The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-30 00:00:00

REPORT OF SECRETARY AT WAR.

The report of the Secretary at War is a long docu-
ment, and the everlasting rotation in office 'principle,
practised at the will or caprice of an imbecile or partisan
executive, secures for the public service all the verdancy
inseparable from beginners at every trade. The paper
under consideration forms no exception to this remark.
We extract from it, however, the following information,
only wishing Mr. Wilkins had saved us the trouble of
separating it from the froth and bombast with which it
is encumbered. We are told that the regular force of
the United States army consists of eight regiments of
4.l4y!triA 0. f artillery, and two uf dragoons, under tho
...._,cornmkpsi ai or-General. Fort Kent, on the Mada-
,,,
waiki kepi/raft, has been occupied, so as to give pro.
tectiort36 United States citizens in that vicinity.
Thelivstera of defence is so advanced that there is
$

';',.,-,-;;;;; I •
02.
• •
L

no point north of Cape Hatteras unprotected ; but
in order to full security the Secretary mentions certain
prominent positions at which works should be com-
menced. He recommends the erection of per-
manent work on Seller's Paint Flats, about ten
miles below Baltimore ; the resumption of the work
upon Fort Delaware, for which the 20,000 dollars
appropriated last year would be sufficient, if it could be
rendered available ; the purchase from New York of the
position on Staten Island, opposite Fort Hamilton ; the
sale or exchange of Fort Gansevoort, and the renewal of
Fort Calhoun at the Rip Raps. South of Cape Hatteras
enough has not been done. An officer has been engaged
in surveying the Florida reef, and has reported that a
work should be constructed either at Key West or the
Tortugas Rock. The Secretary thinks that the United
States can easily become the strongest naval power on
the Gulf of Mexico, though the small appropriation of
50,000 dollars he thinks entirely inadequate to the con-
struction of the required work ; " a million of dollars,"
he says, " would be a moderate expenditure for such
fortifica.kns as we should have on the Florida reef."
Concerning the defence of the gulf, the report farther
says :
" While making allusion to our possession upon the
western waters of elements to be employed in the defence
of the Gulf of Mexico, I am justified in regard to the
union of action of the two military powers of the coun-
try, to suggest the expediency of forming, in ample time,
depots of coal for the supply of such armed steana•ves-
sels as may bo employed upon the coast.
" Pursuing this interesting subject of the permanent
defence of the commerce and possessions of our southern
fellow-citizens upon the gulf, it cannot escape us that
Dauphin Island, at the mouth of Mobile Bay, has here-
tofore attracted the attention of Congress, and has
always been recognised by engineers as necessary and
fit for the erection of a fortification. Whilst Fort Morgan
defends the main channel of entrance, it leaves, without
the means of resistance, a free passage to an enemy's
steam-ships, through the ample depth of water under
Dauphin Island."
A military post has been established at Copper Har-
bour, on Lake Superior, and the Secretary recommends
two others between that place and St. Peter's, the head
of navigation on the Mississippi, in order to complete a
cordon of posts on our north-western frontier. He also
urges a renewal of the buildings at Fort Gratiot and
Fort Brady, and the construction of a canal at the falls
of St. Mary's. These measures would secure that fron-
tier in a military point of view.
The Secretary advises the organisation of a territorial
government, to be called the Nebraska Territory, and to
be confined to the undisputed possessions of the United
States on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains. The
limits are proposed to include the extreme head of the
navigation of the Arkansas, all the good lines of com-
munication with California, the road from the United
States frontier to the Mexican boundary Santa Fe, and
an excellent direct pass to Oregon about 130 miles
south of the great south pass. This is projected with a
view to its effects upon the jurisdiction over the Oregon
territory, and they are forthwith stated. The report
says :

‘ A territorial organisation of the country, and a
military force placed on the very summit whence flo
all the great streams of the North American continent,
either into the Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific Ocean,
would no longer leave our title to the Oregon territory a
barren or untenable claim. Its possession and occu-
pancy would thenceforth not depend upon the naval
superiority on the Pacific Ocean. Troops and supplies
from the projected Nebraska territory would be able
to contend for its possession with any furce coming
from the sea. Natural obstructions in the navigation
of the Columbia river would enable settlements gradu-
ally to approach the coast in defiance (if it should come
to that) of any navy in the world. The time, indeed,
might not be distant when these very settlements would
supply all the elements which might be needed, of naval
strength, to give us our natural and proper position on
the Pacific Ocean. In carrying out these views I would
recommend an appropriation of 100,000 dollars for erect-
ing the military posts from the Missouri river to the
Rocky Mountains."

REPORT OF THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL.
The Postmaster-General, in his report, says that the
department, in the aggregate amounts of tour years,
more than pays its expenses, and that the amount of
service is greater than ever before. The total revenue
for the past year is 4,237,285,83 dollars, and the ex-
penses are 4,296,857,70 dollars. He says public opinion
seems to demand a reduction of post rates.
New laws, which shall effectually prevent the private
mails entering into competition with the department, are
declared to be necessary under any circumstances.
The report recommends the employment of Govern-
ment steamers for tran=porting the mails between the
seaboard cities, to Cuba, to Great Britain, France, &c.

