-commencing 1st September, to date. 4,875 8,945 306 85 580 1833-34. 1832-33. 1831-32. Exports of Sugar and Molasses, from New Orleans, for five years (up the river excepted) from 1st September to 31st August, in each year. 1,267 5,850 5,904 79 1,734 3,552 | 4,867 664 1,216 3,666 4,439 120 281 3,318 48 553 64 179 659 5 391 188 770 539 579 1,215 19 231 765 1,039 110 236 1,678 681 8 1,592 374 2 153 372 98 137 15 368 1,530 445 4,778 2,214 315 38 3,867 1,816 140 2,609 1,271 234 157 3,087 1,942 51 1,710 457 232 1,542 397 1,271 3 1,299 1,704| 480 1,273 1,387 227 1,910 588 223 1,542 45,296 6,595 8,937 42,397 28,815 2,793 (999 Richmond & Petersb'g, Va. 1,520 Apalachicola & Pensacola. Other ports...... Total 40,526 4,092 11,284 48,104 A New Steering Wheel. Mr. Robinson, of the firm of G. W. Robinson & Co., No. 4 Richmond street, has invented a new and ingenious apparatus for steering ships, which is well deserving the attention of persons who feel an interest in the improvement of aught connected with our mercantile marine. The principle on which this improvement is founded, has never, to our knowledge, been applied to this object, although many ingenious plans for steering ships have been devised. The apparatus consists merely in a shaft with a right and left hand screw, with a double rack, and a cog-wheel in the rudderhead. The power which is obtained on this way is very great, and acts on both sides of the rudder-while one side is pulling, the other is pushing, but both actions are calculated to effect the same object-altering the position of the rudder. The apparatus is affixed to a frame firmly fixed to the deck, and extending forward of the centre of the rudderhead, less than four feet, and abaft two or three feet. The steering wheel is attached to the forward end of the shaft, and the whole surface of the deck occupied by the apparatus, is only about seven feet in length and a couple of feet broad. Of course no rope or gearing of any kind is used. From an examination of the model of this apparatus, which may be seen at Mr. Robinson's establishment, we are induced to think that this invention is a valuable one, and is admirably well adapted to accomplish the purpose for which it is intended. Mr. Robinson is now engaged in constructing on this principle, the steering apparatus for a ship building at Medford-and we understand, expects to get it into readiness for exhibition at the approaching Mechanics' Fair. The iron shaft to which the screw is attached, may be of any specified length, twenty or thirty feet if desirable, or even longer-an advantage of great importance to steamboats, as fire cannot destroy the steering apparatus-Boston Journal. Dividing the Surplus in New Hampshire. In Portsmouth, N. H., the inhabitants voted to divide that portion of the surplus revenue which fell to that town, per capita-the sum due to every man, woman and child in the place, being between two and three dollars. That vote is now in the course of execution. An Agent has been appointed and has received the money for distribution; but about 200 suits have been commenced against him as the trustee of individuals owing small sums, and he is placed in rather an embarrassing situation. In Gilford, (the Exeter News-Letter states,) the surplus, or a part of it, having been expended, the Selectmen decline to borrow, as instructed to do by the vote of the town, so much money as shall make good the deficiency-having some not very unreasonable doubts of their legal right to borrow money for the purpose of distribution. The Channel of the River Schuylkill Deepening. It is not generally known that for two or three years past, Letters of Resignation. The following Letters of the Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney General, resigning their respective trusts, have been placed in our hands for publication.—Nat. Intel. WASHINGTON, 2 September 11, 1841. Sir:-Circumstances have occurred in the course of your Administration, and chiefly in the exercise by you of the veto power, which constrain me to believe that my longer continuance in office as a member of your Cabinet will be neither agreeable to you, useful to the country, nor honorable to myself. Do me the justice, Mr. President, to believe that this conclusion has been adopted neither capriciously, nor in any spirit of party feeling or personal hostility, but from a sense of duty, which, mistaken though it may be, is yet so sincerely entertained, that I cheerfully sacrifice to it the advantages and distinctions of my office. Be pleased, therefore, to accept this as my resignation of the office of Attorney General of the United States. Very respectfully, yours, &c. The President. J. J. CRITTENDEN. TREASURY DEPARTMENT,} September 11, 1841. Sir-After the most calm and careful consideration, and viewing the subject in all the aspects in which it presents itself to my mind, I have come to the conclusion that I ought no longer to remain a member of your Cabinet. I therefore resign the office of Secretary of the Treasury, and beg you to accept this as my letter of resignation. To avoid misunderstanding, I distinctly declare that I do not consider a difference of opinion as to the charter of a National Bank a suflicient reason for dissolving the ties which have existed between us. Though I look upon that measure as one of vast importance to the prosperity of the country, and though I should have deeply deplored your inability or unwillingness to accord it to the wishes of the people and the States, so unequivocally expressed through their Representatives, still upon this, and this alone, unconnected with other controlling circumstances, I should not have felt bound to resign the place which I hold in your Administration. But those controlling circumstances do exist, and I will, in my own justification, place them in connexion before you. It is but just to