The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-03-18 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

officer in the service of Don CArlos had been shot by order of an
officer in the pay of the Spanish government?

Lord PALsiEitsToN replied that he feared it was true.

STAMP ACTS.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, the house having gone
into committee, brought forward his-resolution on this subject.
After giving a brief history of the stamp acts from,the reign of
Charles 1I„ he stated that there were 150 separate statutes,
which it was his intention to replace by one single statute re-
pealing the whole of the stamp laws, with the exception of the
acts which related to stage-coaches, and pedlars and hawkers,
which had been partly consolidated. The stamp duties were
not only very complicated, but involved a vast revenue, and
therefore it required great care and judgment in .altering them
so that the revenue might not suffer. The amount in 1833 was.
£7,416,000, in 1831 it was £7,461,000. Great inequalities pre-
vailed at present in the stamp duties chargeable upon small and
large money transactions which ought not to be continued; a
bond for £10,0,10 paid Is. 3d. per cent.; a bond for .£4,000 paid
4s. per cent.; a bond for £lOO paid 20s. per cent.; while a bond
for £lOO paid 30s. per cent. To remedy this evil he proposed
that there should be one uniform scale of 1 per.cent., whatever
might be the amount, and the ad valorem principle would be
found to run through, the greater portion of the bill he intended
to introduce. He should also endeavour to adjust the duties on
bills of exchange by an ad valorem principle. Letters of credit
he intended to subject to a stamp duty which would be of tri-
fling amount. In all cases of apprentice indentures, where no
premium was paid, the stamp duty would be reduced from 20s.
to ss. It was also contemplated to reduce the tax upon bills of
lading, charter parties, the former from 3s. to 6d., and the-latter
front 355. to ss. The duty would also be reduced on marine and
on farming stock policies of insurance. What he proposed to
do with respect to his bill was to report the schedule, and ask
leave to introduce a bill, and then to circulate both 'Dill and
schedule until a fixed day after the easter recess, upon which
day the opinion of the house might be taken. He should nut
ask the house to pledge itself to the reduction of the stamp duty
on newspapers, but he thought it only candid and just to tell
the country fairly and frankly what he intended to do in April.
The present duty on newspapers was four pence, minus the dis-
count. This, however, was not altogether duty ! Did not the
state do something for the newspaper ? .It undertook the, task
of conveying newspapers to all parts of the kingdout, and there-
fore a certain propottion of the duty must be regarded more as
payment for service rendered, than as. a tax. This ,part of the
subject was pressed on the attention of, the house, by
.au . bon.
meniberone or two sessions back, and many persnns coincided
with that hon. member, that the better course, would he to abo-
lish the tax altogether, and levy a postage of one, penny on each
newspaper conveyed. . After giving the fullest consideration to
the subject, however, he felt that if they ,cast the duty on the
Postollice of levying this revenue, it would lead to difficulties in
that department, and seriously check the business of the courts
try. lie did not at all quarrel with the principle, but he be-
lieved that it was possible to impose it partly as a tax and partly
as payment for service done; otherwise, in its operation, the
postage would be found to operate in enhancing the price where
knowledge was most needed, and leaving it cheap where it Was
least required. He was prei:ared to argue his proposition, both
politically and financially, us well against those gentlemen who
might be diSposed to. maintain that nothing should -be sloue as
against those who were contending for a greater stretch of re-
duction, and he trusted he should be' able to induce the house
to go' withitim in giving to the country a practical remedy for
a crying grievance. • (Hear, hear.) With respect to the per-
