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HARPER'S WEEKLY.
(Continued
From Front Cover Biography on Governor Pickens of South Carolina)
man at the door on all state occasions, and acquitted himself
with all the dignity due to his position. When Colonel
Pickens was about leaving St. Petersburg he said to his
old servant, 'Tom, I am going through Germany, and I
want to send
a courier with very important
dispatches to
our Minister, Mr. Dallas, in London. Now, Tom, I shall
make you courier; you shall go with my dispatches to Mr.
Dallas.'
"Tom accepted the mission,
and we do him but justice
when we say that he discharged his duty with promptness, correctness, and
fidelity to his master."
WE
publish on
page 33, from a photograph sent us from
Charleston, South Carolina, a
portrait of Judge Magrath, late Judge of the United States District Court at Charleston. Judge Magrath is a lawyer of high standing at the South Carolina
bar, and enjoys the respect of the public. He has hitherto taken no leading part
in politics outside of his State;
but
in the Convention he was reckoned
one of the strongest men, and is now one of the Executive Council of the new
nation of South Carolina. The first act which directed public attention
to him was his resignation of his office on 7th November last. On that day, when
the Grand Jury reported that there was no more business before them, Judge Magrath said :
" The business of the term has been disposed of.
And under ordinary
circumstances, it would be my duty to dismiss
you to your several avocations, with my thanks for
your presence and aid. But now I have something more
to do ; the omission
of which would not be
consistent with
propriety. In the political history
of the United States an
event has happened
of ominous import to fifteen
slave-holding
State:. The State
of which we are citizens has
been always understood to have deliberately fixed its purpose,
whenever that event should happen. Feeling an assurance
of what will be the action
of the State,
I consider it my duty,
without delay, to prepare to obey its wishes.
That preparation is made by the resignation
of the office I
have held. For the last time I have, as a Judge
of the
United States, administered the laws of the United States
within the limits
of the State of South
Carolina. While thus
acting in obedience to a sense of duty, I can not be
indifferent to the emotions it must produce. That department
of government which, I believe, has best maintained
its integrity and preserved its purity, has been suspended.
So far as I am concerned, the
Temple of Justice, raised
under the Constitution
of the United States, is now
closed.
If it shall be never again
opened, I thank God that its
doors have been closed before its altar has been desecrated
with sacrifices to tyranny. May I not say to you that in
the future which we are about to penetrate, next to the
reliance we should place in the goodness of that God, who
will guide us in the right way, should be our confidence
in our State, and our obedience
to its laws. We are about
to sever our relations with others, because they have broken
their covenant with us. Let us not break the covenant
we have made with each other. Let us not forget that
what the laws of our State require becomes our duties.
And that he who acts against the wish or without the command
of
his State usurps that sovereign authority which
we must maintain inviolate.
To you, gentlemen
of the jury, I may
speak as the representative
of the juries with
whom I have been connected : and to you
I now give expression
to that conviction I have always had,
of the fidelity
with which the responsible duties
of jurors have been
here discharged. To my brethren
of the bar, whose uniform
courtesy and aid have made my official intercourse
and duties the sources of pleasure and instruction, I tender
the assurances
of my kind and grateful
recollection.
To the officers
of this court, with whom I have been so long
and pleasantly connected; to the Attorney
of the United
States
for this State, whose ability and fidelity in the
discharge
of his duties merit the
highest commendation; to
the Marshal whose zeal has ever kept pace with the obligations
of his office ; to the Clerk,
whose experience has ever
been generously exercised in the business of the Court ; to
all other officers, who have invariably been exact in all
they were required to
do; with all
of whom my official relations
have been productive
of the highest gratification:
I now tender, as the last official act which I shall here discharge,
my kindest wishes for their
happiness and prosperity."
At the conclusion of these remarks
his Honor laid aside
his gown and retired.
WE
publish on
page 33 the portrait of the Rev. Dr. Bachman, of South Carolina, the
minister who was selected by the Secession Convention to ask a prayer on the
ratification of the Ordinance of Se-cession. Dr. Bachman is distinguished as a
naturalist,
but
has
made himself more conspicuous, latterly,
by his strong political leanings to the side of disunion. The Charleston
Mercury
thus describes the scene which attended the signing of the Ordinance
of Secession :
" The scene was one profoundly grand and impressive.
There were a people assembled through their highest representatives—men
most of them upon whose heads the
snow of sixty winters had been shed—patriarchs in age—the
dignitaries
of the land—the High Priests
of the Church
of Christ—reverend statesmen—and the wise judges of the
law. In the midst of deep silence an old man, with bowed
form and hair as white as snow, the Rev. Dr. Bachman,
advanced forward, with upraised hands, in prayer to Al-mighty
God, for His blessing and favor in this great act
of his people about
to be consummated. The whole
assembly at once rose
to its feet, and, with hats off, listened
to the touching and eloquent appeal to the All-Wise Dispenser
of events.
