Ir is usual, we believe, on occasions like the present, for the Editor to come forward after the fashion of the prologue-speaker of a play, take off his hat, approach the foot-lights, and having executed an obsequious bow, proceed to give, either in prose or verse, or prose-verse, or worse prose, an inkling of the forth-coming scene. Imagine us before you-paint the character American in all its preferences, but without prejudice, and you see us hat in hand.

The REPUBLIC shall be like ourself, American, not only by origin and name, but in principle, and those who shrink from the touch and contagion of everything and anything homespun, or to the manor born,"

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of this "Nation," would do well not to touch either of us, for with us there will be a flavor not to their liking. The glory of being a Roman was once a great glory; the stigma of being an American has been as great as was the glory of the Roman Citizen. But that stain is passing away-the day shall yet come, nay it is come already, when the descendants of those who pledged their lives, fortunes and honor on the altar of civil and Religious Freedom, may claim, possess and enjoy the high prerogative of American birth-the heritage of Freemen, nor fear the sneers and taunts of either the partizan demagogue, or the despotic minion.

But while we claim for the American Birthright a proud position in the scale of social existence, we must not be misconstrued. Our pride is for our country, our aspirations for its Free Institutions, our sympathies with all the world. We have not forgotten either a Moultrie, a Montgomery, or a Wilson. The last signed the Declaration of our Independence; the two former fought to secure it. We know that thousands of liberty-loving foreigners are amongst us; men who hate tyranny with an honest hate, and who love the country of their adoption with an honest love. We know and acknowledge that much in the advancement of science and the Arts, is due to the learning and industry of those who have come amongst us from abroad, and to these and all of these the warmest grasp of friendship is extended. But we also know, and so do they, that the nations of the Old World have made, and do now make our fair country the lazar house of their moral corruption-that their eyes and hands are upon

us in jealousy and hate, and that tens of thousands who have arrived at legal citizenship, incapable of appreciating the great privilege which they possess, grasp eagerly at political power, and stand ready to cast their suffrages for the demagogue who yields most to their designs or their cupidity. Growing out of these things are grave matters that require the serious consideration of every friend of our Institutions, whether he be a native or adopted citizen. To these, and all other influences calculated to endanger our existence or prosperity as a nation, or our rights and happiness as a people, the efforts of the REPUBLIC will be faithfully directed.

The interests of our mechanics and working men and women, who have been sorely pressed by the unfair competition and combinations of hands, and while we aim to supply them with a pauper Europeans, will receive attention at our large share of good and wholesome reading, in the Literary department of the Magazine, we shall strive ever to keep alive the glowing, and that dwell in their hearts, and to inspire them, warm into full life the latent fires of patriotism and all, with a true sense of their dignity as free men, free women-virtuous and patriotic AMER

ICANS.

OUR TITLE PAGE.--We call attention, with a fair share of self-satisfaction, to the beautiful composition which forms the title page of our Magazine. The allegory exhibits the " Continental Soldier," pointing with honest exultation to the progress of civilization and science under the American flag, while the Manhattan aboriginal gazes with astonishment and awe, upon the altered place of his nativity. The massive pillars beneath, are typical of the firm foundation of our Republic, surrounded, guarded, and ornamented, with the venerated memories of the heroes and sages of the Revolution, and the motto, Our Country and Liberty," which occupies the upper tablet, indicates the character and purpose of the Magazine. The drawing for this spirited and beautiful specimen of art, was made by Mr. S. Wallin, from a design by the Editor. The engraving was executed by Mr. William Holland, a lineal descendant of one of the Pilgrims of Plymouth Rock, and we challenge all magazine-dom to exhibit a title, engraven on wood, that will sur pass it as a work of artistic taste and finish.

