The Sun.
London, England, 1841-01-12 00:00:00

THE IN, LONDON, TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 1841.

in conducting the public service, and the ability of the Go-
vernment to discharge through its agency every duty at
tendant on the collection, transfer, and disbursement of
the public money with promptitude and success, I can say
with confidence that the apprehensions of those who felt
it to he their duty to oppose its adoption, have proved to
be unfounded. On the contrary, this branch of the fiscal
affairs of the Govertirteril: has been, and it is believed may
always be, thus carried on with every desirable facility
and security. A few changes and improvements in the
details of the system, without affecting any principles in-
volved in it, will be submitted to you by the secretary of
the Treasury, and will, I am sure, receive at your hands
that attention to which they may, on examination, be found
to be entitled.

I have deemed this brief summary of our fiscal affairs
necessary to the due performance of a duty specially en-
joined upon me by the Constitution. It will serve, also,
to illustrate more fully the principles by which I have
been guided in reference to two contested points in our
public policy, which were earliest in their development,
and have been more important in their Contequences, than
any that have arisen under our complicated and difficult,
yet admirable, system of Government. I allude to a na-
tional debt, and a national bank. It Was in these that the
political contests by which the country has been agitated
ever since the adoption of the Constitution, in a great mea-
sure originated; and there is too much reason to appre-
hend that the conflicting interests and opposing principles
thus, marshalled, will ecintin,le at heretofore, to produce
similar, if not aggrt'llttetl, consequences.
Comin't'-, into office the declared enemy of both, I have
earivestly endeavoured to prevent a resort to either.
The consideration that a large public debt affords an
apology, and produces, in some degree a necessity also, for
resorting to a system and extent of taxation which is not
only oppressive throughout, but likewise so apt to lead, in
the end, to the commission of that most odious of all
offences against the principles of a Republican govern-
ment—the prostitution of political power, conferred for the
general benefit, to the aggrandisement of particular classes,
and the gratification of individtal cupidity—is alone suffi-
cient, independently of the weighty objections which have

already been urged, to render its creation and existence the
sources of bitter and unappeasable discord. If we add to
this its inevitable tendency to produce and foster extrava-

gant expenditures of the public money, by which a neces-
sity is creatod for new loans and new burdens on the
people; and, finally, if we refer to the examples of ever)
government which has existed, for proof how seldom it is
that the system, when once adopted and implanted in the
policy of a country, has failed to expand itself, until public
credit was exhausted, and the people were no longer able
to endure its increasing weight, it seems impossible to re-
sist the conclusion, that no benefits resulting from its ca.
reer, no extent of 'conquest, no accession of wealth, to par-
ticular classes, nor any, nor all its combined advantages
can counterbalance its ultimate but certain results—a
splendid government, and an impoverished people.
If a national bank was, as is Undeniable, repudiated by
the framers of the Constitution as incompatible with the

rights o:' the States and the liberties of the people; if,
from the beginning, it has been regarded by large portions
of our citizens, as coming in direct collision with that
great and vital amendment of the Constitution which de-
clares that all powers not conferred by that instrurnont on
. _

the General Government are reserved to the States and to
the people ; if it has been viewed by them as the first great
step in the march of lativadinous construction, which, un-
checked, would render that sacred instrument of as little
value as an unwritten Constitution, dependent, as it would
alone be, for its meaning, on the interested interpretation
of a dominant party, and affording no security to the rights
of the minority ; if sgeb. is Undeniably the case, what ra-
tional gro”.r.di entild have been conceived for anticipating
aught liut determined opposition to such an institution at
the present day ?
_ _ _

