Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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rsf jfarmrvg' ? njrttr, Mtib mmm&w iLBwmstit'mmiiu I yi '"" * |P,,,BII> ? ^ ? i ? - . w 1|| M M H VOLUME \ II. CHLRAW. SOUIH-CAROLINA TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 1842, NUMBER 38 By n. MAC ILEA*. . j Terms:?Published weekly at three dollarsa year; with an addition, when not paid within three months, of twenty per cent per annum. Two new subscribers may take the paper at five dollars in advance; ami ten at twenty. Four subscribers, not receiving their papers in town, may pay a year's subscription with ten i dollars, in advance. A year's subscription always due in advance. ' Papors not discontinued to solvent subscribers in arrears. Advertisements not exceeding 1G lines inserted * * * ^ ? ? ?-C A r nnnli i or one douar mo nrsi nine, nuu uu? ubsequent time. For insertions at interval* of two weeks 75 cents after the first, and a dollar : if the intervals are longer. Payment due in J advanco for advertisements. When tho number ! of insertions is not marked on the copy, the j advertisement will bo inserted, and charged til I crdcrod out. (E7"Tho postage must be paid on letters to the editor on the business of the office. From the Transactions of the N. Y. Agricultural Society. ENGLISH AGRICULTURE A GLANCE AT ITS j PROGRESS AND PROSPECTS. [Continued from week before Last.] By John Hannam, North Deighlon, ( Weth. j erby, Yorkshire, England.?Continued.) To trace the progress of the practice of j agriculture since the period when it was beginning to he considered a branch of ( nntural science, and capable of elucida. 1 tion by the application of the true rules of philosophy, is not our aim. From the first birth of this principle, us we have a I. ready shown, it was some time before it became visible upon the practice. Although in the Elizabethan age, the profession became more fashionable, though Fitzherbert, Tusscrnnd Piatt, the three first writers on the subject, collected the well tried axioms of the ancients, and urged many practices which had been neglected ; their works show us what an educated amateur considered ought to be clone rather than what was done, in the 16th century: and it was not until the middle of the 17th, that in the writings of Rligh and Weston we see the actual i operation of the spirit of change. Ry the former, (in 1652,) we have recommended the cultivation of clover. And by the latter (1684) the turnip as the fodder, the use of which crops have completely , revolutionized the sta:c of agriculture. , Rut it was not till the next century, that | they came fairly into use, from which j | the present practice may he said to date : , its existence; nor (ill some time after this i | that the triumph of a modern spirit ofim- ! | provement became fully developed. The I | hold views of full, (1740.)gavc at once , the finish to the now system of cropping ' | (which arose from the growth of clover), and turnips.) and a lasting impulse to the , principle which had produced the change. In the practical labors of Rakewell, and ( the M ossrs. Culley, and the endeavors of . such men as Lord Krames, "to improve agriculture by subjecting it to the test of! rational principles," we see the continued j influence of the new horn spirit rf pro ! gress, and in the present position of Rug. i lish agriculture, the results of that opera- j & tion. The nnture of this position will be i seen in its elevated standing and high estimation ns a science, which have se- ' cured to it within the last 15 years, the la- ' bors of such men as Davy, Sinclair, Dnii- i , heny, Henslowe, Johnston, Loudon, Lowe, Stephens, Johnson, and Maden, ' , n nd aid of professors at our universities, j | and (he united effort of more than three! hundred .societies.established for the pur. i pose of elucidating, truth, discerning error, and promulgating the latest itn. j , provements in the theory or the practice of agiiculture?societies too, patronized by all that have a name or a standing in the country. Thus the Koval Society of England, though hut of 3 years standing, possesses not merely the sufferance, or passive [patronage of royalty, hut the 1 active support of that illustrious individual, 1 who, it is reported, is soon to assume the dignity of King Consort,* and of more than live thousand other members. Its position as a practice exhibits an equal advance. The first and chief evidence of this, which we shall nolice, is seen in the change from the old infield and outfield system, and the alternate crop and fallow, or two crops and a fallow, fo the present system of drill husbandry, and the rotation of barley, clover, wheat and fallow upon stifTland; and of barley, ? - _-I >mnn lurhf unit clover, wneni ami uumpa uj#.