Effects of these on the sailor's character. Anecdote.. Defence of the country.-How conducted by the people. Character and interests of the different sections of the con- federacy, and their influence on the floor of Congress. New England. - Final extinction of the Federal party.- Central States. New-York and Pennsylvaia. - Southern States. Policy and influence of Virginia. -- Western States. Manufactures. Powers of Congress respecting black slavery. Formation and government of territories.- Generous policy of the Western States. Character of the first settlers. Shepherds and hunters of the Border.- Philadelphia Market. Deportment of the citizens. Mode of guiding and breaking horses. Hints to an emigrant.— Manner in which the importation of the peasants of the European continent is conducted. Reply to the Quarterly Review.-Descent of the Delawere.- Letter of Count de We THE report of our safety, as well as of the kind welcome with which we were greeted on landing, by several families in this city, is now, I trust, far on its way towards you. I wrote too rapidly, and with a head too giddy, (you know what sort of a head one brings out of a ship), to enter into much detail upon the few and dull events of our voyage. saw spouting whales, and sharks, and porpoises, and all sea-monsters in plenty; for the breezes were mild, and the ocean and heaven so fair and smiling, as might well woo all the hideous tribes of Tethys from their dark caverns. But the only sight worth noticing was a large iceberg, in latitude 43, towards the most southern extremity of the Newfoundland bank. This, for the month of B August, was an unusual object in such a latitude; nor shall I easily forget the moment of singular excitement which it occasioned to the captain of the vessel, myself, and another passenger. Light northeasterly winds had prevailed throughout the day; so light, indeed, that the island which had first been descried in the direct line of our course an hour after noon, lay but some ten miles astern of us an hour after sunset. We were leaning over one of the hatchways in careless conversation, and the eyes of the captain were cast accidentally upon the iceberg, which now (the short twilight having died away) appeared a black threepointed rock, upon the clear blue of the horizon. A sudden exclamation from Captain Staunton, caused me, and my fellow-passenger, to start on our feet and gaze as he directed. A bright flame blazed upon the highest point of the distant rock. None of us spoke; we all held our breath, and each wrought out for himself, after his own manner, some tale of hideous calamity and suffering. "A few beings, or it might be, one solitary wretch, had here survived his companions, and clung to this isle of frost, to expire more slowly under the united horrors of cold, hunger, and despair. A pile had been here collected from the disjointed planks of the foundered vessel, which was now kindled, when the first shades of evening afforded a hope that some eye from the receding vessel would catch the signal." All this passed through our minds at one glance of thought. The Captain had turned quickly to give orders for tacking about, and lowering a boat that should put off to the rock; when suddenly a bright star peered above the crystal, and hung distinct, and clear, over the distant pinnacle, which still, for a while, quivered beneath its receding rays. It was some minutes before we could smile at this sudden and simple explanation of an appearance, which had, a moment before, so highly wrought up our interest and curiosity. It is usual to complain much of the discomforts of a ship, and I grant that they are numerous; but to those who are not disabled by sickness or nervous fears, I think a voyage is not without its pleasures, and certainly not without interest. Our. fellow-passengers, mostly Americans, were cheerful, obliging, and conversable; the ship excellent, her captain a weather-beaten veteran, a kindhearted as well as experienced sailor, who looked not merely after the safety of his ship, but the comfort of every living being on board of her. A moralizer might have apostrophized capricious fortune, when he heard this old seaman recount the many times he had ploughed the Atlantic, and thank God that he had weathered every gale, without ever losing (to use the sailor's phrase) a single spar. I have conversed with sailors not half the age of this good captain of the Amity, who had never made a voyage without losing a spar, |