mutually dependant on, they should regard each other with mutual good feeling. The Province of Canton has always been reported as a rich and extensive department, a district famous for learned and wealthy men. Our dynasty has fed and nourished (the black haired people) for more than two hundred years, and has kept the empire in peace and tranquillity for a long period, and the people have never seen a red coat; and so, if one person acts disgracefully and opposes the laws, the whole people are alarmed as at the sound of the wind and the cry of the stork, thinking soldiers are coming. But our emperor, to rescue his people from their difficulties, orders his officers to lead forth their troops. When I (Yihshan) first seated myself in my chariot, I heard that since the rebellious barbarians first bolted into the river of the city, great numbers of the trading community have removed themselves. Now that troops are assembling from all quarters, the strength of our forces cannot be said to be slender; nor can the city and the surrounding land be said to be undefended; grain and provisions cannot be said to be scarce; our military weapons cannot be said to be out of order. Therefore, ye traders, you must rest in tranquillity without any apprehensions, and all of ye in the city be of one mind. On this account we issue these perspicuous orders. After this proclamation is issued, let those who have not removed dwell in tranquillity, rejoicing in their occupations, and those who have removed must forthwith return, and all peacefully pursue their different callings. The corps of public officers have hitherto been the people's hope and dependence; and more especially now they cannot lightly desert their village wells. Hitherto the barbarians have been respectfully obedient to the empire, and already have they been permitted to open their holds and commence trading; therefore it is essentially requisite to preserve tranquillity, and not give way to anxiety and fear. As to the soldiers, they have strict prohibitory warnings; yet if they cause agitation and trouble, the people are permitted to collar and carry them to the camps, where they will be ruled by military law; decidedly no indulgence will be shown them. And, ye people, be not dilatory, nor stand gaping about through suspicion. A special proclamation. 3d moon, 29 day, (April 20.) THE DISSOLUTION OF THE CABINET. AMONG the most important political events of the year, is the dissolution of the Harrison Cabinet. All the members of this Cabinet, appointed by General Harrison on his coming into office on the 4th of March, had been continued in office by his successor, and appeared to enjoy his entire confidence, up to the date of the events related in the annexed correspondence. From the importance of this change in the administration, it is deemed proper to record here the documents, in which the causes of it are stated by the respective parties. The Secretaries of the Treasury, War, and the Navy, with the Attorney-General and the Postmaster-General, offered their resignations, and they were accepted September 11, two days before the termination of the Extra Session, and on the same day the President laid before the Senate a nomination of their successors, which nominations were approved. Mr. Webster, Secretary of State, alone of the Harrison Cabinet remained. Letter of Resignation of J. J. Crittenden, Attorney-General, to the President. WASHINGTON, September 11, 1841. SIR Circumstances have occurred, in the course of your Administration, and chiefly in the exercise by you of the veto power, which constrain me to believe that my longer continuance in office as a member of your Cabinet, will be neither agreeable to you, useful to the country, nor honorable to myself. Do me the justice, Mr. President, to believe that this conclusion has been adopted neither capriciously nor in any spirit of party feeling or personal hostility, but from a sense of duty, which, mistaken though it may be, is yet so sincerely entertained, that I cheerfully sacrifice to it the advantages and distinction of office. Be pleased, therefore, to accept this as my resignation of the office of Attorney-General of the United States. Very respectfully, yours, &c. THE PRESIDEnt. J. J. CRITTENDEN. Letter of Resignation of Mr. Ewing, Secretary of the Treasury, to the President. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, SIR: After the most calm and careful consideration, and viewing the subject in all the aspects in which it presents itself to my mind, I have come to the conclusion that I ought no longer to remain a member of your Cabinet. I therefore resign the office of Secretary of the Treasury, and beg you to accept this as my letter of resignation. To avoid misunderstanding, I distinctly declare that I do not consider a difference of opinion as to the charter of a National Bank a sufficient reason for dissolving the ties which have existed between us. Though I look upon this measure as one of vast importance to the prosperity of the country, and though I should have deeply deplored your inability or unwillingness to accord it to the wishes of the People and the States, so unequivocally expressed through their Representatives, still, upon this and this alone, unconnected with other controlling circumstances, I should not have felt bound to resign the place which I hold in your Administration. But those controlling circumstances do exist, and I will, in my own justification, place them in connexion before you. It is but just to you to say, that the bill which first passed the two Houses of Congress, and which was returned, with your objections, on the 16th of August, did never, in its progress, as far as I know or believe, receive at any time either your express or implied assent. So far as that bill was known to me, or as I was consulted upon it, I endeavored to bring its provisions as nearly as possible in accordance with what I understood to be your views, and rather hoped than expected your approval. I knew the extent to which you were committed on the question. I knew the pertinacity with which you adhered to your expressed opinions, and I dreaded from the first the most disastrous consequences, when the project of compromise, which I presented at an early day, was rejected. It is equally a matter of justice to you and to myself to say, that the bill which I reported to the two Houses of Congress at the commencement of the session, in obedience to their call, was modified so as to meet your approbation. You may not, it is true, have read the bill throughout, and examined every part of it; but the 16th fundamental article, which became the contested question of principle, was freely discussed between us, and it was understood and unequivocally sanctioned by yourself. The last clause in the bill, also, which contained a reservation of power in Congress, was inserted on the 9th of June, in your presence, and with your approbation; though you at one time told me that, in giving your sanction to the bill, you would accompany it with an explanation of your understanding of that last clause. In this condition of things, though I greatly regretted your veto on the bill as it passed the two Houses of Congress, and though I foresaw the excitement and agitation which it would produce among the people, yet, considering