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stagers; but the very classes that are usually the most conservative, the most skeptical of popular judgment, and the quickest to apply the brake to popular furor, are the foremost in hailing Kossuth as the hero and deliverer of the nineteenth century. But amidst this obstreperous enthusiasm, these breakers of popular delight which no man can directly face, there is an under-tow which at this moment is beginning to make itself felt. This was first visible in the Senate of the United States. The essential constitutional function of this body is to prevent great national questions from being carried by acclamation; and from this quarter, with propriety, first proceeded the caution to the eager nation, not to let their sympathies with the oppressed peoples of the old world hurry them into worse than useless contentions with their despotic rulers.

After having addressed the citizens of Baltimore and Philadelphia, M. Kossuth visits Washington, to receive the high honor offered him by Congress of a national welcome. Thence he proceeds to Cincinnati and the great West.

CONGRESSIONAL SUMMARY. THERE are few of our readers who have not felt the difficulty of hunting up, from musty files of newspapers, the news of a past day, however notorious at the time it may have been. The unwieldy size of a volume of our mammoth journals, its uncouthness banishing it from book-shelves and reading-rooms; its imperfection, caused by missing numbers; and the time required to sift the general matter sought after from the innumerable items of merely passing note, which it is the chief duty of a newspaper to record, are the source of a vast deal of inaccuracy in the public mind, with respect to the passing political history of the country. Hence popular errors are as frequent concerning the events of two years since, as of twenty; and far more dangerous. For, from this cause demagogues multiply, and quack statesmanship grows fat. Our aim is, consequently, to present, in a succinct shape, a monthly journal of the more important proceedings in Congress, and to give them with the historical accuracy necessary for future reference. We by no means intend to load our pages with the lengthy eloquence with which members astonish thier constituents and stupefy Congress; but we wish to chronicle only the acts of our legislative bodies, and the spirit of the more prominent debates, which, from some men and on some occasions, are themselves facts.

The following are the members of the present Congress.

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1 Moses McDonald,
2 John Appleton,
3 Robert Goodenow,
4 Charles Andrews,
5 Ephraim K. Smart,
6 Israel Washburn, jr.,
7 Thomas J. D. Fuller.

NEW-HAMPSHIRE.

1 Amos Tuck,

2 Charles H. Peaslee,
3 Jared Perkins,
4 Harry Hibbard.

VERMONT.

1 Ahiman L. Miner, 2 William Hebard, 3 James Meacham, 4 Th. Bartlett, jr.

MASSACHUSETTS.

1 William Appleton,

2 Ro. Rantoul, jr.,

3 James H. Duncan, 4 Benjamin Thompson, 5 Charles Allen, 6 George T. Davis, 7 John Z. Goodrich, 8 Horace Mann, 9 Orin Fowler, 10 Zeno Scudder.

RHODE ISLAND.

1 George G. King,
2 Benj. H. Thurston.

CONNECTICUT.

1 Charles Chapman,
2 C. M. Ingersoll,
3 C. F. Cleveland,
4 O. S. Seymour.

NEW-YORK.

1 John G. Floyd, 2 Obadiah Bowne,

3 Emanuel B. Hart,
4 J. H. Hobart Haws,
5 George Briggs,
6 James Brooks,

7 A. P. Stevens,

8 Gilbert Dean,

9 William Murray, 10 Marius Schoonmaker, 11 Josiah Sutherland, 12 David L Seymour, 13 John L. Schoolcraft, 14 John H. Boyd, 15 Joseph Russell, 16 John Wells, 17 Alex. H. Buell, 18 Preston King, 19 Willard Ives, 20 Timothy Jenkins, 21 William W. Snow, 22 Henry Bennett, 23 Leander Babcock, 24 Daniel T. Jones, 25 Thos. Y. How, jr., 26 H. S. Walbridge, 27 William A. Sackett, 28 Ab. M. Schermerhorn, 29 Jedediah Horseford, 30 Reuben Robie, 31 Frederick S. Martin, 32 S. G. Haven, 33 Augustus P. Haskell, 34 Lorenzo Burrows.

NEW JERSEY.

1 Nathan T. Stratton, 2 Charles Skelton, 3 Isaac Wildrick, 4 George H. Brown, 5 Rodman M. Price.

PENNSYLVANIA. 1 Thomas B. Florence. 2 Joseph R. Chandler, 3 Henry D. Moore, 4 John Robbins, jr., 5 John McNair, 6 Thomas Ross, 7 John A. Morrison, 8 Thaddeus Stevens, 9 J. Glancy Jones, 10 Milo M. Dimmick, 11 H. M. Fuller, 12 Galusha A. Grow, 13 James Gamble, 14 T. S. Bibighaus, 15 Wm. H. Kurtz, 16 J. X. McLanahan, 17 Andrew Parker, 18 John L. Dawson, 19 Joseph H. Kuhns, 20 John Allison, 21 Thomas M. Howe, 22 John W. Howe, 23 Carleton B. Curtis, 24 Alfred Gilmore.

