preserving the Union, and in most of them it will probably be successful.----The Legislature of Vermont commenced its annual session on the 13th ult. Hon. SOLOMON FOOTE has been elected U.S. Senator to succeed Hon. S.S. PHELPS whose term expires in March next.----GEORGE N. BRIGGS has been nominated by the Whigs for re-election as Governor of Massachusetts.----The _Arctic_, the third of the American line of mail steamers, between New York and Liverpool, is completed, and will very soon take her place; the _Baltic_ will soon be ready.----The assessed value of real and personal property in the City of New York, according to a late report of the Board of Supervisors, is set at 286 millions; the tax on which is $339,697. This property is all taxed to about 6,000 persons. The increase for the year is thirty millions, nearly 10 per cent. The value of the real and personal estate of the State of New York, according to the last report of the Comptroller, was $536,161,901. The State tax of 1849 amounted to $278,843.10; of which $130,000, or nearly one half, was paid by the city.----Some years since a colony of Swedes settled in the northwestern part of Illinois, in Henry county, near the Mississippi. They are represented as an industrious and thriving people, supporting themselves chiefly by the manufacture of table-cloths, napkins, sheets, and other linens. Last year they suffered much from the cholera; but their numbers will soon be increased by a new colony of about 300 members who are now on their way from Sweden, and are expected soon to arrive with a considerable amount of capital, the fruits of the sale of their own property, and the property of their brethren already here.----A good deal of excitement prevails in some of the Northern States in regard to the execution of the new law for the recovery of fugitive slaves. The first instance in which it was carried into effect occurred in New York city, where a fugitive named James Hamlet, who had lived in Williamsburgh for some two years with his family, was apprehended, taken to Baltimore, and restored to his owner. The process was so summary that no resistance was offered or excitement created: but after the whole was over a great deal of feeling was elicited, and money enough was speedily raised by subscription to purchase the slave, who was returned to his family amidst great public demonstrations of rejoicing among the colored population. In Detroit an attempt to arrest a fugitive excited a popular resistance to suppress which it was found necessary to call out troops of the United States; the negro was seized, but purchased by voluntary subscriptions. Large public meetings have been held in various cities and towns, to protest against the law, and to devise measures for defeating its operation. One of the largest was held at Boston on the 4th ult., at which Hon. Josiah Quincy presided. The tone of the address and resolutions was less