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BOOK OF THE UNITED STATES.

PART I.

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.

CHAPTER I.—MOUNTAINS.

THOUGH embracing in its extent several elevated ranges of great length and breadth, the territory of the United States cannot be considered as a mountainous country. The land along the whole line of the seacoast is level for a considerable distance into the interior. The breadth of this level tract expands from fifty miles in the north-east extremity, gradually, as we advance to the south-west, till in the state of Georgia, it has attained an extent of near two hundred miles. Beyond this the land gradually rises into mountains, which are much more remarkable for their length and breadth, than their height. They sometimes consist of numerous parallel ridges rising successively behind each other; at other times they run into knots; and sometimes they recede from their parallel direction into what are called spurs. These ranges or belts of mountainous country, though receiving a vast number of different appellations, are most usually known by the name of the Alleghanies. The long continuity of this chain has obtained it the name of the Endless Mountains, from the northern savages. The French and Spaniards, who first became acquainted with it in Florida, applied to it through its whole extent the name of Apalachian, which is still retained by a considerable river of that country.

The general course of the Alleghanies is about north-east and south-west; east of the Hudson they are scattered in irregular groups, without any very marked direction.

The range of the Rocky or Chippewan Mountains divides the waters which flow east into the Missouri and Mississippi, from those which flow west into the Pacific Ocean, and are a continuation of the Cordilleras of Mexico. Their longitude is about one hundred and twelve west, and they terminate in about seventy north latitude. Along the coast of the Pacific is another range which seems to form a step to the Rocky Mountains. It extends from the Cape of California along the coast to Cook’s Inlet, generally rising to no great height in the southern portion. In the northern part, La Perouse states that it is ten thousand feet high, and at its northern extremity is Mount Elias, eighteen thousand feet high, and the loftiest peak of North America.

The White Mountains in New England, largely considered, are the principal ranges running north-east and south-west, projecting from the main ridge that forms the boundary of the United States, and separates the waters of the St. Lawrence from those that run south through the Northern States. The highest ridge is that called the White Mountain Ridge in New Hampshire, running from south to north, the loftiest summits of which are Monadnock, a hill of an abrupt and striking character, Sunapee, Kearsarge, Carr’s Mountain, and Moosehillock. Towards the north of the state, these eminences rise to a much higher elevation, and are known specifically by the name of the White Mountains.

These are the loftiest mountains in the United States, east of the Mississippi. They lie between the Connecticut and Androscoggin rivers on the north-east and west, and the head-waters of the Merrimack on the south sixty or seventy miles from the coast; yet their white summits are visible from many miles at sea. They extend about twenty miles from south-west to north-east, and their base is eight or ten miles broad.

Mount Washington is the highest of all the White Mountains, being six thousand two hundred and thirty-four feet above the level of the sea. Next to Mount Washington in height is Mount Adams, then Jefferson, then Madison, all more than five thousand feet high; there are several besides these, though none so elevated. The country around and among the mountains is very wild and rough, and the mountains themselves are difficult of access. The east side of Mount Washington rises at an angle of forty-five degrees. The lower part of the mountain is covered with thick woods of spruce and fir trees, with deep beds of moss beneath. Heavy clouds of vapor often rest upon the mountain, and fill the moss with water, which cannot be exhaled or dried up by the sun on account of the woods, and therefore it breaks out in numerous springs which feed the streams from the mountain. The trees are short and stunted higher up the mountain; soon there are only bushes; then instead of bushes are vines; the last thing that grows is winter grass mixed with moss; the summit is entirely bare of vegetation. There is a plain from which the last height of Mount Washington rises to the height of fifteen hundred feet. This elevation or pinnacle is composed of huge grey rocks. Reaching the top much fatigued and out of breath, the traveller is instantly master of a boundless prospect, noble enough to pay him for his labor. The Atlantic dimly seen through a distance of sixty-five miles, the Vermont Mountains on the west, the southern and northern mountains of New Hampshire, Lake Winnipiseogee, ponds, streams, and towns, without number, all form a great impressive picture.

The road from the seacoast to the mountains passes along the head stream of the Saco, which rises among these mountains, and breaks through them at a place known by the name of the Notch, a narrow defile extending two miles in length between two large cliffs, apparently rent asunder by some vast convulsion of nature.

‘The sublime and awful grandeur of this passage baffles all description. Geometry may settle the heights of the mountains; and numerical figures may record the measure; but no words can tell the emotions of the soul, as it looks upward, and views the almost perpendicular precipices which line the narrow space between them; while the senses ache with terror and astonishment, as one sees himself hedged in from all the world besides. He may cast his eye forward or backward, or to either side; he can see only upward, and there the diminutive circle of his vision is cribbed and confined by the battlements of nature’s ‘cloud-capped towers,’ which seem as if they wanted only the breathing of a zephyr, or the wafting of a straw against them, to displace them, and crush the prisoner in their fall. Just before our visit to this place, on the 26th of June, 1826, there was a tremendous avalanche, or slide, as it is there called, from the mountain which makes the southern wall of the passage. An immense mass of earth and rock, on the side of the mountain, was loosened from its resting place, and began to slide towards the bottom. In its course, it divided into three portions, each coming down, with amazing velocity, into the road, and sweeping before it shrubs, trees, and rocks, and filling up the road, beyond all possibility of its being removed. With great labor, a pathway has been made over these fallen masses, which admits the passage of a carriage. The place from which the slide, or slip, was loosened, is directly in the rear of a small, but comfortable dwelling-house, owned and occupied by a Mr. Willey, who has taken advantage of a narrow, a very narrow interval,—where the bases of the two mountains seem to have parted and receded, as if afraid of coming into contact,—to erect his lone habitation: and, were there not a special Providence in the fall of a sparrow, and had not the finger of that Providence traced the direction of the sliding mass, neither he, nor any soul of his family, would ever have told the tale. They heard the noise, when it first began to move, and ran to the door. In terror and amazement, they beheld the mountain in motion. But what can human power effect in such an emergency? Before they could think of retreating, or ascertain which way to escape, the danger was passed. One portion of the avalanche crossed the road about ten rods only from their habitation; the second, a few rods beyond that; and the third, and much the largest portion, took a much more oblique direction. The whole area, now covered by the slide, is nearly an acre; and the distance of its present bed from its former place on the side of the mountain, and which it moved over in a few minutes, is from three quarters of a mile to a mile. There are many trees of large size that came down with such force as to shiver them in pieces; and innumerable rocks, of many tons’ weight, any one of which was sufficient to carry with it destruction to any of the labors of man. The spot on the mountain, from which the slip was loosened, is now a naked, white rock; and its pathway downward is indicated by deep channels, or furrows grooved in the side of the mountain, and down one of which pours a stream of water, sufficient to carry a common saw-mill.

‘From this place to the Notch, there is almost a continual ascent, generally gradual, but sometimes steep and sudden. The narrow pathway proceeds along the stream, sometimes crossing it, and shifting from the side of one mountain to the other, as either furnishes a less precarious foothold for the traveller than its fellow. Occasionally it winds up the side of the steep to such a height, as to leave, on one hand or the other, a gulf of unseen depth; for the foliage of the trees and shrubs is impervious to the sight. The Notch itself is formed by a sudden projection of rock from the mountain on the right or northerly side, rising perpendicularly to a great height,—probably seventy or eighty feet,—and by a large mass of rock on the left side, which has tumbled from its ancient location, and taken a position within twenty feet of its opposite neighbor. The length of the Notch is not more than three or four rods. The moment it is passed, the mountains seem to have vanished. A level meadow, overgrown with long grass and wild flowers, and spotted with tufts of shrubbery, spreads itself before the astonished eye, on the left, and a swamp or thicket, on the right, conceals the ridge of mountains which extend to the north: the road separates this thicket from the meadow. Not far from the Notch, on the right hand side of the road, several springs issue from the rocks that compose the base of the mountain, unite in the thicket, and form the Saco river. This little stream runs across the road into the meadow, where it almost loses itself in its meandering among the bogs, but again collects its waters and passes under the rock that makes the southerly wall of the Notch. It is here invisible for several rods, and its presence is indicated only by its noise, as it rolls through its rugged tunnel. In wet seasons and freshets, probably a portion of the water passes over the fragments of rock, which are here wedged together, and form an arch or covering for the natural bed of the stream.

‘The sensations which affect the corporeal faculties, as one views these stupendous creations of Omnipotence, are absolutely afflicting and painful. If you look at the summits of the mountains, when a cloud passes towards them, it is impossible for the eye to distinguish, at such a height, which is in motion, the mountain, or the cloud; and this deception of vision produces a dizziness, which few spectators have nerve enough to endure for many minutes. If the eye be fixed on the crags and masses of rock, that project from the sides of the mountains, the flesh involuntarily quivers, and the limbs seem to be impelled to retreat from a scene that threatens impendent destruction. If the thoughts which crowd upon the intellectual faculties are less painful than these sensations of flesh and blood, they are too sublime and overwhelming to be described. The frequent alterations and great changes, that have manifestly taken place in these majestic masses, since they were first piled together by the hand of the Creator, are calculated to awaken “thoughts beyond the reaches of the soul.” If the “everlasting hills” thus break in pieces, and shake the shaggy covering from their sides, who will deny that

‘Reflection needs not the authority of inspiration to warrant a belief, that this anticipation is something more than poetical. History and philosophy teach its truth, or, at least, its probability. The melancholy imaginings which it excites are relieved by the conviction that the whole of God’s creation is nothing less

and that, if this globe should be resolved into chaos, it will undergo a new organization, and be re-moulded into scenes of beauty, and abodes of happiness. Such may be the order of nature, to be unfolded in a perpetual series of material production and decay—of creation and dissolution—a magnificent procession of worlds and systems, in the march of eternity.’1

A few weeks after the slide mentioned in the above description, a disaster occurred which occasioned the destruction of the interesting family to which allusion is there made.

The afternoon had been rainy, and the weather continued so till eleven o’clock in the evening, when it cleared away. About the same hour, a great noise was heard, at the distance of several miles like the rushing down of rocks and much water from the mountains. The next morning, the people, at Conway, could perceive that some disaster, of no ordinary character, had happened, by the appearance of the mountains on each side of the road. On repairing to the spot, they found the house of Mr. Willey, standing near the Notch, unhurt, but destitute of any of the family. It is supposed that they left it in their fright, and were instantly swept away, and buried under the rocks and earth which were borne down by the freshet. This family consisted of Mr. Willey, his wife, five children, and two hired men, all of whom were suddenly swept from time to eternity, by this lamentable disaster. Had they remained in the house, they would probably have been safe.

The central and western parts of Maine are mountainous. The highest mountains are the Katahdin, situated near the centre of the state, the Speckled, Bald, Bigelow, and Ebeeme mountains. The range between the rivers Hudson and Connecticut, and this last and lake Champlain, is called the Green Mountains, an appellation which it has received from its perpetual verdure, being covered on its western side with hemlock, pine, spruce, and other evergreens. These mountains are from ten to fifteen miles wide, much intersected with valleys, and abounding in springs and streams. Vegetation decreases on approaching their summits; the trees diminish in size, and frequently terminate in a shrubbery of spruce and hemlock, two or three feet high, with branches so interwoven as to prevent all passage through them. The sides of the mountains are generally rugged and irregular; some of them have large apertures and caves. Their tops are coated with a compact and firm moss, which lies in extensive beds, and is sometimes of a consistency to bear the weight of a man without being broken through. These mosses absorb a great deal of moisture, and afford wet and marshy places, which in the warm season are the constant resort of water fowl. The loftiest summits are Killington Peak, near Rutland; Camel’s Rump, between Montpelier and Burlington, and Mansfield Mountain, a few miles farther north, all which are more than three thousand five hundred feet above the level of the sea. Ascutney, a single mountain near Windsor, is three thousand three hundred and twenty feet in height.

The range called Green Mountains in Vermont, enters the west part of Massachusetts from the north, and forms the Hoosac and Tagkannuc Ridges, which run nearly parallel to each other south, into Connecticut. The most elevated peaks of the Tagkannuc Ridge are Saddle Mountain in the north, four thousand feet high, and Tagkannuc Mountain in the south, three thousand feet. No summits of the Hoosac Ridge much exceed half these elevations. Mount Holyoke, in the neighborhood of Northampton, commands a prospect of the highest beauty; the waters of the Connecticut wind about its base, giving fertility and wealth of vegetation to the surrounding country. On its top a shanty is erected, in which refreshments are kept for the visitors who at favorable seasons make this excursion in great numbers.

There are two distinct chains belonging to the Alleghany range in the state of New York, the Catskill and the Wallkill. The Catskill, which is the most northern, is the continuation of the proper Alleghany or western chain; the eastern is called, by some geographers, Wallkill.

A visit to the Catskill is a favorite excursion of northern travellers, and several days may be spent very agreeably in examining the grand and romantic scenery of the neighborhood. Pine Orchard is a small plain, two thousand two hundred and fourteen feet above the Hudson, scattered with forest trees, and furnished with an elegant house of great size. Immediately below is seen a wild and mountainous region, finely contrasting with the cultivated country beyond, which presents every variety of hill and valley, interspersed with town, hamlet, and cottage.

The hills of Weehawken are on the west side of the Hudson, nearly opposite the city of New York.

The Highlands of the Hudson, or Fishkill Mountains, which first appear about forty miles from New York, are marked for their sublimity and grandeur, and interesting from their connection with many great events of the revolution. This chain is sixteen miles in width, and extends twenty miles along both sides of the Hudson. The height of the principal has been estimated at one thousand five hundred and sixty-five feet. The Peruvian Mountains consist of a lofty tract in the northern part of New York, being round the sources of the Hudson, and separating the waters of Lake Champlain from those of the St. Lawrence. They received their name from the supposition that they contained mineral treasures. Their loftiest summit, called Whiteface, is about three thousand feet above the level of Lake Champlain.

The Apalachian chain in Pennsylvania spreads to its widest limits, and covers with its various ranges more than one half of the state. The greatest width of the chain equals two hundred miles. It consists of parallel ridges sometimes little distant from each other, and at other times with valleys twenty or thirty miles broad lying between them. The range nearest the coast is called the South Mountain, and is a continuation of the Blue Ridge of Virginia. This, however, is hardly a distinct ridge, but only an irregular series of rocky, broken eminences, sometimes disappearing altogether, and at others spreading out several miles in breadth. These eminences lie one hundred and fifty or two hundred miles from the sea, and their height does not exceed one thousand two hundred feet above the surrounding country. Beyond these are the Kittatinny or Blue Mountains, which extend from Maryland to New Jersey across the Susquehanna and Delaware. Farther westward are the ridges bearing the names of the Sideling Hills, Ragged Mountains, Great Warrior Mountain, East Will’s Mountain, till we come to the Alleghany Ridge, the highest range, and from which this whole chain has in common language received the name of the Alleghany Mountains. The highest summits are between three and four thousand feet above the level of the sea. West of the Alleghany are the Laurel and Chesnut Ridges.

These mountains are in general covered with thick forests. The Laurel Mountains are overgrown on their eastern front with the tree from which they are named. The wide valleys between the great ridges are filled with a multitude of hills, confusedly scattered up and down. The tops of the ridges sometimes exhibit long ranges of table land, two or three miles broad; some of them are steep on one side, and extend with a long slope on the other. These mountains are traversed by the great streams of the Susquehanna chain, and the head-waters of the Ohio.

The Wallkill, which crosses the Hudson at West Point, forty miles below the Catskill, is the continuation of the Blue Ridge, or Eastern Chain, which is the most general appellation for the extensive ridge which fronts the Atlantic. The eastern and western ranges run parallel to each other, south-west, till on the frontiers of North Carolina and Virginia they unite in a knot which has been called the Alleghany Arch, because the principal chain embraces there in a curve all its collaterals from the east. A little farther to the south, but still in North Carolina, a second knot unites all the collateral ridges from the west, and forms a culminating point of heads of rivers. The second bifurcation stretches south-west and then west, and the name of the 2Cumberland Mountains through the whole state of Tennessee, while the proper Alleghany Chain, left almost alone, continues its course to the south-west, and completes the boundary of Georgia and the two Carolinas. From the Alleghany Arch, there are three principal ridges or ramifications of the Alleghany, running north-east and nearly parallel to each other, namely, the Alleghany Proper, the North Mountain, and the Blue Ridge. Of the last ridge the highest summits are the Otter Peaks. The elevated district of South Carolina presents seven or eight mountains running in regular directions, the most distinguished of which is the 3Table Mountain. Mr. Jefferson, with peculiar felicity of illustration, called the range of the Alleghanies the spine of the United States separating the eastern from the western waters, and the whole of the territory from the Mississippi to the Atlantic into three natural divisions, materially differing from each other in climate, configuration, soil, and produce; namely, the coast, the mountains, and the western territory.

In extent, in elevation, and in breadth, the Rocky Mountains far exceed the Alleghanies of the Eastern States. Their mean breadth is two hundred miles, and where broadest, three hundred. Their height must be very great, since, when first seen by Captain Lewis, they were at least one hundred and fifty miles distant. On a nearer approach, the sublimity of the prospect is increased, by the appearance of range rising behind range, each yielding in height to its successor, till the most distant is mingled with the clouds. In this lofty region the ranges are covered with snow in the middle of June. From this last circumstance, these ranges have been sometimes denominated the Shining Mountains—an appellation much more appropriate than that of the Rocky or Stony Mountains, a property possessed by all mountains, but peculiar to none. The longitudinal extent of this great chain is immense, running as far north-west as sixty degrees north latitude, and perhaps to the Frozen Ocean itself. The snows and fountains of this enormous range, from the thirty-eighth to the forty-eighth degree of northern latitude, feed, with never-failing supplies, the Missouri and its powerful auxiliary streams.

In endeavoring to explore these Alpine heights, and the sources of the Red and Arkansaw rivers, Captain Pike and his party were bewildered amidst snows, and torrents, and precipices. The cold was so intense, that several of the party had their limbs frostbitten, and were obliged to be abandoned to their fate, by Pike and his surviving companions. In a lateral ridge, separating the valley of the Arkansaw from that of the Platte river, in north latitude forty-one degrees, is a remarkable peak, called the Great White Mountain; so remarkable, indeed, as to be known to all the savage tribes for hundreds of miles round, and spoken of in terms of admiration by the Spaniards of New Mexico, and which formed the boundary of their knowledge to the north-west. The altitude of this peak was taken on the base of a mile by Pike, and found to be ten thousand five hundred and eighty-one feet above the level of the meadow at its foot; and the height of this latter was estimated at eight thousand feet above the level of the sea; in all, eighteen thousand five hundred and eighty-one feet of absolute elevation; being six thousand feet higher than the peak of Teneriffe, by Humboldt’s measurement; or two thousand eight hundred and ninety-one feet short of that of Chimborazo, admitting the elevation of this last to be twenty-one thousand four hundred and seventy-two feet. Captain Pike and his companions never lost sight of this tremendous peak, unless in a valley, for the space of ten weeks, wandering amongst the mountains. What is the elevation at the sources of the Missouri can only be matter of mere conjecture. The level of the river, where they left their canoes, could not be less than six thousand feet above the sea; but how high the mountains rose above this point the narrative does not inform us, and hardly gives us any data to decide. The central chain, as usual, is marked in the map as highest, and covered with snow during the whole year. The latitude is between forty-five and forty-seven degrees; and between these parallels, in Europe, the lower limit of perpetual congelation is fixed at from nine to ten thousand feet above the level of the sea; and it can hardly be supposed that the summits of this snowy range were less than eight thousand five hundred or nine thousand feet high, making a reasonable allowance for the greater coldness of the American continent. Captain Clarke allows this central range to be sixty miles across, and that the shortest road across the different ranges is at least one hundred and forty miles, besides two hundred miles more, before we can reach a navigable river. In their first passage across these tremendous mountains, the American party suffered every thing which hunger, cold, and fatigue, could impose, during three weeks. They were compelled to melt the snow for their portable soup; many of their horses (which they used for conveying their baggage, or for riding,) were foundered by falls from precipices; the men became feeble through excessive toil, and sickly from want of food, as there are no wild animals in these inhospitable regions; and, but for an occasional meal of horse flesh, the whole party must have perished. In returning home from the mouth of the Columbia, their state was little better. Having again come in sight of the mountains, in the middle of May, they attempted to pass them but in vain, on account of the snow, which lay from six to ten feet deep, and were obliged to return, and rest in the plains to the twenty-fourth of June. These mountains are, therefore, a far more formidable barrier to the Pacific, than the Alleghanies to the back country, and can be passed with great difficulty only for three months in the year, namely, from the latter end of June to the latter end of September.

We are indebted to the Missouri Advocate for the following account of General Ashley’s discoveries in this quarter. He considers it quite possible to form a route across this formidable barrier to the Pacific Ocean. The route proposed, after leaving St. Louis, and passing generally on the north side of the Missouri river, strikes the river Platte, a short distance above its junction with the Missouri; then pursues the waters of the Platte to their sources, and, in continuation, crosses the head-waters of what General Ashley believes to be the Rio Colorado of the west, and strikes, for the first time, a ridge or single connecting chain of mountains, running from north to south. This however presents no difficulty, as a wide gap is found apparently prepared for the purpose of a passage. After passing this gap, the route proposed falls directly on a river, called by George Ashley the Buenaventura, and runs from that river to the Pacific Ocean. The face of the country, in general, is a continuation of high, rugged, and barren mountains; the summits of which are either timbered with pine, quaking-asp, or cedar; or, in fact, almost entirely destitute of vegetation. Other parts are hilly and undulating; and the valleys and table-lands (except on the borders of water-courses, which are more or less timbered with cotton-wood and willows,) are destitute of wood; but this indispensable article is substituted by an herb, called by the hunters wild sage, which grows from one to five feet high, and is found in great abundance in most parts of the country. The sterility of the country generally is almost incredible. That part of it, however, bounded by the three ranges of mountains, and watered by the sources of the supposed Buenaventura, is less sterile; yet the proportion of arable land, even within those limits, is comparatively small; and no district of the country visited by General Ashley, or of which he obtained satisfactory information, offers inducements to civilized people, sufficient to justify an expectation of permanent settlement. The river visited by General Ashley, and which he believes to be the Rio Colorado of the west, is, at about fifty miles from its most northern source, eighty yards wide. At this point, General Ashley embarked and descended the river, which gradually increased in width to one hundred and eighty yards. In passing through the mountains, the channel is contracted to fifty or sixty yards, and so much obstructed by rocks as to make its descent extremely dangerous, and its ascent impracticable. After descending this river about four hundred miles, General Ashley shaped his course northwardly, and fell upon what he supposed to be the sources of the Buenaventura; he represents those branches as bold streams, from twenty to fifty yards wide, forming a junction a few miles below where he crossed them, and then emptying into a lake (called Grand Lake,) represented by the Indians as being forty or fifty miles wide, and sixty or seventy miles long. This information is strengthened by that of the white hunters, who have explored parts of the lake. The Indians represent, that at the extreme west end of this lake, a large river flows out, and runs in a westward direction. General Ashley, when on those waters, at first thought it probable they were the sources of the Multnomah: but the account given by the Indians, supported by the opinion of some men belonging to the Hudson Bay Company, confirms him in the belief, that they are the head-waters of the river represented as the Buenaventura. To the north and north-west from the Grand Lake, the country is represented as abounding in salt. The Indians west of the mountains are remarkably well disposed towards the citizens of the United States; the Eutaws and Flatheads are particularly so, and express a great wish that the Americans should visit them frequently.

A large number of lateral ranges project to the south-east, east, and north-east of the main range. Where the Missouri enters the plains, is the most eastern projection; and from where the Jaune leaves the snowy range, there is a lateral range, running more than two hundred miles south-east, which is intersected by the Bighorn river. As these mountains have not yet been explored by the eye of geological science, it is impossible to say any thing respecting their component parts; but, from every thing that we can learn from Pike and Clarke, they seem to be chiefly granitic. No volcanoes have yet been discovered amongst them; but strange unusual noises were heard from the mountains, by the American party, when stationed above the falls of the Missouri. These sounds seemed to come from the north-west. ‘Since our arrival at the falls,’ says the narrative, ‘we have repeatedly heard a strange noise coming from the mountains, a little to the north of west. It is heard at different periods of the day and night: sometimes when the air is perfectly still and unclouded, and consists of one stroke only, or of five or six discharges in quick succession. It is loud, and resembles precisely the sound of a six pounder at the distance of three miles. The Indians had before mentioned this noise like thunder, but we had paid no attention to it. The watermen also of the party say, that the Pawnees and Ricaras give the same account of a similar noise made in the Black Mountains, to the westward of them.’ Again, near the same place, it is afterwards said: ‘They heard, about sunset, two discharges of the tremendous mountain artillery.’ Not a word more occurs upon the subject; but we know that similar explosions take place among the mountains near the head of the Washita, and among the mountains of Namhi, near the sources of the Red river.

In our present state of ignorance respecting these mountains, it is impossible to give a solution of this phenomenon, though it may proceed from some distant volcano, which, like Stromboli, may be in a state of constant activity, but more irregularly. It is well known that the sounds of volcanoes are heard at very great distances, as at Guatimala, where the sound of the volcano of Cotopaxi was distinctly heard, though more than two hundred and twenty miles distant. Some indications of volcanoes had been seen by the American party, when ascending the river, about sixty miles below the mouth of the Little Missouri, where they passed several very high bluffs on the south side, one of which had been lately a burning volcano, as the pumice stones lay very thick around it, and emitted a strong sulphureous smell. Similar appearances are mentioned by Mackenzie, as taking place among the Rocky Mountains on their eastern side, in north latitude fifty-six and one hundred and twenty degrees west longitude. ‘Mr. Mackay,’ says he, ‘informed me, that in passing over the mountains, he observed several chasms in the earth that emitted heat and smoke, which diffused a strong sulphureous stench.’ From all these circumstances combined, it is natural to infer that the sound proceeds from some very distant and unknown volcano.

On the west side of the Mississippi, and about midway between the Rocky Mountains and the Alleghanies, lies a broad range of mountains, called the Ozarks, six or seven hundred miles in length, about one hundred broad, and having an elevation varying from one to two thousand feet above the sea. This range of low mountains, which is penetrated by two branches of the Mississippi, the Arkansas and Red river, was nearly altogether unknown till within these few years. It is parallel with the range of the Alleghanies, making an angle of about forty degrees with the great range of the Andes. As far as the Ozarks have yet been explored, the granites and older primitive rocks are found at the lowest part, being surmounted by those of more recent formation. The reverse of this is observed in the Rocky Mountains. A similar range of broken and hilly country commences on the Ouisconsin river and extends north to Lake Superior. It is called the Wisconsin or Ouisconsin Hills.

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CHAPTER II.—VALLEYS.

THE Valley of the Mississippi is the largest in the world; and differs from any other of very great extent, in the peculiar distinctness of its outline. It is bounded south by the gulf of Mexico, west by the Rocky Mountains, north by the great lakes of British America, and east by the Apalachian Mountains. Its general surface may be classed under three distinct aspects; the thickly timbered, the barren, and the prairie country. This valley extends from the twenty-ninth to the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, and exhibits every variation of temperature from the climate of Canada to that of Louisiana. It is a wide extent of level country, in which the various rivers, inclosed between two chains of mountains three thousand miles apart, find a common centre, and discharge their waters into the sea by a single channel. Geologically considered, this immense valley presents every where the aspect of what is called secondary formation. Its prevailing rocks are carbonate of lime, disposed in the most regular lamina, masses of limestone, in which seashells or organic remains are imbedded, retaining their distinct and original form. At every step, is presented the aspect of a country once covered by lakes or seas. The soil, stones, and exuviæ of lake or river formation, are, to all appearance, of comparatively recent origin. In the alluvial soils, to the depth of from twenty to an hundred feet, are found pebbles, smoothed by the evident attrition of waters, having the appearances of those masses of smoothed pebbles that are thrown on the seashore by the dashing of the surge. Leaves, branches, and logs are also found at great distances from the points where wood is seen at present, and at great depths below the surface. In the most solid blocks of limestone, split for building, deers’ horns and other animal exuviæ are found incorporated in the solid stone.

‘From its character of recent formation,’ says Mr. Flint, ‘from the prevalence of limestone every where, from the decomposition which it has undergone, and is constantly undergoing, from the prevalence of decomposed limestone in the soil, probably, results another general attribute of this valley—its character generally for uncommon fertility. We would not be understood to assert, that the country is every where alike fertile. It has its sterile sections. There are here, as elsewhere, infinite diversities of soil, from the richest alluvions, to the most miserable flint knobs; from the tangled cane brakes, to the poorest pine hills. There are, too, it is well known, towards the Rocky Mountains, wide belts that have a surface of sterile sands, or only covered with a sparse vegetation of weeds and coarse grass. But of the country in general, the most cursory observer must have remarked, that, compared with lands, apparently of the same character in other regions, the lands here obviously show marks of singular fertility. The most ordinary, third rate, oak lands, will bring successive crops of wheat and maize, without any manuring, and with but little care of cultivation. The pine lands of the southern regions are in many places cultivated for years, without any attempts at manuring them. The same fact is visible in the manner in which vegetation in this country resists drought. It is a proverb on the good lands, that if there be moisture enough to bring the corn to germinate, and come up, they will have a crop, if no more rain falls until the harvest. We have a thousand times observed this crop continuing to advance towards a fresh and vigorous maturity, under a pressure of drought, and a continuance of cloudless ardor of sun, that would have burned up and destroyed vegetation in the Atlantic country.

‘We have supposed this fertility to arise, either from an uncommon proportion of vegetable matter in the soil; from the saline impregnations mixed with the earth, as evidenced in the numberless licks, and springs of salt water, and the nitrous character of the soil, wherever, as in caves, or under buildings, it is sheltered from moisture; or, as we have remarked, from the general diffusion of dissolved limestone, and marly mixtures over the surface. In some way, spread by the waters, diffused through the soil, or the result of former decomposition, there is evidently much of the quickening and fertilizing power of lime mixed with the soil.’

The greatest length of the Valley of the Missouri is twelve hundred miles, its greatest breadth seven hundred. In the direction of the western rivers, the inclined plain of the Missouri extends eight hundred miles from the Chippewayan Mountains, and rather more than that distance from south to north, from the southern branches of the Kansas, to the extreme heads of the northern confluents of the valley. Ascending from the lower verge of this widely extended plain, wood becomes more and more scarce, until one naked surface spreads on all sides. Even the ridges and chains of mountains partake of these traits of desolation.

The celebrated valley called the American Bottom extends along the eastern bank of the Mississippi to the Piasa Hills, four miles above the mouth of the Missouri. It is several miles in width, and has a soil of astonishing fertility. It has all the disadvantages attending tracts of recent alluvion, the most valuable parts of it being liable to be swept away by the current of the Mississippi. ‘But the inexhaustible fertility of its soil,’ says Major Long, ‘makes amends for the insalubrity of the air, and the inconvenience of a flat and marshy situation, and this valley is undoubtedly destined to become one of the most populous parts of America. We were formerly shown here a field that had been cultivated, without manure, one hundred years in succession, and which when we saw it, (in August, 1816,) was covered with a very luxuriant growth of corn.’

The Ohio Valley is divided by the river into two unequal sections, leaving on the north-west side eighty thousand, and on the south-east one hundred and sixteen thousand square miles. The river flows in a deep ravine five hundred and forty-eight miles long in a straight line, and nine hundred and ninety-eight by the windings of the stream. In its natural state the Ohio valley, with the exception of the central plain, was covered with a dense forest. Open savannahs commence as far east as the sources of the Muskingum. Like the plain itself, those savannahs expand to the westward, and on the Illinois open into immense prairies. This valley may be regarded as a great plain inclining from the Apalachian system of the north-west, obliquely and deeply cut by the Ohio and its numerous confluents, into chasms from an elevation of four hundred feet to nearly the level of the streams. On the higher parts of the valley, the banks of the river rise by bold acclivities which wear almost a mountainous aspect. This boldness of outline imperceptibly softens in descending the Ohio, and on approaching the Mississippi, an extent of level woodland bounds the horizon. Ascending the rivers of the south-east slope, the scenery becomes more and more rugged, until it terminates in the ridges of the Apalachian chains: if the rivers of the north-west slope are followed, on the contrary, we find the landscape broken and varied near the Ohio, but around their sources flat and monotonous.

The Valley of the Hudson varies extremely in its width, being in some places contracted to the immediate neighborhood of the stream; in others extending forty miles. On the borders of the river the land is generally elevated. The Mohawk is bordered by two long ranges of hills presenting little variety of aspect. In the early part of its course it flows through extensive flats. The valleys of the Susquehanna and its branches are remarkably irregular. These streams traverse the whole width of the Apalachian chain of mountains, sometimes flowing in wide valleys between parallel ranges for fifty or sixty miles in a direct course, and at other times breaking through the mountain ridges. The valleys between the different ranges of the great chain extending throughout Pennsylvania are often twenty or thirty miles in width with a hilly or broken surface.

The only large valley in North Carolina lies between the Blue Ridge, and a parallel range called the Iron, Bald, and Smoky Mountains. It runs north-east and south-west, is one hundred and eighty miles in length, and from ten to forty in width.

The valleys of the small rivers of Tennessee are singularly beautiful and fertile, surpassing all others of the same description in the Western States. The valleys of the Cumberland and Tennessee differ little from the alluvions of the other great rivers of the west.

The Valley of the Connecticut is one of the most celebrated valleys of the United States for its fertility and beauty. It is a large tract of land extending from Long Island sound to Hereford Mountains in Canada, five miles beyond the forty-fifth degree of latitude. In the largest sense, it is from five to forty-five miles in width, and its surface is composed of a succession of hills, valleys and plains. The interval lands begin about twelve or fourteen miles from the mouth of the river. These are formed by a long and continued alluvion. The tributary streams of the Connecticut run every where through a soft and rich soil, considerable quantities of which, particularly the lighter and finer particles, are from time to time washed into their channels, by occasional currents springing from rains and melted snows. Wherever the stream moves with an uniform current these particles are carried along with it; but where the current is materially checked, they are in greater or less quantities deposited. In this manner a shoal is formed at first, which afterwards rises into dry land; this is almost invariably of good quality, but those parts which are lowest are commonly the best, as being the most frequently overflowed, and therefore most enriched by successive deposits of slime. Of these parts, that division which is farthest down the river is the most productive, consisting of finer particles, and being more plentifully covered with this manure. In the spring these grounds are almost annually overflowed. In the months of March and April, the snows, which in the northern parts of New England are usually deep, and the rains, which at this time of the year, are generally copious, raise the river from fifteen to twenty feet, and extend the breadth of its waters in some places a mile and a half or two miles. Almost all the slime conveyed down the current at this season, is deposited on these lands, for here, principally, the water becomes quiescent, and permits the earthy particles to subside; this deposit is a rich manure; the lands dressed with it are preserved in their full strength, and being regularly enriched by the hand of nature, cannot but be highly valuable. Nor are these grounds less distinguished by their beauty. The form of most of them is elegant; a river passing through them becomes, almost of course, winding; the earth of which they are composed is of a uniform texture, the impressions made by the stream upon the border are also nearly uniform; hence this border is almost universally a handsome arch, with a neat margin, frequently ornamented with a fine fringe of shrubs and trees.

Nor is the surface of these grounds less pleasing; their terraced forms and undulations are eminently handsome, and their universal fertility makes a cheerful impression on every eye. A great part of them is formed into meadows which are here more profitable, and every where more beautiful than lands devoted to any other culture; here they are extended from five to five hundred acres, and are every where covered with a verdure peculiarly rich and vivid. The vast fields also which are not in meadow, exhibit all the productions of the climate, interspersed in parallelograms, divided only by mathematical lines, and mingled in a charming confusion. In many places, large and thrifty orchards, and every where forest trees standing singly, of great height and graceful figures, diversify the landscape. Through its whole extent this valley is almost a continual succession of delightful scenery. The Connecticut is one of the most beautiful rivers in the world; the purity, salubrity and sweetness of its waters, the frequency and elegance of its meadows, its absolute freedom from aquatic vegetables, the enchanting elegance and grandeur of its banks, sometimes consisting of a smooth and winding beach, here covered with rich verdure, there fringed with bushes, now crowned with lofty trees, and now formed by the intruding hill, the rude bluff, and the shaggy mountain; these are objects which no description can equal.

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CHAPTER III.—PRAIRIES AND PLAINS.

ONE of the most remarkable features of the western country consists in its extensive prairies or savannahs, which prevail in all the vast region between the Alleghany and the Rocky Mountains, and also to the west of the Rocky Mountains. When seen from the summits of the Mexican and the Rocky Mountains, they seem absolutely boundless to the view. They are not to be considered merely as dead flat, but undulating into gentle swelling lawns, and expanding into spacious valleys, in the centre of which is always found a little timber, growing on the banks of the brooks and rivulets of the finest water. Pike, who viewed them from the summit of the Blue Mountain, under the source of the Arkansaw, says, ‘the unbounded prairie was overhung with clouds, which seemed like the ocean in a storm, wave piled on wave, and foaming; while the sky over our heads was perfectly clear, and the prospect was truly sublime.’ In these vast prairies the soil is dry, sandy, with gravel; but the moment we approach a stream, the land becomes more humid, with small timber. It is probable that these steppes or prairies were never well wooded, as, from the earliest ages, the aridity of the soil, having so few water-courses running through it, and these being principally dry in summer, no sufficient nourishment has been afforded to the growth of timber. In all timbered land, the annual discharge of the leaves, with the continual decay of old trees and branches, creates a manure and moisture, which are preserved from the heat—the sun not being permitted to direct his rays perpendicularly, but to shed them only obliquely through the foliage. But in Upper Louisiana, a barren soil, dried up for eight months in the year, presents neither moisture nor nutriment for the growth of wood.

These vast plains of Louisiana, near the upper courses of the Arkansaw, with its tributary streams, and the head-waters of the Kanzas, White and Grand Osage rivers, may become in time like the sandy deserts of Africa; ‘for,’ says Pike, ‘I saw in my route, in various places, tracts of many leagues, where the wind had thrown up the sand in all the fancied forms of the ocean’s rolling waves, and on which not a single speck of vegetation appeared.’ From this circumstance Pike deduces the following remark: ‘From these immense prairies may arise a great advantage to the United States, namely, the restriction of our population to some certain limits, and thereby a continuation of the Union. Our citizens being so prone to rambling, and extending themselves on the frontiers, will, through necessity, be compelled to limit their extent on the west to the borders of the Missouri and Mississippi; while they leave the prairies, incapable of cultivation, to the wandering and uncivilized aborigines of the country.’ These prairies, from the borders of the Mississippi, on the east, to the base of the Mexican Alps on the west, rise with a continually increasing acclivity for many hundred miles, till, at the base of the mountains, they attain an elevation of eight thousand feet, as we are informed by Pike, which is greater than the elevated level of the great desert of Gobi, on the north-west of China, estimated by Du Halde to be five thousand five hundred and eleven feet above the level of the sea, or the great arid desert, to the north of the cape of Good Hope, traversed by the Orange river, and lately visited by the Rev. Mr. Campbell, the elevation of which is estimated by Colonel Gordon at six thousand five hundred and sixty-one feet above the level of the sea. In addition to the aridity of the Louisiana prairies, they are so impregnated with nitre, and other salts, as to taint the waters that flow in various directions. Pike says, that for leagues together, they are covered with saline incrustations; and a number of tributary streams descending into the Arkansaw and Kanzas rivers are perfect salines; and beyond the river Platte, as we are informed by Colonel Lewis, the lands are not only destitute of timber, but even of good water, of which there is but a small quantity in the creeks, and even that is brackish. The same saline incrustations pervade the prairies on the Upper Missouri; and the same want of timber, little or no dew, with very little rain, continues till the neighborhood of the mountains.

The calcareous districts, which form the great portion of the region west of the Alleghanies, present certain tracts entirely divested of trees, which are called barrens, though capable of being rendered productive. The cause of this peculiarity has not been accurately examined. Those parts of this region which are elevated three or four hundred feet, and lie along deeply depressed beds of rivers, are clothed with the richest forests in the world. The Ohio flows under the shade of the plane and the tulip tree, like a canal dug in a nobleman’s park; while the lianas, extending from tree to tree, form graceful arches of flowers and foliage over branches of the river. Passing to the south, the wild orange tree mixes with the odoriferous and the common laurel. The straight silvery column of the papaw fig, which rises to the height of twenty feet, and is crowned with a canopy of large indented leaves, forms one of the most striking ornaments of this enchanting scene. Above all these, towers the majestic magnolia, which shoots up from that calcareous soil to the height of more than one hundred feet. Its trunk, perfectly straight, is surmounted with a thick and expanded head, the pale green foliage of which affects a conical figure. From the centre of the flowery crown which terminates its branches, a flower of the purest white rises, having the form of a rose, and to which succeeds a crimson cone. This, in opening, exhibits rounded seed of the finest coral red, suspended by delicate threads six inches long. Thus, by its flowers, its fruit, and its gigantic size, the magnolia surpasses all its rivals of the forest.

The following excellent description of the prairie country is from the pen of Mr. James Hall. ‘That these vast plains should be totally destitute of trees, seems to be an anomaly in the economy of nature. Upon the mind of an American, especially, accustomed to see new lands clothed with timber, and to associate the idea of damp and silent forests with that of a new country, the appearance of sunny plains, and a diversified landscape, untenanted by man, and unimproved by art, is singular and striking. Perhaps if our imaginations were divested of those associations, the subject would present less difficulty; and if we could reason abstractly, it might be as easy to account for the existence of a prairie as of a forest.

‘It is natural to suppose that the first covering of the earth would be composed of such plants as arrived at maturity in the shortest time. Annual plants would ripen, and scatter their seeds many times before trees and shrubs would acquire the power of reproducing their own species. In the mean time, the propagation of the latter would be likely to be retarded by a variety of accidents—the frosts would nip their tender stems in the winter—fire would consume, or the blasts would shatter them—and the wild grazing animals would bite them off, or tread them under foot; while many of their seeds, particularly such as assume the form of nuts or fruits, would be devoured by animals. The grasses, which are propagated both by the root and by seed, are exempt from the operation of almost all these casualties. Providence has, with unerring wisdom, fitted every production of nature to sustain itself against the accidents to which it is most exposed, and has given to those plants which constitute the food of animals, a remarkable tenacity of life; so that although bitten off, and trodden, and even burned, they still retain the vital principle. That trees have a similar power of self protection, if we may so express it, is evident from their present existence in a state of nature. We only assume that in the earliest state of being, the grasses would have the advantage over plants less hardy, and of slower growth; and that when both are struggling together for the possession of the soil, the former would at first gain the ascendancy; although the latter, in consequence of their superior size and strength, would finally, if they should ever get possession of any portion of the soil, entirely overshadow and destroy their humble rivals.

‘We have no means of determining at what period the fires began to sweep over these plains, because we know not when they began to be inhabited. It is quite possible they might have been occasionally fired by lightning, previous to the introduction of that element by human agency. At all events, it is very evident that as soon as fire began to be used in this country by its inhabitants, the annual burning of the prairies must have commenced. One of the peculiarities of this climate is the dryness of its summers and autumns. A drought often commences in August, which, with the exception of a few showers towards the close of that month, continues throughout the season. The autumnal months are almost invariably clear, warm, and dry. The immense mass of vegetation with which this fertile soil loads itself during summer, is suddenly withered, and the whole surface of the earth is covered with combustible materials. This is especially true of the prairies where the grass grows to the height of from six to ten feet, and being entirely exposed to the sun and wind, dries with great rapidity. A single spark of fire, falling any where upon these plains at such a time, would instantly kindle a blaze, which would spread on every side, and continue its destructive course as long as it should find fuel. Travellers have described these fires as sweeping with a rapidity which renders it hazardous to fly before them. Such is not the case; or it is true only of a few rare instances. The flames often extend across a wide prairie, and advance in a long line. No sight can be more sublime than to behold in the night a stream of fire of several miles in breadth, advancing across these wide plains, leaving behind it a black cloud of smoke, and throwing before it a vivid glare which lights up the whole landscape with the brilliancy of noonday. A roaring and cracking sound is heard like the rushing of a hurricane. The flame, which in general rises to the height of about twenty feet, is seen sinking and darting upwards in spires, precisely as the waves dash against each other, and as the spray flies up into the air; and the whole appearance is often that of a boiling and flaming sea, violently agitated. The progress of the fire is so slow, and the heat so great, that every combustible object in its course is consumed. Wo to the farmer whose ripe cornfields extend into the prairie, and who suffers the tall grass to grow in contact with his fences! The whole labor of the year is swept away in a few hours. But such accidents are comparatively unfrequent, as the preventive is simple, and easily applied.

‘It will be readily seen, that as soon as these fires commenced, all the young timber within their range must have been destroyed. The whole state of Illinois, being one vast plain, the fires kindled in different places, would sweep over the whole surface, with a few exceptions, of which we are now to speak. In the bottom-lands, and along the margins of streams, the grass and herbage remain green until late in the autumn, owing to the moisture of the soil. Here the fire would stop for want of fuel, and the shrubs would thus escape from year to year, and the outer bark acquire sufficient hardness to protect the inner and more vital parts of the tree. The margins of the streams would thus become fringed with thickets, which, by shading the ground, would destroy the grass, while it would prevent the moisture of the soil from being rapidly evaporated, so that even the fallen leaves would never become so thoroughly dry as the grass of the prairies, and the fire here would find comparatively little fuel. These thickets grow up into strips of forests, which continue to extend until they reach the high table-land of the prairie; and so true is this, in fact, that we see the timber now, not only covering all the bottom-lands and hill sides, skirting the streams, but wherever a ravine or hollow extends from the low grounds up into the plain, these are filled with young timber of more recent growth. But the moment we leave the level plane of the country, we see the evidences of a continual struggle between the forest and the prairie. At one place, where the fire has on some occasion burned with greater fierceness than usual, it has successfully assailed the edges of the forest, and made deep inroads; at another, the forest has pushed out long points or capes into the prairie.

‘It has been suggested that the prairies were caused by hurricanes, which had blown down the timber and left it in a condition to be consumed by fire, after it was dried by laying on the ground. A single glance at the immense region in which the prairie surface predominates, must refute this idea. Hurricanes are quite limited in their sphere of action. Although they sometimes extend for miles in length, their track is always narrow, and often but a few hundred yards in breadth. It is a well known fact, that wherever the timber has been thus prostrated, a dense and tangled thicket shoots up immediately, and, protected by the fallen trees, grows with uncommon vigor.

‘Some have imagined that our prairies have been lakes; but this hypothesis is not tenable. If the whole state of Illinois is imagined to have been one lake, it ought to be shown that it has a general concavity of surface. But so far from this being true, the contrary is the fact; the highest parts of the state are in its centre. If we suppose, as some assert, that each prairie was once a lake, we are met by the same objection; as a general rule, the prairies are highest in the middle, and have a gradual declivity towards the sides; and when we reach the timber, instead of finding banks corresponding with the shores of a lake, we almost invariably find valleys, ravines, and water-courses depressed considerably below the general level of the plain.

‘Wherever hills are found rising above the common plane of the country, they are clothed with timber; and the same fact is true of all broken lands. This fact affords additional evidence in support of our theory. Most of the land in such situations is poor; the grass would be short, and if burned at all, would occasion but little heat. In other spots, the progress of the fire would be checked by rocks and ravines; and in no case would there be that accumulation of dry material which is found on the fertile plain, nor that broad, unbroken surface, and free exposure, which are necessary to afford full scope to the devouring element.

‘By those who have never seen this region, a very tolerable idea may be formed of the manner in which the prairie and forest alternate, by drawing a colored line of irregular thickness, along the edges of all the water-courses laid down on the map. This border would generally vary from one to five or six miles, and often extend to twelve. As the streams approach each other, these borders would approach or come in contact; and all the intermediate spaces not thus colored would be prairie. It would be seen that in the point formed by the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi, the forest would cover all the ground; and that, as these rivers diverge, and their tributaries spread out, the prairies would predominate.’

Between the Platte river, and the head-waters of the Colorado and Sabine rivers, there is an extensive desert tract, which has been called the Great American Desert, stretching from the Ozark Mountains to the Chippewan. Over this desert the members of Long’s expedition travelled nearly a thousand miles. The intense reflection of light and heat, from this tract, added much to the fatigue and suffering of their journey. ‘We often met with extensive districts covered entirely with loose and fine sand, blown from the adjacent hills. In the low plains along the river where the soil is permanent, it is highly impregnated with saline substances, and too sterile to produce any thing except a few stinted carices and rushes. As we approached the mountains, we felt or fancied a very manifest change in the character of the weather, and the temperature of the air. Mornings and evenings were usually calm, and the heat more oppressive than in the middle of the day. Early in the forenoon, a light and refreshing breeze often sprung up, blowing from the west or south-west, which again subsided on the approach of night. This phenomenon was so often observed, that we were induced to attribute it to the operation of the same local cause, which in the neighborhood of the sea produces a diurnal change in the winds, which blow alternately to and from the shore. The Rocky Mountains may be considered as forming the shore of that sea of sand, which is traversed by the Platte, and extends northward to the Missouri above the great bend. The rarefaction of the air over this great plain, by the reverberation of the sun’s rays during the day, causes an ascending current, which is supplied by the rushing down of the condensed air from the mountains. * * * * For several days the sky had been clear, and in the morning we had observed an unusual degree of transparency in every part of the atmosphere. As the day advanced, and the heat of the sun began to be felt, such quantities of vapor were seen to ascend from every part of the plain, that all objects at a little distance appeared magnified, and variously distorted. An undulating and tremulous motion in ascending lines was manifest over every part of the surface. Commencing soon after sunrise it continued to increase in quantity until the afternoon, when it diminished gradually, keeping an even pace with the intensity of the sun’s heat. The density of the vapor was often such as to produce the perfect image of a pool of water in every valley upon which we could look down at an angle of about ten degrees. This aspect was several times seen so perfect and beautiful as to deceive almost every one of our party. A herd of bisons, at the distance of a mile, seemed to be standing in a pool of water, and what appeared to us the reflected image was as distinctly seen as the animal itself.4 Illusions of this kind are common in the African and Asiatic deserts, as we learn from travellers and from the language of poets.’

The Pine Plains are a district of sandy alluvion, bounded by the gravelly soil of Guilderland and Duanesburgh on the south-west, and by the river alluvions of Niskayuna and Watervliet, on the north-east, and covering an area of about seventy square miles. This tract is included in a triangle formed by the junction of the Mohawk with the Hudson, and of which the Helleberg, a lofty chain of highlands, visible from the plains at the distance of twenty miles, forms the south-western boundary. Situated near the centre of a state, computed at forty thousand square miles, and containing a population of nearly two million souls, this tract presents the topographical novelty of an unreclaimed desert, in the heart of one of the oldest counties in the state, and in the midst of a people characterized for enterprise and public spirit. Several attempts have lately been made to bring this tract into cultivation, and from the success which has attended the introduction of gypsum, and other improved modes of agriculture, it is probable the whole will, at some future period, be devoted to the cultivation of the various species of grasses, fruit trees, and esculent roots; three branches of agriculture to which its sandy soil seems admirably adapted.

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CHAPTER IV.—RIVERS.

ALL the rivers of the United States, of the first magnitude, have their sources, either in the Rocky Mountains, or in elevated spurs projecting from the sides of that range. Many of the rivers which descend from the western sides of the Alleghanies are of inconsiderable volume, and by no means remarkable for the rapidity or the directness of their course. Those which flow from the eastern and southern sides of these mountains are worthy of extended description, even in the same pages with the great tributaries of the Mississippi. They afford the advantages of a good inland navigation to most parts of the states.

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II. RIVERS WHICH FLOW INTO THE ATLANTIC.

The River St. Croix forms a part of the eastern boundary of Maine, and is little navigable except by rafts; most of it consists of a chain of small lakes. From Calais to the sea, thirty miles, its navigation is unobstructed.

The River Penobscot is the largest in the state of Maine. It rises in the highlands separating Maine from Lower Canada. Between the junction of its two upper branches is Moosehead lake, about forty miles long, and fifteen wide. From the Forks, as they are called, the Penobscot Indians pass to Canada, up either branch, principally the west, the source of which is said to be not more than twenty miles from the waters which fall into the St. Lawrence. The whole navigable course of the river for sloops, is forty-six miles from the head of the bay, to near the head of the side; and from the Forks to the sea is one hundred and thirty-four miles. This river has very numerous branches, navigable by rafts and abounding in mill sites.

The Saco rises in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, enters Maine at Fryeburg, and flows in an irregular course south-east to the sea; it is one hundred and sixty miles long, and has numerous falls which afford excellent mill sites and manufacturing stations.

The Androscoggin rises in Umbagog lake, among the highlands which form the north-west boundary of Maine, and descending through a succession of lakes enters New Hampshire at Errol; it re-enters Maine at Gilead, and flows east and south till it joins the Kennebec at Merrymeeting bay. Its length is one hundred and forty miles; the whole course is broken by rapids and falls, which prevent the transportation of any thing except timber and logs.

The Kennebec also rises in the highlands, near the sources of the Androscoggin, and flows nearly south to the sea; falls and rapids render the navigation difficult above the tide at Augusta, from which place it is navigable for vessels of one hundred tons, and from Hallowell and Gardiner for ships to the sea. The country watered by the Kennebec generally consists of excellent land; it is one of the best grazing districts in New England; and there are upon the banks of the river a number of flourishing and handsome towns.

The Merrimack rises in New Hampshire, and has two principal branches: one of them being the outlet of lake Winnipiseogee. The north or longer branch is called the Pemigewasset, and has its source near the Notch of the White Mountains. At its junction with the outlet of the lake this stream takes the name of Merrimack, and flows south seventy-eight miles to Chelmsford, where it enters Massachusetts, through which it runs east to the sea. Its whole course is about two hundred miles. There are numerous falls in the New Hampshire portion. Though not equal to the Connecticut for fine scenery, the Merrimack is a noble and beautiful stream. Its waters are pure and salubrious, and on its borders are many flourishing towns. Its name in the Indian language signifies a sturgeon. Its width varies from fifty to one hundred and twenty rods; it receives many minor streams and rivers, which form the outlet of several small lakes. Its obstructions have been partly remedied by locks at different places, and there is a good navigation for vessels of two hundred tons to Haverhill. Two chain bridges cross the river at Newburyport, and Salisbury.

The Piscataqua has its rise and its whole course in New Hampshire. It is formed by the junction of several small streams in a wide and deep bed; the longest of these streams is Salmon Fall river, which forms part of the boundary between New Hampshire and Maine.

The Connecticut is the largest river of the New England States. It rises beyond the high-lands which separate the states of Vermont and New Hampshire from Lower Canada. It has been surveyed to the head spring of its northern branch, about twenty-five miles beyond the forty-fifth degree of latitude, from which to its mouth it flows upwards of three hundred miles through a well inhabited country. Its navigation is much interrupted by falls. It receives several rivers, as the Chicapee, Deerfield, Miller’s, and Farmington. At Hartford it meets the tide, whence it passes on in a winding course, till it falls into Long Island sound, between Saybrook and Lyme. This river is navigable for sloops, as far as Hartford, fifty miles distant from its mouth; and the produce of the country, for two hundred miles above it, is brought thither in flat-bottomed boats, which are so light us to be portable in carts.

The Hudson, or the North River, is formed by the confluence of the Hudson proper and the Mohawk, which unite below Waterford, ten miles above Albany. The Hudson takes its rise in the forty-fourth degree of north latitude, from the foot of the mountains which separate the waters of the St. Lawrence from those of Lake Champlain, and the Mohawk in the table-land surrounding Oneida lake. The Mohawk river rises to the north-east of Oneida lake, about eight miles from Sable Water, a stream of Lake Ontario. It runs first twenty miles south to Rome; then south-east one hundred and thirty-four miles; and, after receiving many tributary streams in its course, falls into the Hudson by three mouths. It is a large stream of water; and is now navigable for boats from Schenectady to Rome, one hundred and four miles distant. From Albany to Schenectady is a portage of sixteen miles, on account of the falls and rapids, which render the river unnavigable. These falls and rapids, denominated the Cohoes, are three miles from the junction of the Mohawk with the Hudson. The river is one thousand feet wide at these falls; the rock over which the stream descends is forty feet perpendicular height; and the whole height of the cataract, including the descent above, is seventy feet. Properly speaking, the North river is no other than a narrow gulf of the sea, entering inland at New York, and penetrating across the double chain of the Alleghany Mountains, as far as the confluence of the above mentioned streams, one hundred and seventy miles from the sea. This is what distinguishes the Hudson from all other rivers in the United States. In no other does the tide ascend beyond the first range; but in the North river, it crosses the first chain at West Point, sixty miles north of New York; and the second at Catskill, after having burst the beds of granite which opposed its passage, and cut them into a thousand different shapes. Hence the deep valley of the Hudson has derived a most singular and magnificent aspect; the western bank being, in some places, five hundred feet of perpendicular height above the level of the river.12

Along the shore of the Hudson, a mural precipice extends twenty miles. It commences at Weehawken, four miles north of the city of Jersey, gradually rising towards the north, and mostly occupied by forests. It is known by the name of the Palisadoes.

Raritan River, in the northern part of New Jersey, is formed by two branches which unite about twenty miles above New Brunswick. It becomes navigable two miles above that city, at a place called Brunswick Landing. Flowing by New Brunswick, and gradually becoming broader and deeper, it passes Amboy and then widens into Raritan bay, which is immediately connected with the ocean. It is navigable for sloops of eighty tons as far as New Brunswick, seventeen miles.

The Delaware issues by two streams, called the Coquago and the Rappadon, the union of which, forty miles in a direct line from their sources, form the Delaware, from the Katskill Mountains, in the county of Delaware, state of New York. Running first south, it next turns to the south-east, forming, for the space of sixty miles, the boundary between Pennsylvania and New York; and thence, forms again the line of separation between the former state and that of New Jersey, for upwards of one hundred miles more to Trenton, where there are falls, but of no great height. Thence, with increased breadth, it pursues a course of thirty-six miles farther, to Philadelphia, where it is a mile broad. Thence it proceeds to Newcastle, forty miles below Philadelphia, where it is two miles broad. Thence it spreads out into a spacious bay, and falls into the Atlantic seventy miles below Newcastle, by an outlet of twenty-five miles. The whole course of the river, from the Atlantic to its source, is three hundred and fifty miles; and two hundred and eighty from the head of Delaware bay, including the windings. Its two chief tributary streams are the Lehigh and Schuylkill. The navigation betwixt the Delaware and Chesapeak is now improved by means of a canal.

The River Susquehannah, of all those of the eastern states, most resembles the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence, on account of its numerous and distant branches. The north-east branch, which is the remotest source, is formed by the junction of two small streams that issue from the lakes of Camadebago, Ustavantho, and Otsego, in the state of New York. It runs south and south-west in such a winding course, (receiving in its progress the Unadilla and Chenango rivers from the north,) that it crosses the boundary line between New York and Pennsylvania no less than three times. It forms a junction with the Tioga, in forty-one degrees and fifty-seven minutes north latitude; and thence pursues a south-east course of seventy miles to Wyoming; whence, making a sudden bend at a right angle, it runs a south-west course of eighty miles, and unites with the west branch at Northumberland. The river, now increased to the breadth of half a mile, flows south through the mountains, a course of forty miles, to its junction with the Juniata, when, turning to the east for ten miles, it emerges from the mountains above Harrisburg, and after a south-east course of eighty miles, falls into Chesapeak bay. The western branch of the Susquehannah is formed by many streams, beyond the Alleghany Mountains; and its most southern source is within a very few miles of the Conemaugh, or Kiskeminitas, which falls into the Alleghany a little above Pittsburg. After running a very winding course of two hundred miles, principally among the mountains, it joins with the east branch at Northumberland. The Juniata rises in the Alleghany Mountains, and, pursuing an eastern and very serpentine and mountainous course, falls into the Susquehannah, after running two hundred miles. The whole course of the Susquehannah, from Chesapeak bay to the head of the north-east branch, is four hundred and fifty miles; and, including all its branches, it waters a tract of forty thousand square miles. Where it falls into the sea it is fully a mile broad; at Harrisburg it is nearly of the same breadth, and from three to five feet deep. There are seven falls in this river, which, with the numerous islands and rocks, render it navigable only for a few miles by large vessels.

The River Potomac rises on the north-west side of the Alleghany Mountains, and after running a north-east course of sixty miles to Cumberland, is joined eighteen miles below, by a branch coming from the south-west. Thence fifty-four miles farther, it receives the waters of Licking Creek, and passes the north mountain into a fine limestone valley, which it waters in a very winding course of forty-five miles in a south-east direction. Here it receives a considerable number of tributary streams, particularly the Conecocheague at Williamsport, and the Shenandoah at the extremity of the valley, and just above the Blue Ridge, through which the combined stream has effected a singularly magnificent passage. About thirty miles farther, it descends one hundred and forty feet in the course of eight or ten miles, to the level of tide-water, which it meets at Georgetown. It is here a quarter of a mile wide; but expands to a mile opposite Washington, and enters the Chesapeak bay by a passage seven and a half miles broad. This is one of the most important of the Atlantic rivers. It is navigable for vessels of any burden to Alexandria, one hundred miles distant; and from thence, for ships of considerable burden, to Georgetown. A lock navigation has been constructed round the first falls, of which there are four in the whole. The largest of these falls is at Matilda, six miles above Georgetown, where the stream, nine hundred feet broad, after flowing through a valley skirted with hills wild as those of the Rhone in Vivari, (says Volney,) falls at once, like the Niagara, from the height of seventy-seven feet, into a deep chasm of solid micaceous granite. From this it escapes, several miles farther down, by a widening of the valley in the lower country. The whole course of the Potomac is three hundred and forty miles.

York River is formed by the junction of the Mattapony and Pamunky. Beyond the junction, the Mattapony is navigable for seventy miles; and thirty miles higher up is its source in the Blue Mountains. The Pamunky is formed by the junction of the North and South Anna rivers, which rise in the north-west about fifty miles distant. The mouth of this river is three miles wide; and at high tide there is four fathoms water, twenty-five miles above Yorktown, where it is a mile and a half wide in the wet season, but has a channel of only seventy-five fathoms in the dry season.

James’ River is one of the most important rivers in the state of Virginia. It rises in the Alleghany Mountains, near two hundred miles to the west of Richmond; and, after widening and contracting alternately in a very winding course, it enters Chesapeak bay fifteen miles west of Cape Henry; its whole length being three hundred miles. Its principal tributary streams are the Rivanna, the Appomatox, the Chickahomany, the Nansemond, and the Elizabeth, on which last is situated the town of Norfolk. This river, anciently called the Powhatan, affords harbor for vessels of any burden, in Hampton Road, seventy miles below Richmond. Vessels of two hundred and fifty tons may go up to Warwick; and those of one hundred and fifty to within a mile of Richmond.

The Roanoake is formed by the junction of the Dan and Staunton. It runs one hundred and twenty-five miles south-east till it enters Albemarle sound. Its whole course is two hundred miles. It is navigable by sloops sixty miles; the low lands on the banks are subjected to annual inundations.

Cape Fear River is the largest in North Carolina. It rises one hundred miles above Fayetteville; and thence running two hundred miles eastward, falls into the Atlantic ocean at Cape Fear, where it is three miles wide, and eighteen feet deep at high tide. It is navigable by vessels drawing ten feet water, up to Wilmington, a little below the confluence of its two principal streams.

The Great Pedee rises in the Blue Mountains, on the borders of North Carolina and Virginia, where it has the name of Yadkin river. Its whole course is upwards of three hundred miles, half of which is in North Carolina. It is navigable by ships to Georgetown; and for smaller vessels, one hundred miles higher up.

The Santee is the largest river in the state of South Carolina, and is formed by the junction of the Congaree and Wateree rivers. The whole course of the Santee, including that of the Catawbaw or Wateree, is three hundred and fifty miles. It is navigable up to the point of junction by ships of burden.

The Savannah River which forms the boundary between South Carolina and Georgia, is a bold and deep stream, and is formed by the junction of the Keowee and Tugeloo, two small streams issuing from the Blue Ridge, two hundred and fifty miles from the sea. It runs in a straight south-east course all the way to its mouth, seventeen miles below Savannah. It is navigable for ships of any burden to within three miles of Savannah; for vessels of two hundred and fifty tons to Savannah; and for boats of one hundred feet keel, to Augusta, above which the rapids commence; after passing them, the river can be navigated in small boats, eighty miles higher, to the junction of the tributary rivers.

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CHAPTER V.—CATARACTS AND CASCADES.

THE Falls of Niagara have been very frequently and minutely described, though it must be acknowledged, as has been well said by the celebrated Audubon, that all the pictures you may see, all the descriptions you may read of these mighty falls, can only produce in your mind the faint glimmer of a glow-worm compared with the overpowering glory of the meridian sun. ‘What!’ said he, ‘have I come here to mimic nature in her grandest enterprise, and add my caricature of one of the wonders of the world to those which I here see? No.—I give up the vain attempt. I will look on these mighty cataracts, and imprint them where they alone can be represented,—on my mind!’ The following very full and accurate description by Mr. Schoolcraft, is the best with which we are acquainted.

‘On the first of May, I visited the celebrated Falls of Niagara.14 Keeping the American shore, the road lies over an alluvial country, elevated from ten to twenty feet above the water of the river, without a hill or a ledge of rocks, and with scarce an undulation of surface, to indicate the existence, or prepare the eye for the stupendous prospect which bursts, somewhat unexpectedly, into view. The day was clear and warm, with a light breeze blowing down the river. We stopped frequently on our approach to listen for the sound of the Fall, but at the distance of fifteen, ten, eight, and even five miles, could not distinguish any, even by laying the ear to the ground. It was not until within three miles of the precipice, where the road runs close to the edge of the river, and brings the rapids in full view, that we could distinctly hear the sound, which then, owing to a change in the wind, fell so heavily upon the ear, that in proceeding a short distance, it was difficult to maintain a conversation as we rode along. On reaching the Falls, nothing struck me with more surprise, than that the Baron La Hontan, who visited it in August, 1688, should have fallen into so egregious a mistake, as to the height of the perpendicular pitch, which he represents at seven or eight hundred feet. Nor does the narrator of the discoveries of the unfortunate La Salle, Monsieur Tonti, approach much nearer the truth, when he states it at six hundred feet. Charlevoix, whose work is characterized by more accuracy, learning, and research, than those who had preceded him, and who saw the Falls in 1721, makes, on the contrary, an estimate which is surprising for the degree of accuracy he has attained. “For my own part,” he says, “after examining it on all sides, where it could be viewed to the greatest advantage, I am inclined to think we cannot allow it less than a hundred and forty or fifty feet.” The latter, (one hundred and fifty,) is precisely what the Fall on the Canadian side is now estimated at. There is a rapid of two miles in extent above, and another of seven miles, extending to Lewiston, below the Falls. The breadth across, at the brink of the Fall, which is serrated and irregular, is estimated at four thousand two hundred and thirty feet, or a little more than three fourths of a mile. The Fall on the American shore is one hundred and sixty-four feet, being the highest known perpendicular pitch of so great a volume of water. The fall of the rapid above, commencing at Chippewa, is estimated at ninety feet, and the entire fall of Niagara river from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, a distance of thirty-five miles, at three hundred feet. Goat Island, which divides the water into two unequal sheets, has recently been called Iris, (in allusion to the perpetual rainbows by which it is characterized) by the commissioners for settling the boundaries of the United States, acting under the treaty of Ghent.

‘In approaching this cataract from Lewiston, the elevated and rocky description of country it is necessary to cross, together with the increased distance at which the roar is heard in that direction, must serve to prepare the mind for encountering a scene which there is nothing to indicate on approaching from Buffalo; and this impression unquestionably continues to exercise an effect upon the beholder, after his arrival at the Falls. The first European visiters beheld it under this influence. Following the path of the Couriers de Bois, they proceeded from Montreal up the St. Lawrence, to Fort Caderacqui, and around the shores of Lake Ontario, to the alluvial tract which stretches from the mouth of Niagara river, to the site of Lewiston. Here the Ridge, emphatically so called, commences, and the number of elevations which it is necessary to ascend in crossing it, may, without a proper consideration of the intermediate descents, have led those who formerly approached that way into error, such as La Hontan and Tonti fell into. They must have been deprived also of the advantages of the view from the gulf at the foot of the Falls, for we are not prepared to admit the possibility of a descent without artificial stairs, or other analogous laborious and dangerous works, such, as at that remote period, must have been looked upon as a stupendous undertaking; and could not, indeed, have been accomplished, surrounded as the French then were, by their enemies, the jealous and ever watchful Iroquois. The descent at the present period, with every advantage arising from the labors of mechanical ingenuity, cannot be performed without feeling some degree of personal solicitude.

‘It is in this chasm that the sound of the water falls heaviest upon the ear, and that the mind becomes fully impressed with the appalling majesty of the Fall. Other views from the banks on both sides of the river, and from the Island of Iris in its centre, are more beautiful and picturesque; but it is here that the tremulous motion of the earth, the clouds of irridescent spray, the broken column of falling water, the stunning sound, the lofty banks of the river, and the wide spreading ruin of rocks, imprint a character of wonder and terror upon the scene, which no other point of view is capable of producing. The spectator, who, on alighting at Niagara, walks hastily to the brink, feels his attention imperceptibly riveted to the novel and striking phenomenon before him, and at this moment is apt either to overrate or to underrate the magnitude of the Fall. It is not easy to erect a standard of comparison; and the view requires to be studied, in order to attain a just conception and appreciation of its grandeur and its beauties. The ear is at first stunned by the incessant roar, and the eye bewildered in the general view. In proportion as these become familiarized, we seize upon the individual features of the landscape, and are enabled to distinguish between the gay and the sombre, the bold and the picturesque, the harsh and the mellow traits, which, like the deep contrasted shades of some high wrought picture, contribute to give effect to the scene.

‘It was some time before I could satisfy myself of the accuracy of the accredited measurements of the height of the Fall, and not until after I had made repeated visits, and spent a considerable time in the abyss below. There appears a great disproportion between the height and the width of the falling sheet, but the longer I remained, the more magnificent it appeared to me; and hence it is, that with something like a feeling of disappointment, on my first arrival, I left the Falls after a visit of two days, with an impression of the scene which every thing I had previously read, had failed to create. At the time of my visit, the wind drove the floating ice out of Lake Erie, with the drift-wood of its tributary rivers, and these were constantly precipitated over the Falls, but we were not able to discover any vestiges of them in the eddies below. Immediately in front of the sheet of falling water on the American side, there was also an enormous bank of snow, of nearly an hundred feet in height, which the power of the sun had not yet been fierce enough to dissolve, and which, by giving an Icelandic character to the landscape, produced a fine effect. It appeared to me to owe its accumulation to the falling particles of frozen spray.

‘What has been said by Goldsmith, and repeated by others, respecting the destructive influence of the rapids15 above to ducks and other water fowl, is only an effect of the imagination. So far from being the case, a wild duck is often seen to swim down the rapid to the brink of the Falls, and then fly out, and repeat the descent, seeming to take a delight in the exercise. Neither are small land-birds affected on flying over the Falls, in the manner that has been stated. I observed the blue-bird and the wren, which had already made their annual visit to the banks of the Niagara, frequently fly within one or two feet of the brink, apparently delighted with the gift of their wings, which enabled them to sport over such frightful precipices without danger. We are certainly not well pleased to find that some of the wonderful stories we have read of the Falls, during boyhood, do not turn out to be the truth; but, at the same time, a little attention is only necessary to discover that many interesting facts and particulars remain unnoticed, which fully compensate for others that have been over-strained or misstated. Among these, the crystalline appearances disclosed among the prostrate ruins, and the geological character of the Fall itself, are not the least interesting.

‘The scenes where nature has experienced her greatest convulsions, are always the most favorable for acquiring a knowledge of the internal structure of the earth. The peaks of the highest mountains, and the depths of the lowest ravines, present the greatest attractions to the geologist. Hence this cataract, which has worn its way for a number of miles, and to a very great depth, through the stony crust of the earth, is no less interesting for the geological facts it discloses, than for the magnificence of its natural scenery. The chain of highlands, called the Ridge, originates in Upper Canada, and running parallel with the south shore of Lake Ontario, forms a natural terrace, which pervades the western counties of New-York, from north to south, affording, by its unbroken chain, and the horizontal position of its strata, the advantages of a natural road, and terminates in an unexplored part of the county of Oswego, or thereabout. It is in crossing this ridge, that the falls of the Niagara, of the Gennessee, and of the Oswego rivers, all running into Lake Ontario, are produced; together with those of an infinite number of smaller streams and brooks. Through this, the Niagara has cut its way for a distance of seven miles, and to a depth of more than two hundred feet, disclosing the number, order of stratification, and mineral character, of the different strata of secondary rocks, of which it is composed.

‘These rocks, (sandstone, slate, and limestone,) however their properties may be found modified by future discoveries, will probably be found, with a proper allowance for local formations and disturbances, to pervade all that section of country, which lies between the Niagara and Seneca rivers, between lakes Ontario and Seneca, and between the Alleghany river and the south shore of Lake Erie, as general boundaries. All this section of country appears to be underlayed by a stratum of red sandstone, such as appears at the Gennessee Falls, but which is imbedded at various depths, as the country happens to be elevated above, or depressed below the level of the Niagara stratum, in which no inclination is visible. No order of stratification could have been effected by nature, which would have afforded greater facilities to the wasting effects of falling water, so visible as these Falls. The slate which separates the calcareous from the sandstone rock, by a stratum of nearly forty feet in thickness, is continually fretting away, and undermining the superincumbent stratum of limestone, which is thus precipitated in prodigious masses into the abyss below. The most considerable occurrence of this kind, that has recently taken place, is that of the Table Rock,16 on the Canadian shore, which fell during the summer of 1818, disclosing a number of those crystallized substances, which have already been alluded to. By these means, the Falls, which are supposed by the most intelligent visitors to have been anciently seated at Lewiston, have progressed seven miles up the river, cutting a trench through the solid rock, which is about half a mile in width, and two hundred feet in depth, exclusive of what is hidden by the water. The power, capable of effecting such a wonderful change, still exists, and may be supposed to operate with undiminished activity. The wasting effects of the water, and the yielding nature of the rocks, remain the same, and manifest the slow process of a change, at the present period, as to position, height, form, division of column, and other characters, which form the outlines of the great scene; and this change is probably sufficiently rapid in its operation, if minute observations were taken, to imprint a different character upon the falls, at the close of every century.’

The Great Falls of the Missouri are the grandest in all North America, those of Niagara excepted, and though inferior to these in volume of water, depth of descent, and awful grandeur, yet they are far more diversified and beautiful. These Falls are within sixty geographical miles of the easternmost range of the Rocky Mountains. Here the river, two hundred and eighty yards, or eight hundred and forty feet wide, is pressed in by a perpendicular cliff on the left, one hundred feet high, and extending for a mile up the river; on the right, the bluff, or high steep bank, is also perpendicular for three hundred yards above the falls. For ninety or one hundred yards from the left cliff, the water falls in one smooth even sheet over a precipice of eighty-seven feet eight inches, according to Captain Lewis; but ninety-eight feet, according to Cass, and Captain Clarke. The remaining part of the river precipitates itself with a more rapid current; but being received as it falls by the irregular and projecting rocks below, forms a splendid prospect of perfectly white foam, two hundred yards in length, and eighty in perpendicular elevation. This spray is dissipated into a thousand different shapes; sometimes flying up in columns of fifteen or twenty feet, which are then oppressed by larger masses of the white foam, on all which the sun impresses the brightest colors of the rainbow. As it rises from the fall, it beats with fury against a ledge of rocks extending across the river, at one hundred and fifty yards from the precipice. From the perpendicular cliff on the north, to the distance of one hundred and twenty yards, the rocks rise only a few feet above the surface of the water; and when the river is high, the stream finds a passage across them; but between the southern extremity of this ledge and the perpendicular cliff on the south, the whole body of water runs with great rapidity. At the distance of three hundred yards is a second abutment of solid perpendicular rock, sixty feet high, projecting at right angles from the small plain on the north for one hundred and thirty-four yards into the river. Below this, the Missouri regains its usual breadth of three hundred yards, but there is a continued succession of rapids and cascades. At the second grand fall, the river, four hundred yards wide, precipitates itself, for the space of three hundred yards, to a depth of nineteen feet perpendicular, and so irregularly, that Captain Lewis termed it the Crooked Fall.

Above this fall, the Missouri bends suddenly to the northward, where, four hundred and seventy-three yards wide, it is suddenly stopped by one shelving rock, which without a single niche, and with an edge as straight and regular as if it had been formed by art, stretches itself across from one side of the river to the other. Over this the Missouri precipitates itself in one even, uninterrupted sheet, of four hundred and seventy-three yards broad to the perpendicular depth of forty-seven feet eight inches; whence, dashing against the rocky bottom, it rushes rapidly down, leaving behind it a spray of the purest foam across the river. At the distance of less than half a mile, another of a similar kind is presented. Here a cascade stretches across the whole river, for a quarter of a mile, with a descent of fourteen feet seven inches, though the perpendicular pitch is only six feet seven inches. For the space of one thousand one hundred and seventy-seven yards above this cascade the river descends fifteen feet. Immediately above this, one of the largest springs in America falls into the river. Its water is cold, of the most perfect clearness, and of a bluish color, which it preserves, even for half a mile after falling into the Missouri, notwithstanding its rapidity. This fountain rises in the plain, twenty-five yards from the river, on the south side. In its course to the river, it falls over some steep, irregular rocks, with a sudden descent of eight feet perpendicular, in one part of its progress. The water boils up from among the rocks, and with such force near the centre that the surface seems higher than the earth on the sides of the fountain, which is a handsome turf of green grass. The water is pleasant to the taste, not being impregnated with lime or any adventitious substance. For the space of a mile and one thousand one hundred and sixty-six yards above the mouth of this spring, the descent of the river is thirteen feet six inches.

During the upper part of its course, this river is remarkable for a succession of rapids, cascades, and cataracts, and in a course of about three miles it has a descent of no less than three hundred and fifty-two feet.

On the Mississippi River are several sets of rapids. One called Les Rapides des Moines, is eleven miles long, and consists of successive ledges and shoals, extending from shore to shore across the bed of the river. One hundred miles higher up is another, about eighteen miles in length, and consisting of a continued chain of rocks, over which the water flows with turbulent rapidity.

About thirty miles from its source, the Mississippi, after winding through a dismal country, covered with high grass meadows, with pine swamps in the distance, which appear to cast a deeper gloom on its borders, is suddenly pent up in a channel about eighty feet wide, where it has a descent of twenty feet in three hundred yards. This fall is called Peckagama. Immediately at the head of the falls is the first island noticed in the river. It is small, rocky, covered with spruce and cedar, and divides the channel nearly in its centre.

St. Anthony’s Falls are situated on the Mississippi river, more than two thousand miles above its mouth. Above the falls, the river has a width of five or six hundred yards. Immediately below, it contracts to a width of two hundred yards; and there is a strong rapid for a considerable distance below. This beautiful spot in the Mississippi is not without a tale to hallow its scenery, and heighten the interest, which, of itself, it is calculated to produce. In the narrative of Long’s Second Expedition, we find the following romantic story, related by an old Indian, whose mother was an eye-witness to the transaction:

‘An Indian of the Dacota nation had united himself early in life to a youthful female, whose name was Ampota Sapa, which signifies the Dark Day; with her he lived happily for several years, apparently enjoying every comfort which the savage life can afford. Their union had been blessed with two children, on whom both parents doated with that depth of feeling which is unknown to such as have other treasures besides those that spring from nature. The man had acquired a reputation as a hunter, which drew around him many families, who were happy to place themselves under his protection, and avail themselves of such part of his chase as he needed not for the maintenance of his family. Desirous of strengthening their interest with him, some of them invited him to form a connection with their family, observing, at the same time, that a man of his talent and importance required more than one woman to wait upon the numerous guests whom his reputation would induce to visit his lodge. They assured him that he would soon be acknowledged as a chief, and that, in this case, a second wife was indispensable.

‘Fired with the ambition of obtaining high honors, he resolved to increase his importance by an union with the daughter of an influential man of his tribe. He had accordingly taken a second wife without ever having mentioned the subject to his former companion; being desirous to introduce his bride into his lodge in the manner which should be least offensive to the mother of his children, for whom he still retained much regard, he introduced the subject in these words: “You know,” said he, “that I can love no woman so fondly as I doat upon you. With regret have I seen you of late subjected to toils which must be oppressive to you, and from which I would gladly relieve you, yet I know no other way of doing so, than by associating with you in the household duties, one who shall relieve you from the trouble of entertaining the numerous guests, whom my growing importance in the nation collects around me. I have, therefore, resolved upon taking another wife, but she shall always be subject to your control, as she will always rank in my affections second to you.”

‘With the utmost anxiety, and the deepest concern, did his companion listen to this unexpected proposal. She expostulated in the kindest terms, entreated him with all the arguments which undisguised love and the purest conjugal affections could suggest. She replied to all the objections which his duplicity led him to raise. Desirous of winning her from her opposition, the Indian still concealed the secret of his union with another, while she redoubled all her care to convince him that she was equal to the task imposed upon her. When he again spoke on the subject, she pleaded all the endearments of their past life; she spoke of his former fondness for her, of his regard for her happiness and that of their mutual offspring; she bade him beware of the consequences of this fatal purpose of his. Finding her bent upon withholding her consent to this plan, he informed her that all opposition on her part was unnecessary, as he had already selected another partner, and that if she could not receive his new wife as a friend, she must receive her as a necessary incumbrance, for he had resolved that she should be an inmate in his house.

‘Distressed at this information, she watched her opportunity, stole away from the cabin with her infants, and fled to a distance where her father was. With him she remained until a party of Indians with whom he lived, went up the Mississippi on a winter hunt. In the spring, as they were returning with their canoes loaded with peltries, they encamped near the Falls. In the morning as they left it, she lingered near the spot, then launched her light canoe, entered into it with her children, and paddled down the stream, singing her death-song. Too late did her friends perceive it; their attempts to prevent her from proceeding were of no avail; she was heard to sing in a doleful voice the past pleasures which she had enjoyed, while she was the undivided object of her husband’s affection; finally her voice was drowned in the sound of the cataract; the current carried down her frail bark with an inconceivable rapidity; it came to the edge of the precipice, was seen for a moment enveloped in spray, but never afterwards was a trace of the canoe or its passengers seen. Yet it is stated by the Indians, that often in the morning a voice has been heard to sing a doleful ditty along the edge of the fall, and that it dwells ever on the inconstancy of her husband. Nay, some assert that her spirit has been seen wandering near the spot with her children wrapped to her bosom. Such are the tales or traditions which the Indians treasure up, and which they relate to the voyager, forcing a tear from the eyes of the most unrelenting.’

There are many other falls in the United States, which have been the subject of no extended descriptions, but which would excite admiration in any quarter of the world. In New York, the Great Falls of the Genesee, about half a mile below Rochester, are ninety feet perpendicular, and a few rods above is another of five feet, surmounted by a rapid. On the same river are several other falls. Trenton Falls are on West Canada Creek, a tributary of the Mohawk, fourteen miles north of Utica; they consist of several grand and beautiful cascades, some of them forty feet in descent. The river here passes through a rocky chasm four miles in length, presenting the greatest variety of cascades and rapids, boiling pools and eddies. The rock is a dark limestone, and contains abundance of petrified marine shells. Glen’s Falls are upon the Hudson, eighteen miles above Saratoga, and are a grand rapid, falling sixty-seven feet in a course of one hundred and seventy yards. Jessup’s Falls and Hadley Falls are beautiful cataracts on the same stream, a few miles above. Claverack Falls are upon a stream near the city of Hudson; they descend down a precipice of dark rocks into a deep chasm shaded with forest trees. The cataracts near Ithaca comprise four hundred and thirty-eight feet of descent in a mile; the fall of the Cohoes on the Mohawk is seventy feet.

At Bellows Falls, five miles from the town of Walpole, on the Connecticut, the whole descent of the river, in the space of half a mile, is forty-four feet; and it includes several pitches, one below another, at the highest of which a large rock divides the stream into two channels, each about ninety feet wide. When the water is low, the eastern channel is dry, being crossed by a solid rock, and the whole stream falls into the western channel, where, being contracted to the breadth of sixteen feet, it flows with astonishing force and rapidity. A bridge has been built over these falls, from which an advantageous view is had of their interesting and romantic scenery. Some years ago a canal, over half a mile long, was dug through the rocks around the falls, for the passage of flat-bottomed boats and rafts. Notwithstanding the velocity of the current, salmon used to pass up the fall in great numbers. Amoskeag Falls, in the Merrimack, consist of three successive pitches, falling nearly fifty feet. The Housatonic Falls, in the north-west part of Connecticut, are the finest in New England.

The Passaic Falls, in Paterson, New Jersey, twenty-two miles north-west of New York, are highly picturesque and beautiful. The river Passaic rises in the northern part of New Jersey, and after a circuitous course, falls into Newark Bay. At the town of Paterson, about twenty miles from its mouth, is the Great Fall, where the river, about one hundred and twenty feet wide, and running with a very swift current, reaches a deep chasm, or cleft, which crosses the channel, and falls perpendicularly about seventy feet, in one entire sheet. One end of the cleft is closed up, and the water rushes out at the other with incredible rapidity, in an acute angle to its former direction, and is received into a large basin. It thence takes a winding course through the rocks, and spreads again into a very considerable channel. The cleft is from four to twelve feet in breadth, and is supposed to have been produced by an earthquake. When this cataract was visited by a late British traveller, the spray refracted two beautiful rainbows, primary and secondary, which greatly assisted in producing as fine a scene as imagination can conceive. It was also heightened by the effect of another fall, of less magnificence, about ninety feet above.

The spirit of utility, in its stern disregard of the picturesque, has diverted the current of the Passaic into so many channels for the supply of manufactories, that the cascade is now an object of interest only during the wet season.

The Potomac, which forms the boundary between the states of Maryland and Virginia, is navigable to the city of Washington; above which it is obstructed by several falls, of which the most remarkable are Little Falls, three miles above Washington, with a descent of thirty-seven feet: Great Falls, eight and a half miles further up, with a descent of seventy-six feet; which have been made navigable by means of five locks: Seneca Falls, six miles above, descending ten feet: Shenandoah Falls, sixty miles higher up the river, where the Potomac breaks through the Blue Ridge at Harper’s Ferry: Houre’s Falls, five miles above the Shenandoah.

In addition to the cataracts above enumerated, we may notice the Falling Spring, in Bath county, Virginia, which forms a beautiful cascade, streaming from a perpendicular precipice, two hundred feet high; and the Tuccoa Fall, in Franklin county, Georgia, which, though one of the most beautiful that can be conceived, is scarcely yet known to geographers. It is one hundred and eighty-seven feet in height, and the water is propelled over a perpendicular rock. When the stream is full, it pours over the steep in one expansive magnificent sheet, amid clouds of spray, on which the prismatic colors are reflected with a most enchanting effect.

The cascades of the Catskill Mountains are very romantic and beautiful. The Kasterskill is formed by the union of two branches, one rising in two lakes, about one and a half miles east of the western cascade, the other about half the distance in a northerly direction. The best view of the western fall is from below, the foliage above being so thick as in a great measure to obscure it. Below the fall the banks of the stream, which are nearly three hundred feet in height, rise almost perpendicularly from the surface of the water. The following description is from the pen of Mr. H. E. Dwight.

‘The rocks on each side of the stream project so as partially to eclipse the sides of the fall. They have fallen from time to time, in such a manner as to form seventeen natural steps, rising one above another. We stationed ourselves on these steps, to enjoy the scenery around us. Before us the stream fell in a beautiful sheet, exhibiting its transparent waters, when, striking the inclined plane, it rushed down with headlong fury, bearing on its surface a foam of silvery whiteness. On the right and left, the banks rose over our heads in silent grandeur, as if on the point of detaching their projecting masses into the ravine where we were standing, while below us, the water was visible for about thirty rods, descending in the form of a rapid, when, bending around the point of a projection of the mountain, it disappeared from our view. The spray was so thick as to make a dense cloud, on which the sun, shining with great brilliancy, and being nearly vertical, imprinted a perfect rainbow. This bow, which was not more than eight feet in diameter, formed a circle around us slightly elliptical, near the centre of which we stood. As we approached the fall, the spray thickened, the splendor of the colors increased, and the shrubs, the rocks, and the water, were tinged with its choicest hues. To complete the view, a small rivulet, caused by the late rains, fell about two hundred feet, in the form of a cascade, down the precipice, on the southern bank of the stream, displaying its crystal waters through the green foliage which adorned it. We remained here enjoying the prospect for some minutes, when, drenched with spray, we reluctantly bade it adieu, with all those emotions which the sublimity and beauty of such a scene would naturally awaken.

‘I visited the eastern cascade immediately after viewing the western fall on the Kaaterskill, when the column of water was swollen to eight or ten times its common size, and shall describe it, as it then appeared. The rock over which the water descends, projects in such a manner that the cascade forms part of a parabolic curve. After striking a rock below, it runs down an inclined plane a few rods in length, when it rushes over another precipice of one hundred feet. The column of water remained entire for two thirds the descent, and its surface was covered with a rich sparkling foam, which, as it fell, presented to the eye a brilliant emanation. Here it was broken, and formed a continued succession of showers. Large globules of water, of a soft, pearly lustre, enriched with a prismatic reflection, shot off in tangents to the curve of the cascade, and being drawn by the attraction of gravitation, united again with the stream. The sun, shining through a clear atmosphere, imprinted on it his glittering rays, appearing like a moving column of transparent snow. The spray, rising to the height of several hundred feet, was continually agitated by a strong wind, which gave birth to a number of rainbows. They were elevated one above the other, and increased in brilliancy towards the base of the cascade, where, as well as at the lower fall, an iris spread its arch of glory, tinging the rocks and foliage with its brightest colors.

‘The ground below these cascades continued descending at an angle of forty-five degrees, forming a hollow like an inverted cone, of one thousand feet in depth. This was lined with lofty trees, whose verdant tops, varying from the dark hemlock to the light maple, were bending with the wind. Through this waving forest the cascade appeared at various distances, sparkling with the rays of the sun, and forming a fine contrast to the sombre rocks which surrounded it. From this cavity, at the distance of several miles, a peak rose to an elevation of two thousand feet, while the mountains on the right and left, impressed their bold outlines on the sky beyond them.

‘The best view of this scene, is a few rods from the base of the lower fall. These cascades are both of them in a direct line, and by standing in this position can be united in one. By raising your eyes, a fall of four hundred feet appears precipitated from the precipices above, apparently ready to overwhelm you, while the rocks above overhang the abyss in wild sublimity, threatening you with destruction.

‘The appearance of the upper cascade, in the middle of winter, is very interesting. The rock over which the stream descends, projects in such a manner, that the icicles, which form in that season, meet with no interruption in their descent towards the base of the fall. The water, which strikes the rocks below, begins to congeal and rise (between the column of water and the rock) towards the icicles above. These project towards the base, increasing in magnitude from day to day, while the column from below is greatly enlarged by the water and the spray, which, immediately congealing, in a short time surround the stream. A column of ice, resembling a rude cone, of between two and three hundred feet, is thus formed, through the centre of which the stream pours its current, dwindled, by the congelation of its waters, to one tenth its common size. When illumined by the rays of the sun, it presents a transparent column glowing with brilliancy, reflecting and refracting its rays in such a manner as to present all the colors of the prism. It remains some weeks, a striking example of the power of hoary frost, when, partly dissolved by the genial warmth of spring, it falls, scattering its thousand fragments on the rocks around it.’

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CHAPTER VI.—LAKES.

Lake Superior is the largest body of fresh water in the world, being four hundred miles in length, one hundred at its greatest breadth, and, according to the most moderate computation, over twelve hundred miles in circumference. Its shores are rocky and uneven, and it has a rocky bottom. Its waters are pure and transparent, and it has been remarked, that, although during the summer, the waters on its surface be warm, nevertheless, by letting a cup down about a fathom, water may be taken up nearly as cold as ice. It abounds in fish, particularly sturgeon and long trout, many of which are from fifty to seventy pounds weight, and constitute the principal food of the Algonquin Indians on its borders. This lake has five large islands,17 one of which, called Isle Royal, is not less than a hundred miles in length, and in some places forty in breadth. More than forty rivers discharge themselves into it, the two largest called the Nipegon and the Michipicooton, from the north and north-east sides. A small river which runs into it, not far from the Nipegon, falls from the top of a mountain more than six hundred feet perpendicular; appearing at a distance, to use Mr. Carver’s homely comparison, like a white garter suspended in the air. On the banks of one of the rivers which fall into its south side, virgin copper has been found. The storms which occur on this lake are felt as severely as on the Atlantic, the waves run equally high, and the navigation is perhaps more dangerous.18 When the wind blows from the east, the waters are driven against the high rocks of the northern and western shores, where they form a thick vapor resembling rain; and this action of the wind creates an irregular ebb and flow. This never exceeds ten or twelve inches; but the strong traces of the water on the rocks of the shore show, that, at no very remote period, they were elevated six feet above the present level. Mackenzie states, that some years ago the waters suddenly withdrew near the Great Portage; then rushed back with great velocity above the common mark; and, after rising and falling during several hours, they settled at their usual level.

Notwithstanding its being fed by so many rivers, Lake Superior has but one outlet by the Straits of St. Mary. At the upper end of these straits, there is a rapid which cannot be ascended, but has sometimes been descended, although the descent requires both skill and caution, and perhaps not a little good fortune. A canal has been cut by the North-West Company, along the northern banks, for the purpose of facilitating their commerce, and they have here a considerable establishment; but their chief fort and storehouses are situated at Kamenestiquia, on the banks of a river which flows into Lake Superior, on the north-west side, and affords an easy communication with the interior. The Strait of St. Mary, it is supposed, does not discharge one tenth of the waters which the lake receives from its numerous rivers; part of the remainder escapes by evaporation, but how the whole is discharged is yet a secret. It does not appear, however, that an exact calculation has hitherto been made, either of the quantity discharged or the quantity received. This lake lies between forty-six and fifty degrees north latitude, and eighty-four and ninety-three degrees west longitude.

Lake Huron, into which you enter by the Straits of St. Mary, is next in magnitude to Lake Superior. It lies between forty-three and forty-six degrees north latitude, and between eighty and eighty-five degrees west longitude; in shape it is nearly triangular, and its circumference is about a thousand miles. On the Canada side of this lake is an island one hundred miles in length, and no more than eight in breadth; it is called Manataulin, signifying a place of spirits, and is considered as sacred by the native Indians. About the middle of the south-west side of the lake is Saginaw Bay, about eighty miles in length, and twenty broad; Thunder Bay, so called from the continual thunder heard there, lies about half way between Saginaw Bay and the north-west corner of the lake: it is about nine miles across either way. The fish are the same as in Lake Superior. The promontory that separates this lake from Lake Michigan is a vast plain, more than one hundred miles long, and varying from ten to fifteen miles in breadth. At the north-east corner, this lake communicates with Lake Michigan by the Straits of Michilimackinac. It is very remarkable, that although there is no daily flood or ebb to be perceived in the waters of these straits, yet from an exact attention to their state, a periodical alteration in them has been discovered. It has been observed that they rise by gradual, but almost imperceptible degrees, till in seven years and a half they had reached the height of about three feet; and in the same space of time they gradually fell to their former state; so that in fifteen years they had completed this revolution. This, however, is not well established.19

Lake Michigan, formerly called Lake Illinois, and Lake Dauphin, extends from the western angle of Lake Huron in a southerly direction, and is separated from Lake Superior by the tongue of land which is described above. It lies wholly within the territory of the United States, between the parallels of forty-two and forty-six degrees. Its waters are said to be unfathomable. At the southern extremity of Lake Michigan is Chicago Creek, by which, in the rainy season, the head-waters of the Illinois communicate with the lake; but the bar at the mouth of the creek does not admit boats drawing above two feet of water. A number of streams flow into the lake, on both the western and the eastern sides. It abounds, like the others, with excellent fish.

‘Lake Michigan,’ says Mr. Schoolcraft, ‘from its great depth of water, its bleak and unguarded shores—and its singular length and direction, which is about four hundred miles from north to south, appears to be peculiarly exposed to the influence of the currents of the atmosphere, to whose agency we may attribute, at least in part, the appearances of a tide, which are more striking upon the shores of this, than of any of the other great lakes. The meteorological observations which have been made, in the Transalleghanian states, indicate the winds to prevail, either north or south, through the valley of the Mississippi; but seldom across it, so that the surface of this lake would be constantly exposed to agitation, from the atmosphere. These winds would almost incessantly operate, to drive the waters through the narrow strait of Michilimackinac, either into Lake Huron or Lake Michigan, until, by their natural tendency to an equilibrium, the waters thus pent, would react, after attaining a certain height, against the current of the most powerful winds, and thus keep up an alternate flux and reflux, which would always appear more sensibly in the extremities and bays of the two lakes; and with something like regularity, as to the periods of oscillation; the velocity of the water, however, being governed by the varying degrees of the force of the winds.’

Lake St. Clair lies about half way between Lakes Huron and Erie, and is about ninety miles in circumference. It receives the waters of the three great lakes, Superior, Michigan, and Huron, and discharges them through the river or strait called Detroit, into Lake Erie. It is of a circular form, and navigable for large vessels, except a bar of sand toward the middle, which prevents loaded vessels from passing.

Lake Erie is situated between forty-one and forty-three degrees of north latitude, and between seventy-nine and eighty-three degrees west longitude. It is two hundred and eighty miles long; opposite Cleveland, in the state of Ohio, it is about sixty miles broad, to the eastward it is above seventy. The average breadth is from fifty to sixty miles; and its medium depth from forty to one hundred and twenty feet. The water is pure and wholesome, and abounds with fish; such as sturgeon, white-fish, trout, and perch. The lake does not freeze in the middle, but is frequently frozen on both sides; and sometimes in winter, when the wind is variable, the ice exhibits a singular phenomenon; a south wind blows it all to the Canada shore, and a north wind again dislodges it, and brings it back to the American side. There are a number of islands in the west end of the lake, containing from eight hundred to two thousand acres of land, and the scenery amongst them is charming; but all these islands are so infested with snakes, that in the height of summer it is really dangerous to land. This is the more to be regretted, as the fine timber which grows upon them indicates that the soil must be uncommonly fertile. But, in defiance of the snakes, many of the islands are rapidly settling, and are found to be very healthy and agreeable places of residence. This and the other lakes are navigated by vessels of from seventy to eighty tons, which carry goods and provisions as far as the head of Lake Superior, and bring back furs and peltry. The navigation is good through the whole distance, except in Lake St. Clair, where the water is shallow, and vessels are sometimes obliged to lighten.

Lake Ontario is situated between forty-three and forty-four degrees of north latitude, and between seventy-six and eighty degrees west longitude. It is about two hundred miles in length and forty in width; its form nearly oval, and its circumference about six hundred miles. It abounds with fish of an excellent flavor, among which are the Oswego bass, weighing three or four pounds. Near the south-east part it receives the waters of the Oswego river, and on the north-east it discharges itself into the St. Lawrence. It is never entirely closed by ice, and is computed from some soundings to be five hundred feet deep. The Ridge Road, or Alluvial Way, is a remarkable ridge extending along the south shore of this lake, from Rochester on the Gennessee to Lewiston on the river Niagara, eighty-seven miles. It is composed of common beach sand and gravel stones worn smooth, and these are intermixed with small shells. Its general width is from four to eight rods, and it is raised in the middle with a handsome crowning arch, from six to ten feet. Its general surface preserves a very uniform level, bring raised to meet the unevenness of the ground which it covers. At the rivers Gennessee and Niagara, its elevation is about one hundred and twenty or thirty feet; and this is its elevation above Lake Ontario, from which it is distant between six and ten miles. There seems to be no way of accounting for this ridge, without supposing that the surface of Lake Ontario was one hundred and thirty feet higher at some former period than it is at present. There is a similar ridge for one hundred and twenty miles, on the south side of Lake Erie.

Lake Champlain lies between the states of New York and Vermont, and communicates with Lower Canada by the river Sorelle, which falls into the St. Lawrence forty-five miles below Montreal. It is about one hundred and twenty miles in length, and of various breadths: for the first thirty miles, that is, from South river to Crown Point, it is nowhere above two miles wide; beyond this, for the distance of twelve miles, it is five or six miles across, it then narrows, and again at the end of a few miles expands. That part called the Broad Lake, commences about twenty-five miles north of Crown Point, and is eighteen miles across in the widest part. Here the lake is interspersed with a great number of islands, the largest of which, named South Hero, is fifteen miles in length, and averages four in breadth. The soil of this island is very fertile, and more than seven hundred people are settled upon it. The Broad Lake is nearly fifty miles in length, and gradually narrows till it terminates in the river Sorelle. Lake Champlain, except at the narrow parts at either end, is in general very deep; in many places sixty and seventy, and in some even a hundred fathoms. The scenery along various parts of the lake is extremely beautiful, the shores being highly ornamented with hanging woods and rocks, and the mountains on the western side rise up in ranges, one behind the other, in the most magnificent manner.

Remains of Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point, important positions during the old French wars, are found at two great bends of this lake. On the 11th of September, 1814, Commodore McDonough, commander of the American fleet, gained a complete victory over the British fleet in Cumberland Bay, directly in front of the town of Plattsburg.

This lake opens a ready communication between New York and the country bordering on the St. Lawrence. Through the town of Whitehall, which stands at the head of the lake, a considerable trade is carried on across Champlain with Lower Canada. On the British end of the lake, one hundred and fifty miles from Whitehall, stands the garrison town of St. John’s.

Lake George, which discharges itself into Lake Champlain, is the most beautiful sheet of water in the whole country. It is thirty-six miles long, and from two to four broad. It is situated in the eastern part of the state of New-York. Its waters are deep and remarkably transparent, and from their extreme limpidness, the French gave them the name of the Lake of the Holy Sacrament. The shores consist of abrupt and shelving points, and are bounded by two long ranges of mountains,20 sometimes rising boldly from the water, and at others ascending with a gentle and graceful sweep, exhibiting naked and weather-beaten cliffs and wild forests, intermixed with fine cultivated fields, lawns and pastures. The village of Caldwell stands on the south-eastern side of the lake, and is much visited by travellers who come to enjoy the fine scenery in the neighborhood. A steam-boat plies upon the lake in summer.

The islands of the lake are said to be three hundred and sixty-five in number. They are of every form and size, and contribute greatly to the romantic beauty of its surface. Some of them are covered with trees, others are thinly wooded, and others are abrupt and craggy rocks. Diamond Island abounds in crystals of quartz. Long Island contains one hundred acres, and is under cultivation. At a place called the Narrows, the lake is contracted, and its surface is covered with a most beautiful cluster of islands which extends for several miles. Some of them are covered with trees, some show little lawns or spots of grass, heaps of barren rocks, or gently sloping shores; and most of them are ornamented with pines, hemlocks, and other tall trees, solitary or in groups, and disposed with the most charming variety. Sometimes an island will be found just large enough to support a few fine trees, or perhaps a single one, while the next may appear like a solid mass of bushes and wild flowers; near at hand, perhaps, is a third, with a dark grove of pines, and a decaying old trunk in front of it; and thus, through every interval between the islands, as you pass along, another and another labyrinth is opened to view, among little isolated spots of ground, divided by narrow channels, from which it seems impossible for a man who has entered them ever to find his way out. Some of the islands look almost like ships with their masts; and many have an air of lightness, as if they were sailing upon the lake.

After passing the Narrows, the lake widens again, and the retrospect is for several miles through that passage with ranges of rounded mountain summits appearing at a great distance between them. The lake contains abundance of the finest perch, bass, and other fish; trout are found in a stream flowing into the southern part. Near the southern shore, are the ruins of Fort William Henry and Fort George, celebrated in the early wars of the French.

The state of New-York contains a vast number of small lakes. There is scarcely a stream in the northern part of this state, but that has its source in one of these, or runs through several in its progress, whether to the great lakes or to Hudson’s river. Seneca Lake, in the western part of the state, is about thirty-five miles in length, from two to four in breadth, and of great depth. The water of this lake has a gradual periodical rise and fall, once in several years, the cause of which has never been ascertained. The view from the height of land between Seneca and the adjacent lakes is extensive and agreeable. Cayuga Lake is thirty-eight miles long from north to south, and from one to four miles wide; in some places the shore of this lake is precipitous, but in general it is a gentle declivity from the surrounding country to the water. The waters are somewhat shallow, but sufficient for navigation. Several steam-boats ply upon them, and are often crowded by water parties in the fine season. A bridge of a mile in length crosses the north end of the lake.

Oneida Lake is a beautiful sheet of water, twenty miles long and four broad. It is famous for the abundance and excellence of its fish. ‘I made a small excursion along the border of this lake,’ says Mr. Schultz, ‘and although the shore was low, yet I found a firm, dry, white, sandy beach to walk upon; some other parts of it, however, I was informed, were low and swampy. I was much amused in the evening by a singular illumination upon the lake, which I was at first wholly unable to account for. The water at this part of the lake, it seems, is very shallow for nearly half a mile from the shore, and being perfectly transparent, and the bottom a white sand, the smallest object may be readily distinguished. The Indians have a method of taking salmon and other fish by means of an iron frame fixed in the bow of the canoe, projecting forward three or four feet, and elevated about five; upon this they kindle a bright fire of pine knots, and while one person sits in the stern with a paddle to impel the boat forward, another stands in the bow with a sharp spear ready to strike the fish who play about the light. Ten or twelve of these canoes moving about irregularly on the lake, on a fine calm evening, with the reflection of their lights, like so many lines of fire, extending from each object to a centre on which you stand, afford a most pleasing prospect, and far exceeds in my opinion the most brilliant display of artificial fireworks.’

Among the smaller lakes of New York are Onondago, Skeneatiles, Owasco, Canandaigua, Otsego, Caniadebago, Oswegatchie, Cross, Hemlock, Hanyaga, Canesus, Crooked, and Chatauque. The latter is the most western of all these lakes, near the north-east extremity of Lake Erie; it is only eight miles distant from its shore, and the descent to Lake Erie is by an easy slope. From this small lake issues one of the branches of the Alleghany river, called Conewango, which is navigable for small craft in all its extent.

New Hampshire contains several fine lakes, the largest of which is Winnipiseogee, situated east of the centre of the state, and towards the west side of Strafford county. It is a picturesque sheet of water, of irregular form, twenty-two miles in length, and varying in breadth from one to ten miles. Several long capes stretch into it from both sides, almost dividing it into several parts. From the southern extremity of this lake to the north-west corner, there is good navigation in the summer, and generally a good road in the winter; the lake is frozen about three months in the year, and many sleighs and teams, from the surrounding towns, cross it on the ice.

Dr. Dwight has described this lake, as it appears from the top of Red Mountain, with his usual felicity. ‘Immediately at the foot of the height on which we stood, and in the bottom of the immense valley below, spread south-eastward the waters of the Winnipiseogee in complete view; except that one or two of its arms were partially concealed by intervening peninsulas. A finer object of the same nature was perhaps never seen. The lakes, which I had visited in my northern and western excursions, were all of them undivided masses, bordered by shores comparatively straight. This was, centrally, a vast column, if I may be allowed the term, twenty-three miles in length, and from six to eight in breadth, shooting out with inimitable beauty a succession of arms, some of them not inferior in length to the whole breadth of the lake. These were fashioned with every elegance of figure, bordered with the most beautiful winding shores, and studded with a multitude of islands. Their relative positions, also, could scarcely be more happy.

‘Many of the islands are large, exquisitely fashioned, and arranged in a manner not less singular than pleasing. As they met the eye, when surveyed from this summit, they were set in groups on both sides the great channel, and left this vast field of water unoccupied between them. Their length was universally at right angles to that of the lake; and they appeared as if several chains of hills originally crossing the country in that direction, had, by some convulsion, been merged in the water so low, that no part of them was left visible, except the oblong segments of their summits. Of those, which, by their size and situation, were most conspicuous, I counted forty-five, without attempting to enumerate the smaller ones, or such as were obscured. The points, which intrude into this lake, are widely different from those of Lake George; bold, masculine bluffs, impinging directly upon the water. These, in several instances, were spacious peninsulas, fitted to become rich and delightful residences of man, often elevated into handsome hills, and sloping gracefully into the lake.’

Umbagog Lake is situated partly in the north-east corner of the state, and is next in size to Winnipiseogee; it lies chiefly in Maine. The others of New Hampshire are Ossipee, Sanapee, Squam, and Newfound.

There are several large, and a vast number of small lakes in the state of Maine. Moosehead Lake, the largest in New England, is the source of the east branch of the Kennebeck, and is fifty miles in length by ten or fifteen in breadth. Sebago Lake, in Cumberland county, is twelve miles long. Chesuncook Lake is twenty miles long and three broad. In Vermont, besides Lake Champlain, which separates this state from New York on the west, there are other lakes of minor importance, deserving of notice. Lake Memphremagog, thirty-five miles in length and three wide, lies chiefly in Canada, and communicates with the St. Lawrence by the river St. Francis. Willoughby Lake, six miles long and one wide, discharges its waters into Memphremagog by the river Barton. This lake furnishes fish resembling bass, of an excellent flavor, weighing from ten to thirty pounds.

A number of small lakes occur towards the sources of the Mississippi. Lake Pepin is an expansion of this mighty river, about one hundred miles below the Falls of St. Anthony. It has been very fully and beautifully described by Mr. Schoolcraft.

‘It is twenty-four miles in length, with a width of from two to four miles, and is indented with several bays, and prominent points, which serve to enhance the beauty of the prospect. On the east shore, there is a lofty range of limestone bluffs, which are much broken and crumbled, sometimes run into pyramidal peaks, and often present a character of the utmost sublimity. On the west, there is a high level prairie, covered with the most luxuriant growth of grass, and nearly destitute of forest trees. From this plain several conical hills ascend, which, at a distance, present the appearance of vast artificial mounds or pyramids, and it is difficult to reconcile their appearance with the general order of nature, by any other hypothesis. This lake is beautifully circumscribed by a broad beach of clean washed gravel, which often extends from the foot of the surrounding highlands, three or four hundred yards into the lake, forming gravelly points, upon which there is a delightful walk, and scalloping out the margin of the lake with the most pleasing irregularity. In walking along these, the eye is attracted by the various colors of the mineral gems, which are promiscuously scattered among the water-worn debris of granitic and other rocks, and the cornelian, agate, and chalcedony, are met with at every step. The size of these gems is often as large as the egg of the partridge, and the transparency and beauty of color is only excelled by the choicest oriental specimens. There is no perceptible current in the lake, during calm weather, and the water partakes so little of the turbid character of the lower Mississippi, that objects can be distinctly seen through it, at the depth of eight or ten feet.

‘In passing though Lake Pepin, our interpreter pointed out to us a high precipice, on the east shore of the lake, from which an Indian girl, of the Sioux nation, had, many years ago, precipitated herself in a fit of disappointed love. She had given her heart, it appears, to a young chief of her own tribe, who was very much attached to her, but the alliance was opposed by her parents, who wished her to marry an old chief, renowned for his wisdom and his influence in the nation. As the union was insisted upon, and no other way appearing to avoid it, she determined to sacrifice her life in preference to a violation of a former vow, and while the preparations for the marriage feast were going forward, left her father’s cabin, without exciting suspicion, and before she could be overtaken threw herself from an awful precipice, and was instantly dashed to a thousand pieces. Such an instance of sentiment is rarely to be met with among barbarians, and should redeem the name of this noble-minded girl from oblivion. It was Oola-Ita.’

Cassina or Red Cedar Lake derives some importance from having been designated as the true source of the Mississippi river. It is about eight miles long and six in breadth, and presents a beautiful sheet of transparent water. On its banks are elm, maple, and pine trees, fields of Indian rice, rushes and reeds; in other places there is an open beach of clean pebbles. Pike, carp, trout and cat-fish are caught in its waters. Towards its western extremity is an island covered with trees, from which it derives its name, though no red cedar is found around its shores.

Turtle Lake, Little Winnepeg Lake, Leech Lake, Swan Lake, Sandy Lake, Muddy Lake, Lake Peckagama, and White Fish Lake, are all near the source of the Mississippi. A narrow belt of high land separates Turtle Lake, the most northern source of the Mississippi, from Red River Lake, one of the sources of the Red river which runs into Hudson’s Bay. Otter Tail Lake is the most southern source of Red river; and from thence is a portage of only half a mile to a branch of Raven river, which falls into the Mississippi. The whole tract of high country, at the sources of the Mississippi and Red river, is full of marshes, morasses, and small lakes, whose waters afford never failing supplies to these streams.

The Lake of the Woods is of a circular figure, with a cluster of islands in the centre. The navigating course through the lake, is seventy-five miles; but, in direct distance, it is not above two-thirds of that extent in diameter. Its scenery is wild and romantic in a high degree. Its surface is covered with islands. From this lake there is a long succession of small lakes, and numerous portages, to the north-west end of Lake Superior, the chief of which is Rainy Lake. Two small lakes, Lake Biddle, which gives rise to the Big Horn river, and Lake Eustis, which is the source of the Jaune, or Yellow Stone river, are situated amongst the Rocky Mountains, in west longitude one hundred and twelve degrees, and north latitude forty-two degrees.

In the state of Louisiana are the lakes of Maurepas and Pontchartrain. The first of these is of a circular figure, twelve feet deep, and fourteen miles in diameter. In the time of high floods, it has a communication with the Mississippi, by means of the river Amité, or Ibberville; and this inundation, which lasts only four months annually, occasions what is erroneously called the island of New Orleans, to be then an island in fact, for at no other time is it environed with water, the city of New Orleans being situated on a peninsula.21 Lake Maurepas communicates with Lake Pontchartrain, by a stream seven miles long, and three hundred yards wide, and divided by an island extending from the lake to within a mile of Pontchartrain, into two branches, of which the southern is the safest and deepest. Lake Pontchartrain is nearly of a circular form, forty miles in its greatest length, and thirty miles in its greatest breadth, and eighteen feet deep. From this lake to the sea is ten miles, by a passage called the Regolets, four hundred yards wide, and lined with marshes on each side.

On the west side of the Mississippi are the lakes of Great and Little Barataria. The Catahoola Lake, sixteen miles long, and four broad, is the source of a stream of the same name, which, uniting with the Washita and Bayou Tenza rivers, form the Black river. This lake, during the dry months, is covered with the most luxuriant herbage; and is then the residence of immense herds of deer, and water-fowl, which feed on the grass and grain. The other lakes of Louisiana are Calcasin, Borgne, and Bistineau.

COMPARATIVE VIEW OF THE MOST CELEBRATED LAKES.

WESTERN HEMISPHERE.
Surface.	Square miles.
Lake Superior	22,400
Lake Michigan	12,600
Lake Huron	15,800
Lake Erie	4,800
Lake Ontario	4,450
Great Slave Lake	12,000
Great Bear Lake	4,000
Winnepeg Lake	7,200
Lake Maracaibo	6,000
Athabasca Lake	3,200
Lake Titicaca	5,400
Lake St. George	340
Lake Champlain	350
Lake of the Woods	1,600
EASTERN HEMISPHERE.
Lake Tchad, Africa	11,600
Lake Ladoga, Russia	5,200
Lake Onega, Russia	3,300
Wetter Lake, Sweden	945
Lake of Constance, Switzerland	456
Geneva Lake, Switzerland	400
Loch Lomond, Scotland	27
Windermere Lake, England	11
Killarney Lake, Ireland	14
Loch Leven, Scotland	6

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CHAPTER VII.—SPRINGS.

I. SALT SPRINGS.

IN the United States, salt springs are very numerous. They sometimes flow naturally, but are generally formed by sinking wells in those places where salt is known to exist, as in marshes, salt licks, and other similar places. The country on the Arkansas river furnishes some salt; it differs however, from most other places in the United States, by existing in pools, and forming incrustations on the soil of plains and prairies. There is no salt obtained in Arkansas by boring, the usual mode of procuring it in other localities. There are numerous salt springs in Missouri; the working of many of them, however, has been suspended or relinquished, on account of the reduced price of salt. Large quantities of the article are still made at Boon’s Lick, and near St. Genevieve and Herculaneum.

Salt springs are worked at Sciota; the quantity yielded, however, is comparatively small. There are no salt-works on the Tennessee river; but on the Holston, one of its tributaries, are extensive salt springs, situated near Abingdon, Virginia, and known by the name of King’s and Preston’s salt-works. These springs yield a considerable quantity of salt. Preston’s works have been rendered less productive, by being diluted by a spring of fresh water flowing into the midst of the salt.

Salt springs are very numerous in Kentucky, Ohio, and Virginia. Springs holding salt in solution are common in various parts of the bituminous coal region of Pennsylvania. They are generally weak near the surface, but deep springs, disclosed by boring, are often strong. One of these, which contains as much salt as the ordinary water of Salina, was discovered by boring, about twenty miles from Montrose, bordering on the state of New-York. The most considerable saline springs are on the banks of the Conemaugh and Kiskeminitas, about thirty miles east of Pittsburg. These rivers for many miles wind through rocky ravines, bordered by hills of three and four hundred feet in height, that rise with steep acclivities, presenting mural precipices of grey sand-stone, in places jutting over the road and torrent. Large quantities of salt are made at these springs.

In the town of Salina, in the state of New-York, about one hundred and thirty miles west of Albany, are situated the most extensive works in the United States for the manufacture of salt from natural brine. The indications of that substance along the margin of Onondaga Lake are supposed to have been similar to those found on the salt licks, so common in the interior of the country, and the knowledge of their existence was derived from the aborigines.

‘One of the earliest settlers in the county of Onondaga,’ says a writer in Silliman’s Journal, ‘has informed me, that to procure salt for his family, about forty years since, he, with an Indian guide in a canoe, descended a small river that discharges into the lake at its south-eastern termination, along the shore of which he passed, a short distance to the right, and, ascending a rivulet (now Mud Creek) a few rods, arrived at the spring or natural discharge of salt water, which was obtained by lowering to the bottom, then four or five feet beneath the surface of the fresh water of the lake, an iron vessel, which, filling instantly with the heavier fluid, was drawn up and the brine poured out. In this way, he got enough to make on the spot, by boiling, and without any separation of the earthy impurities that were held with the salt in solution, a small quantity of brownish colored and very impure salt. Since that time other springs have been discovered at various and almost opposite points on the shores of the lake, and many wells have been sunk to procure brine for the manufactories at the villages of Liverpool, Salina, Syracuse, and Geddesburg. The wells did not exceed eighteen feet in depth, and in the strength of the water which they respectively afforded there was great difference, which varied much with the seasons, with this remarkable circumstance, that it sometimes diminished fifteen to twenty per cent., and in some instances, one third, as the adjoining lands, on the advance of summer, became drained; and the lake, which in the spring overflowed the wells, had subsided six or eight feet.’ The salt springs of Salina are found on the margin of an extensive marsh.22

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CHAPTER VIII.—CAVERNS.

THE most celebrated cave in the United States, is that in Rockingham county, Virginia, known by the name of Madison’s Cave. It is in the heart of a mountain, about two hundred feet high, which is so steep on one side, that a person standing on the top, might easily throw a pebble into the river which flows round the base; the opposite side of it is, however, very easy of ascent, and on this side the path leading to the cavern runs, excepting for the last twenty yards, when it suddenly turns along the steep part of the mountain, which is extremely rugged, and covered with immense rocks and trees from top to bottom. The mouth of the cavern, on this steep side, about two thirds of the way up, is guarded by a huge pendant stone, which seems ready to fall every instant; it is impossible to stoop under it and not reflect with a degree of awe, that, were it to drop, nothing could save you from perishing within the dreary walls of that mansion to which it affords an entrance. The description which follows, is from the Travels of Mr. Weld.

‘Preparatory to entering, the guide, whom I had procured from a neighboring house, lighted the ends of three or four splinters of pitch pine, a large bundle of which he had brought with him: they burn out very fast, but while they last are most excellent torches. The fire he brought along with him, by the means of a bit of green hickory wood, which, when once lighted, will burn slowly without any blaze, till the whole is consumed.

‘The first apartment you enter is about twenty-five feet high, and fifteen broad, and extends a considerable way to the right and left, the floor ascending toward the former; here it is very moist, from the quantity of water continually trickling from the roof. Fahrenheit’s thermometer, which stood at sixty-seven degrees in the air, fell to sixty-one degrees in this room. A few yards to the left, on the side opposite to you on entering, a passage presents itself, which leads to a sort of anti-chamber, from whence you proceed to the sound room, so named from the prodigious reverberation of the sound of a voice or musical instrument on the inside. This room is about twenty feet square; it is arched at the top, and the sides of it as well as of the apartment which you first enter, are beautifully ornamented with stalactites. Returning from hence into the anti-chamber, and afterwards taking two or three turns to the right and left, you enter a long passage about thirteen feet wide, and, perhaps, about fifteen feet in height, perpendicularly; but if it was measured from the floor to the highest part of the roof obliquely, the distance would be found much greater, as the walls on both sides slope very considerably, and finally meet at the top.

‘This passage descends very rapidly, and is, I should suppose, about sixty yards long. Towards the end it narrows considerably, and terminates in a pool of clear water, about three or four feet deep. How far this pool extends, it is impossible to say. A canoe was once brought down by a party for the purpose of examination, but they said, that after proceeding a little way the canoe would not float, and they were forced to return. Their fears most probably led them to fancy so. I fired a pistol with a ball over the water, but the report was echoed from the after part of the cavern, and not from the part beyond the water, so that I should not suppose the passage extended much farther than could be traced with the eye. The walls of this passage consist of a solid rock of limestone on each side, which appears to have been separated by some convulsion. The floor is of a deep sandy earth, and it has repeatedly been dug up for the purpose of getting salt-petre, with which the earth is strongly impregnated. The earth, after being dug up, is mixed with water, and when the grosser particles fall to the bottom, the water is drawn off and evaporated; from the residue the salt-petre is procured. There are many other caverns in this neighborhood; and also farther to the westward in Virginia; from all of them great quantities of salt-petre are thus obtained. The gunpowder made with it, in the back country forms a principal article of commerce, and is sent to Philadelphia in exchange for European manufactures.

‘About two thirds of the way down this long passage just described, is a large aperture in the wall on the right, leading to another apartment, the bottom of which is about ten feet below the floor of the passage, and it is no easy matter to get down into it, as the sides are very steep and extremely slippery. This is the largest and most beautiful room in the whole cavern; it is somewhat of an oval form, about sixty feet in length, thirty in breadth, and in some parts nearly fifty feet high. The petrifactions formed by the water dropping from above are most beautiful, and hang down from the ceiling in the form of elegant drapery, the folds of which are similar to what those of large blankets or carpets would be, if suspended by one corner in a lofty room. If struck with a stick, a deep hollow sound is produced, which echoes through the vaults of the cavern.

‘In other parts of this room the petrifactions have commenced at the bottom, and formed in pillars of different heights; some of them reach nearly to the roof. If you go to a remote part of this apartment, and leave a person with a lighted torch moving about amidst these pillars, a thousand imaginary forms present themselves, and you might almost fancy yourself in the infernal regions, with spectres and monsters on every side. The floor of this room slopes down gradually from one end to the other, and terminates in a pool of water, which appears to be on a level with that at the end of the long passage; from their situation, it is most probable that they communicate together. The thermometer which I had with me stood in the remotest part of this chamber, at fifty-five degrees. From hence we returned to the mouth of the cavern, and on coming to the light it appeared as if we had really been in the infernal regions, for our faces, hands, and clothes were covered with soot from the smoke of the pine torches which are so often carried in. The smoke from the pitch-pine is particularly thick and heavy. Before this cave was much visited, and the walls blackened with smoke, its beauty, I was told by some of the old inhabitants, was great indeed; for the petrifactions on the roof and walls are all of a dead white kind.’

Wyer’s Cave is situated in the same county with the preceding, and is equally remarkable. Its entrance is narrow and difficult, and when first discovered was impeded by perpendicular columns of stalactites, which have since been removed. After advancing at first in a horizontal course, we descend into an echoing cavern, by a ladder fifteen or twenty feet in length. Over our heads hang silvery white stalactites, while we are surrounded by pillars of stalagmites, and rugged walls incrusted with a beautiful brown spar. The floor is composed of ledges of rocks, and presents rather an uneven pathway.

Advancing through a narrow passage in the rocks, we enter still other apartments, resembling the first in the beauty of their formations, but of different shape and extent. The sparry incrustations assume a thousand fantastic figures, sparkling with light, and more like the wonders of fairy land, than the original productions of nature. This cave is a mile and a half in extent, varying in perpendicular height from three to forty feet, and in breadth from two to thirty. Its dividing branches are numerous. Blue limestone is the base of the whole cave; every where covered with incrustations of carbonates. In some places the uneven sides of the rocks are quite covered with white crystals of the carbonate of lime, and appear like banks of salt. Sometimes the pavement sparkles as a floor of diamonds; and again the pathway is pebbled, and resembles the deserted bed of a river. It is impossible to convey any idea of the number and variety of shapes which the stalactites assume; resembling every thing in nature, and in the worlds of imagination, they are still unlike every thing but themselves.

The Nicojack Cave is situated in the Cherokee country, at Nicojack, the north-western angle in the map of Georgia. We believe it was first fully described by the Rev. E. Cornelius. It is twenty miles south-west of the Look-Out Mountain, and half a mile from the south bank of the Tennessee river. The Raccoon Mountain, in which it is situated, here fronts to the north-east. Immense layers of horizontal limestone form a precipice of considerable height. In this precipice the cave commences; not however with an opening of a few feet, as is common; but with a mouth fifty feet high, and one hundred and sixty wide. Its roof is formed by a solid and regular layer of limestone, having no support but the sides of the cave, and as level as the floor of a house. The entrance is partly obstructed by piles of fallen rocks, which appear to have been dislodged by some great convulsion. From its entrance, the cave consists chiefly of one grand excavation through the rocks, preserving for a great distance the same dimensions as at its mouth.

What is more remarkable than all, it forms for the whole distance it has yet been explored, a walled and vaulted passage for a stream of cool and limpid water, which, where it leaves the cave, is six feet deep and sixty feet wide. A few years since, Col. James Ore, of Tennessee, commencing early in the morning, followed the course of this creek in a canoe, for three miles. He then came to a fall of water, and was obliged to return, without making any further discovery. Whether he penetrated three miles of the cave or not, it is a fact he did not return till the evening, having been busily engaged in his subterranean voyage for twelve hours. He stated that the course of the cave, after proceeding some way to the south-west, became south; and south-east by south, the remaining distance.

There is a remarkable cave or grotto, situated on a bluff of limestone, on the south bank of the Holston river, in East Tennessee, which has been well described by Mr. Kain, in an article in Silliman’s Journal. The bluff is perhaps one hundred feet high, and fifty wide. The grotto is a large natural excavation of the rock, sixty feet high and thirty feet wide. It is very irregular, and to the very top bears marks of the attrition of waves. The river to have been so high, must have covered the valley through which it now winds its quiet way. The excavation gradually diminishes in size as you proceed backward, till one hundred feet from the entrance it terminates. A remarkable projection of the rock divides the back part into two stories.

This grotto, whose walls are hung with ivy, and the bluff crowned with cedars, and surrounded by an aged forest, on which the vine clambers most luxuriantly, viewed from the river which winds slowly around it, and reflects its image, is more than beautiful: it is even venerable. But what renders it most interesting to many visitors, is a number of rude paintings, which were, as tradition reports, left on it by the Cherokee Indians. These Indians are known to have made this cave a resting place as they passed up and down the river Holston. These paintings are still distinct, though they have faded somewhat within my remembrance. They consist of representations of the sun and moon, of a man, of birds, fishes, &c. They are all of red paint, and resemble, in this respect, the paintings on Paint Rock, near the warm springs.

Mammoth Cave is situated near the Green river in Kentucky, the entrance to which is by a pit forty feet deep, and one hundred and twenty in circumference. At the bottom of this pit is the mouth of the cave, which is open to the north, and is from forty to fifty feet in height, and thirty in width, for upwards of forty rods, when it becomes not more than ten feet wide and five feet high. ‘However,’ says Dr. Wood, ‘this continues but a short distance, when it expands to thirty or forty feet in width, and is about twenty feet in height, for about one mile, until you come to the first hopper, where salt-petre is manufactured. Thence it is about forty feet in width, and eighty in height, till you arrive at the second hopper two miles from the mouth. The loose limestone has been laid up into handsome walls on either side, almost the whole distance from the entrance to the second hopper. The road is hard, and as smooth as a flag pavement. The walls of the cavern are perpendicular in every passage that I traversed; the arches are regular in every part, and have bid defiance even to earthquakes. As you advance into the cave, the avenue leads from the second hopper west one mile, then south-west to the chief city, which is six miles distant from the entrance. This avenue is from sixty to one hundred feet high, and about the same broad, the whole distance from the second hopper, until you come to the cross-roads or chief city; and is nearly upon a level, the floor or bottom being covered with loose limestone and salt-petre earth. When I reached the immense area, (chief city,) containing upward of eight acres, without a single pillar to support the arch, which is entire over the whole, I was struck dumb with astonishment, and can give but a very faint idea of its splendor. Nothing under heaven can be more sublime and grand than this place, covered with one solid arch, at least one hundred feet in height, and to all appearance entire. After entering the chief city, I perceived five avenues leading out of it from sixty to one hundred feet in width, and from forty to eighty in height. The walls (all of stone) are arched, being from forty to eighty feet of perpendicular height, before the arch commences.

‘The next avenue which I traversed, after cutting arrows on the stones under our feet, pointing to the mouth of the cave, was one that led us in a southerly direction for more than two miles. We then left it, and took another that led us east, then north, more than two miles farther; and at last, in our windings, were brought out by another avenue into the chief city again, after having traversed more than five miles through different avenues. We rested ourselves for a few minutes on some limestone strata near the centre of this gloomy area, and having refreshed ourselves, and trimmed our lamps, again took our departure through an avenue almost due north, and parallel with the avenue leading from the chief city to the mouth of the cave, which we continued for more than two miles, when we entered the second city. This is covered with one arch nearly two hundred feet high in the centre, and very similar to the chief city, except in the number of avenues leading from it, this having but two. We passed through it over a very considerable rise in the centre, and descended through an avenue bearing to the east about three hundred rods, when we came upon a third area, about one hundred feet square and fifty in height, which had a pure and delightful stream of water, issuing from the side of the wall, about thirty feet high, and which fell upon some broken stones, and was afterwards entirely lost to our view. After passing this beautiful sheet of water a few yards, we came to the end of this passage.

‘We then returned about one hundred yards, and entered an avenue (over a considerable mass of stone) to our right, which led us south, through an uncommonly black avenue, something more than a mile, when we ascended a very steep eminence, about sixty yards, which carried us within the walls of a fourth city, which is not inferior to the second city, having an arch that covers at least six acres. In this last avenue, the farther end of which must be at least four miles from the chief city, and ten from the mouth of the cave, are twenty large piles of saltpetre earth on one side of the avenue, and broken limestone heaped up on the other, evidently the work of human hands. I had expected, from the course of my needle, that this avenue would have carried us round to the chief city; but was sadly disappointed, when I found the end a few hundred yards from the fourth city, which caused us to retrace our steps; and not having been so particular in marking the different entrances as I ought, we were very much bewildered, and once completely lost for fifteen or twenty minutes.

‘At length we found our way, and, weary and faint, entered the chief city at ten at night; however, much fatigued as I was, I determined to explore the cavern as long as my lights held out. We now entered the fifth and last avenue from the chief city, which carried us south-east about nine hundred yards, when we entered the fifth city, whose arch covers upwards of four acres of level ground, strewed with broken limestone. Fire beds of uncommon size, with brands of cane lying around them, are interspersed throughout this city. We crossed over to the opposite side, and entered an avenue that carried us east about two hundred and fifty rods; when, finding nothing remarkable in this passage, we turned back, and crossed a massy pile of limestone in the mouth of a large avenue, which I noticed but a few yards from this last-mentioned city as I came out of it. After some difficulty in passing over this mass of limestone, we entered a large avenue, whose walls were the most perfect of any that we had seen, running almost due south for five hundred rods, and very level and straight. When at the end of this avenue, and while I was sketching a plan of the cave, one of my guides, who had been some time groping among the broken stones, called out, requesting me to follow him. I gathered up my papers and compass, and also giving the guide who sat with me orders to remain where he was, until we returned, and moreover to keep his lamp in good order, I followed after the first, who had entered a vertical passage just large enough to admit his body. We continued to step from one stone to another, until at last, after much difficulty, from the smallness of the passage, which is about forty feet in height, we entered upon the side of a chamber eighteen hundred feet in circumference, and whose arch is one hundred and fifty feet high in the centre. After having marked arrows, pointing downwards, upon the slate-stones around the little passage through which we had winded, we walked nearly to the centre of this area. It was past midnight when I entered this chamber of eternal darkness, where “all things are hushed, and nature’s self lies dead.” I must acknowledge I felt a shivering horror at my situation, when, I looked back upon the different avenues through which I had passed, since I entered the cave at eight in the morning; and “at time of night, when church-yards groan,” to be buried several miles in the dark recesses of this awful cavern, the grave, perhaps, of thousands of human beings—gave me no very pleasant emotions. With the guide who was now with me, I took the only avenue leading from this chamber, and traversed it for the distance of a mile in a northerly direction, when my lamps forbade me going any farther, as they were nearly exhausted. The avenue, or passage, was as large as any that we had entered; and how far we might have entered, had our lights held out, is unknown.

‘It is supposed that Green river, a stream navigable several hundred miles, passes over three branches of this cave. It was nearly one o’clock in the morning, when we descended the passage of the chimney, as it is called, to the guide who sat on the rocks. He was quite alarmed at our long absence, and was heard by us a long time before we reached the passage to descend to him, hallooing with all his might, fearing we had lost our track in the ruins above. Very near the vertical passage, and not far from where I had left my guide sitting, I found some very beautiful specimens of soda, which I brought out with me. We returned over piles of saltpetre earth and fire beds, out of one avenue into another, until at last, with great fatigue and a dim light, we entered the walls of the chief city; where, for the last time, we trimmed our lamps, and entered the spacious avenue that lends to the second hopper. I found, when in the last-mentioned large avenue, or upper chamber, many curiosities; such as Glauber salts, Epsom salts, flint, yellow ochre, spar of different kinds, and some petrifactions, which I brought out together with the mummy, which was found at the second hopper. We happily arrived at the mouth of the cave at five in the morning, nearly exhausted and worn down with nineteen hours’ continued fatigue. I have described to you hardly one half of the cave, as the avenues between the mouth of the cave and the second hopper have not been named. There is a passage in the main avenue, about sixty rods from the entrance, like that of a trap-door. By sliding aside a large flat stone, you can descend sixteen or eighteen feet into a very narrow defile, where the passage comes upon a level, and winds about in such a manner us to pass under the main passage, without having any communication with it; and at last opens into the large passages, just beyond the second hopper. It is called the Glauber salt room, from salts of that kind being found there. There is also the sick room, the bat room, and the flint room, all of which are large, and some of them quite long. The last that I shall mention is a very winding avenue, which branches off at the second hopper, running west, and south-west, for more than two miles. This is called the haunted chamber, from the echo of the sound made in it. The arch of this avenue is very beautifully incrusted with limestone spar; and in many places the columns of spar are truly elegant, extending from the ceiling to the floor. I discovered in this avenue a very high dome, in or near the centre of the arch, apparently fifty feet high, hung in rich drapery, festooned in the most fanciful manner for six or eight feet above the hangings, and in colors the most rich and brilliant. The columns of spar, and the stalactites in this chamber, are extremely romantic in their appearance, with the reflection of one or two lights. There is a cellar formed of this spar, called Wilkins’s armed chair, which is very large, standing in the middle of the avenue, and is encircled with many smaller ones. Columns of spar, fluted and studded with knobs of spar and stalactites, drapery of various colors, superbly festooned and hung in the most graceful manner, are shewn with the greatest brilliancy from the reflection of lamps.

‘A part of the haunted chamber lies directly over the bat room, which passes under it, without having any connection with it. I was led into a very narrow defile on the left side of this chamber, and about a hundred yards from Wilkins’s armed chair, over the side of a smooth limestone rock, ten or twelve feet, which we passed with much precaution, for had we slipped from our hold, we had gone to that “bourne whence no traveller returns,” if I may judge from a cataract of water, whose dismal sound we heard at a very considerable distance in this pit, and nearly under us. However, we crossed in safety, clinging fast to the wall, and winding under the haunted chamber, and through a very narrow passage for thirty or forty yards, when our course was west, and the passage twenty or thirty feet in width, and from ten to eighteen feet high, for more than a mile. The air was pure and delightful in this, as well as in other parts of the cave. At the farther end of this avenue, we came upon a reservoir of water, very clear and delightful to the taste, apparently having neither inlet nor outlet. Within a few yards of this reservoir of water, on the right hand of the cave, there is an avenue leading to the north-west. We had entered it but forty feet, when we came to several columns of the most brilliant spar, sixty or seventy feet in height, and almost perpendicular, which stand in basins of water, that comes trickling down their sides, then passes off silently from the basin, and enters the cavities of stone, without being seen again. These columns of spar, and the basins they rest in, for splendor and beauty, surpass every similar work of art I ever saw. We passed by these columns, and entered a small but beautiful chamber, whose walls were about twenty feet apart, and the arch not more than seven feet high, white as white-wash could have made it; the floor was level as far as I could see, which was not a great distance, as I found many pit-holes in my path, that appeared to have been lately sunk, and which induced me to return. We returned by the beautiful pool of water, which is called the pool of Clitorius, after the Fons Clitorius of the classics, which was so pure and delightful to the taste, that, after drinking of it, a person had no longer a taste for wine. On our way back to the narrow defile, I found some difficulty in keeping my lights, for the bats were so numerous and continually in our faces, that it was next to impossible to get along in safety. I brought this trouble on myself, by my own want of foresight, for as we were moving on, I noticed a large number of these bats hanging by their hind legs to the arch, which was not a foot higher than my head. I took my cane and gave a sweep the whole length of it, when down they fell; but soon, like so many imps, they tormented us until we reached the narrow defile, when they left us. We returned by Wilkins’s armed chair, and back to the second hopper, where I found the mummy before-mentioned, and which had been placed there by Mr. Wilkins, for preservation in another cave.’

Indiana Cave.—In the southern part of Indiana there is a remarkable cave, which abounds in Epsom Salts, and which is thus described by Mr. Adams.—‘The hill in which it is situated, is about four hundred feet high, from the base to the most elevated point, and the prospect to the south-east, in a clear day, is exceedingly fine, commanding an extensive view of the hills and valleys bordering on Big Blue river. The top of the hill is covered principally with oak and chesnut. The side to the south-east is mantled with cedar. The entrance is about midway from the base to the summit, and the surface of the cave preserves in general about that elevation; although I must acknowledge this to be conjectural, as no experiments have been made with a view to ascertain the fact. It is probably owing to this middle situation of the cave, that it is much drier than is common.

‘After entering the cave by an aperture twelve or fifteen feet wide, and in height, in one place, three or four feet, you descend with easy and gradual steps into a large and spacious room, which continues about a quarter of a mile pretty near the same in appearance, varying in height from eight to thirty feet, and in breadth from ten to twenty. In this distance the roof is in some places arched, in others a plane, and in one place, particularly, it resembles an inside view of the roof of a house. At the distance above-named the cave forks, but the right hand fork soon terminates, while the left rises by a flight of rocky stairs nearly ten feet high, into another story, and pursues a course at this place nearly south-east. Here the roof commences a regular arch, the height of which from the floor varies from five to eight feet, and the width of the cave from six to twelve feet—which continues to what is called the Creeping Place, from the circumstance of having to crawl ten or twelve feet into the next large room. From this place to the Pillar, a distance of about one mile and a quarter, the visitor finds an alternate succession of large and small rooms variously decorated; sometimes mounting elevated points by gradual or difficult ascents, and again descending as far below; sometimes travelling on a pavement, or climbing over huge piles of rocks, detached from the roof by some convulsion of nature, and thus continues his route until he arrives at the Pillar.

‘The aspect of this large and stately white column, as it heaves in sight from the dim reflection of the torches, is grand and impressive. Visitors have seldom pushed their inquiries further than two hundred or three hundred yards beyond this pillar. This column is about fifteen feet in diameter, from twenty to thirty feet in height, and regularly reeded from the top to the bottom. In the vicinity of this spot are some inferior pillars of the same appearance and texture.

‘I have thus given you an imperfect sketch of the mechanical structure and appearance of the cave. It only remains to mention its productions.

‘The first in importance is sulphate of magnesia, or Epsom salts, which, as has been before remarked, abounds throughout this cave in almost its whole extent, and which, I believe, has no parallel in the history of that article. This neutral salt is found in a great variety of forms, and in many different stages of formation, sometimes in lumps, varying from one to ten pounds in weight. The earth exhibits a shining appearance, from the numerous particles interspersed through the huge piles of dirt collected in different parts of the cave. The foregoing remark applies with truth, not only to the surface, but to three feet below it. This is the greatest distance hitherto examined. The walls are covered in different places with the same article, and reproduction goes on rapidly. With a view to ascertain this fact, I removed from a particular place every vestige of the salt, and in four or five weeks the place was covered with small needle-shaped crystals, exhibiting the appearance of frost.

‘The quality of the salt in this cave is inferior to none, and, when it takes its proper stand in regular and domestic practice, must be of national utility. With respect to the resources of this cave, I will venture to say that every competent judge must pronounce them inexhaustible. The worst earth that has been tried will yield four pounds of salt to the bushel, and the best from twenty to twenty-five pounds.

‘The next production is the nitrate of lime, or saltpetre earth. There are vast quantities of this earth, and equal in strength to any that I have ever seen; and when potassium can be more conveniently obtained than at present, the manufacture of saltpetre must be a lucrative pursuit. There are also large quantities of the nitrate of allumina or nitrate of argyl, which will yield as much nitrate of potassium or saltpetre, in proportion to the quantities of earth, as the nitrate of lime.

‘The three articles above enumerated are first in quantity and importance; but there are several others, which deserve notice as subjects of philosophical curiosity. The sulphate of lime, or plaster of Paris, is to be seen variously formed; ponderous, crystallized, and impalpable, or soft, light, and rather spongy. Vestiges of the sulphate of iron, are also to be seen in one or two places. Small specimens of the carbonate, and also the nitrate of magnesia, have been found. The rocks in the cave principally consist of carbonate of lime, or common limestone.

‘I had almost forgotten to state, that near the forks of the cave are two specimens of painting, probably of Indian origin. The one appears to be a savage, with something like a bow in his hand, and furnishes the hint that it was done when that instrument of death was in use. The other is so much defaced, that it is impossible to say what it was intended to represent.’

Carver’s Cave.—‘About twelve miles below the new garrison at St. Peter’s,’ says Mr. Schoolcraft, ‘we stopped to examine a remarkable cavern, on the east banks of the Mississippi, called Wakon-teebe, by the Narcotah or Sioux Indians, but which, in compliment to the memory of its first European visitor, should be denominated Carver’s Cave. It is situated in a rock of the most beautiful white sand-stone, at the head of a small valley about four hundred yards from the banks of the river. Its mouth is about sixty or seventy feet wide and twenty in height, but the former soon decreases to about twenty feet, and the latter to seven. This width gradually lessens as you advance during the first hundred yards, but the height remains nearly the same, so that a man can walk without stooping. Then it tapers into a narrow passage, where it is necessary to creep, which suddenly opens into a spacious chamber. From this a narrow crevice continues as far as it has been explored. Some of our party pursued it four hundred yards by the light of wax candles. It is very damp and chilly. There is a handsome stream of pure water running from its mouth. The temperature of the air in the cave was fifty-four degrees, that of the water forty-seven. As it is situated in sand-stone rock, it affords no stalactites, or spars. Some parts of the rock at the mouth are colored green, probably by the carbonate of copper. The bed of the brook is composed of a crystalline sand of the most snowy whiteness, originating from the disintegration of the surrounding walls. Scattered over this are a number of small pebbles, of so intensely black a color, as to create a pleasing contrast, when viewed through the medium of a clear stream. These, on examination, proved to be masses of limestone, granite, and quartz, colored externally by a thin deposit of earthy matter, and I conclude the color to proceed from the gallic acid, with which the water, percolating into the cavern, through the beds of oak leaves of the superincumbent forest, may be partially saturated. This cave has been visited by most persons who have passed up the Mississippi, if we may judge from the number of names found upon the walls. Among them, we were informed, was that of Captain Carver, who visited it in 1768, but we did not observe it. His grant of land from the Indians is dated in this cave, but the cave itself appears to have undergone a considerable alteration since that period, for he says that “about twenty feet from the entrance begins a lake, the water of which is transparent, and extends to an unsearchable distance.” As the rock is of a very friable nature, and easily acted upon by running water, it is probable that the lake has been discharged, thus enlarging the boundaries of the cave. He also remarks, “at a little distance from this dreary cavern, is the burying-place of several bands of the Nawdowessie (Sioux) Indians. Though these people have no fixed residence, living in tents, and abiding but a few months in one spot, yet they always bring the bones of their dead to this place; which they take the opportunity of doing when the chiefs meet to hold their councils, and to settle the public affairs for the ensuing summer.” We noticed no bones or traces of interment about the cave, but perhaps a further examination of the adjacent region would have led to a discovery.’

In Kentucky and Tennessee, caves are numerous, which appear to have been used for burial-places. In the county of Ulster, in New York, is a cave three quarters of a mile in length, caused by a stream running under ground. The rock which constitutes the roof and sides of the cave is a dark colored limestone, containing impressions of shells, calcareous spar, and beautiful white and yellow stalactites. At one end is a fall of water, the depth of which has not been fathomed. At Rhinebeck, near the Hudson, is a cave in which a narrow entrance leads to several spacious rooms, abounding with columns of stalactites. At Chester, in Warren county, there is a stream which passes under a natural bridge, and among many deep caverns; the waters enter in two streams, unite in the subterranean passage, and issue in a single current under a precipice sixty feet in height.

In the Laurel Mountain, in Pennsylvania, is a cavern with a very narrow entrance, and various winding passages, which has been traversed two miles. It is formed of a soft sandstone, and its roof is covered with millions of bats. At Durham in Bucks county, on the Delaware, is a cave in the limestone rock, abounding with pools and rivulets of water. At Carlisle is another somewhat similar, in which human bones have been discovered.

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CHAPTER IX.—ISLANDS.

MOST of the coast of Maine is thickly strewn with islands. The largest is Mount Desert, on the west side of Frenchman’s Bay; it is fifteen miles long, and twelve broad. Many fine islands lie in Penobscot Bay, as Long Island, on which is the town of Islesborough; the Fox Islands, containing the town of Vinalhaven; and Deer Isle, on the east side of the bay, about eight miles from Castine.

The Isles of Shoals belong partly to New Hampshire, and partly to Maine. They lie about eight miles out at sea, between Portsmouth and Newburyport, and are hardly more than a cluster of rocks rising above the waters; but they are, on many accounts, worthy of notice. They have but a thin and barren appearance, yet for more than a century previous to the revolution they were quite populous, containing at one time six hundred inhabitants, who found there an advantageous situation for carrying on fisheries. To this day the best cod in the world are those which are known in the market as Isle of Shoals dun fish. These islands were discovered by the celebrated Captain Smith in 1614, and called at first Smith’s Isles. The New Hampshire portion now constitutes the town of Gosport.

In all of them are chasms in the rocks apparently caused by earthquakes. There is a remarkable chasm on Star Island, where one of the female inhabitants secreted herself when the islands were invaded, and the people carried into captivity by the Indians. The largest is named Hog Island, and contains three hundred and fifty acres; Star Island has one hundred and fifty, Hayley’s one hundred; they are in all seven. The inhabitants are about one hundred; they live solely by fishing, and in connection with those of the shore in their immediate neighborhood, who follow the same mode of life, are the most rude and uncivilized beings in New England, except the Indians. They supply the markets of Newburyport with fish, and have long been known there by the name of Algerines. Efforts have recently been made to improve their social condition.

In the northern part of Massachusetts, at the mouth of the Merrimack, lies Plum Island, nine miles long and one wide. On the side towards the ocean it consists of sand hills twenty or thirty feet high, thrown into a thousand fantastic shapes like snow drifts in a storm. These hills are covered with low bushes bearing the beach plum, a fruit about the size of a musket ball, and of a pleasant taste; wild cherries and grapes also grow in different parts. In autumn it is much frequented by parties of pleasure from the neighborhood. At the northern extremity are two lighthouses and a hotel.

Nantucket, twenty miles south of the main land at Cape Cod, is an island of triangular form, about fifteen miles long and eleven broad in the widest part, containing twenty-nine thousand three hundred and eighty acres. It is removed at least twenty miles from the nearest land, and, during some parts of the winter, the water is frozen around it as far as the eye can reach, for a number of weeks. The climate is comparatively of an equal temperature. Springs of water on the island below a certain level have a peculiar taste, and are disagreeable to those unused to them. The frequency of dense and heavy fogs has frustrated the attempts made here, to manufacture salt by evaporation from sea-water.

The inhabitants of this island are a robust and enterprising race, chiefly seamen and mechanics; and those employed in the whale fishery are said to be superior to all others; the island, being sandy and barren, is calculated only for such people as are willing to depend almost entirely on the ocean for subsistence.24 The people are mostly of the society of Friends, and are warmly attached to their island; few wishing to remove to a more desirable situation.

There is a sand-bar at the entrance of the harbor of Nantucket, which effectually excludes large vessels, deeply laden. Some attempts have been recently made to remove this bank, and an appropriation of twenty-eight thousand dollars was made by government for this purpose; but the sand removed in summer was more than supplied in winter, and the project was abandoned. Ships now unlade at Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard, and their cargoes are taken in small vessels to the island. Some months in the year, they can unload at the bar. South-east of the island, and out of sight of land, lie Nantucket Shoals, a dangerous reef of sand, fifty miles in extent.

Martha’s Vineyard, west of Nantucket, and lying nearer the continent, is twenty miles long, and ten broad. This island has a good soil, and in the western part is somewhat elevated; it has many productive farms, and contains the town of Edgartown, which has a good harbor. Holmes’s Hole is a safe and commodious harbor in the north part of the island, much frequented during the winter by inward bound vessels. The Elizabeth Islands are a chain of sixteen small islands lying north-west of Martha’s Vineyard, and forming the south-east side of Buzzard’s Bay; a part of them only are inhabited. They were discovered by Bartholomew Gosnold, in 1602. A multitude of islands lie in Boston Bay, many of them very beautiful, but none of sufficient importance to merit particular description.

Rhode Island, in Narraganset Bay, is fifteen miles long from north-east to south-west, and averages two and a half in width. In its most flourishing state it was called by travellers the Eden of America. It has a good soil well cultivated, and an agreeably varied surface, but it is destitute of trees, the whole island having been laid waste by the British in the revolutionary war. A mine of anthracite coal has been wrought to some extent in the north part of the island, but is not now much esteemed. The town of Newport, in the south-west part, is a fashionable summer resort.

Conanicut is an island lying on the west side of Rhode Island; it is eight miles long and about one in breadth. This is also a beautiful island, and has a fertile soil. At the southern extremity is a lighthouse. In the same part may be seen the ruins of an ancient circular fortification, which once defended the passage of the bay.

Prudence Island, farther up Narraganset Bay, is six miles in length. Block Island lies ten miles out at sea, and is eight miles long and from two to four broad; it has an uneven surface, but produces maize and other grain. A lighthouse stands upon it. Among the other islands in Narraganset Bay are Patience, Hope, Dyers’ and Hog Island.

Long Island extends along the coast of Connecticut, but belongs wholly to New-York. It is one hundred and forty miles long from east to west, and its average breadth is about ten miles. It is of alluvial formation, but there is a rocky ridge or spine, extending lengthwise through it, which presents summits of considerable elevation. On the south side of the island is Hempstead Plain, an extensive tract of wild savanna, fifteen miles in length and four in breadth. In favorable years, the best parts of the island have yielded thirty or forty bushels of wheat to the acre. In the western parts are many fine orchards. Deer are found in great numbers in the centre of the island; the shores abound with the finest oysters.

Shelter Island lies off the east end of Long Island. It contains about eight thousand acres of varied surface, with a soil generally light and sandy, but in some parts rich, level, and well cultivated. Fisher’s Island lies near the east extremity of Long Island; it is twelve miles long and one wide; the surface is broken, but it affords a good farm, and its dairies are very fine. Gardiner’s Island is on the north side of Long Island, and contains about three thousand acres of valuable land.

Staten Island lies at the mouth of New-York harbor; it is about eighteen miles long, and eight wide. The surface is generally rough and hilly, but on the south is a level tract of good land. This island forms the county of Richmond.25

Manhattan Island, the seat of the city of New York, is fifteen miles long, and one and a half in its average breadth. It is washed on the western side by the Hudson, and separated from the continent and Long Island on the east by narrow channels. It is generally level in the lower part, and the soil here rests upon a granite rock. At the northern extremity, the granite is succeeded by limestone, which affords excellent marble, and extends for some distance into the country. In the northern part, the shores are rocky, and the face of the island strongly marked by abrupt crags and ravines, hills and valleys, insulated rocks and marshy inlets. The gneiss rock, which is much used for side-walk pavements and the foundations of buildings, is found in abundance here. Small quantities of porcelain clay have also been found upon the island.

The Bay of Chesapeak contains many islands within the limits of Maryland. Kent Island, on the east side of the bay, opposite Annapolis, is twelve miles long. The Tangier Islands lie farther down the bay. On the seacoast is the island of Assatiegue, twenty miles long and two broad.

The coast of North Carolina is skirted by a range of low, sandy islands, thrown up by the sea. They are long and narrow, and inclose several bays or sounds. They are generally barren. The southern part of South Carolina exhibits a similar range, separated from the main land by narrow channels, which afford a steam-boat navigation. These islands, like the neighboring continent, are low and flat, but are covered with forests of live oak, pine, and palmetto. Before the cultivation of cotton, many of them were the haunts of alligators, and their thick woods and rank weeds rendered them impenetrable to man. At present, they are under cultivation and well inhabited; and as the voyager glides along their shores in a steam-boat, he is enchanted with the prospect of their lively verdure, interspersed with thick clumps of palmettoes, live oak, and laurel, and flowering groves of orange trees. The long sandy beaches which border these islands towards the sea, are covered with thousands of water-fowl. Georgia is also bordered with a range of small islands and marshy tracts, intersected by channels and rivulets which are navigable for small vessels. These islands consist of a rich gray soil called hammoc land. In their natural state, they are covered with forests of live oak, pine, and hickory, but under cultivation they produce the best cotton in the world, called Sea-Island cotton. There are many small islands scattered along the coast of Florida; and off the southern extremity, at some distance from the land, lies a cluster, on one of which, Key West, the United States have established a naval station.

The Chandeleur Islands lie on the eastern coast of Louisiana; they are little more than heaps of sand, covered with pine forests. West of the Mississippi are many others scattered along the coast. Here is the island of Barataria, formerly noted as a nest of pirates. It lies in a bay which receives the waters of a lake of the same name. The soil of these islands is generally rich; most of them are low and level. There are some very fertile islands in the Mississippi,26 and in the Great Lakes.

The Island of Michilimackinac, in the strait connecting Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, is important in a political point of view, being the Gibraltar of the north-west. It is of an elliptical form, about seven miles in circumference, rising gradually to the centre; its figure suggested to the mind of the Indians its appropriate name, Michi Mackina,27 (Great Turtle.) The greater part of the island is almost an impenetrable thicket of underwood and small trees, which contribute materially to the defence of the garrison. Fort Holmes stands on a summit of the island, several hundred feet above the level of Lake Huron, and is now one of the most formidable positions in the western country. The French were the first settlers, and their descendants, to a considerable number, reside near the Fort.

Maniton Island is situated near the eastern coast of Lake Michigan; it is six miles long and four wide, and is held sacred by the Indians. The Castor Islands are a chain of islets, extending from Grand Traverse Bay nearly across the lake; they are low and sandy, but afford a shelter for light boats in their passage to Green Bay. Grosse Isle is a valuable alluvion of several thousand acres, being five miles long, and from one to two wide.

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CHAPTER X.—CAPES AND PENINSULAS.

Cape Ann, the northern limit of Massachusetts Bay, is a rocky promontory, fifteen miles in length, containing several good harbors. The peninsula of Cape Cod, in the south-east part of Massachusetts, is about sixty-five miles long, and from one to twenty miles broad; its shape is nearly that of a man’s arm bent inward at the elbow and wrist. The greater part of the peninsula is a barren desert; in the south-western portion the land, though sterile, is under some little cultivation; but the northern part consists almost wholly of hills of white sand. The houses are built upon stakes driven into the ground, with open spaces between for the sand to drift through. The cape is well inhabited, notwithstanding its sterility, and supports a population of twenty-eight thousand, who derive their subsistence chiefly from the fisheries. The coast is beset with numerous shoals, and has long been the dread of mariners. At the first settlement of the country, there was an island east of the cape, about nine miles out at sea, which was twenty acres in extent, and covered with savin and cedar trees; for a century this island has been entirely submerged, and the water is above six fathoms deep.

The peninsula of Nahant, a few miles north of the harbor of Boston, is connected with the main land by Lynn beach, a smooth and level floor of sand two miles in length. It is divided into Great Nahant, Little Nahant, and Bass Neck: the two former being connected by a delightful beach ninety rods long. These beaches are hard and smooth, and of sufficient width at low water to accommodate thousands with a pleasant walk or ride. Great Nahant contains three hundred and five acres of land. The shores of this peninsula are bold and rocky. On its southern side is a large and curious cavern called the Swallows’ House, inhabited by a great number of swallows, which here make their nests. On the northern shore is a chasm thirty feet deep, called the Spouting Horn, into which, at about half-tide, the water rushes with great violence and a tremendous sound.

Nahant presents some of the most striking sea views in the world. After an easterly storm, the violent dashing of the huge waves against the rocks presents a spectacle possessing all the elements of the sublime. During the heat of summer, Nahant is a favorite place of resort for invalids, and people of fashion, on account of its cool and refreshing breezes.

Cape May, on the coast of New Jersey, and the northern point of the mouth of Delaware Bay, is the termination of a range of low, sandy, barren coast, commencing at Shrewsbury. It is eighteen miles north-east of Cape Henlopen, a point on the southern coast of the entrance to the same bay. On this cape is a lighthouse of an octagon form, handsomely built of stone, one hundred and fifteen feet high, and on a foundation nearly as much above the level of the sea. Cape Henry is the southern salient point at the mouth of Chesapeak Bay; and its northern salient point, twelve miles distant to the north, is the promontory of Cape Charles.

Cape Hatteras, the most remarkable and dangerous cape on the coast of North American, is situated in latitude thirty-five degrees and twelve minutes, and has occasioned the destruction of many a fine vessel, and the loss of hundreds of valuable lives. The water is very shoal at a great distance from the cape, which is remarkable for sudden and violent squalls of wind, and for the most severe storms of thunder, lightning, and rain, which happen almost every day for one half the year. The shoals lie about fourteen miles south-west of the cape, and are nearly five or six acres in extent, with about ten feet water. Here, at times, the ocean breaks in a tremendous manner, spouting as it were to the clouds, from the violent agitation of the Gulf Stream, which touches the edge of the banks.

Cape Fear and Cape Lookout are dangerous capes on the coast of North Carolina. The former is the southern extremity of Smith’s Island, at the mouth of the river of the same name. About sixty years ago, Cape Lookout afforded an excellent harbor, capacious enough for a large fleet in good deep water; but the basin is now filled up. Roman is the name of a cape on the coast of South Carolina, and of one on the western coast of East Florida. Cape Cannaveral is on the Atlantic coast of Florida, being the projecting point of a long, narrow and low sandy island between Indian river and the ocean. Cape Florida is a promontory of the south-eastern coast of Florida, projecting to the south, and inclosing on the north-east the Bay of Biscino. Cape Sable is the extreme point of Florida. Every part of the coast of the Southern States is low and flat, without a single lofty headland to warn the navigator of his approach to the land. The peninsula of East Florida may be considered an immense cape, and much the largest in the United States. The Mississippi has formed at its mouth, by the mud brought down in its waters, a cape forty miles in extent, the extreme point of which is called the Balize, through the whole length of which the river passes into the Gulf of Mexico.

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CHAPTER XI.—BAYS, HARBORS, SOUNDS, AND GULFS.

I. BAYS AND HARBORS.

THE seacoast of Maine is indented with numerous bays. Of these the largest is Penobscot Bay, which forms the estuary of the river of that name, is about thirty miles in length, and eighteen in width at its entrance between the isle of Holt and Owl’s Head. It incloses Fox, Haut, Long, and Deer islands, besides a number of small islands and rocks. On a fine peninsula in this bay the British, in the late war, built a fort, and made a settlement, which is now the shire town of the county of Hancock, and is a very commodious place for the lumber trade. Broad Bay is situated about twelve miles westwardly, and is bounded by Pleasant-point on the east, and Pemaquid-point on the west, the latter of which projects considerably into the sea. Casco Bay lies between Cape Elizabeth and Cape Smallpoint, and averages twenty-five miles in width by fourteen in length; it forms the entrance into Sagadahok river, and has sufficient depth of water for vessels of any burden. This is a very handsome bay, and contains not less than three hundred small islands, some of which are inhabited, and nearly all more or less cultivated; the land on these islands, and on the opposite coast, being the best for agriculture of any near the seashore of this part of the country. Wells Bay lies between Cape Porpoise and Neddick, which are twenty-one miles apart. Passamaquoddy Bay, forming a part of the boundary between Maine and New Brunswick, is six miles long and twelve wide; it contains many islands, and receives the St. Croix river. Small harbors are numerous, and the shores are rocky and bold. Besides the bays here described, are the Saco and Machias bays.

Massachusetts Bay is about forty miles in extent, lying between Cape Ann on the north and Cape Cod on the south. Within this lies Boston Bay, comprising the space between Nahant on the north and Point Alderton on the south, and including the harbors of Boston, Lynn, Dorchester, Quincy, and Hingham, with Nantucket and President Roads, and the numerous islands within the Boston lighthouse. The most noted of these are Governor’s Island, and Castle Island, on both of which fortifications are erected; they lie about two and a half miles easterly from Boston, at the distance of about a mile from each other, dividing the inner from the outer harbor. The only channel for large ships passes between them. This harbor is of sufficient extent, and its water is sufficiently deep to admit five hundred ships of the largest class to ride at anchor in safety; while its entrance is so narrow as scarcely to admit two ships abreast.

In the south of Massachusetts Bay is Cape Cod Bay, fifteen or twenty miles in extent, lying between Cape Cod and Plymouth; within this are Barnstable and Plymouth Bays. In the south of the state is Buzzard’s Bay, on the south-west side of Cape Cod, twenty miles deep, and inclosing the harbor of New Bedford. ‘Buzzard’s Bay,’ says a recent and entertaining tourist, ‘has much that is interesting on its extensive shores. A beautiful little spot called Naushaw, will not fail to attract the attention of the voyager on his way to Nantucket. Parts of it are thickly covered with woods. From its centre, on an eminence, rises a picturesque spot, which was built by an English gentleman of wealth, for his summer residence. Some time previous to his death, he became impressed with the belief that, at the expiration of twenty years after his decease, he should return and resume the occupations of life. He accordingly gave orders that the house with its furniture, should remain unmolested until the expiration of that time, when he should again return to occupy it. Every thing remained as he would have it for some time after his death. But eventually the house and furniture were sold, and passed into other hands. Thirty or forty summers have reinvigorated the turf of his grave, but he has not yet returned, to claim his property, or to reinhabit the decaying mansion.’ The boat passes from the bay into the sound, through a narrow passage called Wood’s Hole, a place very intricate and difficult of navigation. Breakers run out from the shore in all directions; so that a straight course through, would be impossible. The boat in passing through this miniature Hurl Gate, makes a course in the form of the letter s.

Narraganset Bay intersects the state of Rhode Island, and is about twenty-eight miles long and ten miles broad. It contains fifteen islands; it has many excellent harbors, and affords great advantages for navigation. Newport harbor, in the channel between Conanicut and Rhode Island, is one of the finest in the world, being safe, deep, capacious, and easily accessible. Its entrance is defended by Fort Wolcott on Goat’s Island, and Fort Adams on Rhode Island; the latter is a large stone castle of great strength. The banks of this bay are covered with fine settlements, the view of which from the water is highly pleasing and picturesque.

The seacoast of New York is nearly all comprised within the shores of Long Island, which contain a few harbors and inlets, but none that are much frequented by shipping. The bay or harbor of New York is very safe and capacious; its boundaries towards the sea are Long Island and Staten Island; it extends nine miles below the city, and is from a mile and a half to five miles broad; inclosing several small islands, on which are fortifications. The Hudson enters this bay from the north. The East river, or channel between New York Island and Long Island, communicates with Long Island Sound on the east. The Kills, a strait between Staten Island and the Jersey shore, communicates with Newark Bay and the river Raritan on the west; and the Narrows open into the Atlantic towards the south. At low water, the entrance by the Narrows is somewhat difficult for large ships, and the entrance from the Sound is obstructed by the rocky strait of Hell Gate. There are several harbors on Lake Ontario, the most noted of which is Sacket’s Harbor, toward the east end of the lake; it is deep and safe, and was an important naval station during the war of 1812.

New Jersey has a long line of seacoast, but it is quite deficient in good harbors. Newark Bay is rather a small lake, communicating by long outlets with the sea. The Bay of Amboy, between Staten Island and Sandy Hook, affords little shelter for vessels. There is a long bay, formed by a beach four or five miles from the shore, extending along the coast from Manasquan river, in Monmouth county, almost to Cape May. Through this beach are a number of inlets, by which the bay communicates with the ocean. Delaware Bay lies between the states of Delaware and New Jersey, formed by the mouth of Delaware river and several other smaller ones. It is sixty-five miles long, and in the centre about thirty miles across, and about eighteen at its mouth, from Cape May to Cape Henlopen. This bay has many shoal places, but is in general deep and favorable to navigation. A breakwater and dike are now constructing by the United States’ government at the entrance of the bay. The anchorage ground is formed by a cove in the southern shore, directly west of the pitch of Cape Henlopen and the seaward, and of an extensive shoal called the Shears: the tail of which makes out from the shore about five miles up the bay, near the mouth of Broadkill Creek, from whence it extends eastward, and terminates at a point about two miles to the northward of the shore at the cape. The breakwater consists of an insulated dike or wall of stone, formed in a straight line from east south-east to west north-west, and twelve hundred yards in length. At the distance of three hundred and fifty yards from the western end of the breakwater, a similar dike of five hundred yards in length is projected in a direct line, west by south, one half south, forming an angle of one hundred and forty-six degrees fifteen minutes with the breakwater. This part of the works is more particularly designed as an ice-breaker. The whole length of the two dikes above described, is seventeen hundred yards. The entrance to the harbor is six hundred and fifty yards in width, between the north point of the cape and the east end of the breakwater. At this opening, the harbor will be accessible during all winds coming from the sea.28

The Chesapeak Bay is a deep gulf opening from the Atlantic ocean, between capes Henry and Charles, and lying in the states of Maryland and Virginia. It is one hundred and eighty-five miles in length, extending northwardly, and its entrance is sixteen miles wide. Its general breadth varies from seven to twenty miles, and its average depth is nine fathoms; it affords a safe and easy navigation, and many fine harbors. Among these may be mentioned that of Norfolk, in the southern part of the bay near the mouth of the James. The embouchure of this river forms a spacious haven, called Hampton Roads.

The channel which leads in from the capes of Virginia to Hampton Roads, is, at Old Point Comfort, reduced to a very narrow line. The shoal water, which, under the action of the sea, and re-acted upon by the bar, is kept in an unremitting ripple, has given the name of Rip Raps to this place. When the bar is passed, Hampton Roads afford the finest anchorage in the world, and in them all its navies might ride with perfect safety. With a view of making this a secure retreat for ships of war and for our commerce, in any future contest with a naval power, Fort Monroe was built on the point, on the right side of the channel at the entrance of the Roads; and the Castle of the Rip Raps is directly opposite the point, at the distance of about one thousand nine hundred yards. The two forts will completely command the channel, and it will be impossible for a single ship of war to pass without the permission of the power holding the fortresses. They are so constructed, as to present immense batteries of cannon upon an approaching ship, from the moment she comes in reach, from the capes, and throughout all the bendings of the channel.29

Chesapeak Bay, and its tributary streams, have been known from their discovery as the great place of resort for water-fowl in the United States. This is attributed to the great abundance of their favorite food, which is found on the immense flats or shoals near the mouth of the Susquehanna, the whole length of North, East, and Elk rivers, and on the shores of the Bay as far south as York and James rivers.

The harbors of North and South Carolina are generally bad. That of Charleston is obstructed at its entrance by a dangerous sand-bar; that of Georgetown will admit only small craft. The harbor of Beaufort or Port Royal is the best in the state, but is little frequented. The largest bays of Florida are those of Apalachicola, St. Andrew’s, Ochlockney, and Pensacola. Alabama has but about sixty miles of seacoast, containing the spacious Bay of Mobile, which extends thirty miles inland. It has two principal entrances, one of which has eighteen feet depth of water. To the west it communicates by a shallow passage with the Bay of Pascagoula, which lies within a number of islands, on the coast of this state and Mississippi.

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CHAPTER XII.—OCEANS.

THE United States are washed by the Atlantic Ocean on nearly the whole of their eastern coast, and by the Pacific on a large portion of their western boundary.

Under the name of the Atlantic, is comprised that mass of water between the eastern coast of America and the western coast of Europe and Africa. In its narrowest part, between Europe and Greenland, it is one thousand miles wide, and opening thence to the south-west with the general range of the bounding continents, spreads under the northern tropic to a breadth of sixty degrees of longitude, or four thousand one hundred and seventy miles, without estimating the Gulf of Mexico. The general phenomena on the two opposing sides of the Atlantic have great resemblance. The Atlantic coast of the United States presents an elliptic curve in its entire extent, with three intermediate and similar curves; the first extending seven hundred miles from Cape Florida to Cape Hatteras, the second from Cape Hatteras five hundred miles to the outer capes of Massachusetts, and the third formed by the coasts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. Opposite to the United States, the Atlantic admits soundings in every place near the shores, always deepening very gradually. We have not found an exact comparison of the natural history of the Atlantic with that of other oceans. The chief phenomenon that marks it along the coast of the states is the Gulf Stream.

Besides the regular periodical currents produced in the ocean by the tides, various others arise from different causes.31 The waters of the sea may be put in motion by an external impulse, by a difference in temperature and saltness, by the periodical meeting of the polar ice, or by the inequality of evaporation that takes place in different latitudes. Sometimes several of these causes concur in producing the same effect; at others, their actions are opposed to one another, and their effects wholly or partially destroyed. Some of those currents constantly follow the same direction, others are subject to periodical changes, whilst a third class are more accidental. The most regular and extensive current on the globe is that which constantly flows from east to west, between the tropics, and extends on each side of the equator to about the thirtieth degree of latitude.

This vast current necessarily results from the attraction of the heavenly bodies, the diurnal motion of the earth, and the direction of the trade winds. Its existence is incontestibly proved by the fact, that vessels sailing to the westward, are always ahead of their reckoning; that is, their real situation, as determined by observations of the heavenly bodies, is always found to be west of that estimated from the rate of which the vessel is supposed to sail, as impelled by the wind alone. This difference of situation is occasioned by the general movement of the waters in the same direction, and is, consequently, the proper measure of the current. This is the reason why navigators, in sailing from Europe to America and the West India Islands, make the latitude of the Canaries, and then shape their course in the direction of the wind and current across the Atlantic.

A general current also flows from the poles towards the equator. This arises from the increased evaporation in the equatorial regions, and the augmented temperature of the waters, which render them specifically lighter than those of the ocean in higher latitudes, as well as from the increased supplies produced by the melting of the polar ice; all of which render these currents necessary to maintain the equilibrium of this perpetually circulating fluid. Their existence and effects are fully attested by the enormous masses of polar ice, which they convey into the more temperate regions of the ocean, and which sometimes float as low as forty degrees of latitude.

These general currents are greatly modified, and changed into various directions by the obstacles they encounter in their progress. The coast of America, and the numerous islands with which it is flanked, intercept the general current of the Atlantic, and create what navigators call the Gulf Stream. This great current enters the Gulf of Mexico, and, sweeping round the shores of that gulf, issues with accelerated velocity towards the north, by the channel between the southern point of Florida and the Bahama Islands.32 It then rolls along the shore of North America, diminishing in velocity, but increasing in breadth, till it reaches the great bank of Newfoundland. There it suddenly turns towards the east and south-east, and flows with still decreasing velocity, towards the shores of Europe, the Azores, and the coasts of Africa. Navigators readily distinguish this current by the high temperature of its waters, their great saltness, their indigo color, and the shoals of sea-weed33 that cover their surface.