the changes which the bill had undergone in its passage, and its variance from the one you had agreed to sanction, I could not find in that act enough to disturb the confidential relations which existed between us. I was disposed to attribute this act, fraught with mischief as it was, to pure and honorable motives, and to a conscientious conviction on your part that the bill in some of its provisions conflicted with the constitution. But that opinion of your course on the bill which has just been returned to Congress with your second veto, I do not and cannot entertain. Recur to what has passed between us with respect to it, and you will at once perceive that such opinion is impossible. On the morning of the 16th of August, I called at your chamber, and found you preparing your first veto message, to be despatched to the Senate. The Secretary of War came in also, and you read a portion of the message to us. He observed that, though the veto would create a great sensation in Congress, yet he thought the minds of our friends better prepared for it than they were some days ago, and he hoped it would be calmly received, especially as it did not shut out all hope of a bank. To this you replied, that you really thought there ought to be no difficulty about it; that you had sufficiently indicated in your veto message what kind of a bank you would approve, and that Congress might, if they saw fit, pass such a one in three days. The 18th being the day for our regular Cabinet meeting, we all assembled, all except Messrs. Crittenden and Granger, and you told us that you had had a long conversation with Messrs. Berrien and Sergeant, who professed to come in behalf of the Whigs of the two Houses, to endeavor to strike out some measure, which would be generally acceptable. That you had your doubts about the propriety of conversing with them yourself, and thought it more proper that you should com. mune with them through your constitutional advisers. You expressed a wish that the whole subject should be postponed till the next session of Congress. You spoke of the delay in the Senate of the consideration of your veto message, and expressed anxiety as to the tone and temper which the debate would assume. Mr. Badger said that, on inquiry, he was happy to find that the best temper prevailed in the two Houses. He believed they were perfectly ready to take up the bill reported by the Secretary of the Treasury, and pass it at once. You replied, "Talk not to me of Mr. Ewing's bill; it contains that odious feature of local discounts, which I have repudiated in my message." I then said to you, "I have no doubt, sir, that the House, having ascertained your views, will pass a bill in conformity to them, provided they can be satisfied that it would answer the purposes of the Treasury, and relieve the country." You then said, "Cannot my Cabinet see that this is brought about? You must stand by me in this emergency. Cannot you see that a bill passes Congress, such as I can approve without inconsistency?" I declared again my belief that such a bill might be passed. And you then said to me, What do you understand to be my opinions? State them, so that I may see that there is no misapprehension about them." I then said that I understood you to be of opinion, that Congress might charter a Bank in the District of Columbia, giving it its location here. To this you assented. That they might authorize such bank to establish offices of discount and deposite in the several States, with the assent of the States. To this you replied, "Don't name discounts; they have been the source of the most abominable corruptions, and are wholly unnecessary to enable the bank to discharge its duties to the Government and the country." I observed in reply, that I was proposing nothing, but simply endeavoring to state what I had understood to be your opinion as to the powers which Congress might constitutionally confer on a bank; that on that point I stood corrected. I then proceeded to say that I understood you to be of opinion that Congress might authorize such bank to establish agencies in the several States, with power to deal in bills of exchange, without the assent of the States, to which you replied, "Yes, if they be foreign bills, or bills drawn in one State and payable in another. That is all the power necessary for transmitting the public funds and regulating exchanges in the country." Mr. Webster then expressed, in strong terms, his opinion, that such a charter would answer all just purposes of Governnent, and be satisfactory to the people; and declared his preference for it over any which had been proposed, especially as it dispensed with the assent of the States to the creation of an institution necessary for carrying on the fiscal operations of Government. He examined it at some length, both as to its constitutionality and its influence on the currency and the exchanges, in all which views you expressed your concurrence, desired that such a bill should be introduced, and especially that it should go into the hands of some of your friends. To my inquiry, whether Mr. Sergeant would be agreeable to you, you replied that he would. You especially requested Mr. Webster and myself to communicate with Messrs. Berrien and Sergeant on the subject, to whom you said you had promised to address a note, but you doubted not that this personal communication would be equally satisfactory. You desired us, also, in communicating with those gentlemen, not to commit you personally, lest, this being recognized as your measure, it might be made subject of comparison to your prejudice in the course of discussion. You and Mr. Webster then conversed about the particular wording of the sixteenth fundamental article, containing the grant of power to deal in exchanges, and of the connexion in which that grant should be introduced; you also spoke of the name of the institution, desiring that that should be changed. To this I objected, as it would probably be made a subject of ridicule, but you insisted that there was much in a name, and this institution ought not to be called a bank. Mr. Webster undertook to adapt it in this particular to your wishes. Mr. Bell then observed to Mr. Webster and myself, that we had no time to lose; that if this were not immediately attended to, another bill, less exceptionable, might be got up and reported. We replied that we would lose no time. Mr. Webster accordingly called on Messrs. Berrien and Sergeant immediately, and I waited on them by his appointment at 5 o'clock on the same day, and agreed upon the principles of the bill in accordance with your expressed wishes. And I am apprized of the fact, though it did not occur in my presence, that after the bill was drawn up, and before it was reported, it was seen and examined by yourself; that your attention was specially called to the sixteenth fundamental article; that on full examination you concurred in its provisions; that at the same time its name was so modified as to meet your approbation; and the bill was reported and passed, in all essential particulars, as it was when it came through your hands. You asked Mr. Webster and myself each to prepare and present you an argument touching the constitutionality of the bill; and before those arguments could be prepared and read by you, you declared, as |