UNITED STATES.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XV, Issue 80, 3 January 1857, Page 4

UNITED STATES.

A message was received by the Senate on the 6th of August from the President, stating that the Governor of California had asked for a quantity of arms and ammunition, and also for the use of the naval and military forces of the United States, to suppress insurrectionary movements. President Pierce, having had the opinion of the Attorney-General on the subject, refuses to interfere.

In the House of Representatives, on the same day, a debate arose on the bill relative to the appropriation of money for the expenses of public justice. It was resolved that no portion of the money should be expended for prosecuting or detaining any person charged with treason in Kansas. A clause appropriating 20,000 dollars for the legal expenses of the Legislative Assembly of Kansas was struck out of the bill.

The Senate, on the Bth of August, passed the house bill, granting a million and a-half acres of land to Mississipi for railroad purposes. Cholera has broken out at Staten Island. There is much alarm at New York about the cholera, from the quantity of shipping from all parts of the world in the harbour. Nearly 10,000 dollars have been raised for the sufferers by the inundations in France.

In the House of Representatives, the new Tariff Bill, introduced by Mr. Campbell, was under consideration. It increases the list of articles duty free which enter into American manufacture, and are not produced in the United States. It is estimated that the bill will, if passed, reduce the annual revenue about 6,000,000 of dollars. Kansas was subsiding into quietness. The yellow fever was diminishing at New York. New Orleans was visited by a great storm on the 28th of July; 137 lives are reported to have been lost, and property had suffered immense damage. The boiler attached to the patent iron safe manufactory of Messrs. Wilder and Co., corner of Thirteenth-street and Third-avenue, Brooklyn, exploded on the 9th of August, demolishing about one-half of the building, killing three persons, and wounding some 15 others. The noise of the explosion was heard at a great distance.

Judge Halliburton (Sam Slick) has resigned his judgeship. The New York correspondent of the Times, speaking of the coming presidential contest, says : — " Old charges are raked up against Mr. Buchanan — charges of slander of Mr. Clay, of misapplication of the public funds while Secretary of State, &c. ; and the public are entertained also with a romantic history of early

love, disappointment, and death of the lady, whose memory, it is said, has kept him single through life. On the other hand, Mr. Fremont, who, up to this time, has enjoyed a reputation of singular purity, is charged with peculation of the public funds while an officer in California, and the Senate of the United States have lent themselves to the charge by sanctioning the call of Mr. Bigler (an adminis trative senator and personal friend of Buchanan) for an ex parte statement of his accounts while conquering our Eldorado, in which I anticipate that the officials will try to make it appear that a man whose reputation ought to be cherished as national property has descended to the meanness of public plunder. It is the curse of public life in this country that honest men's reputations are never free from such vituperation. A life like Mr. Buchanan's, or a character like Colonel Fremont's, is no shield against the slanderer's shaft. The student of its history finds consolation in knowing that even the exalted character of Washington was not spared by his opponents, and in seeing how little the world's judgment has been influenced by the attacks. When the Senate's report is made, I shall have more to say about this matter."

The English steamer Panama has been lost near Cape Tamori. The crew were saved, but the ship has become a total wreck.

An insurrection, said to have been caused by Spanish intrigues, has broken out in San Domingo.

Instructions have been sent to Mr. Dallas to negotiate for the settlement of the Central American question on this basis — the cession of Ruatan to Honduras, the extinguishment of the sovereignty of the Mosquitoes, and the establishment of Greytown as a free port. Walker's position in Nicaragua was very doubtful. Rivas, at Leon, was organizing a powerful resistance to his authority. A combined movement against Walker with Costa Rica is arranged.

A strong British naval force was at Greytown.

Particulars of the storm nt New Orleans have come to hand. It appears to have been most terrific in its consequences ; Last Island, a summer resort, was completely inundated, and about 200 persons lost their lives ; Grand Caillon Island, another watering place, also suffered severely. Altogether, about 300 persons perished. The steamer Nautilus was wrecked in the storm, and all on board perished.

The town of Belize, Honduras, was almost totally destroyed by fire on the 17th of July. The yellow fever continues to rage at Havana.

Orthographic. — A shoemaker received a note from a lady to whom he was particularly attached, requesting him to make her a pair of shoes, and not knowing exactly the style she required, he despatched a written missive to her, asking her whether she would like them "Wround or Esq. Toad." The fair one, indignant at this rich specimen of orthography, replied " Kneether."

The following account of a singular marriage is given the United States Trenton Gazette of the sth of August : — A young man residing in Bordentown, who was under an engagement of marriage with a young lady, died on Friday last. Both the gentleman and lady, as well as their families, were firm believers in the doctrines of the Spiritualists, and, notwithstanding the death of the former, it was determined that the mairiage should take place between the disembodied spirit of the young man and the living breathing body of his affianced bride. Accordingly, on Sunday the marriage ceremony was performed between the clay cold corpse and the warm blooming bride. It is understood that this was in compliance with the directions of the spirit of the bridegroom. The devotion of the lady to the spirit or the memory of her lover carried her through this ceremony without faltering, but it must lead to unhappiness, for she no doubt considers herself as the wife of one whom she shall meet in the body never more. Her heart lies buried in the grave with him who should have been her guide and protector. Among all the singular things recorded of the Spiritualists we have met with nothing parallel to this."

Setting Him up to Knock Him Down. — Tom Moore, observing himself to be eyed by two handsome young ladies, inquired of a friend who was near enough to hear their remarks, what it was they said of him. " Why the taller one observed that she was delighted to have had the pleasure of seeing so famous a personage." "Indeed!" said the gratified poet, "anything more?" "Yes. She said she was the more pleased because she had taken in your celebrated 'Almanac' for the last five or six years !"