Humboldt, in May, 1804, observed its velocity in the twenty-seventh degree of latitude, and found it about eighty miles in twenty-four hours, though the north wind blew very strongly at the time of the observation. When it issues from the Gulf of Florida, its velocity resembles that of a torrent, and is sometimes five miles an hour, but at others not more than three. Between the nearest point of Florida, and the bank of Bahama, the breadth is only fifteen leagues, but a few degrees further north, it is seventeen; in the parallel of Charleston it is from forty to fifty leagues in breadth, and in latitude forty degrees and twenty-five minutes, this is increased to nearly eighty leagues. The waters of the torrid zone, being thus forcibly impelled towards the north-east, preserve their high temperature to such a degree, that, in latitude forty and forty-one degrees, it has been found to be seventy-two degrees of Fahrenheit, while out of the current the temperature of the water was only sixty-three degrees.

In the parallel of New York the temperature of the Gulf Stream is equal to that of the sea in latitude eighteen degrees. When the current reaches the western islands of the Azores, where the breadth is about one hundred and sixty leagues, the waters still preserve a part of the impulsion they receive in the Gulf of Florida, nearly one thousand leagues distant. Hence the current proceeds to the Canaries and the coast of Africa, and in the latitude of Cape Blanco, where the waters flow towards the south-west, they mingle with the current of the tropics, and recommence their tour from east to west.

From this it appears that the waters of the Atlantic, between the eleventh and forty-third degrees, are constantly drawn by currents into a kind of whirlpool; and if a drop of these waters be supposed to return precisely to the place from which it commenced its motion, Humboldt has calculated, from the known velocity of the current, that it would require two years and ten months to complete its circuit of three thousand eight hundred leagues.

‘A boat,’ he observes, ‘which may be supposed to receive no impulsion from the winds, would require thirteen months from the Canary Islands, to reach the coast of Caraccas, ten months to make the tour of the Gulf of Mexico and reach the Tortoise Shoals, opposite the port of Havana, while forty or fifty days might be sufficient to carry it from the straits of Florida to the bank of Newfoundland. Estimating the velocity of the water at seven or eight miles in twenty-four hours, in their progress from this bank to the coast of Africa, it would require ten or eleven months for this last distance. Such are the effects of this slow but regular motion, which agitates the waters of the ocean.’ The Gulf Stream furnished to Christopher Columbus indications of the existence of land to the west. This current had carried upon the Azores the bodies of two men of an unknown race, and pieces of bamboo of an enormous size. In latitude forty-five or fifty degrees, near Bonnet Flamand, an arm of the Gulf Stream flows from the south-west to the north-east, towards the coast of Europe. It deposits upon the coasts of Ireland and Norway, trees and fruits belonging to the torrid zone. Remains of a vessel burnt at Jamaica were found upon the coast of Scotland. It is likewise this river of the Atlantic which annually throws the fruits of the West Indies upon the shore of Norway.

The Pacific is also one of the great boundaries of the United States. By treaties with Spain and Russia our government possesses sovereignty along the Pacific ocean from latitude forty-two degrees to fifty-four degrees and forty minutes, which is equal to about eight hundred and eighty statute miles. This great ocean extends from Beering’s Straits to the antarctic circle, a distance of three thousand two hundred leagues, and from Asia and New Holland to America. It is separated from the Atlantic and Antarctic oceans only by imaginary lines. Its extreme breadth, a little north of the equator, is four thousand five hundred and fifty leagues; between South America and New Holland, latitude thirty degrees south, it is two thousand nine hundred and seventy leagues. It contains an immense number of islands spread over its surface, particularly between latitude thirty degrees north and fifty degrees south, to which modern geographers have given the general appellation of Oceanica. It was first called the South Sea by the European navigators who entered it from the north. Magellan gave it the name of Pacific, on account of the prevalence of calms which he experienced in it; but it by no means deserves the name, as it is remarkable for the fury of its storms, and the agitation of its waters. The trade-winds, which constantly blow between the tropics, render the passage from the western coast of America to Asia very short; but the return is proportionately difficult. The Portuguese were the first Europeans who entered the Pacific, which they did from the east. Balboa, in 1513, discovered it from the summit of the mountains which traverse the Isthmus of Darien. Magellan sailed across it from east to west in 1521.34

The Pacific, by its general motion, retreats from the coast of America, and flows from east to west; and this motion is very powerful in the vast and uninterrupted extent of that sea. Near Cape Corriantes, in Peru, the sea appears to flow from the land by this single cause. Ships are carried with rapidity from the port of Acapulco, in Mexico, to the Philippine Islands. But in order to return, they are obliged to go to the north of the tropics, to seek the polar current, and the variable winds. On the other side, the south polar current, finding no land to impede it, carries along with it the polar ice even to the latitude where the motion of the tropical current begins to be felt. This is the reason why, in the southern hemisphere, floating pieces of ice are met with at fifty and even at forty degrees.

In its motion towards the west, the Pacific is impeded by an immense archipelago of flats, islands, submarine mountains, and even land of considerable extent; it penetrates into this labyrinth, and there forms one current after another. The direction which the principal of these currents observe, is conformable to the general motion towards the west. But, as might be expected, the inequalities of the basin of the sea, the coasts, and the chains of submarine mountains, sometimes turn these currents toward the north or south. We may easily conceive that a strong repercussion of the waters of the ocean, in consequence of their meeting with a large mass of land, (as New South Wales,) may even produce a counter current, which will return towards the east, and which, by breaking, will also produce other currents, adverse and dangerous to navigators, and such as were encountered by Cook and La Perouse.

The Pacific Ocean is bounded on the east by Asia. Beering’s Straits connects it with the Arctic Ocean, and the line which indicates the one hundred and forty-seventh eastern meridian, arbitrarily separates it from the Indian Ocean. Geographers divide the Pacific into the northern and southern, the equator being the line of demarcation. This ocean occupies fifty millions of square miles; nearly one fourth part of the surface of the globe. It covers three times the extent of the Indian, and twice the extent of the Atlantic Ocean.

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CHAPTER XIII.—SOIL.

EVERY variety of soil is found within the territory of the United States, and an accurate general estimate is not of course to be formed. We will first describe that portion of the country known as the Atlantic Slope. Next to the ocean are salt meadows or marshes, but little elevated above the water, towards which, their surface has a very slight inclination. They are covered with a peculiar reddish grass, from six to twelve inches in height, growing very thick, and forming with its roots a compact turf or sward, which is only cut with a sharp instrument and by considerable force. These meadows are overflowed by the salt water a few inches deep, several times every spring, and to this their peculiar character is attributed; for when the water is kept from them by dikes, the upland grasses take root, the turf loses its tenacity and crumbles, and in a few years their appearance is entirely changed. A slope of about six feet in two or three rods lies between these meadows and low water mark; this is covered with a coarse tall grass called sedge, which requires the returns of the daily tides to bring it to maturity.

Adjoining the salt meadows, and on the same level, at the farthest extent of the overflowing of the spring tides, fresh meadows immediately commence, which generally extend to the upland; sometimes, however, there is an interval of wet ground covered with bushes, or a swamp between them and the upland. They are wet, and usually too soft to bear a wagon. Similar meadows are sometimes found several miles from any salt meadows or salt water, and generally at the heads of rivers, where the face of the country is level. These meadows bear a general resemblance, all being covered with wild grass, varying in height from twelve to thirty-six inches, according to the quantity of water in the soil; the more water there is, the more rank becomes the growth of the grass, until flags and rushes take its place. The meadows are much lower than the upland, and were evidently formed by the agency of water, depositing an alluvion composed of the fine particles from the high grounds, and decayed vegetable matter. When drained by means of ditches, they become hard, will produce cultivated grass, and even trees, and will in a few years lose all their former features, except their low situation and level aspect.

The soil of this section is to a great extent sandy; very light therefore, and sometimes barren, more especially near the coast, where there are much marsh land, and extensive swamps. In many places these swamps are covered with an impenetrable growth of timber, especially of the cypress, and some species of the pine, which are favored by the deep clayed soil, with its rich annual deposit; Louisiana, towards the sea, exhibits a great breadth of this country through its whole extent. Along the rivers a rich clay is found in considerable quantities; many fertile spots are likewise interspersed among the sands, and the land generally improves as it approaches the mountains. The best soil is in the central portions of the slope. In the alluvial district of Louisiana the soil is, for the most part, deep and rich; it is also strong and vigorous on the Red river. Along the range of the Apalachian Mountains a thin and poor soil prevails, mingled, however, with many rich and productive valleys. In the northern portion of it is a considerable extent of hilly, flinty, and consequently barren land.

When we cross the mountains, and come to the slope descending to the Mississippi, we survey a large extent of country almost universally fertile, and divided, as we have before mentioned, into the thickly timbered, the barren, and the prairie country. In the first division every traveller remarks a grandeur in the form and size of the trees, a depth of verdure in the foliage, and a luxuriance of growth of every sort, that distinguish this country from other regions. The trees are large, tall, and rise aloft free from branches, like columns. In the richer lands they are generally wreathed with a drapery of ivy, bignonia, grape vines, or other creepers. Intermingled with the foliage of the trees are the broad leaves of the grape vines, with trunks occasionally as large as the human body. Sometimes the forests are entirely free from undergrowth; at others, the only shrub is the graceful and splendid papaw; but often, particularly in the richer alluvions of the south, beneath the trees, are impenetrable cane brakes, and a tangle of brambles, briars, vines, and every sort of weed.

The country denominated barrens has a very distinct and singular configuration. It has usually a surface gently undulating, in long and uniform ridges. The soil is generally of a clayey texture, of a reddish or grayish color, covered with tall, coarse grass. The trees are thinly scattered, seldom either large or dwarfish. They are chiefly oaks, and have an appearance peculiar to the region they inhabit. The general quality of the land seldom exceeds the third rate; but in the proper latitudes, it is favorable to the growth of wheat and fruit trees. On the little elevations of the barrens, trees and grass grow; but grass and weeds are the only occupants of the low grounds. The soil of the barrens is alluvial to a greater or less depth, though on some of the highest points there is very little; and the lower the ground the deeper the alluvion. On the elevations, when there is no alluvion, a stiff blue clay is found, without pebbles. On the little ridges, where the dampness is not too great, the oak or the hickory has taken possession, and there grows to a moderate height in clusters; on the low lands the soil is too wet and the grass too thick for such a growth.

The barrens then are natural meadows, covered with tall coarse grass, varying in extent and figure, with here and there a piece of elevated ground, decked with a cluster of trees; add to this, a reddish stream running through ground but little lower than the surrounding plain, and you have the picture complete. There are large districts of this description in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama; they are common in Illinois and Missouri, and are found more or less over the whole valley of the Mississippi. This region and the bushy prairies, abound in those singular cavities called sink-holes, which are generally in the shape of inverted cones, from ten to seventy feet in depth, and at the top from sixty to three hundred feet in circumference. Willows and other aquatic vegetables grow at the sides and bottom. There is little doubt that these cavities are caused by running waters, which find their way through the limestone cavities beneath the upper stratum of the soil.

The remaining surface is that of the prairies, and this is by far the most extensive. These may be classed under three general divisions, though they have great diversity of aspect; the heathy, or bushy; the alluvial, or wet; and the dry, or rolling prairies. The bushy prairies seem to be intermediate between the barrens and the alluvial prairies. They have springs, abound in bushes and shrubs, with grape vines, and in the summer with a great variety of flowers; the bushes are often overtopped with the common hop vine. Prairies of this description are very common in Illinois, Mississippi, and Indiana, and they occur among the other prairies to a considerable distance towards the Chippewayan Mountains. The dry prairies are for the most part without springs, and destitute of all vegetation except weeds, flowering plants, and grass. To the sight they are nearly level, but their inclination is proved by the quick motion of the water courses. This class of prairies is by far the most extensive. Here are the haunts of the buffaloes, and here the traveller may wander for days without wood or water, and the horizon on every side sinking to contact with the grass.

The alluvial or wet prairies form the last and smallest division. They occur generally on the margins of water courses, though they are sometimes found with all their distinctive peculiarities, far from the points where waters run at present. They are commonly basins, and their outline is strongly marked; their soil is black, deep, friable, and wonderfully rich. Native grasses spring on them in singular luxuriance, rising to a great height, but they are too loamy for the cultivated grasses. In proper latitudes they are excellent for wheat and maize. Still more than the rolling prairies, they appear to the eye a dead level, though they have slight inclinations and depressions; yet from the general equality, and immense amount of vegetation, small ponds and bayous are formed there, which fill from the rivers and rains, and are only exhausted during the intense heats of summer, by evaporation.

In the alluvial prairies that are connected with the rivers, these ponds are filled in the season of high waters with fish of various kinds; as the water becomes low, and their course connecting with the river become dry, the fish are taken by cartloads among the high grass, where the water is three or four feet deep. When the waters evaporate, the fish die, and thousands of buzzards are unable to prevent them from polluting the air. This decayed matter seriously affects the salubrity of the climate.

Along these rich plains, herds of deer are seen, flying with the rapidity of the wind, or feeding quietly with the domestic cattle. In the spring and autumn, water-fowl in innumerable flocks hover about the ponds and lakes of these prairies, to feast on the oily seeds of the plants and grasses. During the months of vegetation, the richer prairies are blooming with flowers, of whose variety, number, forms, hues, and odors, description can furnish no adequate idea. Most of the prairie plants have tall and arrowy stems, with spiked or tassellated heads, and the flowers have great size, gaudiness and splendor, without much delicacy or fragrance. In the spring their prevailing color is bluish purple; in mid-summer, red mingled with yellow; in autumn, the flowers are large, generally of the helianthus shape, and of a rich golden color.

The northern shores of Lake Ontario and Erie, the western shore of Lake Huron, and the general surface of the valleys of the Ohio, the Illinois, and the Mississippi, afford a highly productive soil. More to the southward, the extended valley of the Tennessee is one of the most fertile portions of the republic; and the same fertility extends itself beyond the Mississippi below the Missouri, until it is checked by the Ozark Mountains, whose productive portion is confined to the valleys. To the west of these mountains, and of the Missouri, the soil becomes less and less fertile, till we reach the Great American Desert, which has already been described. The eastern shores of Lake Michigan, and the southern coast of Lake Superior, are either sandy or rocky, and generally barren.

Among the Rocky Mountains are sheltered and fertile valleys, though their summits are of course rocky, sterile, and covered with snow the greater part of the year. The timber in the mountains is pine, spruce, fir, and other terebinthines. Though deficient in timber, the terrace plains below have generally a fine soil. The prairies, like those in the Mississippi valley, are covered with coarse grass and a variety of beautiful flowers. Among the prairie plants are two or three kinds of roots, which furnish food to the savages. Wild sage is found in abundance; it grows of the size and height of a small tree, and on these extensive plains is one of the principal articles of fuel. For a considerable distance into the interior, the seashore is skirted with deep and thick forests of evergreen. On the whole, it is believed that few countries on the earth have a more fertile soil, than the valleys west of the Rocky Mountains.

‘In estimating the quality of new lands in America,’ says Dr. Dwight, ‘serious errors are very commonly entertained, from want of due attention to the following fact: Wherever the forest has been undisturbed by fire, they have accumulated, by shedding their foliage through a long succession of ages, and by their own decay, a covering of vegetable mould from six to twelve inches deep, and sometimes from eighteen to twenty-four. This mould is the best of all soils, and eminently friendly to every species of vegetation. It is, indeed, no other than a mere mass of manure, and that of the very best kind, converted into mould; and so long as it remains in considerable quantities, all grounds produce plentifully. Unless a proper allowance be made, therefore, when we are forming an estimate of the quality of soils, for the efficacy of this mould, which, so far as my observation has extended, is not often done, those on which it abounds will be of course overrated. On the contrary, where it does not abound, the quality of the soil will, in a comparative view, be underrated. Hence all maple lands which, from their moisture, are incapable of being burnt, are considered as more fertile than they ultimately prove; while oak, and even pine lands, are, almost of course, regarded as being less fertile. The maple lands in Ballston are found to produce wheat in smaller quantities, and of a worse quality, than the inhabitants, misled by the exhuberance of their first crops, expected. Their pine lands, on the contrary, yield more and better wheat than, till very lately, they could have been induced to believe. The same things severally are true, as I have already observed, of the oak and maple lands in the county of Ontario.

‘From this source it has arisen that all the unburnt new lands in the northern, middle, southern, and western states, have been, and still are, uniformly valued beyond their real worth. When the tract on the mountains in Massachusetts was first settled, the same luxuriant fertility was attributed to it which has since characterized Kentucky. About the same time it was ascribed to the Valley of Housatonic, in the county of Berkshire. From these tracts it was transferred to the lands in New Hampshire and Vermont, on the Connecticut; and from thence to those in Vermont, on the western side of the Green Mountains. From these regions the paradise has travelled to the western part of the state of New York, to New Connecticut, to Upper Canada, to the countries on the Ohio, to the south-western territory, and is now making its progress over the Mississippi into the newly purchased regions of Louisiana. The accounts given of all these countries, successively, were extensively true, but the conclusions which were deduced from them were, in a great measure, erroneous. So long as this mould remains, the produce will be regularly great, and that with very imperfect cultivation,—for the mould in its native state is so soft and light, as scarcely to need the aid of the plough. But this mould, after a length of time, will be dissipated. Where lands are continually ploughed, it is soon lost; on those which are covered with grass from the beginning, it is preserved through a considerable period. At length, however, every appearance of its efficacy, and even of its existence, vanishes.

‘The true object of inquiry, whenever the quality of a soil is to be estimated, is the nature of the earth immediately beneath the vegetable mould, for this, in every case, will ultimately be the soil. If this is capable of being rendered, by skilful cultivation, regularly productive, the soil is good; if not, it is poor. With this object in view, I have formed the opinion expressed above, concerning the country under discussion. Throughout most of this tract, the earth beneath the mould is an excellent soil. The mould itself will speedily be gone. It is wisely and kindly provided by the Creator, to answer the immediate calls of the first settlers. These are of course few and poor,—are embarrassed by many wants and difficulties, and need their time and labor to build their houses, barns, and inclosures, as well as to procure, with extreme inconvenience, many articles of necessity and comfort, which are obtained in older settlements without labor or time. To them it is a complete and ample manure, on which whatever is sown springs with vigor, and produces, almost without toil or skill, a plentiful harvest. But it was not intended to be permanent; it is not even desirable that it should be. To interrupt, or even to slacken, the regular labor of man materially, is to do him an injury. One of the prime blessings of temperate climates is this, that they yield amply to skilful labor, and without it yield little or nothing. Where such is the fact, energy and effort will follow, and all their inestimable consequences. Where countries are radically barren, man will despair.’

We will now give a brief description of the soil of each of the states, commencing with the north-eastern divisions. The soil of Maine in general, when properly fitted to receive the seed, is friendly to the growth of Indian corn, rye, barley, oats, peas, hemp, and flax, as well as to the production of almost all kinds of culinary roots and plants; wheat is also grown, but not in large quantities. Excellent potatoes are raised in great quantities. For the most part, the lands are easily cleared, having very little underwood. The natural productions consist of white pine and spruce trees in large quantities, suitable for masts, boards, and shingles; and also of maple, beech, white and grey oak, and yellow birch. The land between the Kennebec and Penobscot rivers is well adapted to the purposes of agriculture, and is excellent for grazing. With good cultivation, land of average quality yields forty bushels of maize to the acre, from twenty to forty bushels of wheat, and from one to three tons of hay. Apple, pear, plum, and cherry trees, flourish; the peach tree does not thrive.

The soil of New Hampshire, near the seacoast, is in many places sandy; on the banks of the rivers it is generally good, and in the valleys among the mountains, which are rich on the brows, and usually covered with timber. The river land is most esteemed, producing every kind of grain in the utmost perfection; but it is not so good for pasture as the uplands. In the uncultivated parts of the state, the soil is distinguished by the various kinds of timber which grow upon it; thus, white oak land is hard and stony, the undergrowth consisting of brakes and fern; black and yellow birch, white ash, elm, and alder, are indications of a good soil, deep, rich and moist, which will admit grass and grain without ploughing; red oak and white birch are signs of strong land. Agriculture is, and always will be, the chief business of the people of New Hampshire. Apples and pears are fruits the most commonly cultivated, and no husbandman thinks his farm complete without an orchard.

A large portion of Vermont state is fertile, and adapted to the various purposes of agriculture. The soil is generally deep, rich, moist, of a dark color, loamy, and seldom parched with drought. On the border of the stream it is alluvial, and the richest in the state; though some of the uplands almost equal it in fertility. Wheat is extensively cultivated, particularly on the west side of the mountains. Barley, rye, oats, peas, flax, and potatoes, flourish in all parts of the state. Indian corn also thrives, and apples are abundant. Much of the land among the mountains is excellent for grazing, and great numbers of cattle are annually sent out of the state for sale.

No extensive alluvial tracts occur in Massachusetts; although limited patches of this stratum are sometimes found on the banks of every stream, and, with the adjoining elevated woodland and pasture ground, constitute many of the richest farms in the state. There are numerous uncultivated swamps, however, for ages the reservoir of rich soil, that may be reclaimed with considerable labor and expense, which they will amply repay by their singular fertility. The soil of Massachusetts is chiefly diluvial, of all soils the most unfriendly to rich vegetation, though capable of being made rich by clearing away its stone, and the extensive use of manure. The diluvium is most abundant in the south-east parts of the state, almost entirely overspreading the counties of Plymouth, Barnstable, Duke’s and Nantucket. Toward the extremity of Cape Cod, and on the Island of Nantucket, this stratum is composed almost entirely of sand. The most extensive tertiary formation in the state is found in the valley of the Connecticut. Here also are found tracts, from which the diluvium and tertiary have been swept away, and which exhibit the reddish aspect that characterises the red sand-stone formation. This soil is of a superior quality, and peculiarly well adapted for fruit.

The soil of Rhode Island is various, and a great part of it good; though better adapted for grazing than for grain. The north-western parts of the state are rocky and barren; but the tract in the neighborhood of Narraganset Bay is excellent pasture land, and is inhabited by wealthy farmers, who raise some of the finest neat cattle in America. The ground is well cultivated, and produces Indian corn, rye, barley, oats, wheat, (though not enough for home consumption,) fruits and vegetables, in great abundance. The soil of Connecticut is generally rich and well watered, and the whole state resembles a cultivated garden. In the central valley of the Connecticut river, and in the valleys of its tributary streams, large accumulations of alluvial deposit have formed extensive plains and meadows. The soil is adapted to Indian corn, rye, wheat, and flax; orchards are numerous, and of late years, tobacco has also been raised in not inconsiderable quantities. Much of the land, however, is better for grazing than tillage; and the beef, pork, butter and cheese, of Connecticut, are equal to any in the world. The meadows on the banks of the river are uncommonly rich.

The soil of the southern and eastern parts of New York, is dry and gravelly, intermixed with loam; the mountainous districts are well adapted for grazing, and there are many rich valleys on the rivers. The northern and western parts are generally rich and fertile. In the valley of the Gennessee35 is some of the best wheat country in the world; and the alluvial flats of the valley of the Mohawk are highly fertile. Around Lake Champlain is an extensive district of clayey soil, extending to the hills that skirt the Peruvian Mountains. West of Albany are extensive sandy plains interspersed with marshes. A large part of New York is under excellent cultivation; particularly the western end of Long Island, and the counties of Westchester and Duchess.

The soil of Pennsylvania is of many various kinds. To the east of the mountains it is generally good, and a considerable part of it is bedded on limestone. Among the mountains, the land is rough, and much of it poor, in some parts quite barren; but there are a great many rich and fertile valleys. In the neighborhood of York and Lancaster, the soil consists of rich, brown, loamy earth; and proceeding in a south-westerly course, parallel to the Blue Mountains, the same kind of soil is met with as far as Fredericktown, in Maryland. West of the mountains the country improves, and about the head-waters of the Ohio it is generally fertile. Pennsylvania has a soil much better adapted to grazing than tillage.

The southern parts of New Jersey are sandy and flat, sometimes marshy, almost perfectly sterile, though occasionally producing shrub oaks, and pines: the northern half of the state is well adapted either for grazing or tillage. A part of Delaware abounds with swamps and stagnant waters, which render it alike unfit for the purposes of agriculture, and injurious to the health of the inhabitants. At the southern extremity of the state is the Cypress Swamp, a morass twelve miles in length and six in breadth, including an area of nearly fifty thousand acres of land; the whole of which is a high and level basin, very wet, though undoubtedly the highest land between the sea and the bay. The swamp contains a great variety of trees, plants, wild beasts, birds, and reptiles. In the northern parts, along the Delaware river and bay, and from eight to ten miles into the interior, the soil is generally a rich clay, in which a great variety of the most useful productions can be conveniently and plentifully reared; from thence to the swamps before noticed, the soil is light, sandy, and of an inferior quality. In the central parts of the state, there is a considerable mixture of sand; and in the southern part it, renders the soil almost totally unproductive.

In the western part of Maryland, the soil is somewhat strong, and in other parts are tracts of thin, unproductive land. It is generally, however, a red clay or loam; much of it is excellent, and producing large crops. Wheat and tobacco are the staple commodities, but on the uplands of the interior, hemp and flax are raised in considerable quantities.

The soil in the low part of Virginia is sandy or marshy, except on the banks of the rivers, where it is very rich. This territory is alluvial, and under its surface every where exhibits bones and marine shells. Between the head of tide-waters and the mountains, it exhibits a great variety, and a considerable portion is good. Among the mountains there is a great deal of poor land, but it is interspersed with rich valleys. In the valley between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghany, we come to a country lying upon a bed of limestone. Here the soil is a deep clayey earth, well suited to the culture of small grain and clover, and produces abundant crops. Beyond the mountains the surface is broken, with occasional fertile tracts, but the soil is generally lean.

North Carolina, from the seacoast to sixty miles inward, is a level tract, of a lean and sandy soil, interspersed with swamps, and covered with pine forests. In the mountainous parts, and to the west of the mountains, the soil is moist and fertile. On the banks of some of the rivers, particularly the Roanoke, it is remarkably rich. It has been estimated that there are two millions five hundred thousand acres of swampy land within the state, capable of being drained at a trifling cost, and adapted to the purposes of agriculture. They have a clayey bottom, overlaid with a vegetable compost, and when drained have proved exceedingly fertile. One of these tracts is known by the name of the Dismal Swamp; it is thirty miles long and ten broad, overgrown with pine, juniper, and cypress trees. In the midst of it is a lake seven miles in length. The Alligator, or Little Dismal Swamp, lies to the south of Albemarle Sound, and incloses a lake eleven miles long and seven broad. This swamp has been partly drained by means of a canal, and many productive rice plantations occupy the reclaimed lands.

The soil of South Carolina may be divided into five classes: first, the pine barren, which is valuable only for its timber; interspersed among these barrens, are tracts destitute of every kind of growth except grass, called savannas, and forming a second kind of soil, good for grazing. The third, is that of the swamps and low grounds on the rivers, which is a mixture of black loam and rich clay, producing naturally canes in great plenty, cypress, and bays. In these swamps rice is cultivated. The high lands, commonly known by the name of oak and hickory lands, constitute the fourth kind of soil; this tract is comparatively small, and is situated in the north-western extremity of the state. The fifth class is that of the salt marsh, which borders on the seacoast and has been much neglected.

The greater part of the soil of Georgia is alluvial. On the islands which line its coast the soil is very fertile, and produces cotton of a superior quality. The soil of the main land, adjoining the marshes and creeks, is similarly fertile. This is succeeded by the pine barrens, which abound with swampy tracts. On the banks of the rivers are the valuable rice plantations. The soil between the rivers, after leaving the borders of the swamps, at the distance of twenty or thirty miles, changes from a gray to a red color, and is covered with oak, hickory, and pine. In some places it is gravelly, but fertile, and so continues for a number of miles, gradually deepening the reddish color of the earth, till it changes into what is called the mulatto soil, which is composed of black and red earth. These mulatto lands are generally strong, and yield large crops. To this kind of land succeeds by turns a soil nearly black and very rich. This succession of the different soils continues uniform and regular, though there are some large veins of all the different soils intermixed.

The soil of East Florida is generally poor, and circumstances have prevented the settlement and cultivation of the small proportion of really good lands. The parts on the western seashore are barren and sandy, abounding with marshes and lagoons. In the northern districts, gentle elevations of fertile land, supporting a vigorous growth of oaks and hickories, are found in the midst of marshes and pine barrens. Sugar cane is raised here with great facility, and a superior quality of long and short staple cotton.

In the lower parts of Alabama are extensive swamps, cypress land, and cane brakes. The central region is covered with gentle elevations, having a thin soil with a substratum of clay that cultivation will render productive. At present these hills are covered with pine, and, while there are tracts of rich land, will be held in little estimation; they include more than one half the surface of the state. On the banks of the Alabama and Tombeckbee there are wide and fertile alluvions, and the region between these rivers is the richest and best in Alabama. The French emigrants represent the soil of the slopes and hammoc lands of this state to be suitable for the vine.

In the northern section of Mississippi the land rises in regular undulations, and the soil is black, fertile, and deep, covered with high cane brake. The valleys north-west of the Yazoo are well watered and exceedingly rich. In the western parts of the state, the lands are unfortunately exposed to inundation; but, in other respects, the soil does not much differ from that of Alabama. The southern tract is a level alluvion.

A region of Louisiana, comprising about five millions of acres, is annually overflowed by the waters of the Mississippi. Of this tract a large portion is, in its present state, unfit for cultivation. This immense tract embraces soil of various descriptions; cypress swamps, sea marsh, small elevated prairie lands of great fertility, and a tract covered with cane brake, rank shrubbery, and a heavy growth of timber.36 The best soil of Louisiana is found in the region called the coast, which is that part of the bottom of the Mississippi commencing with the first cultivation above the Balize, and comprising forty miles below New Orleans, and one hundred and fifty above. This fertile belt, which varies in width from one to two miles, is secured from inundation by an embankment, broad enough to furnish a fine highway, from six to eight feet in height. In the northern part of this state, bordering on Arkansas, is a considerable extent of hilly, flinty, barren land.

Arkansas territory exhibits every variety and quality of soil. The cultivated belt below the Post of Arkansas bears some outward resemblance to the coast in Louisiana; though its soil is not so fertile, and needs manuring to produce large crops. Large prairies interspersed with forest bottoms, and large tracts of excellent soil, are found five or six hundred miles from the mouth of Arkansas river. Mount Prairie, which lies on the Washita, has a black soil of extreme richness. On the White river are some of the healthiest and most fertile situations in this country. The other parts of this territory are vast tracts of sterile and precipitous ridges, sandy prairies, and barrens.

The soil of Tennessee, in the valleys of its creeks and streams, is rich beyond any of the same description elsewhere in the western country. In East Tennessee it derives its fertility from the quantities of dissolved lime, and nitrate of lime that are mixed with it. In West Tennessee the strata are arranged in the following order: first, a loamy soil, or mixtures of clay and sand; next, yellow clay; then comes a mixture of red sand and red clay; and lastly, a white sand. In the southern parts of this state immense banks are found of uncommonly large oyster shells, situated on high table-grounds remote from any water-course.

Missouri contains a large proportion of friable, loamy, and sandy soil. The uplands are rich, and of a darkish gray color: excepting the region of the lead mines, where the soil is bright and reddish. The prairies are generally level, and of an intermediate character between the rich and the poorer uplands, the latter of which have a light, yellow soil, stiff and clayey. The bottoms of the great rivers and smaller streams of this state have uncommon fertility. On the upper Mississippi are rich uplands, interspersed with flinty knobs two or three hundred feet high. In the south-west part of the state are sterile tracts, covered with yellow pine, and scattered with hilly and rocky country.

Kentucky abounds in large bodies of fertile land, but even here are tracts too sterile for cultivation. Nothing can exceed in richness the great valley of which Lexington is the centre. A tract one hundred miles by fifty in extent is found in the centre of the state, with a substratum of limestone, which dissolves and so mingles with the soil as to impart to it great richness and vigor. Much of the soil is of that character known as mulatto land. An extensive tract of barrens occurs between the Rolling Fork and Green river, and between the latter and Cumberland river, in the northern and eastern parts of the state. Here the soil is generally good, and affords fine pasturage.

Illinois has but few elevations, and those of inconsiderable extent; it is generally a region perfectly level. Though containing tracts of barrens and rough lands, not to be easily cultivated, it perhaps includes a greater proportion of land of the best quality than any other state. This region was called by the French the Terrestrial Paradise; and its soil is said to be the richest in the world. ‘Our road,’ says a recent traveller, ‘passed through the prairie ground, of which above two thirds of the whole state of Illinois is composed, most beautiful at all times, but especially at this season, owing to the brilliancy of the flowers now in blossom. Plantations we saw here and there, but the general appearance of the country was that of a fine waving surface of strong grass, covered with strawberry plants, and the finest flowers, and with wood on the high grounds and hollows, and occasional dropping trees, and clumps or islets of wood. In general, there was quite enough of wood in the view, and far more happily disposed than if the trees had been planted by the hand of man.’

Indiana contains large tracts of excellent soil; and is generally level and fertile. The prairies bordering the Wabash, are particularly rich; wells have been sunk in them, where the vegetable soil was twenty-two feet deep, under which was a stratum of fine white sand; yet the ordinary depth is from two to five feet. Many of the prairies and intervals are too rich for wheat. The northern part of the state contains much good land, but is intersected by long narrow bogs and swamps, with a soil of stiff blue clay.

In Ohio, the land bordering on the river of the same name is hilly and broken; but most of these hills have a deep rich soil, and are capable of being cultivated to their very summits. The bottoms of the Ohio are of very unequal width; the bases of some of the hills approach close to the river, while others recede to the distance of two or three miles. There are usually three bottoms, rising one above the other like the glacis of a fortification; and they are heavily timbered with such trees as denote a very fertile soil. In such parts of these bottoms as have been cleared and settled, the soil is uniformly fertile in a high degree; producing in great abundance wheat, Indian corn, rye, oats, and barley, and apples and peaches of excellent quality. In the western counties, and in the north-western and northern portions of the state, there is a leveller surface, and a moister soil, interspersed with tracts of dry prairie, and forests of a sandy or gravelly soil. The north-western corner of the state contains a considerable district of level, rich land, too wet and swampy to admit of healthy settlements: the soil is a black, loose, friable loam, or a vegetable mould, watered by sluggish and dark-colored streams.

That part of the territory of Michigan, which forms the peninsula lying between the great lakes, is generally level. In its centre, however, is a ridge of table-land about three hundred feet above the lakes, running north and south, and dividing the waters emptying into Erie and Huron from those running to the westward. This peninsula is divided into about equal proportions of grass prairies and forests. Along the southern shore of Lake Michigan is a sandy and barren tract of country, bleak and desolate. But much of the soil of this country is excellent, and its productions are similar to those of the state of New York. The North-West territory has not yet been much explored. That portion of it situated between the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, and the western shore of Lake Michigan, has a rich, black, alluvial soil, and is well watered. The face of the country is unbroken by hills of any magnitude.

The most striking feature of the vast Missouri territory is its ocean of prairies. A belt of partially wooded country extends from two to four hundred miles west of the Mississippi and its waters. The immense extent of country west of the two great rivers is generally level, and is covered with grass plains, and sand deserts. On the banks of the streams there is usually a line of rich soil, but as we leave them it becomes barren and dry. Much of this country is as sterile as the deserts of Arabia, though in the most sandy parts there is a thin sward of grass and herbage. The Missouri, the Platte and the Yellow-stone run through a rich soil; but in its upper courses the Arkansas waters only a barren prairie.

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CHAPTER XIV.—CLIMATE.37

THE United States are most desirably situated. Placed in the northern temperate zone, they occupy just that portion of it, which is most likely to yield a healthy climate and rich soil. Happily removed from the parching heat of the torrid, and eternal frosts of the frigid zone, the republic is nevertheless of such an extent as almost to touch upon both. The climate of a country, stretching through twenty degrees of latitude, cannot but be of great diversity. In this respect it has been divided into five regions, which may be denominated the very cold, the cold, the temperate, the warm, and the hot.

1. The very cold, in the north-east, may be defined by running a line from St. Regis, on the St. Lawrence, along the high land in the state of New York to Tioga Point, in Pennsylvania; thence to Stony Point on Hudson’s river, and thence to Cape Cod in Massachusetts. In this region the summers continue from June through August, and the winters from November to the middle of April. The extremes of heat and cold are great, and the changes sudden, but the country is, notwithstanding, healthy. To the westward, north of a line drawn from the southern extremity of Lake Huron to the Rocky Mountains, the climate is also very cold, and the northern extremity in the winter is excessively so.

The winters of Maine are long and severe, with clear settled weather, which generally continues from the middle of December, till the latter end of March; during which time, the ponds and fresh water rivers are passable on the ice. There is scarcely any spring season; the summer is short, and warm; but autumn is in general pure, healthy, and pleasant.

The climate of New Hampshire is highly favorable to health; but the winters are long and severe. Cattle are housed about the first of November. Snow lies on the ground from four to five months, and the use of sleighs during that period is general. The spring is rapid, and the heat of summer great, but of short duration; autumn is very pleasant. Morning and evening fires are needed as early as the first of September, and as late as the first of June.

The climate of Vermont differs little from that of New Hampshire, and is extremely healthy. The earth is generally covered with snow from the middle of December till the end of March; but the winter seasons may be said to continue from the beginning of November till the middle of April, during which, the inhabitants enjoy a serene sky and a keen cold air. The ground is seldom frozen to any great depth, being covered with a great body of snow, in some high lands to the depth of four or five feet, before the severe frosts begin. In this way the earth is enriched and moistened, and in the spring vegetation advances with great rapidity.

The climate of Massachusetts is perhaps more variable than that of any other of the New England states; not having the steady winter cold of those to the north, nor the general mildness in summer of those immediately south. Fires are necessary from November to May; and there are days, even in June, when they are not only comfortable, but indispensable for comfort. Cattle are housed in November. In winter, travelling is not often impeded by great falls of snow; though heavy and severe snow storms occur. The rivers and ponds are frozen three months in the year; and the harbors are usually closed a week or fortnight, and sometimes for a much longer time. As there are many cold days in summer, so also there are many warm days in winter; and the field which is at night soft enough to receive the plough, may be chained with frost and buried in snow before morning. Winter sets in late; frequently not till December, but, recently, it has gone quite through the spring months. Indeed, the most disagreeable portion of the year, is during March and April and part of May, when the east are prevailing winds. In autumn there is much weather truly delightful. Apples and pears flourish well in Massachusetts, peach trees sometimes suffer from the late spring and the early autumnal frosts. It is difficult to find an accurate description of so variable a climate; as no tolerably correct account of it could be given, except in the details of a meteorological table.

The climate of Rhode Island and Connecticut does not differ very materially from that of Massachusetts. In the southern parts of these states, summer may set in a few days earlier, and the winter be generally a little more temperate, but the change of climate is slight.

In the very cold tract are included the eastern and northern parts of New York, being the mountainous country, and the region lying to the east of it. Here the winters are long and severe, being more so as you proceed to the north. The climate of this region may be generally described as similar to that of the New England states, which lies in the same latitude. In the parts of Michigan territory, lying within this region, the climate resembles that of Canada.

In the region we have called very cold, the range of the thermometer is from thirty degrees below zero to ninety-eight above it; including great extremes both of heat and cold.

2. The cold region comprehends a great and very unequal range of country. In the eastern division it extends from the foregoing line, to Lakes Ontario and Erie, westward; and south, on the Atlantic coast, to about Cape Henlopen on the Delaware. Hence a line may be protracted to Washington, and along by the foot of the first mountains in Virginia to about Morgantown, North Carolina; thence through the mountains to Kenaway river, and north-east on the west side of the mountains to the upper part of Chesnut Ridge, in Pennsylvania. In the westward, the southern boundary of the very cold region before-mentioned, may be assumed as the northern boundary of the cold; and the southern boundary of the cold may be protracted westward from the head of Chesnut Ridge to the high lands, dividing the waters falling into the Ohio from those falling into the great lakes, and along in a northern and western direction, crossing the Mississippi about thirty miles below Praire des Chiens, thence south and west, crossing the Missouri about thirty miles below the Platte river; thence southward to the west of the Great Osage village, and then eastward to the Arkansas river, above the Hot Springs. In this division the winters commence in December and end in March, and the heat of summer commences in May and ends in September. The heat and cold here also go to great extremes; but the weather is very changeable, particularly in winter, so that neither severe heat nor severe cold lasts long at a time. The country in this division is also generally healthy.

In this division are comprehended the south-eastern and western parts of New York, New Jersey, the northern and eastern parts of Pennsylvania, most of Delaware and Maryland, the central and mountainous parts of Virginia, the southern portion of Michigan territory, the northern extremities of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and portions of the Missouri and Arkansas territories.

In the south-eastern parts of New York the prevailing winds, during the summer, are southerly; the weather is variable, and the change of temperature sudden and frequent. The mild and damp sea air penetrates far inland; indeed, as far as the Highlands, the climate differs little from that of the seacoast. In the parts of New York west of the mountains, the average temperature is about three degrees higher than in the same latitude farther east. South-westerly winds prevail through most of the year; and the chill easterly wind is nearly unknown.38

The climate of Pennsylvania is very various. On the east side of the Alleghany Mountains it differs little from that of Connecticut. It is, like the other countries east of the mountains, subject to great and sudden changes; but on the west side, it is much more agreeable and temperate, with a greater portion of cloudy weather, and winters milder and more humid than on the Atlantic. The winter season commences about the twentieth of December, and the spring sets in about two weeks earlier than in the eastern parts of New York. There is frost almost every month in the year in some places, and the extremes of heat and cold are considerable. The keenness of the north-west wind in winter is excessive, but the state is, upon the whole, extremely healthy, and numerous instances of longevity occur.

The climate of New Jersey is dissimilar in different sections of the state. In the northern parts, there is clear, settled weather, and the winters are exceedingly cold; but the whole is very healthy. In the districts towards the south, particularly near the extremity, the weather approaches more nearly to that of the southern states, and is subject to very sudden changes. The climate of Delaware is much influenced by the face of the country; for the land being low and flat, the waters stagnate, and the inhabitants are consequently subject to intermittent fevers and agues. The northern parts, however, are much more agreeable and healthy than those to the south.

Among the mountains of Virginia the summers are delightful, and the heat is never found to be so oppressive as it is in the Atlantic districts; the winters are so mild in general, that snow seldom lies three days together on the ground. The salubrity of the climate, also, is equal to that of any part of the United States; and the inhabitants have, in consequence, a healthy, ruddy appearance. Perhaps there is no part of North America possessing a more agreeable climate, than that section of Virginia which lies west of the Blue Ridge; and, in particular, the fertile county of Bottetourt, which is entirely surrounded by mountains. Here the frost in winter is regular, but not severe. In summer the heat is great; but there is not a night in the year that a blanket is not found comfortable. Before ten o’clock in the morning the heat is greatest; at that hour a breeze generally springs up from the mountains, and renders the air agreeable the whole day. Fever and ague are disorders unknown here, and persons who come hither afflicted with them from the low country, get rid of them in a very short time. Except in the neighborhood of stagnant waters, Virginia has, upon the whole, a healthy climate.

The climate of Maryland is various in different districts, but for the most part mild and agreeable, well suited to agricultural productions, and particularly fruit trees. The eastern parts are similar to Delaware, having large tracts of marsh, which, during the day, load the atmosphere with vapor, that falls in dew in the close of the summer and autumn, which are unhealthy, and during which the inhabitants are much exposed to fever and ague. In the interior hilly country the climate improves very much, and among the mountains it is delightful and healthy; the summers being cooled by fine breezes, while the winters are tempered by a southern latitude, which renders them much milder than to the northward.

In the southern portions of Michigan territory, the winters are not severe, and the spring sets in as early as in any other part of the state which lies in the same latitude. In 1820, at Detroit, the mean heat of December was twenty-seven degrees, and of July sixty-nine. The temperature of this territory is rendered milder by the neighborhood of such large bodies of water, and by the absence of great elevations. The portions of the Missouri and Arkansas territories, that lie within the boundaries of the cold region, partake of the character of the climate already described. As the country in these territories is open and generally level, the temperature depends chiefly on the latitude.

The northern and north-eastern parts of Illinois are cold in the winter; the air from the great lake is chill and bleak, and sensibly affects the country exposed to its influence. In the region of Ohio, sloping towards the lakes, the snow falls to a very considerable depth, and lies long; sleighs and sledges are much used. The transitions during the winter are violent and frequent. That part of Indiana contiguous to Lake Michigan is often exposed to heavy falls of rain, and is consequently marshy and unhealthy.

3. The temperate region is situated between the cold, and a line drawn from Morgantown, North Carolina, south-westward along the foot of the mountains to their termination in Georgia, thence in a north-west direction by Florence, in Alabama, and crossing the Mississippi river about the upper part of the Chickasaw Bluffs, thence north-west to the Delaware towns on White river, and thence south-west to the Arkansas, above the Hot Springs. The region described within these limits lies in the very heart of the country, the whole being on a considerable elevation. It comprehends Kentucky and Missouri, with nearly the whole of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Tennessee, the south part of Pennsylvania, the western part of Virginia, and small portions of North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. This climate is distinguished from the foregoing by an earlier spring, and by greater serenity, and fewer changes.

The climate of Tennessee forms a medium between the warmth of the south and the cold of the north; it may be correctly viewed as the middle climate of the United States, and proves peculiarly congenial to northern constitutions. There is no country in America where diseases are so rare, where physicians have so little practice, and where children are more robust and healthy. Snow falls in winter, and sometimes to a considerable depth; but the summer, particularly in the higher ground, is mild, and accompanied with excessive heat. Apples, pears, and plums are raised here in great perfection; and in sheltered situations it is thought that the fig might be cultivated to advantage. Maize is planted early in April; cotton is the staple of agriculture. Within the limits of this state, most of the forest trees of the western country are found in abundance.

In Kentucky the climate is not so mild as that of Tennessee. It is however mild and temperate. Grape vines flourish here of prodigious size. All the grains, pulses, garden vegetables, and fruits of the temperate climate abound. The wheat of Kentucky is excellent, but hemp and tobacco are her staples.

The climate of Missouri is temperate, though variable. Winter continues in its severity for about two months, from the latter part of December to the last of February; but even during this interval there are many warm and pleasant days. Snow seldom remains on the ground more than sixty hours; and its maximum depth is generally about six inches. Frequently the rivers are for weeks frozen sufficiently hard for the passage of loaded teams. Trees sometimes blossom in March, and the spring months with occasional cold, have days as pleasant as those of summer. From the sandy and warm texture of the soil, and the openness of the country, the heat in summer is very great, and would be oppressive, except for the prevalence of agreeable breezes. Another characteristic of the Missouri climate, is its extreme dryness; evaporation is rapid, and the average amount of rain falling in the year is estimated at eighteen inches. Long and steady rains so common in the eastern states, seldom occur; the summer rains are generally thunder showers. The autumn months are delightful, serene, temperate, and salubrious.

The part of Ohio lying within this division of climate is moderate in respect to climate; suffering neither from excessive cold or the reverse. Along the banks of the Ohio river it is more mild than in the central and mountainous regions; and the difference is owing to the difference of latitude and elevation. The winters vary in severity, being sometimes quite mild; in other years the rivers are frozen for eight or nine weeks. Severe cold generally continues from the last week in December through the first in February. Summer heat in the valley of the Ohio is oppressive, but of short duration. Autumn is temperate, pleasant, and healthy. Nowhere in the world, says Mr. Flint, is the grand autumnal painting of the forests, in the decay of vegetation, seen in more beauty than in the beech forests of Ohio. The richness of the fading colors, and the effect of the mingling hues baffles all description. On the whole, a great farming community, like that of Ohio, could scarcely desire a better climate for themselves, their cattle, and stock of all kinds; or one, in which a man can work abroad, with comfort, a greater number of days in the year.

Indiana has much the same temperature with Illinois and Missouri. The winters are mild, and seldom last in their severity more than six weeks; during this period, the slower streams are generally frozen, and afford a safe passage on the ice. In the middle and southern parts of the state snow seldom falls to a greater depth than six inches. Trees begin to be green early in April, and the peach blossoms in March. A large number of shrubs put forth their flowers before the leaves, and from this the spring vegetation is singularly beautiful. Illinois has in general the same climate with Missouri, and its productions are the same as those of that state; being, however, somewhat lower, it is more subject to inundation, and consequently the air is more humid. The portions of Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama, comprehended within this division, partake the general character of climate with those we have particularly described.

4. The region possessing a warm climate lies between the temperate, and a line drawn from Cape Henry in a circular direction, and passing above Tarboro, and through Fayetteville, Columbia, Augusta, Milledgeville and Fort Jackson in Alabama, and thence a little south of west across the Mississippi, and on to the Sabine river, in the latitude of Nacogdoches, in Texas. In this region the winters continue from about the first of January to the first of March; and the summers from the first of May to the middle of October. The weather is pretty settled and steady, and, except in swampy or marshy situations, the country is generally healthy. This region includes the interior and central parts of North Carolina, the northern and western parts of South Carolina, the northern parts of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

In the northern and western parts of South Carolina, the land is mountainous, and the climate generally salubrious. The air is dry, and in winter cold; but it is generally mild and delightful. The highlands of North Carolina that lie within this district are healthy and pleasant; the days in summer are hot, but the nights are refreshed by cool breezes. The northern and hilly region of Georgia is as healthy as any part of the states. Winter continues from the middle of December to the middle of February. The northern parts of Alabama, in the districts of hills, springs, and pine forests, are generally healthy. In winter the still waters often freeze; and the summers are not much hotter than they are many degrees farther to the north.

The climate of the northern part of Mississippi, in places removed from stagnant waters, is healthy. Heat in summer is intense; and during the latter month of that season and the first of autumn, even the residents in the healthy districts are exposed to severe bilious attacks. In compensation, however, they are free from the pulmonary affections which occasion so much destruction in the more northern regions. The productions of this state are the same with those of Louisiana.

5. The hot region extends from the southern extremity of the warm, to the Atlantic Ocean, and the Gulf of Mexico. It comprises all Florida, and the southern parts of the Carolinas,39 Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, with the greater portion of Louisiana.

The climate of Florida may be considered in some respects as a tropical climate. From the first of July to the first of October, the air is sultry, and the heat exceedingly oppressive. This may be considered the unhealthy season, during which fevers are prevalent, but even at this time the climate of St. Augustine is salubrious and pleasant, and is a place of resort for those who are desirous of avoiding sickness. During this period the range of the thermometer is between eighty-four and eighty-eight degrees, and it sometimes rises above one hundred. Even in winter, the influence of the clear vertical sun is always uncomfortable; in the peninsular parts, water never freezes, though there are sometimes slight frosts. In this climate the most delicate orange trees flourish and bear delicious fruits; the air is generally pure and mild, and the breeze pleasant. Heavy dews fall, and the night air is exceedingly humid. The rainy season commences early in winter; in February and March there are severe thunder storms by night, followed by days of great clearness and beauty. The peninsula is visited by tornadoes, and at the time of the autumnal equinox, hurricanes and destructive gales occur.

In the southern and eastern portions of the Carolinas, the summers are very hot, sultry, moist and unhealthy. The extensive and rapid decomposition of vegetable matter engenders exhalations, which unite with the miasmata of the swamps, and create an atmosphere loaded with the most deleterious qualities. Intermittent and bilious fevers are frequent and severe. In the low country the summer lasts seven or eight months; and though the winter frost is sometimes severe enough to kill the tender plants, it seldom lasts more than three or four days, or penetrates the ground above two inches. Spring commences about the middle of February, and green peas are often in the market by the middle of March; but the weather varies very much till about the first of May, when it becomes steadily warm, and continues increasing in heat till September, when it begins to moderate. Almost every person whose circumstances permit, removes to a more healthy situation during this period, and a vast number go to the northern states in the summer, and return in the fall. The period of going north is mostly from the middle of May to the middle of July, and of returning, from the middle of October to the middle of November. The anxiety that prevails during that period is extreme, and when it is over, the inhabitants congratulate one another with the full prospect of ten or eleven months being added to their lives.

The climate of Georgia differs little from that already described of the Carolinas. The rice swamps, and the low country in general, are very unhealthy, and the planters are obliged, during the sickly season, to retire to the elevated parts of the state. A near approach to the tropical temperature is found in some portions of Georgia, where the cane, the olive, and sweet orange flourish luxuriantly. The climate of the southern part of Alabama, and of Mississippi, resembles that of Georgia and South Carolina in the same latitudes. In the thirty-first degree of latitude, the thermometer stands in spring water at sixty-nine degrees, which is nearly the mean temperature of the year. A series of thermometrical observations is mentioned by Mr. Flint, which gave the following result. The warmest part of the warmest day in April, gave eighty-two degrees; mean heat of July of the same year, eighty-six; coldest in January, fifty-four; coldest in February, forty-three; warmest in March, eighty-five degrees. In the same year, trees even in swamps, where the vegetation is most tardy, were in full leaf by the second of April; at which time peach blossoms were gone. Peas were in pod by the twelfth of April; when peaches were of the size of a hazel-nut, and the fig trees in full leaf. Green peas were on the table, and strawberries ripe by the second of May, and on the sixteenth of the same month, mulberries, dewberries, and whortleberries were ripe.

The climate of Louisiana bears a general resemblance to that of Florida. All the northern fruits come to perfection here, with the exception of apples. The pumpkin and melon tribe flourish, and the common garden vegetables are cultivated in abundance. Figs of different kinds might be extensively raised for exportation, but are much neglected. On the rich alluvial lands maize thrives wonderfully; but wheat and rye do not flourish. In the region of the sugar-cane, along the whole shore of the gulf, and on the lower courses of the rivers of Louisiana, the orange tree flourishes and bears a delicious fruit. In the year 1822, a severe frost destroyed these trees while in full bearing, but the roots have thrown out new trees. The cultivated grape, and various wild grapes abound. Berries are neither common nor good. Cotton grows to the height of six feet; and tobacco of the first quality is extensively raised.

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In addition to the views of climate already given, we may add the following description of that of Mississippi Valley, for which we have been indebted to the industrious observation of Mr. Flint. ‘We may class four distinct climates, between the sources and the outlet of the Mississippi. The first, commencing at its sources, and terminating at Prairie du Chien, corresponds pretty accurately to the climate between Montreal and Boston; with this difference, that the amount of snow falling in the former is much less than in the latter region. The mean temperature of a year would be something higher on the Mississippi. The vegetables raised, the time of planting, and the modes of cultivating them, would, probably, be nearly the same. Vegetation will have nearly the same progress and periodical changes. The growing of gourd seed corn, which demands an increase of temperature to bring it to maturity, is not planted in this region. The Irish potatoe is raised in this climate in the utmost perfection. Wheat and cultivated grasses succeed well. The apple and the pear tree require fostering, and southern exposure, to bring fruit in perfection. The peach tree has still more the habits and the fragile delicacy of a southern stranger, and requires a sheltered declivity, with a southern exposure, to succeed at all. Five months in the year may be said to belong to the dominion of winter. For that length of time, the cattle require shelter in the severe weather, and the still waters remain frozen.

‘The next climate includes the opposite states of Missouri and Illinois, in their whole extent, or the country between forty-one and thirty-seven degrees. Cattle, though much benefited by sheltering, and often needing it, seldom receive it. It is not so favorable for cultivated grasses, as the preceding region. Gourd seed corn is the only kind extensively planted. The winter commences with January, and ends with the second week in February. The ice, in the still waters, after that time thaws. Wheat, the inhabitant of a variety of climates, is at home, as a native, in this. The persimon and the papaw are found in its whole extent. It is the favored region of the apple, the pear, and peach tree. Snows neither fall deep, nor lie long. The Irish potato succeeds to a certain extent, but not as well, as in the former climate; and this disadvantage is supplied by the sweet potato, which, though not at home in this climate, with a little care in the cultivation, flourishes. The grandeur of vegetation, and the temperature of March and April, indicate an approach towards a southern climate.

‘The next climate extends from thirty-seven to thirty-one degrees. Below thirty-five degrees, in the rich alluvial soils, the apple tree begins to fail in bringing its fruit to perfection. We have never tasted apples worth eating, raised much below New Madrid. Cotton, between this point and thirty-three degrees, is raised, in favorable positions, for home consumption; but is seldom to be depended upon for a crop. Below thirty-three degrees commences the proper climate for cotton, and it is the staple article of cultivation. Festoons of long moss hang from the trees, and darken the forests. The palmetto gives to the low alluvial grounds a grand and striking verdure. The muscadine grape, strongly designating climate, is first found here. Laurel trees become common in the forest, retaining their foliage and their verdure through the winter. Wheat is no longer seen, as an article of cultivation. The fig tree brings its fruit to full maturity.

‘Below this climate, to the gulf, is the region of the sugar-cane and the sweet orange tree. It would be, if it were cultivated, the region of the olive. Snow is no longer seen to fall, except a few flakes in the coldest storms. The streams are never frozen. Winter is only marked by nights of white frost, and days of north-west winds, which seldom last longer than three days in succession, and are followed by south winds and warm days. The trees are generally in leaf by the middle of February, and always by the first of March. Bats are hovering in the air during the night. Fireflies are seen in the middle of February. Early in March the forests are in blossom. The margins of the creeks and streams are perfumed with the meadow pink, or honeysuckle, yellow jessamine, and other fragrant flowers. During almost every night a thunder-storm occurs. Cotton and corn are planted from March to July. In these regions the summers are uniformly hot, although there are days when the mercury rises as high in New England, as in Louisiana. The heat, however, is more uniform and sustained, commences much earlier, and continues much later. From February to September thunder-storms are common, often accompanied with severe thunder, and sometimes with gales, or tornadoes, in which the trees of the forest are prostrated in every direction, and the tract of country, which is covered with the fallen trees, is called a ‘hurricane.’ The depressing influence of the summer heat results from its long continuance, and equable and unremitting tenor, rather than from the intensity of its ardor at any given time. It must however be admitted, that at all times the unclouded radiance of the vertical sun of this climate is extremely oppressive.—Such are the summers and autumns of the southern divisions of this valley.

‘The winters, in the whole extent of the country, are variable, passing rapidly from warm to cold, and the reverse. Near the Mississippi, and where there is little to vary the general direction of the winds, they ordinarily blow three or four days from the north. In the northern and middle regions, the consequence is cold weather, frost more or less severe, and perhaps storm, with snow and sleet. During these days the rivers are covered with ice. The opposite breeze alternates. There is immediately a bland and relaxing feeling in the atmosphere. It becomes warm; and the red-birds sing in these days, in January and February, as far north as Prairie du Chien. These abrupt and frequent transitions can hardly fail to have an unfavorable influence upon health. From forty to thirty-six degrees the rivers almost invariably freeze, for a longer or shorter period, through the winter. At St. Louis on the Mississippi, and at Cincinnati on the Ohio, in nearly the same parallels, between thirty-eight and thirty-nine degrees, the two rivers are sometimes capable of being crossed on the ice for eight weeks together.

‘Although the summers over all this valley must be admitted to be hot, yet the exemption of the country from mountains and impediments to the free course of the winds, and the circumstance, that the greater proportion of the country has a surface bare of forests, and, probably, other unexplained atmospheric agents, concur to create, during the sultry months, almost a constant breeze. It thence happens, that the air on these wide prairies is rendered fresh, and the heats are tempered, in the same manner, as is felt on the ocean.’

The annual and mean quantity of rain that falls in the United States is much greater than in most countries of Europe, certain mountainous regions and heads of gulfs excepted. This has been ascertained by numerous and accurate observations made on different parts of the Atlantic coast. It is said, on the authority of tabular views, that, on a medium, one third less rain falls in Europe than in the United States; yet Dr. Holyoke mentions, in his memoir on the climate of the United States, twenty cities in Europe, which, at a mean of twenty years, have had one hundred and twenty days of rain; while Cambridge has had but eighty-eight days, Salem ninety-five days of rain, and Philadelphia seventy-six days, at a medium of twenty years. The mean annual quantity of rain at Philadelphia is very little more than the mean annual quantity at Glasgow for a term of thirty years preceding 1790. The above greater quantity of rain, in fewer days, in America, indicates the rain to be much heavier there than in Europe. On the other hand, it is equally well ascertained, that the evaporation of these rains proceeds much quicker in America than in Europe; and that, consequently, the air is habitually drier, and less calm, unless Charleston be taken as an exception. It has been found, that the mean annual quantity of evaporation at Cambridge, near Boston, was fifty-six inches, for a term of seven years; while in seven German and Italian cities, on a mean of twenty years, the annual evaporation was forty-nine inches, or seven of difference; although the Italian cities are in a much more favorable situation for evaporation than the vicinity of Boston, adjacent to the Atlantic ocean. The same fact of greater evaporation was also observed to take place in Upper Louisiana, and along the higher Missouri, as far as the Rocky Mountains, by Captain Lewis.

The habitual dryness of the American climate increases, as we advance west and north-west from the Missouri, where there frequently is not a drop of rain for six months. This is owing to the great distance from any sea, the superior elevation, and the comparative want of timber, combined with the greater intensity and longer duration of the north-west wind, which sweeps with unobstructed force over the naked plains. It appears, then, that more rain falls in fewer days, in America, than in Europe; and that there are fewer cloudy days, more fair days, and quicker evaporation. It is to this last circumstance we must ascribe those immense dews, unknown in European climates, which occur in America, and which are so copious in summer, as to resemble heavy showers of rain. But it must also be observed, that dews are comparatively unknown in the tract watered by the Upper Missouri; and which, in all probability, is owing to the want of timber, wood being limited to the banks of the rivers, which are commonly bordered with trees.

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CHAPTER XV.—MINERALS.

IN the ordinary mineral productions, such as brick-earth, stone adapted to building, as well as for any kind of workmanship, and in sand of all qualities, the resources of the United States are inexhaustible. The same may be said of many minerals of less universal occurrence, that may seem to merit a more particular description. To begin with the precious metals. The gold region commences in Virginia, and extends south-west through North Carolina, along the northern part of South Carolina, thence north-westwardly into Alabama, and to its termination in Tennessee. In 1825, Professor Olmsted published a particular account of the gold region of North Carolina, as it was then explored; it has since been found to be vastly more extensive, but the richest mines are still worked in the region which he described, in the counties of Mecklenburg, Rowan, Cabarras, Anson, and Davidson. This account, which is quite minute and interesting, we present slightly abridged in the following pages:

A geographical description of the gold country, would present little that is interesting. The soil is, for the most part, barren, and the inhabitants generally poor and ignorant. The traveller passes a day without seeing a single striking or beautiful object, either of nature or of art, to vary the tiresome monotony of forest and sand-hills, and ridges of gravelly quartz, either strewed coarsely over the ground, or so comminuted as to form gravel. These ridges have an appearance of great natural sterility, which is, moreover, greatly aggravated by the ruinous practice of frequently burning over the forests, so as to consume all the leaves and undergrowth. The principal mines are three—the Anson mine, Reed’s mine, and Parker’s mine.

The Anson Mine is situated in the county of the same name, on the waters of Richardson’s creek, a branch of Rocky river. This locality was discovered by a ‘gold hunter,’ one of an order of people, that begin already to be accounted a distinct race. A rivulet winds from north to south between two gently sloping hills that emerge towards the south. The bed of the stream, entirely covered with gravel, is left almost naked during the dry season; the period which is usually selected by the miners for their operations. On digging from three to six feet into this bed, the workman comes to that peculiar stratum of gravel and tenacious blue clay, which is at once recognised as the repository of the gold. The stream itself usually gives the first indications of the richness of the bed through which it passes, by disclosing large pieces of the precious metal shining among its pebbles and sands. Pieces unusually large were found by those who first examined Anson’s mine, and the highest hopes were inspired. On inquiry, it was ascertained that part of the land was not held by a good title, and parcels of it were immediately entered; it has since been the subject of a constant litigation, which has retarded the working of the mine.

Reed’s Mine, in Cabarras, is the one which was first wrought; and at this place, indeed, were obtained the first specimens of gold that were found in the formation. A large piece was found in the bed of a small creek, which attracted attention by its lustre and specific gravity; but it was long retained in the hands of the proprietor, through ignorance whether or not it was gold. This mine occupies the bed of a branch of Rocky river, and exhibits a level between two hillocks, which rise on either side of the creek, affording a space between from fifty to an hundred yards in breadth. This space has been thoroughly dug over, and exhibits at present numerous small pits, for a distance of about one fourth of a mile on both sides of the stream. The surface of the ground, and the bed of the creek, are occupied by quartz, and by sharp angular rocks of the greenstone family. The first glance is sufficient to convince the spectator, that the business of searching for gold is conducted under numerous disadvantages, without the least regard to system, and with very little aid from mechanical contrivances.

Large pieces of gold are found in this region, although their occurrence is somewhat rare. Masses weighing four, five, and sometimes six hundred pennyweights are occasionally met with, and one mass was found that weighed in its crude state twenty-eight pounds avoirdupois. This was dug up by a negro at Reed’s mine, within a few inches of the surface of the ground. Marvellous stories are told respecting this rich mass; as that it had been seen by gold hunters at night reflecting so brilliant a light, when they drew near to it with torches, as to make them believe it was some supernatural appearance, and to deter them from further examination. No unusual circumstances, however, were really connected with its discovery, except its being found unusually near the surface. It was melted down and cast into bars soon after its discovery. The spot where it was found has been since subject to the severest scrutiny, but without any similar harvest.

Another mass, weighing six hundred pennyweights was found on the surface of a ploughed field in the vicinity of the Yadkin, twenty miles or more north of Reed’s mine. Specimens of great beauty are occasionally found, but, for want of mineralogists to reserve them for cabinets, they have always been melted into bars. Mr. Reed found a mass of quartz, having a projecting point of gold, of the size of a large pin’s head. On breaking it open, a brilliant display of green and yellow colors was presented. The gold weighed twelve pennyweights. Mineralogists may perhaps recognise, in this description, a congeries of fine crystals, but on that point the proprietor was uninformed. Although fragments of greenstone, and of several argillaceous minerals, occur among the gravel of the gold stratum yet, in the opinion of the miners, it is never found attached to any other mineral than quartz. Indeed, it is seldom attached to any substance, but is commonly scattered promiscuously among the gravel. Its color is generally yellow, with a reddish tinge, though the surface is not unfrequently obscured by a partial incrustation of iron or manganese, or adhering particles of sand. The masses are flattened and vascular, having angles rounded with evident marks of attrition.

Parker’s Mine is situated on a small stream, four miles south of the river Yadkin. As in the instance already mentioned, excavations were numerous in the low grounds adjacent to the stream; but the earth for washing, which was of a snuff color, was transported from a ploughed field in the neighborhood, elevated about fifty or sixty feet above the stream. The earth at this place, which contained the gold, was of a deeper red than that of either the other mines. The gold found here is chiefly in flakes and grains. Occasionally, however, pieces are met with that weigh one hundred pennyweights, and upwards; and one mass has been discovered that weighed four pounds and eleven ounces. This is said to have been found at the depth of ten feet.

The mines have given some peculiarities to the state of society in the neighboring country. The precious metal is a most favorite acquisition, and constitutes the common currency. Almost every man carries about with him a goose quill or two of it, and a small pair of scales in a box like a spectacle case. The value, as in patriarchal times, is ascertained by weight, which, from the dexterity acquired by practice, is a less troublesome mode of counting money than one would imagine.

The greatest part of the gold collected at these mines is bought up, by country merchants, at ninety or ninety-one cents a pennyweight. They carry it to market-towns, as Fayetteville, Cheraw, Charleston, and New York. Much of this is bought up by jewellers; some remains in the banks; and a considerable quantity has been received at the Mint of the United States. Hence it is not easy to ascertain the precise amount which the mines have afforded. The value of that portion received at the mint, before the year 1820, was forty-three thousand six hundred and eighty-nine dollars. It is alloyed with a small portion of silver and copper, but is still purer than standard gold, being twenty-three carats fine.

Since the year 1827, the gold mines of Virginia have attracted considerable attention. The belt of country in which they are found extends through Spotsylvania and some neighboring counties. The gold region abounds in quartz, which contains cubes of sulphuret of iron. These cubes are often partly or totally decomposed; and the cells thus created are sometimes filled with gold. The gold is found on the surface and in the structure of quartz; but in the greatest abundance resting upon slate and in its fissures. It is diffused over a large extent, and has not yet been found sufficiently in mass, except in a few places, to make mining profitable. The method of obtaining the metal is by filtration, or washing the earth, and by an amalgam of quicksilver. The average value of the earth yielding gold, is stated at twenty cents a bushel.

Habersham and Hall counties are the chief seat of the gold mines of Georgia, and its discovery there has been very recent. The search was commenced by a gentleman of the name of Wilhero, and proved eminently successful; deposits of gold were found in the counties mentioned, and discovery followed discovery. In the Cherokee nation, which was separated by the Chestetee river, the indications of gold were not strong, but report exaggerated them, and this unfortunate nation was intruded upon as a common; at one time, about five thousand adventurers were engaged in digging up the face of the country. The owners of the gold lands in Habersham and Hall counties were many of them poor and destitute, and, with the exception of a few deposits, the most valuable tracts were sold to speculators. Many of these have frequently changed owners at increased prices, and four companies have regularly commenced mining operations.40

Silver and its ores are not of frequent or extensive occurrence in the United States. Doctor Dana states the curious fact, that a mass three or four inches in diameter, composed principally of native silver in filaments, was found on the top of a wall near Portsmouth, New Hampshire; the surrounding hills are chiefly greenstone. Mercury, which has been found native in Kentucky, occurs more plentifully as a sulphuret in Ohio and the Michigan territory, more particularly on the shores of lakes Michigan, Huron, St. Clair, Detroit river, and Lake Erie, to the mouth of Vermilion river. It occurs in the soil in the form of a black and red sand, but is usually more abundant in banks of fine ferruginous clay. Near the mouth of Vermilion river, it is in the form of a very fine powder, or in grains and small masses, disseminated in clay. It yields by distillation about sixty per cent. of mercury.

Copper, in various forms, is found in the United States, but the ores do not appear to be brought into use. It is not found on the shores of Lake Superior so abundantly as was anticipated; but many specimens of copper ore have been found at different points in the Mississippi valley. Specimens of pure and malleable copper have been obtained; one of which, said to have been found in Illinois, weighed three pounds. Iron ores are abundant in the United States. Those hitherto worked are chiefly the magnetic oxide, brown hematite, and the argillaceous oxide, particularly bog ore. The more important ores are the following, viz.: in New Hampshire, the magnetic oxide; in Vermont, brown hematite and bog ore; in Massachusetts, bog ore; in Rhode Island, brown hematite; in Connecticut, brown hematite and bog ore; in New York, the magnetic, specular, and argillaceous oxides; in New Jersey, the magnetic and argillaceous oxides; in Pennsylvania, and the states south and west, the magnetic oxide, brown hematite, and the argillaceous oxide.

To these may now be added the carbonate of iron, which has recently been successfully smelted, and which produces iron having the carbonaceous impregnation of steel, whence it has been called steel ore. In New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the ore is found in abundance, and of a quality not exceeded in Sweden. The Connecticut and Virginia iron is highly esteemed.

Ores of lead are extensively found in the territories; and in Ohio it is said to have been met with native, forming slips, or slender prismatic masses, in crystallized galena. This mineral is found in various places, from the Arkansas river to the North-West territory, the precise line of the Ozark and Shawnee Mountains, a tract which seems to constitute one of the most important and extensive deposits of lead hitherto known. On the Arkansas, the ore is smelted by the Osage Indians for bullets. To the northward, some valuable mines at Prairie du Chien are imperfectly worked by the proprietors of the soil. But the most important mines are those of Cape Girardeau district, commonly known as the lead mines of Missouri. The mining district is situated between two prominent ridges of sandstone which bound the valley of Grand river, or the basin of Potosi. These ridges diverge in their course northward, and are intercepted by the Merameg, which receives the waters of Grand river, and forms a boundary to the mining district in that direction.

In Illinois are the richest lead mines in the world. The district which furnishes the ore, lies in the north-west part, and extends beyond the limits of the state. It comprises a tract of above two hundred miles in extent. The ore is inexhaustible. It lies in beds or horizontal strata, varying in thickness from one inch to several feet. It yields seventy-five per cent. of pure lead. For many years the Indians and hunters were accustomed to dig for the metal; they never penetrated much below the surface, but obtained great quantities of the ore, which they sold to the traders. The public attention was drawn to this quarter, and, from 1826 to 1828, the country was filled with miners, smelters, merchants, speculators, and adventurers. Vast quantities of lead were manufactured; the business was overdone, and the markets nearly destroyed. At present, the business is reviving, and in 1830, there were eight million three hundred and twenty-three thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight pounds of lead made at the mines. The whole quantity obtained, from 1821 to 1830, was forty million eighty-eight thousand eight hundred and sixty pounds. The principal mines are in the neighborhood of Galena.

Coal is found in the United States in great quantities, though the abundance of wood has hitherto impeded the working of the mines to their full capability. The coal found at different localities has been classed by Professor Eaton under the following heads: first, the genuine anthracite, or glance coal, found in the transition argillite, as at Worcester in Massachusetts, and Newport in Rhode Island; also in small quantities in the north and south range of argillites along the bed and banks of the river Hudson. Second, coal destitute of bitumen, usually called anthracite, but differing greatly in its character from the anthracite found in argillite. It may be called anasphaltic coal. This is embraced in slate rock, being the lowest of the lower series of secondary rocks. This coal formation is equivalent to the great coal measures of Europe. The principal localities of this coal are in the state of Pennsylvania; as at Carbondale, Lehigh, Lackawanna, and Wilkesbarre. Third, the proper bituminous coal, as at Tioga and Lyocoming. This coal is embraced in a slate rock, which is the lowest of the series of upper secondary rocks. The fourth formation is the lignite coal, which is found in a very extensive stratum in the state of New Jersey, along the south shore of the Bay of Amboy.

The anthracite of Pennsylvania is found in the Wyoming and Lackawanna valley, situated between the Blue Ridge and the Susquehanna. The coal district is chiefly occupied by mountains which run parallel to the Blue Ridge, and are fifteen hundred feet high. But little of this surface, with the exception of a few narrow valleys, invites cultivation. These mountains are mostly in a wild state, and offer a secure retreat to cougars, wolves, bears, and other animals.

The rocks of the above described region are of a transition class, and present little diversity. Gray wacke slate occurs in abundance, loose on the surface and in ledges. It is sometimes based on old red sand-stone, and surmounted by unstratified rock, and aggregate of quartz, pebbles of various dimensions, with a cement principally silicious. In the Blue Ridge, in addition to the above described rock, a silicious gray wacke, resembling fine grained granular quartz, is common. It appears in some places massive, but is often slaty. Its cement is chiefly silicious; some alumine, however, is indicated in its composition.

The beds and veins of anthracite range from north-east to south-west, and may often be traced for a considerable distance by the compass. The veins have the inclination of the adjacent strata of gray wacke, with which they often alternate, usually between twenty and forty-five degrees. In a few places they are horizontal and vertical. The beds and veins of anthracite have narrow strata of dark colored, fine grained, argillaceous schist, for the roof and floor. This slate generally contains sulphuret of iron, and disintegrates on exposure to the air. The sulphates of iron and alumine are often observed in the schist, and it frequently presents impressions of plants and sometimes of marine shells. Impure pulverulent coal is usually connected with this slate, and is said to be a good material for printers’ ink.

Anthracite has been found in the greatest quantity in sections of coal regions most accessible by water. Extensive beds and veins range from the Lehigh to the Susquehanna, crossing the head-waters of the Schuylkill and Swatara, about ten miles north-west of Blue Ridge, and it abounds contiguous to the Susquehanna and Lackawanna. But in no part of the district does anthracite occur in such apparently inexhaustible beds, or is so abundantly raised, as in the vicinity of Mauch Chunk, a village situated on the Lehigh, thirty-five miles from Easton, and one hundred and eight by water from Philadelphia.

The coal is there excavated on the flat summit of a mountain that rises nearly fifteen hundred feet above the ocean. It is of good quality, and presents beds of unparalleled extent; is disclosed for several miles on the summit, wherever excavations have been made, and is indicated in many places by coal slate in a pulverulent state, on the surface. The mountain rises with a steep acclivity, particularly on the north-west side, and when penetrated at various altitudes, discloses coal at about the same distance from the surface. Strata of grey wacke slate, containing mica, sometimes rest on the coal, parallel with the mountain side. In the deep excavations made on the summit, no termination of the coal bed has been found, and it is not improbable that the anthracite forms the nucleus of the mountain for a considerable distance.

This coal mountain range is described as extending in a south-west direction to the Susquehanna. To the north-east, beyond the Lehigh, it is connected with the Broad Mountain, the first considerable elevation west of the Blue Ridge. The Lehigh from Mauch Chunk to the water gap, eleven miles, winds between rocky mountains, with a brisk current, but presents no falls. The road usually runs near the stream, and sometimes at a considerable elevation above, on the side of the steep mountain. In its passage through the Kittetany, or Blue Ridge, the river has a tranquil but slightly inclined course. On the adjacent elevation, yellow pine, hemlock, and spruce, are interspersed with deciduous trees. From the water gap to the Delaware, the river pursues its course in a deep ravine, seldom with alluvial borders of much extent. In this district of country, the soil generally rests on limestone sinks, indicating caves; and fissures in the rocks are often observed, that must, in some places, render canalling difficult. From the confluence of the Lehigh with the Delaware to tide-water, the descent is one hundred and fifty feet.

The village of Mauch Chunk is situated on the western bank of the Lehigh, in a deep romantic ravine, between rocky mountains that rise in some parts precipitously to eight hundred or one thousand feet above the stream. Space was procured for dwellings, by breaking down the adjacent rocks and filling up a part of the ravine of Mauch Chunk Creek. A portion of this stream has been transferred to an elevated railway, and is used to propel a grist-mill. Within a few years the Lehigh Company have erected, and are proprietors of, a large number of dwellings and buildings of every description, including a spacious hotel, a store, furnaces, grist-mills, and several saw-mills: about eight hundred men are employed by the company.41

Next to Mauch Chunk, Mount Carbon, or Pottsville, as it is now called, situated at the head of the Schuylkill canal, has been the principal source of the supply of anthracite. Many large veins are worked within three miles of the landing; and some have been opened seven miles to the north-east; in the direction of the Lehigh beds.

On almost every eminence adjacent to Pottsville, indications of coal are disclosed. The veins generally run in a north-east direction, with an inclination of about forty-five degrees, and are from three to nine feet in thickness; commencing at or near the surface they penetrate to an unknown depth, and can often be traced on hills for a considerable distance, by sounding in a north-east or south-west direction. Some veins have been wrought to the depth of two hundred feet without the necessity of draining; the inclined slate roof shielding them from water.

Where the ground admits, it is considered the best mode of working veins, to commence at the back of a coal eminence, or as low as possible, and work up, filling the excavation with slate and fine coal, leaving a horizontal passage for the coal barrows. A section of a wide vein near Pottsville, has been wrought by this mode several hundred feet into the hill. The same vein is explored from parts of the summit by vertical and inclined shafts. The coal and slate handled, are raised by horse-power, in wagons by a rail-way that has the inclination of the vein. Veins of coal alternate with gray wacke slate in the hill. Vegetable impression sometimes occur in the argillaceous schist that forms the roof of the Pottsville coal veins.

The western part of Pennsylvania is abundantly supplied with bituminous coal, as the eastern is with anthracite. It is found on the rivers Conemaugh, Alleghany, and Monongahela, and in numerous places to the west of the Alleghany ridge, which is generally its eastern boundary; it occurs on this mountain at a considerable elevation, and elsewhere, in nearly a horizontal position, alternating with gray sand-stone that is often micaceous and bordered by argillaceous schist. The veins are generally narrow, rarely over six feet in width. This mineral is abundant and of good quality near Pittsburg, where it is valuable for their extensive manufactures. Beds of bituminous coal are reported as occurring in Bedford county, in the north-west part of Luzerne, and in Bradford county. In the last county, nine miles from the Susquehanna, there is an extensive bed of coal, regarded as bituminous. It has been penetrated thirty feet without fathoming the depth of the strata.

Bituminous coal is abundant in Tioga county, state of New York. The summit level is forty-four feet above the river, and upwards of four hundred above the lake. It occurs on the Tioga, and on the Chemung, a branch of that river. Bituminous coal exists on the numerous streams that descend the western side of the extensive peninsula, situated between the north and west branches of the Susquehanna.

The appearance of the Tioga, or bituminous coal, differs but little from the best Liverpool or Newcastle coal. Its color is velvet black, with a slight resinous lustre, its structure is slaty or foliated, and its layers as in the best English coal, divided in prismatic solids, with bases slightly rhomboidal; it is easily frangible, and slightly soils the finger. It burns with a bright flame and considerable smoke, with a slight bituminous smell, a sort of ebullition taking place, and, as the heat increases, an appearance of semi-fusion leaving a slight residue or scoria.

Graphite or plumbago, commonly but improperly called black lead, occurs extensively in primitive and transition rocks; from that which is obtained in New York, excellent pencils have been made. There are also numerous localities of petroleum, or mineral oil. It usually floats on the surface of springs, which in many cases are known to be in the vicinity of coal. It is sometimes called Seneca or Gennessee oil. In Kentucky, it occurs on a spring of water in a state sufficiently liquid to burn in a lamp; it is collected in considerable quantities.

Salt appears to be abundant in the United States, but it has not been found in the mass. It is principally obtained from the springs which have been noticed in another part of the work. Professor Eaton has suggested doubts whether masses of salt really exist. He conceives that an apparatus for the spontaneous manufacture of salt may be found within the bosom of the earth, in those rocks which contain the necessary elements, and in this opinion he is supported by experiment. Subsequently, however, Mr. Eaton had reason to think that salt has existed in a solid state in cubical crystals, the hollow forms of which he discovered abundantly in the lias and saline rocks of the west, and it seems still to be highly probable that masses of salt exist in the neighborhood of the salt springs. The brine contains, besides the muriate of soda, a considerable proportion of muriate of lime and magnesia. Recently, also, bromine has been detected in the brine of salina, by Dr. Silliman. Saltpetre is abundant in the west, being found in numberless caves along the Missouri; and the shores of the Arkansas are almost covered with nitre. The testimony of Mr. Schoolcraft, in relation to the recent formation of quartz crystals, is very striking. They have been found, it appears, upon the handle of a spade, and the edge of some old shoes, which had been left for some years in an abandoned lead mine of the Shawnee Mountains. Crystals of great beauty and dimensions have been found in numerous localities. Many minerals which are rare in Europe, are found abundantly, and often in finer forms, in the United States; some, which have subsequently been detected elsewhere, were first discovered here, and not a few may still be claimed as the peculiar treasure of our country.

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CHAPTER XVI.—ANIMALS.

I. QUADRUPEDS.

The Black Bear (ursus Americanus) is found in considerable numbers in the northern districts of America. In size and form he approaches nearest to the Brown Bear; but his color is a uniform shining jet black, except on the muzzle, where it is fawn colored; on the lips and sides of the mouth it is almost gray. The hair, except on the muzzle, is long and straight, and is less shaggy than in most other species. The forehead has a slight elevation, and the muzzle is elongated, and somewhat flattened above. The young ones, however, are first of a bright ash color, which gradually changes into a deep brown, and ends by becoming a deep black.

The American Black Bear lives a solitary life in forests and uncultivated deserts, and subsists on fruits, and on the young shoots and roots of vegetables. Of honey he is exceedingly fond, and as he is a most expert climber, he scales the loftiest trees in search of it. Fish, too, he delights in, and is often found in quest of it on the borders of lakes and on the seashore. When these resources fail, he will attack small quadrupeds, and even animals of some magnitude. As, indeed, is usual in such cases, the love of flesh in him grows with the use of it.

As the fur is of some value, the Indians are assiduous in the chase of the creature which produces it. ‘About the end of December, from the abundance of fruits they find in Louisiana and the neighboring countries, the bears become so fat and lazy that they can scarcely run. At this time they are hunted by the American Indians. The nature of the chase is generally this: the bear chiefly adopts for his retreat the hollow trunk of an old cypress tree, which he climbs, and then descends into the cavity from above. The hunter, whose business it is to watch him into this retreat, climbs a neighboring tree, and seats himself opposite to the hole. In one hand he holds his gun, and in the other a torch, which he darts into the cavity. Frantic with rage and terror, the bear makes a spring from his station; but the hunter seizes the instant of his appearance, and shoots him.’

The black bear, says Godman, like all the species of this genus, is very tenacious of life, and seldom falls unless shot through the brain or heart. An experienced hunter never advances on a bear that has fallen, without first stopping to load his rifle, as the beast frequently recovers to a considerable degree, and would then be a most dangerous adversary. The skull of the bear appears actually to be almost impenetrable, and a rifle ball, fired at a distance of ninety-six yards, has been flattened against it, without appearing to do any material injury to the bone. The best place to direct blows against the bear is upon his snout; when struck elsewhere, his dense woolly coat, thick hide, and robust muscles, render manual violence almost entirely unavailing.

When the bear is merely wounded, it is very dangerous to attempt to kill him with such a weapon as a knife or tomahawk, or indeed any thing which may bring one within his reach. In this way hunters and others have paid very dearly for their rashness, and barely escaped with their lives; the following instance may serve as an example of the danger of such an enterprise:

‘Mr. Mayborne, who resides in Ovid township, Cayuga county, between the Seneca and Cayuga lakes, in the state of New-York, went one afternoon through the woods in search of his horses, taking with him his rifle and the only load of ammunition he had in the house. On his return home, about an hour before dusk, he perceived a very large bear crossing his path, on which he instantly fired, and the bear fell, but immediately recovering his legs, made for a deep ravine a short way onwards. Here he tracked him awhile by the blood, but night coming on, and expecting to find him dead in the morning, he returned home. A little before daybreak the next morning, taking a pitchfork and hatchet, and his son, a boy of ten or eleven years of age, with him, he proceeded to the place in quest of the animal. The glen or ravine into which he had disappeared the evening before, was eighty or ninety feet from the top of the bank to the brook below; down this precipice a stream of three or four yards in breadth is pitched in one unbroken sheet, and, forming a circular basin or pool, winds away among the thick underwood.

‘After reconnoitering every probable place of retreat, he at length discovered the bear, who had made his way up the other side of the ravine, as far us the rocks would admit, and sat under a projecting cliff, steadfastly eyeing the motions of his enemy. Mayborne, desiring his boy to remain where he was, took the pitchfork, and, descending to the bottom, determined from necessity to attack him from below. The bear kept his position until the man approached within six or seven feet, when on the instant, instead of being able to make a stab with the pitchfork, he found himself grappled by the bear, and both together rolled towards the pond, at least twenty or twenty-five feet, the bear biting on his left arm, and hugging him almost to suffocation. By great exertion he thrust his right arm partly down his throat, and in that manner endeavored to strangle him, but was once more hurled headlong down through the bushes, a greater distance than before, into the water. Here, finding the bear gaining on him, he made one desperate effort, and drew the animal’s head partly under water, and repeating his exertions, at last weakened him so much, that calling to his boy, who stood on the other side, in a state little short of distraction for the fate of his father, to bring him the hatchet, he sunk the edge of it by repeated blows into the brain of the bear. This man, although robust and muscular, was scarcely able to crawl home, where he lay for nearly three weeks, the flesh of his arm being much crushed, and his breast severely mangled. The bear weighed upwards of four hundred pounds.’

Grisly Bear.—This animal, like the species just described, inhabits the northern part of America; but, unlike him, he is, perhaps, the most formidable of all bears in magnitude and ferocity. He averages twice the bulk of the black bear, to which, however, he bears some resemblance in his slightly elevated forehead, and narrow, flattened, elongated muzzle. His canine teeth are of great size and power. The feet are enormously large; the breadth of the fore foot exceeding nine inches, and the length of the hind foot exclusive of the talons, being eleven inches and three quarters, and its breadth seven inches. The talons sometimes measure more than six inches. He is, accordingly, admirably adapted for digging up the ground, but is unable to climb trees, in which latter respect he differs wholly from every other species. The color of his hair varies to almost an indefinite extent, between all the intermediate shades of a light gray and a black brown; the latter tinge, however, being that which predominates. It is always, in some degree, grizzled, by intermixture of grayish hairs, only the brown hairs being tipped with gray. The hair itself is, in general, longer, finer, and more exuberant than that of the black bear.

The neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains is one of the principal haunts of this animal. There, amidst wooded plains, and tangled copses of bough and underwood, he reigns as much the monarch as the lion is of the sandy wastes of Africa. Even the bison cannot withstand his attack. Such is his muscular strength, that he will drag the ponderous carcass of the animal to a convenient spot, where he digs a pit for its reception. The Indians regard him with the utmost terror. His extreme tenacity of life renders him still more dangerous; for he can endure repeated wounds which would be instantaneously mortal to other beasts, and, in that state, can rapidly pursue his enemy. So that the hunter who fails to shoot him through the brain, is placed in a most perilous situation.

One evening, the men in the hindmost of one of Lewis and Clark’s canoes, perceived one of these bears lying in the open ground about three hundred paces from the river; and six of them, who were all good hunters, went to attack him. Concealing themselves by a small eminence, they were able to approach within forty paces unperceived; four of the hunters now fired, and each lodged a ball in his body, two of which passed directly through the lungs. The bear sprang up and ran furiously with open mouth upon them; two of the hunters, who had reserved their fire, gave him two additional wounds, and one breaking his shoulder-blade, somewhat retarded his motions. Before they could again load their guns, he came so close on them, that they were obliged to run towards the river, and before they had gained it, the bear had almost overtaken them. Two men jumped into the canoe; the other four separated, and concealing themselves among the willows, fired as fast as they could load their pieces. Several times the bear was struck, but each shot seemed only to direct his fury towards the hunter; at last he pursued them so closely, that they threw aside their guns and pouches, and jumped from a perpendicular bank twenty feet high into the river. The bear sprang after them, and was very near the hindmost man, when one of the hunters on the shore shot him through the head and finally killed him. When they dragged him on shore, they found that eight balls had passed through his body in different directions.

On another occasion, the same enterprising travellers met with the largest bear of this species they had ever seen; when they fired he did not attempt to attack, but fled with a tremendous roar, and such was his tenacity of life, that although five balls had passed through the lungs, and five other wounds were inflicted, he swam more than half across the river to a sand-bar, and survived more than twenty minutes.

Mr. John Dougherty, a very experienced and respectable hunter, who accompanied Major Long’s party during their expedition to the Rocky Mountains, several times very narrowly escaped from the grizzly bear. Once, while hunting with another person on one of the upper tributaries of the Missouri, he heard the report of his companion’s rifle, and when he looked round, beheld him at a short distance endeavoring to escape from one of these bears, which he had wounded as it was coming towards him. Dougherty, forgetful of every thing but the preservation of his friend, hastened to call off the attention of the bear, and arrived in rifle shot distance just in time to effect his generous purpose. He discharged his ball at the animal, and was obliged in his turn to fly; his friend relieved from immediate danger, prepared for another attack by charging his rifle, with which he again wounded the bear, and saved Mr. D. from further peril. Neither received any injury from this encounter, in which the bear was at length killed.

The Raccoon.—This animal continues to be frequently found even in the populous parts of the United States. Occasionally their numbers are so much increased, as to render them very troublesome to the farmers in the low and wooded parts of Maryland, bordering on the Chesapeak Bay. Being peculiarly fond of sweet substances, they are sometimes destructive to plantations of sugar-cane, and of Indian corn. While the ear of this corn is still young and tender, it is very sweet, and at that time troops of raccoons frequently enter fields of maize, and in a single night commit the most extensive depredations.

The size of the raccoon varies with the age and sex of the individual. When full grown, the male is about a foot in length, or a few inches longer; the highest part of the back is about a foot from the ground, whilst the highest part of the shoulder is ten inches. The head is about five inches, and the tail rather more than eight. The general color of the body is a blackish gray, which is paler on the under part. The feet have five toes each, terminated by strong curved and pointed claws; and each foot is furnished with five thick and very elastic tubercles beneath. The fur of the raccoon forms an article of considerable value in commerce, as it is extensively used in the manufacture of hats.

‘The raccoon,’ says Godman, ‘is an excellent climber, and his strong sharp claws effectually secure him from being shaken off the branches of trees. In fact, so tenaciously does this animal hold to any surface upon which it can make an impression with its claws, that it requires a considerable exertion of a man’s strength to drag him off; and as long as even a single foot remains attached, he continues to cling with great force. I have had frequent occasion to pull a raccoon from the top of a board fence, where there was no projection which he could seize by; yet, such was the power and obstinacy with which the points of his claws were stuck into the board, as repeatedly to oblige me to desist for fear of tearing his skin, or otherwise doing him an injury by the violence necessary to detach his hold.’

‘Water seems to be essential to their comfort, if not of absolute necessity for the preparation of their food. I have had for some time, and at the moment of writing this have yet, a male and female raccoon in the yard. Their greatest delight appears to be dabbling in water, of which a large tub is always kept for their use. They are frequently seen sitting on the edge of this tub, very busily engaged in playing with a piece of broken china, glass, or a small cake of ice. When they have any substance which sinks, they both paddle with their fore feet with great eagerness, until it is caught, and then it is held by one, with both paws, and rubbed between them; or a struggle ensues for the possession of it, and when it is dropped the same sport is renewed. The coldest weather in winter does not in the least deter them from thus dabbling in the water for amusement; nor has this action much reference to their feeding, as it is performed at any time, even directly after feeding till satiated. I have frequently broken the ice on the surface of their tub, late at night, in the very coldest winter weather, and they have both left their sleeping place with much alacrity, to stand paddling the fragments of ice about, with their fore legs in the water nearly up to the breast. Indeed, these animals have never evinced the slightest dislike to cold, or suffered in any degree therefrom; they have in all weathers slept in a flour-barrel thrown on its side, with one end entirely open, and without any material of which to make a bed. They show no repugnance to being sprinkled or dashed with water, and voluntarily remain exposed to the rain or snow, which wets them thoroughly, notwithstanding their long hair, which, being almost erect, is not well suited to turn the rain. These raccoons are very fond of each other, and express the greatest delight on meeting, after having been separated for a short time, by various movements, and by hugging and rolling one another about on the ground.’

‘My raccoons are, at the time of writing this, more than a year old, and have been in captivity for six or eight months. They are very frolicsome and amusing, and show no disposition to bite or injure any one, except when accidentally trodden on. They are equally free from any disposition to injure children, as has been observed of other individuals. We frequently turn them loose in the parlor, and they appear to be highly delighted, romping with each other and the children, without doing any injury even to the youngest. Their alleged disposition to hurt children especially, may probably be fairly explained by the fact above mentioned, that they always attempt to bite when suddenly hurt, and few children touch animals without pinching or hurting them. They exhibit this spirit of retaliation, not only to man, but when they accidentally hurt themselves against an inanimate body; I have many times been amused to observe the expression of spite with which one of them has sprung at and bit the leg of a chair or table, after knocking himself against it so as to hurt some part of his body.

‘These animals may be tamed while young, but as they grow to maturity, most generally become fierce and even dangerous. I have had one so tame as to follow a servant about through the house or streets, though entirely at liberty; this was quite young when obtained, and grew so fond of human society as to complain very loudly, by a sort of chirping or whining noise, when left alone. Nothing can possibly exceed the domesticated raccoon in restless and mischievous curiosity, if suffered to go about the house. Every chink is ransacked, every article of furniture explored, and the neglect of servants to secure closet doors, is sure to be followed by extensive mischief, the evil being almost uniformly augmented by the alarm caused to the author of it, whose ill-directed efforts to escape from supposed peril, increase at the same time the noise and the destruction.’

The Puma, or American Lion was once spread over the new world, from Canada to Patagonia, but it is not now common in any part of the United States, except the unsettled districts. It is usually called the panther, or painter by the common people. It is also called the catamount. The progress of civilization has, however, circumscribed his range, and has rooted him out in many places. Notwithstanding his size and strength, he is cowardly; and, like almost all cowards, he is sanguinary. If he find a flock of sheep unprotected, he will destroy the whole, merely that he may enjoy the luxury of sucking their blood. He has a small rounded head, a broad and rather obtuse muzzle, and a body which, in proportion, is slenderer and less elevated than that of his more dignified namesake. ‘The upper parts of his body,’ says Mr. Bennett, ‘are of a bright silvery fawn, the tawny hairs being terminated by whitish tips: beneath and on the inside of the limbs he is nearly white, and more completely so on the throat, chin, and upper lip. The head has an irregular mixture of black and gray; the outside of the ears, especially at the base, the sides of the muzzle from which the whiskers take their origin, and the extremity of the tail, are black.’ The fur of the cubs has spots of a darker hue, which are visible only in certain lights, and disappear when the animal is full grown. Both the sexes are of the same color.42

American Wild Cat. This animal bears a strong resemblance to the domestic cat, and its motions are very similar. It stands high upon its legs, and has a short curved tail. Its principal food consists of birds, squirrels, and other small animals which abound in the woody districts it inhabits. Though common in the western states, the wild cat is seldom found in New England.

The Moose.—This animal, which in Europe is called the elk, is an inhabitant of the northern parts of America, but is found in no part of the United States excepting Maine, where it is now met with but seldom. Its figure is ungraceful and clumsy. During summer, the moose frequents swampy or low grounds, on the borders of lakes, in which it is fond of bathing, and whose plants form a favorite article of its food. In winter, the moose seeks the depths of the forest for shelter, and a herd of fifteen or twenty take possession of a tract of about five hundred acres, where they subsist on the tender twigs and the mosses of the trees. To these places the Indians give the name of ‘moose-yards.’ Like other northern animals, the moose is much vexed by insects, which deposit their eggs in different parts of his body, and at certain seasons of the year render his skin worthless to the hunter. At other times, the skin is very valuable, and serves the Indians for clothing and tent covers. This species is much hunted, and has so rapidly diminished within a few years, that there are fears it will become extinct.

The moose is hunted generally in March, when the snow is of sufficient depth and hardness to sustain the weight of a dog. Five or six hunters generally join in the pursuit and carry provisions to last them nearly a week. The chase is commenced at daybreak, when the dogs are set on, and the hunters who wear snow-shoes follow as closely as possible. When started and attacked by the dogs, the moose attempts to escape by flight. The crust of ice covering the snow breaks at every step, and the poor creature cuts his legs so severely that he is obliged to stand at bay, and endeavors to defend himself against his assailants by means of his fore feet. In this situation he is despatched by the rifle ball of the hunter.

The Elk.—The elk is still occasionally found in the remote and thinly settled parts of Pennsylvania, but the number is small; it is only in the western wilds that they are seen in considerable herds. They are fond of the great forests, where a luxuriant vegetation affords them an abundant supply of buds and tender twigs; or of the great plains, where the solitude is seldom interrupted, and all bounteous nature spreads an immense field of verdure for their support.

The elk is shy and retiring; having acute senses, he receives early warning of the approach of any human intruder. The moment the air is tainted by the odor of his enemy, his head is erected with spirit, his ears rapidly thrown in every direction to catch the sounds, and his large dark glistening eye expresses the most eager attention. Soon as the approaching hunter is fairly discovered, the elk bounds along for a few paces, as if trying his strength for flight, stops, turns half round, and scans his pursuer with a steady gaze, then, throwing back his lofty horns upon his neck, and projecting his taper nose forwards, he springs from the ground and advances with a velocity which soon leaves the object of his dread far out of sight.43

This animal appears to be more ready to attack with his horns than any other species of deer. When at bay, and especially if slightly wounded, he fights with great eagerness, as if resolved to be revenged. The following instance from Long’s Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, will, in some degree, illustrate this statement.

A herd of twenty or thirty elk were seen at no great distance from the party, standing in the water or lying upon the sand beach. One of the finest bucks was singled out by a hunter, who fired upon him, whereupon the whole herd plunged into the thicket and disappeared. Relying upon the skill of the hunter, and confident that his shot was fatal, several of the party dismounted and pursued the elk into the woods, where the wounded buck was soon overtaken. Finding his pursuers close upon him, the elk turned furiously upon the foremost, who only saved himself by springing into a thicket, which was impassable to the elk, whose enormous antlers becoming so entangled in the vines as to be covered to their tips, he was held fast and blindfolded, and was despatched by repeated bullets and stabs.

Black-tailed Deer.—The habits of this animal are similar to those of its kindred species, except that it has a manner of bounding along, instead of running at full speed. It is found in prairies and open grounds, west of the Rocky Mountains, and but seldom in the woodlands. It is larger than the common deer, and its flesh is considered inferior; its eye is larger, and the hair coarse. The ears are very long, being half the length of the whole antler. It was first observed by the members of Lewis and Clarke’s expedition, and was described by Say.

Common Deer.—This species, sometimes called the Virginia Deer, is found throughout the United States, with such varieties in its size and coloring, as naturally arise from variety of climate. Its form is slender and delicate, and its whole appearance indicates a degree of feebleness, which is counteracted only by the agility of its movements, and the animation of its eye. Its sense of hearing and seeing is wonderfully acute; and the hunter must approach his intended victim with the utmost caution, for he is discovered by the slightest noise. The resort of this species is in the forests and plains adjacent to rivers, where they feed chiefly on buds and twigs, and sometimes on grass. They are headed by one of the largest and strongest bucks, who appears to be the guardian of the general safety and directs his followers to combat or retreat. Though generally shy and timid, the males are much disposed to battle during the season of the sexual passion, and are almost always inclined to fight when wounded or brought to bay. At this time they fight with their fore feet, as well as their horns, and inflict severe wounds by leaping forward and striking with the edges of their hoofs. If a hunter misses his aim when attempting to despatch a wounded deer with his knife, he is placed in great peril. To serpents, of every description, the deer is particularly hostile, and it seems to have an instinctive horror of the rattlesnake. To destroy this enemy, the deer leaps into the air, and comes down on him with its four feet closed in a square, repeating its violent blows until the reptile is killed.

The males frequently engage in combats, in which their horns sometimes become so interlocked that neither can escape, and they then remain engaged in fruitless struggles till they perish of famine, or become the prey of the wolf or the hunter. Heads of deer which have thus perished are frequently found, and there is scarcely a museum in this country which has not one or more specimens. The following instance is given by Say in Long’s Expedition to the Rocky Mountains. ‘As the party were descending a ridge, their attention was called to an unusual noise proceeding from a copse of low bushes, a few rods from the path. On arriving at the spot, they found two buck deer, their horns fast interlocked with each other, and both much spent with fatigue, one in particular being so much exhausted as to be unable to stand. Perceiving that it would be impossible that they should extricate themselves, and must either linger in their present situations or die of hunger, or be destroyed by the wolves, they despatched them with their knives, after having made an unavailing attempt to disentangle them. Beyond doubt, many of these animals must annually thus perish.’

Prong-horned Antelope.—This species was first described by the leaders of the first American expedition to the west of the Rocky Mountains. It is shy and timorous, wonderfully fleet, and with great acuteness of sight and smell. When once startled, they fly with the rapidity of the wind, and baffle all pursuit. In one instance, captain Lewis, after various fruitless attempts, by winding around the ridges, succeeded in approaching a party of seven that stood upon an eminence towards which the wind was unfortunately blowing. The only male of the party frequently encircled the summit of the hill, as if to announce any danger to the group of females which stood upon the top. Before they saw captain Lewis, they became alarmed by the scent, and fled while he was at the distance of two hundred yards. He immediately ran to the spot where they had stood; a ravine concealed them from him, but at the next moment they appeared on a second ridge, at the distance of three miles. He could not but doubt whether these were the same he had alarmed, but their number and continued speed convinced him they were so, and he justly infers that they must have run with a rapidity equal to that of the most celebrated race horse.

‘The chief game of the Shoshonees,’ say Lewis and Clarke, ‘is the antelope, which when pursued retreats to the open plains, where the horses have full room for the chase. But such is its extraordinary fleetness and wind, that a single horse has no possible chance of outrunning it, or tiring it down; and the hunters are therefore obliged to resort to stratagem. About twenty Indians, mounted on fine horses, armed with bows and arrows, left the camp; in a short time they descried a herd of ten antelopes; they immediately separated into squads of two or three, and formed a scattered circle round the herd for five or six miles, keeping at a wary distance, so as not to alarm them till they were perfectly inclosed, and usually selecting some commanding eminence as a stand. Having gained their positions, a small party rode towards the herd, and with wonderful dexterity the huntsman preserved his seat, and the horse his footing, as he ran at full speed over the hills and down the steep ravines, and along the borders of the precipices.

‘They were soon outstripped by the antelopes, which, on gaining the other extremity of the circle, were driven back and pursued by the fresh hunters. They turned and flew, rather than ran, in another direction; but there too they found new enemies. In this way they were alternately pursued backwards and forwards, till at length, notwithstanding the skill of the hunters, (who were merely armed with bows and arrows) they all escaped; and the party, after running for two hours, returned without having caught any thing, and their horses foaming with sweat. This chase, the greater part of which was seen from the camp, formed a beautiful scene, but to the hunters is exceedingly laborious, and so unproductive, even when they are able to worry the animal down and shoot him, that forty or fifty hunters will sometimes be engaged for more than half a day, without obtaining more than two or three antelopes.’

Rocky Mountain Goat.—This species is nearly the size of a common sheep, and has a shaggy appearance. Its hoofs and horns are black; the latter project but little, and are slightly curved. Great numbers of this goat are found about the head-waters of the north fork of Columbia river, where they are much hunted by the natives, and form an abundant though somewhat unsavory article of food. They are seldom seen far from the mountains, and are more numerous on their western than on their eastern slopes. The skin is thick and spongy, and is used for moccasins. The fleece is said to be as fine as that of which the celebrated cashmere shawls are manufactured.

Argali.—The argali is found in the Rocky Mountains, from about the fiftieth degree of north latitude to California. Here troops of twenty or thirty are seen together, feeding on the most precipitous tracts, and bounding with wonderful agility from rock to rock. During the summer months, the color of this animal is a grayish fawn, with a reddish line across the back. The male has very large twisted horns, fixed near the eyes; its ears are straight, broad and pointed, and its tail quite short. This is said to be the species from which all the varieties of our domestic sheep are descended.

Bison.—This animal is found in herds in the prairies in the neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains: it is continually receding before the advance of man, and will soon be entirely banished to the far west. Schoolcraft says that the species is confined to the regions situated between the thirty-first and forty-ninth degrees of north latitude, and west of the Mississippi river. The only part of the country east of this river, where the bison now remains, is that included between the falls of St. Anthony and Sandy Lake, a range of about six hundred miles.

‘Being now in the region of buffalo,’ says Mr. Schoolcraft, ‘we concluded to land, in the course of the day, at some convenient place for hunting them. This we were soon invited to do by seeing one of these animals along the shore of the river, and on ascending the bank, we observed, upon a boundless prairie, two droves of them, feeding upon the grass. All who had guns adapted for the purpose, sallied forth in separate parties upon the prairie, while those who felt less ambition to signalize themselves upon the occasion, or were more illy accoutred for the activities of the chase, remained upon an eminence which overlooked the plain, to observe the movements of this animal while under an attack of musketry, and to enjoy the novel spectacle of a buffalo-hunt. The grass was so tall as to allow an unobserved approach towards the spot where they remained feeding, but the first fire proved unsuccessful, at the same time that it scattered the herd, which were now seen running in all directions across the prairie, and an incessant fire of random shots was kept up for about two hours; during which three buffaloes were killed, and a great number wounded, which made their escape.

‘While thus harrassed, they often passed within a few yards of us, and we enjoyed a fine opportunity of witnessing their form, size, color, and speed. The buffalo has a clumsy gait, like the domestic ox, which it also resembles in size and general appearance. Unlike the ox, however, this animal exhibits no diversity of color, being a uniform dark brown, inclining to dun. It is never spotted, with black, red, or white. It has short black horns growing nearly straight from the head, and set at a considerable distance apart. The male has a hunch upon its shoulders, covered with long flocks of shaggy hair, extending to the top of the head, from which it falls over the eyes and horns, giving the animal a very formidable appearance. The hoofs are cloven like those of the cow, but the legs are much stouter, and altogether, it is more clumsy and ill-proportioned. The tail is naked till towards the end, where it is tufted, in the manner of the lion.

‘The general weight of this animal is from eight hundred to a thousand pounds; but they sometimes attain an enormous size, and have been killed upon the Mississippi prairies weighing two thousand pounds. The skin of a buffalo bull, when first taken off, is three fourths of an inch in thickness, and cannot be lifted by the strongest man. A hundred and fifty pounds of tallow have been taken from one animal, and it is highly esteemed by the Indians in preparing their hommony. Instances of excessive fatness are, however, rare, and such over-fed animals become so unwieldy that they often fall a prey to wolves; particularly if they happen to stray a distance from the herd. The buffalo is a timid animal, and flies at the approach of man. It is however asserted by the hunters, that when painfully wounded, it becomes furious, and will turn upon its pursuers.

‘There is a particular art in killing the buffalo with a rifle, only known to experienced hunters, and when they do not drop down, which is often the case, it requires a person intimately acquainted with their habits, to pursue them with success. This has been fully instanced in the futile exertions of our party, upon the present occasion; for out of a great number of shots, few have reached the object, and very few proved effectual, and the little success we met with is chiefly attributable to the superior skill of the Indians who accompanied us. Unless a vital part is touched, the shot proves useless. It also requires a larger ball than the deer and elk. Lieutenant Pike thinks that in the open prairies, the bow and arrow could be used to better advantage than the gun, particularly on horseback, for you might ride immediately along side the animal and strike it where you pleased. The Indians employ both the rifle and arrow, and in the prairies of Missouri and Arkansas, pursue the herds on horseback; but on the upper Mississippi, where they are destitute of horses, they make amends for this deficiency by several ingenious stratagems.

‘One of the most common of these is the method of hunting with fire. For this purpose, a great number of hunters disperse themselves around a large prairie where herds of buffalo happen to be feeding, and setting fire to the grass encompass them on all sides. The buffalo, having a great dread of fire, retire towards the centre of the prairie as they see it approach, and here being pressed together in great numbers, many are trampled under foot, and the Indians rushing in with their arrows and musketry, slaughter immense numbers in a short period. It is asserted that a thousand animals have been killed by this stratagem in one day. They have another method of hunting by driving them over precipices, which is chiefly practised by the bands inhabiting the Missouri. To decoy the herds, several Indians disguise themselves in the skins of the buffalo, taken off entire, and by counterfeiting the lowing of this animal in distress, they attract the herds in a certain direction, and when they are at full speed, suddenly disappear behind a cleft in the top of a precipice, when those animals which are in front on reaching the brink, are pushed over by those pressing behind, and in this manner great numbers are crushed to death. These practices are less common now than formerly, the introduction of fire arms, among most of the tribes, putting it into the power of almost every individual to kill sufficient for the support of his family.

‘By a very bad policy, however, they prefer the flesh of the cows, which will in time destroy the species. Few of the native animals of the American forest contribute more to the comforts of savage society than the buffalo. Its skin, when dressed by a process peculiar to them, forms one of the principal articles of clothing. The Sioux tribes particularly excel in the method of dressing it, and are very much in the habit of ornamenting their dresses with porcupine quills, and paints. The skin, dressed with the hair on, supplies them with blankets, and constitutes those durable and often beautiful sleigh-robes which are now in such universal use in the United States and the Canadas. The tallow of this animal, as well as the beef, has also become an article of commerce, particularly in the south-western states and territories, and its horns are exported for the manufacture of powder-flasks. The tongue is considered superior in flavor to that of the domestic cow, and the animal is often hunted for no other purpose. I have seen stockings and hats manufactured from its wool, with a little addition of common wool, or of cotton. This practice is very common among the white hunters of Missouri and Arkansas. The flesh of the buffalo is not equal, in its fresh state, to that of the cow or ox, but is superior when dried, which is the Indian mode of preserving it.

‘The attempts which have been made to domesticate this animal, have not been attended with success. Calves which have been taken in the woods and brought up with the tame breed, have afterwards discovered a wild and ungovernable temper, and manifested their savage nature by breaking down the strongest enclosures, and enticing the tame cattle into the woods. The mixed breed is said to be barren, like the mule. The period of gestation is ascertained to be twelve months, whereas that of the cow is nine. A remarkable proof of the little affinity existing between it, and the domestic breed of cattle, was exhibited a few years ago in Canada, where the connexion resulted in the death of the cows submitted to the experiment.’

American Wolf.—The common wolf of America is considered as the same species with the wolf of Europe. Richardson remarks that he has travelled over thirty degrees of latitude in America, and has never seen there any wolves which had the gaunt appearance, the comparatively long jaw and tapering nose, the high ears, long legs, slender loins, and narrow feet of the Pyrenean wolf. He adds, that the American animal has a more robust form than the European wolf. Its muzzle is thicker and more obtuse, its head larger and rounder, and there is a sensible depression at the union of the nose and forehead. He notices six varieties of the wolf in North America: common gray wolf, white, pied, dusky, black, and prairie. There is little reason to doubt that all the wolves of America are of one species; and the variations of size, color, and habits, are to be referred to diversities of climate which have been gradually impressed upon these animals.

Prairie Wolf.—This species is found in large numbers in the prairies to the west of the Missouri, and also occurs in the vicinity of the Columbia river. Its general color is gray, mixed with black; the ears are erect, rounded at the tip, and lined with gray hair. It is about three feet and a half in length, and bears a very strong resemblance to the domestic dog, so common in the Indian villages. Its bark is also similar to that of the dog. It resembles the other species of wolves in rapacity and cunning, being very suspicious and mistrustful and shunning pitfalls and snares with intuitive sagacity.44

Horses.—The number of horses among the various tribes on the Columbia, and its tributary streams, differs with the circumstances of the country. Among the Flat-heads, Cootonais, and Spokans, whose lands are rather thickly wooded, there are not more than sufficient for their actual use, and every colt, on arriving at the proper age, is broken in for the saddle. But in the countries inhabited by the Wallah Wallahs, Nez Percés, and Shoshonés, which chiefly consist of open plains, well watered and thinly wooded, they are far more numerous, and thousands are allowed to go wild. Their general height is about fifteen hands, which they seldom exceed; and ponies are very scarce. Those reared in the plains are excellent hunters, and the swiftest racers; but are not capable of enduring the same hardships as those bred in the vicinity of the high and woody districts. Seven hundred or a thousand wild horses are sometimes seen in a band; and it is said that in parts of the country belonging to the Snake Indians, bands varying from three to four thousand are frequently seen; and further to the southward, they are far more numerous.

The Indian horses are never shod; and owing to this circumstance, their hoofs, particularly of such as are in constant work, are nearly worn away before they are ten or eleven years old, after which they are unfit for any labor except carrying children. They are easily managed, and are seldom vicious. An Indian horse is never taught to trot. The natives dislike this pace, and prefer to it the canter or light gallop. They are hard taskmasters; and the hair-rope bridles, with the padded deer-skin saddles which they use, lacerate the mouths and backs of the unfortunate animals in such a manner as to render them objects of commiseration. In summer they have no shelter from the heat, in winter no retreat from the cold; and their only provender throughout the year is the wild loose grass of the prairies, which, in the latter season, is generally covered with snow, and in the former is brown and arid, from the intense heat of the sun.

Foxes.—The Gray Fox is found in great numbers throughout the country, and ventures more boldly than any other species into the neighborhood of human habitations. It exhibits different colors at different seasons and ages; its general color is grizzly, growing gradually darker from the fore shoulders to the hinder part of the back. The inferior parts of the body are white, tinged slightly with faint reddish brown. The tail is thick and bushy. The Red Fox is a very beautiful species, and abounds in the middle and southern states, where it proves very troublesome to poultry-yards. In summer, its fur is long, fine, and brilliant; in winter, it becomes longer and more thick. The length of this species is about two feet, and of its tail, nearly a foot and a half. Its fur is valuable, and much used. When caught young, the red fox is very playful, and may be domesticated to a considerable degree; we have known it to live in perfect friendship with a number of dogs, and to take much pleasure in tumbling about and sporting with them.45

The Black Fox bears a striking resemblance to the common fox, from which it has nothing to distinguish it but its abundant and beautiful black fur. Its color is rich and lustrous, having a small quantity of white mingled with the prevailing black on different parts of its body. It is found throughout the northern parts of America, but no where in great numbers. The Swift Fox is a very interesting species, inhabiting the open plains which stretch from the base of the Rocky Mountains towards the Mississippi.

Opossum.—This animal is found in the southern parts of the United States, and is easily distinguished from all others by two peculiarities: the first is that the female has a cavity under the belly in which she receives and suckles her young; the second is, that the male and the female have no claws on the great toe of the hind feet, which is separated from the others as a man’s thumb is separated from his fingers. The opossum produces often, and a great number of young at a time. It walks awkwardly, and seldom runs; but it climbs trees with great facility, and hangs from the branches by means of a very flexible and muscular tail. Though voracious and greedy of blood, it also feeds on reptiles, insects, sugar-canes, potatoes, and even leaves and bark of trees. It may be easily domesticated; but its smell is strong and offensive, though its flesh is eatable, and much liked by the Indians. So tenacious is it of life, that it has given rise to a saying in North Carolina, that if a cat has nine lives, an opossum has nineteen. The general color of the opossum is a whitish gray; the tail is thick and black, for upwards of three inches at its base, and is covered by small scales, interspersed with white, short, rigid hairs. It is a timid and nocturnal animal, depending for its safety more on cunning than strength.

American Hare.—This species, improperly called rabbit, is found throughout the states, and in some parts is exceedingly common. Its flesh is much esteemed as an article of food. During the summer it is tough, but after the first frosts of autumn, it is fat and delicate. In the north, during winter the hare feeds on the twigs of pine and fir, and is fit for the table during the season. It never burrows in the ground, but in the day time remains crouched, within its form, which is a mere spot of ground cleared of grass and sheltered by an overhanging plant. Sometimes it lives in the trunk of a hollow tree, or under a pile of stones. It wanders out at night, and makes sad havoc among the turnip and cabbage fields, and the young trees in nurseries. It is not hunted in this country as in Europe, but is caught in a trap, or roused by a dog and shot.

Varying Hare.—This animal appears to inhabit a great portion of North America, as it has been found in Virginia, and as far north as fifty-five degrees, whilst eastward it is found on the great plains of the Columbia. It appears generally to frequent plains and low grounds, where it lives like the common hare, never burrowing, but not resorting to the thick woods. The variabilis of Europe, on the contrary, is described as always inhabiting the highest mountains, and never descending into the plains, except when forced to seek for food, when the mountains are covered with snow. The American species is remarkably swift, never taking shelter when pursued, and capable of most astonishing leaps; Captain Lewis measured some of these, and found their length to be from eighteen to twenty feet. From the middle of November to the middle of April, this animal is of a pure white, with the exception of the black and reddish brown of the ears. During the rest of the year, the upper parts of the body are of a lead color; the under parts white, with a light shade of lead color.

Beaver.—The general appearance of the beaver is that of a large rat, and seen at a little distance, it might be readily mistaken for the common musk-rat. But the greater size of the beaver, the thickness and breadth of its head, and its horizontally flattened, broad, and scaly tail, render it impossible to mistake it for any other creature when closely examined. In its movements, both on shore and in the water, it also closely resembles the musk-rat, having the same quick step, and swimming with great vigor and celerity, either on the surface or in the depths of the water.46

Musk-Rat.—This animal is closely allied in form and habits to the beaver, and is found in the same parts of America as that animal, from thirty to sixty-nine or seventy degrees of latitude. But it is more familiar in its habits, as it is to be found only a short distance from large towns. The musk-rat is a watchful, but not a very shy animal. It may be frequently seen sitting on the shores of small muddy islands, not easily to be distinguished from a piece of earth, till, on the approach of danger, it suddenly plunges into the water. It forms burrows on the banks of streams and ponds, the entrance to which is in deep water. These burrows extend to great distances, and do extensive injury to the farms, by letting in the water upon the land. In some situations, these animals build houses of a conical form, resembling those of the beaver, formed of mud, grass and reeds, plastered together. They feed upon the roots and tender shoots of aquatic plants and on the leaves of grasses. They are excellent swimmers, dive well, and can remain for a long time under water. It is rare to have an opportunity of seeing the animal during the day, as it then lies concealed in its burrow, and it is not till night, that it issues forth for food or recreation. It does not, like the beaver, lay up a store of provision for the winter; but it builds a new habitation every season.

This animal is common in the Atlantic states, and its fur being valuable for hats, it is much hunted. The Indians kill them by spearing them through the walls of their houses. Between four and five thousand skins are annually imported into Great Britain from North America.

The American Badger, as compared with the European, is smaller and lighter, with different markings on its fur, and with a head less sharp towards the nose. It frequents the prairies and sand plains at the base of the Rocky Mountains, as far north as latitude fifty-eight degrees. It abounds on the plains watered by the Missouri. Timid and slow, the badger, on being pursued, takes to the earth like a mole, and makes his way with great rapidity. It is caught in spring, when the ground is frozen, by filling its hole with water, when the tenant is obliged to come out.

The Ermine Weasel is known in the middle and eastern states, by the name of weasel: farther north, it is called stoat in summer, and ermine in its winter dress. In its habits it resembles the common weasel of Europe. It is courageous, active, and graceful. His long and slender body, bright and piercing eye, sharp claws and teeth, and great strength, indicate that he is dangerous and destructive to the smaller animals, which he can follow into their smallest hiding places, from his peculiar flexibility of body. This animal frequents barns and out-houses, and is the particular enemy of mice, and other depredators upon the granary. To compensate for the service he thus renders the farmer, he helps himself without ceremony to a number of his fowls, and the henroost sometimes exhibits a sad proof of the value he sets upon his labors, in exterminating the mice. In winter, the fur of the weasel is much longer, thicker and finer, than in summer.

Pennant’s Marten is found in various parts of North America, from the state of Pennsylvania, to as far north as the Great Slave Lake, where it was seen by captain Franklin. It is easily domesticated, becomes fond of tea leaves, is very playful, and has a pleasant musky smell. This species is not very scarce, as Pennant says that five hundred and eighty skins were sent in one year from the states of New York and Pennsylvania; and Sabine remarks that the Hudson’s Bay Company sent eighteen hundred skins to England in one year.

The length of this marten is from twenty-four to thirty inches without the tail, which is from thirteen to seventeen inches long. The feet are very broad, and covered with hair, which conceals the sharp, strong, white claws. The fur on the head is short, but gradually increases in length towards the tail, and its color changes, losing much of the yellowish, and assuming a chestnut hue. The tail is full, bushy, black and lustrous, being smallest at the end.

The Maryland Marmot, or Woodchuck, is common in all the temperate parts of America. It does great injury to the farmers, as the quantity of herbage it consumes is really surprising. It burrows in the ground on the sides of hills, and these extend to great distances under ground, and terminate in various chambers. Here the marmot makes himself a comfortable bed of dry leaves, grass, and any soft rubbish, where he sleeps from the close of day, till the next morning is far advanced.

The Maryland marmot eats with great greediness, and in large quantities. It is fond of cabbage, lettuce, and other garden vegetables. When in captivity, it is exceedingly fond of bread and milk.

At the commencement of cold weather, the marmot goes into winter quarters, blocks up the door within, and remains torpid till the warm season. It is about the size of a rabbit, and of a dark brown color.

The Prairie Marmot, commonly called Prairie Dog, builds his dwelling in the barren tracts of the western country, and may often be seen sitting by the small mounds of earth, which indicate his abode, in an attitude of profound attention. Whole acres of land are occupied by these little tenants, and villages are found, containing thousands of inhabitants. Near the Rocky Mountains, these villages are found to reach several miles. The burrow extends under ground, but to what distance has not been determined.

This marmot, like the rest of the species, remains torpid during the winter. It is very much annoyed in its habitation by owls, rattlesnakes, lizards, and land tortoises, who appropriate these comfortable dwellings for their own use, and frequently destroy the young marmots.

The Fox Squirrel is found throughout the southern states, where it frequents the pine forests in considerable numbers, and derives its principal subsistence from the seed of the pine. Its color varies from white to pale gray and black, and is sometimes mottled, with various shades of red. The Cat Squirrel is one of the largest species, and is found in great abundance in the oak and chesnut forests of this country. It is a very heavy animal, and is slow in its movements, seldom leaping from tree to tree, unless it is alarmed or closely pursued. It is found of almost every variety of color. The Black Squirrel is very common, but is often confounded with the black varieties of the squirrels before described. In the winter, this animal is of a pure black; in the summer, it is of a grayish black, intermingled with a dark reddish brown. It is found in the United States, and inhabits the northern shores of Lakes Huron and Superior.

The Common Gray Squirrel is remarkable for its beauty and activity, and is common throughout the United States. It is generally found in hickory and chesnut woods, where it feeds on nuts, and lays up a hoard for the winter. It is very easily domesticated, and in captivity is very playful and mischievous. The Great-tailed Squirrel, so called from the length of its tail, is common on the Missouri. It is of a grayish black color, and is very graceful and active. The Line-tail Squirrel inhabits the Missouri country, where it builds its nest in the holes and crevices of rocks. It is fond of the naked cliffs, where there are but few bushes, and very rarely ascends a tree. It feeds on the buds, leaves, and fruits of plants. It is of an ash color, intermixed with white hairs. Its fur is coarse, and the tail, which is very long, is marked with three black lines on each side. The Four-lined Squirrel is found on the Rocky Mountains. Its nest is composed of a great quantity of the branches of different kinds of trees, and of other vegetable productions. It does not ascend trees by choice.

The Columbian Pine Squirrel was seen by Lewis and Clarke on the banks of the Columbia river, but is supposed by Richardson to be a variety of the Hudson’s Bay Squirrel, its habits being similar.

The Common Red Squirrel is abundant in most parts of North America. It is one of the most lively and nimble of the squirrel race. It digs burrows at the roots of large trees, to which it forms four or five entrances. It does not leave its tree in cold and stormy weather, but when it is sporting in the sunshine, if any one approaches, it conceals itself, and makes a loud noise, similar to a watchman’s rattle. From this circumstance it has received the name of Chickaree. When pursued, it makes long leaps from tree to tree, and seeks for shelter as soon as possible in its burrow. The skin of this animal is of no value. It is of a reddish brown color, shaded with black. The tail is long and beautiful.

The Ground or Striped Squirrel is abundant in all our woods. It is sometimes called Harkee, and, in New England, is usually denominated the Chip Squirrel. It differs very much from other squirrels in its habits. It never makes its nest in the branches of trees, but burrows in the ground near the roots. These burrows extend a considerable distance under ground, and are always provided with two openings. The general color of this animal is of a reddish brown. The Common Flying Squirrel47 is very abundant in the United States, and is much admired for the softness of its fur, and the gentleness of its disposition. The skin of the sides is extended from the fore to the hind limbs, so as to form a sort of sail, which enables it to descend swiftly from a great height, in the easiest and most pleasant manner, often passing over a considerable space. This squirrel is small, of an ash color above, and white beneath, with large, prominent black eyes. It builds its nest in hollow trees. The Rocky Mountain Flying Squirrel lives in thick pine forests, and seldom leaves its retreats except at night.

The Urson, or Canada Porcupine, exhibits none of the long and large quills which are so conspicuous and formidable in the European species, and the short spines or prickles which are thickly set over all the superior parts of its body, are covered by a long coarse hair, which almost entirely conceals them. These spines are not more than two inches and a half in length, yet form a very efficient protection against every other enemy but man. This animal dislikes water, sleeps very much, and chiefly feeds upon the bark of the juniper. His flesh is eaten by the savages and American traders. He is still found in the remote and unsettled parts of Pennsylvania, but south of this state is almost unknown. It was formerly found, but very rarely, in Virginia. The porcupine is much prized by the aborigines, both for its flesh, and quills, which are used as ornaments to their pipes, weapons, and dresses. A large collection of dresses, thus ornamented, is exhibited in the Philadelphia Museum.

The Mink is found throughout the country, from Carolina to Hudson’s Bay, and in its habits and appearance strongly resembles the otter. It lives in the neighborhood of mill-seats, or farm-houses, frequenting holes near the water, or in the ruins of old walls. It feeds upon frogs and fish, and, like the weasel, sometimes pays an unwelcome visit to the poultry-yard. The length of this animal is about twenty inches; its feet are broad, webbed, and covered with hair. Hats are made of its fur.

The Skunk is of a brown color, marked sometimes with two white stripes. The faculty this animal possesses, of annoying its enemies by the discharge of a noisome fluid, causes it to be rather shunned than hunted, which the value of its skin would otherwise be sure to occasion. The smallest drop of this fluid is sufficient to render a garment detestable for a great length of time. Washing, smoking, baking, or burying articles of dress, seems to be equally inefficient for its removal. The skunk is generally found in the forests, having its den either in the stump of an old tree, or in an excavation in the ground. It feeds on the young of birds, and upon small quadrupeds, eggs, and wild fruits. It also does much mischief in the poultry-yard.

The American Otter is about five feet in length, including the tail, the length of which is eighteen inches. The color of the whole of the body, (except the chin and throat, which are dusky white) is a glossy brown. The fur throughout is dense and fine. The differences between this species and the European otter, are thus pointed out by Captain Sabine: ‘The neck of the American otter is elongated, not short, and the head narrow and long in comparison with the short, broad visage of the European species; the ears are consequently much closer together than in the latter animal. The tail is more pointed and shorter, being considerably less than one half of the length of the body, whilst the tail of the European otter is more than half the length of its body.’ The fur of the otter is much valued by the hatters and other consumers of peltries, and this animal must ultimately become as rare in North America as the kindred species has long since become in Europe.

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CHAPTER XVII.—BOTANY.

The vegetation of the United States is as various as the climate and soil. In Florida and the southern states, the superb magnolia, the majestic tulip tree and the deciduous cypress charm the traveller by their grandeur and beauty. The lofty oak, the stately fir and the gracefully-waving elm of the north, present a different and still a highly interesting study to the naturalist. As a general observation, the trees of the United States are larger, taller, and more generally useful for timber than those of Europe. As to height, it is observed by Michaux, that, while in France only thirty-seven species of trees arrive at thirty feet, in the transatlantic republic, one hundred and thirty exceed that elevation. A general idea of the American forest having thus been given, we will now notice, as largely as our limits will permit, the most remarkable trees.

Oak.—The White Oak is found throughout the United States, though it is by no means equally diffused. It abounds chiefly in the middle states, particularly in that part of Pennsylvania and Virginia which lies between the Alleghanies and the Ohio, a distance of about one hundred and fifty miles, where nine tenths of the forests are frequently composed of these trees, whose healthful appearance evinces the favorable nature of the soil. East of the mountains, this tree is found in every exposure, and in every soil which is not extremely dry or subject to long inundations; but the largest stocks grow in humid places. In the western districts, where it composes entire forests, the face of the country is undulated, and the yellow soil, consisting partly of clay with calcareous stones, yields abundant crops of wheat.

The white oak attains the elevation of seventy or eighty feet, with a diameter of six or seven feet; but its proportions vary with the soil and climate. Soon after their unfolding, the leaves are reddish above and white and downy beneath; when fully grown, they are smooth and of a light green on the upper surface. In autumn, they change to a bright violet color, and form an agreeable contrast with the surrounding foliage which has not yet suffered by the frost. This is the only oak on which a few of the dried leaves remain till the circulation is renewed in the spring. By this peculiarity and by the whiteness of the bark, from which it derives its name, it is easily distinguishable in the winter. This tree puts forth flowers in May, which are succeeded by acorns of an oval form, large, very sweet, contained in rough, shallow, grayish cups, and borne singly or in pairs, by peduncles eight or ten lines in length, attached, as in all species of annual fructification, to the shoots of the season. The fruit of the white oak is rarely abundant, and frequently, for several years in succession, a few handfuls of acorns could hardly be collected in a large forest where the tree is multiplied. Some stocks produce acorns of a deep blue color.

Of all the American oaks, this is the best and the most generally used, being strong, durable, and of large dimensions. It is less employed than formerly in building, only because it is scarcer and more costly. Among the uses of this wood, the most important is in ship-building. In all the dock yards of the northern and middle states, except Maine, it is almost exclusively employed for the keel, and always for the lower part of the frame and the sides: it is preferred for the knees, when sticks of a proper form can be found. In the smaller ports south of New York, the upper part of the frame is also made of white oak; but such vessels are less esteemed than those constructed of more durable wood. The medicinal properties of oak bark depend on its astringency, and that again on its tannin. The inner bark of the small branches is the strongest, the middle bark next, and the outer bark is almost useless.

The Gray Oak, Water Oak, Bear Oak, Upland, Willow Oak, and Bartram Oak are interesting varieties. The Laurel Oak is a stranger north of Philadelphia, and is rare in the more southern states. It is most abundant in the open savannas of Illinois. Rising to the height of forty or fifty feet, clad in a smooth bark, and for three fourths of its height laden with branches, it presents an uncouth appearance when bared by the winter blasts, but in the summer with its thick tufted foliage is really beautiful. The Black Oak is found throughout the country, with the exception of the northern part of New England. It is one of the loftiest of the American forest trees, rising to the height of eighty or ninety feet, with a diameter of four or five feet. The wood is reddish and coarse-grained, with empty pores, but is esteemed for strength and durability. It furnishes excellent fuel, and the bark is largely used for tanning. Other varieties of the oak are numerous.

Walnut.—The Black Walnut is met with in large numbers in the forests in the vicinity of Philadelphia, and with the exception of the lower parts of the southern states, where the soil is too sandy, or too wet as in the swamps, it is met with to the banks of the Mississippi throughout an extent of two thousand miles. East of the Alleghanies in Virginia, and in the upper parts of the Carolinas and Georgia, it is chiefly confined to the valleys where the soil is deep and fertile, and which are watered by creeks and rivers. On the banks of the Ohio and on the islands of this beautiful river, the black walnut attains the elevation of sixty or seventy feet, with a diameter of three to seven feet. Its powerful vegetation clearly points out this, as one of the largest trees of America. When it stands insulated, its branches, extending themselves horizontally to a great distance, spread into a spacious head, which gives it a very majestic appearance. The bark is thick, blackish, and on old trees deeply furrowed. The leaves when bruised emit a strong aromatic odor.

When the wood of this tree is freshly cut, the sap is white and the heart of a violet color, which, after a short exposure to the air, assumes an intenser shade, and becomes nearly black: hence probably is derived the name Black Walnut. There are several qualities for which its wood is principally esteemed: it remains sound for a long time, even when exposed to the influences of heat and moisture; but this observation is only applicable to the heart, the sap speedily decays: it is very strong and very tenacious: when thoroughly seasoned, it is not liable to warp and split; and its grain is sufficiently fine and compact to admit of a beautiful polish. It possesses, in addition to these advantages, that of being secure from worms. On account of these excellencies, it is preferred and successfully employed in many kinds of work. East of the Alleghanies, its timber is not extensively used in building houses, but, in some parts of Kentucky and Ohio, it is split into shingles which serve to cover them: sometimes also this timber enters into the composition of the frame. But it is chiefly in cabinet-making, that this wood is employed wherever it abounds.

There are several other species of the walnut. The Shell-bark Hickory sometimes grows to the height of eighty or ninety feet, with a diameter of less than two feet; the trunk is destitute of branches, regularly shaped, and almost of a uniform size for three fourths of its length. The Butternut is found in all the New England states, and in the middle states.

Maple.—The Sugar Maple, called also rock maple, has leaves five-parted, and yellowish green flowers, and is one of the loftiest trees in our forests. Its trunk is usually straight and entire, to the height of from forty to eighty feet, where it suddenly unfolds into a dense top, crowded with rich foliage. The bark of the older trees is gray, and marked with numerous deep clefts. The wood is firm and heavy, though not durable. It is much used by cabinet-makers, and when cut at the right season forms excellent fuel. Michaux says, that it grows in its greatest perfection, between the forty-third and forty-sixth degrees of north latitude.

The White Maple, sometimes called silver maple, is distinguished by having its leaves five-parted, and white beneath; its flowers reddish yellow, without flower-stalks. The trunk frequently divides near the ground, so as to appear like several trunks close together. These divisions diverge a little as they rise, and often at the height of from eight to twenty feet the top commences. This is generally larger in proportion to the trunk, than the top of any other tree. It blossoms earlier than the sugar maple. The fruit is larger than that of any other species: it advances with great rapidity towards perfection, ripens and falls about June in Georgia, and May in Pennsylvania. The fruit of the sugar maple does not ripen until October. The white maple is principally found on the banks of rivers, and on the banks of such only as have a clean gravelly bottom and clear water. It is most luxuriant on flats which are subject to annual inundations, and is usually the first settler on alluvial deposits. ‘The banks of the Sandy river, in Maine,’ says Michaux, ‘and those of the Connecticut in Windsor, Vermont, are the most northerly points at which I have seen the white maple. It is found more or less on all the rivers of the United States, flowing from the mountains to the Atlantic, but becomes scarce in South Carolina and Georgia. In no part of the United States is it more multiplied than in the western country, and no where is its vegetation more luxuriant than on the banks of the Ohio, and of the great rivers that empty into it. There, sometimes alone, and sometimes mingled with the willow, which is found all along these waters, it contributes singularly by its magnificent foliage to the embellishment of the scene. The brilliant white of the leaves beneath, forms a striking contrast with the bright green above, and the alternate reflection of these two surfaces in the water, heightens the beauty of this wonderful moving mirror, and aids in forming an enchanting picture, which during my long excursions in a canoe, in these regions of solitude and silence, I contemplated with unwearied admiration.’

The Red-flowering Maple is a beautiful tree, and in the swamps of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, it is found to the height of sixty or seventy feet, with a diameter of three or four. It blossoms earlier in the spring than any other tree, and flowers from the middle to the last of April. The blossoms, of a beautiful purple or deep red, unfold more than a fortnight before the leaves. This tree furnishes wood adapted to a variety of purposes; it is much used in making domestic wares and agricultural implements. Furniture of great richness and lustre is also made of it. It is not good fuel. The Mountain, Striped and Ash-leaved Maples are all beautiful trees.

Birch.—The Black Birch abounds in New England and the middle states; farther south it is confined to the summits of the Alleghanies. It often exceeds seventy feet in height. At the close of winter, the leaves, during a fortnight after their birth, are covered with a thick, silvery down, which soon after disappears. When bruised, the leaves and bark diffuse a very agreeable odor, and as they retain this property when dried and carefully preserved, they afford a pleasant infusion, with the addition of a little sugar and cream. The wood is applied to a variety of useful purposes; it is of a rosy hue, which deepens on exposure to the light. The Yellow, Canoe, White, and Red Birch are found in various localities throughout the country.

Pines.—The pines constitute a large and interesting class of American forest trees. The most valuable species is that which is known in England and the West Indies as the Georgia Pitch Pine; and which, in the United States, is variously called yellow pine, pitch pine, broom pine, southern pine, red pine, and long-leaved pine, a name which is adopted by Michaux. Towards the north, the long-leaved pine makes its appearance near Norfolk, in Virginia, where the pine-barrens begin. It seems to be especially assigned to dry sandy soils; and it is found, almost without interruption, in the lower part of Carolinas, Georgia, and the Floridas, over a tract more than six hundred miles long, from north-east to south-west, and more than a hundred miles broad, from the sea towards the mountains. Immediately beyond Raleigh, it holds almost exclusive possession of the soil, and is seen in company with other pines only on the edges of swamps, enclosed in the barrens; even there not more than one stock in a hundred is of another species, and with this exception, the long-leaved pine forms the unbroken mass of woods which covers this extensive country.

The mean stature of the long-leaved pine is sixty or seventy feet, with a uniform diameter of fifteen or sixteen inches for two thirds of this height. Some stocks, favored by local circumstances, attain much larger dimensions, particularly in East Florida. The timber is very valuable, being stronger, more compact, and more durable, than that of all the other species of pine: it is besides fine grained, and susceptible of high polish. Its uses are diversified, and its consumption great. But the value of the long-leaved pine does not reside exclusively in its wood; it supplies nearly all the resinous matter used in the United States in ship-building, with a large residue for exportation; and in this view, its place can be supplied by no other species, those which afford the same product being dispersed through the woods, or collected in inaccessible places. In the northern states, the lands, which at the commencement of their settlements were covered with pitch pine, were exhausted in twenty-five or thirty years, and for more than half a century have ceased to furnish tar. The pine-barrens are of vast extent, and are covered with trees of the forest growth; but they cannot all be rendered profitable, from the difficulty of communicating with the sea.

Among the varieties which we can only enumerate, without an attempt at description, are the New Jersey, Table Mountain, Gray, Pond, and White Pine.

Spruces.—The American Silver Fir is found in the colder regions of the states; towards the south, it is found only on the tops of the Alleghanies. It flourishes best in a moist, sandy loam. Its height rarely exceeds forty feet, with a diameter of twelve or fifteen inches. The trunk tapers from a foot in diameter at the surface of the ground to seven or eight inches at the height of six feet. When standing alone and developing itself naturally, its branches, which are numerous and thickly garnished with leaves, diminish in length in proportion to their height, and form a pyramid of perfect regularity. The bark is smooth and delicate. The leaves are six or eight lines long, and are inserted singly on the sides and on the top of the branches; they are narrow, rigid and flat, of a bright green above, and a silvery white beneath; whence probably is derived the name of the tree. The flowers appear in May, and are followed by cones of a fragrant odor, nearly cylindrical, four or five inches long, an inch in diameter, and always directed upwards. The seeds are ripe in autumn, and if permitted to hang late will fall apart and scatter themselves. The wood of the silver fir is light and slightly resinous, and the heart is yellowish.

The Hemlock Spruce inhabits a similar tract of country, though moist ground appears not to be the most favorable to its growth. It arrives at the height of seventy or eighty feet, with a circumference of six or nine feet, and is uniform for two thirds of its length. The White and Black Spruce are varieties of this genus.

Cypresses.—The Cypress is a very interesting tree, from its extraordinary dimensions, and the varied application of its wood. Its northern boundary is Indian river, in Delaware, in latitude about thirty-nine degrees. In proceeding southward, it becomes more abundant in the swamps, and in Louisiana those parts of the marshes where the cypress grows almost alone are called cypress swamps, and they sometimes occupy thousands of acres. In the swamps of the southern states and the Floridas, on whose deep, miry soil a new layer of vegetable mould is every year deposited by floods, the cypress attains its utmost developement. The largest stocks are one hundred and twenty feet in height, and from twenty-five to forty feet in circumference, above the conical base, which at the surface of the earth is three or four times as large as the continued diameter of the trunk: in felling them, the negroes are obliged to raise themselves upon scaffolds five or six feet from the ground. The base is usually hollow for three fourths of its bulk.

Amidst the pine forests and savannas of the Floridas is seen here and there a bog filled with cypresses, whose squalid appearance, when they exceed eighteen or twenty feet in height, proves how much they are affected by the barrenness of a soil which differs from the surrounding only by a layer of vegetable mould, a little thicker upon the quartzous sand. The summit of the cypress is not pyramidical like that of the spruce, but is widely spread and even depressed upon old trees. The foliage is open, light, and of a fresh agreeable tint; each leaf is four or five inches long, and consists of two parallel rows of leaflets upon a common stem. The leaflets are small, fine, and somewhat arching, with the convex side outwards. In autumn they change from a light green to a dull red, and are shed soon after. This tree blooms in Carolina about the first of February.

Among the resinous trees of the United States, the White Cedar is one of the most interesting for the varied utility of its wood. North of the river Connecticut, it is rare and little employed in the arts. In the southern states, it is not met with beyond the river Santee, but it is found, though not abundantly, on the Savannah: it is multiplied only within these limits and to the distance of fifty miles from the ocean. The white cedar is seventy or eighty feet high, and sometimes more than three feet in diameter. When the trees are close and compressed, the trunk is straight, perpendicular and destitute of branches to the height of fifty or sixty feet. When cut, a yellow transparent resin of an agreeable odor exudes, of which a few ounces could hardly be collected in a summer from a tree of three feet in circumference. The foliage is evergreen: each leaf is a little branch numerously subdivided, and composed of small, acute, imbricated scales.

The White Ash is one of the most interesting among the American species for the qualities of its wood, and the most remarkable for the rapidity of its growth and for the beauty of its foliage. A cold climate seems most congenial to its nature. It is everywhere called White Ash, probably from the color of its bark, by which it is easily distinguished. The situations most favorable to this tree are the banks of rivers and the edges and surrounding acclivities of swamps. The white ash sometimes attains the height of eighty feet, with a diameter of three feet, and is one of the largest trees of the United States. The trunk is perfectly straight and often undivided to the height of more than forty feet. On large stocks the bark is deeply furrowed, and divided into small squares from one to three inches in diameter. The leaves are twelve or fourteen inches long, opposite and composed of three or four pair of leaflets surmounted by an odd one. The leaflets are three or four inches long, about two inches broad, of a delicate texture and an undulated surface. Early in the spring they are covered with a light down, which gradually disappears, and at the approach of summer they are perfectly smooth, of a light green color above and whitish beneath. It puts forth white or greenish flowers in the month of May, which are succeeded by seeds that are eighteen lines long, cylindrical near the base, and gradually flattened into a wing, the extremity of which is slightly notched. They are united in bunches four or five inches long, and are ripe in the beginning of autumn. The shoots of the two preceding years are of a bluish gray color and perfectly smooth: the distance between their buds sufficiently proves the vigor of their growth.

Elm.—The White Elm inhabits an extensive tract of the states, being found from Nova Scotia to the extremity of Georgia. It is also found on the banks of the western rivers; growing in low, moist and substantial soils. In the middle states, this tree stretches to a great height, but does not approach the magnificence of vegetation which it displays in the countries peculiarly adapted to its growth. In clearing the primitive forests, a few stocks are sometimes left standing; insulated in this manner, it appears in all its majesty, towering to the height of eighty or one hundred feet, with a trunk four or five feet in diameter, regularly shaped, naked, and insensibly diminishing to the height of sixty or seventy feet, where it divides itself into two or three primary branches. This species differs from the red and European elm in its flowers and seeds; it blooms in the month of April, previous to the unfolding of the leaves; the flowers are very small, of a purple color, supported by short, slender footstalks, and united in bunches at the extremity of the branches. The Wahoo and the Red Elm are interesting species.

The American Chesnut sometimes attains the height of seventy or eighty feet, with a circumference of fifteen or sixteen feet. Though this tree nearly resembles that of Europe in its general appearance, its foliage, its fruit and the properties of its wood, it is treated by botanists as a distinct species. Its leaves are six or seven inches long, one and a half broad, coarsely toothed, of an elongated oval form, of a fine, brilliant color and of a firm texture, with prominent parallel nerves beneath. It flowers in June. The fruit is spherical, covered with fine prickles, and stored with two dark brown seeds or nuts, about as large as the end of the finger. They are smaller and sweeter than the wild chesnuts of Europe. They are ripe about the middle of October. The wood is strong, elastic and capable of enduring the succession of dryness and moisture.

Buttonwood or Sycamore.—Among trees with deciduous leaves, none in the temperate zones, either in the old or new continent, equal the dimensions of the planes. The species which we are about to describe is not less remarkable for its amplitude, and for its magnificent appearance, than the plane of Asia, whose majestic form and extraordinary size were so much celebrated by the ancients. In the Atlantic states, this tree is commonly known by the name of Buttonwood, and sometimes in Virginia, by that of Water Beach. On the banks of the Ohio, and in the states of Kentucky and Tennessee, it is most frequently called Sycamore, and by some persons Plane Tree. This tree, in no part of the United States, is more abundant and vigorous than along the rivers of Pennsylvania and Virginia; though in the more fertile valleys of the west, its vegetation is still more luxuriant, especially on the banks of the Ohio and of the rivers that flow into it.

On the margin of the great rivers of the west, the buttonwood is constantly found to be the loftiest and largest tree of the United States. Often with a trunk of several feet in diameter, it begins to ramify at the height of sixty or seventy feet, near the summit of other trees; and often the base divides itself into several trunks, equally vigorous and superior in diameter to any of the surrounding trees. On a little island in the Ohio, fifteen miles above the mouth of the Muskingum, Michaux mentions a buttonwood which, at five feet above the ground, was forty feet and four inches in circumference, and consequently more than thirteen feet in diameter. The American species is generally thought, in Europe, to possess a richer foliage, and to afford a deeper shade than the Asiatic plane: its leaves are of a beautiful green, alternate, from five to fifteen inches broad, and formed with more open angles than those of the plane of the eastern continent.

Beech.—The species of Red Beech is almost exclusively confined to the north-eastern parts of the United States. In the state of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, it is so abundant as often to constitute extensive forests, the finest of which grow on fertile, level or gently sloping lands which are proper for the culture of corn. The red beech equals the white species in diameter, but not in height; and as it ramifies nearer the earth and is more numerously divided, it has a more massy summit and the appearance of more tufted foliage. Its leaves are equally brilliant, a little larger and thicker, and have longer teeth. Its fruit is of the same form, but is only half as large, and is garnished with firmer and less numerous points.

The White Beech is one of the tallest and most majestic trees of the American forests. It grows the most abundantly in the middle and western states. On the banks of the Ohio, the white beech attains the height of more than one hundred feet, with a circumference of eight to eleven feet. In the forests, where these trees vegetate in a deep and fertile soil, their roots sometimes extend to a great distance even with the surface, and being entangled so as to cover the ground, they embarrass the steps of the traveller and render the land peculiarly difficult to clear. This tree is more slender and less branchy than the red beech; but its foliage is superb, and its general appearance magnificent.

Poplar or Tulip Tree.—This tree, which surpasses most others of North America in height and in the beauty of its foliage and of its flowers, is one of the most interesting from the numerous and useful applications of its wood.

In the Atlantic states, especially at a considerable distance from the sea, tulip trees are often seen seventy, eighty and one hundred feet in height, with a diameter of eighteen inches to three feet. But the western states appear to be the natural soil of this magnificent tree, and here it displays its most powerful vegetation. M. Michaux mentions a tulip tree, near Louisville, on the Ohio, which at five feet from the ground was twenty-two feet six inches in circumference, and whose elevation he judged to be from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and forty feet. The flowers bloom in June or July. They are large, brilliant, and on detached trees very numerous, variegated with different colors: they have an agreeable odor, and produce a fine effect. The fruit is composed of a great number of thin, narrow scales, attached to a common axis, and forming a cone two or three inches in length. Each cone consists of sixty or seventy seeds, of which never more than a third part are productive. For ten years before the tree begins to yield fruit, almost all the seeds are unproductive, and on large trees, those from the highest branches are the best.

Catalpa.—In the Atlantic states, the Catalpa begins to be found in the forests, on the banks of the river Savannah, and west of the Alleghanies, on those of the Cumberland, between the thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth degrees of latitude. Farther south it is more common, and abounds near the borders of all the rivers which empty into the Mississippi, or which water West Florida. In the regions where it grows most abundantly, it frequently exceeds fifty feet in height, with a diameter from eighteen to twenty-four inches. It is easily recognised by its bark, which is of a silver-gray color, and but slightly furrowed, by its ample leaves, and by its wide-spreading summit, disproportioned in size to the diameter of its trunk. It differs from other trees also by the fewness of its branches. The flowers which are collected in large bunches at the extremity of the branches, are white, with violet and yellow spots, and are beautiful and showy.

Magnolia Grandiflora.—‘Bartram and others,’ says Mr. Flint, ‘by overrating the beauty of this tree, have caused, that when strangers first behold it, their estimation of it falls too low. It has been described, as a very large tree. We have seen it in Florida, where Bartram saw it. We have seen it in its more congenial position for full developement, the rich alluvions of Louisiana; and we have never seen it compare with the sycamore, the cotton wood, or even the ash, in point of size. It is sometimes a tall tree; often graceful in form; but ordinarily a tree of fourth or fifth rate in point of comparative size in the forest, where it grows. Its bark is smooth, whitish, very thick, and something resembles that of the beech. The wood is soft, and for aught we know, useless. The leaves strongly resemble those of the orange tree, except in being larger, thicker, and having a hoary yellowish down upon the under side. The upper side has a perfect verdure, and a feel of smoothness, as if it was oiled. The flowers are large, of a pure white, nearest resembling the northern pond lily, though not so beautiful; and are, ordinarily, about twice the size. The fragrance is indeed, powerful, but to us rather sickly and offensive. We have felt, and we have heard others complain of feeling a sensation of faintness, in going into a room, where the chimney place was filled with these flowers. The tree continues to put forth flowers for two months in succession, and seldom displays many at a time.

‘We think, few have been in habits of examining flowering trees more attentively than ourselves, and we contemplated this tree for years in the season of flowers. Instead of displaying, as has been represented, a cone of flowers, we have seldom seen a tree in flower, which did not require some attention and closeness of inspection, to discover where the flowers were situated among the leaves. We have not been led to believe, that others possessed the sense of smell more acutely, than ourselves. In advancing from points, where these trees were not, to the pine forest, on the water courses of which they are abundant, we have been warned of our approach to them by the sense of smell, at a distance of something more than half a mile; and we question, if any one ever perceived the fragrance much farther, except by the imagination. The magnolia is a striking tree, and an observer, who saw it for the first time, would remark it, as such. But we have been unable to conceive whence the extravagant misconceptions, respecting the size, number, fragrance and beauty of its flowers, had their origin.

‘There are six or seven varieties among the laurels of the magnolia tribe, some of which have smaller flowers than those of the grandiflora, but much more delicate, and agreeably fragrant. A beautiful evergreen of this class is covered in autumn with berries of an intense blackness, and we remarked them in great numbers about St. Francisville. The holly is a well-known and beautiful tree of this class. But that one, which has struck us, as being the handsomest of the family, is the laurel almond. It is not a large tree. Its leaves strongly resemble those of the peach; and it preserves a most pleasing green through the winter. Its flowers yield a delicious perfume. It grows in families of ten or fifteen trees in a cluster. Planters of taste in the valley of Red river, where it is common, select the place of their dwelling amidst a cluster of these trees.’

The Bow Wood is a very striking tree, found about the upper courses of the Washita, the middle regions of Arkansas, and occasionally on the northern limits of Louisiana. Its leaves are large and beautiful, and its fruit, which somewhat resembles a large orange, is of a most inviting appearance, but is ‘the apple of Sodom to the taste.’ It is considered by many the most splendid of all forest trees.

The China Tree is much cultivated in the south-western region of the states, as an ornamental shade tree. Its leaves are long and spiked, set in correspondence on each side of the stem. The verdure is deep and brilliant. When in full flower, the top is one tuft of blossoms. The tree is of most rapid growth, and its beautiful color imparts delightful freshness to the landscape. After the fall of its leaves, a profusion of reddish berries remain, and give at a little distance the appearance of continuing in flower. This berry is a narcotic, and stupefies the birds that eat of it.

The Papaw is seldom found north of the river Schuylkill, and is extremely rare in the low, maritime parts of the southern states. It is not uncommon in the bottoms which stretch along the rivers of the middle states; but it is most abundant in the rich valleys intersected by the western waters, where at intervals, it forms thickets exclusively occupying several acres. In Kentucky and in the western part of Tennessee, it is sometimes seen also in forests where the soil is luxuriantly fertile; of which its presence is an infallible proof.

It seldom exceeds thirty feet in height, and a diameter of six or eight inches, though it generally stops short at half this elevation. The trunk is covered with a silver-gray bark, which is smooth and finely polished. The leaves are alternate, five or six inches in length, and of an elongated form, widening from the base to the summit. They are of a fine texture, and the superior surface is smooth and brilliant. The flowers are pendent, and of a purple hue. When the fruit is ripe, which takes place towards the beginning of August, it is about three inches long, one and a half thick, of a yellowish color, and of an oval form, irregular and swelling into inequalities. Its pulp is soft, and of an insipid taste, and it contains several large, triangular stones.

Persimon.—The banks of the river Connecticut, below the forty-second degree of latitude, may be uniformly considered as the northern limit of this tree; but it is rendered rare in these parts by the severity of the winter, while in New Jersey it is common, and still more so in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and the southern states; it abounds, also, in the western forests. The persimon varies surprisingly in size in different soils and climates. In New Jersey it is not more than half as large as in the more southern states, where, in favorable situations, it is sometimes sixty feet in height, and eighteen or twenty inches in diameter. The trunk of a full-grown tree is covered with a deeply-furrowed blackish bark, from which a greenish gum exudes, without taste or smell. The leaves are from four to six inches in length, oblong, entire, of a fine green above; in autumn they are often variegated with black spots. This tree belongs to the class of vegetables whose sexes are confined to different stocks. Both the barren and fertile flowers are greenish and not strikingly apparent. They put forth in June or July. The ripe fruit is about as large as the thumb, of a reddish complexion, round, fleshy, and furnished with six or eight semi-oval stones, slightly swollen at the sides, and of a dark purple color. It is not eatable till it has been touched with frost, by which the skin is shrivelled, and the pulp, which before was hard and extremely harsh to the taste, is softened and rendered palatable. The fruit is so abundant in the southern states, that a tree often yields several bushels. In the south, it adheres to the branches long after the shedding of the leaf, and when it falls, it is eagerly devoured by wild and domestic animals.

Dogwood and Red Bud.—These are plants between shrubs and trees. The former has a heart-shaped leaf, and an umbrella-shaped top. In spring, it adorns itself with brilliant, white flowers, and in autumn with fine scarlet berries. The latter is the first blossoming shrub on the Ohio; and its blossoms there resemble those of the peach tree. They are scattered every where through the wood, and impart a charm to the whole descent of the ‘beautiful river.’ The two are the most common, as they are the most beautiful shrubs of the great western valley.

Mountain Laurel.—This is a large shrub, which indifferently bears the name of Mountain Laurel, Laurel, Ivy, and Calico Tree. It abounds in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Proceeding thence south-west, it is found along the steep banks of all the rivers which rise in the Alleghanies; but it is observed to become less common in following these streams from their source, towards the Ohio and Mississippi on one side, and towards the ocean on the other. It is rare in Kentucky and in West Tennessee, and in the southern states it disappears entirely when the rivers enter the low country, where the pine-barrens commence.

In favorable situations, this shrub grows to the height of eighteen or twenty feet, with a diameter of three inches. The flowers put forth from May to July, are destitute of odor, and disposed in clusters at the extremity of the branches: in general they are of a beautiful rose color, and sometimes of a pure white. They are always numerous, and their brilliant effect is heightened by the richness of the surrounding foliage.

The Palmetto inhabits the southern states, as far north as Cape Hatteras. It is from forty to fifty feet in height, crowned with a tufted summit, which gives it a beautiful and majestic appearance. The Coral Tree is a brilliant and gaudy shrub, native of the open forests of the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida; it grows to the height of two or three feet. The Snow Berry is an ornamental shrub, inhabiting the banks of the upper Missouri. In the autumn, when the large bunches of ivory or wax-like berries are matured, the appearance is said to be extremely beautiful.

Fruit Trees.—The Chickasaw Plum is common from thirty-four degrees north latitude, to the gulf of Mexico. It is found in great abundance. Prairie plums are found in great quantities on the hazel prairies of Illinois and Missouri. When cultivated under favorable circumstances, the Osage plum is delicious. Crab apple shrubs are found in great quantities in the middle regions of the central valley. Their blossoms resemble those of the cultivated apple tree, and the tree is useful as a stock in which the cultivated apple and pear may be grafted. The Mulberry is rare in the Atlantic states, but abounds in every part of the Mississippi valley. Its wood is valuable, and scarcely less durable than that of the locust.

Vine.—The common grape vine is diffused through all the climates. It frequently happens that we see, in the rich lands, vines of the size of a man’s body, perpendicularly attached at the top to branches sixty or eighty feet from the ground, and at great lateral distance from the trunk of the tree. It is common to puzzle a man first brought into these woods, by asking him to account for the manner in which a vine of prodigious size has been able to rear itself to such a height. There can be no doubt that the vine in this case is coeval with the tree; that the tree, as it grew, supported the vine; and that the vine was carried from the trunk with the projection of the lateral branch, until, in the lapse of years, this singular appearance is the result. In many bottoms, half the trees are covered with these vines. In the deep forest, on the hills, in the barrens, in the hazel prairies, and in the pine woods, every form and size of the grape are found.

Of the plants of the winter grape, which so generally clings to the trees in the alluvial forests, probably not one in fifty bears any fruit at all. The fruit when produced is a small circular berry not unlike the wild black cherry. It is austere, sour, and unpleasant, until it has been softened by the winter frosts; but it is said, when fermented by those who have experience in the practice, to make a tolerable wine. The summer grape is found on the rolling barrens and the hazel prairies. It is more than twice the size of the winter grape, is ripe in the first month in autumn, and, when matured under the full influence of the sun, is a pleasant fruit. It grows in the greatest abundance, but is too dry a grape to be pressed for wine. The muscadine grape is seldom seen north of thirty-four degrees. More southerly, it becomes abundant, and is found in the deep alluvial forests, clinging to tall trees. The fruit grows in more scanty clusters than that of other grapes. Like other fruits, they fall as they ripen, and furnish a rich treat to bears and other animals that feed on them; they are of the size of a plum, of a fine purple black, with a thick tough skin, tasting not unlike the rind of an orange; the pulp is deliciously sweet, but is reputed unwholesome. The pine woods grape has a slender, bluish purple vine, that runs on the ground among the grass. It ripens in the month of June; is large, cone-shaped, transparent, with four seeds, reddish purple, and is fine fruit for eating.

Cane.—The Cane grows to the height of twenty or thirty feet on the lower courses of the Mississippi, Arkansas and Red rivers. Its leaves are dagger-shaped, long and narrow, and of a beautiful green. It grows in masses so compact that the smallest sparrow would find it difficult to fly in the intervals. A man could not make his way through a cane brake, at a rate more rapid than three miles a day.

Flax.—A species of flax was found by Lewis and Clarke growing in the valleys of the Rocky mountains, and on the banks of the Missouri. The bark possesses the same kind of tough fibres as the common flax, and the Indians are in the habit of making lint and gun-waddings of it.

Berries.—The gooseberry is indigenous to the United States, and in the western parts grows to great size. The red raspberry is also indigenous. Whortleberries, and blackberries high and creeping, are found in prodigious abundance; many of the prairies are red with strawberries. The cranberry is a native of the country, growing in morasses and rich bottom through its whole extent. Large cranberry swamps occur in New Jersey.

Other Plants.—There are many annual and evergreen creepers in the United States, of various kinds, form and foliage. The grasses are various and luxuriant. In the prairies they are rank and coarse; the Atlantic country is covered with a fine sward. The rush is a useful herbaceous plant, which grows on bottoms of an elevation between that of the cane brakes and the deeply-flooded lands. The pea-vine covers the richer soil of the forest lands; it is small and fibrous. The wild rice is a plant of great importance, found on the marshy margins of the northern lakes, and in the shallow waters of the upper courses of the Mississippi. One of the most striking of the forest productions is the wax-plant, which is nearly entirely of a snow-white, and resembles the most delicate wax preparation. It grows in rich shady woods, and is much prized.

The common kinds of water-plants are found in the marshy grounds and ponds; particularly a very beautiful and fragrant lily. This closely resembles the European water-lily. One of this genus is said to be unrivalled for size and beauty. Dr. Barton considers it to be the same as the sacred bean of Judea, and mentions it as abundant in Philadelphia, but rare otherwise, and refusing propagation. Mr. Flint found it in the southern states, and says that it attains great splendor on the lakes and stagnant waters of the Arkansas. There is a large variety of parasitic plants in the states, the most remarkable of which is the long moss.

It will be observed that in these chapters on the natural history of the United States, we have only intended to describe the most conspicuous objects, without reference to scientific arrangement. A mere scientific catalogue of the natural productions of our country would occupy all the space we have devoted to the subject, and possess no interest or attraction for the general reader.

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CHAPTER XVIII.—GEOLOGY.

The first important attempt toward a scientific view of the character and relations of the strata in the United States was made by Mr. Maclure, but a short time previous to the year 1812. His work was small and general, but has proved a valuable guide to subsequent inquirers. In order to obtain a view of the general geological formation of the territory of the states, it will be well to recapitulate its chief geographical features; the Apalachian mountains on the east, with the slope to the Atlantic ocean; the Rocky mountains to the west, with the valleys intervening between them and the Pacific ocean; and the extended valley between these elevated ranges, with the Ozark mountains dividing it in the centre, and the Black mountains occupying its north-western angle.

The summits of the Rocky mountains are formed entirely of primitive rocks, chiefly of granite itself. A red and saline sandstone rests on this granite, through the whole chain, as far as it has been explored. But few traces of that animal and vegetable life are found, which in other countries has reared mountains of limestone, clay-slate, and those other aggregates which are so often composed of the exuviæ of living beings. The western boundary of this sandstone formation corresponds to the side of the easternmost granite ranges. From the Platte toward the south, the sandstone increases in width, and on the Canadian it extends more than half the distance from the sources of that river to its confluence with the Arkansas. It consists of two members; red sandstone, and argillaceous or gray sandstone. This formation was at one time probably horizontal and uniform; it is now found in a state of entire disruption and disorder. This tract abounds in scenery of an interesting and majestic character. The angle of inclination of the strata varies from forty-five to ninety degrees. Though not very recent, the sandstone along the base of the mountains contains the relics of marine animals and plants, and embraces extensive beds of pudding stone.

South of the Arkansas are rocks of basaltic origin, overlaying the red sandstone. By the vastness and broken character of their masses, and their dark color, they present a striking contrast to the light, smooth and fissile sandstone on which they rest. Sometimes they are compact and apparently homogeneous in their composition, and in many particulars of structure, form and hardness, more analogous to the primitive rock than to those recent secondary aggregates with which they are associated. In other instances, dark and irregular masses of porous and amygdaloidal substances are seen scattered about the plain, or gathered in conical heaps, but having no immediate connection with the strata on which they rest. Most of the rocks of this class were observed in the neighborhood of the sources of the Canadian; and may be distinguished into two kinds, referable to the two divisions called greenstone and amygdaloid.

The valley immediately east of the Rocky mountain range is composed of an extensive accumulation of sand, seemingly the debris of the mountains. To an unknown depth, the soil is made up of rounded fragments of granite, varying in dimension from a grain of sand to a six pound shot. This accumulation has evidently been washed from the mountains, and slopes gradually from their base. The small particles derived from the quartzose portions of the primitive aggregates, being least liable to decomposition, have been borne to the greatest distance, and of these the eastern margin of the great sandy desert is almost entirely composed; the central portions are of coarser sand, intermixed with particles of mica and feldspar; nearer the mountains, boulders and pebbles occur abundantly, and at length cover almost the entire surface of the country.

In many other respects besides geological structure, the Apalachian range of mountains differs from that we have just been considering. The whole of their eastern front is composed of primitive rocks, comprehending both the granitic family and its associated strata of clay-slate and limestone. In New England, rocks of this class constitute the seacoast, and with some exceptions extend inwards towards the St. Lawrence. South of the Hudson, the edge of the primitive follows the general contour of the mountains, at a variable distance from the sea to their termination, and until it meets more recent deposits at the extremity of the mountain range. The breadth of this primitive belt is very unequal. In passing through the states of Pennsylvania and Maryland, it occupies but a small part of the country; in Virginia it increases in breadth, and proportionably in height, composing the greatest mass as well as the most elevated points of the mountains in Georgia and North Carolina. Besides this range, there is a great mass of primitive on the west side of lake Champlain.

In general, the primitive rocks run from a north and south to a north-east and south-west direction, and dip generally to the south-east at an angle of more than forty-five degrees with the horizon; their highest elevation is towards their north-western limit. The mountains of this formation consist generally of detached masses, with rounded flat tops and a circular waving outline. Granite in large masses constitutes but a small part of this formation, and is found indifferently in the plains and on the tops of mountains. Gneiss extends perhaps over a half of this formation, and includes in a great many places beds from three to three hundred feet thick. These beds are mixed, and alternate occasionally in the same gneiss with the primitive limestone, the beds of hornblende and hornblende slate, serpentine, magnetic iron ore, and feldspar rocks. In short, there are scarcely any of the primitive rocks that may not occasionally be found included in the gneiss formation.

The breadth of the transition district, like that of the primitive, is variable. Narrow towards the gulf of Mexico, it gradually widens towards the north-east, till it reaches the river Hudson. From its upper portion it sends off a considerable arm, which penetrates for several hundred miles into the granitic region, overlaying it, but running parallel with the principal body. After the primitive, it forms some of the highest mountains in the range, and seems to be both higher and wider to the west in Pennsylvania, Maryland and part of Virginia, where the primitive is least extended and lowest in height. It contains all the varieties of rocks found in the same formation in Europe.

It varies in breadth from twenty to one hundred miles. In the limestone of this formation there are many and extensive caves, some of which extend for miles under ground, and contain the bones of animals. It is the lowest, and is considered the most ancient of the rocks containing organized remains, which are those of cryptogamous plants, and animals without sight. The graywacke has been observed to contain impressions of organized remains, but they are usually those of zoophytic animals, and are exceedingly unlike those found so abundantly in the coal formations. Its colors are variable; it is, however, most commonly bluish, black, or dark brown. The graywacke seems to form the connecting link between the clay-slate and a rock which has been called the old red sandstone, and is usually found intimately blended either with the one or the other. This sandstone occurs throughout the whole extent of the transition formation, and evidently belongs to the oldest depositions of that rock. It is for the most part distinctly stratified, and in all cases its stratification is inclined.

Of the rocks thus described, the limestone occurs extensively all along the north-western side of the primitive strata. It is probable that transition limestone is the foundation through their whole extent of the Alleghany mountains of Pennsylvania, Maryland and the western parts of Virginia, on a level with the surface at the base of their eastern declivities. The clay-slate occurs in the central portions of that extensive field of transition, which skirts the western margin of the primitive of New York and New England, and forms the great body of the Catskill mountains. The old red sandstone in the transition district, along the whole range of mountains, is perhaps more abundant than any other aggregate. This region has also a considerable mixture of trap. Various large bodies of transition rock are thrown to a considerable distance into the primitive region; while in many instances, secondary rocks are found running along the valleys far into the bosom of the mountains.

With the edge of the transition strata, we approach the western summits of the Apalachian mountains, or the line from whence they begin to fall toward the Mississippi valley. Along this line commences a series of secondary rocks, stretching westward to an immense extent towards the Mississippi and the lakes, and constituting one of the most interesting and important geological formations in the United States. This secondary region extends unbroken across the whole country to the shores of the lakes, being bounded on the west probably by the river Wabash, and in descending the Mississippi by the more recent formations through which that river flows. It consists generally of various strata of sandstone, limestone and clay. Immense beds of secondary limestone, of all shades from light blue to black, sometimes intercepted by extensive tracts of sandstone and other secondary aggregates, appear to constitute the foundation of this formation, which extends from the head waters of the Ohio, with some interruptions, all the way to the waters of the Tombigbee, accompanied by slaty clay and freestone with vegetable impressions; but in no instance yet ascertained, covered by or alternating with any rock resembling basalt, or indeed any of those called the newest floetz trap formation. A grand peculiarity of this secondary region is the uniform, horizontal direction of the strata.

We will now briefly examine the region which occupies the centre of the Mississippi valley. The Ozark mountains consist chiefly of secondary and transition rocks; but there are two points at which the primitive makes its appearance. About fifteen miles south-east from the hot springs, near the Washita, granite is found in situ. It is very soft, and disintegrates rapidly when exposed to the air. It is compounded of greyish-white quartz, yellowish-white feldspar, and an unusually large proportion of mica in variously and brilliantly-colored masses. This granite, if of secondary formation, is much more extensive than any of the kind hitherto known. ‘We are ignorant,’ says Dr. James, ‘of the manner of its connection with any other rock, nor do we know of any formation of primitive granite from which it could, by the action of water, have been derived: one can have no hesitation, however, in considering the Ozark mountains as a separate system within themselves, and having no immediate connection with either the Apalachian or the Chippewayan mountains.’ Mr. Schoolcraft mentions another granite region as occurring in the north-eastern extremity of the Ozark range, in the mining district of Potosi.

In connection with the granite of the Washita is found a stratum of clay-slate, and another of transition sandstone, but neither of them of great extent. The hot springs of the Washita issue from the clay-slate, and it is supposed that a very large mass of clay-slate is interposed between the surface of the granite and the point at which the springs rise. The slate-rock about the hot springs is highly inclined, often flinty in its composition, and, as far as it has been hitherto examined, contains no organic remains. It is traversed by large upright veins, usually filled with white quartz. The mountains contain vast beds of secondary limestone, which from its peculiar crystalline appearance might be easily mistaken for the primitive. These vast beds of sparry limestone, almost exclusively made up of deposits from chemical solution, would seem to have been formed during periods of great tranquillity in the waters. The sandstones of this small group of mountains appear under almost every variety of character. A region similar in mineralogical character to the Ozark mountains extends northward from the confluence of the Missouri, to the Ouisconsin and Ontonagon rivers of lake Superior. The sandstones, limestones and other rocks have a striking resemblance. Of the Black mountains in the north-western part of the Mississippi valley, but little is known; they appear to be composed of sandstone lying horizontally, and to be destitute of valuable minerals. Between these mountains and the central district, is a wide alluvial tract containing the course of the Missouri. The same appellation has been given by Dr. James to a space between the Ozark mountains and the Chippewayan sands, and to the country on both sides of the lower Mississippi.

