foreign postages collected for and payable to the British Govern

ment.

"The expenditures for the same period were 5,212,953 dollars 43c., leaving a balance of revenue over expenditure of 348,018 dollars 5c. I am happy to find that the fiscal condition of the department is such as to justify the PostmasterGeneral in recommending the reduction of our inland letter postage to 3c. the single letter when prepaid, and 5c. when not prepaid. He also recommends that the prepaid rate shall be reduced to 2c. whenever the revenues of the department, after the reduction, shall exceed the expenditures by more than 5 per cent. for two consecutive years; that the postage upon California and other letters sent by our ocean steamers shall be much reduced; and that the rates of postage on newspapers, pamphlets, periodicals, and other printed matter, shall be modified and some reduction thereon made.

It cannot be doubted that the proposed reduction will for the present diminish the revenues of the department. It is believed that the deficiency, after the surplus already accumulated shall be exhausted, may be almost wholly met, either by abolishing the existing privileges of sending free matter through the mails, or by paying out of the Treasury to the Postoffice department a sum equivalent to the postage of which it is deprived by such privileges. The latter is supposed to be the preferable mode, and will, if not entirely, so nearly supply the deficiency as to make any further appropriation that may be found necessary so inconsiderable as to form no obstacle to the proposed reductions.

difficulties and delays incident to the settlement of private claims by Congress, amount in many cases to a denial of justice. There is reason to apprehend that many unfortunate creditors of the Government have thereby been unavoidably ruined. Congress has so much business of a public character that it is impossible it should give much attention to mere private claims, and their accumulation is now so great that many claimants must despair of ever being able to obtain a hearing. It may well be doubted whether Congress, from the nature of its organization, is properly constituted to decide upon such cases. It is impossible that each member should examine the merits of every claim on which he is compelled to vote, and it is preposterous to ask a judge to decide a case which he has never heard.

Such decisions may, and frequently must, do injustice either to the claimant or the Government, and I perceive no better remedy for this growing evil than the establishment of some tribunal to adjudicate upon such claims. I beg leave, therefore, most respectfully to recommend that provision be made by law for the appointment of a commission to settle all private claims against the United States; and as an ex parte hearing must in all contested cases be very unsatisfactory, I also recommend the appointment of a solicitor, whose duty it shall be to represent the Government before such commission, and protect it against all illegal, fraudulent, or unjust claims which may be presented for their adjudi

cation.

Measures of the Session.—“It was hardly to have been expected that the series of measures passed at your last Session with the view

of healing the sectional differences which had sprung from the slavery and territorial questions, should at once have realized their beneficent purpose. All mutual concessions in the nature of a compromise must necessarily be unwelcome to men of extreme opinions; and though without such concessions our Constitution could not have been formed and cannot be permanently sustained, yet we have seen them made the subject of bitter controversy in both sections of the Republic. It required many months of discussion and deliberation to secure the concurrence of a majority of Congress in their favour. It would be strange if they had been received with immediate approbation by people and States prejudiced and heated by the exciting controversy of their representatives. "I believe these measures to have been required by the circumstances and condition of the country. I believe they were necessary to allay asperities and animosities that were rapidly alienating one section of the country from another, and destroying those fraternal sentiments which are the strongest support of the Constitution. They were adopted in the spirit of conciliation and for the purpose of conciliation. I believe that a great majority of our fellow citizens sympathize in that spirit and that purpose, and in the main approve, and are prepared in all respects to sustain, these enactments. I cannot doubt that the American people, bound together by kindred blood and common traditions, still cherish a paramount regard for the Union of their fathers, and that they are ready to rebuke any attempt to undermine its integrity, to disturb the compromises on which it is passed, or to resist the laws which

have been enacted under its authority.

"The series of measures to which I have alluded are regarded by me as a settlement in principle and substance-a final settlement of the dangerous and exciting subjects which they embraced. Most of these subjects, indeed, are beyond your reach, as the legislation which disposed of them was, in its character, final and irrevocable. It may be presumed from the opposition which they all encountered that none of those measures were free from imperfections, but in their mutual dependence and connection they formed a system of compromise, the most conciliatory and the best for the entire country that could be obtained from conflicting sectional interests and opinions.

"For this reason I recommend your adherence to the adjustment established by those measures, until time and experience shall demonstrate the necessity of further legislation to guard against evasion or abuse.

"By that adjustment we have been rescued from the wide and boundless agitation that surrounded us, and have a firm, distinct, and legal ground to rest upon. And the occasion, I trust, will justify me in exhorting my countrymen to rally upon and maintain that ground as the best if not the only means of restoring peace and quiet to the country and maintaining inviolate the integrity of the Union.

