MARCH FIRST, 1846,

on the first day of the month, and the first day of the week. Our ship is sailing southward, to still hotter climes, at a good rate, to-day; and not only new seas and new lands open to the view, in the scenery of daylight, but new constellations of stars, in the blue field of the heavens, at night. It makes me feel familiar with these latitudes, as one olden friend after another comes up from the southern seas, and welcomes me, as a bright and fair and familiar thing, that I have gazed on before, through the pure skies of the tropics. He who has gazed at these twinkling brilliants from every latitude of the earth, can never again feel entirely friendless, wherever he may wander, for he is welcomed and cheered by these sweet songsters, as familiar friends, as they chant so soothingly to the harmonies of his own deep spirit, whether he gazes on them in his sadness or his joy. And the stars of the north and the constellations of the zodiac, as he has beheld them from his own balcony, window, or piazza, at home, so now they also call up-how many memories of those he loves! And while he again gazes on them, of the night, they seem to be on their olden and undeviating way, to smile again over those homes; and now proffer to the gazer, to bear, for him, messages of love and blessings to those he has left in those homes, if he will whisper to them what he would have them speak, as they shall pass over the dwellings of his sleeping friends-for these messages, by the stars, are to be spoken, in happy dreams, as the ray of the beautiful brilliants beams through the lattice of the chamber of the peaceful sleepers; unless, in earlier night, perhaps, the star, in its ascension, gains the eye of the beloved one, to whom the bright messenger is commissioned to bear the memories and the prayers and the night-borne wishes for them, from the absent

one of their number. How have I whispered thee, beautiful LYRA, thou loveliest star of the skies, to me, as I have gazed on thy diamond light, in its scintillations, and mused, in my joy and my sadness, as I have coursed the width and the length. of many seas. Tell them, again, to-night, this their opening spring night, that-no, I will not write it, here-they know it all, thou blue-eyed brilliant!. for, already in thy slant, as I gazed on thee in early evening, thou wast in thy height on their meridian, and thou didst well speak it, as they read in thine eye, a message of love from one, from over the far seas, to them who dwell in his distant home.

A MAN-OF-WAR ALWAYS READY FOR ACTION.

We know not what may be the situation of public affairs between the United States and Mexico, at this moment. We have been ordered to Vera Cruz, to augment the squadron now lying off that city, in view of the difficulties that exist between the two governments. Mexico has refused to receive our Minister, or at least has delayed it, contrary to the expectation of the United States government; and after having given the President expectations that a diplomatic personage would be immediately accredited. There is, evidently, a delicate state of things existing between the two governments. It is not impossible, that even war at this moment may be waging, on the supposition that the United States troops have advanced into the disputed territory, forming the conjectural boundary of Texas, and the advance of Mexican troops to the same quarter, to repel them. It is therefore the part of a judicious officer to keep his ship in readiness for action, on approaching the Mexican coast, though the Mexican government has no naval force. General quarters and the exercise of the frigate's guns have been frequent during our passage; the guns have been shotted, and all is in readiness for action,

should occasion present. We are now nearing the Mexican coast, and are not much over a hundred miles from Vera Cruz. It is Tuesday, the 3d of March. At 7 bells last night, or at near midnight, a few taps on the drum started every man, aboard ship; and a few more rolls of drum and fife brought the men to their quarters. The lanterns were lighted-the guns cast loose-the magazine opened and all reported to be in readiness for action. But a distant light on the sea, supposed to be a steamer, advanced, without deviating from her course, and ere long was again at a distance from our frigate. Probably she is a vessel bound to the islands, and thence to England. It would be a difficult thing to surprise a well disciplined war-ship, or find her ever unprepared to enter into an engagement, within five minutes' notice. And no one on shore, who has not witnessed the quickness of the movements on board a man-of-war, and the regularity that prevails in the execution of orders, can realize this rapidity of action, without confusion, noise, or delay. Our crew consists of about 500 men, all told. Each person on board has his station, in time of action, which he knows, and is nearly as familiar with, as he is with the time and place of his meals; and he frequents it nearly as often. He finds it in the dark or in light, at hours of day or at midnight, at the tap of the drum; and in less than two minutes he has his hammock tied and stowed-his arms and guns ready for battle and himself prepared to do honor and defence for himself and his country, whenever the moment demands his action. At all hours of the day and night, the quartermasters keep a look-out for every and the minutest occurrence, around and abroad, so that no boat or sail can approach, or other movement take place, in port or at sea, within vision of the ship, without being reported to the officer of the deck for the time being. Such watchfulness and readiness for action in all other departments of the ship, also prevail. The lights

are reported every half hour of the night-an officer having been sent the round—and the pumps with the same frequency; as also the condition of the ship in other particulars. Nowhere is order and dispatch so beautifully and practically exemplified as on board a man-of-war; and safety, readiness, and efficiency are the consequence. The same is true of the sailing of a well-disciplined man-of-war. Three minutes is all the time needed for reefing topsails; and all sails, whatever the number, that may be set, may be reduced to the bare poles of the ship, in five minutes more. A squall, or storm, or hurricane, can never, or scarcely ever, surprise a man-of-war, where such a look-out is kept, and where there are so many hands to make the ship snug for the threatening emergency. In no other way, then, can a person pass over the seas, in equal safety, as in a well-disciplined frigate of our navy; and an idler may sit in his room, without care and unconcerned, amid storm and in the calm, alike assured that all things are directed with a watchful attention, efficiency, and readiness of action, equal to any emergency that may present itself.

APPEARANCE OF LAND-REDUCING SAIL AND MOORING SHIP.

tons.

The vision of Columbus is ever with me, while we are sailing through these seas; and no less so when we are on the point of making land. Columbus was in a vessel of only one hundred tons; we are in a ship of seventeen hundred He traversed the seas in safety--we are twenty times, and yet more, safe, on the principle of chances. And when we look at the apprehensions, even in this day, in navigation, we can hardly estimate the daring of the noble Genoese, in launching forth into an unknown ocean of the West, without any chart of its wide waters, or any knowledge of the

shoals, reefs, rocks, shallow islands, tides, and soundings on the coast of a hoped-for western land. But what an emotion of joy and exultation must have swelled the spirit of Columbus, as his eye fell on the unmistaken evidence of land before him, to the west, and as he approached its shores, emerging, as he continued to approach it, from its mist and haze, and deepening in the green and beautiful scenery of the tropics, as he neared its ever green sides. All this vision came up to my own imagination, as the high peak of Orizava17,380 feet above the ocean-came into our view this morning, yet distant a hundred miles. But there it was--land that Columbus never saw, but it was land on the same coast which he first discovered; and it rose, in its grandeur and height, far above the clouds, as it piled its huge peak, flanked by other peaks, against the blue field of the back-ground. There is always grandeur in the mountain side, and beauty in its green piles, in the tropics. South America and Mexico are before all the world beside, for their exhibitions of the profound in mountain scenery. Their high elevations of mountain peaks, and huge ranges of mountain ridges, in comparison with the mountains of other countries, are like Niagara of our own North, in comparison with the cascades of other lands.

We hope to gain our moorings, off Vera Cruz, before night; and the sea-breeze begins to freshen, while our ship has her ample spread of canvas upon her, giving hope, that not many hours more, and we shall take our place among the ships composing the United States squadron, whose masts, it is thought, may now be seen from the foretop, raising their slight spars, almost imperceptibly, at this distance, above the little island of Sacrificios. The sea breeze still freshens, and we are pressing on with the royals and studding-sails set, the land appearing all about us, as our ship