We must now turn our attention to the region which lies to the eastward of the Apalachian mountains. The eastern front of this range is composed of primitive rocks, which reach the sea as far south as the Hudson; from this point they take an inland course, and leave a considerable tract of land between them and the ocean all the way to the Mississippi. On this side, there is no appearance of any rocks of the transition class; the primitive terminates abruptly, and is skirted through its whole length by an extensive series of beds of shell-limestone, marl, clay, sand and gravel, constituting what has been described as the Atlantic slope. This class of strata begins at Long island, and gradually widens in its extent through the middle and southern states, forms the whole of Florida, and crossing the Mississippi, meets the secondary formation of that valley, and sends up a tongue for a considerable distance along the sides of that river. We may here notice one of the most peculiar features of our geology. This is the ridge of granite which forms the boundary between the primitive and secondary regions, and is conjectured to have been the ancient line of the seacoast. It commences in Georgia and extends as far north as New York, whence it seems to pass into Long island and under the sound into Connecticut.

The entire region to the eastward of the primitive was long considered as alluvial; but it has been found to comprehend secondary, as well as a large extent of tertiary formations. Decisive evidence of this fact has been furnished by the investigations of Dr. Morton of Philadelphia. The secondary strata are not, however, calcareous, but consist of beds of sand and clay analogous to the iron sand, green sand, and chalk marl or galt of England. Dr. Morton calls it the ferruginous sand formation. In Maryland commences a vast deposit of sand and clay, extending along the coast to the Mississippi; this tract abounds with tertiary fossils, which appear chiefly to belong to the upper marine formation of European geologists. The secondary strata are occasionally met with beneath it, and sometimes approach so near the surface as to be readily identified by their fossils. It is therefore reasonable to suppose, that the beds of ferruginous sand extend nearly the whole length of the Atlantic frontiers, of the states south of Long island. One of the most abundant mineral productions of these beds is lignite, which is found at the deep cut of the Chesapeak and Delaware canal, in almost every variety, from charred wood to well-characterized jet. It sometimes occurs in small fragments, and sometimes in large masses, presenting the trunks and limbs of trees thirty feet in length.

Though occurring largely on the Atlantic slope, the tertiary formations are by no means confined to it; they overlay the secondary strata to a great extent on both sides of the mountain chains. Of all visible strata, marly clay is one of the most universal; it is the common clay of all North America. In this clay, sulphate of magnesia frequently occurs, and sometimes muriate of soda. Bagshot sand and crag are next in extent to the marly clay, and generally overlie it. The plastic clay formation is stated to appear very distinctly on the west side of lake Champlain, and at various points from Martha’s Vineyard to the eastward of Long island, to Florida and the Mississippi. The silicious limestone of Georgia is asserted to be decidedly contemporaneous with the calcaire silicieuse of the Paris basin. In Virginia, the marly or London clay is found, and the sands of the upper marine formation are conceived to occur in the same state and in Staten island.

Of the geology of the region west of the Chippewayan mountains, nothing certain is known. The chains which stretch nearer to the Pacific are lofty, and are presumed to be primitive. Mr. Scrope represents the mountains which border the Pacific ocean as volcanic.

From the importance which fossil remains have recently assumed in geological science, much interest is naturally attached to those contained in the strata of the western world. It will be long before so vast a field of inquiry is fully explored, and with Mr. Maclure in 1812, we may still say that it has not yet been examined with that accuracy of discrimination necessary to form just conclusions. We derive such knowledge as is possessed on the subject from various sources. The fossils of the transition strata consist of the ancient coralline and encrinital families, and generally resemble those of similar rocks in other parts of the globe. Organic remains in the coal formations are found at Westfield, Connecticut; at Sunderland, Massachusetts; and it is said also in some other places. At Westfield they were found, in exploring for coal, lying upon bituminous shale.

The following information is furnished in an article by Mr. Caleb Atwater. ‘In the vicinity of the Ohio river, and on the waters of the Muskingum, I have carefully examined not a few of the fossil trees there existing. Among them I noticed the following, viz. black oak, black walnut, sycamore or button wood, white birch, sugar maple, the date or bread-fruit tree, cocoanut-bearing palm, the bamboo and the dogwood; and I have in my possession the perfect impression of the cassia and the tea leaf. Of ferns, I have beautiful impressions of the leaves, and of the bread-fruit tree flowers, fully expanded, fresh, and entire. I have specimens so perfect, and so faithful to nature, as to dispel all doubts as to what they once were. The larger trees are found mostly in sandstone, although the bark of the date tree, much flattened, I ought to say perfectly so, is found in shale covering coal. The date is a large tree, not very tall, and having numerous wide-spreading branches. Nine miles west of Zanesville, the body of a bread-fruit tree, now turned to sandstone, may be seen; it is exactly such sandstone as that in which M. Brongniart found tropical plants imbedded in France. It contains a considerable quantity of mica in its composition. The cassia was found in such sandstone in the Zanesville canal. The bamboo is mostly impressed upon ironstone, especially the roots, and the trunk and leaves are found in the micaceous sandstone. The ironstone is sometimes apparently made of bamboo leaves, the leaves of fern, and bamboo roots. It happens frequently that the trunks of small trees and plants are flattened by pressure, and the bark of them partially turned into coal. Thus the shale often contains a bark, now become coal, and a stratum of shale in succession, alternately, for several inches in thickness.’

Some further interesting particulars respecting fossil and other remains will be found in the following description of them by Mr. Atwater, as occurring in the state of Ohio. ‘I am credibly informed, that in digging a well at Cincinnati, in this state, an arrow-head was found more than ninety feet below the surface. At Pickaway plains, while several persons were digging a well several years since, a human skeleton was found seventeen feet six inches below the surface. This skeleton was seen by several persons, and among others, by Doct. Daniel Turney, an eminent surgeon; they all concurred in the belief, that it belonged to a human being. Pickaway plains are, or rather were, a large prairie, before the land was improved by its present inhabitants. This tract is alluvial to a great depth; greater, probably, than the earth has ever been perforated, certainly than it ever has been by the hand of man. The surface of the plain is at least one hundred feet above the highest freshet of the Scioto river, near which it lies. On the surface is a black vegetable mould, from three, to six, and nine feet in depth; then we find pebbles, and shells imbedded among them: the pebbles are evidently rounded and smoothed by attrition in water, exactly such as we now see at the bottom of rivers, ponds, and lakes.

‘I have examined the spot where this skeleton was found, and am persuaded that it was not deposited there by the hand of man, for there are no marks of any grave, or of any of the works of man; but the earth and pebbles appear to lie in the very position in which they were deposited by the water. On the north side of a small stream, called Hargus creek, which at this place empties itself into the Scioto, in digging through a hill composed of such pebbles as I have described in Pickaway plains, at least nine feet below the surface, several human skeletons were discovered, perfect in every limb. These skeletons were promiscuously scattered about, and parts of skeletons were sometimes found at different depths below the surface. This hill is at least fifty feet above the highest freshets in the Scioto, and is a very ancient alluvion, where every stratum of sand, clay, and pebbles has been deposited by the waters of some stream. Other skulls have been taken out of the same hill, by persons who, in order to make a road through it, were engaged in taking it away. These bones are very similar to those found in our mounds, and probably belonged to the same race of men; a people short and thick, not exceeding generally five feet in height, and very possibly they were not more than four feet six inches. The skeletons, when first exposed to the atmosphere, are quite perfect, but afterwards moulder and fall into pieces. Whether they were overwhelmed by the deluge of Noah, or by some other, I know not; but one thing appears certain, namely: that water has deposited them here, together with the hill in which, for so many ages, they have reposed. Indeed, this whole country appears to have been once, and for a considerable period, covered with water, which has made it one vast cemetery of the beings of former ages. Fragments of antique pottery, and even entire pots of coarse earthen ware, have been found likewise in the excavations of the Illinois salt-works, at the depth of eighty feet and more from the surface. One of these was ascertained to hold from eight to ten gallons, and some were alleged to be of much greater capacity. This fossil pottery is stated not to differ materially from that which frequently occurs in the mounds supposed to have been formed by the aboriginal Indians.’

The largest and most interesting fossils of this country are the remains of the mastodon, an enormous creature of an extinct race, nearly allied to the elephant, and long considered identical with it, but now allotted to a distinct genus under the name of mastodon. For a minute and detailed account of these remains, we must refer our readers to the valuable work of Godman. The size of the living animal may be conjectured when it is stated, that the head at the posterior part is thirty-two inches across, the lower jaw two feet ten inches long, and the tusks ten feet seven inches long, and seven inches and three fourths in diameter at the base. It is wonderful to reflect that but for the accidental preservation of a few bones, we should never have known the existence of an animal so huge in its dimensions, and necessarily of such vast strength and power.

We know not where, better than in the present connection, to introduce a circumstance hitherto unexplained, if not altogether inexplicable. There have been found, it appears beyond all question, in naked limestone of the elder secondary formation, close on the western margin of the Mississippi at St. Louis, the prints of human feet. The prints are those of a man standing erect, with his heels drawn in, and his toes turned outward, which is the most natural position. They are not the impressions of feet accustomed to a tight shoe, the toes being very much spread, and the foot flattened in the manner that happens to those who have been habituated to go a great length of time without shoes. The prints are strikingly natural, exhibiting every muscular impression and swell of the heel and toes, with great precision and faithfulness to nature. The length of each foot, as indicated by the prints, is ten inches and a half, and the width across the spread of the toes, four inches, which diminishes to two inches and a half at the swell of the heels, indicating, as it is thought, a stature of the common size.

Every appearance seems to warrant the conclusion that these impressions were made at a time when the rock was soft enough to receive them by pressure, and that the marks of feet are natural and genuine. ‘Such was the opinion of Governor Cass and myself,’ says Mr. Schoolcraft, ‘formed upon the spot, and there is nothing that I have subsequently seen to alter this view: on the contrary, there are some corroborating facts calculated to strengthen and confirm it.’ At Herculaneum, in the same neighborhood, similar marks have been found, as well as on some of the spurs of the Cumberland mountains, always in similar limestone. In the latter case it is stated that the impressions are elongated, as of persons slipping in ascending a slimy steep. Opinions are much divided as to the origin and import of these impressions. Should similar observations multiply, important inferences may perhaps be drawn from them; at present it seems impossible to speak respecting them decisively or satisfactorily.

The following extraordinary facts, respecting what may be termed living fossils, appear to be well authenticated. During the construction of the Erie canal, while the workmen were cutting through a ridge of gravel, they found several hundred of live molluscous animals. ‘I have before me,’ says Professor Eaton, ‘several of the shells from which the workmen took the animals, fried and ate them. I have received satisfactory assurances that the animals were taken alive from the depth of forty-two feet.’ In addition to this discovery in diluvial deposits, mention is made of a similar one in a much older formation. In laying the foundation of a house at Whitesborough, the workmen had occasion to split a large stone from the millstone grit. ‘It was perfectly close-grained and compact. On opening it, they discovered a black, or dark brown spherical mass, about three inches in diameter, in a cavity which it filled. On examining it particularly, they found it to be a toad, much larger than the common species and of a darker color. It was perfectly torpid. It was laid upon a stone, and soon began to give signs of life. In a few hours, it would hop moderately on being disturbed. They saw it in the yard, moving about slowly for several days; but it was not watched by them any longer, and no one observed its farther movements. They laid one half of the stone in the wall, so that the cavity may still be seen.

‘The millstone grit,’ says Professor Eaton, who gives this account, ‘in which this toad was found, is the oldest of the secondary rocks. It must have been formed many years before the deluge. Was this toad more than four thousand years old? or was it from an egg introduced, through a minute and undiscovered cleavage, into this cavity or geode, made precisely to fit the size and form of a toad? I was particular in my inquiry, and learned that the whole stone was perfectly compact, without any open cleavage which would admit an egg. Besides, it is well known that the millstone grit is neither porous nor geodiferous. If this rock stratum was deposited upon the toad, it must have been in aqueous, not in igneous solution, and the toad must have been full grown at the time. Toads are often found in compact, hard, gravelly diluvial deposits, in situations which demonstrate that they must have lived from the time of the deluge. I think I am warranted in saying this without citing authorities, as it is a common occurrence. Then why may they not have lived a few centuries longer, if we admit them a life of at least three thousand years?’

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CHAPTER XIX.—NATURAL CURIOSITIES.

It is our intention to collect under this general head a few miscellaneous descriptions, that could not have been properly placed under any other division. The space that we can devote to this subject is small, and it is impossible to enter into much detail. Among the most admired and interesting natural curiosities of our country, are the Pictured Rocks, of lake Superior, which have been described by an intelligent traveller to whose observation we have been already largely indebted.

‘The Pictured Rocks,’ says Mr. Schoolcraft, ‘are a series of lofty bluffs, which continue for twelve miles along the shore, and present some of the most sublime and commanding views in nature. We had been told, by our Canadian guide, of the variety in the color and form of these rocks, but were wholly unprepared to encounter the surprising groups of overhanging precipices, towering walls, caverns, waterfalls, and prostrate ruins, which are here mingled in the most wonderful disorder, and burst upon the view in ever-varying and pleasing succession. In order to convey any just idea of their magnificence, it is necessary to premise, that this part of the shore consists of a sandstone rock of a light gray color internally, and deposited stratum super-stratum to the height of three hundred feet, rising in a perpendicular wall from the water and extending from four to five leagues in length.

‘This rock is made up of coarse grains of sand, united by a calcareous cement, and occasionally imbedding pebbles of quartz and other water-worn fragments of rocks, but adhering with a feeble force, and, where exposed to the weather, easily crushed between the fingers. Externally, it presents a great variety of color, as black, red, yellow, brown, and white, particularly along the most permanent parts of the shore; but where masses have newly fallen, its color is a light gray. This stupendous wall of rock, exposed to the fury of the waves, which are driven up by every north wind across the whole width of lake Superior, has been partially prostrated at several points, and worn out into numerous bays and irregular indentations. All these front upon the lake, in a line of aspiring promontories, which, at a distance, present the terrible array of dilapidated battlements and desolate towers.

‘Among many striking features, two attracted particular admiration,—the Cascade La Portaille, and the Doric Arch. The cascade is situated about four miles beyond the commencement of the range of bluffs, and in the centre of the most commanding part of it. It consists of a handsome stream, which is precipitated about seventy feet from the bluff into the lake at one leap. Its form is that of a rainbow, rising from the lake, to the top of the precipice. We passed near the point of its fall upon the surface of the lake, and could have gone, unwetted, between it and the rocks, as it is thrown a considerable distance into the lake.

‘The Doric Rock is an isolated mass of sandstone, consisting of four natural pillars, supporting a stratum or entablature of the same material, and presenting the appearance of a work of art. On the top of this entablature rests a stratum of alluvial soil, covered with a handsome growth of pine and spruce trees, some of which appear to be fifty or sixty feet in height. To add to the factitious appearance of the scene, that part of the entablature included between the pillars is excavated in the form of a common arch, giving it very much the appearance of a vaulted passage into the court yard of some massy pile of antiquated buildings. A little to the west of this rock, the Miner’s river enters the lake by a winding channel, overshadowed with trees, and intersected by a succession of small rapids.’

Mineralized Tree.—About half a mile from the village of Chitteningo, in New York, a fossil or mineralized tree was some years ago discovered. It lies at the base of the Conasewago mountains, within a few yards of a branch of the Erie canal, which runs up to the village. The tree appears to have been blown down or broken off; there are eight or ten feet of stump remaining, with some part of the large end near the root; the stump is about three feet in diameter, the bark, the fibrous texture of the wood and two or three knots are very obvious; there is a substance very much resembling veins disseminated through what seems to have once been the sap vessels of the tree. The lower part of the root is imbedded in the soil, where it probably once grew. Vast quantities of mineralized wood, both in small and large masses, are scattered in all directions around this stump; fragments which from their loose and porous texture, seem to have been petrified, after the wood began to decay. Indeed so numerous are these fragments, that almost every stone in this vicinity appears to have been once a living plant.58

The Devil’s Diving Hole.—About four miles below the falls of Niagara, on the American side, is a very curious place called the Devil’s Diving Hole, which is nearly one hundred feet deep; the edge of it is so very near the road that they have taken the precaution to cut down some trees, so as to form a kind of barricado, in order to prevent cattle or strangers from falling into it. This hole, as it is called, is, more properly speaking, the narrow extremity of a considerable ravine, which has, at some remote period, been formed in the rock; it shelves off as it descends towards the river, and is in length about two hundred yards from the road to the river. The top is so overgrown with bushes that a hasty view would induce many to suppose it to be really a hole; but a closer examination soon leads their eye along the windings of its courses, and discovers a very considerable breadth at no great distance. A hemlock tree, firmly rooted at the bottom, stretches its top almost to the surface, and is so conveniently fitted to the hole or opening, that you have only to descend five or six feet, when its branches afford you a safe and easy step-ladder quite to the bottom, where you will find a copious spring of excellent water.

An occurrence is traditionally described as having taken place at this spot during the French war, the circumstances of which were as follows:—A British detachment, being pursued by a superior French force, were so hemmed in that their retreat to the road was cut off, and their escape effectually prevented by this ravine. Seeing their situation irretrievable, they laid down their arms, and surrendered themselves prisoners of war. Notwithstanding this surrender, the French rushed upon them with charged bayonets and precipitated the whole party down this precipice. Here they perished with the exception of a single soldier, who was preserved by falling on some of his comrades.

Natural Bridge.—This wonderful bridge is considered by many the greatest natural curiosity in this country. It has never been described so well as by Mr. Jefferson, and though his account of it has been so frequently reprinted, we have thought best to adopt it.

‘The Natural Bridge, the most sublime of nature’s works, is on the ascent of a hill, which seems to have been cloven through its length by some great convulsion. The fissure just at the bridge is by some admeasurements two hundred and seventy feet deep, by others only two hundred and five. It is about forty-five feet wide at the bottom, and ninety feet at the top: this of course determines the length of the bridge and its height from the water. Its breadth in the middle is about sixty feet, but more at the ends, and the thickness of the mass at the summit of the arch, about forty feet. A part of this thickness is constituted by a coat of earth, which gives growth to many large trees. The residue, with the hill on both sides, is one solid rock of limestone.

‘The arch approaches the semi-elliptical form, but the larger axis of the ellipsis, which would be the chord of the arch, is many times longer than the transverse. Though the sides of this bridge are provided, in some parts, with a parapet of fixed rocks, yet few men have resolution to walk to them and look over into the abyss. You involuntarily fall on your hands and feet, creep to the parapet, and peep over it. Looking down from this height about a minute, gave me a violent headache.

‘If the view from the top be painful and intolerable, that from below is delightful in an equal extreme. It is impossible for the emotions arising out of the sublime to be felt beyond what they are here, so beautiful an arch, so elevated, so light, and springing, as it were, up to heaven, the rapture of the spectator is really indescribable!

‘The fissure continuing narrow, deep, and straight for a considerable distance above and below the bridge, opens a short but very pleasing view of the North mountain on one side, and the Blue ridge on the other, at the distance each of them of about five miles. This bridge is in the county of Rockbridge, to which it has given name, and affords a public and commodious passage over a valley, which cannot be crossed elsewhere for a considerable distance. The stream passing under it is called Cedar creek. It is a water of James river, and sufficient in the driest seasons to turn a grist-mill, though its fountain is not more than two miles above.’

The description which follows is from another writer. ‘As we stood under this beautiful arch, we saw the place where visitors have often taken the pains to engrave their names upon the rock. Here Washington climbed up twenty-five feet and carved his own name, where it still remains. Some wishing to immortalize their names have engraved them deep and large, while others have tried to climb up and insert them high in this book of fame.

‘A few years since, a young man, being ambitious to place his name above all others, came very near losing his life in the attempt. After much fatigue, he climbed up as high as possible, but found that the person who had before occupied his place was taller than himself, and consequently had placed his name above his reach. But he was not thus to be discouraged. He opened a large jacknife, and in the soft limestone began to cut places for his hands and feet. With much patience and industry he worked his way upwards, and succeeded in carving his name higher than the most ambitious had done before him.

‘He could now triumph; but his triumph was short, for he was placed in such a situation that it was impossible to descend unless he fell upon the ragged rocks beneath him. There was no house near, from which his companions could get assistance. He could not remain in that condition, and, what was worse, his friends were too much frightened to do any thing for his relief. They looked upon him as already dead, expecting every moment to see him precipitated upon the rocks below and dashed to pieces. Not so with himself. He determined to ascend. Accordingly he plied himself with his knife, cutting places for his hands and feet, and gradually ascended with incredible labor. He exerted every muscle. His life was at stake, and all the terrors of death rose before him. He dared not look downwards lest his head should become dizzy, and perhaps on this circumstance his life depended.

‘His companions stood at the top of the rock exhorting and encouraging him. His strength was almost exhausted; but a bare possibility of saving his life still remained, and hope, the last friend of the distressed, had not yet forsaken him. His course upwards was rather oblique, than perpendicular. His most critical moment had now arrived. He had ascended considerably more than two hundred feet, and had still further to rise, when he felt himself fast growing weak. He now made his last effort and succeeded. He had cut his way not far from two hundred and fifty feet from the water, in a course almost perpendicular; and in a little less than two hours, his anxious companions reached him a pole from the top, and drew him up. They received him with shouts of joy; but he himself was completely exhausted. He immediately fainted away on reaching the spot, and it was some time before he could be recovered.

‘It was interesting to see the path up these awful rocks, and to follow in imagination this bold youth as he thus saved his life. His name stands far above all the rest, a monument of hardihood, of rashness, and of folly.’

Natural Stone Walls.—On the Missouri, at the distance of about one hundred miles from the Great Falls, are the natural stone walls which have thus been described by Lewis and Clarke:

‘We came to a high wall of black rock rising from the water’s edge on the south, above the cliffs of the river: this continued about a quarter of a mile, and was succeeded by a high open plain, till three miles further a second wall, two hundred feet high, rose on the same side. Three miles farther, another wall of the same kind, about two hundred feet high and twelve thick, appeared to the north. These hills and river cliffs exhibit a most extraordinary and romantic appearance. They rise in most places nearly perpendicularly from the water to the height of between two and three hundred feet, and are formed of very white sandstone, so soft as to yield readily to the impression of the water, in the upper part of which lie imbedded two or three horizontal strata of white freestone insensible to the rain, and on the top is a dark rich loam, which forms a gradually ascending plain, from a mile to a mile and a half in extent, when the hills again rise abruptly to the height of about three hundred feet more.

‘In trickling down the cliffs, the water has worn the soft sandstone into a thousand grotesque figures, among which, with a little fancy, may be discerned elegant ranges of freestone buildings, with columns variously sculptured, and supporting long and elegant galleries, while the parapets are adorned with statuary. On a nearer approach, they represent every form of elegant ruins; columns, some with pedestals and capitals entire, others mutilated and prostrate; and some rising pyramidically over each other till they terminate in a sharp point. These are varied by niches, alcoves, and the customary appearances of desolated magnificence. The illusion is increased by the number of martins that have built their globular nests in the niches, and hover over these columns; as in our country they are accustomed to frequent large stone structures.

‘As we advance, there seems no end to the visionary enchantment that surrounds us. In the midst of this fantastic scenery are vast ranges of walls, which seem the productions of art, so regular is the workmanship. They rise perpendicularly from the river, sometimes to the height of one hundred feet, varying in thickness from one to twelve feet, being equally broad at the top as below. The stones of which they are formed, are black, thick, and durable, and composed of a large portion of earth, intermixed and cemented with a small quantity of sand, and a considerable proportion of talc or quartz.

‘These stones are almost invariably regular parallelopipeds of unequal sizes in the wall, but equally deep, and laid regularly in ranges over each other like bricks, each breaking and covering the interstice of the two on which it rests. But though the perpendicular interstice is destroyed, the horizontal one extends entirely through the work. The stones, too, are proportioned to the thickness of the wall in which they are employed, being largest in the thickest walls. The thinner walls are composed of a single depth of the parallelopiped, while the thicker ones consist of two or more depths. These walls pass the river at several places, rising from the water’s edge much above the sandstone bluffs, which they seem to penetrate; thence they cross in a straight line, on either side of the river, the plains over which they tower to the height of from ten to seventy feet, until they lose themselves in the second range of hills. Sometimes they run parallel in several ranges near each other; sometimes intersect each other at right angles, and have the appearance of walls of ancient houses or gardens.’

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PART II.

POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY.

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CHAPTER I.—POLITICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS.

UNITED STATES. The territory of the United States extends from twenty-five to fifty-four degrees north latitude, and from sixty-six degrees forty-nine minutes to one hundred and twenty-five degrees west longitude; comprising one million eight hundred and thirty-two thousand three hundred and fifteen square miles. It is bounded north by Russia and British America; east by the Atlantic and British America; south by the Atlantic, the gulf and territory of Mexico, and west by Mexico, Texas, and the Pacific ocean. This extent of country is divided into twenty-six states, six territories, and the district of Columbia. The states are familiarly classed under the Eastern or New England, the Middle, the Southern, and the Western states. The first division comprehends Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut; the second, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland; the third, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana; the fourth, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Arkansas and Missouri. The territories are Florida, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, and Oregon. There are no territorial governments in the Missouri and Oregon territories. The whole extent of inhabited country includes more than eight hundred thousand square miles; and the whole population is seventeen million sixty-eight thousand one hundred and twelve.

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CHAPTER II.—CITIES AND TOWNS.

Albany is the seat of government for the state of New York, and is situated on the west side of Hudson’s river, one hundred and forty-four miles from the city of New York, to which it is next in rank. This city is unrivalled for situation, being nearly at the head of sloop navigation, on one of the noblest rivers in the world. It enjoys a pure air, and is the natural emporium of the increasing trade of a large extent of country west and north. In the old part of the town, the streets are very narrow, and the houses mean, being all built in the Dutch taste, with the gable end towards the street, and ornamented, or rather disfigured, on the top with large iron weathercocks; but in that part which has been more recently erected, the streets are commodious, and many of the houses are handsome.

The Capitol stands on an elevation at the end of the main street, and presents a fine appearance. It is a fine stone edifice, with an Ionic portico in front, supported by columns thirty-three feet in height. The public square adjacent is adorned with beautiful walks and avenues.

The Farmers’ and Mechanics’ bank and the Albany bank, both at the foot of State street, are both of white marble, and are handsome buildings. There are about sixteen churches in this city. Albany has received more permanent and evident advantages from the canals than any other place in the state. Since 1825, the population has increased from fifteen thousand nine hundred and seventy-one to 33,627. The first settlement at Albany was made about 1614, when a stockade was built on a spot just below the steam-boat dock. The charter of the city was granted in 1686, a few months before that of New York. The city and township are a mile in breadth, and extend thirteen miles along the river. The neighborhood of Albany abounds in pleasant villages.

Alexandria is a city and port of entry in the district of Columbia, on the west bank of the Potomac, six miles below Washington. It is a place of some business and resort during the session of Congress, and contains some fine buildings. Of late, Alexandria has not much increased, notwithstanding it enjoys good commercial advantages. This city is regularly built, and has good streets, well paved and clean. The trade is chiefly in flour. Population about eight thousand four hundred and sixty-two.

Amherst is a town of Hampshire county, Massachusetts, ninety-one miles west of Boston. It is the seat of a college which was incorporated in 1821, with the title of Amherst College. This seminary has professors and tutors. Amherst is the seat also of an academy, and a school called the Mount Pleasant Institution. Population, two thousand four hundred and fifteen.

Annapolis, the capital of Anne Arundel county, and the seat of the government of Maryland, is situated at the mouth of the Severn river, about two miles from its entrance into Chesapeak bay, thirty miles south of Baltimore, and forty north-east of the city of Washington. It is a place of little note in the commercial world; but being in a pleasant situation, and commanding a beautiful prospect of the Chesapeak, and the shore on the other side of the bay, it is a very pleasant residence. The houses are built of brick, and for the most part large and elegant, denoting great wealth. The state house is one of the most superb structures in the United States. Here is the seat of the University of Maryland. Population two thousand six hundred and twenty-three.

Augusta, capital of Maine, stands on the west branch of the Kennebec river, two miles above Hallowell. It is a pleasant town, and contains some neat public buildings. The new state house is built of granite, and is a very handsome edifice. It contains a spacious hall for the house of representatives, and two smaller ones for the senate and the council. On the side of the river opposite to the state house is the United States Arsenal, consisting of about a dozen buildings of stone, some of which are large and handsome. This place has considerable trade, and the river below is navigable for vessels of one hundred tons. Population 5,314.

Augusta, capital of the state of Georgia, stands on the south-west bank of the river Savannah, about one hundred and forty miles from the sea. It is regularly built of brick upon a level spot, and surrounded by a fertile country. It has a good trade in cotton, and other productions of the interior. Population, six thousand three hundred and forty-one.

Baltimore is a large city, standing on the north side of the river Patapsco, in Maryland. The basin on which it stands has only five or six feet water at high tide, so that the city can be approached only by small vessels. For large ships, the harbor is at some distance, at a place called Fell’s point, where wharves have been built, along side which vessels of six hundred tons burden can lie with perfect safety. Numbers of persons have been induced to settle on this point on account of the shipping; and regular streets have been laid out, with a large market-place. But though these buildings, generally speaking, are considered as part of Baltimore, yet they are a mile distant from the other part of the town.

The city is the chief commercial mart for the country upon Chesapeak bay and its waters. It is finely situated, and regularly built, in great part of brick; the public buildings and monuments indicate great enterprise and opulence.

Baltimore was laid out in 1729, on an area of sixty acres, purchased at forty shillings per acre, and partly paid for in tobacco at a penny a pound. Its progress was slow and unpromising; and in 1752 it contained but twenty-five houses. With its population of more than eighty thousand, it may now be considered the third or fourth city in the union. According to its re-charter in 1816, Baltimore now includes ten thousand acres, and contains a lunatic asylum, three theatres, an exchange, a public library, and forty-five churches.

The Cathedral is built after the Ionic order, on a plan drawn by the celebrated architect Latrobe. Its width is one hundred and seventy-seven, its length one hundred and ninety, and its height to the summit of the cross surmounting the dome, is one hundred and twenty-seven feet. It contains several fine paintings, and the largest organ in the United States. The Merchants’ Exchange, built by private subscription for the accommodation of the citizens, is a spacious and splendid edifice.

The Battle Monument is an elegant marble structure, fifty-five feet high, erected in memory of those who fell in defence of the city on the twelfth and thirteenth of September, 1814. The Washington Monument is built of white marble, on an elevation in the north part of the city; it is one hundred and sixty-three feet high, and on its summit is placed a colossal statue of Washington. This monument is embellished with bas-reliefs, and other decorations.

Baltimore is the greatest flour market in the United States. In its immediate neighborhood, are above sixty flour mills, a single one of which has produced thirty-two thousand barrels in a year. Within the same compass are numerous manufactories of cotton, cloth, powder, paper, iron, glass, steam engines, and other articles. The Baltimore and Ohio rail-road extends a distance of three hundred miles, from this city to the Ohio river at Pittsburgh. The Baltimore and Susquehanna rail-road is to extend seventy-six miles to York in Pennsylvania. The Chesapeak and Ohio canal, of the proposed length of three hundred and forty-one miles was commenced in 1828. The population of Baltimore is one hundred and two thousand three hundred and thirteen.60

Bangor is a flourishing town of Penobscot county, Maine, situated thirty-five miles above Castine. It is built upon the banks of the rivers Kenduskeag and Penobscot. The increase of this town within a few years has been very surprising. Building-lots near the centre of the town, that in 1832 were held at three hundred dollars, are now valued at eight hundred or a thousand. Woodlands at three, four, or five miles distance, that were then sold at five, seven, or ten dollars the acre, are now selling from twenty to fifty. Rents and all marketable commodities are proportionably high.

‘Bangor,’ says a correspondent of the Portland Advertiser, ‘has much the appearance of a hundred villages springing up on the non-slave-holding side of the Ohio, with this difference, that the buildings there are chiefly of wood, cheaply built, and hastily thrown up; and here they are fine blocks of brick with granite fronts, or handsome white houses that would do credit to any estate in Virginia or Carolina. I do not remember seeing what can be called a miserable house in Bangor. The Exchange is a building that would do credit to many of our large cities. The churches are numerous, and often elegantly built. Already they are numerous enough for a city; and it is such a spectacle that distinguishes New England; for no where, not even in the middle states, are such churches, and so numerous to be seen, as any village in New England of any size can exhibit.’

The water power in this vicinity is said to be superior to that of any town in the United States. Its present great source of wealth is the lumber business, which has been carried on to a very great extent. Thirty years ago, Bangor was a wilderness; according to the last census, its population was eight thousand six hundred and twenty-seven.

Bath, a town of Maine, on the west side of the Kennebec, twelve miles from the sea, is at the head of the winter navigation; is pleasantly situated, and has great advantages for commerce. Ship-building is carried on here to a large extent; and in 1827 the value of the shipping of Bath was a million of dollars. This town is almost isolated by some of the numerous arms of the sea which penetrate that part of the coast. Population, five thousand one hundred and forty-one.

Baton Rouge, a beautiful village on the eastern bank of the Mississippi, one hundred and fifty miles above New Orleans, is the capital of a parish of the same name in the eastern district of Louisiana. It is a small town, situated on the last bluff that is seen on descending the river, and about thirty or forty feet above its highest overflow. The village is tolerably compact, and the United States’ barracks are built in a very handsome style. ‘The town itself,’ says Mr. Flint, ‘especially in the months when the greatest verdure prevails, when seen from a steam-boat in the river, rising with such a fine swell from the banks, and with its singularly shaped French and Spanish houses, and its green square, looks like a finely painted landscape.’ Population, two thousand eight hundred and sixty.

Beaufort, principal town of Beaufort district, South Carolina, situated on the western bank of Port Royal river, is a pleasant and healthy place, containing a college, three churches, and seven thousand six hundred and eighty-seven inhabitants. Its harbour is spacious.

Belfast, the capital of Waldo county, Maine, has a fine situation and good harbor, and is a flourishing town. It is twelve miles north-west of Castine, from which it is separated by Penobscot river. Its coasting trade is very considerable. Population, four thousand one hundred and ninety four.

Bennington is the chief town of the county of the same name in Vermont. It is situated at the foot of the Green mountains, near the south-west corner of the state. It has several manufactories, and a marble quarry, and is celebrated for two victories of General Stark, over the British, in 1777. It is the largest and oldest town in the state, having been chartered by Governor Wentworth in 1749, and first settled by the Separatists under Robinson in 1761. Population, two thousand six hundred and seventy-one.

Bethlehem, in Albany county, New York, includes much rich alluvial land near Hudson river, inhabited by descendants of early Dutch settlers. It contains several caverns. Population, 3209.

Bethlehem, in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, is situated on a fine acclivity rising from the Lehigh river. It was founded in 1741 by the United Brethren, or Moravians, under Count Zinzendorf. The same order still retain the ownership, and have established here a seminary of considerable note for female education. The houses are neat and substantial. There is but one place of public worship, in which service is performed in English and German. The situation of this village is remarkably picturesque and romantic. There are ten other towns of this name in the United States. Population, two thousand nine hundred and eighty-nine.

Beverly, town in Essex county, Massachusetts, is a seaport, and connected with Salem by a bridge. It was formerly a part of Salem. It is pleasantly situated, and is largely engaged in the fisheries and in commerce. Population, four thousand six hundred and eighty-six.

Blakely is a seaport of Baldwin county, Alabama, on the Tensa, a branch of the Mobile. It was founded in 1816, and is a flourishing place. Its situation is healthy, and it has a commodious harbor.

Boston, the capital of Massachusetts, and the chief city of New England, is situated at the head of Massachusetts bay, on a peninsula of an uneven surface, about a mile in width, and nearly three miles long. Its original Indian name was Shawmut, and it was afterwards called Trimountain; its present name was given in honor of the Rev. John Cotton, one of its earliest pastors, who emigrated from Boston in Lincolnshire, England. In the older parts of the city, the streets are crooked, narrow, and intricate; laid out with no reference to beauty or order. The more recent streets are wider, straight, and regular; with edifices of great elegance and large dimensions. The avenues leading into the adjacent country are the natural isthmus which connects the city with Roxbury, the mill dam, six bridges and three rail-roads. There is also a ferry between Boston and Chelsea, with steamboats for the conveyance of foot passengers and carriages. Of the bridges, four are thrown over Charles river, connecting the capital with Cambridge and Charlestown, and two unite it with South Boston.

The harbor has been before described. It is dotted with numerous islands, and affords ample accommodation for a fleet of five hundred sail. The approach to the city from the sea is highly picturesque and beautiful. The wharves and piers are ample, covered with spacious stores of brick and granite, and presenting as great conveniences for the transaction of business as are to be found in the world.

The local divisions of Boston are into North Boston, West Boston, South End, and South Boston. To these we may now add East Boston, comprehending what was formerly called Noddle’s Island, a tract of about six hundred acres, purchased by a company in 1832 for the purpose of extending the city in that direction. The Common is a beautiful promenade at the west end of the city, containing an extent of nearly fifty acres, agreeably varied by small eminences, the most prominent of which still exhibits the vestiges of a fortification thrown up by the British soldiers during the revolution. A little north of this mound is a small sheet of fresh water. This spacious green is surrounded by malls, lined with magnificent elms. On three sides are rows of fine private dwelling-houses, including some of the most elegant mansions in the city.

On an eminence overlooking the common stands the State House; a conspicuous and striking edifice, the view from whose dome is most interesting and extensive. The broad harbor with its green and picturesque islands, the adjacent country covered by pleasant villages, and with a pleasing alternation of hill and valley, interspersed with orchards and woodland—and at its base, the avenues of a crowded and busy city, form a combination of beauty that cannot fail to delight every beholder. Beyond the islands of the bay, the eye stretches eastward to the waters of the ocean; and to the north lies Charlestown with the navy-yard, and the monument erecting and soon to be completed on Bunker hill. To the west is a view of Cambridge, with the various edifices attached to the university. The state house was erected about thirty-eight years since. It is of an oblong form, one hundred and seventy-three feet front, and sixty-one deep; a dome thirty-five feet in height and fifty-two feet diameter, surmounts the edifice, and the whole terminates with a circular lantern twenty-five feet high. The basement story is ornamented with rows of Doric pillars; in an open chamber projected from the north centre of this story is placed Chantry’s noble statue of Washington. This building contains the usual accommodation for the various offices of state, besides the senate chamber, council chamber and representatives’ hall.

Faneuil Hall is famous in American annals. It is a building of good proportions, and convenient size, though of no great architectural pretensions; its history is sacred to the spirit of eloquence, courage and patriotism. The building has a cupola which presents a good view of the harbor; the great hall is nearly eighty feet square, and about twenty-eight feet high. It is decorated with an original full length painting of Washington, by Stuart, and another of the same size by Colonel Sargent, representing Mr. Faneuil, the noble donor of the edifice. Faneuil Hall Market is situated to the east of Faneuil hall. It is a splendid building of granite, five hundred and thirty-five feet and nine inches in length. The basement story is occupied by market stalls; on the second floor is a spacious hall, used for public assemblies and caucuses, called Quincy Hall, in honor of the distinguished gentleman in whose mayoralty the edifice was projected and built.

The City Hall, formerly known as the old state house, was built in nearly its present form in the year 1747. It stands at the head of State street, and on the line of Washington street, the principal avenue of the city. In this building are the post office, the marine news room, and the merchants’ exchange; from this there is a winding stair-case leading to the hall of the common council, and that of the mayor and aldermen together with various public offices connected with the city administration. Other public buildings, of great beauty to the city, are the old U. S. Branch Bank, and the Masonic Temple. The latter building fronts on the common; it is of the Gothic order.

One of the most interesting of the churches of the city is that known as the King’s Chapel. Its exterior is plain, and in appearance it is unfinished being built entirely of unhammered stone. It was first opened for divine service in 1754. The tower is ornamented by a colonnade of large wooden pillars, and the whole presents the appearance of massy grandeur suited to distinguish in former days the place of worship for the public functionaries. In the interior, the governor’s pew was formerly distinguished above the rest, but was taken down a few years since. The style of architecture is of the Corinthian order. There are several monumental marbles, which add to the interest with which the church is visited. It is now the only house in which the old fashion of square pews is retained. Brattle street church is interesting from historical associations. Governors Hancock and Bowdoin were liberal benefactors of this society. The name of the former was inscribed on one of the rustic quoins at the south-west corner of the building. The British soldiery defaced it, and the stone remains in the condition in which they left it. A similar inscription, unmutilated, appears on one of the rustic quoins at the south-west corner of the tower; and on one in the north-west corner, the name of Dr. John Greenleaf appears, who, with Gov. Bowdoin, advanced the money for refitting the church, it having been improved as a barrack, during the siege. A shot, which was sent from the American army at Cambridge, struck the tower on the night preceding the evacuation of the town. It was picked up and preserved, and is now fastened in the spot where it struck. General Gage’s head quarters were in the house opposite. Trinity church in Summer street is a beautiful granite edifice, built in 1829. It is one of the chief architectural ornaments of the city; and for beauty of proportion, strength and solidity, is perhaps unsurpassed in this country. The number of worshipping assemblies in this city is between fifty and sixty.

The places of public amusement in Boston are not numerous, nor remarkably well patronized. The Tremont theatre affords the only dramatic entertainment that is much resorted to by strangers and people of fashion. It is a handsome building, with a front of Quincy and Hallowell granite. This front is in imitation of the Ionic order, with four pilasters and two antœs, one on each angle, supporting an entablature and pediment, and elevated on a basement seventeen feet. The Warren theatre is a minor establishment, and is much frequented. The New England Museum attracts numerous visitors.

Of the hotels of Boston, we can only particularly mention the Tremont House, a splendid building, in the pleasantest quarter of the city, and esteemed the best house in the country. ‘Most gratifying is it to a traveller in the United States,’ says a recent tourist, ‘when, sick to death of the discomforts of the road, he finds himself fairly housed in the Tremont hotel. The establishment is on a large scale, and admirably conducted.’ This stinted approbation is one of the few tokens of satisfaction that Mr. Hamilton gives in his unsparing though witty and entertaining volumes; it is not the less acceptable, because it is extorted.

In the year 1841, there were thirty-one banks in the city, which employed a capital of twenty millions one hundred thousand dollars. The increase, of course, has been in proportion to the increasing enterprise and prosperity of the city. The oldest is the Massachusetts’ bank, which was incorporated in 1785. There are twenty-four insurance companies, with an aggregate capital of seven millions and a quarter. The charitable institutions of the city are numerous. Of these, one of the most important is the Institution for the Education of the Blind, recently established under very favorable circumstances. Besides this are the Asylum for Indigent Boys, the Female Asylum, Charitable Mechanic Association, Prison Discipline Society, and many others. The Massachusetts General Hospital is situated in the west part of the town; it has been pronounced the finest building in the state. The Quarantine Hospital is situated on Rainsford island, in the harbor, and about six miles from the city.

The number of periodicals issued in this city is above seventy, inclusive of dailies and annuals. The first paper published in the country was the Boston News Letter, commenced in 1704, and continued for nearly seventy-two years. The oldest surviving journal established since the revolution is the Columbian Centinel, which was commenced in 1784.

Boston is celebrated for her public schools, and the great efforts which have been made by her citizens in the cause of education. The expenditures for these institutions, during the year ending August, 1833, amounted to over seventy thousand dollars. Social libraries are numerous. The Boston Athenæum was established in 1806, and contains above twenty-eight thousand volumes. Though accessible only to men of fortune, as the price of a share is three hundred dollars, it is still a useful institution. Annual subscribers are admitted at ten dollars. This noble establishment is situated in Pearl street, in a fine building, for the half of which the proprietors were indebted to the munificence of the late James Perkins, Esq. Attached to the Athenæum is a gallery of the fine arts, in which is held an annual exhibition that has hitherto been the source of a considerable income. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Massachusetts Historical Society, are highly respectable institutions which have issued numerous volumes of great value, and possess considerable libraries. On the whole, the libraries of Boston are neither so large nor so generally accessible as might be expected from the wealth and liberality of her citizens.

Middlesex canal unites the water communication between Boston and the Merrimack river, at the bend in Chelmsford; the company for its construction was incorporated in 1793. The toll has amounted some years to about twenty-five thousand dollars. Rail-roads are now complete, connecting this city with Providence, Worcester, Lowell, Springfield and Salem. The marine rail-way, which affords facilities for the repair of large vessels, has been in successful operation since 1826. One of the greatest improvements of late years has been the building of Mercantile wharf, which ranges in front of the harbor, between City wharf and Lewis’s wharf. It has made access to the northern extremity of the city very convenient from the central parts, and has led to great improvements.

Since 1822, when the city was incorporated, Boston has been governed by a mayor, eight aldermen, and a common council of forty-eight members, chosen annually. With the town of Chelsea, it constitutes the county of Suffolk, and sends one representative to Congress. As a commercial city, it holds a second rank among the seaports of the United States. There are many manufactures in the city, and much wealth of the citizens is invested in the manufactories of Waltham, Lowell, and other towns. Population, ninety-three thousand three hundred and eighty-three.61

Bordentown, a town of New Jersey, in Burlington county, standing on a steep sand bank on the west side of the Delaware, is chiefly remarkable for the villa of Joseph Bonaparte, ex-king of Spain. This is a long white building, with two low square towers at the ends, and a shot-tower near it by the river. Pop. three thousand four hundred and thirty-four.

Brattleboro is a pleasant village, in Windham county, Vermont, on the Connecticut. It is situated on an elevated plain above the river; at the bridge over the stream are several manufactories, the chief of which are of paper and machinery, which are made here in large quantities. The situation of the village is quite romantic and picturesque. Population, two thousand and six hundred and twenty-four.

Bridgeport, in Fairfield county on Long Island sound, maintains an active intercourse with New York by means of sloops and steamboats, and furnishes that city with a great amount of produce. The harbor is shoal, but with a good channel; the town is pleasant and thriving. Population four thousand five hundred and seventy.

Brighton, a town of Middlesex county, Massachusetts, is celebrated for its annual cattle show and fair which has been held here ever since the revolution. Vast numbers of cattle for the Boston market are brought here from all quarters of the country. The soil is good, and well cultivated. Population, one thousand four hundred and five.

Bristol, a thriving town, situated on Narragansett bay, about half way between Providence and Newport, is distinguished for its pleasant situation, healthful climate, rich soil, and a commodious, safe harbor. This town suffered greatly during the revolutionary war, a great part of it having been destroyed by the British; but it is now in a very flourishing state, and has a good shipping trade: onions in great quantities, and a variety of provisions and garden roots, are raised here for exportation. Mount Hope, celebrated in the early history of New England as the residence of king Philip, is within the limits of Bristol; it is a cone-shaped hill, with a pointed summit, and exhibits a charming prospect. Population, three thousand four hundred and ninety.

Brooklyn, a large town on Long Island, separated from the city of New York by the narrow channel of East river. It is properly a suburb of that city, and is a place of great business. It is regularly built, and contains many fine houses, the residence of merchants from the city. The United States navy yard is in the east quarter, upon a bay called the Wallabout. Near this town a bloody and disastrous battle was fought with the British in 1776. The town stands on an eminence, and commands fine views of the city and bay. A constant intercourse is kept up with New York by steamboats. It is the third town in the state in regard to its population, which amounts to 36,221.

Brookville is pleasantly situated in the forks of Whitewater, and is the seat of justice of Franklin county, Illinois. It was laid out in the year 1811; but no improvements were made until the succeeding year, and then but partially, owing to the unsettled state of the frontiers; its vicinity to the Indian boundary being about fifteen miles. The late war completely checked the emigration to this country, and consequently the town ceased to improve; since that period, it has improved and been noted for the enterprise of its citizens. It is now, however, decaying. It contains about a hundred houses.

Brunswick is a town of Cumberland county, Maine, situated on the south side of Androscoggin river, twenty-six miles north-east of Portland. The river has many falls at this place, on which are situated numerous mills, and manufactories of cotton and woollen. It is chiefly distinguished as the seat of Bowdoin college, which was established here in 1794. This institution is partly supported by funds bequeathed by governor Bowdoin, of Massachusetts, from whom the college takes its name. Population of Brunswick, four thousand two hundred and fifty-nine.

Buffalo, delightfully situated near the margin of lake Erie, three hundred and twenty-seven miles from Albany, and twenty-two from the falls of Niagara, is a place of considerable importance, and the emporium of the lake commerce. The principal streets are from sixty-six to one hundred feet wide; these are intersected by others of equal width, and as many of the houses are of brick, two and three stories high, they make a neat and handsome appearance. Buffalo, standing on the great road leading from Albany to Ohio, possesses natural advantages for trade, equal to any internal place in the United States.

Its harbor is singularly fitted for the two kinds of navigation that are here brought together, the entrance from the lake being sheltered by the point on which the light-house is erected, and the two small rivers which here unite their waters affording every convenience for landing and re-shipping goods; a number of basins and lateral canals communicate with the great canal. This harbor is thronged with steamboats and every kind of water craft; it is one of the most busy and bustling places in the country.

‘In Buffalo,’ says a recent writer, ‘the miserable descendants of the Iroquois or Six Nations may constantly be seen in the streets. The Senecas have three villages within nine miles. If any man wishes to observe the effect of an intercourse between whites and Indians, let him go to Buffalo. There he may see red men, reeling drunk in the streets, begging in the most abject manner for liquor, and the women in the lowest stage of moral and physical degradation. They are in some measure civilized, some of them having adopted the costume of the whites, and living by the cultivation of the soil. Should they continue to reside in their present dwelling-place, it is to be hoped that the change will be complete. When the chase will no longer afford them a subsistence; when they are completely hemmed in by the whites, they must of necessity have recourse to agriculture for the means of living, and knowledge must be the attendant of industry—but as long as they are able to live, no matter how wretchedly, in idleness, they will not work, and will continue to retrograde.’ Population, eighteen thousand three hundred and fifty-six.

Burlington, in Chittenden county, Vermont, on lake Champlain, is a flourishing and commercial town. It is situated on the declivity of a hill, commanding an extensive view of the lake, and a beautiful prospect of the town. It is the seat of the university of Vermont, and of several manufactories. Its commerce is considerable. Population, four thousand two hundred and seventy-one.

Burlington City stands on the banks of the Delaware, eighteen miles north-east from Philadelphia. The main streets are conveniently spacious, and mostly ornamented with rows of trees in the fronts of the houses, which are regularly arranged. The river opposite the town is about a mile wide, and under shelter of two islands, affords a safe and convenient harbor; but, though well situated for trade, Burlington is too near the opulent city of Philadelphia to admit of any considerable increase of foreign commerce. Population, two thousand six hundred and seventy.

Cahokia, in St. Clair county, Illinois, is situated on a small stream, about one mile east of the Mississippi, and five miles below St. Louis. It is pleasantly situated, and is inhabited chiefly by French people. This town contains a post-office and a Roman catholic chapel, and is the seat of justice for the county.

Cambridge, a town of Middlesex county, Massachusetts, lies west of Boston, was settled in 1631. It is a fine village, containing many very pleasant residences, and is divided into three distinct portions. East Cambridge is a suburb of Boston, with which it is connected by Cragie’s bridge; it is flourishing, and has some glass and iron manufactories. Old Cambridge is about three miles from the city, and is the seat of Harvard college, the oldest and richest university in the United States; this institution is fully described in another portion of the volume. In the western part lies Fresh Pond, a fine sheet of water, much resorted to in summer by citizens of the neighboring towns. In the south-westerly part is a beautiful hilly grove called Mount Auburn, recently devoted to the purposes of a cemetery, and forming one of the most beautiful burial places in the world.62 The first printing-press in America was set up here, and was used by Stephen Day, who printed the Freeman’s Oath. During the siege of Boston, in 1776, the American army encamped here, and vestiges of some of their intrenchments still remain in the neighborhood. Population, eight thousand one hundred and twenty-seven.

Camden, in Kershaw district, South Carolina, on the Wateree, is the seat of justice for the district. It is chiefly celebrated for the battles fought in its vicinity during the revolutionary war. Population, one thousand. A flourishing town of the same name in Oneida county, New York, has a population of about two thousand.

Canandaigua, capital of Ontario county, New York, on the outlet of the lake of the same name, is one of the pleasantest towns in the country. The principal street runs along the ridge of a hill, which rises from the north end of the lake, for the distance of a mile; it is handsomely planted with trees, and the houses, which are generally painted white with green blinds, present a very neat appearance. In the centre of the town is a large square; the neighborhood abounds with pleasant gardens. Population, five thousand six hundred and fifty-two.

Castine, a town of Maine, built on a promontory at the head of Penobscot bay, is placed in a commanding situation, and has an excellent harbor. It was taken by the British during the last war, but was restored in 1815. Population one thousand one hundred and eighty-eight.

Catskill, principal town of Greene county, New York, is situated on the west bank of the Hudson river, nearly opposite the city of Hudson, and thirty-one miles south of Albany. It exhibits gentle elevations in the neighborhood, and the soil is generally good; it is well watered, has fine meadows, and good mill sites. Population, 5,339.

Charleston, the chief city of South Carolina, stands upon a piece of land projecting into the bay, at the confluence of the Ashley and Cooper rivers, and has a deep and safe harbor. Ships drawing twenty feet of water pass the bar. The city is regularly built; the fine houses are very large, many of them inclosed like the great hotels in Paris, and all of them covered with verandas, and situated in gardens neatly dressed, and in summer and fall, not only adorned with the finest evergreen shrubs, but with a great variety of beautiful roses, jonquils, and other flowers. On the other hand, many of the streets are dirty and unpaved, and the houses in some parts of the town have a filthy appearance. The churches and public buildings are handsome, especially St. Michael’s church, with its steeple one hundred and sixty-eight feet high. The post office is a large, handsome building. Most of the finest buildings here were erected previously to the revolution. There are many charitable institutions, among which the Orphan Asylum stands in the first rank.

The society of Charleston is refined, intelligent and hospitable. The commerce of the place consists chiefly in the export of rice and cotton. On account of its level character, the city is liable to occasional inundation; but it is, nevertheless, a fine commercial mart, and highly prosperous, exhibiting most of the institutions which mark a liberal and opulent community. This city is celebrated in the history of the revolution. Population, twenty-nine thousand two hundred and sixty-one.

Charlestown, in Middlesex county, Massachusetts, is an irregular town, containing some fine situations. Here are the United States navy yard, and the finest dry-dock in the country; the Massachusetts state prison, an insane hospital, and the Ursuline convent. This town was burnt in 1775, by the British troops. On the eminence of Bunker Hill, a splendid monument of granite has been for some time in an unfinished state; but there is every hope of its immediate completion. Population ten thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.

Chilicothe, in Ross county, Ohio, formerly the seat of the state government, is situated on the west bank of the Scioto, on a beautiful and extensive plain. It is laid out on a large scale, with a great number of out-lots attached to it. The plan is regular; the streets cross each other at right angles, and every square is divided into four parts. In the vicinity are several mills and manufactories, and the Grand canal is cut through the town. The town was laid out in 1796, on the site of an old Indian village. Population, three thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven.

Cincinnati, the largest town in Ohio, is handsomely built, and surrounded by a range of fine wooded hills, which command a beautiful prospect. The plain on which it is situated occupies about four square miles; the height of the rising ground above the alluvial plain is about fifty feet. The population is much mixed, being composed of emigrants from all parts of the union, and most of the countries of Europe. Its progressive increase has been most wonderful. In 1813, Cincinnati numbered about four thousand inhabitants; in 1820, ten thousand; in 1840, forty-six thousand three hundred and eighty-two.

It has extensive flour and sawmills, worked by steam, and various manufactures. The public buildings are twenty-four churches, the College Athenæum, Medical College, Mechanics’ Institute, four market houses, a theatre, two museums, a famous and tasteless bazaar, a bank for the United States branch, court house, and other edifices. The charitable and religious associations are numerous. There are sixteen periodical publications. There are three city insurance companies, and two branches of companies at Hartford, Connecticut. Water is furnished for the inhabitants from the Ohio river, and is distributed over town at an average expense of eight dollars for a family.

Vast remains of ancient fortifications, embankments, stone walls, earthen mounds, the latter containing rude stone coffins filled with human bones, have been discovered within the precincts of this town; and many curious articles dug up, composed of jasper, rock crystal, cannel-coal, copper, sculptural representations on different substances, altogether tending to prove that this country was formerly inhabited by a race of men very different from the present American Indians.

Circleville, the seat of justice of Pickaway county, Ohio, is situated on the Pickaway bottom, about half a mile east of the Scioto. Its site is two mounds of earth, one circular, and the other square, containing about twenty acres. In the centre of the town is a small vacant circle. From this focus the streets diverge in regular radii. The growth of this town has been owing to the wealth of the surrounding plantations. Population, two thousand three hundred and twenty-nine.

Columbia, the capital city of South Carolina, is situated on the Congaree, one hundred and ten miles north-north-west of Charleston. It is the seat of the college of the state. The town is regularly built, and occupies an elevated plain gently sloping on every side. Population, four thousand two hundred ninety-five. There are eleven other towns called Columbia in the United States.

Columbus, the metropolis of the state of Ohio, is situated on the east bank of the Scioto, on an elevated plain of several hundred acres. It is situated near the middle of Franklin county, and within twenty miles of the centre of the state, in a fine fertile country. It was founded in 1812, in the midst of a thick forest. It contains a state house, court house, penitentiary, a classical seminary, three churches, and an asylum for the deaf and dumb. Population, six thousand and forty-eight.

Concord, a town of Merrimack county, New Hampshire, is the capital of the state. It is pleasantly situated on both sides of the Merrimack, along which spread some rich intervals. The chief village is on the west side, and forms a street two miles in length. It contains a state house and a state prison, both of granite. It was first settled in 1724, and twenty years afterwards suffered severely from the Indians. By the river and Middlesex canal, Concord has a boat navigation to Boston; and it is a place of considerable trade. Population, four thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight.

Concord, a village of Middlesex county, Massachusetts, is celebrated as the place of meeting of the first provincial congress in 1774, and the first opposition to the British arms. Population, one thousand eight hundred.63

Covington, a town of Genesee county, New York, has a soil of ordinary quality, well watered. Population, two thousand four hundred and thirty-eight.

Dayton, chief town of Montgomery county, Ohio, is situated on the left bank of Great Miami river, near the point where it is met by the canal. It is a flourishing place, with many mills and factories. Population six thousand and sixty-seven.

Detroit, the capital of Michigan territory, is situated on the bank of the river of the same name. During the French jurisdiction, it was the farthest post on the lakes except Macinac. Since 1815, this town has rapidly improved; before, it was small and of no importance except in a military view. It is famous for the siege here sustained by Major Gladwyn against the united tribes of Indians under Pontiac, and for its surrender to the British forces in the year 1812, by General Hull. The ground plan of the city of Detroit is laid out like that of Washington, and the buildings are very much scattered. The jail, state house, and two churches, constitute the chief public buildings. The Erie canal has done much to increase the prosperity of this town, and the Ohio canal will give it an additional impulse. Population nine thousand one hundred and two.

The streets of Detroit are generally crowded with Indians of one tribe or other, who collect here to sell their skins; at night, all those who are not admitted into private houses, and remain there quietly, are turned out of the town, and the gates shut upon them. The French inhabitants employed upon the lakes and rivers are very dexterous watermen, and will navigate a small bark in a rough sea with incredible skill. They have nothing like enterprise in business, and are very fond of music, dancing, and smoking tobacco; the women have generally lively and expressive countenances.

The fort stands on a low ridge, in the rear of the town, at the distance of about two hundred yards. From the summit of this ridge, the country gradually subsides to a low swampy plain, from five to nine miles across, covered with thick groves of young timber. Beyond this plain commences a surface moderately hilly.

Dover, a town of Kent county, Delaware, and capital of the state. It is handsomely laid out and built on a small stream that runs into the Delaware. The houses are mostly of brick, and in the centre of the town is a spacious square surrounded by the public buildings. Population, 3790.

Dover, a town of Strafford county, New Hampshire, is situated on the falls of the Cocheco, a stream running into the Piscataqua. The falls have several pitches, one of which is forty feet perpendicular, affording a vast water power, which has been applied to manufacturing purposes. This town was settled in 1623, and is the oldest in the state. The greater part of the timber exported from New Hampshire is brought to Dover. Population, five thousand four hundred and fifty-eight.

Easton, a town of Northampton county, Pennsylvania, situated on the Delaware, at the mouth of the Lehigh, is a handsome town, regularly laid out with a large square in the centre. The union of three canals at this point, gives it vast facilities for trade. The scenery of the neighborhood is remarkably picturesque. The town is laid out at right angles. Population, five thousand five hundred and ten.

Eastport, a town of Washington county, Maine, and the most eastern point of the United States. It is situated on Moose island in Passamaquoddy bay, and is favorably situated for an extensive traffic up the Passamaquoddy and the other rivers falling into the bay of Fundy. The principal business is afforded by the fisheries and the lumber trade. Population, two thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.

Economy, a beautiful village of Beaver county, Pennsylvania, on the Ohio, a few miles below Pittsburg. It is inhabited solely by the sect of Harmonists, under the celebrated Rapp. The village is regularly built, and the streets are laid out at right angles. Industry is the characteristic of the inhabitants, who are of German origin. The property purports to be held in common, though it has been stated that the legal tenure of it is in the hands of the principal. The grape is extensively cultivated here; a thriving trade is carried on with the neighboring country, and the establishment is in a thriving condition. Population, 1283.

Elizabethtown, a town of Essex county, New Jersey, situated on a creek of Newark bay, was originally settled by emigrants from Connecticut. It has some good gardens, and supplies many agricultural products for the New York market. Population, four thousand one hundred and eighty-four.

Exeter, a town of Rockingham county, New Hampshire, fourteen miles south-west from Portsmouth, is situated at the head of the navigation on Swamscot river, a branch of the Piscataqua. Formerly, ship-building was carried on here to a great extent, and the vessels were employed in the West Indian trade; at present, this business is much decreased, but several manufactories have been established. Here is a celebrated academy, incorporated in 1781. Population, two thousand nine hundred and eighty-five.

Fayetteville, a village of Cumberland county, North Carolina, is situated at the head of uninterrupted boat navigation on Cape Fear river. In 1831, it was desolated by a destructive fire; but it is rapidly regaining its former flourishing condition. Population, four thousand two hundred and eighty-five.

Frankfort, the metropolis of Kentucky, and chief town of Franklin county, stands on the east bank of Kentucky river, sixty miles above its entrance into the Ohio. The river, which is here about one hundred yards wide, with bold limestone banks, forms a handsome curve, and waters the southern and western parts of the town. The bottoms on both sides of the river are very broad, but subject to inundation. Frankfort is about sixty-two miles from Louisville. Population, 1,917.

Fredericksburg, a port of entry, and chief town of Spottsylvania county, Virginia, situated on the right bank of the Rappahanoc river, is a flourishing place. It stands at the head of tide water. Population, three thousand nine hundred and seventy-four.

Fredericktown, in Frederick county, Maryland, is situated forty-seven miles from Baltimore, on the Pittsburg road, and is a flourishing place, carrying on considerable manufactures, and a brisk inland trade through a fertile and well-cultivated country. It is the second town in the state, and increases with rapidity. Population, five thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.

Galena, a village in Illinois, the centre of a celebrated lead-mining district, from which it takes its name. It is situated on Fever river, five miles before it empties into the Mississippi.

Gardiner, a flourishing town in Kennebec county, Maine, on the west bank of the Kennebec river. It has a considerable trade in lumber, and in manufactures of cotton and iron, and many very valuable mills. In this town is a Gothic church, built of granite, and considered the finest specimen of architecture in the state. Population, five thousand six hundred and forty-four.

Georgetown, city of the district of Columbia, and separated from Washington only by a small creek, is finely situated on a series of heights at a bend of the Potomac. It is well laid out, and contains some good private residences. The Catholic college is an ancient pile of building, with a large library, and some good paintings. The Chesapeak and Ohio canal passes through this town. Tobacco and flour are exported in considerable quantities. Population, seven thousand three hundred and thirteen.

Gloucester, a seaport of Massachusetts, in Essex county, and on the peninsula of cape Ann, is one of the most considerable fishing towns in the country. The harbor, which is defended by a battery and forts, is accessible for large ships. This town suffered severely from fire a few years ago; but the damage has been nearly repaired. Population, six thousand three hundred and ninety-four.

Hagerstown, in Washington county, Maryland, is a well-built and flourishing place, surrounded by a fertile country. It is a handsome town, and the houses are generally of stone or brick. Population, three thousand four hundred.

Hallowell, in Kennebec county, Maine, is one of the most flourishing and wealthy towns in the state. The river is navigable to this place for vessels of one hundred and fifty tons. Hallowell granite is extensively quarried and wrought, and is much esteemed. The commerce of the place is considerable, confined chiefly to the lumber trade. Population, four thousand six hundred and fifty-five.

Hanover, in Grafton county, New Hampshire, situated on the Connecticut, is a pleasant village, and the seat of Dartmouth college, which was established in 1771. It received its name from one of its principal benefactors, the earl of Dartmouth. This town is crossed from north to south by Moose mountain. Population, two thousand six hundred and thirteen.

Harrisburg, the seat of government of the state of Pennsylvania, is in Dauphin county, and situated on the eastern bank of the Susquehanna, ninety-six miles from Philadelphia. It is regularly built, and has a handsome state house, and other public edifices. A bridge here crosses the Susquehanna. Population, six thousand and twenty.

Hartford, city, the capital of Hartford county, and, jointly with New-Haven, the seat of government of Connecticut. It stands on the western bank of the Connecticut, at the head of sloop navigation. It is handsomely built, and contains many fine public edifices, among which are a Gothic church, much admired for its architecture; a state house, a deaf and dumb asylum, a retreat for the insane, and a seminary called Washington college. This institution was founded in 1826. Hartford enjoys a considerable commerce with Boston, New York, and the southern cities. The bookselling trade is carried on here extensively, and there is much inland traffic with the towns on the Connecticut, and in the neighborhood. On the opposite bank of the river is East Hartford, which is connected with the city by a bridge. The inhabitants point out to the stranger an ancient oak tree in the southern part of the city, which bears the name of the Charter Oak, and is interesting on account of its connection with our early history. Pop. twelve thousand seven hundred and ninety-three.

Haverhill, in Essex county, Massachusetts, on the Merrimack, twelve miles above Newburyport. Pop. four thousand three hundred and seventy-three. This is a pleasantly situated town, and has considerable ship-building and trade by the river. It was settled in 1640, and suffered much in the early Indian wars. In 1698, the Indians attacked and set fire to the town.

Hudson, a city of New York, in Columbia county, with considerable manufacturing business. The streets are spacious, and cross each other at right angles, and the houses are supplied with water brought in pipes from a spring two miles distant. The trade is considerable, and vessels of the largest size can unload here. It is seated on an eminence, on the east side of Hudson river. It is twenty-eight miles south of Albany. Population, five thousand six hundred and seventy.

Indianapolis, capital of Indiana, situated in Marion county, on the west bank of White river, in the centre of one of the most extensive and fertile bodies of land in the world, though recently settled, promises to be one of the largest towns between Cincinnati and the Mississippi. The country about it is said by Mr. Flint to be settling with unexampled rapidity. Population, two thousand six hundred and ninety-two.

Jameston, an ancient town in James City county, Virginia, the first English settlement in the states, was established in 1608. It stands on an island in James river, thirty-two miles above its mouth. It is now in ruins, and almost desolate. Two or three old houses, the ruins of an old steeple, a church-yard, and faint traces of rude fortifications, are the only memorials of its former importance.

Jefferson City, seat of justice for Cole county, Missouri, and capital of the state, is situated on the right bank of Missouri river, about nine miles above the mouth of the Osage. It is a new town, containing two hundred houses and twelve hundred inhabitants, and, after Little Rock in Arkansas, is the most western state capital of the United States.

Kaskaskia, an ancient village of Illinois, and seat of justice for Randolph county, is situated on Kaskaskia river, eleven miles from its mouth. It was one of the earliest French settlements in the Mississippi, and once contained seven thousand inhabitants; it is now very much reduced, numbering only one thousand. The situation of this town is represented as very beautiful.

Kennebunk, a town of York county, Maine, at the mouth of a river of the same name, has considerable lumber trade. The principal harbor is obstructed by a sandbar, and in 1820 an appropriation was made by Congress to build a pier at the mouth of the river. Population, two thousand three hundred and twenty-three.

Knoxville, the chief town of East Tennessee, is situated one hundred and eighty miles from Nashville, on the north side of Holston river, where it is three hundred yards wide; on a beautiful spot of ground, twenty-two miles above the junction of the Holston with the Tennessee. The college of this town is one of the oldest seminaries in the state. Population, three thousand.

Lancaster, a handsome town of Pennsylvania, and capital of a county of the same name. It is a pleasant and flourishing place, situate in a fertile and well-cultivated country, and contains a court house, a jail, two banks, and nine places of worship. A college was founded here in 1787; but the buildings are now appropriated to schools. Here are manufactures of guns and other hardware; and about a mile distant is a large cotton manufactory. The town has considerable trade, which increases with the surrounding country. It is seated near Conestoga creek, which runs into the Susquehanna, sixty-one miles west by north of Philadelphia. Population, eight thousand four hundred and nineteen.

Lancaster, oldest town in Worcester county, Massachusetts, finely situated on both sides of the Nashua, has manufactories of combs and cotton, and an extensive engraving and stereotyping establishment. In beauty of scenery the neighborhood is surpassed by that of few towns in New England. Population, two thousand and thirteen.

Lansinburg, a town of Rensselaer county, New York, is principally built on a single street parallel with the river. A high hill rises abruptly behind the town, on which is seen the celebrated diamond rock, emitting a brilliant lustre in the rays of the sun. Population, three thousand three hundred and thirty.

Lexington, a town of Middlesex county, Massachusetts, will ever be memorable in American history, for the early revolutionary struggles. The first battle was fought here between the British troops and the Americans on the nineteenth of April, 1775. A monument has been erected on the green at Lexington in commemoration of this event. Pop. 1559.

Lexington, capital of Fayette county, Kentucky, is the oldest town in the state, and was for many years the seat of government. It stands in a beautiful spot, on a branch of the Elkhorn river, in the centre of the richest tract in the state. The principal street is a mile and a quarter in length, spacious and well paved. The buildings are much superior in size and elegance to those of the other towns in the state, and may be compared to those of the Atlantic country. The Transylvania university is established here. The public inns are large and convenient. The town has manufactories of woolen, cotton, and paper. The general appearance of the town is neat, and the neighborhood is adorned with many handsome villas, and finely ornamented rural mansions. Population, six thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven.

Litchfield, capital of Litchfield county, Connecticut, is situated on an elevated plain, in the midst of a fertile and hilly country. It contains numerous mills and manufactories. A law school was established here in 1782, by Judge Reeve, which has been for many years highly celebrated. Population, four thousand and thirty-eight.

Little Rock, the seat of government of Arkansas territory, is situated on a high bluff on the south bank of the river Arkansas, and derives its name from the high masses of rock above it. It was laid out in 1820.

Lockport, a town of Niagara county, New York, on the Erie canal. Here are the most remarkable works on the canal, consisting of ten locks, overcoming an ascent of sixty feet. Besides these, there is an excavation through the mountain ridge, for three miles, cut in the rock. The town is a place of considerable trade. Population, five thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.

Louisville, a city of Jefferson county, Kentucky, on a plain elevated about seventy feet above the level of the Ohio, opposite to the rapids or falls, is a handsome town, and the largest in the state. Eight broad and straight streets run parallel with the river, and command a pleasant view of the opposite shore. They are paved with blocks of limestone; the houses are built chiefly of brick. This is the most commercial city of the west, commanding the trade of a great extent of country. Manufactures are yet in their infancy. The Louisville and Portland canal passes through this town, round the falls; it is about two miles in length, and cut through a limestone rock. It admits the passage of the largest steamboats, and thus opens a line of free navigation from Pittsburg to the sea. This canal was finished in 1831. It has been estimated that seventy-five thousand travellers pass through Louisville annually. The resident population is twenty-one thousand two hundred and ten.

Lowell, a town of Middlesex county, Massachusetts, situated at the junction of the Concord and Merrimack rivers, is celebrated for its extensive manufacturing establishments, and for its rapid increase. It was incorporated in 1826. In 1831, the quantity of cotton manufactured here was estimated at five million one hundred thousand pounds. The water power is held and managed by a company possessing a great amount of real estate, and a capital of six hundred thousand dollars. A rail-road from Boston to Lowell is in rapid progress. The two largest companies are the Merrimack, with a capital of a million and a half; and the Lawrence, with a capital of one million two hundred thousand dollars. Population twenty thousand nine hundred and eighty-one.

Lynchburg, a town of Columbia county, Virginia, is one of the most flourishing and commercial towns in the state. It has several tobacco warehouses and factories, cotton and woolen manufactories, and in the vicinity are extensive flour mills. The surrounding country is rugged and mountainous. Lynchburg was established in 1786. Population, four thousand six hundred and twenty-six.

Lynn, a town of Essex county, Massachusetts, is noted for its extensive manufacture of shoes. About a million and a half pair of women’s shoes are made here every year. There is a mineral spring in this town, with a hotel in its neighborhood. Population, nine thousand and seventy five.

Machias, on the bay of that name, in Washington county, Maine, consists of two villages, one at the falls at the east branch of Machias river, and the other at the falls of the west branch, six and a half miles apart, each containing a post office. The village at the east falls is at the head of the tide, two miles above the junction of the branches, and contains various mills. The village at the west falls, contains the court house, jail, and various mills; there are many saw mills in this town, which cut upwards of ten million feet of boards in a year. The tonnage of the shipping in 1827 amounted to five thousand two hundred and thirty-six; much of this is employed in the transportation of plaster from the British territory adjacent to Passamaquoddy bay. Population, one thousand three hundred and fifty-one.

Marblehead, a town of Essex county, Massachusetts, situated on a peninsula projecting into Massachusetts bay. It is compactly, though irregularly built; it was settled soon after Salem, and has been very flourishing and opulent. It suffered severely during the revolution and the last war. In the fishing business it has greatly excelled all other towns in the United States. Population in 1810, five thousand eight hundred; in 1840, five thousand five hundred and thirty-nine.

Marietta, in Washington county, Ohio, is finely situated near the mouth of Muskingum river, in the centre of a fertile neighborhood. It was one of the earliest settlements of the state; but it has suffered severely from sickness and inundations of the river. Ship-building was formerly carried on here, but has been discontinued. The inhabitants are noted for industry and sobriety. Population, one thousand eight hundred and fourteen.

Maysville, in Mason county, Kentucky, on the Ohio, stands on a narrow bottom below the mouth of Limestone creek, and has considerable trade and manufactures. It is the principal commercial depot for the north-east portions of the state. It is a very busy and flourishing town. Population, two thousand seven hundred and forty.

Middlebury, in Addison county, Vermont, situated on Otter creek, has a college, two academies, several churches, and manufactures of cotton, iron, and marble. A quarry of fine marble was discovered here in 1804, and is now wrought for a variety of purposes. Population, three thousand one hundred and sixty-two.

Middletown, a city of Middlesex county, Connecticut, on the west bank of the Connecticut river, and thirty-four miles from its mouth, is a pleasant place, and has considerable trade and manufactures. In 1816, it owned a larger shipping than any other town in the state. In the neighborhood is a lead mine, which was wrought during the war. A college, under the name of the Wesleyan University, was opened in this city in 1831. Population, seven thousand two hundred and ten.

Milledgeville, capital of Baldwin county, Georgia, and metropolis of the state, is situated on the west bank of the Oconee, eighty-seven miles south-west of Augusta. It is a depot of cotton for the Savannah and Darien markets. It contains several public buildings, and has four weekly papers. Population two thousand and ninety-five.

Mobile, a city of Mobile county, Alabama, on the west side of Mobile river, at its entrance into the bay. When this town came into the possession of the United States, in 1813, it contained about three hundred inhabitants; it now numbers twelve thousand seven hundred. It is pleasantly situated on a spot elevated above the overflow of the river; but the adjacent country is a marsh or a forest. Fire and the yellow fever have committed great ravages here; but trade has increased rapidly, and in the cotton business Mobile is inferior only to Charleston and New Orleans.

Montpelier, shire town of Washington county, Vermont, and seat of government, is situated on the north bank of Onion river, about ten miles north-east of the centre of the state, and is a great thoroughfare for travellers. It was incorporated in 1818, contains a number of public buildings and good seats for manufactories. Population, 3,725.

Nantucket, a town of Massachusetts, of the same extent with the island and county of that name, contains seven houses of public worship, two banks, and two insurance offices. It was formerly called Sherburne. The trade suffered greatly during the late war and the revolution, but has since been more flourishing. There are extensive spermaceti works here. Education is well attended to, and the people, who are chiefly Friends or Quakers, are generally moral and industrious. Population, nine thousand five hundred and twelve.

Nashville, capital of Davidson county, and seat of government of Tennessee, is regularly built, pleasantly situated on the south side of Cumberland river, and is much the largest town in the state. It is a rich and flourishing place. Steamboats from New Orleans ascend the river to this point. The state penitentiary, a fine stone building, is here erected. The University of Nashville was incorporated in 1806, and is now in a very prosperous condition. Pop. eight thousand one hundred and thirty-three.

Natchez, a city of Mississippi, and much the largest town of the state, stands on a bluff, upwards of one hundred and fifty feet above the surface of the river. The houses have an air of neatness, though few are distinguished for elegance or size. To enable the inhabitants to enjoy the evening air, almost every house has a piazza and balcony. The soil of the adjoining country is rich, and vegetation of most kinds attains to uncommon luxuriance; the gardens are ornamented with orange trees, figs plums, peaches, and grape-vines. Natchez is the principal town in this region for the shipment of cotton to New Orleans, and at the business seasons the streets are almost barricadoed with bales. In this place is the Planters’ bank, with a capital of three millions.

The reputation of Natchez in regard to morals seems to be rather at a discount. The lower town is said to have a worse character than any place on the river; and, particularly in the spring, to present a congregation of the most abandoned and desperate. The following picture by a recent traveller is probably overcharged: ‘In the evening, a steamer stops at Natchez to land or take in goods, the passengers observe several houses lighted up, and hear the sounds of fiddles and merriment, and they run up to see what is going on; they find men and women dancing, gambling and drinking; the bell of the steamboat rings to announce that she is about to continue her voyage, the lights in the houses of entertainment are immediately extinguished, and the passengers run out, afraid of being too late for the boat, and run down toward the landing; ropes are drawn across the road, the passengers fall heels over head, a number of stout ruffians throw themselves upon them, and strip them of their money and watches, and they get on board in doleful plight, and of course never see or hear more of their plunderers!’ Population, 4,826.

Natchitoches, commonly pronounced Nackitosh, a town of Louisiana, is beautifully situated on the south-west bank of Red river, at the head of steamboat navigation. The trade between Louisiana and the Mexican states centres here, and it must eventually become a place of great size and importance. This town was established more than a hundred years ago, and its population is a mixture of Americans, French, Spaniards, and Indians.

New Albany, in Floyd county, Indiana, is an industrious and flourishing village, with a ship-yard for building steamboats. During the summer, many steamboats are laid up here to be repaired. Population, four thousand two hundred and twenty-six.

Newark, capital of Essex county, New Jersey, is handsomely built, and finely situated on the west side of Passaic river. It is one of the most beautiful towns in the country. It has extensive manufactures of shoes, leather, coaches, and cabinet work. Morris canal passes through this town. Population, seventeen thousand two hundred and ninety-two.

New Bedford, port of entry in Bristol county, Massachusetts, stands on an arm of Buzzard’s bay, about fifty-two miles south of Boston. ‘We entered New Bedford,’ says a recent tourist, ‘through Fairhaven, by way of the ferry. From Fairhaven the town shows to better effect than from any other point. A stranger, perhaps, might be surprised at the great apparent extent of New Bedford as seen from this place. Passing through the villa of Fairhaven (a place of no inconsiderable size by the by,) it opens before him, with its spires, its shipping and buildings, like a beautiful panoramic painting of some great city. It appears much larger, however, than it is. Its population is 12,585. Its commerce is principally in the whale fishery, employing one hundred and fifty whale ships. The “county road” displays many elegant mansions, the dwellings of some of the more wealthy inhabitants. New Bedford is considered a very wealthy place, and the inhabitants active and enterprising. A large proportion of them are Quakers.’

Newbern, in Craven county, North Carolina, was once the capital, and is still the largest town of the state. It is situated on the Neuse, thirty miles above its entrance into Pamlico sound. The river is navigable to this place, and its commerce is considerable. Population, three thousand six hundred and ninety.

New Brunswick, a city of New Jersey, partly in Middlesex and partly in Somerset county, on the south-west side of Raritan river, is built on a low but healthy situation, and has considerable trade. Besides the other public institutions usually found in towns of similar size, this has a theological seminary, and a college; both established by the Dutch Reformed Church. Population, eight thousand seven hundred and eight.

Newburgh, a port of entry in Orange county, New York, is a well-built village, pleasantly situated on the west bank of the Hudson, commanding a delightful view of the river and the highlands. The principal streets are paved. A considerable amount of shipping is owned in this village; agriculture and manufactures are also extremely flourishing. Population, five thousand six hundred and sixty-two.

Newburyport, in Essex county, Massachusetts, at the mouth of the Merrimack, is remarkable for the beauty of its situation, and the regularity of its streets. It stands upon a gentle declivity sloping down to the river, the streets are generally straight and at right angles, and the town lies along the bank of the river for about a mile. The principal streets pass through the whole width of the town, from the summit of the declivity to the river. The buildings are generally handsome, and the streets clean. Few towns in the United States surpass Newburyport in beauty. It was desolated by a fire, which broke out on the night of May 31, 1811, and destroyed nearly three hundred buildings. The place has never recovered from the effects of this calamity; at the present day, the traveller is struck with the view of a wide heap of grass-grown ruins, in the heart of a populous town.

The harbor of this place is good, but obstructed at the entrance by a dangerous bar; attempts are now making to improve it by a break-water on the south side of the channel. The mercantile enterprise of the place has latterly been diverted from commerce to the fisheries. Ship-building is carried on to a considerable extent, and a manufactory of hosiery has been established in the place. This town has seven churches, two banks, two insurance offices, and two newspapers. A handsome chain bridge crosses the river from the centre of the town. The celebrated preacher, George Whitefield, died in this town in 1760, and is now entombed in the Presbyterian church in Federal street, where an elegant monument has been erected recently to his memory. Population, seven thousand one hundred and twenty-four.

New Castle, seat of justice of the county of the same name, in Delaware, and formerly capital of the state. The village extends lengthwise along the Delaware river, on a rising plain, and is tolerably compact and well built. It once enjoyed considerable trade. Population two thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven.

New Harmony, or Harmony, a town in Posey county, in the south-western part of Indiana, on the Wabash, formerly the seat of the Harmonists, under the German, Rapp, and more recently of the followers of Owen, of Lanark. The former establishment was removed to Economy, and the latter abandoned.

New Haven, a city and seaport of Connecticut, in New Haven county, lies at the head of a bay that runs out of Long Island Sound, and is situated on a beautiful plain, bordered on the north by bold and perpendicular eminences. It is regularly laid out and consists of two parts, the old and new town. The old town is divided into squares of different extents. The public buildings of the city are handsome and well situated. The state house is a fine edifice, on the model of the Parthenon. Several of the churches have a commanding appearance; two of them are of Gothic architecture, and built of stone. Private dwelling-houses are mostly of wood, handsome and convenient. The public square and principal streets are finely ornamented with trees; and beautiful gardens attached to many of the residences, give the town a rural and delightful appearance.

The harbor of New Haven is shallow, and gradually filling with mud, but it is well defended from winds, and the maritime commerce of the port is greater than that of any other town in Connecticut. Its interior trade is assisted by the Farmington canal. Packets and steamboats ply regularly and frequently between this port and New York. The Indian name of this town was Quinipiack. It was first settled by the English in 1638, and was the capital of the colony of New Haven, which remained distinct from that of Connecticut till 1665. The state legislature meets here and at Hartford alternately. Yale College, one of the most distinguished literary institutions in America, is established in this city; connected with this are a theological, a medical, and a law school. Many academies and smaller seminaries are also established here. Population, fourteen thousand three hundred and ninety.

New London, a city of New London county, Connecticut, in the south-eastern part of the state, has a fine harbor near the mouth of the Thames. It is irregularly built, principally at the foot of a hill facing the east. There are many pleasant sites in the higher parts of the town, and several of the buildings are handsome; but the general appearance of the place is not flourishing. The neighboring region is rocky and sterile, and there are no great channels of communication with the interior. The recent attention of the merchants to the whale fisheries has given a considerable impulse to the place, and promises to restore it to its former importance as a commercial city. Fort Trumbull is situated at the south of the town, and to the east, on the opposite side of the river, are the remains of Fort Griswold, which, during the revolution, was the scene of a well-remembered and fearful tragedy. Population, five thousand five hundred and twenty-eight.

New Madrid, now an insignificant village, though historically interesting, is situated on the west bank of the Mississippi, eighty-one miles below the mouth of the Ohio. This town was founded in 1787, and was intended to become a great commercial city, and the emporium of the vast tract of fertile country watered by the Mississippi, the Missouri, and their branches. It was indeed happily situated for the purpose; but the river has swept away the ground on which it was originally placed, and the earthquakes of 1812 have sunk the remainder of the bluff below high-water mark. It is impossible to visit this spot, knowing any thing of its history, and not be struck with the air of desolation it now breathes. There was a fine lake in the rear of the town, on the banks of which public walks and plantations of trees were planned for the accommodation of its inhabitants; this is now a heap of sand. As the earthquakes are occasionally recurring in this neighborhood, even to the present time, people have been cautious in respect to settling here; but as they are becoming more assured, New Madrid is gradually emerging from her prostration.

New Orleans, the capital of the state of Louisiana, is situated directly on the east bank of the Mississippi, one hundred and five miles from the mouth of the river. In the year 1717, this city was founded; and at that period, there were not, perhaps, five hundred white inhabitants in the whole valley of the Mississippi. In the beginning of 1788, the town contained one thousand one hundred houses, built of wood; in March of that year, by a fire, the number of houses was reduced in five hours to two hundred. It has been rebuilt principally of brick, which is of so soft a nature, that the buildings are plastered on the outside with a thick coat of mortar, and then painted or whitewashed. Several warehouses with stone fronts have been recently erected. The city is regularly laid out, and the streets are generally forty feet wide, crossing each other at right angles. The public buildings are generally elegant, commodious and expensive. There are few churches. The Catholic cathedral is a noble edifice, ninety feet by one hundred and twenty, with four towers. The Place des armes is a beautiful green, which serves as a parade. Most of the houses in the suburbs have fine gardens, ornamented with orange groves. The general style of living is luxurious, and the private dwellings are elegantly furnished. The markets are plentifully supplied with the necessaries of life, and the luxuries of every country; but provisions are dear.

New Orleans will become to the United States the great emporium of commerce and wealth, if, by the draining of the marshy country in the neighborhood, it ever becomes a healthy city. The more we contemplate the present and prospective resourses of New Orleans, the more must we be convinced of its future greatness. Being built in the form of a crescent, the curve of the river constitutes a safe and commodious harbor. Defended on one side by the river, and on the other by a swamp that no effort can penetrate, the city can only be approached through a defile three quarters of a mile wide.

New Orleans is gradually becoming more purely American in all its characteristics; but many of its inhabitants are of French and Spanish descent, and the French language is more commonly spoken than the English. The charitable institutions of the city are highly creditable. Education is not so much attended to as in other parts of the country; but great improvements have been made in this respect within a few years. The police is efficient, and scenes of disorder rarely occur.

This city is the grand commercial metropolis of the Mississippi valley. The tributaries of the great river on which it stands afford an extent of more than twenty thousand miles, already navigated by steamboats, and passing through the richest soil and the pleasantest climates. Steamboats are departing and arriving every hour, and fifty or sixty are often seen in the harbor at one time; while many hundreds of flat boats are seen at the levee, laden with the various productions of the great valley. Measures have been adopted by the state legislature to have the neighboring country well explored, for the purpose of draining, raising, and improving it.64 The streets of the city have been paved, and gutters are washed by water from the river. Pop. one hundred and two thousand one hundred and ninety three. New Orleans will probably become the largest city of America.

Newport, a seaport and semi-metropolis of Rhode Island, is pleasantly situated on the south-west end of the island of Rhode Island, thirty miles south of Providence. During the summer months it is a place of fashionable resort, being celebrated for the salubrity of its climate. It formerly possessed considerable commerce, and contained more than nine thousand inhabitants; but during the revolution, it was a long time occupied by the enemy, and suffered severely. The principal street is a mile in length; the houses have an antique appearance. The harbor is very safe, sufficiently spacious for a whole fleet, and defended by three forts. Newport was first settled in 1638. A large stone mill is still standing here, which was erected before the date of the earliest records. Population, eight thousand three hundred and thirty-three.

New York, the largest and most populous city in the United States, lies in the state of that name, at the head of New York bay, about sixteen miles from the Atlantic ocean. Manhattan island, on which the city stands, and which is formed by the Hudson, the Hærlem, and East rivers, with the bay on the south, is fifteen miles in length, and from two to three in breadth. On the south-west point of the island, overlooking the bay, is a fine public promenade, of from five to six hundred yards in length, and one hundred and fifty in breadth, prettily laid out in walks, and planted with trees. In the evenings it is generally crowded with citizens, who assemble to derive the benefit from a pleasant breeze off the water, or listen to a band that frequently plays in the Castle garden, which is connected with the walk by a wooden bridge. The former promenade is called the Battery, from having, in the olden times of the Dutch settlers, or during the revolutionary war, mounted a few guns; and the Castle garden, in a similar manner, possessed no garden, nor could it ever have possessed one, being a modern stone fort, with twenty-eight embrasures, built upon a solid rock, which appeared but a short distance above the water. This being an unprofitable kind of investment of funds, has been let by the corporation to a publican, who has converted it to a much more profitable use charging sixpence for admission, and giving a ticket, so that the visitor may enjoy a stroll upon the upper platform of the fort, admire the view, and then call for a glass of liquor at the bar. The battery, nevertheless, is the most pleasant promenade in New York, and excels any thing else of the kind in America. Governor’s island, about three quarters of a mile distant in the bay, has a large stone circular fort, with three tiers of embrasures, and is calculated for more than one hundred guns at its western extremity.

Of the public buildings of New York, the City Hall, containing the supreme court, mayor’s court, and various public offices, situated in the park, a fine and handsome square, is the most remarkable; and being fronted with white marble, has a beautiful effect when seen through the trees in the park. The building is upwards of two hundred feet in length, with a dome and tower surmounted by a statue of justice. The Merchants’ Exchange, in Wall street, is a fine edifice, of the same material as the front of the City Hall. The basement story is occupied by the post-office, and above it the Exchange, eighty-five feet in length, fifty-five in width, and forty-five in height to the dome, from which it is lighted. The greater proportion of the other buildings in the street, are insurance offices, banks, and exchange offices.

‘The churches in New York,’ says Lieutenant Coke, ‘are handsomer edifices than those in the southern cities I visited, and contain some interesting monuments. St. Paul’s, in the park, is one of the finest in the states. In the interior, there is a tablet in the chancel to Sir Robert Temple, baronet, the first consul general to the United States from England, who died in the city; and one to the wife of the British governor of New Jersey, who died during the revolution, from distress of mind; being separated from her husband by the events of the time. In the yard, also, there is a large Egyptian obelisk of a single block of white marble, thirty-two feet in height, erected to Thomas A. Emmett, an eminent counsellor at law and brother of the Irish orator who suffered during the rebellion. When I visited New York again, some months afterwards, one front of it was embellished with an emblematical representation of his fortunes. Though it was in an unfinished state, and the canvass had not been removed from before the scaffolding, I could catch a glimpse of the representation of a hand, with a wreath or bracelet of shamrock round the wrist, clasping one with a similar ornament of stars, and the eagle of America sheltering the unstrung harp of Ireland. Mr. Emmett had emigrated to the states, and settled in New York, where he had acquired considerable reputation many years previous to his death. There is also another monument near it, under the portico of the church, to General Montgomery, who fell in the unsuccessful attack upon Quebec in 1775. This monument was erected previously to the declaration of independence by the congress; and in 1818, when his remains were removed from Quebec to New York, and interred at St. Paul’s, another tablet was added, recording the event; though at the time, great doubts were entertained whether they actually were the general’s remains which were exhumed. The matter was, however, subsequently set at rest beyond a doubt, by the publication of a certificate drawn up by the person who had actually buried the general in the first instance, and who was then living in Quebec, at a very advanced age, being the only survivor of the army which served under Wolfe.

‘There is a very handsome monument, near the centre of the church-yard, erected by Kean, of Drury Lane theatre, to Cooke, the actor. Trinity church, which is also in Broadway, was the oldest in the city, having been originally built in 1696, but destroyed by fire eighty years afterwards, although from the circumstance of a monument in the church-yard, of 1691, it appears it was used as a burial-ground some time previously. Though not containing much above an acre of ground, by a moderate calculation, not fewer than two hundred thousand bodies have been buried in it. Of late years there have been no burials, and weeping willows with various trees have been planted, which in time will make it ornamental to the city. In one corner are the ruins of a monument, erected but sixteen years since to Captain Lawrence, of the American navy, who fell defending his ship, the Chesapeak, against Sir P. Broke, in the Shannon. His body was taken to Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and buried there with all the honors of war, the pall being the American ensign supported by six of the senior captains in the royal navy, then in the harbor. But the Americans immediately after sent a vessel with a flag of truce to apply for the removal of the body, which being granted, it was re-buried in Trinity church-yard, and the present monument, no lasting memorial of his country’s grief, erected upon the spot. It is a most shabby economical structure, built of brick, and faced with white marble. The column, of the Corinthian order, is broken short, with part of the capital lying at the base of the pedestal, emblematic of his premature death. Owing to the summit being exposed to the weather, the rain has gained admittance into the interior of the brick work, and has given the column a considerable inclination to one side. Some of the marble front also, with two sides of that of the pedestal, have fallen down and exposed the shabby interior. Surely, such a man deserved a monument of more durable materials.’65

Among the most splendid public buildings is the Masonic hall, a Gothic edifice, in Broadway, fifty feet wide, and seventy feet high; it is composed of the eastern gray granite. Of collegiate institutions, Columbia college is the oldest in New York. It is finely situated on a square ornamented with majestic trees; and the standard of classical education here is very high. This institution possesses an estate valued at four hundred thousand dollars. In 1831, the University of New York was chartered; it is projected on the broad and liberal plan of the continental universities, and promises to be of great utility. Schools of all kinds are numerous; bible and missionary societies are numerous and well endowed. Literary and scientific institutions flourish. The most ancient of these is the Society Library, founded in 1754, and containing upwards of twenty-three thousand volumes. The Historical society was incorporated in 1809, and has collected a vast number of important documents in relation to the country in general, and particularly to New York. The Lyceum for Natural History, the Clinton Hall association, and the Mercantile Library association, are flourishing and useful institutions.

The Academy of Arts was chartered in 1808. It has two exhibitions annually. The library consists of books of views, designs and drawings, relating chiefly to antique subjects. Among the presidents of this institution have been Edward Livingston, De Witt Clinton, and John Trumbull. The National Academy was founded in 1826, and, with a few exceptions, is altogether composed of artists. Of the dramatic entertainments of the city, we can say but little. The Park theatre is the place of most fashionable resort; it is a spacious edifice, adjoining the park. It is eighty feet long, and one hundred and sixty-five feet deep. The Bowery theatre is well attended. An opera house has been recently built.

The number of insurance offices in this city is upwards of forty. In 1827, the total of banking capital amounted to about sixteen millions of dollars. Several new banks have been since chartered, and this amount has been much increased. For its advantage of inland and external commerce, no city in the United States can be compared with New York. The number of vessels that arrived here from foreign parts during the first eight months of the year 1833, was thirteen hundred and forty-five, and the number of passengers was over thirty-two thousand. In 1832, the number of arrivals from foreign parts during the whole year, was one thousand eight hundred and ten; in 1829, it was thirteen hundred and four, being forty-one less in the whole year than during the first eight months of 1833.

The population of New York in 1697, was four thousand three hundred and two; in 1756, thirteen thousand and forty; in 1790, thirty-three thousand and thirty-one; in 1800, sixty thousand four hundred and eighty-nine; in 1810, ninety-six thousand three hundred and seventy-three; in 1820, one hundred and twenty-three thousand seven hundred and six; in 1825, one hundred and sixty-six thousand and eighty-six; and in 1830, two hundred and seven thousand and twenty-one. Its present population is three hundred and thirteen thousand six hundred and twenty-nine.

Norfolk, the commercial capital of Virginia, is situated on the east side of Elizabeth river, immediately below the junction of its two main branches, and eight miles above Hampton roads. The town lies low, and is in some places marshy, though the principal streets are well paved. Among the public buildings are a theatre, three banks, an academy, marine hospital, athenæum, and six churches. The harbor, which is capacious and safe, is defended by several forts. One is on Craney island, near the mouth of Elizabeth river. There are also fortifications at Hampton roads; the principal of which, Fort Calhoun, is not yet completed. Population, ten thousand five hundred and seventy-three.

Northampton is a post and shire town of Hampshire county, Massachusetts, on the west bank of Connecticut river, and ninety-five miles from Boston. Its population in 1840 was three thousand six hundred and seventy-two. It is built chiefly on two broad streets, in which are situated the churches and county buildings. This town is very beautiful, consisting of a number of villas of various sizes, and of pleasing, though irregular architecture, seeming to vie with each other in the taste and elegance of their external decorations. There is primitive white limestone in the vicinity, and much of the pavement and steps are of white marble. The trees in the neighborhood of the town are single spreading trees, principally elms, and of considerable age; the roads are wide, and the footpaths are excellent everywhere. Northampton is surrounded by rising grounds; but mount Holyoke, situated on the opposite side of the Connecticut river, is the hill which all strangers ascend, for the sake of the extensive and beautiful prospect from its summit. The valley that lies at its base, contains the most extensive and beautiful plain in New England, well cultivated and populous. The spires of thirty churches are seen from the top of mount Holyoke, and in a clear day the hills of New Haven are distinctly visible. Round Hill school, in this town, is an institution of some note, somewhat on the plan of a German gymnasium. There are two banks here, woolen manufactories, an insurance office, and a printing office; the public houses are good, and the town is somewhat a place of summer resort.

Norwich, a city of New London county, Connecticut, situated at the head of navigation on Thames river, contains three compact settlements; of which Chelsea Landing, situate at the point of land between the Shetucket and Yantic rivers, is the principal. Its location is peculiarly romantic; and it is a place of much enterprise and business. What is called the town is two miles north-west of Chelsea, containing the court house, and some other public buildings; and the third settlement is Bean Hill, in the western part of Norwich. The city contains a bank, four or five churches, and several manufacturing establishments. The Yantic falls, one mile from Chelsea, are beautiful, and afford facilities for mills and manufactories. From a rock seventy or eighty feet in height, which overhangs the stream, tradition says a number of Narragansetts once precipitated themselves when pursued by the Mohegans.

On an elevated bank, north of what is called the cove, and near the Yantic falls, is the burying-ground of the royal family of the Mohegans, commonly called ‘the burying-ground of the Uncasses.’ Many of their graves are still designated by coarse stones; on some of which are English inscriptions. Uncas was buried here, and many of his descendants; but his family is now nearly extinct. There are one or two living who claim a kindred, but who have very little of the magnanimity or valor for which he was so conspicuous. Population of Norwich, seven thousand two hundred and thirty-nine.

Pawtucket, a town of Bristol county, Massachusetts, four miles north-east of Providence, Rhode Island. It is finely situated on the falls of Pawtucket river, near the Blackstone canal, and is one of the most extensive manufacturing places in the union. It contains numerous cotton factories, and shops for machinery, and other purposes. Population, two thousand one hundred and eighty-four.

Pensacola, the capital of West Florida, and naval station of the United States, is situated on the north-west shore of the bay of the same name. It was founded by a Spanish officer in 1699, and is built in the form of a parallelogram, nearly a mile in length. The harbor is safe and commodious, and the anchorage is good, though toward shore the water is generally shallow. It is regarded as a comparatively healthy place. Population, about two thousand.

Petersburg, a borough and port of entry, in Dinwiddie county, Virginia, on the south bank of the Appomatox. The river is navigable to this point for vessels of one hundred tons. In 1815, three hundred buildings were destroyed by fire. It has since been rebuilt of brick, and the new houses are generally three stories in height; it is of the first class of towns in Virginia, and presents an appearance of enterprise and wealth. Population, eleven thousand one hundred and thirty-six.

Philadelphia, the second city in size and population in the United States, is situated in a county of the same name, five miles above the junction of the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers, and, by the course of the river, about one hundred and twenty miles distant from the Atlantic ocean. It was founded by William Penn, in 1682, and was originally laid out in the shape of a parallelogram, two miles in length by one in breadth. The city now extends from the lower part of Southwark to the upper part of Kensington, about four miles, and from one river to the other. For municipal purposes, the legislature has, from time to time, established corporate governments in different parts of the suburbs, so that Philadelphia is divided into the following districts: the corporations of the city of Philadelphia, of the Northern Liberties, Kensington, Spring Garden, Southwark, and Moyamensing. The municipal government of the city proper is vested in a mayor, a recorder, fifteen aldermen, and a select and common council, besides subordinate executive officers.

‘Philadelphia, the reverse of Lisbon,’ says a recent English traveller, ‘at first presents no beauties; no domes or turrets rise in the air to break the uniform stiff roof-line of the private dwellings; and, if I remember right, the only buildings which show their lofty heads above the rest, are the state house, Christ church, (both built prior to the revolution,) a presbyterian meeting-house, and a shot tower. The city, therefore, when viewed from the water, and at a distance, presents any thing but a picturesque appearance. It is somewhat singular, too, that there should be such a scarcity of spires, and conspicuous buildings, there being no fewer than ninety places of worship, besides hospitals, and charitable institutions in great numbers. In place, too, of noble piers and quays of solid masonry, which we might reasonably expect to find in a city containing near one hundred and forty-thousand inhabitants, and holding the second rank in commercial importance in North America, there are but some shabby wharves and piers of rough piles of timber, jutting out in unequal lengths and shapes, from one end to the other of the river front; and these, again, are backed by large piles of wooden warehouses, and mean-looking stores. On the narrow space between them and the water, are hundreds of negro porters, working at vast heaps of iron bars, barrels of flour, cotton bags, and all the various merchandise imported or exported, singing, in their strange broken English tone of voice, some absurd chorus.

‘Fifty paces hence, the stranger enters the city, which possesses an interior almost unrivalled in the world. On walking through the fine broad streets, with rows of locust or other trees, which, planted on the edge of the causeway, form a most delightful shade, and take away the glare of the brick buildings, he is struck immediately with the air of simplicity, yet strength and durability which all the public edifices possess, while the private dwellings, with their neat white marble steps and window sills, bespeak wealth and respectability. The neatness too, of the dress of every individual, with the total absence of those lazy and dirty vagabonds who ever infest our towns, and loiter about the corners of all the public streets, passing insolent remarks upon every well-dressed man, or even unattended female, impress a foreigner with a most pleasing and favorable idea of an American city.

‘The river in front of the town is about a mile wide, but the channel is considerably contracted by an island, which extends nearly the full length of the town, and, consequently renders the navigation more intricate. It is prettily planted with trees, and a ship has been run ashore at one end and converted into a tavern, a house being raised upon the upper deck. It was quite a gala day, numerous steam vessels and rowing boats proceeding up the stream to Kensington (part of the suburbs,) and we arrived just in time to see a large ship, of six hundred tons burthen, glide gracefully from the stocks.

‘I now commenced visiting all the public institutions. Of charitable societies the number is amazing; probably no city in the world, of the same population, possesses an equal number. It may be truly said, that it deserves its name of “Philadelphia;” there are upwards of thirty humane institutions and societies for the relief of the poor and orphans, besides above one hundred and fifty mutual benefit societies, on the principle of the English clubs; being associations of tradesmen and artisans for the support of each other in sickness, each member contributing monthly or weekly a small sum to the general fund. Of the public institutions, the “Pennsylvania Hospital” is on the most extensive scale. It is situated in a central part of the city, near Washington square, and was founded eighty-two years since, Benjamin Franklin being its greatest promoter. It contains an excellent library of about seven thousand volumes; and it is calculated that about fourteen hundred patients are annually admitted into it, of which number three fifths are paupers; the remainder paying for the advantages they derive from the institution. The building occupies an immense extent of ground, and on three sides of it an open space is left for a free circulation of air; the west end of the building is a ward for insane patients, of whom there are generally more than one hundred. The necessary funds for the support of the hospital are derived from the interest of its capital stock, and from the exhibition of West’s splendid painting of Christ healing the sick, which produces about five hundred dollars per annum and is exhibited in a building on the northern side of the hospital square.’

The United States bank is a splendid edifice, built on the plan of the Parthenon at Athens. Its length is one hundred and sixty-one, and its breadth eighty-seven feet. The main entrance is from Chesnut street, by a flight of six marble steps, extending along the whole front of the portico, which is supported by fluted columns four and a half feet in diameter. In the centre of the building is the banking room, which is eighty-one feet long, and forty-eight feet wide. The whole body of the edifice is arched in a bomb-proof manner, from the cellar to the roof, which is covered with copper. The New Bank of Pennsylvania is an extensive and elegant edifice of marble of the Ionic order, and constructed after the model of the ancient temple of the Muses, on the Ilyssus. There are at present seventeen banking houses within the city and the incorporated districts, with an aggregate capital of more than twenty millions of dollars.

The Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb is one of the most conspicuous edifices in the city. The association was established in April, 1820, and was incorporated in the following year. Philadelphia now contains about one hundred churches, few of which are distinguished for size, extent, or architectural beauty.

The state house, in which the continental congress sat, and from whence the Declaration of Independence issued, is still standing. It is located in Chesnut street, is built of brick, comprising a centre and two wings, and has undergone no material alteration since its first erection. It has a venerable appearance, and is surmounted by a cupola, having a clock, the dial of which is glass, and is illuminated at night until ten or eleven o’clock, showing the hour and minutes until that time. The front is a considerable distance back from the street, the walk being paved to the curb-stone with brick, and two elegant rows of trees extending its whole length. East of the main entrance, in the front room, the sessions of congress were held, and the question of independence decided.

The arcade contains Peale’s museum, one of the best in the United States, comprising the most complete skeleton of the mammoth perhaps in the world. It is perfect, with the exception of a few bones, which have been supplied by imitating the others. This skeleton was found in Ulster county, New York.

The Academy of Arts, in Chesnut street, contains a large number of paintings, several of which are the property of Joseph Bonaparte. Among these is one executed by David, representing Napoleon crossing the Alps. Another is a full-length portrait of Joseph himself, as king of Spain.

It is to Franklin that the city is indebted for its great library, which now numbers about thirty-five thousand volumes. It was incorporated in 1742, and in 1790, the present neat edifice was erected on the east side of Fifth street, opposite the state house square. The Athenæum is a valuable institution, established in 1814; it has a collection of about five thousand five hundred volumes, and more than seventy newspapers and periodical journals are regularly received in its reading room. The Philosophical society has a collection of six thousand, and the Academy of Natural Sciences a collection of five thousand volumes. The University of Pennsylvania is distinguished for its medical school, which is attended by a class of from four to five hundred. The United States Mint was established in 1791, and by successive acts of congress has been continued at Philadelphia. In 1829, a new building for the mint was commenced in Chesnut street; it has but recently been completed. It is of the Ionic order, and modelled after a celebrated Grecian temple.66

Of the public works of Philadelphia, there is none of which its inhabitants are most justly proud than those at Fair Mount, by which the city is supplied with water of the best quality, in the greatest plenty. Fair Mount is in the rear of the city upon the bank of the Schuylkill. The reservoirs are situated on the top of a hill rising from the river, a part of it perpendicular rock, upwards of one hundred feet. They contain upwards of twelve millions of gallons, supplying the city through between fifteen and twenty miles of pipes. The water was formerly forced to the reservoirs by steam, which is no longer used; it is now raised by machinery propelled by the Schuylkill. The machinery is simple, and is turned by large water wheels, whose speed may be graduated to any required number of revolutions per minute; if all are in motion, they will raise seven millions of gallons in twenty-four hours. To turn them, the Schuylkill has been dammed its whole breadth, by which the water is thrown back into a reservoir lock, whence it is admitted as required to operate upon the wheels, and is discharged into the river below the dam. The whole expense of these works, including estimated cost of works abandoned, was one million seven hundred and eighty-three thousand. The quantity of water which they disseminate through the city, is not only sufficient for every family, but is used to wash the streets. It is of immense service in case of fire, as it is only necessary to screw the hose to hydrants, which are placed at convenient distances, to secure a constant stream of sufficient force to reach an ordinary height.

There are three prisons in Philadelphia, one in Walnut street, a second in Arch street, and the Eastern Penitentiary. The latter is situated on high ground near the city, and is designed to carry the principle of solitary confinement into effect. The system pursued here will be fully explained in a different portion of the volume. Ten acres are occupied by the establishment, inclosed by massive walls of granite, thirty-five feet high, with towers and battlements.

There are two bridges across the Schuylkill, both of which are substantial and elegant structures. The Fair Mount bridge consists of a single arch, of three hundred and forty feet in length. The whole length of that on Market street, is one thousand three hundred feet, including abutments and wing walls.

The public markets form a very striking feature of the city. One is nearly two thirds of a mile in extent. The harbor of Philadelphia possesses many natural advantages, though it is more liable to be impeded by ice than either that of New York or Baltimore. The Delaware is not navigable for the first class of ships of the line. For the amount of its commerce, Philadelphia is the fourth city in the United States.

By the will of the late Stephen Girard, Philadelphia received large bequests of land and money, to be appropriated to purposes of public improvement. To the Pennsylvania Hospital he gave thirty thousand dollars; to the city, for city improvements, five hundred thousand dollars; for a college for poor white male children, and its endowments, two millions. He made further donations to the city of unimproved lands in the western territories, and stock in the Schuylkill navigation company, valued at the sum of six hundred thousand dollars.

By the census of 1810, the population of Philadelphia was ninety-six thousand six hundred and sixty-four; in 1840 it was two hundred and thirty-five thousand.

Pittsburg, a city and capital of Alleghany county, Pennsylvania, two hundred and ninety-seven miles west by north of Philadelphia, is situated on a beautiful plain at the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers. It is built on the old site of the famous fort Du Quesne, whose ruins are still seen in the neighborhood. The situation of Pittsburg is as advantageous as can well be imagined; it is the key to the western country, and, excepting New Orleans and Cincinnati, is the first town of the whole valley of the Mississippi. It was created a city by the legislature of Pennsylvania, at the session of 1816. The principal cause which has contributed, after its fine position, to ensure the prosperity of, Pittsburg, is the exhaustless mass of mineral coal that exists in its neighborhood. The beds are 340 feet above low water level, and about two hundred and ninety above the level of the town. The great abundance of this valuable material has converted Pittsburg into a vast workshop, and a warehouse for the immense country below, upon the Ohio and the other large rivers of the valley. According to a list recently published in one of the Pittsburg papers, there are in operation in that city, and in its immediate vicinity, eighty-nine steam engines, on which there are two thousand one hundred and eleven hands employed, and coal consumed to the amount of one hundred and fifty-four thousand two hundred and fifty bushels per month. The great use of this coal has given a general dinginess of appearance to the town, arising from the smoke. The inhabitants of Pittsburg present specimens of almost every nation; they are distinguished for economy and industry. The Western university was established here in 1820. Among the buildings are three or four banks, a small theatre, a public library, and houses of worship for various sects. Population, twenty-one thousand two hundred and ninety-six.

Pittsfield, a town of Berkshire county, Massachusetts, situated on a hill at the junction of the principal branches of the Housatonic river. It contains a bank, an academy, a medical institution, and several extensive manufactories, among which is one of muskets, where arms have been frequently made for the United States. Population, four thousand and sixty.

Plattsburg, capital of Clinton county, New York, situated on a fine bay on the west side of lake Champlain, is handsomely laid out and contains a bank and several manufactories. It is celebrated in the history of the late war with Great Britain. Population, 6,416.

Plymouth, a port of entry and shire town of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, is the oldest town in New England, having been settled by the pilgrims who landed from the Mayflower, December 22d, 1620. It stands on a fine harbor of the same name, thirty-six miles south-east of Boston. Though often divided, the township is still sixteen miles long, and five broad. The Indian name was Accomack. It is a place of considerable commerce, and contains some manufacturing establishments. The harbor is large, but shallow, and in 1832 an appropriation was made by government to repair it. One of the principal buildings is Pilgrim’s hall, which was erected by the Pilgrim society. A part of the rock on which the pilgrims landed, has been conveyed to the centre of the town. Population, five thousand one hundred and eighty.

Portland, a port of entry, and commercial metropolis of Maine, in Cumberland county, is situated on an elevated peninsula in Casco bay. It has an excellent and spacious harbor, dotted with numerous islands, and defended by two forts. The town is well laid out, and neatly built. Among the public buildings are, that formerly occupied as the state house, a court house, town hall, a theatre, alms-house, six banks, fifteen churches, a custom-house, academy, and an athenæum, in which is a library of about three thousand volumes. Much attention is here paid to education, and there are many good schools. Portland has considerable commerce, the chief articles of export being fish and lumber. Its shipping amounts to about forty-five thousand tons. In 1775, this town, then called Falmouth, was set on fire by the British, and about two thirds of the houses were destroyed. It was incorporated under its present name in 1786. Population, fifteen thousand two hundred and eighteen.

Portsmouth, in Rockingham county, New Hampshire, is the largest town in the state, and the only seaport. It is situated on a beautiful peninsula on the south side of Piscataqua river, three miles from the sea. Its harbor is one of the best on the continent, having a sufficient depth of water for vessels of any burden. It is well protected by fort Constitution and fort M‘Clary; there are also, three other forts, built for the defence of the harbor, but not garrisoned. There is a light-house on Great island. This town has a number of churches and other public buildings, but none of any great pretensions. It has suffered severely from fires at different periods. The first settlement was made here in 1623, and, ten years afterwards, the town was incorporated by charter. The first ship of the line built in the United States, was built here during the revolution; it was called the North America. On Navy island, on the side of the Piscataqua, opposite to the town, is a navy yard of the United States. The amount of shipping owned in New Hampshire in 1828, amounted to above twenty-six thousand tons; and of this nearly all must have belonged to Portsmouth. Population, seven thousand eight hundred and eighty-four.

Poughkeepsie, in Dutchess county, New York, seventy-five miles south of Albany, is situated one mile on the Hudson river, and was incorporated in 1801. The village is handsomely situated, and a place of considerable trade. It is laid out in the form of a cross, the two principal streets cutting each other at right angles. The trade at the landings employs a number of packets. This town contains the county buildings, five churches, an academy, a bank, and several factories. Population, ten thousand and six.

Providence, city and seaport in the county of the same name, in Rhode Island, is situated at the head of tide water of Narragansett bay, about thirty miles from the Atlantic ocean, and forty miles south-south-west of Boston. In point of population it is the second town in New England. The town is built on both sides of what is commonly called Providence river; and vessels of nine hundred tons burden can come to the wharves. Many of the private residences in this town are finely situated, and of beautiful appearance. The chief public buildings are the state house, the arcade, fourteen houses of public worship, the halls of Brown university, an asylum, five public school-houses, and several large manufacturing establishments. The arcade is a splendid edifice of granite, with two fronts presenting colonnades of the pure Doric order. The building is two hundred and twenty-two feet in length, extending from street to street. Brown university was incorporated in 1769, and, under its present government, promises to take a high stand as a literary institution. The college buildings stand on a lofty elevation, and the approach to them is through a street decorated with fine mansions and elegant gardens.

Providence became early distinguished as a place of commercial promise. During the first six months of the year 1791, the duties paid on imports and tonnage amounted to nearly sixty thousand dollars; in 1831, the whole amount collected was about two hundred and twenty-seven thousand. There are four insurance companies. The aggregate capital of the banks, which are fifteen in number, is four and a half millions; to this we may add eight hundred thousand dollars, which form the capital of the Branch bank of the United States, and one hundred thousand belonging to the Savings bank. The Blackstone canal, which extends to Worcester, in Massachusetts, was completed in 1828; its whole cost was seven hundred thousand dollars. Providence is most distinguished for its manufactures, which are very numerous, and embrace many varieties of articles. Capitalists of the city have also about two million of dollars invested in manufactures of other towns. The settlement of this place was commenced as early as 1636, by Roger Williams, a puritan clergyman who had been settled at Salem, but who had been banished beyond the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, on account of his contending for entire and unrestricted freedom in matters of religion. The population of Providence is twenty-three thousand and forty-two.

Quincy, in Norfolk county, Massachusetts, was settled in 1625, under the name of Mount Wollaston. Extensive quarries of fine granite are wrought here; the first rail-road constructed in America was built for the purpose of conveying the granite from the quarry to the landing. This town is very pleasant, and contains many handsome country seats; among which is that of ex-president Adams. Population, three thousand three hundred and nine.

Raleigh, city and capital of North Carolina, in Wake county, near the west bank of the river Neuse, is pleasantly situated in an elevated tract of country. Besides the government buildings, it contains other convenient and elegant public edifices. In the centre of the town is a large square, from which extend four wide streets, dividing the town into quarters. In the centre of this square stood the state house, with the splendid statue of Washington, by Canova; the edifice was burnt down in 1831, and the statue almost destroyed. In the neighborhood of the town is an excellent quarry of granite. Population, one thousand seven hundred.

Reading, the capital of Berks county, Pennsylvania, is a beautiful town, situated on Schuylkill river, fifty-four miles north-west of Philadelphia, on the road to lake Erie. It is a flourishing place, regularly laid out and inhabited chiefly by Germans; it contains the usual county buildings, an elegant church for German Lutherans, another for Calvinists, one for Roman Catholics, a meeting-house for Friends, and other public edifices. In the neighborhood of this town are a number of fulling mills, and several iron works. Population, eight thousand seven hundred and fourteen.

Richmond, the metropolis of Virginia, and seat of justice for Henrico county, is situated at the falls of James river, on the north side, one hundred and fifty miles above its mouth, and contains twelve thousand inhabitants. The site is very uneven, and the situation is healthy, beautiful and picturesque. On the opposite side of the river is Manchester, connected with Richmond by two bridges. The falls and rapids extend nearly six miles, in which distance the river descends eighty feet. A canal with three locks is cut on the north side of the river, terminating at the town in a basin of about two acres. Few cities situated so far from the sea, possess better commercial advantages than Richmond, being at the head of tide water, on a river navigable for batteaux, two hundred and twenty miles above the city. The back country is fertile, and abundant in the production of tobacco, wheat, corn, hemp, and coal. Some of the principal buildings are the capitol, penitentiary, armory, court house, and eight houses of public worship. The capitol stands on a commanding situation, and is a conspicuous object to the surrounding country. In 1811, the theatre at Richmond took fire during an exhibition, and in the conflagration, seventy-two persons lost their lives, among whom was the governor of the state. An elegant Episcopal church of brick, styled the Monumental Church, has been erected on the spot, with a monument in front, commemorative of the melancholy event. Population, 20,152.

Rochester, in Monroe county, in the western part of New York, is the most populous and important village in the state. Its growth has been wonderfully rapid. Thirty years ago there was a wild uninhabited tract, where now is a flourishing population of more than twenty thousand people. This growth has been owing to the passage of the Erie canal through the town, thus furnishing a conveyance to the numerous manufactures which the great water power of the Gennessee enabled them to carry on. The canal crosses the river three hundred yards above the falls. For the distance of three quarters of a mile in the village, the river is walled with hammer-dressed stone, to the height of from ten to twenty feet. The power which is furnished by this river, in the course of two miles at this place, at low water, is equal to that of six hundred and forty steam engines of twenty horse-power each. The manufactories are very numerous; they consist of sixteen flour mills, four woolen factories, two of cotton, three marble, and others of almost every description. There are twelve religious and seventeen benevolent societies; the literary institutions are numerous, and there are many well-conducted schools. The receipts of the canal toll office of this town are larger than those of any town in the state, except Albany. Population in 1815, three hundred and thirty-one; in 1840, twenty thousand one hundred and ninety-one.67

Rutland, seat of justice of Rutland county, Vermont, is a village of irregular form, and was first settled in 1770. During the revolution, two picket forts were built here. There are quarries of blue and white marble, in a range extending from Berkshire county, Massachusetts. Population, two thousand seven hundred and eight.

Saco, port of entry in York county, Maine, is situated at the head of tide water on Saco river. The falls at this place afford a great water power, and carry many saw mills; numerous factories might be erected on the shore. The lumber trade of this town is extensive and profitable. Population, four thousand four hundred and eight.

St. Augustine, city of Florida, situated on the Atlantic shore of that territory, is the oldest settlement in North America, having been founded by the Spaniards forty years before the landing of the English at Jameston, in Virginia. The breakers at the entrance of the harbor have formed two channels, whose bars have eight feet of water each. A fort, mounting thirty-six guns, defends the town. When Florida was ceded to the United States, in 1821, the number of inhabitants was about two thousand five hundred, and it has not increased.

St. Genevieve, a town of Missouri in the county of the same name, is situated on the second bank of the Mississippi, about one mile from the river, and twenty-one miles below Herculaneum. It was commenced about the year 1774, and is a depot for most of the mines in the neighborhood, and the store-house from whence are drawn the supplies of the miners. Its site is a handsome plain; the little river Gabourie, whose two branches form a junction between the town and the river, waters it on its upper and lower margins. The common field, inclosed and cultivated by the citizens, contains about six thousand acres. A road runs from this town to the lead mines, and the greater part of the inhabitants have an interest in, or are employed in some way in, the lead trade. Population about one thousand five hundred.

St. Louis, the principal town of Missouri stands nearly in the centre of the Great Valley on the right bank of the Mississippi, seventeen miles below the mouth of the Missouri, one hundred and seventy-five above the mouth of the Ohio, one thousand three hundred and fifty miles from the Gulf of Mexico, and eight hundred and fifty from Washington. It was founded in 1774, but remained a mere village while under the French and Spanish colonial governments. It has easy water communication with the country at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, two thousand six hundred miles distant, by the course of the river, on one side, and with Quebec and New-York, between one thousand eight hundred, and two thousand miles, on the other; and with New-Orleans, one thousand two hundred and fifty, to the south, and Fort Snelling, eight hundred and sixty miles to the north. The site of the town rises gently from the water, and is bounded on the west by an extensive plain. The buildings mostly occupy several parallel streets beside the river. Here are a Catholic College, and several other seminaries of learning. The Catholic Cathedral is a magnificent structure. The hospital, and orphan asylum, under the care of the sisters of Charity, the convent of the Sacred Heart, the City Hall, &c., are among the public buildings. The population is twenty-one thousand, five hundred and eighty five, including many Germans and French.

The fur-trade, the lead mines, the supplies for the Indians, create a good deal of business here, and St. Louis is the emporium of the vast regions on the upper Mississippi and the Missouri.

The manufactures are also extensive and increasing, and the abundance of coal in the neighborhood, and the mineral wealth of the State, must make this an important branch of industry.—There is a United States arsenal just below the city, and five miles distant are Jefferson Barracks, an important military station.

Salem, a seaport, and capital of Essex county, Massachusetts, in proportion to its size, is one of the wealthiest towns in the United States. The pop. fifteen thousand and fifty-one. It is chiefly built on a tongue of land formed by two inlets from the sea, called North and South rivers; over the former of which is a bridge one thousand five hundred feet long, connecting Salem with Beverly, and the latter forms the harbor. The situation is low, but pleasant and healthy. The appearance of the town is irregular, the streets having been laid out with little regard to symmetry or beauty. The public buildings, among which are fifteen houses of public worship, are neat, but not splendid. The private houses have generally the appearance of neatness, comfort, and convenience, and many of them indicate taste and opulence. The town was formerly built almost wholly of wood, but a large proportion of the houses, erected within the last twenty years, are of brick.

The Marine museum is a valuable collection of rare curiosities, collected from all quarters of the globe, and presented by the members of the East India society. The number of banks in this town is eight; there are six insurance companies. Three semi-weekly and two weekly papers are published. There are sixteen tanneries, eleven rope and twine factories, two white lead factories, and a chemical laboratory. Much attention is here paid to education, the schools being very numerous and well supported. With the exception of Plymouth, Salem is the oldest settlement in New England. It was founded in 1628. Its Indian name was Naumkeag, and this name it long retained.

Salina, a post township, and seat of justice of Onondaga county, New York, includes Onondaga lake, and the principal salt springs in the state. Very extensive works have been established for several years; the number of manufactories of salt by artificial heat is one hundred and thirty-five. In 1831, the amount of salt manufactured was nearly a million and a half of bushels. These waters are owned by the state of New York, and a duty of twelve and a half cents per bushel is exacted on all the salt manufactured from them. From sixteen to twenty-five ounces of salt are obtained from a gallon of water. Most of the salt hitherto made has been very fine. The price is about twenty-five cents a bushel. This township includes four considerable villages, which contain eleven thousand and thirteen inhabitants.

Saratoga, in a county of the same name in New York, is a pleasant town, and presents a surface agreeably diversified with ranges of hills. It is memorable for the surrender of Burgoyne to General Gates, on the seventeenth of October, 1777. Population, two thousand six hundred and twenty-four.

Saratoga Springs, an incorporated village in Saratoga county, New York, and the great fashionable resort during summer, on account of its mineral waters. The springs are numerous, and the accommodations for visitors extensive; but the surrounding country has few attractions. The village is built on a low sandy plain. Population, three thousand three hundred and eighty-four.

Saugerties, a town of Ulster county, New York, crossed by Esopus creek. One mile west of it is the village, and at its mouth are extensive manufacturing establishments, supplied with water by a canal cut deep through a rock round the head of the falls, and leading into an artificial basin. The creek is navigable for sloops to these mills. The inhabitants are generally of Dutch descent. Population, six thousand two hundred and sixteen.

Savannah, in Chatham county, a port of entry, and the principal emporium of Georgia, is situated on the river of the same name, seventeen miles from its mouth. It is built on a sandy cliff, elevated forty feet above low tide. Vessels drawing fourteen feet of water come up to the city; larger vessels stop three miles below. The city is regularly laid out, and contains ten squares, that, with the public walks, are planted with the Pride of China trees, which contribute much to the salubrity, comfort and ornament of the place. The streets are unpaved, and very sandy. The principal public buildings are a court house, exchange, academy, and ten houses of public worship. The exchange is a brick building of five stories. The new Presbyterian church is a very elegant and, spacious edifice of stone The city, a few years ago, was built almost wholly of wood, with very few elegant houses; but a large proportion of the houses recently erected are handsomely built of brick. Population, eleven thousand two hundred and fourteen.

Saybrook, in Middlesex county, Connecticut, and the spot of the first settlement in the state, was founded in 1635. The ground was early laid out for a city, and it was supposed that it would become a place of commercial importance. Granite quarries near to navigable waters are found in the vicinity. Population, three thousand four hundred and seventeen.

Schenectady, a city in Schenectady county, New York, about sixteen miles north-west of Albany, is regularly built, and a pleasant and flourishing place. The Erie canal passes through it, and communication with the Hudson is facilitated by the rail-road to Albany; the rail-road to Saratoga is much travelled during the warm season. Many lines of stage coaches pass through this city. Union college was incorporated in 1794, and is a highly respectable institution. This town was one of the earliest settlements in New York; it was built on the site of a Mohawk village. Population, six thousand seven hundred and eighty-four.

Springfield, seat of justice in Hampden county, Massachusetts, is a flourishing town, standing at the foot of a high hill, the side of which is ornamented with fine buildings, the residences of some of the wealthier inhabitants, and the top occupied by the United States armory. This establishment occupies a large space of ground, and commands a fine view. In 1786, during the rebellion of Shays, he attacked the armory, at the head of a strong party of undisciplined men. General Shepard, who had command at the place, attempted to dissuade them from their attempt, and finally drove them off by firing twice. The first shot, over their heads, dispersed the raw troops, and the second drove off the remainder, who, being about two hundred revolutionary soldiers, did not desist until they had lost a few of their men. This was the first check the insurrection received, which was put down without much subsequent trouble.

Besides the usual county buildings, Springfield contains four churches, and two insurance offices. It is a thriving seat of manufactures, and in the division of the town called Chickapee village, there are four large cotton factories, and a bleaching establishment. Three of the factories give employment to six hundred persons. In this village there are also iron works. Population of Springfield, eleven thousand and thirteen.

Springfield, the capital of Illinois, near the centre of the State, and on the border of a beautiful prairie, is the most important town in the interior. Its principal growth has been within ten years past. It contains a State house, for the erection of which $50,000 has been appropriated; a court house; market house, on a fine public square; a jail, a U. S. land office, 6 churches, 3 academies, and 3 printing offices. Population 2579.

Steubenville, seat of justice of Jefferson county, Ohio, situated on the first and second banks of the Ohio river, was regularly laid out in 1798. It is a flourishing and pleasant place. Population, 5,203.

Tallahassee, seat of government of Florida territory, is situated in Middle Florida, about twenty-five miles north of Apalachee bay. It was incorporated as a city in 1825. It is pleasantly situated in a fertile neighborhood, and on a site considerably elevated. Population, about one thousand two hundred.

Taunton, shire town of Bristol county, Massachusetts, is pleasantly situated on Taunton river, which is navigable to this place for sloops. The first settlement was made here in 1637; the Indian name was Cohannet. It is a handsome and flourishing town, with excellent water power and numerous manufactories; the nail factories make from eight to ten tons daily. The first important iron works in America were erected here. Population, seven thousand five hundred and twenty-four.

Ticonderoga, a town of Essex county, New York, ninety-six miles north of Albany. There is a valuable iron mine in this township. Ticonderoga fort, famous in the American wars, stands on an elevation on the west side of lake Champlain, north of the entrance of the outlet from lake George. Considerable vestiges of the fortress still remain, of which a description is given in another part of the volume. About a mile south of the fort, stands mount Defiance, and mount Independence is half a mile distant on the opposite side of the lake. Population, 2,169.

Trenton, city of Hunterdon county, New Jersey, and capital of the state, is situated on the east bank of the river Delaware, opposite the falls, thirty-one miles from Philadelphia, and sixty from New York. It is a handsome town, standing nearly in the centre of the state, from north to south, and at the head of sloop navigation; the river not being navigable above the falls, except for boats carrying from five to seven hundred bushels of wheat. The streets are very commodious, and the houses neatly built. The public buildings are, the state house, two banks, and six churches. In the neighborhood are a number of gentlemen’s seats, finely situated on the banks of the river, and ornamented with taste and elegance. Trenton bridge, over the Delaware, is a beautiful structure. It consists of five arches of one hundred and ninety-four feet span each; the whole length is nine hundred and seventy feet, the breadth thirty-six. The Delaware and Raritan canal, extending from Trenton to New Brunswick, crosses the city, and is joined by the feeder, which enters the river above the falls. There are several mills and manufactories in the neighborhood. Trenton is connected with memorable events in our revolutionary history. Population, four thousand and seven.

Troy, a city and capital of Rensselaer county, New York, stands on the east bank of the Hudson, six miles north of Albany. It is built on a handsome elevation, is regularly laid out, and contains some beautiful private residences. Many of the streets are shaded by fine trees, and the general aspect of the city is attractive and elegant. The taxable property in 1831 amounted to nearly four millions of dollars. The situation of the town for trade and manufactures is very commanding. It enjoys excellent communication with the interior; large sloops and steamboats ascend the river to this place; and a dam across the Hudson, with a branch canal, locks, and a basin, opens a communication with the Erie and Champlain canals. Hourly stages run to Albany. The water power of the streams which rise in the neighboring eminences is well employed, and by means of it several manufactories are carried on. About twenty-five thousand barrels of beer, ninety-five thousand rolls of paper, seven hundred thousand pounds of tallow and soap, one hundred thousand pair of boots and shoes, two thousand tons of nails and spikes, and twenty-five thousand bells, are made here annually. Large quantities of lumber, flour, grain, beef, pork, wool, and other articles, besides manufactured goods, are shipped to the river towns, and to New York, New Jersey, and Boston. There are nine churches in this town, three banks, two insurance companies, a court house of Sing-Sing marble, a female seminary of considerable reputation, and a literary institution for the practical education of young men. Population, nineteen thousand three hundred and seventy-three.

Troy, in Bristol county. Massachusetts, lies on the west side of Taunton river, and includes Fall River village, an extensive manufacturing place. In this place are thirteen cotton factories, a satinet factory, a print factory, large iron works, and machine shops. This place has been of recent and rapid growth. Population, six thousand seven hundred and thirty-eight.

Tuscaloosa, seat of justice of Tuscaloosa county, and capital of the state of Alabama, is situated on the left bank of Black Warrior river, three hundred and twenty miles above Mobile. The name of this town is the Choctaw word for Black Warrior. The first settlement was made in 1816–17, and, by the last census, it contained one thousand nine hundred and forty-nine inhabitants.

Utica, city of Oneida county, New York, is pleasantly situated on the south side of the river Mohawk, and is one of the largest and most important of the western towns of this state. The river, the great road, and the Erie canal, all meet, and roads from a variety of directions concentrate at this point. The canal level is four hundred and twenty-five feet above the tide water at Albany. The streets are broad, straight, and commodious; the principal ones are well built, with rows of brick stores, or elegant dwelling-houses. The chartered institutions are fifteen, including three banks, two insurance companies, an aqueduct company, and associations for literary and benevolent purposes. There are also thirty-three charitable societies not chartered, and thirty-six private schools. Numerous manufactories are in operation in the neighborhood. The situation of Utica gives it superior advantages for trade, and has led to a flourishing business and considerable wealth. The canal commerce in 1831, yielded tolls to the amount of nine hundred and thirty-eight thousand dollars. In 1794, Utica contained nineteen families; its present population is estimated at 12 thousand 674. It was incorporated as a city in 1830; and it is worthy of mention that its charter expressly prohibits the licensing of shops for the retail of ardent spirits.

Vandalia, in Fayette county, Illinois, late the seat of government, is situated on a high bank of the river Kaskaskia, eighty miles north-east by east, from St. Louis. Though founded but a few years since, it is a place of respectable appearance, and will soon command an extensive business. Population, about five hundred.

Vergennes, a city of Addison county, Vermont, is situated at the head of navigation on Otter creek. It was incorporated in 1788. In 1814, Commodore M‘Donough’s flotilla was equipped here; and the large lake steamboats have laid up here for the winter. Some ship-building is carried on, and the trade of the place is considerable. Population, one thousand.

Vevay, the seat of justice of Switzerland county, Indiana, is situated on the Ohio river, about forty-five miles below Cincinnati. The settlement was commenced by a few emigrants from Switzerland, in the spring of 1805. There has been a gradual accession of numbers to this interesting colony. As early as 1810, they had eight acres of vineyard, from which they made two thousand four hundred gallons of wine. A part of this wine was made out of the Madeira grape. They have now greatly augmented the number of their vineyards, which, when bearing, present to the eye of the observer, the most interesting agricultural prospect, perhaps ever witnessed in the United States. They also cultivate Indian corn, wheat, potatoes, hemp, flax, and other articles necessary to farmers, but in quantities barely sufficient for domestic use. Some of their women manufacture straw hats, made quite differently from the common straw bonnets, by tying the straws together, instead of plaiting and sewing the plaits. They are sold in great numbers in the neighboring settlements, and in the states of Mississippi and Indiana. Population, about fifteen hundred.

Vincennes, the seat of justice for Knox county, Indiana, stands on the east bank of the Wabash, one hundred and fifty miles from its junction with the Ohio. The plan of the town is handsomely designed; the streets are wide, and cross each other at right angles. Almost every house has a garden in its rear, with high substantial picket fences. The common field near the town contains nearly five thousand acres, of excellent prairie soil, which has been cultivated for more than half a century, and yet retains its pristine fertility. Population about eighteen hundred. This town was settled in 1735, by French emigrants from Canada, and, next to Kaskaskia, is the oldest town in the western world. Of late years, it has rapidly improved, and now contains three hundred houses, besides churches, and the usual county buildings.

Waltham, in Middlesex county, Massachusetts, on the north side of Charles river, is a pleasant town, and contains three cotton factories, among the most extensive and best conducted in the country. These establishments were commenced in 1814. The proprietors of the factories support two schools at this place, where gratuitous instruction is regularly provided. Population, two thousand five hundred and ninety-three.

Warwick, seat of justice of Kent county, Rhode Island, is one of the most important manufacturing towns in the country. The fisheries are also extensive. The branches of the Pawtucket river unite here, and furnish valuable water power. Population, six thousand seven hundred and twenty-six.

Washington, capital of the District of Columbia, and seat of the general government of the United States, is situated on the left bank of the Potomac, near the head of tide water, and by the river and bay two hundred and ninety miles from the Atlantic. It is divided into three distinct divisions which are built about the navy yard, the capitol, and the Pennsylvania avenue. The principal streets meet from all points of the compass, at the capitol, and bear the names of the older states in the union. Some of the minor streets are distinguished by the letters of the alphabet, and tracts of ground have been reserved for public squares. Except during the sessions of congress, when the city is thronged with strangers from all parts of the country, there is little to interest one but the public buildings and the navy yard.

The president’s house is a large edifice of white marble, with Grecian fronts, situated about a mile west of the capitol, and near the public offices. It is two stories high with a lofty basement, and one hundred and eighty feet long, by eighty-five in width; it is surrounded by a wall. The entrance hall leads into the drawing room, where the company are received at the levees.

The capitol is placed in an area of above twenty acres of ground, inclosed by an iron railing, and commands, by the sudden declivity of the ground on one side, a very charming view of the city and adjoining country, and of the river Potomac. The building is three hundred and fifty-two feet in front, and the greatest height to the top is one hundred and forty-five feet.

The chamber of representatives is semi-circular, in the form of the ancient Grecian theatre. It is surrounded by twenty-four columns of variegated native marble, from the banks of the Potomac, which stand on a base of free-stone, and support the magnificent dome. The seats for the members are conveniently disposed; each member has his fixed place, a chair, and a small desk. An engraved plan of the house, a copy of which is easily procured at the door, points out the name and place of each member, so that by referring to the plan, every member is at once known.

The hall of the senate is a good deal smaller than that of the representatives, and is very elegantly fitted up. It is also semi-circular, and the president’s chair is in the centre. In another part of the building is the library of congress; the great hall contains four national pictures, painted by Colonel Trumbull, and four relievos in marble, representing scenes connected with various portions of our history.

The treasury, navy, war, and land offices are all in the vicinity of the president’s house; as, also, are the residences of the foreign ministers. The patent office is in the same building with the general post office, and contains numerous models of inventions, in all branches of art. There are more than three thousand dwellings in Washington, and the population is twenty-three thousand two hundred and three.68

Waterville, a town of Kennebec county, Maine, on the west side of the river Kennebec, eighteen miles north by east of Augusta. The principal village stands at the head of boat navigation, and its trade is flourishing. The Wesleyan seminary is established here; in this institution, the students contribute to their support by manual labor. Population, two thousand nine hundred and thirty-nine.

Watervliet, a town of Albany county, New York, six miles north of Albany, belonging principally, to the manor of Rensselaerwick. At this place the Erie crosses the Mohawk canal, and descends by double locks to the Champlain canal. In the west part is Niskayuna, a settlement of the Shakers. At Gibbonsville, another village of the township, is an arsenal of the United States. Population, ten thousand one hundred and forty-one.

Wethersfield, in Hartford county, Connecticut, is a very pleasant town, having broad streets shaded with elms. It was founded in 1634, and is the oldest settlement on Connecticut river. Rich and extensive meadows border the river, and a broad and high level tract, at about a mile distant, affords a fine soil for onions, which are raised here in large quantities. The state prison at this place has been erected within a few years, and the discipline pursued here is similar to that of Auburn. For details on the subject, refer to the chapter on Prison Discipline. Population, three thousand eight hundred and twenty-four.

Wheeling, seat of justice for Ohio county, Virginia, is situated on a high bank of the river Ohio, ninety-five miles below Pittsburgh. It is surrounded by bold and steep hills abounding in coal. The great national road from Baltimore strikes the river at this place. Its position possesses many advantages, and its growth of late years has been very rapid. Wheeling fort, built at an early period of the revolution, was the origin of the settlement. It is a constant resort for travellers, and promises to be a place of much importance. Pop. eight thousand seven hundred and ninety-three.

Williamsburg, the seat of justice of James City county, Virginia, situated between York and James rivers, sixty miles south-east by east of Richmond, was formerly the metropolis of the state, but has greatly declined. The college of William and Mary was founded here in 1693, but is now in decay, though attempts are making to revive its former prosperous condition.

Williamstown, in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, is situated in the north-west corner of the state, one hundred and thirty-five miles north by west from Boston. It has two congregational churches, and a college. Williams college was incorporated in 1793. Population, two thousand and seventy-six.

Wilmington, city, and port of entry, of New Castle county, Delaware, between the Brandywine and Christiana creeks, one mile above their junction, twenty-eight miles south-west of Philadelphia, is pleasantly situated on moderately elevated ground. It is mostly built of brick, and the streets are regularly laid out. The water power in the vicinity is great, and is employed in saw mills, powder and paper mills, and a variety of manufactories to a very considerable extent. The finest collection of flour mills in the United States is at this place. Population, eight thousand three hundred and sixty-seven.

Wilmington, port of entry, and seat of justice of New Hanover county, North Carolina, is situated on the east side of Cape Fear river, and has an extensive trade. Most of the exports from the state are from this town. The entrance to the harbor is rendered difficult by a shoal, but it admits vessels of three hundred tons. Opposite the town are three islands, which afford excellent rice-fields. Population, 4,268.

Windsor, seat of justice of Windsor county, Vermont, pleasantly situated on the west bank of the Connecticut, is surrounded by romantic and picturesque scenery. It contains a state prison, and several handsome houses, and its manufactures are considerable. Population, two thousand seven hundred and forty-four.

Worcester, seat of justice of Worcester county, Massachusetts, forty miles west by south of Boston, is one of the most flourishing towns in New England, and is a great thoroughfare for travellers. It lies principally on one long and broad street, nearly level, and shaded with fine trees. It contains the usual county buildings, four churches, and the Massachusetts Lunatic hospital, a spacious structure of brick, admirably arranged, and calculated for the accommodation of one hundred and twenty patients. The American Antiquarian society was founded and endowed by the late Isaiah Thomas; it has a handsome building, containing a hall, a valuable cabinet, and a library of eight thousand volumes, including many ancient and rare works on American history. There are three printing offices, which issue four weekly newspapers. The Blackstone canal terminates in this town, and furnishes boat navigation to Providence. The great western rail road passes through the place. This town was first settled in 1674, and at an early period suffered much from the attacks of the Indians. It was called Quinsigamond by the natives. Population, seven thousand and sixty.

York, port of entry, and semi-metropolis of York county, Maine, was laid out originally for a large city, and is a place of considerable trade. York river runs through it, and empties into the ocean, affording a good harbor for vessels of two hundred tons. Population, three thousand one hundred and eleven.

Yorktown, port of entry, and seat of justice, York county, Virginia, is situated on the south side of York river. The river at this place affords the best harbor in the state; but the town has not become populous, nor the trade extensive. Yorktown will always be famous for the surrender of the British army under Cornwallis, at the close of the revolutionary war. The number of prisoners was seven thousand one hundred and seven, and the American contest for independence was thus happily concluded.

Zanesville, a flourishing town, and seat of justice for Muskingum county, Ohio, is situated on the east bank of Muskingum river, seventy-four miles west from Wheeling in Virginia. The river has falls here, which afford water power for a number of factories. The great Cumberland road passes through the town. Population, 4,766.

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CHAPTER III.—AGRICULTURE.

OUR sketch of the agriculture of the United States must be brief and general; as the numerous subjects to be treated in the present volume do not allow space for very minute details. The vast extent of the country, and its various soil and climate, afford growth to a great variety of productions. As a science, agriculture was formerly much neglected, and it is only of late years that it has received any thing of the attention it deserves. ‘It is indeed a lamentable truth,’ says Mr. Watson, ‘that, for the most part, our knowledge and practice of agriculture, at the close of the revolutionary war, were in a state of demi-barbarism, with some solitary exceptions. The labors, I may say, of only three agricultural societies in America, at that epoch, conducted by ardent patriots, by philosophers, and gentlemen, in New York state, Philadelphia, and Boston, kept alive a spirit of inquiry, often resulting in useful and practical operations; and yet these measures did not reach the doors of practical farmers, to any visible extent. Nor was their plan of organization calculated to infuse a spirit of emulation, which county, or state, should excel in the honorable strife of competition in discoveries and improvements, in drawing from the soil the greatest quantum of net profits within a given space; at the same time, keeping the land in an improving condition, in reference to its native vigor. These results, and the renovation of lands exhausted by means of a barbarous course of husbandry, for nearly two centuries, are the cardinal points now in progression in our old settled countries, stimulated by the influence of agricultural societies. Nor did their measures produce any essential or extensive effects in the improvement of the breeds of domestic animals; much less in exciting to rival efforts the female portion of the community, in calling forth the active energies of our native resources in relation to household manufactures. The scene is now happily reversed in all directions. Perhaps there is no instance, in any age or country, where a whole nation has emerged, in so short a period, from such general depression, into such a rapid change in the several branches to which I have already alluded; in some instances, it has been like the work of magic.’

The early neglect of agriculture may be traced to very obvious causes. The first settlements in the country were made along the shores of the sea, or on the banks of navigable rivers. Population was thin and scattered, and the ocean with its tributary waters offered by far the easiest means of subsistence. The fisheries and navigation naturally attracted their active attention, and the cultivation of the earth was limited to the supply of the necessaries of life, and a scanty surplus to answer the humble demands of colonial commerce. The circumstances of the country, down to the very era of the revolutionary struggle, were such as tended unavoidably to reduce agriculture below its just consequence in the scale of useful employments, and to elevate all the arts connected with navigation above their proper estimation. Capital was drawn off from the pursuits of agriculture and devoted to the more lucrative pursuits of commerce. When to this is added the unceasing drain upon the agricultural population, by the prospects which the extent of the interior, and the cheapness of lands, opened to their enterprise, and the consequent effect upon the demand for labor, there is more cause of surprise that the actual state of cultivation is so good, than of reproach that it did not receive higher improvement. The increase of population in the United States, and the long-continued peace in Europe, by limiting the sphere and diminishing the profits of commercial speculation, have operated to withdraw capital from the sea, and invest it in agriculture and manufactures.

The farms of the eastern, northern, and middle states consist, generally, of from fifty to two hundred acres, seldom rising to more than three hundred, and generally falling short of two hundred acres. These farms are inclosed, and divided either by stone walls, or rail fences made of timber, hedges not being common. The building first erected on a new lot, or on a tract of land not yet cleared from its native growth of timber, is what is called a log-house. This is a hut or cabin, made of round, straight logs, about a foot in diameter, lying on each other, and notched in at the corners. The intervals between the logs are filled with slips of wood, and the crevices generally stopped with mortar made of clay. The fire-place commonly consists of rough stones, so placed as to form a hearth, on which wood may be burned. Sometimes these stones are made to assume the form of a chimney, and are carried up through the roof; and sometimes a hole in the roof is the only substitute for a chimney. The roof is made of rafters, forming an acute angle at the summit of the erection, and is covered with shingles, commonly split from pine trees, or with bark, peeled from the hemlock.

When the occupant or first settler of this new land finds himself in comfortable circumstances, he builds what is styled a frame house, composed of timber, held together by tenons, mortises and pins, and boarded, shingled and clapboarded on the outside, and often painted white, sometimes red. Houses of this kind generally contain a dining-room and kitchen, and three or four bed-rooms on the same floor. They are rarely destitute of good cellars, which the nature of the climate renders almost indispensable. The farm-buildings consist of a barn, proportioned to the size of the farm, with stalls for horses and cows on each side, and a threshing-floor in the middle, and the more wealthy farmers add a cellar under the barn, a part of which receives the manure from the stalls, and another part serves as a store-room for roots, &c. for feeding stock. What is called a corn-barn is likewise very common, which is built exclusively for storing the ears of Indian corn. The sleepers of this building are generally set up four or five feet from the ground, on smooth stone posts or pillars, which rats, mice, or other vermin cannot ascend.

With regard to the best manner of clearing forest land from its natural growth of timber, the following observations may be of use to a first settler. In those parts of the country where wood is of but little value, the trees are felled in one of the summer months, the earlier in the season the better, as the stumps will be less apt to sprout, and the trees will have a longer time to dry. The trees lie till the following spring, when such limbs as are not very near the ground should be cut off, that they may burn the better. Fire must be put to them in the driest part of the month of May, or, if the whole of that month prove wet, it may be applied in the beginning of June. Only the bodies of the trees will remain after burning, and some of them will be burned into pieces. Those which require to be made shorter, are cut in pieces nearly of a length, drawn together by oxen, piled in close heaps, and burned, such trees and logs being reserved as may be needed for fencing the lot. The heating of the soil so destroys the green roots, and the ashes made by the burning are so beneficial as manure to the land, that it will produce a good crop of wheat or Indian corn, without ploughing, hoeing, or manuring. If new land lie in such a situation that its natural growth may turn to better account, whether for timber or fire-wood, it will be an unpardonable waste to burn the wood on the ground. But if the trees be taken off, the land must be ploughed after clearing, or it will not produce a crop of any kind.

The following remarks on this subject are extracted from some observations by Samuel Preston, of Stockport, Pennsylvania, a very observing cultivator. They were first published in the New England Farmer, issued at Boston, and may prove serviceable to settlers on uncleared lands. Previous to undertaking to clear land, Mr. Preston advises,—‘1st. Take a view of all large trees, and see which way they may be felled for the greatest number of small trees to be felled along-side or on them. After felling the large trees, only lop down their limbs; but all such as are felled near them should be cut in suitable lengths for two men to roll and pile about the large trees, by which means they may be nearly all burned up, without cutting into lengths, or the expense of a strong team, to draw them together. 2d. Fell all the other trees parallel, and cut them into suitable lengths, that they may be readily rolled together without a team, always cutting the largest trees first, that the smallest may be loose on the top, to feed the fires. 3d. On hill-sides, fell the timber in a level direction; then the logs will roll together; but if the trees are felled down hill, all the logs must be turned round before they can be rolled, and there will be stumps in the way. 4th. By following these directions, two men may readily heap and burn most of the timber, without requiring any team; and perhaps the brands and the remains of the log heaps may all be wanted to burn up the old, fallen trees. After proceeding as directed, the ground will be clear for a team and sled to draw the remains of the heaps where they may be wanted round the old logs. Never attempt either to chop or draw a large log, until the size and weight are reduced by fire. The more fire-heaps there are made on the clearing, the better, particularly about the old logs, where there is rotten wood.

‘The best time of the year to fell the timber, in a great measure, depends on the season’s being wet or dry. Most people prefer having it felled in the month of June, when the leaves are of full size. Then, by spreading the leaves and brush over the ground, (for they should not be heaped,) if there should be a very dry time the next May, fire may be turned through it, and will burn the leaves, limbs, and top of the ground, so that a very good crop of Indian corn and pumpkins may be raised among the logs by hoeing. After these crops come off, the land may be cleared and sowed late with rye and timothy grass, or with oats and timothy in the spring. If what is called a good burn cannot be had in May, keep the fire out until some very dry time in July or August; then clear off the land, and sow wheat or rye and timothy, harrowing several times, both before and after sowing; for, after the fire has been over the ground, the sod of timothy should be introduced as soon as the other crops will admit, to prevent briers, alders, fire-cherries, &c. from springing up from such seeds as were not consumed by the fire.

‘The timothy should stand four or five years, either for mowing or pasture, until the small roots of the forest trees are rotten; then it may be ploughed; and the best mode which I have observed, is to plough it very shallow in the autumn; in the spring, cross-plough it deeper, harrow it well, and it will produce a first rate crop of Indian corn and potatoes, and, the next season, the largest and best crop of flax that I have ever seen, and be in order to cultivate with any kinds of grain, or to lay down again with grass. These directions are to be understood as applying to what are generally called beech lands, and the chopping may be done any time in the winter, when the snow is not too deep to cut low stumps, as the leaves are then on the ground. By leaving the brush spread abroad, I have known such winter choppings to burn as well in a dry time in August, as that which had been cut the summer before.’69

‘The various crops,’ says Mr. Stuart, ‘raised in that part of the state of New York which I have seen, are very much the same as in Britain, with the addition of maize, for which the climate of Britain is not well adapted. Wheat, however, is the most valuable crop. A considerable quantity of buckwheat and rye is grown. The greater degree of heat is not favorable for oats and barley. Potatoes, turnips, and other green crops, are not at all generally cultivated in large fields. Rotation of crops is far too little attended to. I observe in the magazines and almanacs, that in the rotations, a crop of turnips, ruta-baga, or other green plants, is generally put down as one part of the course; but I have nowhere seen more than the margins or edges of the maize, or other grain, devoted to the green crop, properly so called. The attention of the farmers seems chiefly directed to the raising enough of maize for home consumption, and of wheat for sale; and when you talk to them of the necessity of manuring, with a view to preserve the fertility of the soil, they almost uniformly tell you that the expense of labor, about a dollar a day, for laborers during the summer, renders it far more expedient for them, as soon as their repeated cropping very much diminishes the quantity of the grain, to lay down their land in grass, and make a purchase of new land in the neighborhood, or even to sell their cleared land, and proceed in quest of a new settlement, than to adopt a system of rotation of crops, assisted by manure. There is great inconvenience, according to the notions of the British, in removing from one farm to another; but they make very light work of it here, and consider it to be merely a question of finance, whether they shall remain on their improved land, after they have considerably exhausted its fertilizing power, or acquire and remove to land of virgin soil. In a great part of the northern district of the state of New York, there is still a great deal of land to be cleared; and a farmer may, in many cases, acquire additions to his farm, so near his residence that his houses may suit the purpose of his new acquisition; but he is more frequently tempted to sell at a price from fifteen to thirty dollars an acre, supposing the land not to be contiguous to any village. If he obtains land near his first farm, after he has worn it out, he lays down the first farm in grass, allows it to be pastured for some years, and breaks it up again with oats.

‘Maize, or Indian corn, which, par excellence, is alone in this country called corn, is a most important addition to the crops which we are able to raise in Britain. It is used as food for man in a great variety of ways, as bread, as porridge, in which case it is called mush, and in puddings. When unripe, and in the green pod, it is not unlike green peas, and is in that state sold as a vegetable. One species, in particular, called green corn, is preferable for this purpose. Broom corn is another species, of the stalks of which a most excellent kind of clothes brush, in universal use at New York, is made, as well as brooms for sweeping house floors. Horses, cattle, and poultry, are all fond of this grain, and thrive well on it. The straw is very nutritive, and considerable in quantity. The usual period of sowing is from the fifteenth of May to the first of June, in drills from three and a half to four and a half feet apart, and the seed from four to six inches apart. It is harvested in October, sometimes later. The hoe weeding and cleaning of this crop is expensive, the whole work being performed by males,—females, as already noticed, never being allowed to work out of doors. Pumpkins are very generally sown between the rows of corn, and give the field quite a golden appearance, after the corn itself is harvested.

‘Thirty-five or forty bushels of corn per acre is considered a good average crop, on land suited to it, well prepared, and well managed; but one hundred and fifty bushels have been raised on an acre. Arthur Young remarks, “that a country whose soil and climate admit the course of maize, and then wheat, is under a cultivation that perhaps yields the most food for man and beast that is possible to be drawn from the land!” That course is frequently adopted here, and with success, where the soil, lately cleared, is of the best description, and might, without question, be continued for many years, if a sufficient quantity of manure was allowed; but where such a course is persisted in without manure, after the land has been severely cropped, the crops which follow are inferior in quantity to crops of the same description on similar soils in Britain. As a cleaning crop, maize is most valuable, but, being a culmiferous plant, it is, of course, far more exhausting than the green crops, which, in Britain, in most cases precede wheat.

‘Wheat is sown in the end of September, and some part of it in spring,—if after maize, it should be sown as soon as possible after that crop is harvested. It is reaped in July. It is excellent in quality; if the flour which we have seen in every place where we have been, and the bread we eat, are tests by which to judge of it. Thirty-five and forty bushels of wheat is considered a very abundant crop,—the average produce in that part of the United States in which wheat is grown, is said not to exceed thirteen bushels, while in England it is reckoned at twenty-five bushels.

‘Barley or oats very frequently succeed wheat before the land is laid down in grass, or again bears a crop of maize; but it is not to be understood that barley, and even oats, do not in many cases follow the crop of maize immediately, and precede the wheat crop.

‘Oats are sowed in the end of April and beginning of May, and are reaped in August or the beginning of September. We saw several fields not cut, but no very great crop in the northern part of this state in the beginning of September. The average crop is said to be twenty bushels per acre; but from forty to fifty bushels are often obtained by good management. The grain is not so plump as in Britain. In 1827, the premium of one of the agricultural societies was given for fifty-seven bushels on an acre. Barley is sown at about the same time as oats, and reaped two or three weeks earlier; the produce about one fifth less than oats.

‘Potatoes, turnips, ruta-baga, peas, lucern, &c. are all to be seen here in small quantities, but not so well managed as in well-cultivated districts of Britain. The high price of labor is the great obstacle to the management which those crops require. It is not because the farmer does not understand his business, that such crops are apparently not sufficiently attended to, but because he in all cases calculates whether it will not be more profitable for him to remove his establishment to a new and hitherto unimpoverished soil, than to commence and carry on an extensive system of cultivation, by manuring and fallow, or green crops. Such a system may be adopted in the neighborhood of great towns, where many green crops are easily disposed of, and where manure can be had in large quantity, and at a cheap rate; but it is in vain to look for its adoption at all generally, or to expect to see agricultural operations in their best style, until the land, even in the most distant states and territories, be occupied, so that the farmer may no longer find it more for his interest to begin his operations anew, on land previously uncultivated, than to manage his farm according to the method which will render it most productive.

‘Prices of grain vary much. Wheat is, of course, the grain which the farmer chiefly raises for market, and he considers himself remunerated, if the price is not below a dollar for a bushel. Flour, when wheat is at a dollar per bushel, is expected to bring somewhat more than five dollars per barrel of one hundred and ninety-six pounds. Indian corn, two shillings to two shillings and six pence per bushel; oats, one shilling and two pence to one shilling and four pence; barley, one shilling and six pence to one shilling and eight pence.

‘It is difficult to give any precise information as to the wages of labor. A hired servant gets from ten to twelve dollars a month, besides his board, which he very frequently has at table with his master, consisting of animal food three times a day. Laborers hired by the day for those sorts of farm work in which women are employed in Britain, such as hoeing, assisting in cleaning grain, and even milking of cows, get about three quarters of a dollar per day,—in time of hay-making or harvest work, frequently a dollar besides their board. The workmen work, or are said to work, from daylight to sunset: but I doubt, from any thing I have seen, whether the ordinary plan of keeping workmen employed for ten hours a day be not as profitable to the employer as to the workman. The days are never so long in summer, nor so short in winter, as in Britain. The sun rises on the twenty-first of June about half past four, and sets at half past seven; on the twenty-first of December, it rises at half past seven, and sets at half past four.

‘Manures are far too little attended to, as has been already noticed; but there are instances of individuals keeping their land in good heart with manure, especially where, as in many parts of the state of New York, gypsum and lime are in the neighborhood. Gypsum is more used than any other manure, and with great effect, generally in about the quantity of a ton to ten or fifteen acres. Manure for the villages is often sold at and under a shilling per ton. The question which the American settler always puts to himself is, whether it will be more expedient for him, in point of expense, to remove to a new soil covered with vegetable mould, or to remain on his cleared land, and to support its fertility by regularly manuring, and a systematic rotation of crops.

‘The horses and cattle are of mixed breeds, and are always, in consequence of the abundance of food in this country, and the easy circumstances of the people, in good order. A starved-looking animal of any kind is never seen on the one hand, nor very fat pampered cattle, nor very fine coated, over-groomed horses, on the other. Both horses and cattle are generally of middling size; the horses of that description that answer for all sorts of work, the saddle, the wagon, or the plough. The heaviest are selected for the stages. All carriages are driven at a trot. Horses are broken with great gentleness, and are, I think, better and more thoroughly broken than in England. An American driver of a stage, awkward looking as he appears, manages his team, as he calls his horses, with the most perfect precision. The law of the road is to keep to the right side of the road, not to the left as in Britain. Great exertions are, I observe from the newspapers here, making to improve the breeds of cattle and horses, by importations of the Teeswater cattle, and of stud-horses from England. The British admiral, Sir Isaac Coffin, has displayed great public spirit in sending over fine cattle and superior horses, from Britain to New England. The price of beef varies from two pence to five pence per pound, according to the prices and quality, from which the value of the animal may be computed. I have nowhere seen any beef equal to the best beef of an English market, or to the kyloe of the West Highlands of Scotland well fed; but beef of bad quality is never brought to market, and a great deal of it is good. I have looked into the markets wherever we have been. Oxen are much used in ploughing, and are so well trained, that they are very useful in many operations of carting on farms. The price of ordinary horses is from sixteen to twenty-five pounds.

‘I observe at the agricultural shows of last year, premiums awarded for milch cows yielding ten or eleven pounds of butter per week, one of them yielding thirteen, and twenty-three to twenty-four quarts of milk per day. One of the breeds of cows is called very appropriately the “fill-pail.” A premium was also awarded for a cow that calved on the 7th of January,—calf sold in March,—another calf put to her, and sold in June,—and a third at her side; the price of the three calves forty dollars.

‘Sheep are not so much attended to as they should be in this country, where the dryness of the weather preserves them from diseases to which they are subject in Britain. The merinos, and crosses with the merino, are those generally seen; but little care is paid to their being well fed before being killed and brought to market. The mutton is of course inferior in quality, and the people led to entertain prejudices against it. Even the slaves in the south are said to object to being fed on sheep’s meat. I have again and again seen good mutton, but far more rarely than good beef and pork. Hogs are universal in this country, and are well fed, frequently, first of all in the woods on chesnuts, hickory nuts, sometimes on fallen peaches and apples, but almost always, before being killed, they get a sufficient quantity of meal, either from Indian corn or barley. Steamed food is also supplied in some cases. The steam-boiler for food for cattle is well known here. General La Fayette saw one so well constructed somewhere in this country, that he had one of the same pattern made for himself and carried to France.

‘Poultry are excellent, well fed everywhere, and in great numbers about the farm-yards. Turkeys and guinea-fowls abound more than in Britain, which is not to be wondered at, as their relatively cheap price places them within the reach of all. The price of geese and turkeys, even at New York, is frequently not much above half a dollar; ducks and fowls, about one shilling. Eggs, a dollar for a hundred; cheese very good at four pence and five pence per pound.

‘Implements of husbandry are, on the whole, well suited to the country. The two-horse plough, driven by one man, is universally used, unless in bringing in rough stony land, when four oxen or horses are necessary. The cradle-scythe is in pretty universal use. A good workman can cut down an acre of wheat per day. The harvest work being altogether performed by males, and the crops ripening, and of course reaped, at seasons differing from each other much more than in England, the cheerful appearance of the harvest-field all over Britain, filled with male and female reapers and gleaners, is nowhere seen in this country. The prices of implements are not higher than in England. The lower price of wood makes up for the higher price of labor, especially as carpenters are very expert. Ploughing is well executed, and premiums given by agricultural societies at their yearly meetings. I observed, at a late meeting in Massachusetts, sixteen ploughs, drawn by oxen, started for the competition,—that the ploughs were of the improved kind, with cast-iron mould-boards, the ploughing five inches deep, and the furrows not more than ten inches in width. Premiums were at this meeting awarded for various agricultural implements. Threshing-machines are not yet so general as in Britain.’70

The principal products of the southern states are tobacco, cotton, rice, and sugar. The first of these is grown largely in Virginia and other of the middle and southern states, and together with the other staples of that portion of the country, is chiefly the product of slave labor. There are at present but two sorts of tobacco raised in the western states: the one with a long and sharp-pointed leaf,—and the other with a round and hairy leaf, which is evidently the best tobacco. The seed is sown in beds well prepared for the purpose, so that in May it is fit to be transplanted. The plants are then put into another piece of ground, at intervals of from three to four feet; they are carefully freed from weeds, and the earth is drawn up to their stems. When they have obtained a certain growth, the tops are taken off, that the remaining leaves may acquire a proper size; worms are carefully removed, and no sucker is allowed to remain. In August, the plants become spotted, and appear of a brownish color; by these tokens they are discerned to be ripe, and are therefore immediately pulled. They lie one night to sweat; next day, they are hung up to dry; when the tobacco has become sufficiently dry to ensure its preservation, it is stripped from the stalks, and barrelled up for exportation; or manufactured into various shapes, for those whom a species of luxury has taught to look upon it as almost one of the necessaries of life. Along with six thousand plants, yielding generally one thousand pounds of tobacco, one person may manage four acres of Indian corn.

There are four kinds of tobacco reared in Virginia, namely, the sweet-scented, which is the best; the big and little, which follow next; then the Frederick; and lastly, the one and all, the largest of all, and producing most in point of quantity. The Virginian tobacco is reckoned superior to any raised in the southern states; and great care is taken by the regulations of the state, that no frauds be practised upon the merchants, and that no inferior tobacco be palmed upon the purchaser. For this purpose, houses of inspection are established in every district where tobacco is cultivated, whose regulations are rigorously enforced; this contributes, as much as the real superiority of the article itself, to keep up its price in the market. Every person who intends his tobacco for exportation, packs it up in hogsheads, and thus sends it to one of the inspecting houses. Here the tobacco is taken from the cask, which is opened for the purpose; it is examined in every direction, and in every part, in order to ascertain its quality and its purity; if any defect is perceived, it is rejected and declared to be unfit for exportation. If no defect appear, it is pronounced to be exportable. It is then repacked in the hogshead, which is branded with a hot iron, marking the place of inspection, and the quality of the contents; and then lodged in the inspecting storehouses, there to await the disposal of the planter, who receives a certificate of the particulars, serving at the same time as an acknowledgment of the deposit. It is by selling this tobacco note to the merchant that the planter sells his tobacco. The purchaser, on viewing this note, is as well acquainted with the article, as if he had inspected it himself; and he has only to send the note and transfer to the store where the tobacco lies, and it is immediately delivered out, agreeably to his orders. This measure has insured a preference in the foreign market to the Virginian tobacco, and prevents the deterioration of the article.

The soil most proper for the cultivation of cotton is found in the islands lying on the coast. Those belonging to the state of Georgia produce the best, known in France by the name of Georgia cotton, and in Great Britain by the name of Sea Island cotton. This variety of cotton has a deep black seed, and very fine, long wool, which is easily separated from the seed by the roller gins, which do not injure the staple. In the middle and upper country, the green seed or inferior cotton is produced; this kind is less silky, and adheres so tenaciously to the seed, that it cannot be separated without the action of a saw-gin. Though the wool of the green seed, or bowed Georgia cotton, be cheaper than the other, yet its produce is more luxuriant. An acre, which will produce one hundred and fifty pounds of black seed cotton, will generally yield two hundred pounds of the green seed kind. The packing of the cotton is done in large canvass bags, which must be wetted as the cotton is put in, that it may not hang to the cloth, and may slide better down. The bag is suspended between two trees, posts, or beams; and a negro, with his feet, stamps it down. These bags are generally made to contain from three hundred and fifty pounds, to four hundred pounds each.

‘I have been lately favored,’ says Mr. Everett, in his valuable address before the New York Institute, in October, 1831, ‘with a minute statement of the average product of five or six cotton plantations in two of the south-western states, ascertained by putting together the income of a good and bad year. The result of this statement is, that the capital invested in these plantations yields from fifteen to twenty per cent. clear; and the net profit accruing to the proprietor, for the labor of each efficient hand, is two hundred and thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents per annum; being a clear gain of four dollars and fifty cents per week. It further appears that on one of these plantations, (and the same, though not stated, is believed to hold of the others in due proportion,) worth altogether, for land, labor, and stock, ninety-two thousand dollars, the entire amount of articles paying duty annually consumed, is two thousand three hundred dollars. The average crop of this plantation, taking a good and bad year, is fourteen thousand five hundred dollars. Suppose the duties to be thirty-three and one third per cent. and the whole amount of the duty to be actually assessed, in the shape of an enhanced price of the article, (the contrary of which is known to be true, for in several articles the entire price is little more than the duty,) it would amount to less than seven hundred and thirty dollars per annum on a clear profit of fourteen thousand five hundred dollars.’

Rice is extensively cultivated in the southern states. The grains of this plant grow on little fruit stalks springing from the main stalk. It is sown in rows, in the bottom of trenches, made entirely by slave labor. These ridges lie about seventeen inches apart, from centre to centre. The rice is put in by the hand, generally by women, and is cast so as to fall in a line. This is done about the seventeenth of March. By means of floodgates, the water is then permitted to flow over the fields, and to remain on the ground five days, at the depth of several inches. The object of this is to sprout the seeds, as it is technically called. The water is next drawn off, and the ground allowed to dry, till the rice is between three and four inches in height. This requires about a month. The fields are then again overflowed, and are allowed to remain in that state about a fortnight, to destroy the weeds. It is now about the middle of May, and for two months afterwards the ground is permitted to continue dry; during this interval it is repeatedly hoed, and the soil is kept loose and free. The fields are then once more submerged, in order that the crops may be ripened, and they actually do ripen while standing in the water. The harvest commences in August, and extends into October. The plants are then cut by the male slaves, and tied into bundles by the females. The grains are threshed out by means of hand flails. The outer husk is detached by passing the rice between a pair of mill-stones. The film which still envelopes the grain is removed by trituration under heavy pestles, consisting of upright bars, shod with iron, which are raised several feet by machinery, and then allowed to fall upon the rice, the particles of which are thus rubbed against each other, till the film is removed. When thus thoroughly winnowed, it is packed in casks holding about six hundred pounds each, and is ready for exportation.

The sugar cane is cultivated to a great extent in Louisiana, Georgia, and West Florida. In the first of these states, five kinds of the cane have been raised. The first is the Creole cane, which is supposed to have come originally from Africa. The second is the Bourbon cane, from Otaheite. Besides these, are the riband cane, green and red; the riband cane, green and yellow; and the violet cane of Brazil. The latter species was abandoned soon after its introduction, as it proved less productive in our climate than any of the others. The other species are the best suited to the nature of the soil. They are all more or less affected by the variations of the atmosphere, are very sensible to cold, and are killed in part by the frost every year. Experience has demonstrated that the cane may be cultivated in a latitude much colder than was generally supposed; for fine crops are now made in Louisiana, in places where a few years ago the cane froze before it was ripe enough to make sugar.

In the process of cultivation, the ground is ploughed as deep as possible, and harrowed; after it has been thus broken up, parallel drills or furrows are ploughed at the distance of two feet and a half to four feet from one another; in these the cane is laid lengthwise, and covered about an inch with a hoe. Small canals to drain off the water are commonly dug, more or less distant from each other, and these are crossed by smaller drains, so as to form squares like a chess board. These ditches are necessary to drain off the water from rains, as well as that which filters from the rivers, which would otherwise remain upon the plantations. The average quantity of sugar that may be produced upon an acre of land of the proper quality, well cultivated, is from eight hundred to one thousand pounds, provided that the cane has not been damaged, either by storms of wind, inundations, or frost. The strong soil is easiest of cultivation, and most productive, in rainy seasons. The light soils require less labor, and yield more revenue, in dry seasons. To these variations, others are to be added, resulting from the different exposure of the lands, the greater or less facility of draining, and also from the greater or less quantity of a weed known by the name of coco or grass nut. Sixty working hands are necessary to cultivate two hundred and forty acres of cane, planted in well-prepared land, and to do all the work necessary until the sugar is made and delivered. The sugar, up to the moment it is delivered to the merchant, costs the sugar planter about three and a half cents per pound, for expense incurred, without reckoning the interest on his capital.

The cultivation of the mulberry tree, and the raising of silk-worms, have occupied considerable attention in different parts of the United States. Before the revolution, the production of silk was attempted in Georgia, but without ultimate success. In Connecticut, and in some other places, for the last seventy years, an inferior kind of sewing silk has been manufactured; but its use has been chiefly confined to the neighborhood in which it has been produced. Of late years, however, efforts have been made to introduce the important branch of agriculture that affords the necessary materials for the manufacture of silk. Societies have been formed in different states for its promotion, and the national government have thought the subject worthy their particular attention.

During the year 1829, a series of essays were written by M. D’Homergue, the son of an eminent silk manufacturer, at Nismes, who had arrived in Philadelphia at the instance of an association for the promotion of the culture of silk; they have since been published in a separate form, and will repay the perusal of those who may feel peculiarly interested in the subject. The report of the committee of agriculture, who were instructed to inquire into the expediency of adopting measures to extend the cultivation of the mulberry tree, and to promote the cultivation of silk, by introducing the necessary machinery, made to the house of representatives, March 12, 1830, represents these essays and the facts contained in them as entitled to high confidence.