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FOREIGN INFLUENCE.-Since it has been proven by the test of two well tried pitched battles with old England, that cold lead and saltpetre will not suffice to break down the indomitable spirit of American Freemen, and since our physical powers, as tested in these two contests, have fairly and fully maintained our nationality and independence for the time, our people have quietly settled themselves down into a self-satisfied notion of security, and gone to work making money, enlarging commerce, building rail-roads, annexing new territory and electing Presidents, under the honest and gratifying conviction, that in the event of another assault, we are ready, willing, and able, to whip all creation, and send any foolhardy invader that may dare to set his hostile foot upon our soil, limping home again, as we have done before, and that there the matter will end. Suppose we grant, for argument sake, this physical puissance in which we confide. Suppose it to be true that the United States of North America are able to defend their position as a nation, and their free Institutions, against the physical power of England, Russia, Austria, Rome, Spain, and all other monarchical and despotic governments combined, what is the result? Are our Institutions and our Nationality then secure? Is there no other influence to be guarded against? Are there no other gates open, no avenues through which the enemy may enter? In a word, have we nothing to fear but batteries and bayonets? If this were all, the sword would indeed be mightier than the pen, the elements of Nature would be changed, and matter would hold a mastery over mind-but it is not all the battles that the freemen of our country are to fight against despotism, must henceforth be the battles of mind against mind, theory against theory, light against darkness, Intelligence against artifice. These are the opposing elements, and the battalions of the enemy are already in the field.

There is scarcely a crowned head in all Europe, from the lofty mitre of Rome, down to the most insignificant German principality, that has not trembled under the moral influence of our institutions. There is scarcely a people not utterly chained down in beastly ignorance, that has not exhibited symptoms of a yearning for freedom, and in many instances of recent date, we have witnessed the sublime spectacle of the masses arrayed in arms against their tyrants. They have been mostly over-borne, it is true, by the combined despotic powers, who stand ever ready to aid each other in emergencies like these; but, although the flame of growing liberty has been smothered, it has not been, nor can it be extinguished so long as the glorious beacon of America sheds its warming and invigorating lustre upon their hearts. This fact is well un

derstood by the regal representatives of a bygone theory, and their efforts naturally turn to the means of extinguishing the beacon itself— of destroying the great moral engine that is silently working their destruction. To this end the society known as the Leopold Foundation, was established, with the Emperor of Austria at its head. It meets and arranges its plans at Vienna, but the field of its operations is the United States, and thousands of men, and hundreds of thousands of dollars (said to be not less | than a million) have already been sent here to carry out those plans. The facilities to the right of suffrage, and the eagerness of native demagogues to invest them with that right, for special objects, have aided materially in the work. Apart from political interests, England, whom we have called mother, entertains towards us other causes of jealousy. As the greatest maratime and manufacturing power in the world, she looks upon our growing greatness with distrust and apprehension; she sees our Commerce spreading our fleets whitening every sea-our flag respected, and our young marine bearing the stripes and stars to every cranny of the oceans; she sees our manufacturing genius, that giant ally of an Empire's wealth, daily expanding in its growth, contesting with Mercurial rapidity, the powers of her own, and already competing with her in some of its branches, in the best markets of the world. In brief, she sees in us a rival, that in the uninterrupted progress of another quarter of a century, will become her superior in all that pertains to civilization and national power; and like her more despotic neighbors, she too, sends her emissaries among us, to effect by serpentlike stratagem, that which she has never been able to do by force-the destruction of our Union and the downfall of our Institutions.

The influence of these various emissaries is seen in shapes as various as their plans. We behold it in the agitation of the question of slavery; in attempts to destroy our system of popular education, and the crection of institutions of learning, whose tenets are at war with freedom; in the numerous new-fangled ideas of social reform-the giving away of the public lands-the agitation on subjects of labor-resistance to the laws where they conflict witn peculiar notions of right and wrong-seizing upon the public press-the amendment of old state constitutions, and the construction of those of the new states, in accordance with their views and desires; and in their eager grasp upon the political rights of citizenship.

These influences we shall discuss at length in future numbers, and endeavor to show the extent and importance of each, in its place, with such proofs as shall carry conviction to the

minds of all who will read, and if possible, awaken them to a sense of watchful and active duty.