sonal liberty of those who had been imprisoned for 'violating
the stamp acts, he would offer only a few remarks: (Hear.):
He had, on a former occasion, stated that •asiong as any law
actually existed, no effort of his should be neglected to enforce
the administration of that law against its violaters,' and 'for the
protection of those who had invested their property under the
faith of its strict and impartial operation. (Hear, hear;) The.
hon. member for Finsbury had said that he would not sanction
any violation of the law,' but it was his (the Chancellor of the
Exchequer's) duty to enforce' the law, in order to protect those
who had complied with its regulations. '(Hear, hear.) He re-
gretted exceedingly the state .Of' the law, and he determined to
take the earliest opportunity of altering it 'butiso long as they
levied the present high stamp duties, so fotig would the smug-
gling trade continue. It was in this as in every thing else, high
duties produced evasions of the law. This subject had been
under discussion in the last session of parliament. The hon.
-member for Lincoln had then made. this very proposition, and
he (the Chancellor-of the Ekchequer) had argued that he could
not defend the existing state of the law, but that the state of the
finances of the country precluded the possibility of entertaining-
it at that time. Ili the month' of April this question would be,
brought fairly before the house t;tr dismission, and if he could
then show that he could make this reduction 'without any very
great sacrifice, he would be acting ekactly'as'he stated he should
act under such circumstances. He had but a few words more
to say on the subject of these duties, but having stated that the
bill contemplated no new duty; he felt- it necessary to qualify
that statement. There was one new duty which he could not
suffer to be voted, even pro funaa, without stating the nature of
it to the house. An honourable friend- near hint asked if the
ad valorem duty was applicable to probates and legacies. The
great alteration and relief in this respect was what he had al-
ready stated—that the duty was to be levied on the'net and not
on the gross amount of the property. (Hear, hear, hear.)
With respect to the one new tax he had referred to; ho had to
observe that, by the law as it now stood, the transfer of shares
in Joint Stock Companies far valuable consideration were sub-
ject to a stamp duties; but it was his intention to superadd a
small ad valorem tax on the first issue of those shares—not such
a tax as could at all interfere wirh bona fide Companies or
Joint Stock capitalists; for so far from wishing to discourage
such companies, he firmly believed that but for them some of
the greatest works of the conutry would never have been carried
on. The duty, therefore, would be a very slight one indeed,
not to discourage the bona fide undertaking going forward, but
which might have some effect upon transactions of a very
different kind. The very imposition of this small tax would be
beneficial to the parties eirmarkii4: in such undertakings, for in
all gambling joint stock speculations, those who were now care-
less:as to the number of shares they put out, would, under the
aperation of this tax, be placed under souse restriction. He
should be sorry to have it supposed that he would do anything
to discourage the operations of capital; but when the law had
already laid a duty on the transfer, while there was none upon
the original issue, he; hoped the house would see no reason to
doubt the propriety of laying a tax upon the latte—(hear,
hear). With respeet to the stamp duties in Ireland, they were
pretty generally lower than they were in England. Ile would
take the average proportion as being about two in England to
one in Ireland, and to this proportion he proposed strictly to
adhere, except as regarded newspaper stamps, which he pro-
posed to have at one uniform duty throughout the three king-
doms. The right hon. gentleman concluded bv moving the first
resolution, the purport of whicn was that all stamp duties,
allowances, and drawbacks, at present existing in Great En-
tam and Ireland, shall cease and determine, and the duties
specified in the annexed schedules be substituted in lieu thereof.

