Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1851-07-29

down in writing every official paper which be
submitted to the public. He was, however,
always willing to admit suggestions, and per-
nit alterations where be thought them i'm
provemeDts.
Il will relate an anecdotc, or incident,
which will lead to correct conclusion as to
who. wrote Gen. Jackson's messages. and,
also who attended to them after they were
written.
"When / went after the annual message
which demanded of the French king (Louis
Phillippe) the indemnity due to citizens Of the
United States by the French Government, l
found Major A. j Donelson. then General
Jackson's private secretary, and clerk be-
longing to the State Department (Mr Der
rick, comparing the copies to be sent to both
branches of Congress with the rough draught,
General Jackson was walking the floor some
twenty or thirty feet from them smoking his
pipe, paying no attention to the reading as j
thought When they read that part Of the
message which pressed the demand in the
strongest terms, Gen. Jackson said: 'Don-
elson! stop there; that is not as wrote it,"
Major Donelson replied: General, the Cab
met had a meeting, and agreed to soften this
q hsuC anu ut tucu dttcHpttu w tc0u Oit
evidently very much agitated. Gen. Jack
son again said to him. Donelson stop there;
it is not as l wrote it, Major Donelson
made a stammering reply, saying, General,
the Cabinet had meeting, and agreed to
soften this a little cannot alter it in time
for Congress, and Mr.. Rives is here waiting
for the message; and If he does not get it
shortly he cannot have it printed In time
and continued to stammcr on, reading it
General jackson then stamped his foot on
the floor, and said in loud voice: i say,
stop and put that as | wrote it. / don't
care for the Cabinet, nor fer Mr.. Rivcs, aud
Congress waiting. It shall be as / wrote it..
Major Donelson then opened bis table draw
er, and took from it the slip which he cut
from the message, and inserted it in the place
of the alteration made by the Cabinet. l
have both the original and the alteration,
believe, fled away, but with so many other
papers that j cannot find them conveniently
Many predicted at the time that the suppo-
sed affront contained in the message would
cause Franco to declare war against the Uni
ted States. So far from it, it caused the
money to be paid; and Louis Philippe, then
King of France, thought so highly of Gener
al jackson, that he sent an eminent artist
(Mr. Healy) to the Hermitage, to take his
likeness for him the likeness was completed
only few days before the Generals death,
and said to be the best ever taken"
.----..>>>->~~<.s.~---
Miserable Condition OF Free Blacks IN Free
States.
On Saturday evening last. officer Snyder
III I. ~
upon the house of Herman Nash, who keeps
SOFT of boarding house on the banks OF the
Lehigh, for the entertainment of colored folks.
They succeeded in arresting twenty two, OF
both sexes and all ages, including the pro.
prictor of tho house and his lady. Some OF
the party had helped themselves to sheep
belonging to one of the neighbors. which was
slaughtered. and made quite feast for the
hungry darkies who had been fed on nothing
but cold victuals for some time--and scar
city of that. They were taken before Esquire
Buck and sentenced to thirty six hours i'm
prisonment in the old Jail, except Mr. Nash
and bis family, who were committed to an
swer the charge of keeping disorderly house.
All the others were discharged on Monday
morning with directions to leave the County
in two hours, under penalty of being re COM
mitted for thirty days.
We never saw more pi.able sight than
these poor blacks presented when they were
turned out of the prison into the storm. Their
bodies were covered with filthy rags, one wo-
man had an infant in her ar ms, some of the
children were shoeless and stockingless, and
in this condition they stood in front of the
Jail, not knowing what to do or where to go.
They presented a very fair illustration, in
their wretchedncss and poverty, of the abili-
ty of tho negro race to provide for themselves
and families, when left to enjoy their freedom!
The negro population of this region has rap
idly increased within the last few months,
and unless some measures are taken by the
next Legislature to rid us of the growing evil
our entire State will be overrun with hordes
of worthless blacks, who will become a per-
feet curse and insuiferable nuisance 1t is
better to act on preventive now, than on the
defensive decentralization (Pd.) Argus
Such says the Lynchburg Republican, is
the picture drawn by an eye witness. Of the
miserable condition Of the black race in one
of the best free States in the Union, and it nc
doubt presents q fair specimen Of the condi-
tion of the negro in all parts of the North
W tUCU, luuSt NC tuc thuuSuV VI tuS upOi
ton philanthropist who, with such specimens
of squalid humanity under his eye and APP
pealing to sympathy, pirates about the cause
Of Southern slavery, and the humanity of the
Southern master? What condition of life is
not preferable to that described in The Argus?
Is not the most ab;ect condition Of slavery
preferable to such blessings Of freedom p
Can such wretchedness and want be any
where found among the slaves Of the South
Here, our negroes, with the rarcst exceptions
are fed and clothed well and their sickness
or old age, are cared for by their masters,
with the same vigilence that the white menu
bers of their own families are cared for. Nor
are they turned off in winter, when the sea-
son for active labor has passed, to beg and
steal, and suffer from cold and wants but
they are well and comfortably housed, and
provided with the necessaries, and not unfre-
quently, the luxuries of their masters bounti-
full store. What contrast between the
slaves Of the South, and the free coiored gen
tlemen Of the North? Who would not rath-
or be a slaye-aye, dog and lay at the