A ROAD TO CALIFORNIA. -The recent developments of our new empire, on the borders of the Pacific ocean, and the influence which those developments have had in drawing westward, across the vast intervening deserts, so many thousands of our people to suffer and to die on their perilous journey, together with the vast and newly unfolded channels of trade that it has presented, demand that the attention of Congress should be speedily directed to the adoption of some means by which a safe and easy transit may be made across the continent through our own territory. The plan of a railroad suggested by Mr. Whitney, and which has received much favorable attention, both in and out of Congress, will doubtless ultimately be carried into effect; but this plan, after all, does not comprehend all that is required. The ost of transit by railroad, even if it were built, would doubtless exceed the means of thousands who would desire to cross, to say nothing of the chances of keeping a railroad in repair during the present wild state of the vast region through which it must pass, occupied, as the whole distance is, by tribes hostile to the progress of civilization, and ever ready to throw obstacles in the way of such a structure by destroying the rails, and otherwise harrassing the operations of the road. This road, if completed, must necessarily occupy a great length of time in building, and after all, it will not answer all the ends of a public road. Such a road must be built soouer or later by the Government, upon which caravans of wagons, cattle, &c., may be enabled to pass in safety.

It has occurred to us that such a road may be built, and not only built, but peopled, and the route placed under cultivation, without any commensurate cost to the Government. A large portion of our small army must now be reclining in idleness, and as it is but fair that the en composing it should make to the people some return for the money they draw, we would suggest a plan that would result in a mutual benefit. It is to this effect. That the unemployed portion of the army should be detailed to open the great Continental Road, say from Weston, or independence, Missouri, by way of either Santa Fe or Utah to San Francisco; that in connexion with this, buildings should be erected in amall villages on the route, at proper distances, farms of a quarter section laid out, and each man, at the expiration of his term of enlistment, be entitled to a deed of one of these farms. with a honze, and a small allowance of stock and uten ils To further his means of subsistence a

furlough of six months might be granted to him, prior to the expiration of his term, to be devoted to breaking up and seeding his land. If this plan should appear repulsive to the dignity of the soldier, who by ancient usage is not expected to work, and if the inducements here offered to him are not sufficient to remove his scruples on that head, we would further recommend that a corps of pioneers, sappers and miners be organized by enlistment, expressly for this object, and that they be subject to the same duties, and entitled to the same privileges, as have been proposed in this article. Such a corps could be raised rapidly, from the bone and sinew of the land, and in five or six years we might have a populous and safe post route through our own territory, from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

The subject is well worthy the attention of Congress, and the plan is practicable. Let us see who will give it a thorough digest and place it in a tangible shape before the councils of the nation.

THOMPSON, the Agitator, from the Parliament of England, having been driven from Boston without a hearing, was permitted to speak to a Mosaic crowd, at Worcester, Mass., two or three days after. In the course of his address this minion of British jealousy made the following expressions:

"Talk of this country being free-it was not free. No honest Englishman, expressing his honest feelings, could even travel through it. He himself might wish to visit the mammoth cave in Kentucky-but he could not do it, at least with any assurance of returning alive. He could not see the father of waters' at the South -he could not cross the Potomac-he could not

travel any where in the South with one-half the liberty that would be accorded him within the most despotic territories of Europe.”

Mr. Thompson seems to measure liberty by the same standard as the Irishman who robbed

the hen-roost.-On being arrested and brought before a justice for the crime, he expressed his astonishment, and exclaimed: "Faith, I thought this was a free country!”

PHOTOGRAPHIC ART-JOURNAL-We have seen the prospectus of a new Monthly Journal, about to be issued under the editorial management of H. II. Snelling, Esq. As its title imports, the Journal will be devoted to the subject of the Daguerreotype, and is intended as a vehicle of information in every department of that art, including the various methods of operating, and all new discoveries and improvements that may from time to time be made. Mr. Snelling is abundantly qualified, by experience and talent, to conduct such a journal. W. B. Smith, No. 61 Ann street, is to be the Publisher.