#., dry soils. The rirst advantage arising from this change, oil strong land, is the gain of a crop instead of a fallow, and as this crop is one of fodder or pasturage, the consequent ability to supply the market with a greater weight of stock; the second is an increase of fertility in the soil from the increased quality of manure made upon the farm; the third 19 a better chance of the wheat crop from its natural + liking to follow clover; and the fourth an increase of fertility in every crop from the drill system and from the facility with which weeds may be extirpated, half a \ fallow made, and the soil at the roots o| j the plant stirred?a practice which theory | and experience prove to be highly beneticial to vegetation. * I'lus \s th j report si iee the Prince of Wales.' | b;rth. It is to prevent a cur listen of name* j and tlio impious nt circumstance ol the sen tikprecedence ofllic sen lakinj; precedence ol J tiiu fit her. Prince AI'? rt is now j G svrinor ol tile Royal Agricultural >ociety, and lus tak'-n i into i?ia U.VI1 lun.la a fir.n at VV'mJsor. Ifj wjs f elected on tlio 2ln of ?lii.. month. (L'.u. izii,) a 1:1ciiJ J.'i' oi tii- > Ci.t >. j Rut this is not all; by the introduction of the mange! wurtzel, the carrot, dec. into cultivation, the fanner is at times able to do without a fallow in the rotation. By judicious and effectual drainage, subsoil ploughing, many farmers can grow turn, ips on this stiff land; and it is yet a questin ! rrrnta whether or not the fallow may not ' be entirely dispensed with. This is ccr- j tain, however, that many of the best j practical men of the day think it possible, j and many upon a few fields which are i thoroughly drained, do dispense with the: fallow and produce a fair turnip crop, j And I have no doubt but that either this j or some other green crop will, in the course of time extend the system, so that the fallow will become the exception and not the rule, for the old idea that the land I wants rests is quite abandoned. The effect of the turnip and clover husbandry upon the light and thin soils of England is still more marked. Without fodder, it is an old axiom, there is no cattie, without cattle no manure, and without manure no corn. The total abolition of the fallow, and the substitution of two crops of green food, has, therefore, upon the light lands, produced in a greater degree those advantages which we have enumerated as having and its by a partial adoption of the same system upon the heavy lands of England. Moreover the treading of sheep has almost beneficial effect; so that those soils, which formerly*" would scarcely return the seed, now produce as fine crops of corn [wheat,] as can he met with in England. The Yorkshire and Lincolnshire wolds are startling evidences of the truth of this; and I can look out at the present moment upon 500 acres of thin limestone soil which 50 years ago paid, and with difficulty, 5 shillings per acre rent, and which now are let at 25 shillings per acre. That the produce has increased in an equal or greater ratio j than the rent, is evidenced by the prosperity of the present tenants. [ know also a village a few miles from the city of ; York, the soil on one side of which is strong and deep, and on the other of light texture upon a limestone base. Not many years ago several farms of the heavy land were exchanged for twice the quantity of high land, the latter being ; considered very bad. At the present 1 time, however, this quondam bad land, by the turnip and seed management, and the use of bones and rape dust, is considered he crack land of the district, and is let' * . l_ ! I _ ingat X'i anci Xi ius. per acre, wnne lie heavy soils on the other side of the t illage are not worth more than 15 shillings per acre, as they are not drained, rind cannot be managed upon theimprov. :ul system. But there are several other rotations of cropping used in particular localities; hut as they, for the most part, depend upon the same principle as the one we have noticed, they are but exceptions to the general rule, and space will not allow us to particularise them. The