Chapter XII (1)

"For every man shall bear his own burden."
_Galatians_ vi. 5.

"Brethren, every man has his burden. If God designed our lives to end at the grave, may we not believe that he would have freed an existence so brief, from the cares and sorrows to which, since the beginning of the world, mankind have been subjected? Suppose that I am a kind father, and have a child whom I dearly love, but I know by a Divine revelation that he will die at the age of eight years, surely I should not vex his infancy by needless preparations for the duties of life. If I am a rich man, I should not send him from the caresses of his mother to the stern discipline of school. If I am a poor man, I should not take him with me to hedge and dig, to scorch in the sun, to freeze in the winter's cold: why inflict hardships on his childhood, for the purpose of fitting him for manhood, when I know that he is doomed not to grow into man? But if, on the other hand, I believe my child is reserved for a more durable existence, then should I not, out of the very love I bear to him, prepare his childhood for the struggle of life, according to that station in which he is born, giving many a toil, many a pain to the infant, in order to rear and strengthen him for his duties as a man? So is it with our Father that is in Heaven. Viewing this life as our infancy, and the next as our spiritual maturity, where 'in the ages to come, he may show the exceeding riches of his grace,' it is in his tenderness, as in his wisdom, to permit the toil and the pain which, in tasking the powers and developing the virtues of the soul, prepare it for the earnest of our inheritance, the 'redemption of the purchased possession.' Hence it is that every man has his burden. Brethren, if you believe that God is good, yea, but as tender as a human father, you will know that your troubles in life are a proof that you are reared for an eternity. But each man thinks his own burden the hardest to bear: the poor man groans under his poverty, the rich man under the cares that multiply with wealth. For, so far from wealth freeing us from trouble, all the wise men who have written in all ages, have repeated with one voice the words of the wisest, 'When goods increase, they are increased that eat them; and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?' And this is literally true, my brethren; for, let a man be as rich as was the great King Solomon himself, unless he lock up all his gold in a chest, it must go abroad to be divided among others; yea, though, like Solomon, he make him great works--though he build houses and plant vineyards, and make him gardens and orchards--still the gold that he spends feeds but the mouths he employs; and Solomon himself could not eat with a better relish than the poorest mason who builded the house, or the humblest laborer who planted the vineyard. Therefore, 'when goods increase, they are increased that eat them.' And this, my brethren, may teach us toleration and compassion for the rich. We share their riches whether they will or not; we do not share their cares. The profane history of our own country tells us that a princess, destined to be the greatest queen that ever sat on this throne, envied the milk-maid singing; and a profane poet, whose wisdom was only less than that of the inspired writers, represents the man who by force and wit had risen to be a king, sighing for the sleep vouchsafed to the meanest of his subjects--all bearing out the words of the son of David--'The sleep of the laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.'

"Among my brethren now present, there is, doubtless, some one who has been poor, and by honest industry has made himself comparatively rich. Let his heart answer me while I speak: are not the chief cares that now disturb him to be found in the goods he hath acquired?--has he not both vexations to his spirit and trials to his virtue, which he knew not when he went forth to his labor, and took no heed of the morrow? But it is right, my brethren, that to every station there should be its care--to every man his burden; for if the poor did not sometimes so far feel poverty to be a burden as to desire to better their condition, and (to use the language of the world) 'seek to rise in life,' their most valuable energies would never be aroused; and we should not witness that spectacle, which is so common in the land we live in--namely, the successful struggle of manly labor against adverse fortune--a struggle in which the triumph of one gives hope to thousands. It is said that necessity is the mother of invention; and the social blessings which are now as common to us as air and sunshine, have come from that law of our nature which makes us aspire toward indefinite improvement, enriches each successive generation by the labors of the last, and, in free countries, often lifts the child of the laborer to a place among the rulers of the land. Nay, if necessity is the mother of invention, poverty is the creator of the arts. If there had been no poverty, and no sense of poverty, where would have been that which we call the wealth of a country? Subtract from civilization all that has been produced by the poor, and what remains?--the state of the savage. Where you now see laborer and prince, you would see equality indeed--the equality of wild men. No; not even equality there! for there, brute force becomes lordship, and woe to the weak! Where you now see some in frieze, some in purple, you would see nakedness in all. Where stand the palace and the cot, you would behold but mud huts and caves. As far as the peasant excels the king among savages, so far does the society exalted and enriched by the struggles of labor excel the state in which Poverty feels no disparity, and Toil sighs for no ease. On the other hand, if the rich were perfectly contented with their wealth, their hearts would become hardened in the sensual enjoyments it procures. It is that feeling, by Divine Wisdom implanted in the soul, that there is vanity and vexation of spirit in the things of Mammon, which still leaves the rich man sensitive to the instincts of heaven, and teaches him to seek for happiness in those elevated virtues to which wealth invites him--namely, protection to the lowly, and beneficence to the distressed.