‘It appears from them,’ states the report, ‘that American silk is superior in quality to that produced in any other country;—in France and Italy, twelve pounds of cocoons are required to produce one pound of raw silk, whilst eight pounds of American cocoons will produce one pound of raw silk:—that cocoons cannot be exported to a foreign market, from several causes,—their bulk, their liability to spoil by moulding on ship board, and because they cannot be compressed without rendering them incapable of being afterwards reeled. It is further demonstrated in these essays, and in a memorial lately presented by the manufacturers of silk stuffs of Lyons, in France, to the minister of commerce and manufactures, that the art of filature can only be acquired by practical instruction, by some one intimately acquainted with, and accustomed to, that process: that no human skill or ingenuity, unaided by practical instruction, is capable of acquiring that art to any profitable extent. It is made manifest that, although the culture of silk has been carried on for many years in some parts of the United States, and more particularly in Connecticut, it has been conducted very unprofitably, compared with what the results might have been, if the art of filature had been understood. The sewing silk made in Connecticut is from the best of the silk, and is, after all, quite inferior to that of France and Italy: in these latter countries, sewing silk is manufactured from imperfect cocoons, or from refuse silk.

‘It appears also, that unless the silk is properly reeled from the cocoons, it is never afterwards susceptible of use in the finer fabrics. It is a gratifying consideration that the benefits from the culture of silk and the acquisition of the art of reeling the same, will be common to every part of the United States. The climate of every state in the union is adapted to the culture of silk: hatching the eggs of the silk-worms may be accelerated or retarded, to suit the putting forth the leaves of the mulberry. That tree is easily propagated from the seed of the fruit, and is adapted to almost any soil. The committee regard the general culture of silk as a vast national advantage in many points of view. If seriously undertaken and prosecuted, it will, in a few years, furnish an article of export of great value: and thus the millions paid by the people of the United States for silk stuffs will be compensated for by the sale of our raw silk. The importation of silk, during the year which ended on the 30th of September, 1828, amounted to eight million, four hundred and sixty-three thousand, five hundred and sixty-three dollars, of which, one million, two hundred and seventy-four thousand, four hundred and sixty-one were exported: but in the same year, the exportation of bread stuffs from this country amounted only to five million, four hundred and eleven thousand, six hundred and sixty-five dollars, leaving the balance against us of nearly two millions. The committee anticipate that at a period not remote, when we shall be in possession of the finest material produced in any country, the manufacture of silk stuffs will necessarily be introduced into the United States. The culture of silk promises highly moral benefits, in the employment of poor women and children in a profitable business, while it will detract nothing from agricultural or manufacturing labor. The culture of silk will greatly benefit those states which have abandoned slave labor, the value of whose principal productions, particularly in the article of cotton, has been depressed by overproduction.’

The vine grows in most parts of the United States, and yields a plentiful return for the labor of cultivation. We have already alluded to the vineyards in the vicinity of Vevay. A large grant of land, in the territory of Alabama, was made by the general government to a French association under M. Villar, for the purpose of encouraging the cultivation of the vine and the olive. About two hundred and seventy acres had been occupied with vines in 1827, and nearly four hundred olive trees had been planted. The latter, however, do not thrive, and it is apprehended that they will not attain an available degree of perfection in that climate.

Horticulture has not been entirely overlooked in the United States, though it has not yet received the attention that is paid to it in other countries. Some idea of the varieties of fruits and of flowers which the climate will admit of, may be formed from the following statement of the contents of a garden in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, which may be relied on as authentic, being extracted from the report of the committee, appointed by the Pennsylvania Horticultural society for visiting the nurseries and gardens in the vicinity of that city: ‘Here are to be found,’ say the committee, ‘one hundred and thirteen varieties of apples, seventy-two of pears, twenty-two of cherries, seventeen of apricots, forty-five of plums, thirty-nine of peaches, five of nectarines, three of almonds, six of quinces, five of mulberries, six of raspberries, six of currants, five of filberts, eight of walnuts, six of strawberries, and two of medlars. The stock, considered according to its growth, has in the first class of ornamental trees esteemed for their foliage, flowers, or fruit, seventy-six sorts; of the second class, fifty-six sorts; of the third class, one hundred and twenty sorts; of ornamental evergreens, fifty-two sorts; of vines and creepers for covering walls and arbors, thirty-five sorts; of honey-suckle, thirty-sorts; and of roses, eighty varieties.’

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CHAPTER IV.—MANUFACTURES.71

NECESSITY forced upon the first settlers of this country, at a very early period, some attention to manufactures. The colony of Massachusetts was founded in 1630. Between that year and 1640, there was a great and steady influx of settlers; and the first and most profitable object of pursuit was the raising of provisions. We can scarcely conceive of the state of industry in a community, to which there is every year added, by emigration, a number of individuals equal to the existing population. Such, however, for a few years, was the case in New England. So great was the demand, that cattle sold as high as twenty-five pounds sterling a head. In 1640, the republicans got possession of the government in England; persecution for religious non-conformity ceased, and with it the influx of emigrants to this country. Cattle fell immediately to about five pounds a head. The effect was distressing, but it put the sagacious colonists upon new resources. The account of this, contained in the early historian of the colony, is strongly characterized by the simplicity of elder times. After describing the check put to emigration, he goes on as follows:—‘Now the country of New England was to seek, of a way to provide themselves with clothing, which they could not obtain by selling cattle, as before; which now were fallen from that huge price forementioned, first to fourteen pounds sterling and ten pounds sterling a head, and presently after, at best within the year, to five pounds a-piece; nor was there at that rate, a ready vent for them neither. Thus the flood which brought in much wealth to many persons, the contrary ebb carried all away out of their reach. To help them in this their exigent, besides the industry that the present necessity put particular persons upon, for the necessary supply of themselves and their families, the general court made order for the manufacture of woolen and linen cloth, which, with God’s blessing upon man’s endeavor, in a little time stopped this gap in part, and soon after another door was opened by special Providence. For when one hand was shut by way of supply from England, another was opened by way of traffic, first to the West Indies and Wine islands, whereby among other goods, much cotton wool was brought into the country from the Indies, which the inhabitants learning to spin, and breeding of sheep and sowing of hemp and flax, they soon found out a way to supply themselves of [cotton] linen, and woolen cloth.’

In 1645, an iron foundery was established at Lynn, in the state of Massachusetts; but the same historian tells us that ‘instead of drawing out bars of iron for the country’s use, there was hammered out nothing but contentions and lawsuits.’ In the same year, the general court of the colony granted to a company, of which governor Winthrop’s son was the head, as an encouragement to undertake the iron manufacture, three thousand acres of land, a monopoly for twenty-one years, the liberty to use any place containing ore, in the public domain not already granted, a tract of land three miles square in the neighborhood of each establishment, and freedom from taxation. These liberal acts of encouragement show the necessity which was felt in the very infancy of the country, of giving a legislative protection to manufactures.

But to understand the history of the industry of the country, we must bear in mind, that America was a colonial possession, and that the growth and welfare of the mother country was the avowed object of colonial policy. Great Britain, if she wished America to prosper, wished it to be on the principles, not of national, but of colonial prosperity; to furnish her such agricultural products as she did not raise herself, to employ her shipping, and to consume her manufactures. As it soon appeared that the Dutch, at that time the most expert navigators in Europe, were getting possession of no small part of the carrying trade of the world, and pursuing a profitable commerce with a part of the colonial possessions of Great Britain, the navigation law of 1650 was passed, under the auspices of Cromwell. It was among the few laws of the commonwealth, which were re-enacted at the restoration. The object of this law,—in the opinion of Sir William Blackstone, ‘the most beneficial for the trade and commerce of these kingdoms,’—was, in the words of the same accomplished jurist, ‘to mortify our sugar islands, which were disaffected to the parliament, and still held out for Charles II., by stopping the gainful trade, which they then carried on with the Dutch, and at the same time to clip the wings of these our opulent and aspiring neighbors.’ Although aimed particularly at the West Indies, this law, of course, extended its provisions to all the other British colonies, and among them to those established on the American coast. By them, however, it was generally resisted as an encroachment on their rights. Ineffectual attempts were made for a century, to enforce it; and in this struggle were sowed the seeds of the revolution.

Nor did the humble attempts of the colonies in manufactures fail to awaken the jealousy of the mother country. Sir Josiah Child, although a more liberal politician than many of his countrymen, in his discourse on trade, published in 1670, pronounces New England ‘the most prejudicial plantation of Great Britain;’ and gives for this opinion the singular reason, that they are a people ‘whose frugality, industry, and temperance, and the happiness of whose laws and institutions promise to them long life, and a wonderful increase of people, riches, and power.’

After many fruitless attempts, on the part of the executive authority of Great Britain, to keep down the enterprise and industry of the country, in those departments of industry which were disallowed by the laws of trade, recourse was had to parliament. The house of commons took up the subject in 1731, and called upon the board of trade and plantations to make a report ‘with respect to any laws made, manufactures set up, or trade carried on in the colonies, detrimental to the trade, navigation and manufactures of Great Britain.’ In the result of this inquiry it appeared, that among other branches of manufacture for domestic supply, hats were made in the colonies in considerable quantities, and had even been exported to foreign countries. In consequence of this alarming discovery, the law of 5 George II. c. 22. was passed, forbidding hats or felts to be exported from the colonies, or even ‘to be loaded on a horse, cart, or other carriage for transportation, from one plantation to another.’ Nor was this all; in 1750, a law was passed by the parliament of Great Britain, which must be considered a disgrace to the legislation of a civilized country. It prohibited ‘the erection or continuance of any mill or other engine for slitting or rolling iron, or any plaiting forge, to work with a tilt hammer, or any furnace for making steel, in the colonies, under penalty of two hundred pounds.’ Every such mill, engine, forge, or furnace was declared a common nuisance, which the governors of the provinces, on information, were bound to abate, under penalty of five hundred pounds, within thirty days!

It has been, within a few years, stated by Mr. Huskisson, and with truth, that the real causes of the revolution are to be found, not in the irritating measures that followed Mr. Grenville’s plan of taxation, but in the long-cherished discontent of the colonies, at this system of legislative oppression. Accordingly, the first measures of the patriots aimed to establish their independence, on the basis of the productive industry and the laborious arts of the country. They began with a non-importation agreement, nearly two years before the declaration of independence. This agreement, with the exception of the addresses to the people of America and Great Britain, was the only positive act of the first Congress, that met at Philadelphia in 1774, and it is signed by every member of that body. The details, to which it descends, are full of instruction. The seventh article provides that ‘we will use our utmost endeavors to improve the breed of sheep, and increase their numbers to the greatest extent;’ and the eighth, ‘that we will, in our several stations, encourage frugality, economy, and industry, and promote agriculture, arts, and the manufactures of this country, especially those of wool.’

The policy indicated by these resolutions was, of course, favored by a state of war. All regular commercial intercourse with Great Britain was interrupted, and the supply of prize goods, which took its place, was casual and uncertain. We had as yet formed no connections in trade, with other countries; nor if we had, could their manufactures have found their way across the ocean, amidst the cruisers of the enemy, at any other than high prices. Fresh impulse was accordingly given to what few manufactures existed before the revolution, and new ones of various kinds were attempted with success. One of the earliest of these was the manufacture of nails, upon which lord Chatham had placed his memorable prohibition. It is within the memory of man, that the first attempt to manufacture cut nails, in New England, was made in the southern part of Massachusetts in the revolutionary war, with old iron hoops for the material, and a pair of shears for the machine. Since that period, besides supplying the consumption of the United States,—estimated at from eighty to one hundred million pounds, and at a price not much exceeding the duty,—machines of American invention for the manufacture of nails have been introduced into England; and large quantities of nails are exported from the United States to foreign countries.

On the return of peace in 1783, the influx of foreign goods, in many respects prejudicial to the country, proved in the highest degree disastrous to its mechanical and manufacturing industry. The want of one national government, and the division of the powers of government among thirteen sovereignties, made it impossible, by a uniform revenue system, to remedy the evil. The states generally attempted, by their separate navigation laws, to secure their trade to their own vessels; but the rivalry and selfish policy of some states counteracted the efforts of others, and eventually threw almost the whole navigation of the country into foreign hands. So low had it sunk in Boston, that in 1788, it was thought expedient, on grounds of patriotism, to get up a subscription to build three ships; and this incident, proving nothing but the poverty and depression of the town, was hailed as one which would give renewed activity to the industry of the trades’ people and mechanics of Boston! The same class of citizens and the manufacturers in general, in the state of Massachusetts, petitioned the government of that state, by bounties, imposts, and prohibitions, to protect their industry. This prayer was granted, and a tariff of duties laid, which in some points,—that of coarse cottons for instance,—was higher than any duty laid by Congress, before the war of 1812.

But the state of the country rendered these laws of little avail. Binding in Boston, they were of no validity in Rhode Island; and what was subject to duty in New York, might be imported free in Connecticut and New Jersey. The state of the industry of the country was depressed to a point of distress, unknown in the midnight of the revolution. The shipping had dwindled to nothing. The manufacturing establishments were kept up by bounties and by patriotic associations and subscriptions, and even the common trades were threatened with ruin. It was plain, for instance, that, in the comparative condition of the United States and Great Britain, not a hatter, a boot or shoe maker, a saddler, or a brass founder could carry on his business, except in the coarsest and most ordinary productions of their various trades, under the pressure of foreign competition. Thus was presented the extraordinary and calamitous spectacle of a successful revolution, wholly failing of its ultimate object. The people of America had gone to war, not for names, but for things. It was not merely to change a government administered by kings, princes, and ministers, for a government administered by presidents, and secretaries, and members of congress. It was to redress their own grievances, to improve their own condition, to throw off the burden which the colonial system laid on their industry. To attain these objects, they endured incredible hardships, and bore and suffered almost beyond the measure of humanity. And when their independence was attained, they found it was a piece of parchment. The arm which had struck for it in the field, was palsied in the workshop; the industry which had been burdened in the colonies, was crushed in the free states; and, at the close of the revolution, the mechanics and manufacturers of the country found themselves, in the bitterness of their hearts, independent—and ruined.

They looked round them in despair. They cast about for means of relief, and found none, but in a plan of a voluntary association throughout the continent, and an appeal to the patriotism of their fellow-citizens. Such an association was formed in Boston in 1787 or 1788, and a circular letter was addressed by them to their brethren throughout the union. The proposal was favorably received, and in some of the cities zealously acted upon; but, unsupported by a general legislation, its effects must at best have been partial and inadequate.

But before our citizens had discovered this, by sad experience, a new and unhoped-for remedy for their sufferings had been devised. The day-star of the constitution arose; and of all the classes of the people of America, to whose hearts it came as the harbinger of blessings long hoped for and long despaired of, most unquestionably the tradesmen, mechanics, and manufacturers hailed it with the warmest welcome. It had in fact grown out of the all-pervading inefficiency and wretchedness of the revenue system, which had been felt in ruin by them, more than by any other class. The feelings, with which it was regarded by the ‘tradesmen and manufacturers of New York,’ will appear from their letter, in reply to the circular of the association in Boston. This expression of the sentiments which were entertained in New York, while the adoption of the constitution by that state was an event of a few months’ standing, may afford instruction and bear repetition at the present day.

Such were the feelings and hopes, with which the laboring classes of the country in general, particularly the manufacturers and mechanics looked forward to the adoption of the federal constitution. In the state of Massachusetts, it is admitted, that the question of adoption was decided, under the influence of the association of tradesmen and manufacturers already mentioned. In the convention of that state, the encouragement of manufactures, by protecting laws, was declared in debate to be a leading and avowed object of the constitution. As it was successively adopted in each state, triumphant processions of the tradesmen, mechanics, and manufacturers, with the banners of their industry, and mottos expressive of their reliance on the new constitution for protection, evinced, in the most imposing form, and in the presence of uncounted multitudes, the principles, the expectations, and the hopes of the industrious classes of the community. Processions of this kind were organized in Portsmouth, in Boston, in New York, in Philadelphia, in Baltimore, and in Charleston; and the sentiment which animated and inspired them all, was that which was expressed in the motto inscribed upon the banners of the manufacturers in Philadelphia, ‘May the Union Government protect the Manufactures of America.’

Forty-three years have since passed, and it is now earnestly maintained, and that by intelligent citizens, that the federal constitution thus adopted, under the influence of the mechanics and manufacturers, (who knew that by the new government the power of protecting their pursuits was taken from the governments of the states, who had before held and exercised it), confers no power on congress to protect the labor of the country, and that the exercise of such power is unconstitutional. When we consider the control over public sentiment possessed by the associated mechanics and manufacturers of our large towns, and the slender majorities by which, in some states, the constitution was adopted it is not too much to say, that if such a conception of its powers had then prevailed, it never would have been ratified.

A quorum of the house of representatives under the new constitution was formed, for the first time, on 1st April, 1789. In one week from that day, Mr. Madison brought forward the subject of the revenue system, as the most important, which required the attention of the national legislature. Pending the discussion of this subject, and three days after it commenced, a memorial was presented ‘from the tradesmen, manufacturers, and others of the town of Baltimore, in the state of Maryland, praying an imposition of such duties on all foreign articles, which can be made in America, as will give a just and decided preference to the labors of the petitioners, and that there may be granted to them, in common with the other manufacturers and mechanics of the United States, such relief as to the wisdom of congress may seem proper.’ This was followed up, the next day, by a petition from the shipwrights of Charleston, S. C., stating ‘the distress they were in, from the decline of that branch of the business, and the present situation of the trade of the United States, and praying that the wisdom and policy of the national legislature may be directed to such measures, in a general regulation of trade, and the establishment of a proper navigation act, as will relieve the particular distresses of the petitioners, in common with those of their fellow shipwrights, throughout the union.’

Thus the two first memorials presented to the congress of the United States were for protecting duties on American industry; and of these memorials, one was from Baltimore, and the other from Charleston, South Carolina.

A few days after, a similar memorial came in from New York, ‘setting forth that, in the present deplorable state of commerce and manufactures, they look with confidence to the operations of the new government for a restoration of both, and that relief which they have so long and so ardently desired; that they have subjoined a list of such articles as can be manufactured in New York, and humbly pray the countenance and attention of the national legislature thereto.’

Numerous other petitions of like purport were shortly after presented, and in pursuance of their prayers, as well as from the crying demands of the public service, the first impost law was passed, at an early period of the session. It was, with the exception of the law prescribing the oaths of office, the first law, which was passed under the new government. In the long debate, which arose, at different stages of its progress, the idea was advanced, by members from every part of the country, that congress were bound to lay duties, that would encourage its manufacturing industry; and it does not appear that the suggestion was made in the reported debates, that they did not constitutionally possess the power. Mr. Madison thus expressed himself on the subject:—“The states, that are most advanced in population and ripe for manufactures, ought to have their particular interest attended to, in some degree. While these states retained the power of making regulations of trade, they had the power to protect and cherish such institutions. By adopting the present constitution, they have thrown the exercise of this power into other hands. They must have done this with the expectation, that those interests would not be neglected here.” And again, “duties laid on imported articles may have an effect, which comes within the idea of national prudence. It may happen that materials for manufactures may grow up, without any encouragement for this purpose. It has been the case in some of the states. But in others, regulations have been provided and have succeeded in producing some establishments, which ought not to be allowed to perish, from the alteration which has taken place. It would be cruel to neglect them, and turn their industry to other channels; for it is not possible for the hand of man to shift from one employment to another, without being injured by the change. There maybe some manufactures, which, being once formed, can advance toward perfection, without any adventitious aid; while others, for want of the fostering hand of government, will be unable to go on at all. Legislative attention will be therefore necessary to collect the proper objects for this purpose.” Such were the principles on which this law was supported; and when it finally passed, it was stated, in the preamble, to be ‘for the support of government, the discharge of the debts of the United States, and the encouragement and protection of manufactures.’

The present manufacturing system of the United States may be considered, partly as the result of the revenue laws of 1789, which remained without essential changes till the embargo of 1807, and partly as the effect of that and the other restrictive measures, and of the war which followed them. Those branches of industry, which are commonly called the mechanic arts, received, for the most part, though not without exception, an ample protection under the former laws:—manufactures on a large scale, requiring great capital and skill, owed their existence to the total interruption of commerce. In the combined result, a very large amount of American capital was, at the peace of 1815, found invested in manufactures. It was the prevalent opinion of the statesmen of that day, and those of the south among the foremost, that this capital ought to be protected; and the success which had attended some of the manufactures, on a large scale, had produced some change in the public opinion, as to the capacity of the country to support them.

In other parts of the volume we have mentioned the chief manufacturing establishments in the country, and, for the purpose of avoiding repetition, have reserved statistical details for the tabular views at the end of the work.

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CHAPTER V.—COMMERCE.

In the rapid growth of their commerce, the United States have enjoyed a most wonderful prosperity. We have, in a previous chapter, alluded to the restrictive measures adopted by the mother country, while we remained in colonial subjection, and it will not be necessary to enter into farther details on that subject. During the revolutionary difficulties, the traffic which had previously existed was of course suspended, and after the peace, commerce was still embarrassed with numerous impediments. These found their origin in the very nature of the confederation, and were inseparable from the confused and ineffective powers of such a political system. Congress had no power to impose any duties without the unanimous consent of the states, and it is apparent at once how entirely impossible it was, under such circumstances, to adjust a system that should be universally acceptable. The foreign articles on which Pennsylvania laid a duty, New Jersey admitted free; facility of smuggling from one of these states to the other was unavoidable from their situation.

The several states laid different rates of duty on foreign tonnage; in some, one shilling sterling per ton was imposed on vessels which in other states paid three shillings per ton. Such was the misunderstanding among the several states, that there were no general commercial regulations; nor could congress enforce any, while the opposition of any one of the states could prevent the passage of any act on the subject. The evil of this condition of affairs was flagrantly manifest, when, to provide a fund to discharge the public debt, and to pay the arrears of the revolutionary soldiers, it was proposed to congress, during the operation of the articles of confederation, to lay a duty of five per cent. ad valorem on all foreign merchandise imported, and the opposition of Rhode Island alone was sufficient to defeat the plan.

European nations gladly availed themselves of the embarrassed situation of our affairs, and labored to throw every obstacle in the way of our increasing commerce. They refused to negotiate commercial treaties; for even those nations which were ready to countenance our assertion of independence, were not ready to receive us as competitors and rivals in a struggle where their own interests were so deeply involved. The call for an amendment of the regulations on foreign trade, was one of the leading inducements to the change of the old confederation, and the new constitution embraced the necessary provisions for the establishment of a successful intercourse with foreign nations. Not long after the adoption of the new constitution, Mr. Jefferson, then secretary of state, proposed a liberal system of policy in relation to this intercourse. His report on the subject of our commercial relations at that period, contains a variety of interesting matter, which enables us to make a correct comparison between the condition of our trade at that period and its present very great increase. This report was prepared in the summer of 1792. The countries with which the United States had commercial intercourse at that period were Spain, Portugal, France, Great Britain, the United Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden, and their American possessions: and the articles of export, which constitute the basis of that commerce, with their respective amounts, were,

Bread stuff, that is to say, bread grains, meals, and bread, to the annual amount of	$ 7,649,887
Tobacco	4,349,567
Rice	1,753,796
Wood	1,263,534
Salted fish	941,696
Pot and pearl ashes	839,093
Salted meats	599,130
Indigo	537,379
Horses and mules	339,753
Whale oil	252,591
Flax seed	236,072
Tar, pitch, and turpentine	217,177
Live provisions	137,743
Ships
Foreign goods	620,274

To descend to articles of smaller value than these, would lead into a minuteness of detail neither necessary nor useful to the present object.

The proportions of our exports, which went to the nations before mentioned, and to their dominions respectively, were as follows:

To Spain and its dominions	$ 2,005,907
Portugal and its dominions	1,283,462
France and its dominions	4,698,735
Great Britain and its dominions	9,363,416
The United Netherlands and their dominions	1,963,880
Denmark and its dominions	224,415
Sweden and its dominions	47,240

Our imports from the same countries were,

Spain and its dominions	$ 335,110
Portugal and its dominions	595,763
France and its dominions	2,068,348
Great Britain and its dominions	15,285,428
United Netherlands and their dominions	1,172,692
Denmark and its dominions	351,364
Sweden and its dominions	14,325

These imports consist mostly of articles on which industry has been exhausted.

Our navigation, depending on the same commerce, will appear by the following statement of the tonnage of our own vessels, entering in our ports, from those several nations and their possessions, in one year; that is to say, from October, 1789, to September, 1790, inclusive, as follows

Spain	19,695	tons
Portugal	23,576	“
France	116,410	“
Great Britain	43,580	“
United Netherlands	58,858	“
Denmark	14,655	“
Sweden	750	“

The report then goes on to describe the degree of favor with which each of the several articles of export is received in each of the nations mentioned, and the nature and extent of the restrictions which had been adopted by each government in reference to American commerce. It then proceeds to the investigation of the question, how may these restrictions be removed, modified, or counteracted? Two methods are suggested; first, by friendly arrangements with the several nations with whom these restrictions exist; or, secondly, by the separate act of our own legislatures for countervailing their effects. The views taken in this report have so important a bearing on many political subjects that have of late years agitated the country, and indicate so clearly the opinions of Mr. Jefferson in regard to the constitutional powers of Congress, in regulating commerce, that it seems not improper to present in this connection the following extracts:

‘Instead of embarrassing commerce under piles of regulating laws, duties, and prohibitions, could it be relieved from all its shackles in all parts of the world; could every country be employed in producing that which nature has best fitted it to produce, and each be free to exchange with others mutual surplusses for mutual wants, the greatest mass possible would then be produced of those things which contribute to human life and human happiness; the numbers of mankind would be increased, and their condition bettered.

‘Would even a single nation begin with the United States this system of free commerce, it would be advisable to begin it with that nation; since it is one by one only, that it can be extended to all. Where the circumstances of either party render it expedient to levy a revenue, by way of impost, on commerce, its freedom might be modified, in that particular, by mutual and equivalent measures, preserving it entire in all others.

‘Some nations, not yet ripe for free commerce in all its extent, might still be willing to mollify its restrictions and regulations for us, in proportion to the advantages which an intercourse with us might offer. Particularly they may concur with us in reciprocating the duties to be levied on each side, or in compensating any excess of duty by equivalent advantages of another nature. Our commerce is certainly of a character to entitle it to favor in most countries. The commodities we offer are either necessaries of life, or materials for manufacture, or convenient subjects of revenue; and we take in exchange, either manufactures, when they have received the last finish of art and industry, or mere luxuries. Such customers may reasonably expect welcome and friendly treatment at every market. Customers, too, whose demands, increasing with their wealth and population, must very shortly give full employment to the whole industry of any nation whatever, in any line of supply they may get into the habit of calling for from it.

‘But should any nation, contrary to our wishes, suppose it may better find its advantage by continuing its system of prohibitions, duties, and regulations, it behoves us to protect our citizens, their commerce and navigation, by counter prohibitions, duties, and regulations, also. Free commerce and navigation are not to be given in exchange for restrictions and vexations, nor are they likely to produce a relaxation of them.

‘Our navigation involves still higher considerations. As a branch of industry, it is valuable, but as a resource of defence, essential.

‘Its value, as a branch of industry, is enhanced by the dependence of so many other branches on it. In times of general peace, it multiplies competitors for employment in transportation, and so keeps that at its proper level; and in times of war, that is to say, when those nations who may be our principal carriers, shall be at war with each other, if we have not within ourselves the means of transportation, our produce must be exported in belligerent vessels, at the increased expense of war-freight and insurance, and the articles which will not bear that, must perish on our hands.’

The troubled situation of affairs in Europe exerted a very favorable influence on American commerce. The wars which followed in the train of the French revolution, created a demand for our exports, and invited our shipping for the carrying trade of a very considerable portion of Europe. American bottoms not only carried the colonial productions to the several parent states, but our merchants became the purchasers of them in the French, Spanish, and Dutch colonies. A new era was established in our commercial history. Large numbers of individuals embarked in commercial enterprises, and the other departments of industry were comparatively deserted. The most adventurous became the most wealthy, and that, too, without any knowledge of the principles on which trade is usually conducted. No one confined himself to a single branch of business, but the same individual was concerned in voyages to the four quarters of the globe. Our tonnage increased with a rapidity proportioned to its demand; in proportion to our population, we ranked as the most commercial of nations; in point of value, our trade was second only to that of Great Britain.

This astonishing increase of commercial connections, and consequent accumulation of wealth, could not but excite the jealousy of European nations, and eventually occasioned a series of restrictive and prohibitory codes, on the part of England and France, at that time belligerent, by which the Americans, as a neutral power, suffered infinite damage. Indeed, between the years 1804 and 1807, inclusive, above one thousand American merchant vessels were captured by nations professedly at peace with the United States, for alleged breaches of blockade, or of commercial decrees. Under these circumstances, the government of the United States, at the close of the year 1807, resorted to an embargo, to prevent the destruction of the mercantile navy, which was continued till March, 1809. Thus the export trade of the United States, after having, in the course of sixteen years, from 1790 to 1806, acquired an augmentation of nearly ninety millions of dollars, was, in 1807, reduced by a single blow to the aggregate of twenty-two millions, four hundred and thirty thousand, nine hundred and sixty dollars, being only one million, six hundred and seventy-seven thousand, eight hundred and sixty-two dollars more than the amount in 1791, the second year after the organization of the present government. On raising the embargo, commerce at once revived, and during the years 1809 and 1810, the amount of exports, so far as related to domestic products, was greater than the average of the ten years from 1802 to 1812.

Subsequently to the declaration of war with Great Britain, the export trade of the United States was materially depressed, till, in the year 1814, it did not amount to seven millions of dollars. At the conclusion of the war, the exports rose in 1815 to fifty-two millions; in 1816, to eighty-one; in 1817, to eighty-seven; in 1818, to ninety-three. From 1819 to 1824, the amount ranged between sixty-five and seventy-five millions, the average being above seventy; but in 1825, the amount of exports again rose to nearly one hundred millions of dollars. From 1826 to 1830, the exports ranged from seventy to eighty millions; the exports of foreign goods have materially declined, the amount for 1830 being little more than fourteen millions, a smaller amount than any year since 1803, except those of the embargo and war, while the domestic exports are nearly sixty millions, an amount exceeding those of any preceding year, excepting the years 1816, ’17, ’18, and ’25.

The official accounts presented to congress divide the exports into four classes: products of the sea, the forest, agriculture, and manufactures. The following is a summary of the exports of the year 1830; the details of this and other years will be found in the tabular views at the end of the volume. The products of the sea, consisting of the results of the whale, cod, mackerel, and herring fisheries, exported mostly from the northern states, amount to one million, seven hundred and twenty-five thousand, two hundred and seventy dollars, being nearly a thirty-fifth part of the whole domestic exports. About one third of this value consists of codfish, and more than half of the products of the whale fisheries.

The value of skins, furs, ginseng, amber, staves, bark, tar, pitch, resin, and turpentine, and pot and pearl ashes, partly from the northern and partly from the southern states, which were formerly of much greater comparative importance, now constitutes nearly one fifteenth part of the whole value of domestic exports, and amounts to four millions, one hundred and ninety-two thousand, and forty dollars. A large proportion of the trade in these articles, as well as in those of codfish and bread stuffs, is carried on with the West Indies, Mexico, and South America. The skins and the furs go to Europe and Canton, the ginseng to Canton, and the pot and pearl ashes to France and England.

The chief amount of articles of export consist, as would naturally be supposed, of the products of agriculture. The article of cotton alone furnishes nearly half of the amount of the whole exports of the United States, being for the year 1830 twenty-nine million, six hundred and seventy-four thousand, eight hundred and thirty-three dollars. The next important article of export is wheat, either as grain, flour, or biscuit; the amount being six million, three hundred and twenty thousand, six hundred seventeen dollars. The third in amount is tobacco, five million, five hundred and eighty-six thousand, three hundred and sixty-five dollars; the fourth, rice, one million, nine hundred and eighty-six thousand, eight hundred twenty-four dollars; the fifth, the produce of swine, including pork, bacon, and live hogs, one million, three hundred and fifteen thousand, two hundred and forty-five dollars. Three of the most important of these articles, cotton, tobacco, and rice, amounting collectively to thirty-seven million, two hundred and forty-eight thousand, and seventy-two dollars, are the produce of the southern states, including Virginia and Kentucky. The other agricultural exports, viz. beef, tallow, hides and cattle, butter, cheese, horses, mules, sheep, rye meal, oats, potatoes, and apples, flax seed, and hops, are mostly furnished by the middle and western states. Cattle and their products, including butter and cheese, amounted to eight hundred and sixty thousand, and fifty-three dollars. This species of export is of far less comparative importance than formerly, being limited to its present amount, not by the capacity for production, but by the extent of demand in the foreign markets. An increase of the foreign demand would soon double and treble the quantity. Some of the articles comprehended in the above list, though agricultural products, yet involve some process of manufacture; such, for example, as butter, cheese, bacon, flour, biscuit, meal, and part of the tobacco. A great many, however, of the exports coming under the head of manufactures, include in them the value of materials, such as the cotton fabrics, those of leather, and spirits distilled from grain: so that, on the whole, the strictly agricultural products of the country constitute a larger proportion of the whole exports than the tables represent; and if we add the value of materials supplied by agriculture for the manufactured exports, we shall have at least six sevenths of the whole domestic exportation consisting of the raw products of agriculture.

The total amount of manufactured articles exported from the United States in the year 1830, is estimated in the official returns at six million, two hundred and fifty-eight thousand, one hundred and thirty-one dollars, being rather more than one tenth of the domestic exports of the country; about nine hundred and thirty thousand dollars should, however, be struck out of this list, being gold and silver coin, consisting mostly of metals coined at the mint, and again exported. The labor put upon these materials in coining is so inconsiderable a part of their value, that the amount of coin of the country exported ought not to be included in the estimate of the value of manufactured exports. Of the articles exported on which the arts of the United States are employed, the most considerable are cotton twist, thread, and fabrics, the exported value of which, for the year 1830, was one million, eight hundred and thirteen thousand, one hundred and eighty-three dollars, being more than one fiftieth part of the whole domestic exports, the principal markets of which are South America, Mexico, and the Mediterranean.

The value of leather and its various manufactures, exported, is three hundred and seventy-five thousand, two hundred and fifty dollars. Hats exported the same year amount to three hundred and nine thousand, three hundred and sixty-two dollars, a very large sum, considering the short period during which this article has been sent to foreign markets. Soap and candles have long been supplied for the foreign markets, but have lately been on the decline, the amount for the year 1830 being six hundred and nineteen thousand, two hundred and thirty-eight dollars; and for 1831 only about twenty-five thousand dollars more. The various articles manufactured for the most part of wood, such as furniture, or of wood, leather, and iron, such as coaches and carriages, besides various agricultural implements supplied to the West Indies and South America, constitute an important branch of trade. The American glass begins to appear in the foreign markets; the value sent abroad in 1830, was sixty thousand, two hundred and eighty dollars; in the next year it was nearly doubled, and it bids fair to be still increased. The other exports consist of a variety of articles in small quantities, among which are wearing apparel, combs and buttons, brushes, fire engines and apparatus, printing presses and types, musical instruments, books, maps, paper and stationery, and trunks. It is apparent from the above enumeration and estimates, that the manufactured articles of which the export is the most considerable and most flourishing are those of which the raw materials consist mostly of cotton, wood, and leather.

The foreign articles imported and again exported from the country during the year 1830, amounted to fourteen million, three hundred and seventy-eight thousand, four hundred and seventy-nine dollars. This transit trade consequently forms an important part of American commerce. The principal foreign articles exported are cottons, coffee and cocoa, sugar, tea, wines, and hardware.72

‘The tendency to the sea,’ says Mr. Cooper, in his Notions of the Americans, ‘which the American has manifested since the earliest of the colonial establishments, is, no doubt, to be ascribed originally to the temper of his ancestors. Nothing can be more absurd, however, than to argue, that although peculiar circumstances drew him on the ocean, during the continuance of the late and general hostilities, he will return to his fertile valleys and vast prairies, now that competitors for the profits of commerce and navigation are arising among the former belligerents. The argument implies an utter ignorance of history, no less than of the character and sagacity of a people who are never tardy to discover their individual interests. It is, notwithstanding, often urged with so much pertinacity, as to savor much more of the conclusions of what we hope for, than of what our reason would teach us to believe. The fact is, there never has been a period, since society was first firmly organized in their country, when the Anglo-Americans have not possessed a tonnage greater, in proportion to their population and means, than that of any other people, some of the small commercial cities, perhaps, alone excepted. This was true, even previously to their revolution, when the mother country monopolized all of trade and industry that the temper of the colonies would bear, and it is true now, to an extent of which you have probably no suspicion. The present population of the United States may be computed at twelve million, while the amount of shipping materially exceeds one million four hundred thousand tons.73 Assuming that amount, however, it gives one ton to every eight and a half of the inhabitants. The tonnage of the British empire is, in round numbers, two million, five hundred thousand. This, divided among the twenty-three million of the British islands alone, would give but one ton to every nine of the inhabitants. In this calculation, the vast difference in wealth is forgotten. But by the British empire, we are to understand Canada, the West Indies, and all the vast possessions which are tributary to the wealth and power of that great nation. I know not whether the shipping employed in the East Indies ought to be enumerated in the amount named. If it is, you will see the disproportion in favor of America is enormous. But assuming that it is not, it becomes necessary to add several millions for their other dependencies. There is, however, still another point of view in which this comparison should, with strict justice, be made. A large proportion of the people of the United States are so situated, that in the nature of things they cannot turn much, if any, of their attention to navigation. If the slaves and the inhabitants of the new states, where the establishments are still too infant, to admit of such a development of their resources, be deducted from the whole amount of the population, it will not leave more than seven million of souls in possession of those districts in which navigation can be supposed at all to exist. The latter, too, will include all those states that are called interior, where time has not been given to effect any thing like a natural division of the employments of men. The result will show, that the Americans, relatively considered, are addicted to navigation, as compared with Great Britain, in the proportion of more than seven to five; nor has this commercial, or rather maritime spirit, arisen under auspices so encouraging as is generally imagined.

‘The navigation laws, adopted by the United States, so soon as their present constitution went into operation, are generally known. Their effect was to bring the shipping of the country into instant competition with that of foreign nations, from the state of temporary depression into which it had been thrown by the struggle of the revolution. From that hour, the superiority enjoyed by the American, in cheapness of construction, provisions and naval stores, aided by the unrivalled activity, and practical knowledge of the population, put all foreign competition at defiance. Of six hundred and six thousand tons of shipping employed in 1790, in the foreign trade of the country, not less than two hundred and fifty-one thousand tons were the property of strangers. In 1794, while the trade employed six hundred and eleven thousand tons, but eighty-four thousand tons were owned by foreigners. In 1820, (a year of great depression,) the trade gave occupation to eight hundred and eighty thousand tons, of which no more than seventy-nine thousand tons were foreign property. This estimate, however, includes the intercourse with the least, no less than that with the most maritime nation. The trade between the United States and England, which is the most important of all, in respect of the tonnage, it employs, was about three to one, in favor of the former; with other countries it varies according to the maritime character of the people, but with all and each it is altogether in favor of the United States.’

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CHAPTER VI.—RAIL-ROADS.

The first rail-road attempted in the United States, was that constructed in Quincy, for the purpose of transporting granite from the quarry at that place. It extends from the quarry to the Neponset river, a distance of about three miles. It is a single track road, and the distance between the rails is five feet. The rails are of pine, covered with oak, and overlaid with thin plates of wrought iron. When first constructed, the passage from the quarry to the landing of a car carrying ten tons, with a single horse, was performed in an hour. It was completed in 1827.

The Boston and Lowell rail-road commences at Boston, near the entrance to the Warren bridge. Twenty acres of flat have been purchased at this place to accommodate the various depots of the company. The rail-road crosses Charles river by a wooden viaduct, and terminates at the basin of the canal in Lowell; whence branches extend along the several canals to the factories. It is constructed of stone and iron, in the most substantial manner. The company to form this road was incorporated in June, 1830.74

The Boston and Worcester rail-road was commenced in August, 1832. In this road, the greatest degree of inclination from a level will be at the rate of thirty feet a mile; the average inclination will be but ten and a half feet, the main street in Worcester being but four hundred and fifty-six feet higher than Charles street in Boston. The length of the route is forty-three and a quarter miles.

The Boston and Providence Rail-road company was incorporated in June, 1831, with a capital of a million of dollars, for the purpose of constructing a rail-road from Boston to the boundary line of Massachusetts, in the direction of Providence. A company has been formed for the continuation of this road to Stonington. Rail-roads have been projected from Boston or Lowell to Brattleborough; from West Stockbridge to the boundary line of the state of New York, to meet a rail-road from Albany; from Boston to Salem, to be continued to the northern line of the state; from Troy, in New York, at the head of navigation on the Hudson river, to Bennington, a distance of thirty miles to the town of Adams; and from Boston to Ogdensburg, in New York.

The Hudson and Mohawk rail-road extends from Albany to Schenectady, and affords a communication between the tide-water of Hudson river and the Erie canal. It is a double track road, about sixteen miles in length. It commences at the termination of the city line on the Hudson river, and about thirteen acres of land are owned by the company in the vicinity, for depots of transports. About four miles from Schenectady, there is a curve in the road of twenty-three thousand feet radius; there are six principal embankments. The descent from the Schenectady summit to the level of the Hudson, is three hundred and thirty-five feet. The soil through which the road passes is sandy. Several ravines are crossed, and some considerable elevations are cut through. Both locomotive engines and horses are used upon this route. A locomotive has travelled upon it, with a load of eight tons, at the rate of thirty miles per hour. In October, 1831, the number of daily passengers averaged nearly four hundred. The cost of this road was between six and seven hundred thousand dollars.

The Saratoga and Schenectady rail-road forms a continuation of the Mohawk and Hudson rail-road, extending from the city of Schenectady to the villages of Ballston Spa and Saratoga, and uniting these places with the line of steam navigation upon the Hudson. It is twenty miles in length; was commenced in 1831, and completed in the following year.

The Ithaca and Susquehanna rail-road is to extend from the village of Ithaca, near the south end of Cayuga lake, to Owego, on the Susquehanna. The distance is about twenty-eight miles. The Ithaca and Catskill rail-road is to extend a distance of one hundred and sixty-seven miles, from Ithaca to Catskill, on the Hudson. The Catskill and Canajoharie rail-road is to extend for the distance of seventy miles, from Catskill to Canajoharie, on the Mohawk. The company was incorporated in 1830, with a capital of six hundred thousand dollars. The Harlem rail-road is about six miles in length, extending from Twenty-third street, New York city, to Harlem river.

The New York and Erie rail-road company was incorporated in April 1832, with a capital of ten million dollars. It was the original design that the road should extend from the city of New York, or some point in its vicinity, and continue through the southern counties, through Owego, in the county of Tioga, to the shore of lake Erie, at some point between Cattaraugus creek and the Pennsylvania line. It is to be commenced within four years from the date of the act of incorporation, one fourth to be completed within ten years, one half within fifteen years, and the whole to be completed within twenty years, under penalty of forfeiture of the charter.

The New York and Albany rail-road company was incorporated in April, 1832, with a capital of three millions. It is to be completed within ten years; commencing at New York city, opposite the termination of the Fourth avenue, and ending on the Hudson, opposite Albany.75 ‘The proposed route of this road,’ says the Boston Advertiser, ‘passes through the county of Berkshire, in this state, from West Stockbridge to the northern boundary of the state of Connecticut, following the valley of the Housatonic river from Stockbridge to Sharon, in Connecticut. It will thus afford an additional inducement for the extension of the Boston and Worcester rail-road from Worcester to Springfield, and thence to the western boundary of the state. This latter rail-road will meet the New York and Albany road at Stockbridge or West Stockbridge, and will thus come in contact with a continued line of rail-roads, interrupted only by the Hudson river, extending northwardly to Saratoga, westwardly to Utica, and southwardly to the city of New York. It will thus afford the means of direct and rapid intercourse between Boston and the towns in Berkshire county, along the fertile valley of the Housatonic, and with the rich marble quarries and beds of iron ore in that region, as well as with the vast country which will be opened to this mercantile market, beyond the limits of the state. The distance by the rail-road from West Stockbridge to Albany will be about forty miles, of which distance over sixteen miles will be a perfect level. From West Stockbridge to Utica, the distance by the rail-road will be one hundred and thirty-seven miles, over a country a great part of which is level. From Albany to Schenectady, and thence to Saratoga, the rail-road is already finished. From Schenectady to Utica, the road is yet to be made; but the company for building it is formed, with an adequate capital. About seven times the requisite amount of stock was subscribed. The required amount has been apportioned by commissioners among the subscribers, and the subscription money for the surplus shares has been returned.’

The Camden and Amboy rail-road commences at Camden, on the Delaware, opposite to Philadelphia, and passing through Burlington, Bordentown, Highstown, and Spotswood, over South river, terminates at Amboy. It is sixty-one miles in length, passing through a very level country. Being designed for steam locomotives, it is to be constructed in the most improved and substantial manner, though at present wooden rails are laid over a great portion of the line, in order that the embankments may be consolidated before laying the permanent track. A double track of rails is to be laid ultimately through the whole distance. Between Bordentown and Amboy, there is a cut varying in depth to sixty feet, extending nearly two miles. In the vicinity of Bordentown, there are stone culverts and viaducts. It has been calculated that five hundred thousand dollars per annum will be received for the conveyance of light freight and passengers. As the Delaware is frequently closed with ice during part of the winter, and the Philadelphia trade is consequently diverted to New York, it is supposed that vessels destined to Philadelphia, may put into Raritan bay, which is open at all seasons, and the cargoes be conveyed at once upon the rail-road to the place of their destination. To secure this object, large lots on the Raritan and the Delaware have been purchased by the company for the convenience of ships and steamboats.

The Patterson and Hudson river rail-road extends from Patterson, on the Passaic, to Jersey city and the Hudson river, opposite New York, fourteen miles. After the expiration of fifty years, the state of New Jersey has a right to take this road at an appraised value. The Elizabethtown and Somerville rail-road company was incorporated in 1830, with a capital of two hundred thousand dollars, with the liberty of increasing it to four hundred thousand. The West-Jersey rail-road is to extend from the Delaware river, in the county of Gloucester, or from some point on the Camden and Amboy rail-road, to the township of Penn’s Neck, on the same river, in the county of Salem. This company was incorporated at the same session with the above, with a capital of five hundred thousand dollars, and liberty to increase it to two million. The New Jersey rail-road is to extend from New Brunswick, through Rahway, Woodbridge, Elizabethtown and Newark, to Hudson river. It was incorporated in 1832, with a capital of seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. A charter was also granted to a company to construct a rail-road connecting the Morris canal with the Patterson and Hudson river rail-road.

The Mauch Chunk rail-road was the first rail-road constructed in Pennsylvania. It was commenced and finished in the first five months of 1827. It extends from the coal mines near Mauch Chunk, along the side of the mountain, down an inclined plain of various declivities, to the Lehigh river. The mines are nine hundred and thirty-six feet above the point where the boats receive the coal, of which from three hundred to three hundred and fifty tons are delivered daily. From the river to the mines, the road is nine miles in length; and its branches at the ends and sidelings, four and a half miles more. The Mount Carbon rail-road company was incorporated in the spring of 1829, and the rail-road was commenced in the succeeding October. At the termination, the road is elevated upon thirty-one piers of masonry erected upon the landings. The Schuylkill Valley rail-road commences at Port Carbon, and terminates at Tuscarora, being ten miles in length. It is intersected by fifteen lateral rail-roads, whose combined distances amount to about thirteen miles. The Schuylkill rail-road consists of a double track, is thirteen miles in length, and cost seven thousand dollars a mile. Mill Creek rail-road commences at Port Carbon, and extends up Mill creek four miles; it has but a single track. The West Branch rail-road commences at Schuylkill haven, and terminates at the foot of the Broad mountain. It is fifteen miles in length, with five miles of lateral roads that intersect it; only the main stem has a double track. The Pinegrove rail-road extends from the mines to the Swatara feeder, a distance of five miles. The Little Schuylkill rail-road commences at Port Clinton, and extends up the stream to the mines at Tamaqua, a distance of about twenty-three miles. The Lackawaxen rail-road commences at the termination of the Lackawaxen and Delaware and Hudson canal, and connects that canal with the coal bed in Carbondale. It is sixteen miles in length, and overcomes an elevation of eight hundred feet. The road consists of a single track of wooden rails, capped with iron.

The Alleghany Portage rail-road is intended to connect the eastern and western sections of the Pennsylvania canal, and complete the direct line of communication between Philadelphia and Pittsburg. The route adopted commences at Frankstown, crosses the Alleghany mountains at Blair’s gap summit, and descends in the valleys of Laurel run and the Little Conemaugh, to Johnstown, a distance of thirty-eight and a half miles. A tunnel of one thousand feet is projected at one of the bends of the Conemaugh, which will be crossed by two bridges. This road is to be constructed by the state of Pennsylvania.

The Philadelphia and Columbia rail-road is intended to connect the Delaware navigation at Philadelphia with that of the Susquehanna at Columbia, passing through the counties of Delaware, Chester, and Lancaster. It is about eighty-three miles in length, and it is proposed to continue it fourteen miles further, across the Susquehanna, by the Columbia bridge, to the borough of York. About seventy other rail-roads have been projected in Pennsylvania, and companies for constructing several of them have been incorporated.

The Newcastle and Frenchtown rail-road extends from Newcastle, on the Delaware, to the Elk river, near Frenchtown, in Maryland; it is nearly parallel to the Chesapeak and Delaware canal, and is in direct competition with it. This road consists of a single track, with the requisite number of turn-outs, and is about sixteen and a half miles in length—only eight hundred and fifty-three yards longer than a perfectly straight line drawn between its two extremities. It consists of six curve and six straight lines. The curve lines vary in length from one thousand, nine hundred and thirty-nine to eight thousand, two hundred and ninety-six feet. The radii of the three smaller curves are of ten thousand, five hundred and sixty feet each; the radius of the largest, twenty thousand feet. The aggregate length of the curves is five miles and one sixth; that of the straight lines eleven miles and three tenths. The graduation of the road departs from a perfect level, by ascents and descents varying from ten feet six inches to sixteen feet four inches a mile; at one place, for about four thousand feet the slope is at the rate of twenty-nine feet to the mile. The whole amount of excavation is about five hundred thousand cubic yards of earth, exclusive of the side drains. The amount of embankment is four hundred and twenty thousand cubic yards. The road crosses four viaducts and twenty-nine culverts, all constructed of substantial stone masonry. The width is twenty-six feet, exclusive of the side drains. It was completed in 1832. Cost, including land, wharf, depots, and locomotive engines, four hundred thousand dollars.

The Wilmington and Downington rail-road was incorporated by the legislature of Delaware, in 1831, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, with liberty to increase it to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, for the purpose of constructing a rail-road from Wilmington to the boundary line of the state, in the direction of Downington, in Pennsylvania.

The Baltimore and Susquehannah rail-road was commenced in 1830, and is to extend from Baltimore to York, in Pennsylvania, a distance of seventy-six miles. The company has the right of constructing a lateral rail-road, commencing at the main stem, within ten miles of Baltimore, through Westminster, to the head waters of Monocacy river.

The Baltimore and Ohio rail-road is intended to connect the city of Baltimore with some point on the Ohio, thus affording a communication between the waters of Chesapeak bay and those of the great western river. Active operations on this great work were commenced in the autumn of 1828. The road begins at the head of the basin in Baltimore. In the city it consists of a single track, and is to be confined to horse power, branch railways are to be constructed in various directions. On the portion of the rail-road within a few miles of the city, several magnificent viaducts are constructed, of substantial stone masonry. The Carrollton viaduct, over Gwyn’s falls, is constructed of granite; its whole exterior is hewn, it consists of two arches, and is three hundred and twelve feet in length. Its height, from the foundation to the top of the parapet, is sixty-three feet nine inches; from the surface of the water to the top of the parapet, fifty-one feet and nine inches. The width of the railway travelling-path is twenty-six feet six inches; the chord of the arch springing from the abutments, eighty feet three inches. It is a structure of great beauty and solidity. The bridge across the Patapsco is a stone structure, consisting of two arches of fifty-five feet span each, and two of twenty feet span each. There are also several deep cuts and extensive embankments.

Upon the route selected for this rail-road, there are only two summits for the distance of one hundred and eighty miles. The approach to the first of these summits, at Parr Spring ridge, is by an acclivity so gradual as not to exceed eighteen feet to the mile. From the western side of this ridge, to the coal mines near Cumberland, the route for the whole distance is adapted to steam locomotive engines. From the eastern base of the Alleghany mountain, a series of inclined planes will be required to overcome a summit of twelve hundred feet; from thence the road may be constructed upon a line so nearly level to the Ohio river, as to be traversed by steam locomotive engines without difficulty. The progress of the rail-road beyond the Point of Rocks has been interrupted by a lawsuit between the Baltimore and Ohio Rail-road company, and the Chesapeak and Ohio Canal company, which has been decided in favor of the latter. The road is to be extended to the mouth of the Shenandoah. A further extension of thirty miles will carry it to Williamsport, and another of seventy-five miles to Cumberland, and a country abounding in rich bituminous coal. From this point to Pittsburg, the distance is one hundred and forty miles, making the whole length three hundred and twenty-five miles.76

The Baltimore and Washington rail-road is a branch of the Baltimore and Ohio rail-road, and its completion has been undertaken by the same company. Its length from the point of intersection, at Elk ridge landing to Washington, is about thirty-three miles.

The Manchester rail-road is in Chesterfield county, Virginia. It extends from Manchester to the coal mines. It consists of a single track, and is thirteen miles in length. The Petersburg and Roanoke rail-road was undertaken to counteract the injurious effect which the Dismal Swamp canal has had upon the trade of Petersburg.77 It affords a rapid and easy intercourse between the James and Roanoke rivers, and has become a most important link in the chain of communication between the North and the South. Rail-roads have also been projected from Richmond to Lynchburg; from Lynchburg to New River; from Suffolk, in Nansemond county, to the Roanoke river, opposite to the town of Weldon, in North Carolina; and in several other directions.

The Fayetteville rail-road company was incorporated by the legislature of North Carolina, in 1830, with a capital stock of twenty thousand dollars, for the purpose of constructing a rail-road from Fayetteville to Campbelltown, on Cape Fear river. Rail-roads from Cape Fear to the Yadkin; from the Yadkin to the Catawba; and from Wilmington to the iron mining districts, near Statesville, have been projected, and are in progress.

The Charleston and Hamburg rail-road, extending one hundred and thirty-six miles, from Charleston, South Carolina, to Hamburg, opposite Augusta, in Georgia, was opened in October, 1833, for its entire length. The passenger train leaves each place every morning, and arrives on the evening of the day of departure. This enterprise was undertaken by the South Carolina Canal and Rail-road company, which has received pecuniary assistance from the state. A second rail-road of about the same length, to extend from Charleston to Columbia, is also embraced within the objects of this company.

Companies have been incorporated by the legislature of Alabama, to construct a rail-road from Montgomery to Chattahoochie, opposite Columbus, in Georgia; and from Selma, on the Alabama, through Elyta and Montevallo, to Decatur, on the Tennessee. Rail-roads have also been projected between Augusta and Heshman’s lake, a distance of fifty miles; and between Augusta and Columbus, on the Chattahoochie.

The Lexington and Ohio rail-road was commenced in 1831; it is to extend from Lexington to Frankfort, and thence to the Ohio river, just below the falls, near Shippingport, which is two miles distant from Louisville. Its length is about eighty miles. The company by which it was undertaken was incorporated by the legislature of Kentucky in 1830, with a capital stock of one million dollars. Mad River and Lake Erie rail-road is to commence at Dayton, at the head of the Miami canal, and extend to Sandusky, on lake Erie, thus, by means of the canal and rail-road, opening a communication between Cincinnati and the lake. The distance is about one hundred and seventy-five miles.

The Illinois and Michigan rail-road is to commence at Chicago, on lake Michigan, and continue in a south-westerly direction eleven and a half miles to the summit level: in this distance the ascent is only twenty-five feet. After passing the summit level, it is to cross and continue along the river Des Plaines, to the foot of the Illinois rapids, the distance of eighty-five miles, with a descent of exactly two feet a mile; thus giving, in a distance of ninety-six and a half miles, only one hundred and ninety-five feet of rise and fall. A company has been formed for the construction of a rail-road between Detroit and Pontiac, a distance of twenty-five miles. The Tuscumbia rail-road extends from Tuscumbia to Decatur. The Lake Pontchartrain rail-road extends from lake Pontchartrain to New Orleans four and a half miles. It consists of a single track, is perfectly straight and nearly level. A port of entry has been established on the lake, and an artificial harbor and breakwater have been constructed at the termination of the rail-road. The West Feliciana rail-road company was incorporated by the legislature of Louisiana, for the purpose of constructing a rail-road from the river Mississippi, near St. Francisville, to the boundary line of Louisiana and Mississippi, in the direction of Woodville, Mississippi.

The materials for the history of rail-roads in the United States are now so scattered and uncertain, and the roads themselves are so rapidly changing their aspect, that it is in vain to hope for any thing like an authentic account, till all the great systems and chains are completed throughout the country. We have not attempted to give a description of all the rail-roads now in existence; besides those described, there are many completed and in progress in various parts of the Union, so that most of the principal cities are intimately connected, and internal communication is greatly facilitated. Nor is the spirit of rail-road enterprise at all abated; new routes are continually projected, and we trust that the time is not far distant when all parts of the Union will be thus connected, and the distance between the remote parts be as it were annihilated.

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CHAPTER VII.—CANALS.

GREAT improvements have been introduced in the inland navigation of the United States within the last twenty years, both by removing impediments that have obstructed river navigation, and by the construction of canals. More than two thousand five hundred miles of canal have been constructed in the country, and numerous works of this description are now in progress, though the rail-road has perhaps, in most instances, been preferred, where the circumstances admitted of a choice. Our description of the principal canals in the country must be limited to a mere enumeration of the most important particulars.

CANALS IN NEW ENGLAND. The Cumberland and Oxford canal extends from Portland to Sebago pond, and was completed in 1829. Its length is twenty and a half miles; its width at the surface is thirty-four feet, at the bottom, eighteen; its depth is four feet. The number of its locks is twenty-six. A lock is also constructed in Songo river, by which navigation is continued into Brandy and Long ponds, making the whole natural and artificial water communication fifty miles.

Middlesex canal was completed in 1808, and opens a water communication between Boston and the central part of New Hampshire, by its junction with the Merrimack river. It has but one summit level, one hundred and four feet above Boston harbor, and thirty-two above the level of the Merrimack, at the place where it unites with that river in Chelmsford, above Pawtucket falls, on which are situated the great manufacturing establishments of Lowell. Its length is twenty-seven miles, breadth at the surface thirty feet, at the bottom twenty; its depth of water is three feet, and locks are twenty. It has seven aqueducts over streams and rivers, and fifty bridges, with stone abutments twenty feet apart. Around the numerous falls of the river, within the limits of New Hampshire, the following canals have been constructed:—Bow canal, completed in 1812, is one third of a mile long, and passes a fall of twenty-five feet with four locks; Hooksett canal, fifty rods in length, passes Hooksett falls by three locks, with a lockage of sixteen feet; Amoskeag canal, eight miles below the above, passes a fall of the same name, by a lockage of forty-five feet, with nine locks; Union canal, immediately below Amoskeag, overcomes seven falls in the river, and has seven locks in nine miles.

Pawtucket canal, in the town of Lowell, is used not only for passing a fall of the same name, but also for supplying very extensive hydraulic works. It is a mile and a half in length, ninety feet wide, and four feet deep, overcoming a difference of level of thirty-two feet.

In 1811, a charter, that has been subsequently renewed, was granted to a company for the purpose of constructing a canal from Winnipisiogee lake to Cocheco river, below the landing at Dover. The distance is twenty-seven miles. The waters of the lake are four hundred and fifty-two feet above the level of the river, and the fall would require fifty-three locks. The expense has been estimated at about three hundred thousand dollars.

The Blackstone canal extends from Worcester, Massachusetts, to Providence, Rhode Island. It is forty-five miles long, and follows in the greater part of its course the valley of the Blackstone or Pawtucket river, from which it is supplied with water. Its fall from the summit at Worcester to tide water at Providence, is four hundred and fifty-one and six tenths feet. It has forty-eight locks, eighty feet long by ten wide; the breadth at its surface is thirty-four feet, at the bottom eighteen; depth of water, four feet. It was built by an incorporated company, under charter from the legislatures of the states in which it lies, at a cost of about six hundred thousand dollars. It was finished in the autumn of 1828. This canal facilitates and greatly increases the trade from the northern part of Rhode Island, and the central parts of Massachusetts, to the markets of Providence, New York, and the middle and southern states.

The Farmington canal was commenced in 1825, upon the plan of connecting, by a line of seventy-eight miles of artificial navigation, Connecticut river, at Northampton, in Massachusetts, with New Haven harbor. It is thirty-six feet broad at the surface, twenty at the bottom, and four feet in depth. The locks are eighty feet in the clear, and twelve feet wide. It extends fifty-eight miles, from New Haven to Southwick ponds, on the boundary of Massachusetts, and cost about six hundred thousand dollars. In continuation of this work, the Hampshire and Hampden canal has been constructed in Massachusetts, as far as Westfield; it is to be continued twenty miles, to Northampton, and perhaps even to Barnet, in Vermont. The difference of level in this canal is two hundred and ninety-eight feet.

Enfield, South Hadley, Montague, and Bellows Falls canals are short cuts at the different falls on the Connecticut river. The first was built by a company incorporated in 1824. It extends around the falls of the same name, in the state of Connecticut, and is five and a half miles in length. It has two stone locks of ten feet lift, each ninety feet by twenty, and is used for extensive hydraulic works, as well as for navigation. Before the construction of this work, these rapids were passed in boats, but offered great obstructions to the navigation of the river. South Hadley canal was constructed for passing a fall of forty feet in the town of the same name, in Massachusetts, and is two miles in length. There is a cut in this canal through the solid rock, three hundred feet long and forty feet deep. The company that undertook this work was incorporated in 1792. Montague canal, in the town of the same name, in the same state with the preceding, and constructed for passing Montague falls, is three miles long, twenty-five feet wide, and three deep. Bellows Falls canal, in Vermont, opposite the town of Walpole, is half a mile long, with nine locks, overcoming a fall of about fifty feet. Several other short canals have been constructed on the western bank of the Connecticut in this state, for the purpose of improving the navigation of the river.

NEW YORK CANALS. The state of New York has an extensive system of inland artificial navigation, connecting the navigation of the Hudson with that of the lakes and Delaware river. The Champlain canal in this state passes from Albany to Whitehall, on lake Champlain, and is seventy-two miles in length. It is four feet deep, twenty-eight feet wide at the bottom, and forty at the surface. It has twenty-one locks, and its rise and fall amount to one hundred and eighty-eight feet. This work was commenced in October, 1817, and was opened for navigation in November, 1819. The whole cost was nearly one million two hundred thousand dollars.

The Erie canal extends from Albany, on the Hudson, to Buffalo, on lake Erie. It was commenced on the fourth of July, 1817, and was first navigated from Utica to Rome, fifteen miles, on the third of October, 1819; tolls were first received in July, 1820, and the whole work was completed in 1825. It is three hundred and sixty-three miles in length. It is four feet deep, twenty-eight wide at the bottom, and forty at the surface. The number of locks is eighty-four, and the rise and fall are six hundred and ninety-eight feet. The cost was over nine millions of dollars. A little below the Cohoes falls, a feeder enters from the Mohawk, and connects the Erie with the Champlain canal, and the united work then proceeds to Albany, eight and a half miles, and terminates in the tide waters of the Hudson. The collections upon the Erie canal, for the month of September, in the three last years, stand thus:

1831.	$131,694
1832.	$137,184
1833.	$190,229
Increase since ’31.	$58,536
Increase since ’32.	$54,771

This great increase in the total amount of tolls has taken place, notwithstanding a reduction in the rates of tolls in the spring of 1833, which was equal to about twenty per cent. compared with former rates. The entire amount of tolls received at this canal in 1831, was one million, ninety-one thousand, seven hundred and fourteen dollars, twenty-six cents.

Oswego canal is a branch of the Erie, extending from Salina to Oswego, connecting lake Ontario with the Erie canal. It is thirty-eight miles in length, having one hundred and twenty-three feet of lockage, all descending to lake Ontario. One half the distance is a canal connected with Oswego river by locks and dams; the other half is a slack-water navigation on the river. It cost five hundred and twenty-five thousand, one hundred and fifteen dollars. The Cayuga and Seneca canal, extending from Geneva, on Seneca lake, to Montezuma, on Erie canal, is one half canal, and one half slack-water navigation. It was constructed in 1828. Its length is twenty miles and forty-four chains; the descent from Seneca lake to Montezuma is seventy-three and a half feet. The four canals last described were constructed at the expense of the state, and still remain under the administration of the state government as public property.78

Chemung canal, another work of the state, extends from the head waters of Seneca lake to the Chemung (or Tioga) river. It is eighteen miles in length, with a navigable feeder of thirteen miles from Painted Post, on the Chemung river, to the summit level, making in the whole thirty-one miles of canal navigation. On this canal are fifty-three locks of wood, three aqueducts, and seventy bridges. It was completed in 1832.

The Delaware and Hudson canal company was incorporated in April, 1823, with a capital of a million and a half of dollars, for the purpose of constructing a canal and rail-road from the Hudson river to the coal mines in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania. The canal extends from the tide-water of the Hudson to Honesdale, Wayne county, Pennsylvania, a distance of one hundred and eight miles, when it meets the rail-road. The canal is from thirty-two to thirty-six feet wide, and four feet deep. The most important article of transport upon this canal is coal, of which forty-three thousand two hundred tons were brought down in 1830. In 1831, the amount of tolls, exclusive of that of coal boats, was nineteen thousand, five hundred dollars.

The Harlem canal company was incorporated in April, 1826, with a capital of five hundred and fifty thousand dollars. This canal is to extend from Hudson to East river, through Manhattan island; its length is three miles, its width sixty feet, and its depth six or seven. It is to be walled with stone on both sides, and to have a street on each side fifty feet wide its whole length, with a lock at each end to command the tide water.79

NEW JERSEY. The Morris canal was commenced in 1825, and extends from Jersey city, on the Hudson, across the state of New-Jersey, to Delaware river, opposite Easton, Pennsylvania, where it unites with Lehigh canal. It is one hundred and one miles in length, with rise and fall of one thousand, six hundred and fifty-seven feet; of which two hundred and twenty-three are overcome by twenty-four locks, and the remaining one thousand, three hundred and thirty-four feet by twenty-three inclined planes. This canal is supplied with water from Hopatcong lake, situated nine hundred feet above tide-water. The cost is estimated at somewhat more than one million, one hundred thousand dollars. The Delaware and Raritan canal, extending from Lamberton, on Delaware river, to New Brunswick, on the Raritan, is thirty-eight miles in length. It is seventy-five feet wide, and seven feet deep.

PENNSYLVANIA. The canal system of this state is very extensive, and has been in a great measure established by the state government. We shall first notice the canals constructed by private corporations. The Schuylkill canal was commenced in 1816, and has been in operation for a number of years. It extends from Philadelphia to Reading, and thence to mount Carbon. Its length is one hundred and ten miles, and in this distance is a lockage of six hundred and twenty feet. It comprises thirty-one dams, one hundred and twenty-five locks, seventeen arched aqueducts, a tunnel of four hundred and fifty feet in length, cut through the solid rock, and sixty-five toll and gate houses. The whole cost of this work, up to January 1, 1830, was two million, three hundred and thirty-six thousand, three hundred and eighty dollars. The Union canal was constructed in 1827. It extends from Middleton, on the Susquehanna, to the head of the Girard canal, two miles below Reading, connecting the waters of the Susquehannah with those of the Schuylkill. Its length is eighty miles, exclusive of Swatara feeder, which extends twenty-four miles. The works comprehend, a tunnel, eighteen feet wide, fourteen high, and seven hundred and twenty-nine in length; two summit reservoirs, containing twelve million cubic feet of water; two steam engines, each of one hundred horse power; one hundred and thirty-five bridges; twelve small and two large aqueducts; ninety-two cut stone locks; and fourteen miles of protection wall of stone. Connected with this canal is a rail-road, about four miles in length, extending from the basin at Pine grove to the coal mines. The cost of the whole work was about two million dollars. The Lackawaxen canal commences at the termination of the Delaware and Hudson canal, near Carpenter’s point, and unites with a rail-road at Honesdale. It is thirty-six miles in length. In junction with the Delaware and Hudson canal, this canal opens a navigation of one hundred and seventeen miles, including seventeen miles of Lackawaxen river. The Lehigh canal company was incorporated in 1818, and constructed a canal from Easton, on Delaware river, to Stoddartsville, connecting Morris canal with the Mauch Chunk rail-road. Its length is forty-six and three fourths miles, and it cost one million, five hundred and fifty-eight thousand dollars. The Conestoga canal extends eighteen miles, from Safe Harbor, on Susquehanna river, to Lancaster. Conewago canal is two and a half miles long, and is constructed about a fall of the same name on the Susquehanna.

The following table exhibits a view of the canals in Pennsylvania, constructed by the state, prior to the first of January, 1831, with the amount expended for ordinary and extraordinary repairs during the year 1831.

		Length miles	Ordinary repairs	Extraord. repairs	Total
Delaware division		59¾	$10,000	$87,339	$97,339
Columbia, east division		10	1,658	7,316	8,974
Harrisburg line		63	3,108	6,216	9,324
Susquehanna division			5,855	11,709	17,964
North branch division		55½	18,584	37,168	55,752
West branch division		24½	6,699	13,397	20,096
Juniata division		89	22,326	44,651	66,977
Western division		105	24,406	48,812	73,218
French creek feeder		19½	74	4,327	4,401
Total		426¼	$92,708	$260,936	$353,644

The main trunk of this system of canals commences at Columbia, at the termination of the Philadelphia and Columbia rail-road, and extends thence westward one hundred and seventy-two and a half miles, till it meets the Alleghany Portage rail-road at Holidaysburg. It recommences at the western extremity of the rail-road, and continues westward one hundred and five miles, to the Monongahela river at Pittsburg.

The following canals, constructed by the state, have been but recently completed:

Frankstown line of the Juniata division, extending from Huntingdon to Holidaysburg, is thirty and one third miles in length, including about fifteen and three fourths miles of slackwater navigation. Beaver division commences upon the Ohio river, at the mouth of Big Beaver, and extends to Newcastle. Length, twenty-four and three fourths miles, of which about two thirds are slackwater and towing-path. Franklin line commences on Alleghany river, at the mouth of French creek, and extends up the latter stream till it meets the French creek feeder. Length, twenty-two and one fourth miles, seventeen of which are slackwater and towing-path. Lycoming line commences at Muncy dam, and extends up the west branch of the Susquehanna, and terminates at the Big island, opposite to the mouth of the Bald Eagle. Length, forty-one and one fourth miles, of which about ten miles are slackwater. Wyoming line of the North branch division commences at the Nanticoke dam, and extends up the North branch, and terminates near the mouth of Lackawannock creek. Length, sixteen miles.

DELAWARE AND MARYLAND. The Chesapeak and Delaware canal was commenced in 1824, and completed in about five years. It is thirteen and five eighths miles long, ten feet deep, and sixty-six feet wide at the surface. Leaving the Delaware, forty-five miles below Philadelphia, it crosses the peninsula, and meets Chesapeak bay. The summit level is twelve feet above tide water. The whole cost of this work was two million, two hundred thousand dollars. Port Deposit canal is a public work of the state of Maryland, extending ten miles along a line of rapids, on the east bank of the Susquehanna, north of the boundary line of Maryland and Pennsylvania. There are two short canals, one of twelve hundred yards, and one of two and a half miles, around the Great and Lower Falls of the Potomac.

The Chesapeak and Ohio canal company received their charter from Virginia in 1824, and it was confirmed in the following year by Maryland and congress. The proposed length is three hundred and forty-one and one fourth miles, from the tide water of the Potomac river, above Georgetown, in the district of Columbia, to its termination near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Its depth is six or seven feet, its breadth at the bottom fifty, and at the surface from sixty to eighty feet. Five miles from Georgetown, arrangements have been made for constructing branches to Alexandria, Baltimore, and the navy yard at Washington. The amount of lockage required on the whole canal is three thousand, two hundred and fifteen feet. At the summit level on the Alleghany mountain, a tunnel is required, four miles and eighty yards long, with a deep cut of one thousand and sixty yards at the western end, and another of fourteen yards at the eastern end, each of which opens into a large basin. The original estimate of the cost was twenty-two million, three hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars.

OHIO. This state has been active and liberal in the encouragement of canals as public works. The state canals are the Ohio and the Miami. The Ohio canal connects lake Erie, at Cleaveland, with the Ohio river, at Portsmouth; its main trunk is three hundred and ten miles in length; its lateral branches and feeders make twenty-four in addition. Miami canal connects the town of Dayton, situated on the Great Miami river, with the Ohio river, at Cincinnati. Its main trunk is sixty-five miles in length, and it has a side-cut of one mile. The total length of canals in Ohio, constructed at the public expense, and owned by the state, is four hundred miles. The Lancaster Lateral canal is nine miles in length, and was constructed by an incorporated company. The expense of the Ohio canals has been about five million dollars.

VIRGINIA AND NORTH CAROLINA. At the city of Richmond is the James River canal, around a fall, with twelve locks, overcoming an ascent of eighty feet, and connecting tide water with a basin on Shockoe hill. From this basin proceeds a canal two and a half miles long, uniting with the river. Three miles further up is a short canal, with three locks, overcoming a fall of thirty-four feet. The James and Jackson River canal extends from the basin at Richmond, to a fall in Goveland county, a distance of thirty and a half miles. There is also a canal seven miles long, around the falls on James river, in Rockland county. Canals have also been constructed to improve the navigation of the Shenandoah. The Dismal Swamp canal is twenty-two and a half miles long, lying partly in Virginia, and partly in North Carolina. It connects the waters of Chesapeak bay with Albemarle sound, extending from Deep creek to Joyce’s creek, at the head of Pasquotank river. The expense of this canal was three hundred and sixty thousand dollars, of which two hundred thousand were subscribed by the United States. The Danville and Dan River canals are a series of improvements upon the upper branches of Roanoak river. The North West, Weldon, Clubfoot and Harlow, Cape Fear, Yadkin, Tar River, New River, and Catawba canals, have done much to improve the inland navigation of North Carolina. The Santee, Columbia, and Saluda canals, from Columbia, through the Columbia canal into Broad river, and through the Saluda canal, from Broad into Saluda river, through Drehr and Zorick’s canals, on to the Abbeville county line, near Cambridge; also from Santee river, by the Santee canal, into Cooper’s river, and down this river to the port at Charleston, present a mixed navigation of one hundred and fifty miles. Winyaw canal is ten miles in length, uniting the Santee river with Winyaw bay.

KENTUCKY. The Louisville and Portland canal passes from the Ohio at Louisville, to a point of the same below the rapids, a distance of three miles. It is constructed for the accommodation of large vessels, and the general government have contributed towards its completion.

GEORGIA AND LOUISIANA. The Savannah and Ogatchee canal is sixteen miles in length, passing from Savannah river, at Savannah, to the Ogatchee river; hence it is to be continued to the Alatahama. The Carondelet canal is a short cut to admit small vessels into a basin in the rear of New Orleans, extending from bayou St. John. It is only a mile and a half long, and is without locks. The Lafourche is a small canal, supplied with water only when the Mississippi is in flood, uniting the outlet of Lafourche with the chain of lakes and creeks which lead into the lower Teche, and opens the commerce of Attacapas to New Orleans. The Plaquemine canal passes from the Mississippi into bayou Plaquemine, at its efflux from the Mississippi, and is navigable only at times of high flood. The New Orleans and Teche River canal is a projected navigation of one hundred miles, from a point on the Mississippi, to the waters which unite with the Teche river, at Berwick’s bay.

‘The spirit of enterprise,’ says Mr. Smith, ‘has been displayed on a scale commensurate with the extensive territory of the United States. With the exception of Great Britain and Holland, no country on the face of the globe contains so many or as extensive canals as this republic; and the whole of combined Europe has not effected as much during the last sixteen years, as the three states of Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio only. There are many other important canals not here enumerated, in the different sections of the country, and others are in contemplation. The whole number of miles of canals in the Union, exceeds three thousand; nearly three fifths of which are in the three States above mentioned.’

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CHAPTER VIII.—GOVERNMENT.

THE political association of the American people commenced at a very early period. A long time before the revolutionary troubles, it was generally perceived and acknowledged that the true safety and prosperity of the colonies were to be found only in their union. In the year 1643, the colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven, entered into a perpetual league, offensive and defensive, for mutual protection against the claims of their Dutch neighbors, and to resist apprehended aggression from the Indians. By their articles of confederation, the jurisdiction of each colony within its own borders was to be exclusive; in every war, each of the confederates was to furnish its quota of men and provisions, according to its population; and an annual congress of two commissioners from each colony was to be held, with power to decide on all matters of general interest. With some alterations, this confederacy existed more than forty years; and it was dissolved only in 1686, when the charters of the New England colonies were vacated by a commission from king James II.

In the year 1754, a congress of a very interesting character assembled at Albany. It was called at the instance of the lords commissioners for trade and the plantations, and consisted of delegates from the New England provinces, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. The object of the meeting was to consider the best means of defending the colonies, in the case of a war with France. The lords commissioners had reference merely to forming friendly connections with the Indian tribes; but the colonies indulged more extensive views. This convention proposed a plan of union, for which, however, public sentiment was not yet ripe, and it met with the singular fortune of being rejected both by the crown and the people. Local jealousies and disputes in regard to boundaries, had at that time so excited the different colonies, that governor Pownal felt himself authorized to say, in his work on the Administration of the Colonies, that they had no one principle of association among them, and that their manner of settlement, diversity of charters, conflicting interests, and mutual rivalship and jealousies, would render an union impracticable. Happy for our people that the stone which they rejected has become the corner stone of our political temple; for the whole edifice must be crushed and crumbled, when profane hands shall be laid upon that which is its strength and foundation!

Men could not, however, remain insensible of the great advantages that must inevitably result from a federate union. A common interest was destined to be made more apparent and pressing by a common danger and soon after the first unfriendly measures of the British government, a congress of delegates from nine colonies was assembled at New York in October, 1765. This step was adopted at the suggestion of Massachusetts, and was preparatory to a more extensive and general association of the colonies, which took place in September, 1774, and laid the foundation of permanent independence. At this last period, the impending oppressions of Great Britain induced the colonies to unite in sending delegates to a congress at Philadelphia, with authority to consult together for the common welfare. The measures adopted by this assembly met with a prompt and general obedience, and the union thus auspiciously formed was continued by a succession of delegates in congress; it has continued through the struggles of a revolution, foreign war and domestic dissension.—God grant that it may be perpetual.

In May, 1775, a congress, with ample discretionary powers, assembled in Philadelphia. Georgia soon after acceded to the measures that had been adopted, and completed the confederacy of the thirteen colonies. In Massachusetts, hostilities had been already commenced, and the appeal to arms was now considered as the only resource. Congress prepared to support this measure, and, gradually assuming all the attributes of sovereignty, on the fourth day of July, 1776, declared the united colonies to be free and independent states. The consequences of this step belong more properly to another portion of this volume. In June, 1776, congress undertook to prepare articles of confederation; but it was not till November of the following year that they were able so far to unite discordant interests, as to adopt these articles. In passing through the states, they met with still stronger impediments, and it was not till three years after their first promulgation, that they received the unanimous approbation of the United States. This confederation proved imbecile and insignificant, and it was only by the assumption of power not granted by the fundamental charter of the union, that congress could rescue the country from the most humiliating consequences. A quorum of congress could with difficulty be assembled; the finances of the nation were annihilated; in 1784, the whole army amounted but to eighty men, and the states were urged to provide some of the militia to garrison the western posts. In short, to use the impressive and melancholy language of the Federalist, ‘each state, yielding to the voice of immediate interest or convenience, successively withdrew its support from the confederation, till the frail and tottering edifice was ready to fall upon our heads, and to crush us beneath its ruins.’

The first effort to relieve the country from the miseries and dangers of the confederation originated in Virginia, in the proposition for a convention of delegates to regulate our foreign commerce. A partial representation of the states was in this manner collected at Annapolis, and the plan of a national convention was by this body strongly recommended to congress, for the purpose of devising a government that should be adequate to the exigencies of the nation. Congress adopted the suggestion, and immediately acted upon it; with the exception of Rhode Island, all the states acceded to the proposal of a general convention, and their delegates assembled at Philadelphia in May, 1787. This assembly united men of the most distinguished talents, high-minded integrity, and disinterested patriotism, and commanded the public regard and confidence in their fullest extent. After a tranquil deliberation of several months, the plan of government, which now forms the constitution of the United States, was adopted with unprecedented unanimity. Nearly a year elapsed before it received the assent of a sufficient number of states to give it a political existence; but on the fourth of March, 1789, the government was duly organized and set in motion. It was not till the year 1790, that the constitution had received the unanimous ratification of all the members of the original confederacy. ‘The peaceable adoption of this government,’ says chancellor Kent, ‘under all the circumstances which attended it, presented the case of an effort of deliberation, combined with a spirit of amity and of mutual concession, which was without example. It must be a source of just pride, and of the most grateful recollection, to every American, who reflects seriously on the difficulty of the experiment, the manner in which it was conducted, the felicity of its issue, and the fate of similar trials in other nations of the earth.’ The following is a copy of the constitution as adopted, with its subsequent amendments:

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CHAPTER IX.—CONVENTION.

IN the chapter preceding, a brief account has been given of the progress of Government among the people of the United States, from those early leagues, or compacts, which being passed by the colonists, served to bind them together in the bonds of a good degree of peace and amity, down to the formation of that constitution, which, now, for more than half a century has been the basis of our civil and political prosperity. But in relation to this last great change in the general government of the country, further statements are necessary. There are certain historical facts, in relation to the Convention which framed the Constitution, which every work of a similar character to the present should record, and which should be treasured up in the recollection of every free-born American.

Not a few of the men who composed this august assembly had borne a conspicuous part in the Revolutionary struggle, which achieved our independence. They had perilled life and fortune, in the great cause of freedom, and although that object had been won, they perceived that something further was necessary, or the toils and hardships, the sacrifice of life and fortune, during a seven years’ war had all been in vain. The enemies of the revolution had predicted that a separation from the mother country would be followed by anarchy and confusion. It was confidently affirmed, that the Americans would be found incapable of self-government. So, for a time, it indeed seemed likely to prove. The confederation, it was apparent, was inadequate to the wants of the people. It embraced provisions which rendered the administration of government under it nearly impossible; and yet no amendments might be made to it, without the assent of every state in the Union. Experience had shown that no relief could be expected from this quarter.

The first measure which led to the Convention of 1787, was adopted by Virginia, in a proposition of her Legislature in January, 1786, for a convention of delegates to regulate our foreign commerce. In a letter to General Washington in March, 1786, Mr. Jay observed, “Experience has pointed out errors in our national government, which call for correction, and which threaten to blast the fruit we expected from our tree of liberty. The convention proposed by Virginia, may do some good, and would, perhaps, do more, if it comprehended more objects. An opinion begins to prevail, that a general convention for revising the articles of confederation, would be expedient. Whether the people are yet ripe for such a measure, or whether the system proposed to be obtained by it, is only to be expected from calamity and commotion, is difficult to ascertain.”

In a second letter to the same person in June, his views and feelings are thus expressed: “Our affairs seem to lead to some crisis, some revolution, something that I cannot foresee or conjecture. I am uneasy and apprehensive, more so than during the war. Then we had a fixed object, and though the means and time of obtaining it, were often problematical, yet I did firmly believe, that justice was with us. The case is now altered. We are going and doing wrong, and, therefore, I look forward to evils and calamities, but without being able to guess at the instrument, nature or measure of them.”

“Your statements,” said General Washington, in reply to these communications, “that our affairs are drawing rapidly to a crisis, accord with my own. What the event will be, is also beyond my foresight. We have errors to correct; we have, probably, had too good an opinion of human nature, in forming our confederation. Experience has taught us, that men will not adopt and carry into execution measures the best calculated for their own good, without the intervention of coercive power. I do not conceive we can exist long as a nation, without lodging somewhere, a power, which will pervade the whole Union, in as energetic a manner as the authority of the state governments extends over the several states.”

Similar views were expressed by many of the distinguished men of the nation. An opinion prevailed among all classes that some measures were essential to the salvation of the country; but as yet no one saw distinctly what those measures should be, or what, amid the prevalent jealousies of so many different states, could be adopted.

The above proposal of Virginia met with so much favor, that delegates, or commissioners, were appointed by Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. These convened at Annapolis, in September of 1786. Delegates were also appointed by New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and North Carolina, but did not attend. In consequence of such a partial representation of the states, the commissioners deemed it inexpedient to proceed in the important business which had called them together. But it was still more than ever apparent, that a general convention was essential, and must be effected. They therefore drew up a report and an address to the states, in which, after stating the defects of the federal government, and that the situation of the United States “was delicate and critical, calling for an exertion of the virtue and wisdom of the confederacy,” they recommended to all the states, to concur “in the appointment of commissioners, to meet at Philadelphia, on the second Monday in May, 1787, to take into consideration the situation of the United States, to devise such further provisions as should appear to them necessary, to render the constitution of the federal government adequate to the exigences of the Union. This address was also sent to congress, as well as to the several states.”

Virginia first appointed delegates, according to the recommendation of the meeting at Annapolis. The general assembly of that state, which commenced their session in October, 1786, selected seven of their most distinguished citizens, to meet delegates from the other states, at Philadelphia, in May following, and “to join with them, in devising and discussing all such alterations and further provisions, as may be necessary to render the federal constitution adequate to the exigences of the Union.” Other states soon after followed the example of Virginia. In February, 1787, the subject claimed the attention of congress, and they passed the following resolution:

“Whereas there is provision, in the articles of confederation and perpetual union, for making alterations therein, by the assent of a congress of the United States, and of the legislatures of the several states; and whereas experience hath evinced, that there are defects in the present confederation, as a means to remedy which, several of the states, and particularly the state of New York, by express instruction to their delegates in congress, have suggested a Convention for the purpose expressed in the following resolution; and such Convention appearing to be the most probable means of establishing in these states a firm national government—

“Resolved, That in the opinion of congress, it is expedient, that on the second Monday in May next, a Convention of delegates, who shall have been appointed by the several states, be held at Philadelphia, for the sole and express purpose of revising the articles of confederation, and reporting to congress and the several legislatures, such alterations and provisions therein, as shall, when agreed to in congress, and confirmed by the states, render the federal constitution adequate to the exigences of government, and the preservation of the Union.”

In consequence of this, delegates to the Convention were appointed from all the states, except Rhode Island.

To the generation, which since those times has come on to the stage, it may appear singular, that such obstacles to a Convention should have existed. But it is to be remembered that the path to be trod was new and untried. The political elements were in a deranged state. Sectional interests were at war. The principles of free government were not then drawn out and harmonized. No model existed adapted to the country. Is it surprising, then, that the process was slow—that fears were indulged—that opposite views were entertained? On the contrary, looking at the state of the country as it then was—the political and commercial jealousies, which had arisen among the states—their difference in extent, wealth, and population, as well as in the habits, religion, and education of their inhabitants—it may well excite our admiration, that a few years achieved such important changes, and produced a constitution, which has operated so happily in its practical influence upon political communities so distinct, and to this day so independent.

Among the causes which served to produce a general conviction of the necessity of a more efficient government, none, perhaps, had greater influence, than the insurrection in Massachusetts, in the year 1786. “This open and formidable opposition to the laws,” observes a writer, “threatened not only the destruction of the government of that state, but of the Union. So numerous were the insurgents in the western counties, and so confident of success, and even of support from their fellow-citizens, that they refused all terms of accommodation offered by the legislature. They completely obstructed judicial proceedings in several counties, and for a time, it was extremely doubtful, whether a sufficient force could be found in Massachusetts to reduce them to obedience.”81

The delegates appointed by the states to convene at Philadelphia, met at the time and place designated. George Washington was unanimously elected to preside in their deliberations.

A question of great magnitude presented itself, in the very commencement of their session, viz.: whether they should amend the old, or form a new system. For the former object they had been appointed, congress having limited their powers to revising the articles of the confederation. But the defects of the old government were so many, and so serious, that the voice of the majority decided in favor of an entirely new system. Accordingly on the 29th of May, Edmund Randolph, of Virginia, submitted fifteen resolutions, as the basis of a new constitution. These resolutions, denominated the Virginia plan, were debated and amended, until the 15th of June, when Mr. Patterson, of New Jersey, presented a project, for revising the articles of confederation. This was called the Jersey plan. The propositions of this latter plan having been the subject of debate till the 19th of June, were rejected by seven states against three, and one divided. The resolutions of Mr. Randolph therefore again came under consideration, and on the 4th of July, with the exception of those relating to the executive, were referred to a committee, consisting of Mr. Rutledge, Mr. Randolph, Mr. Gorham, Mr. Ellsworth, and Mr. Wilson, for the purpose of reducing them to the form of a constitution. On the 26th of the same month, those relating to the executive having been adopted, they, with various other propositions submitted by individuals, were referred to the same committee, and the Convention adjourned to the 6th of August, when the committee reported a draft of a constitution. This was under debate until the 8th of September, and underwent many material alterations. A committee, consisting of Mr. Johnson, Mr. Hamilton, G. Morriss, Mr. Madison, and Mr. King was then selected “to revise the style, and arrange the articles.” The manner in which these eminent scholars and statesmen performed the duty assigned them, appears from the great precision and accuracy of the language of the Constitution, as well as the happy arrangement of its various articles.

The report of this committee was made on the 12th, and on the 17th of September, after a session of about four months, the Constitution was finally adopted, and signed by all the members then present.

During the progress of debate, several questions of interest arose in the Convention—but none, perhaps, more exciting than that which related to the relative weight of the states, in the two branches of the legislature. After much debate, the small states consented that the right of suffrage in the house, should be in proportion to the whole number of white, or other free citizens in each, including those bound to service for a term of years, and three fifths of all other persons. While they yielded this point, they insisted on an equal vote in the senate.

To this the large states were unwilling to assent; and on this question, the states remained, for a time, about equally divided. On the first trial, in committee of the whole, six states against five decided that the right of suffrage in the senate should be the same as in the house; the states of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, being in the affirmative; and Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, in the negative.

On the 29th of June, the question was again presented to the consideration of the Convention, in a motion made by Mr. Ellsworth, “that in the second branch, each state should have an equal vote.” We cannot pretend to give even an outline of the arguments in favor and against this motion. The debate was warm and exciting. For several days, the powers of mighty minds were in animated collision, and from the strong ramparts behind which the respective parties had apparently entrenched themselves, there was for a time little prospect of union on the question.

On the 2d of July, the question was taken on the motion of Mr. Ellsworth, that in the senate each state should have one vote, and five states were in favor of it, five against it, and one divided; and the motion was lost. This equal division on a subject of such importance, accompanied with so much warmth on both sides, seemed to present an insurmountable obstacle to further proceedings of the Convention, without some compromise. To effect this, Charles C. Pinckney, of South Carolina, moved for the appointment of a committee to take into consideration the subject of both branches of the legislature. This motion prevailed, though not without opposition. Some of the members were in favor of appointing a committee, though they had little expectation of a favorable result. Mr. Martin, of Maryland, declared, that each state must have an equal vote, or the business of the Convention was at an end.

Mr. Sherman said, we have got to a point, that we cannot move one way or the other; a committee is necessary to set us right. Mr. Gerry observed, that the world expected something from them—if we do nothing, we must have war and confusion—the old confederation would be at an end. Let us see if concessions cannot be made—accommodation is absolutely necessary, and defects may be amended by a future Convention.

Thus the Convention was at a stand. Hopes were indeed entertained that unanimity of views might on some basis prevail, but the longer continuance of the debate, in the then existing state of the Convention, it was apparent, was engendering no good. About this time, the venerable Franklin rose and addressed the President:

“Mr. President—The small progress we have made after four or five weeks’ close attendance and continual reasonings with each other, our different sentiments on almost every question, several of the last producing as many noes as ayes, is, methinks, a melancholy proof of the imperfection of the human understanding. We indeed seem to feel our want of political wisdom, since we have been running all about in search of it. We have gone back to ancient history for models of government, and examined the different forms of those republics which, having been originally formed with the seeds of their own dissolution, now no longer exist; and we have viewed modern states all round Europe, but find none of their constitutions suitable to our circumstances. In this situation of this assembly, groping, as it were, in the dark, to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of Lights to illuminate our understandings? In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for the divine protection? Our prayers, sir, were heard;—and they were graciously answered. All of us, who were engaged in the struggle, must have observed frequent instances of a superintending providence in our favor. To that kind providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace, on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend?—or do we imagine we no longer need his assistance? I have lived, sir, a long time; and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men! And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings, that ‘except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this; and I also believe, that without his concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel: we shall be divided by our little partial local interests, our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a by-word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter, from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing government by human wisdom, and leave it to chance, war, and conquest.

“I therefore beg leave to move, that henceforth prayers, imploring the assistance of heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this assembly every morning, before we proceed to business; and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service.”

This was a well timed suggestion, and coming as it did from so venerable a man as Dr. Franklin, was responded to by the Convention. It is wonderful that the blessing and guidance of the God of nations had not been sought before.

Impressed with the necessity of compromise, the convention chose a committee by ballot, consisting of one from each state, and then adjourned for three days. On re-assembling, it was found that greater harmony prevailed—a report was presented from the committee, which being accepted, the Convention proceeded with a good degree of unanimity in their deliberations, until at length a constitution was agreed upon. Of the fifty-five members who attended the Convention, thirty-nine signed this instrument. Of the remaining sixteen, several who were in favor of it were obliged, from particular business, to leave the Convention before it was ready for signing.82

The Convention recommended that the constitution should be submitted to state conventions, and that as soon as the same should be ratified by a constitutional majority, congress should take measures for the election of a President, and fix the time for commencing proceedings under it.

At the first session of the first congress, the senate and house of representatives, two thirds concurring, recommended to the states the adoption of twelve amendments to the constitution, comprising chiefly those parts of the recommendations of the states which we have already noticed as having been adopted. Ten of these amendments were adopted by three fourths of the legislatures of the states, and became a part of the constitution. Subsequently three other amendments were added.

On the 10th of January, 1791, Vermont, the first of the new states, joined the Union, and gave its assent to the constitution. Since then, the constitution has been adopted, assented to and ratified by other states, until there are now in the Republic twenty-six states, which it is hoped are connected by ties which will continue unbroken so long as time shall last.83

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CHAPTER X.—INDIAN TRIBES.

THE North American Indians are of a red copper color, with some diversity of shade. The men are of the middle stature, large boned, and well made; with small black eyes, lodged in deep sockets, high cheek bones, nose more or less aquiline, mouth large, lips rather thick, and the hair of the head black, straight, and coarse. In some tribes, they carefully extract the hair of the beard and other parts of the body, and hence were long believed destitute of that excrescence. The general expression of the countenance is gloomy and severe. Formerly, some tribes flattened the heads of their infants by artificial pressure; but at present, that practice is unknown to the east of the Rocky mountains. They have a sound understanding, quick apprehension, and retentive memory, with an air of indifference in their general behavior.

The women, or squaws, differ considerably from the men, both in person and features. They are commonly short, with homely, broad faces; but have often an expression of mildness and sweetness in their looks.

Except when engaged in war, hunting and fishing are the sole employments of the men. By means of these, by the spontaneous productions of the earth, and by a partial cultivation of the soil, they procure a precarious subsistence; feasting freely when successful in the chase, but capable of great abstinence, when provisions are less plentiful. Some of the tribes, when first visited by Europeans, raised considerable crops; and they taught the early settlers in New England to plant and dress maize. At present, several nations cultivate maize, beans, pumpkins, and water-melons; and in this way considerably increase their means of subsistence.

The sight, smell, and hearing of the Indians, being frequently and attentively exercised, are all remarkably acute. They can trace the footsteps of man or beast through the forest, and over the plain and mountain, where an inexperienced eye cannot discern the slightest vestige. They can often judge, with much accuracy, how many persons have been in the company, how long it is since they passed, and even, at times, to what nation they belonged. They can pursue their course through the pathless forest, or over the snowy mountain, with undeviating certainty, and are guided by marks which entirely escape the notice of an European.

Strangers to letters, and untutored by learning, their passions, which are little curbed by parental authority, grow up wild and unpruned, like the trees of their native forests. They are fickle and capricious; irascible and impetuous; kind to their friends, vindictive and cruel towards their enemies; and in order to execute their revenge, they readily exercise dissimulation and deceit, and shrink from no toil or danger. Their distinguishing qualities are strength, cunning, and ferocity; and as war is their first employment, so bravery is their first virtue.

The ancient weapon of the hunter was the bow and arrow; but most of them have now procured guns. Their dress differs considerably in different tribes. It consisted originally of skins; but many of them are now provided with blankets and different kinds of cloth. The dress of the Konzas, a tribe on the Missouri, may serve as a sample. They protect their feet with moccasons, or shoes made of dressed deer, elk, or buffalo skin: leggins of deer skin reach to the upper part of the thigh: a breech-cloth passes between the legs, and is attached to a girdle fastened round the loins. A blanket or skin covers the upper part of the body; but in warm weather it is laid aside. In some tribes, the hair is allowed to flow loosely over the face and shoulders; in others, it is carefully braided, knotted and ornamented, and is always well greased. In many cases, the head is bare, both in summer and winter; but in others, both men and women wear a cap like an inverted bowl. The men have also a war cap, which they put on as a symbol of mourning, or when preparing for battle. It is commonly decorated with the feathers of rare birds, or with the claws of beavers or eagles, or other similar ornaments. A quill or feather is also suspended from it for every enemy that the warrior has slain in battle. They often suspend from their ears wampum beads, silver and tin trinkets, and they are fond of bracelets and rings. The face and body are often besmeared with a mixture of grease and coal. They are very attentive to personal decoration; and vermilion is an important article at their toilet. The faces of the men are painted with more care than those of the women; and the latter have more pride in adorning the countenances of their husbands than their own. A tobacco pouch, attached to the girdle or carried in the hand, is a usual part of their equipment. The women’s dress is partly like that of the men; but their leggins only reach to the knee; they have sleeveless shifts, which come down to the ankle, and a mantle covers all.

The wigwams, tents, or lodges of the Indians, are differently constructed in different nations. The rudest are formed of branches, resting against each other at the top, covered with leaves or grass, and forming a very imperfect shelter against the weather. The nations on the west of the Rocky mountains have houses formed of a frame of sticks, covered with mats and dried grass. Many tribes erect long poles, in a circular form at the bottom, and resting against each other at the top, which they cover with skins; others have oblong lodges, consisting of a wooden frame, covered with grass mats and earth. The light is admitted by a small door, and by an aperture in the top, which serves also for the escape of the smoke. The fire is in the middle of the lodge, and the family sit round it on the bare ground; but they spread a skin for a stranger. They readily kindle a fire, by rapidly turning one piece of smooth wood upon another; but in the vicinity of Europeans, they are now generally provided with flint and steel.

Their scanty and simple furniture and culinary utensils are suited to their humble dwellings and homely manner of life. A kettle, a wooden bowl, a couple of wooden or horn spoons, a few skins for beds and covers, and a buffalo’s stomach for carrying water, are the chief articles of domestic accommodation. Formerly they used earthen pots; but these are now generally superseded by metallic pots and kettles, purchased from the white traders.

Many of the tribes are strangers to bread and salt. Besides fruits and roots, they feed on the flesh of the animals they kill, boiled or roasted. In travelling, pemmican is their favorite food. It consists of flesh cut into thin slices, dried in the sun or over a slow fire, beat to a coarse powder between two stones, mixed with grease, and then carefully packed up. In different nations it is known by different names.

Among the tribes who practise cultivation, maize is sometimes roasted in the ashes, and sometimes bruised and boiled, and is then called hominy. They also boil and eat wild rice, which grows in considerable quantities in some parts of the country. They have no fixed time for meals, but eat when they are hungry. They present food to a stranger, at what time soever he enters their dwelling.

Polygamy is very common among them; and the husband occasionally finds it necessary to administer a little wholesome castigation to his more quarrelsome or refractory squaws. But many are satisfied with one wife. The care of the tent, and the whole drudgery of the family, devolve on the women. They gather fuel, cook the provisions, and repair every article of dress; cultivate the ground, where any is cultivated; carry the baggage on a journey; and pitch the tent when they halt. In these and similar employments, their lordly fathers, husbands, and brothers think it degrading to assist them, and unworthy of warriors to engage in such employments.

The Indians never chastise their children, especially the boys; thinking that it would damp their spirits, check their love of independence, and cool their martial ardor, which they wish above all things to encourage. ‘Reason,’ say they, ‘will guide our children, when they come to the use of it; and before that, their faults cannot be very great.’ They avoid compulsory measures, and allow the boys to act with uncontrolled freedom; but endeavor by example, instruction, and advice, to train them to diligence and skill in hunting; to animate them with patience, courage, and fortitude in war; and to inspire them with contempt of danger, pain and death,—qualities of the highest order in the estimation of an Indian.

By gentleness and persuasion they endeavor to imbue the minds of their children with virtuous sentiments, according to their notions of virtue. The aged chiefs are zealous in this patriotic labor, and the squaws give their cordial co-operation.

Ishuchenau, an old Kanza warrior, often admonished the group of young auditors who gathered around him of their faults, and exhorted them never to tell a lie, and never to steal, except from an enemy, whom it is just to injure in every possible way. ‘When you become men,’ said he, ‘be brave and cunning in war, and defend your hunting grounds against all encroachments: never suffer your squaws and little ones to want; protect them and strangers from insult. On no occasion betray a friend; be revenged on your enemies; drink not the poisonous strong water of the white people, for it is sent by the bad Spirit to destroy the Indians. Fear not death; none but cowards fear to die. Obey and venerate old people, particularly your parents. Fear and propitiate the bad Spirit, that he may do you no harm; love and adore the Good Spirit, who made us all, who supplies our hunting grounds, and keeps all alive.’ After recounting his achievements, he was wont to add, ‘Like a decayed prairie tree, I stand alone:—the friends of my youth, the companions of my sports, my toils, and my dangers, rest their heads on the bosom of our mother. My sun is fast descending behind the western hills, and I feel it will soon be night with me.’ Then with hands and eyes lifted towards heaven, he thanked the Great Spirit for having spared him so long, to show the young men the true path to glory and fame.

Their opinions, in many instances, are false, and lead to corresponding errors in conduct. In some tribes, the young person is taught to pray, with various superstitious observances, that he may be a great hunter, horse-stealer, and warrior; so that thus the fountain of virtue is polluted.

The Indians are entirely unacquainted with letters; but they have a kind of picture-writing, which they practise on the inside of the bark of trees, or on skins prepared for the purpose, and by which they can communicate the knowledge of many facts to each other.

The Indian names are descriptive of the real or supposed qualities of the persons to whom they belong: they often change them in the course of their lives. The young warrior is ambitious of acquiring a new name; and stealing a horse, scalping an enemy, or killing a bear, are achievements which entitle him to choose one for himself, and the nation confirms it.

The Indian women are industrious wives and affectionate mothers. They are attentive to the comfort of their husbands, watch over their children with the utmost care and tenderness; and if they die, lament the loss in the most affecting manner. Chastity is not, in some tribes, reckoned a virtue; and, as the women are considered the property of the men, a deviation from it, with the consent of the father, husband, or brother, is not looked on as an offence. Nay, to countenance their wives, sisters, or daughters in conferring favors on strangers, is considered a strong expression of hospitality; and refusal of the proffered kindness is regarded by the lady as an unpardonable insult. But some husbands, on discovering unauthorized conjugal infidelity, punish it with severity; others treat it very lightly.

The Indians are kind and hospitable to their friends, and to those who are introduced to them in that character. Although they themselves sit on the bare ground, yet they courteously spread a buffalo skin for their visiter; smoke a pipe with him in token of peace and amity; and the squaw prepares something for him to eat. They are ready to share their last morsel with their friends.

They are immoderately addicted to intoxicating liquors, which they procure from the white traders, and which have been the means of destroying multitudes of them. Before their intercourse with white men, they had no intoxicating beverage; and, excepting the liquor which they procure from the merchants, their meals are temperate, and their habits of life active. Their diseases are few, and seldom of long duration. Many of them fall in battle, and multitudes are occasionally swept away by smallpox. To the healing art they are in a great measure strangers; although, by means of simples, they in some instances perform surprising cures. In general, however, these pretenders to medical skill are mere quacks and jugglers, who affect to chase away disease by howling, blowing on the patient, and by various incantations, slight-of-hand performances, and superstitious rites.

Some of their medical men pretend to have seen the Great Spirit, and to have conversed with him in some visible form, as of a buffalo, beaver, or other animal, and to have received from him some medicine of peculiar efficacy. The animal whose form had appeared is considered to be the remedy; and they imitate its cry in making their medical applications. The medicine bag, in which these savage physicians have a few herbs, entire or pulverized, and which they administer with a little warm water, is an indispensable requisite in Indian medical practice. Indeed, the head of every family has his medicine bag, which is a place of sacred deposit, and to the sanctity of which he commits his most precious articles. The value of its contents an Indian only can appreciate.

In every stage of society, persons appear who accommodate themselves to the state of the public mind. Of this description are the jugglers, conjurers, or powahs, among the ignorant and superstitious Indians. They are partly medical quacks, partly religious impostors. Many of them are dexterous jugglers and cunning cheats. They pretend to foretell future events, and even to influence the weather. It is likely that they are often, in some measure, the dupes of their own artifices.

The sweating houses of the Indians are often employed for medical purposes, although they are places of social recreation also. A hole is dug in the ground, and over it is built a small close hut, with an opening just large enough to admit the patient. A number of heated stones are placed in the bottom of the hole. The patient enters, having a vessel full of water along with him; and being seated on a place prepared for his reception, the entrance is closed. He sprinkles water on the heated stones, and is soon, by the steam, thrown into a state of profuse perspiration. After this has continued for some time, the person is taken out and plunged into cold water. This process is repeated several times, always ending with the steam-bath. The Indians use this as a general remedy; but its salutary effects are experienced chiefly in rheumatic diseases, in which its efficacy is at times very great.

The Indians bear disease with composure and resignation; and, when far advanced in life, often long for the hour of dissolution. ‘It is better,’ said an aged sachem, ‘to sit than to stand, to sleep than to be awake, to be dead than alive.’ The dying man exhorts his children to be industrious, kind to their friends, but implacable to their enemies. He rejoices in the hope of immortality. He is going to the land of spirits, that happy place where there is plenty of game and no want, where the path is smooth and the sky clear.

When the sick person expires, the friends assemble round the body, the women weep and clap their hands, and bewail their loss with loud lamentations. Different nations dispose of the bodies of departed friends, and express their grief in different ways. Many Indian tribes bury their dead soon after death. They wrap up the body carefully in a buffalo robe, or dressed skin, and carry it to the grave on the shoulders of two or three men. Along with the body, they bury a pair or two of moccasons, some meat, and other articles, to be used in the land of spirits. The favorite weapons and utensils of the warrior are also deposited by his side. It is believed by several tribes that unless this be done, the spirit of the deceased appears among the trees near his lodge, and does not go to its rest till the property withheld be committed to the grave. In some places, they discharge muskets, make a noise, and violently strike the trees, in order to drive away the spirit, which they imagine fondly lingers near its old abode. A mound is sometimes raised over the grave, proportioned in size to the dignity of the deceased; or the place is marked out and secured by short sticks driven into the ground over and around it. Some of those graves are commonly near each of their villages.

On the death of a relation, the survivors give way to excessive grief, bedaub themselves with white clay, blacken their faces, cut off their hair, and not unfrequently mangle themselves in a shocking manner, thrusting knives or arrows into the muscular parts of their thighs or arms, or cutting off a joint of one of their fingers. For a while they nightly repair to the place of sepulture to give expression to their grief; and may occasionally be seen affectionately plucking the grass from the grave of a deceased relation or friend.

Among those tribes where provisions are scarce, and procured with difficulty, it is not uncommon for an aged person, who is unable to provide for himself, to request his family to put him to death; and the request is complied with, or he is treated with much neglect. But this unnatural conduct results entirely from the pressure of circumstances, and the privations and sufferings to which those poor people are exposed; for in more favorable situations, they behave towards the aged and infirm with respect and tenderness.

Of the religion of the Indians we have no full and clear account. Indeed, of the opinions of a people who have nothing more than a few vague and indefinite notions, no distinct explanation can be given. On this subject, the Indians are not communicative; and to obtain a thorough knowledge of it would require familiar, attentive, unsuspected, and unprejudiced observation. But such observation is not easily made; and a few general, and on some points uncertain, notices only can be given.

On looking at the most renowned nations of the ancient heathen world, we see the people prostrating themselves before innumerable divinities; and we are ready to conclude that polytheism is the natural belief of man, unenlightened by revelation. But a survey of the vast wilds of America will correct this opinion. For there we find a multitude of nations, widely separated from each other, all believing in one Supreme God, a great and good spirit, the father and master of life, the maker of heaven and earth and of all other creatures. They believe themselves entirely dependent on him, thank him for present enjoyments, and pray to him for the good things they desire to obtain. They consider him the author of all good; and believe he will reward or punish them according to their deeds.

They believe in inferior spirits, also, both good and bad, whom they consider tutelary spirits. The Indians are careful observers of dreams, and think themselves deserted by the Master of life, till they receive a revelation in a dream; that is, till they dream of some object, as a buffalo, or beaver, or something else, which they think is an intimation that the Great Spirit has given them that object as a charm, or medicine. Then they are full of courage, and proud of their powerful ally. To propitiate the medicine, every exertion is made, and every personal consideration sacrificed. ‘I was lately the proprietor of seventeen horses,’ said a Mandan; ‘but I have offered them all to my medicine, and am now poor.’ He had turned all these horses, which constituted the whole of his wealth, loose into the plain, committed them to his medicine, and abandoned them forever. But, although they offer oblations to the medicines, they positively deny that they pay them any adoration, and affirm that they only worship the Great Spirit through them.

They have no regular periodical times either of private or public religious worship. They have neither temples, altars, stated ministers of religion, nor regular sacrifices; for the jugglers are connected rather with the medical art than with religious services. The Indians in general, like other ignorant people, are believers in witchcraft, and think many of their diseases proceed from the arts of sorcerers. These arts the jugglers pretend to counteract, as well as to cure natural diseases. They also pretend to predict the weather and to make rain; and much confidence is placed in their prognostications and their power.

The devotional exercises of the Indians consist in singing, dancing, and performing various mystical ceremonies, which they believe efficacious in healing the sick, frustrating the designs of their enemies, and securing their own success. They often offer up to the Great Spirit a part of the game first taken in a hunting expedition, a part of the first produce of their fields, and a part of their food. At a feast, they first throw some of the broth, and then of the meat, into the fire. In smoking, they generally testify their reverence for the Master of life, by directing the first puff upwards, and the second downwards, or the first to the rising, and the second to the setting sun; at other times, they turn the pipe to every point of the compass.

They firmly believe in the immortality of the soul, and in a state of future retribution; but their conceptions on these subjects are modified and tinged by their occupations in life, and by their notions of good and evil. They suppose the spirit retains the same inclinations as when in the body, and rejoices in its old pursuits. At times, an Indian warrior, when about to kill and scalp a prostrate enemy, addresses him in such terms as the following:—

‘My name is Cashegra: I am a famous warrior, and am going to kill you. When you reach the land of spirits, you will see the ghost of my father; tell him it was Cashegra sent you there.’ The uplifted tomahawk then descends upon his victim.

The Mandans expect, when they die, to return to the original subterraneous abode of their fathers: the good reaching the ancient village by means of the lake, which the weight of the sins of the bad will render them unable to pass. They who have behaved themselves well in this life, and been brave warriors and good hunters, will be received into the town of brave and generous spirits; but the useless and selfish will be doomed to reside in the town of poor and useless spirits.

The belief of those untutored children of nature has an influence on their conduct. Among them, the grand defect is, an erroneous estimate of good and evil, right and wrong. But how much soever we may lament their errors on these interesting points, we need not be surprised at them; for how many, even in more enlightened communities, and with clearer means of information, can scarcely be said to have sounder principles or a better practice? A reverential and grateful sense of the divine perfections and government, manifesting itself by a devout regard to his institutions and obedience to his will, by benevolence, integrity, candor and kindness towards men, and by sobriety and industry, is too little valued and practised by many who enjoy the light of revelation. Hitherto the Indians have learned little but vice by their intercourse with white men.

Although they have no regular system of religious worship, yet they have many superstitious notions; some of them of a more general, others of a more local nature. The Mandans have their medicine stone, which is their great oracle; and they believe with implicit confidence whatever it announces. Every spring, and occasionally during summer, a deputation, accompanied by jugglers, magicians, or conjurers, visits the sacred spot, where there is a large stone, about twenty feet in circumference, with a smooth surface: there the deputies smoke, taking a few whiffs themselves, and then ceremoniously offering the pipe to the stone. They leave their presents, and withdraw to some distance during the night. Before morning, the presents have disappeared, the Great Spirit having, according to their belief, taken them away; and they read the destinies of their nation in some marks on the stone, which the jugglers, who have made them, and secretly manage the whole transaction, can easily decipher. The Minnetarees have also a stone of the same kind.

On the northern bank of the lower part of the Missouri, there is a singular range of rocks, rising almost perpendicularly about two or three hundred feet above the level of the river. These rocks the Indians call Wakon, or spirit, and on or near them, the neighboring nations deposit most of their offerings to the Great Spirit, or Father of life; because they imagine he either inhabits or frequently visits those rocks, and offerings presented there will sooner attract his notice and gain his favor than any where else. Those offerings consist of various articles, among which eagles’ feathers are held in highest estimation; and they are presented in order to obtain success in war or hunting.

They believe also in the existence of evil spirits, but think these malevolent beings gratify their malignity chiefly by driving away the game, preventing the efficacy of medicine, or similar injuries. But they do not always confine their operations to such petty mischiefs; for Mackenzie, in his first voyage, was warned of a spirit, behind a neighboring island, which swallowed up every person who approached it: and near the White Stone river of the Missouri, there is an oblong mound, about seventy feet high, called by the Indians the Mountain of Little People, or Little Spirits which are supposed to be malignant beings in human shape, about eighteen inches high, with remarkably large heads. They are provided with sharp arrows, in the use of which they are very expert; and they are always on the watch to kill those who approach the mountain of their residence. The tradition is, that many persons have fallen victims to their malevolence; and such is the terror of them among the neighboring nations, that on no consideration will they approach the mound.

Among the Indians, society is in the loosest state in which it can possibly exist. They have no regular magistrates, no laws, no tribunals, to protect the weak or punish the guilty. Every man must assert his own rights, and avenge his own wrongs. He is neither restrained nor protected by any thing but a sense of shame and the approbation or disapprobation of his tribe. He acknowledges no master, and submits to no superior authority; so that an Indian community seems like a mound of sand on the sea-shore, which one gale has accumulated, and which the next may disperse.

But, amidst this apparent disunion, the Indian is strongly attached to his nation. He is jealous of its honor, proud of its success, and zealous for its welfare. Guided by a few traditionary notions, and by the opinion and example of those around him, he is ready to exert all his energies, and sacrifice even life itself for his country. Here sentiment and habit do more than wise laws can elsewhere accomplish.

Where all are equally poor, the distinctions founded on wealth cannot exist; and among a people where experience is the only source of knowledge, the aged men are naturally the sages of the nation. Surrounded by enemies, and exposed to continual peril, the strongest, boldest, and most successful warrior is highly respected; and the influence gained in youth by courage and enterprise is often retained in old age by wisdom and eloquence. In many of the tribes, the chiefs have a sort of hereditary rank; but, in order to maintain it, they must conciliate the good will of the most influential persons of the community. They have nothing like monarchical revenues, pomp, or authority, but maintain their distinction by bravery, good conduct and generosity.

The most important concerns of the tribe are discussed in a council composed of the chiefs and warriors, in which the principal chief presides. Every member delivers his opinion with freedom, and is heard with attention. Their proceedings are considered sacred, and are kept a profound secret, unless it be thought the public good requires a disclosure. In that case the decision, with the reasons on which it is founded, is published by a member of the council, who recommends a compliance with it. In the stillness of the morning or evening, this herald marches through the village, solemnly communicating the information, and giving suitable exhortations. He also instructs the young men and children how to behave, in order to gain the esteem of good men, and the approbation of the Good Spirit.

The authority of the chiefs and warriors is hortatory rather than coercive. They have influence to persuade, but not power to compel. They are rather respected as parents and friends, than feared and obeyed as superiors. The chief is merely the most confidential person among the warriors; neither installed with any ceremony, nor distinguished by any badge. He may recommend, or advise, or influence; but he has no power to enforce his commands, or to punish disobedience. In many of the tribes he gradually acquires his rank by his own superior merit, and the good opinion of his companions; and he may lose his authority as he gained it.

The people commonly settle their controversies among themselves, and do not apply to their chiefs, except for advice. In some of the tribes, peace is preserved and punishment inflicted in a very summary manner by officers appointed by the chief for that purpose. These officers are distinguished by having their bodies blackened, and by having two or three ravens’ skins fixed in their girdles behind, so that the tails project horizontally. They have also a raven’s skin, with the tail projecting from their forehead. These officers, of whom there are two or three in a village, and who are frequently changed, beat any person whom they find acting in a disorderly manner. Their authority is held sacred, and none dares resist them. They often attend the chief, and consider it a point of honor to execute his orders at any risk.

The eloquence of the Indian orators occasionally displays itself in strong and figurative expressions, accompanied with violent but not unnatural gesticulations. Many of their speeches are on record; and some, for rhetorical effect, would do credit to the parliament of a refined nation.

The wars of the Indians most commonly originate in the stealing of horses, or in the elopement of squaws; sometimes in encroachments on their hunting grounds, or in the prosecution of old quarrels, and the desire of avenging the murder of relations. These wars are conducted in a predatory manner.

A single warrior sometimes undertakes an expedition against the enemy; but, in cases of great provocation, the whole tribe engages in the enterprise, under the conduct of the principal chief. Even in this case, however, none but volunteers join the army: no one is obliged to march against his will.

War is often carried on by a small predatory party, formed by the influence of some approved warrior. Among the Omawhas, the warrior paints himself with white clay, and marches through the village, crying aloud to the Wahconda, or Father of life, and entreating the young warriors of the nation to have pity on him, and to accompany him in an expedition against their enemies. He gives a feast to those who are willing to follow him; and it is distinctly understood that they who partake of his hospitality pledge themselves to be partners in his enterprise. At the feast he harangues them, and tells them they must gain celebrity by their martial prowess. This leader of the party, to whom the French gave the name of partisan, busies himself, before setting out, in making medicine, hanging out his medicine bag, fasting, attending to his dreams, and other superstitious observances. On the medicine bag, much reliance is placed for the successful termination of the adventure. It usually contains the skin of a sparrow-hawk, and a number of small articles, such as wampum beads and tobacco, all attached to a belt, neatly enveloped in bark, and tied round with strings of the same material. It is of a cylindrical shape, about one, or sometimes two feet long, and is suspended on the back of the partisan by its belt, which passes round his neck. The moccasons, leggins, and arms of the party are put in order, and each warrior furnishes himself with some provisions.

With the partisan at their head, the party set out, march cautiously, following each other in a line, at a distance of two or three paces, often treading in each others’ footsteps, that their number may not be discovered, and they send out spies to explore their route. They easily find out whether any persons have lately passed the same way, by discerning their footsteps on the grass; and as they have to deal with people whose organs of sense are as acute as their own, they are careful, as far as possible, to conceal their own tracks. On halting, the medicine bag is not allowed to touch the ground, but is suspended on a forked stick, firmly fixed in the earth for that purpose. They smoke to it, occasionally turning the stem of the pipe towards it, towards the heavens, and towards the earth. The partisan carefully attends to his dreams, and, if he think them ominous of evil, he at times abandons the enterprise.

When the spies bring information that they are near the enemy, the partisan opens his medicine bag, removes its barky envelope, and suspends the contents from his neck, with the bird skin, wampum, and other articles hanging down on his breast. This is the signal to prepare for action. If they have time, they paint themselves and smoke: they also paint their shields with rude representations of the objects on which they rely for success. The partisan gives the order to advance, and they move on with cautious steps, as their great aim is to fall upon the enemy by surprise. If they succeed in this, the attack begins with the horrible yell of the war-whoop. This is their only martial music. They kill, indiscriminately, all who fall in their way; but if discovered, they either make a hasty retreat, or rush to the attack with impetuous but disorderly fury. If in the forest, they shelter themselves behind trees; if on open ground, they leap nimbly from side to side, to prevent the enemy from taking a steady aim, and cover themselves with their bucklers.

It is not the mere killing of an enemy that confers the highest honor on an Indian warrior, but the striking the body of his fallen foe on the field of battle, and in presence of his friends, who are eager to avenge his death. Scalping is an act of no small celebrity in Indian warfare; and, in performing it, the victor sets one foot on the neck of his dead or disabled enemy, entwines one hand in his hair, and, by a few slashes of the scalping knife in his other, round the top of the head, is enabled to pull off the skin with the hair. Carrying away the scalp is simply a mark of victory, the taking of prisoners is reckoned a high honor.

The wounded of the vanquished party are killed by the conquerors on the field of battle, and their bodies shockingly mangled; the squaws so far overcoming by habit the tender feelings of the female breast as to take an active part in the inhuman scene. Indeed, they are more cruel than the men.

In his lodge, the Indian is indolent, sedate, and apparently callous; but in hunting, or in quest of an enemy, he is keen, indefatigable, persevering: on the field of battle, he seems an infuriated demon: so different are his appearances in different circumstances. The victorious party bury their dead, or cover them with bushes or stones. They remove their wounded in litters, borne on men’s shoulders; or, if they have horses, on a car of two shafts, with a buffalo skin stretched between them. They return rapidly to their village, and commonly halt on some elevated ground in its vicinity. Their friends, eager to be informed of the particulars of the expedition, hasten to meet them. The party enters the village with savage pomp, ostentatiously exhibiting the scalps which they have taken, raised on poles. Many of the warriors bear the mark indicative of having drunk the blood of an enemy. This consists in rubbing the hand all over with vermilion, and then pressing it on the face and mouth, so as to leave a complete impression. On those occasions, the wives of the warriors who have been engaged in the enterprise, attire themselves in the dress of their husbands, and, with rods in their hands, to which the scalps that have been taken are attached, dance round a large red post, and, in concert with the young warriors, sing the war and scalp songs. This barbarous dance, which is repeated every night for some weeks, is charming to the squaws; a circumstance which shows how far the human character may be perverted by fashion and habit.

The Indians dance and sing at the same time: they have, however, but little grace or variety in their movements, and little music in their notes. Their musical instruments are a sort of drum, and a rattle, or skin bag, with small shot or pebbles in it, which makes a noise when shaken.

It is dangerous to meet a disappointed or defeated war party on its return, as the warriors are apt to indemnify themselves for any disappointment, defeat, or loss they may have sustained, by taking the property and scalps of the first weak or unguarded party they may encounter.

No offence against society is inquired into by the chiefs: stealing from one of their own tribe, which is very rare, exposes the thief to contempt; but cowardice is marked by the highest reprobation. When they go to war, they keep a watchful eye on such of the young men as are making their first essay in arms. If they display the necessary qualifications, they are in due time admitted to the rank of warriors, or, as they express it, of brave men. But if any give clear indications of cowardice, on the return of the party, they are treated with neglect and contempt. A coward is at times punished even with death.

The female prisoners are made slaves, a condition scarcely worse than that of the other squaws. The young male prisoners are often adopted by the families of the tribe which have taken them, and supply the place of the members that have fallen in the expedition. Sometimes, on returning to their village, the party show their prisoner a painted red post, distant from twenty to forty yards, and bid him run and lay hold of it. On each side of his course stand men and women with axes, sticks, and other offensive weapons, ready to strike him as he passes. If he instantly spring forward with agility, he may perhaps reach the post without receiving a stroke, and is then safe, till a general council of the warriors determine his fate; but if he fall, he is probably despatched.

If the prisoner be rejected by the family to which he is offered, he is then put to death with every circumstance of cruelty; and the constancy and fortitude of the sufferer are as remarkable as the barbarity of his murderers. The victim, fastened to a stake, sings his death song, insults his tormentors, bears with unshrinking firmness the most dreadful tortures, and expires without a groan. He triumphs in his fortitude, not merely as a personal virtue, but chiefly as a national characteristic. We are to seek the cause of this patient endurance of the most excruciating pains, not in any nervous insensibility, any constitutional apathy, any muscular rigidity of the Indian, but in the sentiments which he has imbibed and the habits to which he has been trained. He has been taught, from infancy, to consider courage and fortitude as the glory of man; to endure privations and pain without a murmur, and with an unsubdued heart, and to despise tortures and death; and, in his last moments, he proves the efficacy of the education which he has received. In these tragical scenes, the women always take an active part; and their inhumanity, like the fortitude of the men, springs from education.

Previous to their intercourse with Europeans, the arms of the Indians were bows and arrows, spears, tomahawks, scalping knives, and war clubs. Most of them, however, are now provided with fire arms; and, being eager to procure them, their quantity is continually increasing. But the use of these original weapons is far from being entirely superseded.

At times, the bow is formed of pieces of horn neatly spliced; but it is more commonly made of wood. Formerly, the arrow was pointed with flint or bone, but now generally with iron: the spear is pointed in a similar manner. The tomahawk is a hatchet or war axe. The scalping knife is used to cut and tear off the scalp, or integuments of the upper part of the skull with the hair, of their fallen enemies, which the Indians display as trophies of their victory, with as much exultation as ancient heroes manifested in showing the arms of their vanquished foes. The head of the war club is globular, and at times hollow, inclosing pieces of metal, which make a gingling noise when a stroke is given. Occasionally, the blade of a knife, or some other sharp instrument, is fastened to the end of it at right angles. The tribes who dwell in the depth of the forest have no bucklers, but shelter themselves behind trees: those, however, who live in an open country, as on the banks of the Missouri, use bucklers or shields of a circular form, about two feet and a half in diameter, and composed of three or four folds of buffalo’s skin, dried in the sun and hardened. These shields are proof against arrows, but not against ball.

In all their acts of devotion, and on all occasions where their confidence is to be won or their friendship secured, smoking is regarded as an inviolable token of sincerity.

The pipe or calumet, as some have called it, is the symbol of peace and the pledge of friendship. Among the rude dwellers of the desert, it serves the same purposes as a flag of truce in the armies of more civilized communities. The pipe is about four feet long; the bowl made of stone or clay, and the stem of a light wood. It is differently ornamented in different nations. The bearer of this sacred symbol of friendship is seldom treated with disrespect, because they believe the Great Spirit would not allow such an iniquity to escape with impunity.

Peace is concluded, and treaties ratified, by smoking. Wampum, and wampum belts, are also commonly used on such occasions. Wampum, formerly, and now among some tribes, the current coin of the Indians, is formed of shells found on the coasts of New England and Virginia: some of those shells are of a purple color, others white; but the former are reckoned most valuable. They are cut into the shape of oblong beads, about a quarter of an inch long, perforated, and strung on a small leathern thong: several of these strings, neatly sewed together by fine sinewy threads, form a belt, consisting of ten, twelve, or more strings. The value of each bead, and, consequently, of each string or belt, is exactly known. The size of the belt, which is often about two feet long, and three or four inches broad, is proportioned to the solemnity and importance of the occasion on which it is given. The chiefs occasionally give strings to each other as tokens of friendship; but belts are reserved for the ratification of national treaties, every stipulation of which is recorded to posterity by the hieroglyphics on the belt.

Tribes in amity occasionally apply to each other for a supply of their wants. When one tribe is in need of any commodity with which another is well provided, the needy tribe send a deputation of their number to smoke with their wealthier neighbors, and to inform them of their wants; and it would be a breach of Indian courtesy to send them away without the expected supply. What they smoke is tobacco mixed with the inner bark of the willow.

The Shoshonees, a band on the Rocky mountains, before smoking with strangers, pull off their moccasons, in token of the sacred sincerity of their professions; and by this act they not only testify their sincerity, but also imprecate on themselves the misery of going barefooted forever, if they prove unfaithful to their word.

A number of different languages are spoken by the Indians; and, in some cases, different dialects of the same language are found among different tribes.

The original languages, beside that of the Esquimaux, are said to be principally three,—the Iroquois, the Lenni Lenape, or Delaware, and the Floridian. These languages are so distinct, as to have no perceivable affinity. The Iroquois was spoken by the Iroquois or Six Nations, and several other tribes. The Iroquois, or Six Confederated Nations, so famous in Indian history, and once so formidable by their numbers, laws, and military prowess, are the Mohawks, Oneidas, Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagoes, and Tuscaroras. The Delaware language was spoken by many nations in the middle provinces; and the Floridian by the Creeks, Choctaws, Cherokees, Chickasaws, and other tribes in the southern states. Those languages are said to be copious and expressive: they often consist of long compounds, and comprise many ideas in one word.

The following observations on this interesting race of men are furnished by a person who has spent many years in intimate contact with several tribes of the north-west, and may, therefore, be considered good authority. He writes expressly for this work.

‘There are few topics on which so much has been written, and to so little purpose, as the character, manners, habits and origin of the aborigines of North America. Novelists, poets, travellers and philosophers have all failed to convey an adequate idea of them. This arises, in our opinion, in a great measure, from the modern propensity to generalization. A writer who has been present at an Indian council, has seen the nonchalant demeanor of the chiefs, and has heard the tropes and metaphors with which they garnish their discourse, gravely states that the self-possession of all Indians can never be disturbed by any circumstances, and that the refinements of poetry and oratory are as familiar in their mouths as household words. Another, who sees the women performing the hard labor of their families, while the men stand idly by, pronounces that squaws are regarded as slaves. Now our experience assures us that the premises, on which such general conclusions are based, are almost always fallacious.

‘Little need be said concerning the origin of the American natives. The most probable conclusion is, that they immigrated into the new continent via Behring’s strait; but whether they came by that route, or crossed the Atlantic from Wales, or the Pacific, from Japan, certain it is that their physical peculiarities plainly distinguish them from all the races of the old world. We judge it safe to entertain an opinion once expressed in our presence by an old Indian. ‘Why must we have descended from your fathers?’ said he. ‘Is it not as reasonable to suppose that God created the Indian where he now is, as that he made the white man in the garden you have been talking about?’ This idea, if not sanctioned by the Mosaic account of the creation is, at least, not contradicted by it. We count the resemblances, which exist between the customs and traditions of certain tribes in both continents, as of very little importance. People living in different countries by similar pursuits, most necessarily fall into similar observances. Every tribe that lives on the banks of a stream or the ocean, must have witnessed a high tide or an overflow, and hence the almost universal tradition of a deluge. In our opinion, no importance ought to be attached to the accounts of Indians of their own origin. Some septs, like the Pawnees and Choctaws, say they sprang from the earth, the Incas descended from the sun, the Osages are contented with such progenitors as a snail and a beaver.

‘The idea that the present race of aborigines dispossessed a race more advanced in civilization and less warlike than themselves, seems to us to rest on no real foundation. The articles found with skeletons exhumed from barrows, are still in use among the more remote tribes. Indians still, occasionally, construct rude fortifications. The pottery, on which antiquarians rely as illustrative of this favorite theory, is made and used to this day by the remote Dahcotahs and Assinneboins. If the field works found in different parts of the country be adduced as proofs of the civilization of the supposed former race, we answer that they do not betoken the tenth part of the ingenuity displayed in the construction of a birch canoe.

‘The aborigines of America have generally been esteemed to be divided into two distinct races, viz. the Esquimaux and the red Indians. We doubt that the races are distinct. The Esquimaux are, indeed, milder in character, and less perfect in physical conformation than their southern neighbors; but is not the difference owing to climate and mode of life? Fishermen, and especially such fishermen as the Esquimaux, whose whole time and care is requisite to preserve life, cannot be warriors. People who, like the Esquimaux, live upon scanty food in an inhospitable clime, must necessarily be dwarfish. Bear witness tribes who live in the same manner on the old continent. Besides, captain Franklin informs us that those of this people who inhabit a less inhospitable coast than their brethren (those east of the Coppermine river) are of the ordinary stature of mankind.

‘Turning round Icy cape, we find the tribes along the north-west coast gradually losing the characteristics of Esquimaux, and assuming those of the red Indians. We are at a loss to divine, from the accounts of Cook, Kotzebue and Jewett, which of the two races the tribes of that region most resemble. At Nootka Sound, the savages are fishermen like the Esquimaux, and hunters and warriors like the tribes of the Mississippi. Wherever we find a tribe relying upon fisheries as a principal means of subsistence, we find the moral and physical character approximating toward that of the Esquimaux. In short, we see no difference between the two races which may not have been produced by something less than the will of the Almighty.

‘The physical appearance of the Indians has been too often described to need notice here. It is impossible even to conjecture what their number may be. Some idea of this may be gained from the fact that the Dahcotahs, who are able to muster six or seven thousand fighting men, scarcely support themselves on a tract of land eight hundred miles long and as many in breadth. Other tribes, who rely in some degree upon agriculture and fishing, are more thickly settled. Others, who occupy less favored regions, are less so.

‘Two great families of Indians seem, from time immemorial, to have occupied the country between the Rocky mountains and the Atlantic, viz. the Dahcotahs, and the Chippeway, or Algonquin race. The former are divided into a great number of independent tribes, whose origin may be traced by similarity of language, habits and manners. The parent stock is divided into several septs, which are again subdivided into a great many minor hordes. The principal divisions are these: Munday Wawkantons, Sussetons, Wakhpaytons, Wawkhpaykootays, Yanktows and Tetons. These last live high upon the Missouri, and have little intercourse with the rest. The Assinneboins, a numerous and powerful tribe, who roam over the prairies between the Missouri and the Saskatchawayn, seceded from the Dahcotahs little more than a century ago, and a bloody war was long waged between them and the parent race. A woman was the cause of quarrel. The Winnebagoes and Otoes, renowned for desperate bravery, the Ioways, the Osages, the Omahaws and many other western tribes, claim affinity with the Dahcotahs, and speak dialects of their tongue. The tradition concerning their origin, to which we give most credit, says, that they all came from Mexico at the time of the invasion of Cortez. The Winnebagoes hold the Spaniards in abhorrence to this day. Such of these tribes as inhabit the prairie region are vagrant, and live mainly by hunting the buffalo. A description of one will be a description of all of them. They are, generally, of the middle stature of mankind, and it is rare to see a Dahcotah who much exceeds or falls short of it, or who is in any wise deformed. They are beautifully formed: it is as rare to see an ill-made Dahcotah as a well-made white man. They are not muscular, nor are they so agile as whites commonly are; but in recompense, their powers of endurance are very great. They seem utterly insensible of fatigue, and patient of hunger, pain, and all other hardships.

‘Neither these, nor any other Indians with whom we are acquainted, are at all remarkable for gravity in their social intercourse. They are more taciturn, indeed, than the whites; but this is the result rather of circumstance than of education. Spending much time alone, they acquire a habit of silence; having fewer ideas than civilized men, they have fewer inducements to discourse. The conversation that does take place among them, however, is by no means characterized by reserve or by the absence of hilarity. In councils and on solemn occasions, it is judged decorous and proper to give no indication of feeling, and hence an apathetic gravity has long been thought a distinguishing attribute of the Indian character. Even were the assumption just, the aborigines would be no more remarkable in this respect than most modern Asiatic nations.

‘The character of Indians in general seems to have been viewed by most writers through a false medium, and their qualities have been inferred from the nature of their intercourse with white men. This is a false standard; to know them, one should live long among them and watch their social relations. Thus seen, they appear to much greater advantage than when hanging upon the frontiers doing or suffering wrong, and debasing themselves by theft, beggary and intemperance.

‘It will not be denied by any who know them, that those Indians who have not been corrupted by the whites are sincerely pious. They universally believe in one all-wise, benevolent and powerful God, to whom, however, they never pray; for, they say, he knows better what is good for them than they do themselves. Nothing shocks them more than to hear his name mentioned with irreverence by the whites. They also believe in an evil principle, whom they pray to do them no harm. They people all animated nature with inferior spirits, and to these they offer prayers and sacrifices. Their superstitions are numberless. They believe in a future state, and the world of spirits is, in their opinion, a fine hunting-ground, where the vexations and sufferings of this life will be unknown. Each man has what he calls his medicine; that is, he thinks fit to consider his fate and fortunes dependent on some animal, and that animal he will neither kill, eat, or treat with disrespect. In short, they have an infinite variety of such observances, and there is little uniformity in the belief of individuals.

‘Their priests are mere jugglers, who practise various mummeries, and are also, as is common among savages, physicians and surgeons, and, indeed, they mix medicine and religion together. A cure is effected by songs and superstitious rites as well as by the use of simples. The juggler’s voice and rattle are seldom still near the couch of a sick man. We are yet to learn that these quacks are much respected in their sacerdotal character, or that any great importance is attached to their ceremonies by the majority of the laity. One merit they have, and that is their skill in rough surgery. We have seen them effect astonishing cures. It may not be amiss to mention one, by way of example. A hunter was grappled by a bear, that he had wounded, and dreadfully lacerated. His arm was broken in several places, and all who saw it thought he must die or submit to amputation. An Indian surgeon, however, undertook the cure and effected it. It is true that he was three years about it, and perhaps the abstemious habits of the patient were a main cause of his recovery.

‘As to government, the Dahcotah race have no king, and every man does what seems right in his own eyes. They have chiefs, indeed, who have, by tacit consent, the power of making treaties, and of transacting the business of their followers. Sometimes they lead in war, but, save on such occasions, authority they have none. They may advise, but cannot command. They receive no reward for their services, nor do they wear any badge of their rank. Indeed they are usually worse dressed and provided than other individuals, because it is considered peculiarly the duty of chiefs to be generous. The office is hereditary in families, but not in the direct line of descent. If the heir apparent be notoriously ineligible, he is set aside, and a more worthy kinsman takes his place. Highly distinguished warriors become war chiefs through the respect paid to their valor. Each village has one of these, who is called the war chief, to distinguish him from the hereditary leader. He rules in war, but not in civil affairs. Sometimes a chief acquires absolute power, but of that kind which strong minds gain over weak ones, and it behoves every leader to bear his faculties meekly.

‘Laws the Dahcotahs have none; but they have customs which have the force of laws, and which are seldom broken. Thus a man may have as many wives as he can maintain. Adultery is punished by cutting off the nose of the offending wife; the wife cuts the clothes of the offending husband to pieces. Life is taken for life, unless the homicide can appease the friends of the dead by the payment of a ransom. The murderer invariably gives himself up to punishment, for to fear death is considered the acme of dishonor. When minor offences are committed, the injured party kills the dogs and horses of his enemy, or destroys his tent before his eyes, and in such cases no resistance is offered. Divorces are at the option of the husband. Theft is not regarded as a crime; indeed, property is nearly in common among them, so that no theft can be committed. They apply this standard of morals to the whites, and so get the reputation of thieves, while themselves are unconscious of wrong doing. It is, in our opinion, this very community of goods that is the principal obstacle to their civilization and improvement; for it cannot be expected that one man will sow for all the world to reap, or that he will weary his limbs in the chase to obtain what will not belong to him or his family. Those tribes who hold the right of property in most esteem, as, for example, the Saques and Foxes, have made the greatest advances in civilization.

‘Another obstacle to the civilization of our aborigines is their unconquerable indolence. The savage is content with the bare necessaries of life; he neither knows nor cares for its luxuries and superfluities. Necessity only will compel him to exertion. Tribes, whose limits have been so circumscribed by the whites that they cannot live by the chase, have resorted to labor for subsistence; but we think no other force of reason or circumstance will bring about such a result.

‘However strange such an assertion may appear, we confidently affirm that Indians are not more revengeful than other people. They have the same feelings and passions as other men, neither stronger nor weaker. They are kind to each other. Every offence but murder is readily forgiven, and even that crime seldom finds its due punishment. Nine murderers out of ten among them go down to the grave in peace. An Indian rarely goes much out of his way for revenge. Time and opportunity being ministered, an individual will wreak a long-smothered resentment, and so, we presume, would any other man, if freed from the restraints of law. We take it upon us to say that murders are not so frequent among them as with ourselves, and that these, as well as all minor injuries, are not so often or so fearfully avenged by Indians as by white men. As it regards wrongs committed by enemies of the tribe, the case is different. These, the savage is taught, it is his duty to requite upon any member of the hostile nation. Such vengeance it is his glory to take, and it is one of the first requisitions of his moral code.

‘The courage of Indians is not to be measured by our standard. In a mere clan, the loss of an individual is severely felt. It subtracts largely from the strength of the band and the happiness of his family. Discretion, therefore, is considered the better part of valor. The war chief who conquers the enemy does well; but he who conquers without loss to himself does infinitely better. It is thought honorable to avoid risk as much as possible, and the decision of quarrels by single combat is called folly and madness. But when they have resolved on battle, no people strive more valiantly. Our history bears witness of the furious energy of their valor. Their ideas of moral courage might be adopted with advantage by all who call them savages. They think it weak and cowardly to yield to grief or anger; misfortune and pain they scorn, and death they endure not only without a murmur, but with cheerfulness. Suicide under any circumstances they brand as the strongest evidence of lack of courage.

‘Of the cruelty of Indians to conquered enemies, this only can be said, that it is the vice of all barbarians, that they know not what they do, that it is only exercised on their avowed foes, and that it is almost always perpetrated in the heat of blood. Captives, once spared, fare no worse than their conquerors. The sense of honor among Indians is, in some respects, very strong; in others, not so. It will not prevent an individual from falsehood, treachery, promise-breaking, flattery, beggary and a multitude of other offences. It will deter him from labor, which he considers the exclusive business of women, it forbids him to shun death, it commands him to requite a disgraceful blow with a stab, it forbids him to boast of deeds he never achieved, it commands him to sacrifice himself for the good of his tribe. Its scope is not very extensive; but where it operates, it operates effectually.

‘In their domestic relations, they are essentially, but not ostensibly kind. They provide for their families, they love their wives and children; but thinking it womanish to manifest the affections, they are not fond husbands or fathers. Tatunkah Nazhee, the best hunter of the Dahcotahs, lost his wife and five children by the hands of the Chippeways. The only sign of grief he displayed was painting his face black. Yet he abandoned his usual occupations, and pursued the enemy till he had taken life for life. “This,” said he, “is the best way of mourning for the dead.”

‘Indian hospitality and charity have no limit. No stranger enters their tents to whom they do not give meat: no person goes to them in need whom they do not relieve to the extent of their ability, and often to their great inconvenience. They will not look upon an execution, they will not suffer a person who has wronged them to be whipped for it, and the idea of imprisoning a man for debt, or for a petty violation of the rights of property, fills them with horror.

‘Some years ago, the old chief of a Dahcotah band was robbed by a drunken soldier of eighteen ducks, which he had killed for the use of his family. The offender was detected, compelled to make restitution, and fastened to the whipping-post. When the old man comprehended the nature of the punishment about to be inflicted, he burst into tears, and threw down half his game before the commanding officer. “I will give you these,” said he, “if you will spare this man. Of what consequence are a few ducks?” The man had committed violence on the chiefs person. Which of the two best deserved to be called a savage?

‘In short, to end our remarks on the Dahcotah character, which is, with some trivial alterations, the character of most Indian tribes, we may say that their moral code is grievously defective, but that, such as it is, they adhere rigidly to it. Considering their ignorance, their extreme necessities and their wrongs, it is wonderful that their moral degradation is not deeper than it is. Their code is adapted to their mode of life, and it is only by applying it to others, who have more to lose and less to gain than themselves, that they become disagreeable and dangerous neighbors to the whites. An incessant irritation is the consequence, hatred succeeds, mutual wrong follows, and war consummates the drama.

‘Those of the tribes of Dahcotah origin who live on the Mississippi, and other wooded countries, live on the deer and other game of the forest. By entrapping the fur-clad animals, they get the means of buying guns, cloth and other articles, which have become indispensably necessary to them. In the summer, they live in permanent villages, and cultivate a little corn. The women perform this, as well as all other labors, and do not consider themselves aggrieved thereby. It is said that, as the men encounter the fatigues and perils of the chase, the dangers of war and the vicissitudes of the seasons, they have their full share of domestic duties. The women being unfit for these occupations, must fill the station which God has allotted to them, and neither party thinks the distribution of offices unjust or unreasonable. The women are sold, like the daughters of the patriarchs, by their parents to their husbands, and they are chastised or commended according to the degree of their industry or good conduct. Judging from their general cheerfulness, they see no hardship in their lot. Jealousy seems to be their chief annoyance, and often causes them to hang themselves.

‘In winter, the hunters leave their villages, and encamp in leathern tents on their hunting-grounds, removing from place to place as the game is more or less abundant. They are plentifully supplied by the traders with ammunition on credit, and pay their debts as they best can in the spring. This system is highly injurious to the Indians, and vexatious to the traders. As not more than half of the hunters pay their debts, the trader is obliged to charge a double price for his goods, in his own defence, and thus the honest and industrious Indians pay for the idle and vicious. Still this is the fashion of their fathers, and no persuasion will induce them to depart from it.

‘It only remains to be said of this portion of the race, that they live from hand to mouth, hunting and fishing when they feel so inclined, and fasting when the chances of the chase are against them. Few of them perish by starvation. The only circumstance that varies the monotony of their lives is war, and that they practise on so limited a scale that it has no perceptible effect on their population or happiness.

‘The roving tribes, who live in the great plains of the west, differ little in language or character from their more stationary brethren. They encamp near the vast herds of buffaloes, kill as many as they want, eat the flesh, dress in the skins, and sell as many robes to the traders as will procure them cloth and guns. They are wilder and more primitive than their neighbors, and more addicted to plunder and massacre those who are not of their blood. They are generally well mounted and armed with guns, bows and arrows, spears and shields. They kill the buffalo at full speed. If the drove removes, they pluck up their tents and follow. If any man frightens the cattle, certain police officers, called soldiers, punish him by stripes and the destruction of his horses and property. Their persons are held sacred, and no one thinks of resisting them. Some of these wanderers are like the children of Ishmael in that every man’s hand is against them, and their hand is against every man. The Assinneboins are an example. Their time is spent in indolence, war and the chase.

‘The wars of Indians among themselves are seldom very destructive. The war chief dreams or pretends to dream that the enemy will be delivered into his hands, and sets out for the field of strife with, perhaps, twenty followers. The greatest caution is observed, and if the party find reason to think that the enemy is apprised of their intention, they turn back. If, however, their plans succeed, a small number of the enemy are surprised and butchered. Few are ever spared. Within a few months, this paltry onslaught is repaid in kind, and the account is balanced. These wars have been from time immemorial, and will probably continue till time shall be no more. Such is the modern state of Indian warfare; but tradition tells of more serious hostilities. Hundreds of Dahcotahs and Mandans perished less than a century ago in a battle between the two tribes. The Assinneboins were once nearly exterminated by the former tribe. Those times are gone, and a mightier influence is sweeping the red men from the face of the earth.

‘The Algonquin or Chippeway race is even more widely extended than the Dahcotahs. Judging from the remains of the languages which have descended to our times, the entire aboriginal population of New England sprung from this stock. Their manners and habits corroborate this supposition. The Delawares are supposed to have had the same origin. The language of the powerful and chivalrous Iroquois is said to be allied to the Chippeway. The Saque and Fox tribes are evidently branches of the same tree. The Ottawas and Pottawattamies claim the same descent. It is thought that the Menomenies share the same blood. The Kinisteneaux speak a dialect of the same tongue, and many other tribes may be traced to the same origin. All these tribes are and have ever been dwellers in the woods, and save that they now dress in articles made by the whites and that they love rum, they are now very nearly what they were two hundred years ago. They have proved themselves possessed of some mechanical ingenuity by inventing the birch canoe, a vehicle which has been the admiration of all travellers.

‘The Chippeway race differ little from other tribes living in the woods, whose manners and habits are too well known to need comment here. They are a nation of hunters and warriors, skilful in the chase, bold in battle, eloquent in council, and, in a word, possessing all the half-formed virtues, all the vices, all the ignorance and all the barbarism already ascribed to the Dahcotahs. Those of them who live in high northern latitudes, are more needy, and consequently more industrious, than those who dwell in more favored climes. Between this great nation and the Dahcotahs, a war has been waged so long that tradition itself conveys no knowledge of its cause or the date of its commencement. The deadly feud has been transmitted from father to son with such inveteracy, that all efforts to staunch it have proved abortive. A great deal of inherited hatred, and the strong thirst for martial renown, which is an inherent part of Indian character, have co-operated to perpetuate this state of things.

‘The language of these two great races are like no forms of speech known in the old world. They are wonderfully expressive, both defective and redundant, and said to be difficult of acquisition. The verbs of the Dahcotah language appear to have no roots, and to be entirely irregular in their modifications. The nominative case neither precedes nor follows the verb, as in the languages of the old world, but is incorporated with it, sometimes at the end of the word, sometimes in the middle, sometimes abbreviated, and sometimes entire. We have known traders to fail to acquire it during a trial of thirty years. From the little acquaintance we were able to gain, we thought it a collection of phrases, with scarce the resemblance of rule or order, and conclude that, to be learned at all, it must be learned by rote.

‘We can give but brief notices of other tribes. The Creeks, Cherokees, Chickasaws and Choctaws are known to us by their wrongs, and by the advances they have made in civilization. The measures taken to remove them beyond the Mississippi, already partially successful, will probably ere long be fully so. It would be an ungrateful as well as a useless task to enter into a discussion of a subject so generally understood; nevertheless, it may not be impertinent to offer a few remarks on the probable future fate of these unfortunate tribes.

‘We have already expressed our views respecting what we think the only sure mode of civilizing Indians. That mode, or, in other words, the necessity of a change of manners, was in successful operation upon the four southern nations. By transferring them to an unlimited range of territory, that necessity has been removed, and if they do not relapse into their primitive barbarism, they are radically unlike any other Indians with whom we are acquainted, or farther advanced in civilization than we are prepared to believe. The influences which make and continue the hunter state of the Indians, operate on the whites also. For every Indian who has voluntarily relinquished the life of his fathers, ten whites may be found who have become hunters.

‘It is proposed, by placing these tribes west of the Mississippi, to protect them from the encroachments of the whites, an intention which is certainly not founded on precedent or analogy. If the most solemn treaties, if repeated retrocessions have not hitherto been adequate to protect the savage from the overpowering tide of white population, how can it be supposed that his new abode in Arkansas will be respected when he shall have made it valuable, if indeed, he ever should make it valuable? There, he is thrown in contact with other tribes, as warlike, and more barbarous than his own, and much misery and bloodshed has already been the consequence.

‘Moreover, it is proposed, by casting the lot of several distinct tribes together, to amalgamate them, and thereby preserve them from decay. If the experience of past times is to be trusted, this measure is much more likely to produce division than to prevent it. Who ever saw two Indian tribes amalgamate, unless when one, reduced to a mere handful, sought the protection of the other? Thus the remnant of the Saques sought protection of the Foxes, the Stockbridge Indians of the Six Nations. On the other hand, we have only to refer to the Dahcotah and Algonquin races, severally derived from two great roots, but now divided into an almost infinite number of petty hordes. If people, thus connected by the bonds of common origin and language, have so divided, what is to be expected from others, who have no basis of union, and who, in some instances, entertain hostile feelings toward each other? We hope the best; but to us the future prospect of the expatriated tribes appears overshadowed with clouds and darkness.

‘Beside the two great divisions already noticed, there are many other tribes, of whose origin and languages little is known, save that they are wholly distinct from each other. Such are the natives of the Columbia river, for an account of whom we must refer the reader to the travels of Lewis and Clarke, and of Roos Coxe. M’Kenzie and Franklin tell all that is known of the Dog-rib and Coppermine Indians, two feeble and miserable tribes which inhabit the frozen regions north of the Great Slave lake. The Flat-heads, who live on the upper waters of the Columbia, muster five hundred determined warriors, and derive their name from their custom of compressing the head, in infancy, into a hideously unseemly shape; a practice common to most of the tribes of Oregon, and formerly in use among the Caraibs. They war upon their eastern neighbors, the buffalo-following Blackfeet, a desperate and ferocious tribe, who are friendly to the English, and abhor the very name of an American. This animosity arose from the fact that one or two of them were killed, more than thirty years ago, by Lewis and Clarke. The Mandans and Minnetarees dwell in permanent villages on the Missouri, speak distinct languages from each other, and from all other tribes, and claim consanguinity with none. The Crows are a separate and powerful race of vagrant horsemen, and so are the Shiannes, who were formerly expelled by the Dahcotahs from the lands which the latter now occupy. The Pawnees and Arikarees compose three tribes who speak one language; the Pawnee Wolves are in no wise connected with them. The Shoshonees live and starve among the Rocky mountains. Among other distinct races may be numbered the Wyandots, or Hurons, the Comanches, the Appaches, and many others. All of these tribes, excepting the Wyandots, are more or less in the vagabond state, and ride over the boundless prairies, chasing the buffalo, and warring upon all whom they dare attack. All are bold warriors, skilful hunters, and inveterate horse-stealers, in all of which characters they glory. The manners of all are nearly alike; all practise the same indiscriminate hospitality; all have the same code of morals, religion, and policy; almost all detest the people of the United States, for what reasons it is unnecessary here to inquire. By classing all these hordes together, we do not mean to imply that there is no difference whatever in their habits, ideas, and characters; but that there is a very strong general resemblance between them all.

‘The Caraibs and the original inhabitants of the West Indies have passed away, thanks to the cruelties of their Spanish invaders. Nothing can be said of them which is, probably, not already known to the mass of our readers. For an account of the Mexicans, and the Indians of South America, we must refer to the pages of Humboldt, Robertson, and other writers. Nor can it be expected that we should enter into such details as may have come to our knowledge, respecting the tribes already mentioned. Many volumes larger than this would be requisite for such purpose. It is our duty, however, to caution our readers against trusting the statements of such travellers as Carver, who have galloped over the countries they describe with the speed of race-horses, without understanding a syllable of the languages of the Indians with whom they sojourned, and relying for information on the hearsay testimony of ignorant trappers and boatmen. There are but too many of this stamp. If we may say what authorities we consider unquestionable, we will mention M’Kenzie, Henry, Franklin, Tanner, and the English Long. These all sojourned long among the people they pretend to describe, and enjoyed the best opportunities for personal observation.

‘One topic connected with the aborigines only remains, which we must discuss briefly. It relates to their ultimate destiny, and the prospect of christianizing and civilizing them. Many obstacles to this desideratum exist, and we are sorry to add that they appear to us insuperable. To convert the adults must be excessively difficult, if not impossible. Firstly, their languages are so difficult of acquisition, and so barren of words expressing abstract ideas, that the greater part of a life is spent in learning them, and when acquired, they are scarcely adequate to convey the doctrines of Christianity. Secondly, the Indians are so constantly roaming about, and so scattered, that, to instruct them, a missionary would be needed for every family, who should accompany them in their peregrinations, avail himself of such opportunities as their caprice might allow, and above all, maintain himself; for, though no Indian would tell him so, the burthen of his support would, at times, be severely felt. He must then overcome that apathy and laziness which is the characteristic of savage life, break up the whole of his pupil’s long-revered rules of thought and action, and substitute others in their stead. A new ambition must be awakened, and the whole frame of Indian society must be changed entirely, for the ethics of our Savior will not apply to the present one. For example, it will be difficult to persuade the savage to meekness and long-suffering, while all his arts and exertions will scarce protect his wives and children from the knives of his neighbors, while all his companions tell him that revenge on the enemies of his tribe is a sacred duty, and that martial renown ought to be to him as the breath of his nostrils.

‘The missionary should not too much rely on the apparent impression he may have produced on his auditors. Indians seldom contradict, and, by an intuitive politeness, always receive what is addressed to them by one whom they respect, with approbation and assent. Therefore, when an Indian auditory may have listened to a discourse with marked attention and expressed approbation, the speaker is not to suppose that they believe a word of it. They only mean that he is entitled to respect. An Indian once agreed that man’s first disobedience was improper, and, being farther questioned, gave his reasons. “It was very foolish,” he said, “to eat apples: it was much better to make cider of them all.”

‘Some few adults have, indeed, become Christians; but where such conversions have taken place, the converts have either made some previous progress in civilization, or the change has been nominal. We never yet saw a savage hunter who had a rational idea of Christianity. The example of the Cherokees alone shows that the ground must be prepared to receive the seed. The missionaries have undoubtedly done them great good; but they made little or no progress before the tribe had turned to agriculture, framed laws and a regular government, and acknowledged a distinction of property. They are now fitted to receive the Word.

‘Indians taken from their tribe young, educated, and sent back, do not appear better qualified to teach than white missionaries. They are, in every thing but complexion, as much aliens among their people as the whites, and command no more sympathy, and rather less respect.

‘We believe there is no example on record of a tribe who have changed from hunters to farmers on any other consideration than compulsion of some kind or other. We constantly see them recede rather than labor. But when prevented from receding, they learn the value of time and labor, and a distinction of property necessarily takes place. Laws are then necessary to guard this distinction. Prodigality is no longer a principal virtue; war is no longer the chief pursuit of life; the mind acquires new ideas and new habits of exercise, and thus the way to entire civilization and Christianity is prepared. Could we see the coast of the Pacific settled by white men, who should advance into the interior, driving the western Indians before them as we have done the eastern, till the entire race should be hemmed within limits too narrow for their existence as hunters, we should entertain a hope of seeing a remnant of them saved and civilized. The same result must be brought about by driving them to the Pacific; but the operation will be so tardy, that most of the expatriated tribes will probably be destroyed by their intercourse with the whites, or by the tribes on whom they will be forced to intrude. How small a remnant remains of the millions who once dwelt in peace between the Atlantic and the Mississippi!

‘The children of Indians may be christianized, but only when they can be separated from their parents. The missionaries of Michilimacinac seem aware of this fact; for they have chiefly confined their instructions to the half-breed children of white men, who are at the disposal of their fathers. It was a wise policy, and their ministry has produced the most blessed results.

‘Consider this subject in what light we may, so many difficulties present themselves, that it is almost impossible to hope that any considerable portion of the aboriginal race will be in existence three centuries hence. The fate of individual tribes is beyond the reach of conjecture, and we have only to pray that the God alike of white and red men will preserve them from utter extermination.’

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CHAPTER XI.—AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES.84

INDIAN MOUNDS. The old Mexican villages, it is said, were built of unbaked bricks, fourteen inches square, and covered with limbs of trees and turf, which, when they mouldered away, formed a mound, similar in shape to those which meet the traveller’s eye from the Red river of Hudson’s bay to the state of Missouri, and probably to the gulf of Mexico. The number of these barrows has, however, been greatly exaggerated. We have seen it stated, on grave authority, that for a length of five hundred miles, and a breadth of from eighty to two hundred, the mounds are seldom an acre apart, and on this enormous blunder was founded a conclusion that the population was once immense. We, who speak from knowledge, affirm that, judging from such data, the former population was not so great as the present. We have seen mounds on the tributaries of Hudson’s bay, and on the waters of the Mississippi, and their numbers warrant no such speculations. They are common enough, indeed, but by no means so common, or of such magnitude, as to make it certain that the ancestors of the present race of aborigines were very numerous. We draw this inference from several facts.

Travelling some years ago near the St. Peter’s river, we saw, at a distance of about a mile, an erection which looked like one of the conical tents of the Indians. A distinguished individual had lately died, and our guide informed us that the object above mentioned was an earthen lodge which his relatives had raised over him. Being pressed for time, we did not approach it nigher. Supposing it to have been, which we see no reason to doubt, what the guide stated, it must, when the top crumbled down, have assumed the shape of a mound.

The Indians of those regions do, to this day, bury at least half of their dead. They respect the dead highly, and to protect their remains from wolves and dogs, erect over them an edifice of stakes, which, as they possess axes, they can easily cut. Now is it not probable, that before they had the means to cut stakes without excessive toil, they raised a mound of earth in its stead? What corroborates this supposition is, that many, and indeed the greater number, of the mounds are not larger than would be required for such purpose. That they were ever intended for dwellings is out of the question; for we are to learn that any traces of bricks, timbers, or masonry, have ever been found in any of them. We have already said that the fragments of pottery found in them are precisely similar to the earthen pots still in use among the modern Assinneboins. Again, fragments of bone are found in most of them; but could bones have remained any great length of time in damp earth undecayed? We think not—at least, we have known instances where the human frame has been utterly resolved into its native elements within the lapse of a century. But some of the mounds, and especially those near St. Louis, are so large as to be esteemed beyond the powers and industry of the present race of Indians. Before we adopt this conclusion, we should remember that, as late as the discovery of the Mississippi, several tribes kept the bones of their friends for years, and then buried them together, a practice, the remains of which are still distinctly visible among the Dahcotahs. On such occasions, a large mound must have been raised, by the united efforts of a tribe. If we suppose that successive layers were from time to time deposited on the national burial heap, which is, surely, no extravagant theory, the objection that the red men had neither power, inclination, nor motive to raise such tumuli, vanishes.

‘On the banks of White river,’ says a writer in Silliman’s Journal, ‘where the earth had caved in, I found part of an earthen coffin, in which the neck bones and the skull were yet remaining; and on the top of the neck bone, as I dug to see what bone could be inserted thus in part of an earthen box, I found a parcel of pieces of bones cut round, and remaining on the neck in the exact position in which they had been used as a necklace. They were pierced, but the string had entirely disappeared; they were the one eighth of an inch thick, and three fifths in diameter; and the bones of which they were made were much better preserved than those of the skeleton. This, I was confident, did not belong to the modern tribes of Indians which inhabit some parts of that country.85 I found, among the clay which rolled down from the same mound, several pieces of lead ore, (common galena,) which had been carried there. It is not uncommon to find this ore amongst human bones, throughout the whole country; probably they used trinkets made of lead, and this was a provision for them to dress in the other world.’

On the plantation of Mr. John Kain, of Knox county, near the north bank of Holston river, five miles above its junction with the French Broad, is a curious collection of mounds of earth, evidently the work of art, but of an almost antediluvian antiquity, if we may form any conjecture of their age from that of the forest which grows around and upon them. They are about half a dozen in number, and arise on about half an acre of level ground, without any seeming regularity. They are pyramidal in their shape, or rather sections of pyramids, whose bases are from ten to thirty paces in diameter. The largest one in this group rises about ten feet above the level ground, and is remarkably regular in its figure. A perpendicular section of this mound was made about a year since, but no important discovery was made. It was found to consist of the surface thrown up, and contained a good deal of ashes and charcoal.

This group of mounds is surrounded by a ditch, which can be distinctly traced on three sides, and inclosing, besides the mounds, several acres of ground. It is, like the mounds, covered with trees, which grow in it and about it. At every angle of this ditch, it sweeps out into a semicircle, and it appears in many respects well calculated for defence.

There are many other mounds of the same form in Tennessee. At the junction of the French Broad with the Holston, there is one in which human bones are said to have been found. Farther up French Broad, near Newport, is a very large mound. It reposes on a very level and extensive plain, and is itself the largest I ever saw. It is thirty feet high, and its base covers half an acre of ground. As it ascends from its base, there is a slight inclination from a perpendicular on all sides, and the upper surface is as level as the rest is regular. From the great size of this mound, its commanding situation, and the mystery which veils its history, it is a most interesting spot of ground. There are many other mounds of this description in the state of Tennessee.

A mound of large dimensions is situated in the interior of the Cherokee nation, on the north side of the Etowee, vulgarly called the Hightower river, one of the branches of the Coosa. It stands upon a strip of alluvial land, called River Bottom. It is described by the Rev. Elias Cornelius, who visited it in company with eight Indian chiefs. The first object which excited attention was an excavation, about twenty feet wide, and in some parts ten feet deep. Its course is nearly that of a semicircle; the extremities extending towards the river, which forms a small elbow. ‘I had not time,’ says this writer, ‘to examine it minutely. An Indian said it extended each way to the river, and had several unexcavated parts, which served for passages to the area which it incloses. To my surprise, I found no embankment on either side of it. But I did not long doubt to what place the earth had been removed; for I had scarcely proceeded two hundred yards, when, through the thick forest trees, a stupendous pile met the eye, whose dimensions were in full proportion to the intrenchment. I had at the time no means of taking an accurate admeasurement. To supply my deficiency, I cut a long vine, which was preserved until I had an opportunity of ascertaining its exact length. In this manner I found the distance from the margin of the summit to the base to be one hundred and eleven feet; and judging from the degree of its declivity, the perpendicular height cannot be less than seventy-five feet. The circumference of the base, including the feet of three parapets, measured one thousand, one hundred and fourteen feet. One of these parapets extends from the base to the summit, and can be ascended, though with difficulty, on horseback. The other two, after rising thirty or forty feet, terminate in a kind of triangular platform. Its top is level, and, at the time I visited it, was so completely covered with weeds, bushes, and trees of a most luxuriant growth, that I could not examine it as well as I wished. Its diameter, I judged, must be one hundred and fifty feet. On its sides and summit are many large trees, of the same description and of equal dimensions with those around it. One beech tree, near the top, measured ten feet and nine inches in circumference. The earth on one side of the tree was three and a half feet lower than on the opposite side. This fact will give a good idea of the mound’s declivity. An oak, which was lying down on one of the parapets, measured at the distance of six feet from the but, without the bark, twelve feet four inches in circumference. At a short distance to the south-east is another mound, in ascending which I took thirty steps. Its top is encircled by a breastwork three feet high, intersected through the middle with another elevation of a similar kind. A little further is another mound, which I had not time to examine.

‘On these great works of art, the Indians gazed with as much curiosity as any white man. I inquired of the oldest chief if the natives had any tradition respecting them, to which he answered in the negative. I then requested each to say what he supposed was their origin. Neither could tell; though all agreed in saying, “they were never put up by our people.” It seems probable they were erected by another race, who once inhabited the country. That such a race existed, is now generally admitted. Who they were, and what were the causes of their degeneracy, or of their extermination, no circumstances have yet explained. But this is no reason why we should not, as in a hundred other instances, infer the existence of the cause from its effects, without any previous knowledge of its history.

‘In regard to the objects which these mounds were designed to answer, it is obvious they were not always the same. Some were intended as receptacles for the dead. These are small, and are distinguished by containing human bones. Some may have been designed as sites for public buildings, whether of a civil or religious kind; and others, no doubt, were constructed for the purposes of war. Of this last description is the Etowee mound. In proof of its suitableness for such a purpose, I need only mention that the Cherokees, in their late war with the Creeks, secured its summit by pickets, and occupied it as a place of protection for hundreds of their women and children. Gladly would I have spent a day in examining it more minutely; but my companions, unable to appreciate my motives, grew impatient, and I was obliged to withdraw, and leave a more perfect observation and description to some one else.’

With all the respect due to the authorities above quoted, we beg leave to doubt their conclusions. That the Cherokees had no tradition respecting the origin of their great mound, proves nothing. Indian tradition reaches not far. Different tribes are constantly driving each other from their possessions, and the tumulus in question may have been the work of a clan dispossessed by the Cherokees. The trees growing on such mounds prove as little. In 1825, we discovered two skeletons under the roots of a very large elm, on the banks of the Mississippi. They were at once pronounced relics of the supposed former race, and that opinion was current until the iron parts of the handle of a clasp knife were found in the earth from which they were exhumed. The Indians of the vicinity wondered, like the Cherokees at their mound, and the tree appeared more than a century old. The skulls were discovered to be those of Dahcotahs, by a peculiar formation of the lower jaw, and as the tribe to which they belonged are not agreed about their own former dwelling-place, though they left it not more than two centuries ago, we cannot attach much weight to Indian tradition.

In a stone quarry at St. Peter’s, a copper wedge, weighing three pounds, was found, about ten years since, fifteen feet below the surface of the earth. It was perfectly formed, and still bore marks of the hammer which fashioned it. This, and the exsiccated body (it is no mummy) which was found in the great cavern in Kentucky, are the only things we have seen which in our opinion justify even a conjecture that there was formerly another race of inhabitants on this continent. It will not, we suppose, be disputed, that the Mexicans were unable to rear the pyramid of Cholula, or that they are not of the same stock with our aborigines.

We are unable to decide for what purpose the erections scattered over our country, and commonly called forts, were intended. They were probably fortifications, and very sufficient ones they must have been, before the natives were acquainted with fire arms. Whoever has seen with what incredible despatch a modern Indian throws up a work sufficient for the protection of his own body, with no better implement than his knife, will readily admit that a tribe were fully competent to erect these works of an antediluvian people.

The great work which the impostor Carver pretends to have seen on the Mississippi, never had existence, save in the pages of his deceitful book. We have often sought without finding it, and the Indians of the neighborhood know nothing about it.

On the eastern shore of lake Pepin, about three miles from its debouchure, is an extensive prairie, and on its edge, commanding the lake and the plain, are the ruins of a regular four-bastioned fort. The curtain and the two western bastions have crumbled away, and fallen into the lake; but the two other bastions and three curtains, with the corresponding ditches, scarps and counterscarps, are perfectly distinct, and might be repaired with little trouble. From its commanding situation, and its regularity, it is plain that cannon were mounted upon it, and that it was built by the early French traders or travellers. This assumption is confirmed by the fact, that asparagus still grows wild among the ruins, though it is found in no other part of the country. Yet Indian tradition knows nothing of the origin of the fort, or its uses.

OLD FORTS. Among what may be called the antiquities of America, there are few things which excite more interest than the fortifications of the Highlands of the Hudson. It will readily be remembered that this river was a pass of vast importance to the contending parties, inasmuch as it was, during the revolution, the only channel of communication between the British armies in Canada and those on the sea board. To prevent a junction, which would have been ruinous to the cause of freedom, general Washington occupied the Highlands, and made every height bristle with cannon. The remains of many of the fortifications are still distinctly visible to the traveller, as he passes up and down the river; but it is in vain, excepting in a few instances, that he inquires their history, or even their names. Those at and about West Point, however, are better known. It is needless to tell here how this post was well nigh betrayed by the traitor Arnold—the story is still fresh in the memory of all men, and it is our business to say what may be said of the works his treason would have surrendered.

West Point is situated at a bend, and the only abrupt one in the whole course of the Hudson from New York to Albany. It is a large plain, elevated several hundred feet above the level of the river. Directly opposite is a large island, called Constitution island, on which are many eminences commanding the river, which were crowned with fortifications. Fort Constitution, the principal of these, is still entire.

On a height below West Point may be observed the remains of fort Montgomery, the guns of which, it is believed, compelled the Vulture sloop of war to retire farther down the river, and was thus the cause of the land excursion and capture of André, and consequently of the safety of the post. The extremity of the Point is occupied by the ruins of fort Clinton, which commanded two ranges on the river, and was an extensive as well as a very strong and important work. It was just opposite this fort that an enormous iron chain was stretched across the river to obstruct the passage. It was broken by an English man of war under full sail; but the vessel was so injured in the attempt, as to be obliged to put back. There are many other fortifications of minor importance on and about the Point, which, as well as those already mentioned, are undergoing a rapid process of decay, and will probably disappear in less than a century.

But what strikes the eye of the traveller with most imposing effect, are the hoary ruins of fort Putnam, familiarly called Old Fort Put. They stand five hundred feet immediately above the plain of West Point, and once commanded all the batteries on and about it. They have very much the appearance of a dilapidated castle. The work is of small extent, but very strong. It stands on the apex of a steep hill, and the wall on the northern side hangs upon the edge of a perpendicular precipice. On the other sides, the walls are so high and steep, as to render escalade impracticable. The walls are solid and very thick, and contain within their mass apartments for the garrison, and furnaces for heating shot. There was once an excellent well within the area; but it is now choked and rendered useless by fragments of the crumbling masonry. One of the angles contains two cells, probably designed for prisoners, and for black holes. Tradition erroneously says that major André was confined in one of them. Altogether, the whole ruin has an imposing appearance, for it is in strict keeping with the grandeur and wildness of the surrounding scenery, and serves to awaken many pleasing historical recollections in the American spectator. In the midst of embattled heights it stands, ‘the key-stone of the arch.’ Of its strength we may say, that an enemy could not have taken it without overwhelming numbers, and loss proportionate, or without bombarding it. In short, it is, in many respects, like what we read of the hill forts of India. We hope the proverbial economy of our government will not suffer so interesting a historical monument to fall into utter decay, and the rather, that a very small expense would restore it to its original condition.

