t(irm t-vo dollars per annum in advance ! i testis m-nts insert at 1 per square for the first j i 5 cents far each subsequent insertion court or ders charged 25 per cent higher a journeyman printer t the typographical celebration in rochester a few days since mr william 4 welles a journeyman gave lhe fol lowing sketch of bis life which is the o-reatest ' mess of pi that we ever heard *- 0 f he says mr president — it has often been re marked that the fortunes of the members of lhe typographical profession bave been mo re diversified and precarious than that c - any other class of men tbe changes constantly taking place in their circum stances render them an easy prey to all tin vicissitudes of life the printer is an intellectual being — co class of men in any age ofthe world given evidence of so great versatili ■ talent universal knowledge and va eading as the bo ly typographi the biography of man printers both amusing and instructive by way of illustrating tbe above declara tion 1 offer the following crude rambling lections of n somewhat adventurous . y thus far through life not that i would in so doing claim any notoriety for my many ■ hair breadth scapes bul from an inclination to lei my fellow craftsmen read a page of my story ; and if any good should result from my experience to be queath the record of the incidents ol my bines f or fog amusemenl of others i served nearly seven years'apprentice ship in the office of the late alderman sey mour 1 john si reel n y in ihisoffice associated as fellow-workmen were lhe au commissary general ofthis stale chandler mayor harper n york gen george p morris now editor ant publisher of the ' new york mirror john u ind elliott the foreman one of the notorious ' mirandi expedition and your humble servant about this time i pulled ihe first num ber of the new york american then ed ited by charles king james h hamilton and gulian c verplanck the first edi tion of salmagundi was also printed in his office about this time from the ms of washington irving in he.com position of which 1 assisted in van winckle's office alterwards i set up the ihree first numbers oflhe ' sketch lb ok by tbe same gifted author i boston 1 worked upon the colum bian centinej for old ben russell who discharged me from his office for drum ming yankee doodle as i beat lhe last : ol the inside of bis paper one morn ifter having loorki d 1 1 tokens imperial ll the preceding ten hours ! from in j weul iu flagg and goufs office ver mass and was employed in //_ up from his ms gibbs ' hebrew icon which contained nineteen differ languages including those usually i * dead 1 ai ihis period of my hisfo i procured i midshipman's warrant went io sea in the frigate brandy ('. unmodore morris ship sailed from hampton roads cptember 1825 having on board as nger thai illustrious statesman and ilber morlier marquis de la during a voyage of 28 days i-h of ibis great good man the onferred a particular favor upon i rust ing to my care a rattlesnake m,a grey squirrel cock robin and ft poodle dog — lhe lasl a present from a lady in philadelphia j was on board the brand u ine on the night of ihe memora ble 26th of september 1825 upon which was i brown overboard more lhan 850.000 worth of property to lighten the vessel while in the head of the bay of biscay when in portsmouth england 1 had honor of being a guest on board the brandy wine at a dinner given to his roy al highness the duke of clarence then lord high admiral of the briiish navy \ o ■!. wife in loid byron ber little i -, t a la admiral lord bolinbroke several oiher dignitaries of the brit ain from england we proceeded fogibral ive sailed op the mediterranean on european shore touching at such ports adiz por mahon naples pisa pa l--r.no malta the coast of calabria c c then crossing to the asiatic ami af i side of the mediterranean : then running down to gibraltcr from lhe _ we took the trade winds and made capede verd islands ami the cape lootl hope from thence io ascen and elba islands after cruising up on the eons for six weeks the ship ran over to staten land oil the pilch of cape horn 1 have visited tbe cities of st paulos &<* bland of s catharine santos rio de janeiro buenos ayres montevideo and mouldinado./on the river la plata st salvador at ibe head of the bay of all glinda and pernambuco maran liin and para on the amazon 1 have : '-*° been in all the ports of the u s ex pt new orleans and charleston in my hind cruises i have wrought as a printer in portland me concord n **•; boston mass hartford ct more ton twenty years ago in the ollice of p old friend p crantield now present jew haven ct new york newark k and philadelphia in ibis city i in setting up from his ms prince *" u cien bonaparte's work on american jy-ithology i was also employed by ■'•' carey one of the oldest printers publishers in the united states in establishment of poulson mrs l h y john bioren duane billy frv fee i ° dark gloomy night in 1818 1 found y«-irin the now city of butfalo in a a t room with but a single ' york shilling *) m y pocket about half sick and com pwtely tired of printing and the world — the carolina watchman brunei & james ' t " keep a cite _ ton all your editors or proprietors \ ls safe ." ' . ( new series rrxeks do tins a-to lieertt < gen'l harrison { number ol of yoloie ii salisbury n c friday april 17 1846 while i was discussing the ills of life and the inconvenience of bping 400 miles from home in the wilderness listening to lhe surges of lake erie and ihe cravings of an empty stomach a gentleman tapped me upon the shoulder in a good natured manner and asked trio if i were a prin ter ? i answered him in the affimative lie wished to know whether i would go to geneva ar.d take a situation in his of fice ? 