Could a different result have been expected when the
consequences which have flowed from its creation, and par-
ticularly from its struggles to perpetuate its existence, had
confirmed in so striking a manner, the apprehensions of
its earliest opponents ;_when it had been so clearly de-
monvrated that a concenthated money power, wielding so
vast a capital, and combining such incalculable means of
influence, may, in those peculiar conjunctures to which this
Government is unavoidably exposed, prove an overmatch for
the political power of the people themselves ; when the true
character of its capacity to regulate according to will and its
interests, and the interests of its favourites, the value and
production of the labour and property of every man in this
extended country, had been so fully and fearfully developed;
when it was notorious that all classes of this great com-
munity had, by means of the power and influence it thus
possesses, been infected to madness with a spirit of heedless
speculation ; when it had been seen that, secure in the
support of the combination of influences by which it was
surrounded, it could violate its charter, and set the laws at
defiance with impunity ; and when, too, it had become most
apparent that to believe that such an accumulation of
powers can ever be uranted without the certainty of being
abused, was to indulge in a fatal delusion.
To avoid the necessity of a permanent debt and its inevi-
table consequences, I have advocated, and endeavovred to
carry into effect, the policy of confining the appropriations
for the public service to such objects only as are clearly
within the constitutional authority of the Federal Govern-
ment ; of excluding from its expenses those improvident
and unauthorised grants of public money for works of in-
ternal improvement, which were's() wisely arrested by the
constitutional interposition of my predecessor, and which,
if they had not be so checked, would long before this time
have involved the finances of the General Government in
embarrassments far greater than those which are now ex-
perienced by any of the States, of limiting all our expen-
ditures to that simple, unostentatious, and economical ad-
ministration of public affairs, which is alone consistent wiih
the character of our institutions ; of collecting annually
from the customs and the sales of public lands a revenue
fully adequate to defray all the expenses thus incurred,
but: under no pretence whatsoever, to impose taxes upon
the people to a greater amount than was actually necessary
to the public service, conducted upon the principles I have
stated.

