Gallery of Industry and Enterprise. 85 ART. XIII-GALLERY OF INDUSTRY AND ENTERPRISE. MAUNSEL WHITE, MERCHANT, OF NEW-ORLEANS. With a Portrait. THE name of Maunsel White has been familiar in New-Orleans during the whole period of its American history, and he has ever sustained the reputation of a good man, a useful citizen, an enterprising and irreproachable merchant. His commercial operations have indeed given him high position throughout the whole Valley of the Mississippi. Col. White arrived in this country from Ireland in early youth, and reached NewOrleans in 1801, when it was hardly more than a respectable village, and when only scattering settlements were to be found on the waters of the Ohio or the Mississippi as low down as Point Coupee. If we had the materials for a full biography, it would hardly be necessary in New-Orleans, where Col. White is so well known, to give it. He was at an early period member of council, and head of the Finance Committee, and in that capacity suggested the plan which has worked so well of making property contribute to the expense of paving the streets, and also a plan for protecting the city from inundations. Had the latter been adopted, our subsequent insecurity and losses would have been prevented. As head of the Finance Committee, Col. White was succeeded by our worthy citizen, Samuel J. Peters, to whom he pointed out treasury errors, which that gentleman with characteristic zeal investigated, exposing in the result some very serious defalcations. In 1846, Col. White was elected to the Senate from the Parish of Plaquemine, and served during four years, occupying prominent positions on the Committees of Finance and Commerce, and very frequently the Presidency, pro tem., of the body. He was appointed by Governor Johnson one of the administrators of the University, and has served ever since very faithfully and assiduously, donating liberally to the institution, as we have had occasion to mention before. During the invasion of Louisiana by the British, Col. White, at the head of one of the city volunteer companies, repaired to the standard of Gen. Jackson, and was present in most of the engagements which conferred so much honor upon that officer, and upon our gallant citizen soldiery. General Jackson, to the close of his life, remembered kindly, and often adverted to the services of Col. White, there having sprung up on the battlefield an acquaintance between them which ripened into a friendship long and uninterrupted. Perhaps one of the very last letters written by the old hero was to Col. White. Col. White married into the family of the late Gen. P. De La Ronde, who was also an intimate friend of Gen. Jackson. In all the purposes of public improvement and reform which for the past few years have been attracting so much attention in NewOrleans, no one was more enlightened and active than Col. White. As President of one of the Rail-road Conventions, and as Chairman of the Executive Committee afterwards, his course gave the most entire satisfaction, and was highly commended. Had not financial reverses come upon him at this juncture, his subscriptions to public improvements would have equaled that of any citizen of Louisiana.* He was an early and consistent advocate of the consolidation of the Municipalities, and supported the new Constitution of the State, as a measure indispensable to her prosperity, though requiring many amendments. The charities and good offices of Col. White have been numerous, and many there are who will treasure his memory long after his place shall have become void among us, It is not fitting to mention them here. Our worthy citizen has long experienced, and we hope long will, that— What nothing earthly gives or can destroy, *Col. White has again resumed commercial busiIn a note which we received from him last ness. summer, and from which we take the liberty of extracting, he says: "I am now working silently, and I think surely, to the accomplishment of my views. viz: the payment of all the debts due of the late firm, and the collection of the debts due to them. Full of confidence in my own integrity, and with the blessing of God. I made up my mind to bring everything I had under the hammer. The result is, that peace of mind which no merely worldwho published the suspension could do would be to ly prosperity could ever give." The least the papers publish the resumption also. ART. XIV.-EDITORIAL-LITERARY-MISCELLANEOUS, ETC. FAIR OF SOUTH CAROLINA INSTITUTE-HINT TO SUGAR PLANTERS-SLAVERY AND FANATICISMVIRGINIA RAIL-ROADS AND CANALS-POEM ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER--HEALTH OF NEW-ORLEANS AND CHARLESTON-YELLOW FEVER-OPERATIONS IN REMOVING THE OBSTRUCTIONS AT THE BAR OF CHARLESTON AND AT THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI-NEW BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, ADDRESSES, ETC.