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DEATH OF HARRISON.

credit and confidence among the trading and manufacturing classes and increasing the rewards of agricultural industry.

In the inaugural address of General Harrison, his views of the principles of the American government were fully explained, and his determination to carry their execution into effect, solemnly expressed. In concluding his address, he says, "Fellow-citizens: being fully invested with that high office to which the partiality of my countrymen has called me, I now take an affectionate leave of you. You will bear with you to your homes the remembrance of the pledge I have this day given, to discharge all the high duties of my exalted station according to the best of my ability; and I shall enter upon their performance with entire confidence in the support of a just and generous people."

But these professions, and this system of policy, General Harrison was destined never to have the opportunity of realizing. His elevation to the high office of First Magistrate of the Union, furnishes a striking and melancholy example of the uncertainty of human greatness; for on the morning of the 4th of April, before he had delivered to Congress a single message, he expired at Washington.

General Harrison was in the sixty-ninth year of his age; he died within one month of his inauguration, and was the first president who died in office. On the 5th of April the public were admitted to view the remains of the late President. His corpse was placed in a leaden coffin, with a roofed lid, and a glass cover over it. The whole was covered with a black velvet pall, trimmed with silver lace. The funeral took place on the 7th. The corpse was borne from the President's house, and was deposited in the Congressional Cemetery. The order of the ceremony was very imposing: the procession extended over two miles of space, and was the longest ever witnessed in Washington.

A sentiment of the profoundest grief pervaded every part of the Union on this melancholy occasion. A national fast was proclaimed; and the affection and respect of the people were testified by every species of public demonstration.

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TYLER'S ADMINISTRATION.

CCORDING to the constitution, Mr. Tyler now became President; he arrived at Washington, on the 5th of April, 1841, and was immediately sworn into office. Mr. Southard, who had been elected President of the Senate, pro tempore, a few days before the close of the last session of Congress, became Vice-President. On the 8th, the new President issued an address, suited to the occasion, in which, after lamenting the decease of General Harrison, he expressed his intention of carrying into practice during his administration of the government, what he conceived to have been that gen tleman's principles. The cabinet chosen by General Harrison, was retained in office.

On the 31st of May, the Twenty-Seventh Congress of the United States assembled at Washington, when Mr. White, of Kentucky, a member of the Administration party, was chosen Speaker of the House of Representatives, by a majority of thirty-seven. A message was transmitted to Congress, in which the President proposed that the nation should reimburse

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EXTRA SESSION OF CONGRESS.

the family of General Harrison, for the expenses which he must have incurred in taking office for so short a time. His views with regard to foreign policy were of a pacific character, and no important changes had taken place in foreign relations, since the last session of Congress. He stated that the census shows the population to be seventeen millions, and that it had doubled in twenty-three years.

Several important subjects were presented for consideration during the special session of Congress. A bill for establishing a new Bank of the United States, however, which was considered the cardinal measure of the session, was defeated by the President's refusal of his signature. A second bill was prepared, after consultation between the President, his cabinet, and certain members of the House of Representatives; and when this bill was defeated, by a second exercise of the negative power, all the members of the cabinet, except Mr. Webster, resigned their offices. The elevated character of the Secretary of State did not prevent his motives for retaining office from being sternly questioned at the time; but it is now considered a most fortunate circumstance for the country that he did not abandon his post. The importance of his subsequent services in arranging the terms of the treaty with Great Britain, are universally recognised.

Animated discussions took place upon the case of Alexander M'Leod, who had been arrested in New York and committed, on the charge of being concerned in the attack upon the Caroline, and the murder of Durfee, an American citizen, one of the parties killed on that occasion. His release was demanded by the British minister, who signified that a compliance with his demand was essential to the preservation of the good understanding which had hitherto been manifested between the two countries. The President refused to comply with the demand, and much excitement was felt throughout the country. The trial of M'Leod took place at Utica, in the State of New York, in October, and he was acquitted, an alibi having been sworn in evidence. Thus terminated this unpleasant affair, which seemed likely at one time to involve the two nations

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