In lieu of a national bank, or a dependence upon banks
of any description, for the management of our fiscal affairs,
I recommended tke adoption of the system which is now
in successful operation. That system afferds every requi-
site facility for the transaction of the pecuniary concerns
of the Government ; will, it is confidently anticipated,
produce, in other respects, many of the benefits which have
been from time to time expected from the creation of a
national bank, but which have never been realised ; avoid
the manifold evils inseparable from such an institution ;
diminish, to a greater extent than could be accomplished
by any other measure of reform, the patronage of the
Federal Government—a wise policy in all Governments,
but more especially so in one like ours, which works well
only in proportion as it is made to rely for its support upon
the unbiassed and unadulterated opinions of its constituents;
do away for ever all dependence on corporate bodies, either
in the raising, collecting, safe keeping, or disbursing the
public revenues, and place the Government equally above
the temptation of fostering a dangerous and unconstitu.
tional institution at home, or the necessity of adapting its
policy to the views and interests of a still more formidable
money-power abroad.
It is by adopting and carrying out these principles
under circumstances the most arduous and discouraging,
that the attempt has been made, thus far successfully, to
demonstrate to the people of the United States that a
national bank at all times, and a national debt, except it
be incurred at a period when the honour and safety of
the nation demand the temporary sacrifice of a policy
which should only be abandoned in such exigencies, are
nut merely unnecessary, but in direct and deadly hostility
to the principles of their Government, and to their own
permanent welfare.
The progress made in the development of these posi-
tions, appears in the preceding sketch of the past history
and present state of the financial concerns of the Federal
Government. The facts there stated fully authorise the
assertion, that all the purposes for which this Government
was instituted have been accomplished during four years
of greater pecuniary embarrassments than were ever before
experienced in time of peace, and in the face of opposi-
tion as formidable as any that was ever before arrayed
against the policy of an Administration; that this :las
been done when the ordinary revenues of the Government
were generally decreasing, as well from the operation of
the laws as the condition of the country, without the
creation of a permanent public debt, or incurring any
liability, other than such as the ordinary resources of the
Government will speedily discharge, and without the
agency of a national bank.
If this view of the proceedings of the Government for
the period it embraces, be warranted by the facts as they
arc known to exist; if the army and navy have been sus-
tained to the full extent authorised by law, and which Con-
gress deemed sufficient for the defence of the country and
the protection of its rights arid its honour; if its civil and
diplomatic service has been equally sustained; if ample
provision has been made for the administration of justice
and the execution of the laws ; if the claims upon public
gratitude in behalf of the soldiers of the Revolution have
been promptly met and faithfully discharged ; if there have
been no failures in defraying the very large expenditures
growing out of that long continued and salutary policy of
peacefully removing the Indians to regions of comparative
safety and prosperity ; if the public faith has at all times,
and every where, been most scrupulously maintained by a
prompt discharge of the numerous, extended, and diversi-
fied claims on the Treasury; if all these great and per-
manent objects, with many others that might be stated,
have for a series of years, marked by peculiar obstacles
and difficulties, been successfully accomplished without a
resort to a permanent debt, or the aid of a national bank,
have we not a right to expect that a policy, the object of
which has been to sustain the public service independently
of either of these fruitful sources of discord, will receive
the final sanction of a people whose unbiassed and fairly
elicited judgment upon public affairs is never ultimately
wrong ?
That embarrassments in the pecuniary concerns of in-
dividuals, of unexampled extent and duration, have re-
cently existed in this, as in other commercial nations, is
undoubtedly true. To suppose it necessary now to trace
these reverses to their sources, would be a reflection on
the intelligence of my fellow-citizens. 'Whatever may
have been the obscurity in which the subject was involved
during the earlier stages of the revulsion, they cannot now
be many by whom the whole question is not fully under-
stood.
Nut deeming it within the constitutional powers of the
General Government to repair private losses sustained by
reverses in business having no connection with the public
service, either by direct appropriations from the Treasury,
or by special legislation designed to secure exclusive pri-
vileges and immunities to individuals or classes in prefer-
ence to, and at the expense of, the great rnajcrity neces-
sarily debarred from any participation in them, no attempt
to do so has been either made, recommended, or encou-
raged, by the present Executive.
It is believed, however, that tho great purposes for
the attainment of which the Federal Government was in-
stituted, have not been lost sight of. Intrusted only with
certain limited powers, cautiously enumerated, distinctly
specified, and defined with a precision and clearness which
would seem to defy misconstruction, it has been my con-
stant aim to confine myself within the limits so clearly
marked out, and so carefully guarded. Having always
been of opinion that the best preservative of the union of
the States is to be found in a total abstinence from the

exercise of all doubtful powers on the part of the Federal
Government, rather than in attempts to assume them by a
loose construction of the Constitution, or an ingenious per.
version of its words, I have endeavoured to avoid recom-
mending any measure which I had reason to apprehend
would, in the opinion even of a considerable minority of
my fellow-citizens, be regarded as trenching on the rights
~f the States, or the provisions of the hallowed instrument
of our Union. Viewing the aggregate powers of the
Federal Government as a voluntary concession of the
States, it seemed to me that such only should be exer-
cised as were at the time intended to be given.
I have been strengthened, too, in the propriety of this
course by the conviction that all efforts to go beyond this,
rend only to produce dissatisfaction and distrust, to excite
jealousies, and to provoke resistance. Instead of adding
strength to the Federal Government, even when success-
ful, they must ever prove a source of incurable weakness,
by alienating a portion of those whose adhesion is indis-
pensable to the great aggregate of united strength, and
whose voluntary attachment is, in my estimation, far more
essential to the efficiency of a Government strong in the
best of all possible strength, the confidence and attachment
of all those who make up its constituent elements.
Thus believing, it has been my purpose to secure to the
whole people, and to every member of the Confederacy, by
general, salutary, and equal laws alone, the benefit of those
Republican institutions which it was the end and aim of the
Constittitioti to Ostahlish, and the impartial influence of
which is, in my judgment, indispensable to their preserva-
tion. I cannot bring myself to believe that the lasting
happiness of the people, the prosperity of the States, or
the permanency of their union, can be maintained by giving
preference or priority to any class of citizens in the distri-
bution of benefits or privileges, or by the adoption of mea-
sures which enrich one portion of the Union at the expense
of another ; nor can I see in the interference of the I

Federal Government with the Ina' legislation and reserved
rights of the States, a remedy for present, or a security
against future dangers.