The remains of fort William Henry, at the head of lake George, are traced with much interest by every traveller. It was merely a sand fort, but of great extent. The exterior redoubt, which may still be traced, comprehends the whole plain between the mountain and the lake, and the inner works, commanding the water, are in some places very distinct. The plain pointed out as the parade ground, is extensive and beautiful. This was the scene of the most wanton and perfidious massacre which ever disgraced the annals of warfare. Not all the consecrated water which the French carried home from the ‘Sacremer,’ as they beautifully termed the crystal lake, could wash out the foul stain which this transaction left on the French arms and French faith. The garrison, consisting of three thousand English and provincials, under colonel Munro, surrendered, after a long and desperate resistance, to the French army of ten thousand men, commanded by the marquis de Montcalm, in 1757. By the terms of the capitulation, the garrison were to receive a safe escort to fort Edward. They accordingly marched out to the parade ground, stacked their arms, and awaited the escort. The Indians, to the number of several thousand, armed with tomahawks and knives, immediately surrounded them, and began to strip them by force of their clothing. Colonel Munro, who was in the French camp, anxiously demanded the escort; but Montcalm delayed it upon frivolous pretences, and finally refused it. The French stood with folded arms, and beheld the massacre within pistol shot of their camp. Some few of the devoted and defenceless soldiers wrested weapons from the hands of their murderers, and dearly sold their lives; but of the whole number, only two or three escaped. A young man by the name of Carver, from New England, of great strength and agility, grappled with and overthrew several Indians, broke through their ranks, fled into the swamp in the rear of the fort, and escaped. Strong representations of this affair were made to the government of France, and Montcalm was called to a formal account, but was not punished. In his defence, he stated that, by interfering to prevent the massacre, he would have lost the confidence of his Indian allies, and incurred their hostility. Musket balls, grape and chain shot, buttons, hatchets, and human bones, are frequently ploughed up on this ground. These relics are sometimes left for sale at the Lake House.

In the rear of fort William Henry, on a commanding eminence, stands fort George, a small, but, for the time when it was erected, a strong fortress. The walls are of limestone, twelve or fifteen feet thick, and thirty or forty feet high. The magazine and arches are of brick work; a part of the magazine is entire, but the entrance to it is filled up. The walls have been pulled down in many places by those who had use for the stone, and all the bricks which could be got at have been carried off. Several wells, now filled up, may be discovered in the vicinity, and the ruins of the hospital, arsenal, and other buildings. Fort George is completely commanded by the neighboring heights, and of Gage’s hill it is within fair musket-shot. On this hill, however, the English kept a fort, the remains of the redoubt being still visible. It is remarkable that every old fort from the Canada line to Albany is commanded by highlands in its vicinity. When they were built, there was but little apprehension of artillery. Even the strong and important fort of Ticonderoga was effectually commanded by mount Defiance, a circumstance which proved disastrous to the American arms. The prospect from fort George is extensive and diversified, embracing the village, the mountains, the islands, and the lake, for a great distance.

‘Passing Plattsburg,’ says a recent English traveller, ‘the scene of our defeat last war, we reached Crown Point, and then the lake contracted from four or five miles in breadth to a river channel. The point was green and elevated, and on it were the ruins of military works, principally greeted by the Canadian French, when they meditated and attempted the utter expulsion of the English colonists from the shores of the Atlantic. Stories are told of vaults and dungeons at Crown Point, where plots were hatched, in conjunction with the Indians, for burning the dwellings and massacring the families of the settlers; and here were displayed “long rows of scalps, white in one place with the venerable locks of age, and glistening in another with the ringlets of childhood and of youth.”

‘Next, at the entrance to lake George, with its clear waters, its picturesque islets, and steep shores, were the remains of the celebrated fort Ticonderoga, situated on a point of land, surrounded on three sides with water, and on the fourth, deep trenches cut into the morass, with high breastworks. It presented one of the most likely posts to make a gallant defence, that could well be conceived. The ruin of a barrack, like a “donjon keep,” was the most conspicuous object on the point.

‘It is impossible, as an officer of the black watch, to think of Ticonderoga without strong emotion, for here, in 1758, the forty-second, after cutting their way with their claymores through a broad abattis of prostrate trees, under a heavy fire from the French garrison, made desperate efforts, for four hours, to scale a high work without scaling-ladders, by mounting on one another’s shoulders, and by making holes in it with their bayonets. They were so exasperated at being so unexpectedly checked; and by the heavy loss which they had sustained, that they refused to withdraw till ordered a third time to do so by their general; their loss on this occasion was more than half the men, and two thirds of the officers, killed or severely wounded; that is, twenty-five officers, nineteen sergeants, and six hundred and three privates. About this time, the regiment received the honorary distinction of royal.’

The remains of the fortifications at Pittsburg occupy a very interesting position, on the delta formed by the confluence of the rivers at that place. Of fort Du Quesne, but a small mound of earth remains. Fort Pitt may be more easily traced; part of three bastions, about breast high, stand within different private inclosures, and a piece of the curtain, which, within a few years, was in complete preservation, may still be discovered. ‘I expected,’ says an intelligent correspondent of the New York American, ‘to have seen the magazine of the fort, which I was told was an admirable piece of masonry, and still endured in the shape of a porter cellar; but upon arriving at the spot where it had stood but a few weeks before, a pile of rough stones was all that we could discover. In a country like ours, where so few antiquities meet the eye, it is melancholy to see these interesting remnants thus destroyed, and the very landmarks where they stood effaced forever. Occasionally, too, the works of which every vestige is thus painfully obliterated, were, especially when erected by the French, of a peculiarly striking character. The French engineers, who first introduced the art of fortification into this country, were of the school of Vauban, and the enduring monuments they raised were not less noble proofs of their skill, than were the sites selected of their high military discernment.’ In the vicinity are the remains of a mill-dam, constructed by the officers of fort Du Quesne, according to the most approved rules of the time, like a perfect fortification; a part of the curtain, with traces of some of the bastions, still rewards the search of the inquisitive.

An old fort on the island Canonicut, which formerly defended the passage up Narragansett bay, presents an interesting relic of past times. It is built in a circular form, and is well represented in the accompanying sketch.

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CHAPTER XII.—RELIGION.86

THERE can scarcely be a doubt, that among all the political and social relations of a people, there is none of such primary and vital importance as their religion; and if this be true of nations generally, it is peculiarly so of the United States of America. These states present, in this point of view, a novel spectacle; that of an experiment, conducted on a scale commensurate with its importance. We have not here to describe the influence of religion upon savages, nor upon a race fettered with the shackles of superstition, and of a predominant church government. We find a civilized and intelligent community in a situation to which history shows no parallel. Save the effect of knowledge and principle, there is nothing to influence the faith of the American citizen, no form of worship prescribed by law, no predominance of sects, no physical intolerance, no advantage or disadvantage to hope or fear from difference of opinion. The experiment has been fully successful; it has proved that a nation may be moral and religious without any external agency to direct or control the mind. It may safely be considered to have demonstrated the inexpediency of a union between church and state.

The constitution expressly forbids the general government to make any laws with regard to religion, and though the several states have reserved the right, they seem resolved never to use it. They do, indeed, sometimes allot portions of new land for the support of public worship, but the use of the grant is always left to the discretion of the inhabitants. Such state laws as relate to religious qualifications for office, &c. are almost a dead letter, if we except those which, in some states, render the clergy ineligible to the legislature, probably on the principle that civil and religious duties are incompatible with each other.

We find religion in the United States free from legal support or restriction, and, if the experience of fifty years is to be trusted, this non-interference is favorable to good morals and rational piety. There is no intolerance, no persecution, little controversy; yet the people are as religiously given as those of any other country, though not scrupulous with regard to forms. It has lately been demonstrated by statistical facts, that religious institutions exist in a much larger proportion to the population in this country than in any other; and in no country is the spirit of Christianity manifested more than in this. Benevolent societies for meliorating the condition of our race in this and other lands are numerous and increasing, and they display all the characteristic energy and enterprise of the Americans. The American missionary is now seen bending his course to the ‘islands of the sea,’ that ‘they may rejoice in the salvation of God,’ and to the ‘utmost parts of the earth,’ that they too may know the way of life. The Bible society, having supplied so far as possible every family in this land with the word of life, is now sending it through the missionaries to the heathen world; while the Tract society is despatching its little messengers of ‘glad tidings’ through the earth. Home Missionary, for the supplying destitute places in the United States with the ordinances of the gospel, Sabbath School, Prison Discipline, and numerous kindred societies are also lending their aid; and there seems to be a spirit of philanthropy pervading all denominations of evangelical Christians, which knows no bounds but the ends of the earth. May this spirit be increased a thousand fold!

It is almost unnecessary to say, the religious aspect of different parts of the great confederacy is far from uniform. This would be the natural result of the freedom of religious opinions, and the circumstances of the early settlement of the country. New England, settled by the Puritans, retains much of the strong impress of the character of her fathers. Maryland was settled by Roman Catholics, Pennsylvania by Quakers, and other states by Episcopalians, while colonies of Swedes, French, and Dutchmen formed the starting points of others. Some persons are disposed to mourn over the fact, that Christians are divided into such a number of denominations, which they conceive to be an evil, and they earnestly long for the time to come when all these things shall be done away. It is indeed to be regretted that a greater degree of harmony and charity does not prevail among the great denominations which compose the mass of Christians, and that the time should come speedily when all shall ‘love one another with a pure heart fervently,’ is ‘most devoutly to be wished.’ Still these differences of opinion are the inevitable consequences of freedom of opinion on any subject; and as the Bible has not clearly marked out any form of church order and discipline, in which the chief difference consists among evangelical Christians, it can never be expected that all will agree upon this subject any more than upon any other. And on the whole it is best they should not; and it was wise in the great Head of the church to leave these things, non-essential, as he has, that different denominations may by a holy rivalry ‘stir each other up to good works.’ What a safeguard against intolerance, and the evils of bigotry and oppression, when several large and balancing sects exist in a community at the same time—a mutual check, and mutually operating on each other to prevent corruption. We should fear the result in our own land of the great predominance of any sect, but most of all that which, owning allegiance to a foreign civil and ecclesiastical potentate, is even now seeking to gain possession of our fair inheritance—we mean the Roman Catholic. While their right to propagate their opinions by all fair and constitutional means equally with others is freely admitted, the influence of their principles on our institutions, should they finally prevail, cannot but be dreaded. What popery has been it ever must be, the very foundation-stone being the infallibility of the church, which of course can never have done wrong, and can never change in any of its great characteristics. (See note at the end of this article.)

We will now proceed to notice the principal sects existing in this country.

METHODISTS. The Methodists are the most numerous denomination in the United States, being found in all parts of the Union in considerable numbers. They count more than six hundred thousand members of their churches. There are two principal classes of Methodists:—the Wesleyan, who are Arminians, and the most numerous. They are named from John Wesley, one of the founders of the sect. The other class, to which Whitfield belonged, are Calvinistic in their doctrines. They are also divided into two bodies on the question of church order and discipline,—the Methodist Episcopal and the Protestant Methodist;—the latter are seceders from the former body. Attached to the former there were, in 1833, five bishops, twenty-two hundred and thirty travelling preachers, and nearly five hundred thousand members of the churches; to the latter, four hundred ministers and fifty thousand communicants.

BAPTISTS. This denomination is second in the United States as to numbers. They estimate from four to five hundred thousand members of their churches. They are chiefly Calvinistic in doctrine, and independent or congregational in their form of church government, differing little in any respect from the latter denomination, except that they administer baptism by immersion, and only to adult believers.87

PRESBYTERIANS. This is the third numerically of the religious sects of this country. It is the offspring of the church of Scotland. Their doctrines are strictly Calvinistic. At the first meeting of the general assembly, in 1789, there were but about one hundred and eighty or ninety ministers belonging to the whole body, in four synods and seventeen presbyteries. In 1834 it embraced twenty-three synods, one hundred and eighteen presbyteries, two thousand six hundred and forty-eight congregations, one thousand nine hundred and fourteen ordained ministers, and two hundred and fifty licentiates, and more than two hundred and forty-seven thousand nine hundred and sixty four communicants. Of these ministers, about one-third reside in the state of New York, the next largest number in Pennsylvania, and the next largest in Ohio; some are found in every state.

CONGREGATIONALISTS. This denomination, differing from the Presbyterian only in regard to church order and government, abounds chiefly in New England, where they are the most numerous sect, although there are churches of this order in other states. According to their principles, each congregation of Christians is a complete church, which may commune with other churches if it pleases, and may appoint its own officers, to exercise discipline within itself. These Christians have sometimes been called Independents, from whom, however, they differ in some respects. Congregationalist and Independent are synonymous terms in England. They have pastors and deacons, the latter having the care of the secular concerns of the church, and not being allowed to preach. Their doctrines are the same as those of the Presbyterians, with whom they are united in all the great benevolent societies and movements of the day. Number of members, about one hundred and fifty thousand.

EPISCOPALIANS. The organization of the American Episcopal church took place during the war of the revolution, and (to secure the uninterrupted apostolic succession, as they say) the first bishop procured ordination from the Scottish bishops at Aberdeen, and two others were soon afterwards consecrated by the archbishop of Canterbury in England, and thus the succession was preserved unbroken. They have ten bishops, fifteen dioceses, and five hundred and twenty-eight clergy, priests, and deacons. The highest dignitary recognised is the Bishop. Priests and Deacons are the only other clergy known. The supreme authority is vested in a general convention, composed of a house of bishops and a house of lay delegates. Each diocese has a convention for the regulation of its own affairs. The state conventions consist of the clergy of the diocese, and a lay delegation from each church. No salary is given to bishops, as such; they are supported as rectors of churches.

The influence of republican principles is thus strikingly manifest in many of the features of American Episcopacy. The people always choose their own ministers, the bishops are elected by a procedure, according to which the laity have a vote through their delegates, and no salaries are independent of a similar vote. In all these particulars, the American church differs from that of England, but in doctrine and principles they are the same.

UNITARIANS; a small body chiefly in the state of Massachusetts, and mostly in and around Boston. They are Independents in church government. In doctrines they are mostly either ultra Universalists, or hold the belief of the final restoration of all men. They reject the doctrine of the Trinity, and the doctrines called Calvinistic altogether. The congregation of the King’s Chapel, in Boston, was probably the first which cherished these principles. It was originally an Episcopalian society, and they now use the liturgy, altered in some points to adapt it to their views.

UNIVERSALISTS are a considerably numerous body. They are divided into two classes—Ultra, or those who reject altogether the idea of future punishments, and Restorationists, or those who believe in a punishment after death, but which is not eternal.

QUAKERS. Pennsylvania is the strong-hold of the Quakers, although there are considerable numbers in New Jersey, the city of New York, &c. There are two sects, the one orthodox, the other followers of Elias Hicks, or Hicksites. They dispute between themselves which has seceded from the original principles of the denomination. The Quakers of England sent forth an epistle in 1829, containing a confession of faith, which acknowledged the inspiration of the Scriptures, the divinity of the Savior, his atonement, &c. The Hicksites are generally considered the seceders.

The DUTCH REFORMED was the established church in New York until its surrender to England. Its first classes was formed in America in 1757. Its government is vested in consistories, classes, and synods. Members of the German Reformed church are found principally in Pennsylvania, and also in Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, and other states. There are more than five hundred congregations of them. The American Lutheran church has eight hundred congregations. The United Brethren, or Shakers, a singular, harmless, inoffensive and industrious race, are found in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New York, Massachusetts, and other states. There may be about six thousand of them. The Swedenborgians also hold an annual convention.

INFIDELS. It is proper to mention under the head of religion, in order to give a correct view of the religious state of the country, a class of persons, divided into several subdivisions, and generally looked upon with pity by professing Christians of all denominations, and viewed with concern by all the rational friends of liberty. We speak of the Owenites, Fanny Wrightites, Harmonites, Deists, or, according to a very common form of parlance, Freethinkers, Infidels, or Atheists. All of them, we believe, affirm that a community of property, labor, and education, is necessary to the well-being of mankind, and hold that a belief in divine revelation is unnecessary and absurd. They hold, too, that the marriage covenant is binding only during the pleasure of the contracting parties. Rapp, who brought a colony of foreigners of this faith to the banks of the Ohio, acquired an almost unlimited authority over them. He forbade the intercourse of the sexes for a year or more, and was obeyed. He divided the lands among his followers, instituted regulations for manual labor, and the products of the common exertion was thrown into a common stock. Mr. Owen’s settlement, called Harmony, was conducted on nearly the same principles of equality. This gentleman possessed a large property in Scotland, which he abandoned to found a colony, and disseminate the doctrines of Voltaire and Paine, in America, in which he was very efficiently aided by the celebrated Miss Frances Wright. Both of them went about the country several years, lecturing against Christianity and revelation; but with no very great success. They finally showed that practice does not always conform to principle, by marrying one another. Mr. Owen’s settlement has long been abandoned, his followers not having attained that degree of moral and social perfection requisite for its success!

Such principles as those of Mr. Owen, striking, as they do, at the very root of society, will never, it is to be hoped, prevail to any great extent in any part of the world.88 The Freethinkers are at present but a small body, without order or government as a party, and little respectable as individuals. They are probably not more than five or six thousand. They have newspapers and places of meeting, in New York, Boston, and elsewhere. Many of them are avowed atheists. Had they been persecuted, molested, or opposed in any degree, it is probable they would have multiplied much faster than they have.

PAPISTS or Roman Catholics. This sect is rapidly increasing in the United States; a fact which ought to alarm all the friends of liberty and true religion.89

In 1632, a priest of the order of the Jesuits accompanied the early settlers to Maryland, and since that time the Catholic population have been supplied with instructers of their own persuasion from England. A see was constituted, and a bishop consecrated, in 1790. In 1810, it became an archiepiscopal see, and four new suffragan dioceses were established, viz.: in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Bardstown, in Kentucky, to which some more have since been added, in New Orleans, Charleston, Richmond, and Cincinnati, &c. Regular missions are also established all over the country, and it would seem, from the zeal of the missionaries, as well as by the language of the pope, that very great importance is attached to the future religious faith of America by the court of Rome. Nor have the devoted exertions of the priests failed of much success, for it has been computed that half a million of the people of the United States are Roman Catholics, of which not less than ten thousand are in the city of Boston, being one sixth of its population. It is stated that bishop England, of Baltimore, is an officer of the Inquisition!

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CHAPTER XIII.—MANNERS AND AMUSEMENTS.

THE dispositions and feelings of the inhabitants of the different portions of the United States have been modified by a great variety of circumstances. Difference of descent has operated with its usual power. The stern Puritan, the open-hearted and honest Dutchman, the light-hearted and easy Frenchman, the German, the Spaniard, the Catholic, the Huguenot, all have their representatives in various portions of the country. The distinctive national peculiarities have in some measure been worn off, and the varying elements have been amalgamated by constant intercourse, intermarriage, removals from one part to another, and the gradual effects of time. Still the national character is very distinct in distinct sections of the country, and in the following account of the various manners and customs, we have uniformly followed what we consider the best authority.

The people of New England are grave, though they are not without humor; many of their amusements are of a reflecting kind, and their conversation tends rather to useful than to light or gay subjects. They are moral and pious, and the descendants of the Puritans retain much of the strictness of their fathers. If not ardent, they are to a great degree persevering, and though inquisitive, they are equally communicative. They are shrewd and calculating, yet not deceitful. They are no ‘granters of propositions;’ with them almost all things are subjects for discussion, in which they manifest much ingenuity. They have a caution that prevails in all things, and they seldom answer directly an abrupt question, without knowing why it is asked. They have the impress of Franklin; Poor Richard’s maxims of thrift fall upon a congenial soil, and no proverbs are oftener quoted, or more followed. They are like Franklin, to a great degree inventive in practical things, and far the greater number of inventions in the patent office are from New England. It is peculiar to these people, that they are seldom found without a pocket knife, which they use with dexterity; and boys at school are frequently seen whittling, or cutting wood into some shape, for a wind-mill or other toy. It is a universal trait, and it is said that a gentleman in Havana, who invited a large company to dine, gave each man from New England a shingle to cut, that they might not carve his furniture.

One of the first traits developed in the New England character is, if not a love of gain, at least a disposition to traffic. It commences at an early age, and children at school not only exchange or ‘swap’ knives, and other things, but make lotteries, in which the prizes are paid in gingerbread and raisins, and which leave a little profit to the manager and proprietor. The farmers too, though not the most industrious kind, sometimes bring up horses and cattle for a ‘swap’ to the village inn; and the tin pedlars, whose wheels are in every road in the United States, are to a man from New England.

Another trait of character is the readiness with which the people of New England admit the equality of all men with themselves, and the steadiness with which they deny, both in theory and practice, that any are superior. It would raise a tempest in the breast even of a female domestic, to ask for her mistress, nor would she be satisfied to be called a servant, or even a domestic. Help is the word by which servants reconcile their pride with their interest or employment, as it denotes, that though the assistants, they are the equals of their employers. A foreigner probably finds some ground for dissatisfaction on the score of domestics, for among house-wives it is a subject of universal complaint at home; the best servants are English, who have been more familiar with the distinction of classes.

The people of New England are distinguished for their celebrations. They are interlocked with each other by innumerable societies and associations, and one man is a member of many. These have their anniversaries, which, with the national and other holidays, make a great many processions, public dinners, and addresses. It is also usual to offer public dinners to those who have done acceptable services in high public stations.

A town meeting is perhaps the best place wherein to see the self-control of the people, when highly excited on questions of general or local interest. Every town is within certain limits a pure democracy, and its doings are attended with perfect decorum under the moderator, who is chosen, as the word implies, to mollify any over-zealous excitement. If, on these occasions, any citizen becomes turbulent, or abusive in language, the sense of the assembly is so strongly expressed against him, that he is at once reduced to order. Generally speaking, there are no mobs or riotous assemblies. The interference of a few constables, or the reading of the ‘riot act’ by a magistrate, is sufficient to disperse any tumultuous throng. A tumult at a town meeting or election, is a thing unheard of among us.

Some of the most peculiar manners and customs of New England are found in the island of Nantucket, and the neighboring part of the continent. Nantucket is a happy settlement; not that it has precious metals in its bosom, or fertility in its soil, but because the people are simple, innocent, and contented. The sea is their patrimony, and they gather its bounties in the most distant ports. The whale fishery in New England was commenced by six persons in Nantucket; one watched on an eminence for the spouting of the whale, and when he discovered it, all would pursue in a small boat, and they seldom failed to tow the leviathan ashore. Gains extended the adventure, ships were fitted out, and the whale was chased from the temperate regions to the arctic seas, and followed to the remotest shores of the Pacific ocean.

Among the people, there are none idle, and few destitute. The vices of commercial places are hardly known, and it is admitted all over New England to be a great presumption in favor of a man’s honesty, that he comes from Nantucket. The Friends or Quakers give to the language a simplicity of diction truly Doric, and though they take some liberties with the commonwealth’s English, yet in a person brought up with them, to speak in a more classic manner would be held to savor of affectation and pretension. The various relationships, and the kindly feelings, have introduced the custom of calling elderly people uncle or aunt, and the younger, cousin. Even a stranger soon falls into this habit. The people generally marry young, and few live in celibacy. They are social to a great degree, and are eminently distinguished for their frequent visitings, to sup at each other’s houses. They live more as though they made a large family, than a small community.

The following tribute to the New England character is from Captain Hall, whom no one can accuse of a desire to overpraise what he saw in this country. ‘I had, however, many sharp amicable discussions with my friends at Boston, on the thousand and one topics that arose between us, but I must do them the justice to say, that I never met a more good-natured, or perhaps I should say, good-tempered people; for, during the whole course of my journey, though I never disguised my sentiments, even when opposed to the avowed favorite opinions of the company, I never yet saw an American out of temper. I fear I cannot say half so much for myself, for I was often a good deal harassed by these national discussions, when the company and I took our station on the opposite poles of the question. But it is pleasant to have it in my power to say that I cannot recall a single instance in which any thing captious, or personally uncivil, was ever said to me, though I repeated openly, and in all companies, every thing I have written in these volumes, and a great deal more than upon cool reflection I choose to say again.’

In general, the amusements are of a thoughtful rather than a gay character, and games of skill are preferred to those of chance. The character of the Puritans has given some tone to the amusements and holidays. Theatres are seldom even fashionably attended, and there are many who hold it unlawful to enter them. There are places, too, in the country, where dancing is considered to be a ‘vain, idle, and sinful amusement.’

The active sports are principally games of ball, and sometimes running and wrestling; formerly, different towns and parishes had their champions in wrestling, to try their superiority by matches, in which several fatal accidents occurred; but the sport is now almost entirely disused. Boxing, which is so universal in England, is almost unknown, and horse-racing and cock-fighting are seldom seen. In winter, when there are delightful moonlight nights, sleigh-rides are a favorite amusement. Parties of both sexes sit in large sleighs, as closely as they can be packed, and sometimes in each others’ laps, scour over several miles at a rapid rate, and at some hotel, find not only a supper but a fiddler in attendance, whose gains are much enhanced in the season of sleighing. There are several holidays, but none that are observed in England. Election day is that on which the governor is declared to be elected, and has heretofore been one of the most ‘time-honored’ days in the calendar. On this day, the young men often take sides, in what is called a ‘bird shoot,’ to destroy the birds most mischievous to crops, and the party bringing in the least number of heads is vanquished, and gives a dinner to the other.

Fast day is an observance that has descended from the pilgrims, and is kept with a decent solemnity. The governors appoint one day in the year, in all the New England states, for ‘fasting, humiliation, and prayer;’ there is little business transacted, and the people generally attend in the churches, which are called more generally, from an old dislike to Episcopacy, meeting-houses. Thanksgiving is also a day appointed by the same authorities, and the intent of the edict or proclamation is carried into full effect by the disposition of the people. It is always appointed in the fall or autumn, after the harvests, when the garners are full; and poor indeed is the inmate of the hovel that has not on that day plenty and luxury on his board. The preparations for thanksgiving continue several days, and for many more the prepared viands are not exhausted. It is the day for family meetings, and it is then that members of the same family often come hundreds of miles to meet again, to renew the bands of affinity and affection under the paternal roof. It is at this feast that the simplicity and patriarchal character of a New England grandsire is pre-eminent.

Before and after thanksgiving, there are held all over the country ‘shooting matches,’ which are announced by printed placards, headed ‘sportsmen attend,’ and which set forth that geese, turkeys, and fowls, will be set up for marksmen. They are shot at, generally after they are killed, with rifles, at certain distances, and rates are paid for every shot. If they are hit, the marksman has the game. These sports are commonly held in some retired spot, or at some deserted house, by which there is little passing, and where a day or two is spent as in an encampment. A bear or deer is sometimes shot at in the same way.

Autumn also brings other holiday observances, one of which is ‘husking,’ when the men of a neighborhood meet to husk the Indian corn of one of the number, that is, to separate it from the sheaf. A good supper, and sometimes a dance, ensues. The females have also similar meetings, called ‘quilting bees,’ when many assemble to work for one, in padding or quilting bed coverings or comforters. Militia musters or reviews collect many people, but they are happily growing out of date; they generally display the most repulsive traits of the New England character. An ordination of a clergyman over a society discloses better characteristics. It is a time when every house in the society is invitingly open, when the master generally ‘provides’ for more guests than he has the good fortune to secure; and when he may be seen forestalling his neighbors, by asking visiters to dine, before they arrive at the church. Persons of all creeds and conditions are pressed, nothing loath, to the feasts that smoke upon a hundred tables.

Ploughing matches and cattle shows are held only in autumn; they attract many people, and give a favorable impulse to the interests of agriculture. The celebration of the fourth of July, or, as it is called, Independence, is not peculiar to New England; it is the great national holiday, honored by salutes of cannon, fireworks, processions, addresses, dinners, in all cities, and in the most secluded corners of the republic.

In the middle states there is little general or peculiar character. In Pennsylvania, society takes a tone from the Friends, particularly in Philadelphia and some other towns; in the interior, German influence is equally perceptible. New York has the air and character of all great commercial cities. One abominable custom deserves to be mentioned with reprobation. Swine are by law permitted to range at large, and these quadruped scavengers are, of course, intolerable nuisances. Philadelphia and Baltimore seem to have escaped, in some measure, from the moral evils which appear almost inseparable from great cities. In these places, the manner of life is far more quiet and domestic than in New York, and in the former city the arts and sciences meet with a more assiduous cultivation. The Wistar parties of this city, assemblies held at gentlemen’s houses, where the conversation is chiefly on literary and scientific subjects, are much praised by intelligent strangers.90

The amusements of the middle states are more various than the other sections of the country. As the three largest cities in the union are distant one from the other but about a hundred miles, there are of course greater facilities and encouragement for scenic exhibitions; and the theatres, especially in New York, are much attended. The actors are generally English, and the best English performers often come over for a season. There is a French opera company, also, who at times perform in the cities, where they give general pleasure, and a splendid opera house has been recently erected in New York. In the latter city, there are several expensive public gardens, in which a great variety of costly fireworks, shows, and amusements, are offered in the warm seasons; when lighted up at night, they are very brilliant, and they attract crowds of people. There are many small gardens, where refreshments are sold; and in Philadelphia the number of these is considerable, though some of them contain little else than a few alcoves, covered with creeping plants.

Horse racing, which in New England is almost unknown, is more honored in the middle states; and some of the matches on Long Island and in Dutchess county, have been attended by vast crowds of people. Boat races also are sometimes held in the calm waters about New York.

Skating is practised with great animation, and thousands of people collect on the Delaware, at Philadelphia, when the stream is frozen. An ox, on such occasions, has sometimes been roasted on the ice, near the Mariners’ hotel, which is the hull of a large vessel, moored in the river. Skating is very general amusement in the northern parts of the United States, and there are few boys who have not a pair of skates. Coasting is another winter pastime, in which, as in many other games, the labor seems to be at least equal to the pleasure. When the snow covers the earth, a troop of joyous boys assemble on the top of a long and steep hill, and each one sitting upon a little sled, gives it an impulse which carries him to the bottom with accelerating velocity, and far into the plain below. The motion is sometimes so swift that it is like the sweep of an eagle. In the cities, fatal accidents occur in following this amusement, and there are generally penalties imposed by law for pursuing it there.

The coasting is performed, however, in the country, upon a grander scale; the great ox sled, or sledge, is carried up with commendable perseverance and toil, and so covered with youth of both sexes, that little of the timber appears. When fitted, it is launched; but when adrift it is more difficult to be guided than the single sledge, and the whole freight is sometimes turned topsy turvy into a snow bank half way down the hill. This, however, seems to increase the enjoyment. This practice of coasting is even more common in New England than in the middle states.

There are some traits of character which run through the southern states, modified by a variety of circumstances, but most obviously and generally by the system of domestic slavery. The character of Virginia and South Carolina is perhaps, in many respects, superior to that of the Southern states, yet the principal characteristics are common to all. In Virginia, many of the old English modes of life are retained, and the domains of the landed proprietors have the extent of English baronies. Attachment to home, family connections, and profuse hospitality, eminently distinguish this high-minded and honorable class.

The people of Carolina, who dwell in the lower country, are annually compelled to leave their homes, however attached to them. None can travel without gaining knowledge, and losing prejudices, and the Carolinians are, to a great degree, liberal and intelligent. To remain in summer on the plantations, is at the risk of life; they are therefore found, at that season, in the northern and eastern states, and in Europe. They are social, and in general closely united. In New England, gentlemen of neighboring towns are often unacquainted with each other; but in Carolina, the acquaintance extends over the state. This arises from the intercourse of the capital, where all are found in spring, and from the fellowships that are formed in packets, or while residing or travelling in other states.

It may be thought that the life of a southern agriculturist is one of indolence and ease. It is the very reverse; it is one of far greater activity than is led by gentlemen of wealth elsewhere. The cares of a plantation are sufficient to consume the day, and the planter is often on horseback in his fields, till evening. His notions of space are so liberal, that he will readily ride a dozen miles to dine, and he engages in the chase with his characteristic ardor. No men ride so fearlessly; and the game is followed at full speed in thick woods, among holes, horizontal branches, and prostrate trunks. The social relations are admirable. The season for visiting is never over, and as the social is as much increased as any other principle, by cultivation, here it attains to its best growth. There is, among relatives, great kindliness of feeling, and the circle it embraces is wider than in New England. Any one may, as far as affinity can be traced,

Gentlemen meet at frequent intervals in club houses, often built in the woods, where the entertainment is furnished by each one in turn.

The people of the south have more haughtiness, courtesy, and a higher estimation of personal dignity, than those of the north. Pride is the natural consequence of superiority of station, though it is generally incompatible with meanness. A planter would be more apt to do what he would be sorry for, than what he would be ashamed of. A slight wound of pride is more strictly avenged, than a greater injury to property; and a lack of courtesy is perhaps as much reprobated as a breach in morals. Duelling is the natural growth of such a state, and though it is not frequent, it is but too well established by custom. The challenged is held to fight, even if he feel no resentment, or has done no injustice; and he sometimes perils his life for mere expediency: as he would put it to some risk to preserve his property, he is led to believe that he must do it also to save his character.

‘The poles,’ says a recent traveller, ‘are not more diametrically opposed, than a native of the states south of the Potomac, and a New Englander. They differ in every thing of thought, feeling, and opinion. The latter is a man of regular and decorous habits, shrewd, intelligent, and persevering; phlegmatic in temperament, devoted to the pursuits of gain, and envious of those who are more successful than himself. The former—I speak of the opulent and educated—is distinguished by a high-mindedness, generosity, and hospitality, by no means predicable of his more eastern neighbors. He values money only for the enjoyments it can procure, is fond of gayety, given to social pleasures, somewhat touchy and choleric, and as eager to avenge an insult as to show a kindness. To fight a duel in the New England states would, under almost any circumstances, be disgraceful. To refuse a challenge, to tolerate even an insinuation derogatory from personal honor, would be considered equally so in the South.

‘In point of manner, the southern gentlemen are decidedly superior to all others of the union. Being more dependent on social intercourse, they are at greater pains, perhaps, to render it agreeable. There is more spirit and vivacity about them, and far less of that prudent caution, which, however advantageous on the exchange, is by no means prepossessing at the dinner-table, or in the drawing-room. When at Washington, I was a good deal thrown into the society of members from the South, and left it armed, by their kindness, with a multitude of letters, of which I regret that my hurried progress did not permit me to avail myself. Many of them were men of much accomplishment, and I think it probable that Englishmen, unconnected with business, would generally prefer the society of gentlemen of this portion of the union, to any other which the country affords.’

The amusements and occupations of the people inhabiting the valley of the Mississippi afford no great scope to the pen of the true chronicler, though they have often furnished materials for the foreign traveller and the novelist. A new country, inhabited by what may be called, in some sort, a new people, must, however, present some scenes which may serve to amuse, if not to instruct.91

New Orleans seems, by common consent, to be the focus in which the eccentricities of Missouri, Kentucky, and the rest of the western country concentrate. Here are seen the Spaniard with his lazo, the Kentuckian with his broad-horn, or flat-bottomed ark, the merchant from Europe or the New England states, stepping stately from the deck of his ship, the slave with his burthen on his shoulders, and the gambler looking out for his prey. Not the least interesting of the classes of this heterogenous population, are the women who have not the pure white complexion of the Atlantic coast, or the crisp locks and bent limbs of their remote African ancestors. These females hold an anomalous position among the races by whom they are surrounded, which will require some further comment. They are called quadroons, mustees, mulattoes, &c. as the purity of their parentage or the circumstances of their birth may require.

These women, being generally the offspring of white men of standing and respectability, are left in singularly unfortunate circumstances. They have the feelings, and, in a considerable degree, the education and sentiments of their more pure-blooded countrywomen. Nevertheless, the prejudice, or feeling, be it natural or not, which inclines every free white American to view the whole African race as an inferior order of mankind, prevents any legitimate union with them. So situated, they make the best of the condition into which the accident of birth, and not their own fault, has thrown them. They form temporary connections with such respectable whites as are able to maintain them in ease, and attachments are often formed, which are not surpassed, or scarcely equalled, by any of which we read in romance. However, the connection is generally considered in the light of a bargain. The mother promenades with her fairer daughter on the levee, till some white stranger, smitten with the charms of the latter, makes a proposal. A bargain is made, limited in time, or unlimited, according to circumstances, and a breach of faith, thus plighted, rarely occurs. This connection, infamous as it seems, involves no disgrace in New Orleans. It is the most respectable condition to which a female, who is conscious of the taint of black blood, can aspire. She is neither shunned nor scorned, and may hold up her head in any company into which she may happen to enter.

Strange scenes sometimes occur, in consequence of the mixture of races on the banks of the levee of New Orleans. The small trader tries to take advantage of all with whom he is thrown in contact. The Indian begs, the over-wrought slave groans, the backwoodsman bullies. ‘Twenty dollars,’ cried a Kentuckian boatman, stepping upon the levee, ‘to any man who stops my moderate head-way.’ A Mexican hunter of wild horses, who rode quietly behind him, threw his lazo over his head, wheeled his horse short round, and gallopped up the levee, dragging the boaster after him.

Gaming is practised in New Orleans, probably to a greater extent than in any other part of the United States. The vice being considered little or no shame, houses are kept openly. This may be considered one great well-spring of social corruption.

The inhabitants of the states on the Ohio and Mississippi raise great quantities of grain, not to speak of pork and other commodities which bring profit to American agriculturists. New Orleans is the mart where these articles find a vent, and the principal object of a western farmer is to get them thither. To this effect, he builds what he calls a flat boat, that is to say, a large square box, without a lid, capable of containing and transporting many tons. The materials of this vehicle are found in abundance all over the valley of the Mississippi, and the cost of building it is therefore small. In this bark the farmer commits himself to the waters, and if he escapes snags, sawyers, &c. which usually happens, he arrives in New Orleans, where he disposes of his produce. Keel boats are also used for the transportation of goods and produce, but since steamboats have become common on the Mississippi waters, they have in a great measure superseded the aforesaid means of conveyance. Still, the keel and flat boats may merit a description. The former were nearly in the form of the packets used on the Erie and Middlesex canals, and were propelled by poles, oars, and sails. The latter were unmanagable hulks, which floated at the mercy of the current, and could only be diverted from rocks, snags, and other perils of river navigation, by the use of sweeps, which, however, could only move them in a lateral direction. On arriving at New Orleans, their owners broke them up, as no human power could have taken them up stream, and sold them for fire wood. They then returned to their homes by land. Flat and keel boats are now rarely seen on the western waters; but when they were the only means of transportation, they reared a hardy class, fit to fight with Indians, or to subdue the wilderness. This class, thanks to steam navigation, is now on the verge of extinction, and the valley of the Mississippi has seen ‘the Last of the Boatmen.’

‘King balls’ are still in vogue in this region, both in the white and free colored classes. A ball is given, precisely like those known in other parts of the United States, excepting in one particular. He who gives the ball, singles out a lady whom he designates his ‘queen,’ to whom he gives, and who receives, his exclusive attention, for the remainder of the season. The other guests do likewise, and the queens frequently receive presents to a large amount, before the temporary connection is dissolved. Evil is seldom, if ever, known to come of this custom.

Rough athletic sports, racing and shooting matches, are the most common amusements of the men of the west. It is common for parties to test their marksmanship by squirrel shooting, with the western weapon, the rifle. The hunter aims solely at the head of the little animal, and the shot which takes effect in any other part is reckoned as nothing. The rifle used in this and other sports, is very different from those used by volunteer companies in the eastern states, the barrel being very heavy, the bore small, and the sights adjusted with scrupulous accuracy. Hence the proverbial marksmanship of the backwoodsmen, so apparent at New Orleans and elsewhere. The feats of individual hunters almost transcend belief. Some have been known to throw two apples into the air, and strike them both with a single bullet as they crossed each other, and it is not uncommon for one man to hold up a small object for another to shoot at. The celebrated ‘Mike Fink’ used to amuse himself by shooting off the tails of swine, as they ran, and hitting his wife’s comb upon her head.

A pastime is sometimes practised at weddings and other high festive occasions, which is called a goose or gander pulling. The manner is this. The toughest goose is selected from the flock, and its neck is stripped of its feathers, and then well soaped or greased. A suitable tree is next selected, an oak or hickory being preferred. The feet of the fowl are then made fast to the extremity of a pliant limb, about as high as a man on horseback can reach. Bets are made, and a prize proposed. The first sportsman rides under the tree at full speed, and snatches at the neck of the devoted fowl as he passes. If he succeeds in pulling off its head, he gains the prize; but this rarely happens at the first trial. The neck is too slippery, the animal sees and avoids the horseman’s grasp, and the swaying branch aids its efforts. Besides, the exploit requires no little strength of arm, and is seldom accomplished without sundry falls and bruises; all of which are considered matter of merriment.

The slaves of that section have little amusement, save what they derive from their constitutional good humor. Dances and corn huskings, or shuckings, are their chief pastimes. After laboring hard all day, the negro will cheerfully run to a dance, half a score of miles off, and get back to his toil before morning. A corn shucking is a matter of more importance. The sable helots sit in a circle round the heap of maize, keeping time with head and hand to some rude ditty like the following:—

This is sometimes accompanied by the banjoe, a kind of rude fiddle. ‘Possum up a gum stump,’ is a great favorite with these choristers.

Buffalo hunting was once, as deer hunting is now, a favorite amusement of the backwoodsmen. The wild cattle have long since receded beyond the Mississippi, and now furnish sport only to the wandering Indians, their traders, and the no less hardy bands of trappers and hunters. Some account of the manner of taking this huge animal may not be out of place here.

The scent of the buffalo, though otherwise it is a very stupid animal, is exceedingly acute. It will scent a man more than a league, and flee in alarm, though it is not terrified at the sight of the human race. Hence it is necessary for the pedestrian hunter to get to leeward of the object of his pursuit. Having approached the animal as nearly as he well may, he stoops, then gets upon all fours, and finally drags himself along prone, pushing his firelock before him. If there be long grass, or if, in winter, the snow be deep, the circumstance much facilitates his operations. If the animal ceases to feed to look at him, he stops and remains motionless till it begins to graze again. By observing these precautions, the buffalo may be approached to within a few yards. When the hunter is nigh enough, he directs his aim behind the beast’s fore-shoulder, and inflicts a mortal wound. This, however, is but a slow and unsatisfactory mode of hunting, inasmuch as it consumes much time, and only one buffalo can be killed in many hours. The best and most experienced hunters follow the chase on horseback.

The mounted sportsman dashes into the thick of the herd, and singles out the best and fattest. The buffalo, when frightened, runs fast, but awkwardly. His gait is that of a swine, and this peculiar gait the trained horse acquires, and assumes when beside the game, obeying the least pressure of the rider’s foot or knee. The hunter takes care to keep at least his horse’s length from the buffalo, in order that, if the latter should turn upon him, which he will certainly do if wounded, he may have time and space to escape. All precautions being duly taken, the horseman throws the reins on his steed’s neck, holds his gun stiffly with both hands, and fires. The horse swerves at the flash, and the rider directs him to new game, himself loading at full speed. An expert huntsman will kill as many as half a score of buffaloes at one race, and rarely misses the heart.

When an Indian wounds a buffalo, he leaves it to die or separate from the herd, and his companions never interfere with what has thus become his property. Few of the skins of the animals so killed are taken, and the greater part of the flesh remains a prey to the wolves and ravens. When the cattle are in plenty, they are slain merely for their tongues, humps, and other delicate morsels. Vast havoc is made of them every year.

The more remote Indians, not being provided with fire arms, use bows and arrows in the chase, and with great effect. A single arrow is often known to go through and through a buffalo, and it is seldom a shaft stops short of the feather. But whether it strike deep or not, if it does but stick, the animal’s fate is sealed. It works inward as he runs, and eventually reaches the vitals.

It is a cheering sight to see an Indian buffalo hunt. The tread of the herd shakes the solid earth; the hunters animate each other with loud shouts, and the guns flash incessantly. Here a rider is seen fleeing for life before some infuriated animal; there a buffalo stands at bay. Altogether, the scene produces an excitement which those only who have felt can conceive. The passion for this chase increases with time, and few professed buffalo hunters leave it before age disables them.

There are many apparent dangers in buffalo hunting. The prairies are full of holes dug by badgers and other burrowing animals, in which the horse may stumble, and there is some risk from the horns of the chase. Nevertheless, it is seldom that any serious accident occurs.

Another mode of taking the buffalo was formerly in use among the Indians of the Mississippi. Two rows of stakes were planted in the prairie, gradually converging, till at their extremity they barely left a passage into an inclosure of a few yards in area. These rows were a league or more in length, and on the top of each stake was placed a piece of turf, which frightened the cattle, and prevented them from attempting to escape in a lateral direction. The herd, being pursued by horsemen to the entrance of this artificial defile, were driven onward till they reached the pound, when the entrance was closed, and the work of destruction began. Few ever escaped, for the buffalo has little sagacity, and, being thus shut up, will run round and round, without attempting to break through the barriers which inclose them. This mode of hunting is still practised by some of the more remote tribes.92

Deer are hunted on the Mississippi, both by whites and Indians, in a way unknown in the eastern states. In the hot nights of summer, the deer resort to streams and ponds, to escape from the myriads of mosquitoes with which the woods teem, and stand immersed in the water for hours. Sportsmen take advantage of this habit to destroy them. A board is placed in the front of a canoe, before which burns a torch. The board serves to deflect the light from the person of the hunter, who paddles as silently as possible along the margin. The devoted deer seems to be fascinated by the glare of the torch, and suffers the canoe to approach within five yards of him. Nay, even the sound of a gun close at hand will scarce startle him. Two or three are often killed within a stone’s throw of each other.

We are not aware that, besides the particulars already noticed under this head, there are any occupations or amusements peculiar to the people of the west, of sufficient importance to require description.

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CHAPTER XIV.—PENITENTIARY SYSTEM.

MOST of the improvements made in the manner of punishing and reforming persons convicted of enormous crimes in the United States may justly be attributed to the studies and exertions of enlightened members of the Prison Discipline Society. To their reports and publications, therefore, must we look for a correct synopsis of this system, so highly appreciated among ourselves, so much decried by the high-priest of British prejudice, captain Basil Hall.

The first annual meeting of the above-named society took place on the second of June, A. D. 1826, in Boston. The report declares that its object was the improvement of public prisons. It contained many lucid remarks on the existing state of these prisons, but, as it is with the present, rather than with the past, that we have to do, we shall pretermit these. It appears, however, that many of the jails of that time were very insecure—that solitary confinement gave the best promise of the desirable security, and prevented prisoners from corrupting each other—that frequent inspections were necessary, to prevent plans of escape—that prisons, from mere humanity, should be better ventilated, and so lighted as to enable the convicts at least to read the word of God—that cleanliness had, in many instances, been neglected—that amended means of instruction in the mechanic arts were highly desirable—that the condition of the sick was much neglected—and, in short, that the condition of the jails and penitentiaries of the United States was little better than that of European places of punishment. The improvements which have since been made will better appear from positive, authenticated facts, than from the idle speculations of theorists and travellers.

When the above society was formed, there were but two prisons on the principle of solitary confinement in the United States,—at Thomaston, Maine, and Auburn, New York, containing between three and four hundred night rooms, and four or five thousand convicts. Full six thousand solitary cells have since been built. The prisons now constructed on this principle are twenty-nine in number, and are all on the general plan of the Auburn prison, with some slight varieties of construction. As many of the prisons are nearly identical in construction with this last, a description of it will probably not be unacceptable.

The external wall of this establishment comprises an area of upwards of sixteen thousand feet, in which is contained the prisons, yards, lumber yard, (very large,) garden of about four thousand five hundred feet, keeper’s house, guard room, a great number of shops, bathing pools, and other offices. Two large buildings, on the old plan, and which were formerly used as night rooms, are no longer dedicated to that purpose. These, together with the keeper’s house and the prisons, form three sides of a square, which opens upon an area, surrounded, first by the shops, and then by the exterior wall.

The external wall of the principal prison, (that in the northern wing,) is thirty feet high, two hundred and six feet long, forty-six feet wide, and three feet thick. It incloses an area of five hundred feet. The long barrack, thus surrounded by this external wall, is divided from end to end by a solid and continuous wall of masonry, two feet thick. On each side of this, the cells designed for the prisoners are arranged. To explain this more fully; a long, narrow building, of solid granite and lime, is equally divided, from end to end, by a solid wall. On each side of this wall, and within the outer wall of the building, are a great number of cells, so arranged as to effect the greatest economy of room. Outside the exterior walls of these cells, is another wall, ten feet distant from them, and thirty feet high. Beyond this second wall are certain yards, surrounded by a third wall, and in the said wall, as well as in the ten-foot-wide gallery between the cells and the thirty-foot wall, keepers and sentinels are constantly moving. Thus, if a prisoner should break out of his cell, he must first pass or kill a sentinel, then force a second wall, then pass through a yard in which other sentinels are stationed, and then climb over another wall. So great is the security thus afforded, that during many years, it is believed that in prisons thus constructed, but one serious attempt at escape has occurred, and in that instance it was unsuccessful.

Prisons built on this plan are thought to combine the advantages of security, solitary confinement, inspection, ventilation, light, cleanliness, instruction, and proper attendance on the sick.

The exterior wall of the cells, which looks upon the area ten feet wide, is two feet thick. The walls which separate the cells are one foot thick. Thus a recess is formed at each door, which deadens the sound, should one prisoner attempt to hold communication with another. The only opening from each cell is an open grate in the upper part of the door, twenty inches long by eighteen wide, and defended by thick iron bars. Through this glazed grate, light, air, and heat are admitted to the cell. The door is fastened by a strong latch, connected with a hook and a bar of iron. It is thus almost impossible for one prisoner to communicate with another, even if there were no sentinel present to listen.93

The economy of this mode of building is evident. A convenient hospital may be made, by dispensing with the partition walls between four of the cells in the upper story. Thus constructed, four hundred cells, seven feet long seven high, and three and a half feet wide, cover only two hundred and six by forty-six feet of ground. At Auburn, five small stoves and eighteen lamps, great and small, placed in the ten-feet area, beyond the reach of the prisoners, give light and heat to five hundred and forty cells. One sentinel suffices to guard four hundred prisoners, and to prevent communication between them. The space in front of the cells is, like the ear of Dionysius, a perfect sounding gallery, so that the sentinel, in the area, can hear a whisper from a distant cell, in the upper story. The experiment has been often tried, and always with the same result.

The rules and regulations found most effectual in this and other prisons, are as follows: On entering, a criminal should undergo a thorough cleansing. It should be a part of the regulations to classify the prisoners. Men and women should be separated, as also old and young, condemned and uncondemned, debtors and criminals. Prisoners should be comfortably clothed, and fed with wholesome food. Employment should be provided for such as have trades, and trades should be taught to such as have none, so that they may not be a burthen to the society they have offended, or be compelled to resort to crime for subsistence when discharged. All these, and many other desirable ends, are believed to have been attained in Auburn, and other prisons conducted on the same plan.

The government of Auburn is confided to five inspectors, a keeper, a deputy keeper, a clerk, sixteen assistant keepers, who are master workmen in the shops, five sentinels, a porter, a physician, and a chaplain. The inspectors receive no compensation; that of the officers amounts to an aggregate of four thousand and thirty-two dollars per annum. No spirituous liquors are used by any officer, or are allowed to be introduced into the establishment by the guard, when on duty, nor is any officer to invite the others together for the purpose of drinking, or treating, as it is called. All the turnkeys are required to attend divine service excepting two, who cannot be spared from the prison and the kitchen. A uniform gravity and dignity are constantly maintained by the officers in presence of the convicts, and they are expected, at all times, to treat each other with that respect and kindness which are calculated to advance the best interests of the institution.

The convicts march to and from their rest, food, and labor, at stated times, in profound silence. The order of their march is in single file, to the lock-step, keeping their faces toward the keeper, that he may detect conversation, if it should be attempted. The same silence and good order are enforced, as far as possible, in every business, and in every department. The duty of the keepers is to prevent conversation, looking at spectators, and idle diversion; for this purpose, as well as to keep the convicts at work, they are continually walking about the shops. The stillness and order of divine service are truly impressive, and during the night the area about the cells is a scene of peculiar solemnity and gloom. A hundred or more young convicts acquire the rudiments of learning in the Sunday school.

A valuable experiment on the subject of temperance was first made in this prison, and has since been carried into effect in all the rest. The convicts being strictly debarred the use of tobacco, ardent spirits, and all other stimulants, it was found that the health of the most abandoned drunkards did not suffer, contrary to the common idea that the grossly intemperate cannot at once break off from the use of spirits without danger. It appears that, for a few days, they are uneasy, and lose their appetite, after which they eat heartily, and uniformly improve in health and appearance.

The mode of punishment in this and similar prisons merits some attention. Stripes, fetters, solitary confinement, and hunger are used, and there is much difference of opinion respecting their respective degrees of utility. In some extensive establishments, stripes and chains are not used at all; in others, recourse is had to stripes only. It is so in Auburn. In Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Charlestown, and Concord, solitary confinement, with a reduced allowance of bread and water, is preferred. In Connecticut, all the above methods are practised, and severe hunger is often found efficacious. If the efficacy of the different modes is to be tested by the results they produce on discipline, Auburn seems to show that stripes are better than other punishments. The difference in the order, industry, and subdued feeling of the prisoners, is in favor of Auburn, though perhaps, this is as much to be ascribed to their separation by night, and other salutary regulations, as to the mode of physical correction. The advocates for whipping urge, that it requires less time than other punishments, that the mind of the sufferer does not so long dwell on it, that it is less severe, and that it can more easily be proportioned to the offence. On the other hand, it is said that solitary confinement will subdue men hardened against all other inflictions, and no doubt it has so operated in very many cases. Be the question decided as it may, the remark of the London Prison Discipline Society’s seventh annual report is undeniably untrue, viz. that ‘solitary confinement, unmitigated by employment either of body or mind, is the most prominent feature in the discipline now recommended in the United States.’

We are unable, both from the want of space and of sufficient means of information, to enter into minute details respecting the government of many of the prisons. At Sing-sing, on the Hudson river, the convicts are awakened in the morning by a bell; but before they are let out of their cells, the chaplain reads a prayer that may be heard by all on one side, the space between the cells and the external wall being a perfect sounding gallery. The doors are then opened, and the prisoners step forth, at the word of command, into the gallery. They are then marched to the workshops, stopping on the way to wash themselves. One party cleanses the whole establishment, another attends to washing, and another to cooking. The whole body then go to their fixed tasks, such as hewing stone, sawing marble, forging iron, and the various mechanic arts with which they may be acquainted. Each shop is superintended by a turnkey, who must himself be a trustworthy master-workman, in order that he may instruct those under his charge. While in the shops, the prisoners are placed with their faces all in one direction, so that there can be no communication by looks or signs. From twenty to thirty are engaged in each shop, and one good man is found able to keep that number of hardened villains in order.

A narrow, dark passage runs along the back of the shops, with narrow slits in the wall, through which the superintendent may observe the conduct of both the convicts and the turnkeys, himself unseen by either. This certainty of being at all moments liable to an authorized espionage, cannot fail to keep all parties careful of their behavior.

At eight, at the sound of the bell, the convicts are again marched to their cells, at the doors of which their breakfasts have already been placed. They are locked in, and eat in solitude and silence. In twenty minutes, they are again marched to their work, and at noon they go to dinner in precisely the same manner, and at night to supper. At a fixed hour, the bell warns them to undress and go to bed, after having heard the chaplain’s prayer, as in the morning. The next day brings the same dull, unvaried round, convincing them that they are indeed cut off from mankind, and that for the purpose of punishment. It should seem that if any thing could make the wicked turn from his wickedness, it would be the prospect of passing years in this manner.

It is the practice of Mr. Barrett, the resident clergyman, every evening to read a portion of the Scriptures to the convicts, from the gallery, then to offer explanatory remarks, and to conclude with prayer. After divine service on Sundays, he spends a considerable portion of time in talking with them in their cells, and, hardened as they are, none of them have shown any want of respect, or unwillingness to hear.

The inspectors of the Auburn prison stated to the legislature of New York, in 1828, that the labors of the convicts had become so much more productive than in former times, they thought no further appropriations would be necessary for the support of that establishment. In the same year, the earnings of the Wethersfield (Connecticut) prison gave, in six months, a net gain of one thousand and seventeen dollars over and above the expenses of their government and support. A large gain is believed to be obtained in other penitentiaries. The following facts will show the superiority of United States prisons, in this particular, to those of England. In one year, twelve of the most productive prisons in England contained three thousand, six hundred and ninety-nine convicts, who earned forty-one thousand, seven hundred and twenty-seven dollars. In five prisons in the United States, during the same length of time, there were but nine hundred and ninety-nine convicts, and they earned eighty-one thousand, nine hundred and seventy-nine dollars. That is, a little more than a fourth of the number of American convicts earn more than double the amount of nearly four times the number of convicts in England. This difference depends, no doubt, greatly on discipline, and also on difference of diet. In the five American prisons to which we have referred, at least a pound of animal food is given to each man, per diem. In England, the quantity is from a pound to half a pound per week, scarcely sufficient to keep up the strength of a laboring man.

In some of the penitentiaries, if not in all, a Bible is placed in each cell; the only book the prisoner is permitted to see. It is not required that he should read it; but it can scarcely be supposed that he will long neglect to do so, since it is the only amusement he can possibly hope for, and the only occupation which can relieve the soul-subduing monotony of his solitude. ‘I should like to see what sort of stuff the Bible is made of,’ said one very obdurate sinner to the chaplain. With the same feeling will the convict, who at first scoffs at religion, find that this privilege is the only link of kindness which connects him with his species, and perhaps eventually find inestimable profit in it.

Some of the convicts, especially the foreigners, being unable to read, it was thought expedient, at Auburn, to establish the Sunday school. Fifty of the most ignorant convicts were placed in it, and they embraced the privilege with eagerness and thankfulness. The school has since been increased to a hundred and twenty-five scholars. They are divided into classes of five or six, and instructed by students in the Auburn Theological Seminary, who benevolently give their services. However, no greater relaxation of the ordinary discipline than is absolutely necessary takes place on these occasions. While the classes are under the superintendence of the chaplain, they are also closely watched by the officers. The annual report of 1828 shows that nearly a fourth of the whole number of convicts attended the Sunday school.

It will not be supposed that the effects of the system of which we have given a brief sketch, are beneficial in all cases; but it cannot be denied that they are often so, and that a great many convicts have been reformed. One great advantage is gained, at any rate: the men who would, in England, be put to a shameful death, are made to live and be harmless, if not, indeed, actually serviceable to society. The persons subjected to this discipline are the most depraved and ignorant men in the land. Many of them have learned vice as a science, and have become unable, from the force of habit, to control their wicked propensities. It is not to be hoped that all, or even a great portion of such a class, can be radically reformed; but they can, at least, be rendered less wicked. Beside this, the safe custody of the culprit is combined with enough punishment to make an impression on the mind, and deter others from his offences. The system is also entitled to much praise for having joined economy with humanity. It may have faults, but, taken as a whole, we think the wisdom of man may safely be challenged to make a better.

A late English traveller has offered a suggestion on this head, which we think entitled to attentive consideration. He says, in substance, that a powerful motive to virtue might easily be introduced into our penitentiaries; namely, hope. At present, severe coercion is the only means of preserving discipline, and indeed it is indispensable. But hope may come in play with fear. If disobedience be punished, obedience can be rewarded, and thus the convicts would have a direct interest in conforming to the rules of the prison. If a prisoner were sentenced for several years, and should behave well for a week, one day might be subtracted from the period of his confinement; if he should still continue to do aright, his detention might be further shortened, and in any ratio that might be thought expedient. By this procedure, the seeds of virtue might be sown, and good habits formed.

It will not probably be thought amiss to conclude this article with a glance at certain institutions, called houses of reformation for juvenile offenders. There are several of them in the country, all designed to reclaim children from incipient habits of vice, and they have certainly saved many from state prison and gallows here, and perdition hereafter. The principal two of these are in New York and South Boston.

In the South Boston school of reform, the boys are divided into grades, and are promoted or degraded, as they improve or retrograde in morals. When their reformation is supposed to be complete, they are apprenticed to respectable citizens, who become bound to feed and clothe them, to give them the means of instruction, to teach them some useful art, and, at the expiration of their indentures, to give them a small sum of money to begin the world with. As they generally come very ignorant to the institution, and do not stay long in it, it cannot be expected that they should receive very thorough instruction, but they are nevertheless taught the elements of English education. They were formerly taught several mechanical arts, (as they still are in New York,) but this having been thought to interfere with the great business of moral reform, the plan has been abandoned. Many boys have been discharged as cured of their former habits and feelings, most of whom have given entire satisfaction, and very few indeed have relapsed. The institution has unquestionably been of great benefit to society.94

The other institutions of the same nature are conducted on the same general principles. There are differences in their governments, endowments, and discipline, but there is a strong general resemblance. It is not for us to say which is best conducted, and we have only selected that in South Boston, because, having witnessed its operation, we are able to bear witness of its peculiar utility, and of the skill, patience, and integrity of the gentlemen who have hitherto had charge of it.

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CHAPTER XVI.—LITERATURE AND EDUCATION.

THE language of the United States differs little or nothing from that of the middle and southern counties of England. The slight peculiarities are chiefly such as relate to accent and intonation, and do not affect the sense. Most of the expressions which are now peculiar to the Americans, and especially to the Yankees, were in use by the ‘pilgrim fathers,’ at the time of their emigration, and to them, probably, ought to be attributed the nasal drawl of the least educated inhabitants of New England. The peculiar words of the Americans are too few to deserve particular notice. The educated men of all the states, and especially the inhabitants of the larger cities and towns, speak a language scarcely to be distinguished from that of the higher classes of the mother country. It is yet a question, in what part of the union it is spoken in its greatest purity, each of the different sections arrogating that praise to itself. A practised ear, however, can distinguish a difference between them, so as to decide at once to what division the speaker belongs. The want of a capital, by which the standard can be fixed, is probably the cause of this variety. It may truly be asserted, that, on the whole, English is as well spoken in the United States as in the mother country, and that the jargon put into the mouths of Americans by foreign travellers, bears the same relation to the tongue actually spoken, that a gross caricature does to its original.

Education has met with few obstacles in the United States. Neither the interests and prejudices of an aristocracy, nor poverty and dependence of working classes have checked it in the least. State has vied with state in giving the means of instruction to the humblest individuals. Large tracts of land have been granted by the general government, for the support of schools in the new states, and a reservation is made in every new township for that purpose. In the old states, the legislatures have, by legal enactments, compelled every township to provide for the instruction of its population by assessment, and a punishment is provided for neglect. In the New England and some other states, education at the public expense is accounted one of the rights of freeborn citizens.95 It appears from the returns from a hundred and one of the towns of Massachusetts to the legislature, that the amount annually paid in those towns for instruction is one hundred and seventy-seven thousand, three hundred and forty-two dollars. Twelve thousand, three hundred and ninety-three pupils attend private schools in the same towns, at an expense of one hundred and seventy thousand, three hundred and forty-two dollars. In all these towns, the whole number of persons between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one, who cannot read and write, is only fifty-eight. In one considerable town, there are but three persons of the above-mentioned age who cannot read and write, and those three are deaf and dumb.

Infant schools have been established all over the union, with great benefit, and great attention has been given to the improvement of seminaries of all descriptions, as well as to the means of rendering teachers competent to their office. The press teems with myriads of books for the use of children, institutions for the improvement of teachers are established, thousands of associations for mutual instruction are formed, countless lectures are delivered, libraries are accumulated, and, in short, no means of disseminating knowledge is neglected.

The elements of knowledge being thus accessible to all, it follows naturally, that the wealthy should be desirous to give their children a more perfect education than elementary public schools can afford. There are, therefore, an almost infinite number and variety of private schools, in which children may be educated in conformity to the views which their parents may entertain for them. In some instances, public schools have intrenched materially upon private academies; in others, the case has been reversed. Females are not neglected in the same degree as in other countries—in some of the seminaries, they are taught Greek, Latin, the exact sciences, philosophy, botany, chemistry, &c. &c. The great fault of American instruction in general is, that it is superficial, some knowledge of many subjects being communicated, without a very thorough knowledge of any particular one. There are, however, many distinguished exceptions to this remark, and eminent scholars are yearly becoming more numerous.

There are more than sixty colleges in the United States, besides many academies, several theological seminaries, and numerous medical and law schools. Of all these, the most distinguished are Harvard university and Yale college. The object of nearly all of them is to give a thorough education, in languages, mathematics, and the sciences, and it cannot be doubted that most of them afford to the diligent student all the necessary means of acquiring such knowledge. Yet it is not to be denied, that very many of the students leave college studies for the more active pursuits of life, without having given sufficient time or pains to their studies, and in this respect, our universities will not, certainly, compare advantageously with those of England. The reason is obvious—in the old country, few students would spend the best of their years in celibacy and seclusion, in the pursuit of knowledge, were they not supplied with the luxuries of life by endowments, and cheered by the prospect of comfortable future establishments by provision of law. We may console ourselves for this manifest inferiority by the reflection, that if we have fewer great scholars than European nations, neither have we peasants or beggars.

The consequences of the superficial but universal diffusion of literature and science in the United States are remarkably singular. Literary productions of the lowest order exist in excess. We think we should not speak much amiss in saying, that more newspapers are published in this country than in all Europe. A great number of them are of an inferior character, being filled with virulent and crude political speculations, religious controversy, or rather vituperation, items of common-place intelligence, such poetry and literature as may be expected from writers beneath their majority, advertisements, puffs, and trash of all kinds. Some, which are purely political, mistake abuse for the energy of eloquence; others, which are devoted to the interests of the commercial classes, are chiefly filled with advertisements; some contain little beside invective against masonry or antimasonry, and not a few disgrace religion, under pretence of promoting its progress. The cause of this perversion of the press is very simple. The expense of starting a newspaper is so trifling, that any successful apprentice can establish one on arriving at his majority; and an excellent printer may make a very indifferent editor. Having once began to publish a print, he must conduct it on his own mental resources, for there are few establishments of this kind which can afford to pay for really valuable assistance. Yet, every state can boast of some public journals of higher character. There is also another class of journals which are really valuable, and which partake of the nature of magazines. These are periodical records of facts connected with trade, commerce, internal improvement, mechanical inventions, and matters connected with the proceedings of the national and state legislatures. Such are Niles’s Register, Blount’s Annual Register, and a few others of the same character.

The present number of magazines and reviews would seem to indicate a very rapid improvement in American taste and knowledge. Some years since, many abortive attempts were made to establish an American review, and the North American was the first to maintain its ground, and its improvement has been constant. It is now very well known, and often quoted in Europe. Silliman’s Journal of the Sciences is deservedly esteemed. There are also several monthly magazines of a very respectable character. The Knickerbocker, issued in New York, has acquired considerable notoriety. The New York Review, conducted by Professor Henry and J. C. Cogswell, Esq., is fast gaining a high reputation. “Colman’s Monthly Miscellany,” just issued, under the editorial direction of Grenville Mellen and William Cutter, gives promise of a good progress. Even the new western states are not wholly without periodical literature. Theological magazines are very numerous, and some of them are ably conducted. The Christian Examiner and Unitarian Advocate are the organs of Unitarianism. The Christian Spectator and Spirit of the Pilgrims are Calvanistic works, and, indeed, almost every sect in the union has its particular organ. Christians of all denominations will be disposed to question the merits of many of these; but none will deny that they are all useful in some degree, as they serve to awaken a spirit of inquiry. The annual publications are, the American Almanac, the merits of which are denied by none, and which is constantly improving; and the Annual Register, also a very useful work. The beautiful books of the New Year, as the Annuals may perhaps be called, can receive no other notice here of course, than as they may be considered as evidence of improvement in the arts.

Literature, in the form of both poetry and prose, is certainly taking a ground, in the United States, increasingly honorable to writers and to the cause. Still, our novels, though many are striking, and some powerful, want the vigor of another day, as exemplified in Brown. Useful books can have no better champion than they find in the name of Sedgwick. The drama, it may be observed, has been illustrated in latter days, by efforts that reflect honor on some of our poetical writers. Meritorious law books of American production are not rare. The labors of Chancellor Kent are an honor to the science of jurisprudence. In history, we have Judge Marshall’s Life of Washington, Belknap’s History of New Hampshire, and well-written histories of most of the old states. Many more writers we have, whose pens have been employed merely on matters of local and temporary interest. Still, however, our literature has not kept pace with that of the mother country. Little has been done to encourage it, and many causes have contributed to retard its growth. It has been in a great measure superseded by foreign publications, which the American bookseller can republish without paying the author, and which he therefore prefers. There is little honor and less profit in the pursuits of our writers. Our mechanics become wealthy by hard labor, whereas our writers might starve, did they depend on their pens. There is a great demand for all things which are of practical, tangible, every-day utility, but a very limited one for fine reading. Few of our people have the leisure and fortune which might enable them to cultivate literature and science advantageously. Under these circumstances, most of what is written is done hastily, and consequently badly done. But notwithstanding the great number of discouraging circumstances, enough has been well done to indicate the existence of much talent and learning.96

We have already alluded to the general feeling in regard to education. The strength of this is exhibited in the great number of common schools and colleges. Institutions by this name are to be found perhaps more frequently than the cause of sound scholarship requires. If the funds which are now distributed through so many small establishments were concentrated on a few universities, advantages might be enjoyed which will now be in vain sought. It is much to be regretted that measures have not been taken for the erection of a national university, which the general government of the country might endow with privileges and means sufficient for its permanent success.

At the head of the collegiate institutions in the United States, is Harvard university, originally styled Harvard college, at Cambridge, three miles west-north-west of Boston. In the year 1636, the general court advanced four hundred pounds towards the establishment of a college, which was incorporated in 1638; and the same year, the Rev. John Harvard died, leaving a legacy of seven hundred and seventy-nine pounds, seventeen shillings, and two pence, to the college, which, on account of this donation, was named Harvard college. Its endowments have since, from time to time, been greatly increased by donations from the state, and many munificent private benefactors. The university comprises the collegiate department for undergraduates, or the college, properly so called, and the theological, law, and medical departments. It has four halls, four stories high, for the accommodation of undergraduates; two halls containing the library, cabinet of minerals, the chapel, and various other public rooms; a divinity hall, a law hall, and a medical hall, (which last is situated in Boston,) and other buildings. The university library contains upwards of forty thousand volumes, of which thirty-five thousand, five hundred, are in the general library, three thousand in the law, one thousand in the medical, six hundred and fifty in the theological library: and there are libraries belonging to the students, which contain four thousand, five hundred volumes. The philosophical and chemical apparatus, and the cabinet of minerals, are extensive, and very valuable. The property in possession of the university, exclusive of the college buildings, library, apparatus, and grounds adjoining to the buildings, according to the treasurer’s report, dated October, 1832, amounted to:

		$460,814.87
Funds in trust for other uses than those of the college		65,125.45
		395,689.42
Funds for theological department	36,277.92
Funds for law department	17,943.63	54,221.55
Giving for the more immediate use of the college		341,467.87

The institution is under the legislative government of a corporation, consisting of seven members, and of a board of overseers, consisting of thirty elected members, together with the governor, lieutenant governor, the members of the council and senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, and the president of the university, ex officio.

Yale college was established in 1700, at Saybrook; incorporated in 1701; and removed to New Haven in 1716: the first commencement at Saybrook was in 1702; the first at New Haven, in 1717. It derives its name from Elihu Yale, of London, (but a native of New Haven,) governor of the East India company, who was one of its principal benefactors; it received from bishop Berkeley one thousand volumes of books; and since its foundation it has, from time to time, received benefactions from various individuals, and also from the state. It has, for some years past, had a greater number of students than any other college in the United States. It possesses ten valuable buildings, two of them of stone, the others of brick; four of which are college halls, one hundred feet by forty, four stories high, containing thirty-two rooms each for students; and another hall is soon to be erected. It has the finest cabinet of minerals in the United States, a good chemical and philosophical apparatus, and a library of eight thousand, five hundred volumes; and there are libraries, belonging to the students, containing ten thousand, five hundred volumes. The funds of this institution, considering its reputation and number of students, are small; and it is supported chiefly by tuition fees. The whole amount of the funds of the different departments, exclusive of buildings, library, apparatus, &c. is stated at eighty or ninety thousand dollars. According to the statement of the treasurer, subscriptions have lately been made for the benefit of the college, by six hundred and eighteen individuals, of one hundred and seven thousand dollars, of which forty-one thousand dollars have already been paid. The college is under the legislative government of a corporation, consisting of the president of the college, the governor and lieutenant governor of the state, and the six senior senators, ex officio, and ten clergymen.

Connected with this institution, is a law school, theological department and medical institution.

The legislature of Virginia, at the session of 1817–18, adopted measures for establishing an institution, then proposed to be named Central College, and twenty-four commissioners were appointed to select a site for it. They accordingly selected a pleasant and elevated spot, nearly two miles from Charlottesville, in the county of Albemarle, not far from the centre of the population of the state. Their choice was confirmed by the legislature in 1819, and an act was passed, incorporating the institution, by the title of the University of Virginia, which went into operation in 1825. It was erected and endowed by the state; and it owes its origin and peculiar organization chiefly to Mr. Jefferson. It has a fine collection of buildings, consisting of four parallel ranges, about six hundred feet in length, and two hundred feet apart, suited to the accommodation of nine professors, and upwards of two hundred students; which, together with the real estate, cost three hundred and thirty-three thousand, nine hundred and ninety-six dollars. It possesses a very valuable library of eight thousand volumes, and a philosophical apparatus, which, together, cost thirty-six thousand, nine hundred and forty-eight dollars. The state gives annually fifteen thousand dollars for the support of the institution. The whole annual income of the university is about eighteen thousand, five hundred dollars. The professors are paid, partly by a fixed salary, and partly by fees received from the students; but the sums which they severally receive are widely different, varying, in ordinary years, from sixteen hundred to three thousand, five hundred dollars.

The plan of this university differs materially from that of other institutions of the kind in the United States. The students are not divided into four classes, with a course of studies embracing four years; but the different branches of science and literature here taught are styled schools. The following particulars are extracted from the ‘Regulations,’ &c. Students are not admitted under sixteen years of age; every one is free to attend the schools of his choice, and no other than he chooses; provided, that if under the age of twenty-one, he shall attend at least three professors, unless he has the written authority of his parents or guardian, or the faculty shall, for good cause shown, allow him to attend less than three. In each school, there are three regular lectures a week; besides which, there are, in most of them, extra lectures, suited to the several classes into which the school is divided. The mode of instruction is by text-books and lectures accompanied by rigid examinations.

Three honorary distinctions are conferred by this institution; a certificate of proficiency,—that of graduate of any class,—and that of master of arts of the University of Virginia. No particular period of study is prescribed for the acquisition of these honors. The student obtains them whenever he can undergo the rigid examination to which the candidates for them are subjected. The title of doctor of medicine is conferred on the graduates of the medical department.

There is but one session annually, commencing on the tenth of September, and ending on the twentieth of July. Commencement is on the last day of the session, when there are public exercises, and at the same time the certificates and diplomas are awarded. Number of students, in 1833, one hundred and fifty-seven.

Kenyon college, at Gambier, in the central part of a tract of land belonging to it, five miles east of Mount Vernon, and fifty-two north-east of Columbus, was founded, in 1828, by the exertions of bishop Chase, who went to England in 1823, and returned in 1825, having there obtained for it about thirty thousand dollars; and he gave to the college the name of ‘Kenyon,’ from lord Kenyon, one of its principal benefactors, and to the town the name of ‘Gambier,’ from lord Gambier, another of its benefactors. It has received considerable additions to its funds from individuals in several of the states; and it possesses eight thousand acres of land. The college edifice, which is of stone, contains thirty-six rooms, and forms only one third part of the entire design. The library contains two thousand, three hundred volumes. The college is under the direction of a board of sixteen trustees, of which the bishop of Ohio is president ex officio. The college has connected with it a theological department and a grammar school.

It does not fall within our plan to give a particular description of the numerous collegiate institutions throughout the country. In addition to this account of the most prominent establishments, we have added a list of colleges in the appendix, for which, as well as the previous descriptions, we have been indebted to the American Almanac for 1834. To that valuable work we refer the reader for a collection of much useful and interesting matter on the subject of education in the United States.

‘Less attention,’ says Mr. Cooper, ‘is paid to classical learning here than in Europe; and, as the term of residence (at our colleges) rarely exceeds four years, profound scholars are by no means common. This country possesses neither the population nor the endowments to maintain a large class of learned idlers, in order that one man in a hundred may contribute a mite to the growing stock of general knowledge. There is a luxury in this expenditure of animal force, to which the Americans have not yet attained. The good is far too problematical and remote, and the expense of man too certain, to be prematurely sought. I have heard, I will confess, an American legislator quote Horace and Cicero; but it is far from being the humor of the country. I thought the taste of the orator questionable. A learned quotation is rarely of any use in an argument, since few men are fools enough not to see that the application of any maxim to politics is liable to a thousand practical objections, and, nine times in ten, they are evidences of the want of a direct, natural, and vigorous train of thought. They are the affectations, but rarely the ebullitions, of true talent. When a man feels strongly, or thinks strongly, or speaks strongly, he is just as apt to do it in his native tongue, as he is to laugh when he is tickled, or to weep when in sorrow. The Americans are strong speakers and acute thinkers, but no great quoters of the morals and axioms of a heathen age, because they happen to be recorded in Latin.

‘The higher branches of learning are certainly on the advance in this country. The gentlemen of the middle and southern states, before the revolution, were very generally educated in Europe, and they were consequently, in this particular, like our own people. Those who came into life during the struggle, and shortly after, fared worse. Even the next generation had little to boast of in the way of instruction. I find that boys entered the colleges so late as the commencement of the present century, who had read a part of the Greek Testament, and a few books of Cicero and Virgil, with, perhaps, a little of Horace. But great changes have been made, and are still making, in the degree of previous qualification.

‘Still, it would be premature to say, that there is any one of the American universities where classical knowledge, or even science, is profoundly attained, even at the present day. Some of the professors push their studies, for a life, certainly; and you well know, after all, that little short of a life, and a long one too, will make any man a good general scholar. In 1820, near eight thousand graduates of the twelve oldest colleges of this country (according to their catalogues) were then living. Of this number, one thousand, four hundred and six were clergymen. As some of the catalogues consulted were several years old, this number was, of necessity, greatly within the truth. Between the years 1800 and 1810, it is found that of two thousand, seven hundred and ninety-two graduates, four hundred and fifty-three became clergymen. Here is pretty good evidence that religion is not neglected in America, and that its ministers are not, as a matter of course, absolutely ignorant.

‘But the effects of the literary institutions of the United States are somewhat peculiar. Few men devote their lives to scholarship. The knowledge that is actually acquired, is, perhaps, quite sufficient for the more practical and useful pursuits. Thousands of young men, who have read the more familiar classics, who have gone through enough of mathematics to obtain a sense of their own tastes, and of the value of precision, who have cultivated belles lettres to a reasonable extent, and who have been moderately instructed in the arts of composition, and in the rules of taste, are given forth to the country to mingle in its active employments. I am inclined to believe that a class of American graduates carries away with it quite as much general and diversified knowledge, as a class from one of our own universities. The excellence in particular branches is commonly wanting; but the deficiency is more than supplied by variety of information. The youth who has passed four years within the walls of a college, goes into the office of a lawyer for a few more. The profession of the law is not subdivided in America. The same man is counsellor, attorney, and conveyancer. Here the student gets a general insight into the principles, and a familiarity with the practice of the law, rather than any acquaintance with the study as a science. With this instruction, he enters the world as a practitioner. Instead of existing in a state of dreaming retrospection, lost in a maze of theories, he is at once turned loose into the jostlings of the world. If, perchance, he encounters an antagonist a little more erudite than himself, he seizes the natural truth for his sheet-anchor, and leaves precedent and quaint follies to him who has made them his study and delight. No doubt he often blunders, and is frequently, of necessity, defeated. But in the course of this irreverent treatment, usages and opinions, which are bottomed in no better foundation than antiquity and which are as inapplicable to the present state of the world, as the present state of the world is, or ought to be, unfavorable to all feudal absurdities, come to receive their death-warrants. In the mean time, by dint of sheer experience, and by the collision of intellects, the practitioner gets a stock of learning, that is acquired in the best possible school; and, what is of far more importance, the laws themselves get a dress which brings them within the fashions of the day. This same man becomes a legislator, perhaps, and, if particularly clever, he is made to take an active part in the framing of laws, that are not to harmonize with the other parts of an elaborate theory, but which are intended to make men comfortable and happy. Now, taken with more or less qualification, this is the history of thousands in this country, and it is also an important part of the history of the country itself.’

We may not inappropriately introduce in this connection the following account of the Military academy at West Point, for which we have been indebted to an able article in the North American Review for January, 1832.

The main object of the institution is to qualify the pupil for the performance of all the duties of a military life; and, by way of preparation, he is carefully disciplined in the various duties of a soldier and officer, from the handling of a musket, to the commanding of armies. The use of the various instruments of attack and defence; the construction of military works, both permanent and temporary, and the most approved methods of attacking and defending these works; the manner of conducting the marches of armies, and of disposing of the different arms, with a view to their mutual protection and assistance in cases of emergency; minor tactics, or the evolutions of troops, whether in small or large numbers; and the more complicated and exalted principles of grand tactics, or strategy, are each in turn carefully attended to, so far as theory and the lessons of experience extend.

Besides these military subjects, studies of a different nature are made to engage a large portion of the pupil’s attention during the last year. Civil engineering, in its multifarious departments, viz. the construction of roads, canals, bridges, and rail-roads, together with the elements of carpentry and architecture, holds an important rank. As architecture is becoming daily more interesting to the public at large, its encouragement and advancement cannot be too strongly recommended. A deficiency of taste and information upon this subject is but too evident in many parts of our country; and any institution, which tends to diffuse the correct and chaste principles of this art, deserves to be cherished and encouraged. A fine collection of casts, representing the most celebrated buildings of antiquity has recently been procured from France for the Military academy; and there is every reason to hope, that it will tend materially to improve the department of architecture.

The studies that have now been enumerated, together with rhetoric and national and constitutional law, embrace the chief objects of attention at this institution. A cursory glance at this course of instruction will be sufficient to convince the observer, that it comprehends much useful information. Yet there are many, who profess to believe the academy not only useless, but absolutely injurious, in its effect upon the public interests. They maintain, that genius and courage alone are enough to insure distinction in the military profession. They say, that all our citizens are soldiers, and that competent officers can be selected from among them, whenever military services are necessary; and they, doubtless, honestly believe, that to become an able officer is not a very difficult matter. But, with due respect for the sincerity of these opinions, we must confess our preference for the doctrine of our illustrious Hamilton; who says, that ‘war, like most other things, is a science to be acquired and perfected by diligence, by perseverance, by time, and by practice.’ These few words, coming as they do from a statesman of acknowledged genius and wisdom, are entitled to the most respectful and deliberate attention. That great man had investigated, with the most keen and discerning scrutiny, the many and complicated causes of national grandeur and infirmity. He had especially weighed the mighty causes, which had elevated, sustained, and overthrown the various contrivances of men for self-government; and he was of the unqualified opinion, that a national military establishment was indispensable to our peace and security. The reasons which led him to this conclusion are, doubtless, familiar to most of our readers, and still operate with undiminished influence. All, however, must acknowledge, that a military establishment without skilful officers, would be about as inefficient as powder and bullets without a gun, or a vessel without helm or compass. But how is this skill to be ‘acquired and perfected?’ Doubtless, ‘by diligence, by perseverance, by time, and by practice.’ These objectors should hesitate, before they destroy one of the most useful instruments by which this benefit is to be secured.

Such an instrument is the Military academy. Before they attempt to subvert so noble an edifice, they should reflect, that it is not always wise to suffer speculation to prevail over experience. They should remember the consequences, which have heretofore resulted from the want of military science and skill, before they labor to expose us anew to similar evils. They ought not to forget, that nations, as well as individuals, are liable to be overwhelmed by adverse events, whose approaches cannot be foreseen, or guarded against by any sudden exertion of art or power; that a hitherto unknown responsibility rests upon the citizens of this republic, an obligation greater than ever was imposed upon any other political society; and that we ought, at least, to pause, before we divest ourselves of any of those securities, upon which the peace, the progress, and the stability of our institutions may depend.

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CHAPTER XVII.—FINE ARTS.

The progress of the arts in the United States has depended, in a great measure, on their practical reference to the essential comforts of life. In the mechanical arts, we yield to no other nation, as our ships, steamboats, engines of every description, and vast internal improvements, sufficiently testify. The prevailing taste in architecture is much better than it was twenty years ago, and it is now considered of great importance to have regard to the appearance of a public edifice. Many private houses of much splendor have also been erected within a short period. Our churches and state-houses are built after better models, and the eye of taste is no longer shocked by unsightly piles, without even the recommendation of antiquity to compensate for their defects.

Of the fine arts, however, painting has been most successfully cultivated, and many artists have won, in this department, very considerable eminence. The materials for an account of the history and present condition of painting in this country, are so scattered and unsatisfactory, that we shall be able to present but a brief sketch. We are pleased to learn that a gentleman of New York, distinguished as a dramatic author and as an artist, has a work in preparation, that will effectually supply this deficiency in our literature. This work is expected with much interest by the lovers of art. In the mean while, we must look to the leading review of the country, for some of the most valuable notices of American art. For the remainder of this chapter, we have been entirely indebted to the North American Review, for October, 1830.

It is stated by an able writer in that work, that few countries have done more in the way of painting, during the last half century, than our own. There is no nation which, during that period, can produce a more respectable list of artists than is composed by the names of Copley, West, Trumbull, Allston, Leslie, Newton, Stuart, Sully, Morse, Doughty, Peale, Harding, Fisher, and Weir. Several of these artists have been, and still continue to be, the chief ornaments of the British school, which, for the time in question belongs at least as much to the United States as to the mother country. The style of painting in France, during this period, has been decidedly vicious, and although it has obtained there a temporary popularity, it is not approved by competent judges, who have been educated under the influence of a better taste. In the rest of Europe, there has been little or no activity in this branch of the arts; so that the United States have done as much for painting during the last fifty years, as any other country.

In estimating the merits of our various painters, the article to which we have referred, places West at the head of the list. ‘The length of his career,’ continues this writer,—‘his conspicuous position at the head of the British Academy, and the indefatigable perseverance with which he pursued his labors up to the very close of his protracted life—all these circumstances placed him in full relief before the public, and perhaps raised his reputation a little higher than it will be maintained by the impartial judgment of posterity. Perceiving or supposing that his merit was exaggerated, a certain number of persons were induced, as always happens in similar cases, by a sort of re-action, to depreciate the value of his works, and even to deny altogether his pretensions to excellence. Without speaking of Peter Pindar, who attacked him merely because he was patronized by the king, we may find the feeling to which we allude exhibited in a quarter where we had a right to look for good taste and political impartiality. Lord Byron, in one of his poems, describes our illustrious countryman as

But even here the noble bard, however opposite may have been his intention, has borne a sort of involuntary testimony to the high deserts of the painter. The British school, which, in his wayward humor, he represents as the worst in Europe, was undoubtedly at that time, and still is, the best, and by putting West at the head of it, he rendered him, in fact, all the justice which his warmest friends could possibly have claimed for him. His real merit was very considerable, although he may not have risen precisely to the level of the greatest masters of other times. It was sufficiently evinced by the great popularity and success of his last and best pieces, the Christ Rejected, and the grand composition of Death on the Pale Horse. We had the pleasure of seeing these noble paintings, when they were first brought out at London, and witnessed the enthusiasm which they excited among the lovers of the arts, and the public at large. The sum of ten thousand pounds was offered for the latter work—a higher price, probably, than was ever commanded by any other picture. As there was nothing meretricious in the style of West, and as the public of a city like London is not often very widely mistaken in matters wholly unconnected with any accidental or temporary interest, it is impossible to account for this extraordinary vogue, without allowing to the artist a talent of a very high order. His works exhibit, in reality, almost all the qualities that designate a first-rate painting. His walk lay in the highest department of the art. His subjects were always of a poetical cast, and he treated them all in a large, free and generous spirit; and while he possessed the principal requisites of a great painter, his manner was almost wholly free from faults. He had, in particular, the great merit of avoiding the unnatural style of coloring which prevailed in the neighboring kingdom, and seemed likely, at one time, to corrupt the taste of the rest of Europe. His excellent moral character contributed much to his talent, and still more to his fortune. It kept him steady to his profession, during a period of violent political convulsions, which swept away from their natural occupation almost all the high and stirring spirits. It recommended him to the favor of the king, and through that to the presidency of the academy, and it preserved his health and capacity for constant employment, to the last moment of a very long life. He enjoyed the rare happiness of realizing, in his life-time, his full deserts on the score of reputation—perhaps something more—and of laboring with undiminished activity, and a constant increase of fame, beyond the ordinary term of human existence. We had the satisfaction of seeing him frequently in his last days, and have seldom known a more striking example of a serene and happy old age. He was then, at nearly eighty, a healthy, handsome man, busily occupied upon his last and greatest works, and enjoying the vogue which they successively obtained on their first exhibition. The natural simplicity and modesty of his manner were mingled with a slight air of self-importance, and conscious satisfaction with his recent success, which appeared rather graceful than otherwise in one so much respected, and so far advanced in years. The freshness and vigor of his mind were truly remarkable. He was still alive to every means of improving himself, and when the Athenian marbles were received in England, he addressed a printed letter to lord Elgin, in which he spoke of this event as forming a sort of epoch in his life, and anticipated the great advantage which he should derive from the study of these admirable remains of antiquity in the further prosecution of his labors, which, however, were very soon after brought to a close.

‘We have said above that the manner of West was almost wholly free from faults. His conceptions are noble, his drawing correct, his coloring true, and his composition skilful and spirited. If we miss any thing in his paintings, it is, perhaps, the secret indescribable charm of coloring, which, like the curious felicity of language in some writers, seems to be a sort of natural “grace, beyond the reach of art,” but affording, at the same time, a higher delight than any of those beauties, which can be more distinctly analyzed and defined. Of this, Sir Joshua Reynolds possessed a larger share than West, and will, probably, on that account, be always ranked above him in the general scale of merit.

‘The paintings of West, which remained in his possession at his death, were offered for sale soon after, and we have anxiously desired, that the whole or a portion of them should have taken the direction of this country. They would have formed a most interesting and valuable addition to our collections, and would then have reached what may fairly be considered their natural destination, the birth-place and original home of their author. We are not exactly informed what disposition has been made of them, and venture to hope that the expectation we have expressed may still, in part, at least, be realized.

‘The general reputation of Trumbull is hardly equal to that of West, although the Sortie from Gibraltar is perhaps superior in effect to any single production of the latter artist. This noble picture may justly be ranked with the finest productions of the pencil, and would forever secure to its author, had he done nothing else, a rank with the greatest masters of the art. If his success has been, on the whole, inferior to that of his illustrious contemporary, it is probably because his devotion to his profession has not been so exclusive. The important military and political occupations, in which he was engaged during a considerable portion of the most active part of his life, diverted his attention for the time from painting, and when he afterwards resumed the pencil, he seemed to have lost, in some degree, the vigor and freshness of his youthful talent. Hence his reputation has not continued to increase with his years, and his last works have not, like those of West, been regarded as his best. The four great paintings, on subjects connected with the revolutionary war, which he executed for congress, have, on the whole, hardly satisfied the public expectation, and for that reason have, perhaps, been depreciated below their real worth. They are all valuable pieces, and the Declaration of Independence, which we look upon as the best of the series, is one of a very high order. They derive a great additional interest from exhibiting portraits, as far as they could be obtained, of the signers of the declaration, and of the other patriots and warriors, who took a part in the memorable action of the revolution. We incline to believe that these paintings, should the liberality of congress allow the appropriation necessary for keeping them in existence, will gradually gain upon the public opinion, both as works of art, and as historical memorials, and be viewed by the next generation with more interest than they are by the present one.

‘Of our living native artists, Mr. Allston is the one, to whose future productions the country looks, with reason, for the most brilliant exhibitions of talent, and the most valuable accessions to our public and private collections. Few painters have ever possessed, at his age, a higher reputation, or one acquired by nobler means; and from his character and habits, there is room to suppose that his fame will continue to increase, like that of West, to the last period of his labors. Inspired by that exclusive and passionate love for his profession, which is the sure characteristic of a real genius for it, and by a lofty and generous disinterestedness, which has prevented him from consecrating his pencil to its lower and more lucrative departments, he has, under some discouragements, steadily confined himself to historical, scriptural, and poetical subjects, and has formed his manner upon the highest standard of excellence. His conceptions are uniformly happy, and, when the subject requires it, sublime; his taste and skill, in the mechanical details of his art, complete; and he knows how to give his works the secret charm to which we alluded before, and which adds the last finish to every other beauty. If there be any thing to complain of in him, it is that he is not satisfied himself with the degree of merit, which would satisfy every one else, and employs in correcting, maturing, and repainting a single piece, not always, perhaps, with any real accession of effect, the time and labor which would have been sufficient for completing a dozen. This extreme fastidiousness may have been, at an earlier period of life, a virtue, and is probably one of the qualities, which have enabled the artist to realize the high idea of excellence, which originally warmed his young fancy. But, if we might venture to express an opinion on the subject, we should say that the time has now arrived, when he might throw it off with advantage, and allow himself a greater rapidity of execution. His manner is formed. He possesses his talent, whatever it is, and, as we remarked above, when we treated the same question in general terms, the more freely and fearlessly he exercises it, the more natural and spirited, and, on the whole, the better will be the product. We trust that he will not permit another year to pass over, without putting the last hand to the grand heroic composition, upon which he has been employed so many, and that this will be followed by a series of others, of equal merit, and of a rather more rapid growth. By this change in his manner of working, we believe that he would gain in ease and spirit, without sacrificing any real beauty, and would labor, on the whole, with infinitely more satisfaction and profit to himself and the public, than he does now. We offer these remarks, however, with all the deference that is due from mere amateurs to an artist of consummate genius, who is, after all, the only true judge of effect in his art, and of the best means of producing it.’

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CHAPTER XVIII.—BANKING SYSTEM97

IN new countries, one of the chief difficulties with which a civilized population is obliged to contend, after a sufficiency is obtained of the necessaries of life, is in appropriating a portion of their capital, to serve as a common standard of value in the transactions of commerce. Barter, which is always the first process, soon becomes too burdensome, and the precious metals, which, in older countries furnish a sound and universal currency, are too expensive for new settlements, where all the capital of the inhabitants is wanted in improving the face of the country, and in providing additional comforts, as the community advances in wealth. In the course of time, however, commerce claims a portion of capital, as the medium of exchange; and the struggle commences between the necessity of providing a circulating medium, formed of a material of universal value, and the reluctance to spare for that purpose, capital, which might be exchanged for articles essentially wanted in new countries. Hence it is found, that in new colonies, there is a strong tendency to substitute the credit of public bodies in the place of capital, or in other words, a paper for a metallic currency. The want of capital is so great, and the opportunities of investment so abundant, that the issues soon become excessive; and it is not until the channels of circulation are entirely filled, that the holders begin to look to the fund provided for its redemption; and the first re-action generally results in the depreciation of the currency, and in the universal distress of the community.

In this country, this evil had been so often felt under the colonial governments, and during the revolution, (when the necessity of the public service compelled, if it did not excuse, excessive emissions of bills of credit by the individual states,) that upon forming a government for the United States, after the termination of hostilities, all power over the currency was taken from the state governments; and they were expressly prohibited from coining money, issuing bills of credit, or making any thing but gold and silver a tender in payment of debts.

It was intended to vest in congress the power to establish a uniform currency, instead of the fluctuating medium formerly used; and to place it out of the power of the states, to invalidate or alter the terms of contracts, by tender, relief, or bankrupt laws, or by any tampering with the currency. It was a wise endeavor to elevate the commercial credit of the country, by placing its principles under the guardianship of the national government, and to establish the currency upon an immovable basis, by making it of gold and silver. The effort, though well meant, was, at that period of our history, almost too great for the ability of the country. A circulating medium composed entirely of the precious metals, could not be furnished, without abstracting too large a share of its capital from active employment.

Certificates of public debt were already too abundant, and the name of continental money was of itself sufficient, to prevent government bills from becoming current. A bank, whose issues should be founded on real capital, convertible at pleasure into gold and silver, would furnish a circulating medium, not so expensive as a metallic currency, and still not liable to the objections made to treasury bills. So long as the credit of the bank should be fully sustained, a large amount of bills would be kept in circulation, and an additional capital provided, on which it might safely discount to a certain extent. The experiment had been already successfully tried, in the bank of North America, chartered in 1781, under the authority of the continental congress. This institution subsequently accepted a charter from the legislature of Pennsylvania, and of course lost its character as a national bank. This step was also unfortunate, as the commencement of state banking, and being speedily followed by the incorporation of the banks of New York and Massachusetts, by the legislatures of those respective states, established the practice of incorporating state banks, upon a footing that could not be overthrown. As these banks were all established on real capital, and were prudently managed, their paper soon formed a large part of the circulating medium; and by the operation of causes more powerful than legislative enactments, a victory was finally obtained over the policy and spirit of the constitution; and a currency, chiefly composed of the notes of incorporated banks, was substituted in the place of a metallic currency. With such a circulating medium, it is clear that the state governments, in exercising the power of incorporating banks, have materially diminished the practical control of congress over the currency of the union. These notes, indeed, are not, and cannot be made a legal tender in payment of debts. The federal constitution has there interposed an effectual prohibition. But although the power, which is secured to each creditor, of enforcing payment of his debt in specie, has served as a check to the excessive issue of bank notes, still a paper currency has existed in the United States, which, by dispensing with and superseding the use of the precious metals, has, in fact, compelled every one to receive such currency, in nearly the same manner as if it had been made a legal tender.

The old United States bank, which was chartered by congress in 1791, shortly after the adoption of the federal constitution, by the salutary control it exercised over the state banks, prevented any great and general injury from growing out of this change in the character of the currency. It carefully guarded against all excessive issues by the local banks, and compelled them to make their paper equivalent to specie. Even this check did not always prove sufficient; and the natural tendency of banking institutions, in new countries to over issues, was occasionally illustrated by the bankruptcy of country banks, to the great detriment of the mercantile community. When this check was withdrawn by the refusal to renew the charter of the United States bank, in 1811, the evil became incomparably greater. Availing themselves of the pecuniary distress of the government, during the war that ensued, the local banks, out of New England, came to a determination to suspend specie payments, and by continually increasing their issues, they finally flooded the country with bank notes, which constituted the sole circulating medium, and which, though nominally convertible into specie upon demand, were in reality at twenty per cent. discount.

Even this currency was received, as if it had been made a legal tender. An outcry had been made against those who enforced the payment of specie, as engaged in a combination to drain the country of the precious metals; and the only alternative presented to the creditor was, a lawsuit in the face of public opinion for his legal rights, or the acceptance of the depreciated paper currency from his debtor.

Protected by this popular prejudice, the banks went on issuing their irredeemable bills, even after the termination of the war; and a circulating medium, altogether without value in other countries, became the currency of the union, with the exception of the eastern states. By the large issues of the banks that had suspended payment, the circulating medium had been so much augmented, that it exceeded the wants of the community, and fell greatly in value,—the whole currency in 1816, being estimated at one hundred and ten million dollars, when forty-five million dollars were all that was needed. This evil was still further aggravated by the different values of this currency in the several states—being in some five, in some ten, in others twenty per cent. below par. A debtor, therefore, in paying a debt contracted before the general depreciation of the currency, would, in that state of affairs, pay less value than he agreed to pay; and a debtor, by moving from the eastern to the southern and western states, would, in effect, diminish the amount of his indebtedness twenty per cent. Nor was this all. By the federal constitution, it was provided that all duties, imposts, and excises, should be uniform throughout the United States. So long, however, as bank notes were received by the revenue officers at Boston, New York, and Baltimore, the importer at Baltimore during this period paid one fifth, and at New York one tenth, less than at Boston, where bank notes were equivalent to specie.

To permit the longer continuance of this state of things in the face of the constitution, would have been inconsistent with the duty of congress. A remedy was necessary. Congress could no longer regulate the value of the currency, by declaring that current coin in silver and gold should be of a specified weight and purity. A paper was substituted in the place of a metallic currency, and it was essential to obtain a control over the local banks, and to bring their issues within proper limits. This might have been done by positive enactment, or by imposing a stamp duty on bank notes; but in the then existing state of the currency, it was deemed hazardous to resort to direct interference.

It was also proposed to remedy the evil, by investing the receiving officers of the revenue with the power of discriminating between the notes of the several banks. This addition to the power and influence of the revenue officers was wisely deemed inexpedient, as augmenting too directly the powers of the treasury department; and the short experiment which was made of this mode of controlling the local banks, resulted in bringing into the treasury more than a million of dollars, of what were denominated unavailable funds, consisting of the notes of broken banks.

The only mode remaining consisted in establishing a United States bank, with capital sufficient to control the local banks, which should, by degrees, compel them to reduce their issues to an amount proportionate to their means, and thus bring the paper currency to the par of silver and gold. This mode was adopted, and the present United States bank was chartered in 1816, for twenty years, with a capital of thirty-five million dollars, to which the federal government subscribed one fifth.

The notes of this bank and its branches were made receivable for any debt due to the United States, and its capital and solidity soon gave a currency to its notes, to the exclusion of those local banks that did not redeem their paper in specie.

They were immediately compelled to reduce their issues with a view to the resumption of specie payments, and within three years after the opening of the United States bank, the currency of the union was reduced from one hundred and ten million dollars, to forty-five million dollars, and made equivalent to gold and silver. The local banks found the United States bank notes were preferred, and they were compelled to furnish as good a currency, in order to preserve those customers who were worth having. Since this restoration of the currency to a healthy state, it has been kept so, by the constant action of the national bank upon all local banks evincing a disposition to depart from the true rules of banking.

Occasional deviations have indeed taken place, as in Tennessee and Kentucky, where the legislatures undertook to create capital by pledging the public credit, and to force an unnatural quantity of bank notes into circulation. These attempts resulted, as was predicted, in the bankruptcy of the banks, and in the general distress of that part of the country. In Kentucky, indeed, the legislature sought to alleviate the distress flowing from this policy, by relief and tender laws. But this only aggravated the evil, and finally produced a contest between the friends of law and order, and the partizans of the ‘relief system,’ that, for violence and acrimony, has been seldom witnessed in the United States. The relief and tender laws were declared unconstitutional by the state court of appeal, and their advocates, having obtained possession of the legislature, abolished the court, and constituted a new court in its place. The old court, however, refused to yield, and being sustained by the sound part of society, finally prevailed in the contest; and after a conflict of six years, the legislative and executive departments were rescued from the hands of the relief party, and law and justice, which, for a short time, had been driven from the judgment-seat, resumed their sway over the state of Kentucky.

The history of the banking institutions of that state affords a striking illustration of the mischiefs resulting from any interference of a state government with the currency, and furnishes a complete demonstration of the wisdom of the federal constitution, in vesting the whole power over this subject in the general government. During the short period that elapsed between the first usurpation on the part of Kentucky upon this prerogative of congress, and the termination of the contest, the currency of the state was depreciated; private and public credit destroyed; a bankruptcy almost universal produced; the principles of sound morality and civil order disregarded; the most valuable institutions of the state temporarily overthrown; and the community brought to the brink of civil war and anarchy.

The right side having triumphed, means were taken to redeem this depreciated currency; and the notes of the United States bank furnishing a currency that was universally preferred, the paper of the commonwealth bank was driven from circulation, and gradually redeemed and destroyed.

To prevent the recurrence of such a state of things in other states, is one of the objects of a national bank. In a country like this, the temptation to excessive issues of bank paper is too strong to be resisted by banking institutions in the new states, unless they are checked by a vigilant superintendence, beyond the effect of local influence. The United States, at the present moment, furnish a complete epitome of the progress of civilization in a wilderness, and until the whole continent shall be occupied, this republic will always possess within its limits all the varieties of human society, in its advancement from the savage to the civilized state. On the Atlantic coast are cities and states, which, in commerce, in capital, and in all the productions of wealth and skill, are not far, if at all, behind those of Europe. Advancing through New York and Pennsylvania, a traveller enters the new states beyond the Alleghanies, and although Cincinnati, Lexington, Louisville, and Nashville are inferior to but few cities on the sea-coast, still the population is not so dense, and the country shows fewer signs of cultivation. The roads become worse, the towns smaller, until in the far west he comes upon the log hut, the half-cleared field, and finally reaches the ultima Thule of civilization, in discovering the trapper’s tent not far distant from the Indian’s wigwam. The effect of this condition of society, upon the internal commerce of the country, is striking and characteristic. In settling in the interior, whether in one or more families, the whites take with them little more than their clothing, furniture, agricultural implements, and a small stock of domestic cattle.

In a few years, the fertility of the soil enables them to send surplus produce, in exchange for European or West India productions, to the stores of the country traders in some neighboring town, who, in their turn, transport it to the sea-coast, for home consumption or exportation. In this manner an active trade is maintained between the seaports and the interior, and as the new settlers stand in actual need of many foreign articles, which they require on credit, to be paid for from the next year’s crop, it follows, that the interior is invariably in debt to the merchants on the seaboard. These debts, however, they are enabled to discharge, through the great fertility of their soil, and the advance of their property in consequence of the improvement of the country; and contrary to an old maxim, they grow rich, although they continue in debt—that is, they are daily augmenting the value of their farms, and each year they are enabled to purchase some additional comfort or luxury, which they do not hesitate to buy on credit, because they are certain of being able to pay for it before the lapse of another year.

The invariable course of business between old and new countries—always showing a balance in favor of the former, and bringing the latter in debt—demonstrates, that this habit is beyond the reach of legislation.

The truth is, that new countries are deficient in capital. They are in want of all the luxuries, and many of the necessaries, to which the emigrants were accustomed at home. They, however, advance in wealth and population faster than older states, and for the advance of capital, or the credit which they require, they are able and willing to pay. Thus both parties are satisfied with their mutual relations of debtor and creditor, and find their respective interests promoted by the proper adjustment of these relations. The same principle is equally applicable to the capital required in the new states for a circulating medium. If they can borrow at a fair rate of interest from the Atlantic cities, or from Europe, capital for this purpose, it is as advantageous a loan as if procured for any other object. It enables them to appropriate an equal amount of capital to the clearing of new towns, building better houses, improving the roads, and generally promoting the prosperity of that portion of the union. It obviates the necessity, that so often impels them to excessive issues, on a limited capital of their own, and thus lessens the danger of a derangement of the currency.

This object was effectually attained in the establishment of the United States bank. Founded upon real capital, which was large enough for its proposed ends, it furnished, through its branches, a sound paper currency to these new states; and by the supervising care of the mother bank, those branches were sufficiently guarded against the tendency to over-issues.

By the same agency, the local banks were compelled to conduct their business with prudence, and to keep their circulation within proper limits. Whenever their issues were too much augmented, the national bank interposed a direct check, in demanding the redemption of their paper; and an indirect check was also given by the superior credit of its bills, which are receivable in all places in payment of duties. Since the establishment of this bank, consequently, the business of domestic exchange has been transacted upon the basis of a sound currency, and the rate of exchange, between the western and the middle states, has been reduced to one fifth of its price before that event.

It was not, however, in this manner alone that the rate of exchange was lowered. It was equalized by the obligation assumed by the federal government to receive the notes of the United States bank in payment of duties. The revenue paid to the United States in each year, amounts to about twenty-six million dollars, of which about one half is receivable at the custom-house in New York. The exchange being always in favor of that city, whenever it became too high, remittances were made by the western merchants, in branch notes, to their New York creditors, who used those notes in paying their custom-house bonds. The exchange was thus equalized without any expense to the community, and this operation has been felt through all the branches of the domestic exchange business.

Its effect has been so great, that exchange between the different parts of the union has been generally kept below the expense of transporting the specie, and the branch notes have seldom been at a greater discount than one fourth per cent. in any part of the country. As an equivalent for these advantages, the national bank, besides a bonus paid to the government when the charter was granted, has collected the public revenue, and transported it, without expense, to any part of the union where it was wanted. It has also disbursed it, and thus formed an efficient arm of the treasury department. During the time it has been in existence, it has performed these duties without any expense to the government, and has saved it from all losses from the insolvency of state banks. As an agent of the treasury department, in collecting and disbursing the revenue, it has proved itself efficient and eminently useful; and in that point of view, the establishment of the United States bank by congress has been vindicated, as one of the means necessary and proper to carry into effect the powers constitutionally vested in the federal government. In its operation upon the federal currency of the country, however, its constitutionality is still more unquestionable. It is through a national bank alone that congress can exercise that control over the money system of the union, that is vested in it by the federal compact.

In order, therefore, to regulate the currency, and to render the taxes and duties imposed by congress uniform throughout the United States, it is absolutely necessary that a national bank should be established with sufficient capital to control the state banks, and to compel them to keep their notes equivalent to specie. It can in this manner only discharge that duty, which, for wise and salutary ends, was exclusively vested in congress, at the formation of the government. In performing these highly responsible duties, the United States bank has necessarily gone counter to the wishes of various classes of the community. By compelling the local banks to control their issues, it has diminished the dividends of the stockholders; by reducing the rate of domestic exchange, it has lessened the profits of the brokers and capitalists, carrying on that branch of business; and by increasing the value of the circulating medium, through its supervising power over the local banks, it has, in effect, reduced the price of all property for which money is exchanged. These effects, though salutary to the community, have been injurious to individual interests, which have all been arrayed in hostility to that institution. The benefits of the bank have been of too general a character, to be readily appreciated by the mass. They consist in restoring and maintaining a sound currency, and though this is as indispensable to prosperous commerce, as a pure atmosphere is to a healthy man; still no special feeling is excited in the minds of those who use the one and breathe the other with a happy forgetfulness, that adulterated coin and irredeemable paper will cause as much desolation among merchants, as a pestilential miasma in a crowded city.

The administration of the bank, however, though excellent, has not been without faults. Shortly after going into operation, its direction fell into the hands of a few speculators, who brought it to the verge of bankruptcy, and it did not escape without the loss of more than a million of dollars, and no small portion of character. In the distribution of capital, dissatisfaction had been caused by the small amount apportioned to the city of New York; and it has been, with too much reason, asserted, that the illiberal policy pursued by the present bank towards that city, originated in a jealousy of the increasing wealth and trade of the commercial metropolis of the United States. At times, too, it had indiscreetly enlarged its discounts, and in order to bring the currency within proper limits, was obliged to bear harshly upon its customers. Notwithstanding these errors, it was with no little surprise, that the public found, in the first message of general Jackson to congress, (six years before the expiration of the charter,) an expression of his opinion against the constitutionality and expediency of the United States bank, and an assertion that it had failed in the great end of establishing a uniform and sound currency. As no intimation had been given of an intention to apply for a renewal of the charter, and as no specific abuses were pointed out deserving examination, this intimation was justly regarded as an indication of a strong hostility against that institution, on the part of the president, originating in causes not open to the public eye. The message had the effect of diminishing the value of the stock six per cent. lower than before the opening of congress. The subject, however, was referred to the committees on finance, and reports adverse to the president’s views having been brought in, the stock recovered itself, and finally attained a higher rate than the original price.

The recent history of the Banks is to be found in a condensed state, introduced without any prescribed place, among the events, as they occurred, of Jackson’s and Van Buren’s administrations, near the end of the volume.

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CHAPTER XIX.—BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

ADAMS, JOHN, the second president, was born, in 1735, at Braintree Massachusetts. He was educated at the university of Cambridge, and received the degree of master of arts in 1758. At this time, he entered the office of Jeremiah Gridley, a lawyer of the highest eminence, to complete his legal studies; and in the next year he was admitted to the bar of Suffolk. Mr. Adams, at an early age, espoused the cause of his country, and received numerous marks of the public confidence and respect. He took a prominent part in every leading measure, and served on several committees, which reported some of the most important state papers of the time. He was elected a member of the Congress, and was among the foremost in recommending the adoption of an independent government. It has been affirmed by Mr. Jefferson himself, ‘that the great pillar of support to the declaration of independence, and its ablest advocate and champion on the floor of the house, was John Adams.’ In 1777, he was chosen commissioner to the court of Versailles, in the place of Mr. Dean, who was recalled. On his return, about a year afterwards, he was elected a member of the convention to prepare a form of government for the state of Massachusetts, and placed on the sub-committee chosen to draught the project of a constitution. Three months after his return, congress sent him abroad with two commissions, one as minister plenipotentiary, to negotiate a peace, the other to form a commercial treaty with Great Britain. In June, 1780, he was appointed, in the place of Mr. Laurens, ambassador to Holland, and in 1782, he repaired to Paris, to commence the negotiation for peace, having previously obtained assurance that Great Britain would recognise the independence of the United States. At the close of the war, Mr. Adams was appointed the first minister to London. In 1789, he was elected vice-president of the United States, and, on the resignation of Washington, succeeded to the presidency, in 1797. After his term of four years had expired, it was found, on the new election, that his adversary, Mr. Jefferson, had succeeded, by the majority of one vote. On retiring to his farm in Quincy, Mr. Adams occupied himself with agriculture, obtaining amusement from the literature and politics of the day. The remaining years of his life were passed in almost uninterrupted tranquillity. He died on the fourth of July, 1826, with the same words on his lips, which, fifty years before, on that glorious day, he had uttered on the floor of Congress—‘Independence forever!’ Mr. Adams is the author of An Essay on Canon and Feudal Law.

ADAMS, SAMUEL, one of the most remarkable men connected with the revolution, was born at Boston, in 1722. He was educated at Harvard college, and received its honors in 1740. He was one of the first who organized measures of resistance to the mother country; and for the prominent part which he took in these measures, he was proscribed by the British government. During the revolutionary war, he was one of the most active and influential asserters of American freedom and independence. He was a member of the legislature of Massachusetts from 1766 to 1774, when he was sent to the first congress of the old confederation. He was one of the signers of the declaration of 1776, for the adoption of which he had always been one of the warmest advocates. In 1781, he retired from congress, but only to receive from his native state additional proofs of her confidence in his talents and integrity. He had already been an active member of the convention that formed her constitution; and after it went into effect, he was placed in the senate of the state, and for several years presided over that body. In 1789, he was elected lieutenant governor, and held that office till 1794; upon the death of Hancock, he was chosen governor, and was annually re-elected till 1797, when he retired from public life. He died in 1803. The following encomium upon Mr. Adams is from a work upon the American rebellion, by Mr. Galloway, published in Great Britain, 1780: ‘He eats little, drinks little, sleeps little, thinks much, and is most indefatigable in the pursuit of his object. It was this man, who, by his superior application, managed at once the factions in congress at Philadelphia, and the factions of New England.’

ADAMS, HANNAH, a native of New England, whose literary labors have made her name known in Europe, as well as in her native land. Among her works are the View of Religions, History of the Jews, Evidences of the Christian Religion, and a History of New England. She was a woman of high excellence and purity of character. She died in 1831, at the age of seventy-six.

ALEXANDER, WILLIAM, a major-general in the American army, during the revolutionary war, was born in the city of New York, but passed a portion of his life in New Jersey. He acted an important part throughout the revolution, and distinguished himself particularly in the battles of Long Island, Germantown, and Monmouth. He died at Albany, in 1783, at the age of fifty-seven years, leaving behind him the reputation of a brave officer and a learned man.

ALLEN, ETHAN, a brigadier-general in the revolutionary army, was born in Connecticut, but was educated principally in Vermont. In 1775, soon after the battle of Lexington, he collected a body of about three hundred Green Mountain boys, as they were called, and marched against the fortresses of Ticonderoga and Crown Point; and in each of these enterprises he was successful. He was shortly after taken prisoner, and sent to England; of the events of his captivity he has himself given an interesting narrative. On release from his confinement, he repaired to the head-quarters of general Washington, where he was received with much respect. As his health was much injured, he returned to Vermont, after having made an offer of his services to the commander-in-chief, in case of his recovery. He died suddenly at Colchester, in 1789. Among other publications, Allen was the author of a work entitled Allen’s Theology, or the Oracles of Reason, the first formal attack upon the Christian religion issued in the United States. He was a man of an exceedingly strong mind, but entirely rough and uneducated.

ALSOP, RICHARD, a man of letters, was born at Middletown, in Connecticut, and resided in that place during most of his life. His works are numerous, and embrace a great variety of subjects. He was one of the contributors to the Echo, a journal that obtained considerable celebrity, in its day, for humor and satire. He published various translations from the French and Italian, and left in manuscript a poem of considerable length, called the Charms of Fancy. He died in 1815, at the age of fifty-seven.

AMES, FISHER, one of the most eloquent of American writers and statesmen, was born at Dedham, in Massachusetts, in the year 1758. He was educated at Harvard college, where he received his degree in 1774. About seven years afterwards, he began the practice of the law, and an opportunity soon occurred for the display of his superior qualifications, both as a speaker and essay writer. He distinguished himself as a member of the Massachusetts convention for ratifying the constitution, in 1788, and from this body passed to the house of representatives, in the state legislature. Soon after, he was elected the first representative of the Suffolk district, in the congress of the United States, where he remained, with the highest honor, during the eight years of Washington’s administration. On the retirement of the first president, Mr. Ames returned to the practice of his profession in his native town. During the remaining years of his life, his health was very much impaired, but his mind still continued deeply interested in politics, and he published a considerable number of essays, on the most stirring topics of the day. He died in 1808. In the following year, his works were issued in one volume, octavo, prefaced by a biographical notice, from the pen of his friend, the Rev. Dr. Kirkland.

BAINBRIDGE, WILLIAM, a distinguished naval officer, was born at Princeton, New Jersey, on the seventh of May, 1774. From 1793 to 1798, he was engaged in the merchant service, sailing between Philadelphia and Europe. In July, 1798, he received the command of the United States’ schooner Retaliation, of fourteen guns, to be employed in the hostilities which had arisen with France. While cruising off Guadeloupe this schooner was taken by two French frigates and a lugger, and taken in to that island, where she remained three months. He reached home in February, 1799, and his exchange being soon effected, he received a commission of master-commandant, and sailed in the brig Norfolk, in another cruise to the West Indies. Here he remained for some months,convoying the trade of the United States. On his return, he received a captain’s commission, and was appointed to the command of the frigate George Washington, in which he shortly afterwards sailed for Algiers, with the presents which our treaty bound us to make to the regency. After performing, from motives of policy, a highly insolent exaction of the Dey, captain Bainbridge returned to Philadelphia, in the month of April, 1801. In the following year, he received the command of the frigate Essex, and sailed for the Mediterranean, to protect American commerce from the Tripolitan cruisers. In July, 1803, he sailed in the Philadelphia, to join the Mediterranean squadron, then under commodore Preble. His frigate was unfortunately captured by the Tripolitans, and captain Bainbridge and his crew remained in imprisonment for thirteen months. In 1805, a treaty of peace was concluded between the United States and Tripoli, and the prisoners were liberated. Captain Bainbridge was received with much respect, and was acquitted of all blame, by a court of inquiry, held at his request. From 1806 to 1812, he was employed at times in the merchant service. In 1812, he was appointed to the command of the navy yard at Charlestown, and when captain Hull applied for a furlough, after his victory over the British frigate Guerriere, commodore Bainbridge was permitted to take command of the Constitution. In a few weeks after sailing, he was running down towards the coast of Brazil, when he fell in with the Java frigate, which he captured, after a severe battle. This frigate was so much injured, that it was impossible to bring her to the United States, and she was accordingly blown up. The situation of the Constitution soon compelled commodore Bainbridge to return, and he was engaged in no other action during the war. After the peace of 1815, he superintended the building of the Independence, seventy-four, and took command of the first line of battle ship that belonged to our navy. In this ship he sailed to the Mediterranean, to form a junction with commodore Decatur, to cruise against the Barbary powers; but matters had been arranged before his arrival. In November, 1815, he returned to this country, was afterwards appointed one of the navy commissioners, and resumed the command of the navy yard in Charlestown. His health gradually declined, and he died at Philadelphia on the twenty-seventh of July, 1833.

BARLOW, JOEL, a poet and diplomatist, was born at Reading, in Connecticut, about the year 1755. His father died while he was yet a lad at school, and left him little more than sufficient to defray the expenses of a liberal education. He was first placed at Dartmouth college, New Hampshire, then in its infancy, and after a very short residence there, removed to Yale college, New Haven. From this institution he received a degree, in 1778, when he first came before the public in his poetical character, by reciting an original poem, which was soon after published. On leaving college, he was successively a chaplain in the revolutionary army, an editor, a bookseller, a lawyer, and a merchant. He next visited England, and published, in London, the first part of Advice to the Privileged Orders; and, in the succeeding year, a poem, called The Conspiracy of Kings. In the latter part of 1792, he was appointed one of the deputies from the London Constitutional Society, to present an address to the national convention of France. Information of the notice which the British government had taken of this mission, led him to think that it would be unsafe to return to England, and he continued to reside in Paris for about three years. It was about this time that he composed his most popular poem, entitled Hasty Pudding. He was subsequently appointed consul for the United States at Algiers, with powers to negotiate a peace with the dey, and to redeem all American citizens held in slavery on the coast of Barbary. After discharging these duties, he returned to Paris, and again engaging in trade, amassed a considerable fortune. In 1805, he returned to his native country, and fixed his residence at Washington, where he displayed a liberal hospitality, and lived on terms of intimacy with most of our distinguished statesmen. He now devoted himself to the publication of the Columbiad, which was based upon a poem written while he was in the army, and published soon after the close of the war, under the title of The Vision of Columbus. This was issued in a style of elegance which few works, either American or European, have ever equalled. In 1811, he was appointed minister to France, and in October of the following year, was invited to a conference with the emperor Napoleon, at Wilna. He immediately set off on this mission, travelling day and night; but, sinking under the fatigue, and want of food and sleep, to which he was obliged to submit, he fell into a state of debility and torpor, from which he never recovered. He died in December, 1812, at Zarnowica, a village in Poland, near Cracow.

BARNEY, JOSHUA, a distinguished naval commander, was born at Baltimore, Maryland, in 1759. He went to sea at a very early age, and when the war commenced between Great Britain and the colonies, Barney offered his services to the latter, and obtained the situation of master’s mate in the sloop of war Hornet. During the war, he was several times taken prisoner by the enemy, and displayed, on numerous occasions, great valor and enterprise. In 1795, he received the commission of captain in the French service, but in 1800 resigned his command, and returned to America. In 1812, when war was declared against Great Britain, he offered his services to the general government, and was appointed to the command of the flotilla for the defence of the Chesapeak. While in this situation, during the summer of 1814, he kept up an active warfare with the enemy; and in the latter part of July, he was severely wounded in a land engagement near Bladensburg. In the following year, he was sent on a mission to Europe. He died at Pittsburg, in 1818, in the sixtieth year of his age.

BARRY, JOHN, a distinguished naval officer, was born in Ireland, in 1745. He arrived in America when only fourteen or fifteen years old, and obtained employment from some of the most respectable merchants of the day, until the commencement of hostilities between the colonies and the mother country. Embracing the cause of the colonies, his reputation for skill and experience procured for him one of the first naval commissions from congress. During the war, he served with great benefit to his country, and credit to himself, and after the cessation of hostilities, he was appointed to superintend the building of the frigate United States, in Philadelphia, which was designed for his command. He was highly respected in private life, and died, much lamented and honored, in 1803.

BARTRAM, JOHN, one of the most distinguished of our botanists, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1701. He was a simple farmer, self taught in the science of botany, and in the rudiments of the learned languages, medicine, and surgery. So great was his progress in his favorite pursuit, that Linnæus pronounced him the ‘greatest natural botanist in the world.’ He contributed much to the gardens of Europe, and received honors from several foreign societies and academics. At the time of his death, which happened in 1777, he held the office of American botanist to George III. of England.

BARTRAM, WILLIAM, a celebrated naturalist, son of the preceding, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1739. In early life, he was occupied with mercantile pursuits, but an attachment to natural science induced him to relinquish them, and, in 1773, he embarked for Charleston, with the intention to visit the Floridas and the western parts of Georgia and Carolina, to examine their natural productions. In this employment he was engaged nearly five years; and in 1790, he published an account of his travels and discoveries, in one volume, octavo. After his return from his travels, he devoted himself to science, and was elected a member of several learned societies, both at home and in Europe. His contributions to the natural history of our country have been highly valuable. He died suddenly, in 1823.

BAYARD, JAMES A., an eminent lawyer and politician, was born in Philadelphia, in 1767, and educated at Princeton college. In the year 1784, he engaged in the study of the law, and on admission to the bar, settled in the state of Delaware, where he soon acquired practice and consideration. He was elected to a seat in congress towards the close of the administration of Mr. Adams, and first particularly distinguished himself in conducting the impeachment of senator Blount. In 1804, he was elected to the senate of the United States, by the legislature of Delaware, and remained for several years a conspicuous member of that assembly. In 1813, he was appointed by president Madison one of the ministers to conclude a treaty of peace with Great Britain, and assisted in the successful negotiations at Ghent, in the following year. He then received the appointment of minister to the court of St. Petersburgh, but an alarming illness induced him to return immediately to the United States. He died soon after his arrival home, in July, 1815.

BELKNAP, JEREMY, an eminent historian and divine, was born at Boston, Massachusetts, in 1744, and was graduated at Harvard college, in 1762. He was first settled in the Christian ministry at Dover, New Hampshire, and afterwards in his native town. He was one of the founders of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and devoted much of his time to the promotion of its objects and interests. His published works are, the History of New Hampshire, American Biography, and a number of political, literary and religious tracts. His writings are characterized by great research, clear arrangement, and perspicuity of style. He died at Boston, in 1798.

BENEZET, ANTHONY, a philanthropist, was born in 1713, at St. Quentin, in Picardy, of Protestant parents, who first settled in London, and afterwards at Philadelphia. He was intended for a merchant, but apprenticed himself to a cooper, and subsequently became a school-master, and a member of the society of Friends. His whole life was spent in acts of benevolence, and he was one of the earliest opponents of the atrocious slave trade. A few hours before his death, he rose from his bed, to give, from his bureau, six dollars to a poor widow. His funeral was attended by thousands; and at the grave, an American officer exclaimed, ‘I would rather be Anthony Benezet, in that coffin, than George Washington, with all his fame.’ Benezet died at Philadelphia, in 1784. He is the author of a Caution to Great Britain and her colonies; and an Historical Account of Guinea.

BIDDLE, NICHOLAS, an American naval officer, was born in Philadelphia, in 1750. He entered the British fleet in 1770, having previously served several years as a seaman on board merchant ships. On the commencement of hostilities between the colonies and the mother country, he returned to Philadelphia, and received from congress the captaincy of the Andrew Doria, a brig of fourteen guns, employed in the expedition against New Providence. Towards the close of 1776, he received command of the Randolph, a new frigate of thirty-two guns, with which he soon captured a Jamaica fleet, of four sail, richly laden. This prize he carried into Charleston, and was soon after furnished by the government of that town with four additional vessels, to attack several British cruisers, at that time harassing the commerce of the vicinity. He fell in with the royal line-of-battle ship Yarmouth, of sixty-four guns, on the seventh of March, 1778 and, after an action of twenty minutes, perished, with all his crew except four, by the blowing up of the ship.

BLAKELY, JOHNSTON, a captain in the United States navy during the late war, was born in Ireland, in 1781. Two years after, his father emigrated to the United States, and settled in North Carolina. Young Blakely was placed, in 1796, at the university of North Carolina; but circumstances having deprived him of the means of adequate support, he left college, and in 1800 obtained a midshipman’s warrant. In 1813, he was appointed to the command of the Wasp, and in this vessel took his Britannic majesty’s ship Reindeer, after an action of nineteen minutes. The Wasp afterwards put into L’Orient; from which port she sailed August 27. On the evening of the first of September, 1814, she fell in with four sail, at considerable distances from each other. One of these was the brig of war Avon, which struck, after a severe action; but captain Blakely was prevented from taking possession, by the approach of another vessel. The enemy reported that they had sunk the Wasp by the first broadside; but she was afterwards spoken by a vessel off the Western isles. After this, we hear of her no more. Captain Blakely was considered a man of uncommon courage and intellect.

BOONE, DANIEL, one of the earliest settlers in Kentucky, was born in Virginia, and was from infancy addicted to hunting in the woods. He set out on an expedition to explore the region of Kentucky, in May, 1769, with five companions. After meeting with a variety of adventures, Boone was left with his brother, the only white men in the wilderness. They passed the winter in a cabin, and in the summer of 1770, traversed the country to the Cumberland river. In September, 1773, Boone commenced his removal to Kentucky, with his own and five other families. He was joined by forty men, who put themselves under his direction; but being attacked by the Indians, the whole party returned to the settlements on Clinch river. Boone was afterwards employed by a company of North Carolina, to buy, from the Indians, lands on the south side of the Kentucky river. In April, 1775, he built a fort at Salt-spring, where Boonesborough is now situated. Here he sustained several sieges from the Indians, and was once taken prisoner by them, while hunting with a number of his men. In 1782, the depredations of the savages increased to an alarming extent, and Boone, with other militia officers, collected one hundred and seventy-six men, and went in pursuit of a large body, who had marched beyond the Blue Licks, forty miles from Lexington. From that time till 1798, he resided alternately in Kentucky and Virginia. In that year, having received a grant of two thousand acres of land from the Spanish authorities, he removed to Upper Louisiana, with his children and followers, who were presented with eight hundred acres each. He settled with them at Charette, on the Missouri river, where he followed his usual course of life,—hunting and trapping bears,—till September, 1822, when he died, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. He expired while on his knees, taking aim at some object, and was found in that position, with his gun resting on the trunk of a tree.

BOUDINOT, ELIAS, a descendant of one of the Huguenots, was born in Philadelphia, in 1740. He received a liberal education, and entered into the practice of the law in New Jersey, where he soon rose to considerable eminence. In 1777, he was chosen a member of congress, and in 1782, was elected president of that body. On the return of peace, he resumed his profession, but, in 1789, was elected to a seat in the house of representatives of the United States, which he continued to occupy for six years. He was then appointed by Washington director of the national mint, in which office he remained for about twelve years. Resigning this office, he retired to private life, and resided from that time in Burlington, New Jersey. Here he passed his time in literary pursuits, liberal hospitality, and in discharging all the duties of an expansive and ever active benevolence. Being possessed of an ample fortune, he made munificent donations to various charitable and theological institutions, and was one of the earliest and most efficient friends of the American Bible Society. Of this institution he was the first president, and it was particularly the object of his princely bounty. He died in October, 1821.

BOWDOIN, JAMES, a governor of Massachusetts, was born at Boston, in the year 1727, and was graduated at Harvard college in 1745. He took an early stand against the encroachments of the British government upon the provincial rights, and in 1774 was elected a delegate to the first congress. The state of his health prevented his attendance, and his place was afterwards filled by Mr. Hancock. In 1778, he was chosen president of the convention which formed the constitution of Massachusetts, and in 1785, was appointed governor of that state. He was a member of the Massachusetts convention assembled to deliberate on the adoption of the constitution of the United States, and exerted himself in its favor. He was the first president of the Academy of Arts and Sciences, established at Boston in 1780, and was admitted a member of several foreign societies of distinction. He died at Boston, in 1790.

BOYLSTON, ZABDIEL, was born at Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1684. He studied medicine at Boston, and entered into the practice of his profession in that place. In 1721, when the small pox broke out in Boston, and spread alarm through the whole country, the practice of inoculation was introduced by Dr. Boylston, notwithstanding it was discouraged by the rest of the faculty, and a public ordinance was passed to prohibit it. He persevered in his practice, in spite of the most violent opposition, and had the satisfaction of seeing inoculation in general use in New England, for some time before it became common in Great Britain. In 1725, he visited England, where he was received with much attention, and was elected a fellow of the Royal society. Upon his return, he continued at the head of his profession for many years, and accumulated a large fortune. Besides communications to the Royal society, he published two treatises on the small pox. He died in 1766.

BRADFORD, WILLIAM, an eminent lawyer, was born in Philadelphia, in 1755. After graduating at Princeton college, he pursued the study of the law, and in 1779, was admitted to the bar of the supreme court of Pennsylvania. In 1780, he was appointed attorney-general, and in 1791, he was made a judge of the supreme court of his native state. In 1794, he was appointed attorney-general of the United States, and held this office till his death. In 1793, he published an Inquiry how far the Punishment of Death is necessary in Pennsylvania. He died in 1795. He was a man of integrity, industry, and talent.

BRAINARD, J. G. C., a poet and man of letters, was born in Connecticut, and was graduated at Yale college, in 1815. He pursued the profession of the law, and entered into practice at Middletown, Connecticut; but not finding the degree of success that he expected, he returned in a short time to his native town, whence he removed to Hartford, to undertake the editorial charge of the Connecticut Mirror. His poems were chiefly short pieces, composed for the columns of that paper, and afterwards collected into a volume. They display much pathos, boldness, and originality. Brainard died of consumption, in 1828.

BRAINERD, DAVID, the celebrated missionary, was born at Haddam, Connecticut, in 1718. From an early period he was remarkable for a religious turn of mind, and in 1739, became a member of Yale college, where he was distinguished for application, and general correctness of conduct. He was expelled from this institution in 1742, in consequence of having said, in the warmth of his religious zeal, that one of the tutors was as devoid of grace as a chair. In the spring of 1742, he began the study of divinity, and at the end of July, was licensed to preach. Having received from the Society for propagating Christian Knowledge, an appointment as missionary to the Indians, he commenced his labors at Kaunameek, a village of Massachusetts, situated between Stockbridge and Albany. He remained there about twelve months, and on the removal of the Kaunameeks to Stockbridge, he turned his attention towards the Delaware Indians. In 1744, he was ordained at Newark, New Jersey, and fixed his residence near the forks of the Delaware, in Pennsylvania, where he remained about a year. From this place, he removed to Crosweeksung, in New Jersey, where his efforts among the Indians were crowned with great success. In 1747, he went to Northampton, Massachusetts, where he passed the remainder of his life in the family of the celebrated Jonathan Edwards. He died, after great sufferings, in 1747. His publications are a narrative of his labors at Kaunameek, and his journal of a remarkable work of grace among a number of Indians in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, 1746.

BRANDT, a noted half-blooded Indian chief, of the Mohawk tribe, was educated by Dr. Wheelock, of Dartmouth college, and made very considerable attainments in knowledge. In the revolutionary war, he attached himself to the British, and headed the party which destroyed the beautiful village of Wyoming. He resided in Canada after the war, and died there in 1807.

BROOKS, JOHN, the son of a respectable farmer, was born in Medford, Massachusetts, in the year 1752. After receiving a common school education, he was placed with Dr. Tufts, to study the profession of medicine. On completing his studies, he commenced practice in the neighboring town of Reading, a short time before the commencement of the revolution. When this event occurred, he was appointed to command a company of minute men, and was soon after raised to the rank of major in the continental service. He was distinguished for his knowledge of military tactics, and acquired the confidence of Washington. In 1777, he was appointed lieutenant-colonel, and took a conspicuous part in the capture of Burgoyne, at Saratoga. On the disbanding of the army, colonel Brooks resumed the practice of medicine in Medford and the vicinity, and was soon after elected a member of the Massachusetts Medical society. He was, for many years, major-general of the militia of his county, and his division rendered efficient service to the government in the insurrection of 1786. General Brooks also represented his town in the general court, and was a delegate to the state convention for the adoption of the federal constitution. In the late war with England, he was the adjutant-general of governor Strong, whom, on his retirement from office, he was chosen to succeed. He discharged the duties of chief magistrate with much ability, for seven successive years, when he retired to private life. His remaining years were passed in the town of Medford, where he died in 1825.

BROWN, CHARLES BROCKDEN, a distinguished novelist and man of letters, was born at Philadelphia, in January, 1771. After a good school education, he commenced the study of the law in the office of an eminent member of the bar. During the preparatory term, his mind was much engaged in literary pursuits, and when the time approached for his admission into the courts, he resolved to abandon the profession altogether. His passion for letters, and the weakness of his physical constitution, disqualified him for the bustle of business. His first publication was Alcuin, a Dialogue on the Rights of Women, written in the autumn and winter of 1797. The first of his novels, issued in 1798, was Wieland, a powerful and original romance, which soon acquired reputation. After this, followed Ormond, Arthur Mervyn, Edgar Huntley, and Clara Howard, in rapid succession, the last being published in 1801. The last of his novels, Jane Talbot, was originally published in London, in 1804, and is much inferior to its predecessors. In 1799, Brown published the first number of the Monthly Magazine and American Review; a work which he continued for about a year and a half, with much industry and ability. In 1805, he commenced another journal, with the title of the Literary Magazine and American Register; and in this undertaking he persevered for five years. During the same interval, he found time to write three large political pamphlets, on the Cession of Louisiana, on the British Treaty, and on Commercial Restrictions. In 1806, he commenced a semi-annual American Register, five volumes of which he lived to complete and publish, and which must long be consulted as a valuable body of annals. Besides these works, and many miscellaneous pieces, published in different periodicals, he left in manuscript an unfinished system of geography, which has been represented to possess uncommon merit. He died of consumption, in 1810.

BROWN, JOHN, was born, in 1736, in Providence, Rhode Island, and was a leader of the party which, in 1772, destroyed the British sloop of war Gasper, in Narragansett bay. He became an enterprising and wealthy merchant, and was the first in his native state who traded with the East Indies and China. He was chosen a member of congress, and was a generous patron of literature, and a great projector of works of public utility. He died in 1803.

BUCKMINSTER, JOSEPH STEVENS, a celebrated pulpit orator, was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1784. His male ancestors, on both sides, for several generations, were clergymen, and some of them of considerable eminence. He was graduated at Harvard college, in 1800 with much distinction, and spent the ensuing four years in the study of theology and general literature. He was ordained minister over the church in Brattle-street, Boston, in January, 1805. In the ensuing year, he embarked for Europe, with the hopes of repairing his constitution, which had suffered much from attacks of epilepsy. He returned in the autumn of 1807, and resumed the exercise of his profession; his sermons placing him in the first rank of popular preachers. In 1810, he superintended an American edition of Griesbach’s Greek Testament, and wrote much in vindication of this author’s erudition, fidelity, and accuracy. In 1811, he was appointed the first lecturer on Biblical criticism, at the university of Cambridge, on the foundation established by Samuel Dexter. He immediately began a course of laborious and extensive preparation for the duties of this office, but was interrupted by a violent attack of his old disease, which prostrated his intellect, and gave a shock to his frame which he survived but a few days. He died in 1812, at the completion of his twenty-eighth year. Two volumes of his sermons have been collected and published since his decease; one in 1814, the other in 1829. The first was prefaced with a well-written biographical sketch.

CABOT, GEORGE, was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in the year 1752, and spent the early part of his life in the employment of a ship-master. He possessed a vigorous and inquisitive mind, and took advantage of every opportunity of improvement and acquisition, even amid the restlessness and danger of a seafaring life. Before he was twenty-six years of age, he was elected a member of the provincial congress of Massachusetts, which met with the visionary project of establishing a maximum in the prices of provision. There he displayed that sound sense, and that acquaintance with the true principles of political economy, for which he afterwards became so much distinguished. Mr. Cabot was a member of the state convention, assembled to deliberate on the adoption of the federal constitution, and in 1790, was elected to a seat in the senate of the United States. Of this body he became one of the most distinguished members, and enjoyed the unlimited confidence and friendship of Hamilton and Washington. In 1808, he became a member of the council of Massachusetts, and in 1814, was appointed a delegate to the convention which met at Hartford, and was chosen to preside over its deliberations. He died at Boston, in 1823, at the age of seventy-two years. He possessed a mind of great energy and penetration, and in private life was much loved and esteemed. As a public man, he was pure and disinterested, of high sagacity and persuasive eloquence. His favorite studies were political economy and the science of government.

CADWALLADER, JOHN, was born in Philadelphia, and rose to the rank of brigadier-general during the revolutionary war. He was a man of inflexible courage, and possessed, in a high degree, the esteem and confidence of Washington. In 1778, he was appointed by congress general of cavalry, an appointment which he declined, on the score of being more useful in the situation he then occupied. After the war, he was a member of the assembly of Maryland, and died in 1786, in the forty-fourth year of his age.

CARROLL, CHARLES, was born on the twentieth of September, 1737, at Annapolis, in Maryland. At an early age, he was sent to St. Omers to be educated, whence he removed to the college of Louis le Grand, at Rheims. After prosecuting for some time the study of the civil law, at one of the best institutions in France, he entered the temple. After becoming well versed in the principles of the common law, and completing his studies and travels, he returned to his native land, at the age of twenty-seven. At this period, the difficulties between the colonies and the mother country had commenced, and the struggle was soon carried on with considerable warmth. Mr. Carroll wielded a vigorous pen, and was soon known as one of the most powerful writers in Maryland. He foresaw at an early hour that the appeal to arms must finally be made, and boldly recommended due preparation.

Early in 1776, he was sent as one of the commissioners to Canada, to induce the people of that province to join us in the opposition to the mother country. This mission was ineffectual. Mr. Carroll returned in June, 1776, and immediately took his seat as a delegate in the convention of Maryland. Being afterwards elected a member of the congress, he presented his credentials to this body at Philadelphia on the eighteenth of July, and on the second of August following subscribed his name to the declaration of independence.

At the time he was considered as one of the most fearless and daring men of the age; as his property was immense, and its ultimate loss was considered rationally certain. On his entrance into congress, he was immediately appointed to the board of war, of which he was an efficient member. During the war, he bore his part with unabated vigor, and was often, at the same time, a member of the continental congress and of the convention of his native state; discharging his duties in both relations with fidelity, energy, and attention. In 1778, he left congress, and devoted himself to the councils of his native state. When the constitution of the United States went into operation, Mr. Carroll was elected a senator from Maryland, and took his seat at the organization of the government, on the 30th of April, 1789. To this office he was elected for a second term.

In 1801, he quitted public life at the age of sixty-four, and for upwards of thirty years enjoyed a life of tranquil honor, and unalloyed prosperity. He survived all his companions of the immortal instrument of our independence, and on the fourteenth of November, 1832, the ‘patriarch was gathered to his fathers.’

CARTER, NATHANIEL H., a man of letters, was born in Concord, New Hampshire, and graduated at Dartmouth college in 1811. In 1816, he was chosen professor of languages at the college where he was educated, and was subsequently editor of the New York Statesman. He is the author of a few occasional poems, and of Travels in Europe, in two vols. 8vo. He died in Marseilles, where he had gone on account of his health, in January, 1830.

CARVER, JONATHAN, a celebrated traveller, born in Connecticut, in 1732, was a grandson of the governor of that province. He was educated for the medical profession, but embraced a military life, and served with reputation till the peace of 1763. The years 1766, 1767, and 1768, he spent in exploring the interior of North America, and he added considerably to our knowledge of the country. He visited England, in 1769, hoping for the patronage of government, but he was disappointed. In 1778, while in the situation of clerk of a lottery, in Boston, he published his travels, and, subsequently, a Treatise on the Cultivation of Tobacco. After having long contended with poverty, he died, in 1780, of disease which is believed to have been produced by want. His narrations have all the interest of fiction, and it has been suggested that they may in some respects be considered the work of fancy.

CHASE, SAMUEL, judge of the supreme court of the United States, was born in Somerset county, Maryland, in 1741. He was educated by his father, a learned clergyman; and after studying for two years the profession of law, he was admitted to the bar, at Annapolis, at the age of twenty. In 1774, he was sent to the congress of Philadelphia as a delegate from Maryland, and he continued an active, bold, eloquent, and efficient member of this body throughout the war, when he returned to the practice of his profession. In 1791, he accepted the appointment of chief justice of the general court of Maryland; and in 1796, president Washington made him an associate judge of the supreme court of the United States. He remained upon the bench for fifteen years, and appeared with ability and dignity. It was his ill fortune, however, to have his latter days embittered by an impeachment by the house of representatives at Washington. This impeachment originated in political animosities, from the offence which his conduct in the circuit court had given to the democratic party. The trial of the judge before the senate is memorable on account of the excitement which it occasioned, the ability of the defence, and the nature of the acquittal. Judge Chase continued to exercise his judicial functions till 1811, when his health failed him, and he expired on the nineteenth of June, in that year. He was a sincere patriot, and a man of high intellect and undaunted courage.

CHURCH, BENJAMIN, a physician of some eminence, and an able writer, was graduated at Harvard college in 1754, and, after going through the preparatory studies, established himself in the practice of medicine in Boston. For several years before the revolution, he was a leading character among the whigs and patriots; and on the commencement of the war he was appointed physician general to the army. While in the performance of the duties assigned him in this capacity, he was suspected of a treacherous correspondence with the enemy, and immediately arrested and imprisoned. After remaining some time in prison, he obtained permission to depart for the West Indies. The vessel in which he sailed was never heard from afterwards. He is the author of a number of occasional poems, serious, pathetic, and satirical, which possess considerable merit; and an oration, delivered on the fifth of March, 1773.

CLINTON, JAMES, was born in 1736, at the residence of his father, in Ulster county, New York. He displayed an early inclination for a military life, and held successively several offices in the militia and provincial troops. During the French war he exhibited many proofs of courage, and received the appointment of captain-commandant of the four regiments, levied for the protection of the western frontiers of the counties of Ulster and Orange. In 1775, he was appointed colonel of the third regiment of New York forces, and in the same year marched with Montgomery to Quebec. During the war, he rendered eminent services to his country, and on the conclusion of it retired to enjoy repose on his ample estates. He was, however, frequently called from retirement by the unsolicited voice of his fellow-citizens; and was a member of the convention for the adoption of the present constitution of the United States. He died in 1812.

CLINTON, GEORGE, vice-president of the United States, was born in the county of Ulster, New York, in 1739, and was educated in the profession of the law. In 1768, he was chosen to a seat in the colonial assembly, and was elected a delegate to the continental congress in 1775. In 1776, he was appointed brigadier-general of the militia of Ulster county, and some time after a brigadier in the army of the United States, and continued during the progress of the war to render important services to the military department. In April, 1777, he was elected both governor and lieutenant-governor of New York, and was continued in the former office for eighteen years. He was unanimously chosen president of the convention which assembled at Poughkeepsie, in 1788, to deliberate on the new federal constitution. In 1801, he again accepted the office of governor, and after continuing in that capacity for three years, he was elevated to the vice-presidency of the United States; a dignity which he retained till his death at Washington, in 1812. In private he was kind and amiable, and as a public man he is entitled to respectful remembrance.

CLINTON, DE WITT, was born in 1769, at Little Britain, in Orange county, New York. He was educated at Columbia college, commenced the study of the law, and was admitted to the bar, but was never much engaged in professional practice. He early imbibed a predilection for political life, and was appointed the private secretary of his uncle, George Clinton, then governor of the state. In 1797, he was sent to the legislature from the city of New York; and two years after was chosen a member of the state senate. In 1801, he was appointed a senator of the United States, and continued in that capacity for two sessions. He retired from the senate in 1803, in consequence of his election to the mayoralty of New York; an office to which he was annually re-elected, with the intermission of but two years, till 1815, when he was obliged to retire by the violence of party politics. In 1817, he was elected, almost unanimously, governor of the state, was again chosen in 1820, but in 1822 declined being a candidate for re-election. In 1810, Mr. Clinton had been appointed, by the senate of his state, one of the board of canal commissioners, but the displeasure of his political opponents having been excited, he was removed from this office, in 1823, by a vote of both branches of the legislature. This insult created a strong reaction in popular feeling, and Mr. Clinton was immediately nominated for governor, and elected by an unprecedented majority. In 1826, he was again elected, but he died before the completion of his term. He expired very suddenly, whilst sitting in his library after dinner, Feb. 11, 1828. Mr. Clinton was not only eminent as a statesman, but he occupied a conspicuous rank as a man of learning. He was a member of a large part of the benevolent, literary and scientific societies of the United States, and an honorary member of several foreign societies. His productions are numerous, consisting of his speeches and messages to the state legislature; his discourses before various institutions; his speeches in the senate of the Union; his addresses to the army during the late war; his communications concerning the canal; his judicial opinions; and various fugitive pieces. His national services were of the highest importance; and the Erie canal, especially, though the honor of projecting it may belong to another, will remain a perpetual monument of the patriotism and perseverance of Clinton.

CLYMER, GEORGE, one of the signers of the declaration of independence, was born in Philadelphia, in 1739. He was left an orphan at the age of seven years, and after the completion of his studies, he entered the counting house of his uncle. When the difficulties commenced between Great Britain and the colonies, Mr. Clymer was among the first to raise his voice in opposition to the arbitrary acts of the mother country, and was chosen a member of the council of safety. In 1775, he was appointed one of the first continental treasurers, but resigned this office soon after his first election to congress, in the ensuing year. In 1780, he was again elected to congress, and strongly advocated there the establishment of a national bank. In 1796, he was appointed, together with colonel Hawkins and colonel Pickens, to negotiate a treaty with the Cherokee and Creek Indians, in Georgia. He was subsequently president of the Philadelphia bank, and the Academy of Fine Arts. He died in 1813.

COLDEN, CADWALLADER, was born in Dunse, Scotland, in 1688. After studying at the university of Edinburgh, he turned his attention to medicine and mathematical science, until the year 1708, when he emigrated to Pennsylvania, and practised physic with much reputation, till 1715. He then returned to England, and attracted some attention by a paper on Animal Secretions, which was read by Dr. Halley before the Royal society. Again repairing to America, he settled, in 1718, in the city of New York, and relinquishing the practice of physic, turned his attention to public affairs, and became successively surveyor general of the province, master in chancery, member of the council, and lieutenant-governor. His political character was rendered very conspicuous by the firmness of his conduct during the violent commotions which preceded the revolution. In 1775, he retired to a seat on Long Island, where he died in September, of the following year, a few hours before nearly one fourth part of the city of New-York was reduced to ashes. His productions were numerous, consisting of botanical and medical essays. Among them were treatises on the Cure of Cancer, and on the Virtues of the Great Water Dock. His descriptions of between three and four hundred American plants were printed in the Acta Upsaliensia. He also published the History of the Five Indian Nations, and a work on the Cause of Gravitation, afterwards republished by Dodsley, under the title of The Principles of Action in Matter. He left many valuable manuscripts on a variety of subjects.

COOPER, SAMUEL, a Congregational minister, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1725. He was graduated at Harvard college in 1743, and, devoting himself to the church, acquired great reputation as a preacher, at a very early age. After an useful and popular ministry of thirty-seven years, he died in 1783. He was a sincere and liberal christian, and in his profession perhaps the most distinguished man of his day, in the United States. He was an ardent friend of the cause of liberty, and did much to promote it. With the exception of political essays in the journals of the day, his productions were exclusively sermons.

COPLEY, JOHN SINGLETON, a distinguished painter, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1738. He began to paint without any instruction at a very early age, and executed pieces unsurpassed by his later productions. He visited Italy in 1774, and in 1776 went to England, where he determined to remain, in consequence of the convulsed state of his native country. He therefore devoted himself to portrait painting in London, and was chosen a member of the royal academy. His celebrated picture, styled The Death of Lord Chatham, at once established his fame, and he was enabled to pursue his profession with success and unabated ardor till his sudden death in 1815. Among his most celebrated productions, are Major Pierson’s Death on the island of Jersey; Charles I. in the house of commons, demanding of the speaker the five impeached members; the Surrender of Admiral De Winter to Lord Duncan; Samuel and Eli; and a number of portraits of several members of the royal family.

CRAFTS, WILLIAM, a lawyer and miscellaneous writer, was born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1787. He received his education at Harvard college, and studied law in his native city, where he acquired some reputation for talent and eloquence. He was a member of the South Carolina legislature, and for some time editor of the Charleston Courier. He died at Lebanon springs, New York, in 1826. A collection of his works, comprising poems, essays in prose, and orations, with a biographical memoir, was published in Charleston, in 1828.

CRAIK, JAMES, was born in Scotland, where he received his education for the medical service of the British army. He came to the colony of Virginia in early life, and accompanied Washington in his expeditions against the French and Indians, in 1754; and in the following year attended Braddock in his march through the wilderness, and assisted in dressing his wounds. At the commencement of the revolution, by the aid of his early and fast friend, general Washington, he was transferred to the medical department in the continental army, and rose to the first rank and distinction. He continued in the army to the end of the war, and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis, on the memorable 19th of October, 1781. After the cessation of hostilities, he removed to the neighborhood of Mount Vernon, and in 1798 was once more appointed by Washington to his former station in the medical staff. He was present with his illustrious friend in his last moments, and died in 1814, in the 84th year of his age. He was a skilful and successful physician, and Washington mentioned him as ‘my compatriot in arms, my old and intimate friend.’

DALE, RICHARD, an American naval commander, was born in Virginia, in 1756. At twelve years of age he was sent to sea, and in 1776, he entered as a midshipman on board of the American brig of war Lexington. In the following year he was taken prisoner by a British cruiser, and after a twelve-month confinement he escaped from Mill prison, and succeeded in reaching France. Here he joined, in the character of master’s mate, the celebrated Paul Jones, then commanding the American ship Bon Homme Richard. He was soon raised to the rank of first lieutenant, and signalized himself in the sanguinary engagement between the Bon Homme Richard and the English frigate Serapis. In 1794, the United States made him a captain in the navy, and in 1801, he took command of the American squadron, which sailed in that year from Hampton roads to the Mediterranean. From the year 1802, he passed his life in Philadelphia, in the enjoyment of a competent estate, and much esteemed by his fellow-citizens. He died in 1826, leaving the reputation of a brave and intelligent seaman.

DALLAS, ALEXANDER JAMES, was born in the island of Jamaica, in 1759; and was educated at Edinburgh and Westminster. In 1783, he left Jamaica for the United States, and settled in Philadelphia; taking the oath of allegiance to the state of Pennsylvania. In 1785, he was admitted to practise in the supreme court of the state, and in four or five years in the courts of the Union. During this time he prepared his Reports, and was engaged in various literary pursuits, writing much in the periodical journals. He occupied successively the offices of secretary of Pennsylvania, district attorney of the United States, secretary of the treasury, and secretary of war. On the restoration of peace, in 1816, Mr. Dallas resigned his political situation, and resumed the successful practice of his profession. His services as an advocate were called for in almost every part of the union; but in the midst of very flattering expectations he died at Trenton, in 1817.

DAVIE, WILLIAM RICHARDSON, governor of North Carolina, was born in England, in 1756. He was brought to America at the age of six years, and received his education at Princeton, New Jersey, where he was graduated in 1776. After pursuing for a short time the study of the law, he entered the army as a lieutenant in the legion of Pulaski, and distinguished himself by his efficiency and courage as an officer. On the termination of the war, he devoted himself with eminent success to the practice of the law. In 1787, he was chosen a delegate from South Carolina, to represent that state in the convention which framed the constitution of the United States. Unavoidable absence prevented him from affixing his name to that instrument. In 1790, he was elected governor of North Carolina, and in 1799, was appointed one of the commissioners for negotiating a treaty with France. He died at Camden, in 1820. He was a man of a dignified and noble person, courage as a soldier, and ability as a lawyer.

DEANE, SILAS, minister of the United States to the court of France, was born in Connecticut, and educated at Yale college. He was elected member of congress in 1774, and sent two years after as agent to France, but was superseded, in 1777, and returned. Involved in suspicions from which he could not extricate himself, he lost his reputation, and returning to Europe, died in poverty in England, in 1789.

DECATUR, STEPHEN, a distinguished naval officer, was born in Maryland, in 1779, and received his education in Philadelphia. He entered the navy in 1798, and first distinguished himself when in the rank of lieutenant, by the destruction of the American frigate Philadelphia, which had run upon a rock in the harbor of Tripoli, and fallen into the hands of the enemy. For this exploit, the American congress gave him a vote of thanks and a sword, and the president immediately sent him a captaincy. At the bombardment of Tripoli, the next year, he distinguished himself by the capture of two of the enemy’s boats, which were moored along the mouth of the harbor, and immediately under the batteries. When peace was concluded with Tripoli, Decatur returned home in the Congress, and afterward succeeded commodore Barron in the command of the Chesapeake. In the late war between Great Britain and the United States, his chief exploit was the capture of the British frigate Macedonian, commanded by captain Carden. In January, 1815, he attempted to sail from New York, which was then blockaded by four British ships; but the frigate under his command was injured in passing the bar, and was captured by the whole squadron, after a running fight of two or three hours. He was restored to his country after the conclusion of peace. In the summer of the same year, he was sent with a squadron to the Mediterranean, in order to compel the Algerines to desist from their depredations on American commerce. He arrived at Algiers on the twenty-eighth of June, and in less than forty-eight hours terrified the regency into an entire accession to all his terms. Thence he went to Tripoli, where he met with like success. On returning to the United States, he was appointed a member of the board of commissioners for the navy, and held that office till March, 1820, when he was shot in a duel with commodore Barron. He was a man of an active and powerful frame, and possessed a high degree of energy, sagacity, and courage.

DENNIE, JOSEPH, born in Boston, in 1768, displayed an early fondness for polite literature, and entered Harvard college in 1787. In 1790, he left this institution, and commenced the study of the law; but made little progress in the practice of his profession, in consequence of a strong attachment to literary pursuits. In the spring of 1795, he established a weekly paper in Boston, under the title of The Tablet, but it died from want of patronage. Soon after, he went to Walpole to edit the Farmer’s Museum, a journal in which he published a series of papers with the signature of the Lay Preacher. In 1799, he removed to Philadelphia, where he had received an appointment in the office of the secretary of state. He subsequently established the Port Folio, a journal which acquired reputation and patronage. He died in 1812. Mr. Dennie was a man of genius, and a beautiful writer, but wanted the industry and judgment, which might have secured him a competent subsistence and a permanent reputation.

DEXTER, SAMUEL, an eminent lawyer and statesman, was born in Boston, in 1761. He received his education at Harvard college, where he was graduated with honor, in 1781. Engaging in the study of the law, he soon succeeded in obtaining an extensive practice. He enjoyed successively a seat in the state legislature, and in the house of representatives and senate of the United States; and in each of these stations he secured a commanding influence. During the administration of Mr. Adams, he was appointed secretary of war, and of the treasury; but on the accession of Mr. Jefferson to the presidency, he resigned his public employments, and returned to the practice of his profession. For many years he was extensively employed in the courts of Massachusetts, and in the supreme court of the United States, where he was almost without a rival. He died suddenly, at Athens, New York, in 1816. Mr. Dexter was tall, muscular, and well formed. His eloquence was clear, simple and cogent; and his powers were such as would have made him eminent in any age or nation.

DICKINSON, JOHN, a celebrated political writer, was born in Maryland, in 1732, and educated in Delaware. He pursued the study of law, and practised with success in Philadelphia. He was soon elected to the state legislature, and distinguished himself as an early and efficient advocate of colonial rights. In 1765, he was appointed by Pennsylvania a delegate to the first congress, held at New York, and prepared the draft of the bold resolutions of that body. His celebrated Farmer’s Letters to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies were issued in Philadelphia, in 1767; they were reprinted in London, with a preface by Dr. Franklin, and a French translation of them was published at Paris. While in congress, he wrote a large number of the most able and eloquent state papers of the time, and as an orator he had few superiors in that assembly. He conscientiously opposed the declaration of independence, and his opinions upon this subject rendered him for a time unpopular; but they did not permanently affect his reputation and influence. He was afterwards a member of congress, and president of Pennsylvania and Delaware, successively. He died at Wilmington, in 1808. Mr. Dickinson was a man of a strong mind, great knowledge and eloquence, and much elegance of mind and manners.

DORSEY, JOHN SYNG, professor of anatomy in the university of Pennsylvania, was born in Philadelphia in 1783, and received an excellent elementary education at a school of the society of Friends. At the age of fifteen he commenced the study of medicine, and pursued it with unusual ardor and success. In the spring of 1802, he was graduated doctor in physic, having previously defended with ability an inaugural dissertation on the Powers of the Gastric Liquor as a Solvent of the Urinary Calculi. Soon after he received his degree, the yellow fever reappeared in the city, and a hospital was open for the exclusive accommodation of those sick with this disease, to which he was appointed resident physician. At the close of the same season he visited Europe. On his return, in 1804, he immediately entered on the practice of his profession, and soon acquired, by his popular manners, attention and talent, a large share of business. In 1807 he was elected adjunct professor of surgery, and remained in this office till he was raised to the chair of anatomy by the death of the lamented Wistar. He opened the session by one of the finest exhibitions of eloquence ever heard within the walls of the university; but on the evening of the same day, he was attacked by a fever, which in one week closed his existence. He died in 1818. His Elements of Surgery, in two volumes 8vo, is considered the best work on the subject. It is used as a text book in the university of Edinburgh, and was the first American work on medicine reprinted in Europe.

DRAYTON, WILLIAM HENRY, a statesman of the revolution, was born in South Carolina, in 1742. He received his education in England, and on its completion returned to his native state. Taking an early and active part in the defence of colonial rights, he wrote and published a pamphlet under the signature of Freeman, in which he submitted a ‘bill of American Rights’ to the continental congress. On the commencement of the revolution he became an efficient leader; in 1775, was chosen president of the provincial congress; and in March of the next year, was elected chief justice of the colony. In 1777, Mr. Drayton was appointed president of South Carolina, and, in 1778, was elected a delegate to the continental congress, where he took a prominent part, and distinguished himself by his activity and eloquence. He continued in congress until September, 1779, when he died suddenly, at Philadelphia. He left a body of valuable materials for history, which his only son, John Drayton, revised and published at Charleston, in 1821, in two volumes 8vo, under the title of Memoirs of the American Revolution.

DWIGHT, TIMOTHY, an eminent divine and writer, was born at Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1752. At the age of thirteen he entered Yale college; and after having graduated, took charge of a grammar-school at New Haven, where he taught for two years. In 1771, he became a tutor in Yale college, where he remained for six years. In 1783, he was ordained minister of Greenfield, a parish in the town of Fairfield, in Connecticut; where he soon opened an academy that acquired great reputation. In 1795, Dr. Dwight was elected president of Yale college, and his character and name soon brought a great accession of students. During his presidency, he also filled, the office of the professor of theology. He continued to discharge the duties of his station, both as minister and president of the college, to the age of sixty-five; when, after a long and painful illness, he died, in January, 1817. He was endowed by nature with uncommon talents; and these, enriched by industry and research, and united to amiability and consistency in his private life, entitled Dr. Dwight to rank among the first men of his age. As a preacher, he was distinguished by his originality, simplicity, and dignity; he was well read in the most eminent fathers and theologians, ancient and modern; he was a good biblical critic; and his sermons should be possessed by every student of divinity. He wrote Travels in New England and New York; Greenfield Hill, a poem; The Conquest of Canaan, a poem; a collection of theological lectures; and a pamphlet on The Dangers of the Infidel Philosophy.

EATON, WILLIAM, general in the service of the United States, was born in Woodstock, Connecticut, in 1764, and was graduated at Dartmouth college, in 1790. In 1792, he received a captain’s commission in the army, and served for some time under general Wayne, on the Mississippi, and in Georgia. In 1797, he was appointed consul to the kingdom of Tunis, and continued there engaged in a variety of adventures and negociations, till 1803, when he returned to the United States. In 1804, he was appointed navy agent for the Barbary powers, for the purpose of co-operating with Hamet bashaw in the war against Tripoli; but was disappointed by the conclusion of a premature peace between the American consul and the Tripolitan bashaw. On his return to the United States, he failed in obtaining from the government any compensation for his pecuniary losses, or any employment corresponding with his merit and services. Under the influence of his disappointments, he fell into habits of inebriety, and died in 1811. His life, published by one of his friends in Massachusetts, is full of interesting adventure.

EDWARDS, JONATHAN, was born at Windsor, in the province of Connecticut, in 1703. At the age of twelve years he was admitted into Yale college, and at the age of seventeen received the degree of bachelor of arts. He remained nearly two years longer at Yale, preparing for the ministry; and in 1722, went to New York, and preached there with great distinction. In September, 1723, he was elected a tutor in Yale college, and remained there till 1726, when he resigned his office, in order to become the minister of the people of Northampton, where he was ordained in February, 1727. After more than twenty-three years of service in this place, a rupture took place between him and his congregation, and he was dismissed by an ecclesiastical council, in 1750. In the following year he accepted a call to serve as missionary among the Indians at Stockbridge, Massachusetts. In 1757, he was chosen president of the college at Princeton, New Jersey, and accepted the invitation. In January, 1758, he repaired to Princeton, where he died of the small-pox, in the March following. His chief works are a Treatise on Religious Affections; an Inquiry into the Notion of Freedom of Will, which is considered the best vindication of the doctrine of philosophical necessity; a Treatise on Original Sin; and numerous tracts and sermons. Various narratives of his life, and editions of his works, have been printed both in Great Britain and the United States. The latest is in ten octavo volumes, published in New York, in 1830, and edited by Sereno E. Dwight.

ELLIOTT, STEPHEN, a botanist and man of letters, was born at Beaufort, South Carolina, in 1771, and received his education at Yale college. On his return home, he applied himself to the improvement of his paternal estate, devoting his leisure hours to history and poetry. At the age of twenty-two he was chosen to the legislature of his native state, where he obtained considerable influence, by his knowledge, attention, and power of argument. He was chosen president of the state bank, established in 1812, and continued to discharge the duties of this office with ability to the time of his death. His two volumes of the botany of South Carolina are held in high estimation, and his lectures before several literary and learned societies obtained great applause. His acquisitions in literature and science were extensive, and he left a valuable collection in the several branches of natural history, scientifically arranged. He was the chief editor of the Southern Review, and the author of some of its best articles. He died in 1830. Most of his productions remain in manuscript.

ELLSWORTH, OLIVER, an American judge and statesman, was born at Windsor, Connecticut, in 1745, and was graduated at the college of Nassau Hall, at Princeton, in 1766. Devoting himself to the practice of the law, he soon rose to distinction, by the energy of his mind and his eloquence. From the earliest period of discontent, he joined the cause of the colonies, and in 1777 was elected a member of the continental congress. In this body he remained for three years, and in 1784 he was appointed a judge of the superior court of the state. He was a delegate to the convention for framing the federal constitution, and was a senator in the first congress. In 1796, he was appointed chief justice of the supreme court of the United States, and in 1799 was sent envoy extraordinary to France. The decline of his health induced him to resign his seat on the bench, and he retired to his family residence, at Windsor, where he died in 1807.

FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN, a philosopher and statesman, the son of a soap-boiler and tallow-chandler, was born in 1706, at Boston, in America. He was apprenticed as a printer, to his brother, at Boston. It was while he was with his brother, that he began to try his powers of literary composition. Street ballads, and articles in a newspaper, were his first efforts. Dissatisfied with the manner in which he was treated by his relative, he, at the age of seventeen, privately quitted him, and went to Philadelphia, where he obtained employment. Deluded by a promise of patronage from the governor, Sir William Keith, he visited England to procure the necessary materials for establishing a printing office in Philadelphia; but, on his arrival at London, he found that he had been deceived, and he was obliged to work as a journeyman for eighteen months. While he was in the British metropolis, he wrote a Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain. In 1726, he returned to Philadelphia; not long after which he entered into business, as a printer and stationer, and, in 1728, established a newspaper. His prudence soon placed him among the most prosperous of the citizens, and the influence which prosperity naturally gave was enhanced by his activity and talent. Chiefly by his exertions, a public library, a fire-preventing company, an insurance company, and a voluntary association for defence, were established at Philadelphia. In 1732, he began Poor Richard’s Almanac. His first public employment was that of clerk to the general assembly of Pennsylvania; his next, that of postmaster; and he was subsequently chosen as a representative. Philosophy, also, now attracted his attention, and he began those inquiries into the nature of electricity, the results of which have ranked him high among men of science. In 1753, he was appointed deputy postmaster-general of British America; and from 1757 to 1762, he resided in London, as agent for Pennsylvania, and other colonies. The last of these offices was intrusted to him again, in 1761, and he held it till the breaking out of the contest, in 1775. After his return to America, he took an active part in the cause of liberty, and, in 1778, he was dispatched by the congress as ambassador to France. The treaty of alliance with the French government, and the treaties of peace, in 1782 and 1783, as well as treaties with Sweden and Prussia, were signed by him. On his reaching Philadelphia, in September, 1785, his arrival was hailed by applauding thousands of his countrymen, who conducted him in triumph to his residence. He died April 17, 1790. His Memoirs, written by himself, but left unfinished, and his Philosophical, Political, and Miscellaneous Works, have been published by his grandson, in six volumes, octavo.

FULTON, ROBERT, an American engineer and projector, was born in 1765, at Little Britain, in Pennsylvania. Abandoning the trade of a jeweller, he studied for some years under West, with the intention of being a painter; but, having become acquainted with a fellow countryman, named Rumsey, who was skilled in mechanics, he became fond of that science, and ultimately adopted the profession of a civil engineer. Before he left England, he published, in 1796, a treatise on Inland Navigation, in which he proposed to supersede locks by inclined planes. In 1800, he introduced, with much profit to himself, the panorama into the French capital. For some years he was engaged in experiments to perfect a machine called a torpedo, intended to destroy ships of war by explosion. After his return to America, he gave to the world an account of several inventions, among which are a machine for sawing and polishing marble, another for rope making, and a boat to be navigated under water. He obtained a patent for his inventions in navigation by steam, in 1809, and another for some improvements, in 1811. In 1814, he contrived an armed steam ship for the defence of the harbor of New York, and a submarine vessel large enough to carry one hundred men; the plans of which being approved by government, he was authorized to construct them at the public expense. But before completing either of those works, he died suddenly, in 1815. Though not the inventor of it, he was the first who successfully employed the steam engine in navigation.

GATES, HORATIO, was born in England, in 1728, and entering the British service in early life, rose by his merits to the rank of major. In 1755, he was with Braddock when that unfortunate commander was defeated, and received in that battle a severe wound, which for some time debarred him from active service. On the conclusion of peace, he settled in Virginia, where he resided till the commencement of the revolution, in 1775. He was then appointed adjutant-general by congress, with the rank of brigadier, and in 1776, received the command of the army in Canada. General Schuyler succeeded him for a few months, in 1777, but he resumed his situation in August, and soon revived the hopes of his country, by the capture of the army under Burgoyne. In 1780, he was appointed to the chief command of the southern districts, but he was afterwards superseded by general Greene, and his conduct was subjected to the investigation of a special court. He was restored to his command in 1782. On the termination of war he resided on his farm in Virginia, till 1790, when he removed to New York, where he lived much esteemed and respected, till his decease in 1806.

GERRY, ELBRIDGE, one of the signers of the declaration of independence, and vice-president of the United States, was born at Marblehead, Massachusetts, in 1744, and received his education at Harvard college. He was graduated at this institution in 1762, and afterwards engaging in mercantile pursuits, amassed a considerable fortune. He took an early part in the controversy between the colonies and Great Britain, and in 1772, was elected a representative from his native town, to the legislature of Massachusetts. In 1776, he was elected a delegate to the continental congress, where for several years he exhibited the utmost zeal and fidelity, in the discharge of numerous and severe official labors. In 1784, Mr. Gerry was re-elected a member of congress, and in 1787, was chosen a delegate to the convention, which assembled at Philadelphia, to revise the articles of confederation. In 1789, he was again elected to congress, and remained in that body for four years, when he retired into private life, till the year 1797, when he was appointed to accompany general Pinckney and Mr. Marshall on a special mission to France. In October, 1798, Mr. Gerry returned home, and having been elected governor of his native state, and in 1812 vice-president of the United States, he died suddenly at Washington, in November, 1814.

GIRARD, STEPHEN, a celebrated banker, was born in France, about the year 1746. At the age of twelve years, in the capacity of cabin boy, he left France for the West Indies, where he resided some time, and whence he made many voyages to the United States. About 1775, he arrived in this country, and for a while kept a small shop in New Jersey. In 1780, he removed to Philadelphia, and by gradual but sure acquisition accumulated a large fortune. He became distinguished for his active philanthropic exertions during the ravages of the yellow fever in that city in 1793. In 1811, when congress refused to recharter the old bank of the United States, Mr. Girard purchased the banking house of that institution, and became a banker. The capital which he first invested in his bank, was one million eight hundred thousand dollars, and he subsequently augmented it to five millions. During our late war with Great Britain, the government found difficulty in raising the necessary funds, and public credit had sunk so low, that seven per cent. stock was offered at thirty per cent. discount. Of this stock Mr. Girard took five millions. At the time of his death, in 1832, he was estimated to be worth from twelve to fifteen millions of dollars, and he was the most wealthy man in the new world. He was buried with public honors. By his will, he distributed his immense riches in the most judicious and liberal manner, among several charitable institutions, and for the purposes of public improvements. One bequest was of two millions, for the erection of a permanent college in Penn Township, for the accommodation of at least three hundred poor white male orphans, above the age of six years. In regulation of this bequest, it is enjoined, that ‘no ecclesiastic, missionary, or minister, of any sect whatever, shall ever hold or exercise any station or duty whatever, in said college; nor shall any such person ever be admitted for any purpose, or as a visiter, within the premises appropriated to the purposes of the said college.’

GODMAN, JOHN D., an eminent naturalist and physician, was born at Annapolis, in Maryland, and having lost his parents at an early age, was bound apprentice to a printer. He afterwards entered the navy as a sailor boy, and at the age of fifteen commenced the study of medicine. On completing his studies, he settled in Philadelphia as a physician and private teacher of anatomy, and for some time was an assistant editor of the Medical Journal. It was at this period that he published his Natural History of American Quadrupeds, in three volumes, 8vo. Having been elected to the professorship of anatomy in Rutgers’ Medical college, he removed to New York, where he soon acquired extensive practice as a surgeon. Ill health, however, obliged him to relinquish his pursuits, and he returned in 1829 to Philadelphia, where he died in 1830, in the thirty-second year of his age. He possessed much and varied information in his profession, in natural history, and in general literature. Besides the work above referred to, he is the author of Rambles of a Naturalist, and several articles on natural history in the Encyclopædia Americana.