DELAWARE.

1 George R. Riddle.

MARYLAND.

1 Richard J. Bowie, 2 Wm. T. Hamilton,

3 Edward Hammond, 4 Thomas Yates Walsh, 5 Alexander Evans, 6 Joseph S. Cottman.

VIRGINIA.

1 John S. Millson, 2 Richard K. Meade, 3 Thomas H. Averett, 4 Thomas S. Bocock, 5 Paulus Powell, 6 John S. Caskie, 7 Thomas H. Bayly, 8 Alex. R. Holladay, 9 James F. Strother, 10 Charles J. Faulkner, 11 John Letcher, 12 Henry A. Edmundson, 13 Fayette MeMullen, 14 James M. H. Beale, 15 George W. Thompson.

NORTH CAROLINA.

1 Thomas L. Clingman, 2 Joseph P. Caldwell, 3 Alfred Dockery, 4 James T. Morehead, 5 Abr. W. Venable, 6 John R. J. Daniel, 7 W. S. Ashe, 8 Edward Stanly, 9 David Outlaw.

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IOWA.

1 Lincoln L. Clark, 2 Bernhardt Henn.

WISCONSIN.

1 Charles Durkee, 2 Benj. C. Eastman, 3 James D. Doty.

CALIFORNIA.

1 David T. Disney, 2 Lewis D. Campbell, 3 Hiram Bell, 4 Benjamin Stanton, 5 Alfred P. Egerton, 6 Frederick W. Green, 7 Nelson Barrere, 8 John L. Taylor, 9 Edson B. Olds, 10 Charles Sweetser, 11 George H. Bushby, 12 John Welch, 13 James M. Gaylord, 14 Alex. Harper, 15 William W. Hunter, 16 John Johnson, 17 Joseph Cable, 18 David K. Cartter, 19 Evan Newton, 20 Joshua R. Giddings, 1R.W.Weightman,(del.)

1 Joseph W. McCorkle, 2 Edward C. Marshall. OREGON.

1 Jos. Lane, (delegate.)

MINNESOTA.

1 H.H.Sibley,(delegate.)

UTAH TERRITORY.

1 J. M. Bernhisel, (del.)

NEW MEXICO.

The Standing Committees are composed as follows:

SENATE.

FOREIGN RELATIONS-Messrs. Mason, Douglass, Norris, Mangum, and Underwood.

FINANCE-Messrs. Hunter, Bright, Gwin, Pierce, and Mallory.

COMMERCE-Messrs. Hamlin, Soule, Dodge, of Wisconsin, John Davis, and Seward.

MANUFACTURES-Messrs. Sebastian, Bayard, Clarke, Stockton, and James.

AGRICULTURE-Messrs. Soule, Walker, Atchinson, Spruance, and Wade.

MILITARY AFFAIRS-Messrs. Shields, Clemens, Borland, Baldwin, Dawson, (Tenn.,) and Jones. MILITIA-Messrs. Houston, Dodge, of Wisconsin, Borland. Baldwin, Morton, and Spruance.

NAVAL AFFAIRS-Messrs. Gwin, Stockton, Mallory Badger, and Fish.

PUBLIC LANDS-Messrs. Felch, Shields, Dodge, | M. Howe, Morehead, Babcock, and Campbell, of Iowa, Underwood, and Pratt.

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REVOLUTI NARY CLAIM3-Messrs. Walker, Chase, James, Foote, and Sumner.

JUDICIARY-Messrs. Butler, Downs, Bradbury, Berrien, and Geyer.

POST OFFICE AND POST ROADS-Messrs. Rusk, Soule, Upham, Morton, and Hamlin.

ROADS AND CANALS-Messrs. Bright, Rhett, DougIsss, Spruance, and Sumner.

PENSIONS-Messrs. Jones, of Iowa, Borland, Stockton, Foote, of Vermont, and Geyer.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA-Messrs. Shields, Bradbury, Norris, Berrien, and Clarke.

PATENTS AND PATENT OFFICE-Messrs. Norris, James, Whitcomb, Dawson, and Smith.

PUBLIC BUILDINGS-Messrs. Whitcomb, Hunter, and Clark.

