soundness to the currency. The bank ought, also, to be relieved, forthwith, from all liabilites, except its notes, and the eight per cent. bonds, given for their redemption. I would, therefore, recommend," says the Governor, "the immediate repeal of the acts of Dec. 23rd, 1840, requiring the Central Bank to pay the interest on the public debt, and $75,000 of the principal; the act of the 13th of December last, requiring it to pay the interest on the public debt, and the act of 23rd December, 1840, which, in connection with the resolution therein referred to, requires the directors of the Central Bank to pay the scrip issued by the commissioners of the Western and Atlantic Railroad. Under these acts alone, the Central Bank has paid out little short of $600,000; a sum sufficient, if withdrawn from circulation, to restore its notes to credit. As another means of aiding in the redemption of Central Bank notes, I would recommend the repeal of the act of the 10th December last, to extend the time for fortunate drawers in the land lotteries and in the gold lotteries to take out their grants,' and that you limit the time to April next or such other early period as you may consider most expedient and just; and that the lands, then remaining ungranted, be declared reverted to the state, and disposed of in the manner that such lands have heretofore been sold."

From these extracts it will be perceived, that the financial affairs of the state were in a most deplorable condition, and every day becoming worse and worse at the time of Gov. McDonald's first election to office; that during the general bank suspension and ruinous derangements of commerce, trade, and the currency, in 1840, '41 and 42, the state of Georgia, in common with her sister states, suffered severely in her credit, and, but for the wise counsels, sound policy and zealous devotion of her Governor to her true interests, she must have utterly failed in her credit and become bankrupt.

Such services deserved the unbiassed praise of men of all parties, and the gratitude of the people who were blessed with so faithful and so able a steward. Nor was Georgia ungrateful. During the first term of Governor McDonald's administration, the democratic party-that party whose measures he had so long and so ably advocated and supported, was threatened with entire dissolution. Owing to many temporary and well-known causes, but chiefly, perhaps, to the personal unpopularity and mismanagement of a man who, more than any other, stood indebted to that party, and has since so basely betrayed it, the public will swelled up, like an overwhelming tide, against us, and menaced our very existence. The political fever of the day no where prevailed to a more alarming extent than in Georgia. Her vote was cast for the whig electors of President and Vice President by a majority of nine or ten thousand. The members of Congress who were favorable to the election of General Harrison, were all elected; and the whigs had a decided majority in the state Legislature. It now became the settled aim of the whigs to wrest from the democratic party the control of the executive branch of the state government at the next election, viz. that of 1841. To secure that object, they selected from their ranks the most available and popular candidate, Col. Wm. C. Dawson, whose influence and popularity seemed likely to secure for him as triumphant a majority as that which had lately returned him to Congress.

Such odds appeared unconquerable; a prudent man would have declined the contest; but Governor McDonald was not a prudent man, at least when prudence dictated the abandonment of his country's interests. His plan for reforming and reorganizing the finances of the state, though already in full operation, required to be matured and fostered ere its benefits could be well appreciated. Besides, he relied on the intelligence and sympathy of those who had before so truly stood by and supported him; he relied on the gratitude of his country; nor did he rely in vain. He was re-elected by a triumphant majority, and carried also both branches of the state Legislature.

During his second term, he applied himself indefatigably to the further completion and development of his system of financial renovation. Nor did he neglect such other branches of the administration as required his vigilant interposition. The constitution of the Judiciary, the composition of the state Legislature, the system of internal improvements, in short, all the vital interests of Georgia required reform, remodelling and reorganization.

In a state, constituted like Georgia, with several independent tribunals, acting without concert, and not submitted to the controlling influence of some ultimate Court of dernier resort, nothing could be expected but conflicting decisions, and a wavering, fluctuating mode of administering justice. With the eye of a lawyer, Gov. McDonald saw the remedy, and with his characteristic energy lost no time in urging its adoption before the Legislature. His annual message of 1843, after pointedly enumerating the defects of the existing system, thus proceeds:

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It is essential to the security of the citizen, therefore, that these constructions (of the law) should be as certain and stable as the law. They should be uniform. If they have not these attributes, there can be neither stability nor uniformity in the law itself. The administrators of the laws are neither perfect nor infallible. They are liable to err. A community which has eleven judicial heads, has eleven systems of laws and none of them perfect," &c.

After thus stating, in brief and nervous sentences, the evils of the prevailing system, he pointed out the only adequate corrective, in the organization of a Court of Errors.

Ex-Governor McDonald now resides at Marietta, Cobb county, Georgia, where he has again resumed the practice of his profession. In 1847, he permitted his name once more to be used in a political contest. He was run by the democratic party for United States Senator, in opposition to the Hon. John M. Berrien, but was defeated by a few votes, there being at that time a party majority against him in the Legislature.

