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Jttjmi of tiu Sterttaru of War an Ike Military Peace LstnUuhmcnt. War Department, December 15, 1820. Suo obedience to a resolution of the House of Repres. ntatives of the 11th of May last, di lectio; that th Secretary of War report to this J4oot, at the commencement of the nextsessioj, a plau tor the reduction of the army to ix thou sand iion coamissioned officers, musicians, au) pnvaiee, uu preaerviaa; i wi un iji i of engineers as, in his opinion, without regard to that number, it may be for the public interest to retain and, alio, what taring of the poblic re venae will be produced bjr such arrangement of the army a he may propose in conformity with this resolotioow JJaye the honor to make the following report. I deem it proper, before a plan is presented in detail for reducing the army, as proposed in the resolution, to state briefly the general principles 1 on whi it is conceive our military peace rstab lishmcut ought to be organized.

It will be readily admitted, that the organization af the army ought to have reference to the objects for which It is maintained, and ought to be such as may be best calculated to effect such objects as it must be obvious, on the slightest reflection, that on considerations connect therewith ought to depend not only its but also the princi pies on which it ought to be formed. he necessity ol a standing army in peace is not believed to be involved in the subject noder consideration, as the resolution presupposes the propriety of maintaining one and, in fact, its necessity is to apparent; that even those least friendly te the army hare never attempted to abolish it, or evi to reduce it, since the latewar much below the) number proposed in the resolution. The objects for which a standing army in peace ought to be maintained may be comprised tinder two lasses those which, though they nave reference to a stale ol are more immediately connected with its duties in those wi.icn relate immediately li solely to war. tinder the first class may be enumerated, as the leading objects, the garrisoning the forts along oar Atlantic frontier, in order to preserve them, and to cause the sovereignty of the United States to be respected in their immediate neighborhood and the occupying of certain commanding posts on our inland frontier, to keep in check our savage to protec our newly formed feeble settlements in that quarter. These are, doubtless, important objects, bat are by uo means so essential as those which relate immediately pd solely to a state of war, Bud, though not to be neglected wholly, ought not to have any decided influence in the organisation of our peace establishment.

Without, therefore, making any firther remark on this part of the enquiry, I will proceed to consider the other class on which, as it comprises the great and leading inducements to maintain in this country a regular army in peace, the prominent features of its organization ought to depend. However remote oar situation from the great powers oi meworiu, anu However pacific our policy, we are, notwithstanding, liable to be involved in war and, to resist with success its calamities and dangers, a standing army in peace, io the present improved state of the military sci ence, is an indispensible preparation. The opposite opinion cannot be adopted without putting to hazard the independence and safety of the Country I am aware that the militia is consider ed, ami in many respects justly, as the great national force but, to render Jhcax effective, every experienced officer must acknowledge, thattbey require the aid of regulartroops Supported by a suitable corps of trained artillerists, and by a mall and we'd disciplined body of infantry, they aaf lw mIi.iI i wt.i i kjvu uui IUI19.MUU to act the field as light troops. In these services' their teal, cu rage, and habit of using fire would be of great importance, and would have their full effect. To rely on them beyond this lo suppose our militia capable of meeting in the open field the regular troops of Europe, would be to resist the most obvious truth, and the whole of our experience as a nation.

War is an art, to obtain perfection in which much time and experience, particularly for the officers, are necessary. It is true, that men of great miliary genius occasionally appear, who, though without experience, may, When an army is already organized and disciplined, lead it to victory vet I know of no instance, under circumstances nearly equal, in which the greatest talents have been able, with irregular and undisciplined troops, to meet with success those that wre regularly trained. Genius, without much experience, may command, but it cannot go much further. It cannot at once organize and discipline an army, and give it that military tone and habit which only, in the midst of imminent danger, can enable it to perform the most complex evolutions with precision and promptitude. Those qualities, which essentially distinguish an army from an equal assemblage of untrained individuals, can only be acquired by the instruction of experienced officers.

If they, particularly the company aud regimental officers, are inexperienced, the arJiy must remain undisciplined, in which case the genius, and even the experience, of the commander, will be of little avail. The great and leading objects then of a military skill and a ww ma uustjs ma VUUillry tuny have at its command a body of officers, sufficient ly numerous, and well instructed in every branch of duty, both of the Hot and staff; and the or sanitation of the army ought to be such as to enable the government, at the commencement of hostilities, to obtain a regular force, adequate to we emergencies oi tne country, properly IzeJ aud prepared for actual service. It is thus only that we can be in the condition to meet the tint shocks of hostilities with unyielding firmness. and to press on an enemy while our resources are ye. unexhausted.