next evidence of the improved practice of the present time is seen in tho variety of crops. Wheat is no longer a partial crop?one produced m the garden soils of England?but is the farmers' paying crop. Countless varieties of seed are to be found adapted to almost every vnrintv ofsoil and climate. In barley, oats. beans, peas, tares, rye, potatoes, turnips, carrots, parsnips, mangel-wurtsel, hops, line, and the artificial grasses, the same endless varieties are used, each va riety being selected for some peculiar j quality, in this small township, last year, I I counted no less than fifteen varieties of! turnips. Six sorts I myself introduced ! from the splendid stock of Mr. Matson, | of YVingham, Kent. None of the sorts j have been grown here before, and thev I have answered so well in what is called J a bad year, that I have no doubt but in a year or two they will be extensively used in this part of the country, to the equal benefit of the purchaser and the producer of the seed. Now, in every article of produce the same improvement is yearly progressing, because farmers are no longer averse to rational experiments, and not j so in tic h prejudiced in favor of old plans. it is, consequently, worth the while of j such men as Mr. Matson, Mr. Skirving, j [of Liverpoo.l) cum mitUis aliis, to devote j their time, talents and capital, in raising ! the best and most pu.e varieties of seed, j In manures we have manifest the re- ; sul.s of the same spirit. Along with n| greater skill in the economy of the manure heaos. an increasing use and saving of the r ? w liquid from the cattle yard, and a more judicious application of the various composts which have been employed for ages, we have now in use a variety of hand! tillages which are of modern date, at least : as far as regards their general use, ; amongst which we may mention bones, rape dust, nitrate of potash, nitrate of' soda, gypsum, nrate, common salt, soot, ( Lance's carbon, Lance's humus, Clarke s dessicatcd compost, Poittevin's disinfected manure, Alexander's Chinese manure, . rags, graves, soap-ashes, &c. &c. Of the change in agricultural imple- ! ments, it is unnecessary to sav that it j nns been wonderful. The transition ' from the state of things under which the hammer and ihc axe were the alpha and j the omega of the fanner's stock of implements, (when it was a qua iinn amongst the ploughman's qualifications to be ablo i to make bis own plough.) is evident to all. i If, however, we look at the advance iri (he mechanism of implements within tho last few years, and take into account the time in which the several change?, have taken place, we shall at once allow the part to be more astonishing than the whole; that the improvements made in the least dozen years are far more marked than all that were made previously. The fact is that the exhibitions and rewards of our agricultural societies have given an impetus to the spirit of experimental research in the bosom of the mechanic, and the result is an advance in knowledge equal to that in any other branch of the practice of agriculture, by the adoption and agency of the same spirit. A practical commentary upon these remarks is offered by the fact that the one maker (Ransome, Ipswich,) exhibited no less than j thirty-six varieties of ploughs at the last I meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. In the live stock of the farm the working and the results of the sarno spirit are apparent. About ten years after Tull launched boldly the barque of theoretical agriculture, and set open forever the door of improvement, Mr. Bakewell commenced those experiments upon breeding, which as he based them upon rational principles, and upon a deep and observing knowledge of the nature of the animals he wished to improve, were attended with the most decided success. Thus the sheep which he introduced, and the Messrs. Culley carried to perfection, possessed the quality of being fatted at little more than two years old. while the old breed were scarcely ever fit for the shambles till they were twice that age. This advantage was appreciated, for we know that one of his rams was let for the season for 800 guineas, and that the produce of one ewe and one birth (three rams] were let for 1200 guineas. His bulls, too, fetched 108 and 150 guineas each. Sinm this. time, breeding has continued """"" """ 7 7 o to be a branch of agricultural science by no means attained without time and study