Ex-Governor McDonald has been eminently distinguished, throughout his professional and public career, for a sound, accurate judgment, a keen appreciation of passing events, unwavering perseverance, indefatigable industry, and all those qualities which unite to form a practical man and a useful member of society.

In private life, he has been highly fortunate in attaining and preserving those elements of enjoyment which constitute happiness. With his cheerful disposition, fine intellect, and benevolent manner, he owns the secret of imparting life and pleasure in any circle where he may chance to move. He has been twice married. His present wife, the sister of the late Chancellor Roane, of Richmond, Virginia, is a most amiable and accomplished lady. His first wife was the daughter of Mr. Bedney Franklin, formerly Attorney General of the state of Georgia; she was the sister of Judge Benjamin Franklin, of the new state of Texas. From this connexion sprung several children, one of whom, Lieut. B. F. McDonald, distinguished himself in five different engagements under Gen. Lane, was highly commended by that gallant officer, and has since been promoted to Brevet rank by the Commander-in-chief.

Thus, thrice blessed, in himself, his family, and fortunes, ex-Governor McDonald, in a yet vigorous age, enjoys a position which it is the lot of few to attain. In his past life, he reads a guarantee of the gratitude of his country, in the love and esteem of all those who know him, in the endearing affection and pre-eminent attractions of his family circle, in the precocious distinction of his offspring, he sees reason to trust in the future; and long may that future still shower fresh blessings upon him, and new rewardsthe rewards of an honorable and well-spent life.

THE WILMOT PROVISO.

Or all the questions that have agitated the United States of America since the adoption of the Constitution, there are none that have ever been fraught with so deep and terrible an interest as that contained in the principles of the Wilmot Proviso. The effects and consequences of a National Bank, a Sub-Treasury, a high Tariff, the distribution of the proceeds arising from the sale of the Public Lands, Internal Improvements, and the questions of Peace or War, all sink into insignificance when compared to the results that must and will follow the carrying into effect the principles involved in that proviso. And these results will be the dissolution of the Union; the bursting asunder those bonds of unity that have preserved the empire, and made us what we are; the annihilation of our power and influence; the destruction of the Constitution, that sacred instrument of our common faith. And, not alone to America would its effects be confined, but they would pass the bounds of this continent and extend beyond the Atlantic, to rivet the fetters of millions yet unborn. But its first and most dangerous tendency, and the one from whence all its greatest evils will spring, is the arraying of the Northern portion of our country against the Southern, and, if not immediately producing civil war, creating and engendering a bitter and undying hate-a hate that may forever destroy the unanimity of our councils, and thus enervate the energy of our government. The moment there is a want of energy and power in the legislature of a nation, interual dissensions spring up-and internal dissensions have been the cause of the downfall not only of republics, but of all states that have risen, flourished, and passed away; and internal dissensions alone, if this nation is ever dismembered, will be the cause of that dismemberment. Yet, with dissolution staring them in the face, and all the lamentable consequences that must necessarily follow such an event presented to their view, there are a set of men who, (as it has been said of a class precisely similar,) so far from comprehending the great movement of empire, are not fit to turn a wheel in the machine." These men, composed as they are of broken down politicians and disappointed office-seekers, banded together for an unholy purpose, are endeavoring to enforce that principle by declamatory appeals to the passions of the multitude, and, unless counteracted by the sound sense of the sober and reflecting part of the community, will light the torch of civil war, and extinguish for ever the spirit of liberty upon American soil. Will men of judgment and patriotism give their countenance and support to a cause like this? And are they willing to cultivate and water the tree of discord, already rooted, until their country is sunk on a level with that upon our southern border? No! no! The warning voice that comes from the annals of the past-the voice of him sleeping among the dead at Mount Vernon, with its deep and solemn tones telling us to "beware of internal dissensions," will have its effect upon all those who have any regard for exalted wisdom and acknowledged worth. We know that such men as we have mentioned will disregard this, for they are regardless of every thing that will not fill their pockets with dollars, or give them a lucrative office. They would sell their country's rights, barter her honor, and betray her liberties, for a far less sum than that which was the price of Arnold's treason; their opinions are as fickle as the sands of the desert;

their principles sit so lightly that they can cast them down and take them up at pleasure.