PRINTING-Messrs. Borland, Hamlin, and Smith. Messrs. Bradbury, Bright,

RETRENCHMENT · Felch, Mangum, and Fish. TERRITORIES-Messrs. Douglass, Houston, Gwin, Cooper, and Jones, (Tenn.)

ENGROSSED BILLS-Messrs. Bayard, Mallory, and Hale.

LIBRARY-Messrs. Pierce, Clemens, and Dodge,

(Iowa.)

ENROLLED BILLS-Messrs. Jones (Iowa) and Badger.

To AUDIT AND CONTROL CONTINGENT EXPENDI TURES OF THE SENATE-Messrs. Dodge, (Iowa,) Walker, and Bell.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

ON ELECTIONS-Messrs. Disney, Williams, Hamilton, Schermerhorn, Caskie, Ewing, Davis, (Mass.,) and Gamble.

ON WAYS AND MEANS-Messrs. Houston, Jones, (Tenn.,) Stanly, Hibbard, Brooks, Jones, (Penn.,) Appleton, (Mass.,) Dunham, and Phelps.

ON CLAIMS-Messrs. Daniel, Edgerton, Bowie, Seymour. (Conn.,) Rantoul, Sackett, Curtis, Smith, (Ala.,) and Porter.

O COMMERCE--Messrs. Seymour, (N. Y.,) Johnson, (Tenn.,) Stephens, (Ga.,) Fuller, (Maine,) Duncan, Robbins, St. Martin, Aiken, and Walsh.

ON PUBLIC LANDS-Messrs. Hall, Cobb, Bennett, Orr, Watkins, Freeman, Moore, Henn, and McCorkle.

POST OFFICE-Messrs. Olds, A. G. Penn, Fowler, Powell, Schoolcraft, Scurry, Grey, Marshall, (Cal.,) and Clark.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA-Messrs. Ficklin, Averett, Hammond, Allen, (Mass.,) Hillyer, Bell, Buell, and Mace.

JUDICIARY-Messrs. McLanahan, Meade, Marshall, (Ky.,) Venable, Harris, (Tenn.,) Meacham, Bragg, Parker, (Ind.,) and King, (N. Y.)

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(III.)

PRIVATE LAND CLAIMS-Messrs. Jenkins, Thompson, (Va.,) Abercrombie, Dawson, Campbell, (Ohio,) Nabors, Landry, Snow, and Miller.

MANUFACTURES--Messrs. Beale, Florence, Thompson, (Mass.,) Cleveland, White, (Ky.,) Murray, Perkins, Green, and Hart.

AGRICULTURE-Messrs. Floyd, Dockery, Skelton, Newton, McMullin, Cable, (Óhio,) Brenton, Doty, and McNair.

INDIAN AFFAIRS-Messrs. Johnson, (Ark.,) Howard, Briggs, Jackson, Conger, Fitch, Caldwell, Marshall, (Cal.,) and Durkee.

MILITARY AFFAIRS-Messrs. Burt, Bissell, Gentry, Gorman, Evans, Smart, Stevens, (Pa.,) Wilcox, and Haven.

MILITIA--Peaslee, Savage, King, (R. I.,) Davis, (Ind.,) Hunter, Andrews, Hebard, (Vt.,) Chastain, Ward.

NAVAL AFFAIRS--Messrs. Stanton, (Tenn.,) Bocock, Burrows, Harris, (Ala.) Cabell, (Fla.,) Ross, Penniman, Wildrick, and Goodenow.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS-Messrs. Bayly, (Va.) Woodward, Toombs, Polk, Taylor, Appleton, (Me.,) Ingersoll, Chandler, and Breckenridge.

TERRITORIES--1 --Messrs. Richardson, Holliday, Clingman, Stone, Giddings, Bailey, (Ga.,) Scudder, Stuart, and Lockhart.

REVOLUTIONARY PENSIONS-Messrs. Millson, Russell, Tuck, Townshend, Brown, (N. J.,) Churchwell, Cottman, Goodrich, and Allen, (Ill.)

INVALID PENSIONS-Messrs. Harris,(Tenn.,) Price, Martin, Molony, Eastman, Johnson, (Ohio,) Kuhns, Jones, (N. Y.,) and Chapman.

ROADS AND CANALS-Messrs. Robinson, Colcock, J. W. Howe, Mason, Stanton, (Ohio,) Hart, Faulkner, Sutherland, and Johnson, (Ga.)

PATENTS-Messrs. Cartter, Dimmick, Ward, Thurston, and White, (Ala.)

PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS-Messrs. Stanton, (Ky.,) Edmondson, Bowie, Doty, and Boyd.

REVISAL AND UNFINISHED BUSINESS-Messrs. Cable, Thomas Y. How, Bibighaus, Busby, and Washburn.