"And this, my brethren, leads me to another view of the vast subject opened to us by the words of the apostle--'Every man shall bear his own burden.' The worldly conditions of life are unequal. Why are they unequal? O my brethren, do you not perceive? Think you that, if it had been better for our spiritual probation that there should be neither great nor lowly, rich nor poor, Providence would not so have ordered the dispensations of the world, and so, by its mysterious but merciful agencies, have influenced the framework and foundations of society? But if, from the remotest period of human annals, and in all the numberless experiments of government which the wit of man has devised, still this inequality is ever found to exist, may we not suspect that there is something in the very principles of our nature to which that inequality is necessary and essential? Ask why this inequality! Why? as well ask why life is the sphere of duty and the nursery of virtues. For if all men were equal, if there were no suffering and no ease, no poverty and no wealth, would you not sweep with one blow the half at least of human virtues from the world? If there were no penury and no pain, what would become of fortitude? what of patience? what of resignation? If there were no greatness and no wealth, what would become of benevolence, of charity, of the blessed human pity, of temperance in the midst of luxury, of justice in the exercise of power? Carry the question further; grant all conditions the same--no reverse, no rise and no fall--nothing to hope for, nothing to fear--what a moral death you would at once inflict upon all the energies of the soul, and what a link between the heart of man and the Providence of God would be snapped asunder! If we could annihilate evil, we should annihilate hope; and hope, my brethren, is the avenue to faith. If there be 'a time to weep, and a time to laugh,' it is that he who mourns may turn to eternity for comfort, and he who rejoices may bless God for the happy hour. Ah! my brethren, were it possible to annihilate the inequalities of human life, it would be the banishment of our worthiest virtues, the torpor of our spiritual nature, the palsy of our mental faculties. The moral world, like the world without us, derives its health and its beauty from diversity and contrast.

"'Every man shall bear his own burden.' True: but now turn to an earlier verse in the same chapter--

"'Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.' Yes; while Heaven ordains to each his peculiar suffering, it connects the family of man into one household, by that feeling which, more perhaps than any other, distinguishes us from the brute creation--I mean the feeling to which we give the name of _sympathy_--the feeling for each other! The herd of deer shuns the stag that is marked by the gunner; the flock heedeth not the sheep that creeps into the shade to die; but man has sorrow and joy not in himself alone, but in the joy and sorrow of those around him. He who feels only for himself abjures his very nature as man; for do we not say of one who has no tenderness for mankind that he is _inhuman_? and do we not call him who sorrows with the sorrowful, _humane_?

"Now, brethren, that which especially marked the divine mission of our Lord, is the direct appeal to this sympathy which distinguishes us from the brute. He seizes not upon some faculty of genius given but to few, but upon that ready impulse of heart which is given to us all; and in saying, 'Love one another,' 'Bear ye one another's burdens,' he elevates the most delightful of our emotions into the most sacred of his laws. The lawyer asks our Lord, 'who is my neighbor?' Our Lord replies by the parable of the good Samaritan. The priest and the Levite saw the wounded man that fell among the thieves, and passed by on the other side. That priest might have been austere in his doctrine, that Levite might have been learned in the law; but neither to the learning of the Levite, nor to the doctrine of the priest, does our Saviour even deign to allude. He cites but the action of the Samaritan, and saith to the lawyer, 'Which now of these three, thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that showed mercy unto him. Then said Jesus unto him, 'Go, and do thou likewise.'

"O shallowness of human judgments! It was enough to be born a Samaritan in order to be rejected by the priest, and despised by the Levite. Yet now, what to us the priest and the Levite, of God's chosen race though they were? They passed from the hearts of men when they passed the sufferer by the wayside; while this loathed Samaritan, half thrust from the pale of the Hebrew, becomes of our family, of our kindred; a brother among the brotherhood of Love, so long as Mercy and Affliction shall meet in the common thoroughfare of Life!

"'Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ!' Think not, O my brethren, that this applies only to almsgiving--to that relief of distress which is commonly called charity--to the obvious duty of devoting, from our superfluities, something that we scarcely miss, to the wants of a starving brother. No. I appeal to the poorest among ye, if the worst burdens are those of the body--if the kind word and the tender thought have not often lightened your hearts more than bread bestowed with a grudge, and charity that humbles you by a frown. Sympathy is a beneficence at the command of us all--yea, of the pauper as of the king; and sympathy is Christ's wealth. Sympathy is brotherhood. The rich are told to have charity for the poor, and the poor are enjoined to respect their superiors. Good: I say not to the contrary. But I say also to the poor, '_In your turn have charity for the rich_;' and I say to the rich, '_In your turn respect the poor_.'

"'Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.' Thou, O poor man, envy not nor grudge thy brother his larger portion of worldly goods. Believe that he hath his sorrows and crosses like thyself, and perhaps, as more delicately nurtured, he feels them more; nay, hath he not temptations so great that our Lord hath exclaimed, 'How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of heaven?' And what are temptations but trials? what are trials but perils and sorrows? Think not that you can not bestow your charity on the rich man, even while you take your sustenance from his hands. A heathen writer, often cited by the earliest preachers of the gospel, hath truly said, 'Where-ever there is room for a man, there is place for a benefit.'

