New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-02-10
WASHING ION.
The Census Printing-Mr. Kennedy-The Flu
gitiye SIaye-Law. &c.

E11Ne SI1Ft-LaW. &c.
Correspondence ofthe y. Y. Tn5uae.
WASHINGTON, Saturday, Feb. :, 1852.
Two blows have been struck upon the
Census question since my last. One upon the
nose ofthe Superintendent, and one upon the
bill for printing The former was dealt by
Major BoRLAND Of Arkansas, the Chairman OF
the Senate Printing Committee, and The other
by the Senate itself, who refused to take up the
printing bill yesterday. The first blow is said to
have seriously damaged Mr. KENNEDY, by break
ing the bones of his nasal organ, but in the other
no bones were broken, and it is thought the SUBJ
lect will not otherwise seriously suffer.
The Senate Printing Committee, as well as
other Senators, DO not look with favor upon the
scheme of the Superintendent, to embody in the
publication of the Census returns large body
of foreign matter; such, for example, as histori-
cal outlines Of the States themselves, and OF
their several subdivisions OF counties and towns,
aud elaborate dispositions upon medical science
as connected with the bills OF mortality and
medical statistics in general. sample OF what
the Superintendent proposes, is laid before the
Senate in the shape of printed folio volume OF
90 pages upon the State OF Maryland. VI
these 80 pages 25 are devoted to medical sta
tistics and disquisition upon medicine, and Is
pages to a historical account OF the State and OF
its several counties. half OF the book is thus
taken up with sube that are reckoned foreign
to the legitimate objects of Census. And Mr.
BoRLAND, in his remarks which led to the unfor-
tunate renconter we have alluded to, expressed
his emphatic objection to making the Superln-
tendent the official hstorographer of our States
and municipalities in general, as well as the
official scientific lecturer upon the medical sta
tistics collected in the Census returns.
In this, Mr.. BoRLAND would not seem to be far
out Of the way. 1t is plain proposition that any
minute details upon disease, and above all any
disquisition upon medical science, would be TO-
tally valueless and out of place IN such work
Medical science is barren enough and uncertain
enough in the hands of its most eminent pro-
fessors. 1t is in the main on ignus fatuus that
has bewildered and begged the world for thou
sands of years and to-day its pathology is hard
" involved in less obscurity than it was in the
DAYS Of GALEY and HIPPoCRATEs. The true
theory of disease is as much a subject OF dis
putation to-day as il ever was, and the world is
still full of the most opposite and conflicting
theories thereon What upon earth, then, has
Superintendent of the Census to do with such
an abstruse subject as this, beyond giving in the
most compact form such details .as the law re-
CURED! The historical matter seems equally
out Of place. series of decennial returns Of
the statistics of the Census forms history OF the
States and their various municipalities, of the
most complete and perfect character, so far as
their material progress is concerned, and this is
all that such documents contemplate. 1t is all
that seems to be required at the hands of Gov
eminent. OF positive facts relating to our erist.
ing national condition, 10 matter how many are
aid before the country. The more perhaps the
better But OF history, of essay of scientific
treatise, of speculation, we want none.
The cost of taking and printing the Census
Will be very great Probably the total expendi-
ture under this head will fall but little short of
tuo millions OF dollars. Such a sum OF money
ought to give us something valuable. The Su-
pelintendent's estimates of MS expenditures are
already thirteen hundred and fifty thousand dol
lars. To this is to be added the cost of publica-
ton, which it is probable will run TO half a mil
lion more, and perhaps exceed even this.
The louise has ordered the printing of 100000
copies of a synopsis Of the Census prepared by
the Superintendent, and they are about ready
for distribution In the meantime The GLOBE
Office has published the synopsis in an extra at
enc cent copy, which has been largely pur-
chased by Members
We gather from this synopsis that the number
of fugitive slaves escaped in the year ending
June, 1850, was l,0ll. This number may be taken.
we presume, as an average Of the annual es-
capes. OF this number, how many have been
returned by the Fugitive Slave Law, which is
assumed to be OF such vital importance to the
| South, and whose maintenance and execution to
the letter is declared TO be essential to the pres
erva,ion of the Union and the existence OF the
National Government Has il been more than
ore in a hundred Does this notorious law re-
turn more than the odd eIsrea, on, of the one
thousand and eleven
Talk Of a Fugitive Slave Law being any Sc
cuIity to that portion of Southern property
which goes on legs. Bah IsP