An intelligent gentleman (a foreigner) who spent the greater part of last year in travelling through the several States of the Union, and by every mode of conveyance, has favoured us with the following interesting article exhibiting some curious and novel comparisons and results.

For the U. S. Commercial and Statistical Register.

Travelling Statistics.

Since my arrival in New York in December 1838, I kept a Journal of all my travels in the United States, in which I noted 1st, the date and hour of departure from, and arrival in every place; 2d, the time spent on the journey, and the duration of all the stoppages, which gave the time of actual motion; 3d, the distance travelled over; 4th, the manner of travelling or kind of conveyance; finally, 5th, the speed exclusive of stoppages, and 6th, the rates of charges.

On the 14th of January 1840, I finished a journey through nearly all the States of the Union; having left New York on the 24th of December 1838, the whole time spent on the journey was one year and 20 days, during which I travelled Upon railroads with locomotives

do. do.

horse power

In steamboats upon rivers ... do. do. lakes and sea

In stage coaches...

3,329 miles.

215 "6

These 10,430 miles were travelled in 175 separate journeys, being at an average distance of 60 miles. The number of Railroads over which I passed was 64, and I took passage in 24 different steamboats. I have not met with a single accident of the smallest kind during the whole time.

The following statement contains accurate results as taken from my journal.

From the above it appears that of an inland voyage of over 10,000 miles, the travel upon railroads amounted to more than one-third of the whole distance.

The speed upon railroads is 50 per cent. greater than that of steamboats, to which I have however to remark, that the passage in steamboats upon rivers was nearly exclusively up stream. The speed upon common roads is less than onethird of that on railroads, the speed of canal boats only onefourth. The average speed on the whole voyage, which is time of motion was 74 miles, or half the speed on railroads. obtained by dividing the number of miles travelled by the

and is therefore the cheapest; the stage fares are 40 per cent. The fare in steamboats and canal boats includes board, higher than the railroad charges, and the average rate per mile for the whole voyage was 5 8-10th cents.

The time spent in travelling, inclusive of stoppages, was 1,835 hours; the stoppages amounted therefore to one-fourth or 25 per cent. of the whole time occupied; and the average speed inclusive of stoppages, was 5 6-10th miles per hour. Philadelphia, April, 1840.

Corn Trade.

K.

DANTZIC, Feb. 5.-Inundation of the Vistula.-A circumstance has occurred which may derange the corn trade this year and put all parties interested in it in very unlookedfor positions. In our last we referred to the dangerous appearance of the river (the Vistula.) The result has been such as no one ever contemplated, and which at first none but eye witnesses would have believed. The Vistula, from the mild weather and the heavy floods from Poland, had partially broken up, and came down with great force, committing frequent damage to the dykes, bursting the sluices, and overflowing a district called the Binnen Neyrung. About four miles from Dantzic, at a spot called Neufehr, a stoppage of ice occurred, which diverted the water from the channel. At this point the Vistula runs near the sea, being separated by only one half to three quarters of a mile (English) of land, from which it, however, again diverges, and proceeds on to Dantzic. The channel being blocked up, the river, bursting across the country, flowed on to the sea; the intervening sand hills, of 70, and 80, and even 100 feet high, formed no opposition; they were speedily undermined, and the river rolled on, seemingly regardless of a lower channel on both sides, inwards of the downs or sand hills. In a few hours the cut through the sand hills was 1,000 feet wide, and the breadth of the river at the sea three times that width. Since then the opening is 2,000 feet, and the hills fall hourly down, as if cut with a knife. The river rushes fiercely through, making higher up the most fearful ravages in the dyke. The inhabitants of the populous district of Werder are hourly in danger of being inundated. By this cut the river saves a distance of about ten English miles. What effect this strange work of nature will have on the navigation of the river, the supplies of corn, etc., no one can tell. What the human hand can do in it, 'tis impossible to say; the old bed of the Vistula lies fast with ice hillocks, and it may be months ere they melt.

War Department, February 17, 1840. Sir: I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 14th instant, transmitting, from the Committee on Military Affairs, a number of memorials against the employment of bloodhounds in the present war with the Indians in Florida, for such answer thereto as the occasion may require, from the Executive branch of the Government. As I have had occasion to answer similar inquiries made by a member of the House of Representatives, I beg leave to transmit to the committee a copy of that communication, which, in part, furnishes the information required.

There can be no doubt, from the respectable character of the memorialists, that they are animated by humane motives in remonstrating against the use of these dogs; but it is equally certain that they are deceived, when they suppose that their employment will degrade the character of the country, or render its officers obnoxious to the charge of cruelty. It was doubtless the intention of the authorities of Florida, when they imported the bloodhounds, to use them as guides to discover the lurking-places of the Indians, not, as has been erroneously believed, to worry or destroy them; and this department has given positive instructions to that effect, if they should be employed by any officers in the service of the Government, as will be seen by the accompanying copy of a letter to the commanding general in Florida. The Government was not consulted on the subject of the importation of these dogs by the governor and council of Florida, and was ignorant of the transaction until after their arrival in the Territory, but this department did not feel itself justified in forbidding their use. The inhabitants of Florida have been cruelly harassed, and all their efforts and those of our troops have hitherto proved unavailing to protect their families from the murderous assaults of the savages. If they believe that this cannot be effected but by the superior sagacity of these dogs, it would be inhuman to prevent them from making use of what they regard as the only means of saving their wives and children from the tomahawk and scalping-knife.