The first, and assuredly not the least, important step to.
ward relieving the country from the condition into which
it had been plunged by excesses in trade, banking, and
credits of all kinds, was to place the business transactions
of the Government itself on a solid basis ; giving and re-
ceiving in all cases value for value, and neither counte-
nancing nor er.couraging in others that delusive system of
credits from which it has been found so difficult to escape,

and which has left nothing behind it but the wrecks that

mark its fatal career.
That the financial affairs of the Government are now,
and have been during the whole period of these wide-
spreading difficulties, conducted with a strict and invari-
able regard to this great fundamental principle, and that
by the assumption and maintenance of the stated thus taken
on the very threshold of the approaching crisis, more thati
by any other cause or causes whatever, the community at
largo has been shielded from the incalculable evils of a
general and indefinite suspension of specie payments, and
a consequent annihilation, for the whole period it might
have lasted, of a just and invariable standard of value, will,
it is believed, at this period, scarcely be questioned.
A steady adherence on the part of the Government, to
the policy which has produced such salutary results, aided
by judicious State legislation, and, what is not less im-
portant, by the industry, enterprise, perseverance, and
economy of the American people, cannot fail to raise the
whole country, at an early period, to a state of solid and
enduring prosperity, not subject to be again overthrown by
the suspension of banks, or the explosion of a bloated
credit system. It is for the people, and their represents.
tivcs, to decide whether ok not the permanent welfare of
the country ( which all good citizens equally desire, how-
ever widely they may differ as to the means of its accorn-
plishment) shall be in this way secured ; or whether the
management of the pecuniary concerns of the Government,
and, by consequence, to a great extent, those of individuals
also, shall be carried back to a condition of things which
fostered those contractions and expansions of the currency,
and those reckless abuses of credit, from the baleful effects
of which the country has so decidedly suffered—a return
that can promise, in the end, no better results than to re-
produce the embarrassments the Government has expe-
rienced ; and to remove from the shoulders of the present,
to those of fresh victims, the bitter fruits of that spirit
of speculative enterprise to which our countrymen are so
liable, and upon which the lessons of experience are so un-
availing. The choice is an important one, and I sincerely
hope that it may be wisely made.
A report from the Secretary of War, presenting a de-
tailed view of the affairs of that department, accompanies
this communication.

The desultory duties connected with the removal of the
Indians, ie which the army has been constantly engaged
on the Northern and Western frontiers, and in Florida,
have rendered it impracticable to carry into full effect the
plan recommended by the Secretary for improving its dis-
cipline. In every instance where the regiments have been
concentrated, they have made great progress ; and the best
results may be anticipated from a continuance of this sys-
tem. During the last season, a part of the troops have
been employed in removing Indians from the interior to
the territory assigned them in the West—a duty which
they have performed efficiently, and with praiseworthy hu-
manity ; and that portion of them which has been sta-
tioned in Florida continued active operations there through-
out the heats of summer.
.