GODFREY, THOMAS, the real inventor of the quadrant commonly called Hadley’s, was born in Philadelphia, and pursued the trade of a glazier. He was a great student of mathematics, and acquired by himself a tolerable knowledge of Latin, in order to be able to read mathematical works in that language. In 1730, he communicated the improvement he had made in Davis’s quadrant to Mr. Logan, secretary of the commonwealth; and in the following year a full description of a similar instrument was read before the Royal society of London, by Mr. Hadley. It was decided that both claimants were entitled to the honor of the invention, and the society presented Godfrey with household furniture to the value of £200. He was intemperate in his habits, and died in 1749.

GODFREY, THOMAS, son of the preceding, and a poet of some merit, was born in Philadelphia, in the year 1736. He was at first apprenticed to a watchmaker, but disliking the drudgery of this occupation, he obtained a lieutenant’s commission in the Pennsylvania forces, which were raised in 1758 for the expedition against fort Du Quesne. Subsequently he established himself as a factor in North Carolina, where he died in 1763. His chief works are The Court of Fancy, a poem; and The Prince of Parthia, which was the first American tragedy.

GREENE, NATHANIEL, major-general in the army of the United States, was born in Warwick, Rhode Island, in 1742. Though enjoying very few advantages of education, he displayed an early fondness for knowledge, and devoted his leisure time assiduously to study. In 1770, he was elected a member of the state legislature, and in 1774, enrolled himself as a private in a company called the Kentish Guards. From this situation he was elevated to the head of three regiments, with the title of major-general. In 1776, he accepted from congress a commission of brigadier-general, and soon after, at the battles of Trenton and Princeton, distinguished himself by his skill and bravery. In 1778, he was appointed quarter-master general, and in that office rendered efficient service to the country by his unwearied zeal and great talents for business. He presided at the court-martial which tried major Andre, in 1780, and was appointed to succeed Arnold in the command at West Point; but he held this post only a few days. In December of the same year, he assumed the command of the southern army, and in this situation displayed a prudence, intrepidity and firmness which raise him to an elevated rank among our revolutionary generals. In September, 1781, he obtained the famous victory at Eutaw Springs, for which he received from congress a British standard and a gold medal, as a testimony of their value of his conduct and services. On the termination of hostilities, he returned to Rhode Island, and, in 1785, removed with his family to Georgia, where he died suddenly, in June of the following year. He was a man of high energy, courage and ability, and possessed the entire confidence of Washington.

HAMILTON, ALEXANDER, was born in the island of Nevis, in 1757. At the age of sixteen, he accompanied his mother to New York, and was placed at Columbia college, where he soon gave proof of extraordinary talent, by the publication of some political essays, of such strength and sagacity that they were generally attributed to Mr. Jay. At the age of nineteen he entered the American army, and in 1777, was appointed aid-de-camp of Washington, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In this capacity he served during the remainder of the war, and at the siege of Yorktown led in person the detachment that carried by assault one of the enemy’s outworks. After the war he commenced the study of the law, entered into its practice in New York, and soon rose to distinction. In 1782, he was chosen a member of congress from the state of New York; in 1787, a member of the convention which formed the constitution of the United States, and in 1787 and 1788, wrote, in connection with Mr. Jay and Mr. Madison, the essays published under the title of The Federalist. In 1789, he was placed by Washington at the head of the treasury department, and while in this situation rendered the most efficient service to the country, by the establishment of an admirable system of finance, which raised public credit from the lowest depression to an unprecedented height. In 1795, he retired from office, in order to secure by his professional labors a more ample provision for his numerous family. In 1798, his public services were again required, to take the second command in the army that was raised on account of the apprehended invasion of the French. On the disbanding of the army, he resumed the practice of the law in New York, and continued to acquire new success and reputation. In 1804, he fell in a duel with colonel Burr, vice-president of the United States, and died universally lamented and beloved. Besides his share in the Federalist, general Hamilton was the author of numerous congressional reports, the essays of Pacificus, and the essays of Phocion. A collection of his works in three vols. 8vo, was issued at New York some time after his death. He was a man of transcendent abilities and unsullied integrity; and no one labored more efficiently in the organization of the present federal government.

HANCOCK, JOHN, a patriot and statesman, was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1737, and under the patronage of a wealthy uncle received a liberal education, and was graduated at Harvard college, in 1754. On leaving college, he entered the counting-house of his uncle, by whose sudden death, in 1764, he succeeded to great riches and the management of an extensive business. In 1766, he was chosen a member of the assembly and soon distinguished himself by his zeal in the cause of the colonies. In 1774, he was elected president of the provincial congress of Massachusetts, and in the following year, president of the continental congress, in which capacity he was the first to affix his signature to the declaration of independence. In this station he continued till October, 1777, when ill health induced him to resign. In 1780, he was elected governor of Massachusetts, and held that office for four successive years, and again from 1787 till his death in 1793. Governor Hancock was hospitable and munificent, a man of excellent talents for business, and a true lover of his country.

HARPER, ROBERT GOODLOE, was a native of Virginia, but when very young removed with his parents to North Carolina. His parents were poor, and in early life he passed through a number of vicissitudes. At the age of twenty he found himself in Charleston, S. C., with but a dollar or two in his pocket, and with the intention of studying the profession of the law. Having obtained introduction to a lawyer, he prepared himself under his instruction for the bar, and, in about a twelvemonth, undertook the management of causes on his own account. He then removed from Charleston to an interior district, where he first distinguished himself, politically, by the publication of a series of newspaper essays on a proposed change in the constitution of the state. He was immediately elected to the state legislature, and soon afterwards to congress, where he was an efficient member of the federal party, a powerful advocate of the policy of Washington, and the personal friend of the most distinguished federal statesmen of the day. Many years afterwards, he collected in an octavo volume a number of his circulars and addresses to his constituents, and several of his speeches in congress. In 1797, he published a pamphlet, entitled Observations on the Dispute between the United States and France, which passed through numerous editions, and acquired great celebrity both at home and in Europe. The speeches which he delivered in managing the impeachment of Blount, and the defence of judge Chase, are admirable specimens of argument and eloquence. On the downfall of the federal party, Mr. Harper resumed the practice of the law in Baltimore, where he married the daughter of the distinguished Charles Carroll. He attended almost every session of the supreme court, from the time of its removal to Washington to that of his death, and was always heard with respect and attention by the court and juries. The federal party having regained the ascendant in Maryland, Mr. Harper was immediately elected a senator in congress; but the demands of his profession soon obliged him to resign his seat. In the years 1819–20, he visited Europe with a portion of his family, and was absent about two years. He died suddenly in Baltimore, in 1825. He was an active leader in the federal party, an able and learned lawyer, well versed in general literature, and political economy, and lived with elegant hospitality.

HEATH, WILLIAM, an officer in the army of the revolution, was born in Roxbury, in 1737, and was bred a farmer. He was particularly attentive to the study of military tactics, and in 1775 he was commissioned as a brigadier-general by the provincial congress. In 1776, he was promoted to the rank of major-general in the continental army, and in the campaign of that year commanded a division near the enemy’s lines, at Kingsbridge and Morrisania. During the year 1777, and till November, 1778, he was the commanding officer of the eastern department, and his headquarters were at Boston. In 1779, he returned to the main army, and was invested with the chief command of the troops on the east side of the Hudson. After the close of the war, he served in several public offices, till the time of his death, in 1814.

HENRY, PATRICK, was born in Virginia, in 1736, and after receiving a common school education, and spending some time in trade and agriculture, commenced the practice of the law, after only six weeks of preparatory study. After several years of poverty, with the incumbrance of a family, he first rose to distinction in managing the popular side in the controversy between the legislature and the clergy, touching the stipend which was claimed by the latter. In 1765, he was elected a member of the house of burgesses, with express reference to an opposition to the British stamp act. In this assembly he obtained the honor of being the first to commence the opposition to the measures of the British government, which terminated in the revolution. He was one of the delegates sent by Virginia to the first general congress of the colonies, in 1774, and in that body distinguished himself by his boldness and eloquence. In 1776, he was appointed the first governor of the commonwealth, and to this office was repeatedly re-elected. In 1786, he was appointed by the legislature one of the deputies to the convention held at Philadelphia, for the purpose of revising the federal constitution. In 1788, he was a member of the convention, which met in Virginia to consider the constitution of the United States, and exerted himself strenuously against its adoption. In 1794, he retired from the bar, and died in 1799. Without extensive information upon legal or political topics, he was a natural orator of the highest order, possessing great powers of imagination, sarcasm and humor, united with great force and energy of manner, and a deep knowledge of human nature.

HOBART, JOHN HENRY, was born in Philadelphia, on the fourteenth of September, 1775. He was educated at the college in Princeton, New Jersey, and was noted in early life for his industry and proficiency in his studies. On leaving this institution he was engaged a short time in mercantile pursuits, was subsequently a tutor at Nassau Hall, and after two years service in this capacity, he determined upon the study of theology. In 1798, he was admitted into orders, and was first settled in the two churches at Perkiomen, near Philadelphia, but soon after accepted a call to Christ church, New Brunswick. In about a year he removed from this place to become an assistant minister of the largest spiritual cure in the country, comprising three associated congregations in the city of New York. In 1811, he was elected assistant bishop, and in 1816, became diocesan of New York, and in performing the severe duties of the office, his labors were indefatigable. From 1818 to 1823, he was employed in editing the American edition of Mant and D’Ogly’s Bible, with notes. In September, 1823, the state of his health required a visit to Europe, where he remained about two years. He died in 1830. He was incessantly active in performing his religious offices, and made several valuable compilations for the use of the church.

HOLLEY, HORACE, a celebrated pulpit orator, was born in Connecticut, in 1781, and was graduated at Yale college, in 1799. On leaving this institution he began the study of the law, which he soon relinquished for divinity, and in 1805, was ordained to the pastoral charge of Greenfield Hill, Conn. In 1809, he was installed over the society in Hollis street, Boston, where he remained for ten years, when he accepted an invitation to become president of Transylvania university, in Kentucky. In this situation he continued till 1827, when he died on his passage from New Orleans to New York. His sermons were generally extemporaneous, and were distinguished for power and eloquence.

HOLYOKE, EDWARD AUGUSTUS, was born in 1728, in the county of Essex, Massachusetts, and was graduated at Harvard college, in 1746. He pursued the study of medicine, and in 1749 began to practice his profession in Salem. He was the first president of the Medical society of Massachusetts, and was always considered a learned physician and skilful surgeon. He lived to be over one hundred years of age, and died in 1829. He published various scientific disquisitions.

HOPKINSON, FRANCIS, an excellent writer, and signer of the declaration of independence, was born in Philadelphia, in 1737. He was graduated at the college in his native town, and pursued the profession of the law. In 1766, he visited England, where he resided more than two years, and on his return, married and settled in the state of New Jersey. He entered with much zeal into the public measures of the patriotic party, and in 1776, was elected a delegate to congress. In 1779, he was appointed judge of the admiralty court of Pennsylvania, and for ten years continued to discharge with fidelity the duties of this office. In 1790, he passed to the bench of the district court, and died suddenly in the midst of his usefulness, in 1791. Mr. Hopkinson possessed talents of a quick and versatile character, excelling in music and poetry, and having some knowledge of painting. In humorous poetry and satire he was quite successful, and his well-known ballad of the Battle of the Kegs obtained great popularity. A collection of his miscellaneous works, in three volumes 8vo. was published in 1792.

HOPKINS, SAMUEL, a divine, and founder of the sect called Hopkinsians, was born in Connecticut, in 1721, and educated at Yale college. In 1743, he was settled at a place now called Great Barrington, in Massachusetts, and continued there till 1769, when he removed to Newport, Rhode Island. He died in 1803. He published numerous sermons, a Treatise on the Millennium, and a sketch of his own life. His theological learning was extensive, and he was a profound metaphysician.

HOPKINS, STEPHEN, a signer of the declaration of independence, was born in Providence, in 1707, and after receiving a school education, turned his attention to agriculture. In 1751, he was appointed chief justice of the superior court of Rhode Island, and in 1756, was elected governor of that state. In 1774, he was chosen a delegate to the general congress at Philadelphia, and was re-elected to that body in 1775 and 1776. In 1776, he was a delegate to congress for the last time, though for several subsequent years he was a member of the general assembly of his native state. He died in 1785. Although his early education was very limited, Mr. Hopkins acquired by his own efforts extensive information. He wrote a pamphlet on the rights of the colonies, was a member of the American Philosophical society, and for many years chancellor of the college of Rhode Island.

HOWARD, JOHN EAGER, an officer of the army of the American revolution, was born in Baltimore, in 1752. After serving in the rank of captain, in 1779, he was appointed lieutenant-colonel, and distinguished himself by his valor and activity during the war. At the battle of Cowpens, colonel Howard, at one time, had in his hands the swords of seven officers, who had surrendered to him personally. He was also present at the battles of Germantown, White Plains, Monmouth, Camden, and Hobkicks hill. On the disbanding of the army, he retired to his patrimonial estates, near Baltimore, and was subsequently governor of Maryland, and member of the senate of the United States. He died in 1827. General Greene said of him, that as a patriot and soldier, he deserved a statue of gold no less than Roman and Grecian heroes.

HUMPHREYS, DAVID, minister of the United States to the court of Spain, was born in Connecticut, in 1753, and received his education at Yale college. Soon after the commencement of the revolutionary war, he entered the army, and was successively an aid to Parsons, Putnam, Greene, and Washington. He left the army with the rank of colonel. In 1784, he was appointed secretary of legation to Paris, and was subsequently ambassador to the court of Lisbon, and in 1797, minister plenipotentiary to the court of Madrid. While in the military service, he published a poem addressed to the American armies, and after the war, another on the happiness and glory of America. In 1789, he published a life of general Putnam, and while in Europe, a number of miscellaneous poems. He died in 1818.

HUTCHINSON, THOMAS, a governor of the colony of Massachusetts, was born in Boston, in 1711, and was graduated at Harvard college. He was for a while occupied with commercial pursuits, but soon engaged in the study of law and politics, and was sent agent to Great Britain. On his return he was elected a representative, and after a few years was chosen speaker of the house, and in 1752, judge of probate. After being a member of the council, lieutenant governor and chief justice, in 1771, he received his commission as governor of Massachusetts. In 1774, he was removed from his office, and was succeeded by general Gage. He then repaired to England, fell into disgrace, and died in retirement, in 1780. He is the author of a valuable History of Massachusetts, some occasional essays, and a pamphlet on colonial claims. It is said that no man contributed more effectually to bring about the separation between the colonies and Great Britain than Hutchinson.

JAY, JOHN, was born in the city of New York, in 1745. He was graduated at Columbia college, in 1764, and in 1768, was admitted to the bar. He soon rose to eminence as a lawyer, and began to take an active part in politics. In 1774, he was elected a delegate to the first congress. In May, 1776, he was recalled from congress by the provincial convention, to aid in forming the government for the province, and to this it is owing that his name does not appear among the signers of the declaration of independence. Upon the organization of the state government, in 1777, Mr. Jay was appointed chief justice, and held this office till 1779. In November, 1778, he was again chosen a delegate to the continental congress, and three days after taking his seat was elected president of that venerable body. In September, 1779, he was appointed minister plenipotentiary to the court of Spain, and he arrived at Cadiz in January of the following year. Having resigned his commission as minister in 1783, in 1784 he returned to the United States, and was placed at the head of the department for foreign affairs. In this post he remained till the adoption of the present constitution, when he was appointed chief justice of the United States. In 1794, he was sent as envoy extraordinary to Great Britain, and before his return in 1795, he had been elected governor of his native state. In 1798, he was re-elected to this office, and in 1801, went into voluntary retirement. The remainder of his life was passed in the faithful discharge of the charitable duties, and he was publicly known only by the occasional appearance of his name, or the employment of his pen, in the service of philanthropy and piety. He died in 1829. Beside a variety of state papers and political essays, Mr. Jay was the author of the 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, and 64th numbers of the Federalist.

JEFFERSON, THOMAS, was born in Albemarle county, Virginia, in 1743, and was entered a student in the college of William and Mary. On leaving this seminary, he applied himself to the study of the law, under the tuition of the celebrated George Wythe, and was called to the bar in 1766. He soon occupied a high stand in his profession, and at the early age of twenty-five entered the house of burgesses of his native state. In 1774, he published a Summary View of the Rights of British America, a bold but respectful pamphlet addressed to the king. In 1775, he was elected a member of the continental congress, and in the following year drew up the declaration of independence. Between 1777 and 1779, he was employed, together with George Wythe and Edmund Pendleton, on a commission for revising the laws of Virginia. In 1779, he was elected governor of Virginia, and continued in office until June, 1781. In the latter year he composed his celebrated Notes on Virginia, and in 1787, published it under his own signature. In November, 1783, he again took his seat in the continental congress, and in May following was appointed minister plenipotentiary, to act abroad with Adams and Franklin in the negotiation of commercial treaties. In 1785, he was appointed to succeed Dr. Franklin as minister to the court of Versailles, and performed the duties of this office till 1789, when he returned to his native country, and was placed by president Washington at the head of the department of state. In 1797, he became vice-president, and in 1801, president of the United States. At the expiration of eight years he again retired to private life, and took up his residence at Monticello. He still continued anxious to promote the interest of science and literature, and devoted the attention of several years to the establishment of a university in Virginia. He died on the fourth of July, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the declaration of independence. In stature, Mr. Jefferson was six feet two inches high. His person was erect and well formed, though spare. In his manners he was simple and unaffected, simple in his habits, and incessantly occupied with the pursuits of business or study. Four volumes of his Correspondence have been published since his decease.

JONES, JOHN PAUL, a native of Scotland, was born, in 1747, at Selkirk, and settled in America when young. He distinguished himself by his bravery in the American service, during the contest with the mother country, particularly in a desperate action with the Serapis frigate, which he captured. He died in Paris, in 1792, and was buried at the expense of the national convention. Jones was not only a man of signal courage, but also of great talent, and keen sagacity, wrote poetry, and in France aspired to be a man of fashion. His memorials and correspondence are quite voluminous.

KING, RUFUS, an eminent statesman, was born in Scarborough, in the state of Maine, in the year 1755. He was graduated at Harvard college in 1777, immediately entered as a student at law in the office of the celebrated Theophilus Parsons, at Newburyport, and was admitted to the bar in 1780. In 1784, he was chosen to represent Newburyport in the state legislature, and in the same year was elected a delegate to the old congress. In 1787, he was appointed a delegate to the general convention assembled at Philadelphia, and in 1788 removed from Massachusetts to the city of New York. In 1796, he was appointed minister plenipotentiary to the court of Great Britain, and remained there for seven years with equal honor to his country and himself. In 1813, he was chosen by the legislature of New York a senator of the United States, and being re-elected in 1820, he continued till the expiration of the term in 1825. Upon his retirement from the senate, he accepted from president Adams an invitation again to represent the United States at the court of Great Britain. During the voyage to England his health was seriously impaired, and his illness induced him to return in about a twelvemonth to his native land. He died in April, 1827.

KNOX, HENRY, a revolutionary general, was born in Boston, in 1750, and after receiving a common school education, commenced business as a bookseller, in his native town. Before the commencement of hostilities, he discovered an uncommon zeal in the cause of liberty. When the corps of artillery, in 1776, was increased to three regiments, the command was given to Knox, with the rank of brigadier-general. He distinguished himself by his courage at the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Germantown, and Monmouth, and contributed greatly to the capture of Cornwallis. Immediately after this event he received from congress the commission of major-general. In 1785, he succeeded general Lincoln in the office of secretary of war, and having filled this department for eleven years, he obtained a reluctant permission to retire into private life. In 1798, when our relations with France were assuming a cloudy aspect, he was called upon to take a command in the army, but the peaceful arrangement of affairs soon permitted him to return into his retirement. He died at Thomaston, Maine, in 1806. In private life he was amiable, in his public character persevering, and of unsurpassed courage.

LAURENS, HENRY, a patriot and statesman, was born at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1724. After receiving a good school education, he engaged in commerce, and soon amassed an ample fortune. At the breaking out of the revolution he was in London, but he immediately returned to his native country, and in 1776, was elected a delegate to the general congress. He was soon chosen president of this body, and remained so till the close of the year 1778. In 1779, he received the appointment of minister plenipotentiary to Holland, but on his way thither was captured by the British, and committed to the Tower, where he was in confinement fourteen months. He was one of the commissioners for negotiating a peace with Great Britain, and in 1782, he signed with Jay and Franklin the preliminaries of the treaty. His health, however, was much impaired and he soon returned home, and passed the remainder of his life in agricultural pursuits. He died in 1792.

LAURENS, JOHN, lieutenant-colonel, son of the preceding, was liberally educated in England, and having returned to his native country, joined the American army in 1777. He displayed prodigies of valor at Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Savannah and Charleston, and was killed at the very close of the war by carelessly exposing himself in a trifling skirmish. In 1780, he was sent as a special minister to France, to negotiate a loan; and after being subjected to a vexatious delay, he determined to present a memorial to the king in person at the levee. This purpose he carried into effect, the memorial was graciously received, and the object of negotiation satisfactorily arranged.

LAWRENCE, JAMES, a distinguished naval officer, was born in New Jersey, in 1781, and became a midshipman in 1798. In 1803, he was sent to the Mediterranean, as first lieutenant to the schooner Enterprise, and while there distinguished himself by his activity and valor. He remained on this station for three years, and then returned to the United States, having been transferred to the frigate John Adams. In February, 1813, he was in command of the Hornet, and took the fine British brig Peacock, after an action of fifteen minutes. On his return to the United States he was transferred to the frigate Chesapeake, and in June of the same year, while engaged in battle with the frigate Shannon, he received a mortal wound. His last exclamation, as they were carrying him below, was—‘Don’t give up the ship.’ He lingered in great pain for four days, when he died. His remains are interred at New York.

LEDYARD, JOHN, an adventurous traveller, was born at Groton, in Connecticut, and was educated at Dartmouth college, in New Hampshire. After having lived for some time among the Indians, he came to England, and sailed with Cook, on his second voyage, as a marine. On his return, he resolved to penetrate on foot across Northern Asia, and proceed to the opposite coast of America. He was, however, seized at Yakutz, and sent out of the Russian dominions. He was next employed by the African association to explore the interior of Africa; but he died at Cairo, in 1789.

LEE, ARTHUR, was born in Virginia, in 1740, and received his education in England, taking his degree of M. D. at the university of Edinburgh. He then returned to his native state, and for some years practised physic at Williamsburg; but political affairs were then assuming so interesting an aspect, that he again went to England and entered on the study of law in the Temple. In 1770, he visited London, and became a member of the famous society of the supporters of the bill of rights. His political publications at this period, under the signature of Junius Americanus, were numerous, and procured for him the acquaintance of the leaders of the popular party. In 1776, he was appointed minister to France, in conjunction with Dr. Franklin and Mr. Deane, and assisted in negotiating the treaty with that nation. In 1779, in consequence of the false accusations of Mr. Deane, complaints of his political conduct were freely circulated at home, and in the following year, he resigned his appointments and returned. In 1781, he was elected to the assembly of Virginia, and by this body returned to congress, where he continued to represent the state till 1785. In 1784, he was employed to arrange a treaty with the six Indian nations. He was next called to the board of treasury, where he continued till 1789, when he went into retirement. He died in 1792.

LEE, CHARLES, a major-general in the army of the revolution, was born in North Wales, and entered the army while very young. He served at an early age in America, and afterwards distinguished himself under general Burgoyne, in Portugal. He subsequently entered the Polish service, wandered all over Europe, killed an Italian officer in a duel, and in 1773, sailed for New York. Espousing the cause of the colonies, he received a commission from congress in 1775, with the rank of major-general. In 1776, he was invested with the command at New York, and afterwards with the chief command in the southern department. In December, 1776, he was made prisoner by the English, as he lay carelessly guarded at a considerable distance from the main body of the army in New Jersey. He was kept prisoner till the surrender of Burgoyne, in 1777, and treated in a manner unworthy of a generous enemy. In 1778, he was arraigned before a court martial, in consequence of his misconduct at the battle of Monmouth, and was suspended from any commission in the army of the United States for one year. He retired to a hovel in Virginia, living in entire seclusion, surrounded by his books and his dogs. In 1782, he went to reside at Philadelphia, where he died in obscurity, in October of the same year. He was a man of much energy and courage, with considerable literary attainments, but morose and avaricious. He published essays on military, literary, and political subjects, which, with his extensive correspondence, were collected in a volume, in 1792. The authorship of the Letters of Junius has been ascribed to him.

LEE, HENRY, a distinguished officer in the revolutionary army, was born in Virginia, in 1756, and was graduated at the college in Princeton. In 1776, he was a captain of one of the six companies of cavalry, raised by Virginia, and afterwards incorporated into one regiment, and in 1777, added to the main body of the provincials. At the battle of Germantown, Lee was selected with his company to attend Washington as his bodyguard. In 1780, being raised to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, he was sent with his legion to the army of the south, under general Greene, and continued with it till the end of the war. He distinguished himself at the battle of Eutaw springs, and in the ensuing October was sent on a special commission to the commander-in-chief, then employed in the siege of Yorktown. In 1786, he was appointed a delegate to congress, from the state of Virginia, and remained in that body till the adoption of the present constitution. He was a member of the state convention which ratified that instrument, and in 1792, he was raised to the chair of governor of Virginia. In 1799, he was again a member of congress, and while there selected to pronounce a funeral oration on the death of Washington. The latter years of his life were embarrassed by want, and it was while confined for debt in the limits of Spottsylvania county, that he prepared for publication his excellent Memoirs of the Southern Campaign. He was severely wounded during the riot in Baltimore, in 1814, and his health rapidly declined. He died on Cumberland island, Georgia, in 1818.

LEE, FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT, a signer of the declaration of independence, was born in Virginia, in 1734. He inherited a large fortune, and in 1765, became a member of the house of burgesses of his native state, and continued in that body till 1775, when he was chosen a member of the continental congress. He remained in this assembly till 1779, when he entered the legislature of his native state. He died in 1797.

LEE, RICHARD HENRY, an eminent patriot, and signer of the declaration of independence, was born in Virginia, in 1732, and received his education in England. He returned to his native country when in his nineteenth year, and devoted himself to the general study of history, politics, law, and polite literature, without engaging in any particular profession. In his twenty-fifth year, he was chosen a delegate to the house of burgesses, where he soon distinguished himself by his powers in debate. In 1764, he was appointed to draught an address to the king, and a memorial to the house of lords, which are among the best state papers of the period. His efforts in resisting the various encroachments of the British government were indefatigable, and in 1774, he attended the first general congress at Philadelphia, as a delegate from Virginia. He was a member of most of the important committees of this body, and labored with unceasing vigilance and energy. The memorial of congress to the people of British America, and the second address of congress to the people of Great Britain, were both from his pen. In June, 1776, he introduced the measure that declared the colonies free and independent states, and supported it by a speech of the most brilliant eloquence. He continued to hold a seat in congress till June, 1777, when he solicited leave of absence, on account of the delicate state of his health. In August of the next year, he was again elected to congress, and continued in that body till 1780, when he declined a re-election till 1784. In that year he was chosen president of congress, but retired at the close of it, and in 1786, was again chosen a member of the Virginia assembly. He was a member of the convention which adopted the present constitution of the United States, and one of the first senators under it. In 1792, he again retired from public life, and died in 1794.

LEWIS, MERIWETHER, a celebrated explorer, was born in Virginia, in 1774, and, after receiving a good school education, engaged in agriculture. When general Washington called out a body of militia in consequence of the discontent produced by the excise taxes, young Lewis entered as a volunteer, and from that situation was removed to the regular service. In 1803, he was sent by president Jefferson on an exploring expedition to the north-western part of our continent; and of this expedition, which was completed in about three years, and in which he was accompanied by Mr. Clarke, a highly interesting account was afterwards published. Lewis was subsequently appointed governor of the Louisiana territory. He put an end to his own life in 1809. He was a man of energy, perseverance, and of a sound understanding.

LINCOLN, BENJAMIN, a major-general in the revolutionary army, was born in Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1733, and until the age of forty years was engaged in the pursuits of agriculture. At the commencement of the revolution, he was elected a member of the provincial congress, in 1776, received the commission of major-general, and employed himself vigorously to improve the discipline of the militia. He was second in command in the army which compelled the surrender of Burgoyne. On the day after the battle of Stillwater, he received a dangerous wound in his leg, and was confined for several months by its effects. In the following year, he was appointed to the command of the southern department, and while in this post he attempted the defence of Charleston, but was compelled to capitulate in May, 1780. He was exchanged in November, and in the spring following joined the army on the North river. At the siege of Yorktown he commanded a central division, and shared largely in the dangers and honors of the day. In 1781, he was appointed secretary of the war department, and afterwards on several occasions commissioner to treat with the Indians. On the establishment of peace, he returned to his native state, and in 1787, was appointed to command the troops employed in the suppression of the insurgents in Massachusetts. In 1788, he was chosen lieutenant governor, and in the following year he was a member of the convention which ratified the constitution of the United States. He died in 1810. He was the author of several published letters and essays; a member of the American Academy of the Arts and Sciences; and president of the society of Cincinnati of Massachusetts.

LIVINGSTON, ROBERT R., a celebrated statesman and lawyer, was born in New York, and was educated at King’s college. He engaged in the profession of the law, and was elected to the first general congress of the colonies, where he was one of the committee appointed to prepare the declaration of independence. In 1780, he was appointed secretary of foreign affairs, and at the adoption of the constitution at New York, chancellor of that state. This last office he held till 1801, when he was sent minister plenipotentiary to France. It was in Paris that he formed a personal friendship with Robert Fulton, whom he materially assisted. In 1805, he returned to the United States, and devoted the remainder of his life to the promotion of agriculture and the arts. He died in 1813.

LOWELL, JOHN, an eminent lawyer, was born at Newbury, in 1744, and was educated at Harvard college. He studied law, and rising to reputation, in 1761, he removed to Boston, and soon distinguished himself by his political knowledge and eloquence. In 1781, he was elected a member of congress, and on the establishment of the federal government, was appointed a judge of the circuit court of the United States. In these situations he was much respected for his legal knowledge and dignity. He died in 1802.

LOWNDES, WILLIAM, a celebrated statesman, was a native of South Carolina, and was for many years a distinguished member of congress. His mind was vigorous, comprehensive, and logical; and his disposition eminently kind, frank, and generous. He was in a high degree ardent and patriotic. He entered congress in 1812, and retained his seat for about ten years, when ill health compelled him to resign. In 1818, he was chairman of the committee of ways and means. He died at sea, in October, 1822, at the age of forty-two. It was said of him in the house, by Mr. Taylor of New York, that ‘the highest and best hopes of the country looked to William Lowndes for their fulfilment. The most honorable office in the civilized world, the chief magistracy of this free people, would have been illustrated by his virtues and talents.’

M’KEAN, THOMAS, an eminent judge, and a signer of the declaration of independence, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1734, and, after a course of academic and professional studies, was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-one years. His political career commenced in 1762, when he was returned a member of the assembly from the county of Newcastle. He was a member of the congress which assembled in New York, in 1765, to obtain relief of the British government for the grievances under which the colonies were suffering. In this body he behaved with much decision and energy. In 1774, he was appointed to the general congress, a delegate from the lower counties in Delaware, and was the only man who, without intermission, was a member during the whole period. Of this body he was president in 1781. In 1777, he was appointed chief justice of Pennsylvania, and discharged the duties of this office with impartiality and dignity, for twenty-two years. In 1799, he was elected governor of the state of Pennsylvania, and his administration continued for nine years. In 1808, he retired from public life, and died, much respected and honored, in 1817.

MARION, FRANCIS, a distinguished officer of the revolutionary army, was born in South Carolina, in 1732, and first served in 1761, as a lieutenant against the Cherokees. Soon after the commencement of the revolution, he received a major’s commission, and in 1780, he obtained that of brigadier-general. He continually surprised and captured parties of the British and the royalists, by the secrecy and rapidity of his movements. On the evacuation of Charleston, he retired to his plantation, where he died in 1795. He was bold, generous, and severe in his discipline.

MASON, GEORGE, a statesman, was a member of the general convention, which, in 1787, framed the constitution of the United States, but refused to sign his name as one of that body to the instrument which they had produced. In the following year, he was a member of the Virginia convention, to consider the proposed plan of federal government. In union with Henry, he opposed its adoption with great energy, and is the author of one of the articles inserted among the amendments of that instrument. So averse was he to the section which allowed the slave-trade for twenty years, that he declared his vote should be cast against the admission of the southern states into the Union, unless they would agree to discontinue the traffic. He died at his seat in Virginia, in the autumn of 1792, at the age of sixty-seven.

MASON, JOHN MITCHELL, a divine and pulpit orator, was born in the city of New York, in 1770, and after graduating at Columbia college, prepared himself for the sacred ministry. His theological studies were completed in Europe. In 1792, he returned to New York, and was established in the ministry at that place till 1811, when he accepted the appointment of provost in Columbia college. This situation his ill health obliged him to resign, and he visited Europe to repair his constitution. On his return, in 1817, he again resumed his labors in preaching, and in 1821, undertook the charge of Dickinson college, in Pennsylvania. In 1824, he returned to New York, and died in 1829. He was the author of Letters on Frequent Communion; A Plea for Sacramental Communion on Catholic Principles; and a number of essays, reviews, orations, and sermons, published at different times.

MATHER, INCREASE, a learned divine, was born at Dorchester, in 1639, was educated to the ministry, and was settled in the North church, Boston, in 1664. He continued there for sixty-two years, discharging the duties of his sacred office with zeal and ability. In 1685, he was appointed to the presidency of Harvard college, which he resigned in 1701. He died in 1723. He was an indefatigable student, and published a variety of works on religion, politics, history, and philosophy.

MATHER, COTTON, a celebrated divine, son of the preceding, was born in February, 1663, and was educated for the profession of theology. In 1684, he was ordained minister of the North church in Boston, as colleague with his father. He died in 1728. His learning was marvellous, but his taste was eccentric, and he was very pedantic and credulous. His publications are 382 in number; the most celebrated of which is Magnalia Christi Americani.

M’DONOUGH, THOMAS, a distinguished naval officer, was born in Newcastle county, Delaware, and after his father’s death in 1796, he obtained a midshipman’s warrant, and went out with our fleet to the Mediterranean. In 1812, at the age of twenty-seven, he commanded the American forces on lake Champlain. In the battle of September 11, 1814, after an action of two hours and twenty minutes, he obtained a complete victory, which he announced to the war department in the following terms:—‘The Almighty has been pleased to grant us a signal victory on lake Champlain, in the capture of one frigate, one brig, and two sloops of war of the enemy.’ The state of New York gave him a thousand acres of land on the bay in which the battle was fought. He died in November, 1825, at about the age of thirty-nine years.

MIDDLETON, ARTHUR, a signer of the declaration of independence, was born in South Carolina, in 1743, and received his education in Europe. Soon after his return home, he began to take an active part in the revolutionary movements, and in 1776, was chosen one of the delegates from his native state to the American congress. At the close of the year 1777, he resigned his seat, leaving behind a character for the purest patriotism and unwavering resolution. In the year 1779, many of the southern plantations were ravaged, and that of Mr. Middleton did not escape. On the surrender of Charleston, he was taken prisoner, and kept in confinement for nearly a year. In 1781, he was appointed a representative to congress, and again in 1782. In the latter year he went into retirement, and died in 1787.

MONROE, JAMES, was born in Virginia, in 1759, and was educated in William and Mary college. He entered the revolutionary war, in 1776, as a cadet, was at the battles of Haerlem Heights and White Plains, and in the attack on Trenton, and rose through the rank of lieutenant to that of captain. He was present at the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth, as aid to lord Sterling. Resuming the study of the law, he entered the office of Mr. Jefferson, and after being a member of the assembly of Virginia and the council, he was elected, in 1783, a member of the old congress. In 1790, he was elected a member of the senate of the United States, in 1794, went as minister plenipotentiary to France, and in 1799, was appointed governor of Virginia. In 1803, he was appointed minister extraordinary to France, in the same year minister to London, and in the next minister to Spain. In 1806, he was again appointed, in conjunction with Mr. William Pinkney, minister to London. He was subsequently governor of Virginia; in 1811, was appointed secretary of state, and continued to exercise the duties of this department, and for some time those of the department of war till 1817. In that year he was chosen president of the Union, and in 1821, was re-elected by a vote unanimous, with the single exception of one vote in New Hampshire. He died in New York, on the fourth of July, 1831.

MONTGOMERY, RICHARD, a major-general in the army of the revolution, was born in Ireland, in 1737. He entered the British army, and fought with Wolfe at the siege of Quebec, in 1759. He subsequently left the army and settled in New York. Joining the cause of the colonies, he was appointed a general in the northern army, and fell at the assault on Quebec, in 1775. By a vote of congress, a monument of white marble, with emblematical devices, was executed by Mr. Cassiers, at Paris, and is erected to his memory in front of St. Paul’s church, New York. His remains, in pursuance of a resolve of the New York legislature, were disinterred by his nephew, colonel Livingston, in June, 1818, the place of their burial having been pointed out by an old soldier, who attended their burial forty-two years before. They were removed to New York, and again interred in St. Paul’s church, with the highest civil and military honors. His widow was then living.

MORGAN, DANIEL, a distinguished officer in the army of the American revolution, was born in New Jersey, and removed to Virginia in 1755. He enlisted in Braddock’s expedition as a private soldier, and on the defeat of that general, returned to his occupation as a farmer. At the commencement of the revolution he was appointed to the command of a troop of horse, and joined the army under Washington, then in the neighborhood of Boston. He distinguished himself very much in the expedition against Quebec, where he fell into the hands of the enemy. On the exchange of prisoners, he rejoined the American army, was appointed to the command of a select rifle corps, and detached to assist general Gates on the northern frontier, where he contributed materially to the capture of general Burgoyne. After a short retirement from service, on account of ill health, he was appointed brigadier-general by brevet, and commanded the force by which colonel Tarleton was routed at the battle of Cowpens. He soon after resigned his commission. In 1794, he commanded the militia of Virginia called out to suppress the insurrection in Pennsylvania, and continued in the service till 1795. He afterwards was elected to a seat in congress. He died in 1799.

MORRIS, GOUVERNEUR, an eminent statesman and orator, was born at Morrisania, near the city of New York, in 1752, was graduated at King’s college in 1768, and licensed to practice law in 1771. In 1775, he was a member of the provincial congress of New York, and was one of the committee which drafted a constitution for the state of New York. In 1777, he was chosen a delegate to the continental congress, and in the following year wrote the celebrated Observations on the American Revolution. In 1781, he accepted the post of assistant superintendent of finance, as colleague of Robert Morris; and in 1787, was a member of the convention which framed the constitution of the United States. In 1792, he was appointed minister plenipotentiary to France, and held this station till his recall by the request of the French government, in 1794. In 1800, he was elected a senator in congress from the state of New York, and in this body was very conspicuous for his political information and his brilliant eloquence. Many of his speeches in congress and orations have been published; and a selection from his correspondence and other valuable papers, with a biographical sketch, by Mr. Jared Sparks, was issued in 1832.

MORRIS, LEWIS, a signer of the declaration of independence, was born at the manor of Morrisania, near the city of New York, in 1726. He was educated at Yale college, and took an early part in the cause of the colonies. In 1775, he was elected a delegate to the continental congress, and while in this body served on several of the most important committees. His rich estates were laid waste by the British army in 1776. He left congress in 1777, and died in 1798. Three of his sons served with distinction in the revolutionary army.

MORRIS, ROBERT, a celebrated financier, was a native of England, removed with his father to America, at an early age, and subsequently established himself as a merchant in Philadelphia. In 1775, he was appointed a delegate to congress, and signed the declaration of independence in the following year. In 1781, he was appointed superintendent of finance, and rendered incalculable service by his wealth and credit during the exhausted state of our public funds. It has been said, and with much truth, that ‘the Americans owed, and still owe, as much acknowledgment to the financial operations of Robert Morris, as to the negotiations of Benjamin Franklin, or even to the arms of George Washington.’ He was a member of the convention which framed the constitution of the United States in 1787, and afterwards a senator in congress. In his old age he lost his ample fortune, by unfortunate land speculations, and passed the last years of his life confined in prison for debt. He died in 1806.

MOULTRIE, WILLIAM, a major-general in the army of the revolution, was born in England, but emigrated to South Carolina at an early age. He served with distinction in the Cherokee war, in 1760, and in its last campaign commanded a company. At the commencement of the revolution, he was a member of the provincial congress, and a colonel of the second regiment of South Carolina. For his brave defence of Sullivan’s island, in 1776, he received the thanks of congress, and the fort was afterwards called by his name. In 1779, he gained a victory over the British at Beaufort. He afterwards received the commission of major-general, and was second in command to general Lincoln at the siege of Charleston. After the close of the war, he was repeatedly elected governor of South Carolina. He published Memoirs of the Revolution in the Carolinas and Georgia, consisting chiefly of official letters. He died at Charleston, in 1805.

MURRAY, ALEXANDER, a distinguished naval officer, was born in Maryland, in 1755. He went early to sea, and being appointed a lieutenant in the navy, obtained a correspondent rank in the army, and distinguished himself at the battles of White Plains, Flatbush, and New York. Being promoted to a captaincy, he served with gallantry to the close of the campaign of 1777. During the war he was engaged in thirteen battles by sea and land, and was once taken prisoner. On the organization of the new government, he was one of the first officers recalled into service, and was engaged for a while to defend the American trade in the Mediterranean. His last appointment was that of commander of the navy-yard in Philadelphia, a post which he held till the time of his death, in 1821. He was a brave officer and much respected.

MURRAY, WILLIAM VANS, an American statesman, was born in Maryland, in 1761, and received his legal education in London. On returning to his native state, he engaged in the practice of law, and in 1791 was elected to a seat in congress, where he distinguished himself by his ability and eloquence. He was appointed by Washington minister to the republic of Batavia, and discharged the duties of the office with much ability. He was subsequently envoy extraordinary to the French republic, and assisted in making the convention which was signed at Paris in 1800, between France and the United States. Returning to his station at the Hague, he embarked in 1801 for his native country, where he died in 1803.

OTIS, JAMES, a distinguished statesman, was born at West Barnstable, Massachusetts, in 1725, and was graduated at Harvard college in 1743. He pursued the profession of the law, and establishing himself in Boston, soon rose to eminence. His public career may be said to have opened with his celebrated speech against writs of assistance. At the next election he was chosen a representative to the legislature, and soon became the leader of the popular party. In 1765, he was a member of the congress which assembled at New York. In 1769, he was severely wounded in an assault committed upon him by some British officers; from one of whom he recovered large damages, which he remitted on receiving a written apology. In 1772, he retired from public life, and in May of the following year was killed by a stroke of lightning. He was a good scholar, a learned and able lawyer, a bold and commanding orator, and possessed infinite powers of humor and wit.

PAINE, ROBERT TREAT, an eminent lawyer, and a signer of the declaration of American independence, was born at Boston, in 1731, and was graduated at Harvard college in 1749. After a visit to Europe of some years, he commenced the study of the law, and about 1759, settled in its practice in Taunton. He took an early and active interest in public affairs, and in 1774, was appointed a delegate from Massachusetts to the general congress. He was a member of the committee of the convention that drafted the constitution of his native state. Under the government that was organized he was appointed attorney-general, and held this office till 1790, when he was appointed a judge of the supreme court. He remained on the bench till 1804. He died at Boston, in 1814. His legal attainments and his general acquirements were extensive, and he was a man of much brilliancy of wit.

PAINE, ROBERT TREAT, a poet, son of the preceding, was born at Taunton, in 1773, and graduated at Harvard college in 1792. On leaving college he was placed in a counting-house, but soon turned his attention to literature and theatricals, and published several orations and poems. His poems were very popular and profitable, and by the sale of the song of Adams and Liberty, he received the sum of seven hundred and fifty dollars. In 1800, he began the practice of law, but failed of success from the want of industry, and passed the close of his life in poverty. He died in 1811. His works have been collected and published in one volume 8vo, prefaced by a biographical sketch.

PARKER, ISAAC, an eminent lawyer, was born in Boston, and graduated at Harvard college in 1786. He studied law in the office of judge Tudor, and commenced practice at Castine, in Maine, then an integral part of Massachusetts. Removing to Portland, he was sent for one term to congress as a representative from Cumberland county. He also held for a short time the office of United States’ marshal for that district. In 1806, he was appointed by governor Strong associate judge of the supreme court of Massachusetts, and soon after took up his residence at Boston. In 1814, he was appointed chief justice of the supreme court, and held that office till his sudden death, in July, 1830, at the age of sixty-three years. He was distinguished for urbanity, and his legal opinions are very highly respected.

PARSONS, THEOPHILUS, a distinguished lawyer, was born at Byefield, Massachusetts, in 1750, and graduated at Harvard college, in 1769. He studied, and pursued the practice of the law, for some years, in Falmouth now Portland; but when that town was destroyed by the British, he retired to the house of his father in Newbury. About a year afterwards he opened an office in Newburyport. He soon rose to the highest rank in his profession, and made immense acquisitions in legal knowledge. His professional services were sought for in all directions, and after thirty-five years of extensive practice, he was appointed chief justice of the supreme court of Massachusetts. In 1780, he was a member of the convention which formed the constitution of the state, and of the convention which accepted the federal constitution. He was a powerful speaker, without a rival in knowledge of law, and surpassed by few in his acquaintance with science and classical literature. He continued in the seat of chief justice till his death, in 1813.

PENN, WILLIAM, the founder and legislator of Pennsylvania, whom Montesquieu denominates the modern Lycurgus, was the son of admiral Penn; was born, in 1644, in London; and was educated at Christ church, Oxford. At college he imbibed the principles of Quakerism, which, a few years afterwards he publicly professed. He was, in consequence, twice turned out of doors by his father. In 1668, he began to preach in public, and to write in defence of the doctrines which he had embraced. For this he was thrice imprisoned, and once brought to trial. It was during his first imprisonment that he wrote No Cross, No Crown. In 1677, he visited Holland and Germany, to propagate Quakerism. In March, 1680–81, he obtained from Charles II. a grant of that territory which now bears the name of Pennsylvania; in 1682, he embarked for his new colony; and in the following year he founded Philadelphia. He returned to England in 1684. So much was he in favor with James II., that, after the revolution, he was more than once arrested on suspicion of plotting to restore the exiled monarch; but he at length succeeded in establishing his innocence. The rest of his life was passed in tranquillity. He died July 30, 1718. His works have been collected in two folio volumes.

PERRY, OLIVER HAZARD, a naval officer of distinction, was born at Kingston, Rhode Island, in August, 1785. He entered the navy of the United States as a midshipman, and in 1812, was advanced to the office of master commandant. In the following year he was appointed to the command of the squadron on lake Erie. On the tenth of September, he achieved a complete victory over the enemy under commodore Barclay, after an action of three hours, and captured the whole squadron. He commanded the Java in the expedition to the Mediterranean, under commodore Decatur. He died in the West Indies, in 1820.

PETERS, RICHARD, an eminent judge, was born in June, 1744, and received his education in the city of Philadelphia. He adopted the profession of the law, and soon obtained an extensive practice. At the commencement of hostilities with the mother country, Mr. Peters joined the side of the colonies, and in 1776, was appointed by congress secretary of the board of war. His exertions in this department were highly meritorious and useful, and on resigning the post, in 1781, he was elected a member of congress, and assisted in closing the business of the war. On the organization of the new government, Mr. Peters was appointed judge of the district court of Pennsylvania, and performed the duties of this office for thirty-six years. During this time he was engaged in several objects of public improvement, and issued several valuable publications in relation to agriculture. As a judge, he possessed powers of a high order, and his decisions on admiralty law form the ground work of this branch of our jurisprudence. Their principles were not only sanctioned by our own courts, but were simultaneously adopted by lord Stowell, the distinguished maritime judge of Great Britain. Judge Peters died in August, 1828.

PICKERING, TIMOTHY, a statesman, was born in Salem, in 1746, and was graduated at Harvard college, in 1763. He took an active part in the popular cause, and, in organizing the provisional government of Massachusetts, in 1775, was appointed a judge of the court of common pleas for Essex, and sole judge of the maritime court for the middle district. During the war, he was appointed adjutant-general, and subsequently a member of the board of war. From 1790 to 1798, at different intervals, he was employed on various negotiations with the Indians. He was successively postmaster-general, secretary of war, and secretary of state. From the last office he was removed by president Adams, in 1800. From 1803 to 1811, he was a senator in congress from his native state, and from 1814 to 1817, a representative in that body. In public life he was distinguished for firmness, energy, activity and disinterestedness. He died in Salem, in 1829.

PIKE, ZEBULON MONTGOMERY, brigadier-general, was born at Lamberton, New Jersey, on the fifth of January, 1779. After the purchase of Louisiana, he was appointed by Mr. Jefferson, in 1805, to explore the sources of the Mississippi. On his return, he was sent on a similar expedition to the interior of Louisiana, and on the Rio del Norte was seized by a Spanish force, and deprived of his papers. He returned in 1807. During the late war, he was made brigadier-general, and commanded the land forces in the attack upon York, in Upper Canada, on the twenty-seventh of April, 1813. In the explosion of the British magazine, he was struck by a large stone, and died in a few hours. When the British standard was brought to him, he caused it to be placed under his head, and thus died at the age of thirty-four.

PINCKNEY, CHARLES COTESWORTH, a distinguished officer of the revolutionary army, was born in South Carolina, received his education in England, and studied law in the Temple. On returning to his native province, in 1769, he devoted himself to the successful practice of his profession. On the commencement of hostilities, he renounced law for the study of military tactics, and was soon promoted to the command of the first regiment of Carolina infantry. He was subsequently aid-de-camp to Washington, and in this capacity at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown. On the surrender of Charleston, he was taken prisoner, and remained so till all opportunity of gaining fresh reputation in the field had passed. He was a member of the convention which formed the federal constitution, and in 1796 was appointed minister to France. When preparations were making for war on account of the expected French invasion, Mr. Pinckney was nominated a major-general, but he soon had an opportunity of retiring to the quiet of private life. He was afterwards president of the Cincinnati society of the United States. He died in 1825.

PINKNEY, WILLIAM, an eloquent lawyer and statesman, was born in Maryland, in 1764, and prepared himself for the bar, under the instruction of judge Chase. He was admitted to practice in 1786, and soon gave indications of possessing superior powers. He was a member of the convention of Maryland, which ratified the federal constitution. In 1796 he was appointed one of the commissioners under the British treaty. The state of Maryland also employed him to procure a settlement of its claims on the bank of England, and he recovered for it the sum of eight hundred thousand dollars. This detained him in England till the year 1804, when he returned and resumed his professional labors. In 1806, he was sent as envoy extraordinary to London, and in 1808, received the authority of minister plenipotentiary. He returned to the United States in 1811, and soon after was appointed attorney-general. This office he held till 1814. During the incursion of the British into Maryland, he commanded a battalion, and was wounded in the battle of Bladensburgh, in August, 1814. He was afterwards representative in congress, minister plenipotentiary to Russia, envoy to Naples, and in 1819, senator in congress. In the last office he continued till his death, in 1822.

PINKNEY, EDWARD COATE, son of the foregoing, was born in London, in 1802, passed his infancy in England, and was placed as a student in Baltimore college at the age of ten or eleven. He entered the navy as a midshipman, and continued in the service for several years. On the death of his father, he quitted the navy and devoted himself to the practice of the law. He published, in 1825, a volume of poems, which possess much beauty. He died in 1828.

PREBLE, EDWARD, a distinguished naval officer, was born at Falmouth, in Maine, in 1761, and entered the navy as a midshipman, in 1779. He soon rose to the rank of lieutenant, and during the revolutionary war distinguished himself by capturing a British vessel at Penobscot. In 1798, he was appointed to the command of the brig Pickering, and soon after to the Essex. He commanded, in 1803, a fleet sent against the Barbary powers, and repeatedly attacked Tripoli with considerable success. In 1804, he returned to the United States, and died in 1807.

PUTNAM, ISRAEL, an officer in the army of the revolution, was born in Salem, Massachusetts, 1718. He received but a meagre education, and removing to Connecticut, engaged in agriculture. In the French war he commanded a company, and was engaged in several contests with the enemy. In 1756, he fell into an ambuscade of savages, and was exposed to the most cruel tortures. He obtained his release in 1759, and returned to his farm. Soon after the battle of Lexington he joined the army at Cambridge, was appointed major-general, and distinguished himself at Bunker’s hill. In 1776, he was sent to complete the fortifications at New York, and afterwards to fortify Philadelphia. In the winter of 1777, he was stationed with a small body at Princeton, and in the spring appointed to a command in the Highlands, where he remained most of the time till the close of 1779, when he was disabled by an attack of paralysis. He died in 1790. He was brave, energetic, and one of the most efficient officers of the revolution.

QUINCY, JOSIAH, a distinguished lawyer and patriot, was born in Boston, in 1743, and was graduated at Harvard college. He soon became eminent in the practice of law, and distinguished by his active exertions in the popular cause. His powers of eloquence were of a very high order. In 1774, he took a voyage to Europe for the benefit of his health, and to advance the interests of the colonies. He died on his return, on the 25th of April, 1775, the day the vessel reached the harbor of cape Ann.

RAMSAY, DAVID, an historian, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1749, was educated at Princeton college, and commenced the study of medicine. After practising a short time in Maryland, he removed to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1773, and soon rose to an extensive practice. He took an active and early part in the cause of the colonies, and was for some time a surgeon in the revolutionary army. In 1782, he was chosen to a seat in congress. He wrote a History of the Revolution in South Carolina; a History of the American Revolution; a Life of Washington; a History of South Carolina; and a History of the United States. He died in 1815.

RANDOLPH, EDMUND, governor of Virginia, was educated to the law. After seeing a little military service in the suite of Washington, he applied himself to his professional pursuits. He succeeded Patrick Henry to the gubernatorial chair of Virginia, and occupied it from 1786 to 1788. In 1790, he received from Washington the appointment of attorney-general of the United States; and in 1794, he succeeded Mr. Jefferson as secretary of state. In consequence of some difficulties with the administration, he resigned in August, 1795. He died in Frederic county, Virginia, in September, 1813.

REED, JOSEPH, a patriot of the revolution, was graduated at the college in New Jersey, in 1757. While a member of congress, in 1778, the British commissioner endeavored to procure his influence to bring about a reconciliation between the colonies and the mother country; he rejected their offers with the reply,—‘That he was not worth purchasing; but such as he was, the king of Great Britain was not rich enough to buy him.’ In 1778, he was chosen president of Pennsylvania, and retained that office till his death, in 1781.

REEVE, TAPPING, an eminent lawyer, was born at Brook-Haven, in 1744, and was graduated at Princeton college. He established himself as a lawyer in Litchfield, Connecticut, where he founded the law school, of which, for nearly thirty years, he was the principal instructer. He was for many years judge of the supreme court of that state, and some time chief justice. His legal attainments were of a high order, and as a man he possessed the esteem and respect of the community.

RITTENHOUSE, DAVID, a celebrated mathematician, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1732. During his early life he was employed in agriculture, but as his constitution was feeble, he became a clock and mathematical instrument maker. In 1770, he removed to Philadelphia, and practised his trade. He was elected a member, and for some time president of the Philosophical society, and one of the commissioners employed to determine the boundary line between Pennsylvania and Virginia, and between New York and Massachusetts. He was treasurer of Pennsylvania from 1777 to 1789, and from 1792 to 1795, director of the United States mint. His death took place in 1796. His mathematical talents were of the highest order.

RUSH, BENJAMIN, an eminent physician, was born, in 1745, at Bristol, in Pennsylvania; was educated at Princeton college, and took his degree at Edinburgh, was chosen, in 1776, a member of congress, and signed the declaration of independence; was professor of medicine and clinical practice at the Pennsylvanian university; and died in 1813. He was one of the greatest and best men who have adorned his country. Among his works are Essays, literary, moral, and philosophical; Medical Inquiries and Observations; and a History of the Yellow Fever.

RUTLEDGE, EDWARD, an eminent lawyer, and a signer of the declaration of independence, was born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1749. His legal education was completed in England, and in 1773 he returned to his native country, and entered upon the duties of his profession. In 1774, he was appointed a delegate to the congress at Philadelphia, and took an active part in the discussions of the day. After a successful practice of his profession for seventeen years, in 1798 he relinquished his station at the bar, and was elected chief magistrate of South Carolina. He died in 1800.

SAINT CLAIR, ARTHUR, born at Edinburgh, was a lieutenant under general Wolfe, and afterwards settled in Pennsylvania, and became a naturalized citizen. On the commencement of the revolution, he embraced the cause of the American army, and in February, 1777, was appointed major-general. He served with distinction, and in 1783, was elected president of the Cincinnati society of his adopted state. In 1785, he was elected a delegate to congress, and in 1787, was chosen president of that body. He was afterwards governor of the North-west territory, and in 1790, commanded an army against the Miami Indians. He resigned his commission of major-general in 1792. His latter years were passed in poverty. He died in 1818.

SANDS, ROBERT C., a man of letters, was born in the city of New York, on the eleventh of May, 1799. He was graduated at Columbia college, in 1815, and soon after commenced the study of law, in the office of David B. Ogden, a distinguished advocate of New York. In 1817, he published the Bridal of Vaumond, an irregular metrical romance, after the fashion which Scott had made so popular. Subsequently, in conjunction with his friend the Rev. J. W. Eastburn, he wrote the poem Yamoyden, which appeared in New York in 1820, and acquired for the authors a high reputation. In the same year he was admitted to the bar, and opened an office in the city of New York. In 1822 and 1823, he wrote many articles for the Literary Review, a monthly periodical, then published in New York, which received great increase of reputation from his contributions. Shortly after this he was engaged in a burlesque publication, entitled the St. Tammany Magazine. In May, 1824, the Atlantic Magazine was established in New York, and placed under his care; at the end of six months he gave up this work, but subsequently resumed its charge, when it changed its name and character, and appeared as the New York Review. During the same period, he assisted in editing various compilations on legal subjects. Having now become an author by profession, and looking to his pen for support, he became the assistant editor of the New York Commercial Advertiser, and remained in this situation to the close of his life. While engaged in the laborious and incessant duties of a daily journal, Mr. Sands prosecuted various other literary undertakings with much success. He was one of the chief contributors to the Talisman, in which he was assisted by his friends Bryant and Verplanck. He edited a new Life of Paul Jones, and wrote two stories in the Tales of Glauber Spa. His death occurred suddenly, in the thirty-fourth year of his age. His collected works have been recently published, in two volumes octavo.

SCHUYLER, PHILIP, an officer in the revolutionary army, was appointed major-general in 1775, and was dispatched to the fortifications in the north of New York, to prepare for the invasion of Canada. He afterwards fell under some suspicion, and was superseded in the chief command by general Gates. He was a member of congress before the adoption of the present constitution, and afterwards twice a senator. He died in 1804, in the seventy-third year of his age.

SEDGWICK, THEODORE, was born at Hartford, in 1746, was educated at Yale college, and removing to Massachusetts, pursued the study of the law. He embarked with spirit in the cause of the popular party before the revolution, held a seat several years in the state legislature, and was a member of congress under the old confederation. He was a member of the Massachusetts convention to decide on the adoption of the federal constitution, was a representative and senator to congress, and in 1802 was appointed judge of the supreme judicial court of Massachusetts. In this office he remained till his death, in 1813.

SEWALL, SAMUEL, chief justice of Massachusetts, was born at Boston, in 1757, and, after graduating at Harvard college, entered on the profession of the law. He soon became eminent; in 1797, was elected a member of congress, and in 1800, was placed on the bench of the supreme judicial court. In 1813, he was appointed chief justice, but died suddenly in the following year. He was a lawyer of ability and learning, and highly popular.

SHERMAN, ROGER, a signer of the declaration of independence, was born at Newton, Massachusetts, in 1721, and with only a common school education, rose to distinction as a lawyer and statesman. His early life was passed in the occupation of a shoemaker. Removing to Connecticut, in 1743, he was admitted to the bar in 1754, and soon became distinguished as a counsellor. In 1761, he removed to New Haven, four years after was appointed a judge of the county court, and in 1776, advanced to the bench of the superior court. He was a delegate to the celebrated congress of 1774, and was a member of that body for the space of nineteen years. He was a member of the convention that formed the constitution of the United States. He died in 1793.

SHIPPEN, WILLIAM, an eminent physician, was born in Pennsylvania, and was graduated at Princeton college in 1754. His medical studies were completed at Edinburgh, and on his return, in 1764, he began at Philadelphia the first course of lectures on anatomy ever delivered in the country. He assisted in establishing the medical school of that city, and was appointed one of its professors. In 1777, he was appointed director general of the medical department in the army. He died in 1808.

SMITH, JOHN, one of the early settlers of Virginia, was born in Lincolnshire, in 1579. After passing through a variety of wonderful adventures, he resolved to visit North America; and having, with a number of other persons, procured a charter of South Virginia, he came over thither in 1607. Being taken prisoner by the Indians, and condemned to death, his life was saved by the daughter of the savage chief, the celebrated Pocahontas. He published an account of several of his voyages to Virginia, a history of that colony, and an account of his own life. He died at London, in 1631.

SMITH, JAMES, a signer of the declaration of independence, was a native of Ireland, removed with his father to this country at an early age, and established himself in the practice of law at York, in Pennsylvania. He was a delegate from York county to the continental congress. His death took place in 1806.

STANDISH, MILES, the first captain at Plymouth, New England, was born at Lancashire, in 1584, and accompanied Mr. Robinson’s congregation to Plymouth, in 1620. His services in the wars with the Indians were highly useful, and many of his exploits were daring and extraordinary. He died in 1656.

STARK, JOHN, a general in the army of the revolution, was born in Londonderry, New Hampshire, in 1728. During the French war, he was captain of a company of rangers in the provincial service, in 1755, and was with lord Howe when that general was killed, in storming the French lines at Ticonderoga, in 1758. On receiving the report of the battle of Lexington, he was engaged at work in his saw-mill; and, fired with indignation, seized his musket, and immediately proceeded to Cambridge. He was at the battles of Bunker’s hill and of Trenton, and achieved a glorious victory at Bennington. He rose to the rank of brigadier-general, and was distinguished throughout the war for enterprise and courage. He died in 1822.

STEUBEN, FREDERICK WILLIAM AUGUSTUS, BARON DE, was a Prussian officer, aid-de-camp to Frederick the Great, and lieutenant-general in the army of that distinguished commander. He arrived in America in 1777, and immediately offered his services to the continental congress. In 1778, he was appointed inspector general, with the rank of major-general, and rendered the most efficient services in the establishment of a regular system of discipline. During the war he was exceedingly active and useful, and after the peace he retired to a farm in the vicinity of New York, where, with the assistance of books and friends, he passed his time as agreeably as a frequent want of funds would permit. The state of New York afterwards gave him a tract of sixteen thousand acres in the county of Oneida, and the general government made him a grant of two thousand five hundred dollars per annum. He died in 1795, and at his own request was wrapped in his cloak, placed in a plain coffin, and hid in the earth, without a stone to tell where he was laid.

STRONG, CALEB, governor of Massachusetts, was born at Northampton, in 1744, and graduated at Harvard college. He pursued the profession of the law, and established himself in his native town. Taking an early and active part in the revolutionary movements, he was appointed, in 1775, one of the committee of safety, and in the following year a member of the state legislature. He was a member of the convention which formed the constitution of the state, and of that which formed the constitution of the United States. Subsequently he was senator to congress, and for eleven years, at different periods, chief magistrate of Massachusetts. He died in 1820.

STUART, GILBERT, a celebrated painter, was born in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1755. Soon after becoming of age, he went to England, where he became the pupil of Mr. West. He soon rose to eminence as a portrait painter, and obtained a high reputation both in England and Ireland. In 1794, he returned to his native country, chiefly residing in Philadelphia and Washington, in the practice of his profession, till about the year 1801, when he removed to Boston. Here he remained till his death, in 1828. Mr. Stuart was not only one of the first painters of his time, but was also a very extraordinary man out of his profession.

SULLIVAN, JOHN, an officer in the army of the revolution, was born in Maine, and established himself in the profession of law in New Hampshire. Turning his attention to military affairs, he received, in 1772, the commission of major, and, in 1775, that of brigadier-general. The next year he was sent to Canada, and on the death of general Thomas, the command of the army devolved on him. In this year he was promoted to the rank of major-general, and was soon after captured by the British, in the battle on Long island. He commanded a division of the army at the battles of Trenton, Brandywine, and Germantown; and was the sole commander of an expedition to the island of Newport, which failed through want of co-operation from the French fleet. In 1779, he commanded an expedition against the Indians. He was afterwards a member of congress, and for three years president of New Hampshire. In 1789, he was appointed a judge of the district court, and continued in that office till his death, in 1795.

SULLIVAN, JAMES, was born at Berwick, Maine, in 1744, and after passing the early part of his life in agricultural pursuits, adopted the profession of the law. He took an early part in the revolutionary struggle, and in 1775, was chosen a member of the provincial congress. In 1776, he was appointed a judge of the superior court. He was subsequently a member of congress, a member of the executive council, judge of probate, and in 1790, was appointed attorney-general. In 1807, he was elected governor of Massachusetts, and again in the following year, in the December of which he died. He was the author of a History of Land Titles, a History of the District of Maine, and an Essay on Banks. His rank at the bar was in the very first class, and in his private character he was distinguished for piety, patriotism, and integrity.

THOMAS, ISAIAH, a distinguished printer, was born in Boston, in 1749, and at a very early age was bound apprentice to the craft, in which he afterwards became so famous. In 1770, he published the Massachusetts Spy in Boston. Five years afterwards he was obliged to remove it to Worcester. He afterwards entered extensively into the publishing and bookselling business, having at one time sixteen presses in operation, and eight bookstores at different places. He was the founder and president of the American Antiquarian society, and the author of a valuable History of Printing. He died in 1831.

THORNTON, MATTHEW, was born in Ireland, in 1714, and when about two or three years old his father emigrated to America, and finally settled in Worcester, Massachusetts. Young Thornton pursued the study of medicine, and commenced the practice of his profession in Londonderry, New Hampshire. In 1776, he was chosen a delegate to the continental congress, and affixed his name to the declaration of independence. He was afterwards chief justice of the court of common pleas, and judge of the superior court of his adopted state. He died in 1803.

TILGHMAN, WILLIAM, an eminent jurist, was born, in 1756, in Talbot county, on the eastern shore of Maryland. In 1772, he began the study of law in Philadelphia, but was not admitted to the practice of the profession till 1783. In 1788, and for some successive years, he was elected a representative to the legislature of Maryland. In 1793, he returned to Philadelphia, and pursued the practice of the law in that city till 1801, when he was appointed chief judge of the circuit court of the United States for the third circuit. After the abolition of this court, he resumed his profession, and continued it till 1805, when he was appointed president of the courts of common pleas in the first district of Pennsylvania. In the following year he was commissioned as chief justice of the supreme court of that state. He died in 1827.

TOMPKINS, DANIEL D., vice-president of the United States, was born in June, 1774, graduated at Columbia college, in 1795, and settled in New York in the profession of the law. He distinguished himself in the party struggles of 1799–1801, and in 1807 was elected governor of the state. During the late war, he was active and efficient in the cause of the administration and the dominant party. In 1817, he was elected vice-president. He died at Staten island, in June, 1825.

TRUMBULL, JOHN, the author of McFingal, was born in Connecticut, in 1750, and was educated at Yale college, where he entered at a very early age. In 1772, he published the first part of his poem, The Progress of Dullness. In the following year, he was admitted to the bar in Connecticut, and, removing to Boston, continued his legal studies in the office of John Adams. He returned to his native state in 1774, and commenced practice at New Haven. The first part of McFingal was published at Philadelphia, in 1775; the poem was completed and published in 1782, at Hartford, where the author at that time lived. More than thirty editions of this work have been printed. In 1789, he was appointed state attorney for the county of Hartford, and in 1801, was appointed a judge of the superior court of errors, and held this appointment till 1819. In 1820, a collection of his poems was published in two volumes 8vo. In 1825, he removed to Detroit, where he died, in May, 1831.

TRUXTON, THOMAS, a naval officer, was born on Long island, in 1755. In 1775, he commanded a vessel, and distinguished himself by his depredations on British commerce during the revolution. He subsequently engaged in commerce, till the year 1794, when he was appointed to the frigate Constitution. In 1799, he captured the French frigate L’Insurgente; and in the following year he obtained a victory over the La Vengeance. On the close of the French war he retired from the navy, and died at Philadelphia, in 1822.

TUDOR, WILLIAM, a man of letters, was born in the state of Massachusetts, and was graduated at Harvard college in 1796. He soon after visited Europe, and passed several years there. After having been some time a member of the legislature of his native state, he was appointed, in 1823, consul at Lima, and for the ports of Peru. In 1827, he was appointed charge d’affaires of the United States at the court of Brazil. He died at Rio de Janeiro, in 1830. Mr. Tudor was the founder, and for two years the sole editor of the North American Review. He was the author of Letters on the Eastern States, and a Life of James Otis, and left a number of volumes in manuscript, nearly prepared for the press.

TYLER, ROYAL, a lawyer and miscellaneous writer, was born in Boston, and graduated at Harvard college, in 1776. In 1790, he removed his residence to Vermont, and soon distinguished himself in his profession of law. For six years he was an associate judge of the supreme court of that state, and for six years more chief justice. He was the author of several dramatic pieces of considerable merit; a novel called The Algerine Captive; and numerous pieces in prose and verse published in the Farmer’s Museum, when edited by Dennie. In addition to these, he published two volumes, entitled Vermont Reports. He died at Brattleboro’, in 1825.

WALN, ROBERT, a miscellaneous writer, was born in Philadelphia, and was liberally educated, but adopted no profession. He was the author of The Hermit in Philadelphia, a satire; The American Bards, a satire; Sisyphi Opus, or Touches at the Times; a History of China; some of the lives in the Biography of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence; a Life of Lafayette; and an account of the Quaker hospital at Frankford, near Philadelphia. He died in 1824, at the age of thirty-one.

WARREN, JOSEPH, a patriot of the revolution, was born in Roxbury, near Boston, in 1741, and was graduated at Harvard college, in 1759. He pursued the profession of medicine, and soon after commencing the practice, distinguished himself by his successful treatment of the small pox. Early engaging in politics, he obtained great influence, and rendered efficient service by his writings and addresses. He was twice elected to deliver the oration in commemoration of the massacre on the fifth of March. In June, 1775, the provincial congress of Massachusetts, of which he was at this time president, made him a major-general of their forces. At the battle of Bunker’s hill he fought as a volunteer, and was slain within a few yards of the breast-work, as he was among the last slowly retiring from it. He was a man of the most generous and intrepid spirit, much elegance of manners, and of commanding eloquence. His loss was deeply felt and regretted. In 1776, his remains were removed from the battle ground, and interred in Boston.

WARREN, JAMES, was born at Plymouth, in 1726, and was graduated at Harvard college, in 1745. He took an early and active part in the cause of the colonies against the aggressions of the mother country, was a member of the general court, proposed the establishment of committees of correspondence, and, after the death of general Warren, was appointed president of the provincial congress. He was afterwards appointed a major-general of the militia. On the adoption of the constitution of Massachusetts, he was for many years speaker of the house of representatives. He died at Plymouth, in 1808.

WASHINGTON, GEORGE, was born in 1732, in the county of Fairfax, in Virginia, where his father was possessed of great landed property. He was educated under the care of a private tutor, and paid much attention to the study of mathematics and engineering. He was first employed officially by general Dinwiddie, in 1753, in remonstrating to the French commander on the Ohio, for the infraction of the treaty between the two nations. He subsequently negotiated a treaty of amity with the Indians on the back settlements, and for his honorable services received the thanks of the British government. In the unfortunate expedition of general Braddock, he served as aid-de-camp; and on the fall of that brave but rash commander, he conducted the retreat to the corps under colonel Dunbar, in a manner that displayed great military talent. He retired from the service with the rank of colonel; but while engaged in agriculture at his favorite seat of Mount Vernon, he was elected senator in the national council for Frederic county, and afterwards for Fairfax. At the commencement of the revolutionary war, he was selected as the most proper person to take the chief command of the provincial troops. From the moment of taking upon himself this important office, in June 1775, he employed the great powers of his mind to his favorite object, and by his prudence, his valor, and presence of mind, he deserved and obtained the confidence and gratitude of his country, and finally triumphed over all opposition. The record of his services is the history of the whole war. He joined the army at Cambridge in July, 1775. On the evacuation of Boston, in March, 1776, he proceeded to New York. The battle of Long island was fought on the 27th of August, and the battle of White Plains on the 28th of October. On the 25th of December he crossed the Delaware, and soon gained the victories at Trenton and Princeton. The battle of Brandywine was fought on September 11th, 1777; of Germantown, October 4th; of Monmouth, February 28th, 1778. In 1779 and 1780, he continued in the vicinity of New York, and closed the important military operations of the war by the capture of Cornwallis, at Yorktown, in 1781. When the independence of his country was established by the treaty of peace, Washington resigned his high office to the congress, and, followed by the applause and the grateful admiration of his fellow-citizens, retired into private life. His high character and services naturally entitled him to the highest gifts his country could bestow, and on the organization of the government he was called upon to be the first president of the states which he had preserved and established. It was a period of great difficulty and danger. The unsubdued spirit of liberty had been roused and kindled by the revolution of France, and many Americans were eager that the freedom and equality which they themselves enjoyed, should be extended to the subjects of the French monarch. Washington anticipated the plans of the factious, and by prudence and firmness subdued insurrection, and silenced discontent, till the parties which the intrigues of Genet, the French envoy, had roused to rebellion, were convinced of the wildness of their measures and of the wisdom of their governor. The president completed, in 1796, the business of his office, by signing a commercial treaty with Great Britain, and then voluntarily resigned his power, at a moment when all hands and all hearts were united, again to confer upon him the sovereignty of the country. Restored to the peaceful retirement of Mount Vernon, he devoted himself to the pursuits of agriculture; and though he accepted the command of the army in 1798, it was merely to unite the affections of his fellow-citizens to the general good, and was one more sacrifice to his high sense of duty. He died after a short illness, on the 14th of December, 1799. He was buried with the honors due to the noble founder of a happy and prosperous republic. History furnishes no parallel to the character of Washington. He stands on an unapproached eminence; distinguished almost beyond humanity for self-command, intrepidity, soundness of judgment, rectitude of purpose, and deep, ever-active piety.

WASHINGTON, BUSHROD, an eminent judge, was born in Westmoreland county, Virginia, and was educated at William and Mary’s college. He pursued the study of the law in the office of Mr. Wilson, of Philadelphia, and commenced its practice with great success in his native county. In 1781, he was a member of the house of delegates of Virginia. He afterwards removed to Alexandria, and thence to Richmond, where he published two volumes of the decisions of the supreme court of Virginia. In 1798, he was appointed an associate justice of the supreme court of the United States, and continued to hold this situation till his death, in November, 1829. He was the favorite nephew of president Washington, and was the devisee of Mount Vernon.

WAYNE, ANTHONY, major-general, was born, in 1745, in Chester county, Pennsylvania. He entered the army as colonel, in 1775, served under Gates at Ticonderoga, and was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general. He was engaged in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth; in 1779, captured the fortress at Stony Point, and rendered other important services during the war. In 1787, he was a member of the Pennsylvanian convention which ratified the constitution of the United States. In 1792, he succeeded St. Clair in the command of the western army, and gained a complete victory at the battle of the Miamis, in 1794. He died at Presque isle, in 1796.

WEST, BENJAMIN, an eminent painter, was born, in 1738, at Springfield, near Philadelphia, of Quaker parents. At the age of seven years he began to manifest his pictorial talents, by sketching with pen and ink an infant sleeping in a cradle. From some Indians he obtained red and yellow, and his mother gave him a piece of indigo; and as camel’s hair pencils were wanting, he supplied the want by clipping the fur of the cat. Improving as he advanced in years, he became a portrait painter of considerable repute, and produced some meritorious historical pictures. In his twenty-second year he visited Italy, where he remained for some time. In 1763 he settled in England, where he soon acquired reputation. Among his patrons was archbishop Drummond, of York, by whose means he was introduced to George the Third, who immediately gave him a commission to paint the Death of Regulus, and continued ever afterwards to employ him. In 1791, he was chosen president of the Royal academy. Among his last, and perhaps his best works, are, Death on the Pale Horse, and Christ healing the Sick. He died March 18, 1820.

WHITNEY, ELI, inventor of the cotton-gin, was born at Westborough Massachusetts, in 1765. He received a liberal education, and displayed at an early age great mechanical genius. While a student of law, he invented the cotton-gin, a machine for separating the seed from the cotton, an invention of vast importance to the cotton growing states. It has been worth to them a hundred millions of dollars. In 1798, he commenced the manufacture of firearms, for the United States. In perseverance and inventive power, he has scarcely a parallel among mechanicians. He died in 1825.

WILKINSON, JEMIMA, a bold and artful religious impostor, was born in Cumberland, Rhode Island, about the year 1753. Recovering suddenly from an apparent suspension of life, in 1773, she gave out that she had been raised from the dead, and laid claim to supernatural power and authority. Making a few proselytes, she removed with them to the neighborhood of Crooked lake, in New York, where she died in 1819.

WILLIAMS, ROGER, one of the founders of Rhode Island, was born in Wales, in 1599, and received his education at Oxford. He was, for some time, a minister of the established church, but dissenting, he removed, in 1631, to New England, and preached till 1636, at Salem and Plymouth. Being banished from the colony on account of his religious opinions, he removed with several others to Rhode Island, and laid the foundation of Providence. They there established the first society in which was enjoyed perfect liberty of conscience. For several years, Williams was president of the colony. He died in 1683.

WILLIAMS, OTHO HOLLAND, an officer in the American army, was born in Maryland, in 1748, served in various capacities during the revolutionary war, and fought at the battles of Guilford, Hobkirk’s hill, and the Eutaws. Before the disbanding of the army, he was made brigadier-general. For several years he was collector at Baltimore. He died in 1794.

WILSON, JAMES, a signer of the declaration of American independence, was born in Scotland, about the year 1742. He was well educated, and after completing his studies, emigrated to America. Settling at Philadelphia, he received an offer to enter the office of Mr. John Dickinson, and pursue the study of the law. He soon distinguished himself, and was appointed a delegate to the continental congress, where he continued from 1775 to 1777. He was a member of the conventions which framed the constitution of Pennsylvania, and that of the United States, and in 1789, was appointed one of the judges of the supreme court of the United States. In 1797, he was made professor of law in the university of Pennsylvania, and in this capacity delivered a course of lectures, afterwards published in three volumes 8vo. He died in 1798.

WINDER, WILLIAM H., an officer in the army, was born in Maryland, in 1775, was educated for the bar, and pursued his profession in Baltimore with great success. In 1812, he received a colonel’s commission, was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general, and served with reputation during the war with Great Britain. He commanded the troops at the battle of Bladensburg. On the declaration of peace, he resumed the practice of his profession. He died in 1824.

WISTAR, CASPAR, a celebrated physician, was born in Philadelphia, in 1761. He studied medicine under Dr. John Redman, and completed his professional course at the schools in London and Edinburgh. Returning in 1787 to his native city, he soon distinguished himself in his profession, and in 1789, was elected professor of chemistry in the college of Philadelphia. In 1792, he became adjunct professor of anatomy, mid-wifery, and surgery, with Dr. Shippen; and on the decease of that gentleman, in 1808, sole professor. His acquirements in professional knowledge were very extensive, and he obtained much popularity as a lecturer. He died in 1818. His chief work is a valuable System of Anatomy, in two volumes.

WOLCOTT, OLIVER, governor of Connecticut, was born in 1727, and received his education at Yale college. He served as captain in the French war, and studied medicine, though he never practised. He was a delegate to the congress of 1776, signed the declaration of independence, and the articles of confederation, and remained a member till 1785. In 1785, he was elected deputy-governor, and was re-elected till 1796, when he was made governor. He died in 1797.

WYTHE, GEORGE, a signer of the declaration of independence, was born in Virginia, in 1726. His early course was dissipated, but at the age of thirty he reformed, turned his attention to literature, studied law, and commenced its practice. At the breaking out of the revolution, he was a distinguished leader of the popular party. He was for some time speaker of the house of burgesses, and in 1775, was elected a member of congress. He was one of the committee to revise the laws of Virginia, in 1776, and had a principal share in preparing the code adopted in 1779. Soon after, he was appointed one of the three judges of the high court of chancery, and subsequently, sole counsellor. He was a member of the convention of Virginia to consider the constitution of the United States. His death, which was attributed to poison, took place in 1806.

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CHAPTER XX.—HISTORY.

DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION.

IT is a singular fact that the science and energy of Italian navigators opened the new world to Europe, though adventurers from other countries derived the benefit of their discoveries, and established colonies on its shores. Columbus, Cabot, Verazzani, and Americo Vespucci, were all Italians; and though the latter gave his name to a hemisphere, he acquired no particular advantage for himself or his native country.

The exploits of Columbus had excited a spirit of enterprise among the English merchants, and a commission was granted by Henry VII. to John Cabot and his three sons, giving them full liberty to sail to all parts of the east, west and north; to discover countries of the heathen; to occupy all countries they could subdue, and set up the king’s banners in them; to exercise jurisdiction over them, and pay to the king one fifth part of all their gains. A small fleet was thus equipped, with about three hundred men. Cabot sailed north-west a few weeks, till his course was arrested by icebergs; he then steered south, subsequently changed his course, and again resumed it, till further prosecution of the voyage was finally abandoned in consequence of a mutiny which broke out on board. It is doubtful whether he ever landed in the new world. From this voyage, the English derived their claims to the territory which they subsequently acquired in this continent. For a period of sixty successive years, the English monarchs gave themselves no further trouble about the progress of discoveries in America.

During this time, France and Spain were on the alert. In a voyage patronized by Francis I., the Florentine navigator Verazzano discovered and described with considerable accuracy the coast of Florida. In a second voyage, undertaken in the following year, he landed with some of his crew, was killed by the savages, and devoured in the presence of his companions. This melancholy event for a time damped the spirit of discovery, and it was not till after a lapse of ten years that any other French expedition was fitted out to America. In 1534, Jacques Cartier was supplied with two ships under the direction of the vice-admiral of France, and discovered the Baye des Chaleurs and the gulf of St. Lawrence. In the following spring a larger expedition was equipped under the same direction, and they proceeded direct to Newfoundland. They sailed up the river of Canada three hundred leagues, formed alliances with the natives, built a fort, and wintered in the country. This colony was afterwards broken up, and for fifty years the French made no effort to establish themselves in Canada.

To trace the course of Spanish discovery—in the year 1528, Pamphilo de Narvaez received from Charles V. of Spain, a grant of all the lands extending from the river of Palms to the cape of Florida, with a commission to conquer and govern all the provinces within these limits. Landing at Florida, he marched to Apalache, and lost many of his troops in encounters with the natives. Being forced to direct his course towards the sea, and sailing to the westward, he was lost in a violent storm, and the enterprise frustrated. Calamitous as was the issue of this expedition, it did not deter others from pursuing the same course. In May, 1539, Fernando de Soto sailed from Havana on an exploring expedition, and landed on the western coast of Florida. Of nine hundred men engaged in this voyage, but three hundred and eleven survived it; the remainder perished in battles with the natives. Poverty and ruin involved all who were concerned in it. Soto died at the confluence of the Guacoya and Mississippi; and to prevent the Indians from obtaining a knowledge of his death, his body was deposited in a hollowed oak and sunk in the river.

About the year 1562, a party of Huguenots, under the command of Ribault, sailed with a view of colonizing Florida. After a favorable voyage, he arrived at the entrance of a river which he called May, from the month in which he reached the coast. Here he erected a fort, and then sailed for France to bring out a reinforcement. Two years afterwards a fresh expedition was fitted out, under M. René Laudonniere, who arrived in the river May in the latter part of June. He proved incompetent to manage the affairs of the new colony, and he was on the point of leaving for Europe, when a new expedition under the command of Ribault entered the river. That officer superseded Laudonniere only, however, to experience more melancholy disasters. Scarcely a week had passed after his arrival, when eight Spanish ships were seen in the river. After a variety of misfortunes which befell Laudonniere, he escaped with some of his followers in a French shallop, and finally reached in a miserable condition the port of Bristol. A more tragic end awaited Ribault. His vessels were dashed to pieces during a storm, and their crews with great difficulty succeeded in reaching the shore. They directed their steps towards the fort, and found it to their great surprise in the hands of their inveterate enemies, the Spaniards. It was determined to open a parley, and the Spanish commander pledged his honor that they should be unharmed. Notwithstanding this pledge they were inhumanly massacred, and their dead bodies treated with the most shocking indignities. A number of the mangled limbs of the victims were then suspended to a tree, to which was attached the following inscription: ‘Not because they are Frenchmen, but because they are heretics and enemies of God.’

This outrage was fully avenged by Dominique de Gourgues, who devoted himself and his fortune to effect a signal retribution. Finding means to equip three small vessels, he crossed the Atlantic, sailed along the coast of Florida, and landed at a river about fifteen leagues distant from the May. The Spaniards to the number of four hundred were well stationed in different fortresses; they were all slain or taken captive. The surviving prisoners were led away, and were hung on the boughs of the same trees from which the Frenchmen had before been suspended. Gourgues attached to them the retaliatory label—‘I do not this as to Spaniards, nor as to mariners, but as to traitors, robbers, and murderers.’ Thus terminated the attempts of the French Protestants to colonize Florida.

In 1578, Sir Walter Raleigh, in conjunction with his half-brother and kindred spirit, Sir Humphry Gilbert, projected the establishment of a colony in that quarter of America which the Cabots had visited in the reign of Henry VII.; and a patent for this purpose was procured without difficulty in favor of Gilbert, from Elizabeth. As this is the first charter to a colony granted by the crown of England, the articles in it merit particular attention, as they unfold the ideas of that age with respect to the nature of such settlements. Elizabeth authorizes him to discover and take possession of all remote and barbarous lands, unoccupied by any Christian prince or people; invests in him the full right of property in the soil of those countries whereof he shall take possession; empowers him, his heirs and assigns, to dispose of whatever portion of those lands he shall judge meet, to persons settled there, in fee simple, according to the laws of England; and ordains, that all the lands granted to Gilbert shall hold of the crown of England by homage, on payment of the fifth part of the gold or silver ore found there. The charter also gave Gilbert, his heirs and assigns, full power to convict, punish, pardon, govern, and rule, by their good discretion and policy, as well in causes capital or criminal as civil, both marine and other, all persons who shall, from time to time, settle within the said countries; and declared, that all who settled there should have and enjoy all the privileges of free denizens and natives of England, any law, custom, or usage to the contrary notwithstanding. And, finally, it prohibited all persons from attempting to settle within two hundred leagues of any place which Sir Humphry Gilbert, or his associates, shall have occupied during the space of six years.

Invested with these extraordinary powers, Gilbert began to collect associates, and to prepare for embarkation. The first equipment, however, of Sir Humphry, may be said to have failed, even before it set out. Being composed in a great measure of ‘voluntary men of diverse dispositions,’ there was a great falling off when it came to the point, and Sir Humphry was at last obliged to set out with only a few of his own tried friends. He encountered the most adverse weather, and was obliged to return, ‘with the loss of a tall ship, and, more to his grief, of a valiant gentleman, Miles Morgan.’ This was a severe blow, as Sir Humphry had embarked a large portion of his property in this undertaking. However, his determination continued unshaken; and by the aid of Sir George Peckham, Sir Walter Raleigh, and other persons of distinction, he was enabled to equip another expedition, with which, in the year 1583, he again put to sea.

On the 30th of July, Gilbert discovered land in about fifty-one degrees north latitude; but, finding nothing but bare rocks, he shaped his course to the southward, and on the 3d of August arrived at St. John’s harbor, at Newfoundland. There were at that time in the harbor thirty-six vessels, belonging to various nations, and they refused him entrance; but, on sending his boat with the assurance that he had no ill design, and that he had a commission from queen Elizabeth, they submitted, and he sailed into the port. Having pitched his tent on shore in sight of all the shipping, and being attended by his own people, he summoned the merchants and masters of vessels to be present at the ceremony of his taking possession of the island. When assembled his commission was read and interpreted to the foreigners. A turf and twig was then delivered to him; and proclamation was immediately made, that, by virtue of his commission from the queen, he took possession of the harbor of St. John, and two hundred leagues every way around it, for the crown of England.

This formal possession, in consequence of the discovery by the Cabots, is considered the foundation of the right and title of the crown of England to the territory of Newfoundland, and to the fishery on its banks. Gilbert, intending to bring the southern parts of the country within his patent, the term of which had now nearly expired, hastened to make further discoveries before his return to England. He therefore embarked from St. John’s harbor with his little fleet, and sailed for the isle of Sable by the way of cape Breton. After spending eight days in the navigation from cape Race towards cape Breton, the ship Admiral was cast away on some shoals before any discovery of land, and nearly one hundred persons perished; among these was Stephen Parmenius Budeius, a learned Hungarian, who had accompanied the adventurers, to record their discoveries and exploits. Two days after this disaster, no land yet appearing, the waters being shallow, the coast unknown, the navigation dangerous, and the provisions scanty, it was resolved to return to England. Changing their course accordingly, they passed in sight of cape Race on the 2d of September; but when they had sailed more than three hundred leagues on their way home, the frigate, commanded by Sir Humphry Gilbert himself, foundered in a violent storm, at midnight, and every soul on board perished.

VIRGINIA, FROM ITS SETTLEMENT TO 1756.

Terrible as was the fate of Gilbert and his associates, the ardor of Raleigh was not daunted, nor his energies depressed. High in favor with Elizabeth, he found no difficulty in procuring a patent similar to that which had been granted to his unfortunate brother. Prompt in the execution, as intrepid in the projection of his plans, he speedily equipped two small vessels, under Amadas and Barlow, to obtain further information of the coasts, the soil, and the inhabitants of the regions he designed to colonize. Approaching America by the gulf of Florida, they touched first at the island of Ocakoke, which runs parallel to the greater part of North Carolina, and then at Roanoke, near the mouth of Albemarle sound. In both they had some intercourse with the natives, whom they found to be savages, with all the characteristic qualities of uncivilized life—bravery, aversion to labor, hospitality, a propensity to admire and a willingness to exchange their rude productions for English commodities, especially for iron, or any of the useful metals of which they were destitute. After spending a few weeks in this traffic, and in visiting some parts of the adjacent continent, Amadas and Barlow returned to England, and gave a most fervid description of the country they had been sent to explore.

Delighted with the prospect of possessing a territory so far superior to any hitherto visited by her subjects, Elizabeth was pleased to honor both the newly discovered country and herself, by bestowing upon it the title of Virginia.

These favorable circumstances not only encouraged the enterprising spirit of Raleigh, but, by their effect on public opinion, assisted him in his arrangements to form a permanent settlement; and he was soon enabled to dispatch seven ships, under the command of Sir Richard Grenville, one of the most valorous spirits of the age, with Ralph Lane, as governor of the colony, accompanied by Heriot, a mathematician of celebrity, and some other men of science. Sailing from Plymouth on the 9th of April, they proceeded to Virginia by the way of the West Indies, and, having narrowly escaped shipwreck at cape Fear, anchored at Wocokon, on the 26th of June. From this island Grenville went to the continent, accompanied by several gentlemen, and discovered various Indian towns. He then proceeded to cape Hatteras, where he was visited by Granganimo, the prince seen by Amadas and Barlow the preceding year; and having viewed the island of Roanoke, he embarked for England, leaving one hundred and seven persons under the government of Mr. Lane, to form a plantation, and to commence the first English colony ever planted in America.

The chief employment of this party, during their year’s residence in the new world, consisted in obtaining a more correct and extensive knowledge of the country; a pursuit in which the persevering abilities of Heriot were exercised with peculiar advantage. His unremitting endeavors to instruct the savages, and diligent inquiries into their habits and character, by adding to the stock of human knowledge, rendered the expedition not wholly unproductive of benefit to mankind. He endeavored to avail himself of the admiration expressed by the savages for the guns, the clock, the telescopes, and other implements that attested the superiority of the colonists, in order to lead their minds to the great source of all sense and science. But, unfortunately, the majority of the colonists were much less distinguished by piety or prudence, than by a vehement impatience to acquire sudden wealth; their first pursuit was gold; and, eagerly listening to the agreeable fictions of the natives, the adventurers consumed their time, and endured amazing hardships, in pursuit of a phantom, to the utter neglect of the means of providing for their future subsistence. The stock of provisions brought from England was exhausted; and the colony, reduced to the utmost distress, was preparing to disperse into different districts of the country in quest of food, when Sir Francis Drake appeared with his fleet, returning from a successful expedition against the Spaniards in the West Indies. A scheme which he formed, of furnishing Lane and his associates with such supplies as might enable them to remain with comfort in their station, was disappointed by a sudden storm, in which the vessel he had destined for their service was dashed to pieces; and as he could not supply them with another, at their joint request, as they were worn out with fatigue and famine, he carried them home to England.

Had the Virginia adventurers, however, remained but a little time longer at their plantation, they would have received supplies from home; for, a few days after their departure, a ship, sent by Sir Walter Raleigh to their relief, arrived at Hatteras, and made diligent search for them, but, not finding them, returned to England. Within a few days after this ship had left the coast, Sir Richard Grenville arrived at Virginia with three new vessels laden with provisions. Searching in vain for the colony that he planted, but yet unwilling to lose possession of the country, he left fifty of his crew to keep possession of the island of Roanoke, and returned to England. This was, indeed, but an inauspicious commencement for English attempts at transatlantic colonization; but, though its immediate results did not realize the high expectations which had been formed, its consequences were indirectly very beneficial. It gave Heriot opportunity to describe its soil, climate, productions, and the manners of its inhabitants, with a degree of accuracy which merits no inconsiderable praise, when compared with the childish and marvellous tales published by several of the early visitants of the new world.

Another consequence of this abortive colony is important enough to entitle it to a place in history. Lane and his associates, by their constant intercourse with the Indians, had acquired a relish for their favorite enjoyment of smoking tobacco; to the use of which, the credulity of that people not only ascribed a thousand imaginary virtues, but their superstition considered the plant itself as a gracious gift of the gods, for the solace of human kind, and the most acceptable offering which man can present to heaven. They brought with them a specimen of this new commodity to England, and taught their countrymen the method of using it; which Raleigh and some young men of fashion fondly adopted. From its being deemed a fashionable acquirement, and from the favorable opinion of its salutary qualities entertained by several physicians, the practice of smoking spread rapidly among the English; and by a singular caprice of the human species, no less inexplicable than unexampled, it has become almost as universal as the demands of those appetites originally implanted in our nature.

Amidst all the discouraging circumstances with which the settlement of Virginia was attended, Raleigh still remained devotedly attached to the object; and early in the year 1587, equipped another company of adventurers, incorporated by the title of the Borough of Raleigh, in Virginia. John White was constituted governor, in whom, with a council of twelve persons, the legislative power was vested. They were directed to plant at the bay of Chesapeak, and to erect a fort there. This expedition sailed from Plymouth on the 8th of May, and about the 16th of July fell in with the Virginian coast. Arriving at Hatteras on the 22d of July, the governor, with a select party, proceeded to Roanoke, and landed at that part of the island where the men were left the year preceding; but discovered no signs of them, excepting the bones of one man, who had been slain by the savages. The next day the governor and several of his company went to the north end of the island, where Lane had erected his fort, and had built several decent dwelling houses, hoping to obtain some intelligence of his fellow countrymen; but, on coming to the place, and finding the fort razed, and all the houses, though standing unhurt, overgrown with weeds and vines, and deer feeding within them, they returned, in despair of ever seeing the objects of their research alive. Orders were given the same day for the repair of the houses, and for the erection of new cottages; and all the colony, consisting of one hundred and seventeen persons, soon after landed, and commenced a second plantation.

Before the close of the month of August, the governor was compelled to sail to England for supplies; but war in Europe interfered with the expectation of the colonists, and it was not till 1590 that another expedition reached Virginia. They beheld a scene similarly dreadful with that which had been before presented. The houses were demolished, though still surrounded by a palisade, and a great part of the stores was found buried in the earth; but, as no trace was ever found of this unfortunate colony, there is every reason to apprehend that they must have miserably perished. Thus after a period of one hundred and six years from the time that Cabot discovered North America, in the service of Henry VII., not a single Englishman remained in the new world.

In the last year of Elizabeth a new impulse was given to the spirit of emigration by Bartholomew Gosnold. He sailed in a small bark from Falmouth, steering directly west, and was the first Englishman who came in a direct course to this part of America. He anchored at a point which he called cape Cod. Attempting a settlement on an island which they named Elizabeth, they built a fort and storehouse, but shortly abandoned their design and returned to England. Two vessels were afterwards fitted out by the merchants of Bristol, to examine the discoveries of Gosnold, and ascertain the correctness of his statements. They were also subsequently confirmed by a similar expedition equipped and despatched by lord Arundel.

An association of able and influential men was now formed to attempt a settlement, and a petition for leave was favorably received by king James. But as the extent as well as value of the American continent began now to be better known, a grant of the whole of such a vast region to any one body of men, however respectable, appeared to him an act of impolitic and profuse liberality. For this reason he divided that portion of North America, which stretches from the thirty-fourth to the fifty-fifth degree of latitude, into two districts nearly equal; the one called the first or south colony of Virginia, the other, the second or north colony. He authorized Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Summers, Richard Hakluyt, and their associates, mostly resident in London, to settle any part of the former which they should choose, and vested in them a right of property to the land extending along the coast fifty miles on each side of the place of their first habitation, and reaching into the interior country a hundred miles. The latter district he allotted, as the place of settlement to sundry knights, gentlemen, and merchants of Bristol, Plymouth, and other parts of the west of England, with a similar grant of territory. The supreme government of the colonies that were to be settled, was vested in a council, resident in England, named by the king, with laws and ordinances given under his sign manual; and the subordinate jurisdiction was committed to a council, resident in America, which was also nominated by the king and to act conformably to his instructions.

The charter, while it thus restricted the emigrants in the important article of internal regulation, secured to them and their descendants all the rights of denizens, in the same manner as if they had remained or had been born in England; and granted them the privilege of holding their lands in America by the freest and least burdensome tenure. The king permitted whatever was necessary for the sustenance or commerce of the new colonies to be exported from England, during the space of seven years, without paying any duty; and, as a farther incitement to industry, he granted them liberty of trade with other nations; and appropriated the duty to be levied on foreign commodities, as a fund for the benefit of the colonies, for the period of twenty-one years. He also granted them liberty of coining for their own use, of repelling enemies, and of detaining ships that should trade there without their permission.

We may regard the colonies of North and South Virginia, or Virginia and New England, as they were subsequently denominated, as forming, from this period, the subject of two distinct and continuous histories; that of the former, being earliest in point of time, will continue to occupy our attention during the remainder of this division.

The proprietors of the royal patent lost no time in carrying their plans into effect. It cannot, however, be said, that they commenced their operations on a scale at all worthy of the magnitude of the undertaking, as their fleet consisted only of three ships, conveying one hundred emigrants; and, although some persons of rank were among the number of proprietors, their pecuniary resources were but scanty. The charge of this embarkation was committed to Christopher Newport, already famous for his skill in western navigation. He sailed from the Thames on the 20th of December, 1606, having, in a sealed box, the royal instructions, and the names of the intended colonial council, with orders not to break the seal till twenty-four hours after the expedition had effected a landing; to which singular policy, may be attributed the dissensions which soon commenced among the leaders, and which continued to distract them during a voyage long and disastrous.

Captain Newport had designed to land at Roanoke; but fortunately, being driven by a storm to the northward, he stood into the spacious bay of Chesapeak, that grand reservoir into which are poured almost countless tributaries, which not only fertilize the country through which they flow, but open to it a commercial intercourse which can scarcely be said to be surpassed in any portion of the globe. The promontory on the south of the bay was named cape Henry, in honor of the prince of Wales; and that on the north, cape Charles, after the then duke of York. At night the box, containing the sealed instructions, was opened, in which Bartholomew Gosnold, John Smith, Edward Wingfield, Christopher Newport, John Ratcliffe, John Martin, and George Kendall, were constituted the council of government, with power to elect a president from among their number. The adventurers were employed in seeking a place for settlement until the thirteenth of May, when they took possession of a peninsula, on the north side of the river Powhatan, called by the emigrants James river, about forty miles from its mouth.

To make room for their projected town, they commenced clearing away the forest, which had for centuries afforded shelter and food to the natives. The members of the council, while they adhered to their orders in the choice of their president, on the most frivolous pretences excluded from a seat, among them, the individual, who was probably of all others the best fitted for the office, captain Smith,98 though nominated by the same instrument from which they derived their authority. His superior talents, and the fame he had previously acquired in war, excited their envy, while possibly they induced him to assume, that a greater deference was due to his opinion than his coadjutors were willing to admit. At length, however, by the prudent exhortations of Mr. Hunt, their chaplain, the animosities which had arisen were composed, Smith was admitted into the council, and they all turned their undivided attention to the government of the colony. In honor of their monarch, they called the town, the erection of which they now commenced, Jamestown. Thus was formed the first permanent colony of the English in America.

The vicinity of the settlement was a vast wilderness, though a luxuriant one, inhabited by a race of Indian savages, possessing both the virtues and the vices peculiar to their state. At first, they treated the colonists with kindness; but misunderstandings, from various causes, ere long interrupted the peace, and annoyed the proceedings of the English. Nor was the hostility of the natives the only occasion of discomfort; the extreme heat of the summer, and the intense cold of the succeeding winter, were alike fatal to the colonists. From May to September, fifty persons died, among whom was Bartholomew Gosnold, a member of the council. The storehouse at Jamestown accidentally taking fire, the town, thatched with reeds, burned with such violence, that the fortifications, arms, apparel, bedding, and a great quantity of private goods and provision, were consumed.

These distresses naturally led them to reflect upon their situation; and having become sensible of their injustice to Smith, his personal talents and activity were, in their adversity, appealed to with that regard and deference which, in prosperous times, are yielded only to vested authority and official station. From some unaccountable jealousy on the part of the governor, the fort had been left in an unprotected state, but, by the advice of Smith, it was now put into a state to defend them against the attacks of the Indians. To procure provisions and explore the country, he made frequent and distant excursions into the wilderness. In one of these, he seized an Indian idol, made with skins stuffed with moss, for the redemption of which as much corn was brought him as he required. Some tribes he gained by caresses and presents, and procured from them a supply of provisions; others he attacked with open force, and defeating them on every occasion, whatever their superiority in numbers might be, compelled them to impart to him some portion of their winter stores. As the recompense of all his toils and dangers, he saw abundance and contentment re-established in the colony, and hoped that he should be able to maintain them in that happy state, until the arrival of ships from England in the spring. But in the midst of his energetic measures, while exploring the source of the river Chickahominy, he was surprised and attacked by a party of Indians. He defended himself bravely until his companions were killed, when he took to flight; but running incautiously, he sunk up to his shoulders in a swamp, and was taken prisoner.

The exulting savages conducted him in triumph through several towns to Werowocomoco, where Powhatan, their king, resided in state, with a strong guard of Indians around him. When the prisoner entered the apartment of the sovereign, all the people gave a shout. The queen of Appamatuck was appointed to bring him water to wash his hands; and another person brought a bunch of feathers, instead of a towel, to dry them. Having feasted him in their best manner, they held a long consultation, at the conclusion of which, two great stones were brought before Powhatan. Smith had now reason to consider his career as drawing to a close; by the united efforts of the attendants, he was forcibly dragged, his head laid upon one of the stones, and the mighty club upraised, a few blows from which were to terminate his existence. But a very unexpected interposition now took place. Pocahontas, the favorite daughter of Powhatan, was seized with emotions of tender pity, and ran up to her father, pathetically pleading for the life of the stranger. When all entreaties were lost on that stern and savage potentate, she hastened to Smith, snatched his head in her arms, and laid her own on his, declaring that the first blow must fall upon her. The heart even of a savage father was at last melted, and Powhatan granted to his favorite daughter the life of Smith.

It appears at first to have been the intention of the savage monarch to have detained the captive, and employed him in manufacturing utensils and ornaments for his majesty’s use; but from some cause he speedily changed his mind, and in two days after his deliverance, sent him, to his high gratification, with a guard of twelve of his trusty followers, to Jamestown, upon condition that he should remit two culverins and a millstone as his ransom.

After an absence of seven weeks, Smith arrived barely in time to save the colony from being abandoned. His associates, reduced to the number of thirty-eight, impatient of farther stay in a country where they had met with so many discouragements, were preparing to return to England; and it was not without the utmost difficulty, and alternately employing persuasion, remonstrance, and even violent interference, that Smith prevailed with them to relinquish their design. Pocahontas, persevering in her generous designs, continued to supply the colony with provisions till a vessel arrived from England with supplies. Having preserved the settlement during the winter by his active exertions and his careful management, Smith embraced the earliest opportunity, in the following summer, to explore the extensive and multifarious ramifications of the Chesapeak.

In an open barge, with fourteen persons, and but a scanty stock of provisions, he traversed the whole of that vast extent of water, from cape Henry, where it meets the ocean, to the river Susquehannah; trading with some tribes of Indians, and fighting with others. He discovered and named many small islands, creeks, and inlets; sailed up many of the great rivers; and explored the inland parts of the country. During this enterprise, the Susquehannah Indians visited him, and made him presents. At this early period they had hatchets, and utensils of iron and brass, which, by their own account, originally came from the French of Canada. After sailing about three thousand miles, Smith returned to Jamestown. Having made careful observations during this excursion of discovery, he drew a map of Chesapeak bay, with its tributary rivers, annexing to it a description of the countries, and of the nations inhabiting them, and sent it to the council in England.

The superior abilities of Smith had now been so manifestly subservient to the general welfare, that they had silenced, at least, the malignity of envy and faction; and although it was comparatively a short period since he had been so unjustly calumniated, and deprived of his seat at the council-board, immediately after his return from his voyage, he was, by the election of the council and the request of the settlers, invested with the government, and received letters-patent to be president of the colony. The wisdom of his administration inspired confidence, its vigor commanded obedience, and the military exercises, which he obliged all to perform, struck the Indians with astonishment, and inspired them with awe.

Under the administration of president Smith, the colony continued to prosper; as far as it could prosper, under the circumstances of its organization. Its elements, however, were not of the best description, and the number of ‘poor gentlemen, tradesmen, serving men, libertines and such like,’ is represented to have been ten times more fit to spoil a commonwealth than either to begin or maintain one. They were lazy, avaricious, and disappointed. The Indians too became suspicious and troublesome; and the company in England were unjustly discontented with the management of captain Smith. A new charter was therefore treated for by the company of South Virginia, and obtained; and among the new proprietors were many of the most wealthy and influential commoners and peers of the land. Lord Delaware was appointed governor of Virginia for life, though he did not accompany the expedition, which was immediately fitted out. A fleet of nine vessels sailed for the colony, one of which was wrecked at the Bermudas, and one lost in a violent storm. On board of this fleet were five hundred emigrants; chiefly young and licentious, indigent and haughty, who soon involved the colony in anarchy and confusion.

A systematic design was now meditated against the whole colony by the sovereign of the country; but it was providentially discovered and frustrated. Pocahontas, the tutelary friend of Virginia, though but a child of thirteen years of age, went in a very dark and dreary night to Jamestown, and, at the hazard of her life, disclosed to the president a plot of her father to kill him and all the English. This timely notice put the colony on its guard; and some favorable occurrences soon after contributed still farther towards its preservation. An Indian, apparently dead through the effect of a charcoal fire in a close room, was, on the application of vinegar and aqua vitæ by the president, reanimated. This supposed miracle, with an explosion of powder, which killed two or three Indians and scorched and wounded others, excited such astonishment, mingled with such admiration of English power and art, that Powhatan and his people came to them with presents of peace; and the whole country during the remainder of Smith’s administration, was entirely free from molestation, and the colonists pursued their plans of improvement, both in agriculture and in some of the manufactures, with tolerable success. Unhappily, however, the president, while exerting himself with his usual energy in the concerns of the settlement, received a dangerous wound from the accidental explosion of a quantity of gunpowder. Completely disabled by this misfortune, and destitute of surgical aid, he was compelled to resign his command, and take his departure (and it was a final one) for England.

The departure of Smith was in every respect inauspicious for the colony. It was the signal for a general revolt among the Indians. Many of the colonists were slain, their provisions were wasted by imprudence, and they were threatened with absolute starvation. There numbers were reduced from five hundred to about sixty, in the course of half a year. In this extremity they received unexpected relief from Sir Thomas Gates and the party which had been wrecked the year before at Bermudas, and who had been enabled to build two small vessels, and succeed in reaching Virginia. It was determined to abandon the colony, and sail for Newfoundland, and every thing was prepared for embarkation, when lord Delaware, with three ships and a hundred and fifty men, arrived at the mouth of the river. By the energetic discipline of this nobleman, the affairs of the colony were soon restored to order. He erected forts, allotted to each man his respective duty, and appointed the necessary officers to enforce obedience to his commands. His health not permitting him to remain in office, he returned to England, leaving about two hundred people in health and tranquillity.

Not long after his departure, Sir Thomas Dale arrived at Virginia with three ships and three hundred emigrants. Other additions to the colony were made within a short interval. New settlements were commenced farther up the river, and a town was built, and called Henrico, in honor of prince Henry. In 1612, application was made to the king by the patentees for a new charter, with increased privileges, and it was accordingly granted.

It was in the year following the grant of the new charter, that the marriage of Pocahontas, the famed daughter of Powhatan, was celebrated; an alliance which secured peace to Virginia many years. Having been carefully instructed in the Christian religion, it was not long before she renounced the idolatry of her country, made profession of Christianity, and was baptized by the name of Rebecca. In some measure connected with this event, by the influence so powerful an alliance was calculated to have upon the minds of the natives in the vicinity, was the treaty which Sir Thomas Dale effected with the Chickahominy tribe of Indians, a bold and free people, who now voluntarily relinquished their name, for that of Tassantessus, or Englishmen; and solemnly engaged to be faithful subjects to king James.

During the interval of tranquillity procured by the alliance with Powhatan, an important change was made in the state of the colony. Hitherto no right of private property in land had been established. The fields that were cleared had been cultivated by the joint labor of the colonists; their product was carried to the common storehouses, and distributed weekly to every family, according to its number and exigencies. However suitable such an arrangement might have been deemed for the commencement of a colony, experience proved that it was decidedly opposed to its progress in a more advanced state. In order to remedy this, Sir Thomas Dale divided a considerable portion of the land into small lots, and granted one of these to each individual in full property. From the moment that industry had the certain prospect of a recompense, it advanced rapidly. The articles of primary necessity were cultivated with so much attention as secured the means of subsistence; and such schemes of improvement were formed as prepared the way for the introduction of opulence into the colony.

The increased industry of the colonists was not long before it found a new and somewhat singular channel—the cultivation of tobacco; indeed so inconsiderately and exclusively were their energies directed to that object at this time, that the most fatal consequences were rendered almost inevitable. The land which ought to have been reserved for raising provisions, and even the streets of Jamestown, were planted with tobacco. Various regulations were framed to restrain this ill-directed activity; but, from eagerness for present gain, the planters disregarded every admonition. Tobacco, however, had many trials to pass through before it reached its present established station. King James declared himself its open enemy, and drew against it his royal pen. In the work which he entitled ‘Counterblast to Tobacco,’ he poured the most bitter reproaches on this ‘vile and nauseous weed.’ He followed it up by a proclamation to restrain the disorderly trading in tobacco, as tending to a general and new corruption of both men’s bodies and minds. Yet tobacco, like other proscribed objects, throve under persecution, and achieved a final triumph over all its enemies.

Financially, the colony was now in a flourishing state; politically, it was badly administered. Its president was captain Argal, a rigid master, and absurd tyrant. One of his edicts is worth quoting: it ordered ‘That every person should go to church on Sundays and holidays, or be kept confined the night succeeding the offence, and be a slave to the colony for the following week; for the second offence, a slave for a month; and for the third, a year and a day.’ From the representations made to him of the misrule of this man, lord Delaware embarked a second time for America; but died on the voyage, in or near the bay which bears his name. His death was the signal for renewed outrages on the part of the colonial tyrant, and the office of captain-general was transferred to Mr. Yeardley. He arrived in April, and immediately convoked a colonial assembly, which met at Jamestown on the 19th of June, and was the first representative legislature which assembled in the transatlantic states.

The full tide of prosperity was now enjoyed by the colony. Its numbers greatly increased, and its settlements became widely extended. At peace with the Indians, it reposed in perfect security, and realized the happiness its fortunate situation and favorable prospects afforded, without suspecting the sudden and terrible reverse of fortune it was doomed to experience. Opechankanough, the successor of Powhatan, had adopted with ardor all the early enmity of his native tribe against the settlers; and he formed one of those dreadful schemes, so frequent in Indian annals, of exterminating the whole race at one blow. Such was the fidelity of his people, and so deep the power of savage dissimulation, that this dire scheme was matured without the slightest intimation reaching the English, who neither attended to the movements of the Indians, nor suspected their machinations; and though surrounded by a people whom they might have known from experience to be both artful and vindictive, they neglected those precautions for their own safety that were requisite in such circumstances.

All the tribes in the vicinity of the English settlements were successively gained, except those on the eastern shore, from whom, on account of their peculiar attachment to their new neighbors, every circumstance that might discover what they intended was carefully concealed. To each tribe its station was allotted, and the part it was to act prescribed. On the morning of the day consecrated to vengeance, each was at the place of rendezvous appointed; and at mid-day, the moment they had previously fixed for this execrable deed, the Indians, raising a universal yell, rushed at once on the English in all their scattered settlements, butchering men, women, and children, with undistinguishing fury, and every aggravation of brutal outrage and savage cruelty. In one hour, three hundred and forty-seven persons were cut off, almost without knowing by whose hands they fell. Indeed, the universal destruction of the colonists was prevented only by the consequences of an event, which perhaps appeared but of little importance in the colony at the time when it took place—the conversion of an Indian to the Christian faith. On the night before the massacre, this man was made privy to it by his own brother; but as soon as his brother left him he revealed the dreadful secret to an English gentleman in whose house he was residing, who immediately carried the tidings to Jamestown, and communicated them to some of the nearest settlers, scarcely in time to prevent the last hour of the perfidious truce from being the last hour of their lives.

A bloody and exterminating war followed, in which the English were victorious, but by which they were much reduced in numbers. Famine came in the train of battle, and made additional devastation. A writ of quo warranto was issued against the company, under whose rule these calamities had been suffered. It was brought to trial in the court of king’s bench, and their charter was vacated. A new commission was issued for the government of Virginia, in which the republican tendencies of the previous government were duly restrained.

Charles I. on the demise of his predecessor reduced the colony under the immediate direction of the crown, appointing a governor and council, and ordering all patents and processes to issue in his own name. His first appointment of governor elevated Sir George Yeardley to that office, but he died early, and was succeeded by the despotic Sir John Harvey, who managed to make himself perfectly odious to the people whom he was sent to govern. The public mind became finally so much excited, that even the despotic Charles thought it prudent to recall his minion, and Sir William Berkeley was appointed to succeed him.

Sir William was as eminent, as his predecessor had been deficient, in all popular virtues; and he was the bearer of instructions which directed him to restore the colonial assembly, and invite it to enact a body of laws for the province. Thus unexpectedly the colonists were restored to their old system of freedom, and the consequence was universal gratitude and joy. The king became universally popular, and during the civil wars, the colony continued faithful to the royal cause.

The next incident of great interest in the history of Virginia, is the rebellion consequent on the passage of the navigation act; by which the plan of monopolizing to England the commerce of the colonies was perfected and reduced into a complete system.

This oppressive system excited great indignation in Virginia, where the extensive commerce and pre-eminent loyalty of the people rendered the pressure of the burden more severe, and the infliction of it more exasperating. The excitement became general, and was worked up to such a pitch, that nothing was wanting to precipitate the people into the most desperate acts, but some leader qualified to unite and to direct their operations. Such a leader they found in Nathaniel Bacon. He was a lawyer, educated in London, and was appointed a member of the council a short time after his emigration to Virginia. Young, bold, ambitious, with an engaging address, and commanding eloquence, he harangued the colonists upon their grievances; inflamed their resentment against their rulers; declaimed particularly against the languor with which the war, then existing with the Indians, had been conducted; and such was the effect of his representations, that he was elected general by the people. To give some color of legitimacy to the authority he had acquired, and perhaps expecting to precipitate matters to the extremity which his interest required that they should speedily reach, he applied to the governor for an official confirmation of the popular election, and offered instantly to march against the common enemy. This Sir William Berkeley firmly refused, and issued a proclamation commanding the dispersion of the insurgents. Bacon had advanced too far to recede; and he hastened, at the head of six hundred armed followers, to Jamestown, surrounded the house where the governor and council were assembled, and repeated his demand.

Intimidated by the threats of the enraged multitude, the council hastily prepared a commission, and, by their entreaties, prevailed on the governor to sign it. Bacon and his troops then began their march against the Indians; but no sooner were the council relieved from their fears, than they declared the commission void, and proclaimed Bacon a rebel. Enraged at this conduct, he instantly returned, with all his forces, to Jamestown. The aged governor, unsupported, and almost abandoned, fled precipitately to Accomack, on the eastern shore of the colony; collecting those who were well affected towards his administration, he began to oppose the insurgents, and several skirmishes were fought, with various success. A party of the insurgents burned Jamestown, laid waste those districts of the colony which adhered to the old administration, and confiscated the property of the loyalists. The governor, in retaliation, seized the estates of many of the insurgents, and executed several of their leaders. In the midst of these calamities Bacon sickened and died. Destitute of a leader to conduct and animate them, their sanguine hopes of success subsided; all began to desire an accommodation; and after a brief negotiation with the governor they laid down their arms, on obtaining a promise of general pardon.

On hearing of the disturbances in Virginia, Charles despatched, though with no great haste, a fleet with some troops for its pacification. These did not arrive, however, till they might well have been dispensed with. With them came colonel Jeffreys, appointed to recall and replace Sir William Berkeley in the government of the colony. This brave and benevolent man did not long survive his dismissal, and may justly be said to have lived and died in the service of Virginia.

A succession of weak and tyrannical rulers followed the recall of Sir William Berkeley. Notwithstanding the unfavorable circumstances under which it labored, the colony continued to increase. Tobacco grew in demand in Europe, and its cultivation gave constant employment to the planters. The situation of the colony, removed alike from the French in Canada, and the Spaniards in Florida, saved it from their hostile incursions, and procured for it a comparative repose.

MASSACHUSETTS.

In the order of time, the settlement of the northern states followed next after that of Virginia. In the year 1614, captain Smith explored the coast with much care between Penobscot and cape Cod. He presented a chart and description of it to Charles, prince of Wales, who was so well pleased with the country that he called it New England; a name which has since been applied to the provinces east of the Hudson.

In 1620, that country began to be colonized by a body of Puritans; who had been first driven to Holland, by the mad intolerance of the English government, and afterwards determined to emigrate to America. They applied to the Virginia company for a patent, and it was not unwilling to favor their views. They solicited full freedom of conscience, but this the king declined granting under the great seal: he promised, however, not to molest them, so long as they behaved themselves peaceably.

The first band of these Puritans, consisting of one hundred and one persons, reached cape Cod at break of day on the 9th of November, 1620. Observing that they were beyond the limits of the company’s patent, they had no powers of government derived from authority; and, therefore, even before landing, they formed themselves into a ‘civil body politic, under the crown of England, for the purpose of framing just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices,’ to which they promised all due submission and obedience. Forty-one persons signed this contract. It contained the elements of those forms of government peculiar to the new world. Under this system, John Carver was, by general consent, chosen their first governor, ‘confiding,’ as the electors say, ‘in his prudence, that he would not adventure upon any matter of moment without the consent of the rest, or, at least, advice of such as were known to be the wisest among them.’

Government being thus established, sixteen men, well armed, with a few others, were sent on shore the same day, to fetch wood and make discoveries; but they returned at night without having found any person or habitation. The company, having rested during the Sabbath, disembarked on Monday, the 13th of November; and soon after proceeded to explore the interior of the country. In their researches they discovered heaps of earth, one of which they dug open, but, finding within implements of war, they concluded these were Indian graves; and therefore, replacing what they had taken out, they left them inviolate. In different heaps of sand they also found baskets of corn, a large quantity of which they carried away in a great kettle, found at the ruins of an Indian house. This providential discovery gave them seed for a future harvest, and preserved the infant colony from famine. On the 6th of December the shallop was sent out with several of the principal men, to sail round the bay in search of a place for settlement. During their researches, part of the company travelled along the shore, where they were surprised by a flight of arrows from a party of Indians; but, on the discharge of the English muskets, the Indians instantly disappeared. The shallop, after imminent hazard from the loss of its rudder and mast in a storm, and from shoals, which it narrowly escaped, reached a small island on the night of the 8th; here the company reposed themselves, grateful for their preservation during the week; and on this island they kept the Sabbath. The day following they sounded the harbor, and found it fit for shipping; went on shore, and explored the adjacent land, where they saw various corn-fields and brooks; and, judging the situation to be convenient for a settlement, they returned with the welcome intelligence to the ship.

On the 23d, as many of the company as could, with convenience, went on shore, and felled, and carried timber to the spot appropriated for the erection of a building for common use. On the 25th, they commenced the erection of the first house. A platform for their ordnance demanding the earliest attention, they formed one upon a hill, which commanded an extensive prospect of the plain beneath, of the expanding bay, and of the distant ocean. They divided their whole company into nineteen families; measured out the ground; and assigned to every person by lot half a pole in breadth, and three poles in length, for houses and gardens. In grateful remembrance of the Christian friends whom they found at the last town they left in their native country, they called their settlement Plymouth. Thus was founded the first British town of New England.

The climate was found much more severe than the colonists had anticipated; and they had arrived when winter was nearly one-third advanced. They had every thing to do, and in this season could do very little, even of what was indispensable. Their shelter was wretched; their sufferings were intense; their dangers were not small, and were rendered painful by an absolute uncertainty of their extent. All these evils they encountered with resolution, and sustained with fortitude. To each other they were kind: to the savages they were just: they loved the truth of the gospel; embraced it in its purity; and obeyed it with an excellence of life, which added a new wreath to the character of man.

Among the attempts at forming settlements at this time was one of a character as peculiar as it was undesirable. Captain Wollaston began a plantation, which he named after himself. One Morton, of Furnival’s inn, was of this company. He was not left in command, but contrived to make himself chief, changed the name of mount Wollaston to Merry mount, set all the servants free, erected a may-pole, and lived a life of dissipation, until all the stock intended for trade was consumed. He was charged with furnishing the Indians with guns and ammunition, and teaching them the use of them. At length, he made himself so obnoxious to the planters in all parts, that, at their general desire, the people of New Plymouth seized him by an armed force, and confined him, until they had opportunity of sending him to England.

The time was now at hand, when the causes which had induced the voluntary exile of the Leyden congregation, should produce an effect far more extensive. Applications to the Plymouth company from Puritan congregations were now becoming frequent; and, in the year 1628, the council of Plymouth sold to Sir Henry Roswell and others, their heirs and associates, that part of New England which lies between two boundaries, one three miles north of the Merrimac, and the other three miles south of Charles river, from the Atlantic to the South sea. The same year Mr. Endicot, one of the patentees, came to New England, and planted himself, with a small colony, in Naumkeag, now Salem. The following year they were joined by about two hundred others, making three hundred in the whole, one hundred of whom, however, removed the same year, and settled themselves, with the consent of Mr. Endicot, governor of the colony, at Mishawum, now Charlestown. The second Salem company brought with them a considerable number of cattle, horses, sheep, and goats; which after a little period, became so numerous as to supply all the wants of the inhabitants. Powers of government were granted to these colonists by Charles I., which constituted them a corporation, by the name of The Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay, in New England, with power to elect annually a governor, deputy governor, and eighteen assistants; four great and general courts were to be held every year, to consist of the governor, or, in his absence, the deputy governor, the assistants, or at least six of them, and the freemen of the company.

The arbitrary proceedings of the British court, in affairs both of church and state, continued without any abatement, and induced many gentlemen of wealth and distinction to join the Plymouth company, and remove to New England. In 1629, many persons of this character, and among them the distinguished names of Isaac Johnson, John Winthrop, Thomas Dudley, and Sir Richard Saltonstall, proposed to the company to remove with their families, on condition that the charter and government should be transferred to New England. To this the company assented, and in the course of the next year, John Winthrop, who had been chosen governor, with about one thousand five hundred persons, embarked. The fleet consisted of ten sail, one of which was of three hundred and fifty tons, and, from lady Arabella Johnson, who sailed in her, was called the Arabella. Among the passengers were a number of eminent non-conformist ministers. The most highly esteemed was Mr. Wilson, the son of a dignitary of the church, who, by his connexions and talents, might have aspired to its highest honors, but chose to renounce all, in order to suffer with those whom he accounted the people of God. But the circumstance which threw a greater lustre on the colony than any other, was the arrival of Mr. John Cotton, the most esteemed of all the Puritan ministers in England. Becoming an object of the persecuting fury of Laud, he left Boston in disguise, and spent some time in London, seeking a proper opportunity to emigrate. There went out with him Mr. Hooker and Mr. Stone, who were esteemed to make a glorious triumvirate, and were received in New England with the utmost exultation. Mr. Cotton was appointed to preach at Boston, now the principal town in Massachusetts bay, and was mainly employed in drawing up the ecclesiastical constitution of the colony.

On the arrival of the principal ships of the fleet at Charlestown, the governor and several of the patentees, having viewed the bottom of the bay of Massachusetts, and pitched down on the north side of Charles river, took lodgings in the great house built there the preceding year, and the rest of the company erected cottages, booths, and tents, about the town hill. Their place of assembling for divine service was under a tree. When the fleet had safely arrived, a day of thanksgiving was kept in all the plantations. Early attention was paid to the great object of the enterprise. On the 30th of July, a day of solemn prayer and fasting was kept at Charlestown, when governor Winthrop, deputy governor Dudley, and Mr. Wilson, first entered into church covenant; and at this time was laid the foundation of the church of Charlestown, and of the first church in Boston. On the 27th of August, the congregation kept a fast, and chose Mr. Wilson their teacher. ‘We used imposition of hands,’ says governor Winthrop, ‘but with this protestation by all, that it was only a sign of election and confirmation, not of any intent that Mr. Wilson should renounce the ministry he received in England.’

The colony was now gaining strength from its numbers and organization; but it had also its trials to contend with, not the least of which was the sickness arising from the severity of the climate, or, more truly, from the means of counteracting the injurious tendencies of the climate not being yet properly understood. Among those who fell an early sacrifice, none were lamented more than lady Arabella Johnson and her husband, who had left the abodes of abundance and of social comfort for the American wilderness, purely from religious principle. As soon as the severity of the winter was abated sufficiently to admit of assemblies being convened, the colonists proceeded to enact laws for their internal regulation. It has been before observed, that those who so resolutely ventured to cross the ocean, and to brave the hardships attendant on clearing the American forests, sought rather to establish churches, than to found a kingdom; it will naturally be supposed, therefore, that their legislation partook largely of an ecclesiastical character. Indeed, the history of this colony presents more matter for the ecclesiastical than the civil historian. At the very first court of election a law was passed, enacting that none should hereafter be admitted freemen, or be entitled to any share in the government, or be capable of being chosen magistrates, or even of serving as jurymen but such as had been or should hereafter be received into the church as members. ‘This was a most extraordinary order or law,’ says Hutchinson, ‘and yet it continued in force until the dissolution of the government, it being repealed in appearance only after the restoration of king Charles II. Had they been deprived of their civil privileges in England by an act of parliament, unless they would join in communion with the churches there, it might very well have been the first in the roll of grievances. But such were the requisites to qualify for church-membership here, that the grievance was abundantly greater.’

The baneful influence of the erroneous principles of the union of the civil and ecclesiastical power, soon became apparent in the persecution of the most liberally minded man in the colony, Roger Williams. It is true that he enthusiastically supported some tenets which were deemed heterodox, and occasioned considerable excitement by inveighing against the use of the cross in the national flag. In consequence of the spread of his opinion, some of the troops would not act till the relic of popery, as they considered it, was cut out of the banner, while others would not serve under any flag from which it was erased. At length a compromise was entered into, by which it was agreed that the obnoxious emblem should be omitted from the banners of the militia, while it was retained in those of the forts. This, however, was only one of the errors charged against Williams; it is said that he maintained that no female should go abroad unless veiled; that unregenerate men ought neither to pray nor to take oaths; that, indeed, oaths had better be altogether omitted; that the churches of New England should not acknowledge or communicate with the hierarchy from which they had separated; that infants should not be subjects of baptism; that the magistrate should confine his authority wholly to temporal affairs; and that James or Charles of England had no right at all to grant away the lands of the Indians without their consent. For the zealous propagation of these sentiments, he was deemed worthy of banishment from the colony of Massachusetts. The order of the court was, that he should be transported to England; but he escaped the limits of their jurisdiction, repaired to the Narraganset country, and became the founder of a new colony.

During the year 1635, no less than three thousand persons arrived in New England. Among them was Henry Vane, a young man of noble family, animated with a devotion to the cause of religion and liberty, which induced him to relinquish all his hopes in England, and settle in an infant colony which as yet afforded little more than a bare subsistence to its inhabitants: he was naturally received in New England with high regard and admiration, and was instantly complimented with the freedom of the colony. Enforcing his claims to respect by the address and ability which he showed in conducting business, he was elected governor in the year subsequent to his arrival, by the universal consent of the colonists, and with the highest expectations of an advantageous administration. These hopes, we shall find in the sequel, were by no means realized. He entered too deeply into polemical theology, to allow him to devote the energies of his mind to the civil and political duties which afforded so abundant a field for their exercise.

A brief period elapsed after the expulsion of Roger Williams, before the repose of the colony was again interrupted by religious dissensions. The Puritans had transported, with their other religious practices, that of assembling one evening in the week to converse over the discourses of the preceding Sabbath; a proceeding well calculated to keep alive that zeal which arises from the vigorous exercise of private judgment, but not to promote the subserviency requisite to a quiet submission to the uniformity of authorized opinions. These meetings had been originally confined to the brethren; but Mrs. Hutchinson, a lady of respectable station in life, of considerable native talent, and of affable manners, deemed it desirable that the sisters should also exercise a similar privilege. Unfortunately, it was not long before this lady and her associates discovered that there would be much more propriety in their instructing their ministers than in the reverse process, which had hitherto prevailed. They adopted that most convenient dogma, that good works are no evidence of being a true Christian, or one of the elect; and that the only testimony to a state of justification, was the overpowering assurance of the mind, produced by the immediate influence of the divine Spirit.

The disturbance occasioned by the propagation of these offensive sentiments, was aggravated by the circumstance of the governor, Mr. Vane, being their decided advocate. Vehement discussions and bitter accusations abounded; but the antinomian party, though most zealous, were least numerous; and at the annual election, Mr. Vane was displaced by Mr. Winthrop, by a very decided majority. After various measures had been resorted to, in order to bring the dissentients within the pale of orthodoxy, a synod was called, which determined that the sentiments of Mrs. Hutchinson and her followers were grievously erroneous, and, as they still refused submission, the favorite measure of banishment was had recourse to. Another accession was thus made to the ‘alluvies,’ as Mather terms it, of Rhode Island; but not finding that land of liberty perfectly to her taste Mrs. Hutchinson removed to a Dutch plantation, where, not long after, she was basely murdered, with many of her family, by the Indians.

It does not fall within our plan to follow out the details of the ecclesiastical persecutions that disfigure the early history of New England. Although themselves fugitives from the terrors of persecution, the Puritans entertained no particular toleration for the tenets of those who came to different conclusions. They whipped, banished, and imprisoned Anabaptists, Quakers and others, whose obstinacy was equal to their own, and whose power was unfortunately less. Like many other enthusiasts, they entertained a strong predilection for the phraseology and manners of the Hebrews, whose laws they ill understood. Lying, drunkenness and dancing were punished with public whipping; and for a man to have long hair was considered an abomination, and inconsistent with the care of the soul.

A more important subject than religious wrangling, is the union formed by the New England colonists, for mutual defence against the savages, and for security against the claims and encroachments of the Dutch. This union, or confederation, was formed in 1643, by the name of The United Colonies of New England. It had been proposed by the colonies of Connecticut and New Haven, as early as 1638, but was not finally completed until five years after. This confederacy, which continued about forty years, constituted an interesting portion of the political history of New England. It consisted of the colonies of Massachusetts, New Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven. By the articles of confederation, as they were called, these colonies entered into a firm and perpetual league of friendship and amity, for offence and defence, mutual advice and succor, upon all just occasions, both for preserving and propagating the truth and liberties of the gospel, and for their own mutual safety and welfare. Each colony was to retain its own peculiar jurisdiction and government; and no other plantation or colony was to be received as a confederate, nor any two of the confederates to be united into one jurisdiction, without the consent of the rest. The affairs of the united colonies were to be managed by a legislature, to consist of two persons, styled commissioners, chosen from each colony. The commissioners were to meet annually in the colonies, in succession, and when met, to choose a president, and the determination of any six to be binding on all. This confederacy, which was declared to be perpetual, continued without any essential alteration, until the New England colonies were deprived of their charter by the arbitrary proceedings of James II. This union evidently served as the basis of the great confederacy afterwards formed between the thirteen states of America. An examination of the two systems will prove a similarity not only in names, but in general principles.

At the termination of the first half century from the arrival of the emigrants at Plymouth, the New England colonies were calculated to contain one hundred and twenty towns, and as many thousand inhabitants; of whom sixteen thousand were capable of bearing arms. The habits of industry and economy, which had been formed in less happy times, continued to prevail, and gave a competency to those who had nothing, and wealth to those who had a competency. The wilderness receded before these hardy and persevering laborers, and its savage inhabitants found their game dispersed, and their favorite haunts invaded. This was the natural consequence of the sales of land, which they were at all times ready to make to the whites. But this result the Indians did not foresee; and when they felt it in all its force, the strongest passions were awakened which could animate the savage breast. A leader only was wanting to concentrate and direct their exertions, and Philip, of Pokanoket, sachem of a tribe residing within the boundaries of Plymouth and Rhode Island, assumed that station. His father was the friend, but he had ever been the enemy, of the whites; and he exerted all the arts of intrigue, of which he was master, to induce the Indians, in all parts of New England, to unite their efforts for their destruction. He succeeded in forming a confederacy, able to send into action more than three thousand warriors.

The English were apprized of the plots of the Indians, and made preparations to meet their hostilities. They hoped, however, that the threatened storm would pass by, as others had, and that peace would be preserved. But the insolence of Philip, and the number of his adherents, increased daily; and, in June, 1675, some of them entered the town of Swanzey, in Plymouth, where, after slaughtering the cattle, and plundering the houses, they fired upon the inhabitants, killing and wounding several. The troops of that colony marched immediately to Swanzey, and were soon joined by a detachment from Massachusetts. The Indians fled, and marked the course of their flight by burning the buildings, and fixing on poles by the way side, the hands, scalps, and heads of the whites whom they had killed. The troops pursued, but unable to overtake them, returned to Swanzey. The whole country was alarmed, and the number of troops augmented. By this array of force, Philip was induced to quit his residence at mount Hope, and take post near a swamp at Pocasset. At that place the English attacked him, but were repulsed. Sixteen were killed, and the Indians by this success were made bolder.

Most of the settlements were surrounded by thick forests, and as the Indians lived intermixed with the whites, the former were acquainted, of course, with the dwellings of the latter, and all the avenues to them; could watch their motions, and fall upon them in their defenceless and unguarded moments. Many were shot dead as they opened their doors in the morning; many while at work in their fields, and others while travelling to visit their neighbors, or to places of worship; their lives were in continual jeopardy; and no one could tell but that, in the next moment, he should receive his death shot from his barn, the thicket, or the way side. Whenever the enemy assembled in force, detachments were sent against them; if weaker than these, they would retreat; if stronger, assault and harass, or destroy them. Defenceless villages were suddenly attacked, the houses burned, and the men, women and children killed, or carried into captivity. Their ruin was the work of a moment; and when accomplished, its authors vanished. The colonists found their numbers sensibly diminished, and their strength impaired; and they began to apprehend even total extinction. Nothing but a vigorous effort could save them.

The commissioners of the three United Colonies met on the 9th of September, and it was concluded, that the war was just and necessary; that it ought to be jointly prosecuted by all the United Colonies; and that there should be immediately raised 1000 soldiers out of the colonies, in such proportion as the articles of confederation established: Massachusetts, 527; Plymouth, 158; Connecticut, 315. At an adjourned meeting, the commissioners declared the Narragansets to be deeply accessory in the present bloody outrages of the Indians that were at open war, and determined that 1000 more soldiers be raised, for the Narraganset expedition, to obtain satisfaction of those Indians, or to treat them as enemies. On the 8th of December, the Massachusetts forces marched from Boston, and were soon joined by those of Plymouth. The troops from Connecticut joined them on the 18th, at Petaquamscot. At break of day the next morning they commenced their march, through a deep snow, toward the enemy, who were about fifteen miles distant in a swamp, at the edge of which they arrived at one in the afternoon. The Indians, apprized of an armament intended against them, had fortified themselves as strongly as possible within the swamp. The English, without waiting to draw up in order of battle, marched forward in quest of the enemy’s camp.

The Indian fortress stood on a rising ground in the midst of the swamp, and was composed of palisades, which were encompassed by a hedge, nearly a rod thick. It had but one practicable entrance, which was over a log, or tree four or five feet from the ground; and that aperture was guarded by a block-house. Falling providentially on this very part of the fort, the English captains entered it, at the head of their companies. The two first, with many of their men, were shot dead at the entrance; four other captains were also killed. When the troops had effected an entrance, they attacked the Indians, who fought desperately, and compelled the English to retire out of the fort; but after a hard-fought battle of three hours, they became masters of the place, and set fire to the wigwams, to the number of five or six hundred, and in the conflagration many Indian women and children perished. The surviving Indians fled into a cedar swamp, at a small distance; and the English retired to their quarters. Of the English there were killed and wounded about two hundred and thirty; of the Indians one thousand are supposed to have perished.

From this blow, the confederated Indians never recovered; but they still remained sufficiently strong to harass the settlements by continual inroads. In retaliation, the English sent several detachments into their territories, nearly all of which were successful. Captain Church, of Plymouth, and captain Dennison, of Connecticut, were conspicuous for their bravery and success. In the midst of these reverses, Philip remained firm and unshaken. His warriors were cut off; his chief men, his wife and family, were killed, or taken prisoners; and at these successive misfortunes, he is represented to have wept with a bitterness which proves him not to have been destitute of the noblest affections; but he disdained to listen to any offers of peace. He even shot one of his men, who proposed submission. At length, after being hunted from swamp to swamp, he was himself shot, by the brother of the Indian he had killed. This event was certainly the signal of complete victory. The Indians in all the neighboring country now generally submitted to the English, or fled, and incorporated themselves with distant and strange nations. Never was peace more welcome. In this short, but tremendous war, about six hundred of the inhabitants of New England, composing its principal strength, were either killed in battle, or murdered by the enemy; twelve or thirteen towns were entirely destroyed; and about six hundred buildings, chiefly dwelling-houses, were burnt. In addition to these calamities, the colonies contracted a very heavy debt; while, by the loss of their substance through the ravages of the enemy, their resources were greatly diminished. But, in their deepest distress, they forbore to apply to the mother country for assistance; and this omission excited surprise and jealousy. ‘You act,’ said a privy counsellor, ‘as though you were independent of our master’s crown; and though poor, yet you are proud.’

In this unsettled state of the country, the French in Canada and Nova Scotia instigated the northern and eastern Indians to commence hostilities against the English settlements. Dover and Salmon Falls, in New Hampshire, Casco, in Maine, and Schenectady, in New York, were attacked by different parties of French and Indians, and the most shocking barbarities perpetrated on the inhabitants. The Indians having taken the fort at Pemaquid, and the French privateers from Acadie still infesting the coast of New England, the general court of Massachusetts determined to make an attempt on Port Royal. A fleet, with seven or eight hundred men, under the command of Sir William Phipps, sailed on that expedition in the latter end of April. The fort at Port Royal, not being in a state to sustain a siege, surrendered, with little or no resistance; and Sir William took possession of the whole sea-coast, from Port Royal to the New England settlements.

Regarding Canada as the principal source of their miseries, New England and New York formed the bold project of reducing it to subjection. By great exertion they raised an army, which, under the command of general Winthrop, was sent against Montreal, and equipped a fleet, which, commanded by Sir William Phipps, was destined to attack Quebec. The fleet, retarded by unavoidable accidents, did not arrive before Quebec until the 5th of October. Phipps, the next morning, sent a summons on shore, but received an insolent answer from count Frontenac. The next day he attempted to land his troops, but was prevented by the violence of the wind. On the 8th, all the effective men, amounting to between twelve and thirteen hundred, landed at the isle of Orleans, four miles below the town, and were fired on from the woods by French and Indians. Having remained on shore three days, they received information from a deserter of the strength of the place, and precipitately embarked. A tempest soon after dispersed the fleet, which made the best of its way back to Boston. A successful result had been so confidently expected, that adequate provision was not made at home for the payment of the troops. In this extremity, the government of Massachusetts issued bills of credit, or paper money; and these were the first that were ever issued in the American colonies; but though it afforded relief at the moment, it produced in its consequences extensive and complicated mischief.

The first trials for witchcraft in New England occurred in the year 1645, when four persons charged with this crime were put to death in Massachusetts. For more than twenty years after, we hear but little of similar prosecutions. But in the year 1688, a woman was executed for witchcraft in Boston, after an investigation conducted with a degree of solemnity that made a deep impression on the minds of the people. Suspicions having been thus violently roused, the charges of witchcraft began gradually to multiply, till at length there commenced at Salem that dreadful tragedy which rendered New England for many months a scene of bloodshed, terror and madness, and at one time seemed to threaten the subversion of civil society.

In the year 1692, the frenzy of the colonists reached the highest pitch of extravagance. Suspicions and accusations of witchcraft became general among them; and on this fanciful charge many persons were put to death. This pestilential visitation first showed itself in the town of Salem. A fanatic, who was minister of a church there, had two daughters subject to convulsions. He fancied they were bewitched; and fixed his suspicions on an Indian girl who lived in the house, as the accomplice and tool of Satan in the matter. By harsh treatment he made the poor savage acknowledge herself a witch. Among a people like the New Englanders, this was throwing a firebrand into a powder magazine; and the explosion was dreadful. Every woman subject to hysterical affections instantly believed herself bewitched; and was seldom at a loss to discover the guilty cause of her malady. Persons accused of the imaginary crime of witchcraft were imprisoned, condemned, hanged, and their bodies left exposed to wild beasts and birds of prey. Counsellors who refused to plead against these devoted victims, and judges who were not forward in condemning them, were doomed to share their fate, as accomplices in their guilt.

Children of ten years of age were put to death; young women were stripped naked, and the marks of witchcraft sought for on their bodies with unblushing curiosity. Scorbutical or other spots on the bodies of old men were reckoned clear proofs of a heinous commerce with the infernal powers. Dreams, apparitions, prodigies of every kind, increased the general consternation and horror. The prisons were filled, the gibbets left standing, and the citizens were appalled. Under this frightful delirium, the miserable colonists seemed doomed to destruction by each other’s hands. The more prudent withdrew from a country polluted by the blood of its inhabitants, and the ruin of the colony seemed inevitable; when, ceasing to receive countenance from those in authority, this awful frenzy passed away, almost as suddenly as it had arisen, leaving to future ages a fearful warning against such popular insanity.

It is matter of satisfaction to the historian, that his attention is not again to be diverted, in the annals of this state, from his peculiar province, to record events which, had the intention of religion been rightly apprehended, would not have intermixed with civil affairs in fact, and therefore not in history. The legislature, at its first session under the new charter, passed a law which indicates the same independent spirit that afterwards resisted the usurpations of the British parliament. It provided that no tax should be imposed upon any of his majesty’s subjects, or their estates, in the province, but by the act and consent of the governor, council, and representatives of the people, in general court assembled. It is almost needless to add, that this law was disallowed by the king.

The war with the French and Indians, which began in 1690, was not yet terminated. For several years were the frontier settlements harassed by the savages, and the English were employed in expeditions against them. This continuance of the war on the part of the Indians, instigated and aided by the French, induced repeated applications for a force from the British government, to act in conjunction with land forces to be raised in New England and New York, for the reduction of Canada; and it was at length determined, that an expedition should be undertaken for that purpose. A fleet was to be employed in the winter in the reduction of Martinico; and, after the performance of that service, was to sail to Boston, take on board a body of land forces under Sir William Phipps, and proceed to Quebec. By attempting too much, the whole of this extensive project entirely failed.

The attacks of the natives on the English continued with little intermission till the peace of 1697. They were carried on with Indian cunning, treachery, and cruelty. ‘To these causes of suffering were superadded the power of all such motives as the ingenuity of the French could invent, their wealth furnish, or their bigotry adopt. Here all the implements of war and the means of sustenance were supplied; the expedition was planned; the price was bidden for scalps; the aid of European officers and soldiers was conjoined; the devastation and slaughter were sanctioned by the ministers of religion; and the blood-hounds, while their fangs were yet dropping blood, were caressed and cherished by men regarded by them as superior beings. The intervals between formal attacks were usually seasons of desultory mischief, plunder, and butchery; and always of suspense and dread. The solitary family was carried into captivity; the lonely house burned to the ground; and the traveller waylaid and shot in the forest. It ought, however, to be observed, to the immortal honor of these people, distinguished as they are by so many traits of brutal ferocity, that history records no instance in which the purity of a female captive was violated by them, or even threatened.’

The peace of Ryswick, which had been signed on the 20th of September, was proclaimed at Boston on the 10th of December, and the English colonies had a brief repose. By the seventh article it was agreed, that mutual restitution should be made of all the countries, forts, and colonies taken by each party during the war.

In a few years war again broke out in Europe, and hostilities speedily recommenced in America. The first blow fell upon Deerfield. In February, 1704, it was surprised in the night, about forty persons were killed, and more than one hundred were made prisoners, among whom were Mr. Williams, the minister, and his family. The killed were scalped, and the prisoners commanded to prepare for a long march to Canada. On the second day, Mrs. Williams was so exhausted with fatigue that she could go no farther. Her husband solicited permission to remain with her; but the retreating savages, according to their custom in such cases, killed her and compelled him to proceed. Before the termination of their journey, twenty more became unable to walk, and were in like manner sacrificed. Those who survived the journey to Canada were treated by the French with humanity; and after a captivity of many years, most of them were redeemed, and returned to their friends.

New York having agreed with the French and the western Indians to remain neutral, the enemy were enabled to pour their whole force upon Massachusetts and New Hampshire, the inhabitants of which, for ten years, endured miseries peculiar to an Indian war, of which the description we have given falls below the truth. The enemy were at all times prowling about the frontier settlements, watching in concealment for an opportunity to strike a sudden blow, and to fly with safety. The women and children retired into the garrisons; the men left their fields uncultivated, or labored with arms at their sides, and with sentinels at every point whence an attack could be apprehended. Yet, notwithstanding these precautions, the Indians were often successful, killing sometimes an individual, sometimes a whole family, sometimes a band of laborers, ten or twelve in number; and so swift were they in their movements, that but few fell into the hands of the whites. It was computed, that the sum of one thousand pounds was expended for every Indian killed or made captive. In 1707, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, despatched an armament against Port Royal, in Nova Scotia, then in possession of the French, which returned, however, without effecting its object; but in 1710, the troops of New England, assisted by a British fleet, succeeded in reducing the place; and in compliment to queen Anne, changed its name to Annapolis.

We pass over various topics of interest, in regard to contests in Massachusetts between the people and their governors, relative to certain prerogatives of the crown. After a struggle of more than thirty years, the crown was compelled to yield to a bold and persevering opposition, and the controversy was not again renewed till the year 1773.

In 1744, war again broke out between England and France, and the colonies were again the theatre on which the great drama was to be acted. Commerce generally, and in particular the fisheries, suffered greatly during these hostilities from privateers fitted out at Louisburg, a French port on Cape Breton. This post was considered of vast importance, and nearly six millions of dollars had been expended on its fortifications. This post it was determined to subdue, and an expedition was sent against it under the command of Sir William Pepperell, of Kittery. In conjunction with other forces from England under the command of commodore Warren, batteries were erected before the town, and an assault eventually resolved upon. Discouraged by these adverse events and menacing appearances, the French commander consented to capitulate, and on the sixteenth of June articles were accordingly signed. After the surrender of the city, the French flag was kept flying on the ramparts, and several rich prizes were thus decoyed.

Fired with resentment at their loss, the French made extraordinary exertions to retrieve it, and to inflict chastisement on New England. The next summer they despatched to the American coast a powerful fleet, carrying a large number of soldiers. The news of its approach spread terror throughout New England; but an uncommon succession of disasters deprived it of all power to inflict injury. After remaining a short time on the coast, it returned to France, having lost two admirals, both of whom it was supposed put an end to their lives through chagrin; having also, by tempests, been reduced to one half its force, without effecting any of the objects anticipated.

In the month of November, 1747, a great tumult occurred in the town of Boston, arising from the following circumstance: Commodore Knowles, while lying at Nantasket with a number of men of war, losing some of his sailors by desertion, thought it reasonable that Boston should supply him with as many men as he had lost. He therefore sent his boats early in the morning, and surprised not only as many seamen as could be found on board any of the ships, but pressed some ship carpenters’ apprentices, and other laboring landsmen. This conduct was universally resented as outrageous; and as soon as it was dusk, several thousand people assembled in King’s street, where the general court was sitting. Stones and brickbats were thrown into the council chamber through the windows. A judicious speech of the governor from the balcony, disapproving of the impress, promising his utmost endeavors to obtain the discharge of the persons impressed, but reprehending the irregular proceedings of the people, had no effect.

The seizure and restraint of the commanders and other officers who were in town were insisted on, as the only effectual method to procure the release of the inhabitants aboard the ships. The militia of Boston was summoned the next day to the aid of government, but refused to appear. The governor, judging it inexpedient to remain in town another night, withdrew to castle William; but kept up a communication with the commodore, urging the liberation of the townsmen. Meanwhile, the council and house of representatives passed some vigorous resolutions, and the tumultuous spirit began to subside. The inhabitants, assembled in town meeting, while they expressed their sense of the great insult and injury by the impress, condemned the riotous transactions. The militia of the town the next day promptly made their appearance, and conducted the governor with great pomp to his house; and the commodore dismissed most, if not all of the inhabitants who had been impressed; and the squadron sailed, to the joy and repose of the town.

In October, 1748, a treaty of peace between England and France was signed at Aix la Chapelle. By the articles of this treaty, Cape Breton was given up to the French, in a compromise for restoring the French conquests in the low countries to the empress queen of Hungary and the States General, and for a general restitution of places captured by the other belligerent powers. It was naturally a mortification to the inhabitants of New England, that what they termed, not unjustly, ‘their own acquisition,’ should be restored to France; but so long as peace continued, they sustained no disadvantage. In most respects, Massachusetts Bay was never in a more easy and happy situation, than at the close of this war.

NEW HAMPSHIRE AND MAINE.

It was in the year 1623, that Sir Ferdinando Gorges, John Mason, and others, having obtained of the Plymouth or New England company grants of several tracts of land, lying north of Massachusetts, sent from England a few persons to begin a settlement. Part landed, and for a short time remained at Little Harbor, on the west side Piscataqua river, and near its mouth, where they erected the first house, calling it Mason Hall; the remainder, proceeding higher up the river, settled at Cocheco, afterwards called Dover. Fishing and trade being the principal objects of these emigrants, their settlements increased slowly.

The persecuting policy of the Massachusetts colony peopled this country, when money and persuasion had been tried in vain. It has already been stated, that among those who were expelled from the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, at the time of the dissensions occasioned by opposition to the spread of antinomian sentiments at Boston, was the Rev. John Wheelwright. Previously to the date of Mason’s patent, he had purchased the land of the Indians, and laid the foundation of Exeter. In the year 1630, thirty-five persons residing in that town combined and established civil government; and within a year or two afterwards, the inhabitants of Dover and Portsmouth followed their example, each town remaining distinct and independent.

From Indian hostilities, this colony suffered more severely than her neighbors. The surprise of Dover, in 1689, was effected with the most shocking barbarity; though the natives having been ill-treated by one of the principal inhabitants may account for, if not palliate, their ferocious revenge. Having determined upon their plan of attack, the Indians employed their usual art to lull the suspicions of the inhabitants. So civil and respectful was their behavior, that they occasionally obtained permission to sleep in the fortified houses in the town. On the evening of the fatal night, they assembled in the neighborhood, and sent their women to apply for lodgings at the houses devoted to destruction. When all was quiet the doors were opened and the signal given. The Indians rushed into Waldron’s house, and hastened to his apartment. Awakened by the noise, he seized his sword, and drove them back, but when returning for his other arms was stunned with a hatchet, and fell. They then dragged him into his hall, seated him in an elbow chair upon a long table, and insultingly asked him, ‘Who shall judge Indians now?’ After feasting upon provisions, which they compelled the rest of the family to procure, each one with his knife cut gashes across his breast, saying, ‘I cross out my account.’ When, weakened with the loss of blood, he was about to fall from the table, his own sword was held under him, which put an end to his tortures. At other houses, similar acts of cruelty were perpetrated; in the whole, twenty-three persons were killed, and twenty-nine carried prisoners to Canada, who were mostly sold to the French. Many houses were burned, and much property was plundered; but so expeditious were the Indians, that they had fled beyond reach before the neighboring people could be collected. The war thus commenced, was not easily terminated. The French, by giving premiums for scalps, and by purchasing the English prisoners, animated the Indians to exert all their activity and address, and the frontier inhabitants endured the most aggravated sufferings. The peace of Ryswick, in 1697, closed the distressing scene till 1703, when another war began, which continued ten years.

A few years only transpired before the inhabitants again suffered the afflictions of an Indian war. Following the example of the French, the government offered premiums for scalps, which induced several volunteer companies to undertake expeditions against the enemy. One of these, commanded by captain Lovewell, was greatly distinguished. In April, 1725, with thirty-four men, he fought a famous Indian chief, named Paugus, at the head of about eighty savages, near the shores of a pond in Pequackett. Lovewell’s men were determined either to conquer or die, although outnumbered by the Indians more than twice. They fought till Lovewell and Paugus were killed, and all Lovewell’s men but nine were either killed or dangerously wounded. The savages having lost, as was supposed, sixty of their number out of eighty, and being convinced of the fierce and determined resolution of their foes, at length retreated, and left them masters of the ground. The scene of this desperate and bloody action, which took place in the town that is now called Fryburgh, is often visited with interest to this day, and the names both of those who fell, and those who survived, are yet repeated with exultation.

CONNECTICUT.

The Connecticut colony consisted of people who first emigrated from England to Massachusetts, and, in the years 1630 and 1632, settled and formed themselves into churches at Dorchester, Watertown, and Cambridge, where they resided several years. But either because the number of emigrants to Massachusetts did not allow them all such a choice as they wished of good lands, or because some jealousies had arisen between their pastors and leaders, and the leading men of the colony, they took the resolution of seating themselves again in the wilderness; and in the years 1635 and 1636 they removed their families to Windsor, Weathersfield, and Hartford, on the Connecticut river.

From the commencement of the Connecticut colony, the natives discovered a hostile disposition. Their principal enemy was the Pequods, the most numerous and warlike nation within the limits of the state, and perhaps in New England. They inhabited the country which environs the towns of New London, Groton, and Stonington. Sassacus, the great prince of the Pequods, had under him six-and-twenty sachems, and could bring into the field seven hundred or a thousand warriors, who had been long accustomed to victory. The royal residence was at a large fort situated on a beautiful eminence in the town of Groton, which commands an extensive prospect of the sea and of the surrounding country. There was also another fortress, called Mystic fort, situated in the town of Stonington. After suffering repeated injuries, and the murder of about thirty of their people, principally by the Pequods, the general court, which had been convened for the purpose, resolved on active hostilities, and immediately raised an army of ninety men, half the effective force of the colony. These were to be joined by two hundred men from Massachusetts, and forty from Plymouth.

The court which declared war was holden on the 1st of May; the men were raised and embarked on the river, under the command of captain Mason, on the 10th; and, after being wind-bound several days, sailed from the mouth of the river for Narraganset bay on the 19th. They were accompanied by sixty Mohegan and River Indians, under Uncas, a Mohegan sachem. On reaching Narraganset bay, they landed to the number of seventy-seven Englishmen, marched into the country of the Narragansets, and communicated their design to Miantonimoh, the sachem of the country, who offered to join them. Information was here received that captain Patrick had reached Providence, with a company of Massachusetts troops, but it was resolved not to wait for this reinforcement. On the next day, they marched twenty miles through the west part of Rhode Island, and reached Nihantick, which bordered on the Pequods’ country.99 The army wheeled directly to Mystic fort, which was immediately attacked; the contest, though tremendously severe, terminated in favor of the English, and in the destruction of the Indians. Although this victory was complete, the situation of the army was extremely dangerous and destressing. Several were killed, and one-fourth of their number were wounded; the remainder were exhausted with fatigue, and destitute of provisions; they were in the midst of an enemy’s country, many miles from their vessels, and their ammunition was nearly exhausted; they were but a few miles distant from the principal fortress of their foe, where there was a fresh army, which they knew would be exasperated in the highest degree on learning the fate of their brethren. In the midst of their perplexity, while they were consulting on the course to be pursued, their vessels appeared in sight, steering with a fair wind directly into the harbor. The army was received on board with great mutual joy and congratulation.

The troops employed on this successful expedition reached their homes before the expiration of a month from the day that the war was resolved upon. The Pequods, on the departure of captain Mason, burnt their wigwams, destroyed their principal fort, and scattered themselves throughout the country. Sassacus, with a party of his chief warriors, abandoned his country, and moved by slow marches towards the Hudson river. They were followed by a party of Massachusetts and Connecticut troops; and, in a great swamp in Fairfield, near the western part of Connecticut, they were overtaken, and a battle ensued. Sassacus, and about twenty of his most hardy men, escaped, and fled to the Mohawk country; but there he found no safety; he was surprised by the Mohawks, and killed, with all his party, except Mononotto, who, after being wounded, made his escape. The Pequods who remained were divided between the Mohegans and Narragansets, and the nation became extinct. The vigor and boldness with which this war was prosecuted on both sides, give it the air of romance. Its decisive termination, which was so fatal to one party, was productive of the most happy consequences to the other. It struck the Indians throughout New England with such a salutary terror, that they were contented, in general, to remain at peace for nearly forty years.

In the year 1637, Mr. John Davenport, a celebrated London minister, accompanied by several eminent merchants, made overtures to the native proprietors for the purchase of all the lands between the rivers Hudson and Connecticut. This purchase they in part effected, and from this originated the colony of New Haven. At first they recognised the authority of Massachusetts, but it being evident that they were not within the limits of the Massachusetts colony, they convened an assembly at Hartford, and formed a constitution of government of the most popular kind. The people of New Haven followed their example, and framed a similar government; and these continued the constitutions of the two colonies, till their union in 1661. On the completion of the union among the several colonies of New England, several Indian sachems came in and submitted themselves to the English government, among whom were Miantonomoh, the Narraganset, and Uncas, the Mohegan, chief.

After the restoration, the Connecticut colony sent out Mr. Winthrop of Massachusetts to England, with a petition for a charter with the royal signature. This charter he obtained, and it was one of the most liberal description. It established a government of a highly popular kind, and continued the fundamental law of Connecticut for one hundred and fifty-eight years. ‘It is remarkable,’ says a writer in the North American Review, ‘that although it was granted at a period of the world when the rights of the people were little understood and little regarded, and by a sovereign who governed England with a more arbitrary sway than any of his successors, the form of government established by this charter was of a more popular description, and placed all power within the more immediate reach of the people, than the constitution for which it has been deliberately exchanged, in these modern days of popular jealousy and republican freedom.’ In this new charter was included the colony of New Haven; though it was not for some years that the union was finally adopted.

Connecticut was destined to suffer, with the rest of the colonies, from the violent acts committed in the last years of the reign of the Stuarts. Massachusetts had been deprived of her charter, and Rhode Island had been induced to surrender hers, when, in July, 1685, a writ of quo warranto was issued against the governor and company of Connecticut. The colonial government was strongly advised by Vane to comply with the requisition, and surrender the charter; but it was determined neither to appear to defend the charter, nor voluntarily to surrender it. Sir Edmund Andros made repeated applications for its surrender, but without success.

The singular mode of its escape from his demand in person is thus recorded by Trumbull: ‘The assembly met as usual, in October, 1687, and the government continued, according to charter, until the last of the month. About this time, Sir Edmund, with his suite, and more than sixty regular troops, came to Hartford, where the assembly were sitting, demanded the charter, and declared the government under it to be dissolved. The assembly were extremely reluctant and slow with respect to any resolve to surrender the charter, or with respect to any motion to bring it forth. The tradition is, that governor Treat strongly represented the great expense and hardships of the colonists in planting the country; the blood and treasure which they had expended in defending it, both against the savages and foreigners; to what hardships and dangers he himself had been exposed for that purpose; and that it was like giving up his life now to surrender the patent and privileges so dearly bought, and so long enjoyed. The important affair was debated and kept in suspense until the evening, when the charter was brought and laid upon the table where the assembly were sitting.

‘By this time, great numbers of people were assembled, and men sufficiently bold to enterprise whatever might be necessary or expedient. The lights were instantly extinguished, and one captain Wadsworth, of Hartford, in the most silent and secret manner, carried off the charter, and secreted it in a large hollow tree, fronting the house of the honorable Samuel Wyllys, then one of the magistrates of the colony. The people appeared all peaceable and orderly. The candles were officiously relighted, but the patent was gone, and no discovery could be made of it, or of the person who had conveyed it away.’ Though Sir Edmund was thus foiled in his attempt to obtain possession of the charter, he did not hesitate to assume the reins of government, which he administered in a manner as oppressive in this as in the other colonies. When, on the arrival of the declaration of the prince of Orange at Boston, Andros was deposed and imprisoned, the people of Connecticut resumed their previous form of government, having been interrupted little more than a year and a half.

In the Indian war, in which Philip acted so conspicuous a part, Connecticut had her share of suffering, though it was not so great as that of some of her sister colonies. Hostilities were commenced by the aborigines, on the Connecticut river, in the summer of 1675; and, on the first of September, the inhabitants of Hadley were alarmed by the Indians during the time of public worship, and the people thrown into the utmost confusion; but the enemy were repulsed by the valor and good conduct of an aged, venerable man, who, suddenly appearing in the midst of the affrighted inhabitants, put himself at their head, led them to the onset, and, after the dispersion of the enemy, instantly disappeared. This deliverer of Hadley, then imagined to be an angel, was general Goffe, (one of the judges of Charles I.,) who was at that time concealed in the town.

But a short time elapsed, before the colonists were again called on to defend their privileges from what they deemed an unjust encroachment. Colonel Fletcher, governor of New York, had been vested with plenary powers to command the militia of Connecticut, and insisted on the exercise of that command. The legislature of Connecticut, deeming that authority to be expressly given to the colony by charter, would not submit to his requisition; but, desirous of maintaining a good understanding with governor Fletcher, endeavored to make terms with him, until his majesty’s pleasure should be further known. All their negotiations were, however, unsuccessful; and, on the 26th of October, he came to Hartford, while the assembly was sitting, and, in his majesty’s name, demanded submission; but the refusal was resolutely persisted in. After the requisition had been repeatedly made, with plausible explanations and serious menaces, Fletcher ordered his commission and instructions to be read in audience of the trainbands of Hartford, which had been assembled upon his order.

Captain Wadsworth, the senior officer, who was exercising his soldiers, instantly called out, ‘Beat the drums!’ which, in a moment, overwhelmed every voice. Fletcher commanded silence. No sooner was a second attempt made to read, than Wadsworth vociferated, ‘Drum, drum! I say.’ The drummers instantly beat up again, with the greatest possible spirit. ‘Silence, silence,’ exclaimed the governor. At the first moment of a pause, Wadsworth called out earnestly, ‘Drum, drum, I say;’ and, turning to his excellency, said, ‘If I am interrupted again, I will make the sun shine through you in a moment.’ Colonel Fletcher declined putting Wadsworth to the test, and, abandoning the contest, returned with his suite to New York.

RHODE ISLAND.

The settlement of PROVIDENCE AND RHODE ISLAND was made by Roger Williams, in 1636. This man was far in advance of his age. He set the first example of perfect religious equality and toleration; and extended his humane labors to enlighten, improve and conciliate the savages. When the New England colonies, in 1643, formed the celebrated confederacy, Rhode Island applied to be admitted to the union; but Plymouth objected, on the ground that the settlements were within her boundaries.

Upon the application of the inhabitants, in 1663, a charter was granted by Charles II. to the Rhode Island and Providence plantations. On the accession of James II., the assembly of Rhode Island immediately transmitted an address, acknowledging themselves his loyal subjects, and begging protection for their chartered rights. But reformation of abuses in New England was then the order of the day, and articles of high misdemeanor were exhibited against them before the lords of the committee of colonies, accusing them of breaches of their charter, and of opposition to the acts of navigation. This committee ordered that Sir Edmund Andros, the governor of Massachusetts, should demand the surrender of their charter, and govern them as other colonies of New England. In December, 1686, Andros accordingly dissolved the government of Rhode Island, broke its seal, and assumed the administration of affairs. When the revolution put an end to his power, Rhode Island and Providence resumed their charter, on the ground that an act which was extorted by terror might justly be recalled when restraint no longer remained.

The wise, peaceful and beneficent counsels of Williams, had preserved the colonists from the dangers of Indian incursions. Their prosperity was proportionate to their moderation. The population increased with great rapidity, and in 1761 amounted to forty thousand. Brown university was founded at Warren, in 1764. Six years afterwards it was removed to Providence, where a large and elegant building was erected for the students.

NEW YORK.

NEW YORK was first settled by the Dutch, who erected a fort near Albany, which they called fort Orange, and a few trading-houses on the island of New York, then called by the Indians Manhattan. The claims of the Dutch to the property of the soil were disputed by the king of Great Britain, who founded an adverse claim on the discovery of the Cabots in the previous century. In the first year of their settlement, they were visited by captain Argal, who claimed the country for his sovereign, and warned them to acknowledge his authority. The colony was small, and prudently acquiesced in the demand: but within a twelvemonth their number was increased, and the demands of the English were promptly resisted. For a series of years they continued in undisturbed quiet, and by toil, perseverance and unwearied activity, surmounted the dangers and troubles of an infant colony.

In 1621, the Dutch republic granted to their West India company an extensive territory on both sides of the Hudson, and called it New Netherlands. Under the management of this company, the settlement was soon both consolidated and extended; and the foundations were laid of the cities of New Amsterdam, afterwards New York, and of Albany. In 1623, they erected a fort on the Delaware, which they called Nassau; and, ten years afterwards, another on the Connecticut, which they called Good Hope. Near the former the Swedes had a settlement; and from the interfering claims of the two nations, quarrels arose between the settlers, which, in a few years, terminated in the subjugation of the Swedes.

The policy of the Dutch, in extending their settlements so far eastward as Connecticut, soon brought them into collision with more powerful neighbors. Numberless causes of dispute arose between New Netherlands and the colonies of Connecticut and New Haven; but neither party allowed itself to forget the substantial claims of humanity, or the forms of ordinary courtesy. In the Indian wars, the English never delayed to render due assistance to their Dutch neighbors, who were so unwarlike that they found it necessary to invite captain Underhill, who had been banished from Boston for his eccentricities in religion, to take command of their troops. Collecting a flying party of one hundred and fifty men, he was enabled to preserve the Dutch settlements from destruction. The number of Indians whom he killed in the course of the war, was supposed to exceed four hundred. In 1646, a severe battle was fought on that part of Horse-Neck called Strickland’s Plain. The Dutch were victorious; on both sides great numbers were slain; and for a century afterwards the graves of the dead were distinctly visible.

When Charles II. ascended the British throne, he did not hesitate to assert his claim to the province of New Netherlands; and without any attempt at negotiation with the states, he executed a charter, conveying to the duke of York the whole territory from the eastern shore of the Delaware to the western bank of the Connecticut. This grant took no notice of the existing possession of the Dutch, or of the recent Connecticut charter, which it entirely superseded. No sooner did the duke of York obtain this grant, than he conveyed to lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret all that portion now constituting the province of New Jersey. To carry such a grant into effect, it was necessary to call in the aid of the military, and an armament was despatched from England under the command of colonel Nichols; who was also appointed governor of the province he was about to conquer. After touching at Boston, the fleet sailed to the Hudson and took a position before the capital of New Netherlands. The Dutch governor, Stuyvesant, had determined on a resolute resistance, but his followers were of a less gallant temperament, and compelled him to agree to a treaty of capitulation.

Immediately after its subjugation, New Amsterdam, and the whole conquered province, received the name of New York. Few of the inhabitants thought proper to remove from the country; even governor Stuyvesant lived and died there. Nichols at once assumed command of the conquered territory, and proceeded to reduce the affairs of the state to one uniform constitution and policy. Many of the Dutch forms of government were retained, but English influence gradually brought about a change; and on the twelfth of June, 1665, the inhabitants of New York were incorporated under a mayor, five aldermen, and a sheriff. At the peace of Breda, New York was regularly ceded to England in exchange for Surinam, by a general stipulation that each of the belligerents should retain what its arms had acquired since the commencement of hostilities.

The interior of New York was originally inhabited by a confederacy, which consisted at first of five, and afterwards of six, nations of Indians. This confederacy was formed for mutual defence against the Algonquins, a powerful Canadian nation, and displayed much of the wisdom and sagacity which mark the institutions of a civilized people. By their union they had become formidable to the surrounding tribes. Being the allies of the English, the French were alarmed at their successes, and became jealous of their power. In the year 1684, De la Barre, the governor of Canada, marched to attack them, with an army of seventeen hundred men. His troops suffered so much from hardships, famine, and sickness, that he was compelled to ask peace of those whom he had come to exterminate. He invited the chiefs of the Five Nations to meet him at his camp, and those of three of them accepted the invitation. Standing in a circle, formed by the chiefs and his own officers, he addressed a speech to Garrangula, of the Onondago tribe, in which he accused the confederates of conducting the English to the trading grounds of the French, and threatened them with war and extermination if they did not alter their behavior. Garrangula, knowing the distresses of the French troops, heard these threats with contempt. After walking five or six times round the circle, he addressed De la Barre in the following bold language, calling him Yonnondio, and the English governor, Corlear:—

‘Hear, Yonnondio, I do not sleep; I have my eyes open, and the sun which enlightens me, discovers to me a great captain at the head of a company of soldiers, who speaks as if he was dreaming. He says that he only came to smoke the great pipe of peace with the Onondagas. But Garrangula says, that he sees the contrary; that it was to knock them on the head, if sickness had not weakened the arms of the French. We carried the English to our lakes, to trade there with the Utawawas, and Quatoghies, as the Adirondacs brought the French to our castles, to carry on a trade which the English say is theirs. We are born free; we neither depend on Yonnondio nor Corlear. We may go where we please, and buy and sell what we please. If your allies are your slaves, use them as such; command them to receive no other but your people. Hear, Yonnondio! what I say is the voice of all the Five Nations. When they buried the hatchet at Cadaracui, in the middle of the fort, they planted the tree of peace in the same place, to be there carefully preserved, that instead of a retreat for soldiers, the fort might be a rendezvous for merchants. Take care that the many soldiers who appear there do not choke the tree of peace, and prevent it from covering your country and ours with its branches. I assure you that our warriors shall dance under its leaves, and will never dig up the hatchet to cut it down, till their brother Yonnondio or Corlear shall invade the country which the Great Spirit has given to our ancestors.’

De la Barre was mortified and enraged at this bold reply; but, submitting to necessity, he concluded a treaty of peace, and returned to Montreal. His successor, De Nonville, led a larger army against the confederates; but fell into an ambuscade, and was defeated. These wars within the limits of the colony served to perpetuate the enmity of the Indians against the French, and their attachment to the English.

When James II. ascended the throne, it was determined to superadd New York and the Jerseys to the jurisdiction of the four colonies of New England; and a new commission was issued, appointing Sir Edmund Andros captain-general and vice-admiral over the whole. His authority, however, was a brief one. In the following year, intelligence was received of the accession of William and Mary to the British throne; and while the principal officers and magistrates were assembled to consult for the general good, Jacob Leisler, a captain of militia, seized the fort and held it for the prince of Orange. The province was for some time subsequently ruled by a committee of safety, with Leisler at their head. In a few months, a letter arrived from the ministry in England, directed ‘to such as, for the time being, take care of administering the laws of the province,’ and conferring authority to perform all the duties of lieutenant governor. This letter Leisler understood as addressed to himself, and assumed the authority conferred by it, without ceremony.

The people of Albany acknowledged king William, but refused to submit to Leisler. Force was resorted to, with the view of compelling obedience; and the estates of the rebellious were confiscated. In this disturbed state, the colonists of New York remained nearly two years; when the miseries of foreign aggression were added to those of internal discord.