"And now, fellow citizens, I cannot bring this communication to a close without invoking you to join me in humble and devout thanks to the great Ruler of nations for the multiplied blessings which He has graciously bestowed on us. His hand, so often visible in our

preservation, has stayed the pestilence, saved us from foreign wars and domestic disturbances, and scattered plenty throughout the land

"Our liberties, religious and civil, have been maintained, the fountains of knowledge have all been kept open, and means of happiness widely spread and generally enjoyed, greater than have fallen to the lot of any other nation. And,

while deeply penetrated with gratitude for the past, let us hope that His all-wise providence will so guide our councils as that they shall result in giving satisfaction to our constituents, securing the peace of the country, and adding new strength to the united Government under which we live.

66

MILLARD FILLMORE.

"Washington, Dec. 2, 1850."

1. A

CCIDENT ON THE EAST

re

LANCASHIRE RAILWAY. -A serious accident occurred at the Maghull station of this railway. A passenger train of one carriage only left Preston at 8 o'clock in the evening; at Ormskirk there was a considerable accession of passengers, so that on arriving at the Maghull station it was solved to add to the train an empty carriage which was standing on a siding, and the train was shunted on to the other line of rails for this purpose. Suddenly a train was heard approaching: the passengers took alarm, conceiving that they were on the wrong line, and jumped out. The Liverpool train came up at great speed, and, the night being dark and great confusion prevailing, struck down three passengers, who were killed on the spot, and their bodies frightfully mutilated. The alarm was totally groundless, for the train, having been run on to the other line of rails, was perfectly safe, and the train which caused the disaster was on the line which the passenger train had left, and would have passed them harmlessly; whereas had they remained on their own line a fearful collision must have taken place.

3. FIRE IN COVENTRY STREET. VOL. XCII.

-About 11 o'clock at night a fire, attended with a considerable destruction of property, happened at No. 4, Coventry Street, Haymarket, in the tenure of Messrs. Creese and Co., Court boot and shoe makers. The fire commenced in the manufactory at the rear of the warehouse, and in the course of a few minutes the whole of the factory became a mass of flames. On one side of the burning premises stood the extensive property of Mr. Sneezum, a builder, in Rupert Street; and on the other side, the premises of Mr. Taylor, stationer. By the great exertions of the firebrigade the adjoining property was saved from the conflagration, but the premises in which the misfortune occurred were levelled with the ground, the valuable stock-in-trade in the front warehouse seriously damaged, and the property of Mr. Taylor, Mr. Sneezum, and several others, severely injured by fire, water, and hasty removal.

7. SHOCKING OCCURRENCE AT THE CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.Samuel Grieves Harvey, a tall, powerful man, was indicted for an assault on James Dodsley Tawney, a diminutive and sickly man, an attorney.

The prosecutor, whose arm was
B

in a sling, and who was suffering severely, gave an account of the assault, which appeared to be most brutal and unprovoked, greatly aggravated by the circumstance that the prisoner was well aware the unfortunate man was suffering under a disease of the heart, and that such an attack was calculated to endanger his life.

The prosecutor, who had given his evidence with great difficulty, and who was evidently in a state of great excitement and suffering, having replied to one or two questions that were put to him by Mr. Ballantine, was about to retire from the witness-box, when he seemed in an instant to lose all power, and fell senseless in the arms of some persons who stood near him. He was laid upon the floor of the court, and Mr. Clayton, the surgeon who examined his injuries after the occurrence, and another medical gentleman who was accidentally present, immediately attended upon and used their utmost exertions to restore him.

Mr. Ballantine, addressing the Court, said, that he did not require the evidence of the surgeon. It was impossible for him to deny that an assault had been committed by the defendant, or to attempt to justify it under such circumstances.

The Recorder then briefly addressed the jury, and after observing that the learned counsel for the defendant who had, as it appeared to him, behaved with the utmost propriety in the course he had adopted-having admitted that the conduct of the defendant could not be justified, the jury would only have to say that the charge of assault had been proved.

The jury accordingly returned a verdict of Guilty."

During these proceedings the unfortunate prosecutor continued under the charge of the medical gentlemen, and an intimation was given that he was in a dangerous condition.

The Recorder, addressing the defendant, said, he had been convicted of what he felt compelled from the bench to describe as a most aggravated and brutal assault. At present he should not pass sentence upon him, because, in the condition of the prosecutor, it was uncertain what the result would be; and if his death were to take place, and it was found to have been accelerated by the violence he had made use of towards him, he would undoubtedly be called upon to answer a much higher charge.

Just as the learned Judge had concluded, a sensation of horror was excited in the court by the announcement by one of the medical gentlemen that the unfortunate prosecutor had expired. The excitement had been too much for him, and he lay a lifeless corpse at the foot of the witness-box, where a few minutes previously he had been giving his evidence.

The Recorder then gave directions that the prisoner should be detained to answer any charge that might be preferred against him, arising out of the death of the unfortunate prosecutor.

The body of the deceased was placed in a cab to be conveyed to his residence.

From the report made by the medical officers, it appeared that Harvey could not be put on his trial for the more serious crime, and he was sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment for the assault.

10. RIOT AT A PROTECTIONIST