At the close of the prayer the President advanced with
the consecrated parchment upon which was inscribed the
decision of the State, with the great seal attached. Slowly
and solemnly it was read unto the Last word—'dissolved;'
when men could contain themselves no longer, and a shout
that shook the very building, reverberating long continued,
rose to heaven, and ceased only with the lots of breath.
In proud, grave silence the Convention itself waited the
end with beating hearts."
WE
have given pictures of the Chicago Zouaves,
whose admirable discipline has rendered them an object of general envy among our
military folks, We now publish on the preceding; page a
picture of the
Charleston Zouaves, a corps less generally known, but one which may become
pretty conspicuous
in the course of the next few weeks. The uniform, it can not be denied, is
very handsome; and the men who wear it are gallant and brave.
HARPER'S WEEKLY.
SATURDAY, JANUARY
19, 1861.
THE TRADE AND PROSPECTS
OF NEW YORK CITY.
THE
exports of produce, goods, and merchandise
from the port of New York during the year 1860 were valued at the Custom-house
at the sum of $103,492,280, about thirty per cent. more than the heaviest
previous export on record. Adding specie to produce, goods, and merchandise, New
York exported in 1860 $145,683,451, against $137,696,187 in 1859, $85,639,643 in
1858, and $117,724,329 in 1857. The peculiarity of the commercial movement of
1860 was that our specie export was comparatively
small, while our aggregate exports were notwithstanding largely in excess of
previous years.
To explain this more fully : the Atlantic States receive from California some
forty mill-ions of gold annually. The amount is uncertain, because a portion of
the gold which comes here is not manifested. Taking an average of five years, we
export the whole
of this gold to Great Britain and France. In 1858, the year after the
panic, when the importations were light, exchange ruled low, and we only
ex-ported $26,001,431 in specie. This was less than we received, and left a
balance in the country. But the year following (the imports being heavy) we
exported $69,715,866 in specie —nearly seventy-five per cent. more than we
received. Last year we exported $42,191,171 —say about as much as we received
from California, Pike's Peak,
and the Southern gold mines. But as during the year 1860 we imported $8,832,330
in specie from Europe and elsewhere, it results that the close of the year
leaves the United States nearly nine millions richer in specie than they were at
New Year, 1860.
During the same year, 1860, New York received $238,260,460 in foreign goods—not
quite as much as it received in 1859, but considerably more than any other year.
It is probably safe to say that, in 1860, New York received three-fourths
of the exports of the United States, and exported one-third of their exports.
Recent political developments have directed attention to the commerce of this
port, and alarm has been created by threats of raising up commercial rivals to
New York. It does not appear
that this alarm rests on a substantial basis. Before the Revolution Charleston
imported more foreign goods than any Northern city. After the Revolution, and
previous to 1800, Philadelphia was the principal emporium of foreign goods on
this sea-board. New York has now superseded both.
It has done so with-out the least favors from Government, but simply
by the force of geographical influence and the energy of its people.
Philadelphia urges that the availability of New York harbor in winter is the
cause of our supremacy. But
Charleston harbor is freer of ice than ours.
Charleston says that the depth of water over the bar at Sandy Hook explains the
mystery. But Portland has no bar, and vessels of very heavy draught can enter at
Philadelphia. The simple fact is that a variety of concurrent circumstances—an
excellent harbor, a central
position, an energetic commercial community, an unequaled system of
internal communications, a liberal commercial code, and a uniformly healthy
climate—have combined to render this city the metropolis of commercial America.
Our taxes are heavier than those of any other city on the continent ; our
Municipal Government indisputably worse than any. Last year we raised
$11,000,000 for Municipal purposes; in a year or two the Common Council will
demand $15,000,000 of us. Yet we thrive not-withstanding, and two-thirds of the
business of the country are done here.
Those who fear that the sceptre
is passing away from New York will do well to bear these facts in mind.
It
is very easy to open a port, and
to
expect a great trade, but it is very hard to create a rival to New York,
This city is the product of a variety of concurring influences, such as may
never be united again on this continent. Until equally powerful influences are
combined in favor of some other sea-port, New York
will maintain its supremacy undisputed.
THE GROWTH OF THE WEST.
THE
returns of the
census of 1860 which have been made public reveal a growth of
population in our Western States that is unexampled in history. In ten years six
States—to wit, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, and Wisconsin—have
increased from less than four millions to nearly eight. They have, besides this,
peopled
Minnesota, an entirely new State, and thrown a few hundred thousand people into
the Pike's Peak Region, Washington Territory, and Oregon.