The policy of the United States in regard to the In-
diana, of which a succinct account is given in my Message
of 1838, and of the wisdom and expediency of wkich I am
fully satisfied, has been continued in active operation
throughout the whole period of my administration. Since
the spring of 1837, more than forty thousand Indians have
been removed to their new homes west of the Mississippi;
and I am happy to add that all accounts concur in repre-
senting the result of this measure as eminently beneficial
be that people.
The emigration of the Seminoles alone has been atten-
ded with serious difficulty, and occasioned bloodshed, hos-
tilities having been commenced by the Indians iR Florida,
under the apprehension that they would be compelled, by
force, to comply with their Treaty stipulations. The exe.
cution of the Treaty of Payne's Landing, signed in 1832,
but not ratified until 1834, was postponed, at the solici-
tation of the Indians, until 1836, when they again re-
newed their agreements to remove peaceably to their new
homes in the West. In the face of this solemn and re•
newed compact, they broke their faith, and commenced
hostilities by the massacre of Major Dade's command, the
murder of their agent, General Thompson, and other acts
of cruel treachery.
When this alarming and unexpected intelligence reached
the seat of Government, every effort appears to have been
made to reinforce General Clinch, who cornmareled the
troops then in Florida. General Eustis was despatched
with reinforcements from Charleston, troops were called
out from Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia, and General
Scott was sent to take the command, with ample powers
and ample means. At the first alarm, General Gaines
organized a force at New Orleans, and without waiting
for orders, landed in Florida, where he delivered over the
troops he had brought with hint to General Scott..
Governor Call was subsequently appointed to conduct a
summer campaign, and at the close of it, was replaced by
General Jesup. These events and changes took place
under the administration of my predecessor. Note ith-
standing the exertions of the experienced officers who had
command there for eighteen months, on entering upon
the administration of the Government, I found the terri-
tory of Florida a prey to Indian atrocities. A strenuous
effort was immediately made to bring these hostilities to a
close ; and the army under General Jesup, was reinforced
until it amounted to ten thousand men, and furnished with
abundant supplies of every description.
In this campaign a great number of the enemy were
captured and destroyed ; but the character of the contest
only was changed, The Indians, having been defeated in
every engagement, dispersed in small bands throughout
the country, and became an enterpriziag, formidable, and
ruthless banditti. General Taylor, who succeeded General
Jesup, used his best exertions to subdue them, and was se-
conded in his efforts by the officers under his command ;
but he, too, failed to protect the territory from their de-
predations. By an act. of signal and cruel treachery, they
broke the truce made with them by General Macomb,
who was sent from Washington for the purpose of carry-
ing into effect the expressed wish of Congress, and have
continued their devastations ever since. General Armis-
tead, who was in Florida when General Taylor left the
army, by permission, assumed the command, and after
active summer operations, was met by propositions for
peace ; and, from the fortunate coincidence of the arrival
in Florida, at the same period, of a delegation from the
Seminoles, who are happily settled West of the Missis-
sippi, and are now anxious to persuade their countrymen
to join them there, hopes were for some time entertained
that the Indians might be induced to leave the territory
without farther difficulty.
These hopes have proved fallacious, and hostilities have
been renewed throughout the whole of the territory. That
this contest has endured so long, is to be attributed to
causes beyond the control of the Government. Expe-
rienced Generals have had the command of the troops ;
officers and soldiers have alike distinguished themselves
for their activity, patience, and enduring courage ; the
army has been constantly furnished with supplies of every
descriptiou ; and we must look for the causes which have
so long procrastinated the issue of the contest in the vast
extent of the theatre of hostilities, the almost insurmount-
able obstacles presented by the nature of the country, the
climate, and the wily character of the savages.
The sites for marine hospitals on the rivers and lakes,
which I was authorised to select and cause to be purchased,
have all been designated ; but, the appropriation not prov-
ing sufficient, conditional arrangements only have been
made for their Requisition. It is for Congress to decide
whether those conditional purchases shall be sanctioned,
and the humane intentions of the law carried into full effect.
The navy, as will appear from the accompanying report
of the Secretary, has been usefully and honourably em-
ployed in the protection of our commerce and citizens in
thethePacific, on the coast of Brazil,
anMexico. A small squadron, consist-
ingdn Mediterranean,the
Gulfof
of the frigate Constellation and the sloop-of-war Bos-
ton, under Commodore Kearney, is now on its way to the
China and Indian seas, for the purpose of attending to
our interests in that quarter; and Commander Auliek, in
the sloop-of-war Yorktown, has been instructed to visit
the Sandwich and Society Islands, the coasts of New
Zealand and Japan, together with other ports and islands
frequented by our whale-ships, for the purpose of giving
them countenance and protection, should they be required.
Other smaller vessels have been, and still are, employed
in prosecuting the surveys of the coast of the United states,
directed by various Acts of Congress ; and those which
have been completed will shortly be laid before you.
The Exploring Expedition, at the latest date, was pre-
pthaerrinpsecgrotoleuatio ofobjects
leave
the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, in far-
therwhich have thus far been suc-
cessfully accomplished. The discovery of a new conti-
nent, which was first seen in lat. 66 2 S., lon. 154 27 E. and
afterwards in lat. 66 31 S., lon. 153 40 E., by Lieu-
tenants Wilkes and Hudson, for an extent of eighteen
hundred miles, but on which they were prevented from
landing by vast bodies of ice which encompassed it, is ore
of the honourable results of the enterprise. Lieut. Wilkes
bears testimony to the zeal and good conduct of his offi-
cers and men ; and it is but justice to that officer to state,
that he appears to have performed the duties assigned to
him with an ardour, ability, and perseverance which
give every assurance of an honourable issue to the under-
taking.