But if, on the other hand, disregarding the sound dictates of reason and experience, we should in peace neglect our military establishment, we md't, with a powerful and annum enemy, ue exposed thetno. Uistresin calamities. Not all the zel, courage, and pa" triotiom of our militia, unsupported by rea larly traiued anil disciplined troops, can avert them. Without such troops, the two or three first campaign wou.d be worse than lost. The honor of our arms wunU bs tar nuked, and th resources of the country uselessly lavished lur, to the wan', of effi ciency, an a proper organization, mutt, in actual rvice, be our military expenditures.

When taught by sad experience, we would be compelled to make redoubled efforts, with exhausted means, to regain those very advantages which sxe elort tne want of experience and tmi. in to the itcime expenditure which would We.i be necessary, mn. ifol a hit would have been sufficient to put our peace establishment on a respectable foutUv, critis would be thus brought on of most dau gerous character. If our liberty should ever be endangered by the uii.tary power gaaimg the ascendency, it will be from the necessity of mak iug Usos JBighty and efforts to retrieve our affairs, idter a series disasters, caused Ly tne waol adequate military iow!" 'e as, in our physical system, a state of tin josf. dan I gerous excitement awl paroxysm follows l.ia of tho greatest dubil 'y and p'eatration.

To avoid these daogens consequent and to pre'e the comixy to mctaststeof war. ranicu arly at its commencement, with Itooor and safety, mn aiust oepenion tne organization rt our military peace establishment and I have, accordingly, in the plan about to be proposed, for the redaction ofJie army, directed my attention to that point, beliering it to of the greatest importance. To t'it such an organizttion, the leading principles in its formatioi ought to br, that, at the Couimejoement of hostuities, there should be ierto uew model or to create. The aly Uiihireuce, consequently, bet weo the pesca and lh war fonoafiou of th army. oogM Io be in the increased magnitude of the latter and the oi ly changt, in passing from the: former to the latter, should consist in givibg to it the augmentation whiih will Uten be nectsnry.

Ilis thus, and thus only, the dangerous transition to war msy be made without confusion or disorder and the weakoe. and danger, which otherwise woulJ be inevitable, be avoided. Two consequences result from this principle. First, the organization of the staff in a peace establishment ought to be such, that every branch of it should be completely formed, with such extension as tne number ol troops ami posts occupied may render necessary and, secondly, that the organization of the line ought, as far as practicable, to be such that, in passing from the peace to the war formation, the force may be sufficiently augmented, without adding new regiments or battalions; thus raising the war on the basis of the peace establishment, instead of creating a new army to be added to the old, as at the commencement of the late war. The next principle to be observed, is, the organization ought to be such as to induce, in time of peace, citizens of adequate talents and rcspecta I ility of character to enter and remain in the military service of the country, so that the go vernment may have officers at its command, who, to the requisite experience, would add the pub lic confidence.

The correctness of this princi ple can scarcely be doubted, for, surely, if it is worth having an army at all, it is worth caviu it well commanded. These are the general principles upon which I propose to form the organization of the army, as proposed to be reduceJ under the resolution By reference to table A and which contain the proposed and present organizations, it will be seen that the principal diuercuce between them in the recuction ol the rank and file. The pre sent orgauiz atioo of the staff, with its branches, is retained, with slight alterations. Thcprinci pal changes in it are, in that of the commissary general of purchases, and the judge advocates, by which it is intended that they should confirm more exactly to the principles on which the other branches are now formed. It is beliered that the true principle of its organization is, that every distinct branch of the staff should terminate in a chief, to be stationed, at least in peace, near the scat of government, and to be made responsible for its condition.

It is thus that the government may at all times obtain correct knowledge of the condition of the army in every particular, aud be enabled to introduce method, order, and econo my, in its ilhurpmnts. It is. at nrrnt. with I rs4i prilue, were ainooS a11 would be few ficial effects of it have already been strikingly ex emplifyed by experience. Since the passage of the act of the 14th or April, 1810, which gave the present organization to the staff, the expense of the army has been greatly reduced, while, at the same time, the various articles supplied hav been improved in quality, and the punctuality with which' they have been issued; and while (he movements of the army have, at least for the pre sent, been rendered more expensive by occupy ing the distaut frontier posts at the mouth ol the St.

Peters and at the Council Bluffs. By a state ment from the adjutant and inspector genral, and the books of the second auditor, marked containing the army disbursements from 1818 to 1820 inclusive, it appears that the expense of the army in 1818, the year in which the present or ganization commenced, amounted to three mil lions seven hundred nn forty night thousand lour hundred and forty five dollars and ocecent, while the amount of warrants issued for current disbursements to the first of November this year. has amounted only to two millions six hundred and sixteen thousand five hundred and tweuty six dollars and eloven cents, and the disbursements of the whole year will, probably, not ex ceed two millions seven hundred thousand del lars. Io the year 1818, the aggregate average number of the military establishment, including the cadets, amounted to eight thousand one hun dred and ninety nine, and that of this year to nine thousand sax hundred and eleven. It is admitted, that, during the same period, a considerable reduction has taken plae in many of the articles which constitute the supplies of the army, the effect of which has been to reduce its expense hut, on examination, it will appear that the dimioation on this account is much less than what on the first impression might be supposed.