These are the men who urge upon our legislature the passage of an act, not only unjust and dangerous, but, according to all international law, illegal an act that also violates our Constitution, and the rights guarantied to the citizens by that instrument. It is an act which, however potent and mighty for evil, is weak and powerless for good; and by a careful examination of the principle involved, it will appear that these assertions are well founded. That principle is the confining of slavery within its present limits; the exclusion of that institution, by the enactment of stringent laws, from all territories belonging to the nation. Now, territory is a part of the public wealth. It is property belonging to the whole. It is that in which all have a common interest. If purchased, it has been purchased by money taken from the public treasury if conquered, it has been conquered by the united arms of the whole nation. Every individual, therefore, as composing a part of the nation, the whole, or the body politic, has an interest in that territory; he is entitled to that property as a tenant in joint tenancy; and, as such, he has a legal right to use and enjoy that interest under the law by which it was acquired, which right cannot be taken from him without his consent. This is the fundamental condition of the social compact as regards property. In this light it is regarded by all writers upon the law of nations. It is so laid down by Vattel, in his chapter on public common and private property, § 236, where he says that, "When a nation in a body takes possession of a country, every thing that is not divided among its members remains common to the whole nation." And in § 248 he again says, that "all the members of a community have an equal right to the use of their common property." Then, this being the law, is it not evident that a citizen of a slave-holding state is equally entitled to the public land with the one who comes from a state where slavery does not exist? Is not the one a citizen of the United States as well as the other? and, being so, are not their rights equal? Was it not as much the money or the arms of one that purchased or conquered this property, as that of the other? Then, with equal rights and privileges, how can the North claim superior rights to those of the South-the right of one interest to exclude that of the other?

But, say the advocates of the Wilmot Proviso, we do not intend to exclude from the territories the slave-holder; we only define in what manner he shall enjoy his rights-we only mean to exclude slavery. Now, slavery may be an evil. We go further, and say we believe it to be an evil whose lamentable effects are to blight and wither every thing with which it comes in contact; yet it is an institution guarantied by the Constitution, and its principles recognized as forming a part of our system of government, and it cannot be excluded from the territory of the nation. Over this question Congress can have no power. The rights of the institution are derived from, and protected by, the Constitution; and the South might with the same propriety, and act in accordance with the law as much as the North, demand the prohibition of the manufactures of the northern states as an evil, and a system of labor calculated to injure the nation. It matters not whether this is true, or whether the facts will or will not warrant the conclusion. They arrogate to themselves the right to judge; and, judging that it is an evil, and having a majority in Congress, thus the power is in their possession. They exclude the manufacturerer. And who dares say that such an act would be constitutional? And who would say that the manufacturer was not robbed of his interest

in that territory? And is there any one that will assert that the manu.facturer is not excluded from this part of the nation? Let us examine this question closely before we give it our sanction. Let us turn it in every light that it is capable of being held; still we shall find, however it is turned, and in every position, it presents nothing save a dark and terrible monster, with dissolution and anarchy written on his brow. Admit the principle contained in that proviso to be just and legal, and the Constitution becomes a dead instrument of waste paper for the protection of the weak against the strong, and a mighty engine of power in the hands of the strong, or majority, to oppress the weak, or minority. Here, an institution that is protected by the Constitution, and recognized as a part of the system of government, is to be subverted and overturned by the fickle opinions of a crowd, actuated and moved by strong passions and intense excitement.

Now, this movement is directed against the peculiar institutions of the South; to-morrow, it may be against those of the North. Thus the very foundations of government would be upheaved and overthrown. Let us take an illustration: Oregon is well adapted for the purpose of manufacturing cotton and woollen goods. An undefined feeling of disapprobation of this business pervades the South and West. A set of disappointed office-seekers and demagogues seize upon this feeling of hostility for the purpose of elevating themselves to an office-travel through the country, preaching a crusade against this business. The slumbering feeling of opposition is awakened, and, by their exaggerations, kindled into a perfect frenzy of hate. The day of election arrives. These demagogues are selected as the representatives of the people. They assemble in our legislative halls, impregnated with the madness that caused their election. An act is drawn up to prohibit the introduction of manufacturing in all the territories. This is objected to on the part of the North as unconstitutional and illegal, and it is urged on their part that the Constitution guaranties the protection of this branch of industry. This objection is answered on the part of the South and West-What if the Constitution has guarantied the protection of that kind of industry, has it not also given power to Congress to pass laws for the government of territories? and therefore the power is delegated to them to exclude any institution they choose; and by that authority the law is passed, and the rights of the North are insulted and trampled upon, and the Constitution is violated. Thus the law, instead of being a protection to the weak, becomes an instrument of tyranny in the hands of the strong; the condition of the social compact-the law of society, being broken up and destroyed, nothing remains but the natural law-the law of the savage and barbarian, and not of civilized man-the law of the desert and wilderness, and not of the crowded and populous city, where refinement, elegance, and arts, are supposed to exist and flourish.

But that the power claimed by those who favor the adoption of the Wilmot Proviso, does not exist, we have to thank those profound and wise statesmen who were the authors of our noble institutions, and the founders of our free and just government. And to suppose that these great and sagacious men, (as the result of their labors proved them to have been,) would have constructed an instrument so faulty as those who favor the proviso consider it to be, is unreasonable. It is claimed that Congress has the power to pass all laws for the government of territories, and that this power is derived from the Constitution. The Constitution grants no such unlimited powers, nor is there a single section in that instrument that warrants the assertion. It is contrary to its