The report of the Postmaster-General, herewith trans-
mitted, will exhibit the service of that department the past
year, and its present condition. The transportation has
been maintained during the year to the full extent autho-
rised by the existing laws—some improvements have been
effected which the public interest seemed urgently to de-
mand, but not involving any material additional expendi-
ture; the contractors have generally performed their en-
gagements with fidelity; the postmasters, with few excep-
tions, have rendered their accounts and paid their quar-
terly balances with promptitude ; and the whole service
of the department has maintained the efficiency for which
it has for several years been distinguished.
The Acts of Congress establishing new mail routes, and
requiring more expensive services on others, and the in-
creasing wants of the country, have for three years past
carried the expenditures something beyond the accruing
revenues ; the excess having been met, until the past year,
by the surplus which had previously accumulated. That
surplus having been exhausted, and the anticipated in-
crease in the revenue not having been realised, owing to the
depression in the commercial business of the country, the
finances of the Department exhibit a small deficiency at
the close of the last fiscal year. Its resources, however,
are ample; and the reduced rates of compensation fur
the transportation service, which may be expected on the
futuro lettings, from the general reduction of prices, with
the increase of Revenue that may reasonably be antici-
pated from the revival of commercial activity, must soon
place the finances of the department in a prosperous con-
dition.

Considering the unfavourable circumstances which have
existed during the past yell, it is a gratifying result
that the revenue has not declined, as compared with the
preceding year, but, on the contrary, exhibits a small in-
crease, the circumstances referred to having had no other
effect than to check the expected income.
It will be seen that the Postmaster- General suggests
certain improvements in the establishment, designed to
reduce the weight of the mails, cheapen the transportation,
ensure greater regularity in the service, and secure a con-
siderable reduction in the rates of letter postage—an ob.
ject highly desirable. The subject is one of general in-
terest to the community, and is respectfully recommended
to your consideration,
The suppression of the African slave trade has received
the continued attention of the Government. The brig
Dolphin and schooner Grampus have been employed during
the last season on the coast of Africa, for the purpose of
preventing such portions of that trade as was said to be
prosecuted under the American flag. After cruising off
those parts of the coast most usually resorted to by slavers,
until the commencement of the rainy season, these vessels
returned to the United States for supplies, and have since
been despatched on a similar service.
rrorn the reports of the commanding officers, it appears
that the trade is now principally carried on under Portu-
guese colours, arid they express the opinion that the ap-
prehension of their presence on the slave coast has, in r
flreat degree, arrested the prostitution of the American
ag to this inhuman purpose. It is hoped that, by con-
tinuing to maintain this force in that quarter, and by the
exertions of the officers in command, much will be done to
put a stop to whatever portion of this traffic may have
been carried on under the American flag, and to prevent
its use in a trade which, while it violates the laws, is
equally as outrage on the rights of others arid the feelings
of humanity.
The efforts of the several Governments who are anxi-
ously seeking to suppress this traffic must, however, be
directed against the facilities afforded by what are now re-
cognised c 3 legitimate commercial pursuits, before that
object can be fully accomplished. Supplies of provisions,
water-casks, merchandise, and articles connected with the
prosecution of the slave-trade, are, it is understood, freely
carried by vessels of different nations to the slave factories ;
and the effects of the factors are transported openly from
one slave station to another, without interruption or pu-
nishment by either of the nations to which they belong,
engaged in the commerce of that region.
I submit to your judgments whether this Government,
having been the first to prohibit, by adequate penalties,
the slave trade—the first to declare it piracy—should not
be the first, also, to forbid to its citizens all trade with the
slave factories on the coast of Africa ; giving an example
to all nations in this respect, which, if fairly followed,
cannot fail to produce the most effective results in break-
ing up those dens of iniquity.
Washington, December 5, 1840.