Many of the more considerable items, which con stitute the expenses of the army, are fixed by law, and do not fluctuate with the change of prices, such as the pay of the officers and men, the subsistence of the former, and the allowance to them for servants, forage, transportation of baggage, fee. All of the items esitnated for, by the paymaster general, excepting clothing for servants, which is of small amount, partake of this character to which, if we add those in the quartermaster generals estimates, which, altho' the price of some of them have in the period un der consideration been reduced, yet that has been at least balanced in the increased expenditure of that department for the two last years, by the extension and lucreased number of the military posts it will result, that the reduction in thi expense of the army by the diminution of prices is substantially confined to the clothing, medical and subsistence departments. Some pains have been taken to ascertain this diminu Lilon, in the various articles supplied by them, ana iinas res ueu in me oenei, mat tne average of those supplied by the and medical departments were, in the year 1818, about seven per cent, higher than in this, and in the subsist' ence about forty per cent. ith these data, it is ascertained, that the expense of the army this year, had no diminution in price since 1813 ta ken place, would have amounted, deducting for the difference of the average number of the two years, and allowing for the expenditure of the semioole war in 1318, to about two millions se yen hunJred and ninety oue thousand and thirty eight dollars and fifty five cents This sum, de ducted from three millions seven hundred nnd forty eight thousand four hundred and forty five dollars and one cent, the expense of the army in 1813, gives for tht actual saving, after allowing for the diminution of prices, the sum of nine hun dred and fitty seven thousand three hundred and filty six dollars an.1 forty S'X cents, (see table wnicn nas ooen etlectej the or'aniza tio i of the present staff, by enabling the depart neat to superintend, in its minute detail', as well the various disbursements of the army, as the measures taken to prevent the waste of public property. The amount of savin' may appear be very great, but it is confi dently delieved, that it cannot be materially rc luced by anrjuct mode of calculation of which the subject is susceptible.

As at this result is, it is only in war that the benefits of a proper organization of the staff can bi fully re dized. With complete organ ization, aud xp ricoce'f officer', trai.icd in time ofpeacetoan exact and punctual discharge of tiu the savins ii w.ir to iu'. on a.i increased en ry and ucce in on military movement?) woul be of inc. dcuMde advantage to tlie couotry The nnjiVer of deputies and assistants iu each brai ch ouht to be regulated ty the exigency of the service, and tiiis must obviously depend much more on the number of than the number oft oops; and as no mater ai chanze msistnily with the public interest, be made at to the posts, under the cronoseJ re Ju' tioi, little diminution can be inado io the number of subordinate officers be locg ng to the staff. It also noosed to retain the two major and four bnjadier generls.

Altiiouzh it is not pro able that there will bp concentrated, in time of! peace, at any oue point, a force iital to the command of a single major or even a brLradier genersl, yet it i tin service that they two reg.tnents, with arUUery awnigiti iroeris, couiUlUte, in our.ser vice, oue Lrigaao, ana two Dnguej otruion, it is important! r. i.irLl sio.iia ie rt taited a p'Oper proportion the command of a major gtneralj Uie somber! of regiments ind battalions, under the proposed organization, 'thus gives a command equst to that of two major and four brigadier eenerals out a wore weighty, and, in my opinion, decs sive reason, why they should be retained, may be found in the principle tlready stated, that the organization oi the peace establishment ought to be such as to induce persons of talent and re spectability to enter and continue id the military service. To give te the officers of the army the necessary skill and acquirements, the military academy is an invaluable part oi our establishment but that alooe will be inadequate. For tliis purpose, respectability of rank and compensation must be given to the officers of the army, in due proportion to the other pursuits of life Every prudent individual, in selecting his court of life, must be governed, making some allowance for natural dbpositioo, essentially by the rewards which attend the various pursuits open to bim. Under our free institutions, every one is left free to make his selection and most of the pursuits of life, followed with industry aud skill, lead to opulence and respectability.

The profession of arms, in the well established state of things which exists amorg us. has no reward but what is attached to it by law and if that should be inferior to other professions, it would be idle to suppose individuals, possessed of the necessary talents and character, would be induced to enter it. A mere sense of duty ought not, and canuot, be safely relied on. It supposes that individuals would be actuated by a stronger sense of duty towards the government than the latter towards them. If we may judge from experience, it would tern that the army, even with these important commands, which, from their rank and must operate strongly on those who have a military inclinction, does not present inducements to remain in it, stronger than, nor even as strong as, those ol most of the other respectable pursuits of life.