War had been declared between France and England; and De Nonville had been replaced in the governorship of Canada by count Frontignac, a veteran officer, whose skilful and energetic measures, aided by a large reinforcement, soon raised the affairs of the French from the brink of ruin, and enabled them to act on the offensive. Frontignac was indefatigable in his efforts to gain over the Five Nations, who had made two attacks upon Montreal, and murdered a great number of inhabitants. He held a great council with them at Onondaga; and, as they seemed to be somewhat inclined to peace, he resolved to give their favorable disposition no time for change, and, at the same time, to inspirit his own drooping countrymen, by finding them immediate employment against the English colonies. On the 19th of January, a party of about two hundred French, and some Cahnuaga Indians, set out, in a deep snow, for Schenectady; they arrived on the 8th of February, at eleven o’clock at night; and the first intimation the inhabitants had of their design, was conveyed in the noise of their own bursting doors. The village was burnt, sixty persons were butchered, twenty-seven suffered the worse fate of captivity, the rest made their way naked through the snow towards Albany, where some arrived in extreme distress, while many perished in the attempt. A party of young men, and some Mohawk Indians, set out from the latter place, pursued the enemy, and killed or captured twenty-five.

To avenge these barbarities, and others perpetrated in New England, a combined expedition against Canada was projected. An army, raised in New York and Connecticut, proceeded as far as the head of lake Champlain, whence, finding no boats prepared, they were obliged to return. Sir William Phipps, with a fleet of more than thirty vessels, sailed from Boston into the St. Lawrence, and, landing a body of troops, made an attack by land and water upon Quebec; but the return of the army to New York allowing the whole force of the enemy to repair to the assistance of the garrison, he was obliged to abandon the enterprise. Leisler, transported with rage when he was informed of the retreat, caused Winthrop, who commanded the New England forces, to be arrested, but was instantly compelled, by universal indignation, to release him. It was to the misconduct or incapacity of Leisler and Milborne, (the latter of whom, as commissary-general, had made no adequate provision for the enterprise,) that the failure of this expedition was attributed.

Leisler was afterwards superseded by colonel Sloughter, and, together with Milborne, was executed for refusing to surrender his authority to the officer legally appointed to receive it. Sloughter’s administration was inefficient and turbulent. He was succeeded by colonel Fletcher, a man of great energy of character, but violent in his disposition and mean. His administration was signalized by no occurrence worthy of particular record. The war between the French and the Five Indian Nations raged with great fury, and both parties seemed inspired with a mutual emulation of cruelty in victory, no less than of prowess in battle. Prisoners were tortured, and put to death, without the least regard to the rights of humanity, or the laws of war.

In 1697, the peace of Ryswick, which was concluded between Great Britain and France, gave security and repose to the colonies. The next year, the earl of Bellamont was appointed governor. He was particularly desirous of clearing the American seas of the pirates with which they had for some time been grievously infested. The government, however, declining to furnish an adequate naval force, the earl engaged with others in a private undertaking against them. Among the associates were lord chancellor Summers and the duke of Shrewsbury; the king himself, too, held a tenth share. The company, having procured a vessel of war, gave the command to captain Kid, and despatched him on a cruise against the pirates. He had been but a short time at sea, when he made a new contract with his crew, and, on the Atlantic and Indian oceans, became himself a daring and successful pirate. Three years afterwards he returned, burned his ship, and, with a strange infatuation, appeared in public at Boston.

The earl of Bellamont wrote to the secretary of state, desiring that Kid might be sent for, and a man-of-war was despatched upon this service; but being driven back by a storm, a general suspicion prevailed in England, that there was collusion between the ministry and the adventurers, who were thought unwilling to produce Kid, lest he might discover that the chancellor and the other associates were confederates in the piracy. So powerful was this feeling, that a motion was made in the house of commons, that all who were concerned in the adventure might be deprived of their employments; but it was rejected by a great majority, and all subsequent attempts to implicate the unfortunate shareholders, only proved more satisfactorily their entire innocence of any participation either in the designs or the profits of captain Kid; although their imprudence in selecting a person whose previous character was very indifferent, was evident and undeniable. Ultimately Kid was conveyed to England, where he was tried and executed.

Lord Bellamont found affairs in great confusion, and the colony divided into two bitter factions, contending with increased animosity. His administration was prudent, and promised to be highly beneficial; but was early terminated by his death, in March, 1701. Lord Cornbury was appointed his successor, a man eminent only for his meanness and profligacy: dismissed by his friends to place him out of the reach of his creditors. His rule was oppressive and extravagant; and the infamy of his private character exposed him to universal odium. He was finally removed, and was succeeded by lord Lovelace. His lordship died soon after his arrival, and general Hunter was appointed to the vacant chair. He brought with him nearly three thousand Germans, who were dispersed through New York and Pennsylvania.

In the year 1709, extensive preparations were made for an attack on the French settlements in Canada; the plan was afterwards abandoned, but in 1711 resumed. It was unsuccessful, and nothing was accomplished by it. To defray its expenses, the newly-elected assembly passed several bills, which the council persisted in amending. A contest ensued between these two bodies, in which the governor took side with the council, and finally dissolved the assembly. At the ensuing election, most of the members chosen were opposed to the governor. This assembly was dissolved by the death of the queen. The next met a similar fate from the governor soon after it met, a majority being known to be unfriendly to his views. At length, however, the people became weary of contending, and sent representatives who were not disposed to differ from the governor.

General Hunter quitted the province in 1719, and his authority devolved on Peter Schuyler, the oldest member of the council. William Burnet succeeded him in the following year. He was a man of good sense, and kind feelings, and he entertained just views of policy. His most vigilant attention was directed to Indian affairs, and to the danger to be apprehended from the vicinity of the French.

Turning his views towards the wilderness, he perceived that the French, in order to connect their settlements in Canada and Louisiana, to secure to themselves the Indian trade, and to confine the English to the sea-coast, were busily employed in erecting a chain of forts from the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi. He endeavored to defeat their design, by building a trading-house, and afterwards a fort, at Oswego, on lake Ontario. But the French had the command of more abundant resources, and applied them to the accomplishment of their object with great activity and zeal. They launched two vessels upon that lake; and, going farther into the wilderness, erected a fort at Niagara, commanding the entrance into it; they had previously erected fort Frontignac, commanding the outlet. The Jesuit Charlevoix does no more than justice to Mr. Burnet, in declaring that he left no stone unturned to defeat the French at Niagara. Besides supplanting his favorite trade at Oswego, these operations tended to the defection of the Five Nations; and, in case of a rupture, exposed the frontiers of the southern colonies to the ravages of the French and their allies. Mr. Burnet, upon whom these considerations made the deepest impression, laid the matter before the house, remonstrated against the proceedings to Longuiel, in Canada, wrote to the ministry in England, who complained of them to the French court, and met the confederates at Albany, endeavoring to convince them of the danger they themselves would be in from an aspiring, ambitious neighbor.

He spoke first about the affair privately to the sachems, and afterwards, in the public conference, informed them of all the encroachments which the French had made upon their fathers, and the ill-usage they had met with, according to La Potherie’s account, published with the privilege of the French king, at Paris, in 1722. He then reminded them of the kind treatment they had received from the English, who constantly fed and clothed them, and never attempted any act of hostility to their prejudice. This speech was extremely well drawn, the thoughts being conceived in strong figures, particularly expressive and agreeable to the Indians. The governor required an explicit declaration of their sentiments concerning the French transactions at Niagara, and their answer was truly categorical. ‘We speak now in the name of all the Six Nations, and come to you howling. This is the reason why we howl, that the governor of Canada encroaches on our land, and builds thereon.’ After which they entreated him to write to the king for succor. Mr. Burnet embraced this favorable opportunity to procure from them a deed, surrendering their country to his majesty, to be protected for their use, and confirming their grant in 1701, concerning which there was only an entry in the books of the secretary for Indian affairs.

It was an unfortunate circumstance, which tended to prevent the execution of Mr. Burnet’s vigorous designs, that the electors of the colony had become dissatisfied at the length of time which had elapsed since they had been called on to exercise their functions. The assembly elected in 1716 had been on such good terms with the governor, that he continued its existence during the long period of eleven years. In the year 1727, however, the clamors of the people induced him to dissolve it; and, as might be expected, that which next met, was composed almost exclusively of his opponents. The court of chancery, in which he presided, had become exceedingly unpopular. It had been instituted by an ordinance of the governor and council, without the concurrence of the assembly, and some of the decisions had given great offence to powerful individuals. The house passed resolutions, declaring it ‘a manifest oppression and grievance,’ and intimating that its decrees were void. Mr. Burnet no sooner heard of these votes, than he called the members before him, and dissolved the assembly. They occasioned, however, an ordinance in the spring following, as well to remedy sundry abuses in the practice in chancery, as to reduce the fees of that court, ‘which, on account of the popular clamors, were so much diminished,’ says Smith, ‘that the wheels of the chancery have ever since rusted upon their axles, the practice being contemned by all gentlemen of eminence in the profession.’

Mr. Burnet was soon after appointed governor of Massachusetts, and was succeeded at New York by colonel Montgomery, who devoted himself so much to his ease that he has left nothing else to distinguish his brief rule. Upon his death, in 1731, the supreme authority devolved upon Rip Van Dam, the senior member of the council. Under his inefficient administration, the French were permitted to erect a fort at Crown Point, within the acknowledged boundaries of New York, from which parties of savages were often secretly despatched to destroy the English settlements.

In August, 1732, Van Dam was superseded by William Crosby. Having been the advocate in parliament of the American colonies, he was at first popular, but he soon lost the affection and confidence of the people. One of his most unpopular acts was the prosecution of Zenger, the printer of a newspaper, for publishing an article derogatory to the dignity of his majesty’s government, bringing him to trial, after a severe imprisonment of thirty-five weeks from the printing of the offensive articles. Andrew Hamilton, an eminent lawyer of Philadelphia, though aged and infirm, learning the distress of the prisoner and the importance of the trial, went to New York to plead Zenger’s cause, which he did so effectually that the jury brought in the prisoner not guilty. The common council of the city of New York, for this noble and successful service, presented Mr. Hamilton the freedom of their corporation in a gold box.

Governor Crosby was succeeded, in 1736, by George Clark. During his administration, the contest which had ended, twenty years before, in the victory gained by governor Hunter over the house of representatives, was revived. The colony being in debt, the house voted to raise the sum of six thousand pounds; but, in order to prevent its misapplication, declared that it should be applied to the payment of certain specified debts. Offended by this vote, Clark immediately dissolved the assembly. At the election which ensued, the popular party was triumphant. In their second session the house voted an address to the lieutenant governor, in which, after stating some of the vital principles of free government, and referring to recent misapplications of money, they say, ‘We therefore beg leave to be plain with your honor, and hope you will not take it amiss when we tell you, that you are not to expect that we will either raise sums unfit to be raised, or put what we shall raise into the power of a governor to misapply, if we can prevent it; nor shall we make up any other deficiencies than what we conceive are fit and just to be paid; nor continue what support or revenue we shall raise for any longer time than one year; nor do we think it convenient to do even that, until such laws are passed as we conceive necessary for the safety of the inhabitants of this colony, who have reposed a trust in us for that only purpose, and which we are sure you will think it reasonable we should act agreeable to; and, by the grace of God, we shall endeavor not to deceive them.’

With men so resolute in maintaining their rights, Clark wisely declined to contend; and promised his cordial co-operation in all measures calculated to promote the prosperity of the colony. Harmony did not, however, long continue. Clark, in his speech at the opening of the next session, declared that unless the revenue was granted for as long a time as it had been granted by former assemblies, his duty to his majesty forbade him from assenting to any act for continuing the excise, or for paying the colonial bills of credit. The house unanimously resolved, that it would not pass any bill for the grant of money, unless assurance should be given that the excise should be continued and the bills of credit redeemed. The lieutenant governor immediately ordered the members to attend him. He told them that ‘their proceedings were presumptuous, daring, and unprecedented; that he could not look upon them without astonishment, nor with honor suffer the house to sit any longer;’ and he accordingly dissolved it. In April, 1740, the assembly again met. It had now risen to importance in the colony; and the adherence of the representatives to their determination, not to grant the revenue for more than one year, made annual meetings of the assembly necessary. Their attachment to liberty was construed by the lieutenant governor into a desire for independence: in a speech delivered, in 1741, he alludes to ‘a jealousy which for some years had obtained in England, that the plantations were not without thoughts of throwing off their dependence on the crown.’

George Clinton superseded Clark in the government of the colony in 1743. Like most of his predecessors he was welcomed with joy; and one of his earliest measures confirmed the favorable accounts which had preceded him, of his talents and liberality. To manifest his confidence in the people, he assented to a bill limiting the duration of the present and all succeeding assemblies. The house evinced its gratitude by adopting the measures he recommended for the defence of the province against the French, who were then at war with England. In 1745, the savages in alliance with France made frequent invasions of the English territories; and their hostilities were continued, with little intermission, till the war which terminated the French dominion in Canada.

In the middle of the seventeenth century, the whole colony of New York contained scarcely one hundred thousand inhabitants,100 not half the number which the city of New York alone can now boast. That the population would have been much more numerous at this time, had not the inhabitants been so continually exposed to the irruptions of the French and their Indian allies, is evident from its rapid increase when those unfavorable circumstances ceased to exist. The consideration of this period belongs, however, to another department of the work.

NEW JERSEY.

It was not till the year 1640 that any attempt was made by the English to colonize that portion of the continent now known as New Jersey, and then they were resisted and expelled by the Swedes. This nation remained in possession of the country on both sides of the Delaware until 1655, when the governor of New Netherlands conquered all their posts, and transported most of the Swedes to Europe. The Dutch consequently possessed themselves of the whole territory of New Jersey, New York, and Delaware; but their settlements in New Jersey shared the fate of those on the Hudson, when in the year 1664 they were captured by the English under colonel Nichols. In the same year the duke of York conveyed that portion of his grant lying between Hudson and Delaware rivers to lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. This tract was called NEW JERSEY, in compliment to Sir George, who had been governor of the island of Jersey, and had held it for the king in his contest with the parliament.

The early history of this province is a history of disputes between the inhabitants and the proprietaries. It would not be interesting to go into their details, as they are mere claims and adjudications of title. Suffice it to say, that in the course of the disputes it became partitioned into East and West Jersey, and fell into the hands of different proprietors. The former was released, in July, 1676, by William Penn and his three associates, assignees of lord Berkeley, to Philip Carteret; and he in return conveyed to them the latter, the government of which the duke retained as a dependency of New York, while that of the first was resigned to Carteret.

Philip Carteret, a natural son of Sir George, returned to East Jersey in the beginning of 1675, and was now kindly received by the inhabitants, because they had felt the rigors of conquest, which had not been softened by Andros, who had been appointed by the duke of York lieutenant over all his territories, from the western bank of the Connecticut to the farther shore of the Delaware. Having postponed the payment of quit-rents to a future day, and published new concessions with regard to the tenure of lands, tranquillity was perfectly restored. Desirous to promote the commercial interests of the colony, because he perceived its neighbor growing great and rich by trade, Carteret began, in 1676, to clear out vessels from East Jersey; but he was steadily opposed by Andros, who claimed jurisdiction over the Jersies, insisting that conquest by the Dutch divested the proprietors of all their rights. He forcibly seized, transported to New York, and there imprisoned, those magistrates why refused to acknowledge his authority. He imposed a duty upon all goods imported, and upon the property of all who came to settle in the country.

The inhabitants made repeated and energetic complaints of this injustice to the duke of York; and at length, wearied with their continual importunity, this prince consented to refer the matter to commissioners, who ultimately agreed to adhere to the opinion of Sir William Jones.

The commissioners pronounced their judgment, in conformity with the opinion of Sir W. Jones, ‘that as the grant to Berkeley and Carteret had reserved no profit or jurisdiction, the legality of the taxes could not be defended.’ In consequence of this adjudication, the duke resigned all his claims on West Jersey, and confirmed the province itself in the amplest terms to its new proprietaries; and soon after granted a similar release in favor of the representatives of Sir George Carteret in East Jersey. The whole of New Jersey thus rose to the rank of an almost independent state, maintaining only a federal connection with the British crown.

The accession of numerous companies of settlers now rapidly promoted the population and prosperity of West Jersey. In the year 1681, the first representative assembly was held; and during its session were enacted the ‘Fundamental Constitutions,’ and other laws for the preservation of property, and the punishment of criminals.

Frequent disputes arising between the proprietary government of East Jersey and the colonists, the trustees of Sir George Carteret, apprehending they should derive little emolument from retaining the government under their control, offered their rights in the province for sale, and accepted the proposals of William Penn, to whom, and his associates, East Jersey was conveyed. Among the new proprietors was the author of the well-known ‘Apology;’ and his colleagues, by a unanimous vote, conferred on him the office of governor for life, with the extraordinary permission to appoint a deputy, instead of his residing at the scene of his authority.

The number of proprietors, and the frequent transfers and subdivisions of shares, introduced such confusion into titles to land, and such uncertainty as to the rights of government, that, for twenty years afterwards, both Jerseys were frequently in a state of disturbance and disorder. In 1702, the proprietors, weary of contending with each other, and with the people, surrendered the right of government to the crown. Queen Anne reunited the two divisions, and appointed lord Cornbury governor over the provinces of New Jersey and New York. From the period of his appointment till his deprivation of office, the history of New Jersey consists of little else than a detail of his contests with the colonial assemblies; and exhibits the resolution with which they opposed his arbitrary conduct, his partial distribution of justice, and his fraudulent misapplication of the public money. After repeated complaints, the queen yielded to the universal indignation; and he was superseded, in 1709, by lord Lovelace.

These provinces continued, for several years, to be ruled by the same governor, but each chose a separate assembly. In 1738, the inhabitants, by a petition to the king, desired that they might, in future, have a separate governor; and their request was granted.

The distance of New Jersey from Canada, the source of most of the Indian wars which afflicted the northern colonies, gave it a complete exemption from those direful calamities, while the Indian tribes in the neighborhood, which were far from numerous, were almost always willing to cultivate a friendly relation with the Europeans. The gravity, simplicity, and courtesy of Quaker manners seem to have been particularly acceptable to these savages; and, added to the careful observation of the principles of equity in the proceedings of the colonists, established an amicable intercourse, to the manifest advantage both of themselves and of the natives.

PENNSYLVANIA AND DELAWARE.

During a considerable period, the colony of Delaware was attached to that of Pennsylvania, without even a separate assembly; and after it acquired that privilege, it remained for some time longer under the same governor: its history requires, therefore, to be blended with that of Pennsylvania, although it was settled at a much earlier period. It does not appear that the date of the first European plantation on South river, or the Delaware, can now be ascertained with any precision; some authorities, however, assert that a Swedish colony settled at cape Henlopen as early as the year 1627; although Chalmers is of opinion that, ‘though various Europeans may have trafficked in Delaware, their plantations had not yet embellished her margin, probably in the year 1632.’

The colony which forms the chief subject of this division was founded in the year 1681, by the celebrated William Penn. His attention was attracted to colonization by his connection with New Jersey. While he was engaged in the government of that territory, he received information of the country situate to the westward of the Delaware, which induced in his mind the desire of acquiring an estate in that quarter. He therefore presented a petition to Charles II., urging his claim for a debt incurred by the crown to his father, and soliciting a grant of land to the northward of Maryland, and westward of the Delaware. After a conference with the duke of York and lord Baltimore, to ascertain that the grant would not interfere with any prior claims of theirs, a charter, making conveyance of that territory, was signed and sealed by the king. It constituted William Penn and his heirs true and absolute proprietaries of the province of Pennsylvania, saving to the crown their allegiance and the sovereignty. It gave him, his heirs, and their deputies, power to make laws, by advice of the freemen, and to erect courts of justice for the execution of those laws, provided they be not repugnant to the laws of England.101

The charter being thus obtained, Penn invited purchasers by public advertisement. Many single persons, and some families, chiefly of the denomination of Quakers, were induced to think of a removal; and a number of merchants and others, forming themselves into a company, purchased twenty thousand acres of this land, which was sold at the rate of twenty pounds for every thousand acres. In May he despatched Markham, a relative, with a few associates, to take possession of the newly granted territory; and in the autumn three ships, with a considerable number of emigrants, sailed for the same destination. The philanthropic proprietor sent a letter to the Indians, informing them that ‘the great God had been pleased to make him concerned in their part of the world, and that the king of the country where he lived, had given him a great province therein; but that he did not desire to enjoy it without their consent; that he was a man of peace, and that the people whom he sent were of the same disposition; and if any difference should happen between them, it might be adjusted by an equal number of men chosen on both sides.’ The position selected by these emigrants for their abode, was immediately above the confluence of the Schuylkill and Delaware. In the following April, Penn published ‘the frame of government for Pennsylvania.’ The chief intention of this famous charter was declared to be, ‘for the support of power in reverence with the people, and to secure the people from the abuse of power. For, liberty without obedience is confusion, and obedience without liberty is slavery.’

The first page in the annals of Pennsylvania is one of the brightest in the history of mankind, recording an event not more to the credit of the wise and benevolent legislator through whose agency it happened, than honorable to humanity itself. At a spot which is now the site of one of the suburbs of Philadelphia, the Indian sachems, at the head of their assembled warriors, awaited in arms the approach of the Quaker deputation. Penn, distinguished from his followers only by a sash of blue silk, and holding in his hand a roll of parchment that contained the confirmation of the treaty, arrived, at the head of an unarmed train, carrying various articles of merchandise, which, on their approach to the sachems, were spread on the ground. He addressed the natives through an interpreter, assuring them of his friendly and peaceable intentions; and certainly the absence of all warlike weapons was a better attestation of his sincerity than a thousand oaths. The conditions of the proposed purchase were then read; and he delivered to the sachems not only the stipulated price, but a handsome present of the merchandise which he had spread before them. He concluded by presenting the parchment to the sachems, and requesting that they would carefully preserve it for three generations. The Indians cordially acceded to his propositions, and solemnly pledged themselves to live in love with William Penn and his children as long as the sun and moon should endure.

Having received information from his agent that his presence was necessary in England, Penn departed from America, in August, 1684, leaving his province in profound peace, under the administration of five commissioners chosen from the provincial council. The unfortunate James II. ascended the throne soon after Penn’s arrival. ‘As he has,’ said Penn, ‘been my friend, and my father’s friend, I feel bound in justice to be a friend to him.’ He adhered to him while seated on the throne; and for two years after he was expelled from his kingdom, the government of the province was administered in his name. By this display of attachment to the exiled monarch, he incurred the displeasure of William III. On vague suspicion and unfounded charges, he was four times imprisoned. The king took the government of Pennsylvania into his own hands; and colonel Fletcher was appointed governor of this province, as well as of New York. On the arrival of colonel Fletcher at Philadelphia, the persons in the administration appear to have surrendered the government to him, without any notice or order to them, either from the crown or the proprietary. By the severest scrutiny, however, it was rendered apparent, that Penn had not suffered personal gratitude to lead him to any serious dereliction of duty, and he consequently regained the good opinion of king William; and being permitted to resume and exercise his rights, he appointed William Markham to be his deputy governor.

During several years the colony continued in a course of prosperity, without any occurrence requiring historical record. In the year 1699, Penn revisited his Pennsylvanian associates, accompanied by his family, with an intention of spending the remainder of his life amongst them. But several points soon came up, on which a difference of opinion existed between himself and the legislature, and disappointed him in his hopes of obtaining influence as a lawgiver. He consequently determined to return to England, and he naturally desired to have some frame of government finally adopted before his departure. In 1701, he prepared and presented one to the assembly, which was accepted. It confirmed to them, in conformity with that of 1696, the right of originating bills, which, by the charters preceding that date, had been the right of the governor alone, and of amending or rejecting those which might be laid before them. To the governor it gave the right of rejecting bills passed by the assembly, of appointing his own council, and of exercising the whole executive power.

Immediately after his fourth frame was accepted, Penn returned to England; but he had scarcely arrived there, when the disputes between the province and the territories broke forth with greater bitterness than ever; and in the following year, the separate legislature of Delaware was permanently established at Newcastle. In addition to the tidings of these prolonged disagreements, and of the final rupture between the two settlements, Penn was harassed by complaints against the administration of governor Evans; and having ascertained, by a deliberate examination of them, that they were too well founded, he appointed in his place Charles Gookin, a gentleman of ancient Irish family, who seemed qualified to give satisfaction to the people over whom he was sent to preside. Finding his people still in a discontented state, Penn, now in his sixty-sixth year, for the last time addressed the assembly, in a letter replete with calm solemnity and dignified concern. This letter is said to have produced a deep and powerful impression on the more considerate part of the assembly, who now began to feel for the father of his country, and to regard with tenderness his venerable age; to remember his long labors, and to appreciate their own interest in his distinguished fame: but it is very doubtful if this change of sentiment was ever known to its illustrious object, who was attacked shortly afterwards by a succession of apoplectic fits, which impeded, in a great degree, the exercise of his memory and understanding, and ultimately terminated his life.

The legislatures and governors continuing to act on the noble principles and example which their founder left for their imitation, the colony acquired, by well-conducted purchases from the Indians, a most extensive and unembarrassed territory, and proceeded rapidly in its prosperous course. The only circumstance which appears to have created any internal disunion worthy of notice, was a dispute between the governors and the assembly, on the question of exempting the land of the proprietaries from the general taxation; a claim which the inhabitants deemed very inequitable. In January, 1757, the assembly of Pennsylvania voted a bill for granting to his majesty the sum of one hundred thousand pounds by tax on all the estates, real and personal, and taxables, within the province. On submitting it to governor Denny for his sanction, he refused it. ‘The proprietaries,’ he observed in his message, ‘are willing their estates should be taxed in the manner that appears to them to be reasonable, and agreeable to the land-tax acts of parliament in our mother country.’ The governors of Pennsylvania still refusing their assent to any tax bill that did not exempt the estates of the proprietaries, the assembly of that province deputed the celebrated Benjamin Franklin as an agent to London, to petition the king for redress. The subject was discussed before the privy council; and Mr. Franklin acceding to a proposal to enter into engagements that the assessments should be fair and equitable, a bill for levying a general tax, which had previously received the governor’s assent, though after the agent’s departure from the province, was stamped with the royal approbation. These disputes, by calling the energetic mind of Benjamin Franklin into a new field of exertion, enlarged the sphere of his observation, and fitted him for those extraordinary services in which he acquired his greatest glory by contributing to that of his country.

MARYLAND.

The founder of the state of Maryland was lord Baltimore. Before the date of his charter, it was a portion of the territory of Virginia; but by that instrument it was separated, and declared subject only to the crown of England. Lord Baltimore was created the absolute proprietary of it, and was empowered, with the assent of delegates, whom he was to assemble for that purpose, to make laws for the province, and to administer them. Having thus obtained a most favorable charter, he proceeded to carry its provisions into execution.

He appointed his brother, Leonard Calvert, governor of the new province, and concurred with him in the equipment of vessels, which conveyed a numerous body of emigrants, chiefly Roman Catholics, and many of them gentlemen of rank and fortune. After a circuitous voyage the governor arrived, accompanied by his brother George, at Point Comfort, in Virginia, in February, 1634. Early in March, he proceeded up the bay of Chesapeake to the northward, and entered the Potomack, up which he sailed twelve leagues, and came to an anchor under an island, which he named St. Clement. Here he erected a cross, and took possession ‘in the name of the Savior of the world, and of the king of England.’ Thence he went fifteen leagues higher to the Indian town of Potowmack, on the Virginia side of the river, now called New Marlborough, where he was received in a friendly manner. Arriving at the town of Piscatawa, on the Maryland side, he found Henry Fleet, an Englishman, who had resided several years among the natives, and was held by them in great esteem, who was very serviceable as an interpreter.

An interview having been procured with the werowance, or prince, Calvert asked him, whether he was willing that a settlement should be made in his country; he replied, ‘I will not bid you go, neither will I bid you stay; but you may use your own discretion.’ Having convinced the natives that his designs were honorable and pacific, the governor now sought a suitable station for commencing his colony. He visited a creek on the northern side of the Potomack, on which he found an Indian village. Here he acquainted the prince of the place with his intentions, and by presents to him and his principal men, conciliated his friendship so much as to obtain permission to reside in one part of the town until next harvest, when it was agreed that the natives should entirely quit the place. Both parties entered into a contract to live together in a friendly manner. After Calvert had given a satisfactory consideration, the Indians readily yielded a number of their houses, and retired to the others. Thus, on the 27th of March, 1634, the governor took peaceable possession of the country of Maryland, and gave to the town the name of St. Mary, and to the creek on which it was situate, the name of St. George. The desire of rendering justice to the natives by giving them a reasonable compensation for their lands, is a trait in the character of the first planters, which will always do honor to their memory.

Circumstances favored the rapid population of the colony. The charter granted more ample privileges than had ever been conceded to a subject; the country was inviting; the natives were friendly; from the south Churchmen drove Puritans, from the north Puritans drove Churchmen, into her borders, where all were freely received, protected, and cherished. The colony was soon able to export Indian corn and other products to New England and Newfoundland, for which they received in return dried fish and other provisions. The Indians also killed many deer and turkeys, which they sold to the English for knives, beads, and other small articles of traffic, while cattle, swine, and poultry, were procured from Virginia.

It is a fact, which reflects the greatest credit on these early colonists, that fifteen years after they first landed, the general assembly of the people passed an act, entitled ‘An Act concerning Religion,’ in which the great principles of religious toleration and liberty are extensively recognised. This law was passed by an assembly composed entirely of Roman Catholics, and is the more remarkable, as being the first legislative act which is recorded to have been passed by any government, administered by members of the Romish hierarchy, in favor of the unlimited toleration of all Christian sects.

In 1676, Cecil, lord Baltimore, the father of the province, died. For more than forty years he had directed its affairs as proprietor, and displayed in all his conduct a benevolent heart and enlightened understanding. Although he lived in an age of bigotry, he was liberal in his opinions; and for all his exertions to contribute to the happiness of his fellow-beings, he desired no reward but their gratitude. This reward he received. The records of the Maryland assembly contain frequent memorials of the respect and affection of the people. He was succeeded, as proprietor, by his eldest son, Charles, who had for several years been governor of the colony, and displayed the same amiable qualities which had rendered his father respected and beloved.

The closing years of the proprietary government were embittered by a circumstance similar to that which the institution of the colony of Maryland had inflicted on Virginia. The grant which had been made by Charles II. to the celebrated Penn included the territory of Delaware, which lord Baltimore had always considered within the limits of his patent. On the arrival of William Penn in America, a meeting took place between him and lord Baltimore, in the hope of effecting an amicable adjustment of the boundaries of their respective territorial grants. But the pretensions of the parties were so completely incompatible, that it proved impossible at the time to adjust them in a manner satisfactory to both. Penn ultimately complained to the English government, and by his interest at court, procured it to be adjudged that the debatable territory should be divided into two equal parts, one of which was appropriated to himself, and the other to lord Baltimore. This adjudication was carried into effect; and the territory which now composes the state of Delaware was thus dismembered from the provincial limits of Maryland.

In the year following the revolution of 1688, the repose of Maryland was again disturbed. A rumor was artfully circulated that the Catholics had leagued with the Indians to destroy all the Protestants in the province. An armed association was immediately formed, for the defence of the Protestant religion, and for asserting the rights of king William and queen Mary. The magistrates attempted to oppose this association by force; but, meeting with few supporters, they were compelled to abdicate the government. King William directed those who had assumed the supreme authority to exercise it in his name; and for twenty-seven years the crown retained the entire control of the province. In 1716, the proprietor was restored to his rights; and he and his descendants continued to enjoy them until the commencement of the revolution. The people then assumed the government, adopted a constitution, and refused to admit the claims of the representatives of lord Baltimore either to jurisdiction or to property.

NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA.

The final settlement of this country originated with the earl of Clarendon and other courtiers of Charles II., who were presented with a grant of all the lands lying between the thirty-first and thirty-sixth degrees of north latitude, and received in their charter ample powers of administration and judicature. Some previous efforts had been unsuccessfully made to colonize this portion of the North American continent, and grants had been given to different individuals, which were now all pronounced void by the privy council. A few settlers were scattered in different parts, and those on Albemarle sound were on certain conditions allowed to retain their lands. A government was organized over them, at the head of which Mr. Drummond was placed.

Having taken the command of the infant settlement at Albemarle, the proprietaries directed a survey of the coast to the southward, and projected the establishment of a new colony in Clarendon country, which had been recently abandoned by the emigrants from New England. In furtherance of this object, they conferred on John Yeamans, a respectable planter of Barbadoes, the appointment of commander-in-chief of Clarendon country. In the autumn, he conducted from Barbadoes a body of emigrants, who landed on the southern bank of cape Fear. He cultivated the good will of the natives, and insured a seven years’ peace. The planters, in opening the forest to make room for the operations of tillage, ‘necessarily prepared timber for the uses of the cooper and builder, which they transmitted to the island whence they had emigrated, as the first subject of a feeble commerce, that kindled the spark of industry which soon gave animation to the whole.’ Another settlement was also projected to the southward of cape Remain, which received the name of Carteret, and was placed under a separate governor.

In pursuance of the authority with which the proprietors were invested by their charter, they began to frame a system of laws for the government of their colony; in which they availed themselves of the assistance of the illustrious John Locke. The form of government proposed by this eminent man proved utterly impracticable and useless. It received no favor from the people, and never attained the force of fundamental laws.

Notwithstanding these constitutions and legal preparations, several years elapsed before the proprietors of Carolina made any serious efforts towards its settlement. In 1667, they fitted out a ship, gave the command of it to captain William Sayle, and sent him out to bring them some account of the coast. His report to his employers, as might naturally be expected, was favorable. He praised their possessions, and encouraged them to engage with vigor in the execution of their project. His observations respecting the Bahama islands, which he had visited, induced them to apply to the king for a grant of them, and Charles bestowed on them by patent all those islands lying between the twenty-second and twenty-seventh degrees of north latitude. Nothing then remained but to make preparations for sending a colony to Carolina. Two ships were procured, on board of which a number of adventurers embarked, with provisions, arms, and utensils requisite for building and cultivation.

Sayle was appointed the first governor, and received a commission, bearing date July 26, 1669. The expenses of this first embarkation amounted to twelve thousand pounds; a proof that the proprietors entertained no small hopes with respect to their palatinate. The number of men, however, must have been by no means adequate to the undertaking, especially considering the multitude of savages that ranged through that extensive wilderness. In what place governor Sayle first landed is uncertain; but he was dissatisfied with his first situation, and, moving to the southward, took possession of a neck of land between Ashley and Cooper rivers, where he laid out a town, which, in honor of the king then reigning, he called Charleston; but dying soon after, Sir John Yeamans, who had for several years been governor at Clarendon, was appointed to succeed him. This new settlement attracted many inhabitants from that at Clarendon, and ultimately entirely exhausted it. Being at a great distance from Albemarle, the proprietors established a separate government over it, and hence arose the distinctive appellations of North and South Carolina.

The affairs of the northern colony must now occupy a portion of our attention. The fundamental constitutions, which have already been described, were received by the colonists with disgust and disunion. Their promulgation produced no other effect than to excite the most inveterate jealousy of the designs of the proprietaries; till, in process of time, a refractory spirit took possession of the minds of the people, and was at length exasperated into sentiments as hostile to subordination, as the policy of the proprietaries was repugnant to liberty. From this period the history of the northern province, for a series of years, is involved in such confusion and contradiction, that it is impossible to render it interesting, and difficult to make it even intelligible. It is a record of insurrection and revolt, not easily understood, and not sufficiently interesting to demand more than this slight allusion.

To return to the affairs of the southern colony, now under the administration of Joseph West. The situation of Old Charleston being found inconvenient, the inhabitants, in 1680, removed to Oyster Point, where a new city was laid out, to which the name of the other was given. In the same year commenced a war with the Westoes, a powerful tribe of Indians, which threatened great injury to the colony; peace, however, was soon restored. Governor West was superseded by Sir Richard Kirle, an Irish gentleman, who died six months after his arrival in the country. After his decease, colonel Robert Quarry was chosen his successor. During the time of his government, a number of pirates put into Charleston, and purchased provisions with their Spanish gold and silver. Those public robbers, instead of being taken and tried by the laws of England, were treated with great civility and friendship, in violation of the laws of nations.

Whether the governor was ignorant of the treaty made with Spain, by which England had withdrawn her former toleration from these plunderers of the Spanish dominions, or whether he was afraid to bring them to trial from the notorious courage of their companions in the West Indies, we have not sufficient authority to affirm; but one thing is certain, that Charles II., for several years after the restoration, winked at their depredations, and many of them performed such valiant actions, as, in a good cause, would have justly merited honors and rewards; he even knighted Henry Morgan, a Welshman, who had plundered Porto Bello and Panama, and carried off large treasures from them. For several years so formidable was this body of plunderers in the West Indies, that they struck a terror into every quarter of the Spanish dominions. Their gold and silver, which they lavishly spent in the colony, insured to them a kind reception among the Carolinians, who opened their ports to them freely, and furnished them with necessaries. They could purchase the favor of the governor, and the friendship of the people, for what they deemed a trifling consideration. Leaving their gold and silver behind them for clothes, arms, ammunition, and provisions, they embarked in quest of more. However, the proprietors, having intelligence of the encouragement given to pirates by governor Quarry, dismissed him from the office he held; and, in 1685, landgrave Joseph Morton was appointed to the government of the colony.

It is not now of importance to recur to the difficulties between the proprietary government and the people: they led to extreme irritation, and in the year 1690, at a meeting of the representatives, a bill was brought in and passed, for disabling James Colleton, then governor of the province, from holding any office, or exercising any authority, civil or military, in the colony, and he was informed that in a limited time he must depart from the colony.

During these public commotions, Seth Sothel, one of the proprietors, who had been driven from North Carolina, appeared suddenly at Charleston, and, aided by a powerful faction, assumed the reins of government. At first the people gladly acknowledged his authority, while the current of their enmity ran against Colleton; especially as he stood forth as an active and leading man in opposition to that governor, and ratified the law for his exclusion and banishment; but they afterwards found him void of every principle of honor, and even of honesty. Such was the insatiable avarice of this man, that every restraint of common justice and equity was trampled upon by him; and oppression, such as usually attends the exaltation of vulgar and ambitious scramblers for power, extended her rod of iron over the distracted colony. The fair traders from Barbadoes and Bermuda were seized as pirates by order of this popular governor, and confined until such fees as he was pleased to exact were paid him; bribes from felons and traitors were accepted to favor their escape from the hands of justice; and plantations were forcibly taken possession of, upon pretences the most frivolous and unjust. At length, the people, weary of his grievous impositions and extortions, agreed to take him by force, and ship him off for England. He then evinced the meanness of spirit generally associated with a disposition to tyranny, and humbly begged liberty to remain in the country, promising to submit his conduct to the trial of the assembly at their first meeting. When the assembly met, thirteen different charges were brought against him, and all supported by the strongest evidence; upon which, being found guilty, they compelled him to abjure the government and country forever.

The next important incident that attracts our attention is the unsuccessful expedition against St. Augustine, planned by governor Moore, in the year 1702, at the time of a rupture in Europe between England and Spain. It failed utterly, and entailed a debt on the colony of six thousand pounds sterling; which led to many severe reflections against the governor, and brought him sadly into disrepute. To redeem his character, the governor resolved upon an expedition against the Apalachian Indians; in consequence of the insults and injuries which they had been instigated by the Spaniards to commit. To make his conquest permanent, he transplanted fourteen hundred of these Indians to the territory now included in Georgia; a measure which seems to have led to the settlement of the English in that part of the country.

The northern colony continued to receive accessions to its strength from several of the European states. In 1707, a company of French Protestants arrived and seated themselves on the river Trent, a branch of the Neuse; and three years afterwards a large number of palatines, fleeing from religious persecution in Germany, sought refuge in the same part of the province. To each of these bodies of emigrants the proprietors granted a hundred acres of land. On their newly acquired possessions they were living in peace, in the enjoyment of liberty of conscience, and in the prospect of competence and ease, when suddenly a terrible calamity fell upon them. The Tuscarora and Coree Indians, smarting under recent aggressions, and dreading total extinction from the encroachment of these strangers, with characteristic secrecy, plotted their entire destruction. Sending their families to one of their fortified towns, twelve hundred bowmen sallied forth, and in the same night attacked, in separate parties, the nearest settlements of the palatines. Men, women, and children were indiscriminately butchered. The savages, with the swiftness and ferocity of wolves, ran from village to village. Before them was the repose of innocence; behind, the sleep of death. A few escaping alarmed the settlements more remote, and hastened to South Carolina for assistance. Governor Craven immediately despatched to the aid of the sister colony nearly a thousand men, under the command of colonel Barnwell. Hideous was the wilderness through which colonel Barnwell had to march, and the utmost expedition was requisite. There was no road through the woods upon which either horses or carriages could pass; and his army had all manner of hardships and dangers to encounter, from the climate, the wilderness, and the enemy.

In spite of every difficulty, however, Barnwell advanced against them, and being much better supplied with arms and ammunition than his enemy, he did great execution among them, killing in the first battle three hundred Indians, and taking about one hundred prisoners. The Tuscaroras then retreated to their town, fortified within a wooden breastwork; but there Barnwell surrounded them, and forced them to sue for peace; and some of his men being wounded, and others having suffered greatly by constant watching, and much hunger and fatigue, the savages the more easily obtained their request. After having killed, wounded, or captured nearly a thousand Tuscaroras, Barnwell returned to South Carolina. The peace was, however, of short duration, and upon the recommencement of hostilities, assistance was again solicited from the southern colony. Colonel James Moore, an active young officer, was immediately despatched, with forty white men and eight hundred friendly Indians. He found the enemy in a fort near Cotechny river; and after a siege, which continued more than a week, the fort was taken, and eight hundred Indians made prisoners. The Tuscaroras, disheartened by this defeat, migrated, in 1713, to the north, and joined the celebrated confederacy, denominated the Five Nations. The others sued for peace, and afterwards continued friendly.

The northern colony had scarcely recovered from the scourge of Indian war, when the southern was exposed to the same calamity. All the tribes from Florida to cape Fear, had been for some time engaged in a conspiracy to extirpate the whites. On the day before the Yamassees began their bloody operations, captain Nairn and some of the traders observing an uncommon gloom on their savage countenances, and apparently great agitations of spirit, which to them prognosticated approaching mischief, went to their chief men, begging to know the cause of their uneasiness, and promising, if any injury had been done them, to give them satisfaction. The chiefs replied, they had no complaints to make against any one, but intended to go a-hunting early the next morning. Captain Nairn accordingly went to sleep, and the traders retired to their huts, and passed the night in seeming friendship and tranquillity. But next morning at daybreak, the 15th day of April, all were alarmed with the cries of war. The leaders were all out under arms, calling up their followers, and proclaiming aloud designs of vengeance. The young men, burning with fury and passion, flew to their arms, and, in a few hours, massacred above ninety persons in Pocotaligo town and the neighboring plantations; and many more must have fallen a sacrifice on Port Royal island, had they not providentially been warned of their danger. Mr. Burrows, a captain of the militia, after receiving two wounds, by swimming one mile and running ten escaped to Port Royal, and alarmed the town. A vessel happening fortunately to be in the harbor, the inhabitants in great hurry repaired on board, and sailed for Charleston; a few families of planters on that island, not having timely notice, fell into the barbarous hands of the Indians, and of them some were murdered, and others made prisoners of war.

While the Yamassees, with whom the Creeks and Apalachians had joined, were advancing against the southern frontiers, and spreading desolation and slaughter through the province, the colonists on the northern borders also found the Indians among their settlements in formidable parties. The Carolinians had foolishly entertained hopes of the friendship of the Congarees, the Catawbas, and Cherokees; but they soon found that they had also joined in the conspiracy, and declared for war. It was computed that the southern division of the enemy consisted of above six thousand bowmen, and the northern of between six hundred and a thousand. In the muster-roll at Charleston there were no more than one thousand two hundred men fit to bear arms, but as the town had several forts into which the inhabitants might retreat, governor Craven resolved to march with this small force into the woods against the enemy. He proclaimed martial law, and laid an embargo on all ships, to prevent either men or provisions from leaving the country. He obtained an act of assembly, empowering him to impress men, and seize arms, ammunition, and stores, wherever they were to be found, to arm such trusty negroes as might be serviceable at a juncture so critical, and to prosecute the war with the utmost vigor.

Being no stranger to the ferocious temper of his enemies, and their horrid cruelty to prisoners, the governor advanced against them by slow and cautious steps, always keeping the strictest guard round his army. He knew well under what advantages they fought among their native thickets, and the various wiles and stratagems they made use of in conducting their wars; and therefore he was watchful above all things against surprises, which might throw his followers into disorder, and defeat the end of his enterprise. The fate of the whole province depended on the success of his arms, and his men had no other alternative but to conquer or die a painful death. As he advanced, the straggling parties fled before him, until he reached Saltcatchers, where they had pitched their great camp. Here a sharp and bloody battle ensued from behind trees and bushes, the Indians whooping, hallooing, and giving way one while, and then again and again returning with double fury to the charge. But the governor, notwithstanding their superior number, and their terrible shrieks, kept the provincials close at their heels, and drove them before him like a flock of wolves. He expelled them from their settlement at Indian river, pursued them over the Savannah, and entirely freed the province of this formidable tribe of savages. What number of the army was killed does not appear; but in the whole war nearly four hundred unfortunate inhabitants of Carolina fell a prey to Indian cruelty, property of great value was destroyed, and a large debt contracted.

Of this debt the proprietors refused to pay any portion, and by their harsh and arbitrary conduct in regard to this matter and its consequences, a bitter hostility grew up between them and the people. It was resolved to throw off their yoke. A favorable opportunity presented itself at a general review of the militia at Charleston, in 1719; the officers and soldiers binding themselves by a solemn compact to resist the tyranny of the proprietors. The assembly was dissolved by the governor, but it immediately met in convention, and assumed the direction of public affairs. In spite of all opposition they established themselves in the full possession of the government, both in its legislative and executive relations.

The agent for Carolina at length procured a hearing from the lords of the regency and council in England, the king being at that time in Hanover; who gave it as their opinion, that the proprietors had forfeited their charter, and ordered the attorney-general to take out a scire facias against it. In consequence of this decision, in September, 1720, they appointed general Francis Nicholson provisional governor of the province, with a commission from the king. Several years afterwards, seven of the proprietors sold to the king their claim to the soil and rents, and all of them assigned to him their right of jurisdiction. The government of both Carolinas was subsequently administered in each colony by a governor and council appointed by the crown, and by assemblies chosen by the people. They soon attracted general attention, and their population was increased by accessions from several of the states of Europe.

In 1738, an alarming insurrection of the negroes occurred in the southern colony. A number of them assembled at Stono, and surprised and killed two men who had charge of a warehouse, from which they took guns and ammunition. They then chose a captain, and, with drums beating and colors flying, marched south-westward. They burned every house on their way, killed all the whites they could find, and compelled other negroes to join them. Governor Bull, who was returning to Charleston from the southward, accidentally met them, hastened out of their way, and spread an alarm. The news soon reached Wiltown, where, fortunately, a large congregation were attending divine service. The men having, according to a law of the province, brought their arms to the place of worship, marched instantly in quest of the negroes, who, by this time, had become formidable, and spread terror and desolation around them, having killed about twenty of the whites. While, in an open field, they were carousing and dancing, with frantic exultation at their late success, they were suddenly attacked; some were killed, and the remainder took to flight, but most of them were taken and tried. Those who had been compelled to join the conspirators were pardoned; but the leaders and principal instigators suffered death. Under apprehensions resulting, probably, from this rebellion, the legislature of South Carolina passed an act, that whoever shall teach, or cause any slave or slaves to be taught to write, or shall use or employ any slave as a scribe in any manner of writing whatsoever, shall, for every such offence, forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds.

The Carolinas were frequently exposed to the injurious effects of war from the French and Spaniards, as well as from some of the Indian tribes; but after the treaty of Paris, the progress of these colonies was no longer retarded from that cause. The assembly of South Carolina, taking advantage of the peaceful state of the colony to encourage emigration, appropriated a large fund for bounties to foreign Protestants, and such industrious poor people of Great Britain and Ireland as should resort to the province within three years, and settle on the inland parts. Two townships, each containing forty-eight thousand acres, were laid out; one on the river Savannah, called Mecklenburgh, and the other on the waters of Santee, at Long Cane, called Londonderry. Not long after, the colony received a considerable accession from Germany.

Beside foreign Protestants, several persons emigrated from England and Scotland, and great multitudes from Ireland, and settled in Carolina. An accession was also derived from the northern colonies, from which, in the space of one year, above a thousand families removed thither. To these adventurers lands in small tracts were allotted on the frontiers, by which means the back settlements soon became the most populous part of the province, while the whole felt the important benefits resulting from such accessions to its population.

GEORGIA.

The last of the colonies established previous to the war of independence was Georgia. A company of wealthy and influential individuals obtained a patent from George III., conferring the necessary powers, and lost no time in the prosecution of their design. In November, 1733, James Oglethorpe embarked at Gravesend for Georgia, with one hundred and sixteen persons, destined for settlement in that country. In the following January he arrived at Charleston, where he was kindly received, and whence he started to explore the territory granted by the patent. He selected the present site of Savannah as the most desirable point for the new settlement. Having completed a fort at this place, and put the colony in a state of defence, he next sought to cultivate friendly relations with the Indians, and to treat with them for a share of their possessions. Having made such arrangements as seemed to insure safety, Oglethorpe returned to England, carrying with him several Indians, among whom was Tomochichi, a chief of the Creeks, and his queen. Here they remained on a visit of about four months.

In the year 1740, the trustees rendered an account of their administration. At that time nearly two thousand five hundred emigrants had arrived in the colony; of whom more than fifteen hundred were indigent Englishmen, or persecuted Protestants. The benefactions from government and from individuals had been nearly half a million of dollars; and it was computed that, for every person transported and maintained by the trustees, more than three hundred dollars had been expended. The hopes which the trustees had cherished, that the colony would be prosperous and the objects of their benevolence happy, were far from realized. Such was the character of the greater part of the settlers and the nature of the restrictions imposed, that the plantations languished, and continued to require the contributions of the charitable. In the mean time events were preparing a rupture in Europe, and a war between England and Spain appeared inevitable. The plenipotentiaries, appointed for settling the boundaries between Georgia and Florida, and other differences and misunderstandings subsisting between the two crowns, had met at Pardo in convention, where preliminary articles were drawn up; but the conference ended to the satisfaction of neither party. The merchants had lost all patience under their sufferings, and became clamorous for letters of reprisal, which at length they obtained; all officers of the navy and army were ordered to their stations, and, with the unanimous voice of the nation, war was declared against Spain on the 23d of October, 1739.

As soon as intelligence of the declaration of war reached Georgia, general Oglethorpe passed over to Florida with four hundred select men of his regiment, and a considerable party of Indians; and a few days after, he marched with his whole force, consisting of above two thousand men, regulars, provincials, and Indians, to fort Moosa, within two miles of St. Augustine. The Spanish garrison evacuating the fort on his approach, and retiring into the town, put themselves in a posture of defence; and the general soon discovering that an attempt to take the castle by storm would be presumptuous, changed his plan of operations, and resolved, with the assistance of the ships of war which were lying at anchor off Augustine bar, to turn the siege into a blockade. Having made the necessary dispositions, he summoned the Spanish governor to surrender; but, secure in his strong-hold, he sent him for an answer that he would be glad to shake hands with him in his castle.

Indignant at this reply, the general opened his batteries against the castle, and at the same time threw a number of shells in the town. The fire was returned with equal spirit from the Spanish fort, and from six half-galleys in the harbor; but the distance was so great that the cannonade, though it continued several days, did little execution on either side. It appears that, notwithstanding the blockade, the Spanish garrison contrived to admit a reinforcement of seven hundred men, and a large supply of provisions. All prospect of starving the enemy being lost, the army began to despair of forcing the place to surrender. The Carolina troops, enfeebled by the heat of the climate, dispirited by sickness, and fatigued by fruitless efforts, marched away in large bodies. The naval commander, in consideration of the shortness of his provisions, and of the near approach of the usual season of hurricanes, judged it imprudent to hazard his fleet longer on that coast. The general himself was sick of a fever, and his regiment was worn out with fatigue, and disabled by sickness. These combined disasters rendered it necessary to abandon the enterprise; and Oglethorpe, with extreme sorrow and regret, returned to Frederica.

After a lapse of two years the Spaniards prepared to retaliate by the invasion of Georgia, intending, if successful, to subjugate the Carolinas and Virginia. On receiving information of their approach, general Oglethorpe solicited assistance from South Carolina: but the inhabitants of that colony, entertaining a strong prejudice against him, and terrified by the danger which threatened themselves, determined to provide only for their own safety, though without avowing their intention. General Oglethorpe, however, made preparations for a vigorous defence. He assembled seven hundred men, exclusive of a body of Indians, fixed his head-quarters at Frederica, on the island of St. Simon, and, with this small band, determined to encounter whatever force might be brought against him. It was his utmost hope that he might be able to resist the enemy until a reinforcement should arrive from Carolina, which he daily and anxiously expected. On the last day of June, the Spanish fleet, consisting of thirty-two sail, and having on board more than three thousand men, came to anchor off St. Simon’s bay. Notwithstanding all the resistance which general Oglethorpe could oppose, they sailed up the river Altamaha, landed upon the island, and there erected fortifications. Convinced that his small force, if divided, must be entirely inefficient, Oglethorpe assembled the whole of it at Frederica. One portion he employed in strengthening his fortifications; the Highlanders and Indians, ranging night and day through the woods, often attacked the outposts of the enemy. The toil of the troops was incessant; and the long delay of the expected succors, still unexpectedly withheld by South Carolina, caused the most gloomy and depressing apprehensions.

Oglethorpe, at length, learning by an English prisoner who escaped from the Spanish camp, that a difference subsisted between the troops from Cuba and those from St. Augustine, so as to occasion a separate encampment, resolved to attack the enemy while thus divided. Taking advantage of his knowledge of the woods, he marched out in the night with three hundred chosen men, the Highland company and some rangers, with the intention of surprising the enemy. Having advanced within two miles of the Spanish camp, he halted his troops, and went forward himself with a select corps to reconnoitre the enemy’s situation. While he was endeavoring cautiously to conceal his approach, a French soldier of his party discharged his musket, and ran into the Spanish lines. Thus betrayed, he hastened his return to Frederica, and endeavored to effect by stratagem what could not be achieved by surprise. Apprehensive that the deserter would discover to the enemy his weakness, he wrote him a letter, desiring him to acquaint the Spaniards with the defenceless state of Frederica, and the ease with which his small garrison might be cut to pieces. He pressed him to bring forward the Spaniards to an attack; but, if he could not prevail thus far, to use all his art and influence to persuade them to stay at least three days more at fort Simon; for within that time, according to advices he had just received from Carolina, he should have a reinforcement of two thousand land forces, with six British ships of war. The letter concluded with a caution to the deserter against dropping the least hint of admiral Vernon’s meditated attack upon St. Augustine, and with an assurance that for his service he should be amply rewarded by the British king.

Oglethorpe gave it to a Spanish prisoner, who, for a small reward together with his liberty, promised to deliver it to the French deserter. On his arrival at the Spanish camp, however, he gave the letter, as Oglethorpe expected, to the commander-in-chief, who instantly put the deserter in irons. This letter perplexed and confounded the Spaniards; some suspecting it to be a stratagem to prevent an attack on Frederica, and others believing it to contain serious instructions to direct the conduct of a spy. While the Spanish officers wore deliberating what measures to adopt, an incident, not within the calculation of military skill, or the control of human power, decided their counsels. Three ships of force, which the governor of South Carolina had sent out to Oglethorpe’s aid, appeared at this juncture off the coast. The agreement of this discovery with the contents of the letter convinced the Spanish commander of its real intention. The whole army, seized with an instant panic, set fire to the fort, and precipitately embarked, leaving several cannon, with a quantity of provisions and military stores; and thus, in the moment of threatened conquest, was the infant colony providentially saved.

Thus was Georgia, with trifling loss, delivered from the most imminent danger. General Oglethorpe not only retrieved, but established his reputation. From the Carolinians, grateful for their preservation, and from the governors of most of the northern colonies, he received cordial congratulations upon his address and good fortune. But on an impeachment brought forward before this invasion, Oglethorpe still felt himself bound in honor to return to England, where, on trial, the charge was adjudged to be false, malicious and groundless, and its author dismissed his majesty’s service. The character of this able general now appeared in its true light; and his contemporaries acknowledged what impartial history records, that to him Carolina was indebted for her safety and repose, as well as Georgia for her existence and protection. After this period general Oglethorpe never returned to the province of Georgia, but upon all occasions discovered in England an uncommon zeal for its prosperity and improvement.

In the year 1749, the colony was exposed to great danger from a quarter as unexpected as it was singular. During the whole of his administration, general Oglethorpe had, from motives of policy, treated an Indian, or rather half-breed woman, called Mary Musgrove, afterwards Mary Bosomworth, with particular kindness and generosity. Finding that she had great influence amongst the Creeks, and understood their language, he made use of her as an interpreter, in order the more easily to form treaties of alliance with them; allowing her for her services one hundred pounds sterling a year. Thomas Bosomworth, who was chaplain to Oglethorpe’s regiment, had married this woman, accepted a tract of land from the crown, and settled in the province. Being unsuccessful in most of his speculations, he had recourse to one of an extraordinary kind. He persuaded his wife to assert herself to be the elder sister of Malatche, the Indian chief, and to have descended, by a maternal line, from an Indian king, who held from nature the whole territory of the Creeks; and therefore to possess a right to them, superior not only to that of the trustees, but also to that of the king. Accordingly, Mary assumed the title of an independent empress, disavowing all subjection or allegiance to the king of Great Britain, otherwise than by way of treaty or alliance, such as one independent sovereign might voluntarily enter into with another; a meeting of all the Creeks was summoned, to whom Mary made a long speech, in which she set forth the justice of her claim, and the great injury she and her beloved subjects had sustained by the loss of their territories, and urged them to a defence of their rights by force of arms. The Indians were fired with rage at the idea of such indignity, and to a man pledged themselves to stand by her to the last drop of their blood in defence of her royal person and their lands; in consequence of which, queen Mary, escorted by a large body of her savage subjects, set out for Savannah, to demand from the president and council a formal acknowledgment of her rights in the province.

Several interviews between the magistrates and the Indian chiefs took place on this strange occurrence, and the president and council were flattering themselves with the idea of an amicable compromise of all the existing difficulties, and rejoicing in the re-establishment of friendly intercourse with the Creeks, when Mary, excited with liquor, and disappointed in her royal views, rushed in amongst them like a fury, told the president that these were her people, that he had no business with them, and that he should soon be convinced of it to his cost. The president calmly advised her to retire to her lodgings, and forbear to poison the minds of the Indians, adding that he would otherwise order her into close confinement; upon which, turning about to Malatche, in great rage, she repeated, with some ill-natured comments, what the president had said; Malatche started from his seat, laid hold of his arms, calling upon the rest to follow his example, and dared any man to touch the queen. The whole house was filled in a moment with tumult and uproar; every Indian having his tomahawk in his hand, the president and council expected nothing but instant death. During this confusion, captain Jones, who commanded the guard, very seasonably interposed, and ordered the Indians immediately to surrender their arms, endeavoring, however, not merely to overawe them, but using prudence to avoid coming to extremities: with reluctance the Indians submitted, and Mary was conveyed to a private room, where a guard was placed over her, and all further communication with the Indians denied her during their stay in Savannah. Ultimately the soi-disant queen was compelled to abandon her pretensions, and the Indians were induced to depart, to the great joy of the inhabitants, who had been so long harassed by their turbulent visit.

The wars to which it had been subject had much retarded the progress of the colony, and in 1752 the trustees surrendered their charter to the king. Georgia thus became a royal government. At this time the whole exports of Georgia did not amount to ten thousand pounds a year.

FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS.

The formation and progress of all the colonies which constituted the North American republic at the era of its independence, have now been traced up to the middle of the eighteenth century. From that period circumstances tended rapidly to promote that federation which eventually effected the independence of the colonies, and laid the basis of their future prosperity; indeed, in the prosecution of the French war, which commenced in 1756, the energies of the colonies were so united in the attainment of one common object, that the generalization of their political history from that period is not only rendered preferable, but almost inevitable.

Not to enter into a detail of the progress of French discovery, it is sufficient to say that France had established settlements on the St. Lawrence and at the mouth of the Mississippi, and formed the bold plan of uniting these points by a chain of forts, stretching across the continent, and intended to confine the English colonists to the eastern side of the Alleghanies. In their northern colonies, the military strength of the French was considerable; Quebec and Montreal were strongly fortified; and at other points, Louisbourg, Cape Breton, and the forts of lake Champlain, Niagara, Crown Point, Frontignac, Ticonderoga, and several others, defended the frontiers. They had also erected a considerable fort at the junction of the Alleghany with the Monongahela, then called Du Quesne, but now forming the site of Pittsburg.

The proceedings of the French in America excited a strong interest in the minds of the British government; and deeming war inevitable, orders were sent to the governors of the several colonies to repel force by force, and to dislodge the French from their posts on the Ohio. These orders were accompanied with a recommendation to form a union of the colonies for more effective defence. Delegates had already been appointed to meet at Albany, for the purpose of conferring with the Five Nations; and governor Shirley recommended that the subject of union should also be discussed at the convention. The commissioners from Massachusetts had ample powers to co-operate in the formation of a plan; those from Maryland were instructed to observe what others did; and those from New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and New York, had no instructions at all on the subject. As soon, however, as the friendship of the Indians was thought to be secured by a distribution of presents, the delegates appointed a committee to devise some scheme for the proposed confederation; and the committee recommended the adoption of a government analogous to that of the individual colonies. There was to be a grand council, composed of deputies from the several provinces, and a president-general, appointed by the crown, with the power of negativing the acts of the council. The Connecticut delegates, however, dissented from this plan, because it placed too preponderating a power in the hands of the crown.

It was rejected by the British ministry for the very opposite reason; they suggested, however, that the several governors, with one or two of their counsellors, should meet and adopt such measures as the common safety might demand. But this scheme was defeated by a provision, that they might draw upon the British treasury for all necessary sums, which parliament would undertake to repay by imposing a general tax upon the colonies. The Massachusetts assembly sent special instructions to its agent in London to oppose most strenuously any measure which had for its object the establishment of taxes on the colonies, under whatever plea of utility; and Franklin, to whom the governor of Virginia had sent the proposition of the British minister, states most distinctly in his letter in reply, the reasons which would ever prevent the Americans from consenting to such a proposal. He observes that it would inspire universal discontent among the Americans to attempt the imposition of taxes by a parliament where they were not represented; a point of which neither the colonies nor the British government ever lost sight, from this period till the contest it originated terminated in the entire separation of the former from its dependence on the British crown.

Early in the spring of 1755, the British government despatched general Braddock to America, with a respectable force, to expel the French, and keep possession of the territory; and preparations having been made by France to despatch a reinforcement to her armies in Canada, admiral Boscawen was ordered to endeavor to intercept the French fleet before it should enter the gulf of St. Lawrence. In April, general Braddock met the governors of the several provinces to confer upon the plan of the ensuing campaign. Three expeditions were resolved upon; one against Du Quesne, to be commanded by general Braddock; one against forts Niagara and Frontignac, to be commanded by governor Shirley; and one against Crown Point, to be commanded by general Johnston. This last originated with Massachusetts, and was to be executed by colonial troops raised in New England and New York.

While preparations were making for these expeditions, another, which had been previously concerted, was carried on against the French forts in Nova Scotia. This province was settled by the French, but was ceded to the English by the treaty of Utrecht. Its boundaries not having been defined, the French continued to occupy a portion of the territory claimed by the English, and had built forts for their defence. To gain possession of these was the object of the expedition. About two thousand militia, commanded by colonel Winslow, embarked at Boston; and being joined on their passage by three hundred regulars, arrived in April at the place of their destination. The forts were invested, the resistance made was trifling and ineffectual, and in a short time the English gained entire possession of the province according to their own definition of its boundaries. Three only of their men were killed.

As soon as the convention of governors was dissolved, general Braddock proceeded to the post at Wells’ Creek, whence the army commenced its march about the middle of June. Their progress was very much retarded by the necessity of cutting a road; and, lest the enemy should have time to collect in great force, the general concluded to set forward with twelve hundred select men, while colonel Dunbar should follow slowly in the rear, with the main body and the heavy baggage. Colonel Washington’s regiment had been split into separate companies, and he had only joined the army as aid to the general. The roughness of the country prevented the advanced corps from reaching the Monongahela till the 8th of July. It was resolved to attack Du Quesne the very next day; and lieutenant-colonel Gage was sent in front with three hundred British regulars, while the general himself followed at some distance with the main body. He had been strongly cautioned by colonel Washington to provide against an ambuscade, by sending forward some provincial companies to scour the woods; but he held the provincials and the enemy in equal contempt. The Monongahela was crossed the second time, about seven miles from Du Quesne; and the army was pressing forward in an open wood, through high and thick grass, when the front was suddenly thrown into disorder by a volley from small arms. The main body was formed three deep, and brought to its support: the commander-in-chief of the enemy fell; and a cessation of the fire led general Braddock to suppose that the assailants had fled; but he was soon attacked with redoubled fury.

Concealed behind trees, logs, and rocks, the Indians poured upon the troops a deadly and incessant fire; officers and men fell thickly around, and the survivors knew not where to direct their aim to revenge their slaughtered comrades. The whole body was again thrown into confusion; but the general, obstinate and courageous, refused to retreat; and instead of withdrawing them beyond the reach of the enemy’s muskets, where their ranks might easily have been formed anew, undertook to rally them on the very ground of attack, and in the midst of a most incessant and deadly fire. He persisted in these efforts until five horses had been shot under him, and every one of his officers on horseback, except colonel Washington, was either killed or wounded. The general at length fell, and the rout became universal. The troops fled precipitately until they met the division under Dunbar, then sixty miles in the rear. Sixty-four officers out of eighty-five, and about half of the privates, were killed or wounded. General Braddock died in Dunbar’s camp; and the whole army, which appears to have been panic struck, marched back to Philadelphia. The provincial troops, whom Braddock had so lightly esteemed, displayed during the battle the utmost calmness and courage. Though placed in the rear, they alone, led on by Washington, advanced against the Indians, and covered the retreat; and had they at first been permitted to engage the enemy in their own way, they would easily have defeated them.

The two northern expeditions, though not so disastrous, failed in attaining their proposed objects. The campaign of 1755 was thus utterly unsuccessful. Immense preparations had been made, but no desired result was obtained. By the failure of the three expeditions, the whole frontier was left open to the ravages of the Indians. The second campaign was almost as pregnant with evil. Montcalm had marched against Oswego, and by destroying it had thrown the English and American army on the defensive. No successful measures were put in operation to carry out the plans of the colonists, and it was necessary to wait till the following year.

At the commencement of the following year a council was held at Boston, composed of lord Loudoun, and the governors of the New England provinces and of Nova Scotia. At this council his lordship proposed that New England should raise four thousand men for the ensuing campaign; and that a proportionate number should be raised by New York and New Jersey. These requisitions were complied with; and in the spring his lordship found himself at the head of a very considerable army. Admiral Holbourn arriving in the beginning of July at Halifax with a powerful squadron, and a reinforcement of five thousand British troops, under George viscount Howe, lord Loudoun sailed from New York with six thousand regulars, to join those troops at the place of their arrival. Instead of the complex operations undertaken in previous campaigns, his lordship limited his plan to a single object. Leaving the posts on the lakes strongly garrisoned, he resolved to direct his whole disposable force against Louisbourg; Halifax having been determined on as the place of rendezvous for the fleet and army destined for the expedition. Information was, however, soon received, that a French fleet had lately sailed from Brest; that Louisbourg was garrisoned by six thousand regulars, exclusive of provincials; and that it was also defended by seventeen line-of-battle ships, which were moored in the harbor. There being no hope of success against so formidable a force, the enterprise was deferred to the next year; the general and admiral on the last of August proceeded to New York; and the provincials were dismissed.

The marquis De Montcalm, availing himself of the absence of the principal part of the British force, advanced with an army of nine thousand men, and laid siege to fort William Henry. The garrison at this fort consisted of between two and three thousand regulars, and its fortifications were strong and in very good order; and for the additional security of this important post, general Webb was stationed at fort Edward with an army of four thousand men. The French commander, however, urged his approaches with such vigor, that, within six days after the investment of the fort, colonel Monro, the commandant, having in vain solicited succor from general Webb, found it necessary to surrender by capitulation. The garrison was to be allowed the honors of war, and to be protected against the Indians until within the reach of fort Edward; but the next morning, a great number of Indians, having been permitted to enter the lines, began to plunder; and meeting with no opposition, they fell upon the sick and wounded, whom they immediately massacred. Their appetite for carnage being excited, the defenceless troops were attacked with fiend-like fury. Monro in vain implored Montcalm to provide the stipulated guard, and the massacre proceeded. All was turbulence and horror. On every side savages were butchering and scalping their wretched victims. Their hideous yells, the groans of the dying, and the frantic shrieks of others shrinking from the uplifted tomahawk, were heard by the French unmoved. The fury of the savages was permitted to rage without restraint until fifteen hundred were killed, or hurried captives into the wilderness. The day after this awful tragedy, major Putnam was sent with his rangers to watch the motions of the enemy. When he came to the shore of the lake, their rear was hardly beyond the reach of musket-shot. The prospect was horrible in the extreme; the fort demolished; the barracks and buildings yet burning; innumerable fragments of human carcasses still broiled in the decaying fires; and dead bodies, mangled with tomahawks and scalping knives, in all the wantonness of Indian barbarity, were everywhere scattered around. Thus ended the third campaign in America; happily forming the last of a series of disasters, resulting from folly and mismanagement, rather than from want of means and military strength.

The British nation was alarmed and indignant, and the king found it necessary to change his councils. At the head of the new ministry he placed the celebrated William Pitt, afterwards earl of Chatham, under whose administration public confidence revived, and the nation seemed inspired with new life and vigor. He was equally popular in both hemispheres. Lord Loudoun was replaced by general Abercrombie, who, early in the spring of 1758, was ready to enter upon the campaign at the head of fifty thousand men, the most powerful army ever seen in America.

Three points of attack were marked out for this campaign; the first Louisbourg; the second Ticonderoga and Crown Point; and the third, fort Du Quesne. Its result was highly honorable to the British arms. Of the three expeditions, two completely succeeded, and the leader of the third had made an important conquest. Fort Du Quesne was reduced, supplied with a new garrison, and its name changed to Pittsburg. As usual, the Indians joined the strongest side. A peace was concluded with all the tribes between the Ohio and the lakes; and the frontier inhabitants of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, were once more relieved from the terrors of fire and scalping knives.

To the commanding talents of Pitt, and the confidence which they inspired, this change of fortune must be chiefly attributed; and in no respect were these talents more strikingly displayed than in the choice of men to execute his plans. The advantages of this campaign had, however, been purchased by an expensive effort and corresponding exhaustion of provincial strength; and, when a circular letter from Mr. Pitt to the several governors induced the colonies to resolve upon making the most vigorous preparation for the next, they soon discovered that their resources were by no means commensurate with their zeal.

Notwithstanding these difficulties, it was resolved to signalize the year 1759 by the complete conquest of Canada. The plan of the campaign was, that three powerful armies should enter the French possessions by three different routes, and attack all their strong-holds at nearly the same time. At the head of one division of the army, brigadier-general Wolfe, a young officer who had signalized himself at the siege of Louisbourg, was to ascend the St. Lawrence and lay siege to Quebec, escorted by a strong fleet to co-operate with his troops. The central and main army, composed of British and provincials, was to be conducted against Ticonderoga and Crown Point by general Amherst, the new commander-in-chief, who, after making himself master of these places, was to proceed over lake Champlain and by the way of Richelieu river to the St. Lawrence, and, descending that river, form a junction with general Wolfe before the walls of Quebec. The third army, to be composed principally of provincials, reinforced by a strong body of friendly Indians, was to be commanded by general Prideaux, who was to lead this division first against Niagara, and, after the reduction of that place, to embark on lake Ontario, and proceed down the St. Lawrence against Montreal. It has been observed by a recent author, ‘Had the elements been laid, and the enemy spell-bound, the whole of this brilliant plan could not have helped succeeding.’ This sentence, however, betrays a very limited view of a plan that was well worthy of the mind of Pitt. In this arrangement immediate advantage was not sacrificed; while the more remote results exhibited a prospect highly calculated to excite the ambition of the leaders, and to arouse all the energies of the troops. It is in thus affording motives which tend to bring physical force into most effective and persevering action, that intellectual superiority becomes manifest, confounding the calculations of ordinary minds.

Early in the winter, general Amherst commenced preparations for his part of the enterprise; but it was not till the last of May that his troops were assembled at Albany; and it was as late as the 22d of July, when he appeared before Ticonderoga. As the naval superiority of Great Britain had prevented France from sending out reinforcements, none of the posts in this quarter were able to withstand so great a force as that of general Amherst. Ticonderoga was immediately abandoned; the example was followed at Crown Point; and the only way in which the enemy seemed to think of preserving their province was by retarding the English army with shows of resistance till the season of operation should be past, or till, by the gradual concentration of their forces, they should become numerous enough to make an effectual stand. From Crown Point they retreated to Isle-aux-Noix, where general Amherst understood there was a body of between three and four thousand men, and a fleet of several armed vessels. The English made great exertions to secure a naval superiority; and had it not been for a succession of adverse storms upon the lake, they would most probably have accomplished the original design of forming a junction at Quebec, instead of being obliged to go into winter quarters at Crown Point.

In prosecution of the enterprise against Niagara, general Prideaux had embarked with an army on lake Ontario; and on the 6th of July landed without opposition within about three miles of the fort, which he invested in form. While directing the operations of the siege he was killed by the bursting of a cohorn, and the command devolved on Sir William Johnson. That general, prosecuting with judgment and vigor the plan of his predecessor, pushed the attack of Niagara with an intrepidity that soon brought the besiegers within a hundred yards of the covered way. Meanwhile, the French, alarmed at the danger of losing a post which was a key to their interior empire in America, had collected a large body of regular troops from the neighboring garrisons of Detroit, Venango, and Presqu’ Isle, with which, and a party of Indians, they resolved, if possible, to raise the siege. Apprised of their intention to hazard a battle, general Johnson ordered his light infantry, supported by some grenadiers and regular foot, to take post between the cataract of Niagara and the fortress; placed the auxiliary Indians on his flanks; and, together with this preparation for an engagement, took effectual measures for securing his lines, and bridling the garrison. About nine in the morning of the 24th of July, the enemy appeared, and the horrible sound of the war-whoop from the hostile Indians was the signal of battle. The French charged with great impetuosity, but were received with firmness; and in less than an hour were completely routed. This battle decided the fate of Niagara. Sir William Johnson the next morning opened negotiations with the French commandant; and in a few hours a capitulation was signed. The garrison, consisting of six hundred and seven men, were to march out with the honors of war, to be embarked on the lake, and carried to New York; and the women and children were to be carried to Montreal. The reduction of Niagara effectually cut off the communication between Canada and Louisiana.

The expedition against the capital of Canada was the most daring and important. Strong by nature, and still stronger by art, Quebec had obtained the appellation of the Gibraltar of America; and every attempt against it had failed. It was now commanded by Montcalm, an officer of distinguished reputation; and its capture must have appeared chimerical to any one but Pitt. He judged rightly, however, that the boldest and most dangerous enterprises are often the most successful, especially when committed to ardent minds glowing with enthusiasm, and emulous of glory. Such a mind he had discovered in general Wolfe, whose conduct at Louisbourg had attracted his attention. He appointed him to conduct the expedition, and gave him for assistants brigadier-generals Monckton, Townshend, and Murray; all, like himself, young and ardent. Early in the season he sailed from Halifax with eight thousand troops, and, near the last of June, landed the whole army on the island of Orleans, a few miles below Quebec. From this position he could take a near and distinct view of the obstacles to be overcome. These were so great, that even the bold and sanguine Wolfe perceived more to fear than to hope. In a letter to Mr. Pitt, written before commencing operations, he declared that he saw but little prospect of reducing the place.

Quebec stands on the north side of the St. Lawrence, and consists of an upper and lower town. The lower town lies between the river and a bold and lofty eminence, which runs parallel to it far to the westward. At the top of this eminence is a plain, upon which the upper town is situated. Below, or east of the city, is the river St. Charles, whose channel is rough, and whose banks are steep and broken. At a short distance farther down is the Montmorency; and between these two rivers, and reaching from one to the other, was encamped the French army, strongly entrenched, and at least equal in number to that of the English. General Wolfe took possession of Point Levi, on the southern bank of the St. Lawrence, and there erected batteries against the town. The cannonade which was kept up, though it destroyed many houses, made but little impression on the works, which were too strong and too remote to be materially affected; their elevation, at the same time, placing them beyond the reach of the fleet.

Convinced of the impossibility of reducing the place, unless he could erect batteries on the north side of the St. Lawrence, Wolfe soon decided on more daring measures. The northern shore of the St. Lawrence, to a considerable distance above Quebec, is so bold and rocky as to render a landing in the face of an enemy impracticable. If an attempt were made below the town, the river Montmorency passed, and the French driven from their entrenchments, the St. Charles would present a new, and perhaps an insuperable barrier. With every obstacle fully in view, Wolfe, heroically observing that ‘a victorious army finds no difficulties,’ resolved to pass the Montmorency, and bring Montcalm to an engagement. In pursuance of this resolution, thirteen companies of English grenadiers, and part of the second battalion of royal Americans, were landed at the mouth of that river, while two divisions, under generals Townshend and Murray, prepared to cross it higher up. Wolfe’s plan was to attack first a redoubt, close to the water’s edge, apparently beyond reach of the fire from the enemy’s entrenchments, in the belief that the French, by attempting to support that fortification, would put it in his power to bring on a general engagement; or, if they should submit to the loss of the redoubt, that he could afterwards examine their situation with coolness, and advantageously regulate his future operations.

On the approach of the British troops the redoubt was evacuated; and the general, observing some confusion in the French camp, changed his original plan, and determined not to delay an attack. Orders were immediately despatched to the generals Townshend and Murray to keep their divisions in readiness for fording the river; and the grenadiers and royal Americans were directed to form on the beach until they could be properly sustained. These troops, however, not waiting for support, rushed impetuously toward the enemy’s entrenchments; but they were received with so strong and steady a fire from the French musketry, that they were instantly thrown into disorder, and obliged to seek shelter at the redoubt which the enemy had abandoned. Detained here awhile by a dreadful thunder storm, they were still within reach of a severe fire from the French; and many gallant officers, exposing their persons in attempting to form the troops, were killed, the whole loss amounting to nearly five hundred men. The plan of attack being effectually disconcerted, the English general gave orders for repassing the river, and returning to the isle of Orleans.

Compelled to abandon the attack on that side, Wolfe deemed that advantage might result from attempting to destroy the French fleet, and by distracting the attention of Montcalm with continual descents upon the northern shore. General Murray, with twelve hundred men in transports, made two vigorous but abortive attempts to land; and though more successful in the third, he did nothing more than burn a magazine of warlike stores. The enemy’s fleet was effectually secured against attacks, either by land or by water, and the commander-in-chief was again obliged to submit to the mortification of recalling his troops. At this juncture, intelligence arrived that Niagara was taken, that Ticonderoga and Crown Point had been abandoned, but that general Amherst, instead of pressing forward to their assistance, was preparing to attack the Isle-aux-Noix.

While Wolfe rejoiced at the triumph of his brethren in arms, he could not avoid contrasting their success with his own disastrous efforts. His mind, alike lofty and susceptible, was deeply impressed by the disasters at Montmorency; and his extreme anxiety, preying upon his delicate frame, sensibly affected his health. He was observed frequently to sigh; and, as if life was only valuable while it added to his glory, he declared to his intimate friends, that he would not survive the disgrace which he imagined would attend the failure of his enterprise. Nothing, however, could shake the resolution of this valiant commander, or induce him to abandon the attempt. In a council of his principal officers, called on this critical occasion, it was resolved, that all the future operations should be above the town. The camp at the isle of Orleans was accordingly abandoned; and the whole army having embarked on board the fleet, a part of it was landed at point Levi, and a part higher up the river. Montcalm, apprehending from this movement that the invaders might make a distant descent and come on the back of the city of Quebec, detached M. de Bougainville with fifteen hundred men, to watch their motions, and prevent their landing.

Baffled and harassed in all his previous assaults, general Wolfe seems to have determined to finish the enterprise by a single bold and desperate effort. The admiral sailed several leagues up the river, making occasional demonstrations of a design to land troops; and, during the night, a strong detachment in flat-bottomed boats fell silently down with the stream, to a point about a mile above the city. The beach was shelving, the bank high and precipitous, and the only path by which it could be scaled, was now defended by a captain’s guard and a battery of four guns. Colonel Howe, with the van, soon clambered up the rocks, drove away the guard, and seized upon the battery. The army landed about an hour before day, and by daybreak was marshalled on the heights of Abraham.

Montcalm could not at first believe the intelligence; but, as soon as he was assured of its truth, he made all prudent haste to decide a battle which it was no longer possible to avoid. Leaving his camp at Montmorency, he crossed the river St. Charles with the intention of attacking the English army. No sooner did Wolfe observe this movement, than he began to form his order of battle. His troops consisted of six battalions, and the Louisbourg grenadiers. The right wing was commanded by general Monckton, and the left by general Murray. The right flank was covered by the Louisbourg grenadiers, and the rear and left by Howe’s light infantry. The form in which the French advanced indicating an intention to outflank the left of the English army, general Townshend was sent with the battalion of Amherst, and the two battalions of royal Americans, to that part of the line, and they were formed en potence, so as to present a double front to the enemy. The body of reserve consisted of one regiment, drawn up in eight divisions, with large intervals. The dispositions made by the French general were not less masterly. The right and left wings were composed about equally of European and colonial troops. The centre consisted of a column, formed of two battalions of regulars. Fifteen hundred Indians and Canadians, excellent marksmen, advancing in front, screened by surrounding thickets, began the battle. Their irregular fire proved fatal to many British officers, but it was soon silenced by the steady fire of the English.

About nine in the morning the main body of the French advanced briskly to the charge, and the action soon became general. Montcalm having taken post on the left of the French army, and Wolfe on the right of the English, the two generals met each other where the battle was most severe. The English troops reserved their fire until the French had advanced within forty yards of their line, and then, by a general discharge, made terrible havoc among their ranks. The fire of the English was vigorously maintained, and the enemy everywhere yielded to it. General Wolfe, who, exposed in the front of his battalions, had been wounded in the wrist, betraying no symptom of pain, wrapped a handkerchief round his arm, and continued to encourage his men. Soon after, he received a shot in the groin; but, concealing the wound, he was pressing on at the head of his grenadiers with fixed bayonets, when a third ball pierced his breast.102 The army, not disconcerted by his fall, continued the action under Monckton, on whom the command now devolved, but who, receiving a ball through his body, soon yielded the command to general Townshend. Montcalm, fighting in front of his battalions, received a mortal wound about the same time; and general Senezergus, the second in command also fell.

The British grenadiers pressed on with their bayonets. General Murray, briskly advancing with the troops under his direction, broke the centre of the French army. The Highlanders, drawing their broadswords, completed the confusion of the enemy; and after having lost their first and second in command, the right and centre of the French were entirely driven from the field; and the left was following the example, when Bougainville appeared in the rear, with the fifteen hundred men who had been sent to oppose the landing of the English. Two battalions and two pieces of artillery were detached to meet him; but he retired, and the British troops were left the undisputed masters of the field. The loss of the French was much greater than that of the English. The corps of French regulars was almost entirely annihilated. The killed and wounded of the English army did not amount to six hundred men. Although Quebec was still strongly defended by its fortifications, and might possibly be relieved by Bougainville, or from Montreal, yet general Townshend had scarcely finished a road in the bank to get up his heavy artillery for a siege, when the inhabitants capitulated, on condition that during the war they might still enjoy their own civil and religious rights. A garrison of five thousand men was left under general Murray, and the fleet sailed out of the St. Lawrence.

The fall of Quebec did not immediately produce the submission of Canada. The main body of the French army, which, after the battle on the plains of Abraham, retired to Montreal, and which still consisted of ten battalions of regulars, had been reinforced by six thousand Canadian militia, and a body of Indians. With these forces M. de Levi, who had succeeded the marquis de Montcalm in the chief command, resolved to attempt the recovery of Quebec. He had hoped to carry the place by a coup de main during the winter; but, on reconnoitring, he found the outposts so well secured, and the governor so vigilant and active, that he postponed the enterprise until spring. In the month of April, when the upper part of the St. Lawrence was so open as to admit a transportation by water, his artillery, military stores, and heavy baggage, were embarked at Montreal, and fell down the river under convoy of six frigates; and M. de Levi, after a march of ten days, arrived with his army at Point au Tremble, within a few miles of Quebec.

General Murray, to whom the care of maintaining the English conquest had been intrusted, had taken every precaution to preserve it; but his troops had suffered so much by the extreme cold of the winter, and by the want of vegetables and fresh provisions, that instead of five thousand, the original number of his garrison, there were not at this time above three thousand men fit for service. With this small but valiant body he resolved to meet the enemy in the field; and on the 28th of April marched out to the heights of Abraham, where, near Sillery, he attacked the French under M. de Levi with great impetuosity. He was received with firmness; and, after a fierce encounter, finding himself outflanked, and in danger of being surrounded by superior numbers, he called off his troops, and retired into the city. In this action the loss of the English was near a thousand men, and that of the French still greater. The French general lost no time in improving his victory. On the very evening of the battle he opened trenches before the town, but it was the 11th of May before he could mount his batteries, and bring his guns to bear on the fortifications. By that time general Murray, who had been indefatigable in his exertions, had completed some outworks, and planted so numerous an artillery on his ramparts, that his fire was very superior to that of the besiegers, and in a manner silenced their batteries. A British fleet most opportunely arriving a few days after, M. de Levi immediately raised the siege, and precipitately retired to Montreal. Here the marquis de Vaudreuil, governor-general of Canada, had fixed his head-quarters, and determined to make his last stand. For this purpose he called in all his detachments, and collected around him the whole force of the colony.

The English, on the other hand, were resolved upon the utter annihilation of the French power in Canada; and general Amherst prepared to overwhelm it with an irresistible superiority of numbers. Almost on the same day, the armies from Quebec, from lake Ontario, and from lake Champlain, were concentrated before Montreal; a capitulation was immediately signed; Detroit, Michilimackinac, and, indeed, all New France, surrendered to the English. The French troops were to be carried home; and the Canadians to retain their civil and religious privileges.

The history of modern Europe, with whose destiny that of the colonies was closely interwoven, may be designated as the annals of an interminable war. Her sovereigns, ever having the oily words of peace on their lips, have seldom had recourse to the olive branch but as the signal of a truce, the duration of which should be coeval with the reinvigoration of military strength. It was thus with France on the present occasion. Equally unsuccessful on both continents, and exhausted by her strenuous and continued efforts, she was at length induced to make overtures of peace; and every thing seemed to be in a fair train for adjustment, when the treaty was suddenly broken off by an attempt of the court of Versailles to mingle the politics of Spain and of Germany with the disputes between France and Great Britain. A secret family compact between the Bourbons to support each other through evil and good, in peace and in war, had rendered Spain desirous of war, and induced France once more to try her fortune. As the interests of the two nations were now identified, it only remained for England to make a formal declaration of hostility against Spain. The colonies of New England, being chiefly interested in the reduction of the West India islands, furnished a considerable body of troops to carry on the war. A large fleet was despatched from England; the land forces amounted to sixteen thousand; and before the end of the second year, Great Britain had taken the important city of Havannah, the key of the Mexican gulf, together with the French provinces of Martinique Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and the Caribbee islands.

The progress of the British conquests, which threatened all the remaining colonial possessions of their opponents, was arrested by preliminary articles of peace, which, towards the close of 1762, were interchanged at Fontainbleau between the ministers of Great Britain, France, and Spain. On the 10th of February in the following year, a definitive treaty of peace was signed at Paris, and soon after ratified. France ceded to Great Britain all the conquests which the latter had made in North America; and it was stipulated between the two crowns, that the boundary line of their respective dominions in the new hemisphere should run along the middle of the Mississippi, from its source as far as the Iberville, and along the middle of that river, and of lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain.

Thus terminated a war, which originated in an attempt on the part of the French to surround the English colonists, and chain them to a narrow strip of country along the coast of the Atlantic; and ended with their giving up the whole of what was then their only valuable territory in North America. The immediate advantage the colonies derived from the successful issue of the contest was great and apparent. Although, for a short period after the conquest of Canada had been effected, they were subject to attacks from the Indian tribes attached to the French, and also from the Cherokees on their south-western borders, they were soon enabled to visit their cruelties with severe retribution, and to procure a lasting repose, as the Indians had no forts to which to repair for protection or aid. But the indirect results, though almost unperceived at first, were far more important, and prepared the way for those momentous efforts which issued in the loss to Great Britain of the fairest portion of her colonies, and the establishment of her vassal as a rival. The colonists became inured to the habits and hardships of a military life, and skilled in the arts of European warfare; while the desire of revenge for the loss of Canada, which France did not fail to harbor, was preparing for them a most efficient friend, and making way for the anomalous exhibition of a despotic sovereign exerting all his power in the cause of liberty and independence.

COMMENCEMENT OF THE REVOLUTION.

Our limits will not permit us to enter into any speculations as to the remote origin of the American revolution. The immediate and exciting causes of the spirit of opposition to the government were twofold; the rigorous execution of the navigation laws, which destroyed a most important and profitable, though contraband and illegal trade; and the assertion by the British parliament of its right to tax the colonies. The latter so speedily followed the former, and afforded so preferable a ground on which to make a stand, that the navigation laws were seldom exhibited as one of the chief grievances; although, had not the stamp act and other similar measures been brought forward, the laws affecting the trade of the colonies would inevitably have excited the same opposition.

The attempt to hold a people, circumstanced as were the American colonists, under the legislation of Great Britain, was as irrational as it was unjust. Financial embarrassments called forth the erroneous policy into action, which, as often happens in private life, deeply aggravated the evil it was designed to remedy; and the attempt to wring a few thousands per annum from the colonists, terminated in plunging Great Britain into debt, and in depriving her of an immense territory, which, under a just and liberal management, might still have continued one of the most illustrious appendages of the British crown.

Plans of laying internal taxes, and of drawing a revenue from the colonies, had been at various times suggested to the ministry, and particularly to Sir Robert Walpole. This statesman, however, was too wise and sagacious to adopt them. ‘I will leave the taxation of the Americans,’ Walpole answered, ‘for some of my successors, who may have more courage than I have, and be less friendly to commerce than I am. It has been a maxim with me,’ he added, ‘during my administration, to encourage the trade of the American colonies to the utmost latitude; nay, it has been necessary to pass over some irregularities in their trade with Europe; for, by encouraging them to an extensive and growing foreign commerce, if they gain five hundred thousand pounds, I am convinced that, in two years afterwards, full two hundred and fifty thousand of this gain will be in his majesty’s exchequer by the labor and product of this kingdom, as immense quantities of every kind of our manufactures go thither; and as they increase in the foreign American trade, more of our produce will be wanted. This is taxing them more agreeably to their own constitution and laws.’ The first Pitt, also, in his celebrated speech on the repeal of the stamp act, referring to the conduct of the several preceding administrations, says, ‘None of these thought, or even dreamed, of robbing the colonies of their constitutional rights. That was reserved to mark an era of the late administration; not that there were wanting some, when I had the honor to serve his majesty, to propose to me to burn my fingers with an American stamp act. With the enemy at their back, with our bayonets at their breasts, in the day of their distress, perhaps the Americans would have submitted to the imposition; but it would have been taking an ungenerous and unjust advantage.’

Whatever might have been the views or wishes of any individual of the British cabinet, at any period, relative to drawing a revenue directly from the colonies, no one had been bold enough to make the attempt until after the reduction of the French power in America. This was deemed a favorable moment to call upon the Americans for taxes, to assist in the payment of a debt, incurred, as was alleged, in a great measure, for their protection against a powerful enemy, now no longer an object of their dread.103 A British statesman should have reflected, that, if the Americans were relieved from the dread of their ancient enemy, they no longer required the protection of the parent country against that enemy; and that the strongest hold on their dependence was gone when Canada was gained.

The conquest of Canada had scarcely been effected, when rumors were extensively prevalent that a different system of government was about to be adopted by the parent state; that the charters would be taken away, and the colonies reduced to royal governments. The officers of the customs began to enforce with strictness all the acts of parliament regulating the trade of the colonies, several of which had been suspended, or had become obsolete. Governor Bernard, of Massachusetts, who was always a supporter of the royal prerogative, appears to have entered fully into these views, and to have indicated, by his appointment of confidential advisers, that his object would be to extend the power of the government to any limits which the ministry might require. The first demonstration of the new course intended to be pursued, was the arrival of an order in council to carry into effect the acts of trade, and to apply to the supreme judicature of the province for writs of assistance, to be granted to the officers of the customs. According to the ordinary course of law, no searches or seizures can be made without a special warrant, issued upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, particularly designating the place to be searched and the goods to be seized. But the writ of assistance was to command all sheriffs and other civil officers to assist the person to whom it was granted in breaking open and searching every place where he might suspect any prohibited or uncustomed goods to be concealed. It was a sort of commission, during pleasure, to ransack the dwellings of the citizens, for it was never to be returned, nor any account of the proceedings under it rendered to the court whence it issued. Such a weapon of oppression in the hands of the inferior officers of the customs might well alarm even innocence, and confound the violators of the law.

The mercantile part of the community united in opposing the petition, and was in a state of great anxiety as to the result of the question. The officers of the customs called upon Mr. Otis for his official assistance, as advocate-general, to argue their cause: but as he believed these writs to be illegal and tyrannical, he resigned the situation, though very lucrative, and if filled by a compliant spirit, leading to the highest favors of government. The merchants of Salem and Boston applied to Otis and Thacher, who engaged to make their defence. The trial took place in the council chamber of the old town-house, in Boston. The judges were five in number, including lieutenant governor Hutchinson, who presided as chief justice; and the room was filled with all the officers of government and the principal citizens, to hear the arguments in a cause that inspired the deepest solicitude. The case was opened by Mr. Gridley, who argued it with much learning, ingenuity, and dignity, urging every point and authority that could be found, after the most diligent search, in favor of the custom-house petition; making all his reasoning depend on this consideration,—‘if the parliament of Great Britain is the sovereign legislator of the British empire.’ He was followed by Mr. Thacher on the opposite side, whose reasoning was ingenious and able, delivered in a tone of great mildness and moderation. ‘But,’ in the language of president Adams, ‘Otis was a flame of fire; with a promptitude of classical allusion, a depth of research, a rapid summary of historical events and dates, a profusion of legal authorities, a prophetic glance into futurity, and a rapid torrent of impetuous eloquence, he hurried away all before him. American independence was then and there born. The seeds of patriots and heroes to defend the Non sine Diis animosus infans, to defend the vigorous youth, were then and there sown. Every man of an immense crowded audience appeared to me to go away as I did, ready to take arms against writs of assistance. Then and there was the first scene of the first act of opposition to the arbitrary claims of Great Britain. Then and there the child Independence was born. In fifteen years, i. e. in 1776, he grew up to manhood and declared himself free.’104

In consequence of this argument, the popularity of Otis was without bounds, and at the next election he was for the first time chosen a member of the house of representatives, by an almost unanimous vote. Some idea of the state of public sentiment at that period may be derived from the following remarkable language of the governor, in his speech at the commencement of the session. ‘Let me recommend to you to give no attention to declamations tending to promote a suspicion of the civil rights of the people being in danger. Such harangues might suit well in the times of Charles and James, but in the times of the Georges they are groundless and unjust. Since the accession of the first George, there has been no instance of the legal privileges of any corporate body being attacked by any of the king’s ministers or servants, without public censure ensuing. His present majesty has given uncommon assurances how much he has at heart the preservation of the liberty, rights, and privileges of all his subjects. Can it be supposed that he can forfeit his word; or that he will suffer it to be forfeited by the acts of any servant of his with impunity? An insinuation so unreasonable and injurious I am sure will never be well received among you.’

In the following session governor Bernard informed the house of representatives, that, during the recess of the legislature, he had appropriated a small sum towards fitting out the sloop Massachusetts to protect the fishery. The committee appointed to prepare an answer reported to the house a message, in which, after desiring his excellency to restore the sloop to her former condition, they add, ‘Justice to ourselves and to our constituents obliges us to remonstrate against the method of making or increasing establishments by the governor and council. It is in effect taking from the house their most darling privilege, the right of originating all taxes. It is, in short, annihilating one branch of the legislature. And when once the representatives of a people give up this privilege, the government will very soon become arbitrary. No necessity, therefore, can be sufficient to justify a house of representatives in giving up such a privilege; for it would be of little consequence to the people whether they were subject to George or Louis, the king of Great Britain or the French king, if both were arbitrary, as both would be if both could levy taxes without parliament.’ ‘Treason, treason!’ cried one of the members when these words were read; but the report was accepted, and the message sent unaltered to the governor. The same day he returned it, accompanied by a letter requesting that a part of it might be expunged, as disrespectful to the king. It was then proposed to insert an amendment in the message, expressive of loyalty; but a certain member crying ‘Rase them, rase them,’ the obnoxious words, which had been underlined by the governor, were erased; ‘it being obvious that the remonstrance would be the same in effect with or without them.’ The governor sent a vindication of his conduct to the house, and prorogued the assembly before there was time to answer it.

The year 1764 was prolific in measures calculated to agitate and arouse the spirit of the Americans. Early in March an act was passed, which declared that the bills which had been issued by the several colonial governments, should no longer be regarded as legal currency; an enactment which, although in some cases it might have the beneficial effect of preventing an injurious excess of paper, was very prejudicial to the interests, as well as galling to the feelings, of the colonists. On the 10th of March the house of commons passed eighteen resolutions for imposing taxes and duties on the colonies. The execution of that which declared that it might be proper to impose certain stamp duties on them, was deferred to the next session; but the others were immediately enforced by ‘An Act for granting certain Duties in America;’ which, after stating that it was just and expedient to raise a revenue there, imposed duties on silks and colored calicoes from Persia, India, or China, and on sugar, wines, coffee, and pimento, made the sugar and molasses act perpetual, reducing the duty on molasses from six-pence to three-pence per gallon; and this for the express and sole purpose of raising a revenue. The same act increased the number of enumerated commodities, laid new and harsh restrictions on commerce, re-enacted many of the obsolete laws of trade, and provided that all penalties and forfeitures, accruing under any of them, might be sued for, at the election of the informer, in any court of record or of admiralty, or in that of vice-admiralty to be established over all America. The declaration which was made, that all these duties should be devoted to the maintenance of an army for the defence of the colonies, was by no means satisfactory: it was indeed urged by the ministry, to prove to Americans that the money which was raised from them would ultimately be spent again among their own inhabitants; but the colonists sagaciously conjectured, that now they had no other enemy than a few exhausted tribes of Indians, there must be some other design than that of defence in maintaining a standing army among them; and they could attribute the plan to no other source than a desire on the part of the ministry to secure the destruction of their liberties by military force.

The direct assertion by the British parliament of its right to tax the colonies, accompanied, as it evidently was, by a determination to carry the principle into almost immediate effect, excited the most extensive clamor and agitation, not only among individuals, but in the minds of the constituted authorities. ‘Taxation without representation is tyranny,’ was the universal watchword; the proposed exaction was everywhere the topic of conversation, and the subject of the severest animadversion. Every day beheld the affection of the Americans for the parent country sensibly diminish, while the disposition to resist by force was silently but effectually fostered. Several of the provincial assemblies sent instructions to their agents in London to employ every means to prevent the obnoxious measure being carried into effect.

The people of Boston, at their meeting in May, instructed their representatives to the general court on this important subject. In these instructions, (which were drawn up by Samuel Adams, one of the committee appointed for that purpose,) after commenting on the sugar and molasses act, they proceed to observe: ‘But our greatest apprehension is, that these proceedings may be preparatory to new taxes; for if our trade may be taxed, why not our lands? why not the products of our lands, and every thing we possess or use? This, we conceive, annihilates our charter rights to govern and tax ourselves. It strikes at our British privileges which, as we have never forfeited, we hold in common with our fellow-subjects who are natives of Britain. If taxes are laid upon us, in any shape, without our having a legal representation where they are laid, we are reduced from the character of free subjects, to the state of tributary slaves. We, therefore, earnestly recommend it to you to use your utmost endeavors to obtain from the general court all necessary advice and instruction to our agent, at this most critical juncture. We also desire you to use your endeavors that the other colonies, having the same interests and rights with us, may add their weight to that of this province; that by united application of all who are aggrieved, all may obtain redress.’

This was the first act in the colonies, in opposition to the ministerial plans of drawing a revenue directly from America; and it contained the first suggestion of the propriety of that mutual understanding and correspondence among the colonies, which laid the foundation of their future confederacy. The house of representatives of Massachusetts, in June following, declared, ‘That the sole right of giving and granting the money of the people of that province, was vested in them, or their representatives, and that the imposition of duties and taxes by the parliament of Great Britain upon a people not represented in the house of commons, is absolutely irreconcilable with their rights; that no man can justly take the property of another, without his consent; upon which original principles, the power of making laws for levying taxes, one of the main pillars of the British constitution, is evidently founded.’ The same sentiments are expressed, though in stronger language, in their letter of instructions to their agent. ‘If the colonists are to be taxed at pleasure,’ they say, ‘without any representatives in parliament, what will there be to distinguish them, in point of liberty, from the subjects of the most absolute prince? If we are to be taxed at pleasure, without our consent, will it be any consolation to us, that we are to be assessed by a hundred instead of one? If we are not represented, we are slaves.’ The house, also, at the same time, appointed a committee, to sit during the recess of the court, to write to the other colonies, requesting them to join in applying for a repeal of the sugar act, and in endeavoring to prevent the passage of the act laying stamp duties, or any other act imposing taxes on the American provinces.

In addition to the acts and declarations of the colonial legislatures, various individuals enlightened and animated the colonists by numerous publications both in the newspapers and by separate pamphlets. Among the latter, ‘The Rights of the Colonists asserted and proved,’ by Mr. Otis, and ‘The Sentiments of a British American,’ by Oxenbridge Thacher, were particularly distinguished. Mr. Otis, among other things, declared, ‘That the imposition of taxes, whether on trade or on land, on houses or ships, on real or personal, fixed or floating property in the colonies, is absolutely irreconcilable with the rights of the colonists, as British subjects and as men.’ On the subject of the sugar and molasses act, Mr. Thacher stated his objections, the first of which was, ‘That a tax was thereby laid on several commodities, to be raised and levied in the plantations, and to be remitted home to England. This is esteemed,’ he said ‘a grievance, inasmuch as the same are laid without the consent of the representatives of the colonists. It is esteemed an essential British right, that no man shall be subject to any tax but what, in person or by his representative, he hath a voice in laying.’

In the winter of 1765, at the request of the other agents of the colonies Dr. Franklin, Jared Ingersoll, Mr. Jackson, and Mr. Garth, had a conference with Mr. Grenville, on the subject of the stamp duty. Mr. Ingersoll was from Connecticut, and had been requested to assist Mr. Jackson in any matters relating to that colony; Mr. Garth was agent for South Carolina, and he and Mr. Jackson were members of parliament. These gentlemen, and particularly Dr. Franklin and Mr. Ingersoll, informed the minister of the great opposition to the proposed tax in America, and most earnestly entreated him, that if money must be drawn from the colonies by taxes, to leave it with the colonists to raise it among themselves in such manner as they should think proper, and best adapted to their circumstances and abilities. Dr. Franklin informed the minister, that the legislature of Pennsylvania had by a resolution declared, ‘That as they always had, so they always should, think it their duty to grant aids to the crown, according to their abilities, whenever required of them in the usual constitutional way.’

Neither the remonstrances of the colonists, however, nor the entreaties of their agents, were of any avail with the ministry or parliament. The bill for laying the stamp and other duties was soon brought before the house, and petitions from the colonies of Virginia, Connecticut, and South Carolina, were offered in opposition to it. The house, however, refused to receive them; in the first place, because they questioned or denied the right of parliament to pass the bill; and in the second place, because it was contrary to an old standing rule of the house,—‘that no petition should be received against a money bill.’ The majority against receiving the petitions was very large, and those from the other colonies were not offered. The petition from New York was expressed in such strong language, that no member of the house could be prevailed upon to present it. The admirable speech of colonel Barré in reply to Charles Townshend, so familiar to all of us, although it produced a profound impression, did not of course defeat the measure; and the colonial petitions and remonstrances, with the petition of the London merchants trading to America, were equally unavailing. In the house of commons there were about two hundred and fifty for, and only fifty against it. In the lords it passed without debate, with entire unanimity; and on the 22d of March it obtained the royal assent.

This enactment, which was to come into operation on the 1st of November, excited the most serious alarm throughout the colonies. It was viewed as a violation of the British constitution, and as destructive of the first principles of liberty; and combinations against its execution were everywhere formed. The house of burgesses in Virginia, which was in session when intelligence of the act was received, passed several spirited resolutions, asserting the colonial rights, and denying the claim of parliamentary taxation. The resolutions were introduced into the Virginia assembly by the eloquent Patrick Henry, who, on the envelope of a copy of them in his own hand-writing, has given the following interesting particulars: ‘They formed,’ says Mr. Henry, ‘the first opposition to the stamp act, and the scheme of taxing America by the British parliament. All the colonies, either through fear, or want of opportunity to form an opposition, or from influence of some kind or other, had remained silent. I had been for the first time elected a burgess a few days before, was young inexperienced, unacquainted with the forms of the house, and the members that composed it. Finding the men of weight averse to opposition, and the commencement of the tax at hand, and that no person was likely to step forth, I determined to venture; and alone, unadvised, and unassisted on a blank leaf of an old law book wrote the within. Upon offering them to the house, violent debates ensued. Many threats were uttered, and much abuse cast on me, by the party for submission. After a long and warm contest, the resolutions passed by a very small majority, perhaps of one or two only. The alarm spread throughout America with astonishing quickness, and the ministerial party were overwhelmed. The great point of resistance to British taxation was universally established in the colonies. This brought on the war, which finally separated the two countries, and gave independence to ours. Whether this will prove a blessing or a curse, will depend upon the use our people make of the blessings which a gracious God hath bestowed on us. If they are wise, they will be great and happy. If they are of a contrary character, they will be miserable. Righteousness alone can exalt them as a nation.’

‘It was in the midst of this magnificent debate,’ says his biographer, Mr. Wirt, ‘while he was descanting on the tyranny of the obnoxious act, that he exclaimed in a voice of thunder, “Cæsar had his Brutus—Charles the First his Cromwell—and George the Third”—(“Treason,” cried the speaker; “Treason, treason,” echoed from every part of the house: it was one of those trying moments which are decisive of character. Henry faltered not for an instant; but rising to a loftier attitude, and fixing on the speaker an eye of the most determined fire, he finished his sentence with the firmest emphasis,)—“may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it.”’

In the province of Massachusetts the dissatisfaction at the passing the stamp act was strong, and was strongly manifested. On the meeting of the legislature in May, it was recommended that there should be an early meeting of committees from the houses of representatives or burgesses in the several colonies, to consult together on their grievances and devise some plan for their relief. In accordance with the views of the Massachusetts legislature, the proposed convention was held at New York in October, and consisted of twenty-eight delegates from the assemblies of the colonies, excepting the assemblies of Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia, which were either not in session, or were otherwise prevented from sending representatives. Timothy Ruggles of Massachusetts was chosen president. A declaration of rights and grievances was adopted. A petition to the king, and a memorial to each house of parliament were also agreed on; and it was recommended to the several colonies to appoint special agents, who should unite their utmost endeavors in soliciting redress.

The populace in various parts of the colonies were unwilling to wait for the effect of the constitutional measures their representatives were adopting. One day in the month of August the effigy of Andrew Oliver, the proposed distributor of stamps in Massachusetts, was found hanging on a tree, afterwards well known by the name of Liberty tree, in the main street of Boston. At night it was taken down, and carried on a bier, amidst the acclamations of an immense collection of people, through the court-house, down King street, to a small brick building, supposed to have been erected for the reception of the detested stamps. This building being soon levelled with the ground, the rioters next attacked Mr. Oliver’s house, and having broken the windows, entered it, and destroyed part of the furniture. The next day, however, Mr. Oliver authorized several gentlemen to announce on the exchange, that he had declined having any concern with the office of stamp master; but in the evening a bonfire was made, and a repetition of this declaration exacted of him. On the 26th the tumults were renewed. The rioters assembled in King street, and proceeded to the house of the deputy register of the court of admiralty, whose private papers, as well as the records and files of the court, were destroyed. The house of Benjamin Hallowell, jun., comptroller of the customs, was next entered; and elevated and emboldened by liquors found in his cellar, the mob, with inflamed rage, directed their course to the house of lieutenant-governor Hutchinson, who, after vainly attempting resistance, was constrained to depart to save his life. By four in the morning one of the best houses in the province was completely in ruins, nothing remaining but the bare walls and floors. The plate, family pictures, most of the furniture, the wearing apparel, about nine hundred pounds sterling, and the manuscripts and books which Mr. Hutchinson had been thirty years collecting, besides many public papers in his custody, were either carried off or destroyed. The whole damage was estimated at two thousand five hundred pounds.105

The town of Boston the next day voted unanimously, that the selectmen and magistrates be desired to use their utmost endeavors, agreeably to law, to suppress the like disorders for the future, and that the freeholders and other inhabitants would do every thing in their power to assist them. The officer appointed to receive the stamped paper, which was daily expected, having resigned his commission, the governor determined to receive the paper into his own charge at the castle; and, by advice of council, he ordered the enlistment of a number of men to strengthen the garrison. This caused great murmur among the people. To pacify them he made a declaration in council, that he had no authority to open any of the packages, or to appoint a distributor of stamps; that his views in depositing the stamped paper in the castle, and in strengthening the garrison there, were to prevent imprudent people from offering an insult to the king; and to save the town, or province, as it might happen, from being held to answer for the value of the stamps, as they certainly would be if the papers should be taken away. This declaration the council desired him to publish, but it did not stop the clamor. He was forced to stop the enlistment, and to discharge such men as had been enlisted. The first day of November, on which the stamp act was to begin its operation, was ushered in at Boston by the tolling of bells; many shops and stores were shut; and effigies of the authors and friends of that act were carried about the streets, and afterwards torn in pieces by the populace.

Nor was Massachusetts alone;—the obnoxious act received similar treatment in the other colonies. On the 24th of August a gazette extraordinary was published at Providence, with Vox Populi vox Dei, for a motto; effigies were exhibited, and in the evening cut down and burnt. Three days afterwards, the people of Newport conducted effigies of three obnoxious persons in a cart, with halters about their necks, to a gallows near the town-house, where they were hung, and after a while cut down and burnt amidst the acclamations of thousands. On the last day of October, a body of people from the country approached the town of Portsmouth, (New Hampshire,) in the apprehension that the stamps would be distributed; but on receiving assurance that there was no such intention, they quietly returned. All the bells in Portsmouth, Newcastle, and Greenland, were tolled, to denote the decease of Liberty; and in the course of the day, notice was given to her friends to attend her funeral. A coffin, neatly ornamented, and inscribed with ‘LIBERTY, aged CXLV. years,’ was prepared for the funeral procession, which began from the state-house, attended with two unbraced drums; minute guns were fired until the corpse arrived at the grave, when an oration was pronounced in honor of the deceased: but scarcely was the oration concluded, when, some remains of life having been discovered, the corpse was taken up; and the inscription on the lid of the coffin was immediately altered to ‘LIBERTY REVIVED;’ the bells suddenly struck a cheerful sound, and joy appeared again in every countenance. In Connecticut, Mr. Ingersoll, the constituted distributor of stamps, was exhibited and burnt in effigy in the month of August; and the resentment at length became so general and alarming, that he resigned his office.

The spirit manifested by the citizens of New York produced a similar resignation; and the obnoxious act was contemptuously cried about the streets, labelled, ‘The Folly of England and Ruin of America.’ The stamp papers arriving toward the end of October, lieutenant-governor Colden took every precaution to secure them. On the first of November, many of the inhabitants of New York, offended at the conduct and disliking the political sentiments of the governor, having assembled in the evening, broke open his stable, and took out his coach; and after carrying it through the principal streets of the city, marched to the common, where a gallows was erected, on one end of which they suspended his effigy, with a stamped bill of lading in one hand, and a figure of the devil in the other. When the effigy had hung a considerable time, they carried it in procession suspended to the gallows to the gate of the fort, whence it was removed to the bowling green, under the muzzle of the guns, and a bonfire made, in which the whole pageantry, including the coach, was consumed, amidst the acclamations of several thousand spectators. The next day, the people insisting upon having the stamps, it was agreed that they should be delivered to the corporation, and they were deposited in the city hall. Ten boxes of stamps, which arrived subsequently, were committed to the flames.

At Philadelphia, on the appearance of the ships having the stamps on board, all the vessels in the harbor hoisted their colors half-mast high, the bells were muffled, and continued to toll until evening. The body of Quakers, with a part of the church of England and of the Baptists, seemed inclined to submit to the stamp act; but great pains were taken to engage the Dutch and the lower class of people in the opposition, and Mr. Huges, the stamp master, found it necessary at length to resign. In Maryland, Mr. Hood, the stamp distributor for that colony, to avoid resigning his office, fled to New York; but he was constrained by a number of freemen to sign a paper, declaring his absolute and final resignation. In Virginia, when the gentleman who had been appointed distributor of stamps arrived at Williamsburg, he was immediately urged to resign: and the next day he so handsomely declined acting in his office, that he received the acclamations of the people; at night the town was illuminated, the bells were rung, and festivity expressed the universal joy.

Associations had already been formed in the colonies, under the title of the Sons of Liberty, and were composed of some of the most respectable of their citizens. The association in New York held a meeting on the 7th of November, at which it was determined that they would risk their lives and fortunes to resist the stamp act. Notice of this being sent to the Sons of Liberty in Connecticut, an union of the two associations was soon after agreed upon, and a formal instrument drawn and signed; in which, after denouncing the stamp act as a flagrant outrage on the British constitution, they most solemnly pledged themselves to march with their whole force whenever required, at their own proper cost and expense, to the relief of all who should be in danger from the stamp act or its abettors; to be vigilant in watching for the introduction of stamped paper, to consider all who are caught in introducing it as betrayers of their country, and to bring them if possible to condign punishment, whatever may be their rank; to defend the liberty of the press in their respective colonies from all violations or impediments on account of the said act; to save all judges, attorneys, clerks, and others from fines, penalties, or any molestation whatever, who shall proceed in their respective duties without regard to the stamp act; and lastly, to use their utmost endeavors to bring about a similar union with all the colonies on the continent. In pursuance of this plan, circular letters were addressed to the Sons of Liberty in Boston, New Hampshire, and as far as South Carolina, and the proposal was received with almost universal enthusiasm.

Societies were formed also in most of the colonies, including females, and those of the highest rank and fashion, of persons who resolved to forego all the luxuries of life, sooner than be indebted for them to the commerce of England under the restrictions imposed upon it by parliament. These societies denied themselves the use of all foreign articles of clothing; carding, spinning, and weaving became the daily employment of ladies of fashion; sheep were forbidden to be used as food, lest there should not be found a sufficient supply of wool; and to be dressed in a suit of homespun was to possess the surest means of popular distinction. So true were these patriotic societies to their mutual compact, that the British merchants and manufacturers soon began to feel the necessity of uniting with the colonies in petitioning parliament for the repeal of the obnoxious law; and the table of the minister was loaded with petitions and remonstrances from most of the manufacturing and mercantile towns in the kingdom.

PROGRESS OF THE REVOLUTION.

While the colonies were thus brought into a state bordering on insurrection by the injudicious and unjust measures of the Grenville administration, the administration itself was rapidly hastening to its dissolution. George III. had ascended the throne not long after the capture of Quebec and in the following October, the patriot Pitt, who had devised and executed the grand scheme of expelling the French from North America, resigned the seals of office. Lord Bute, who appears to have been a personal friend of the new king, was appointed Mr. Pitt’s successor; and under his brief administration the peace of Paris was concluded. He was succeeded by Mr. Grenville, whose name will always bear an unhappy notoriety as the author of the stamp act; and whose measures have formed the subject of the preceding division. However the king might approve his political sentiments, and the king was a decided tory, Grenville was not personally in favor with his majesty; and the result was, (after some unsuccessful negotiation with Mr. Pitt, who expressed his unwillingness to go to St. James’ ‘without he could carry the constitution along with him,’) the formation of the Rockingham administration.

On the twenty-second of February, 1766, a bill was introduced in the house of commons for a repeal of the stamp act. The mover of the bill was general Conway, the same individual who in the first instance had denied the authority of parliament to impose it. On the proposed repeal a warm and interesting debate ensued, and it was finally carried by a large majority. In the upper house it was carried by a vote of one hundred and five to seventy-one.

On the 19th of March, his majesty went to the house of peers, and passed the bill for repealing the American stamp act, as also that for securing the dependency of the colonies on the British crown. On this occasion the American merchants made a most numerous appearance to express their gratitude and joy; ships in the river displayed their colors; the city was illuminated; and every method was adopted to demonstrate the sense entertained of the wisdom of parliament in conciliating the minds of the people on this critical occasion. In America, the intelligence was received with acclamations of the most sincere and heart-felt gratitude by all classes of people. Public thanksgivings were offered up in all the churches. The resolutions which had been passed on the subject of importations were rescinded, and their trade with the mother country was immediately renewed with increased vigor. The homespun dresses were given to the poor, and once more the colonists appeared clad in the produce of British looms.

The administration of the marquis of Rockingham terminated in July, 1766, and a new ministry was formed, under the direction of Mr. Pitt, composed of men of different political principles and parties. The duke of Grafton was placed at the head of the treasury; lord Shelburne was joined with general Conway, as one of the secretaries of state; Charles Townshend was made chancellor of the exchequer; Camden lord chancellor; Pitt had the privy seal, and was made a peer, with the title of the earl of Chatham; and lord North and George Cooke were joint paymasters. Under this chequered administration, the scheme of taxing America was revived. In May, 1767, the new chancellor of the exchequer submitted a plan of this kind to parliament. Charles Townshend was a man of genius and talents, but of high passions, eccentric, and versatile. He had warmly supported Grenville in the passage of the stamp act, and had voted with the marquis of Rockingham in its repeal. The ex-minister Grenville may indeed be considered the real author of the second plan for taxing the colonies, for he was ever urging the subject on the new ministers.106

The measure proposed by Townshend to the house was for imposing duties on glass, paper, pasteboard, white and red lead, painters’ colors, and tea, imported into the colonies. The preamble declared, ‘that it was expedient to raise a revenue in America, and to make a more certain and adequate provision for defraying the charge of the administration of justice and the support of the civil government in the provinces, and for defraying the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing them.’ The earl of Chatham was then confined by sickness in the country; the bill passed both houses without much opposition, and on the 29th of June received the royal assent.

The conduct of the assemblies of Massachusetts and New York had given great dissatisfaction in Great Britain. The refusal of the assembly of the latter to comply with the requisitions of the mutiny act, in particular, had excited the indignation of the ministry and parliament to such a degree, that three days after the passage of the new tax bill an act was passed restraining the legislature of that province from passing any act whatever, until they had furnished the king’s troops with all the articles required by the mutiny act. The ministry at the same time determined to establish a new board of custom-house officers in America. An act was therefore passed, enabling the king to put the customs and other duties in America, and the execution of the laws relating to trade there, under the management of commissioners to be appointed for that purpose, and to reside in the colonies. This, as the preamble declares, would ‘tend to the encouragement of commerce, and to better securing the rates and duties, and the more speedy and effectual collection thereof.’ These three acts arrived in America about the same time.

The appropriation of the new duties to the support of crown officers and to the maintenance of troops in America, was a subject of serious complaint. It had long been a favorite object of the British cabinet to establish in the colonies a fund, from which the salaries of the governors, judges, and other officers of the crown, should be paid, independent of the annual grants of the colonial legislatures. As these officers held their places during the pleasure of the king, the people of Massachusetts, it will be remembered, had uniformly resisted such establishment, though repeatedly urged on the part of the crown. On this subject the house of representatives maintained, in resolutions indicative of great firmness, their former purpose. The house also, during this session, addressed a circular letter to the other colonies, stating the difficulties to be apprehended by the operation of the late acts of parliament, and requesting their co-operation for redress. When the question of addressing a circular to the colonies was first presented to the house it was opposed, as seeming to countenance the meeting of another congress, heretofore so offensive to the British government; and the motion was negatived. The subject was afterwards reconsidered, and the letter so worded as to satisfy a large majority of the house. The other colonies approved of the proceedings of Massachusetts, and joined in applying to the king for relief.

The circular letter of Massachusetts created no little alarm in the British cabinet. Directions were issued by the secretary of state to the governor of this colony, requiring him to demand of the house of representatives a recantation of that offensive measure. This the house peremptorily refused. They viewed the letter of lord Hillsborough as an unwarrantable attempt on their rights; and in their answer to the communication of the governor on this subject, express themselves with no little warmth. ‘If the votes of the house were to be controlled by the direction of a minister,’ they say, ‘we have left us but a shadow of liberty!’ On the question to rescind, Mr. Otis, one of the representatives from Boston, said—‘When lord Hillsborough knows that we will not rescind our acts, let him apply to parliament to rescind theirs. Let Britain rescind their measures, or they are lost forever.’ On receiving information of the decision of the house, the governor immediately dissolved the assembly. This ministerial mandate to the other colonies was equally disregarded.

Americans looked with astonishment at such a system of policy proceeding from a ministry of which lord Chatham constituted a part. They found it impossible to reconcile the conduct now adopted towards them with their ideas of his lordship’s character. They had heretofore regarded him as a friend, in whose honest and liberal principles they might securely trust the management of all that concerned the colonies; but here was a melancholy evidence before their eyes of the insincerity of ministerial professions. In justice to the character of lord Chatham, however, it must be observed, that he was not in parliament during any part of the time that these measures of Mr. Townshend were under discussion. The state of his health was such as not only to detain him from his seat in the house, but to render him incapable of attending to any of the duties of his high station; and it appears that his opinion weighed but little with the men whom he had raised to power.

Charles Townshend, from whom all the troubles and commotions that were now rapidly spreading through the colonies in a great measure originated, did not live to witness their effects. He died in September, 1767, and was succeeded as chancellor of the exchequer by Frederick lord North, a young nobleman, then but little known in the political world, but who will be found to make a conspicuous figure in the sequel of this history. Very soon afterwards, lord Chatham, disgusted at the corrupt influence which manifested itself in every act of the court, and sick of the political world, resigned the privy seal.

The colonists meanwhile were adopting all the peaceable means in their power to show their sense of the wrongs heaped upon them. Petitions, memorials, and remonstrances to the king and parliament, and letters to the individual friends of America, were addressed from all the legislatures; but the most favorable reply which any of them received was an exhortation to suffer with patience and in silence. To suffer tamely, and without seeking redress, however, was not the character of the sturdy sons of freedom who inhabited the colonies. They entered into the same kind of resolutions of non-importation, the effects of which had been so severely felt by the traders in England under the stamp act. Boston, as before, took the lead. At a town meeting held in October, it was voted that measures should be immediately taken to promote the establishment of domestic manufactures, by encouraging the consumption of all articles of American manufacture. They also agreed to purchase no articles of foreign growth or manufacture, but such as were absolutely indispensable. New York and Philadelphia soon followed the example of Boston; and in a short time the merchants themselves entered into associations to import nothing from Great Britain but articles that necessity required.

The new board of commissioners of the customs established at Boston had now entered on the duties of their office. From the great excitement at that place, a collision between the new custom-house officers and the people was by no means improbable. The indignation of the people of Boston was at length excited to open opposition by the seizure of Mr. Hancock’s sloop Liberty, for a violation of the revenue laws. Under the idea that the sloop would not be safe at the wharf in their custody, the custom-house officers had solicited aid from a ship of war which lay in the harbor, the commander of which ordered the sloop to be cut from her fastenings and brought under the guns of his ship. It was to prevent this removal that the mob collected; many of the officers were severely wounded in the scuffle, and the mob, being baffled in their attempts to retain the sloop at the wharf, repaired to the houses of the collector, comptroller, and other officers of the customs, where they committed many acts of violence and injury to their property. This riotous disposition continued for several days, during which the commissioners applied to the governor for assistance, but his excellency not being able to protect them, advised them to remove from Boston; they consequently retired, first on board the Romney man-of-war, and then to castle William. The excitement at Boston was greatly increased about this time by the impressment of some seamen belonging to that town by order of the officers of the Romney. The inhabitants of Boston were assembled on this occasion, and their petition to the governor, praying his interference to prevent such outrages for the future, shows to what a state of alarm, anxiety, and even despair, they were then reduced. ‘To contend,’ they said, ‘against our parent state, is, in our idea, the most shocking and dreadful extremity; but tamely to relinquish the only security we and our posterity retain for the enjoyment of our lives and properties without one struggle, is so humiliating and base, that we cannot support the reflection.’

The general court of Massachusetts having been dissolved by governor Bernard, who refused to convene it again without his majesty’s command, on the proposal of the selectmen of Boston to the several towns in the colony, a convention met in that town on the 22d of September, to deliberate on constitutional measures to obtain redress of their grievances. The convention, disclaiming legislative authority, petitioned the governor; made loyal professions; expressed its aversion to standing armies, to tumults and disorders, its readiness to assist in suppressing riots, and preserving the peace; recommended patience and good order; and, after a short session, dissolved itself.

The day before the convention rose, advice was received that a man-of-war and some transports from Halifax, with about nine hundred troops, had arrived at Nantasket harbor. On the day after their arrival, the fleet was brought to anchor near castle William. Having taken a station which commanded the town, the troops, under cover of the cannon of the ships, landed without molestation, and, to the number of upwards of seven hundred men, marched, with muskets charged, bayonets fixed, martial music, and the usual military parade, into the common. In the evening, the selectmen of Boston were required to quarter the two regiments in the town; but they absolutely refused. A temporary shelter, however, in Faneuil hall, was permitted to one regiment that was without its camp equipage. The next day, the state-house, by order of the governor, was opened for the reception of the soldiers; and, after the quarters were settled, two field-pieces, with the main guard, were stationed just in its front. Every thing was calculated to excite the indignation of the inhabitants. The lower floor of the state-house, which had been used by gentlemen and merchants as an exchange, the representatives-chamber, the court-house, Faneuil hall—places with which were intimately associated ideas of justice and freedom, as well as of convenience and utility—were now filled with troops of the line.

Guards were placed at the doors of the state-house, through which the council must pass in going to their own chamber. The common was covered with tents. Soldiers were constantly marching and countermarching to relieve the guards. The sentinels challenged the inhabitants as they passed. The Sabbath was profaned, and the devotion of the sanctuary disturbed, by the sound of drums and other military music. There was every appearance of a garrisoned town. The colonists felt disgusted and injured, but not overawed, by the presence of such a body of soldiery. After the troops had obtained quarters, the council were required to provide barracks for them, agreeably to act of parliament; but they resolutely declined any measure which might be construed into a submission to that act. In a few weeks several more transports arrived at Boston from Cork, having on board part of the sixty-fourth and sixty-fifth British regiments, under colonels Mackey and Pomeroy.

The general court of Massachusetts was at length convened, on the 31st of May, and their first act was to send a committee to the governor, assuring him of their intention to make a thorough inquiry into the grievances of the people, and to have them redressed; and demanding of his excellency to order the removal of the forces from the harbor, and from the gates of the capital, during the sitting of the assembly. To this message the governor replied, ‘that he had no control of the king’s troops stationed in the town or province, and that he had received no orders for their removal.’

The assembly proved to be independent and resolute, and came to an open breach with governor Bernard. This body was accordingly removed to Cambridge, and the troops retained possession of the capital. On the 6th of July, the assembly received a message from the governor, desiring funds for the expenditures of his majesty’s troops, and provision for their further quartering in Boston and Castle island, according to act of parliament. This measure was strenuously resisted, and all provision of the kind was peremptorily refused. The prorogation of the assembly to the 10th of January following immediately ensued.

In August, 1769, Sir Francis Bernard was recalled, and left the administration to lieutenant-governor Hutchinson. The occasion of his taking leave was one of great joy to Boston. The bells were rung, guns were fired from Mr. Hancock’s wharf, Liberty tree was covered with flags, and in the evening a great bonfire was made upon Fort hill.

In 1770, lord North was elevated to the premiership; and his administration will ever be celebrated by the fact, that it cost the country more money, and lost it more territory, than that of any other man. His first measure was for the repeal of the port duties of 1767, with the exception of the duty on tea; this was to be retained in token of the supremacy of parliament. This single reservation was of course sufficient to frustrate all hopes of making this bill a peace-offering to the Americans.

The public mind in the colonies was still farther agitated by the continuance of the troops of the line in Boston. The inhabitants felt that their presence was designed to overawe and control the expression of their sentiments, and the military appear to have viewed their residence in the town in the same light. Under the excitement that was thus occasioned, affrays were frequently occurring between the populace and the soldiers; and it would appear that, as might be expected, neither party conducted themselves with prudence or forbearance. On the one hand, the soldiers are represented as parading the town, armed with heavy clubs, insulting and seeking occasion to quarrel with the people;107 while, on the other, the populace are declared to be the aggressors, and the military to have acted on the defensive.108 Early in the evening of the 5th of March, the inhabitants were observed to assemble in different quarters of the town; parties of soldiers were also driving about the streets, as if both the one and the other had something more than ordinary upon their minds.

About eight o’clock, one of the bells of the town was rung in such manner as is usual in case of fire. This called people into the streets. A large number assembled in the market-place, not far from King street, armed with bludgeons, or clubs. A small fray between some of the inhabitants arose at or near the barracks at the west part of the town, but it was of little importance, and was soon over. A sentinel who was posted at the custom-house, not far from the main guard, was next insulted, and pelted with pieces of ice and other missiles, which caused him to call to the main guard to protect him. Notice was soon given to captain Preston, whose company was then on guard, and a sergeant with six men was sent to protect the sentinel; but the captain, to prevent any precipitate action, followed them himself. There seem to have been but few people collected when the assault was first made on the sentinel; but the sergeant’s guard drew a greater number together, and they were more insulted than the sentinel had been, and received frequent blows from snowballs and lumps of ice. Captain Preston thereupon ordered them to charge; but this was no discouragement to the assailants, who continued to pelt the guard, daring them to fire. Some of the people who were behind the soldiers, and observed the abuse of them, called on them to do so. At length one received a blow with a club, which brought him to the ground; but, rising again, he immediately fired, and all the rest, except one, followed the example.

This seems, from the evidence on the trials and the observation of persons present, to have been the course of the material facts. Three men were killed, two mortally wounded, who died soon after, and several slightly wounded. The soldiers immediately withdrew to the main guard, which was strengthened by additional companies. Two or three of the persons who had seen the action ran to the lieutenant-governor’s house, which was about half a mile distant, and begged he would go to King street, where they feared a general action would come on between the troops and the inhabitants. He went immediately, and, to satisfy the people, called for captain Preston, and inquired why he had fired upon the inhabitants without the direction of a civil magistrate. The noise was so great that his answer could not be understood; and some persons, who were apprehensive of the lieutenant-governor’s danger from the general confusion, called out, ‘The town-house, the town-house!’ when, with irresistible violence, he was forced up by the crowd into the council chamber.

There demand was immediately made of him, to order the troops to withdraw from the town-house to their barracks. He refused; but calling from the balcony to the great body of people who remained in the street, he expressed his great concern at the unhappy event; assured them he would do every thing in his power to obtain a full and impartial inquiry, that the law might have its course; and advised them to go peaceably to their homes. Upon this there was a cry—‘Home, home!’ and a great part separated, and went home. He then signified his opinion to lieutenant-colonel Carr, that if the companies in arms were ordered to their barracks, the streets would be cleared and the town in quiet for that night. Upon their retiring, the rest of the inhabitants, except those in the council chamber, retired also.

Lieutenant-colonel Dalrymple, at the desire of the lieutenant-governor, came to the council chamber, while several justices were examining persons who were present at the transactions of the evening. From the evidence it was apparent that the justices would commit captain Preston, if taken. Several hours passed before he could be found, and the people suspected that he would not run the hazard of a trial; but at length he surrendered himself to a warrant for apprehending him, and, having been examined, was committed to prison. The next morning the soldiers who were upon guard surrendered also, and were committed. This was not sufficient to satisfy the people, and early in the forenoon they were in motion again. The lieutenant-governor caused his council to be summoned, and desired the two lieutenant-colonels of the regiments to be present. The selectmen of Boston were waiting the lieutenant-governor’s coming to council, and, being admitted, made their representation, that, from the contentions arising from the troops quartered in Boston, and, above all, from the tragedy of the last night, the minds of the inhabitants were exceedingly disturbed; that they would presently be assembled in a town meeting; and that, unless the troops should be removed, the most terrible consequences were to be expected.

The justices also of Boston and several of the neighboring towns had assembled, and desired to signify their opinion, that it would not be possible to keep the people under restraint, if the troops remained in town. The lieutenant-governor acquainted both the selectmen and the justices, that he had no authority to alter the place of destination of the king’s troops; but that he expected the commanding officers of the two regiments, and would let them know the applications which had been made. Presently after their coming, a large committee from the town meeting presented an address to the lieutenant-governor, declaring it to be the unanimous opinion of the meeting that nothing could rationally be expected to restore the peace of the town, ‘and prevent blood and carnage,’ but the immediate removal of the troops. The committee withdrew into another room to wait for an answer. Some of the council urged the necessity of complying with the people’s demand; but the lieutenant-governor declared that he would, upon no consideration whatever, give orders for their removal. Lieutenant-colonel Dalrymple then signified, that, as the twenty-ninth regiment had originally been designed to be placed at the castle, and was now peculiarly obnoxious to the town, he was content that it should be removed to the castle, until the general’s pleasure should be known. The committee was informed of this offer, and the lieutenant-governor rose from council, intending to receive no further application upon the subject; but the council prayed that he would meet them again in the afternoon, and colonel Dalrymple desiring it also, he complied.

Before the council met again, it had been intimated to them that the ‘desire’ of the governor and council to the commanding officer to remove the troops, would cause him to do it, though he should receive no authoritative ‘order.’ As soon as they met, a committee from the town meeting attended with a second message, to acquaint the lieutenant-governor that it was the unanimous voice of the people assembled, consisting, as they said, of near three thousand persons, that nothing less than a total and immediate removal of the troops would satisfy them. Ultimately the scruples of the lieutenant-governor were overcome, and he expressed his desire that the troops should be wholly withdrawn from the town to the castle, which was accordingly done. The funeral of the victims was attended with extraordinary pomp. Most of the shops were closed, all the bells of the town tolled on the occasion, and the corpses were followed to the grave by an immense concourse of people arranged six abreast, the procession being closed by a long train of carriages belonging to the principal gentry of the town. Captain Preston and the party of soldiers were afterwards tried. The captain and six of the men were acquitted, and two were brought in guilty of manslaughter; a result which reflected great honor on John Adams and Josiah Quincy, the council for the prisoners, and on the jury.

During the year 1771, nothing of moment occurred either in Boston or the colonies. The encouragement given by the agreement of the merchants to smuggling, occasioned continual contests with revenue officers; and it appears that the magistrates, when appealed to, refused to interfere. One circumstance, however, transpired, which must not be omitted. Early in this year, Mr. Hutchinson received his appointment to the office of governor of Massachusetts, an office which his political opponents allege to have always been the darling object of his ambition; while he maintains, that, however in ordinary times he might have desired it, he now ‘determined, not only to desire to be excused from the honor intended for him, but to be superseded in his place of lieutenant-governor; and he wrote to the secretary of state accordingly.’

The occurrences of the year 1772, afforded new sources of mutual animosity. The destruction of his majesty’s revenue schooner Gaspee, was one of those popular excesses which highly incensed the British ministry. Lieutenant Doddington, who commanded that vessel, had become very obnoxious to the inhabitants of Rhode Island, by his extraordinary zeal in the execution of the revenue laws. On the 9th of June, the Providence packet was sailing into the harbor of Newport, and lieutenant Doddington thought proper to require the captain to lower his colors. This the captain of the packet deemed repugnant to his patriotic feelings, and the Gaspee fired at the packet to bring her to: the American, however, still persisted in holding on her course, and by keeping in shoal water, dexterously contrived to run the schooner aground in the chase.

As the tide was upon the ebb, the Gaspee was set fast for the night, and afforded a tempting opportunity for retaliation; and a number of fishermen, aided and encouraged by some of the most respectable inhabitants of Providence, being determined to rid themselves of so uncivil an inspector, in the middle of the night manned several boats, and boarded the Gaspee. The lieutenant was wounded in the affray; but, with every thing belonging to him, he was carefully conveyed on shore, as were all his crew. The vessel, with her stores, was then burnt; and the party returned unmolested to their homes. When the governor became acquainted with this event, he offered a reward of five hundred pounds for the discovery of the offenders, and the royal pardon to those who would confess their guilt. Commissioners were appointed also to investigate the offence, and bring the perpetrators to justice; but, after remaining some time in session, they reported that they could obtain no evidence, and thus the affair terminated; a circumstance which forcibly illustrates the inviolable brotherhood which then united the people against the government.

Active resistance to the measures of the British government in relation to the colonies, had for some time been principally confined to Massachusetts. The other colonists, however, had not been idle or indifferent spectators of the scenes that had passed in Massachusetts. To remain long in their present state seemed impossible; and in the event of an opposition by force, unity of action, as well as of sentiment, was all important. To promote this object, the house of burgesses in Virginia originated what ultimately proved a powerful engine of resistance—a committee for corresponding with the legislatures of the several colonies; and by this means a confidential communication and interchange of opinions was kept up between them.

The British government determined to carry the duty on tea into effect, and the East India company were authorized to export their tea free of duties to all places whatever; by which means it could be furnished more cheaply in America than before it had been made a source of revenue.

Confident of finding a market at their reduced prices, the company freighted several ships with that article, and appointed agents for the disposal of it. Cargoes were sent to New York, Philadelphia, Charleston, and Boston. The inhabitants of the two former cities sent the ships back to London; and in the latter the tea was unloaded and stored in cellars, where it finally perished.

At Boston, before the vessels arrived with it, a town meeting was called to devise measures to prevent the landing and sale within the province. The agreement not to use tea while a duty was imposed was now solemnly renewed; and a committee was chosen to request the consignees of the East India company neither to sell nor unlade the tea which should be brought into the harbor. They communicated the wishes of the town to the merchants, who were to have the custody and sale of the tea; but they declined making any such promise, as they had received no orders or directions on the subject. On the arrival of the vessels with the tea in the harbor of Boston, another meeting of the citizens was immediately called. ‘The hour of destruction,’ it was said, ‘or of manly opposition, had now come;’ and all who were friends to the country were invited to attend, ‘to make an united and successful resistance to this last and worst measure of the administration.’ A great number of the people assembled from the adjoining towns, as well as from the capital, in the celebrated Faneuil hall, the usual place of meeting on such occasions, but the meeting was soon adjourned to one of the largest churches in the town. Here it was voted, as it had been at a meeting before the tea arrived, that they would use all lawful means to prevent its being landed, and to have it returned immediately to England.

After several days spent in negotiations, the consignees still refused to return the tea, and, fearing the vengeance of an injured people, they retired to the castle. The owner of the ship which brought the tea was unable to obtain a pass for her sailing, as the officer was in the interest of the British ministers. Application was then made to the governor, to order that a pass be given for the vessel; but he declined interfering in the affair. When it was found no satisfactory arrangement could be effected, the meeting broke up; but, late in the evening, a number of men, disguised as Mohawk Indians, proceeded to the vessels, then lying at the wharf, which had the tea on board, and in a short time every chest was taken out, and the contents thrown into the sea; but no injury was done to any other part of their cargoes. The inhabitants of the town, generally, had no knowledge of the event until the next day. It is supposed, the number of those concerned in the affair was about fifty; but who they were has been only a matter of conjecture to the present day.

PROGRESS OF THE REVOLUTION.

The British ministry appear to have been highly gratified that the town of Boston, which they ever regarded as the focus of sedition in America, had rendered itself, by the violent destruction of the property of the East India company, obnoxious to their severest vengeance. On the 7th of March lord North presented a message from his majesty to both houses of parliament, commenting on the outrageous proceedings at the town and port of Boston. In a few days a bill was introduced ‘for the immediate removal of the officers concerned in the collection of customs from Boston, and to discontinue the landing and discharging, lading and shipping, of goods, wares, and merchandise, at Boston, or within the harbor thereof.’ The bill also levied a fine upon the town, as a compensation to the East India company for the destruction of their teas, and was to continue in force during the pleasure of the king. The opposition to this measure was very slight, and it was finally carried in both houses without a division.

This, however, was only a part of lord North’s scheme of coercion. He proposed two other bills, which were intended to strike terror into the province of Massachusetts, and to deter the other colonies from following her example. By one of these, the constitution and charter of the province were completely subverted, all power taken out of the hands of the people, and placed in those of the servants of the crown. The third scheme of lord North was the introduction of ‘a bill for the impartial administration of justice in Massachusetts.’ By this act, persons informed against or indicted for any act done for the support of the laws of the revenue, or for the suppression of riots in Massachusetts, might by the governor, with the advice of the council, be sent for trial to any other colony, or to Great Britain; an enactment which, in effect, conferred impunity on the officers of the crown, however odious might be their violations of the law.

These plans of the administration were opposed by Burke, lord Chatham, Barré, and others, in language of the highest indignation. They originated in mistaken views of the opinion and temper of the people. The government, too, maintained that any measures were justifiable for supporting the authority of the king and parliament, and calculated on bringing the refractory and disaffected to submission by severity and force.

As a measure indicative of a determination to conduct the proceedings against the refractory colonists with the utmost vigor, general Gage was appointed, with powers of the most unlimited extent, to supersede governor Hutchinson. The offices of governor of the province of Massachusetts and commander of his majesty’s forces in America were united in his person. The intelligence of the passing of the Boston port bill had preceded general Gage a few days. On the day after his arrival, the general court having been dissolved by the late governor, a town meeting was convened and very numerously attended. They declared and resolved, ‘that the impolicy, injustice, inhumanity, and cruelty of the act, exceed all their powers of expression; and therefore,’ they say, ‘we leave it to the censure of others, and appeal to God and the world.’ They also declared it as their opinion, that, ‘if the other colonies come into a joint resolution to stop all importation from, and exportation to, Great Britain, and every part of the West Indies, till the act be repealed, the same would prove the salvation of North America and her liberties.’

The idea was probably entertained by the British ministry, that the other colonies would be inclined rather to avail themselves of the commercial advantages which the closing of one of the chief sea-ports would open to them, than to make common cause with Boston, at the hazard of incurring a similar penalty. In this instance, as in most others, the government made a great miscalculation of American character. The several colonies lost no time in expressing the deepest sympathy for the sufferings of the inhabitants of Boston, and in contributing to their pecuniary necessities, as well as in affording them moral countenance. In this patriotic course Virginia took the lead.

The convention of Virginia recommended to the committee of correspondence, that they should communicate with their several corresponding committees, on the expediency of appointing deputies from the several colonies of British America, to meet in general congress at such place annually as might be deemed most convenient; there to deliberate on those general measures which the united interests of America might from time to time require.

Similar expressions of determined opposition to the port bill, and assurances of support to the disfranchised citizens of Boston, were made wherever the act became known. In some places it was printed upon mourning paper, and hawked about the streets; in others it was publicly burned, with every demonstration of abhorrence. At New York there was a considerable struggle between the friends of administration and the friends of liberty, but the latter at length prevailed, by the influence and management of two individuals, who had on several occasions manifested great activity and zeal in their opposition to the obnoxious measures of the ministry. Addresses were also sent from Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, and some other provinces, to the committee of Boston, assuring them of support, and declaring that they considered the cause of Boston as the common cause of the country.

The two last of the coercive enactments of the British legislature did not reach Boston till July. By one, the governor alone was authorized to appoint all civil officers; and by the other, the counsellors were to be selected by the king and his ministers in England. A list of those appointed was soon made known, and gave great dissatisfaction, as they were the most unpopular characters in the province. To add to the anxiety which now pervaded every breast, a large military force was ordered into the province, an act of parliament having been passed, which directed the governor to provide quarters for them in any town he might choose.

It had been agreed by the delegates which had now been appointed by most of the colonies, that they should meet in general congress in September; and the desire to await the result of its determinations prevented any violent proceedings during the interim; while, however, great attention was given by the inhabitants to military discipline. Independent companies were formed, who elected their own officers, many of whom had served during the French war, and were well able to instruct their pupils in military tactics. On the other hand, general Gage was no less active in adopting measures calculated, in his estimation, to overawe the inhabitants, and to deter them from having recourse to force. With this view, although ostensibly for the purpose of preventing desertion, he fortified the isthmus which connects Boston with the main land, called Boston neck, the only entrance by land into the town of Boston, and therefore the only route by which, according to the port bill, the merchants and traders could carry on their business. This measure, however, served only the more to exasperate the people, and the subsequent seizure of the gunpowder at Charlestown added to their alarm.

Before daybreak, on the 1st of September, general Gage despatched a party of soldiers to bring into his own custody a quantity of provincial powder from the arsenal at Charlestown. Immediately this transaction became generally known, the inhabitants of the neighboring towns flew to arms, and agreed on Cambridge as a general rendezvous; and it was with great difficulty that they were dissuaded, by their more prudent leaders, from marching at once to Boston to require the restoration of the powder, or, in case of refusal, to attack the garrison.

It was under the excitement of these circumstances that, in defiance of the act of parliament, and the governor’s proclamation founded upon it prohibiting public assemblies, the county of Suffolk, of which Boston was the capital, elected delegates to meet for the purpose of taking into consideration the most proper course to be adopted in the present state of affairs. With a boldness and decision surpassing that of any former assembly, they passed resolutions declaring themselves constitutionally exempt from all obedience to the late measures of the British parliament, that the government of the province was in fact dissolved, and that they should consider all persons who dared to act in any official capacity under the new regulations as open enemies of their country. They sent a copy of their resolutions, and of their letter to the governor, with his answer, to the general congress, upon whose judgment they rested the decision of their future conduct.

This congress, which will ever be celebrated in the page of history, and held sacred in the annals of liberty, met at Philadelphia, on the 5th of September. Representatives from eleven of the colonies were present at the opening, and those from North Carolina arrived shortly after; Georgia alone having demurred to send delegates. Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, was elected president, and Charles Thompson, of Philadelphia, secretary; and after a brief controversy on the mode of voting, which resulted in the determination that each province should have only one vote, whatever number of delegates might be present, the assembly proceeded to business with all the solemnity of an organized legislature.

‘The most eminent men of the various colonies were now, for the first time, brought together. They were known to each other by fame, but they were personally strangers. The meeting was awfully solemn. The object which had called them together was of incalculable magnitude. The liberties of no less than three millions of people, with that of all their posterity, were staked on the wisdom and energy of their councils. No wonder, then, at the long and deep silence which is said to have followed upon their organization; at the anxiety with which the members looked round upon each other, and the reluctance which every individual felt to open a business so fearfully momentous. In the midst of this deep and death-like silence, and just when it was beginning to become painfully embarrassing, Mr. Henry arose slowly, as if borne down by the weight of the subject. After faltering, according to his habit, through a most impressive exordium, in which he merely echoed back the consciousness of every other heart, in deploring his inability to do justice to the occasion, he launched gradually into a recital of the colonial wrongs. Rising, as he advanced, with the grandeur of his subject, and glowing at length with all the majesty of the occasion, his speech seemed more than that of mortal man.’109 Mr. Henry was followed by Mr. Richard Henry Lee, in a speech scarcely less powerful, and still more replete with classic eloquence. One spirit of ardent love of liberty pervaded every breast, and produced a unanimity as advantageous to the cause they advocated, as it was unexpected and appalling to their adversaries.

One of the first acts of this assembly was the appointment of a committee, consisting of two from each colony, to state the rights of the colonists in general, the several instances in which those rights had been violated, and the means most proper to be pursued for obtaining a restoration of them. The congress proceeded with great deliberation; its debates were held with closed doors, and it was not till the 14th of October that they published a series of resolutions, embodying in spirited language their opinions on the chief subjects of difference between the colonies and the mother country. An agreement was also signed by all the members to abstain from commercial intercourse with Great Britain.

Upon the principles and in the spirit of the preceding resolutions, was composed an address to the people of Great Britain, as also one to the king; a statement to the aggrieved colonies, and an address to the inhabitants of Canada. These documents were drawn up with great ability. The gentlemen selected from the several colonies for this memorable congress were no less distinguished for their talents than their patriotism; and when perusing these state papers, no one can fail to regret that the speeches delivered on that occasion by such distinguished statesmen and orators as John Adams, John Jay, Richard Henry Lee, Patrick Henry, John Dickinson, Samuel Chase, John Rutledge, and many others of that illustrious band of patriots, are lost to the world.

During the session of the congress most of the colonies had adopted the plan of instituting provincial assemblies, regardless of their old form of government. In Massachusetts, general Gage had convoked a general court, to assemble at Salem, on the 5th of October; but events which subsequently transpired, induced him to issue a proclamation dissolving the assembly. The members, however, regarded that proclamation as illegal, and met at Salem on the day appointed. After waiting in vain the whole day for the governor’s appearance to administer the oaths, they resolved themselves into a provincial congress, and adjourned to Concord. After appointing John Hancock president, and addressing a communication to the governor, they again adjourned, to meet at Cambridge on the 17th. Here they appointed a committee of safety, and a committee of supplies. They also voted to enlist one-fourth of the militia as minute men, to be frequently drilled, and held in readiness for service at a minute’s warning; and after appointing three general officers, they adjourned to the 23d of November.

Before the close of the year the busy note of preparation resounded through almost every colony. The Massachusetts committees were indefatigable in providing for the most vigorous defence in the spring. They had procured all sorts of military supplies for the service of twelve thousand men, and had engaged the assistance of the three neighboring provinces of New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.

While these hostile preparations were proceeding in America, the British monarch was meeting a new parliament. The king informed his parliament, that a most daring resistance and disobedience to the law still prevailed in Massachusetts, and had broken out in fresh violences; that these proceedings had been countenanced and encouraged in the other colonies, and that unwarrantable attempts had been made to obstruct the commerce of the kingdom, by unlawful combinations; and he expressed his firm determination to withstand every attempt to weaken or impair the supreme authority of parliament over all the dominions of the crown. Addresses in answer to the speech, concurring in the sentiments expressed by the king, were carried in both houses, by large majorities.

After the recess, parliament met on the 20th of January, and on the same day lord Chatham moved, ‘That an humble address be presented to his majesty, most humbly to advise and beseech his majesty, that, in order to open the way towards our happy settlement of the dangerous troubles in America, by beginning to allay ferments and soften animosities there; and, above all, for preventing in the mean time any sudden and fatal catastrophe at Boston, now suffering under daily irritation of an army before their eyes, posted in their town; it may graciously please his majesty that immediate orders may be despatched to general Gage for removing his majesty’s forces from the town of Boston, as soon as the rigor of the season and other circumstances, indispensable to the safety and accommodation of the said troops, may render the same practicable.’ This motion was supported by one of the most eloquent and impressive speeches ever delivered by that distinguished statesman and orator.

Lord Chatham’s motion was seconded by lord Camden, who affirmed that ‘whenever oppression begins, resistance becomes lawful and right;’ and it was ably supported by the marquis of Rockingham and lord Shelburne; but, like all other motions opposed to the views of the ministry, it was lost by a large majority. The administration declared their determination never to relax in their measures of coercion, until America was forced into obedience. This, however, did not prevent lord Chatham from presenting to the house, soon afterwards, a bill, containing his favorite plan ‘for settling the troubles, and for asserting the supreme legislative authority and superintending power of Great Britain over the colonies.’ Though this bill, as it contained a direct avowal of the supreme authority of parliament over the colonies, in all cases except that of taxation, could never have received the assent of the Americans, yet, as it expressly denied the parliamentary power of taxing the colonies, without the consent of their assemblies, and made other concessions, it was rejected by a large majority on its first reading.110

On the 20th of February, lord North astonished both his friends and opponents, by introducing into the house of commons a proposition of a conciliatory nature. This was at first opposed from all quarters, but those who usually acted with the minister were finally persuaded to join him in this measure. But it did not prevent Mr. Burke and Mr. Hartley from presenting to the house their respective plans of reconciliation. They were of course rejected by the ministerial majority.

While most of the colonies afforded sufficient occupation for the watchfulness of the British government, those of New England called forth the most vigorous efforts of the royalists, both by sea and land. The naval forces were frequently engaged in destroying armed American vessels, congress having fitted out several, which were very successful in capturing store ships sent with supplies of provisions and ammunition for the royal army. At Gloucester, the Falcon sloop of war, having chased an American vessel into the harbor, despatched three boats, with about forty men, to bring her off, when the party were so warmly received by the militia who had collected on the shore, that the captain thought it necessary to send a reinforcement, and to commence cannonading the town. A very smart action ensued, which was kept up for several hours, but resulted in the complete defeat of the assailants, leaving upwards of thirty prisoners in the hands of the Americans. This repulse excited the British to deeds of revenge upon several of the defenceless towns on the coast, and to declare that many of them should be reduced to ashes, unless the inhabitants consented to an unconditional compliance with all their demands.

Another occurrence also tended to mutual exasperation. In compliance with a resolution of the provincial congress to prevent tories from conveying out their effects, the inhabitants of Falmouth, in the north-eastern part of Massachusetts, had obstructed the loading of a mast ship. The destruction of the town was therefore determined on, as an example of vindictive punishment. Captain Mowat, detached for that purpose with armed vessels by admiral Greaves, arrived off the place on the evening of the 17th of October, and gave notice to the inhabitants that he would allow them two hours ‘to remove the human species.’ The next day, captain Mowat commenced a furious cannonade and bombardment; and a great number of people, standing on the heights, were spectators of the conflagration, which reduced many of them to penury and despair. More than four hundred houses and stores were burnt. Newport, Rhode Island, being threatened with a similar attack, was compelled to stipulate for a weekly supply to avert it.

Warlike operations were not confined to the sea-ports. Their success in the reduction of Ticonderoga and Crown Point stimulated the Americans to more extensive operations in the north; and the movements of Sir G. Carleton, the governor of Canada, appeared to call for them, congress having reason to believe that a formidable invasion was intended from that quarter. The management of military affairs in this department had been committed to the generals Schuyler and Montgomery. On the 10th of September, about one thousand American troops effected a landing at St. John’s, the first British port in Canada, lying one hundred and fifteen miles only to the northward of Ticonderoga, but found it advisable to retreat to Isle aux Noix, twelve miles south of St. John’s. An extremely bad state of health soon after inducing general Schuyler to retire to Ticonderoga, the command devolved on general Montgomery. That enterprising officer in a few days returned to the vicinity of St. John’s, and opened a battery against it; and the reduction of fort Chamblee, by a small detachment, giving him possession of six tons of gunpowder, enabled him to prosecute the siege of St. John’s with vigor. General Carleton advanced against him with about eight hundred men; but, in attempting to cross the St. Lawrence, with the intention of landing at Langueil, he was attacked by colonel Warner, at the head of three hundred Green Mountain boys, and compelled to retire with precipitancy. This repulse induced the garrison of St. John’s to surrender, on honorable terms of capitulation.

While Montgomery was prosecuting the siege of St. John’s, colonel Ethan Allen, who had been despatched on a service necessary to that object, hearing that Montreal was in a defenceless state, attempted its capture without the knowledge of his superior in command; he was, however, with a part of his detachment, taken prisoner, and, to the disgrace of general Carleton, loaded with irons, and in that state sent to England. After the capture of St. John’s, Montgomery directed his attention to Montreal, with different success. On his approach, the few British troops there repaired on board the shipping, in hopes of escaping down the river; but general Prescot, and several officers, with about one hundred and twenty privates, were intercepted, and made prisoners on capitulation; eleven sail of vessels, with all their contents, fell into the hands of the provincials. Governor Carleton was secretly conveyed away in a boat with muffled paddles, and arrived safely at Quebec. General Montgomery, leaving some troops in Montreal, and sending detachments into different parts of the province to encourage the Canadians and to forward provisions, advanced with his little army to Quebec, where he found, to his surprise, that a body of American troops had arrived before.

General Washington, foreseeing that the whole force of Canada would be concentrated about Montreal, had projected an expedition against Quebec in a different direction from that of Montgomery. His plan was to send out a detachment from his camp before Boston, to march by way of Kennebec river; and, passing through the dreary wilderness lying between the settled parts of the province of Maine and the St. Lawrence, to penetrate into Canada about ninety miles below Montreal. This extraordinary and most arduous enterprise was committed to colonel Arnold, who, with one thousand one hundred men, consisting of New England infantry, some volunteers, a company of artillery, and three companies of riflemen, commenced his march on the 13th of September. It is almost impossible to conceive the labor, hardships, and difficulties which this detachment had to encounter in their progress up the rapid stream of the Kennebec, frequently interrupted by falls, where they were obliged to land and carry the boats upon their shoulders, until they surmounted them, through a country wholly uninhabited, with a scanty supply of provisions, the season cold and rainy, and the men daily dropping down with fatigue, sickness and hunger.

Arnold was indefatigable in his endeavors to alleviate the distresses of his men, but to procure provisions for them was not in his power. They were at one time reduced to so great an extremity of hunger, that the dogs belonging to the army were killed and eaten, and many of the soldiers devoured their leather cartouch boxes. Arnold and his party at length arrived at Point Levi, opposite the town of Quebec: but in consequence of information the British had received, by the treachery of the Indian to whom Arnold had intrusted a letter to general Schuyler, the boats which he expected to find there to transport his troops across the river had been removed, and the enemy were no longer in a state to be surprised. Arnold, however, was not to be deterred from attempting something against the town; he calculated strongly upon the defection of the inhabitants: and having supplied himself with canoes, he crossed the river in the night, and gained possession of the heights of Abraham. Here, though he had no artillery, and scarcely half the number of men that composed the garrison of the town, he made a bold experiment to try the loyalty of the enemy’s troops, by sending a flag to summon them to surrender. But no message would be admitted, and Arnold found himself compelled to retire to more comfortable quarters, where he awaited the arrival of general Montgomery.

General Carleton, who, as we have already stated, had arrived at Quebec, had taken the best measures for its defence, and was prepared to receive him. In a few days the American general opened a six-gun battery within about seven hundred yards of the walls; but his artillery was too light to make a breach, and he could do nothing more than amuse the enemy, and conceal his real purpose. After continuing a siege nearly a month, he resolved on a desperate attempt to carry the place by escalade. To distract the garrison, two feigned attacks were made on the upper town by two divisions of the army under majors Brown and Livingston, while two real attacks on opposite sides of the lower town were made by two other divisions under Montgomery and Arnold. Early in the morning of the last day in the year, the signal was given, and the several divisions moved to the assault in the midst of a heavy fall of snow, which covered the assailants from the sight of the enemy. Montgomery, at the head of the New York troops, advanced along the St. Lawrence, by Aunce de Mere, under cape Diamond.

The first barrier to be surmounted on that side was defended by a battery, in which were mounted a few pieces of artillery, in front of which were a blockhouse and picket. The guard at the blockhouse, after giving a random fire, threw away their arms and fled to the barrier, and for a time the battery itself was deserted. Enormous piles of ice impeded the progress of the Americans, who, pressing forward in a narrow defile, reached at length the blockhouse and picket. Montgomery, who was in front, assisted in cutting down or pulling up the pickets, and advanced boldly and rapidly at the head of about two hundred men, to force the barrier. By this time one or two persons had ventured to return to the battery, and, seizing a slow match, discharged one of the guns. Casual as this fire appeared, it was fatal to general Montgomery and to two valuable young officers near his person, who, together with his orderly sergeant and a private, were killed on the spot. Colonel Campbell, on whom the command devolved, precipitately retired with the remainder of the division.

In the mean time, colonel Arnold, at the head of about three hundred and fifty men, made a desperate attack on the opposite side. Advancing with the utmost intrepidity along the St. Charles, through a narrow path, exposed to an incessant fire of grape-shot and musketry, as he approached the first barrier at the Saut des Matelots, he received a musket ball in the leg, which shattered the bone, and he was carried off to the camp. Captain Morgan, who commanded a company of Virginia riflemen, rushed forward to the batteries at their head, and received a discharge of grape-shot, which killed one man only. A few rifles were immediately fired into the embrasures, and the barricade was mounted; the battery was instantly deserted, but the captain of the guard, with the greater part of his men, fell into the hands of the Americans. Morgan formed his men, but from the darkness of the night and total ignorance of the situation of the town, it was judged unadvisable to proceed. He was soon joined by lieutenant-colonel Green and majors Bigelow and Meigs, with several fragments of companies, amounting collectively to about two hundred men. At daylight this gallant party was again formed; but after a bloody and desperate engagement, in which they sustained the force of the whole garrison three hours, they were compelled to surrender themselves prisoners of war.111

After this brave but disastrous assault, the commander of the American troops did not muster more than four hundred effective men: in the hope, however, of receiving reinforcements, they maintained a position at a short distance from Quebec; and, although the garrison was very superior in numbers, the bravery the colonists had evinced, and the mixed character of his own troops, disinclined general Carleton from leaving his ramparts to attack the Americans.

In the end of May and beginning of June, generals Howe, Burgoyne, and Clinton, with reinforcements from Britain, arrived at Boston. The British general, in common with his troops, resolved on active operations; but every movement which they made was watched with an attentive eye by zealous Americans in Boston, who found means to penetrate every design before it was carried into execution, and to transmit secret intelligence to the American head-quarters. About the middle of June, it was suspected that general Gage intended to cross the river Charles, on the north side of Boston, and take possession of Breed’s or Bunker’s hill, in the vicinity of Charlestown.

On the night of the 16th of June, upwards of one thousand Americans, under colonel William Prescot, were ordered to proceed to this eminence, and to intrench themselves upon it. The movement was not without difficulty and danger; for British vessels of war were lying both in the Medford and Charles, on each side of the narrow peninsula. But the provincials marched to the place in profound silence; and, about midnight, began their operations. They labored with such assiduity, that before the dawn of day they had thrown up a breastwork, nearly across the peninsula, and constructed a small redoubt on their right.

About four in the morning of the 17th of June, the American works were observed by the captain of the Lively sloop of war, lying in the river Charles, who instantly began a heavy fire upon them, and was soon joined by the other ships, and by the battery on Copp’s hill at Boston. The Americans steadily continued their labors under a furious cannonade and an incessant shower of balls and bombs; but so harmless was this fearful noise that they lost only one man in the course of the morning. As in this post the Americans overlooked Boston, it was necessary to dislodge them; and, for this purpose, soon after mid-day, a detachment of British troops, under the command of generals Howe and Pigot, crossed the river in boats, and landed near the point of the peninsula; but, on observing the formidable position of the Americans, they waited for a reinforcement, which soon arrived. Meanwhile the steeples and the roofs of the houses in Boston, the eminences in the adjacent country, and the ships in the rivers, were crowded with anxious spectators, agitated by different hopes and fears according to their different attachments and interests. The main body of the American army encamped beyond Charlestown neck were looking on; and generals Clinton and Burgoyne, and other British officers of high rank, took their station in the battery on Copp’s hill to view the approaching conflict.

While general Howe waited for this reinforcement, the Americans received an accession of strength, under generals Warren and Pomeroy, who crossed Charlestown neck under a brisk cannonade from the shipping in the rivers, to join their countrymen and take part in the battle. By their arrival the provincial force was increased to fifteen hundred at least. The Americans also took advantage of general Howe’s halt to strengthen part of their position, by pulling down some rail-fences, forming the stakes into two parallel lines at a short distance from each other, and filling the interval with hay.

The British detachment, consisting of upwards of two thousand men, advanced towards the American line. The light infantry, commanded by general Howe, was on the right; the grenadiers, under general Pigot, on the left. They began the attack by a brisk cannonade from some field-pieces and howitzers, the troops proceeding slowly, and sometimes halting, to give time to the artillery to produce some effect. On advancing, the left set fire to Charlestown, a thriving town, containing about three hundred wooden houses, besides other buildings, and entirely consumed it. The rising flames added not a little to the grandeur and solemnity of the scene.

Secure behind their intrenchments, the Americans reserved their fire, and silently waited the approach of the British, till within fifty or sixty yards, when they poured upon them an incessant and well directed discharge of musketry. The British returned the fire for some time, without attempting to advance; but the discharge from the American line was so close and so destructive, that the troops at length gave way, and fell back towards the landing place. By the vigorous exertions of their officers, however, they were again brought to the charge; and the Americans, again reserving their fire till the troops were very near, directed it against them with the same deadly aim as before. Many fell: at one time, general Howe, for a few seconds, was left alone, every officer and soldier near him having been killed or wounded. The troops gave way a second time; but at that critical moment Sir Henry Clinton arrived from Boston, and was very active in leading them back to a third and more successful attack, in which they entered the American lines with fixed bayonets. The colonists had nearly exhausted their powder, and hence their fire had slackened. Being mostly armed with old rusty muskets, and ill provided with bayonets, they were unprepared for a close encounter. They therefore retreated; and, in passing Charlestown neck, were exposed to the fire of the Glasgow sloop of war, and two floating batteries, from which they sustained their greatest loss.

The British troops had suffered so severely in the engagement, that no pursuit was ordered; and, indeed, a pursuit could have served no good purpose, as the main body of the American army was at a small distance beyond the neck, and the royal troops were in no condition to encounter it. They were protected merely by the ships of war and floating batteries in the rivers Charles and Medford. The battle lasted about an hour, during the greater part of which time there was an incessant blaze of musketry from the American line.

This was a severe battle; and, considering the numbers engaged, extremely destructive to the British; for nearly one half of the detachment fell. According to the return made by general Gage, they lost one thousand and fifty-four men; two hundred and twenty-six of whom were slain on the field, and eight hundred and twenty-eight wounded. Nineteen commissioned officers were killed, and seventy wounded; among the former was major Pitcairn, whose inconsiderate conduct at Lexington had occasioned the first shedding of blood.

Among the killed on the side of the Americans were several lamented officers; but the death of general Warren was particularly regretted. By profession this gentleman was a physician of unsullied reputation. He did every thing in his power to prevent a rupture; but when an appeal to arms became unavoidable he joined the colonial standard.

After the engagement the British intrenched themselves on Bunker’s hill, the scene of action; and the Americans on Prospect hill, at a small distance in front of them. The colonists had been driven from their intrenchments; the royal troops had suffered severely in the battle, and neither party was forward to renew the conflict. Each fortified his post, and stood on the defensive.

On the 2d of July, general Washington, accompanied by general Lee and several other officers of rank, arrived at Cambridge, the head-quarters of the provincial army. On his journey he had everywhere been received with much respect, and escorted by companies of gentlemen, who volunteered their services on the occasion.

The existence of armed vessels in the service of the colonies has already been adverted to. From the peculiar situation of Massachusetts, it was perceived that important advantages might be gained by employing armed vessels on the coasts, to prevent the British from collecting provisions from any places accessible to them, and to capture the enemy’s ships loaded with military stores. Before the subject of a naval armament was taken up by congress, it appears that not only Massachusetts, but Rhode Island and Connecticut had each of them two vessels, at least, fitted, armed, and equipped by the colonial authorities. Subsequently, the general court of Massachusetts passed an act for encouraging the fitting out of armed vessels to defend the sea-coast of America, and for erecting a court to try and condemn all vessels that should be found infesting the same. Shortly afterwards, a committee of congress, appointed to devise ways and means for fitting out a naval armament, brought in their report, which was adopted. It was resolved to fit out for sea thirteen ships, five of thirty-two guns, five of twenty-eight, and three of twenty-four guns; a committee was nominated, with full powers to carry the report into execution with all possible expedition, and Ezekiel Hopkins was appointed commander. Thus commenced the American navy. The advantages that had been anticipated from armed vessels were soon experienced. Captain Manly, of Marblehead, one of the first who put to sea, on the 29th of November took an ordnance brig from Woolwich, containing, besides a large brass mortar, several pieces of fine brass cannon, a large quantity of small arms and ammunition, with all kinds of tools, utensils, and machines, necessary for camps and artillery; and, nine days after, three ships, from London, Glasgow, and Liverpool, with various stores for the British army. A brig, with fifteen thousand pounds of powder, was captured by a vessel fitted out by the council of safety of South Carolina. The supplies obtained by these means were of vast importance to the American army, which was in very great want of ammunition and military stores.

Among other measures tending to promote the general welfare, congress resolved that a line of posts should be appointed from Falmouth, in New England, to Savannah, in Georgia; and Benjamin Franklin was unanimously chosen postmaster-general. They also directed the establishment of an hospital, adequate to the necessities of an army consisting of twenty thousand men; and Dr. Church was appointed director and physician of the establishment.112

General Washington, on his first arrival in camp, found the materials for a good army; but they were in the crudest state. The troops having been raised by different colonial governments, no uniformity existed among the regiments; and imbued with the spirit of that very liberty for which they were preparing to fight, and unaccustomed to discipline, they neither felt an inclination to be subject to military rules, nor realized the importance of being so. The difficulty of establishing subordination was greatly increased by the shortness of the terms of enlistment, some of which were to expire in November, and none to continue longer than December. Various causes operated to lead congress to the almost fatal plan of temporary military establishments. Among the most important of these were a prospect of accommodation with the parent state, and the want of experience in the management of war upon an extensive scale.

The fear of accumulating expenses which the resources of the country could not discharge, had a further influence to deter the American government from the adoption of permanent military establishments; for, although the recommendations of congress, and the regulations of state conventions, had, in the day of enthusiasm, the force of law, yet the ruling power thought it inexpedient to attempt to raise large sums by direct taxes, at a time when the commerce of the country was annihilated, and the cultivators of the ground were subjected to heavy services in the field of war. The only recourse was to a paper medium, without funds for its redemption, or for the support of its credit, and therefore of necessity subject to depreciation, and, in its nature, capable of only a temporary currency; congress, therefore, was justly afraid of the expense of a permanent army. Jealousy of a standing army had also a powerful influence upon the military arrangements of America. Indeed this spirit early insinuated itself into the legislative bodies of the colonies, and was displayed in many of their measures: an indication of this feeling appears in the address presented by the provincial assembly of New York to general Washington, while on his journey to the American camp. ‘We have the fullest assurance,’ say they, ‘that whenever this important contest shall be decided, by that fondest wish of each American soul, an accommodation with our mother country, you will cheerfully resign the important deposit committed to your hands, and reassume the character of our worthiest citizen.’

The want of subordination was by no means the only difficulty with which the commander-in-chief had to contend; he soon made the alarming discovery, that there was no more powder than would furnish each man with nine cartridges. Although this dangerous deficiency was carefully concealed from the enemy, yet the want of bayonets, which was very considerable, could not be kept secret. The army was also so destitute of tents as to be unavoidably lodged in barracks, a circumstance extremely unfavorable to sudden movements, to health, and to discipline. There was no commissary-general, and therefore no systematic arrangement for obtaining provisions; and a supply of clothes was rendered peculiarly difficult by the non-importation agreements. Added to this there was a total want of engineers, and a great deficiency of working tools.

The general, happily qualified at once to meet difficulties and to remove them, took immediate care to organize the troops, to fit them for actual service, and to make arrangements for the necessary supplies. Next to these objects, he considered the re-enlistment of the army the most interesting. To this essential point he had early solicited the attention of congress, assuring that body that he must despair of the liberties of his country, unless he were furnished with an army that should stand by him until the conclusion of their enterprise. Congress at length resolved to raise a standing army, to consist of about seventy-five thousand men, to serve for the term of three years, or during the war; and that it should be composed of eighty-eight battalions, to be raised in the colonies, according to their respective abilities. Recruiting orders were accordingly issued; but the progress in raising recruits was by no means proportioned to the public exigencies. On the last day of December, when all the old troops not engaged on the new establishments were disbanded, there had been enlisted for the army of 1776 no more than nine thousand six hundred and fifty men. An earnest recommendation of general Washington to congress to try the influence of a bounty was not acceded to until late in January; but during the winter the number of recruits was considerably augmented. ‘The history of the winter campaign,’ says the biographer of Washington, ‘is a history of continued and successive struggles on the part of the American general, under the vexations and difficulties imposed by the want of arms, ammunition, and permanent troops, on a person in an uncommon degree solicitous to prove himself, by some grand and useful achievement, worthy of the high station to which the voice of his country had called him.’