-EDITORIAL NOTES, ETC. WE had the pleasure of attending, in November last, the great Fair of the South Carolina Institute, at Charleston, South Carolina. Many of the prominent gentlemen of that and the neighboring states were present, and the exhibition of agricultural and mechanical products was in the highest degree interesting and creditable. A special building was erected for the purposes of the exhibition, which for more than a week was crowded, night and day, with the intelligence, wealth and beauty of the city. But for the unhealthiness of the past season in Charleston, the attendance and exhibition would have been much larger. We cannot doubt that the most beneficial and permanent results will accrue from the action of the association. The list of articles on exhibition numbered about 300. We saw ladies' work, gins, manufactured cloths, carriages, cotton gins, paintings, guns, glass work, shell work, boots and shoes, hats, baskets, saddles, boats, stoves, stationery, paper, iron work, olive oil, rope, gunnery, rice, sugar, cotton, horses, colts, calves, pigs, dogs, sheep, steam-engines, &c., in great variety and of various excellence. The poultry exhibition was never equalled before in the southern country; and from its variety, rarity and extent, afforded delight to every one. During the fair, several regattas took place in the harbor, which were witnessed by tens of thousands of the citizens, who crowded every wharf and every window fronting upon the broad bay which stretches out from the battery. Charleston seemed, indeed, in her holiday clothes. So much life and excitement was hardly witnessed before. The annual address was delivered by Edwin Ruffin, Esq., of Virginia, a gentleman long and favorably known to the agricultural world. It was able and practical, and appears in another part of the present number of the Review. Mr. Soulé, of Louisiana, was also expected to take part, but business preented his appearance, which was a serious disappointment to his thousands of friends and admirers. At the complimentary dinner given to Mr. Ruffia, speeches were delivered by that gentleman, and also by J. H. Couper, and Judge Whitsell of Georgia; Hon. R. F. W. Allston, Hon. Isaac E. Holmes, William Gregg, Professor Holmes, Mr. Pressly, Mr. Hart, Mr. Lawton of Charleston, and J. D. B. De Bow of Louisiana. The occasion was one of great hilarity, and will long live in our memory. Success to the noble movement which our friends in Carolina are making for the promotion of southern industry, and may its influences extend far and wide." We shall recur to the subject again. A friend in Louisiana has sent us the certificate of a sugar planter, of British Guiana, Isaac Henry, Esq., as to some matters of practical application there in regard to the sugar crop and sugar machinery, which he thinks may be of use to our planters. The character and standing of Mr. Henry, and his experience as a planter, are vouched for by the American consul resident in Guiana. The gentleman who sends us the certificate is prepared to execute orders for the machinery, dippers, &c., and to set the double batteries, flood-gates, &c. tificate is as follows: The cer "PLANTATION LA PENITANCE, County of Demerara, British Guiana, "16th Sept., 1852. "By request of Mr. G. de Bretton, of Louisiana, I hereby certify that the double batteries in use on this plantation, as well as on most of the other sugar plantations in this country, possess several important advantages above the old mode of single batteries. In the first place, the two fires meeting under the other kettles, causes a much greater ebullition, and, consequently, a greater evaporation. Secondly, There is a great saving of fuel and labor, as one set of kettles with double batteries will almost do the work of two sets with single batteries, in consequence, as above stated, of the fire from both batteries concentrating under the other kettles in the train. Thirdly, The cane juice being a shorter time exposed to the action of the fire, the sugar is, therefore, of a much fairer quality. "I must also certify as to the utility of the sugar dipper in use on this estate, as well as on all others throughout this country. In fact, they are indispensable, where double batteries are used, and is an invention of much importance, as they take off the whole Editorial Literary-Miscellaneous, Etc. strike of sugar at once, and all of the same consistency, causing thereby a less quantity of molasses. "The above are great improvements in the manufacture of Muscovado sugar, and worthy the attention of sugar planters." 87 and the nation, it is dead to every feeling of patriotism and brotherly kindness, full of strife and pride, strewing the path of the slave with thorns, and of the master with difficulties-accomplishing nothing good, forever creating disturbance." A friend in Virginia has kindly sent us a circular, showing the liabilities and resources of Lynchburgh, from which we perceive that the liabilities reach $398,990, of which $50,000 was for the water works, $52,000 for James River Canal, $283 for Virginia and The reTennessee Rail-road Company. sources of the city are valued at $387,620. Upon the subject of the James River Canal, the circular says: We continue to receive, through J. B. Steel, the numbers of Lippincott, Grambo & Co.'s edition of Sir Walter Scott's novels, which are printed in beautiful style and on fine white paper, with illustrations. The work will be published in 24 parts, semimonthly, each containing a complete novel. We have now before us Rob Roy and the Black Dwarf. From the same house we received Wild Western Scenes; or, Adventures in the West, with humorous designs- "This work is finished to Buchanan, a embracing exploits of Daniel Boon, bear, distance of 196 miles from Richmond. deer and buffalo hunts, conflicts with savages, When time and experience shall have proven wolf hunts, &c. Mr. Steel also sends us the fallacy of making state interests subserthe History of the Mormons, or Latter Day vient to federal politics, and sectional jeaSaints, in the Valley of the Great Salt lousies shall have given way to a desire for Lake, by Lieut. Gunnisson, of the Topo- the general good, this great work will be susgraphical Engineers. The work, in treating tained and pushed forward as the main artery of the rise, progress, doctrines, &c., of this of the state, on whose capacious tide the imsingular order, and of the country which they mense tonnage that lies land-locked