mited to decay it will not only affect the prosperity of the planting interest throughout the valley of the lower Mississippi but of each and every part of the Western States. New Orleans may not be able to regain all she has lost east of the river; but by a prudent and well directed policy on her part, sustained by the western delegation in Congress, it is still in her power to secure the commerce of the region west of the river; and this of itself will be sufficient to make her a great city. But if in a contest for the porth western trade the eastern cities should succeed in drawing it off in that direction, New Orleans may be regarded as having already reached a point that she can not permanently maintain; and a decided decline in her commerce and population will be inevitable. It is highly important to every part of the west, that there should be a great commercial city on the Gulf of Mexico, where a fair proportion of the duties on foreign Merchandize may be paid to the government. This would prevent, in a great degree, the continual accumulation of Money at New York and other eastern cities, and serve to check the current of circulation which never ceases to flow in that direction. By a Statement from the treasury department,showing the amount of duties collected at fifteen of the principal ports of the United States during the first six months of the present year, it appears that only $2,296,663 was collected at New Orleans against $31,757,199 at New York. And that of $43,021,107 collected at the fifteen ports only $2,758,315 was collected at the ports on the Gulf, and at those on the Mississippi and its tributaries. While such an enormous demand for money to pay duties exists at the east the circulation in the west can never be sufficient for the ordinary demands of business, except perhaps for a few months at a time. We throw out these suggestions with a hope that they will attract the attention of western statesmen, and lead them to examine the subject of western improvements in all its bearing. The following statement from the Burlington Telegraph contains, as we are informed, the important features of the Sioux Treaty. STIPULATIONS OF THE SIOUX TREATY. Perpetual peace. The cession of all the Sioux lands east of Sioux River, and Lac Traverse. The line then runs up to the head waters of Ottertail Lake, thence down from the head of Watab river to the Mississippi. The cession embraces the entire valley of the Minnesota and the Eastern tributaries of the Sioux river, and is estimated to contain 21,000,000 acres. The Indians reserve for a home, a tract commencing at Lac Traverse, and running about 100 miles south, down to the mouth of the Yellow Medicine, and twenty miles wide, on each side of the river. The Indians are to receive $1,665,000, as follows: To be paid after their removal to the Reservation, $275,000, and To be expended in breaking land, erecting mills, and establishing manual labor schools, $30,000; amounting to $305,000. The balance of $1,360,000 to be invested at 5 per cent. for fifty years, which will give an annual income of $68,000, to be paid as follows: In cash, annually, .$40,000 10,000 12,000 6,000 $68,000 After fifty years all payments to cease, and the principal of $1,360,000 to revert to the Government. The intercourse laws, so far as relates to the introduction and sale of ardent spirits, shall be continued in full force, until changed by legal authority. The President is to have the power to prescribe a code of laws, and modify the same whenever deemed necessary, for the government of the Indians. The Indians are allowed to remain on the lands ceded for two years. The $275,000 to be paid down, are for the purpose of paying the expenses of the removal, and the claims of the Sioux traders, who have agreed among themselves how much each shall receive. The ceded lands will be open to settlement-"squatting"-immediately after the ratification of the Treaty by the United States Senate.-Minnesota Democrat. The terms obtained by the Government are certainly as favorable as could be desired'; and in that respect the conduct of the commissioners deserves the approbation of the country; but, in our opinion, the peculiar relations subsisting between the Government of the United States and the Indian tribes, demand something more at our hands than a fair price for their title to the country which they claim. We take their hunting-grounds to be converted into fruitful fields and pastures: this, the cause of civilization demands-it is our duty. But, doing this, we abridge the means provided by Nature for the support of her children; and justice requires that we should bestow upon them, if practicable, the arts of civilization in exchange for their natural inheritance. It is true that this principle of justice is perceptible in the provisions of the Sioux treaty; but as we understand its provisions, they are calculated but in a slight degree to promote the cause of civilization. Only thirty thousand dollars is appropriated to the purposes of breaking ground and establishing agricul tural schools, while $40,000 is to be paid annually, without any limitation in respect to its use. This annuity will, doubtless, relieve many of their immediate wants, but will do but little towards improving their condition as savages. Instead of stimulating them to adopt habits of industry, it will tend to make them more improvident the money will pass into the hands of traders, and leave the country without having aided in improving the condition of the people. Had even one-half of the annuity been appropriated to the establishment of agricultural schools, and to the employment of suitable persons to instruct the Indians in the useful arts, the next generation might have been rendered capable of supporting themselves by the arts of industry, and the nation redeemed from a state of barbarism. This would be a conquest worthy of the American people, and add more to the glory of the nation than all the victories won upon the battle-fields of Mexico. [For the Western Journal.] ARTICLE II. GOVERNMENT AND EDUCATION. BY A MEMBER OF THE KEOKUK (IOWA) BAR. (Continued from Page 319.) We will now proceed to an examination of the economical relations existing between Government and Education. These relations we will find are most intimately connected with the moral influences and tendencies of education and may well be considered under one and the same head. Mr. Sismondi informs us that Economy according to the proper sense "of the word is the