Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1831-11-26

t. Masonry, is at all materia, in the formation VI
any Judgment. on the part OF my fellow QUEENS
concerning my fitness for any office under &le
Government Of the United States. Fhateievat-
ed Office, TO which you allude, should, in my OPP.
Mon, be filled by one who is'caPable' unswayed
by sectariau feelings or passions, of administer
inc its high duties impartially towards the whole
people of the United States: however divided m
to religious, social, benevolent or literary asso-
Entertaining these views, have constantly re-
fused to make myself party to the unhappy con-
test raging, distant from me- in other parts u inc
Union, between Masons and Ant-Masons.
Whilst these views remain uncorrected must
adhere to that determination. II, indeed you
gentlemen, will point to the provision in the Ne
deraI Constitution which can be legitimately made
to operate upon the subject in question:, would
not hesitate promptly to comply with your request:
In the meantime. in declining it, hope you Will
consider me as not wanting in proper respect TO
you or to those whom you represent but as ac!!ng
from conviction Of the improperly OF blending
an alien ingredient with question, already sui
ficiently complex. and also from a sense OF per-
sonal independence.
am with great respect, your obedient servant,
H. CLAY.
MeSsrS. james A. w atson, Nooe Du''ei'
James II. Thompson.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Case.-In case recently
tried at Newborn, n. c. the question OF sea-wor'
thiness came up, on which Mr.. CASTOR, tor the
plaintiff made the following ingenious statement;
He contended that tlere may be partial un.
soundness af particular members, when cos'd
Al l. oh
not, with propriety, destroy the character OF a
vessel for seawOI thiness. aud as scarcely 'esse'
sails on the ocean without having some unsound-
ness in part of her timbers. she cannot be demo-
minated unsound or unseaworthy, merely because
individual constituent parts Of her hull are IN
state of decay. And, further, that it.required an
assemblage of such defects, to ascribe justly to
her the appelation Of unseaworthy; and II the
brig in question was enabled to encounter the or
binary perils Of the ocean, she was seaworthy.-
Armoyd vs. Union ms. Co. Cd Binney's Keep.
4O2: 2 Marshall on Ins. 15S.-With regard to
the sufficency Of the mast to perform the voyage
and its seaworthiness, the learned counsel made
novel and ingenious argument, demonstrating
with mathe matical accuracy and precision. the
position which he assumed. He cOntended that
:. the strength Of cylindrical beams are as the
cubes of their diameters. 80 Hutton's Math.
1874, Cor. d.
A mast 8 inches through has relative strength
orIsN ,aSIs= $685.
II It be rotten Of its diameter in the centre,
this takes away of strength = 6S6, sle
Leaving strength equal to 'olt
But a mast Ia inches thick, and perfectly
sound, has strength Of but III x III x
Ia o3es
Less than that Of the former by g.
Suppose mast 10 inches through. and the
central half rotten. its relative strengths
deducting 9I4 9 * 9=7e9 from $3.50 sos
The strength of sound mast II inches thick
is17 Sl7S17 49ls
Suppose the l8-inch mast is two-ihirds rot.
ten, its strength is, deductng 10 * 10 x
S12 (l728) from $3.50 - 4lO-
A sound mast, l6 inches through, is 16 x
16S16= 409t
The concluding argument made by this distin
guished jurst. was pronounced TO be the ablcs
intellectual effort ever heard or witnessed here.
CNenbern LlteU