Jan. 31st.  Mr. Wing, delegate in Congress, writes from Washington, that the nomination of Mr. Van Buren as minister to England has been rejected by the Senate, by a majority of one—­and that one the casting vote of the Vice-President.  A letter from Albany, Feb. 1, says:  “Albany (and the State generally) is considerably excited this morning in consequence of the rejection of Mr. Van Buren.  Nothing could have more promoted the interest of Mr. Van Buren than this step of the Senate.  New York city has resolved to receive him, on his return from England, with all the ’pomp and magnificence in its power, and to show that her ‘favorite son’ shall be sustained.’  I heard this read in public from a letter received by a person in this city.”

“A report reached this a few days ago, stating that the ‘cholera’ had been brought to New Orleans in a Spanish vessel.”

“Mr. Woolsey, the young gentleman of your tour last summer, died at New York a short time since.”  In a letter which he wrote to me (Sept. 27th), on the eve of his leaving Detroit, he says:  “Permit me now, sir, in closing this note, again to express my gratitude for the opportunity you have afforded me of visiting a very interesting portion of our country, and for the uniform kindness that I have experienced at your hands, and for the friendly wishes, that prosperity may crown my exertions in life.”

Dr. Houghton says (Feb. 8) respecting this moral young man:  “The tears of regret might flow freely for the loss of such true unsophisticated worth, even with those who knew him imperfectly, but to me, who felt as a brother, the loss is doubly great.  We have, however, when reflecting upon his untimely death, the sweet consolation that he died as he lived, a Christian.”

Feb. 4th.  Dr. Torrey expresses his interest in the botany and natural history, generally, of the country visited by me last summer.  “Your kind offer to place in my hands the botanical rarities which, from time to time, you may acquire, in your interesting journeys, I fully appreciate.  It will give me great pleasure to examine the collections made by Dr. Houghton during your last expedition.

“My friend Mr. William Cooper, of the Lyceum, will be happy to lend you all the assistance in his power in determining the shells you have collected.  He is decidedly our beat conchologist in New York, and I would rather trust him than most men—­for he is by no means afflicted with the mania of desiring to multiply new species, which, is, at present, the bane of natural history.

“You speak of having discovered some interesting minerals, especially some good native copper.  Above all the specimens which you obtained, I should like to see the native magnesia which you found in serpentine.  I am desirous of analyzing the mineral, to ascertain whether its composition agrees with that of Hoboken and Unst (the only recorded localities in our mineralogical works).”