and a part of the troops to mutiny, he supplied the 
army with four or five thousand barrels of tlour upon 
his own private credit; and on a promise to that 
effect, persuaded a member to withdraw an intended 
motion to sanction a procedure, which, although 
common in Europe, would have had a very injurious 
effect upon the cause of the country; this was no loss 
than to authorize General Washington- to seize all 
the provision that could be found, within a clrclo of 
twenty miles of his camp. While financier, his 
notes constituted, for large transactions, part of the 
circulating- medium. Many other similar instances 
occurred of this patriotic interposition of his own 
personal responsibility for supplies which could not 
otherwise have been obtained. 
Allusion has been made Above to the gloomy pos- 
tore of affairs during the year 1780; at this time the 
wants of the army, particularly of provisions, were 
so great as to threaten its dissolution. This state of 
tilings being communicated to Mr. Mokrih, ho 
immediately proposed the establishment of a Hank, 
the principal object of which was to supply the 
army with provisions. This plan beeomiug popular, 
ninetysix subscribers gave their bonds, on this 
occasion, by which they obliged themselves to pay, 
if it should become necessary, in gold and silver, tho 
amounts annexed to their names, to fuilil the engage¬ 
ments of tho Hank. By this means, the contldoucc 
of the public in the safety of the Bank was confirmed. 
Mr, Morris headed the list with a subscription of 
£10,000; others followed to the amount of £300,000. 
The Directors were authorized to borrow money on 
the credit of the Bank, and to grant, special notes, 
bearing interest at six per cent. Tho credit thus 
given to tho Hank effected the object intended, and 
the institution was continued until the Hank of North 
America went into operation in the succeeding year. 
In the year 1781, Mr. Morris was unanimously 
appointed by Congress Superintendent of Finance, 
an office then for tin- first time established. No man 
in the country probably was as well fitted for this 
important task, as he possessed a happy expedient 
of raising supplies, and enjoyed the entire confidence 
of the country for punctuality in the fulfillment of 
his engagements. At, the time of his appointment 
the treasury was more than two millions and a half 
and the greater part of this debt was of 
worthlessness, loss, under which some have sought 
to fly back again into the world, though penniless, 
and others have perished at their own hands. No 
more powerful light could he thrown upon the truth, 
“no man liveth to himself,” and no more convincing 
proof could be given that “all things” are unable to 
throw around life that charm which springs from 
Simple usefulness. 
Since our hurried visit, some dreadful revelations 
have been made by so called “apostates,” who have 
instituted proceedings for the recovery of their 
property: but for all we know, Priscb still lives, 
with a sufficient number of dupes to support him in 
luxury and wantonneas, and hitherto shielded from 
the interference of law by the privacy of his doings, 
the difficulties of escape, and the horror which 
haunta those who have tied from this misnamed 
“ abode of love.'' J. M. 
Middle port, N V , 1861. 
and brandishes a bludgeon, and man with wealth and 
power is there as elsewhere, an oppressor of the weak, 
an abuser of his race. Yes — 
11 Mad’s inhumanity to man 
Makes countless thousands mourn.” 
ROBERT MORRIS 
LETTERS FROM CALIFORNIA 
THE AGAPEMONE, BRIDGWATER, ENG. 
One bright day in tho year 1854, being in the 
neighborhood of Bridgwater, we took it into our 
head to pay a visit to this mysterious institution, 
whose associations had been so notoriously disrepu¬ 
table. Previous inquiry bad informed us that the 
head of the establishment, named Prince, was once the 
curate of an adjacent village, and distinguished for bis 
evangelicism; hut having been led into some extrava¬ 
gances. (in consequence of his success.) was sus¬ 
pended by his Bishop. He then commenced preach¬ 
ing in the open air, in and around Bridgwater, at 
first earnestly entreating men to fly from the wrath 
to come. Then he limited the time during which 
salvation could be obtained, and the number who 
should enjoy it. The next step was to constitute the 
church he had succeeded in forming, the only true 
church, and the climax was to proclaim himself the 
incarnation Of the Holy Ghost, and, as such, deserving 
of the profonndest homage of all upon whom he 
bestowed salvation. This character he now retains, 
— this homaire he now receives. — and is called 
Mule, paddng—Size of a pack-train - Amoum cam™ 
mX iie _ limn they are unladen — Packers in the evening — 
Their hardships and sufferings — Advantage taken by the 
mountain traders ^ ^ Cal Nov . 10i 1860 . 