EXCISE DUTY ON SOAP.
Mr. HANDLEY presented 13 petitions from Lincolnshire;
Mr. Miles presented a petition from Bristol, and Lord Sandon
a petition from Liverpool, all praying for the repeal of the ex-
cise duty on soap.
Mr. HANDLEY then proceeded to bring forward his motion
on the soap duty. . His object was to repeal the excise duty
now paid on that article, and to lay a higher duty on foreign
tallow. In order to give the house an opportunity of taking
this subject into consideration, he moved " That the house do
resolve itself:into a committee of the whole house on the Cus-
toms and Excise acts, with a view to considering the expedi-
ency of repealing the excise duty on soap."
This motion, led toe discussion of some length. On the di-
vision the numbers were, for the ;notion 125. Against it 19.5:
Majority 70.—Adjourned..

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

JAMA ICA.

Jamaica papers, to the 7th Feb., have been 'received in Lon-
don, which are of great importance. The Governor and the
House of Assembly are at " daggers drawn," as will be seen
frole the extracts printed below. The Governor was not in-
clined to admit thi.t he had been guilty of the breach of pri-
vilege with which he had been charged, and the House of
Assembly were not disposed to proceed to business unless his
Excellency should make the most ample reparation. His Ex-
cellency tielivr•red the following speech, on' the 4th of Feb., in
the Council Chamber:—

" Gentlemen of the Council, Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of
the Assembly,—The inconvenience you mustexperience in being
detained from your homes at this period of the year, induces
me to recommend your immediate arid diligent attention to
such matters of vital importance as cannot be dispensed with
until the usual period of your session, without the most serious
injury and inconvenience, not only to the public,'but to a vast
number of individuals. I cannot, hOwever, but take this op-
portimity of pressing upon von particularly, in the first place,
the necessity of early legislative enactment, in. the abolition
laws, of such v nature as cannot be considered repugnant to
.the provisions of the act of the imperial parliament. Such
other ,natters as are of serious importance will of course be the
subject of your earlist deliberations ; but I cannot avoid ex-
pressing 'hope that by the assiduity to business which you are
so capable of bestowiog, the whole of these matters will he dis-
posed of during die present session, and to which you person-
ally it is so desirable to make of as short duration as a due
regard to the public interests will admit."
Shortly after the Ilouse of Assembly net on the sth of Feb.,
r, Sucietayy Nines brought down the following message front
his Excellency the Governor. ;
" Mr. ,Speaker.L--I am commanded by his Excellency the- Go-
vernor to inform you, in reply to your message of yesterday,
that although he is aoare how unusual it is to consider in one
session.any,natter,which 130 taken_place in previonLone;
Vi•fi-60-he alluSion has been made to it in the opening sessien;he-
will still,- in his anxiety to promote the public convenience, to
which he has at the recent juncture shown so much attention,
cowiliunicate to the house again what he before, as he thought,
had fully explained in his proroguing speech, his conviction
that he had committed no breach of its privileges. Such a de-
claration must, to calm and dispassionate minds, show what
was his real intention ; but where his object could not be pri-!
rate, where it insist be exclusively to the advantage of the
island, awl the convenience of the public, he regrets to find that
his acts were met by anything but corresponding feeling. Re-
paration he cannot consider to be (ailed for where no offence
was contemplated, or as he has distinctly' stated before, Com-
mitted by him. He encroached in no manner on their privi-
leges;. he did not interfere with any business before the house;
he merely, in studiously respectful language, entreated their
attention to what he considered a most decided benefit to the
country whose interests they are charged with. He, therefore,
trusts that they will not sacrifice these interests to what he can-
not but consider a utmost constrained construction of an act
originating in the most friendly feeling towards the colony."
A long debate ensued. The Speaker, at the request of seve-
ral members, rose, and in a luminous and eloquent speech
pointed out the only course which the heuse.could pursue; and
in taking a review of the several proceedings connected with
the breach of privilege, showed that the Governor had rendered
a reconciliation impossible, unless he made the most ample re- i
paration. Ultimately the house, on a division, came to the fol-
lowing resolution :
" That his Excellency's message, reiterating that he had com-
mitted no breach of privileges of the house is not satisfactory,
and therefore the house cannot, consistently with its own dig-
nity, or with advantage to their constituents, proceed any fur-
ther with the public business—they adhere to the original reso-
lution."

The Provost Marshal was then obliged to post the proroga-
tion of the house against the door to the Bth of March next, at
which time it was expected his Excellency would be comfortably
settled in Sligo.

NINA LASAVE.—Tuesday, at the Cafe de la Renaissance, one
of the loungers, who still frequent that establishment for the
sake of seeing Nina Lasave, rose from his seat and threw his
coffee cup at her head. He was immediately arrested by the
Municipal Guards, and conducted to the guardhouse. Nina, it
is said, receives 1,000 francs a nionth, and so great is the
curiosity of all classes to see her, 1,500 francs were received in
one day for admission only, exclusive of the mon,ey paid for re-
freshment. A letter has appearedtin one of the Paris papers,
purporting to have been written by the real Nina Lasave, and
charging the lady exhibited at the coffee house as an impostor.
The speculation has, notwithstanding, proved a good one for the
proprietor of the coffee-house.— French Paper.