say, that the bill which first passed the two houses of Congress, and which was returned with your objections on the 16th of August, did never, in its progress, as far as I know or believe, receive at any time either your express or implied assent. So far as that bill was known to me, or as I was consulted upon it, I endeavored to bring its provisions as nearly as possible in accordance with what I understood to be your views, and rather hoped than expected your approval. I knew the extent to which you were committed on the question. I knew the pertinacity with which adhered expressed opinions, from the first the most disastrous consequences, when the project of compromise which I presented at an early day was rejected. It is equally a matter of justice to you and to myself to say that the bill which I reported to the two Houses of Congress at the commencement of the session, in obedience to their call, was modified so as to meet your approbation. You may not, it is true, have read the bill throughout, and examined every part of it; but the 16th fundamental article, which became the contested question of principle, was freely discussed between us, and it was understood and unequivocally sanctioned by yourself. The last clause in the bill, also, which contained a reservation of power in Congress, was inserted on the 9th of June, in your presence, and with your approbation; though you at one time told me that, in giving your sanction to the bill, you would accompany it with an explanation of your understanding of that first clause. In this condition of things, though I greatly regretted your veto on the bill as it passed the two Houses of Congress, and though I foresaw the excitement and agitation the changes which the bill had undergone in its passage, and which it would produce among the people, yet, considering its variance from the one you had agreed to sanction, I could not find in that act enough to disturb the confidential relations which existed between us. I was disposed to attribute this act, fraught with mischief as it was, to pure and honorable motives, and to a conscientious conviction on your part that the bill, in some of its provisions, conflicted with the Constitution. But that opinion of your course on the bill which has just been returned to Congress with your second veto, I do not and cannot entertain. Recur to what has passed between us with respect to it, and you will at once perceive that such opinion is impossible. On the morning of the 16th of August, I called at your chamber, and found you preparing the first veto message, to be despatched to the Senate. The Secretary of War came in also, and you read a portion of the message to us. He observed that, though the veto would create a great sensation · in Congress, yet he thought the minds of our friends better prepared for it than they were some days ago, and he hoped it would be calmly received, especially as it did not shut out all hope of a bank. To this you replied, that you really thought there ought to be no difficulty about it; that you had sufficiently indicated in your veto message what kind of a bank you would approve, and that Congress might, if they saw fit, pass such a one in three days. The 18th being the day for our regular Cabinet meeting, we assembled all except Messrs. Crittenden and Granger, and you told us that you had had a long conversation with Messrs. Berrien and Sergeant, who professed to come in behalf of the Whigs of the two Houses to endeavor to strike out some measure which would be generally acceptable. That you had your doubts about the propriety of conversing with them yourself, and thought it more proper that you should commune with them through your constitutional advisers. You expressed a wish that the whole subject should be postponed till the next session of Congress. You spoke of the delay in the Senate of the consideration of your veto message, and expressed anxiety as to the tone and temper which the debate would assume. Mr. Badger said that on inquiry he was happy to find that the best temper prevailed in the two Houses. He believed they were perfectly ready to take up the bill reported by the Secretary of the Treasury, and pass it at once. You replied, "Talk not to me of Mr. Ewing's bill; it contains that odious feature of local discounts which I have repudiated in my message.' I then said to you, 'I have no doubt, sir, that the House, having ascertained your views, will pass a bill in conformity to them, provided they can be satisfied that it would answer the purposes of the Treasury, and relieve the country.' You then said, Cannot my Cabinet see that this is brought about? You must stand by me in this emergency. Cannot you see that a bill passes Congress such as I can approve without inconsistency?' I declared again my belief that such a bill might be passed. And you then said to me, What do you my opinions? State so that I may see that there is no misapprehension about them.' I then said that I understood you to be of opinion that Congress might charter a bank in the District of Columbia, giving it its location here. To this you assented. That they might authorize such bank to establish offices of discount and deposit in the several States, with the assent of the States. To this you replied, 'Dont name discounts: they have been the source of the most abominable corruptions, and are wholly unnecessary to enable the bank to discharge its duties to the country and the Government.' I observed in reply that I was proposing nothing, but simply endeavoring to state what I had understood to be your opinion as to the powers which Congress might constitutionally confer on a bank; that on that point I stood corrected. I then proceeded to say that I understood you to be of opinion that Congress might authorize such bank to establish agencies in the several States, with power to deal in |