1 accepted his oiler — he slipped a sk bill into my fingers — and i accom panied him to geneva and was in his em ployment until my wages amounted lo sir when i renewed my adventure i have been confined in ihe same dun geon in the carcal of buenos ayres wiih don manual rossas ; lhe hitter gentle man for treason and your humble servant for slipping a dirk into lhe ribs of a gon cho who attempted to take his life i have danced in the turtulia with mad ame col coe daugnter of gov balcarce and eaten cassade root wiih the negroes ofthe coast of africa from a cocoanut shell i have had an audience with gov bal carce in the castle of buenos ayres as one of the suit of commodore w wool sey then commanding the u 8 squadron on the coast of brazil and acting charge at the court of don pedro i have built a saw-mill and dam across bear lake western michigan aud been in every sta tion in the printing business from devil loihe editor md publisher of a city daily iw.-.s elected vice president ofthe first harrison state convention ever held in the u s at xible's garden new york as editor ol the washington county post wrote the first editorial in favor of harrison for the presidency 1 have sip ped inatta and kicked my toes amidst lhe giddy throng of buenos ayrean lasses up on the pampas of san isidro ; and have been dashing along the passea of ihe ale meda.on ihe banks ofthe la plata iu company wiih mrs halle the accom plised lady of stephen hallet primer to lhe buenos ayres government in his coach-and-four who was at that lime lhe richest man in buenos ayres printers have been proverbial in all a ges of the world for their notoriety as an instance of fluctuations ol iheir for tunes i might cite the case of that exalted patriot statesman and philosopher whose natal day we have this evening assembled fo commemorate j speak of benjamin franklin a practical printer i | v - \ ljs virtuous life and high order of intellect rose from the humble condition of tin ap prentice boy to the most exalted station in life the death letter office tin washington correspondent nf the port land argus furnishes ihe following interesting description of lhe operations of lhat branch of iii genera post office department to which an transmillcd ail the uncalled for letters re maining in lhe various post offices throughout the union : among the places which i have visited is the dead letter office in tin post ollice de partment it is certainly an interesting part of that building you wiil be surprised at some facts 1 learned there the business oflhe dead letter ollice alone employs four clerks all the lime one opens iho bundles containing the letters sent to washing ._, from lie several v offices afier ihey have been advertised ami no mi iit-i found for ihem he passes tie letters over to two uth er " si who open the m all to sec if tin contain _. iy thing valuable if ihey do not ihey are thrown nn io the pile on the floor no lime is allowed lo read them as that would lie impossible with out a great addition of help the number of dead letters returned lo the general post office is astonishingly large you will in surprised when 1 tell ynu lhat it is fourteen hundred thou sand a year and under the cheap postage sys tem is increasing ! henc it requires swili hands to open so large a number with mt stop ping to read a word any one who is so silly as io write a mess of nonsense to an imagina ry person supposing it will be ultimately read bv some one may save himself the trouble hereafter he may d pend upon it not a word wiil he likely to be read oi the letter unless he encloses something valuable in it ; and lhat would be pa ing too dear fur so small a whistle at the em of each quarter the loiters that have been opened having accumulated loahuge mass and having been in the mean time stowed into bii'rs are carried out on tin plains and there consumed in a bonfire the huge bags make five or six cart loads each quarter the letters containing any thing valuable or n fact any matter enclosed — are passed over io a fourth clerk who occupies a separate room for the purpose and these are canvassed ly this gentleman it is very interesting to examine the heterogenous materials of ihis room that have been extracted from letters and accumu lating fbr yours here you see the singular matters lhat are sometimes transported through the post ollice the amount