"And I ask any rich brother among you, when he hath gone forth to survey his barns and his granaries, his gardens and orchards, if suddenly, in the vain pride of his heart, he sees the scowl on the brow of the laborer--if he deems himself hated in the midst of his wealth--if he feels that his least faults are treasured up against him with the hardness of malice, and his plainest benefits received with the ingratitude of envy--ask, I say, any rich man, whether straightway all pleasure in his worldly possessions does not fade from his heart, and whether he does not feel what a wealth of gladness it is in the power of the poor man to bestow! For all these things of Mammon pass away; but there is in the smile of him whom we have served, a something that we may take with us into heaven. If, then, ye bear one another's burdens, they who are poor will have mercy on the errors, and compassion for the griefs, of the rich. To all men it was said--yes, to the Lazarus as to the Dives--'Judge not that ye be not judged.' But think not, O rich man, that we preach only to the poor. If it be their duty not to grudge thee thy substance, it is thine to do all that may sweeten their labor. Remember, that when our Lord said, 'How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of heaven,' he replied also to them who asked, 'Who then shall be saved?' 'The things which are impossible with men are possible with God:' that is, man left to his own temptations would fail; but strengthened by God, he shall be saved. If thy riches are the tests of thy trial, so may they also be the instruments of thy virtues. Prove by thy riches that thou art compassionate and tender temperate and benign; and thy riches themselves may become the evidence at once of thy faith and of thy works.

"We have constantly on our lips the simple precept, 'Do unto others as ye would be done by.' Why do we fail so often in the practice? Because we neglect to cultivate that SYMPATHY which nature implants as an instinct, and the Saviour exalts as a command. If thou wouldst do unto thy neighbor as thou wouldst be done by, ponder well how thy neighbor will regard the action thou art about to do to him. Put thyself into his place. If thou art strong, and he is weak, descend from thy strength, and enter into his weakness; lay aside thy burden for the while, and buckle on his own; let thy sight see as through his eyes--thy heart beat as in his bosom. Do this, and thou wilt often confess that what had seemed just to thy power will seem harsh to his weakness. For 'as a zealous man hath not done his duty, when he calls his brother drunkard and beast,'[33] even so an administrator of the law mistakes his object if he writes on the grand column of society, only warnings that irritate the bold, and terrify the timid; and a man will be no more in love with law than with virtue, 'if he be forced to it with rudeness and incivilities.'[34] If, then, ye would bear the burden of the lowly, O ye great--feel not only _for_ them, but _with!_ Watch that your pride does not chafe them--your power does not wantonly gall. Your worldly inferior is of the class from which the apostles were chosen--amidst which the Lord of Creation descended from a throne above the seraphs."

The Parson here paused a moment, and his eye glanced toward the pew near the pulpit, where sat the magnate of Hazeldean. The Squire was leaning his chin thoughtfully on his hand, his brow inclined downward, and the natural glow of his complexion much heightened.

"But," resumed the Parson softly, without turning to his book, and rather as if prompted by the suggestion of the moment--"But he who has cultivated sympathy commits not these errors, or, if committing them, hastens to retract. So natural is sympathy to the good man, that he obeys it mechanically when he suffers his heart to be the monitor of his conscience. In this sympathy behold the bond between rich and poor! By this sympathy, whatever our varying worldly lots, they become what they were meant to be--exercises for the virtues more peculiar to each; and thus, if in the body each man bear his own burden, yet in the fellowship of the soul all have common relief in bearing the burdens of each other.

"This is the law of Christ--fulfill it, O my flock!"

Here the Parson closed his sermon, and the congregation bowed their heads.

(_To be continued_.)

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 32: By the pounds Milanese, Giacomo means the Milanese lira.]

[Footnote 33: JEREMY TAYLOR--_Of Christian Prudence_. Part II.]

[Footnote 34: Ibid.]

Monthly Record of Current Events

POLITICAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

THE UNITED STATES.

The principal event of the month has been the opening of the second session of the Thirty-first Congress, which occurred on the second of December. Each House was called to order by its presiding officer. Hon. WILLIAM R. KING of Alabama in the Senate, and Hon. HOWELL COBB of Georgia in the House. The Message of President FILLMORE was transmitted to Congress on the same day. The state of public feeling upon topics connected with slavery, and the fact that President FILLMORE'S views upon the subject had never before been officially communicated to the country, gave to the Message even more than an ordinary degree of interest.

