I have the honor to be, with high consideration, sir, your

obedient servant,

Hon. J. C. CALHOUN, &c.

R. PAKENHAM.

Mr. Calhoun to Mr. Pakenham.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, Jan. 21st, 1845.

SIR-I have laid before the President your communication of the 15th instant, offering, on the part of Her Majesty's Government, to submit the settlement of the question between the two countries in reference to the Oregon Territory to arbitration.

The President instructs me to inform you that, while he unites with her Majesty's Government in the desire to see the question settled as early as may be practicable, he cannot accede to the offer.

Waiving all other reasons for declining it, it is sufficient to state that he continues to entertain the hope that the question may be settled by the negotiation now pending between the two countries; and that he is of the opinion it would be unadvisable to entertain a proposal to resort to any other mode, so long as there is hope of arriving at a satisfactory settlement by negotiation, and especially to one which might rather retard than expedite its final adjust

ment.

I avail myself of this occasion to renew to you the assurance of my distinguished consideration.

Right Hon. RICHARD PAKENHAM, &c.

J. C. CALHOUN.

LETTER

From the Secretary of State, relative to the alleged errors of the Sixth Census.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, February 8th, 1845.

SIR,-In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 28th ultimo, directing the Secretary of State" to inform this House if any, and what, steps have been taken to ascertain whether the errors imputed to the last census by the memorials of Edward Jarvis, William Brigham, and J. Wingate Thornton, and of Thomas Earle and others, presented to this House at its last session, praying that an inquiry should be made as to the accuracy of the last census, and which memorials were referred to, and reported upon by the Select Committee on Statistics, be correct or not; and whether the result of the inquiry necessary for that purpose has been such as to impeach, or not, the general correctness of the same," I have the honor to state, that I deemed it to be my duty, as the correctness of the late census had been questioned during the last session of Congress, and the errors imputed to it had received, to a certain extent, the sanction of one of the committees of the House, to adopt such measures as the department could, with propriety, in order to ascertain whether the errors imputed to that important statistical document, on which the distribution of power among the States of this Union, and the legislation of Congress, for the time, must so much depend, were well founded or not. For this purpose I employed William A. Weaver, Esq., as a person in every way well qualified to perform the task of making a thorough investigation of the subject. He was originally appointed by Mr. Forsyth, and continued by Mr. Webster, to superintend the taking of the late census, including the correction of the returns of the marshals, and of the proofs of the printed documents. The memorials

addressed to Congress, impeaching its correctness, with the report of the committee in reference to them, were placed in his hands, with the direction to give the subject a thorough and impartial investigation, and to report the result to the department.

A copy of his report is herewith enclosed, which will furnish the information called for by the resolution of the House.

It would seem, from its statements, that great and unusual care was taken in order to insure accuracy in the late census; and that many items charged as errors in it by the memorialists, are, in fact, errors on their part; while, as to the greater part of the residue, it is a matter of doubt whether they be errors or not. Many items, for instance, charged as errors under the head of education," involve mere questions of classification; and whether they be errors or not, depends on the fact whether the classification adopted by the marshals, or by the memorialists, be that intended by the act providing for the taking of the census.

66

But, as the great object of the memorialists, in imputing gross and glaring errors to the late census, seems to be to destroy its credit, because it exhibits the condition of the free negroes of the non-slaveholding States to be so much worse than that of the slaves of the other States, in reference to the far greater prevalence of insanity, blindness, deafness, and dumbness, comparatively, among the former than the latter, the report has given this part of the subject a more full and thorough examination.

The result would seem fully to sustain the correctness of the census on this highly important point. After examining and pointing out, in detail, the erroneous statements and conclusions of the memorialists, it proceeds to sustain the correctness of the census in this respect, by evidence drawn from the preceding census in 1830. That provided for taking the number afflicted by the same diseases, omitting that

of insanity. Table marked A (included in the report) formed from the returns of the two, omitting cases of insanity in the latter, exhibits their comparative results as to the number of deaf, dumb, and blind. It will be found, on reference to it, that the census of 1830 strikingly confirms, throughout, the late census, as to the far greater prevalence of these diseases among the free blacks of the non-slaveholding States, compared with the slaves of the other States. But, as conclusive as this collateral evidence may be regarded, it is not more so than that drawn from a different source. It is well known that there is an intimate connection between extreme physical wretchedness and crime. The same causes which produce the one, will the other. In order to bring this test to bear, a correspondence was opened with the proper State authorities, with a view to obtain authentic statements as to the number of white and colored convicts, including both sexes, in their respective State prisons, for the year 1840 and the subsequent years. Table marked B gives the results, as far as statements have been furnished for 1840, the year the census was taken. Like table A, it strongly confirms the correctness of the late census, by showing that the prevalence of crime among the negroes of the non-slaveholding States, compared with the slaves of the slaveholding States, is not less striking than the greater prevalence of disease, as exhibited by the same document.

On a review of the whole, two conclusions, it is believed, will be found to follow inevitably. The one is, that the correctness of the late census, in exhibiting a far greater prevalence of the diseases of insanity, blindness, deafness, and dumbness, stands unimpeachable. That it may contain errors, more or less, is hardly to be doubted. It would be a miracle if such a document, with so many figures and entries, did not. But that they have, if they exist, materially affected the correctness of the general result, would seem hardly possible. Nothing but that the truth is so, would seem ca

pable of explaining the fact that, in all the non-slaveholding States, without exception, the census exhibits, uniformly, a far greater comparative prevalence of these diseases among the free blacks, than among the slaves of the other States. They are, indeed, vastly more so among the most favorable of the former, than in the least favorable of the latter. If to this be added the corroborative evidence furnished by the census of 1830, and the returns furnished by the States showing a like greater prevalence of crime, as has been shown, the conclusion would seem to be altogether irresistible. Why the fact should be so, is a question of deep import. Without undertaking to investigate it, it may be asserted that the cause, be it what it may, must be deep and durable. None other can account for the uniformity of its operation through so many States, respectively, of such wide extent, and placed in such different conditions.

The other conclusion, not less irresistible, is, that so far from bettering this condition of the negro or African race, by changing the relation between it and the European, as it now exists in the slaveholding States, it would render it far It would be, indeed, to them, a curse instead of a

worse.

blessing.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, sir, your obedient servant,

To the Hon. J. W. JONES,

J. C. CALHOUN,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

END OF VOL. V.