ACCOUNTS-Messrs. Mason, Morrison, Welch, Robie, and Duncan.

MILEAGE Hendricks, Freeman, Haws, Letcher, and Allison.

ENGRAVING-Messrs. Hammond, Riddle, and

Miner.

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REVOLUTIONARY CLAIMS Messrs. McDonald,
Stanton, (Ky.,) Strother, Gaylord, Fuller, (Pa.,) | Savage.
Rantoul, Murphy, Yates, and Dean.

EXPENDITURES ON PUBLIC BUILDINGS-Messrs.

PUBLIC EXPENDITURES--Messrs. Johnson, (Tenn.,) | Bartlett, Haws, Davis, (Ind.,) Outlaw, Churchwell, weetser, Schoonmaker, Stratton, Letcher, Thomas and Taylor.

The annual Message of President Fillmore commences with a brief account of the Lopez Expedition, and a reviewal of the course pursued by the Government with reference to it. It declares the individuals actually engaged in this Expedition to have forfeited all claim to the protection of their country, but states that the Government would nevertheless spare no effort to procure the release of such as were now in confinement in Spain. The President alludes severely to the instigators of this unhappy affair, who, better informed themselves, have yet led away the ardor of youth and an ill-directed love of political liberty into the hazardous and criminal attempt. The peculiar policy of the United States is neutrality, or non-intervention. Friendly relations with all, but entangling alliances with no foreign power, has long been a maxim in the conduct of our external relations. The invasion of Cuba was therefore not only an offense against general international law, but it was a departure from those principles upon which has been founded the policy of our Government since the days of Washington.

But, the President adds with emphasis, while we avow and maintain this neutral policy ourselves, we are anxious to see the same forbearance on the part of other nations, whose forms of government are different from our own. The deep interest which we feel in the spread of liberal principles and the establishment of free governments, and the sympathy with which we witness every struggle against oppression, forbid that we should be indifferent to a case in which the strong arm of a foreign power is invoked to stifle public sentiment and repress the spirit of freedom in any country. The Governments of Great Britain and France have given orders to their naval command. ers on the West India station, to prevent by force the landing of adventurers from any nation on the island of Cuba with hostile intent. Assurances have been received from both Governments that, in these orders, express instructions have been given that no interference take place with the lawful commerce of this country. Still, the President apprehends that such interposition, if carried into effect, might lead to abuses in derogation of the maritime rights of the United States.

Under all circumstances, says President Fillmore, will this Government adhere to the principle that, in every documented merchant vessel, the crew who navigate it and those on board of it will find their protection in the flag which is over it. No American ship can be allowed to be visited or searched for the purpose of ascertaining the character of individuals on board, nor can there be allowed any watch by the vessels of any foreign nation over American vessels on the coasts of the United States or the seas adjacent thereto.

The President speaks with mortification and regret of the mobbing of the Spanish Consul at New-Orleans, and the destruction of his property, and has directed inquiries into the extent of his losses, with the purpose of laying them before Congress for indemnity. The attention of Congress is also drawn to the deficiency of our laws in not providing sufficiently for either the protection or the punishment of Consuls.

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The President notices the subject of reciprocal trade with Canada, and the overtures made by the British Minister in this matter, and the stringent measures the British Government are inclined to adopt, if some mutually beneficial arrangement cannot be made.

A convention for the adjustment of claims of citizen against Portugal has been concluded, and the first instalment, which has already fallen due, has been paid, according to the provisions of the convention. The President of the French Republic has been selected arbiter, and has accepted the trust.

Mr. Fillmore refers to the resolution of Congress authorizing the President to employ a public vessel to convey to this country Louis Kossuth and his associates. Governor Kossuth has expressed to the Department of State his grateful acknow ledgments for the interposition of this Government.

The differences between the Government of the Sandwich Islands and the French Republic are mentioned, and hopes expressed of their speedy adjustment so as to secure the independence of those islands. The importance of the islands to the whale-fishery, and their position in the direct path of the great trade that must some day be carried on between the western coast of this country and Asia, render it necessary that they should not pass under the control of any other great maritime state, but that they should remain accessible and useful to the commerce of all nations. The policy heretofore adopted with regard to the independence of these islands will consequently be steadily pursued.

The funds available to the Treasury for the year ending June 30, 1851, were $58,917,524 36, and the expenditures $48,005.578 68. The imports were $215.725,995, including $4.967.901 in specie. The exports were $217,517,130, of which $178,546,555 were domestic products, $9,738,695 foreign products, and $29,231,880 specie. Since December 1, 1851, $7,501,456 56 have been paid on the public debt; that debt now amounts to $62,560,395 26, exclusive of that issued for Texas. The available funds for the present year will be $63,258,743 09, and the expenditures $42,892,299 19; of this, $9,549,101 11 will be on account of the new territories; and it is estimated that on June 30, 1853, there will be a balance of $20,366,443 90 to pay off the debt then due and for other purposes.

