so as the Vice-President is or can be; and the oath taken on induction to their respective chairs, by the Vice-President or the officer that has by law of Congress been named to act as President for the unexpired term of the Presidency, reaches in its obligations to all acts to be done by them in the ordinary transactions of their proper office, as well as those possible extraordinary ones superinduced and specially imposed upon them by constitutional allotment. If the powers and duties of the office of President inhere in certain. officers contingently, to be sure, but no less inherent for that reason, then the oath of their proper ordinary office, already taken by them, is sufficient, and binds them. What wisdom, then, is seen in the parading of inauguration and useless extra-constitutional oaths! Again Usage or the universal custom in all parliamentary and ecclesiastical affairs and transactions, seems to warrant the view taken of this matter. In the diocese of New York there is an ecclesiastical dignitary still in office and receiving salary, the functions of whose bishopric he does not exercise, but another-an instance quite analogous to the political one under consideration-and that other recognising his proper relations, uses the style of Provisional Bishop. Though it is written, "his bishopric let another take," he will not take it, only discharge its duties, nor adopt a fashion of official signature, false in philosophy, false in principle, and false in fact, as it would be if the term Bishop were used by him without limitation while he is a person qui vicem gerit-a mere vicegerent. The two instances cited above of Vice-Presidents, whom constitutional intendment placed in the Presidential chair to act as President, not to be President, show, in some degree, the progress of assumption, arrogance, usurpation, in the officers of the Federal Government. For the exercise of power, they reach and over-reach; and not content with place, like well-trained and lithe athletes in political gymnastics, show themselves masters in leaping and overleaping all the limits and boundaries of the Constitution. These are instances in the Executive department, and are only nominally dangerous to the rights and liberties of the people. It may be said to be of no importance, except to the individual whose vanity or something else has made him so great a dupe. Let him enjoy his fancied greatness; let him think himself President; let him write himself so if he will; surely the worst is his own-to be laughed at in the sleeve and set down as an illustrated edition of the old fable of the jackdaw in the plumage of the peacock, or player of the part of Harlequin in pasteboard crown, with mock majesty in farcical antics, on the great theatre of the National Government. But it has been significantly said and well put, What's in a name? The insidious workings and attacks of tyrants and usurpers are always covert, and in appearance, trifling things, indifferent; the serpent coiled and in his smallest compass, with the assumed color of the surroundings and seeming to be what he is not, is not more to be feared by the unsuspecting traveller. He would be crowned: How that might change his nature, there's the question. And that craves wary walking. Crown him? That; That at his will he may do danger with. We might instance, ad infinitum, the strides taken in the unlawful exercise of power, but we pass them now. The black catalogue of abuses and usurpations is absolutely frightful. In The people well know that in theory the sovereignty lies in themselves. But after all, as Government is administered by them, to wit, through their representatives, sovereignty changes place; and like the beggar on horseback, the representative rides it, poor thing, to-all know where! theory the people are masters-the officers of Government their servants; but in practice the reverse is the truth. The people have been invited to the great Festival of Freedomto an entertainment greater than that prepared by Royalty for the Heir to the Crown, as the parable has it, and, mirabile dictu! they make excuse: one has married him a wife: an other has much merchandise to look after; and another has bought him oxen. When, indeed, will the people awake to their highest interests-see that they have good Government -and not suffer usurpers in guise of their representatives, to trample them in the dust? Yours, &c., HORACE DRESSER. VOLCANIC FLASHES FROM ITALY. Continued from P. 288. HE news of the insurrection at Palermo was soon carried to Naples, and a printed notice soon appeared: NEAPOLITANS: Spring to imitate the example of your Sicilian brothers, and let it be for once forgotten that they are more heroic than you. Our readers can fancy the feelings with which Ferdinand read the news from Sicily. He at once ordered nine more steamers to weigh anchor for Palermo, and with five thousand soldiers of the line and two regiments of cavalry, commanded by Gen. De Sochet, the troops embarked weeping. These steamers were said to have been prepared to sail