The majority of Rural readers, doubtless, arc 
aware that packing by mules Is the principal, and 
about the only way, by which the mining population 
of Californio, in the remote and almost inaccessible 
parts of the mountains, are supplied with provisions 
and other necessaries of life. The sturdy, hardy, 
indomitable miner, in liis search for gold and sudden 
wealth, is not to be baffled by hardships or depriva¬ 
tions of an ordinary character. In their prospecting 
ELECTRICITY—BEECH AS A CONDUCTOR 
Ens. Rural New-Yorker: —In your issue of Feb. 
‘2d, 1 read an article headed “The Iieech us a Non- 
Conductor,” in which 1 was much interested. It 
seems to me the writer has not given the reason why 
the beech is so seldom struck by lightning, or persons, 
or animals, which may have taken refuge under it. 
Any one at all familiar witli the science of electricity 
knows that green wood is a conductor; dry, baked 
wood a non-conductor; charcoal a conductor, and 
ashes a non-conductor. These properties beech wood 
possesses in an eminent degree. Not only so, but the 
limbs of the beech are peculiarly adaptod to conduct 
a charge of electricity silently from the cloud to tlie 
earth, or from the earth to the cloud, tw the rase 
may be. 
To illustrate my idea, let a person Like a charged 
Leyden jar in one hand, and present a knuckle of the 
other to the knob connecting with the inside coating, 
and lie receives a shock, hut let him, while holding 
the charged jar, present, instead of his knuckle, the 
points of three or four needles, and he will be sur¬ 
prised, perhaps, at the result; for instead of the Bhook 
as before, the electricity is conducted off silently, and 
no effect is produced. Now, let us apply these prin¬ 
ciples to the subject under consideration. Tad us 
suppose a cloud charged with positive electricity 
raised, bearing the title “The Agapemone,” or in 
the popular phrase, “Temple of Love." Of the life 
within little is known. The external display is 
great. When the “ Lord,” himself, goes out, he 
rides in the State carriage of a deceased Queen, 
drawn by blood horses, accompanied by out-riders 
and blood-hounds, and having by his side, his Queen, 
(not his wifo, necessarily, for but a little before, his 
wife was dismissed to the laundry, and a charming 
girl from the laundry elevated to the throne,) dressed 
in the regal purple. Aa to what passes within the 
walls of the temple, people can only conjecture, and 
conjecture is not slow to draw the most horrible con¬ 
clusions from the barest probabilities. Had we 
yielded a credulous ear to all we were told, our ideas 
of the place would have been associated with scenes 
not surpassed by the orgies of pagan Home in honor 
of Venus. Infanticide, hatred,—in fact, some would 
have it to be a perfect bell, in which every foul pas¬ 
sion found unrestrained expression. However, we 
wished to see and judge for ourselves. 
About an hour’s walk upon rising ground brought 
us to the spot. The buildings are not remarkable, 
except for a lion rampant upon the top of the chapel, 
sustaining a flag-staff, from which floats at certain 
times a banner, hearing the symbols of purity and 
affection. Walking up to a low building outside the 
gates, and used as a laundry, our steps were chocked 
at the door-way by finding tho eyes of half-a-dozen, 
not houris, hut of the plainest women imaginable, 
fixed upon us. We do not say this disrespectfully, 
but we had dreamed a little on the way about 
“ bewitching forms of lovelines*.” Perhaps the 
public imagines (in keeping with its other notions,) 
that here brnty is regnant. Tt is not so. These 
world. He absolves himself from society, from 
friends, from kin, to pursuo a calling attended with j 
risk to health and life, in an effort to amass an inde¬ 
pendence. The miner spends his life in a cabin in 
some ravine, gulch, or on some mountain stream, 
year after year. In many places there are quite a 
nfimb r settled down in one locality, which they call 
a mining camp , but these miuing camps throughout 
the mountains seldom attain any great population, 
without the diggings prove more than ordinarily rich, 
and then it is but temporary; for as soon as the 
ground is pretty well worked, and does not pay fair 
wages, the miner seeks new fields for his labor. 