in the inhabit, is one necessarily of great interest, region it was designed to penetrate, will be and will receive more elaborate attention borne through the centre of the state to the from us hereafter. We make the same re- sea-board. Then will this work take its true mark in regard to Cassiday's History of position, and its stock approximate that due Louisville from the earliest settlement till 1852, which Mr. Steel has kindly furnished us. It is a carefully prepared work, covering a wide and interesting field, valuable in facts and statistics, and affording material for quite an interesting article which we shall furnish. Mrs. Eastman has written, perhaps, the very best answer to that gross libel upon the South, denominated "Uncle Tom's Cabin." She has entitled her work Aunt Phillis' Cabin, or, Southern Life as It Is; and has furnished many admirable and truthful pictures, contrasting the slave of the South with the free laborer of other countries. The work is already popular, but can we expect the remedy to extend as far as the poison has so quickly gone? If any one will prepare for us a review of this new class of literature which is springing up, and of which Mrs. Stowe's work was the precursor, we shall be most pleased to publish it. Indeed, if time admits, and nobody else will undertake the task, we almost feel determined to set about it ourself. Mr. Thompson, of the Literary Messenger, Richmond, has set the example by preparing for his own journal a most triumphant vindication of the South. In the preface to Mrs. Eastman's book, she says of abolitionism: Born in fanaticism, nurtured in violence, it exists. Turning aside the institutions and commands of God, treading under foot the love of country, despising the laws of nature appreciation which time will and must give it. The tonnage and travel have greatly increased during the present year; and when the North River improvement is completed, and the Virginia and Tennessee Rail-road, stretching one arm towards Tennessee, and the other towards Kentucky and Ohio, shall begin to attract the immense tonnage of those regions, there is every reason to anticipate a very large increase of its annual revenues--especially if enlightened policy shall dictate a judicious revision of its present tariff of tolls. The capital of this company is $5,000,000, three-fifths of which is owned by the State of Virginia. In regard to the Virginia and Tennessee Road, we have the following: (Will not gentlemen in Virginia complete our information upon the rail-road system of that state?) 66 Fifty miles of the most difficult part of this road have been completed and equipped, and an additional ten miles (to Salem) will be finished by the 1st day of December. It has already passed the BlueBridge, is laid with a heavy U rail, and, when completed, will extend from Lynchburgh to the Tennessee line, a distance of 205 miles, where it will connect with other improvements of a like character, extending to Memphis on the Mississippi river, thus affording, when the South-side and Petersburgh and Norfolk Rail-roads are completed, a continuous line of communication from Norfolk, Richmond and Petersburgh Where might and madness struggle in the heart Tell us, when far away to Memphis, and that through the portion of our state most remarkable for its fertility and agricultural products, and the abundance of its water-power for manufacturing purposes: not to speak of the magnificent cabinet of minerals which Nature, from her vast laboratory, has deposited along the route selected for this road, and which, like the treasures in the cave of the Genii, remains hid from mortal sight, only awaiting the tramp of the In Time's gray dawning, still the nations slept, iron horse' to cause the charmed doors to fly Did'st thou all proudly cleave the wilderness, open and exhibit the gorgeous display to the As sweeps a mighty vision through the brain astonished Tribes of long ago of the world. The capital of of slumbering Titan? gaze this company is $3,000,000, of which the of mystery, have fled, and left no voice Whose path of empire lies amid the clouds state owns three-fifths. The whole of this To whisper their glories. Warrior-chiefs work is now under contract, and is to be Whose council-circle on thy margin shone, completed by the first day of January, 1855. Swift as the swallow's pinion, too have passed 4 The Indian maid whose shallop swept thy wave, Before that day, however, the rich products As foam from off the billow. Now the Power of the southwest--its salt, lead, copper, iron, That rules an iron-arteried domaingypsum, coals of various kinds, &c., &c., will Whose voice is in the hurricane-and make Sails with the steam-fiend-chains the fiery tongue have commenced to pour through this grand A slave of wild Impossibilitythoroughfare in a stream that will waken the drowsy energies of commerce in our old mother state, and quicken the already active pulse of trade in our own thriving city. From the large and increasing business which this road is now doing in tonnage and travel, we feel authorized in putting it down as an 8 per cent. stock: some think it will pay even more." The following embodies many beautiful thoughts, and is one of the most appropriate tributes ever received by the old "Father of Waters." It is from the pen of a young poetess, whose laurels are clustering thick, and who, in the fulness of time, must become one of the first stars in our literary constellation. She is at present one of the editors of the Ladies' Book, published in New-Orleans, a monthly, beautifully printed and illustrated, and quite equal to and more worthy of patronage at home than any of those of the North. THE MISSISSIPPI.