and capital. Yet it is still growing more and more popular; and although the gradual diffusion of the sheep and cattle descended from Mr. Bakewell's stock has reduced the prices, a good animal of any pure breed is yet sought after with avidity, and purchased at a sum far above his intrinsic value for any other purpose than breeding. Thus we read that Mr. Jonas Webb, of Rahraham, Sussex, let a Southdown ram for 100 guineas, to the Duke of Richmond, at his last show; and, (I take the first case which comes to my hand,) Mr. Smith, of Burley, let fifty-one rams at an average of ?10 4s. each, and twelve at an average of ?18 10s. The following statement of the prices fetched by animals of the Short Horn, Hereford, Sussex and Devon breeds, at the latest sales of each sort which we can meet with, will show in what estimation well bred cattle are held. Thus, Short Horns. Bull. Guineas. "Buclinn Hero," (prize bull at Ber - - - ttfi Sx I f_ wick J sold to Messrs wniiianer cc. Tempest, Yorkshire, for 200 Messrs. Higginson & Wilson's 44 Sir 'i'hornas Fairfax." for 155 ! Mr. Jacques'(Richmond, Yorkshire) 44 Clementi," 150 i Mr. Wilson's [Yorkshire) 44 Young Sir Walkin," ^ 100 Coirs. Mr. Jacques'44 Mermaid," 165 do 44 Golden Drop," 160 do 44 Lady Ann," 135 do 44 Rachel," 100 j Mr. Higginson's (Yorkshire,) "Amazon," 135 | do do "Alexandrina," 240, Mr. Wilson's 44 Brawith Bub," 216 ! Calves. Mr. Jacques'hull calf, 44 Dulcimer," 105 | do heifer calf,44 Hippodainia," 60 do do 44 Puriety," 51 Mr. Wdson's do 44 Snowdrop," 60 do do 44 White Rose," 42 Hereford*. i Bulls. Mr. Price's 44 Tramp," 100 ! ~ n'l'molirtv.' 140 i UU I UVUKJ I do ''Washington," 160 ! do " Murphy Delany," 110 | do ' "The Rejected," 110 j do " Victory," 100 Cows. Mr. Price's 44 Wood Pigeon," 150 do "Ceres," 115| do. "Tuberose," 100 j Calves. Mr. Price's 12 bull calves at average price of ?42 10s. each, do 10 heifers calves do do 27 bs. Ad. and Sussex. Balls. Guineas. Mr. Putland's old bull, 52 Cows. do one at 60 r r\ do do ou Dkvoxs. Brills. Ono of Mr. Quartley's (Molland) 16 months, 97 Cows. do do " Comely," 53 Cahcs. Ono at 21-12 do 181-2 At Mr. Parkinson's sale laat year, C1540) the *4 Adelaide" sold for 220 gui. noan. and a hull calf. f*'Collard.") for 200. 1 ^ i"o*? pr>33ib!o, greater attention !* paid than to nny other animals. The pig is the poor man's stock, and of course is his study, so that a knowledge of his "points" and qualities is more generally diffused than of any other animal. The poor man loves his pig; he looks upon him as his winter food, and it is rare that we | And him ignorant of what sort of an animal will turn out well. Rare too, is it, to find the badly kept. The "pig first, pig [family next," is the motto of many. "We had better be pinched in summer than in winter/' was the expression of one who practised this principle. Stjll more rare, therefore, is it to find that thecotta. ger's judgment and care are thrown away. The individual I alluded to above, is an instance: This pig, though of the short cared breed, at 12 months old took the first premium, at the Wetherby meeting, as " the best fair pig/' and at 15 months, produced 440 lbs. of bacon. At the last pig sale in this neighborhood, four young sows of the Rev. Mr. Higginson, fetched ?75; and three, at 3 months old, sold for ?45. Of the value, however, of our various breeds of swine, the American farmer appers to be aware; hence the large impor. tation of each sort into the new world, and Mr. Allen's tour will not, I presume, diminish the demand. In breeding and training the horse, the English farmer has attained the highest possible standing. The English race horse and hunters, carriage horses, and cart horses, are the admiration of the whole world. The extent of the stock of English horses may be judged from the fact that one English dealer, (Mr. Elmore, has engaged to supply the French governiim t K O\f\f\ /itirolr tf Kapoao in thrP/* 1 Hinn H U(| c?t f ail ^ IIUI OV/O III ?f*f vv months: and the^ua/zVy from the circumstances that though the agreement is now nearly completed, our own, stock is so far from being injured, absolutely relieved, (the horses sent, being those hybrids, between the hunter and the chapman, which are the breeders' 44 weeds;"] and that even the hordes rejected by the inspecting officer, are readily sold at a much higher price than the government; gives. Vid. Nimrod's Foreign Sporting New.Monthly Mag. No. 250, page 250.) The pure