Porte complained that Mehemet Ali had taken possession of the districts of Ourfa and Rana which belonged to the Pachalic of Diarbekir, and refused to pay the stipulated amount of tribute. To these complaints the Egyptian chief turned a deaf ear, and he showed no disposition to shrink from a conflict with a power which had so lately fallen prostrate before him. There was towards

the close of the year almost every symptom of an immediate and open rupture between the Sultan and Mehemet Ali; but the former, on applying for Russian assistance and protection, found that his Northern ally did not conceive himself bound to take part in hostilities which were of the Sultan's own seeking; and thus peace was in the mean time maintained.

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THE United States continued to be agitated by the contest, which had begun in the preceding year as to the legality of the conduct of the president in withdrawing the public deposits from the national bank. Many petitions were presented to Congress from different parts of the country, praying that the deposits might be restored to the bank; and deputations from Philadelphia, New York, and various other towns waited on the president, in order to induce him to alter his line of conduct. But nothing could moderate his hostility to the bank: and to a certain extent he was supported by the house of representatives. A committee of ways and means had made an elaborate report, concluding with four resolutions, two of which were, that the bank ought not to be re-chartered, and that the public deposits ought not to be restored to it; and this re port was adopted by the house of representatives, by a majority of fifteen. On the other hand, the Senate declared by a majority of twenty-six out of forty-six members, "that the president in the

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late executive proceedings, in relation to the public revenue, had assumed upon himself authority and power not conferred by the constitution and laws, but in derogation of both." Thus, the Senate, which partly shares with the president in the executive power, and before which, as a judicial tribunal, he would be tried on impeachment, declared his conduct "illegal;" and this resolution drew from the president a protest, in which he endeavoured to prove that he had acted within the bounds of the constitution, and that his accusers were the persons who had adopted "an unconstitutional and unlawful" course of proceeding. The senate refused to receive or place upon their journals, either the protest, or a supplementary and explanatory document, which he subsequently issued.

The Senate of the American union is not only a branch of the legislative power of the confederation, but likewise shares largely in the executive authority of the chief magistrate. The latter may appoint his ministers and immediate dependents. without [ 2 H 2]

the concurrence of the Senate, but he cannot nominate an ambassador to a foreign court, or even promote a military or naval officer to a command at home, without the sanction of that body. The original capital of the bank was $7,000,000, of which the government of the Union took 37,000,000; and in order to superintend its interests in the concern, the president was empowered to nominate five of the directors. The nomination of these directors, like that of ambassadors and other officers, must be sanctioned by the Senate; and the Senate determined to reject the list of the president. General Jackson was so well pleased with the conduct of four of the directors, whom he appointed at the last election, and who supplied him with information to enable him to throw imputations on the management of the bank, that he appointed them anew at the beginning of the present year. The Senate entertained a different opinion of the manner in which these gentlemen had executed the duties of directors, and put its negative on their renewed appointment. The president sent in the same list a second time, and it was again rejected. In a long message, stating his reasons for re-appointing the obnoxious individuals, general Jack son declared, that if they were again rejected, he would nominate no others. The Senate answered by a peremptory reply through a committee, that if he exerted his prerogative, they were determined to adhere to their rights, and to exercise to the best of their judgment, the control given them by the constitution on his nominations that the re-nomination of

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the same persons who had been rejected was without precedent, except in very unimportant cases; and that president Washington, on an occasion, in which he felt severely the rejection of a friend, whom he had named to an office, never thought of gaining his object by proposing him for the approval of the Senate a second time. Other nominations of persons to fill official situations were rejected by the Senate.

In order to remedy the inconveniences flowing from the restrictions of the circulating medium, which the president's measures had occasioned, it was thought necessary in some of the states to assist public credit by state loans. In the state of New York, the local Congress, which sitting in Albany, had little or no sympathy with the trading, and the monied interests of New York, the great commercial capital of the American Union, author. ized a loan to the state banks within its own territory of $6,000,000: in other words, it empowered these banks, in certain proportions, to issue more notes than they did before, when the extent of their circulation was the cause of their danger. On the other hand, a "report of the Union committee" was adopted at a meeting of the chief merchants and public men in New York, which declared that the restoration of the government deposits to the bank, and the continuance of that great establishment were essential to the safety of the country. From this report, to which, among other high names, that of Mr. Gallatin was subscribed, it appeared, that in New York itself, there were in

1834, not less than nineteen banks of issue, the notes and liabilities of which amounted to $15,500,000, while the cash in their coffers amounted only to $1,650,000!