After alluding to the death of General TAYLOR, the Message briefly sets forth the President's political principles and his views as to the proper policy of the government. In its foreign relations he would have the country regard the independent rights of all nations without interference, take no part in their internal strifes, and sympathize with, though it can not aid, the oppressed who are struggling for freedom. To maintain strict neutrality, reciprocate every generous act, and observe treaties, is the extent of our obligations and powers. In regard to our domestic policy, the President says he has no guide but the Constitution as interpreted by the courts, and by usage and general acquiescence. All its parts are equally binding, and no necessity can justify the assumption of powers not granted. The powers granted are as clearly expressed as the imperfections of human language will allow, and he deems it his duty not to question its wisdom, add to its provisions, evade its requirements, or multiply its commands. He promises to express his views frankly upon the leading subjects of legislation, and if any act should pass Congress, which shall appear to him "unconstitutional, or an encroachment on the just powers of other departments, or with provisions hastily adopted, and likely to produce consequences injurious and unforeseen," he would not hesitate to send it back for further consideration. Beyond this he will not attempt to control or influence the proceedings of Congress. The government of the United States is limited, and every citizen who truly loves the Constitution, will resist its interference in those domestic affairs which the Constitution has clearly and unequivocally left to the exclusive authority of the States: and every such citizen will also deprecate useless irritation among the several members of the Union, and all reproach and crimination tending to alienate one portion of the country from another. The Constitution has made it the duty of the President to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. Mr. FILLMORE says that Congress and the country may rest assured that, to the utmost of his ability, and to the extent of the powers vested in him, he will, at all times and in all places, take care that the laws be faithfully executed.

The President says he shall endeavor to exercise the appointing power so as to elevate the standard of official employment and advance the prosperity and happiness of the people.

No unfavorable change has taken place in our foreign relations. A convention has recently been negotiated with Great Britain to facilitate and protect the construction of a ship canal between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans: further provisions are required which shall designate and establish a free port at each end of the canal, and fix the distance from the shore within which belligerent maritime operations shall not be carried on. Upon these points there is said to be little doubt that the two nations will come to an understanding. The company of American citizens who have acquired from the state of Nicaragua the right of constructing a ship canal between the two oceans, through the territory of that state, have made progress in their preliminary arrangements. It is hoped that the guarantees of the treaty between the United States and Great Britain will be sufficient to secure the early completion of the work. Citizens of the United States have undertaken the construction of a railroad across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, under grants of the Mexican government to a citizen of that republic. Some further stipulations from Mexico are still needed, however, to impart a feeling of security to those who may embark in the enterprise. Negotiations to secure them are now in progress. A proposition made by the government of Portugal to adjust and settle the claims of the United States against that government, has been accepted by the United States; and it is expected that a regular convention will be immediately negotiated for carrying the agreement into effect. The commissioner appointed under an act of Congress to carry into effect the Convention with Brazil, of January 27, 1849, has entered upon the performance of his duties: an extension of time, however, will be required, in consequence of the failure to receive documents which the government of Brazil is to furnish. The collection in ports of the United States, of discriminating duties on the vessels of Chili has been suspended.

The total receipts into the Treasury for the year ending June 30, 1850, were $47,421,748: expenditures during the same period $43,002,168. The public debt has been reduced $495,276. Part of the public debt amounting to $8,075,986 must be provided for within the next two years. A modification of the tariff is strongly recommended; so as to impose specific duties sufficient to raise the requisite revenue, and making such discrimination in favor of the industrial pursuits of our own country as to encourage home production without excluding foreign competition. Under the present _ad valorem_ system extensive frauds have been practiced which show that it is impossible, under any system of _ad valorem_ duties levied upon the foreign cost or value of the article, to secure an honest observance and an effectual administration of the law. The establishment of a mint in California is recommended, and also of an agricultural bureau at Washington. The attention of Congress is called to the importance of opening a line of communication between the Valley of the Mississippi and the Pacific. The necessity of a Commissioner to examine the validity of land titles in California is also urged, as well as the propriety of extending, at an early day, our system of land laws, with such modifications as maybe necessary, over California, New Mexico, and Utah. Further provision is required to protect our frontiers from hostile Indians. The navy continues in a high state of efficiency. The report of the Postmaster General is referred to for the condition of that department. The President says he has no doubt of the power of Congress to make appropriations for works of internal improvement, and he therefore recommends that appropriations be made for completing such works as have been already begun, and for commencing such others as may seem to the wisdom of Congress to be of public and general importance. The President also recommends that provision be made by law for the appointment of a commission to settle all private claims against the United States; and the appointment of a solicitor whose duty it shall be to represent the Government before such commission, and protect it against all illegal, fraudulent, or unjust claims, which may be presented for their adjudication.

The Message closes by expressing the President's views in regard to the Compromise measures of the last session. He believes those measures to have been required by the circumstances and condition of the country. He regards them as a settlement, in principle and substance a final settlement, of the dangerous and exciting subjects which they embrace. Most of these subjects, indeed, are placed by them beyond the reach of legislation. The President recommends an adherence to the adjustment established by those measures, until time and experience shall demonstrate the necessity of further legislation to guard against evasion or abuse. By that adjustment, he adds, "we have been rescued from the wide and boundless agitation that surrounded us, and have a firm, distinct, and legal ground to rest upon. And the occasion, I trust, will justify me in exhorting my countrymen to rally upon and maintain that ground as the best if not the only means, of restoring peace and quiet to the country, and maintain inviolate the integrity of the Union."