Mr. King, the American Minister to France, i.; nego-
tiating with that Government for the interchange of mail
matters and the pre-payment of postage on letters to and
from that country.

IMPORTANT FROM MEXICO.
WAR THREATENED.
(From the New York Courier and Enquirer.)
NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 27.
By the arrival at the Southwest Pass of the English
frigate Spartan, Hon. Captain Elliot commander, which
vessel sailed from Vera Cruz on the 17th instant, we hare
intelligence fifteen days later from Mexico.
The Spartan brought dispatches for the English Go-
vernment, and in the present critical state of Mexican
affairs they are doubtless of great importance.
The city was rife with rumours yesterday morning,
to the effect that our Minister to Mexico, the Hon. Wil-
son Shannon, had demanded his passports, and was on his
way home, and also that a serious revolution had broken
out in Mexico, which had resulted in the overthrow of
Santa Anna. There certainly was some foundation fur
this startling intelligence ; but the news does not turn
out as important as was at first reported, although still
of a momentous nature.
It would appear, from such of the published correspon-
dence as we have seen in the Diario, that on the 31st
ult. Governor Shannon addressed a letter to the Mexican
Government, protesting against the proposed invasion of
Texas by Mexico, and especially against the manner in
which the invasion was to be made. To this the Mi-
nister of Foreign Affairs replied—(we have not seen his
communication)—denying the right of the United States
or any foreign Government to interfere in the internal
affairs of the republic. Governor Shannon, in answer,
characterises the Secretary's letter as being grossly of-
fensive, inasmuch as it charges the United States, its
Government and people, with falsehood, trickery, intrigue,
and designs of the most dishonourable character. Go-
vernor Shannon alleges that the note of the secretary
is so gross in its character, so offensive, that he can only
demand that it be at once withdrawii.
The Mexican Minister replies with the utmost
warmth. He treats the earlier part of Mr. Shannon's
correspondence as being supercilious and offensive, justi-
fies all that he has himself written, protests that the
Mexican Government has done, and doing, all that it
can to prevent a rupture with the United States, but
that affairs have reached such a crisis that it is neces-
sary for his Government to speak out plainly before the
world. He, therefore, declines to withdraw the note.
From the tone of this letter it is evident enough that
the Mexican Minister is of opinion that Mr. Shannon
does not speak the sentiments of a majority of the people
of the United States in relation to the Texas question.
He considered, too, that our recent Presidential contest
must have resulted in the election of Mr. Clay, and he
speaks of that gentleman, Mr. Adams, and the United
States Senate in terms the most dainty, while he holds
Mr. Tyler's Administration alone responsible for the
present complication of affairs between the two countries.
IVhat effect the result of Mr. Polk's election may have
in Mexico we are unable to say.
From the officers of the Spartan we learn that General
Duff Green had arrived at Vera Cruz, from the city of
Mexico, with dispatches for our Government, and em-
barked immediately on board the cutter Woodbury. The
Woodbury sailed for Pensacola on the 17th, the day of
sailing of the Spartan. The dispatches of General
Green are thought to be of the greatest importance.
So far as we can learn from a most hasty perusal of
our files, disturbances have broken out in the State of
Jalisco, the capital of which is Guadalajara. General
Paredes appears to be at the head of the movement, and
the affair is evidently regarded by the press, and by the
officers of the Government, as extremely serious. A
singular circumstance in the business is, that General
Canilizo, the " Provisional" President is now giving or-
ders to the " Constitutional President," Santa Anna.
The latter having received notice to place himself at the
head cf the troops concentrated at Jalapa, at once joy-
fully complies. His orders were to march at once to
Queretare, a city three or four days' march from Mexico,
and on the road to Guadalajara, there to operate as the
exigencies of the case might demand. Santa Anna put
his troops at once in motion, and announces to head-
quarters that he has under his command 7,000 infantry,
1,500 cavalry, and twenty field pieces, all in the best
state of equipment.
From Encero—one of Santa Anna's haciendas, near
Jalapa, where he met his new bride—he issued, on the
6th inst., a brief and spirited address to the army. He
denounces the conduct of Paredes in stirring up a revo-
lution in Guadalajara, declares him a traitor and the
instrument of a faction, and appeals to the troops by
their former exploits to stand by him and chastise the
infamous crime.
General Canalizo, too, issues his addresses from the
capital to the Mexican nation and to the army, appealing
to them to stand by their country and by Santa Anna in
this moment when the nation, already involved in a war
with Texas, is now threatened with new internal dissen-
sions. He appears to regret that the march of the army
upon Texas should have been interrupted by this last
outbreak, but promises to mete out to the guilty all the
punishment the laws will authorise.
General Arista appears to be all this while engaged in
repressing the Indian outrages in Northern Mexico, the
accounts of which already given by us have not been ex-
aggerated. Tho loss in the affairs of Los Mores are
stated by him, in his official report, in nearly the same
figures as we gave.
Theßeesays—" We learn that the American Minister
Plenipotentiary, Wilson Shannon, Esq., has temporarily
suspended all his official relation with the Mexican Go-
vernment."