THE DAGUERREOTYPE.-We frequently, during our strolls about town, drop into the various Daguerrean establishments for which our city is somewhat celebrated, for the purpose of noting the successive steps of improvement that are made in the art, and of feasting our eyes upon the several gems that are from day to day produced. There are as many different styles of picture produced by the Daguerreotype, as there are by the pencil, and the several operators become as distinctly celebrated or otherwise, by the style and tone of their pictures as ever did they who devoted their genius to the pencil and pigments. Having devoted some three years of our life to the practice of the Daguerrean process, in the early period of its history, and having taken with our own hand some thousands of pictures, we claim the right of knowing something about it, and intend from time to time to note such improvements and beauties as occur in the various galleries.

The first that we shall notice is that of Mr. Gurney, No. 189 Broadway.--Mr. Gurney has long taken rank among the best Daguerreans in the country, and yet his style of pictures is entirely peculiar to his own process. Nobody produces pictures of the same tone and character, yet others may produce pictures quite as good as his-the style is a mere matter of taste, and what some would prefer, others would object to. In fidelity of line however, and consequent resemblance, Mr. Gurney is unsurpassed. The peculiar effect produced by his process, and in which he prides himself, is the fullness

of light obtained without solarization-a full

development of all the natural lights as they fall upon the object, without regard to color or material of dress, and a consequent softness of tone which pervades the whole picture. Thus, although the lights are all full, and even brilliant, there is no harshness of shadow. This style has many admirers, and Mr. Gurney's cameras are consequently always employed with sitters. His gallery occupies two rooms besides the principal operating room, and the whole are fitted up with taste and even ele

gance.

OCEAN STEAM NAVIGATION.-Brother Jonathan is now fairly in the field of Ocean Steam Navigation, against all the world in general, and the " Mistress of the Seas" in particular. A fair race is going on in the contest for superiority, and Jonathan has already got a leetle ahead. His advantage, at present however, lies in the model, and he must now pull up in the machinery department. The time is close at hand when our ocean steamers will take the lead of everything on the waters. The cost of good machinery in this country is not greater than in England, and even if it were we can

afford to pay for it. The world will soon know no other than a Steam Marine, whether mercantile or naval, and if our machinists do their duty, the United States must and will be the greatest maritime power. The following concessions are made to us in the London Daily News:

"Cunard's Company commenced with vessels of 1,100 tons and engines of 350 horse power. They have, step by step, reached 2,300 tons and 900 horse power. But the size and power are the only things changed; the model has remained the same. The Asia of 2,300 tons is an enlarged edition of the Britacarrying a sea before her enough to swamp a revenia of 1,100 tons, and goes bowling down the Mersey,

nue cruiser.

less power than the Asia and Africa, but of exquisite The American steamers are of larger tonage and model. They are "ten years ahead" of the Asia and Africa, as far as the hulls are concerned, and as far behind in the engines. They slip down the Mersey with scarce a ripple at the bow, dividing the water like a Gravesend steamer. In accommodation, ventilation and general arrangement, the American vessels are far superior to anything that has been before seen in this country."

POPULAR EDUCATION.-The State of NewYork, at its recent election, sustained the law establishing Free Schools throughout the State, by a majority of over thirty thousand votes.— This majority, under the circumstances, is a proud one, and doubtless settles the question for all time to come. The enemies of education had left no stone unturned in their endeavors to the framework of the new law; every imperfecchoke down the system. Every inaccuracy in tion in its fiscal features, and the mode of sup

porting it, were placarded forth, and every inthe tax-payer, was employed, until thousands, genuity that could be brought to bear upon made the enemies of the law, and induced to who otherwise favored popular education, were cast their votes against it. But the intelligence and patriotism of the State were too great for these efforts to overcome. The great principle has sustained the law, and we hope the Legislature will, at its next session, wipe away the

obnoxious features, and especially so alter the plan of assessment, as to equalize as near as possible the small amount of individual taxation that must be contributed to its support. This has been the most formidable objection urged against the law as it now stands, and without doubt was the cause of at least one hundred thousand votes against it, that would otherwise have been in its favor. As the law is for a popular good, it should be made, as soon as possible, a popular law.

THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.-Mr. Fillmore's first Annual Message reached us too late for comment. We may say, however, that it is a document of extraordinary vigor, dignified and patriotic.