of moneys lhat at various times has been found in letters is very large when any thing of value as mo nev drafts c is found the rule is to return it lo the post ollice whence it came and lhe postmaster of that office must advertise it or use anv other means best calculated to find the owm-r if all his eflbrts fail le returns it to lhe general ollice anil it is labelled and tiled away sometimes as much as 300 are found in a week in dead letters ! i think within this month several hundreds have been found an iron chest is kept for lhe purpose of ihese de posites in looking over lhe tiles in lhat chest i was astonished at the amount of money there and the large sums contained in some of the letters some single letters containing 850 840 810 and down to si one letter con tained a 10 note — very likely the property of some poor emigrant intended for his wife or children who had made a mistake in sending it atid no owner could be f.iun.i among this money is a grmd deal of counter feit the letters are all labelled not only wiih lhe sums but also nether containing c.unter fi-it or riiod money there were many bad small bills scattered through the piles in one case there was a bad half eagle — in another were two letters each containing s300 coun terfeit money ! it was on some new y bank new and very nicely done — and was no doubt ihe remittance of one counterfeiter to another — who had been in the meantime apprehended or was suspicious he was watched and hence had been too cunning io call lor the wicked de posite of his confederate in the strong box also was a box of change of all kinds and a large string of rings of various fancies and vab ues taken from the dead letters many a lure token ofthis modest kind enveloped in a letter couched in most honied words and intended in tin mind of the writer foi the dearest girl in the universe had instead of reaching its inte resting destination brought up in lhe dead let er office passed through the practical hands of ihese cold grey-haired clerks who never stopp ed to read the tender effusion that cost so much racking of lhe heart-strings — and lhe delicate pledge of affection had been tossed into the iron du-sl instead of encircling the taper finger of the love " fbr whom it was purchased but passing out ofthe chest the matters that meet your eye on the shelves and in the cases tire equally interesting here are books and ribbons and gloves and hosiery and a thou sand oilier things i saw one specimen of a most splendid ribbon of several yards that seemed very much out of place here — when it was intended to adorn the bonnet of some lady a package lay near that had not been opened it was from england the postage was sb 63 it had been refused at the office where sent because of its enormous postage aud was sent to the dead office in due course of time now said the superintendent i will show you what valueless things are sent through tl.e mails in comparison to their expense i do not know what is in this but we will see so he opened it atvl beh dd it contained about a yard of coarse cloth like crash worth perhaps a shill ing which had been sent to some dry goods house in this country as a specimen of the manufacture of the article by some factory in england of course lhe postage being thirty times its value it was refused by those to whom it was directed i saw two nigltt caps that were taken irom a letter only a few days since if tie poor fellow to whom they were sent does imt sleep in a night cap until he gels these his head will be cold it is impossible for lhe de pa itinent to attend to finding owners for the comparatively valueless things that are receiv ed as night caps ribbons garters stockings stays ii_tie __„ , a „.. . llu * ll)p . are therefore thrown into the receptacle of " things lost io earth and a pretty " kettle of fish " there is in that receptacle you may depend iu the cases arranged and labelled forthe pur pose are the legal documents found iu letters these are numerous and run back for a long term of years they are most carefully pre served the beneficial policy of this preser vation has been often illustrated and most strik ingly so only the other day a gentleman in a distant slate wrote the superinlendant that some seven or eight years ago a large package of must vuluablc papers had been lost through lhe post ollice they involved the right to a large estate if he could not find ihem he would be irretrievably ruined and begged him to search in the department for ihem he did so he lold me l ii._t lhe first case he opened under a pile of other papers he saw a large package answering the description he took it oui and it was the very papers wanted they had slept there quietly for years the postage was a bout 810 from the raleigh register book of chronicles of wake county ciiaptf.r 1 1 and be*i,_ij i j n these times there a rose a mighty p (, i bation amongst the flock otherwise called vh e party opposed to sheep-stealing dogs 2 and the emergency was gir f or there could be none found to take up.,n himself the oiiice of shepherd ; and great consternation prevailed 3 now it appeared there were certain men in the aforesaid county who brought themselves together to a certain council or grand sanhedrim viz william other wise called disbow and william sur named hidden and benjamin likewise called smith and they did " convene and organize and they belhought themselves that a certain man called james likewise shepard would free them from the dan ger which so urgently pressed upon them 4 but behold ! a stranger had come who destroyed the unanimity of their par ty — a certain man of great might caller duncan otherwise macrae arose and disturbed the harmony of the meeting and there was still great perturbation throughout the land 5 yet it was not permitted that a flock placed in so dangerous a situation should be without a shepherd g and therefore james in a great council afterwards held was duly reques ted to take upon himself the dangerous task of guarding the scattered flock from the sheep stealing dogs which range a bout seeking what they may devour s nuns — proceedings have been institu ted against lhe l'rsuline uns at quebec for a violation of their charter they hav ing refused to educate young ladies who attended balls twenty girls were ex j pelled forthe alledged delinquency what is it lhat pays less in proportion to the trouble of cultivation than any thing else ? — d'ye give it up ? whiskers ! unhappy state of the gov ernment editor in our paper of thursday last in the course of some remarks on public affairs we said "* and among all discreet intel ligent and patriotic men there is also an entire unanimity as we believe that the country ought not to be involved in war unnecessarily or in defence of any doubt ful right or claim in the union ot thursday night we find the following editorial remark the in telligencer is still of opinion that if any claim or right of ours be in the very least elegree doubtful it must be given up in all haste knowing of old the art with which the veteran editor ofthe government paper is wont to color the opinions of an adversa ry to give plausibility to a reply we should be authorized to attribute the above in stance of perversion to his ancient tactics did we not fee in charity bound to ascribe it to a cause calculated to inspire commis eration rather than anger the distant public are not aware perhaps that ever since the delivery of mr haywood's speech early in this month the mind of we re spectable editor ofthe union has been in a very unhappy state ; such indeed as to excite not only lhe sympathy but the se rious apprehensions of his friends it was hoped for a while that some authorized contradiction by mr hannegan or mr ib n of mr haywood's statements in re gard to the president's views might re store the equanimity of the editor but week after week passing away without that hoped for relief and mr ii.'s speech having now for several days appeared in print unimpeached from any quarter the malady of the afflicted gentleman appears to he rather increasing so much indeed as to menace seriously his powerful intellect he is particularly irritable on the subject of oregon and in his wanderings some times even reproaches the president with ; deserting the cardinal position of fifty-four forty ; raves about the infamy of compro ; mise ; and in one of his violent moods de \ clared that the whole recusant three fourths might drown themselves in the middle of fuca's straits if tbey pleased — he would not budge an inch irom the russian line when he speaks thus of : his friends and patrons we cannot be surprised at any extremity of violence to wards ourselves or any liberties he may take wiih truth in assailing our opinions if vill jrlv-o us sincere pleasure to be able soon to announce some change for the better ; but if as wo see it stated in a baltimore democratic paper there are but three democratic senators now left in favor of 5t deg 40 min we fe-ar his case may be considered hopeless — unless indeed his constitutional horror of minor ities shall produce some counteracting and salutary effect — nat int of march 27 general scott can any one tell why the veteran gen scott has been so much neglected in the military movements ? we saw it stilted not long ago that he had been sent for by the department and that is till we have heard about him though he i.s com mander in chief we believe gen scott is a whig in politics but surely even the present administration would not make that a plea for insult and neglect of one ofthe bravest and best generals ibis coun try ever had we noticed a remark too in mr srrange's political speech at ral eigh in which an attempt was made to disparage the hero we know not what objection mr strange had to gen scott as he made no charge — and he certainly knows nothing about his military qualifi cations except what he gathers from the records of history which are all in his fa v . r we notice these matters as they indi cate hostility to gen scott merely on ac count of his political sentiments it is very hard il one who has added so much to the