The number of resignations has been very great, of which many are among the most valuable officers. Should the number of generals be reduced, the motive for entering or continuing in service must also be greatiy reduced for, like the high prizes in a lottery, though they can be obtained by a few only, yet they operate on all those who advance so those important stations which they occupy are, with those the best qua lified to serve their country, the principal motive to enter or remain in the army. To retain them is, in fact, the cheapest mode of commanding such talents for, to pursue the metaphor, if the ticket, there but adventurers so. if the compensation attached to the general offi cers were distributed proportionality among the other officers, the inducement which the army now holds out lor a military prolession, to indivr duals of suitable character, would be almost wholly lost. If the generals were reduced to one major and two brigadiers, the saving would not exceed 14,432 annuully, which, distributed a moog the officers in proportion to their pay, would giveio a lieutenant but $25 59 additional pay, and to a captain 30 87 annually, a sum too inconsiderable to have much effect.

I will proceed next to make a few remarks on that portion of the organization which proposes to reduce the rank and file, without a correspon dent reduction of the battalious and regiments. By a reference to statement it will be seen that it is proposed to add the rifle regiment to those of the infantry, aud unite the ordnance and light and heavy artillery into one cot ps of artille ry, which, when thus blended, to form niue regiments of infantry, and five battalions of artillery, from the latter of which the corps of ordinance is to be taken, to consist of one colonel, one lieut. colonel, two majors, seven captains, and as many lieutenants as the President may judge necessary. This organization will require all the offi cers of the line of the present army to be re tained. No position connected with the organisation of the peace establishment is susceptible of being more rigidly proved, than that the proportion of its officers to the rank and file ought to be greater than in a war establishment.

It results immediately from a position, the truth of which canuot be fairly doubted, and which I have attempted to illustrate in the preliminary remarks, that the leading object of a regular army in time of peace oght to be, to enable the country to meet, with honor and safety, particularly at the commence ment of war. the dangers incident to that state to effect ibis object, as far as practicable, the peace organization ought, as has been shown, to be such, that, in passing to a state of war, there should be nothing either to new model or to cre ate and that the difference between that and the war organization ought to be simply in the greater magnitude of the latter. The applica tion ot this principle has governed in that portion of the formation of the proosed military establishment now under consideration. The companies, both of the artillery and iulantrv, are pro posed to be reduced to their minimum peace formation, the former to ronei of sixty four pri vates and non commissioned officers, and the lat tcr of thirty seven, rhich will give to the aggre' gate of both corps, thus formed, six thousand three hundred and sixteen non commissioned officers, musicians, and privates. Without adding a single officer, or a single company, they may be augmented, should a just precaution, growing out ol our foreign relations, render it necessary, to 11,558 and, peudinz hostilities, by addin; 283 officers, the two corps on the maximum of the war formation, may be raised to the rcspuc table force of 4,54 of the artillery, and 14,490 of the mfautry, making in the aggregate 19,035 officer, non com missioned officers, and privates The war organization thus raised on the peac establishment, will bring into effective operation the whole of the experience and skill of the lat ter, which, with atleution, would in a short peri od, be comuiuuicated to the new recruits, and the officers recently appointed, so as to constitute a well disciplined force, should the organization of full companies, on the contrary, be adopted for the peace establishment, this process could be carried to a very limited extent.

Six thousand men so organized can be augmented no the full war establishment only to 9,1 15 by doubling the battalions. Any additional force, beyond that, be obtained by adding new regiments and wild all the disadvantage of inexpcri ence in the officer and men.without the means of immediate instruction. ThU was the fatal error at the commencement of the late war, which cott the countryso much treasure blood. 1 he peace establisiiment which pi ece led it was very imperfectly organized and did not admit of the necessary augmentation nor did the government Hvail iteif of even its limited capacity in that respect. The forces raised were organized into new corgis, in which, consequently, every braucb of military duty was to be learned by the officers as well as mrn.

Cut, with all these advantages, tile experience aud discipline of the old establishment was of immense use, and has not been duly appreciated. The officers belonging to it gradually diffused their military knowledge through the army, and contributed much to the of the camiiaign of 1814. For the truth if this assertion, I might with confidence appeal to thnst officers who then acquired so much lory for tii lves and their country. A.Hi'.h'ir rH ja to I vhv. in Ihe.

n. ite i ilinimrot, il number of officers ought to be hel great compared wth tiie actual Kirce. At the com menceiiirtri trar nn ttdequaie number ol officer is of irorol.uw lhn that of disciplined troo't even were it xvoiu to ure the Utter wnn outm foimei li it is iiol d.3i til; to formm a short tine well disciplined I ps bv experienced officers. u'" 'h reverse it impossible. Tb qualifications ofl nurs aee.

