The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-06-12

ministration at washiD' gton to define what is 70
be understood by the term.
Is not the army Of African savages which Eng
land and Spain hs we managed to lodge within
three or four da' Is steam Of coast range Of two
thousand mlle' ready to be cast in desolating
food on am of our unprotected towns from
Chesapeake Bay to the Bravo river, and which
they are constantly reinforcing with fresh
recruits from Africa. and which England
avows it is her plan to encourage, in one
form or other-is not all this threat and an
lnJW y to American interests! When q rival
pov Ter prepares missile like this to launch into
To bosom of another nation. it does not ask
that becomes of the fragment Of the she'll II
it explodes with sufficient force and carries q
wide destruction around, it has done its work
it has paid for itself, and may be forgotten. But
where is the wisdom of the people who suffer
such implements Of mischief to gather around
their hearth stones?
These African importations are formally I'M
der the protection of England and every thou
sand that she helps to plant in Cuba is another
regiment at her disposal; and if this steady
formation of an alien and hostile force on our
borders is not a dangerous and unwarrantable
foreign interference, it is difficult to imagine
that any thing can be, short of direct and
downright war on our coasts and commerce.
The chief magistrate of the Union declared
on taking the reins Of State-and the whole ma
tion endorsed it with enthusiasm-that the pro-
pagation Of foreign colonies on the borders of
the Union was "inadmissible. Can there be
any foreign settlement SO opposed in every
sense to the peace and well being of the Ameri-
can confederation as a colony of uncivilized
blacks, near to us, strong in number, and fos-
tered by great maritime power, such as that
which, through our neglect England may at any
hour she wills, present to us in central COM
manding Africanlzed Cuba?
England has proffered the issue in announc-
ing her policy of African Importation and pre-
administration of the United States is appealed
to and asked to dsdain the evasion of silence,
and come forth in the manly truth Of yes or
no to these grave anti-American assumptions.
SALE OF MOUNT VERNoN-It is reported from
Washington that the present proprietor Of the
estate of Mount Vernon, (once the home and
now the resting place Of the father of his coun-
try,) has been negotiating with some private
individuals for the sale Of the said estate; and
that he has agreed to surrender it for the sum
Of 5000, 900, subject, however, to the condition
that Congress is first to have the refusal Of this
invaluable national property, and that an appli-
cation is to be made to that effect. If Congress
refuses to buy it, as they have heretofore re-
fused, then we presume the Mount Vernon
house. and the hallowed grounds around it. in
GLIDING the tomb of Washington, and the graves
of several other members Of the family, will be
transferred to private company. This home
estate, we believe. as it now stands, embraces
not more, perhaps less, than one hundred and
fifty acres Of pretty well WORKOUT land; and
the mansion and the former neat and tastefully
arranged out-buildings, including the negro
quarters" are going rapidly to decay.
A private company, therefore in purchasing
Mount Vernon, would not buy it with the ex-
pectation or intention Of any profits from the
farm, upon an investment Of S200.O0O. They
must buy it, as Barnum bought the Feeje
mermaid and the woolly horse. to make
an exhibition of it, at SO much per ticket. And
they would probably establish ice-cream saloons
and drinking establishments, and billiard
rooms, and ten-pin alleys, upon the premises.
And with these acquisitions, and cheap
steamboat running regularly to Alexandria and
We cbippton fhA conrad ocroc IF Moopt Vornnn
would soon be reduced to holiday rendezvous
for all the loafers and rufians of the original
District of Columbia. Hard indeed, must be the
necessities of the present proprietor Of Mount
Vernon when he can contemplate the possibility
of such unwashed barbarism and revolving
dissertation without shuddering.
But the very fact that Mr.. Curtis pro-
poses first to apply yet once more to Congress,
shows that he appreciates his responsibility to
the American people. And there can be no
duty SO plain as this which devolves upon Con-
gress. to buy the estate at two hundred or
three hundred thousand dollars without delay
Buy it, in Gods name-buy it at any cost and
venerable trees about the house and on the
skirt OF the bill, and that solemn, awe-lnspirlng
tomb, and those honvred graves around it,
from the unwashed Cloths and Vandals of these
latter days.
Mr.. Curtis, like his predecessors in occu-
patton of Mount Vernon. since the death of
the illustrious chief of the family has been at
constant expense on account of his numerous
visiters from all parts of the country, and all
parts Of the world. His time has been taken
up in the duties of hospitality; and his remnant
of the estate being small, and the land poor, he
is necessarily not as rich as Cresus. Some
thing of indemnity is due to him from Congress-
independently of the paramount duty to the
government, of buying the property, and of
holding it sacred against all sacriegious inva-
sions or violations, for evermore.
The reservation of Mr.. Curtis, in this