The annual Reports from the several departments were transmitted to Congress with the Message. They state in detail, as usual, the condition of the public service in each department of the government. We can only make room, of course, for a condensed summary of their contents.

The Report of Mr. CONRAD, Secretary of war, is brief and clearly written. The whole number of men at present enrolled in the U. S. Army is 12,326, including officers. Of these, 7796 are under orders for Texas, New Mexico, California, and Oregon, thus leaving but 4530 in all the rest of the States and Territories. The Secretary, in view of the recent alarming incursions of the Indians, on the borders of Texas and New Mexico, urges an addition to the military establishment of the country. A history is given of the operations of infantry in New Mexico since last August. Mr. Conrad expresses the opinion, that the only description of troops to put an end to these savage forays, is cavalry. He says the Indians in that part of the country are excellent horsemen, and well skilled in the art of war. To extirpate them, he calls upon Congress to raise one or more regiments of mounted men. In this connection, moreover, he thinks that if the inhabitants of New Mexico were organized into a kind of protective militia of their own, much would be done to preserve the lives and property of those Territories, independently of Government relief. At all events the experiment, he says, is worth trying. The operations of that portion of the army employed in Oregon are next recapitulated, as are also those engaged in the recent troubles with the Indians in Florida. The Secretary entertains no apprehension of any farther disturbance there. A large portion of the troops are withdrawn from the State, but sufficient are left to meet any emergency which may possibly arise. The number of the Indians there, we are told, is very small, probably not more than one hundred, who, however, occasion annoyance to the whites; and these the most efficient measures will be taken to remove. It is recommended that a small force be sent against the Sioux tribe of Indians, in order to compel obedience to the Chippewa treaty, which they have broken, and which the United States is bound to see respected. He also refers to the reports of the officers appointed to examine the Pacific Coasts of the United States, in order to select suitable sites for fortifications and naval depots there. Captain Stansbury's Expedition to the Great Salt Lake, the Secretary says, is understood to be completed, and a report of his operations is supposed to be now on its way home. Other Expeditions, similar to this, are also referred to. The Secretary renews the recommendation of his predecessor for the formation of a retired list of officers of the Army. An asylum for disabled and destitute soldiers is also urged upon the attention of Congress. The financial estimates for this Department, for the ensuing year, do not appear quite so favorable as could be wished. The sum required for the next fiscal year will considerably exceed the aggregate for the current year--an increase caused, among other things, by the act of last Congress increasing the rank and file of all the companies serving on the Western frontier--paying nearly double all the officers and men in California and Oregon--and by increased expenditures in the Quartermaster's department. The Secretary points out several departments of the service where principles of economy may be introduced to advantage, and to them he calls the earnest and immediate attention of Congress.

The Report of Mr. GRAHAM, Secretary of the Navy, is also brief, and gives an account of the six different squadrons into which the naval force in commission is divided. The Secretary remarks that occasional instances of British interference with vessels bearing our flag on the African coast have occurred, but that in each case explanations and apologies have been made to our officers on that station, and the reports thereof transmitted to the Government. The existing _personnel_ of the Navy embraces 68 captains, 97 commanders, 327 lieutenants, 111 surgeons, 43 assistant surgeons, 64 pursers, 24 chaplains, 12 professors of mathematics, 11 masters in the line of promotion, 464 passed and other midshipmen, and 7500 petty officers, seamen, landsmen, boys, etc. The Secretary says that this system of officers is unshapely and disproportioned, there being great disparity between the head and the subordinate parts, and he recommends a great reduction in the three highest grades. The report discusses other questions respecting the organization and distribution of the service. The Secretary notices the improvements going on in the Navy Yards in New York and other places; states that he has invited proposals for the construction of a Dry Dock in the Pacific; says that the stores on hand in the various yards amount to $6,500,000. A reduction of the number of yards is discussed. The Secretary says that our flag has been respected on every sea, and that the interests of commerce have been secure under its protection. The Navy consists of 7 ships of the line, 1 razee, 12 frigates, 21 sloops of war, 4 brigs, 2 schooners, 6 steam frigates, 3 steamers of the first class, 6 steamers of less than first class, and 5 store ships. The ships in commission are one razee, 6 frigates, 15 sloops of war, 4 brigs, 2 schooners (coast survey), 2 steam frigates, 1 steamer of the first class, 3 less than first class, 3 ships of the line as receiving ships, 1 steamer do., and one sloop do. Four ships of the line and two frigates are on the stocks in process of construction, but the work suspended. Besides these, there are the mail steamships on the New York and Liverpool and New York and Chagres lines, liable to naval duty in case of necessity.