supeiior totnote i thesol in the pn tent unproved state of military science, neglect with unpumiy to instruct a grps ol imliun has not added much (o the ,4 (HSrf jrraintj ot (he wCdier. or of imam? hint, but i rameient tmoLcr afiti citiieas la a science ioditpen sable to its independence tud safety, and to periect which instruction, it is necessary that soma poruoa ol Ihwa (the sHsmbet to be regelated by the moarce ol the countrjr and its relation with other royrsuaents) should make arms their profession. I have thus ptcseatrd oisisatioa which I item (be inost effective, and trbicuin the letuie exigencies of the country, may be of the qtinosl importance. A different one, requiring for the present an eiprndi (tire something less Iftaa that proposed, might, ia some respects, be more agreeable at this moment but, believing met nothing in our situation or in our relation with other powers, however pacific at this time, can give a certain assurance of anintemipted peace, a stale which rosy exist the imagination of the poet, hot which Donation has yet had (he good fortune to enjoy, I have deemed it my duty to present that organ iialion which will most effectually proiecl the country against the calamities and dangers of any future contest in which it may be our misfortune to be involved. Economy is rertainly a very high political virtue, intimately connected with toe power and the public virtue of the community.

In military operatiuns. which, under the best mansgemetnent, are so eipen sive, it is of the utmost importance but, by no propriety of language ran that arrangement be called economical, which, in order that our military etab liibment in petce should be rather less exenive, would, regardless of (he purposes for which it ought to be maintained, render it unfit to meet the dangers incident to a state of war. With a single observation, which was omitted in proper pUce, I will conclude my remarks. The plan proposed lor the reduction of the army rivet tit thou sand three hundred and sixteen non conimis ioiied officers, musicians and privates, instiad of sis thou sand, (ha number Axed in (he resolution. Il was found difficult (o form an organization on proper prin 1 ciples, which would give (hat precise number, and as the difference was not deemed Terr material.

1 hare ventured (o deviate to that extent from (he (crass af the resolution. 1 have the honor to be, Your obedient servant, J. C. CALHOUN. The Hon.

John W. Taylor, Speaker of the House of We have not room at present for the publica tion of the appendices to this report A few of the leading facts are extracted from them below. 1 he average abrogate strensih of the army for the year 180, is estimated at the number of recruits for this year is rated at 3,211. Ihc annual qxpeuses of the army proper, dur the three years past, arc stated as follows For the year 1818, $3,748,445 01 1819, 3,351,363 12 18i0, 2,616,529 II Takingtheyear 1818 for an example, comparing it with the present year, the annual saving in the expenditures for the army, "in conse quence ol the improved organization," is estimated at $957,356. The present organization of the army, the proposed organization at its minimum force, the proposed organization at its maximum, and the proposed organization (doubling the battalions and augmenting the officers of infantry) embrace respectively, the following numbers' Ojfierrt.

Privates. Present organization, 572 12.36 Minimum ol proposed do. 544 6.391 Maximum of projiosed do. 544 11,261 With doubled battalions, kc. 832 9,200 the annual savin by the proposed orcaniza tion of the army, on the basis of the expenditure ol I3 JO, and supposing the rank not to be full, in either case, by one sixth, is estimated at 905,204 aoiiars.j sut.

inl. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER M. "A Dittmrie on the Medical Police of the city of JVf. Fork, tht College of Physi cian and Surgeos by David Hotack, Resident Physician. This publication makes its appear ance in compliance with a Resolution of the Common Council, passed the 27th Of Nov.

last, and prefixed to the work. This fact, so honor able to our Resident Physician, entitles his pamphlet to the attention of bis fellow citizens. Every nan who has a freehold here is deeply interested in the truths it contains every oue who who has a regard for the character of the city, and feels a just resentment against the libellous attacks that have been made upon it as the source of pestilential diseases and every cue who is bonelly desirous it should adopt the only effectual and propeV means to preserve it io future from the introduction of the yellow fever, will peruse this valuable treatise with the utmost avidity, and will close it with that degree ol satisfaction that arises io every fair mind at fiuding the cause of truth amply vindicated. We need no excuse, and shall make none, for giviDg very copious extracts, although the pamphlet ought to be in the bands of every thiuking mauia this city. Vou are doubtless aware of the opposite opinions which have divided the physiciaus of the United States relative to the contagious nature ol yellow fever, and of the controversies to which that question has given birth, relative to the domestic origin or foreign source of that dis 1 he same diversity ol opinion, though in a less degree, exists among the physicians of the West Indies, aud of Europe; and, latterly, io this country, the same question has been agitated relative to the contagiousuess of dysentery, the various forms of typhus, jail, ship, or hospital fever, and has been extended even to the plague itself each too contends that his opinion is legitimately deduced from facts.

