The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1854-05-03
NSw YoRZ, April 26, 1854


Knowing that you must feel Interested in
the subject, have been endeavoring to pro.
cure further information with regard to the
projected invasion of British America on
the part of our foreign residents. Such
degree Of mystery, however, is maintained
by those who are supposed to be leaders in
the design, that can hardl send You any
thing more than rumors, cOnjCctures, and
suspicious. Whatever the movement is.
John Mitchell is its soul; and he, when APP
preached or the subject, neither admits nor
denies in direct terms, but indulgcs in his
usual eaphatic nvcctivcs, and coolly calcu-
lates the chances of the enterprise in case
one were TO be got up. Yet such is the
propensity ui the Irish nation to hypcrbole
and gasconade that il is hard to tell whether
anything more than words will be attempt
cd, and whether the agitation is not got up
Mt the present time merely for the purpose
of troubling and hampering the British Gov
eminent, without any ulterior expectations.
My own opinion is that the whole affair
will blow over, and that when matters come
to the pinch young Ireland will draw in his
horns. Meanwhile hon ever, unusual activ-
ity prevails, us | have before written YOU,
in the HiberniAn regiments. Drilling is in
cessSniiy carried on, and new companies
are constantly forming. A new Irish Civil
and Military Republican Union" has also
been organized in this city, the chief object
of which is professedly the restoration of
lreland's nationality. Yet thes demonstra-
tons are far more formidable on paper than
in reality; and for all that has thus far trans
pired, Canada may sleep sound at night with
out the slightest apprehension.
The only new phase which has lately
manifested itself in connection with this
subject is report, apparently not altogeth-
er unfounded, to the effect that Seward and
his Abolition partizans in this city and the
West of the State have become copartners
with Mitchell and his crew in their projected
plan of operations; the object of the Seward
men being chiefly TO catch Irish votes Il, the
coming election, and secondarily to counter
balance the contemplated annexation of
Mexican and Cuban slave territory on the
South by corresponding slice of free soil
an the lposite quarter. Whether such an
alliance. has been consnmmated no one
knows but there is little doubt that it has
been proposed-and that, too, in spite of
Mitchess voluntary confession of faith on
The Slavery question, pill which the zone
idea men have hardly ct bean able to sw.:I
lOVy Thu fact - ,c
is so rife among us that it must find vent,
even if, like bottle of ovcr-cxcited porter,
1t destroys those in whom it aOidcs. Annex
alton is the rage. No matter what it is, a
desert Or swamp, it must be filed in the low
ing embrace of uncle Sam and verify be-
lieve that if the internal Regions were con-
tguous to The United States, some lone
Star order would be organized for their cap
turc, and within month the Stars and
stripes would wavc over Pluto's castle.
destructive conilagration took place
last evening at the establishment of w. J.
Jennings, 23l Broadwa7, at which by the
fall Of Il wall nearly twenty members of the
Fire Department were seriously injured and
several killed on the spot. This melan-
choly disaster was caused by the insecure
manner in which the wall WAS put up, and
the weight of an immense safe in one of the
upper stories The entire loss of property
cannot faii short of So, 900. Ten thousand
dollars worth Of damage was done to the old
American Hotol on the corner of Broadway
and Barclay ST., which was destroyed by
hire abouta year ago and was afterwards
fitted up for offices.
You have probably already received advi-
ccs by telegraph of the loss of the emigrant
Ship Powhattan during The gale of the l 9th
and lTth inst. on the New Jersey shore
She went to pieces within rs yards of the
beach but such was the unparalleled fury
of the waves that no assistance could be
rendered the unhappy victims. There were
BIZ passengers on board, and 30 of the crew
in oil $40 souls, of whom not one has es-
capped. About half The bodies have been
washed ashore. The Humboldt, which was
"t FIRST, also supposed to have been wrecked,
succeeded in riding out the storm and has
brought her six hundred passengers in safe
ty. The Underwater has been got ofithe
beach, and is found not TO have sustained
any serious damage.
The alumni of Columbia Callege have
lately held several meetings for the purpose
of making arrangements to celebrate the
centennial anniversary Of the birth of the
Institution. The Trustees submitted pro-
gramme for the occasion, the chief features
Of which was a dinner in the open air, in
tents erected on the College Green. Before
uniting in the demonstration, however, the
siumni chose TO institute an enquiry into the
recent action Of the Trustees in not electing
Dr. Gitbss a distinguished graduate of the
College, to the vacant professorship of Nat
ural Philosophy. on the ground of his being
q Unitarian. II was claimed that a memo
rial In favor Of this gentleman, signed by
several hundred alumni, had been sent into
the Board o! Trustees but was treated by