glory of his country be per mitted to enjoy his political opinions which can never interfere with bis public duties without becoming the victim of injustice and insult from the contempti ble polkery at washington we allude to this subject solely out of respect to the man and his character and with a regard to what is due to the station he holds — we knew him well in 1814 " a iiraver youth of more coiirageoi heat ne'er spur his courser at the trur-pet s sonn.l i tiie independent whigs must not slumber — the whigs must be all alive and stirring in the open ing contest in this state they deceive ihemselves if the think they are to gain bv the division ir the ranks of the enemy unless they arc vigilant and active they will loose by ft the incessant efforts of the two riva democrats and their friends will bring the party to a man to the polls ; and if our success in the gubernatorial election is not endangered unless the whi°"s ire equally zealous and active it may°be in that of the legislature which is no less important this is the point to which the grand and united efforts of the democracy will be directed — ral star it is suggested that the name of the attend ing physician should accompany all obituary no.ices the suggestion is a very good one and may save many live from the petersburg in;--!.ij;-ncer of april 9 breakers ahead it seems to be the genera impression anion those competent to j_dge that the mercantile community arc in great danger of a revulsion i he evils brought on the country by lhe uncer tain condition of our foreign affairs have been already seriously felt as we remarked the other day we have sustained and are suslaininn snme of the evils of an actual state of war — men are afraid to embark in.new enterpi and capitalists are carefully hoarding iheir mo ney instead of ddtu.hig it ihrotight the ordina ry channels of business this gloom upon the community is deepened by the danger which thieatens the tariff ii is s;-.id that specie in lar_e sums is even now under the present tariff stringent as it i"s de clared to be by it opponents going to foreign countries what could have caused this but the fact that the value of our imports exceeded that of our exports — lhat we have bought more than we have sold .' if such be the operation under the present tariff what must be the ef fect of reducing it and enlarging market fa re for foreign mb .' when to this drain of spe cie produ \ importing more than our . \ ports will pay for we add t!\e drain which tl.e p.iss.-._e of the sub-treasury bill mast cause we i occasion for the most seri us appre hensions we do not mean to discuss this latter meas ure it has already been thoroughly discussed and investigated and three times has been re jected of one thinj however there can be but liltle doubt — that however it mav act a the financial system of the government its going into operation must cause a pressure in money matters the banks must give up a portion ■ f the specie heretofore used by them in business and must withdraw in the proper and safe pro portion paper from circulation to illustrate this we take the following par agraph from the new york espies : the sub-treasury bill of gen drotngoole requires all the collections at the custom-iious es to be in specie to show something ofthe cumbrousness and expense of such a law the new ork express states the amount of collec tions at new \ ork for two weeks as follows : week ending larch 1 ith 816,000 week ending march 21 750,000 total 1,566,000 n..w if mr dromg ale's act passes says the express here are 1,586,000 to be handled in dollars in our city alone — that is one-fifth ol all the specie iu the new york cily banks is to be counted carted and locked up in a sub treasury : thus subtracted from the trade and commerce of the country and to the severe det riment of all the operations of business and banks who does not see that a subtraction of one-fifth of the basis of our currency iu the short space of two weeks would create a pres sure that would make it impossible for hundreds to comply with their eng igemenls under tie ne cessary rapid and violent contraction of ihe cur rency that must immediately take place ? this pressure in the great commercial empo rium wili be felt throughout the whole country and in every part of the union will the effect i ;' this drain of sppcie from the usual channels of trade be felt speaking of our prospects the new york correspondent of the national intel ligencer says : ** tbe commercial affairs of the country are beginning to assume a gloomy aspect our for eign relations are well calculated to lessen con fidence and check enterprise the money market is not only becoming tight bul serious ly so this is ihe season tor activity but there is a dead weight upon commercial operations and many of those who calculated upon a large spring business are becoming alarmed at the prospect before them iu charleston s c there have already been more dian a dozen failures : some of them heavy ' ) ie firm has stopped who it is said wis hi . r ••■ months bare