Para loxical as it may seem, this is truly the case they are both right, and each reasons correctly from the premises he assumes: for example, he who contends that the yellow fever is contagious, under all circumstances, in the pure air of the country, as well as in the foul air of the city, certainly contradicts the facts which repeated observation has established. On the other hand, he wiio denies its contagiousness in a foul atmosphere, in the confined and crowded dwellings of the poor, in the impure air of our the vicinity of the water side, where the materials producing such impurities are most abundant, no less violates the truth. To reconcile these opposing opinions and to explain those contradictory results, has been, for many years past, the object of my attention. 1 began the inquiry by asking the question, what is a contagious disease To this question I found no answer had been given, in which physicians were united. Many had been proposed ac cording to the particular disease each had haD pened to select as the standard ol comparison for example, the small pox was by some made the standard.

This disease is Communicated by contact, by the air, and can be contracted but once in the course of life. Yellow fever, and ma ny other febrile diseases, usually deemed conta gious, referred to this as the exemplar, are cer tainly not contagious diseases but those who reason thus, and deny the ronta ious nature of yellow fever and plngue, because they be taken more than once, lorget that there are also diseases, on hands admitted to be contagious. which can be repeatedly contracted by the same person as the itch and venereal disease. Driven from this ground as untenable, a distinction was resorted to, that some diseases are coutagious aud others infectious. What then, I atk, it an infectious disease, as distinguished Irom one that is contagious An infectious disease, they allege, is not derived from the sick body itself, but from the foul air io which the sick person happens to be lodged but they have never told us how it happens that the foul air aurroumiing the tick, always possesses the wonderful property of communicating, not invariably such a disease as would be expected if proceeding from foul air alone, tnt precisely that disease tinder which the patient happens at that time to it he tick with yellow fever by stander gets yellow fever.

Is be ill of dysentery 'dysentery is io like manner communicated; therefore, I contend, that the disease, as well as the atmos phere surrounding the sick, has something to do in the communication of the duordenn question, but which has been strangely and totally over looked by almost every writer on this tibject. In 1808a, ia a communication addressed to Dr. Chisbnlm, I proposed to narrow the ground of controversy by considering all those diseases, usually deemed communicable from man to man, whether contagious, or infecious, whether exam ples of specific or general contagion, under one great head and in that view, 'tally disrezardio. the peculiarities of each, or the mannner in which the poisonous effluvia communicated the. dis ease, whether by contact, by the air, by cloth' ing, or other substances imbued with the excre tions of the sick.

Upon further survey of those diseases, it soon became manifest that there were no two of them in which all the laws of commu nication corresponded, and in which they a greed in all the circumstance of their operation upon the system. 1 then proceeded to a subdivision of this great family of diseases. In makinz this distribution it was found that some were ex clusively communicated by contact, as syphilis, hydrophobia, and the vaccine virus others by the air and by coutact, as the small pox and measles while other diseases, of a third description, are only communicable through the medium of an impure atmosphei as typhus, yellow, fe ver, dysentery, and the plague while the same diseases, with due attention to ventilation, personal cleanliness, and the removal of every thing offensive from the apartments of the sick, are rarely, it ever, propagated beyond the individual first affected. This new arrangement and the modified or conditional contagiousness of fever as flowing from it, I hope it will not he deemed vanity to oh serve, have been received with approbation by many distinguished practical physicians in Eu rope, as well as in this country, and have been considered as aff a satisfactory solution of many of the difficulties with which this subject has been embarrassed. Latterly, however, the distribution proposed, and the principles connect ed with it, have been railed in question by some of the medical gentlemen of this country, who, it appears, have not yet had an opportunity, either Iroui reading or practical observations, cl know ing the facts from whence the deductions had been made to whirh 1 have referred.

They have, Irom the want of this knowledge, precipi vateiy run into the and unqualified du belief, not only of the rorre rtnest of the view taken of this subject, but of (he contagiousness of the levers enumerated under any circumstances. They have, indeed, considered the very exis tence of contagion, as appertaining to fevers, a mere phantom of the imagination. To those gentlemen I observe, in the language of an able writer in the Edinburgh Review, that In the present state of medical knowledge, it is not at all more absurd to denv the existence offrv altogether, than to maintain that it is not propa gated by contagion." I furthermore ask, are the unflcged opinions and speculations of those men of the closet, who yet have had but few opportunities to tett them at the In sidt, to come in competition with the results of cxierience, aided by the most profound professional aroiug, and the distinguished abilities of the numerous writers who have adorn the past, nnd many of whom still continue to enlighten the present Are the investigations aud the accumulated experience of Huxham, llaygarih, Currie, (ire gory, Fcrriar, Perciial, Etane, Chisholm, M' Uregor, Pym, Gilpin, Wrijjht and a hott of thert, to be prostrated by the arrogant assertions, the overweening conceits, ami flippant remarks of those juniors in knowledge and in yean, who have lately obtruded themselves upon the public attention i Although they do not merit a serious and bored refutation of their mistaken views, it will he at least proper, under the various point which they consider at issue, to call their attention to those important facts, and thos sources of information, with whicu they app ar lo be unacquainted, or which, i i their eagerness to promulgate their effusions, they have totally disregarded. It gives me pa in to remark, that some late writers in Bo. toti, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and in this city, to the disgrace of the medical character of tins country, and evincing a total ignorance of the diagnostics of disease, have identified the yellow fever of the tropics with the common bilious fever, our ordinary endemic, and which, indeed, occa ipnally appears at all seasons of the year for this latter form of fever I have known to en and hare prescribed not only in the spring, summer, and autumn, but in midwinter, when the earth was covered with snow, and there was a total absence of all those circumstances of heat, moisture, and mia nnt which these very writers contend are ncctary to the production of yellow fever.