I beg leave to transmit, herewith, a copy of a letter from A. L. Magenis, Esq. of St. Louis, which contains his impressions respecting the object for which these dogs were procured, and the manner in which they are to be used, derived during a short stay, which he was obliged to make in Tallahassee, about the time the dogs arrived in Florida. The memorials are herewith returned.

Very respectfully, your most obedient servant,
J. R. POINSETT.

HON. THOMAS H. BENTON,
Chairman of Committee on Military Affairs, Senate.

Washington City, February 8, 1840.

Dear Sir: In compliance with your request, that I would communicate in writing what I had previously mentioned in conversation, as having heard while passing through Florida on my way here, respecting the bloodhounds recently brought there from Cuba, and the purpose for which they were procured, I beg leave to state that on the 6th ultimo, during a sojourn of two or three days at Tallahassee, while paying a visit at the residence of the present governor, a gentleman entered the parlor, who was introduced as Colonel Fitzpatrick, and who informed Governor Reed, that he had just arrived from Cuba with a number of bloodhounds, to obtain which, he had been despatched, as I understood him, under authority from ex-governor Call, and the Legislature of Florida; Col. Fitzpatrick spoke of the difficulties which he had had in getting those dogs, thirty-three in number; the high price paid for them, and the great trouble arising from boisterous weather and scarcity of provisions, owing to the voyage being of unusual length, in bringing them over; he expressed a desire that Governor Reed should give immediate instructions to have them taken from on board the vessel,

then lying at Port Leon or St. Marks, as they were very in some fit place, under the charge of five Spaniards, whom much reduced and feeble from want of proper food, and put he had hired in Cuba as their keepers, and who were the only persons capable of managing them. A good deal was said as to the manner in which they were to be used in operating against the Indians, and I believe, as well as I can recollect, and my recollection is pretty distinct, Col. Fitzpatrick, who appeared most conversant with the mode of keeping and using them, observed that they were always muzzled unless when being fed; that, when employed in order to discover a hiding or retreating enemy, a keeper was appointed to each dog to hold him in leash, and endeavour to put him on the scent, which once found, he rarely lost-the pursuers following close up to the keeper, and were thus conducted to the object of their search.

The dogs were described by Colonel Fitzpatrick as possessing fine wind, great strength, bottom, and courage, and as differing from the common hound in one particular, which made them of infinite service in chase of a lurking enemy: they rarely, or never, gave tongue to warn him of the approach of his pursuers. I was not led to believe, from any thing which I heard on the occasion alluded to, or indeed at any other time during my journey through Florida, that those dogs were to be unmuzzled and let slip to assail the hostile marauding Indian warriors, and destroy their women and children. I am persuaded that the people of Florida, dreadfully as they have suffered from the ferocity of the Indians, would not countenance such a species of warfare.

Colonel Fitzpatrick, who, I have since learned, is an officer of the Florida militia, struck me as being a gentleman of great intelligence and decided character.

I have the honor to be, &c.

ARTHUR L. MAGENIS. Hon. Mr. POINSETT, Secretary of War.

War Department, December 30, 1839. Sir:-I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th instant, inquiring into the truth of the had determined to use bloodhounds in the war against the assertion made by the public papers, that the Government Florida Indians, and beg to assure you that it will afford me great pleasure to give you all the information on this subject in possession of the department.

From the time I first entered upon the duties of the War Department, I continued to receive letters from officers commanding in Florida, as well as from the most enlightened citizens of that territory, urging the employment of bloodhounds, as the most efficient means of terminating the atrocities daily perpetrated by the Indians on the settlers in that territory. To these proposals no answer was given, until in the month of August, 1838, while at the Virginia Springs, there was referred to me from the department, a letter addressed to the Adjutant General, by the officer commanding the forces in Florida, General Taylor, to the following effect: Head Quarters, Army of the South, Fort Brooke, July 28, 1938.

Sir:-I have the honour to enclose you a communication this moment received, on the subject of procuring bloodhounds from the Island of Cuba, to aid the army in its operations against the hostiles in Florida.

I am decidedly in favour of the measure, and beg leave again to urge it as the only means of ridding the country of the Indians, who are now broken up into small parties that take shelter in swamps and hammocks as the army approaches, making it impossible for us to follow or overtake them, without the aid of such auxiliaries.

Should this measure meet the approbation of the department, and the necessary authority be granted, I will open a correspondence on the subject, with Mr. Evertson, through Major Hunt, assistant quarter master of Savannah, and will authorize him, if it can be done on reasonable terms, to employ a few dogs, with persons who understand their management.