These mountain settlements have all to be furnished, 
of course, from the great cities of the Btate, with the 
food they eat, wearing apparel, mining implements, 
and the necessaries of life, which, to tho miner, 
are limited in number, but important in their 
character. 
The supplies above mentioned, in tbc absence of 
wagon roads extending to many mining localities, 
have to be packed upon mules over the summit of the 
mountains, and down their steep, almost precipitous 
descents, these animals wend their way along tho 
narrow and serpentine course of tho trail. Moles are 
particularly adapted to this service, and their superl- 
m arrears, 
such a nature that payment could not he delayed. 
But Mr. Morris was equal to tho work, and the face 
of things soon began to change through Ills exer¬ 
tions. At the close of the war, Mr. Morris con¬ 
tinued his mercantile pursuits; but an unfortunate 
speculation in lands robbed him of his fortune, and 
left him much embarrassed. Hu died at Philadel¬ 
phia, on tho 8th of May, 1800, in tho seventy-third 
year of his age. 
isolated, (or, if you please, one in tho forest,) great 
beech tree, and what is the effect'd Instead of a dis¬ 
charge of the electric fluid of which we ure sensible 
by the report which wo call “thunder,” it is taken 
by the numberless points of tho limbs and conveyed 
silently to the earth, the great reservoir of electricity. 
In the two cuhos mentioned by Mr. Hcstis the 
limbs or top of the tree were dead, and conse¬ 
quently non-condnetors. In the first ease mentioned, 
there were other trees surrounding the beech “ unin¬ 
jured ami untouched.” That is not at all surprising, 
when we remember that the dry beech was a non-con¬ 
ductor, and consequently, if not capable of conduct¬ 
ing tho electricity silently away, must be destroyed 
by the passage of the fluid over It In the other case 
“the top of this, too, was dead, but not decayed in 
tlie least;” the fluid passed on, Injuring the tree until, 
“ finding a good conductor, it went down harmless.” 
This effect 1 attribute to the cause ^n tioned above. 
Let it not be understood that 1 the beech a 
safe shelter during a thunder-storm, but it seems to 
me that our knowledge of electricity, arid the con¬ 
ducting properties of the green beech, will warrant 
us in believing it much safer, under such circum¬ 
stances, than a position in an open field or under any 
other tree inonr climate. H. R. Tarek. 
Morion, N, Y-, Knl>., 1861. 
AN AMERICAN WEED IN ENGLAND 
An aquatic wood, said to be a native of this country, 
is causing a great deal of trouble in the small streams 
of England, and even in the Thames, threatening to 
seriously impede navigation, and creating a good 
deal of anxiety. It is called the Anachans alsbias - 
Irum, but is commonly known as tho American weed. 
H is thought to have been brought from this country 
adhering to sticks of timber that had been rafted 
down some of our streams. It throws out roots and 
branches even when floating, and when stopped by 
any obstruction, soon forms fields, to the dismay of 
navigators. vVe do not think this plantcan be found 
in the Northern States, but it may grow South. 
When Mr. Wood’s new work on the Flora of the 
Southern States is published, we may obtain some 
knowledge in regard to it. 
Mrs. S. O. Hall, writing from Ensliam, on the 
upper Thames, sayB:—“ It is in this neighborhood wo 
Robert Morris was a native of Lancashire, Eng¬ 
land, where he was bornin 1733, His father, a Liver¬ 
pool merchant, removed to this country while Robert 
was a boy, and soon after died, leaving him an 
orphan at 15 years old. Robert nerved a regular 
apprenticeship to the mercantile business, and at the 
breaking out of the Revolutionary war was a wealthy 
merchant of Philadelphia. On the third of Novem¬ 
ber, 1775, Mr, Morris was elected ft delegate to the 
Continental Congress, and his well known abilities 
as a merchant caused him to be selected a member 
of the Committee to negotiate bills of exchange, 
to borrow money for the Marine Committee, and to 
manage other fiscal concerns of Oongress. 
Mr. Morris never hesitated to become Individually 
responsible for means required by the public service. 