In the meantime, the importation of gold into the United States, went on to an unprecedented extent. The increase of specie between the beginning of January, 1838, and the 11th of June, 1834, exceeded $20,000,000; and the excess of specie imported in the next nineteen days, above what was exported in the same period, came to about $2,000,000. The result of this crisis in the circulation of the Union was, that a metallic currency was established for paper money. This object was in some degree promoted by a law, which was raised, altering the ratio of gold to silver, from fifteen to one to sixteen to one.

The elections of members to the house of Representatives towards the end of the year, shewed that, however opposed the capitalists and the great commercial, and manufacturing interest of the Union, might be to the policy of the president, it was acceptable to the numerical majority of the people. The two parties, into which the voters were now divided, were opponents and supporters of the bank; and in most places the former were the more numerous of the two. The general opinion was, that the new elections made an addition of from sixteen to twenty votes to the president's majority in the house of Representatives.

In July, New York was the scene of disorder, springing from a cause not very honourable to the population of that city. The friends of negro emancipation had

been holding meetings in New York, and other cities of the Union, to promote that object: these meetings had excited alarm. The friends of the blacks were denounced as fanatics, whose objects were the immediate emancipation of the negroes, and the promiscuous marriage of the two races. Mobs, composed of the white populace, attacked, on the 10th of July, the churches, the dwelling-houses, and the stores of the prominent abolitionists, which they gutted and robbed: they also directed their violence against the dwellings, and the stores of the leading people of colour. The civil force being unable to check the career of the rioters, the mayor called out the military; and the united powers succeeded, on the night of the 11th, in putting an end to the outrages. Seven churches were attacked, and were all, more or less, injured; twenty private houses were plundered, and an equal number of poor families of black people had their property destroyed. Many black persons were obliged to remove their furniture and effects, and seek safety in flight.

In the southern provinces of MEXICO, general Bravo, in December, 1833, joined those who were in arms against the government of Santa Anna; and issued a manifesto in which he proposed that a national assembly should be convoked, which should form a new constitution and system of government instead of that which existed. This Assembly was to be composed of four delegates from each state,an officer of the rank of captain, a priest, a lawyer, and a landowner, who were to be chosen by lot; in the mean time, the chambers were to suspend their sittings, and the executive power was to be placed

in the hands of the president of the supreme court of justice. Victoria marched against Bravo; and on the 14th of January an engagement took place at Pellama, in which the insurgents were defeated, with a loss of fifty killed and sixty wounded, or taken prisoners. Some small bands reassembled under Bravo and Canalizo, but the disturbances, though not entirely suppressed, did not assume a serious aspect till other dissensions arose in the Govern

ment.

Laws had been in progress in the Congress for disbanding the local militia, and for applying to state purposes a great part of the revenue of the church. The militia were hostile to the former measure, the clergy and the aristocracy to the latter. Santa Anna joined them; and the differences between him and the Congress terminated, on the 31st of May, in his dissolving, or assuming to dissolve, the legislative Chambers. Many of the northern provinces were immediately in arms against him, and proclamations were issued in the names of "God and Liberty," denouncing him as a dictator, a tyrant, and a violator of the constitution. The army, however, in general adhered to Santa Anna; he exerted himself with energy to put down his opponents; and he was strenuously aided by the priesthood. Before the end of July, San Luis Potosi, Morelia, and Puebla, which had taken a principal share in the revolt, had submitted to his arms; Guadulaxara submitted shortly afterwards; and by the beginning of October, tranquillity had been generally restored. Santa Anna summoned a new congress, which

was to commence its sittings on the 1st of January. In the election his party was generally successful; and, in the meantime, he formed a new ministry. Señor Lombardo was appointed to the portfolio of the home department and foreign affairs; Señor Lebriji, minister of finances; Señor Mors, minister of war and the navy; Señor Portugal, minister of religion; and Señor Alaman, who had been formerly banished by Santa Anna, was placed at the head of the Camarilla.

VENEZUELA and NEW GRANADA enjoyed undisturbed tranquillity, the former under the presidency of general Paez,-the latter under that of Santander; and in both, the government was occupied principally with administrations and legislative improvements. On the 3rd of January, the ratifications of a preliminary treaty of commerce between France and Venezuela were exchanged. The treaty stipulated for the enjoyment by the diplomatic agents, citizens, ships, and merchandise of both countries respectively, of all the privileges and immunities conceded to the most favoured nations; and ships were to be deemed French or Venezuelan, if actually the property of citizens of the respective countries. In all their public documents Venezuela and New Granada professed a firm determination to provide for the payment of the debt contracted by Colombia; and commissioners were to be appointed from these two states, and the Equator, to fix the proportion of the foreign debt which each was to bear. The Equator, however, was kept in disturbance, by civil between the partisans of Florez on the one hand, and

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