AMERICAN PAPERS.

' (From the New York Courier, 24th Feb.)
FRENCH RELATIONS. —BRITISH MEDIATION.

PAYMENT OF THE INDEMNITY.
The president submitted the following message, and accompa:
trying documents,-viz.
To the Senate and House of Representatives,
I transmit; herewith, to congress, copies of the correspondence
between the Secretary of State and the ChargZt de Affaires of
his Britannic Majesty, relative to the mediation of Great Britain
in our disagreement with France, and to the determination of
the French government to execute the treaty of indemnification,
without further delay, on the application for payment by the
agent of the United States.
The grounds upon which the mediation was accepted will be
found fully developed in the correspondence. On the part of
France the mediation had been publicly accepted before the
offer of it could he received here. Whilst each of the two go-
vernments has thus discovered a just solicitude to resort to all
honourable means of adjusting amicably the controversy between
them, it is a matter of congratulation that the mediation has
been rendered necessary. Under such circumstances the anti-
cipation may be confidently indulged that the disagreement
between the United States and France will not have produced
more than n temporary estrangement. The healing effects of
time, a just consideration for the powerful motives for a cordial
good understanding between the two nations, the strong in-
ducements each has to respect and esteem the other, will no
doubt soon obliterate from their remembrance all traces of that
disagreement.
Of the elevated and disinterested part the government of
Great Britain has acted, and was prepared to act, I have already
had occasion to express my high sense. Universal respect, and
the consciousness OE-meriting it, are with governments as with
men, the just rewards of those who faithfully exert their power
to preserve peace, restore harmony, and perpetuate good will.
I may be permitted, I trust, at this time, without a suspicion
of the most remote desire to 'throw off censure from the execu-
tive, or to voila it to any other department or branch of the
government, to refer to the want of effective preparation in
which our country was found at the late crisis. From the na-
ture of our institutions, the movements of the government, in
preparatiOn.forliostilities,'Must 'evler be sIOW for the exigencies
of unexpected. wart I submit it then to you, whether the first
duty we owe to time people who have confided to us their power
is not, to place our country in such an attitude as always to be
so amply supplied with the means of self-defence as to afford no
inducements to other nations to presume upon our forbearance,
or to iiipect important advantages from a sudden assault, either
upon our commerce, our sea coast, or our interior frontier. In
case of the commencement of hostilities during the recess of
congress, the time necessarily elapsing before that body could
be called together, even under the most favourable circuni
stances, would be pregnant with danger, and if we escaped
without signal disaster or national dishonour, the hazard of both
unnecessarily incurred, could not fail to excite a feeling of deep
reproach. I earnestly recommend to you, therefore, to make
such provisions that in no future time shall we be Annid without
ample means to repel aggression even although it may conic
upon us without a note of warning. We are now fortunately so
situated that the expenditure for this purpose will not be felt,
and if it were, it would be approved by those from whom all its
means are derived, and for whose benefit only it should be used
with a liberal economy and an enlightened forecast.
In behalf of these suggestion I cannot forbear repeating the
wise precepts of one whose counsels cannot be forgotten :
" The United States ought not to indulge a persuasion that,
contrary to the order of human events; they will forever keep at
a distance those painful appeals to arms with which the history
of every other nation abounds. There is a rank due to the
United States mining nations which will be withheld, if not ab-
solutely lost, by the reputation of weakness. If we desire to
avoid insult, we must be able to repel it. If we desire to secure
peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising pros-
perity, it must be known that we are at all times ready for war."
ANDREW JACKSON.
February 22, 1836. •