An interesting illustration of this fact is furnished in 
his conduct In the December following tho Declara¬ 
tion of Independence. For some time previous, the 
British army had been directing its course towards 
Philadelphia, from which Oongress had retired, leav¬ 
ing a committee, consisting of Mr. Morris, Mr. 
Clymkh, and Mr. Walton, to transact all necessary 
Continental business. While attending to the duties 
of their appointment, Mr. Morris received a letter 
from Gen. Washington, tlion with his army on the 
Delaware, opposite Trenton, in which letter lie com¬ 
municated to Mr. Morris his distressed state, in 
consequence of tho want of money. The sura he 
needed was ten thousand dollars, which was essen¬ 
tially necessary to enable him to ohtain such 
intelligence of tho movement and position of the 
Cnemy, as would authorize him to act offensively. 
To Mr. Morris Gen. Washington now looked, to 
assist him in raising the money. 
This letter ho read with attention, but what could 
he do? The citizens generally had left tho city. He 
knew of no one who possessed the required sum, or 
who would bo willing to lend it. The evening 
Eos. Rural New-Yorker: — 1 can jnst as well ac¬ 
count for difference of opinion on Lightning, as 
anything else; but any observing man who has 
roamed in the beech woods as much as wo old 
settlers have in an early day, (when our pasture was 
very extended,) to find our roaming cattle, knows 
that the idea that is frequently set forth by our 
“ Lightning Lecturers,” that lightning never strikes 
a beech tree, is not true. Facts are stubborn things, 
and cannot be subverted. I have frequently seen 
beech trees that had been struck, aa many perhaps 
as any other kind of timber. Now, has not the 
height of a tree more to uo with it than the kind of 
timber? Tho tall hickory is said to be a good con¬ 
ductor. I once saw where lightning had struck a 
very Util hickory of about twenty inches [diameter, 
following it down within some twenty or twenty-live 
feet of the ground, then left the hickory, glanced and 
struck a scrubby beech near the top and shattered it 
so that it killed it. Now, if the beech is a non¬ 
conductor, and the hickory a good conductor, why 
did lightning leave the hickory for the beech. I 
once saw an article from a Kentuckian, who wrote 
that the best way to tap maple trees was to dig down 
at the roots—cut off a small root, and set the bucket 
under and catch the sap from the root. That was 
jnst as rational aa to suppose that Lightning never 
strikes a beech. Yankee. 
Troy, Mich., Feb., 1861. 
fluttered from their cotes, and played fearlessly 
around our feet. This we wero told to regard as 
typical of tho feeling which characterized the insti¬ 
tution. In the stables we found the “bloods” and 
hounds before described, living in the best of stalls 
and kennels. When we passed into the gardens, a 
sceue of exceeding loveliness burst upon us. The 
ground hud been so skillfully laid out that the distant 
hills, while they formed a back ground, seemed to be 
the natural limits of the spot. On the side facing 
the south were a number of green and hot-houses, 
mimicking the great Exhibition of '51; those parts 
not glass, gorgeously painted, and surmounted with 
gilded minarets and spires. In these every clime 
was imitated, the choicest exotica flourished and 
bloomed, and birds of rich plumage and sweet song 
pleased the eye and charmed the ear. In one of 
these houses, trellis work ran up the sides and along 
the ceiling, bearing some of the magnificent and 
odorous parasites of India, which sending down 
their tendrils, burst into clusters of waxen blossoms, 
J shaped like stars, and absolutely intoxicating in 
their exquisite perfume. Musical instruments of 
various kinds lay around, aa if just abandoned by the 
performers. Into the chapel and “abode of love” 
we were not permitted, and narrowly as we watched, 
the only indication of life we saw was a female face 
lor a moment at one of tho windows. With one 
more glance at the ornamental gardens, with their 
I mosaic of (lowers and sparkling fountains, and a 
hearty expression of thanks, we left. 