In confirmation of this fact, and of the errors to which this singular doctrine leads its votaries, I obsirve that within a few days, and since tne appearance of frost, which they unanimously admit at once extinguishes the more fatal form of yellow fever, some of their deluded followers hate gravely reported to our Board ol" Health, as cases of yellow fever, the ordinary examples of a bilious remittent 1 Uninrtructcd in the distinctions of fever, it is not a matter of surprise that they can thus intermingle names and things. From this dilemma they have no escape hut their absurdities are not limited to this examplf a late has gone so far as to con found the yellow lever with th common bowel compUiuts of children, proceeding from beat and, dentition. I cannot consent seriously to notice this daring assertion, made by those who acknowledge no distinction between one form of fever and ano ther, and who ran confound the effects of heat a Inne with the other causes of disease, and which I had almost said the youngest pupil in my bearing knows to be at variance with fact. When the writers referred to shall have attentively perused the pages of Kind, Pringlc, Blane, Lempnere, Niell, and Pym, who have most abundantly drawn the distinguishing characters of billious and yellow fever, aud whose diagnostics are derived' from the bed side of the sick, not the abstract productions of the writing desk, they will wi that the publications to Inch they have affixed their names, had never seen tho light. Indeed, as it regards their know lodse of yellow fever, I feel constrained to re mark, that it would almost appear that one of the great qualifications of those gentlemen is to oe practically unacquainted with the disease on which they write and, as in viewing certain co llects, it is necessary for the observer, for the purpose ol more distinct vision, to withdraw to a considerable distance from the object to be inspect ed, thry, in like manner, have considered it equally proper to take a distant view of the eui demic they are to describe.

Such 1 allege lias been the fact, that the greater number of those who have written most, and in the most dogmatic style, not only in the earlier years, when yellow fever visited our shores, but in the later seasons of its appearance, have immediately upon the commencement of the disease, fled to a distance Iroot the scene of distress but what they want in facts they supply by bold assertions, and for dispassionate reasoning they substitute the coarsest personalities. That is, every writer of tU opposite opinion. Ed. L.P. aAmerican Medical and PbHosonhical Res it.

ter, vol. ii p. 14. fiSee London Annual Medical Review, Edinburgh Medical anl Sur ical Journal, Loudon Annals of Medicine and Surgery, The Salltur'b Journal, by Alben of Bremen. Dr.

Walls. This oWrration it not exdasirely coo fined to the late writers who have appeared in the hited States it it no less applicable, in. all its tt tent, to the intemperate effusion, of a UansaUaD. tic writer of some notoriety I refer to the pages of Dr. Edward Nathaniel UancrofLo Thai physician, it appears, has still to learn the elementary truths relative to the limited and slow progress of contagion as applied to fever, and which have been known from the days of have been confirmed by Lind, llaygarth, and every writer who has treated of the typhus fever of Great Britain during the last fifty years otherwise Dr.

Bancroft certainly could not have committed the grots error he has done in his inference, that because the yellow fever which prevailed in this city was generally circumscribed to a particular part of the town, that therefore the disease was of domestic origin, and not contagious forsooth, that because it did not diffuse i'self as an epidemic small pox, measles, or scarlatina, that tbcrelore it was not a contagious disease he might with equal propriety have drawn the sapient conclusion that yellow fever is not small pox. Ou the contrary, I contend, that as the yellow fever did not simultaneously appear in different parts of the town, but successively, beginning at the water side, in the immediate viciuity of a tainted ship and as in all the subsequent cases they were traced bv the Board of Health to the place of its first appearance, the inference is rtainly adverse to tbe domestic origin of the fiscase, and in favor of its introduction from a broad. I know not what is truth or correct rea soning, if any other deduction is admissible from the premises that have been stated. To be continued. rfSee his essay on yellow fever.