bred animals of each class are kept at home at superior prices: The race horse varying in price from hundreds to thousands; the hunter from ?50 to JC200i the earring? h?w*e from ?30 to ?100, and the cart horse from 5/ to 40/. Of the permanent improvement in the soils of England, which have been made ' wtthin the last century, but light men- j tion can be made here. Amongst the i most important of the means used, are ; draining, subsoil ploughing, irrigation ' and warping. Draining, irrigation, and ! even subsoil ploughing were no doubt known in the olden time; their extensive adoption, however, as a means of fertilizing the soil, is a modern improvement. Thus though English farmers have known for Hges how to convey water from one place to another by a drain, we do not lind that it was ever employed to thoroughly alter the constitutional and gen? i ??rjaiI It it/no nnl. lh<>n. rtl lUllipci illUi U ui swiii ? iin.i till the general reactions in the spirit of agriculture took place, till TulI, l>y fanning the spark into a sudden flame, set i others to think as well as himself, and till ! Bnkewell had applied the principle to ! breeding, that it began to he understood fully. The labors of Dr. Anderson and Mr. Elkington, [1761^ showed at once that it was an agent which if properly used would he of an immense benefit to and how il should be used. Since that time, it has assumed the shape of progressive system dependent on scientific principles, and as such has improved in its practical details and in its results. The advantageous effect of draining O O upon heavy soils must be just as great as the injurious effect of too much water. What these evil effects are, Professor Johnston in his Lectures at the Durham University, has shown; and Dr. Madden, in an elaborate paper in the u Quarterly Journal of Agriculture," for this month, (Dec. 1841,) sho'vs most beautifully the mechanical as well as the chemical action by which too much moisture injures the vegetative process. To quote j from either of t n se authorities I in this hasty sketch, is not in our power. The good effects of irrigation and warping; both merely systems of applying weak liquid manure in immense quantities, and of the subsoil plough as j an instrument by which the water is per. mittcd to diffuse itself more generally ; through, and the atmosphere to act upon the tenacious subsoil, so as to make a change as it were in the general characn n ter of the component parts of the soil, may also be philosophically demonstrated, j But it is in each case unnecessary. We ! have the proof positive in millions of i acres. Thus the fens of Lincolnshire, j Huntingdonshire, and Cambridgeshire, i which 50 years ago were stagnant mar. j shes, and arc now luxuriant pastures.* j Chat Moss (Lancashire,) in 1820 a yaw. *g00,000 .tcroi of the Lincolnshire fens havo i been reclaim, d. fn othar co nitric* miry acras [hare been similarly reclaim-d 25,L'WJ acres of 1 Ifan are drained >y tm> r?rjrr. engi nes of 6^ a.id tC !s-jrsf power. j ning morass, and now a golden cornfield, j studied with incipient villas, and the statements of Mr. Denison of Kilnwich Percy, (Transactions of the (Yorkshire Agricultural Society,) of the Rev. Mr. Crnft, Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, vol. 2 p. 32,) of Sir Jas Graham (Journal of the Royal English Agricultural Society, vol. 1, p. 32,] and of the author of the British Husbandry, [vide Pamphlet on land draining, &c.) cxhibi ting as they do a change irom comparative sterility to fertility, from a nominal to a fair rent, are practical evidences of the value of the permanent improvements produced by draining, warping, irrigation, and subsoil ploughing. They are evidences too, which, while they profess to record what the system has done for individuals, arc really illustrations of what it is doing for all. Such, then, is a brief sketch of the advance made in the several departments of English agriculture, up to the present period. Of the whole progress, the one county of Lincoln is a lucid eipitome. Divided into three natural portions, the feiis, the heaths, and the wolds, the former of which, fifty years ago, was an unprofitable marsh, and the litter barren sheep walks or miserable oatlands; yet now, by the aid of draining, 200,000 acres of the fens are luxuriant'pastures, which bear a heavy stock of as fine cattle as can ue met with in England; while the icolds, and the heaths, by the adoption