to Trieste and Venice, to take on board Austrian troops. The steamers reached Palermo the 15th of January, and landed their troops. They attempted to penetrate the town, but they were repulsed by the fire of four cannon planted in the principal street. The Count d'Aguilla, commandant of the squadron, seeing either death or famine staring him in the face, weighed anchor for Naples, to obtain reinforcements. He wished, however, first to bombard Palermo, but the English Consul protested against this act on the part of his countrymen, and as his protest could be enforced by two heavy steam frigates that had just looked in to the city, the commandant thought it best to withdraw. The other Consuls of the port united in this protest of the English representative. *** "The undersigned, for the purpose of preventing the incalculable disasters of any of those great catastrophes which leave a stain and mark an epoch in the history of a century, protest that the horrors of a bombardment be spared in any event to a population of two hundred thousand souls, in the ancient and vast city of Palermo. If, however, which God forbid, the commandant of the royal forces insists on this savage extremity, the undersigned protest beforehand, and with all their forces, and in the name of their governments, against an act which must excite the eternal execration of the civilized world." This noble protest was signed by representatives of all the great nations, except Austria. In the meantime, the guards of the treasury, two battalions of grenadiers, one of artillery, with three field-pieces, and several detachments of the line and cavalry stationed at Palermo, deserted their banners, in order not to shed fraternal blood. The town was now in possession of the people, and their next object was to achieve the conquest of the castle. During this bloody conflict of two days, the noblest ladies of the city took charge of the king's troops as fast as they were wounded, carried them to the best houses of the city, by which it could be seen that they were making war against an enemy who loved them-against brothers and sisters who, in fighting for liberty, cherished the noblest sentiments of humanity. Women, too, fought by the side of men during the entire struggle, firing with deadly aim from the windows and roofs of houses. The sister of Meloro appeared astride a powerful horse at the head of a column of five hundred men, whom she commanded for two days with most supernatural heroism. Count d'Aguilla's steamers had not returned, and his troops outside the walls were decimated by famine and the sword. Ruggiero Settimo, Provisional Governor of Palermo, published four proclamations, in which the deeds of the brave were recounted and the progress of the emancipation of the island traced-while the peasants from distant quarters of Sicily came pouring in to fight for the common cause, bringing provisions and arms and brave hearts with them; and the steamer Giglio, captured by the insurgents, coasted the island, spreading the spirit of rebellion and carrying everywhere good news for the revolutionists. We return to Ferdinand. When he saw his brother, Count d'Aguilla, entering the Bay of Naples with his squadron, bringing bad news, of course, from Palermo, when he landed and asked for more troops, he began to understand that the time for reforms had indeed come; and while he ordered another expedition for Palermo, he subscribed for ordinances-reforming the Consulta of State and the Provisional Councils of Naples and Sicily, proclaiming the independence and separation of the administration and tribunals. of Sicily from those of Naples, and appointing his brother, Count d'Aguilla, Lieutenant-General of the island, naming the principal officers to serve under him, and published a somewhat liberal law for the press. Although these reforms did not sweep away the deep-laid foundations of despotism, yet they wheeled nine millions of Italians into the road of progress, and the news was received throughout Italy with the wildest fanaticism. Men who met in the streets of Genoa embraced each other with tears, and shouts of viva la Sicilia rent the sky. One month before these reforms would have allayed the spirits of the Sicilians. But they had now been exasperated by famine and terror-blood had flowed too freely in Sicily not to purchase something better, and when the news reached that island the people sent back their curses, and prepared for a complete assertion of their independence. The decree of the Consulta gave some satisfaction to a few minds, but the law of the press only clanked the fetter of thought in the gaze of the slave. The 22d of January a skirmish took place in Naples between some of the citizens and troops, which was believed to be the signal for a general revolt. The alarm was so great that the palace of the ministry and that of the king, the custom-house and other public buildings were closed, while all business was suspended. Every rumor increased the terror, and from moment to moment a general explosion was appre |