The Report of Mr. HALL, the Postmaster General, gives a gratifying picture of the operations of the Post Office Department. The number of mail routes within the United States at the close of the fiscal year in June last, not including California and Oregon, was 5590: the aggregate length of such routes was 178,672 miles, and the number of contractors employed thereon, 4,760. The annual transportation of the mails on these routes was 46,541,423 miles, at an annual cost of $2,724,436, making the average cost about five cents and eight and a half mills per mile. The increase in the number of inland mail routes during the year was 649; the increase in the length of mail routes was 10,969 miles; and the annual transportation of the year exceeded that of the previous year by 3,997,354 miles, at an increased cost of $342,440. There were, on the 30th of June last, five foreign mail routes, of the aggregate length of 15,079 miles, and the annual price of the transportation thereon, payable by this Department, was $264,506; being an increase of $8814 on the cost of the preceding year. The increase of our mail service for the last fiscal year, over the year preceding, was about 9.4 per cent., and the increase in the total cost was about 12.7 per cent. The number of Postmasters appointed during the year ending June 30, 1850, was 6518. Of that number 2600 were appointed to fill vacancies occasioned by resignations; 233 to fill vacancies occasioned by the decease of the previous incumbents; 562 on a change of the sites of the offices for which they were appointed; 1444 on the removal of their predecessors, and 1979 were appointed on the establishment of new offices. The whole number of post offices in the United States at the end of that year was 18,417. There were 1679 post offices established, and 309 discontinued during the year.

The gross revenue of the Department for the year was as follows:

From letter postage, including foreign postage,
and stamps sold $4,575,663 86
From newspapers and pamphlets 919,485 94
From fines 38 00
From miscellaneous items 3,048 66
From receipts on acc't of dead letters 1,748 40
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$5,499,984 86
Appropriation for franked matter 200,000 00
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Total $5,699,984 86

From this sum should be deducted the
amount received during the year for
British postages, which are payable to
that Government, under the postal convention
of December, 1848 147,013 38
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Leaving for the gross revenue of the year $5,552,971 48
Total expenditures 5,212,953 43
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Excess of receipts $340,018 05

The expenditures of the current year are estimated at $6,019,809, the increase consisting in the additional service provided for, and in the increased rates sometimes paid on the new contracts. No reliable estimate of receipts from postage for the year can be made. The increase for the year ending June 30, 1847, was 11.27 per cent.; that for the year ending June 30, 1848, only 7.43 per cent.; and that for the year ending June 30, 1849, 14.20 per cent.; being an average, for the three years, of 10.96 per cent.; and the increase for the year ending June 30, 1850, excluding the balance in favor of Great Britain was 14.62 per cent. It is believed that the increase for the current year will be at least 11 per cent. over the receipts of last year: and this will give an aggregate revenue of $6,166,616, an excess of $146,807 over the estimated expenditures. The conveyance of foreign correspondence has become an important branch of the service. The means provided are 16 large steamships in actual service, with four more to be added under existing contracts. Efforts are in progress to arrange with foreign countries for the interchange of mails and for the uninterrupted transit of our correspondence in the mails of those countries to the countries beyond. The mail service in California and Oregon is still in an unsettled state: some suggestions are made for improving its details. The Postmaster General recommends a considerable reduction in the rates of postage: he advises that the inland letter postage be reduced to three cents, the single letter, when pre-paid, and be fixed at the uniform rate of five cents when not pre-paid; and also, that the Postmaster General be required to reduce this pre-paid rate to two cents the single letter, whenever it shall be ascertained that the revenues of the Department, after the reductions now recommended, shall have exceeded its expenditures by more than five per cent. for two consecutive fiscal years. He also recommends that twenty cents the single letter, be charged on all correspondence to and from the Pacific coast, South America, the Eastern Continent and its islands, and points beyond either, and ten cents the single letter on all other sea-going letters, without the superaddition of inland postage; and that the provision which imposes an additional half cent postage upon newspapers, sent more than one hundred miles, and out of the State where they are mailed, be repealed, so as to leave the uniform inland postage on newspapers, sent to subscribers, from the office of publication, at one cent each. The postage upon pamphlets, periodicals, and other printed matter (except newspapers), Mr. HALL thinks, may be simplified and somewhat reduced, with advantage to the Department. Two cents for the pamphlet or periodical of the weight of two ounces or less, and one cent for every additional ounce or fraction of an ounce, is recommended as the inland rate upon all pamphlets, periodicals, and other printed matter; instead of the present rate of two and a half cents for the first ounce, and one cent for every additional ounce, or fraction of an ounce. For the sea-going charge on such matters, and on newspapers, twice the inland rate to and from the points to which it is proposed that the letter postage shall be ten cents, and four times the inland rate where the letter rate is twenty cents, is deemed a just and proper rate. The reductions recommended on printed matter are considerably less than those upon letters: and the reason of this is found in the fact that the rates of postage upon printed matter are now exceedingly low, when compared with the letter rates. The average postage on letters is estimated at about three dollars and sixteen cents per pound, and on newspapers or pamphlets at about sixteen cents per pound. After the reductions proposed, the average inland postage on letters will be about $2 50 per pound when not prepaid, and $1 50 per pound when pre-paid.