Washington, January 27, 1836.
The undersigned, his Britannic Majesty's charge d'affaires has
been instructed to state to Mr. Forsyth, the secretary of state for
the United States, that the British government has witnessed
with the greatest pain and regret the progress of the misunder-
standing which has lately grown up between the governments of
France and the United States. The first object of the undevi-
ating policy of the British cabinet has been to maintain unin-
terrupted the relations of peace between Great Britain and the
other nations of the world without any abandonment ornational
interests, awl without any sacrifice of national honour. The
next object to which their anxious and unremitting exertions
have been directed, has been, by an appropriate exercise of the
good offices and moral influence of Great Britain to heal dissen-
lions which may have arisen among neighbouring powers, and
to preserve for other nations those blessings of peace which
Great Britain is so desirous of securing for herself.
The steady efforts of his majesty's government have hitherto
been fortunately successful in the accomplishment of both these
ends; awl while Europe, during the last five years, has passed
through a crisis of extraordinary hazard without any disturb-
ance of the general peace, his majesty's government has the sa-
tisfaction of thinking that it has on more than one occasion
been instrumental in reconciling differences which might other-
wise have led to quarrels, and in cementing union between
friendly powers.
But if ever there could be an occasion nn which it would be
painful to the British government to see the relations of amity
broken off between two friendly states, that occasion is undoubt-
edly the present, when a rupture is apprehended between two
great powers, with both of which Great Britain is united by the
closest ties ; with one of which she is engaged in active alliance;
with the other of which she is joined by community of interest
and by the bonds of kindred.

preturse ofb etiwweoen nathtieoitzli.
s
Nor would the grounds of difference on the present occasion
thewnhiiesn forthttie nceoi n4niaentitiiilg open
interests
st reconcile the friends and well-wishers of the differing parties to
are so opposed
on a particular question as to admit of no possible compromise,
the sword may be required to cut the knot which reason is un-
able to untie.
When passions have been so excited on both sides that no
common standard of justice can-be found, and what one party
insists on as a right the other denounces as a wrong, prejudice
may become too headstrong to yeild to the voice of equity and
those who can agree on nothing else may consent to abide the
fate of arena, and to allow that party which shall prove the
weakest in the war, shall be deemed to have been wrong in the
dispute.
But in the present ease there is no questiun of national inte
rest at issue betwegi France and the United States. In the
present case there is nu demand of justice made by one party,
and denied by the other. The disputed claims of America (.11
France, which were founded upon transactions in the early
part of the present century, and were for many veers in !alga=
tiou, have at length been established by mutual consent, and
are adulated by a treaty concluded between the two ,govern-
ments. The""rrioney due by France has been provided by the
Chambers, and has been placed at the disposal of the French
government,,,fpr the purpose of being paid to the United States.
But questiiins have arisen between the two governments in the
progress of 'timse trinsattiOns, affecting on both 'sides the feel.
Ings lir national honour, and-ins on this ground that the relations
between the parties have been fur the moment suspended, and
are in dangeriof.lleisug more seriously interrupted.
In this Stat. '6r Pings, the British government is led to think
that the 'froiitriiffiee's of.a third power, equally the friend of
France and of the -linited States, and prompted by considera-
tions of the highest order, must earnestly to wish for the con-
tinuance of peace, might be useful in restoring a good under-
standing between the two parties, on a footing consistent with
the nicest feelings of national honour in both.
The undersigned has therefore been instructed by his Ma-
jesty's government formally to tender to the government of
the United States the mediation of Great Britain, for the set-
tlement of the difference between the United States and France ;
and to say that o note, precisely similar to the present; has iieen
delivered to the French government by his Majesty's Ambas-
sador at Paris. The undersigned has, at the same time, to
express the confident hope of his Majesty's government, that
if the two parties would agree to refer to the British government,
the settlement of the point at issue between them, and after due
consideration, communicate to the two parties thereupon, incurring
those great and manifold evils, which a rupture between two
such powers must inevitably entail on both,
The undersigned has the honour to renew to Mr. Forsyth the
assurance of his most distinguished consideration.
CHARLES I3ANKHEAD.