Report of tlie Secretary of If 'ar. We publish this well written document with great pleasure) for we have read it with entire satisfaction, and doubt not those readers who are conversant ia such matters will peruse il with similar stnta. tion. The hon. Thomas Bennett was elected on the) 7th iost.

governor of tbe state of South Carolina, by a majority ol 70 votes, on a joint ballot of the legislature of that state, over the boo. John Taylor, the opposing candidate, and William C. Pinckney, Esq. lieutenant governor. Gun poudtr.

It is stated in a late English, publication, that the force of gunpowJer is eo creased iu a three fold degree by mixing it wills the saw dut of soft wood, and that tliis renders i particularly useful in blowing rocks. From the Charleston City Gaselte, Dec. 12. A distinguished Spaniard of Cuba, writes to his frimd in this city, that the disposition of that Cortiilo ratify the Treaty, had been ascertain ed in secret session and the fact annouueed by some of the Members to their corrcpondeots ia Havana, by letters dated early in October. Ila prrceeds to request of his Iriend, the President's Message to Congress, the Expose ef the Minister ol Fiuancr, iic.

This, coupled with the intelli gence Irom England, leaves do doubt of the immediate and pacific acquisition of the Fle. idas. Tbe following article on the same subject ia copied from the Aurora, received this morning. We learned on Sunday evening, that Utter were iu town from Madrid, lnm persons of that best opportunities, which a ti rl that the Florid treatf had been actually ratified. This event.

slif.o'.d it prove sutirta true, is certtinly c. ntrary to all our alcul.lioni and presents a difficulty i.i the politics oj Spain which wt can uot at present uuravcl. From tlie Richmond Enquirer, Dec. 11. Yestenljv, the House of eiegat.s received? ru Literestini Memorial from 0 Jonn Pres th' irtt' Trta urer, propo in, as we under stand, to make o.er to the the real and perso.ial property (n com eyed by two deeds Iru to secui.te,l which he es timates to I worth at least 1,000 beside about J20.000 iu cah the property to be sold fir the.

benefit of the Cor tnoti MU, to mako I his ilefalt lit rcerits the question, hnwfir his securities are ai ntouud fir him. to be decided by the proper tribunal. The memo rial was rclcrred to a sr led committee. From the ll ttte'irster lit raid, Dec. 19.

The The company continue their la bors with unabated vigor they have cleared it of rubhith to the depth rl 60 feet; they have discovered 6 different cavemt. leading in different directions lioui the main pit, hre from 4, to Brous in length, and about 20 leet in hticht; they have also lound several niuier'j tools visitors are om 'l quarti rs a small quantity of ore hat been lound, and silver extracted from it. II ARTFOilD, '(Con.) Dec. 19. RareSpori.K beautiful jonng ljuck, weigh in; 44!) was killed in ou the 6 ill inst.

He was started the day before, and pursued throughout the day by the hounds of J'r. Palmer Mr. liarria without being met by the hunters. The next morning Mr. Mr.

Harris, and Mr. Brown, went in pursuit of him, and in a bort time Mr. Palmer was enabled to give tiiui a shot, which wounded him in such a manner that he was overtakes by the hounds before noon and killed. NEW HAVE.V, Dec. 19.

Esquimaux Indians. During th past week, capt. Hadlock. of the ivc Crulher recently returned firm Davis' Struts, in lat. 62, Ions.

72, torn hed at thi port on his way to New York, ami exhibited three Esquimaux Indians, a chief, his wift and child. '1 luy were habited entirely in sealskin, curiously si wed with sinewsthey had with them their bot and, sledge and were visited a' ir.tcretiog objects of curiosity by many of our citizens. CHARLESTON, Dec. 12. Sfopvrrek.

We have receive I tlie following account of the lot of the brig rutin', aptain Norris, of Baltimore, from the mate, Mr, Casoo: The A. sailed from Turks Island for Baltimore, with a cargo of salt, on the 4th of November. On the 15th and 16th experienced a severe gale of wind during which she sprung a leak. Si was with difficulty kept aQaat, by constant exertions at the pumps, until the l7lh when, the crew beinj greatly exhaurted, and the leak gaining on them, it was determined to abandon the vessel, and they were taken off by the brig Albert, capt King, of Boston, from I jverpnol for Wilmington, C. where they arrived on the 23d ult.

fjy Several of our annual advertisers will please excose us for omitting their favors this day. MARRIED, This morniog, at ct. John's chapel, by the Rev. Mr. Berrian, Augustus Creele.

esq. to Miss Caroline Cornelia Lovett, both of th'r city. On Monday evening, by the Rev. Mr. Borr, Mr.

George Kcarsing, goldbeater, to Miss Sarah) Gerow, of FishkilU DIED, Last eyeninr. after a lingering illness of about two years, of consumption, Mr. John Ludlam, aged 47. Yesterday afternoon, Mrs. Elizabeth Geer, in the 35th year of her age.

At Savannah, on 1st iost. Ulric Tobler, Esq in the year of hit aje..