* Strong, deep, restless, through Columbia's heart Sublime, serene, Most beautiful art thou! majestical It has been decided that the name Mississippi is composed of two words, Messes (great,) and Seppe (river,) consequently the original signification is the "Great River," and not the "Father of Waters." The Genius of my country furls his wing As curb the surges of the frozen Pole; Yet one may stand on thy long, wooded shores, Eternity incomprehensible. Thou hast a voice, proud river, and my soul Mr. Thompson of the Literary Messenger has in preparation a work to be entitled the "Authors and Writers of the South," which, with brief biographies, will include selections, The Messenger itself is one of the best repositories of such material, and is deserving of a circulation in every part of the Union. etc. We regret to understand that the Southern Quarterly Review is not sustained so well as its eminent merits should claim. Mr. Simms has labored assiduously in the service of the work, and has deserved a better reward from the Southern people. As an author he has been untiring, and the most of his illustrations have been taken at home. We have before us now his last work, entitled the "Sword and Distaff," a capital story, the chief incidents of which are of the revolutionary period, and are located in South Carolina. No man of his age in America has Editorial-Literary-Miscellaneous, Etc. In Charleston, on the other hand, the present season has been disastrous in many respects, though more from false and exaggerated rumors than from the actual mortality. The first case of yellow fever took place, says the Charleston Medical Journal, on the 8th August, from that period the deaths ranged from 15 to 45 weekly, and the total of deaths up to 1st November, when the disease ceased, was 279. The number of deaths in 1838, before the city and Neck were consolidated, was 353. The disease was, for the most part, in its fatal effects, confined to the Irish and other foreign residents. When in Philadelphia last summer we were presented by Mr. Job Tyson, whose acquaintance we were happy to form, with a copy of his admirable "Letters on the Resources of Philadelphia," addressed to the British Consul, Mr. Peter. The letters are classical as well as statistical, and we shall hereafter extract liberally from them. Mr. Tyson also presented us a copy of his address before the Girard College. Prof. Holmes, of the College of Charleston, who was kind enough to exhibit to us the magnificent museum of natural history and geology which has been collected in one of the halls of the institution, presented us at the same time a copy of his report upon the nature of the "Borings" now being conduct ed by Capt. Moffitt, at the bar of Charleston, in order to remove the impediment to its navigation. In the opinion of Capt. Moffitt, the existence of a bed of calcareous or limestone rock in the channel would greatly promote 89 the chances of success in deepening the Bar, a matter of vital importance to Charleston if she would carry out her steamship lines to Europe, etc. The same importance attaches to our own movements at the mouth of the Mississippi, as was fully shown in our December No., and we are glad to see that a Tow Boat Company have now undertaken the work for the money appropriated by Congress. In regard to Charleston, Prof. Holmes says: of these beds of calcareous limestone rocks "The borings have been made, the extension proven, and the practicability of deepening the Bar is no longer a doubtful question. "It would be presumption in me, even to intimate the mode of accomplishing this great desideratum, but with deference I may be permitted to suggest, that the excavation be extended to eight or nine feet below the surface of the calcareous bed, which is of such consistency as to resist the erosive action of currents and waves, and preserve the walls of the submarine canal. "The sand accumulating with the flood tide, will undoubtedly be removed by the fourknot current of the ebb." In the October number of the Review we extracted a page or two from the work of Mr. Wheeler, on the History of North Carolina, and by mistake credited to Mr. Williams. The work has had extensive circulation, and is well worth the study and perusal of the very many citizens not only of our state, but of the whole valley of the Mississippi, who have emigrated from the good, old and unpretending State of North Carolina, and who are proud of their " fatherland." It proves that North Carolina was the first state of the old thirteen, upon which the colonists landed (in 1584), the first in which the blood of the colonists was spilled in defence of the principles of liberty (in 1771), and the first to declare their independence of the English crown at Charlotte, in May, 1775. We have lately received in pamphlet form two addresses upon the death of Henry Clay, one by W. H. MacFarland, Esq., of Richmond, and the other by Alexander McClung, of Miss. They are both interesting productions, reflecting honor upon the heads as well as hearts of their authors. Mr. Macfarland tells us, "as we meditate upon the illustrious life of Mr. Clay, our faith in the reality of public virtue, and in the certainty of Christian truth, grows stronger." Mr. McClung, most eloquently and truthfully adds: "His memory needs no monument. He wants no mausoleum of stone or marble to imprison his sacred dust. Let him rest amid the tokens of the freedom he so much loved. Let him sleep on where the whistling of the tameless winds-the ceaseless roll of the murmuring waters-the chirping of the wild bird, and all which speaks of liberty, may chant his eternal lullaby.” |