AMERICA.

New Zealander, Volume 9, Issue 776, 21 September 1853, Page 3

AMERICA.

The dates from New York are to the 4th May. The Japan expedition is by no means to be abandoned* common as the report Las been. A portion of the squadron is already in the Pacific Ocean } other vessel* have sailed, and the restore making their preparations for a speedy departure. The commanding officer to whom the expidition is confided (Commodore Perryy is a verv efficient man, and be feels the highest personal ambition to succeed, and the Government is giving him. every facility, there is a fair prospect that be ore I another twelve month shall come found mteres mg ! intelligence will be received of the result of the expedition. I have reason for believing that the expedition bas been somewhat shorn of its strength) not so muc from a lack of seamen as from a desire on the par o General Pierce to impart to it the most pacific aspect. A hundred-gun ship ordered for the expidition ha. been countermanded. It was thought to add unnecessary force to the squadron. . . , t Lieutenant Be.de, who has been distinguished for several years as a very brave and daring officer of t e army, who had rendered uucommen services o _ a Government in transmitting its overland mail to California, and id pioneering parties of immigrants to distant State, and who bas been appointed superin en. dent of Indian affairs in California) has, by his late report, presented a sickening picture ot savage barbarities perpetrated by the miners and other frontier inhabitants of California, on the unhappy Indian natives, men, women, and children—a picture the truth o which could hardly be established except upon the incontestable facts he alleges and pioves in his report. In a recent American journal, whose authority on the subject may be pretty safely quoted, I find the following estimate of the number of the colored race now believed to exist on this continent in slavery and m freedom: — „ “ United States .. •• •• 3,0-W,OOO Brazil Spanish Colonies.. .. • • 1,470,000 South American Republics .. 1,130,000 British Colonies .. • • • • <50.000 Hayti 800.000 French Colonies .. .. •• 2^0,000 Dutch Colonies .. .. •• 50,000 Danish Colonies Mexico 70,000 Canada • • j5 > 00() Total 16.370.C0Q “ Of these, 7,500,000 are in slavery in the United States, Brazil, and the Spanish and Dutch coonies; 250,000 ore in progress of emancipation in the South American Republics; and the remainder, 3,020,000, are free.'* The New York Exhibition.—The Crystal Palace at New York is rapidly rising to completion. With the exception of the floor, it is entirely constructed of iron and glass. The general idea of the edifice is & Greek cross, surmounted by a dome in the intersection. Each diameter of the cress will be 365 feet 5 inchee long. Each arm of the cross on the.ground plan 149 feet broad. This is divided into a central nave and two aisles, one on each side. The central portion or nave is carried up to the heigbih of *>7 fee*, and the semi* circular arch by which it is spanned is 41 feet broad* These are thus in effect two arched naves crossing each oth :r at right angles, 41 feet broad, 67 feet high to the crown of the arch, and 365 feet long; and on each side of these naves is an aisle 54 feel broad, and 45 feet high. At each angle is an octagonal tower, 8 feet m diam >ter, and 65 feet high. The building contains on tha ground floor 111,000 square feet of space, and m its galleries, which are 54 feet wide, 62,000 square feet more, making a total area of 173,000 square feet for the purposes of exhibition. The roof will cover an area of 144,000 square feet. The glass for the building will amount to 39,000 square feet. Ihe application* from Europe are principally as follows: —Great Britain, about 7JO ; Germany, not far from 800; France, over 500; the Netherlands, about 200 ; Switzerland, near 100 ; many from Italy, and some from other countries. It was intended to open the Exhibition on the Ist of May, but the event is postponed for a time. Ringgold's exploring anJ surveying expedition waa engaging the attention of commercial and other circles. It consists of six vessels under the command of Commander Cadwalader Ringgold, which have been equipped, rigged, and manned for the purpose of examining and surveying a large portion of the North Pacific Ocean, Behring’s Straits, and the Arctic Sea, so far north as may be found practicable, tog. th:r with the adjacent coasts of America and Asia, these surveys having for their object the promotion of commerce and of the whaling business in those greatly-frequented but slightly-known regions. It is stated that the King of the Sandwich Islands, having become alarmed at the de-igns of France upon his territory, had appealed to the United States for protection. No new aspects have arisen since the sailing of the last steamer in our commercial or political world worthy of notice. The Administraiion of General Pierce has hardly yet grappled with a single foreign question, and it will be some weeks before defiui e instructions are made out to the new Ministers who are to represent u» in foreign countries. —CorresjMiuleiit of the Times. Barnnm, the America i showman, is now a member of the Connecticut Legislature. Barnum is putting up a tower in the vicinity of the Crystal Palace at New York, 300 foet high, to the top of which visitors are to be lifted by a steam-engine;