unicrg ;Attinir
, 'id, t mien- Washington, Feb.ls, 1836.
The undersigned; his Britannic Majesty's Charge d'Affaires,
with reference to his Ittef,of the 27th, of last month, has the
honour to inform Mr. Forsythi.secretary of State of the United
States, that he has been instructed by,the, government to state,
that the British government has,receiVed,a communication front
tnat of France, which fulfils thohwiAhes,,that impelled his 131'i'•
tannic Majesty Wider his median:miler ,the purpose of effect-
ing an a,,&calde adjustment ofithe.differences between France
and the United States: • .
The French government , has 440 to that of his Majesty,
that the frank and honourat4,tuanner in Which the President
has, in his recent message, .eiwyessed h:litself with regard to the
points of difference between the governments of France and
the United States, has removed titiose difficulties upon the score
of national honour, which have.liitlieftp stood in the way of the
prompt execution by France of the freaty of 4th July, 1831, and
that, consequently, the French goveintnent is now ready to pay
the instalment . which is due on account of the American in-
demnity whenever the payment of that instalment shall tie
claimed'by the goveintnent of the United States.
The French government has also stated, that it made this
communication to that of Great B.titain, not regarding_tha,B ri-
tish govefinuent as a formal mediator, since its offer of media-
tion hail then reached only the government sof France, by which
it had been accepted; but looking upon the British government
as a common friend of the two parties, and, therefore, as a na7
turd channel of communication between them.
The undersigned is furtherinstructed to .express the sincere
pleasure which is felt by the British government at the prospect
thus afforded of an amicable termination of a difference which
has produced a temporary estrangement between two nations
which have so many interests in common, and who are so entitled
to the ft iendship anci vent of each other; and the.undersign-
ed has also to assure, Mr. Forsyth that it has afforded the Bri-
tish government the most lively satisfaction to have been, upon
this occasion, the channel of a communication which, they trust,
will lead to the complete restoration of friendly relations be-
tween the. United States and France.
The undersigned has great pleasute in renewing to Mr. For-
syth the assurances of his most distinguished consideration.
CHARLES BANKHEAD.
To Hon. John Forsyth.

Department of Sate, Washington, 15th Feb., 1836.
The undersigned, Secretary of State of the United States,
has had the honour to receive Mr. Bankhead's note of the 15th
instant, in which he states, by the instructions of his govern,
ment, that the British Government have received a communi-
cation froni that of France, which fulfils the wishes that
impelled his Britannic Majesty to offer his mediation, for the
purpose of effecting an amicable adjustment of the differences
between France and the United States • that the French govern-
ment, being satisfied with the frank and honourable manner in
which the President has iii his recent message expressed him-
self in regard to the points of difference between the two govern-
ment, is ready to pay the instalment due on account of the
American indemnity whenever it shall be claimed by the go-
vernment of the United States; and that this communication is
made to Great Britain, not as a formal mediator, but, as a com-
mon friend of both parties. "'
• The undersigned has snhmitted' this note of his Britannic
Majesty's Charge d'Affaires to the President, and is instructed
to reply that the President has received this information with
the highest satisfaction; a satisfaction as sincere as was his re-
gret at the unexpected occurrence of the difficulty created by
the erroneous impressions heretofore made upon the national
sensibility of Fiance. By the fulfilment of the obltgations of
the convention between the two governments the great cause
of difference will be removed, and the President anticipates that
the benevolent and magnanimous wishes of his Britannic Ma-
jesty's Government will be speedily realized, as the temporary
estrangement between the two nations, who have so many com-
nm interests, will no doubt be followed by the restoration of
their ancient ties of friendship and esteem.
The President has further instructed the undersigned to ex-
press to his Britannic Majesty's Government his sensibility at

the anxious desire it has displayed to preserve the relations of
peace between the United St:ites and France, and the exertions
it was prepared to make to effectuate that object, so essential to
the prosperity and congenial to the wishes of the two nations,
and to the repose of the world.
Leaving his Majesty's Government to the consciousness of
the elevated motives which have governed its conduct, and to
the universal respect which must be secured to it, the President
is satisfied that no expressions, however strong, of his own feel-
ings can be appropriately used which could add to the gratifica-
tion afforded to his Majesty's Government at being the channel
of communication to preserve peace and restore good will be-
tween differing nations, each of whom is its friend.
The undersigned avails himself of this occasion to renew to
Mr. Bankhead the assurance of his distinguished consideration.
Charles Bankhead, Esq. JOHN FORSYTH.