Our first thought was, that to one weary of the 
friction of the world, and possessed of wealth, thiB 
place promised the most perfect retreat that taste 
could desire. Tim thought had hardly presented 
itself before we began to analyze the character of 
the institution, and were not long in concluding that 
it, and all such epicurean realizations, embodied the 
moat intense selfishness, and the most absorbing self¬ 
worship, the most degrading idolatry of all. In all 
others, some redeeming features may, perhaps, be 
found. To all usual objects of worship, some excel¬ 
lencies are attributed, which elevate the idol above 
the devotee, but to w'hicli be may approximate; bpt 
here self is the center and circumference of all. The 
flowers breathe their perfume, the birds utter their 
song, wealth contributes its luxuries, and desire is 
sated by a thousand ministers, not that the heart may 
go up to God in recognition of His wisdom, or in 
gratitude for Hia mercies, but that the individual may 
he gratified. Not a thought, not a deed, but has this 
as its sole intent. To live is self. What can be 
worse for human nature,—more contrary to tho 
original design? Having no high standard of excel¬ 
lence, morality is forgotten; no duty, uo high and 
holy work, no mission, the mind loses its vigor, and 
becomes hopeless, because aimless. Confined to 
self, there comes at Last a crushing sense of vacuity, 
up in rotation, forming a circle, get down on their 
haunches, and are relieved of their burdens, which 
done, they go off following, or keeping in close 
proximity to the one with a bell. The packers build 
a fire, cook their supper, crack jokes for an hour or 
two, or play a social game of cards, and, after 
appointing from their number a guard for the night, 
roll themselves in their blankets and lie down to rest, 
the cold earth for their couch, the blue heavens for 
their canopy. 
Verily, how little do those who live in brown 
stone houses, and walk on velvet carpets, or ride In 
gilded coaches, realize the fatigue, suffering, and 
danger attending the development of the great wealth 
of our country, of which we proudly boast. While 
at certain seasons of tho year the life of the packer is 
full of novelty and peculiar pleasure, at other times 
it is fraught with hardship and suffering unparal¬ 
leled. Many times a storm overtakes a train in the 
mountains; the moles succumb to exhaustion, lie 
down and die; the packers themselves, amid cold 
wintry blasts, at last in the desolate howling forest, 
find the same melancholy fate,—the snow for their 
winding sheet, and their bodies food for wild beasts. 
Perhaps, as was often the case in early days, the sup¬ 
plies expected by this very train are needed in some 
far-off isolated mining camp, and thus the loss of the 
train entails misery and starvation upon hundreds of 
persons. Several years since, the miners on the 
Middle Fork of Feather river ran out of provisions 
during a cold and dreary winter, when snowed in on 
all sides from 20 to 40 feet deep. Three hundred 
started across to obtain succor and relief from star¬ 
vation; before they found any, several of their num¬ 
ber perished in the snow. 
Again, some of the mules make a misstep, and 
down, down they go, over the rugged sideB of the 
mountain, against rocks, trees, aud other obstruc¬ 
tions, to their final and utter destruction. It is a 
novel scene to pass a mule train upou a trail in the 
mountains; the tinkling of the bell, the “hippo, 
rnula /” of the Mexican muleteers, echoes in the still 
unbroken silence of the forest, sounding strange to 
an inexperienced ear, and lending enchantment to 
tho wild monotony of the event. 
L Many of the mining camps are hemmed in by deep 
- , snows for four aud six months of the year, and pro- 
rj visions have to be packed sufficient to last the winter, 
while the weather is mild. When there is a prospect 
of provisions running short, and, in many cases, 
Dj when there is uo just grounds for alarm, the moun- 
^ tain trader takeB advantage of it, and adds to tbe 
V price of his goods, many times fabulous, unprece- 
6$ dented, and cruel! Thus the words of Cowper are 
K literally verified in these mountain fastnesses — the 
(A- last place usually where tyranny erects her throne 
broken oil - . Although, at pres¬ 
ent, it cannot propagate itself by 
seed, (all the flowers being male,) 
its powers of increase are pro¬ 
digious, as every fragment is 
capable of becoming an inde¬ 
pendent plant, producing roots 
and stems, and extending itself 
indefinitely in every direction. 
Most of onr water-plants require, 
in order to their increase, to be 
rooted in tho bottom or sides of 
the river or drain in which they are found; but this 
is independent altogether of that condition, and 
actually grows as it travels slowly down the stream, 
That this weed is 
SCIENCE AT THE BOTTOM OP THE SEA. 
Dr. C. Wallico, who accompanied the recent ex 
pcditioii to survey the projected North Atlantic tele¬ 
graph route between this country and England, has 
collected some important new facts Jn natural history. 