M. VAN BUREN.

DEATH OF SCOTT, THE DIVER.

(FURTHER PARTICULARS.)
For some time past bills had been posted about the
town, the following of which is a copy
" Challenge to the world.—On Monday next, January
11, 1841, and during the week, Sam Scott, the American
diver, will run from Harry Godfrey's, the White Lion,
Drury-lane, to Waterloo-bridge, and leap into the water, a
height of 40 feet, and return back to the house within the
hours of one and two. P. S.—S. S. will be in attendance
daily at the above house, open to any wager."
In consequence of such announcement, Waterloo-bridge
and every approach thereto was densely crowded yester-
day, and at a few minutes after two o'clock, Scott ar_
rived, when he was greeted with the plaudits of thou-
sands of persons, who had assembled to witness his ex-
ploit. He was dressed in a pair of canvass trousers and
blue check shirt, having on his head a silk handkerchief.
He wore neither shoes, stockings, nor other article of
apparel. On his arrival he appeared as confident as usual,
and ascending a ladder placed against a scaffolding, erected
over the second arch of the Fridge, on the Middlesex
side, tied his handkerchief, which he tuck from his
head, to one of the upright poles, and then affixed
a rope to the top cross pole. Coming down again, he
fastened some tin money-boxes to the scaffolding, and re-
marking, " Why, you all seem cranky," went up the ladder
again. He then placed his head within the rope, and
swung for a few seconds, after which he swung with his
feet uppermost. Having done that he regained the ladder,
and exclaiming, " Now I'll dance once more upon air be-
fore I dive," placed his head for a second time within the
rope, and swung himself off. In that position he remained
about five minutes, when not being observed to move fears
were entertained that something had happened to him, and
a knife was called for to cut him down, but some seconds
elapsed before one could be obtained, when a person named
Brown ran up the ladder, and dividing the rope extricated
him. Mr. Havers, surgeon, of York-road, Lambeth, and
another medical gentleman, who were near the spot, rushed
forward and opened the jugular vein, from which but a few
drops of blood flowed, and all appearances he was dead.
He was, however, immediately placed in a cart, and con-
veyed to Chasing-cross Hospital by some of the F divi-
sion of police, who were on duty on the spot, when it was
found that life was not quite extinct. Every exertion,
under the superintendence of Dr. Golding, senior physi-
cian to the hospital, was made to restore animation, first
by electrifying trim, next by cupping, and lastly by placing
him in a warm bath, in which he had only been a few se-
conds when it was discovered that he had ceased to exist.