(From the New York Courier, 27th February.)
MEXICO.

By. the ship Montezuma, Capt. Collins' we have received
Mexican papers front the capital to the 29th ult., and from Vera
Cruz to the 7th inst. It would appear front their contents that
affairs of Texas engross the whole attention of the govern-
ment, and indeed of a nation at large. The civil and military
governors of the different estates have been instructed to main-
tain order and tranquillity within their jurisdiction, in the pre-
sent critical state of affairs, and have been invested for this pur-
pose with almost dictatorial powers.
According to the Mexican presses, Santa Anna will make but
very short work with what they call the revolted Americans in
Texas. From the statements we find in the Luz, an opposition
paper published in the city of Mexico, of the strength of the
expedition, it appears that he left San Louis with 3,500 infantry,
400 cavalry, and 12 light pieces of artillery, which, added to the
1,600 men, of which Sesina's division is composed, make in all
5,500 men, and not 10,000 as. some. papers had previously as-
serted. An army of reserve has begun to assemble at San Luis,
Potois, and Metamoras, to be composed, it is stated, of a simi-
lar force. From these preparations, as also front the provisions
in the following decree, it may be inferred that the Mexicans
are determined to subdue the people of Texas. Whether they
will succeed, time alone can tell.

TEXAS.
We find the following iu the New Orleans paper received
yesterday:—

PIIOCLAMATION.-FREEMEN OF TEXAS.

Executive Department,

San Felippe De Austin, Jan. 19, 1835.
An express from San Antonio de Bixar, arrived here yester-
day, bringing despatches front Lieut.-Col. J. C. Neill, cotninand-
ant of that post. They convey to us the important informa-
tion that a body of 2500 men has for A. short time past been en-
camped at Laredo, and that 1500 of theta had advanced as far
as Rio Frio, eighty miles front San Antonio, where they eX-
pnted every moment an attack from them.—They also commu-
nicate the alarming news, that Col. Neill had with hint at
Aliano but seventy-five men, having but very" few provisions.
Under these circumstances they implore your aid in defending
this important fortress against the common enemy. Will you
-go there? I regret to have to make this appeal\to you at this
season of the year when the care of your domestic concerns,
claims all your attention ; but I am compelled to do it by the
'imminent danger which 4nenaces your brothers in arms, by the
risks to which the inhabitants of our frontier will be exposed if
we do not ily to their succour, and by the disgrace and ruin
which the least delay will produce to our country.
Rally, then, my brave countrymen, under the standard of
constitutional liberty ; join together, and by your energy and
valour be.the saviours of your defenceless country. The pre-
servation of your property requires it—your country, your fa-
milies call, you—and who can remain deaf to their cries? Your
lands, your dwellings are invaded—will you refuse to defend
them?—The unprotected orphan, makes to you a tacit but ir-
resistible appeal; the infant, ignorant of the dangers which
await it, imposes on you the'duty of protecting it; your mo-
thers, your sisters, your wives, throw themselves in your arms,
relying confidently on your patriotism and indomitable valour.
Fly then to the protection of your household gods; hasten to
the west, where you will be organised for a short and glorious
campaign. March ! victory awaits you; the genius of liberty
has unfurled her banners and will crown her children with im-
perishable laurels. Carry back into the enemy's country all
the horrors of war, and let the tyrant fall in a war of extermin-
ation. Since he will compel us to take up arms for our de-
fence, let him have war to the knife, and let the blade of
justice be driven to its hilt. Let hint see that Freemen know,
how to die as well as they know how to lire.
March then without delay, and you will raise for yourselves
an imperishable monument in the hearts of your fellow citizens.
May the god of battles guide you to victory, to honour, and to
peace.. JAS. NV, ROBINSON,
. Governor ad Interim.