The reduction recommended will probably reduce the revenue of the Department for the first three or four years; but at the end of that period its revenues under the reduced rates will probably again equal its expenditures. To meet the temporary deficiency, additional appropriations from the Treasury will probably be required unless Congress should abolish the franking privilege, which is held to be the privilege of the constituent rather than of the representative. It is recommended, however, that if the franking privilege, and the privilege now accorded to newspaper proprietors of receiving exchange newspapers free of postage, be continued, the expense be paid out of the public Treasury. The present laws provide for a semi-monthly mail from New York and New Orleans to Chagres, and for only a monthly mail from that point to San Francisco. The defect has been partially supplied by an arrangement with the mail contractors, but the action of Congress on the subject is still required.

The report of Mr. STUART, Secretary of the Department of the Interior, presents a variety of interesting information concerning the various subjects which come under his supervision. The expenses of the department for the year have been $5,403,372; those for the next year are estimated at $7,132,043. The report enters at some length into an explanation of the various items of this increase. The whole number of persons on the pension rolls of the United States is 19,758; the whole number who have drawn pensions during the first two quarters of the present year is 13,079. The whole amount expended for pensions during the year is estimated at $1,400,000. The number of land warrants issued for Revolutionary service is 12,588; and for the war of 1812, 28,978. The number of claims presented for service in the Mexican war is 81,373, and for scrip in lieu of land, 3332, making a total of 84,705. The number of claimants under the general Bounty Land Law of the last session of Congress is estimated at 250,000. The sales of Public Lands during the first three quarters of 1850 have amounted to 869,082 acres; the amount sold in 1849 was 1,329,902. The amount located by Mexican bounty land warrants during three quarters of the present year was 1,520,120, against 3,405,520, during the whole of last year. The aggregate amount disposed of in three quarters of 1850 was 2,815,366--in 1849 it was 5,184,410. The revenue derived from the sale of public lands has averaged about a million and a quarter of dollars per annum, for the last fifty years, above all expenses. The extension of our Land System over our possessions on the Pacific is strongly urged; and a commission is suggested to adjudicate on all questions of disputed titles to land in California. Mr. STUART recommends the sale of the mineral lands, in fee simple to the highest bidder at public auction--in lots small enough to afford persons in moderate circumstances the opportunity of being bidders. The annexation of Texas and our treaty with Mexico, have added about 124,000 Indians to our population; many of them are fierce in their disposition and predatory in their habits. Further legislation for the protection of our people from them has become necessary. The Secretary urges the necessity of a highway to the Pacific; whether a railway, a plank road, or a turnpike would be most expedient, he says, can only be determined after a careful survey of the country and its resources shall have been made. He suggests the propriety of authorizing an immediate survey. The establishment of an Agricultural Bureau is urged, and statements are made of the steps taken in securing the census returns.

Several of the State Legislatures are now in session, or have been during the past month. In several of them action has been taken upon the general question of Slavery. In VERMONT a bill was passed for the protection of persons who may be claimed within that state as fugitive slaves. This bill provides (1.) That it shall be the duty of the State's attorneys within the several counties "to use all lawful means to protect, defend, and cause to be discharged" every person arrested or claimed as a fugitive slave; (2.) The application of any State's attorney in due form shall be sufficient authority for any one of the Judges of the Supreme Court, or any Circuit Judge, to authorize the issuing a writ of _habeas corpus_, which shall be made returnable to the supreme or county court when in session, and in vacation before any of the judges aforesaid; (3.) That it shall be the duty of all judicial and executive officers in the State, whenever they shall have reason to believe that any inhabitant of the State is about to be arrested as a fugitive slave, to give notice thereof to the State's attorneys in their respective counties; (4.) That whenever the writ of _habeas corpus_ is granted in vacation, if upon the hearing of the same before any of the judges, the person arrested and claimed as a fugitive slave shall not be discharged, he shall be entitled to an appeal to the next stated term of the county court, on furnishing such bail and within such time as the judge granting the writ shall deem reasonable and proper; (5.) That the court to which such appeal is taken, or any other court to which a writ of _habeas corpus_ in behalf of any such alleged fugitive slave is made returnable, shall, on application, allow and direct a trial by jury on all questions of fact in issue between the parties, and the costs thereof shall be chargeable to the State. The bill passed both branches of the Legislature with very little discussion, and was approved by the Governor, Nov. 13, 1850.