They
have built more miles of rail-
way than there are in all the rest of the Union ; and, if New York and
Pennsylvania be omitted from the comparison, we will venture ,to say that they
have more cities, better hotels, school-houses, and churches, than all the rest
of the country together. The men still live who re-member to have walked over
the bare prairie where Chicago now rears her splendid face unless present
appearances are very deceptive indeed, many of us who read these lines will live
to see Chicago the most populous city on the continent.
For eight millions of working people are a mighty fact. Much has been said and
written about the delinquency of the West in the mat-ter of debts. No doubt
Wisconsin has some-thing to answer for in the way of stay-laws and repudiated
mortgages : some other States, too, will need, by-and-by, to clear their record
of certain laws and legal proceedings of the hard times. But it must be
remembered that the West relies solely for subsistence on its crops, and that
they really had not a good crop there between 1856 and 1860. Two good crops in
the West enable a man to pay for his land. Two bad crops make him a bankrupt.
The creditors of the West will get good news from there this spring.
Eight millions of free, intelligent, reading people are a fact which overrides a
legion of minor drawbacks and temporary checks.
THE SOUTHERN FORTS.
EVERY thing relating to the United States property in the
Southern States is now
of interest, and we are glad to be able to subjoin the following accurate list
of the United States Forts in those States. The list begins with the forts in
Louisiana, and follows the coast line to Maryland :
FORT JACKSON AND FORT ST. PHILIP,
on the Mississippi River, 75 miles below
New Orleans.
FORT MORGAN,
Mobile Point, at the entrance of Mobile Bay, 40 miles below
Mobile.
FORT GAINES
(unfinished), on Dauphin Island, opposite Fort Morgan,
and three miles distant. (These two works defend the entrance to Mobile Bay—of
which Fort Morgan is finished, is immediately adjacent
the ship channel, and far the most important. This has
been taken possession of by Alabama troops.)
Santa Rosa Island, entrance to Pensacola harbor. One
of the largest works on the Gulf. Finished.
FORT McREE,
on Foster's Island, opposite
Fort Pickens, and 1 1/4 miles
distant. A powerful casemated water-battery.
FORT BARRANCAS,
near the
Navy Yard, Pensacola, and facing the entrance
to the harbor. Intended also to cover the Navy Yard from
a land attack. Much smaller than the other two.
a very important work—not quite finished—intended to
protect the superb anchorage of the Tortugas, as a naval
depot and station for guarding the immense commerce
which follows the channel of the Gulf Stream, and for
controlling the navigation of the Gulf.
Key West—an important work, nearly finished—protects
the harbor of Key West ; and (with
Fort Jefferson) protects
the commerce of the Gulf.
Cockspur Island, a few miles below
Savannah, protects the
entrance to the river and the approach to Savannah. An
important work—now taken possession of by Georgia
troops.
protect the entrance to
Charleston harbor. The former is
on Sullivan Island, about 3 miles below the city—an old
work repaired. The latter is a new and powerful work, 1
mile distant from Fort Moultrie, and 1 mile from the nearest
land.
a small work on the approach to, and near the city of Charleston. This (as well as Fort Moultrie) is now held
by South Carolina troops. Major Anderson holds Fort
Sumter.
FORT MONROE AND FORT CALHOUN,
entrance to Hampton Roads. protect these Roads and the
approach to
Norfolk'
James River, etc. The former is the
largest work in the United States. The latter is but recently commenced,
and not in available condition.
an old work, protecting the harbor of Baltimore.
FORT CARROLL,
a few miles below Baltimore. A very important work,
now in progress of construction.
THE LOUNGER
OLD FASHIONED.
DID you ever hear of a good old-fashioned snow-storm ? Did you ever know a
satisfactory fall of snow any where that somebody was not sure to call it a good
old-fashioned snow-storm ? If people want you to be very sure of enjoying
yourself, and wish to give an irresistible point to their invitation, have you
observed that they infallibly promise you a good old-fashioned time ? And the
orators who Mourn every thing that exists will not end without an eloquent
invocation of the good old-fashioned ways.
And yet in our secret souls, we lucky fellows, who have water hot and cold all
over the house, can not have a very profound admiration for the
good old-fashioned inconveniences of a pump in the kitchen or a well in
the yard, as the sole resources and supply. We who, by e dexterous twist of the
valve in the air-box, shed a soft summer heat
through our houses—so that while it may he the
fiercest January outside it is the finest June within—can net regret very
deeply the great barns of halls and the little barns of passages, and the
freezing on one side and roasting on the other before the great open fire in the
parlor. There were good old-fashioned fires, wood fires, but we have come round
to them again, and a hundred-fold more comfortable than they were. The days of
anthracite coal grates, the dark and dreary days of the thin, black, air-tight
stove, are gone, and we have the low open ranges of soft coal, Cannel best of
all., which crackles and sparkles and flames, and re-stores the beauty of the
old fire, with a comfort it never knew.