Deceased was about thirty years of age, and was a fine
made muscular young man.
The melancholy accident cast a gloom over those who
had previously seen him go through his performances, and
had attended yesterday to witness a repetition of them. It
having been generally rumoured that deceased was in a
state of intoxication at the time his death occurred, it is
duo to say that it has been ascertained beyond doubt that
such was not the fact, but that the accident is to be solely
attributed to the slipping of a knot in the noose from under
his chin in such a manner as to cause suffocation.
The sensation created by the untimely fate of this un
fortunate man will probably render a few particulars rela•
Live to his life and career not unacceptable to the public,
the principal portion being collected from the deceased
himself, may add to the interest. The story that he was
not an American, but a native of Deptford, is untrue.
Scott, according to his own showing, was born at Phila-
delphia, in the United States, and at an early age entered
the American navy, and served on board several frigates,
in which he commenced his daring feats as a diver, by
jumping from the topmasts of the vessels ho served in into
the sea. His extraordinary courage and prowess as a diver
rendered him very popular, and after quitting the naval
service he travelled about the Union, exhibiting, and col-
lected a good deal of money as the reward of his daring,
particularly in the cities of New York, Boston, and Phila-
delphia. He subsequently visited Canada, and made
some tremendous leaps from the banks of the St. Law-
rence and the lakes which intersect that country ; but his
chef d'oeuvre as to leaping was from a precipice below the
Falls of the Niagara, when, according to his own state-
ment, he jumped the amazing distance of 593 feet into the
water, which he accomplished without injury or inconve-
nience. Incredible as this feat may appear, Scott so-
lemly averred that he had performed it, and was willing to
attempt it again in this country, if a spot could be found of
sufficient altitude for the purpose. He has been in Eng-
land upwards of twelvemonths, and has visited nearly all
the seaports, and has taken some astonishing leaps in the
Isle of Wight and Pembroke Dockyard. We first heard
of him in London about three or four months ago, when he
made several leaps from the top-gallant mast of a collier-
brig moored off the Town-pier at Gravesend. He next
came up to Deptford, and jumped front the masts
of a large American ship. Upon ono of these occa-
sions an accident befel him similar to that which termi-
nated fatally yesterday. lie was going through his
usual antics, such as clinging with his feet to the spars,
and letting his head hang down, fixing his head in a noose,
&c., when the noose suddenly slipped tight, and he hung
suspended. The spectators thinking this merely one of
his ordinary feats, vociferously applauded him, when it
was perceived that lie was turning black in the face, and
an alarm was raised that the diver was strangling. A
moment afterwards Scott made a desperate effort to extri-
cate himself, by flinging his feet up aloft, and managed to
loosen the rope and get his neck out. In answer to the in-
quiries of the crowd below, as to whether he was injured—
Scott replied in the negative, exclaiming, " The hemp
that is to hang me is not grown yet." It is a singular fact
that the subscription in his behalf among the spectators
amounted to nearly double apon this occasion to what it
had dune before. This is a striking illustration of the de-
praved taste of sight-lovers in England, for the greater
the danger the more liberal are they in their rewards.

THE WEATHER.-011 Saturday morning at
five o'clock, the thermometer at the Zoological-gardens in
the Regent's-park stood at zero, being the coldest period
of the season. A thermometer in St. John's-wood regis-
tered lil7 deg. below that point between Friday evening
and Saturday morning. During Friday night the tem-
perature of the giraffe house averaged from 47 deg. to 51
deg., the elephant house 35 deg. to 37 deg., the repository
42 deg. to 47 deg., the monkey house 49 deg. to 50 deg.,
and the temporary repository 54 deg. to 55 deg. At
Hackney, the thermometer at seven o'clock vas 7 deg.,
whilst at noon the temperature had risen to 20 deg. There
was a slight thaw in the evening, the wind having veered
to the south, but at one o'clock on Sunday morning there
was a very heavy fall of snow, which terminated about
four o'clock, it having accumulated in many places from
six inches to a foot in depth. On Sunday morning, at
seven o'clock, the thermometer was SO deg., and at noon
it stood at 34 deg. There was in the afternoon a rapid
thaw, which rendered .traffic through the principal streets
very inconvenient to' passengers. The atmosphere was
highly hygrometric, and the barometer sank considerably.
..... ,