The VIRGINIA Legislature assembled on the 2d of December. The Message of Governor FLOYD closes with some emphatic comments on the Compromise measures of Congress. The action of the last session on the subject, the Governor says, has placed the Union in the most momentous and difficult crisis through which it has ever passed. Some of its enactments have produced a feeling of deep and bitter dissatisfaction at the South; while the law for the recovery of fugitive slaves has been met with a reception at the North little, if at all, short of open rebellion and utter defiance. This state of things, the Governor says, has grown out of an "unwarrantable interference on the part of Congress with the subject of slavery, and is another proof of the great danger which must ever follow any attempt on the part of that body to transcend the clear, well-defined limits set by the Constitution to govern and control their action." The action of Congress, it is held, has been grossly injurious to the South, for of the whole domain acquired from Mexico, not a foot is left, worth having, for the occupation of the slaveholder. Nothing ought to reconcile the South to this action, but the hope that it may settle forever all agitation of the question of slavery. But if peace and quiet can be thereby restored, if the Constitution can be respected and the Union maintained, these sacrifices, great as they are, may well be regarded as light in comparison with the objects attained. But should this expectation prove fallacious, and the slavery agitation be renewed, it will furnish, the Governor says, "proof, convincing and conclusive, of that fixed and settled hostility to slavery on the part of the North which should and will satisfy every reasonable man that peace between us is impossible; and then a necessity stronger than all law, the necessity of self-preservation, will demand at our hands a separation from those who use the relationship of brotherhood only for the purpose of inflicting upon us the worst acts of malignant hostility." The supineness of the South upon this subject is very warmly censured, and the hostility evinced in the Northern States toward the fugitive slave law is referred to as among the indications that peace and harmony have not been restored. Virginia, and all the slaveholding states, he thinks, "can and ought, calmly and explicitly to declare that the repeal of the fugitive slave law, or any essential modification of it, is a virtual repeal of the Union. The faithful execution of the law is the only means now left by which the Union can be preserved with honor to ourselves and peace to the country. Such a declaration on the part of the South will give strength and great moral weight to the conservative patriots at the North, now struggling for the Constitution and the supremacy of the laws, who are, in truth, fighting the battle of the Union, in the bosom of the non-slaveholding States. If, however, no consideration of prudence or patriotism can restrain the majority from the non-slaveholding States in their headlong career of usurpation and wrong, and should they repeal or essentially modify the fugitive slave law, the most prompt and decisive action 'will be required at your hands'. In either event, I would earnestly recommend that a Convention of the people be called at once to take into consideration the mode and measure of redress, as well as the means of providing for our future security and peace."

The Governor of ARKANSAS, in his Message to the Legislature of that State, objects to the admission of California, but contends that the evil can not be cured, and must be endured. He asks, "what could the South gain by resistance?" He also objects to President Fillmore's Message concerning Texas. But, with regard to the fugitive slave law, he contends, if the North touch it, the "South can no longer, with honor to herself, maintain her present relations with the North."

In MISSISSIPPI the Legislature convened in extra session on the 18th November, under a proclamation issued by Governor QUITMAN, to take into consideration the course to be pursued by the State in view of the recent measures of Congress. On the first day of the session the Governor sent in a Message giving a history of the aggressions of the North, and recommending secession from the Union. He says, "let the propositions be distinctly put to the non-slaveholding States that the wrongs of the South must be redressed, so far as it is in the power of Congress to do so, by obtaining from California a concession of territory south of 36 deg. 30'; otherwise that they (the non-slaveholding States) must consent to such amendments of the Constitution as shall hereafter secure the rights of the slaveholding States from further aggression. But, in the event of continued refusal to do so, I hesitate not to express my decided opinion that the only effectual remedy for the evil, which must continue to grow from year to year, is to be found in prompt and peaceable secession from the aggressive States."

In GEORGIA, the State Convention, summoned to consider the best means of securing Southern rights and interests, assembled at Milledgeville, on the 11th of December. At the election of delegates to this Convention, the issue made was between those in favor of disunion, and those opposed to it. The result showed a popular majority of about 30,000 in favor of the Union; in seven counties only of the whole State, had the disunionists popular majorities.

The Legislature of TEXAS met at Austin, November 18th, and Governor BELL immediately sent in his Message. He states that he anticipated the passage of the boundary bill by Congress, but regrets that Congress was no more specific in defining the mode of ascertaining and making known at the Federal treasury the amount of debt for which the five millions of stock are to be retained. He considers that the creditors of Texas must look to her alone, and not to the United States, for the settlement of her claims. In regard to the bonds issued by the late republic for double the amount of the original contracts, he thinks that between private individuals such would be void on account of usury. He, however, recommends that government should certainly pay to its creditors the full amount of benefits received, and interest on the amount from the time when it should have been paid. He also recommends that a law be passed, requiring all creditors holding claims against the late Republic of Texas, and for which revenues arising from import duties were specially pledged, to file releases in favor of the United States in respect to said claims, with the Comptroller of the State within a specified time; and in default thereof, their claims against the United States for the liability of the said debts, growing out of transfer of revenue, under the articles of annexation, shall be considered as waived from Mexico. On the 22d, a bill to accept the propositions of the boundary bill, was passed in both Houses, there being in the Senate but one, and in the House but five votes against it.--The party engaged in the survey of the Upper Rio Grande have reported that forty miles above Laredo is, and will continue to be, the head of steamboat navigation.