I wish it distinctly understood that my object in employing dogs, is only to ascertain where the Indians can be found, not to worry them.

I have the honour to be, sir, your obedient servant,
Z. TAYLOR,

Brevet Brigadier General U. S. A. Com'dg. General R. JONES, Washington, D. C.

On this letter, I endorsed the following decision, which was communicated to Genera Taylor: "I have always been of opinion that dogs ought to be employed in this warfare, to protect the army from surprise and ambuscades, and to track the Indian to his lurking place; but supposed, if the general believed them to be necessary, he would not hesitate to take measures to procure them. The cold-blooded and inhuman murders lately perpetrated upon helpless women and children by these ruthless savages, render it expedient that every possible means should be resorted to, in order to protect the people of Florida, and to enable the United States' forces to follow and capture or destroy the savage and unrelenting foe. General Taylor is, therefore, authorized to procure such number of dogs as he may judge necessary, it being expressly understood that they are to be employed to track and discover the Indians, not to worry or destroy them." This is the only action or correspondence, on the part of the department, that has ever taken place in relation to the matter. The general took no measures to carry into effect his own recommendation, and this department has never since renewed the subject. I continue, however, to enter. tain the opinion expressed in the above decision. I do not believe that description of dog, called the bloodhound, necessary to prevent surprise, or track the Indian murderer; but I still think that every cabin, every military post, and every detachment, should be attended by dogs. That precaution might have saved Dade's command from massacic; and, by giving timely warning, have prevented many of the cruel murders which have been committed by the Indians in Middle Florida. The only successful pursuit of Indian murderers that I know of was on a late occasion, when the pursuers were aided by the sagacity of their dogs. These savages had approached a cabin of peaceful and industrious settlers so stealthily, that the first notice of their presence was given by a volley from their rifles thrust between the logs of the house; and the work of death was finished by tomahawking the women, after tearing from them their infant children and dashing their brains out against the door-posts. Are these ruthless savages to escape and repeat such scenes of blood because they can elude our fellow-citizens in Florida, and our regular soldiers, and baffle their unaided efforts to overtake or discover them?

On a late occasion, three estimable citizens were killed in the immediate neighbourhood of St. Augustine, and one officer of distinguished merit mortally wounded. It is in evidence that these murders were committed by two Indians, who, after shooting down the father, and beating out the son's brains with the butts of their rifles, upon hearing the approach of the volunteers, retired a few yards into the woods, and secreted themselves until the troops returned to town with the dead bodies of those who had been thus inhumanly and wantonly butchered. It is to be regretted that this corps had not been accompanied with one or two hunters, who, with their dogs, might have tracked the blood-stained footsteps of these Indians, have restored to liberty the captive they were dragging away with them, and have prevented them from ever again repeating such atrocities. Nor could the severest casuist object to our fellow citizens in Florida resorting to such measures, in order to protect the lives of their women and children.

Very respectfully, your most obedient servant,
J. R. POINSETT.
Hon. HENRY A. WISE, House of Representatives.

War Department, January 26, 1840. Sir:-It is understood by the Department, although not officially informed of the fact, that the authorities of the Territy of Florida have imported a pack of bloodhounds from the Island of Cuba, and I think it proper to direct, in the

J. R. POINSETT.

To the President of the United States.

Head Quarters Eastern Division, Elizabethtown, N. J., March 23, 1840. Š Sir: I have the honour to acknowledge your letter of the 16th inst., covering a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 9th, referred from the Department of State to the Department of War, inquiring" whether the Government of Great Britain [has] expressed to the Government of the United States, a desire to annul the arrangement entered into between the two Governments in the month of April, 1817, respecting the naval force to be maintained upon the American lakes; and that, if said arrangement be not annulled, whether there has been any violation of the same by the authorities of Great Britain ?"

Confining myself to the latter clause of the resolution, which I have underscored, and which you have referred to me, I report the facts within my knowledge connected with that inquiry, premising that I have not had time to verify my own impressions by those of more than one officer [Col. Worth] who has recently held a command under me on the frontiers of the British North American Provinces.

I do not know, nor do I believe that the British authorities have had a single armed vessel of any description on the lakes, above Detroit, in many years.

But in the summer and autumn of 1838, whilst I was absent at the South, I understood from our officers, on my return, that the authorities in Upper Canada had employed one or more armed steamers hired for the purpose, and manned with a certain number of troops, to cruise on lake Erie against apprehended invasions from our side on the part of the people called Canadian patriots.

The season of 1839 having been a tranquil one, I did not hear of a single armed British vessel on that lake.

In the month of January, 1838, at the time there was a considerable number of those patriots in possession of Navy Island, in the Niagara river, seeking to make a descent on the opposite Canadian shore, the British authorities hired two or three lake craft-schooners-and armed and manned them for the purpose of frustrating that threatened invasion; but it is believed that those vessels were never on Lake Erie whilst so armed and manned, and that they were discharged as soon as that particular danger had passed away.