Our domestic exports have increased $43,646,322 over the previous year; this is due mainly to the high price of cotton during the first half of the year. The value of our exports of breadstuffs has fallen from $68,701,921, as it was in 1847, to $21,948,653; rice and tobacco have also fallen off $1,156,751.

Information had been received by the Government that persons from the United States had taken part in the insurrection in the northern provinces of Mexico, and orders have consequently been issued for the purpose of preventing any hostile expeditions against that country from being set on foot, in violation of the laws of the United States.

The numerous frauds which continue to be prac

tised upon the revenue, by false invoices and valuations, constitute an unanswerable reason for adopting specific instead of ad valorem duties in all cases where the nature of the commodity does not forbid it. The practical evasion of the present law, combined with the languishing condition of some of the great interests of the country, caused by over-importations and consequently depressed prices, together with the failure in obtaining a foreign market for our increasing surplus of breadstuffs and provisions, has induced the President again to recommend a modification of the existing tariff.

The establishment of an Agricultural Bureau is suggested, to be charged with the duty of collecting and spreading correct information as to the best mode of cultivation, and of the most effectual means of preserving and restoring the fertility of the soil, and of procuring and distributing seeds and plants, with instructions in regard to the soil, climate, and treatment best adapted to their growth.

About one hundred thousand persons have already made application for the benefit of the Bounty Land Law of September 28, 1850.

Congress is urged to make appropriations for River and Harbor improvement.

An increase of the army is recommended for the protection of our south-western frontier against Indian depredations.

Among the other recommendations offered by the President, we find one, that extra pay be extended to the officers and men of the Arctic Expedition in search of Sir John Franklin; that some mode be fixed upon, providing for promotion to the higher grades of the navy, having reference to merit or capacity rather than seniority in the service, and for retiring from the effective list, upon reduced pay, those who are incompetent for active duty; that the questions of relative rank between the sea officers and the civil officers of the navy be determined, as well as between officers of the army and navy in the various grades of each; and that some mode of punishment for offenses in the navy be provided in the place of the abolished corporal punishment.

The country is congratulated upon the general acquiescence throughout the Republic in the compromise measures passed by the last Congress, and upon the spirit of conciliation which has been manifested in all sections, and which has removed

doubts in the minds of thousands concerning the durability of our popular institutions.

Our summary of this admirable document precludes the necessity of any further historic statement from us of the state of the country.

Little of interest has as yet transpired in Congress, with the exception of the debates respecting the welcome to be extended to Kossuth, and the resolutious brought forward by Mr. Foote, making the compromise measures a national platform. On this latter subject the embers of last year's fires have been raked over, and much unexpected warmth has been manifested. Some regret was expressed, even by those members who had voted for the compromise, that so exciting a subject should have been revived. They thought it would have the effect of increasing the discord and of widening the jarring interests that the compromise had partially quieted. Mr. Foote, however, defended his resolution with his usual impetuosity, asserting that these discords were still unsilenced, that the old wounds were only half healed, and that the weight of the solemn decree of the national legislature was still needed to quiet the yet agitated country.

The joint resolution presented by Mr. Seward, proffering Louis Kossuth a welcome to the Capitol and Congress of the United States, was adopted after much discussion by a large vote. The objections urged against this resolution were, that no foreigner but Lafayette had ever received so exalted an honor as a national welcome, and that he had peculiar claims on this nation, which were wanting in the case of Kossuth; that this measure was against all international precedent; that it would embroil us with several of the European powers, with whom we were now on peaceful terms; and that non-interference with the transatlantic dissensions was the fundamental principle of our national policy, solemnly established by precedents in the administration of Washington and Madison. It was further contended that the cause of free institutions abroad was more truly fostered by the growth and prosperity of the United States than it could ever be by the most successful war. The friends of the resolution urged that the Government had committed the country in this matter, by placing a national vessel at the service of Kossuth, and the welcome was but the consummation of the invitation. The measure finally passed both houses by large majorities.

NOTE TO PORTRAIT.

THE biographical sketch intended to accompany the portrait of the late Mr. Terry, which we give in this number, has not been received in time for the present issue.

We have to express our regrets that the portrait of a distinguished member of the Cabinet, which we had hoped to present to our subscribers, as an additional embellishment to the January number, will be necessarily postponed for a similar cause.

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