Then you have not forgotten the good old-fashioned times of stone-cold chambers
? Leigh Hunt, in the Indicator, has a most judicious paper upon early rising,
under the good old-fashioned circumstances. How one did dally with bed ! How
cruel the air which caught your breath and waved it visibly and defiantly in
your face, by way of impressing you with the terrible fact of cold! How doubly
warm and comfortable your position, as you lay close upon your back, hating to
stir! The very demon of cold seemed waiting for you. He had sheeted the window
with frost. Even the sun-beams came chilled and white through that impertinent
crust. And oh ! in the pitcher and the pail, you could not see but you knew. It
was ice, unmitigated ice.
Do you think these good old-fashioned conditions
of getting up were avorable to good health and good habits? Do you think that
the home standing blue and
numb was likely to do justice to his ablutions, for instance? And was he not
sure to cut his chin in shaving? It is all very fine to sleep with your window
open or your head out of the window, but dressing is another matter. Why
should you select an hour or two in the morning to expose your body to a
pinching extreme of temperature
? If you afterward dressed in muslin and sauntered out in the snow, a la bonne
heure ! But you do nothing of
the kind ; furs, mufflers, woolens,
are your only wear. No, no. Habits of general cleanliness, the universal morning
bath, came in with the new-fashioned times, when they don't use ice for soap.
The world would have been in a bad way if it had listened more credulously to
this incessant siren song of the good old-fashioned times. The old-fashion was
new-fashion once, and if it is a poor thing to be a new thing, then those times
are already self-condemned. Do you suppose Harry, who was betrothed under the
clear moon last night to Lucy,
believes that the good old-fashioned times of old lovers were so splendid
as the new times of new lovers? Will you renounce your Erard for the good
old-fashioned harpsichord? or your orchestra of the Philharmonic for the limited
bands for which Mozart wrote ? Will you exchange your space-annihilating and
comfortable car, which laughs the winter to scorn as it turns the snow from its
track, for the good old-fashioned covered
sleigh in which you creaked and strained and froze, accomplishing forty
miles a day, or wrecked in a snow-drift?
The good old-fashioned sunshine we have as out fathers had. The good
old-fashioned beauty of all the world is ours unimpaired. The good old-fashioned
traits of character that make them honored' and revered did not die with them.
They were no more honest, generous, religious people than we are. The world is
not set back. Let who will begin his New Year with a groan, the good,
new-fashioned times shall he the best times of all.
A SHORT SPEECH UPON SPEECHES.
AT last the Egyptian collection of Dr. Abbott is established in its permanent
position at the His. torical Society's rooms. It belonged to us, and we have it;
but the feeling of satisfaction is alloyed a little by the thought that the
collector cat not share in the pleasure. His portrait, however is to be hung in
the rooms, and so his visible memory be perpetuated. There was a pleasant meeting to commemorate the final lodgment the
other evening. There was plenty of
good talking, o Egyptian reminiscence and scholarship, and sow speech-making.
Doubtless, when we are hero enough to dispense with the speeches, we may have
reunions as agreeable as the soirees of the Royal Society at the Marquis of
Northampton's s few years since.
But we must exorcise the demon of speech-making
before we can hope for millennial meetings There are many of the
pleasantest and most fitment people
in the country who will not go to meetings because they may be obliged to speak;
and it is not left to your discretion. If you are noted for any thing you must
make a speech. Now you may be the most charming novelist, or essayist, or poet,
or painter, or inventor, or general, or mechanic, but it does not follow that
you can turn an oratorical period. And then, unhappily, per contra, you may reel
off the most fluent and felicitous
harangue, and yet not be so errs, great a man after all. Washington Irving would
not go to public meetings of any kind except upon the ex. press understanding,
not only that he was not to speak, but that he was not to be called upon, and so
have to speak in declining. Thackeray, at a dinner in Liverpool, when he rose to
speak, was suddenly deserted by the muse of eloquence, and after saying,
good-humoredly, " Really I thought I had something to say, but I find I
haven't," sat down. In general that remark should be put in the form of
statement and rejoinder
ORATOR. " Really I thought I had something to say."
AUDIENCE. "Yes, but we see that you haven't."
The secret of the real enjoyment of club meetings and social dinners is, that
nobody can spring the trip of a speech upon you. May an humble inquirer
reverentially ask why the Historical Society can't have meetings without
speeches—not the papers which are read, but the ceremonious harangues?
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