of the turnip and clover culture, and the use ot bones and rape dust, send to the market countless flocks of sheep, and ns fine samples of wheat as can be found any where. Thus we learn from the evidence of Mr. R. J. Atkinson. Mr. Francis Isles, and Mr. John Houghton, [vide "Commons, 1837,"] that on the whole of the lands from Lowth to Barton, where thirty or forty years ago wheat was scarcely known, and the land was, generally speaking, uncultivated, much improvement hns been made, even within ten years; that23 to 30 bushels of wheat is an average crop; that it is of a fine quality, and can compete in the markets with that grown on 9trong lands; also, that when clay land has been drained, in some district*, it will bear green crops. To be Continued. REMARKS OF MR. CAMPBELL, OF SOUTH CAROLINA, In the House of Representatives July G, 1S42. A motion to "refer to the select comrnittee appointed on that subject, an authenticated copy of the reasons filed in the State Department by the President of ihc United States for approving the apportionment bill," being under considerration? Mr. Campbell sa:d that, in advocating' the reference proposed, he was confident he was influenced by no feeling of hostility to the President. So far from it, he tnought the whole country owed to that eminent individual a debt of gratitude? not only for having, with the self-devotion of the Roman Curtitts, twice saved it from the yoke of a United Stales Bank; but for having recently prevented the spirit of tho Constitution, which contemplates the unbiased exercise of the opinion of the Executive in the approval of bills, being violated in his person, through the attempt that was made to enforce his (approval of measures which ho was known to be opposed to, by incorporating those measures in a revenue bill, which it was supposed that the urgent necessi| ties of the treasury would compel him to | sanction. ! However much the majority here might differ from tho President in rclation to these acts, it appeared to him that, when the excitement of party had subsided, all, in a calm review of these tran; sactions, would be compelled to award to j him the praise ot an uncompromising ; adherence to principle in the midst of no ordinary trials, a firmness of resolve, and a conscientious discharge of duty in the administration of the Government, that entitled him to respect. Mr. C. had made these remarks to show that he was influenced by no personal or political prejudice in disapI proving the course which the President I had adopted in approving the apportion| ment bill?a course which he conceived j to be not only unauthorized by the Constitution, but was a dangerous (though he did riot doubt an unintentional) encroachment on the privileges of the House, j The language of the Constitution is, i that? "" * wMrh shall have " I Dai every win ' passed the House of Represen'atives and j the Senate shall, before it become a law. I be presented to tho President of the Unij ted States; if he approve, he shall sign j it; but if not, he shall return it, with his I objections, to that ffouse in which it shall | have originated, who shall enter the objections at large upon their journal, and | proceed to reconsider it. ' The reason of the difference thus prescribed in relation to the duties of the President, when he approves and when i he docs not npprove a bill, must be manifest to every gentleman on the slightest j consideration. His declining to approve a bill, is not the absolute negative of th? Roman tribune; it is only a qualified negative, wisely provided us a safeguard against inconsiderate legislation, and pro* duces the necessity of a re-consideration, in which, if the bill receives the approbation of two-thirds of both Houses of Congress, it becomes a law, notwithstanding his objections. In this re-consideration. made necessary hy the express comment* of the Constitution, it is certainly proper that the objections of the President should be in our possession, in order that they may be fully examined. But there ia no language in the Constitution which justifies him, in approving a bill, either to Assign his reasons for so doing on the bill itself, or to file them in the archives of the Government; and, notwithstanding the ingenous arguments of the gentleman [Mr. Cushing] who has just taken his seat, there is nothing in its spirit which justifies him for so doing. The gentle* man argued that the "President is possessed, in