purchased goods i-i this city philadelphia and baltimore to an a mnurit not less than two hundred possibly hi i i red thousand dollars •* you are advised that specie s shipping lo foreign countries in lar sums whal is this for ? is it not to pay lor our import ! are not our exports insufficient to meet the demand .' — or in other words have we not imported mure than we have exported or can export unless a reat sacrifice is made of our exports ? what is to be the effect of this demand f<r specie to ship if it continues a loss of connti which is but one step from a panic here i will pause only adding that lhe party in pow r is doing more mischief than they can be made to believe but which unless they change their policy they will feel let them now plunge ihe country into a war and their labors will have been completed the new york courier and enquirer in its money article of saturday says the pa-sage oftbe sub-treasury bill in its most objectionable form by so large a majority in the house of representatives was fell to day even m ire in apprehension than in thi of price all stocks gave way and tran tiotis were limited and out of doors there v a a manifest feeling of discouragement the bill as passed requires thai ah fo ments to and disbursements by the gorernm after 3uth june next be in specie it ferbi is the use of drafts or hills of exchange or piper of any sort in the transfer of the public monies from one point to another and literally dis . - credit and a paper currency — the great dis eries and elements of modern commerce which r . ; haw d ' ils adva : . - j est and intelligent man t . c iu wiih his rich neighbor — and goes back lo bar ! baric gold and silver and this is done by and | fbr the so-called democracy and professed ! friends of the poor '• as we understand the bill.the whole deposite in the banks ofthis city averaging about three mifli ns or all thai shall be there . a the 1st ju ly must be drawn out as wanted in specie — and all duties must ihence-forwai 1 be paid in specie and be iocked up i ill needed by the go vernment •• the average amount of specie held by our city banks may a little exceed sir muliat dollars and at ihe present rate of foreign ex change is niaisfa lhan ine re as tbe effect of diverting one-half of this inl i go vernmenl lock-up at'es where it will lie barren and unproductive instead of sustaining a it now does a generous and fi irculalion we n : and if im should increase - > would increase ill ot such a pro i .. . in such wi we thiuk not bul if th sul - 1 • :- ii * c • the law of the - strl ed of - me nf its — testa • . - • i a < - - • •* with -■. - - • _- the i would no is now to ad • woatd only pay - on ion hen . be no a i of duties we merely throw __• ition foi consi . and shad pursue it more from the ' . four days later from mexico ei _ r at entiv t p from a i exl iish in full — we learn lhe arrival of ii • u s hi ig s ineis w . . t'ruz on ist i he a eived ate confirmatory of those b light by lhe ( iceana and water witch at new 0 . i r pens ola m irch 30 1846 g ntlemeo — '. 1 - vers commander lngraham arrived terdav *-] days : . • ! iz with the important new lhal ter mr slide bad been rejected and n in the i . slates s . m . '- in a few days there was a c'.;i-i !■•; ible excitement t vera cruz growing nut ofthis m vement and lhe opinion prevailed that • • upon th lil tee aftei mr si i ii look his departure — bo truth i ot tie arrival of tho st .'! i led to w days < jen mpudia's army which ha ! been ordered to the from texi . d to lion and tiie re * maiu tis to i > i i---i . themselves would not force the others t i al \ era cruz previous lo the siding of ibe .-' roer_,and on le-r ai rival i t ounei hoist ed his r.ant on board of her the frig ate raritan will sai n cruz i m rrow or lhe nexl day the s imei . it is s - go in a lewd itches the nature uf which i am al a \ ctful ly montgomery from 1 • u in m u h : i l-l it is lhal mr s [ dapa an i i now in i \\ xico !' . '■: in tl c uni . tnmander after noon from veracru in •"_ 1 13 -. we are indel i-r the cer on boa ■ -, ff the mosi on lhe i6ih mr dim md was informed bv a from mr . i that mr j the "'.' ' rl ct h iitingnes on lhe t.-i ■ - 1 1 i . - 1 yera cruz in l .. and n for ! states the st mary's was in ■ be let on i - . i i a letter mr b < -. m '■■■ . he ap 1 j e _ nd by ibe 1 ■ . liicfa he fa he writes ' - 1 sooner receir ed mr s and throws out ._■_-• r minister may he accepte 1 al i h mr il lion _• him n mj forming 1 ■ i .-■ not think we have much reason for i - fiat any un 1 mr de i.i/t.-i'-tit when - ! _ '-- of the and more ly the fears of our _ ' - lo tion 1 1 mexic ■• ii.e people ot vera cruz are awfully fi ;_'.-; tened and at as trill be s-en by the n moving out of tbe city the j iu tow of the v far up g rivers i he •• pie < f v . 1 tweea us armlv at to the re vi rntnent threaf n a ;■ - ar re . i ■ . ':. -..-.• — 11 the to us as at tl - dis ussi f ' • '- in narchy m bas i am per ch f r us m re ardent h class the views of the parly tl - '•• sting at ticle on this subject in