of which, however, were amicably adjusted. Mr. Webster succeeded in negotiating a treaty with the British minister, by which a route across Nicaragua, in Central America, was opened to both nations.

URING the Hungarian struggle for indepen

dence, the government of the United States had sent an agent to that country, to ascertain exactly the position of affairs, so that, if it was probable the independence of Hungary could be maintained, its government might be recognised. In the month of December, 1850, a racy correspondence concerning this agency occurred between Secretary Webster, and Chevalier Hulsemann, the Austrian minister to the United States. The reply of Mr. Webster to the letter of the minister was a noble vindication of the conduct of the government, and worthy the character of the age, and the peculiar position of America.

In the spring of 1851, another Cuban expedition was resolved upon by those who had made the former attempt to revolutionize that island. In several southern ports men and supplies were collected, and the bustle of preparation indicated to the officers of the general government what was afoot. The President issued a proclamation, announcing his determination to uphold the neutral laws, and notifying those who violated them, that they would place themselves beyond the protection of the government. Nevertheless, the steamer Pampero, with more than 400 men on board, under the command of General Lopez, sailed for Cuba, in August. The troops were landed at Bahia Honda; but none of the inhabitants joined them, as they had been taught to expect. A detachment under Colonel Crittenden, being left in charge of the baggage, while General Lopez, with the main body proceeded into the interior, was attacked by a greatly superior force of Spaniards, and after a desperate resistance, dispersed. Colonel Crittenden and 51 men, attempting to escape in boats, were captured, taken to Havana, and shot. In the meantime, General Lopez was attacked by the Spanish troops; he repulsed them with slaughter at first, but they were reinforced, and returning to the attack, compelled the Americans to disperse. Most of them were killed or captured. General Lopez was taken, and sent to Havana, where he was put to death by garotte, a favorite instrument of execution among the Spaniards.

the

In June, 1852, the national convention of the Democratic party assembled at Baltimore. Resolutions, embodying the principles of the party, were adopted, and after forty-nine ballotings, Franklin Pierce, of New

Hampshire, was nominated for the Presidency of the United States. William R. King, of Alabama, was placed upon the same ticket as the democratic candidate for the office of Vice-President. Soon after the adjournment of this convention, the national convention of the Whig party assembled in the same city. A "platform" of principles was adopted. On the fifty-third ballot, General Winfield Scott, of New Jersey, received the nomination of the convention for the office of President of the United States. William A. Graham, of North Carolina, was the nominee of the convention for the Vice-Presidency. Both of these national conventions sanctioned, in express terms, the "compromise measures." In August, a "free soil" convention was held at Pittsburg, and John P. Hale, of New Hampshire, and George W. Julian, of Indiana, were nominated for the Presidency and Vice-Presidency. Other candidates were nominated in various sections of the Union.

At the election, held on the 23d of November, the candidates of the national democratic party received majorities in all but four StatesMassachusetts, Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee, in which the Whig candidates obtained majorities. Franklin Pierce and William R. King were therefore elected to the offices for which they were nominated.

We have thus traced the history of the United States of America from their discovery by Cabot, to the present time. Their progress in wealth and population is almost unparalleled in the history of nations. The thirteen States which declared their independence of Great Britain now form but a small portion of the vast territory under the authority of the national government. The most valuable portions of North America prosper beneath our protecting banner, and a free, enlightened, brave and enterprising people throng the fertile soil. A glorious future opens before this progressive empire, and she will compass it, if internal shocks do not part her constituent elements. The United States, with union, harmony, and a careful observance of the eternal maxims of liberty and justice, must become one of the most powerful empires known to time; or all indications of their present prosperity are delusive.

APPENDIX.

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Signed on the 4th of July, 1776, by a congress of delegates, assembled at Philadelphia, from the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia.

WHEN, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind, requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men were created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present king of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operations till his assent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws, for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature-a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies, at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the danger of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws, for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers, to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislature.

He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power. He has combined with others, to subject us to a jurisdiction, foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation, For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock-trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing taxes on us without our consent:

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury :

For transporting us beyond seas, to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument, for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies: For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection, and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun, with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the