part, of legislative power; be* cause his co-operation is necessary to thecreation of a law, unless, after his veto, it is passed by a majority of two thirds of both branches of Congress ; that the mem* bers of either House assigned their reasons for approving a billand inquires " why the President should not be allowed the same privilege?" Without altogether concurring in, or altogether objecting to, the exposition given by the gentleman of the nature of the powers vested in the President, it was sufficient for him to say ? _? that tho members of neiiner nnuw o* Congress claimed or exercised the right to file their reasons in the public archives for approving or opposing a bill. He did not object that the President should assign his reasons for approving a bill, either in communications to his friends, or through the public press, to the country. The press was ns open to him as it was to any citizen. He had indeed been told, the' moment before he rose to address the House, that Gen. Jackson had intimated, through the columns of the Globe, in 1S36. that he intended to assign his re*, sons to the country, through tho press, for approving the distribution act of that year. The gentleman [Mr. Gushing] had also argued that the President might bu considered as u possessing judicial [tow. cr," which he illustrated I?y his right fry approve or disapprove the sentences of courts-inartial. That power, however, if judicial it may be called, Mr. Campbell contended, must be confined, within tho limits of the Constitution, to the approval or disapproval of sentences of courtsmartial ; and does not authorize the Pres. ident, clothed with authority and patron, nge, at the moment of approving a law, " v? li'. ro/,?n?v for so I unu?:i It. -- ! new. ha* this House heretofore guarded ' its privileges, that, rather than allow the other branch of the Legislature to parti, cipate so lar as o^en to give its sanction I to rules op eviderrte to govern catcs of I contested eJecrionr*. if lias submitted for to file an exposuwu i>j #.?? ?v~.? doing?giving, perhaps, a construction to the law, by which the courts and juries of the country may be overawed, or intimidated, or in some other manner influenced, in the independent discharge fif their duties. To show conclusively the impropriety of the course adopted bv the President, let us suppose thnt, in the moment of ap. proving u criminal law, he should file an exposition of his reasons for so doing in the Department of State, giving a eon* struction to it different from the construe, tion afterwards given by (he court. An individual is indicted under this law, trie<j4 found guilty, and sentenced to death, (la applies to the President for pardon. He says to him ; 44 Sir, according to the eon. struction which you placed upon the law, and filed in the archives of the country at the moment of signing it, 1 would not have been found guilty; but the courts have construed it differently, and I am sentenced to die. To you is confided the pardoning power; and had it not been for the prospect of impunity held out to me by your act, I would never have committed the deed for which I am condemned." No matter what change may have taken place in the President's opin? ion in relation to the proper construction ?i-- i??, i,a ivnuld bo bound in honor, OI UIU ia tt | ?v | in religion, and in humanity, to pardon i the individual, who, perhaps, without this i unauthorized act of his, would never have been guilty of the crime for which he was condemned. Thus you sec that, by this course, the President might not only ex. erciso an indirect influence over the courts, but destroy his own independence in the administration of the laws. But why should we suppose coses of aggravation, when there is not one in the < whole catalogue of laws, in which such j an net on the part of the President could be-so alarming as in the present? The apportionment law, for approving which he has filed his reasons in the State Department, is on election law. intended exclusively to regulate the elections of the members of this House. Under the Constitution, each House is the exclusive judge of the qualifications, returns, and elections of its mcm!>ors." Ifere, how. cvrr, is an interpretation put upon (ho law by the President, expressing a strong doubt of its constitutionality, which is calculated to influence the judgment of member*, irv deciding upon election** held ' ?1?_ With such jealous watchful.