Hjs main object was to determine file depth to which 
animal life extends in the sea, together with the 
limits and conditions essential to its maintenance. 
He has proved that at a depth of two miles below the 
surface animal life exists. Hero, Where the pressure 
is calculated to amount to at least pne turi and a half 
per square inch, and where it can hardly bo conceived 
that the most attenuated rays of rtruggling light can 
penetrate, Dr. Wallich has not only discovered the 
ininnte infusorial Forarninifera, whose calcareous 
envelopes protect them from p-essure, and whose 
organization is of the simplest character, hut he has 
obtained, from a sounding 1,2(0 fathoms deep, a 
number of star fishes, (genus Ophiocoma,) adhering 
to the lowest fifty fathoms of tho deep sea line, which 
must have rested on the bottom fur a few minutes, so 
as to allow those star fishes to attach themselves to 
the rope; so that it is now established that in these 
regions of watery desert and e-'erlasting darkness, 
there exists a 
Tho quaker hesitated a moment, but at length 
replied, “Robert, thou shalt have it.” The money 
was soon told, was transmitted to Washington, 
whom it enabled to accomplish his wishes, and to 
gain a signal victory over the Hessians at Trenton, 
thus animating the drooping spirits of patriotism, 
and cheeking In no small degree the proud hopes 
aud predictions of the enemy. 
Auother instance of patriotic liberality is recorded 
of Mr. Morris in 1779, or 1780. These were dis¬ 
tressing years of the war. The army was alarmingly 
destitute of military stores, particularly of the 
essential article of lead. It was found necessary to 
melt down the weights of clocks and the spouts of 
houses; but, notwithstanding resort was had to every 
possible source, the army was often so destitute that 
it could scarcely have fought a single battle. 
In this alarming state of things, General Wash¬ 
ington wrote to several gentlemen, and among 
the rest to Judge Peters, ot that time secre¬ 
tary to tbe Board of war, stating his necessities, and 
urging an immediate exertion to supply the deficiency. 
This it seemed Impossible to do. Mr. 1’ktkrs, 
however, showed the letter of Washington to Mr. 
Morris. Fortunately, jnst at this juncture, a pri¬ 
vateer belonging to the latter gentleman bad arrived 
at the wharf, witli ninety tuns of lead. Half of this 
lead was immediately given by Mr. Morris, for the 
use of tho army, and the other half was purchased 
by Mr. Peters of other gentlemen, who owned it, 
Mr. Morris becoming security for the payment of the 
debt At a more advanced stage of the war, when 
pressing distress in the army had driven Congress 
and the commander in chief almost to desperation, 
AMERICAN WEED 
after being cut." That this weed is “a foreigner” 
there can be no doubt. Weeds very closely resem¬ 
bling, if not identical witli It, are found in American 
rivers. Mr. Marshall is of opinion that it is an impor¬ 
tation from North America; and that, probably, its 
first visit was paid to us in a load of American tim¬ 
ber. He considers that all attempts to “ get rid of 
it” must be futile; that it never ccm be eradicated; and 
that all we shall be able to do is to “ keep it down.” 
Its rapid spread is one of the marvels of nature. It 
is becoming a serious evil; tho Commissioners of the 
Thames should lose no time in grappling with the 
common enemy.” 
There are some who refuse a favor so graciously 
as to please us: and there are others who confer an 
obligation so clumsily, that they please us less by the 
measure than they disgust us by the manner of a 
kindness, as puzzling to our feelings as the polite¬ 
ness of one who, if we had dropped our handker¬ 
chief, should present it to us with a pair of tongs. 
“ highly-organized species of radiate 
animal, living, entwining, and flourishing, with its 
red und light pink tints aa clear and as brilliant as its 
congeners which dwell in shallow and comparatively 
sunshiny waters.” 
Doubtless othors exist for this is but a preliminary 
inquiry so conducted, and in time we may come to 
hear of a uuw submarine fauna, peopling these dark- 
abodes, and preparing this subaqueous floor justas 
the land on which we now walk, once submerged, is 
believed to have been prepared. 
Goon service is prompt service. It ceases to be a 
favor when he upon whom the service is conferred 
has lost in patience and hope deferred what he might 
have bestowed in love aud gratitude. 