regulation of a "family or house-political economy, the regulation of a family "applied to a state". Professor Chrobeeling of Geneva (Livitz) insists that "The existence of wealth is the distinctive characteristic of the state of Society-the summary of the advantages which man derives from that state". These definitions may be correct, but to me, they are unsatisfactory. I like that other definition of an old clear-headed man, who thought deeply and wrote perspicuously. "It is the office" says he "of the political economist to point out in what way social happiness may best be attained through the medium of national wealth". This inti mates that the wealth and resources of the nation ought to be appropriated to the advancement of the public welfare and happiness; and when THAT is demonstrated which is an advantage to the state, and will contribute to its glory, stability and grandeur through the moral, social and intellectual culture and elevation of its citizens, its wealth and resources ought to be employed for such purpose. There are two inquiries connected with the consideration of the economical influences of education, which are entitled to great weight and deliberation. The first is the influence of education upon labor, and the other, its influence upon crime viewed and discussed as questions of political economy. These questions we propose to discuss in their order. An opinion prevails in the minds of many persons, that learning and labor are irreconcilable with each other-that education lifts the individual above labor, and that there exists between them, a natura and incurable antagonism. Many parents object to education, on the ground that it unfits their children for the pursuits of industry, and the acquisitions of simple, honest labor. It is said they become too proud to follow the ordinary occupations of life. Are these things so? Are these allegations true? The charge is a serious one, affecting deeply the very sources of national wealth: it is honestly cherished and earnestly made, and as a mixed economical-political question we cannot, if we would, entirely overlook it. It is admitted that a well educatad man will but seldom adopt the hardy and more laborius pursuits of lower life. And why, not because education has destroyed or impaired his ability to labor successfully, for in truth and in fact his very education is the fruit of exhaust.ng, long continued toil and industry, but because it has fitted him to move in another sphere, more congenial with his tastes, more honorable in the estimation of the world and more profitable in its pursuit. He is equally, yea more, capable of performing labor, than, if uneducated; but education has conferred new attributes upon him-clothed him with new powers enlarged the field of his ability and usefulness and increased the number of opportunities of his success in life. New avenues are opened before him for the display of talent, and the successful application of all his faculties; and he does simply what every man does, or ought to do-he selects that occupation which is most useful, profitable and respectable. If the influence of education should, at any time, or in any case, lead to idleness and crime, the evil, beyond all doubt, lies in its perversion and not in its legitimate tendency. The instructor must have neglected to impress upon the mind that, which it is his highest and clearest duty to do-the necessity of industry and the excellency of virtue. We consider education and labor, not only as entirely recon cilable, but as reciprocally assistant and advantageous. We contend that the character and dignity of all employment are determined by the amount of intelligence engaged in it. There exists no inherent, necessary degradation in any honest pursuit. Labor is only degraded in the public eye, when performed by ignorant and uneducated men. Society estimates the character and dignity of labor, by the character and intelligence of the persons employed in it: and, if the lowest calling in life in the public estimation, should suddenly by any strange revolution embrace in the ranks of its co-laborers the profoundest scholars of the age, what would be the result? It would not only become immediately elevated and respectable, but the improvement which would be introduced, the complex intelligence that would be thrown into it would be so extensive, complicated and I may say scientific in their character, as to render it indispensable for man to educate himself to understand it. We contend further, that labor is only interesting and will be pursued with pleasure in proportion as the mind is interested in it. Let us be understood. The mere animal accomplishes its work under the lash of the whip-it has no mind-no interest-no intelligence. Every thing it accomplishes is through the exertion of mere physical strength. The laborer, who is totally ignorant, goes to his daily toil wholly from necessity. To acquire a bare subsistence he is compelled to work; he has no love for it, and the mind has little or no connection with it. He, himself, looks down upon his labor as a degrading thing-as a pure necessityas the means to acquire food and raiment and shelter. There are no improvements made in its prosecution. The idea of subsittuting physical agents to aid him in his manual labor and lighten. his burthens, never enters his brain; and he toils on from day to day from year to year-without improvement, without hope of relief-without a single, well directed effort to elevate his social or physical position. But a master-spirit will sometimes burst from even these gloomy shades; and inventive genius with its magic wand and mysterious powers will change the whole scene. Machinery comes with its briarean arms and never tiring energies; and that which before required its thousands to perform, now only requires its hundreds ;-that which before was conducted by the ignorant, is now done by the comparatively rich and educated. Mind his illumined the abodes of darkness, and knowledge has sown her seeds broad cast, and education raises up, and reconstructs and adorns this portion of the great fabric of labor. By thus enl sting the mind in its pursuit-clothing it in the dignity of knowledge and exciting the pride of emulation, you raise the laborer to a true sense of his importance-his whole energies are stimulated, and he identifies not only his comfort but his respectability with success and distinguished skill in his employment. We contend, lastly, that education gives an intelligent direc |