In the space of time between the disbanding the old army and the constitution of an effective force from the new recruits, the lines were often in a defenceless state; the English must have known the fact, and no adequate reason can be assigned why an attack was not made. ‘It is not,’ says general Washington in his communications to congress, ‘in the pages of history to furnish a case like ours. To maintain a post within musket shot of the enemy, for six months together, without ammunition, and, at the same time, to disband one army and recruit another, within that distance of twenty odd British regiments, is more, probably, than ever was attempted. But if we succeed as well in the last as we have heretofore in the first, I shall think it the most fortunate event of my whole life.’ Such a measure, with the organization and discipline of the men, will be supposed to have employed every active power of the general; yet this did not satisfy his mind. He knew that congress anxiously contemplated more decisive steps, and that the country looked for events of greater magnitude. The public was ignorant of his actual situation, and conceived his means for offensive operations to be much greater than they were and they expected from him the capture or expulsion of the British army in Boston. He felt the importance of securing the confidence of his countrymen by some brilliant action, and was fully sensible that his own reputation was liable to suffer if he confined himself solely to measures of defence.

To publish to his anxious country the state of his army, would be to acquaint the enemy with his weakness, and to hazard his destruction. The firmness and patriotism of general Washington were displayed, in making the good of his country an object of higher consideration than the applause of those who were incapable of forming a correct opinion of the propriety of his measures. While he resolutely rejected every measure which in his calm and deliberate judgment he did not approve, he daily pondered the practicability of a successful attack upon Boston. As a preparatory step, he took possession of Plowed hill, Cobble hill, and Lechmere’s point, and erected fortifications upon them. These posts brought him within half a mile of the enemy’s works on Bunker’s hill; and, by his artillery, he drove the British floating batteries from their stations in Charles river. He erected floating batteries to watch the movements of his enemy, and to aid in any offensive operations that circumstances might warrant. He took the opinion of his general officers a second time respecting the meditated attack; they again unanimously gave their opinion in opposition to the measure, and this opinion was immediately communicated to congress. Congress appeared still to favor the attempt, and, that an apprehension of danger to the town of Boston might not have an undue influence upon the operations of the army, resolved, ‘That if general Washington and his council of war should be of opinion that a successful attack might be made on the troops in Boston, he should make it in any manner he might think expedient, notwithstanding the town, and property therein, might thereby be destroyed.’

General Howe had, in October, succeeded general Gage in the command of the British army, and through the winter confined himself to measures of defence. The inability of the American general to accomplish the great object of the campaign, repeatedly pointed out by congress, was doubtless a source of extreme mortification to him; but he indulged the hope of success in some military operations during the winter that would correspond with the high expectations of his country, and procure him honor in his exalted station of commander-in-chief of the American army. Early in January he summoned a council of war, in which it was resolved, ‘That a vigorous attempt ought to be made on the ministerial troops in Boston, before they can be reinforced in the spring, if the means can be provided, and a favorable opportunity shall offer.’

It was not, however, till the middle of February, that the ice became sufficiently strong for general Washington to march his forces upon it into Boston; he was then inclined to risk a general assault upon the British posts, although he had not powder to make any extensive use of his artillery; but his general officers in council voted against the attempt, and in their decision he reluctantly acquiesced. By the end of the month the stock of powder was considerably increased, and the regular army amounted to fourteen thousand men, which was reinforced by six thousand of the militia of Massachusetts. General Washington now resolved to take possession of the heights of Dorchester, in the prospect that this movement would bring on a general engagement with the enemy under favorable circumstances; or, should this expectation fail, that from this position he would be enabled to annoy the ships in the harbor, and the troops in the town. To mask the design, a severe cannonade and bombardment were opened on the British works and lines for several nights in succession. As soon as the firing began on the night of the 4th of March, a strong detachment marched from Roxbury over the neck of land connecting Roxbury with Dorchester heights, and, without discovery, took possession of the heights. General Ward, who commanded the division of the army in Roxbury, had fortunately provided fascines before the resolution passed to fortify the place; these were of great use, as the ground was deeply frozen; and, in the course of the night, the party, by uncommon exertions, erected works sufficient for their defence.

When the British discovered these works, nothing could exceed their astonishment. Their only alternative was either to abandon the town, or to dislodge the provincials. General Howe, with his usual spirit, chose the latter part of the alternative, and took measures for the embarkation on that very evening of five regiments, with the light infantry and grenadiers, on the important but most hazardous service. The transports fell down in the evening towards the castle with the troops, amounting to about two thousand men; but a tremendous storm at night rendered the execution of the design absolutely impracticable. A council of war was called the next morning, which agreed to evacuate the town as soon as possible. A fortnight elapsed before that measure was effected. Meanwhile, the Americans strengthened and extended their works; and on the morning of the 17th of March the king’s troops, with those Americans who were attached to the royal cause, began to embark; before ten, all of them were under sail. As the rear embarked, general Washington marched triumphantly into Boston, where he was joyfully received as a deliverer.

The issue of the campaign was highly gratifying to all classes; and the gratulation of his fellow-citizens upon the repossession of the metropolis of Massachusetts, was more pleasing to the commander-in-chief than would have been the honors of a triumph. Congress, to express the public approbation of the military achievements of their general, resolved, ‘That the thanks of congress, in their own name, and in the name of the thirteen united colonies, be presented to his excellency general Washington, and the officers and soldiers under his command, for their wise and spirited conduct in the siege and acquisition of Boston; and that a medal of gold be struck, in commemoration of this great event, and presented to his excellency.’ In his letter, informing congress that he had executed their order, and communicated to the army the vote of thanks, he says, ‘They were, indeed, at first, a band of undisciplined husbandmen; but it is, under God, to their bravery and attention to their duty, that I am indebted for that success which has procured me the only reward I wish to receive—the affection and esteem of my countrymen.’

Although Halifax was mentioned as the destined place of the British armament, general Washington apprehended that New York was their object. On this supposition, he detached several brigades of his army to that city, before the evacuation of Boston; and as soon as the necessary arrangements were made in the latter city, he followed with the main body of his army to New York, where he arrived on the 14th of April. The situation of New York was highly favorable for an invading army, supported by a superior naval force; and general Washington doubted the practicability of a successful defence; but the importance of the place, the wishes of congress, the opinion of his general officers, and the expectation of his country, induced him to make the attempt; and the resolution being formed, he called into action all the resources in his power to effect it, and, with unremitted diligence, pushed on his works. Hulks were sunk in the North and East rivers; forts were erected on the most commanding situations on their banks; and works were raised to defend the narrow passage between Long and York islands. The passes in the Highlands, bordering on the Hudson, became an object of early and solicitous attention. The command of this river was equally important to the American and the British general. By its possession, the Americans easily conveyed supplies of provision and ammunition to the northern army, and secured an intercourse between the southern and northern colonies essential to the success of the war. If the river were in the hands of the British, this necessary communication would be interrupted, and an intercourse between the Atlantic and Canada opened to them. General Washington ordered the passes to be fortified, and made their security an object of primary importance through every period of his command.

While these operations were carrying on in New England, general Arnold, under all his discouragements, continued the blockade of Quebec; but, in the month of May, in a council of war, it was unanimously determined, that the troops were in no condition to risk an assault, and the army was removed to a more defensible position. The Canadians at this juncture receiving considerable reinforcements, the Americans were compelled to relinquish one post after another, and by the 18th of June they had evacuated Canada.

In Virginia, the zeal and activity which had been excited by the spirited enterprise of Patrick Henry still continued to manifest themselves in various parts of the colony. The governor’s family, alarmed by the threatening march of Mr. Henry towards Williamsburgh, had already taken refuge on board the Fowey man-of-war; and only a few weeks elapsed before lord Dunmore himself adopted the same means of personal safety. Soon after fixing his residence on board the Fowey, his lordship required the house of burgesses to attend him there; but instead of obeying the requisition, they passed sundry resolutions, in which they declared that his lordship’s message was ‘a high breach of the rights and privileges of the house,’ and that his conduct gave them reason to fear ‘that a dangerous attack was meditated against the unhappy people of the colony.’ On the 24th of July the colonial convention met; they appointed a committee of safety, passed an ordinance for regulating the militia, and for raising a regular force of two regiments, the command of which was given to Patrick Henry, who was also made the commander of all the forces raised, and to be raised, for the defence of the colony. The ships of war belonging to his majesty, which had been cruising in James and York rivers during the whole summer, had committed many petty acts of depredation and plunder along the shores, which the people now eagerly desired to resent, and an opportunity of gratification soon offered.

The captain of the Otter sloop of war, on the 2d of September, ventured upon one of his plundering expeditions in a tender, and was driven on shore near Hampton by a violent tempest. The crew left the vessel on the shore, and made their escape in the night, and next morning the people boarded and set fire to her. This naturally roused captain Squire’s resentment, and he threatened instant destruction to the town; but the committee of safety at Williamsburgh, having heard of the affair, detached colonel Woodford with three companies to repel the attack, which was so effectually done, that the assailants were soon glad to make a precipitate flight, with considerable loss. This affair produced a proclamation from his lordship, (who continued to hold his head-quarters on board one of the ships,) in which he not only declared martial law, but freedom to all the slaves who would join his standard. By this means he soon collected a crew well suited to his designs; and having fortified himself at the great bridge, near Norfolk, continued for some time to commit such acts of wanton barbarity and contemptible depredations, as to disgust even those who had until now continued friendly to the cause of the king.

The committee of safety finding themselves called upon to put a stop to his lordship’s savage warfare, despatched colonel Woodford to drive him from his hold. Having arrived within cannon shot of lord Dunmore’s position, the Americans halted, and threw up some hasty intrenchments. His lordship, hearing that the provincials amounted only to three hundred men, badly armed, conceived the design of surprising them; and for this purpose captain Leslie, with the regulars and slaves, crossed the bridge before daylight, and entered the camp of the provincials, just as they were parading under arms. Captain Fordyce advanced to the attack of the grenadiers, and was among the first that fell. The whole number of grenadiers were either killed, wounded, or made prisoners, and the rest of the royal party were obliged to make a rapid retreat. Disappointed in their hopes, the governor’s party abandoned their works the following night, and retired to their shipping, leaving Woodford, who was now joined by colonel Howe from North Carolina, the complete command of Norfolk. After continuing to assail the coasts of Virginia for a considerable time, but almost everywhere unsuccessfully,113 lord Dunmore was at length compelled to abandon his hostile designs against the colonists. Some of his ships were driven upon that coast, where the wretched fugitives were made prisoners by their own fellow-citizens, and immured in dungeons. To escape a similar fate, Dunmore burnt the ships of least value; and the miserable remains of soldiers and loyalists, assailed at once by tempests, famine, and disease, sought refuge in Florida, Bermudas, and the West Indies.

Notwithstanding the extent to which hostilities had been carried, a large portion of the colonists had hitherto continued to entertain some hope of an amicable termination of the dispute; and it is evident, from the transactions we are about to record, that many felt sincerely desirous not to frustrate such a result. The want of more regular and stable governments had for some time been felt in those colonies where royal governments had hitherto existed; and in the autumn of 1775, New Hampshire applied to congress for their advice and direction on this subject. In November, congress advised the convention of that colony to call a full and free representation of the people; when the representatives, if they thought it necessary, should establish such a form of government as, in their judgment, would best promote the happiness of the people, and most effectually secure peace and good order during the continuance of the dispute between Great Britain and the colonies. On this question the members of congress were not unanimous. It was viewed by some as a step necessarily leading to independence; and by some of its advocates it was probably intended as such. To render the resolution less exceptionable, the duration of the government was limited to the continuance of the dispute with the parent country. Soon afterwards similar directions and advice were given to South Carolina and Virginia.

The last hopes of the colonists for reconciliation rested on the success of their second petition to the king; and the answer of their sovereign to this application was expected with extreme solicitude. Information, however, was soon received from Mr. Penn, who was intrusted with the petition, that no answer would be given. This intelligence was followed by that of great additional preparations to subdue the ‘American rebels.’ The king, in his speech at the opening of parliament in October, not only accused the colonists of revolt, hostility, and rebellion, but stated that the rebellious war carried on by them was for the purpose of establishing an independent empire. To prevent this he declared that the most decisive and vigorous measures were necessary; that he had consequently increased his naval establishment, had augmented his land forces, and had also taken measures to procure the aid of foreign troops. He at the same time stated his intention of appointing certain persons with authority to grant pardons to individuals, and to receive the submission of whole colonies disposed to return to their allegiance. Large majorities in both houses assured the king of their firm support in his measures for reducing the colonists to obedience. The addresses, however, in answer to the speech, were opposed with great ability. The project of employing foreign troops to destroy American subjects was reprobated by the minority in the strongest terms. The plans of the ministry, however, were not only approved by parliament, but by a majority of the nation.

The idea of making the colonists share their burdens could not easily be relinquished by the people of Great Britain; and national pride would not permit them to yield the point of supremacy. War was now therefore to be waged against the colonies, and a force sent out sufficiently powerful to compel submission, even without a struggle. For these purposes the aid of parliament was requisite; and about the last of December an act was passed, prohibiting all trade and commerce with the colonies, and authorizing the capture and condemnation, not only of all American vessels with their cargoes, but all other vessels found trading in any port or place in the colonies, as if the same were the vessels and effects of open enemies; and the vessels and property thus taken were vested in the captors, and the crews were to be treated, not as prisoners, but as slaves.

The passing of this act shut the door against the application of the colonies for a reconciliation. The last petition of congress to the king had, indeed, been laid before parliament, but both houses refused to hear it, or even to treat upon any proposition coming from such an unlawful assembly, or from those who were then in arms against their lawful sovereign. In the house of lords, on the motion of the duke of Richmond, Mr. Penn was examined on American affairs. He stated, among other things, that the colonists were desirous of reconciliation, and did not aim at independence; that they were disposed to conform to the acts regulating their trade, but not to taxation; and that on this point a spirit of resistance was universal. After this examination the duke of Richmond moved a resolution, declaring that the petition of congress to the king was a ground for a reconciliation of the differences between the two countries. This motion was negatived, after a warm debate, by eighty-six to thirty-three. These proceedings of the king and parliament, with the employment of sixteen thousand foreign mercenaries, convinced the leading men in each colony that the sword alone must decide the contest, and that the colonists must now declare themselves totally independent of Great Britain.

Time, however, was still requisite, to convince the great mass of the American people of the necessity of a complete separation from their parent country, and the establishment of independent governments. The ablest pens were employed throughout America, in the winter of 1775–6, on this momentous subject. The propriety and necessity of the measure was enforced in the numerous gazettes, and in pamphlets. Among the latter, ‘Common Sense,’ from the popular pen of Thomas Paine, produced a wonderful effect in the different colonies in favor of independence. Influential individuals in every colony urged it as a step absolutely necessary to preserve the rights and liberties, as well as to secure the happiness and prosperity of America.114

When the prohibitory act reached America, congress, justly viewing it as a declaration of war, directed reprisals to be made, both by public and private armed vessels, against the ships and goods of the inhabitants of Great Britain, found on the high seas, or between high and low water mark. They also burst the shackles of commercial monopoly, which had so long kept them in bondage, and opened their ports to all the world, except the dominions of Great Britain. In this state of things, it was preposterous for the colonists any longer to consider themselves as holding or exercising the powers of government under the authority of Great Britain. Congress, therefore, on the 10th of May, recommended to the assemblies and conventions of the colonies where no sufficient government had been established, ‘to adopt such government as should, in the opinion of the representatives of the people, best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents in particular, and America in general.’ They also declared it necessary, that the exercise of every kind of authority under the crown should be suppressed, and that all the powers of government should be exercised ‘under the authority of the people of the colonies, for the preservation of internal peace, virtue, and good order, as well as for the defence of their lives, liberties, and properties, against the hostile invasions and cruel depredations of their enemies.’ This was a preliminary step to a general declaration of independence. Some of the colonial assemblies and conventions about the same time began to express their opinions on this great question. On the 22d of April, the convention of North Carolina empowered their delegates in congress ‘to concur with those in the other colonies in declaring independency.’ This, it is believed, was the first direct public act of any colonial assembly or convention in favor of the measure.115 The convention of Virginia soon afterwards expressed itself still more decidedly. After full deliberation, the following resolutions were passed unanimously:—

‘That the delegates appointed to represent this colony in general congress be instructed to propose to that respectable body, to declare the United Colonies free and independent states, absolved from all allegiance to or dependence upon the crown or parliament of Great Britain; and that they give the assent of this colony to such declaration, and to whatever measures may be thought proper and necessary by the congress for forming foreign alliances, and a confederation of the colonies, at such time and in the manner as to them shall seem best: provided that the power of forming governments for, and the regulations of, the internal concerns of each colony, be left to the respective colonial legislatures.

‘That a committee be appointed to prepare a declaration of rights, and such a plan of government as will be most likely to maintain peace and order in this colony, and secure substantial and equal liberty to the people.’116

Early in the year the British government had prepared a considerable expedition to reduce the southern colonies to obedience. The command was intrusted to Sir Peter Parker and earl Cornwallis. On the 3d of May, admiral Parker, with twenty sail, arrived at cape Fear. They found general Clinton ready to co-operate with them. He had left New York, and proceeded to Virginia, where he had an interview with lord Dunmore; but finding nothing could be effected in that colony, he repaired to cape Fear, to await the arrival of the armament from England. Meanwhile, the Carolinians had been making great exertions. In Charleston the utmost energy and activity was evinced. The citizens pulled down the valuable storehouses on the wharves, barricadoed the streets, and constructed lines of defence along the shore. Abandoning their commercial pursuits, they engaged in incessant labor, and prepared for bloody conflicts. The troops, amounting to between five and six thousand men, were stationed in the most advantageous positions. Amidst all this bustle and preparation, lead was so extremely scarce, that the windows of Charleston were stripped of their weights, in order to procure a small supply of that necessary article for bullets.

Early in June, the armament, consisting of between forty and fifty vessels, appeared off Charleston bay, and thirty-six of the transports passed the bar, and anchored about three miles from Sullivan’s island. Some hundreds of the troops landed on Long island, which lies on the west of Sullivan’s island, and which is separated from it by a narrow channel, often fordable. On the 10th of the month, the Bristol, a fifty-gun ship, having taken out her guns, got safely over the bar; and on the 25th, the Experiment, a ship of equal force, arrived, and next day passed in the same way. On the part of the British every thing was now ready for action. Sir Henry Clinton had nearly three thousand men under his command. The naval force, under Sir Peter Parker, consisted of the Bristol and Experiment, of fifty guns; the Active, Acteon, Solebay, and Syren frigates; the Friendship, of twenty-two, and the Sphinx, of twenty guns; the Ranger sloop, and Thunder bomb. On the forenoon of the 28th of June, this fleet advanced against the fort on Sullivan’s island, which was defended by colonel Moultrie, with about three hundred and fifty regular troops, and some militia. The Thunder bomb began the battle. The Active, Bristol, Experiment, and Solebay, followed boldly to the attack, and a terrible cannonade ensued. The fort returned the fire of the ships slowly, but with deliberate and deadly aim; and the contest was carried on during the whole day with unabating fury. The Sphinx, Acteon, and Syren were ordered to attack the western extremity of the fort, which was in a very unfinished state; but, as they proceeded for that purpose, they got entangled with a shoal, called the Middle-ground. Two of them ran foul of each other: the Acteon stuck fast; the Sphinx and Syren got off; but, fortunately for the Americans, that part of the attack completely failed.

It was designed that Sir Henry Clinton, with his corps, should co-operate with the naval operations by passing the narrow channel which separates Long island from Sullivan’s island, and assail the fort by land; but this the general found impracticable, for the channel, though commonly fordable, was at that time, by a long prevalence of easterly winds, deeper than usual; and even had the channel been fordable, the British troops would have found the passage an arduous enterprise; for colonel Thomson, with a strong detachment of riflemen, regulars, and militia, was posted on the east end of Sullivan’s island to oppose any attack made in that quarter. The engagement, which began about eleven o’clock in the forenoon, continued with unabated fury till seven in the evening, when the fire slackened, and about nine entirely ceased on both sides. During the night all the ships, except the Acteon, which was aground, removed about two miles from the island. Next morning the fort fired a few shots at the Acteon, and she at first returned them; but, in a short time, her crew set her on fire and abandoned her. She blew up shortly afterwards. In this obstinate engagement both parties fought with great gallantry. The loss of the British was very considerable, upwards of sixty being killed, and one hundred and sixty wounded; while the garrison lost only ten men killed, and twenty-two wounded.

Although the Americans were raw troops, yet they behaved with the steady intrepidity of veterans. One circumstance may serve to illustrate the cool but enthusiastic courage which pervaded their ranks. In the course of the engagement the flag-staff of the fort was shot away; but sergeant Jasper leaped down upon the beach, snatched up the flag, fastened it to a sponge-staff, and, while the ships were incessantly directing their broadsides upon the fort, he mounted the merlon and deliberately replaced the flag. The fate of this expedition contributed greatly to establish the popular government it was intended to destroy, while the news of it spread rapidly through the continent, and exercised an equally unfavorable influence on the royal cause: the advocates of the irresistibility of British fleets and armies were mortified and silenced; and the brave defence of fort Moultrie saved the southern states from the horrors of war for several years.

In South Carolina the government look advantage of the hour of success to conciliate their opponents in the province. The adherents of royal power, who, for a considerable time, had been closely imprisoned, on promising fidelity to their country, were set at freedom and restored to all the privileges of citizens. The repulse of the British was also attended with another advantage, that of leaving the Americans at liberty to turn their undivided force against the Indians, who had attacked the western frontier of the southern states with all the fury and carnage of savage warfare. In 1775, when the breach between Great Britain and her colonies was daily becoming wider, one Stuart, the agent employed in conducting the intercourse between the British authorities and the Cherokees and Creeks, used all his influence to attach the savages to the royal cause, and to inspire them with jealousy and hatred of the Americans.

He found little difficulty in persuading them that the Americans, without provocation, had taken up arms against Britain, and were the means of preventing them from receiving their yearly supplies of arms, ammunition, and clothing, from the British government. The Americans had endeavored to conciliate the good will of the Indians, but their scanty presents were unsatisfactory, and the savages resolved to take up the hatchet. Deeming the appearance of the British fleet in Charleston bay a fit opportunity, the Cherokees invaded the western frontier of the province, marking their track with murder and devastation. The speedy retreat of the British left the savages exposed to the vengeance of the Americans, who, in separate divisions, entered their country at different points, from Virginia and Georgia, defeated their warriors, burned their villages, laid waste their corn-fields, and incapacitated the Cherokees for a considerable time from giving the settlers further annoyance. Thus, in the south, the Americans triumphed both over the British and the Indians.

On the 7th of June, the great question of independence was brought directly before congress, by Richard Henry Lee, one of the delegates from Virginia. He submitted a resolution, declaring ‘that the United Colonies are, and ought to be, free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown; and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.’ The resolution was postponed until the next day, and every member enjoined to attend, to take the same into consideration. On the 8th it was debated in committee of the whole house. No question of greater magnitude was ever presented to the consideration of a deliberative body, or debated with more energy, eloquence, and ability. On the 10th it was adopted in committee, by a bare majority. The delegates from Pennsylvania and Maryland were instructed to oppose it, and the delegates from some of the other colonies were without special instructions on the subject. To give time for greater unanimity, the resolution was postponed in the house until the 1st of July. In the mean time, a committee was appointed to prepare a declaration of independence. During this interval measures were taken to procure the assent of all the colonies.

On the day appointed, the resolution relating to independence was resumed in the general congress, referred to a committee of the whole house, and assented to by all the colonies, except Pennsylvania and Delaware. The committee appointed to prepare a declaration of independence selected Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson as a sub-committee, and the original draft was made by Mr. Jefferson. This draft, without any amendment by the committee, was reported to congress, and, after undergoing several amendments, received their sanction.

The course of time has now brought us to the decisive hour when a new empire, of a character the most extraordinary, springs into being. The world has known no rest since this grand confederacy took her rank among the nations of the earth; her example infused a power into the principles of liberty which for nearly two centuries had been dormant; although in another hemisphere, it has exercised more influence on the state of the public mind in Europe than did the great struggle in the days of the commonwealth; and the world will know rest no more, till, under whatever form, the great lessons of freedom which American history enforces, have been listened to, and embodied in action, by every nation of the globe.

FROM THE CAMPAIGN OF 1776 TO THAT OF 1779.

General Washington, after compelling the British to abandon Boston, had made every possible preparation for the defence of New York, where he had fixed his head-quarters. To second his exertions, the congress instituted a flying camp, to consist of an intermediate corps, between regular soldiers and militia; and called for ten thousand men from the states of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware, to be in constant service to the first day of the ensuing December; and for thirteen thousand eight hundred of the common militia from Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. The command of the naval force destined to operate against New York was given to admiral Howe, while his brother, Sir William, was intrusted with the command of the army; and, in addition to their military powers, the brothers were appointed commissioners for restoring peace to the colonies. General Howe, after waiting two months at Halifax for expected reinforcements from England, sailed with the force which he had previously commanded in Boston; and, directing his course towards New York, arrived on the 25th of June off Sandy Hook. Admiral lord Howe, with part of the reinforcement from England, arrived at Halifax soon after his brother’s departure, and, without dropping anchor, followed, and joined him on the 12th of July at Staten island. General Clinton arrived there about the same time with the troops brought back from the expedition of Charleston and South Carolina; commodore Hotham also appeared there with the reinforcement under his escort; and in a short time the British army amounted to about twenty-four thousand men, English, Hessians, and Waldeckers.

The royal commissioners, before they commenced military operations, attempted to effect a reunion between the colonies and Great Britain. Lord Howe announced his pacific powers to the principal magistrates of the several colonies. He promised pardon to all who, in the late times, had deviated from their allegiance, on condition of their speedily returning to their duty; and, in case of their compliance, encouraged their expectation of the future favor of their sovereign. In his declaration, he observed, ‘that the commissioners were authorized, in his majesty’s name, to declare any province, colony, county, district, or town, to be at peace with his majesty; that due consideration should be had to the meritorious services of any who should aid or assist in restoring the public tranquillity; that their dutiful representations should be received, pardons granted, and suitable encouragement to such as would promote the measures of legal government and peace, in pursuance of his majesty’s most gracious purposes.’ These pacific proposals were regarded by the Americans as only an attempt to sow dissensions among them, and were never for a moment seriously regarded by any of the patriotic party. The British forces waited so long to receive accessions from Halifax, the Carolinas, the West Indies, and Europe, that the month of August was far advanced before they commenced the campaign. The commanders, having resolved to make their first attempt on Long island, landed their troops, estimated at about twenty-four thousand men, at Gravesend bay, to the right of the Narrows.

The Americans, to the amount of fifteen thousand, under major-general Sullivan, were posted on a peninsula between Mill creek, a little above Red Hook, and an elbow of East river, called Whaaleboght bay. Here they had erected strong fortifications, which were separated from New York by East river, at the distance of a mile. A line of intrenchment from the Mill creek inclosed a large space of ground, on which stood the American camp, near the village of Brooklyn. This line was secured by abatis, and flanked by strong redoubts. The armies were separated by a range of hills, covered with a thick wood, which intersects the country from west to east, terminating on the east near Jamaica. Through these hills there were three roads; one near the Narrows, a second by the Flatbush road, and a third by the Bedford road; these were the only passes from the south side of the hills to the American lines, excepting a road which led to Jamaica round the easterly end of the hills; and general Putnam, agreeably to the instructions of general Washington, had detached a considerable part of his men to occupy them.

On the 26th, the main body of British troops, with a large detachment of Germans, landed under cover of the ships, on the south-western extremity of Long island, and advancing in three divisions, took post upon the south skirt of the wood; general Grant upon their left, near the coast; the German general, de Heister, in the centre, at Flatbush; and general Clinton upon their right, at Flatland. Only the range of hills now separated the two armies, and the different posts of the British were distant from the American camp from four to six miles. In the evening, general Clinton, without beat of drum, marched with the infantry of his division, a party of light-horse, and fourteen field-pieces, to gain the defile on the Jamaica road. During the night he surprised an American party stationed here to give the alarm of an approaching enemy, and, undiscovered by Sullivan, seized the pass. At daybreak he passed the heights, and descended into the plain on the side of Brooklyn. Early in the morning, general de Heister, at Flatbush, and general Grant, upon the west coast, opened a cannonade upon the American troops, and began to ascend the hill; but they moved very slowly, as their object was to draw the attention of the American commander from his left, and give general Clinton opportunity to gain the rear of the American troops stationed on the heights. General Putnam, in the apprehension that the serious attack would be made by de Heister and Grant, sent detachments to reinforce general Sullivan and lord Sterling at the defiles, through which those divisions of the enemy were approaching.

When general Clinton had passed the left flank of the Americans, about eight o’clock in the morning of the 27th, de Heister and Grant vigorously ascended the hill; the troops which opposed them bravely maintained their ground, until they learned their perilous situation from the British columns which were gaining their rear. As soon as the American left discovered the progress of general Clinton, they attempted to return to the camp at Brooklyn, but their flight was stopped by the front of the British column. In the mean time, the Germans pushed forward from Flatbush, and the troops in the American centre, under the immediate command of general Sullivan, having also discovered that their flank was turned, and that the enemy was gaining their rear, in haste retreated towards Brooklyn. Clinton’s columns continuing to advance, intercepted them; they were attacked in front and rear, and alternately driven by the British on the Germans, and by the Germans on the British. Desperate as their situation was, some regiments broke through the enemy’s columns and regained the fortified camp; but most of the detachments upon the American left and centre were either killed or taken prisoners. The detachment on the American right, under lord Sterling, maintained a severe conflict with general Grant for six hours, until the van of general Clinton’s division, having crossed the whole island, gained their rear.

Lord Sterling perceived his danger, and found that his troops could be saved only by an immediate retreat over a creek near the cove. He gave orders to this purpose; and, to facilitate their execution, he in person attacked lord Cornwallis, who, by this time having gained the coast, had posted a small corps in a house, just above the place where the American troops must pass the creek. The attack was bravely made with four hundred men; but his lordship being reinforced from his own column, and general Grant attacking lord Sterling in the rear, this brave band was overpowered by numbers, and those who survived were compelled to surrender themselves prisoners of war; but this spirited assault gave opportunity for a large proportion of the detachment to escape. General Washington passed over to Brooklyn in the heat of the action; but, unable to rescue his men from their perilous situation, was constrained to be the inactive spectator of the slaughter of his best troops. The loss of the Americans on this occasion, for the number engaged, was great; general Washington stated it at a thousand men; but his returns probably included only the regular regiments. General Howe, in an official letter, made the prisoners amount to one thousand and ninety-seven. Among these were major-general Sullivan, and brigadier-generals Sterling and Woodhull. The amount of the killed was never with precision ascertained. The British loss, as stated by general Howe, was twenty-one officers, and three hundred and forty-six privates killed, wounded, and taken prisoners.

The British now encamped in front of the American lines, and on the succeeding night broke ground within six hundred yards of a redoubt on the left. In this critical state of the American army on Long island,—in front a numerous and victorious enemy with a formidable train of artillery, the fleet indicating an intention to force a passage into East river to make some attempt on New York, the troops lying without shelter from heavy rains, fatigued and dispirited,—it was determined to withdraw from the island; and this difficult movement was effected with great skill and judgment, and with complete success.

The defeat of the 27th made a most unfavorable impression upon the army. A great proportion of the troops lost their confidence in their officers, and in themselves. Before this unfortunate event, they met the enemy in the spirit of freemen fighting for their highest interests, and under the persuasion that their thorough use of arms rendered them equal to the disciplined battalions which they were to oppose. But on this occasion, by evolutions which they did not comprehend, they found themselves encompassed with difficulties from which their utmost exertions could not extricate them, and involved in dangers from which their bravery could not deliver them; and entertaining a high opinion of the adroitness of the enemy, in every movement they apprehended a fatal snare.117 No sooner had the British secured the possession of Long island, than they made dispositions to attack New York. It was a serious question whether that place was defensible against so formidable an enemy; and general Washington called a council of general officers, to decide whether it should be evacuated without delay, or longer defended. The general officers, in compliance with the views of congress, were very averse from the abandonment of the city; and it was resolved, contrary to the individual opinion of Washington, to endeavor to defend the city.

The army was accordingly arranged into three divisions, one of which, consisting of five thousand men, was to remain in New York; another, amounting to nine thousand, was to be stationed at King’s Bridge; and the residue of the army was to occupy the intermediate space, so as to support either extreme. The unexpected movements of the British soon evinced the correctness of the opinion of the general-in-chief; and in a second council it was determined, by a large majority, that it had become not only prudent, but necessary, to withdraw the army from New York. Several English ships of war passed up North river on the one side of York island, and East river on the other side; Sir Henry Clinton embarked at Long island, at the head of four thousand men, proceeded through Newtown bay, crossed East river, and landed, under cover of the ships, at Kipp’s bay, about three miles above New York. Works of considerable strength had been thrown up at this place, to oppose the landing of the enemy; but they were immediately abandoned by the troops stationed in them, who, terrified at the fire of the ships, fled precipitately toward their main body, and communicated their panic to a detachment marching to their support. General Washington, to his extreme mortification, met this whole party retreating in the utmost disorder, and exerted himself to rally them; but, on the appearance of a small corps of the British, they again broke, and fled in confusion. Nothing was now left him but to withdraw the few remaining troops from New York, and to secure the posts on the heights. The retreat from New York was effected with a very inconsiderable loss of men; but all the heavy artillery, and a large portion of the baggage, provisions, and military stores, were unavoidably abandoned.

The British, taking possession of New York, stationed a few troops in the capital; but the main body of their army was on York island, at no great distance from the American lines. The day after the retreat from New York, a considerable body of the British appearing in the plains between the two camps, the general ordered colonel Knowlton, with a corps of rangers, and major Leitch, with three companies of a Virginia regiment, to get in their rear, while he amused them by making apparent dispositions to attack their front. The plan succeeded; and a skirmish ensued, in which the Americans charged the enemy with great intrepidity, and gained considerable advantage; but the principal benefit of this action was its influence in reviving the depressed spirits of the whole army. The armies did not long retain their position on York island. The British frigates having passed up North river under a fire from fort Washington and the post opposite to it on the Jersey shore, general Howe embarked a great part of his army in flat-bottomed boats, and, passing through Hellgate into the sound, landed at Frog’s neck.

The object of the British general was, either to force Washington out of his present lines, or to inclose him in them. Aware of this design, general Washington moved a part of his troops from York island to join those at King’s Bridge, and detached some regiments to West Chester. A council of war was now called, and the system of evacuating and retreating was adopted, with the exception of fort Washington, for the defence of which nearly three thousand men were assigned. After a halt of six days the royal army advanced, not without considerable opposition, along the coast of Long Island sound, by New Rochelle, to White Plains, where the Americans took a strong position behind intrenchments. This post was maintained for several days, till the British having received considerable reinforcements, general Washington withdrew to the heights of North Castle, about five miles from White Plains, where, whether from the strength of his position, or from the British general having other objects in view, no attempt at attack was made.

Immediately on leaving White Plains, general Howe directed his attention to fort Washington and fort Lee, as their possession would secure the navigation of the Hudson, and facilitate the invasion of New Jersey. On the 15th of November, general Howe, being in readiness for the assault, summoned the garrison to surrender. Colonel Magaw, the commanding officer, in spirited language, replied, that he should defend his works to extremity. On the succeeding morning the British made the assault in four separate divisions; and having, after a brave and obstinate resistance, surmounted the outworks, again summoned the garrison to surrender. His ammunition being nearly expended, and his force incompetent to repel the numbers which were ready on every side to assail him, colonel Magaw surrendered himself and his garrison, consisting of two thousand men, prisoners of war. The enemy lost in the assault about eight hundred men, mostly Germans.

The conquest of fort Washington made the evacuation of fort Lee necessary. Orders were therefore issued to remove the ammunition and stores in it; but, before much progress had been made in this business, lord Cornwallis crossed the Hudson, with a number of battalions, with the intention to inclose the garrison between the Hackensack and North rivers. This movement made a precipitate retreat indispensable, which was happily effected with little loss of men; but the greater part of the artillery, stores, and baggage was left for the enemy. The loss at fort Washington was heavy. The regiments captured in it were some of the best troops in the army. The tents, camp-kettles, and stores, lost at this place and at fort Lee, could not, during the campaign, be replaced, and for the want of them the men suffered extremely. This loss was unnecessarily sustained, as those posts ought, unquestionably, to have been evacuated before general Howe was in a situation to invest them; and this event was the more to be deplored, as the American force was daily diminished by the expiration of the soldiers’ term of enlistment, and by the desertion of the militia.

These successes encouraged the British to pursue the remaining American force, with the prospect of annihilating it. General Washington, who had taken post at Newark, on the south side of the Passaic, finding himself unable to make any real opposition, withdrew from that place as the enemy crossed the Passaic, and retreated to Brunswick, on the Rariton; and lord Cornwallis on the same day entered Newark. The retreat was still continued from Brunswick to Princeton; from Princeton to Trenton; and from Trenton to the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware. The pursuit was urged with so much rapidity, that the rear of one army was often within shot of the van of the other.118 The winter being now set in, the British army went into quarters, between the Delaware and the Hackensack. Trenton, the most important post and barrier, was occupied by a brigade of Hessians, under colonel Rawle. General Howe now issued a proclamation, in the name of his brother and himself, in which pardon was offered to all persons who, within the space of sixty days, should take the oath of allegiance, and submit to the authority of the British government. The effects of this proclamation were soon apparent. People from several quarters availed themselves of it, and threw down their arms. No city or town, indeed, in its corporate capacity, submitted to the British government; but many families of fortune and influence discovered an inclination to return to their allegiance. Many of the yeomanry claimed the benefit of the commissioners’ proclamation; and the great body of them were too much taken up with the security of their families and their property, to make any exertion in the public cause. Another source of mortification to the Americans was the capture of general Lee, who had imprudently ventured to lodge at a house three miles distant from his corps.119

This was the most gloomy period of the revolutionary war. It was the crisis of the struggle of the United States for independence. The American army, reduced in numbers, depressed by defeat, and exhausted by fatigue, naked, barefoot, and destitute of tents, and even of utensils with which to dress their scanty provisions, was fleeing before a triumphant enemy, well appointed and abundantly supplied. A general spirit of despondency through New Jersey was the consequence of this disastrous state of public affairs. But in this worst of times congress stood unmoved; their measures exhibited no symptoms of confusion or dismay; the public danger only roused them to more vigorous exertions, that they might give a firmer tone to the public mind, and animate the citizens of United America to a manly defence of their independence. Beneath this cloud of adversity, too, general Washington shone with a brighter lustre than in the day of his highest prosperity. Not dismayed by all the difficulties which encompassed him, he accommodated his measures to his situation, and still made the good of his country the object of his unwearied pursuit. He ever wore the countenance of composure and confidence, by his own example inspiring his little band with firmness to struggle with adverse fortune.

While Washington was retreating over the Delaware, the British, under Sir Pelew Parker and general Clinton, took possession of Rhode Island, and blocked up commodore Hopkins’ squadron and a number of privateers at Providence; but this measure was disadvantageous to the British, as it required the presence of troops which might have been much more advantageously employed.

The neighborhood of Philadelphia now becoming the seat of war, congress adjourned to Baltimore; resolving at the same time ‘that general Washington should be possessed of full powers to order and direct all things relative to the department and the operations of the war.’ In this extremity, judicious determinations in the cabinet were accompanied with vigorous operations in the field. The united exertions of civil and military officers had by this time brought a considerable body of militia into their ranks. General Sullivan too, on whom the command of general Lee’s division devolved on his capture, promptly obeyed the orders of the commander-in-chief, and at this period joined him, and general Heath marched a detachment from Peck’s Kill.

The army, with these reinforcements, amounted to seven thousand men, and general Washington determined to commence active and bold operations. He had noticed the loose and uncovered state of the winter quarters of the British army, and contemplated the preservation of Philadelphia, and the recovery of New Jersey, by sweeping, at one stroke, all the British cantonments upon the Delaware. The present position of his forces favored the execution of his plan. The troops under the immediate command of general Washington, consisting of about two thousand four hundred men, were ordered to cross the river at M’Konkey’s ferry, nine miles above Trenton, to attack that post. General Irvine was directed to cross with his division at Trenton ferry, to secure the bridge below the town, and prevent the retreat of the enemy that way. General Cadwallader received orders to pass the river at Bristol ferry, and assault the post at Burlington. The night of the twenty-fifth was assigned for the execution of this daring scheme. It proved to be severely cold, and so much ice was made in the river, that general Irvine and general Cadwallader, after having strenuously exerted themselves, found it impracticable to pass their divisions, and their part of the plan totally failed. The commander-in-chief was, however, more fortunate, and, though with much difficulty and considerable loss of time, succeeded in crossing the river, and reached Trenton by eight o’clock in the morning.

The brave colonel Rawle, the commanding officer, assembled his forces for the defence of his post; but he was mortally wounded by the first fire, and his men, in apparent dismay, attempted to file off towards Princeton. General Washington, perceiving their intention, moved a part of his troops into this road in their front, and defeated the design. Their artillery being seized, and the Americans pressing upon them, they surrendered. Twenty of the Germans were killed, and a thousand made prisoners. By the failure of general Irvine, a small body of the enemy stationed in the lower part of the town escaped over the bridge to Bordentown. Of the American troops, two privates were killed and two frozen to death, and one officer and three or four privates were wounded. Could the other divisions have crossed the Delaware, general Washington’s plan, in its full extent, would probably have succeeded. Not thinking it prudent to hazard the fruits of this gallant stroke by more daring attempts, the general the same day recrossed the Delaware with his prisoners, with six pieces of artillery, a thousand stand of arms, and some military stores.

This display of enterprise and vigor on the part of the Americans astonished and perplexed general Howe, and, though in the depth of winter, he found it necessary to commence active operations. Such was the reviving influence on the minds of the American soldiers, and such the skill which the commander-in-chief exercised, that, after several successful operations following that of Trenton, he not only saved Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, but recovered the greatest part of the Jerseys, in defiance of an army vastly superior to his, in discipline, resources, and numbers. Of all their recent extensive possessions in the Jerseys, the English retained now only the posts of Brunswick and Amboy. These successful operations on the part of the Americans were immediately followed by a proclamation, in the name of general Washington, absolving all those who had been induced to take the oaths of allegiance tendered by the British commissioners, and promising them protection on condition of their subscribing to a form of oath prescribed by congress. The effects of this proclamation were almost instantaneous. The inhabitants of the Jerseys, who had conceived a violent hatred to the British army, on account of their unchecked course of plundering, instantly renounced their allegiance to Great Britain, and attached themselves to the cause of America. Several who were resolved to avenge their wrongs, joined the army under general Washington, while others rendered equal service to the side to which they attached themselves, by supplying the American army with provisions and fuel, and by conveying intelligence of the operations of the British army.

Before entering on the campaign of 1777, it will be proper briefly to notice the state of affairs in Canada. The Americans still possessed Crown Point and Ticonderoga, and were masters of lake Champlain. To dispossess them of these posts was an arduous and a difficult task, inasmuch as the British had not a vessel on lake Champlain to oppose the American fleet. Difficult, however, as it was, general Carleton resolved to use every effort to procure an adequate naval force, and at length succeeding in the attainment of his object, he acquired a decided superiority. On the 11th of October, the British fleet discovered that of their opponents very advantageously posted off the island Valicour, with an intention of defending the passage between that island and the western main. A schooner and some gun-boats, being considerably ahead of the rest of the fleet, began the engagement, which was continued for some hours on both sides with great intrepidity. Brigadier-general Waterbury, in the Washington galley, fought with undaunted bravery, until nearly all his officers were killed or wounded, and his vessel greatly injured, when Arnold ordered the remaining shattered vessels to retire up the lake towards Crown Point, to refit.

Two days afterwards they were overtaken by the British, and the action was renewed. The Washington galley, crippled in the first action, was soon obliged to strike and surrender. General Arnold, having obstinately defended himself with great judgment and gallantry against a superior force, was at length so closely pressed, that he was compelled to run on shore his own vessel, the Congress galley, which, with five gondolas, was abandoned and blown up. Of sixteen American vessels, eleven were taken or destroyed; of the British, two gondolas were sunk, and one blown up with sixty men. The loss of men on each side was supposed to be nearly equal; that of the Americans was estimated at about a hundred. The British army and fleet now established themselves at Crown Point, and proceeded to strengthen the old fortifications, originally erected at this place by the French in 1756; but they very soon abandoned this station, and retired into Canada.

Having secured the Hessian prisoners on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware, Washington recrossed the river two days after the action, and took possession of Trenton. Generals Mifflin and Cadwallader, who lay at Bordentown and Crosswix with three thousand six hundred militia, were ordered to march up in the night of the 1st of January, to join the commander-in-chief, whose whole effective force, including this accession, did not exceed five thousand men. The detachments of the British army which had been distributed over New Jersey, now assembled at Princeton, and were joined by the army from Brunswick under lord Cornwallis. From this position they advanced toward Trenton in great force, on the morning of the 2d of January; and, after some slight skirmishing with troops detached to harass and delay their march, the van of their army reached Trenton about four in the afternoon. On their approach, general Washington retired across the Assumpinck, a rivulet that runs through the town, and by some field-pieces, posted on its opposite banks, compelled them, after attempting to cross in several places, to fall back out of the reach of his guns. The two armies, kindling their fires, retained their positions on opposite sides of the rivulet, and kept up a cannonade until night.

The situation of the American general was at this moment extremely critical. Nothing but a stream, in many places fordable, separated his army from an enemy in every respect its superior. If he remained in his present position, he was certain of being attacked the next morning, at the hazard of the entire destruction of his little army. If he should retreat over the Delaware, the ice in that river not being firm enough to admit a passage upon it, there was danger of great loss, perhaps of a total defeat; the Jerseys would be in full possession of the enemy; the public mind would be depressed; recruiting would be discouraged; and Philadelphia would be within the reach of general Howe. In this extremity, he boldly determined to abandon the Delaware, and, by a circuitous march along the left flank of the enemy, fall into their rear at Princeton. When it was dark, the army, leaving its fires lighted, and the sentinels on the margin of the creek, decamped with perfect secrecy. About sunrise two British regiments, that were on their march to join the rear of the British army at Maidenhead, fell in with the van of the Americans, conducted by general Mercer, and a very sharp action ensued. The advanced party of Americans, composed chiefly of militia, soon gave way, and the few regulars attached to them could not maintain their ground. General Mercer, while gallantly exerting himself to rally his broken troops, received a mortal wound.

General Washington, however, who followed close in their rear, now led on the main body of the army, and attacked the enemy with great spirit. While he exposed himself to their hottest fire, he was so well supported by the same troops which had aided him a few days before in the victory at Trenton, that the British were compelled to give way, and Washington pressed forward to Princeton. A party of the British that had taken refuge in the college, after receiving a few discharges from the American field-pieces, surrendered themselves prisoners of war; but the principal part of the regiment that was left there, saved itself by a precipitate retreat to Brunswick. In this action upwards of a hundred of the British were killed, and nearly three hundred were taken prisoners. Great was the surprise of lord Cornwallis when the report of the artillery at Princeton, and the arrival of breathless messengers, apprized him that the enemy was in his rear. Alarmed by the danger of his position, he commenced a retreat; and, being harassed by the militia and the countrymen who had suffered from the outrages perpetrated by his troops on their advance, he did not deem himself in safety till he arrived at Brunswick, from whence, by means of the Rariton, he had communication with New York.

The successes of the American arms at Trenton and at Princeton were followed by important consequences. The affairs of the United States before these events, appeared to be desperate. Two thousand of the regular troops had a right, on the 1st of January, to demand their discharge. The recruiting service was at an end, and general despondency prevailed. The triumphs of the British through the previous parts of the campaign produced a common apprehension, in the citizens of the middle slates, that any further struggle would be useless, and that America must eventually return to her allegiance to Great Britain. Many individuals made their peace with the commissioners, and took protection from the officers of the crown; and more discovered an inclination to do it, when opportunity should present itself. General Howe supposed New Jersey restored to the British government, and thought the war drawing to a close. But these successes were considered as great victories, and produced important effects upon the public mind. The character of the commander-in-chief proportionably rose in the estimation of the great mass of American people, who now respected themselves, and confided in their persevering efforts to secure the great object of contention—the independence of their country. Other causes had a powerful operation upon the minds of the yeomanry of New Jersey.

The British commanders tolerated, or at least did not restrain, gross licentiousness in their army. The inhabitants of the state which they boasted was restored to the bosom of the parent country, were treated not as reclaimed friends, but as conquered enemies. The soldiers were guilty of every species of rapine, and with little discrimination between those who had opposed or supported the measures of Britain. The abuse was not limited to the plundering of property. Every indignity was offered to the persons of the inhabitants, not excepting those outrages to the female sex which are felt by ingenuous minds with the keenest anguish, and excite noble spirits to desperate resistance. These aggravated abuses roused the people of New Jersey to repel that army to which they had voluntarily submitted, in the expectation of protection and security. At the dawn of success upon the American arms, they rose in small bands to oppose their invaders. They scoured the country, cut off every soldier who straggled from his corps, and in many instances repelled the foraging parties of the enemy. Early in this year also the Americans were gratified by the arrival of a vessel from France at Portsmouth, in New Hampshire, with upwards of eleven thousand stand of arms, and a thousand barrels of powder; and about the same time ten thousand stand of arms arrived in another part of the United States.

This supply was, however, in some measure counterbalanced. In the month of March the British sent out two detachments to destroy the American stores at Peekskill, on the North river, and at Danbury, in Connecticut. Both succeeded in their attempt; and although the stores destroyed did not equal in quantity the report on which the expeditions were planned, yet their loss was sensibly felt by the Americans in the active season of the campaign.

Sir William Howe, having in vain attempted to entice or provoke general Washington to an engagement, had, in June, retired with his army from the Jerseys to Staten island. After keeping the American general in long and perplexing suspense concerning his intended operations, he at length sailed from Sandy Hook with about sixteen thousand men, entered Chesapeake bay, and on the 24th of August arrived at the head of Elk river. Generals Grant and Knyphausen having joined him on the 8th of September with the troops under their command, the whole army moved onward in two columns toward Philadelphia, the possession of which was now evidently the object of the British commander. Washington, who regulated his movements by those of the enemy, had by this time, with the whole American army excepting the light infantry, which remained on the lines, taken a position behind Red Clay creek, on the road leading directly from the enemy’s camp to Philadelphia. The British rapidly advanced until they were within two miles of the Americans; while Washington crossed the Brandywine, and took post on a height behind that river.

At daybreak on the morning of the 11th it was ascertained that Sir William Howe in person had crossed the Brandywine at the forks, and was rapidly marching down the north side of the river to attack the American army. The commander-in-chief now ordered general Sullivan to form the right wing to oppose the column of Sir William. General Wayne was directed to remain at Chadd’s ford with the left wing, to dispute the passage of the river with Knyphausen. General Green, with his division, was posted as a reserve in the centre between Sullivan and Wayne, to reinforce either, as circumstances might require. General Sullivan marched up the river, until he found favorable ground on which to form his men; his left was near the Brandywine, and both flanks were covered with thick wood. At half-past four o’clock, when his line was scarcely formed, the British, under lord Cornwallis, commenced a spirited attack. The action was for some time severe; but the American right, which was not properly in order when the assault began, at length gave way, and exposed the flank of the troops that maintained their ground to a destructive fire, and continuing to break from the right, the whole line finally gave way. As soon as the firing began, general Washington, with general Green’s division, hastened towards the scene of action, but before his arrival Sullivan was routed, and the commander-in-chief could only check the pursuit of the enemy, and cover the retreat of the beaten troops. During these transactions general Knyphausen assaulted the works erected for the defence of Chadd’s ford, and soon carried them. General Wayne, by this time learning the fate of the other divisions, drew off his troops. General Washington retreated with his whole force that night to Chester. The American loss in this battle was about three hundred killed and six hundred wounded. Four hundred were made prisoners, but these chiefly of the wounded.

Perceiving that the enemy were moving into the Lancaster road, towards the city, general Washington took possession of ground near the Warren tavern, on the left of the British, and twenty-three miles from Philadelphia. The protection of his stores at Reading was one object of this movement. The next morning he was informed of the approach of the British army. He immediately put his troops in motion to engage the enemy. The advance of the two hostile armies met and began to skirmish, when a violent storm came on, which prevented a general engagement, and rendered the retreat of the Americans absolutely necessary. The inferiority of the muskets in the hands of the American soldiery, which had been verified in every action, was strikingly illustrated in this retreat. The gun-locks being badly made, and the cartridge-boxes imperfectly constructed, this storm rendered most of the arms unfit for use; and all the ammunition was damaged. The army was in consequence extremely exposed, and their danger became the greater, as many of the soldiers were destitute of bayonets. Fortunately the tempest, which produced such serious mischief to the Americans, prevented the pursuit of the British. Washington still continued to make every effort to save the capital; but Sir William Howe, having secured the command of the Schuylkill, on the 23d of September, crossed it with his whole army; on the 26th he advanced to Germantown; and on the succeeding day lord Cornwallis, at the head of a strong detachment, entered Philadelphia in triumph.

The American army, reinforced to eight thousand continental troops and three thousand militia, took a position at Shippack creek, on the east side of the Schuylkill, about twenty miles from Philadelphia, and sixteen from Germantown. At the latter place was posted the main body of the British army. The first object of Sir William Howe was to subdue the defences, and remove the impediments of the Delaware, that a communication might be opened with the British shipping. General Washington made every effort to prevent the execution of his enemy’s design, in the hope of forcing general Howe out of Philadelphia, by preventing supplies of provisions from reaching him. Of the attainment of this important object he had no doubt, could the passage of the Delaware be rendered impracticable. For this purpose works had been erected on a bank of mud and sand in the river, near the confluence of the Schuylkill, and about seven miles below Philadelphia. The place, from these works, was denominated Fort island, and the works themselves fort Mifflin. On a neck of land on the opposite shore of New Jersey, called Red Bank, a fort was constructed and mounted with heavy artillery, and called fort Mercer. Fort island and Red Bank were distant from each other half a mile. In the channel of the Delaware, which ran between them, two ranges of chevaux-de-frise were sunk. These consisted of large pieces of timber, strongly framed together, and pointed with iron, and they completely obstructed the passage of ships. These works were covered by several galleys, floating batteries, and armed ships.

Sir William Howe having detached a considerable force from Germantown to operate against the works on the Delaware, general Washington thought this a favorable opportunity to attack the British army in their cantonments. The line of the British encampment crossed the village of Germantown at right angles, near its centre, and its flanks were strongly covered. The army, having moved from its ground about seven in the afternoon of the 3d of October, began an attack about sunrise the next morning. The advance of the column, led by Sullivan, and accompanied by the commander-in-chief, encountered and drove in a picket, which presently gave way; and his main body, soon following, engaged the light infantry and other troops encamped near the picket, and forced them from their ground. Though closely pursued, lieutenant-colonel Musgrove, with six companies, took post in a strong stone house, which lay in the way of the Americans, and severely galled them by a fire of musketry from the doors and windows. General Washington immediately ordered a brigade to surround the house; but colonel Musgrove refused to surrender.

Four pieces of cannon were brought against him, but he sustained the fire of them until major-general Gray, with the third brigade, and brigadier-general Agnew, with the fourth, came to his assistance, and attacked the Americans with great spirit. In the mean time general Green arrival with his column, and attacked the right wing of the British. Colonel Matthews routed a party of the British opposed to him; but being enveloped in a most extraordinary fog, he lost sight of the brigade to which he belonged, and was taken prisoner with his whole regiment. At length a part of the right wing of the British attacked the Americans on the opposite side of the town; and the embarrassments among the American troops, occasioned by the darkness, gave the English time to recover from their consternation. Sullivan’s division had penetrated far into Germantown; but the main body of the American army now commenced a retreat, and all efforts to rally it proved ineffectual. In this battle the loss of the Americans in killed, wounded, and prisoners, was not less than twelve hundred men, while that of the British did not exceed half that number. The American army encamped again on Shippack creek, but soon after advanced to White Marsh, while the royal army removed from Germantown to Philadelphia.

The works in the Delaware now engaged the attention of the British and American generals. Lord Howe, by continued exertion, having overcome the obstructions which the Americans had placed in the river at Billingsport, a joint attack by sea and land was planned against Red Bank and Fort island. The Augusta, a sixty-four gun ship, the Merlin frigate, and several small armed vessels, moved up the Delaware to assault the works on Fort or Mud island. Count Donop crossed into New Jersey with twelve hundred Germans, and in the evening of the 22d appeared before fort Mercer, on Red Bank. His assault was highly spirited, and the defence intrepid and obstinate. Colonel Green, the commandant, whose garrison did not exceed five hundred men, was unable adequately to map the outworks; but he galled the Germans in their advance, and on their near approach he quitted them, and retired within the inner intrenchments. They pressed forward with undaunted bravery, and the Americans poured upon them a deadly fire. Count Donop was himself mortally wounded at the head of his gallant corps; the second in command soon after fell, and the third immediately drew off his forces. The assailants had four hundred men killed and wounded, while the garrison, fighting under cover, had only thirty. In the mean time, fort Mifflin was attacked by the shipping, and by batteries erected on the Pennsylvania shore. Incessant volleys of bombs and cannon-balls were discharged upon it. But at ebb tide the Augusta and Merlin grounded, and were burnt. The garrison supported this tremendous fire without material injury. The resistance of the forts on the Delaware far exceeding the expectations of the British commanders, they adopted measures to overcome it without the hazard of a second assault. They erected batteries upon Providence island, within five hundred yards of the American fort. They also brought up their shipping, gun-boats, &c., and from the 10th to the 16th of November, battered the American works. By this time the defences were entirely beaten down, every piece of cannon was dismounted, and one of the ships approached so near fort Mifflin as to throw hand-grenades from her tops into it, which killed the men upon the platform. The brave garrison received orders to quit the post. Red Bank being no longer useful, its garrison and stores were also withdrawn on the approach of lord Cornwallis with five thousand men to invest it.

While these inauspicious operations were carried on in the south, the northern portion of the country was a theatre of events that more than counterbalanced them. A principal object of the British in the campaign of this year, was to open a free communication between New York and Canada. The British ministry were sanguine in their hopes, that, by effecting this object, New England, which they considered as the soul of the confederacy, might be severed from the neighboring states, and compelled to submission. In prosecution of this design, an army of British and German troops, amounting to upwards of seven thousand men, exclusive of artillery, was put under the command of lieutenant-general Burgoyne, an enterprising and able officer. The plan of operations consisted of two parts. General Burgoyne with the main body was to advance by way of lake Champlain, and force his way to Albany, or, at least, so far as to effect a junction with the royal army from New York; and lieutenant-colonel St. Leger, with about two hundred British, a regiment of New York loyalists, raised and commanded by Sir John Johnson, and a large body of Indians, was to ascend the St. Lawrence to lake Ontario, and from that quarter to penetrate toward Albany by the way of the Mohawk river.

General Burgoyne arrived at Quebec in May. In the latter end of June he advanced with his army to Crown Point, and from thence proceeded to invest Ticonderoga, which was soon abandoned by the Americans, under general St. Clair, who, after a distressing march, joined general Schuyler at fort Edward, on the river Hudson. General Burgoyne, having with incredible labor and fatigue conducted his army through the wilderness from Skenesborough, reached fort Edward on the 30th of July. As he approached that place, general Schuyler, whose forces, even since the junction of St. Clair, did not exceed four thousand four hundred men, retired over the Hudson to Saratoga. Early in August St. Leger invested fort Schuyler, and at first obtained some advantages over the Americans; but, by stratagem,120 the Indians were induced to desert him, and finding himself abandoned by seven or eight hundred of these important auxiliaries,121 he decamped in great confusion, and returned to Montreal, leaving his tents, with most of his artillery and stores, in the field. While St. Leger was thus unsuccessful at fort Schuyler, a detachment under colonel Baum, despatched to seize a large depot in New Hampshire grants, was also defeated by a body of militia under general Stark.122 Meanwhile, general Burgoyne, having collected about thirty days’ provision, and thrown a bridge of boats over the Hudson, crossed that river on the 13th and 14th of September, and encamped on the heights and plains of Saratoga. General Gates, who had recently taken the chief command of the northern department of the American army, advanced toward the British, and encamped three miles above Stillwater.

On the night of the 17th, Burgoyne encamped within four miles of the American army; and about noon on the 19th advanced in full force against it. The right wing was commanded by general Burgoyne, and covered by general Frazer and colonel Breyman with the grenadiers and light infantry, who were posted along some high grounds on the right. The front and flanks were covered by Indians, provincials, and Canadians. The left wing and artillery were commanded by major-generals Phillips and Reidesel, who proceeded along the great road. Colonel Morgan, who was detached to observe their motions, and to harass them as they advanced, soon fell in with their pickets in front of their right wing, attacked them sharply, and drove them in. A strong corps was brought up to support them, and, after a severe encounter, Morgan was compelled to give way; but a regiment was ordered to assist him, and the action became more general. The commanders on both sides supported and reinforced their respective parties; and about four o’clock, Arnold, with nine continental regiments and Morgan’s corps, was completely engaged with the whole right wing of the British army. The engagement began at three o’clock in the afternoon, and continued till after sunset, when the Americans thought proper to retire, and leave the British masters of the field of battle. The loss on each side was nearly equal, six hundred being killed and wounded on the part of the British, and the same number on the side of the Americans. No advantages resulted to the British troops from this encounter; while the conduct of the Americans fully convinced every one ‘that they were able to sustain an attack in open plains with the intrepidity, the spirit, and the coolness of veterans. For four hours they maintained a contest hand to hand; and when they retired, it was not because they were conquered, but because the approach of night made a retreat to their camp absolutely necessary.’

Both armies lay some time in sight of each other, each fortifying its camp in the strongest manner possible. Meanwhile, the difficulties of the British general were daily increasing; his auxiliary Indians deserted him soon after the battle of Stillwater; and his army, reduced to little more than five thousand men, was limited to half the usual allowance of provisions; the stock of forage also was entirely exhausted, and his horses were perishing in great numbers; the American army had become so augmented as to render him diffident of making good his retreat; and, to aggravate his distress, no intelligence had yet been received of the approach of general Clinton, or of any diversion in his favor from New York. In this exigency, general Burgoyne resolved to examine the possibility of dislodging the Americans from their posts on the left, by which means he would be enabled to retreat to the lakes. For this purpose he drew out fifteen hundred men, which he headed himself, attended by generals Phillips, Reidesel, and Frazer. This detachment had scarcely formed, within less than half a mile of the American intrenchments, when a furious attack was made, which, though bravely resisted, was decidedly to the advantage of the assailants. General Burgoyne now became convinced that it was impossible to conduct any further offensive operations, and endeavored to make good his retreat to fort George.

Artificers were accordingly despatched, under a strong escort, to repair the bridges, and open the roads, but they were compelled to make a precipitate retreat. The situation of general Burgoyne becoming every hour more hazardous, he resolved to attempt a retreat by night to fort Edward; but even this retrograde movement was rendered impracticable. While the army was preparing to march, intelligence was received that the Americans had already possessed themselves of the fort, and that they were well provided with artillery. No avenue to escape now appeared. Incessant toil and continual engagements had worn down the British army; its provisions were nearly exhausted, and there were no means of procuring a supply; while the American army, which was daily increasing, was already much greater than the British in point of numbers, and almost encircled them. In this extremity, the British general called a council of war; and it was unanimously resolved to enter into a convention with general Gates. Preliminaries were soon settled, and the royal army, to the number of five thousand seven hundred and fifty, surrendered prisoners of war.

The capture of an entire army was justly viewed as an event that must essentially affect the contest between Great Britain and America; and while it excited the highest joy among the Americans, it could not but have a most auspicious influence on their affairs in the cabinet and in the field. The thanks of congress were voted to general Gates and his army; and a medal of gold, in commemoration of this splendid achievement, was ordered to be struck, to be presented to him by the president, in the name of the United States.

General Burgoyne’s surrender is certainly, in a considerable degree, to be attributed to the want of co-operation both on the part of general Carleton, in Canada, and of Sir Henry Clinton, at New York. The latter, indeed, performed a service, which, if effected a little earlier, might possibly have relieved Burgoyne. With nearly three thousand men, convoyed by some ships of war under commodore Hotham, he conducted an expedition up Hudson’s river, in October, against the forts Montgomery and Clinton. When arrived within a mile of the place of destination, the troops separated into two columns; the one, consisting of nine hundred men, under lieutenant Campbell, was destined for the attack on fort Montgomery; the other, under the immediate command of Sir Henry Clinton, was to storm the stronger post of fort Clinton. The garrison, when summoned, having refused to surrender, the assault was made on both forts at the same instant. These fortresses, which were separated from each other by a creek only, were commanded by governor Clinton, a brave and intelligent officer, who made a gallant resistance from four in the afternoon, when the attack began, until dark; but, the post having been designed principally to prevent the passing of ships, the works on the land side were incomplete and untenable, and the assailants entered them with fixed bayonets. Most of the garrison, however, effected their escape, undercover of the thick smoke and darkness.

Having noticed the most important features of the military operations of the year 1777, it will be proper, before entering on those of the following years, to afford the reader some information on two very important points—the progress made by the Americans in their foreign relations, and the steps which had been taken to consolidate the general government. In both cases it will be necessary, in order to give a clear and comprehensive view of the subject, slightly to deviate from strict chronological order.

The contest between Great Britain and her colonies had not long commenced, before congress directed their attention to the possibility of attaining foreign assistance. Towards the close of the year 1775, a committee was appointed to hold secret correspondence with the friends of America, both in Europe and other parts of the world.123 Early in the year 1776, the committee, seeing little prospect of an accommodation, and well aware that France would be disposed to make great sacrifices to reduce the power of Great Britain by the separation of her North American colonies, sent Silas Deane, as a commercial and political agent, to the French court.124 Mr. Deane arrived in Paris about the 1st of July, and was indefatigable in pursuing the objects of his mission; and through Dr. Dubourg, a friend to America, was in a few days introduced to Vergennes. His arrival at Paris was immediately known in London, and lord Stormont was sent express to Paris to watch his movements. Mr. Deane stated to the French minister the objects of his mission, agreeably to his instructions, and in his first conference he touched upon the subject of forming treaties with the Americans in case of their declaring themselves independent. The American agent was favorably received by the French minister, and was asked many questions in relation to American affairs. Vergennes informed Mr. Deane, that though the French court estimated highly the importance of American commerce, yet, considering the good understanding between the courts of Versailles and London, they could not openly encourage the shipping of warlike stores; but no obstructions of any kind, he said, would be given. On the subject of independence, he observed that was an event in the womb of time, and it would be highly improper for him to say any thing on that point until it had actually taken place. This first conference with the French minister ended much to the satisfaction of the American agent.

As soon as the question of independence was decided in the affirmative, congress took the subject of foreign affairs into their own hands; and, on the 11th of June, appointed a committee to prepare a plan of treaties with foreign powers.125 In the month of September, congress appointed Dr. Franklin, Mr. Deane, and Mr. Jefferson, commissioners to proceed to France.126 Dr. Franklin and Mr. Lee arrived at Paris in December, and the objects of their mission were soon made known to the French court. The court was not yet prepared to acknowledge the independence of the United States, to form treaties with them, or openly to espouse the cause of the Americans; to prove, however, his good wishes towards the United States, the king ordered two millions of livres to be paid to them by quarterly payments, which should be augmented as the state of his finances would permit. The most profound secrecy, in relation to this donation, was enjoined. The course of policy France intended to pursue, in the contest between Great Britain and her colonies, was now obvious; and with her views of the subject, was perhaps, as it regarded herself at least, a very natural as well as wise course, as she evidently entertained serious doubts whether the states would be able to form a lasting union among themselves, or to persevere in maintaining their independence.

Although the court were thus undecided, the cause of the United States was extremely popular in France, both among the people and the army, and many French officers sought an opportunity of engaging in their service. Among these the young marquis de la Fayette was most conspicuous for his rank, and most distinguished for his ardor and enthusiasm. At an early period he communicated to the American agents his wish to join the republican armies. At first they encouraged his zeal, but learning the disasters which preceded the victory at Trenton, they, with honorable frankness, communicated the information to him, and added, that they were so destitute of funds, that they could not even provide for his passage across the ocean. ‘If your country,’ replied the gallant youth, ‘is indeed reduced to this extremity, it is at this moment that my departure to join her armies will render her the most essential service.’ He immediately hired a vessel to convey him to America, where he arrived in the spring of 1777. He was received with cordial affection by the people, became the bosom friend of Washington, solicited permission to serve without pay, and was appointed major-general in the army.

The disastrous state of American affairs at the close of the year 1776, induced congress to attend more seriously to the subject of securing foreign aid; and a new committee was appointed. Some of the members of this committee were disposed to make great sacrifices to obtain the aid of France, and were almost prepared to offer her the same monopoly of American commerce as had been enjoyed by Great Britain.127 On the 30th of December, congress came to the resolution of sending commissioners to the courts of Vienna, Madrid, and Berlin, and to the grand duke of Tuscany.128 These commissioners were instructed to assure the courts, to which they were sent, that the Americans were determined to maintain their independence, notwithstanding the suggestions of the British to the contrary.

The success of the arms of the United States by the capture of the army of general Burgoyne, gave a new aspect to their affairs in France, and indeed throughout Europe. The American commissioners at Paris now stood on commanding ground. The French court, aware of the views of the British ministry in relation to the colonies, no longer hesitated about accepting the propositions of the American envoys. M. Gerard informed the American commissioners, on the 16th of December, ‘that after a long and mature deliberation upon their propositions, his majesty had determined to recognise the independence of, and to enter into a treaty of commerce and alliance with, the United States of America; and that he would not only acknowledge their independence, but actually support it with all the means in his power; that perhaps he was about to engage himself in an expensive war upon this account, but that he did not expect to be reimbursed by them; in fine, the Americans were not to think that he had entered into this resolution solely with a view of serving them, since, independently of his real attachment to them and their cause, it was evidently the interest of France to diminish the power of England, by severing her colonies from her.’ On the 6th of February, 1778, a treaty of commerce was signed by Franklin, Deane, and Lee, on the part of the United States, and by M. Gerard on the part of France, together with a treaty of defensive alliance, in case war should be the consequence of this commercial connection. The essential and direct end of this alliance was, ‘to maintain the liberty, sovereignty, and independence, absolute and unlimited, of the United States, as well in matters of government as of commerce.’

Before leaving this subject, it is necessary to state, that as, previous to the recognition of independence by the court of France, it was imperative that the intercourse with the American agents should be conducted indirectly and with the utmost secrecy, the French government rendered their secret assistance through the agency of M. Beaumarchais, who appears to have been more desirous of serving himself than the Americans. The mode in which he converted the gratuitous aid of the French court into articles of charge in his accounts with the congress, and especially his retaining in his hands a million of livres out of the subsidy granted by the French king, are circumstances too extraordinary to be entirely passed over; but our limits compel us to refer the reader for the details to that very able work, Pitkin’s Civil and Political History, and to the volumes of Diplomatic Correspondence already alluded to.

During the first stages of the revolution, the universal enthusiasm of the people, directed to one common object, in some measure supplied the place of a general legislative and executive power. The congress had hitherto possessed no powers but such as were conferred by the instructions given by the state legislatures to their respective delegates; but on the 11th of June, 1776, the day following that in which the resolution in favor of independence had been adopted, congress determined to appoint a committee to prepare and digest the form of a confederation. This committee, on the 12th of July following, reported a plan of confederacy, consisting of twenty articles, and on the 22d of the same month it was discussed in committee of the whole house, and was under consideration until the 20th of August, when an amended draft was reported. The difficulty in agreeing upon the details of the system, as well as the gloomy aspect of American affairs at this period, prevented congress from resuming this subject until April, 1777, when they resolved that two days in each week should be employed upon it, ‘until it shall be wholly discussed.’ The amended draft was considered and debated accordingly until the 26th of June, when it was again postponed to the 2d of October, and was not finally adopted by congress until the 15th of November. The outlines of the system were, that the thirteen states formed a confederacy, under the style and name of ‘the United States of America;’ by which they entered ‘into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their defence, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other against all force offered to or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretence whatever.’ This plan of union was to be proposed to the legislatures of all the states, and, if approved, they were advised to authorize their delegates in congress to ratify the same; this being done, it was to be conclusive. The plan was considered by the legislatures of the several states in the winter of 1777–8, and by some was adopted without amendments, by others various amendments were proposed.

The effect produced on the British cabinet, and on the nation at large, by the intelligence of the surrender of general Burgoyne and his army, can scarcely be described. The most brilliant success had been anticipated; the most ignominious result had occurred. The pride of the nation was humbled, and those who had disapproved of the war poured upon the ministry a torrent of invective; while the embarrassments of the ministry were increased by the intelligence of the course which the hereditary enemy and rival of Great Britain had resolved to pursue. Under these circumstances it was determined in the cabinet to grant to America all that she had demanded in the beginning of the contest. An act was passed, declaring that parliament would not, in future, impose any tax upon the colonies; and commissioners were sent over, authorized to proclaim a repeal of all the offensive statutes, and to treat with the constituted authorities of America. The commissioners, arriving at Philadelphia in the spring, communicated to congress the terms offered by Great Britain, which were, however, unanimously rejected.129

The arms of congress had been successful on the Hudson; but many difficulties arose in the execution of the convention of Saratoga. It had been stipulated that general Burgoyne’s army should embark at Boston for Europe: but, at the time of signing the convention, the British general seems not to have been aware that it is difficult for ships to reach the port of Boston during the winter; and that, owing to this cause, the embarkation of his troops might be delayed till the ensuing spring. On being apprized of this circumstance, general Burgoyne immediately applied to the American commander-in-chief, desiring him to change the port of embarkation, and to appoint Newport, in Rhode Island, or some other place on the sound, instead of Boston; and, in case this request should not be complied with, soliciting, on account of his health and private business, that the indulgence might be granted to himself and suite. General Washington, not thinking himself authorized to decide on such an application, transmitted it to congress, which took no notice of the matter further than to pass a resolution, ‘That general Washington be directed to inform general Burgoyne, that congress will not receive or consider any proposition for indulgence, or altering the terms of the convention of Saratoga, unless immediately addressed to their own body.’ The application was accordingly made to congress, who readily complied with the request in so far as it respected himself personally, but refused the indulgence to his troops, and ultimately forbade their embarkation.

Congress watched with a jealous eye every movement of the convention army, and soon gave public indications of that jealousy. Early in November, they ordered general Heath, who commanded in Boston, ‘to take the name, rank, former place of abode, and description of every person comprehended in the convention of Saratoga, in order that, if afterwards found in arms against the United States, they might be punished according to the law of nations.’ General Burgoyne showed some reluctance to the execution of this order; and his reluctance was imputed to no honorable motives.

The British army in Philadelphia spent the winter in gayety and revelry, injuring at once their own respectability and the cause which they were employed to support. They disgusted the sober inhabitants by their irregularities, and provoked them by their insolence; so that many who had hailed their arrival with cordial gratulations, felt a lively satisfaction when the hour of their departure came.

General Washington quitted White Marsh, crossed the Schuylkill at Sweed’s ford, and, on the 19th of December, took a strong position at Valley Forge, about twenty-six miles from Philadelphia. Had he retired during the winter to the shelter of a large town, he must have gone to a great distance from the British army, and left an extensive tract of country open to their foraging parties; or had he cantoned his men in the adjacent villages, his army might have been beaten in detail and gradually destroyed. But at Valley Forge he was sufficiently near Philadelphia to check the foraging parties of the enemy, and his army was so much concentrated as to secure it from any sudden and desultory attack.

At Valley Forge the American commander-in-chief lodged his army in huts formed of logs, with the interstices filled with mud, which constituted very acceptable habitations to men long unaccustomed to the conveniences of life. But, though sheltered from the storm by their rude dwellings, the sufferings of the army from want of provisions and clothing were incredible. The winter was severe, and many of the men were without stockings or shoes, and almost naked. The non-importation associations rendered cloth scarce at the commencement of hostilities; the war rendered importation difficult; and the consumption exceeded the produce of the home manufacture. Hence the army was left in a destitute and deplorable condition; and the line of march, from White Marsh to Valley Forge, over rough and frozen roads, might have been traced by the blood from the bare and mangled feet of the soldiers. Under the shelter of the huts their sufferings were at first considerably alleviated; but in a short time the miseries of want, amounting almost to famine, were added to those of nakedness. In these trying circumstances numbers of the troops, especially they who had been born in Europe, eluded the vigilance of the guards, and deserted to the enemy in Philadelphia, carrying their arms along with them. Many loyalists also joined general Howe; so that the strength of his army was sensibly increased.

Many representations on the wants and hardships of the army had been submitted to congress, which had authorized the commander-in-chief to seize provisions for his army wherever he could find them, within seventy miles of head-quarters, paying for them with money, or giving certificates, for the redemption of which the faith of the United States was pledged. This odious power general Washington was extremely backward to exercise; but at Valley Forge his necessities were so pressing that he was constrained to have recourse to it; and, notwithstanding all his precautions, the manner in which his orders were executed did not always soften the rigor of this harsh measure. Men with arms in their hands, and supported by authority, are seldom delicate in supplying their urgent wants.

The American commander-in-chief was ill-provided with money, and could make his payments only in paper of very uncertain value; but the supplies carried into Philadelphia were readily paid for by the British troops in gold and silver; and the patriotism of the people was not sufficiently ardent to prevent them from carrying their goods to the best market. It was, however, no easy matter for the country people to carry provisions into Philadelphia without detection and punishment; for the American detachments and patrols, though at a respectful distance, almost encircled the city.

While the army lay at Valley Forge, a plot was formed to remove general Washington from the chief command; and in that plot several members of congress, and a very few military officers, were concerned. Insinuations against the military talents of general Washington were industriously circulated; and the public attention was directed towards general Gates, whose success at Saratoga had thrown a brilliant lustre round his name. General Thomas Conway was an active agent in the plot; and many of the inhabitants of Pennsylvania, chagrined by the loss of their capital, and willing to devolve on the general who had twice, with inferior forces, fought the enemy in their defence, the blame of those misfortunes which had arisen from their own pusillanimity and carelessness in not reinforcing the army, readily joined in the clamor. The conduct of general Gates was equivocal, but he solemnly disclaimed all connection with the faction. The officers of general Washington’s army, strongly attached to him, felt the liveliest indignation against those intriguers who wished to remove their favorite leader from his command.

By the uniform tenor of his conduct, general Washington had won the affection and esteem of almost all his troops, both officers and privates; and, fortunately for America, there was enough of discernment in congress to resist the dark machinations of the faction, and to continue their brave and upright commander-in-chief at the head of the army. His situation, however, was by no means enviable. His army was much attached to him; but, weakened by disease, and irritated by nakedness and hunger, it was almost on the point of dissolution. In the midst of the difficulties and dangers with which he was surrounded, general Washington displayed a singular degree of steady perseverance, unshaken fortitude, and unwearied activity. Instead of manifesting irritable impatience under the malignant attacks made on his character, he behaved with magnanimity, and earnestly applied to congress, and to the legislative bodies of the several states, for reinforcements to his army, in order that he might be prepared to act with vigor in the ensuing campaign.

But to recruit and equip the army was no easy task. The great depreciation of paper money rendered the pay of the soldiers inadequate to their support; and, consequently, it was not likely that voluntary enlistment would be successful, especially since the patriotic ardor of many had begun to cool by the continuance of the war, and all knew that great hardships and dangers were to be encountered by joining the army. The pay even of the officers, in the depreciated paper currency, was wholly unequal to the maintenance of their rank. Some of them who had small patrimonial estates found them melting away, while their lives were unprofitably devoted to the service of their country; and they who had no private fortune could not appear in a manner becoming their station. A commission was a burden; and many considered the acceptance of one as conferring rather than receiving a favor: a state of things highly disadvantageous to the service; for the duties of an office scarcely reckoned worth holding will seldom be zealously and actively discharged. There was reason to apprehend that many of the most meritorious officers would resign their commissions; and that they only who were less qualified for service would remain with the army.

Congress, moved by the remonstrances of the commander-in-chief, and by the complaints with which they were assailed from every quarter, deputed a committee of their body to reside in camp during the winter; and, in concert with the general, to examine the state of the army, and report on the measures necessary to be taken for placing it in a more respectable condition. But the reforms in the army were tardily made. Congress were fond of their own speculations, although experience had proved them mischievous; and were slow in rectifying the evils which arose from their own errors. The state legislatures were backward in adopting coercive measures for recruiting the army; and each of them was jealous of bearing more than its share of the war. At length, however, an efficient commissary-general was appointed; the other departments were put on a more desirable footing; and vigorous measures were pursued to prepare for the ensuing campaign.

During the winter there was a good deal of correspondence between the generals respecting prisoners of war. Complaints were mutual; and a partial cartel was agreed to.

In consequence of the treaties concluded with her revolted colonies, Great Britain declared war against France; and the ministry, presuming that assistance would be sent to the Americans, transmitted orders by the commissioners, that Philadelphia should be evacuated, and the royal troops concentrated at New York. The execution of these orders devolved upon Sir Henry Clinton, who had been appointed commander-in-chief on the resignation of general Howe. On the 18th of June the enemy quitted the city, and marched slowly eastward. Washington, leaving his huts in the forest, hung upon the rear of the British army, watching for a favorable opportunity to offer battle. On arriving at Monmouth, in New Jersey, general Lee, who had lately been exchanged, was ordered to take the command of five thousand men, and, early in the morning of the 28th, to commence an attack, being assured that he should be supported by the whole army. Lee made dispositions to attack accordingly, but perceiving the main body of the English returning to meet him, he began to retreat. Washington, advancing to render the promised support, saw him retiring, rode forward, and addressed him in language implying disapprobation of his conduct.130 He then directed him to form his men on ground which he pointed out, and there oppose the progress of the enemy. A warm engagement ensued, and Washington, arriving with the main body of his army, compelled the British to fall back.

The day had been intensely hot, and the troops were greatly fatigued,131 yet general Washington resolved to renew the engagement; but there were so many impediments to be overcome, that before the attack could be commenced it was nearly dark. It was therefore thought most advisable to postpone further operations until morning, and the troops lay on their arms in the field of battle.132 General Washington, who had been exceedingly active through the day, and entirely regardless of personal danger, reposed himself at night in his cloak, under a tree, in the midst of his soldiers. His intention of renewing the battle was, however, frustrated; the British troops marched away about midnight in such profound silence, that the most advanced posts knew nothing of their departure until morning. The American general, declining all further pursuit of the royal army, detached some light troops to attend its motions, and drew off his soldiers to the borders of the North river. Sir Henry Clinton, after remaining a few days on the high grounds of Middleton, proceeded to Sandy Hook, whence he passed his army over to New York.

The British having entered New York, Washington conducted his army to White Plains. Congress returned to Philadelphia; and in July received, with inexpressible joy, a letter from the count D’Estaing, announcing his arrival on the coast of Virginia, with twelve sail of the line and six frigates, with about four thousand troops on board. The count had intended to surprise admiral Howe in the Delaware, but adverse winds detained him on the passage, until the British fleet had sailed for New York. He appeared before that harbor, but on sounding, found that his largest ships could not pass the bar. By the advice of Washington, a combined attack upon the British forces at Newport, in Rhode Island, was resolved on. General Sullivan, who had been appointed to command the troops, called upon the militia of New England to aid him in the enterprise. His army soon amounted to ten thousand men, and, as he was supported by the fleet he felt confident of success. On the 9th of August, he took a position on the north end of Rhode Island, and afterwards moved nearer to Newport. Admiral Howe, having received a reinforcement, now appeared before the harbor, and the count instantly put to sea to attack him. A furious storm, however, came on, which damaged and dispersed both fleets. As soon as the weather permitted, each commander sought the port from which he had sailed; but great was the disappointment of the Americans when D’Estaing announced his intention of proceeding to Boston to refit; they earnestly remonstrated, but the count was inflexible. Deserted by the fleet, the army could remain no longer with safety on the island. General Sullivan, therefore, immediately retreated to his first position. He was pursued and attacked by the enemy; but they were gallantly resisted and repulsed with loss. The next day the two armies cannonaded each other, and the succeeding night the American general, deceiving the enemy by a show of resistance to the last, made a skilful retreat to the continent. It was a remarkable escape. The delay of a single day would probably have been fatal to the Americans; for Sir Henry Clinton, who had been impeded by adverse winds, arrived with a reinforcement of four thousand men the very next day, when a retreat, it is presumed, would have been impracticable.

At this period of the war hostilities were carried on with more than usual acrimony. In several instances the British troops, and their allies, the American tories and native Indians, exhibited a barbarity deeply to be lamented, wantonly destroying the property and injuring the persons of peaceful unarmed inhabitants. While asleep in a barn at Tappan, colonel Baylor’s troop of light dragoons were surprised by general Grey, who commanded his soldiers to use the bayonet only, and to give the rebels no quarter. Incapable of defence, they sued for mercy; but the most pathetic supplications were heard without awakening compassion; nearly one-half of the troop were killed. To many, repeated thrusts were barbarously given as long as signs of life remained; while some who had nearly a dozen stabs through the body, and were left for dead, afterwards recovered. A few escaped, and forty were saved by the humanity of a British captain, who dared to disobey the orders of his general. With feelings of revenge yet more barbarous, Wyoming, a happy and flourishing settlement, on the eastern branch of the Susquehannah, in Pennsylvania, was attacked by a band of tories and Indians. The conditions of the capitulation were entirely disregarded by the British and savage forces, and after the fort was delivered up, all kinds of barbarities were committed by them. The village of Wilkesbarre, consisting of twenty-three houses, was burnt; men and their wives were separated from each other and carried into captivity; their property was plundered, and the settlement laid waste. The remainder of the inhabitants were driven from the valley, and compelled to proceed on foot sixty miles through the great swamp, almost without food or clothing. A number perished in the journey, principally women and children; some died of their wounds, others wandered from the path in search of food and were lost; and those who survived called the wilderness through which they passed ‘The Shades of Death,’ an appellation which it has since retained. Many other instances might be adduced; but it is better to suffer the record of them to perish.133

In the campaign of 1778 little on either side was accomplished. The alliance with France gave birth to expectations which events did not fulfil; but the presence of her fleets on the coast deranged the plans of the British; induced them to relinquish a part of their conquests; and prevented their making any progress in the accomplishment of their designs.

The close of this year was distinguished by a change of the theatre of war from the northern to the southern section of the confederacy. The country, weak by its scattered population, the multitude of slaves, and the number of tories, presented a prospect of easy victory. In the end of November, lieutenant-colonel Campbell, with two thousand five hundred men, sailed from New York to the coast of Georgia. Having landed his troops, he marched towards Savannah, the capital; and defeating a small body of Americans whom he met on his route, he immediately took possession of the city. After the fall of the capital, Sunbury surrendered at discretion; and these were the only military posts in Georgia.

The campaign of 1779 was opened by general Lincoln, who had been appointed to the command of the American troops in the southern department. In April, leaving South Carolina, he marched into the interior of Georgia; upon which the British army, entering the state he had left, invested Charleston, the capital. Lincoln hastened back to its defence; and on his approach, the British retired to Stono ferry, where an action was fought, and a few days afterwards they continued their retreat to Savannah. The heat of the season suspended farther operations until September; when count D’Estaing, with a fleet carrying six thousand troops, arrived on the coast. The two armies, in concert, laid siege to Savannah. At the expiration of a month, the count, impatient of delay, insisted that the siege should be abandoned, or that a combined assault upon the enemy’s works should immediately be made. General Lincoln determined upon the latter course. Great gallantry was displayed by the French and American troops, but the British repulsed the assailants, killing and wounding nearly a thousand men,134 while on their part the loss was small. The next day the siege was raised, the French returning home, and the Americans to South Carolina.

The operations of the British in the more northern parts of America were predatory rather than military. In May, a naval and land force, commanded by Sir George Collier and general Matthews, made a descent on Virginia. On their arrival, they took possession of Portsmouth and of Norfolk; destroyed the houses, vessels, naval stores, and a large magazine of provisions, at Suffolk; made a similar destruction at Kemp’s Landing, Shepherd’s, Gosport, Tanner’s Creek, and other places in the vicinity; and, after setting fire to the houses and other public buildings in the dockyard at Gosport, embarked with their booty for New York. A similar expedition was soon after undertaken from New York against Connecticut, by governor Tryon, with two thousand six hundred land forces, supported by brigadier-general Garth, and accompanied by Sir George Collier with armed vessels to cover the transports. Though checked in their march, they entered New Haven about one in the afternoon, from which time until eight in the evening the town was subjected to almost indiscriminate ravage and plunder. The royal army also plundered and burned the town of Fairfield, and the greatest part of the neighboring village of Green Farms. A few days afterward they laid the town of Norwalk in ashes.

Early in the season, colonel Clarke, of Virginia, who was stationed at Kaskaskia, on the Mississippi, achieved an enterprise conspicuous for boldness of design, and evincing uncommon hardihood in its execution. With only one hundred and thirty men, he penetrated through the wilderness to St. Vincent’s, a British post on the Wabash, in the heart of the Indian country. His route lay across deep swamps and morrasses; and in one instance the party waded through water, often as high as the breast, for nearly five miles. After a march of sixteen days, they reached the town, which, having no intimation of their approach, surrendered without resistance; and a short time after, the fort capitulated. This fortunate achievement arrested an expedition which the enemy had projected against the frontiers of Virginia, and detached several tribes of Indians from the British interest.

Congress, though its measures toward the Indians were conciliatory, could not secure the western frontiers. The Six Nations had been advised by that body, and had promised, to observe a neutrality in the war; but, excepting the Oneidas, and a few others who were friendly to the Americans, those Indians took a decided part against them. The presents and promises of Sir John Johnson and other British agents, with the desire of plunder, induced them to invade the frontiers; and wherever they went, they carried slaughter and devastation. An expedition was therefore ordered against them, and general Sullivan, to whom the conduct of it was intrusted, marched into their country. The Indians, on hearing of the projected expedition, collected their strength, took possession of proper ground, and fortified it with judgment. General Sullivan attacked them in their works, and they sustained a cannonade of more than two hours; but they then gave way, and, after their trenches were forced, they fled with precipitation. The victorious army, penetrating into the heart of their country, laid it desolate. Their villages, their detached habitations, their corn-fields, their fruit-trees and gardens, were indiscriminately destroyed.

The campaign of this year, though barren in important events, was distinguished by one gallant enterprise, which reflected much honor on the American arms. Stony Point, a fortress on the North river, had been taken from the Americans, and strongly fortified by the British. It was at this time garrisoned by about six hundred men, under the command of lieutenant-colonel Johnson. General Washington, having obtained precise information of the condition of the works, the nature of the ground in their vicinity, the strength and arrangements of the garrison, and the disposition of the guards, and having in person reconnoitred the post, resolved to attempt the surprise of it. The execution of the plan was intrusted to general Wayne, and the troops employed on this service were chiefly from New England. At half-past eleven on the night of the 15th of July, the columns moved on to the charge at opposite points of the works, the van of each with unloaded muskets and fixed bayonets; and at twenty minutes after twelve both columns rushed forward under a tremendous fire of musketry and grape-shot, entered the works at the point of the bayonet, and, arriving in the centre of them at nearly the same instant, compelled the garrison to surrender at discretion. A more gallant exploit has seldom been performed, and the humanity of the victors was equal to their valor. Notwithstanding the devastations in Connecticut, and the butchery of Baylor’s troop, the scene of which was near, not an individual suffered after resistance had ceased.

On the approach of the inclement season, the American army built themselves huts for winter quarters. Positions were chosen most favorable for the defence of the most important posts, and for covering the country. The army was formed into two divisions; one of these erected huts near West Point, and the other at Morristown, in New Jersey. The head-quarters of the commander-in-chief were with the last division. Great distress was felt this winter on account of the deranged state of the American finances. General Green and colonel Wadsworth, gentlemen in every respect qualified for the duties of their respective stations, were yet at the head of the quarter-master and commissary departments, but the credit of the country was fallen, they had not the means to make prompt payment for articles of supply; and they found it impossible to lay up large magazines of provisions, and extremely difficult to obtain supplies to satisfy the temporary wants of the army. Large sums had been annually raised and expended, and the ability of the people to pay taxes had progressively decreased. To supply deficiencies, paper money, to the amount of about a hundred and fifty millions of dollars, had been issued; but this was depreciated, and at the close of 1779 thirty dollars in paper were of no more value than one in specie. To purchase provisions with this money was therefore first difficult and then impossible, and congress now found their funds and their credit exhausted. Before the month of January expired, the soldiers were put upon allowance, and before its close the whole stock of provision in store was exhausted, and there was neither meat nor flour to be distributed to the troops. To prevent the dissolution of the army, the commander-in-chief was reluctantly driven to very vigorous measures: he apportioned to each county in the state of New Jersey a quantity of meat and flour, according to the ability of each, to be brought into camp in the course of six days. At the same time he wrote to the magistrates, stating the absolute necessity of the measure, and informing them, that unless the inhabitants voluntarily complied with the requisition, the exigency of the case would force him to obtain it by military exaction. To the honor of the inhabitants of New Jersey, harassed as their country had been, the full quantity of provisions required was cheerfully and seasonably afforded.

FROM THE CAMPAIGN OF 1780 TO THE TERMINATION OF THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.

During the year 1780, the contest between Great Britain and her ancient colonies was carried on chiefly in the southern states. As soon as Sir Henry Clinton ascertained that count D’Estaing had left the American coast, he hastened to despatch an expedition against South Carolina, leaving the garrison at New York under the command of general Knyphausen. Early in February the troops landed within thirty miles of the capital. Governor Rutledge, to whom the assembly of South Carolina had recently given extraordinary powers, ordered the militia to rendezvous; but the repulse at Savannah, at the close of the preceding campaign, had produced such a dispiriting effect, that but few complied. The defences of Charleston consisted of a chain of redoubts, lines, and batteries, extending from Ashley to Cooper river, on which were mounted upwards of eighty pieces of artillery; and on all sides of the town where a landing was practicable, batteries were erected and covered with artillery. General Lincoln, trusting to these defences and expecting large reinforcements, remained in Charleston at the earnest request of the inhabitants, and, with the force under his command, resolved to defend the place.

On the 21st of March the British fleet crossed the bar, and anchored in Five Fathom Hole. Commodore Whipple, who commanded the American vessels, finding it impracticable to prevent the enemy from passing over the bar, fell back to fort Moultrie, and afterwards to Charleston. In a few days the town was invested by sea and land, and the British commanders summoned general Lincoln to surrender; the demand was, however, met with a firm refusal. The batteries of the first parallel were now opened upon the town, and soon made a visible impression; and to prevent the reception of the reinforcements which general Lincoln expected, Sir Henry Clinton detached lieutenant-colonel Webster with fourteen hundred men by the advanced guard of which detachment the American cavalry, with the militia attached to them, were surprised in the night of the 14th of April, and completely routed and dispersed. The British now extended themselves to the eastward of Cooper river; and about this time Sir Henry Clinton received a reinforcement of three thousand men from New York. The garrison having no reasonable hope of effecting a retreat, an offer was made of surrendering the town; but the proposed conditions were rejected by the British commanders.

The besiegers in the mean time were daily advancing their works, and had now completed their third parallel; the garrison of fort Moultrie surrendered; and the broken remains of the American cavalry under colonel White were again surprised by colonel Tarleton, and the whole either killed, taken, or dispersed. Sir Henry Clinton, thus successful in every operation, renewed his former offers to the garrison in case of their surrender, but the terms, so far as they respected the citizens, not being satisfactory, hostilities recommenced. The batteries of the third parallel now opened on the town, and did great execution; several houses were burned; numbers of the besieged were killed at their guns; and the British prepared to make a general assault by land and water. At length a great number of citizens of Charleston addressed general Lincoln in a petition, requesting his acceptance of the terms which had been previously offered. A capitulation was consequently signed on the 12th of May, and the next day major-general Leslie took possession of the town.135

The capital having surrendered, measures were adopted to overawe the inhabitants of the country, and induce them to return to their allegiance to the king. Garrisons were placed in different parts of the state, and two thousand men were despatched towards North Carolina, to repel several parties of militia, who were hastening to the relief of Charleston. Colonel Tarleton, making a rapid march of a hundred and five miles in fifty-four hours, met, at the Waxhaws, and attacked one of these parties, commanded by colonel Buford. The Americans, being defeated by his superior forces, implored quarter; but nearly the whole of them were either killed or too badly wounded to be removed from the field. This sanguinary conduct spread dismay throughout the country, and imparted a similar character to future conflicts.

Indignant at the treatment they received, great numbers of the inhabitants seized their arms, and resolved on a vindictive war with their invaders. A party who had taken refuge in North Carolina, chose colonel Sumpter their leader. At the head of these he returned to his own state, attacked and defeated several scattered detachments from the British army; and by a succession of gallant enterprises he kept alive a spirit of determined hostility to Great Britain in every part of the state. His exertions were rendered the more effective by the approach of four thousand men, principally continentals, under the command of general Gates. Lord Cornwallis, whom Sir Henry Clinton, on his return to New York, had left chief in command, hastened to oppose the conqueror of Burgoyne. On the night of the 15th of August he marched, with his whole force, to attack the Americans in their camp at Clermont. They at the same hour began to move towards Camden, where lord Cornwallis had his head-quarters. As the two armies were marching on the same road, in opposite directions, their advanced guards met and fired on each other about half-past two in the morning. From some prisoners made on both sides, the commanders learned each other’s movements.

Both armies halted, and were formed, and the firing soon ceased, as if by mutual consent. The ground on which the two armies thus accidentally met, was exceedingly favorable to lord Cornwallis. A swamp on each side secured his flanks, and narrowed the ground in front, so as to render the superiority of the Americans in numbers of less consequence. In the morning a severe and general action was fought. The charge of the British was made with such vigor, that the Virginia militia threw down their arms, and fled with the utmost precipitation; and the greatest part of the North Carolina militia soon followed their example. The American reserve was now brought into action, and general Gates, in conjunction with general Caswell, endeavored to rally the militia at advantageous passes in the rear of the field of action, but in vain. On the left and in the centre the contest was more obstinately maintained by the Americans, whose artillery did considerable execution; but by the flight of the militia their left flank was exposed, and the continentals, after a brave resistance of nearly three-quarters of an hour, were thrown into confusion, and forced to give way. The Americans lost the whole of their artillery, the greatest part of their baggage, several hundred men, and some very valuable officers; the loss of the British was also severe.

Sumpter, who had lately been victorious in a skirmish, retreated precipitately on hearing of the defeat of Gates; but supposing he was beyond danger, he halted at the Catawba ford to refresh his troops. Here his sentinels unhappily slept at their posts, and Tarleton’s legion rode into his camp before preparations could be made for defence. Between three and four hundred were killed or wounded. The remainder were dispersed in the woods, three hundred British prisoners were released, and all the baggage and stores fell into the power of the victors.

Apprehending the state to be subdued, Cornwallis adopted measures of extreme severity to suppress every latent inclination to revolt. He directed that all who, having once submitted, had lately given aid to the armies of congress, should be deprived of their property and imprisoned; and that all who had once borne arms with the British, and afterwards joined the Americans, should suffer death. In consequence of these orders several were executed, and many were reduced to poverty and wretchedness. In these times of confusion and distress, the mischievous effects of slavery in facilitating the conquest of the country became apparent. As the slaves had no interest at stake, the subjugation of the state was a matter of no consequence to them. Instead of aiding in its defence, they, by a variety of means, threw the weight of their influence into the opposite scale.

Although his corps had been dispersed, general Sumpter speedily recollected a band of volunteers, and kept the field in South Carolina for three months, when there was no continental army in the state. Varying his position along the Evoree, Broad, and Tyger rivers, he had frequent skirmishes with the enemy, whom he incessantly harassed. In November, he was attacked at Broad river by major Wemys, commanding a corps of infantry and dragoons, but the British were defeated, and their commanding officer taken prisoner; and in a few days afterward he was attacked near Tyger river by colonel Tarleton, who, finding himself unable to dislodge the Americans, retreated with considerable loss, and left Sumpter in possession of the field. The zeal, activity, and bravery of this officer, at that trying period, procured him the thanks of congress and the applause of his country.

While the affairs of the south were in a state by no means encouraging to the cause of independence, the general army under the command of Washington was in a state of insufferable destitution, and of consequent mutiny. Two hundred millions of dollars in paper currency were at this time in circulation upon the credit of the United States. Congress had the preceding year solemnly pledged the faith of government not to issue more than this sum, and the national treasury was now empty. Congress, the head of the nation, had, therefore, no further command of the resources of the country. The power of taxation, and of every coercive measure of government, was vested in the state sovereignties, and a system which in its execution required the conjoint agency of thirteen sovereignties, was too complex for the prompt operations of a military body. In the course of the winter, forage had failed, and many of the horses attached to the army had died, or were rendered unfit for use. General Washington therefore struggled with almost insuperable difficulties in supplying the army. The pay of the officers also had now scarcely more than a nominal value; and the officers of whole lines belonging to some of the states, in a body, gave notice, that on a certain day they should resign their commissions, unless provision was made for their honorable support.

Congress possessed not the means to apply adequate remedies to these threatening evils. They passed a resolution, indeed, “That congress will make good to the line of the army, and to the independent corps thereof, the deficiencies of their original pay, which had been occasioned by the depreciation of the continental currency;” but the promise of future compensation from a country whose neglect was conceived to be the source of all their sufferings, they deemed a feeble basis of dependence, at the moment they were severely pressed by privations of every kind. Murmurs at length broke out into actual mutiny. Two of the Connecticut regiments paraded under arms, announcing their intention to return home, or by their arms to obtain subsistence; but by the spirited and prudent exertions of the officers, the ringleaders were secured, and the regiments brought back to their duty.

This disaffection was reported to New York, with the customary exaggerations of rumor. General Knyphausen, the commanding officer at that post, supposing the American citizens and soldiers ripe for revolt, passed over into New Jersey with five thousand men, to avail himself of favorable events; but the behavior of the Americans soon convinced him he had been deceived in the report of their disaffected disposition. The troops detached from the army to oppose his progress fought with obstinate bravery; and the inhabitants, seizing their arms with alacrity, emulated the spirit and persevering courage of the regular soldier. The general, finding he must encounter serious opposition, retreated to Elizabeth Point, opposite to Staten island. In the mean time, Sir Henry Clinton, returning with his victorious troops from Charleston, ordered a reinforcement to Knyphausen, who, with the whole body, advanced a second time towards Springfield. The British were now opposed by general Green with a considerable body of continental troops, and a severe action was fought, but the Americans were forced, by superior numbers, to retire. General Green took post with his troops on a range of hills, in the hope of being attacked; but the British, having burned the town, retreated, and the next day set out on their return to New York.

Late in the spring the marquis la Fayette returned from France with the pleasing intelligence that his government had resolved to assist the United States, by employing this year a respectable land and naval force in America. This grateful information reanimated the public mind, and gave a new stimulus to the activity of congress, and of the governments of the several states, that preparation might be made to co-operate with the French armament on its arrival. Vigorous measures were in consequence adopted by congress and by the states to recruit the army, to lay up magazines, and to enable the general to comply with the reasonable expectations of their allies; but the agency of different bodies was necessary to carry these public measures into effect, and their operation was dilatory.

Early in July the first division of French troops reached the American shore, consisting of between five and six thousand men, with a large train of battering and field artillery. These forces were commanded by count de Rochambeau, whose government had placed him under the command of general Washington. The count brought information that a second division would follow him as soon as transports could be fitted out to bring them. The principal French and American officers assiduously cultivated a mutual affection between the two armies; and the commander-in-chief recommended to the officers of the United States to ingraft on the American cockade a white relief, as an emblem of the alliance of the two powers. On the arrival of the French, the Americans were unprepared to act with them, nor did the American general know what force would ultimately be brought into the field; and before any thing could be effected, information was brought that the second armament destined for America was blocked up in the harbor of Brest, and would not this season reach the American continent. The flattering prospect of terminating the war by the conquest of the British posts in a moment vanished, and elevated views of brilliant success were succeeded by grievous disappointment.

In this season of difficulty, of embarrassment, and of gloom, a circumstance occurred which excited the deepest interest throughout both armies, and indeed in the breast of the inhabitants of all the states. The American army was stationed in the strong-holds of the high lands on both sides of the North river; and for the defence of this position, and to keep command of the river, a fortress had been built at West Point, which was deemed impregnable, and had acquired the appellation of the Gibraltar of America. Of this post general Arnold solicited the command, and general Washington, far from suspecting any sinister views in an officer who had been so zealous and active in the cause of his country, complied with the solicitation. Arnold had, however, no sooner become invested with the command, than he carried on a negotiation with Sir Henry Clinton, by which it was agreed, that he should make such a disposition of his forces, as would enable the British general effectually to surprise West Point. The agent employed in this negotiation was major André, adjutant-general of the British army; and to favor the communications, the Vulture, a British sloop of war, had been previously stationed in North river, as near Arnold’s posts as could be without exciting suspicion. On the night of the 21st of September a boat was sent from the shore to fetch major André, and Arnold met him at the beach, without the posts of both armies. Their business not being finished until it was too near morning for André to return to the Vulture, Arnold, telling him he must be concealed until the next night, conducted him within one of the American posts, where he continued with him the following day. The Vulture having in the mean time been compelled to alter her position, André could return to New York in no other way than by land; changing his uniform, therefore, which he had worn under a surtout, for a plain dress, he set out on horseback, under the name of John Anderson, with a passport, signed by Arnold, ‘to go to the lines of White Plains, or lower if he thought proper, he being on public business.’ When advanced a great part of the way, he was stopped by three of the New York militia, and several papers, containing exact returns of the state of the forces, ordnance, and defences at West Point, were found in his boots. The captors, disdaining a proffered bribe of a purse of gold and permanent provision and promotion, on condition of their conveying and accompanying him to New York, delivered him a prisoner to lieutenant-colonel Jameson, who commanded the outposts. André, with the incautious permission of Jameson, procured a letter to be sent to Arnold, informing him of his detention, which gave the traitor opportunity to escape on board the Vulture,136 in which he reached New York in safety. At this very hour Washington arrived on his return from a conference with the French general at Hartford. He repaired, without delay, to the fort of West Point, where, however, he could learn nothing of a decisive import. But some orders, issued by Arnold the day before, redoubled his suspicions; he returned to the quarters of the general, and at this instant Jameson’s messenger presented himself, and delivered the packet with which he was charged. Washington seemed for the moment overwhelmed by the discovery of a crime which ruined the fame of an American general, and wounded the honor of the American army. Those who were near him anxiously interrogated his looks in silence, which he broke by saying, ‘I thought that an officer of courage and ability, who had often shed his blood for his country, was entitled to confidence, and I gave him mine. I am convinced now, and for the rest of my life, that we should never trust those who are wanting in probity, whatever abilities they may possess. Arnold has betrayed us.’ Meanwhile, the precautions required by the occasion were everywhere taken. General Heath, a faithful and vigilant officer, was substituted for Arnold at West Point; the commanders of the other posts were admonished to be on their guard; Green, who had been invested with the command of the army during the absence of Washington, recalled within the forts the garrisons which the traitor had dispersed, and marched a strong division near to the lines. General Washington referred the case of André to the examination and decision of a board, consisting of fourteen officers, who founded their report on his own statements; they reported it as their unanimous opinion, ‘that major André ought to be considered as a spy, and that, agreeably to the laws and usages of nations, he should suffer death;’ and he was, in accordance with their sentence, hung as a spy.137

When the winter of 1780 commenced, the troops of the northern army retired to the quarters which they had last occupied. Again they endured distress at which patriotism feels indignant and humanity weeps. The harvest had been abundant; plenty reigned in the land, while want was still felt in the camp of its defenders. Lassitude had succeeded enthusiasm in the breasts of the people, and congress exerted its powers with too little vigor to draw forth the resources of the country. The soldiers of the Pennsylvania line stationed at Morristown, New Jersey, complained that, in addition to sustaining sufferings common to all, they were retained in service contrary to the terms of their enlistments. In the night of the 1st of January, thirteen hundred, on a concerted signal, paraded under arms, and declared their intention of marching to Philadelphia, and demanding of congress a redress of their grievances. The officers strove to compel them to relinquish their purpose. In the attempt, one was killed and several were wounded. General Wayne presented his pistols, as if intending to fire. They held their bayonets to his breast; ‘We love and respect you,’ said they; ‘but if you fire you are a dead man. We are not going to the enemy. On the contrary, if they were now to come out, you should see us fight under your orders with as much alacrity as ever. But we will be amused no longer; we are determined to obtain what is our just due.’ They elected temporary officers, and moved off in a body towards Princeton. General Wayne, to prevent them from plundering the inhabitants, forwarded provisions for their use. The next day he followed, and requested them to appoint a man from each regiment, to state to him their complaints; a conference was accordingly held, but he refused to comply with their demands. They then proceeded in good order to Princeton, where three emissaries from Sir Henry Clinton met them, and made liberal offers to entice them from the service of congress. The offers were indignantly rejected, and the emissaries seized and executed as spies. Here they were also met by a committee of congress, and a deputation from the state of Pennsylvania; and the latter, granting a part of their demands, succeeded in persuading them to return to their duty. This mutiny, and another in the Jersey line, which was instantly suppressed, aroused the attention of the states to the miserable condition of their troops. The amount of three months’ pay was raised and forwarded to them in specie; it was received with joy, as affording an evidence that their country was not unmindful of their sufferings.

The year on which we now enter decided the important contest which engaged the attention of Europe, and of all the civilized world, in favor of liberty, and, we must add, of justice. The boon of independence was not, however, gained without adding to the long list of widows and orphans, nor without augmenting the catalogue of cruelties more horrid than those of the Indian tribes, because perpetrated by those who had no accumulated antipathy of ages to palliate their hostility, but who only yesterday were friends and brothers. The inhabitants of the Carolinas endured calamity and distress from which humanity revolts. About equally divided in political sentiments, village was opposed to village, and neighbor to neighbor, and their hostility became embittered by attack and reprisal, until pillage, burning, and murder, became familiar to all.138 Each party aimed at the extirpation of the other, and the whole country presented a scene of slaughter and of blood. The American generals seized every occasion to discountenance such vindictive and barbarous conduct, while, with few exceptions, the British permitted and even accelerated their perpetration.

The reduction of Savannah and Charleston encouraged the British to a vigorous invasion of North Carolina. The whole army of general Green, which had at the close of last year advanced from Hillsborough to Charlottetown, consisted of about two thousand men, more than half of whom were militia. With this inconsiderable body of troops, miserably provided, general Green took the field against a superior regular force, which had already marched in triumph two hundred miles from the point of its debarkation. Soon after Green took the command, he divided his force, and sent general Morgan with a respectable detachment to the western extremity of South Carolina, where the tories were destroying the whigs without mercy and without restraint, and marched with the main body to Hick’s creek, on the north side of the Pedee. On the entrance of general Morgan into the district of Ninety-six, lord Cornwallis, who was preparing for the invasion of North Carolina, that he might not leave an enemy in his rear, ordered colonel Tarleton to proceed with about eleven hundred men, and drive him from his position. Tarleton had two field-pieces, and a superiority both of infantry and cavalry. With these advantages, he engaged Morgan at the Cowpens, near Pacolet river, on the 17th of January. The British, led to the attack by Tarleton himself, advanced with a shout, and poured in an incessant fire of musketry. The American militia, though they received the charge with firmness, were soon compelled to fall back in the rear of their second line; and this line, in its turn, after an obstinate conflict, was compelled to retreat to the cavalry. At this juncture lieutenant-colonel Washington made a successful charge on captain Ogilvie, who, with about forty dragoons, was cutting down the retreating militia; lieutenant-colonel Howard almost at the same moment rallied the continental troops, and charged with fixed bayonets, and the militia instantly followed the example. By these sudden and unexpected charges, the British, who had considered the fate of the day decided, were thrown into confusion, and driven from the ground with great slaughter. Howard and Washington pressed the advantage which they had respectively gained, until the artillery and a great part of the infantry had surrendered.139 Seldom has a victory, achieved by so small a number, been so important in its consequences. It deprived Cornwallis of one-fifth of his force, and disconcerted his plans for the reduction of North Carolina. He sought, however, to repair, by active exertions, the loss which he had suffered, and determined, if possible, to intercept Morgan, and compel him to restore the trophies of his victory. This resolution led to a military race, which maybe, without exaggeration, termed one of the most celebrated in history. Each army strove to precede the other at the fords of the Catawba, from which both were equally distant. The American troops endured almost incredible hardships, being sometimes without meat, often without flour, and entirely destitute of spirituous liquors. A large portion of the troops were without shoes, and, marching over frozen ground, marked with blood every step of their progress. On the twelfth day after the engagement, Morgan reached the fords and crossed the Catawba; and two hours afterwards Cornwallis arrived, and, it being then dark, encamped on the bank. During the night, a heavy fall of rain made the river impassable, which gave Morgan an opportunity to remove the prisoners beyond the reach of his pursuer.

The movements of the royal army induced general Green immediately to retreat from Hick’s creek; and, leaving the main army under the command of general Huger, he rode a hundred and fifty miles through the country to join the detachment under general Morgan, that he might be in front of lord Cornwallis, and so direct both divisions of his army as to form a speedy junction between them. Lord Cornwallis, after three days’ delay, effected the passage of the Catawba, and recommenced the pursuit. The Americans, continuing their expeditious movements, crossed the Yadkin on the 3d of February, and secured their boats on the north side; but the British, though close in their rear, were incapable of crossing it through the rapid rising of the river from preceding rains, and the want of boats. This second remarkable escape confirmed the impression on the minds of the Americans, that their cause was favored by Divine Providence. After a junction of the two divisions of the American army at Guildford court-house, it was concluded, in a council of officers called by general Green, that he ought to retire over the Dan, and to avoid an engagement until he should be reinforced.

Lord Cornwallis kept the upper countries, where only the rivers are fordable, and attempted to get between general Green and Virginia, to cut off his retreat, and oblige him to fight under many disadvantages; but the American general completely eluded him. So urgent was the pursuit of the British, that, on the 14th of February, the American light troops were compelled to retire above forty miles; and on that day general Green, by indefatigable exertions, transported his army over the Dan into Virginia. Here again the pursuit was so close, that the van of the British just arrived as the rear of the Americans had crossed. The continental army being now driven out of North Carolina, earl Cornwallis left the Dan, and proceeded to Hillsborough, where he set up the royal standard. Green, perceiving the necessity of some spirited measure to counteract his lordship’s influence on the inhabitants of the country, concluded, at every hazard, to recross the Dan. After manœuvring in a very masterly manner to avoid an action with Cornwallis three weeks, his army was joined by two brigades of militia from North Carolina, and one from Virginia, and also by four hundred regulars.

This reinforcement giving him a superiority of numbers, he determined no longer to avoid an engagement, and, on the 15th of March, he accepted battle; but at the first fire the North Carolina militia, who were in the front line, fled; the second line was also routed. The continentals, who composed the third, fought with their usual bravery, and for an hour and half maintained the conflict with great firmness. They at length gave way, but retreated in good order, the slaughter they had made in the enemy’s ranks preventing pursuit. The victory, won by a far inferior force, was more glorious than advantageous to the British army. Soon after the action, lord Cornwallis began a march toward Wilmington. General Green, on receiving intelligence of this movement, put his army in motion to follow him, and continued the pursuit to Ramsay’s mill, on Deep river. Cornwallis, having halted and refreshed his men about three weeks at Wilmington, marched across the country to Petersburg, in Virginia.

Before general Green was aware that lord Cornwallis intended to enter Virginia, he had formed the bold resolution of returning into South Carolina. Marching towards Camden, where nine hundred men, under the command of lord Rawdon, were posted, he took a position on Hobkirk’s hill, about a mile from the British intrenchments. Here the Americans were attacked on the 25th of April. In the beginning of the action their bravery gained advantages, which, in its progress, were lost by the premature retreat of two companies, occasioned by the death of their officers. At this reverse of fortune, Green retired a few miles from the field, both armies having sustained nearly an equal loss.

Several British posts in South Carolina speedily fell into the power of the brave and active partisans, who, with small bodies of troops, were ever present where oppression was to be resisted or glory won. Lee joined Marion; and, on the 15th of April, they unexpectedly presented themselves before fort Watson, a British post on the Santee. It was an Indian mound, rising thirty or forty feet above the level of the plain. Neither the garrison nor the assailants had artillery; but in a few days the Americans constructed a work on an unusual plan, which overlooked the fort, and from the top of which the riflemen fired with such unerring aim that not a man of the garrison could show himself without certain destruction. On the 23d, the garrison, consisting of one hundred and fourteen men, capitulated.

Orangeburg and fort Motte surrendered to Sumpter. Lee captured fort Granby, and Marion drove from Georgetown the troops stationed to defend it. Immediately after the surrender of fort Granby, lieutenant-colonel Lee marched to Augusta, and joined brigadier-general Pickens, who, with a body of militia, had some time before taken post in the vicinity; and these two able officers jointly carried on their approaches against fort Cornwallis. Two batteries were erected within thirty yards of the parapet which overlooked the fort; and from them the American riflemen shot into the inside of the works with effect. The garrison, almost entirely burying themselves underground, obstinately refused to capitulate until resistance became useless, and then the fort, with about three hundred men, surrendered on honorable terms of capitulation. The Americans, during the siege, had about forty men killed and wounded. On the 22d of May, general Green laid siege to Ninety-six, which was defended by lieutenant-colonel Cruger, with upwards of five hundred men. The works of the besiegers were carried forward with indefatigable industry and success until the 18th of June, when, on intelligence of the approach of lord Rawdon for the relief of the place, it was concluded to attempt its reduction by assault. The assailants displayed great resolution; but, failing of success, general Green raised the siege, and retreated over the Saluda.

Lord Rawdon having returned to England, the command of the British troops in South Carolina devolved upon lieutenant-colonel Stewart; who, in the beginning of September, took post at Eutaw Springs. General Green marched against him from the hills of Santee. The rival forces were equal, amounting on each side to two thousand men. On the 8th an attack was made by the Americans; a part of the British line, consisting of new troops, broke and fled; but the veteran corps received the charge of the assailants on the points of their bayonets. The hostile ranks were for a time intermingled, and the officers fought hand to hand; but lieutenant-colonel Lee, who had turned the British left flank, charging them at this instant in the rear, their line was soon completely broken, and driven off the field. They were vigorously pursued by the Americans, who took upwards of five hundred of them prisoners. The British, on their retreat, took post in a large three-story brick house, and in a picketed garden; and from these advantageous positions renewed the action. Four six-pounders were ordered up before the house; but the Americans were compelled to leave these pieces and retire. They formed again at a small distance in the woods; but general Green, thinking it inexpedient to renew the desperate attempt, left a strong picket on the field of battle, and retired with his prisoners to the ground from which he had marched in the morning. In the evening of the next day, lieutenant-colonel Stewart, leaving seventy of his wounded men and one thousand stand of arms, moved from Eutaw towards Charleston. The loss of the British, inclusive of prisoners, was supposed to be not less than eleven hundred men. The loss of the Americans, in killed, wounded, and missing, was about half that number. This battle was attended by consequences very advantageous to the Americans, and maybe considered as closing the revolutionary war in South Carolina.

Brilliant as were the successes of general Green in the Carolinas it was in Virginia that the last great stroke in favor of American independence was to be effected. The army under the commander-in-chief had passed another distressing winter, and symptoms of mutiny had again manifested themselves, but were happily suppressed. Deplorably deficient of provisions and supplies, and promised reinforcements being grievously delayed, Washington still remained undiscouraged, and determined, in conjunction with the French fleet, to resume vigorous operations. New York was the destined point of the combined attack; but the large reinforcements which had recently arrived there, and other unfavorable circumstances, induced the commander-in-chief, so late as August, entirely to change the plan of the campaign, and to resolve to attempt the capture of the army of lord Cornwallis, which had now taken up a position at Yorktown, in Virginia. The defence of West Point, and of the other posts on the Hudson, was committed to general Heath, and a large portion of the troops raised in the northern states was for this service left under his command.

General Washington resolved in person to conduct the Virginia expedition. The troops under count Rochambeau, and strong detachments from the American army, amounting to more than two thousand men, and consisting of the light infantry, Lamb’s artillery, and several other corps, were destined for it. By the 25th of August the whole body, American and French, had crossed the North river. An intercepted letter of general Washington’s, in which he communicated, as the result of a consultation with the French commanders, the design to attack New York, had excited the apprehensions of the British general for the safety of that city. This apprehension was kept alive, and the real object of the Americans concealed, by preparations for an encampment in New Jersey, opposite to Staten island, by the route of the American army, and other appearances, indicating an intention to besiege New York; and the troops had passed the Delaware, out of reach of annoyance, before Sir Henry suspected their destination. General Washington pressed forward with the utmost expedition, and at Chester he received the important intelligence that count de Grasse had arrived with his fleet in the Chesapeake, and that the marquis St. Simon had, with a body of three thousand land forces, joined the marquis de la Fayette. Having directed the route of his army from the head of the Elk, he, accompanied by Rochambeau, Chatelleux, Du Portail, and Knox, proceeded to Virginia. They reached Williamsburg on the 14th of September, and immediately repaired on board the Ville de Paris, to settle with count de Grasse the plan of operations. The whole body of American and French troops reached Williamsburg by the 25th of September. At this place the allied forces were joined by a detachment of the militia of Virginia, under the command of governor Nelson, and preparations were soon made to attack the intrenchments of lord Cornwallis.

Yorktown, the head-quarters of lord Cornwallis, is a village on the south side of York river, the southern banks of which are high, and where ships of the line may ride in safety. Gloucester point is a piece of land on the opposite shore, projecting considerably into the river. Both these posts were occupied by the British; and a communication between them was commanded by their batteries, and by several ships of war. The main body of lord Cornwallis’ army was encamped on the open grounds about Yorktown, within a range of outer redoubts and field-works; and lieutenant-colonel Tarleton, with a detachment of six or seven hundred men, held the post at Gloucester point.

The legion of the duke de Lauzun, and a brigade of militia under general Weedon, the whole commanded by the French general De Choisé, were directed to watch and restrain the enemy on the side of Gloucester; and the grand combined army, on the 30th of September, moved down to the investiture of Yorktown. On the night of the 6th of October, advancing to within six hundred yards of the English lines, they began their first parallel, and labored with such silence and diligence, that they were not discovered until morning, when the works they had raised were sufficient to protect them. On the 9th, several batteries being completed, a heavy cannonade was begun. Many of the British guns were dismounted, and portions of their fortifications laid level with the ground. On the night of the 11th, the besiegers commenced their second parallel, three hundred yards in advance of the first. This approach was made so much sooner than was expected, that the men were not discovered at their labor until they had rendered themselves secure from all molestation in front. The fire from the new batteries was still more furious and destructive. From two British redoubts, in advance of their main works, and flanking those of the besiegers, the men in the trenches were so severely annoyed, that Washington resolved to storm them.

The enterprise against one was committed to an American force under the marquis de la Fayette, that against the other to a French detachment. Colonel Hamilton, who led the van of the former, made such an impetuous attack that possession was soon obtained, with little slaughter. The French detachment was equally brave and successful, but sustained greater loss. On the 16th, a sortie was made from the garrison by a party of three hundred and fifty, commanded by lieutenant-colonel Abercrombie, who forced two batteries, and spiked eleven pieces of cannon; but the guards from the trenches immediately advancing on them, they retreated, and the pieces which they had hastily spiked were soon rendered fit for service. In the afternoon of the same day the besiegers opened several batteries in their second parallel; and in the whole line of batteries nearly one hundred pieces of heavy ordnance were now mounted. The works of the besieged were so universally in ruins as to be in no condition to sustain the fire which might be expected the next day. In this extremity, lord Cornwallis boldly resolved to attempt an escape by land with the greater part of his army. His plan was to cross over, in the night, to Gloucester point, and forcing his way through the troops under De Choisé, to pass through Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Jersey, and form a junction with the royal army at New York. In prosecution of this desperate design, one embarkation of his troops crossed over to the opposite point; but a violent storm of wind and rain dispersed the boats, and frustrated the scheme.

On the morning of the 17th the fire of the American batteries rendered the British post untenable. Lord Cornwallis, perceiving further resistance to be unavailing, about ten o’clock beat a parley, and proposed a cessation of hostilities for twenty-four hours, that commissioners might meet to settle the terms on which the posts of York and Gloucester should be surrendered. General Washington, in his answer, declared his ‘ardent desire to spare the effusion of blood, and his readiness to listen to such terms as were admissible;’ but to prevent loss of time, he desired ‘that, previous to the meeting of the commissioners, the proposals of his lordship might be transmitted in writing, for which purpose a suspension of hostilities for two hours should be granted.’ The terms proposed by his lordship were such as led the general to suppose that articles of capitulation might easily be adjusted, and he continued the cessation of hostilities until the next day. To expedite the business, he summarily stated the terms he was willing to grant, and informed earl Cornwallis, that if he admitted these as the basis of a treaty, commissioners might meet to put them into form. Accordingly, viscount de Noailles and lieutenant-colonel Laurens, on the part of the allies, and colonel Dundas and major Ross, on the part of the English, met the next day, and adjusted articles of capitulation, which were to be submitted to the consideration of the British general.

Resolving not to expose himself to any accident that might be the consequence of unnecessary delay, general Washington ordered the rough draft of the commissioners to be fairly transcribed, and sent to lord Cornwallis early next morning, with a letter expressing his expectation that the garrison would march out by two o’clock in the afternoon. Hopeless of more favorable terms, his lordship signed the capitulation, and surrendered the posts of York and Gloucester, with their garrisons, to general Washington; and the shipping in the harbor, with the seamen, to count de Grasse. The prisoners, exclusive of seamen, amounted to more than seven thousand, of which between four and five thousand only were fit for duty. The garrison lost, during the siege, six officers and five hundred and forty-eight privates, in killed and wounded. The privates, with a competent number of officers, were to remain in Virginia, Maryland, or Pennsylvania. The officers not required for this service were permitted on parole to return to Europe, or to any of the maritime posts of the English on the American continent. The terms granted to earl Cornwallis were, in general, the terms which had been granted to the Americans at the surrender of Charleston; and general Lincoln, who on that occasion resigned his sword to lord Cornwallis, was appointed to receive the submission of the royal army. The allied army, to which lord Cornwallis surrendered, amounted to sixteen thousand;—seven thousand French, five thousand five hundred continental troops, and three thousand five hundred militia. In the course of the siege they lost, in killed and wounded, about three hundred. The siege was prosecuted with so much military judgment and ardor, that the treaty was opened on the eleventh, and the capitulation signed on the thirteenth day after ground was broken before the British lines.

The capture of so large a British army excited universal joy, and on no occasion during the war did the Americans manifest greater exultation. From the nature and duration of the contest, the affections of many had been so concentrated upon their country, and so intense was their interest in its fate, that the news of this brilliant success produced the most rapturous emotions, under the operations of which, it is said, some were even deprived of their reason, and one aged patriot in Philadelphia expired.

The day after the capitulation general Washington ordered, ‘that those who were under arrest should be pardoned and set at liberty;’ and announced, that ‘divine service shall be performed to-morrow in the different brigades and divisions. The commander-in-chief recommends, that all the troops that are not upon duty do assist at it with a serious deportment, and that sensibility of heart which the recollection of the surprising and particular interposition of Providence in our favor claims.’ Congress, as soon as they received general Washington’s official letter giving information of the event, resolved to go in procession to the Dutch Lutheran church, and return thanks to Almighty God for the signal success of the American arms; and they issued a proclamation, recommending to the citizens of the United States to observe the 13th of December as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer.

While these successful operations had been carrying on in Virginia, Sir Henry Clinton endeavored, if possible, to recall Washington, or at least to divert his attention, by some daring enterprise in the north. Giving to the traitor Arnold, who had just returned from his destructive expedition to Virginia, the command of a strong detachment, he sent him against New London, a flourishing city situated upon the river Thames, in his native state. Nearly opposite, on a hill in Groton, stood fort Griswold, which was then garrisoned by militia, hastily summoned from their labors in the field. Against this fort Arnold despatched a part of his troops. It was assaulted on three sides at the same moment. The garrison, fighting in view of their property and their homes, made a brave and obstinate resistance. By their steady and well-directed fire many of the assailants were killed. Pressing forward with persevering ardor, the British entered the fort through the embrasures. Immediately all resistance ceased. Irritated by gallantry which should have caused admiration, a British officer inquired who commanded the fort. ‘I did,’ said colonel Ledyard, ‘but you do now;’ and presented him his sword. He seized it, and, with savage cruelty, plunged it into his bosom. This was the signal for an indiscriminate massacre. Of a hundred and sixty men, composing the garrison, all but forty were killed or wounded, and most of them after resistance had ceased. Seldom has the glory of victory been tarnished by such detestable barbarity. The British then entered New London, which was set on fire and consumed. The property destroyed was of immense value. Perceiving no other object within the reach of his force, Arnold led back his troops to New York.

A circumstance which evidently exercised a very favorable influence on American affairs during this period should not be omitted—the institution of a national bank. The plan of it was projected by Robert Morris, one of the delegates of Pennsylvania, a man of high reputation, and well versed in affairs of commerce and finance, whom congress had appointed treasurer. He assigned to this bank a capital of four hundred thousand dollars, divided in shares of four hundred dollars each, in money of gold or silver, to be procured by subscriptions. Twelve directors were to manage the bank, which was denominated by congress, ‘The President, Directors, and Company of the Bank of North America.’ To the financial skill and indefatigable efforts of Mr. Morris in the treasury department, it has been thought our country was scarcely less indebted, than to the valor of her soldiers and the wisdom of her statesmen. Under his auspices, public credit revived; the army was pacified; and a new impulse given to every operation in the field and the cabinet.

During this fortunate year also the compact of the confederation was rendered complete. Much difficulty had been experienced in obtaining its ratification. Various and sometimes conflicting amendments had been proposed by the states respectively; but they had successively yielded to the opinion that a federal compact would be of vast importance in the prosecution of the war. One of the greatest impediments had hitherto been, that within the chartered limits of several states there were immense tracts of vacant territory, which, it was supposed, would constitute a large fund of future wealth; and the states not possessed of this advantage insisted on considering this territory as a joint acquisition, to be applied to the common benefit. The cession made by Virginia, the preceding year, of its north-west territory, was now accepted by congress, and, to the great joy of America, the confederation was completed.140

The result of the last campaign convinced the British nation that America could not be subdued by force; and led to a change of administration and pacific overtures. Parliament met on the 27th of November, 1781; and though the speech from the throne still breathed a spirit of hostility, and answers from both houses were procured in accordance with it, yet not long after the recess, the ministers found themselves in a minority in the house of commons. On the 22d of February, 1782, general Conway moved an address to the king, praying, ‘that the war on the continent of North America might no longer be pursued for the impracticable purpose of reducing that country to obedience by force; and expressing their hope, that the earnest desire and diligent exertion to restore the public tranquillity, of which they had received his majesty’s most gracious assurances, might, by a happy reconciliation with the revolted colonies, be forwarded and made effectual; to which great end his majesty’s faithful commons would be ready to give their utmost assistance.’ This motion being lost by a single vote only, was, five days after, renewed, by the same gentleman, in a form somewhat different, and was carried; and an address in pursuance of it presented to the king. Not yet satisfied with the triumph obtained over the ministry, and considering the answer of the king not sufficiently explicit, the house of commons, on the 4th of March, on the motion of general Conway, declared, that all those who should advise, or by any means attempt, the farther prosecution of offensive war in America, should be considered as enemies to their king and country. In this state of things it was impossible for the ministry longer to continue in power, and on the 19th they relinquished their places. A new administration was soon after formed—the marquis of Rockingham was placed at the head of the treasury, and the earl of Shelburne and Mr. Fox held the important places of secretaries of state.

Soon after their appointment, the new ministers sent a Mr. Oswald to France, to sound the French court, as well as Dr. Franklin, on the subject of peace. In a conference with the count de Vergennes, Mr. Oswald was informed that the French court were disposed to treat for peace, but could do nothing without the consent of their allies; and the count expressed a wish that Paris might be the place of meeting for entering upon this important business. About the 18th of April the British agent went back to London, and on the 4th of May returned to France with the assent of the British cabinet to treat of a general peace, and for that purpose to meet at Paris.

One of the first measures of the new administration was to appoint Sir Guy Carleton commander-in-chief in America, in the room of Sir Henry Clinton, and to authorize admiral Digby and himself to treat for peace. One object of conferring this power was to induce congress to agree to a separate treaty. Sir Guy Carleton arrived in America on the 5th of May, and two days afterwards informed general Washington that he and admiral Digby were authorized to treat for peace, and requested a passport for their secretary as the bearer of despatches to congress on the subject. A copy of this letter was forwarded by the general to that body; but the members being determined not to negotiate without their allies, refused the passport. The same commissioners, on the 2d of August following, sent a second letter to the American commander, informing him that negotiations for a general peace had commenced at Paris, and that Mr. Grenville had full powers to treat with all the parties at war, and that, by his instructions, ‘the independency of the thirteen provinces was to be proposed by him, in the first instance, instead of being made a condition of a general treaty.’

A majority of the new British cabinet very early determined to offer America unlimited unconditional independence, as the basis of a negotiation for peace, and so instructed their minister, Mr. Grenville. This was a favorite measure with the marquis of Rockingham; on this point, however, the cabinet was divided. The earl of Shelburne, though he acquiesced, was still opposed, and it was one of the last measures to which the king would assent. The illness of the marquis of Rockingham, and his death, which happened on the 1st of July, produced no little delay and difficulty in the negotiations. The appointment of lord Shelburne as first lord of the treasury produced an open rupture in the cabinet. Lord John Cavendish, Mr. Fox, and some others, resigned their places. In consequence of this, William Pitt was made chancellor of the exchequer, and Thomas Townshend and lord Grantham secretaries of state. There can be little doubt that the king, as well as lord Shelburne, still entertained a distant hope that some arrangement might be made with the Americans short of an open and express acknowledgment of their independence; and the views of the latter on this point, probably, had no little influence in placing him at the head of the administration.141 Parliament adjourned on the 11th of July, having passed an act at the close of the session, authorizing the king to conclude a peace or truce with the Americans.

The instructions of congress to the American commissioners not to conclude peace without the consent of France, rendered their situation complicated and embarrassing. There were several questions which the Americans deemed of the first importance, in which the French court either felt no interest, or were opposed to the American claims. The principal of these points referred to the right of fishery on the Grand bank, and the western boundary of the United States. On the latter point, Spain, who was also a party to the negotiations, was extremely desirous of limiting as much as possible the extent of the American territory. These circumstances occasioned much difficulty and considerable delay. At length the American commissioners determined to agree to a provisional treaty without the concurrence of the French court. Mr. Oswald, who had succeeded Mr. Grenville, on the part of the British government, strongly urged the propriety of the American loyalists being compensated for the losses they had incurred during the struggle for independence; but this proposition was met by a counter one from Dr. Franklin, that a similar arrangement should be made by Great Britain in favor of the Americans who had suffered in their property from the destruction carried on by the British troops. This point was therefore ultimately waved, and other difficulties being overcome, a provisional treaty was agreed to on the 30th of November; and after great delay, occasioned by the strenuous endeavors of the court of Madrid to procure the cession of Gibraltar by Great Britain, preliminary treaties of peace were signed on the 20th of January, 1783, between France, Spain, and Great Britain.

On the 24th of March, intelligence of a general peace reached America by a letter from the marquis de la Fayette; and orders were immediately issued, recalling all armed vessels cruising under the authority of the United States. Congress soon after received official information of the agreement between the ministers of the United States and Great Britain, and of the exchange of ratifications of the preliminary articles between Great Britain and France; and, on the 11th of April, they issued a proclamation, declaring the cessation of arms, as well by sea as by land, agreed upon between the United States and his Britannic majesty, and enjoining its strict observance. On the 19th of April, peace was proclaimed in the American army by the commander-in-chief, precisely eight years from the day of the first effusion of blood at Lexington.

The independence of the United States was acknowledged by Sweden on the 5th of February; by Denmark, on the 25th of February; by Spain, on the 24th of March; and by Russia, in July; treaties of amity and commerce were also concluded with each of those powers. On the 8th of June, general Washington addressed a letter to each of the governors of the several states in the Union, on the present situation, and what appeared to him the wisest policy, of the United States. In this paternal and affectionate letter he stated four things which he conceived to be essential to their well-being, and even to their existence, as an independent power: ‘An indissoluble union of the states under one general head; a sacred regard to public justice; the adoption of a proper peace establishment; and the prevalence of that pacific and friendly disposition, among the people of the United States, which will induce them to forget their local prejudices and politics, to make those mutual concessions which are requisite to the general prosperity, and, in some instances, to sacrifice their individual advantages to the interest of the community.’

The definitive treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States of America was signed at Paris on the 3d of September, by David Hartley, Esq., on the part of his Britannic majesty, and by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay, on the part of the United States. The provisions of the treaty attest the zeal and ability of the American negotiators, as well as the liberal feelings which actuated the British ministry. The independence of the United States was fully acknowledged. The right of fishing on the banks of Newfoundland, and certain facilities in the enjoyment of that right, were secured to them forever; and territory was ceded to them more extensive than the most sanguine had dared to anticipate or to hope.

In December, 1782, the officers of the American army, still retained in service but unemployed, forwarded to congress a petition, praying that all arrears which were due to them might be discharged, and that, instead of half-pay for life, a sum equal to five years’ full pay should be paid or secured to them when disbanded. The delay of congress to comply with this request produced an alarming agitation in that portion of the army stationed at Newburgh. An address to the officers was privately circulated, written with great ability, and admirably well fitted to work upon those passions which recent sufferings and gloomy forebodings had excited in every bosom. The writer boldly recommended that, as all the applications to the sympathy and justice of congress had failed of success, an appeal should be made to their fears. Fortunately, the commander-in-chief was in the camp. Though conscious that the officers had just cause of complaint, he was aware that duty to his country, and even friendship for them, required that he should prevent the adoption of rash and disorderly expedients to obtain redress. Calling them together, he, by a calm and sensible address, persuaded them to rely still longer upon the disposition of congress to perform for them whatever the limited means of the nation would permit. In a letter to that body, giving an account of these occurrences, he maintained and enforced the claims of the officers with such pathos and strength of reasoning, that their request was granted.

On the 18th of October, congress issued a proclamation for disbanding the army. New York was evacuated by the British on the 25th of November, and the Americans took possession of the city the same day; and a short time after the army was disbanded, and again mingled with their fellow-citizens.142

General Washington, taking an affectionate leave of his officers, repaired to Annapolis, where congress was sitting, and there, at a public audience, with dignity and sensibility, resigned his commission as commander-in-chief of the American armies. Then, with a character illustrious throughout the world, he returned to his residence at Mount Vernon, possessing the sincere love and profound veneration of his countrymen.

WASHINGTON’S ADMINISTRATION.

The exhausting effect of their exertions was felt by the people of the United States for a considerable period after peace, as well as independence, had been secured. The enthusiasm of a popular contest terminating in victory began to subside, and the sacrifices of the revolution soon became known and felt. The claims of those who toiled, and fought, and suffered in the arduous struggle, were strongly urged, and the government had neither resources nor power to satisfy or to silence them. The federal head had no separate or exclusive fund. The members of congress depended on the states which they respectively represented, even for their own maintenance, and money for national purposes could only be obtained by requisitions on the different members of the confederacy. On them it became necessary immediately to call for funds to discharge the arrears of pay due to the soldiers of the revolution, and the interest on the debt which the government had been compelled to contract. The legislatures of the different states received these requisitions with respect, listened to the monitory warnings of congress with deference, and with silent and inactive acquiescence. Their own situation, indeed, was full of embarrassment. The wealth of the country had been totally exhausted during the revolution. Taxes could not be collected, because there was no money to represent the value of the little personal property which had not been, and the land which could not be, destroyed; and commerce, though preparing to burst from its thraldom, had not yet had time to restore to the annual produce of the country its exchangeable value. The states owed each a heavy debt for local services rendered during the revolution, for which it was bound to provide, and each had its own domestic government to support.

Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that each state was anxious to retain for its own benefit the small but rising revenue derived from foreign commerce; and that the custom-houses in each commercial city were considered as the most valuable sources of income which the states possessed. Each state, therefore, made its own regulations, its tariff, and tonnage duties, and, as a natural consequence, the different states clashed with each other; one nation became more favored than another under the same circumstances; and one state pursued a system injurious to the interests of another. Hence the confidence of foreign countries was destroyed; and they would not enter into treaties of commerce with the confederated government, while they were not likely to be carried into effect. A general decay of trade, the rise of imported merchandise, the fall of produce, and an uncommon decrease of the value of lands, ensued.

The distress of the inhabitants was continually on the increase; and in Massachusetts, where it was most felt, an insurrection of a serious character was the consequence. Near the close of the year 1786, the populace assembled to the number of two thousand, in the north-western part of the state, and, choosing Daniel Shays their leader, demanded that the collection of debts should be suspended, and that the legislature should authorize the emission of paper money for general circulation. Two bodies of militia, drawn from those parts of the state where disaffection did not prevail, were immediately despatched against them, one under the command of general Lincoln, the other of general Shepard. The disaffected were dispersed with less difficulty than had been apprehended, and, abandoning their seditious purposes, accepted the proffered indemnity of the government.

The time at length came when the public mind gave tokens of being prepared for a change in the constitution of the general government—an occurrence the necessity of which had long been foreseen by Washington and most of the distinguished patriots of that period. Evil had accumulated upon evil, till the mass became too oppressive to be endured, and the voice of the nation cried out for relief. The first decisive measures proceeded from the merchants, who came forward almost simultaneously in all parts of the country, with representations of the utter prostration of the mercantile interests, and petitions for a speedy and efficient remedy. It was shown, that the advantages of this most important source of national prosperity were flowing into the hands of foreigners, and that the native merchants were suffering for the want of a just protection and a uniform system of trade. The wise and reflecting were convinced that some decided efforts were necessary to strengthen the general government, or that a dissolution of the Union, and perhaps a devastating anarchy, would be inevitable. The first step towards a general reformation was rather accidental than premeditated. Certain citizens of Virginia and Maryland had formed a scheme for promoting the navigation of the Potomac and Chesapeake bay, and commissioners were appointed by those two states to meet at Alexandria, and devise some plan of operation. These persons made a visit to Mount Vernon, and, while there, it was proposed among themselves that more important objects should be connected with the purpose at first in view, and that the state governments should be solicited to appoint other commissioners, with enlarged powers, instructed to form a plan for maintaining a naval force in the Chesapeake, and also to fix upon some system of duties on exports and imports in which both states should agree, and that in the end congress should be petitioned to allow these privileges. This project was approved by the legislature of Virginia, and commissioners were accordingly appointed. The same legislature passed a resolution recommending the design to other states, and inviting them to unite, by their commissioners, in an attempt to establish such a system of commercial relations as would promote general harmony and prosperity. Five states only, in addition to Virginia, acceded to this proposition, namely, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. From these states commissioners assembled at Annapolis, but they had hardly entered into a discussion of the topics which naturally forced themselves into view, before they discovered the powers with which they were intrusted to be so limited, as to tie up their hands from effecting any purpose that could be of essential utility. On this account, as well as from the circumstance that so few states were represented, they wisely declined deciding on any important measures in reference to the particular subjects for which they had come together.

This convention is memorable, however, as having been the prelude to the one which followed. Before the commissioners adjourned, a report was agreed upon, in which the necessity of a revision and reform of the articles of the old federal compact was strongly urged, and which contained a recommendation to all the state legislatures for the appointment of deputies, to meet at Philadelphia, with more ample powers and instructions. This proposal was eventually carried into effect, and, in conformity with it, a convention of delegates from the several states met at Philadelphia in May, 1787. Of this body of eminent statesmen, George Washington was unanimously elected president. They deliberated with closed doors during a period of four months. One party in the convention was anxious to enlarge, another to abridge the authority delegated to the general government. This was the first germ of parties in the United States; not that materials were wanting, for the dissensions of the revolution had left behind some bitterness of spirit, and feelings that only awaited an opportunity for their disclosure. The divisions in the convention proved the foundation of many a subsequent struggle. At length a constitution was agreed on, which, after being reported to congress, was submitted for ratification to conventions held in the respective states. This constitution differs, in many important particulars, from the articles of confederation; and, by its regulations, connects the states more closely together, under a general and supreme government, composed of three departments, legislative, executive, and judicial; and invested with powers essential to its being respected, both by foreign nations and the states whose interest it was designed to secure. The provisions and characteristics of this interesting and important political code, will receive the consideration to which they are so justly entitled in another department of our work.

As that party which was desirous to extend the powers of the constitution had been the most anxious for the formation of this system, and the most zealous advocates for its adoption, it almost naturally followed that the administration of it was committed to their hands. This party, which might, from their opinions, have been denominated nationalists, or, in more modern phraseology, centralists, acquired the name of federalists, while the appellation of anti-federalists was given to their antagonists. The latter, ardently attached to freedom, imagined that rulers, possessing such extensive sway, such abundant patronage, and such independent tenure of office, would become fond of the exercise of power, and in the end arrogant and tyrannical. The former, equally devoted to the cause of national liberty, contended that to preserve it an energetic government was necessary. They described, with powerful effect, the evils actually endured from the inefficiency of the confederation, and demanded that a trial at least should be made of the remedy proposed.

In eleven states, a majority, though in some instances a small one, decided in favor of the ratification of the constitution. Provision was then made for the election of the officers to compose the executive and legislative departments. In the highest station, the electors, by a unanimous vote, placed the illustrious Washington; and to the office of vice-president, by a vote nearly unanimous, they elevated John Adams, who, in stations less conspicuous, had, with equal patriotism, rendered important services to his country. On the 23d of April the president elect arrived at New York, where he was received by the governor of the state, and conducted with military honors, through an immense concourse of people, to the apartments provided for him. Here he received the salutations of foreign ministers, public bodies, political characters, and private citizens of distinction, who pressed around him to offer their congratulations, and to express their joy at seeing the man who had the confidence of all, at the head of the American republic. On the 30th of April the president was inaugurated. Having taken the oath of office in an open gallery adjoining the senate chamber, in the view of an immense concourse of people, who attested their joy by loud and repeated acclamations, he returned to the senate chamber, where he delivered an appropriate address.

The same disinterested spirit which had appeared in the general, was shown in the president. Having, at his entrance on the military service, renounced every pecuniary compensation, he now ‘declined any share in the personal emoluments which may be indispensably included in a permanent provision for the executive department;’ and requested that the pecuniary estimates for the station in which he was placed, might, during his continuance in it, ‘be limited to such actual expenditures as the public good may be thought to require.’

The government being now completely organized, and a system of revenue established, the president proceeded to make appointments of suitable persons to fill the offices which had been created.143 After a laborious and important session, in which perfect harmony subsisted between the executive and the legislature, congress adjourned on the 29th of September to the first Monday in the succeeding January.

At the next session of congress, which commenced in January, 1790, Mr. Hamilton, the secretary of the treasury, made his celebrated report upon the public debts contracted during the revolutionary war. Taking an able and enlarged view of the advantages of public credit, he recommended that not only the debts of the continental congress, but those of the states arising from their exertions in the common cause, should be funded or assumed by the general government; and that provision should be made for paying the interest, by imposing taxes on certain articles of luxury, and on spirits distilled within the country. The report of the secretary was largely discussed, and with great force of argument and eloquence. In conclusion, congress passed an act for the assumption of the state debts, and for funding the national debt. By the provisions of this act, twenty-one millions five hundred thousand dollars of the state debts were assumed in specific proportions; and it was particularly enacted, that no certificate should be received from a state creditor which could be ‘ascertained to have been issued for any purpose other than compensations and expenditures for services or supplies towards the prosecution of the late war, and the defence of the United States, or of some part thereof, during the same.’

Thus was the national debt funded upon principles which considerably lessened the weight of the public burdens, and gave much satisfaction to the public creditors. The produce of the sales of the lands lying in the western territory, and the surplus product of the revenue, after satisfying the appropriations which were charged upon it, with the addition of two millions which the president was authorized to borrow at five per cent., constituted a sinking fund to be applied to the reduction of the debt. The effect of these measures was great and rapid. The permanent value thus given to the debt produced a result equal to the most favorable anticipations. The sudden increase of monied capital derived from it invigorated commerce, and consequently gave a new stimulus to agriculture.

It has already been stated, that when the new government was first organized, but eleven states had ratified the constitution. Afterwards North Carolina and Rhode Island, the two dissenting states, adopted it; the former in November, 1789, the latter in May, 1790. In 1791, Vermont adopted it, and applied to congress to be admitted into the Union. An act was also passed, declaring that the district of Kentucky, then part of Virginia, should be admitted into the Union on the 1st day of June in the succeeding year.

During the year 1790, a termination was put to the war which, for several years, had raged between the Creek Indians and the state of Georgia. Pacific overtures were also made to the hostile tribes inhabiting the banks of the Scioto and the Wabash. These being rejected, an army of fourteen hundred men, commanded by general Harmer, was despatched against them. Two battles were fought near Chillicothe, in Ohio, between successive detachments from this army and the Indians, in which the latter were victorious. Emboldened by these successes, they continued to make more vigorous attacks upon the frontier settlements, which suffered all the distressing calamities of an Indian war.

In the course of this year was completed the first census or enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States. They amounted to three millions nine hundred twenty-one thousand three hundred and twenty-six, of which number six hundred ninety-five thousand six hundred and fifty-five were slaves. The revenue, according to the report of the secretary of the treasury, amounted to four millions seven hundred and seventy-one thousand dollars; the exports to about nineteen, and the imports to about twenty millions. A great improvement in the circumstances of the people began at this period to be visible. The establishment of a firm and regular government, and confidence in the men whom they had chosen to administer it, gave an impulse to their exertions which bore them rapidly forward in the career of prosperity.

Pursuant to the authority contained in the several acts on the subject of a permanent seat of the government of the United States, a district of ten miles square for this purpose was fixed on, comprehending lands on both sides of the river Potomac, and the towns of Alexandria and Georgetown. A city was laid out, and the sales which took place produced funds for carrying on the necessary public buildings.

The war in Europe had embraced those powers with whom the United States had the most extensive relations. The French people regarded the Americans as their brethren, bound to them by the ties of gratitude; and when the kings of Europe, dreading the establishment of republicanism in her borders, assembled in arms to restore monarchy to France, they looked across the Atlantic for sympathy and assistance. The new government, recalling the minister whom the king had appointed, despatched the citizen Genet, of ardent temper and a zealous republican, to supply his place. In April, 1793, he arrived at Charleston, in South Carolina, where he was received by the governor and the citizens, in a manner expressive of their warm attachment to his country, and their cordial approbation of the change of her institutions. Flattered by his reception, and presuming that the nation and the government were actuated by similar feelings, he undertook to authorize the fitting and arming of vessels in that port, enlisting men, and giving commissions to cruise and commit hostilities on nations with whom the United States were at peace; captured vessels were brought into port, and the consuls of France assumed, under the authority of M. Genet, to hold courts of admiralty on them, to try, condemn, and authorize their sale. The declaration of war made by France against Great Britain and Holland reached the United States early in the same month. The president, regarding the situation of these states, issued his proclamation of neutrality on the 9th of May. In July, he requested the recall of M. Genet, who was soon afterwards recalled, and succeeded by M. Fauchet.

After the defeat of St. Clair by the Indians, in 1791, general Wayne was appointed to command the American forces. Taking post near the country of the enemy, he made assiduous endeavors to negotiate a peace. Failing in these, he marched against them at the head of three thousand men. On the 20th of August, 1794, an action took place in the vicinity of one of the British garrisons, on the banks of the Miami. A vigorous charge roused the savages from their coverts, and they were driven more than two miles at the point of the bayonet. Broken and dismayed, they fled without renewing the combat. In this decisive battle, the loss of the Americans in killed and wounded, including officers, was one hundred and seven. After remaining on the banks of the Miami three days, general Wayne returned with the army to Au Glaize, having destroyed all the villages and corn within fifty miles of the river. The Indians still continuing hostilities, their whole country was laid waste, and forts were erected in the heart of their settlements. The effect of the battle of the 20th of August was instantly and extensively felt. To the victory gained by the Americans is ascribed the rescue of the United States from a general war with the Indians north-west of the Ohio.

The year 1794 is distinguished by an insurrection in Pennsylvania. In 1791, congress had enacted laws laying duties upon spirits distilled within the United States, and upon stills. From the commencement of the operation of these laws, combinations were formed in the four western counties of Pennsylvania to defeat them, and violence was repeatedly committed. In July of the present year, about one hundred persons, armed with guns and other weapons, attacked the house of an inspector of the revenue, and wounded some persons within it. They seized the marshal of the district of Pennsylvania, and compelled him to enter into stipulations to forbear the execution of his office. Both the inspector and the marshal were obliged to fly. These and many other outrages induced president Washington, on the 7th of August, to issue a proclamation, commanding the insurgents to disperse, and warning all persons against aiding, abetting, or comforting the perpetrators of these treasonable acts. On the 25th of September the president issued a second proclamation, admonishing the insurgents, and declaring his fixed determination, in obedience to the duty assigned to him by the constitution, ‘to take care that the laws be faithfully executed.’ Fifteen thousand men, placed under the command of governor Lee, of Virginia, were marched into the disaffected counties. A few of the most active leaders were seized and detained for legal prosecution. The great body of the insurgents, on submission, were pardoned, as were also the leaders, after trial and conviction of treason.

Great Britain and the United States had each been incessantly complaining that the other had violated the stipulations contained in the treaty of peace. For the purpose of adjusting these mutual complaints, and also for concluding a commercial treaty, Mr. Adams had been appointed, in 1785, minister to the court of St. James’; the British ministry then declined negotiating on the subject; but after the constitution of 1789 was ratified, ministers were interchanged, and the discussion was prosecuted with no little zeal. In 1794, Mr. Jay being then minister from the United States, a treaty was concluded, which, in the spring of the next year, was laid before the senate. That body advised the president to ratify it, on condition that an alteration should be made in one of the articles. The democratic party, however, exclaimed in intemperate language against most of the stipulations it contained; and the partisans of France swelled the cry of condemnation.

Public meetings were held in various parts of the Union, at which resolutions were passed, expressing warm disapprobation of the treaty, and an earnest wish that the president would withhold his ratification. General Washington, believing that an adjustment of differences would conduce to the prosperity of the republic, and that the treaty before him was the best that could, at that time, be obtained, gave it his assent, in defiance of popular clamor, and issued his proclamation stating its ratification, and declaring it to be the law of the land.

A resolution moved in the house to make the necessary appropriations to carry the British treaty into effect, excited among the members the strongest emotions, and gave rise to speeches highly argumentative, eloquent, and animated. The debate was protracted until the people took up the subject. In their respective corporations meetings were held, the strength of parties was fully tried, and it clearly appeared that the great majority were disposed to rally around the executive. Innumerable petitions were presented to congress, praying them to make the requisite appropriations. Unwilling to take upon themselves the consequences of resisting the public will, they yielded to this call.

During the year 1795, a satisfactory treaty was concluded with Spain and with the regency of Algiers.

The last two or three years had witnessed several changes in the important offices of the nation. On the first day of the year 1794, Mr. Jefferson resigned the office of secretary of state, and was succeeded by Mr. Randolph. On the last day of January, 1795, Mr. Hamilton retired from the office of secretary of the treasury. He was succeeded by Oliver Wolcott. At the close of the year 1794, general Knox resigned the office of secretary of war, and colonel Pickering, of Massachusetts, was appointed in his place. In August, Mr. Randolph having lost the confidence of the president, and having in consequence retired from the administration, Mr. Pickering was appointed his successor in the department of state, and James McHenry, of Maryland, was made secretary of war. No one of the republican party being now at the head of any of the departments, many of the leaders of that party withdrew their support from the administration; but the confidence of the people in the integrity and patriotism of the president experienced not the slightest abatement.

The conduct adopted by France towards the American republic continued to be a source of vexation. M. Fauchet charged the administration with sentiments of hostility to the allies of the United States, with partiality for their former foes, and urged the adoption of a course more favorable to the cause of liberty. Mr. Morris, the minister to Paris, having incurred the displeasure of those in power, was recalled at their request, and his place supplied by Mr. Monroe. Being an ardent republican, he was received in the most respectful manner by the convention, who decreed that the flags of the two republics, entwined together, should be suspended in the legislative hall, as a mark of their eternal union and friendship. M. Adet was appointed soon after to succeed M. Fauchet. He brought with him the colors of France, which he was instructed by the convention to present to the congress of the United States. But France required more than professions and hopes, and more than by treaty she was entitled to claim. She wished to make the states a party in the war she was waging with the despots of Europe. Failing in this, she adopted regulations highly injurious to American commerce, directing her cruisers to capture in certain cases the vessels of the United States. In consequence of these regulations, several hundred vessels, loaded with valuable cargoes, were taken while prosecuting a lawful trade, and the whole confiscated. Believing that the rights of the nation were not asserted and vindicated with sufficient spirit by Mr. Monroe, the president recalled him, and Charles C. Pinckney, of South Carolina, was appointed in his stead. In the summer of 1796, he left the United States, instructed to use every effort compatible with national honor, to restore the amicable relations which had once subsisted between the sister republics.

As the period for a new election of a president of the United States approached, after plain indications that the public voice would be in his favor, and when he probably would have been chosen for the third time unanimously, Washington determined irrevocably to withdraw to the seclusion of private life. He published, in September, 1796, a farewell address to the people of the United States, which ought to be engraven upon the hearts of all his countrymen.

On the 7th of December, 1796, the president for the last time met the national legislature. On the 4th of March, 1797, he attended the inauguration of his successor in office. Having paid his affectionate compliments to Mr. Adams, as president of the United States, he bade adieu to the seat of government, and hastened to the delights of domestic life. He intended that his journey should have been private, but the attempt was vain; the same affectionate and respectful attentions were on this occasion paid him which he had received during his presidency.

THE ADMINISTRATIONS OF JOHN ADAMS AND JEFFERSON.

When the determination of Washington not again to accept of the presidentship left open the high office to the competition of the leaders of the great political parties, no exertion was spared throughout the Union to give success to their respective claims. The federalists, desiring that the system of measures adopted by Washington should be pursued, and dreading the influence of French sentiments and principles, made the most active efforts to elect John Adams. The republicans, believing their opponents less friendly than themselves to the maxims of liberty, and too much devoted to the British nation and to British institutions, made equal exertions to elect Thomas Jefferson. The result was the choice of Mr. Adams to be president, and Mr. Jefferson to be vice-president.

Mr. Pinckney had been appointed minister plenipotentiary to the French republic in 1796. The object of his mission was stated, in his letter of credence, to be, ‘to maintain that good understanding which, from the commencement of the alliance, had subsisted between the two nations; and to efface unfavorable impressions, banish suspicions, and restore that cordiality which was at once the evidence and pledge of a friendly union.’ On inspecting his letter of credence, the directory announced to him their determination ‘not to receive another minister plenipotentiary from the United States until after the redress of grievances demanded of the American government, which the French republic had a right to expect from it.’ The American minister was afterwards obliged, by a written mandate, to quit the territories of the French republic. Besides other hostile indications, American vessels were captured wherever found; and, under the pretext of their wanting a document, with which the treaty of commerce had been uniformly understood to dispense, they were condemned as prizes.

In consequence of this serious state of the relations with France, the president, by proclamation, summoned congress to meet on the 15th of June; when, in a firm and dignified speech, he stated the great and unprovoked outrages of the French government. Having mentioned a disposition indicated in the executive directory to separate the people of America from their government, ‘such attempts,’ he added, ‘ought to be repelled with a decision which shall convince France and all the world that we are not a degraded people, humiliated under a colonial spirit of fear and sense of inferiority, fitted to be the miserable instruments of foreign influence, and regardless of national honor, character, and interest.’ He expressed, however, his wish for an accommodation, and his purpose of attempting it. In the mean time, he earnestly recommended it to congress to provide effectual measures of defence.

To make a last effort to obtain reparation and security, three envoys extraordinary were appointed, at the head of whom was general Pinckney. These ambassadors also the directory refused to receive. They were, however, addressed by persons verbally instructed by Talleyrand, the minister of foreign relations, to make proposals. In explicit terms, these unofficial agents demanded a large sum of money before any negotiation could be opened. To this insulting demand a decided negative was given.

When these events were known in the United States they excited general indignation. The spirit of party appeared to be extinct. The treaty of alliance with France was declared by congress to be no longer in force; and authority was given for capturing armed French vessels. Provision was made for raising immediately a small regular army, and, in case events should render it expedient, for augmenting it. A direct tax and additional internal duties were laid. To command the armies of the United States, president Adams, with the unanimous advice of the senate, appointed George Washington. He consented, but with great reluctance, to accept the office, declaring, however, that he cordially approved the measures of the government.

The first act of hostility between the two nations appears to have been committed by the Insurgente, which was in a short period after so signally beaten by an American frigate. The schooner Retaliation, lieutenant-commandant Bainbridge, being deluded into the power of this vessel, was captured and carried into Guadaloupe. Several other United States armed vessels were in company with the Retaliation, and pursued by the French squadron, but were probably saved from capture by the address of lieutenant Bainbridge, who, being asked by the French commodore what was the force of the vessels chased, exaggerated it with so much adroitness as to induce him to recall his ships. The Constellation went to sea under the command of captain Truxton. In February, 1799, he encountered the Insurgente, and, after a close action of about an hour and a half, compelled her to strike. The rate of the Constellation was thirty-two guns, that of the Insurgente forty. The former had three men wounded, one of whom shortly after died, and none killed; the latter had forty-one wounded, and twenty-nine killed. This victory, which was so brilliant and decisive, with such a wonderful disparity of loss, gave great eclat to the victor and to the navy. Commodore Truxton again put to sea in the Constellation, being destined to renew his triumphs, and the humiliation of the foe. In February, 1800, he fell in with the Vengeance, a French ship of fifty-four guns, with which he began an engagement that lasted, with great obstinacy and spirit on both sides, from eight o’clock in the evening till one in the morning, when the Vengeance was completely silenced, and sheered off. The Constellation, having lost her main-mast, was too much injured to pursue her. The captain of the Vengeance is said to have twice surrendered during the contest, but his signals were not understood amidst the darkness of night and the confusion of battle.

The United States, thus victorious in arms at home and on the ocean, commanded the respect of their enemy; and the directory made overtures of peace. The president immediately appointed ministers, who, on their arrival at Paris, found the executive authority in the possession of Buonaparte as first consul. They were promptly received, and in September, 1800, a treaty was concluded satisfactory to both countries.

The services of Washington had not been required in his capacity of commander-in-chief; but he did not live to witness the restoration of peace. On Friday, December 13, while attending some improvements upon his estate, he was exposed to a light rain, which wetted his neck and hair. Unapprehensive of danger, he passed the afternoon in his usual manner; but at night was seized with an inflammatory affection of the windpipe, attended by fever, and a quick and laborious respiration. Respiration became more and more contracted and imperfect until half-past eleven on Saturday night, when, retaining the full possession of his intellect, he expired without a struggle. Thus, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, died the father of his country. Intelligence of this event, as it rapidly spread, produced spontaneous, deep, and unaffected grief, suspending every other thought, and absorbing every different feeling. Congress, then in session at Philadelphia, immediately adjourned. The senate of the United States, in an address to the president on this melancholy occasion, indulged their patriotic pride, while they did not transgress the bounds of truth, in speaking of their Washington.

According to the unanimous resolution of congress, a funeral procession moved from the legislative hall to the German Lutheran church, where an oration was delivered by general Lee, a representative from Virginia. The procession was grand and solemn; the oration impressive and eloquent. Throughout the Union similar marks of affliction were exhibited; a whole people appeared in mourning. In every part of the republic funeral orations were delivered, and the best talents of the nation were devoted to an expression of the nation’s grief.

In the year 1800 the seat of government of the United States was removed to Washington, in the district of Columbia. After congratulating the people of the United States on the assembling of congress at the permanent seat of their government, and congress on the prospect of a residence not to be changed, the president said: ‘It would be unbecoming the representatives of this nation to assemble for the first time in this solemn temple, without looking up to the supreme Ruler of the universe, and imploring his blessing. May this territory be the residence of virtue and happiness! In this city may that piety and virtue, that wisdom and magnanimity, that constancy and self-government, which adorned the great character whose name it bears, be forever held in veneration! Here, and throughout our country, may simple manners, pure morals, and true religion, flourish forever!’

At this period a presidential election again occurred. From the time of the adoption of the constitution, the republican party had been gradually increasing in numbers. The two parties being now nearly equal, the contest inspired both with uncommon ardor. The federalists supported Mr. Adams and general Pinckney; the republicans, Mr. Jefferson and colonel Burr. The two latter received a small majority of the electoral votes; and as they received also an equal number, the selection of one of them to be president devolved upon the house of representatives. After thirty-five trials, during which the nation felt intense solicitude, Mr. Jefferson was chosen. Colonel Burr received the votes of the federalists, and lost, in consequence, the confidence of his former friends. By the provisions of the constitution he became, of course, vice-president.

A second census of the inhabitants of the United States was completed in 1801. They amounted to five millions three hundred and nineteen thousand seven hundred and sixty-two, having in ten years increased nearly one million four hundred thousand. In the same number of years the exports increased from nineteen to ninety-four millions, and the revenue from four millions seven hundred seventy-one thousand, to twelve millions nine hundred and forty-five thousand dollars. This rapid advance in the career of prosperity has no parallel in the history of nations, and is to be attributed principally to the institutions of the country, which, securing equal privileges to all, gave to the enterprise and industry of all free scope and full encouragement.

In 1802, the state of Ohio was admitted into the Union. It was formerly a portion of the north-western territory, for the government of which, in 1787, an ordinance was passed by the continental congress. In thirty years from its first settlement, the number of its inhabitants exceeded half a million. The state of Tennessee, which was previously a part of North Carolina, and which lies between that state and the river Mississippi, had been admitted in 1796.

The right of deposit at New Orleans, conceded to the citizens of the United States by Spain, and necessary to the people of the western country, had, until this period, been freely enjoyed. In October, the chief officer of that city prohibited the exercise of it in future. This violation of a solemn engagement produced, throughout the states of Ohio and Kentucky, indignant clamor and violent commotion. In congress a proposition was made to take possession by force of the whole province of Louisiana; but a more pacific course was adopted. Knowing that the province had been ceded, although not transferred, to France, the president instituted a negotiation to acquire it by purchase. In April, 1803, a treaty was concluded, conveying it to the United States for fifteen millions of dollars. Its acquisition was considered by the United States of the greatest importance, as it gave them the entire control of a river which is one of the noblest in the world.

At this period, also, there was another important acquisition of territory. The friendly tribe of Kaskaskia Indians, reduced by wars and other causes to a few individuals, who were unable to defend themselves against the neighboring tribes, transferred its country to the United States; reserving only a sufficiency to maintain its members in an agricultural way. The stipulations on the part of the United States were, to extend to them patronage and protection, and to give them certain annual aids, in money, implements of agriculture, and other articles of their choice. This ceded country extends along the Mississippi from the mouth of the Illinois to and up the Ohio; and is esteemed as among the most fertile within the limits of the Union.

The United States had for some time enjoyed the undisputed repose of peace, with only one exception. Tripoli, the least considerable of the Barbary states, had made demands founded neither in right nor in compact, and had denounced war on the failure of the American government to comply with them before a given day. The president, on this occasion, sent a small squadron of frigates into the Mediterranean, with assurances to that power of the sincere desire of the American government to remain in peace; but with orders to protect our commerce against the threatened attack. It was a seasonable and salutary measure; for the bey had already declared war; and the American commerce in the Mediterranean was blockaded, while that of the Atlantic was in peril. The arrival of the squadron dispelled the danger. The Insurgente, which had been so honorably added to the American navy, and the Pickering, of fourteen guns, the former commanded by captain Fletcher, the latter by captain Hillar, were lost in the equinoctial gale, in September, 1800.

In 1801, the Enterprise, of fourteen guns, captain Sterrett, fell in with a Tripolitan ship of war of equal force. The action continued three hours and a half, the corsair fighting with great obstinacy, and even desperation, until she struck, having lost fifty killed and wounded, while the Enterprise had not a man injured. In 1803, commodore Preble assumed the command of the Mediterranean squadron, and after humbling the emperor of Morocco, who had begun a covert war upon American commerce, concentrated most of his force before Tripoli. On arriving off that port, captain Bainbridge, in the frigate Philadelphia, of forty-four guns, was sent into the harbor to reconnoitre. While in eager pursuit of a small vessel, he unfortunately advanced so far that the frigate grounded, and all attempts to remove her were in vain. The sea around her was immediately covered with Tripolitan gun-boats, and captain Bainbridge was compelled to surrender. This misfortune, which threw a number of accomplished officers and a valiant crew into oppressive bondage, and which shed a gloom over the whole nation, as it seemed at once to increase the difficulties of a peace an hundred fold, was soon relieved by one of the most daring and chivalrous exploits that is found in naval annals. Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, then one of commodore Preble’s subalterns, proposed a plan for re-capturing or destroying the Philadelphia. The American squadron was at that time lying at Syracuse. Agreeably to the plan proposed, lieutenant Decatur, in the ketch Intrepid, four guns and seventy-five men, proceeded, under the escort of the Syren, captain Stewart, to the harbor of Tripoli. The Philadelphia lay within half gun-shot of the bashaw’s castle, and several cruisers and gun-boats surrounded her with jealous vigilance.

The Intrepid entered the harbor alone, about eight o’clock in the evening, and succeeded in getting near the Philadelphia, between ten and eleven o’clock, without having awakened suspicion of her hostile designs. This vessel had been captured from the Tripolitans, and, assuming on this occasion her former national appearance, was permitted to warp alongside, under the alleged pretence that she had lost all her anchors. The moment the vessel came in contact, Decatur and his followers leaped on board, and soon overwhelmed a crew which was paralyzed with consternation. Twenty of the Tripolitans were killed. All the surrounding batteries being opened upon the Philadelphia, she was immediately set on fire, and not abandoned until thoroughly wrapped in flames; when, a favoring breeze springing up, the Intrepid extricated herself from her prey, and sailed triumphantly out of the harbor amid the light of the conflagration. Not the slightest loss occurred on the side of the Americans to shade the splendor of the enterprise.

In July, 1804, commodore Preble brought together all his forces before Tripoli, determined to try the effect of a bombardment. The enemy having sent some of his gun-boats and galleys without the reef at the mouth of the harbor, two divisions of American gun-boats were formed for the purpose of attacking them, while the large vessels assailed the batteries and town. On the 3d of August this plan was put in execution. The squadron approached within gun-shot of the town, and opened a tremendous fire of shot and shells, which was as promptly returned by the Tripolitan batteries and shipping. At the same time the two divisions of gun-boats, the first under the command of captain Somers, the second under captain Stephen Decatur, who had been promoted as a reward for his late achievement, advanced against those of the enemy. The squadron was about two hours under the enemy’s batteries, generally within pistol-shot, ranging by them in deliberate succession, alternately silencing their fires, and launching its thunders into the very palace of the bashaw; while a more animated battle was raging in another quarter. Simultaneously with the bombardment the American gun-boats had closed in desperate conflict with the enemy. Captain Decatur, bearing down upon one of superior force, soon carried her by boarding, when, taking his prize in tow, he grappled with another, and in like manner transferred the fight to the enemy’s deck.

In the fierce encounter which followed this second attack, captain Decatur, having broken his sword, closed with the Turkish commander, and, both falling in the struggle, gave him a mortal wound with a pistol-shot, just as the Turk was raising his dirk to plunge it into his breast. Lieutenant Trippe, of captain Decatur’s squadron, had boarded a third large gun-boat, with only one midshipman and nine men, when his boat fell off, and left him to wage the unequal fight of eleven against thirty-six, which was the number of the enemy. Courage and resolution, however, converted this devoted little band into a formidable host, which, after a sanguinary contest, obliged the numerous foe to yield, with the loss of fourteen killed and seven wounded. Lieutenant Trippe received eleven sabre wounds, and had three of his party wounded, but none killed. Several bombardments and attacks succeeded each other at intervals throughout the month. Day after day death and devastation were poured into Tripoli with unsparing perseverance, each attack exhibiting instances of valor and devotedness which will give lustre to history. The eyes of Europe were drawn to the spot where a young nation, scarcely emerged into notice, was signally chastising the despotic and lawless infidel, to whom some of her most powerful governments were then paving tribute.

On the 4th of September, commodore Preble, in order to try new experiments of annoyance, determined to send a fireship into the enemy’s harbor. The Intrepid was fitted out for this service, being filled with powder, shells, and other combustible materials. Captain Somers, who had often been the emulous rival of Decatur in the career of glory, was appointed to conduct her in, having for his associates in the hazardous enterprise lieutenants Wadsworth and Israel, all volunteers. The Argus, Vixen, and Nautilus, were to convey the Intrepid as far as the mouth of the harbor. Captain Somers and lieutenant Wadsworth made choice of two of the fleetest boats in the squadron, manned with picked crews, to bring them out. At eight o’clock in the evening she stood into the harbor with a moderate breeze. Several shot were fired at her from the batteries. She had nearly gained her place of destination when she exploded, without having made any of the signals previously concerted to show that the crew was safe. Night hung over the dreadful catastrophe, and left the whole squadron a prey to the most painful anxiety. The convoy hovered about the harbor until sunrise, when no remains could be discovered either of the Intrepid or her boats. Doubt was turned into certainty, that she had prematurely blown up, as one of the enemy’s gun-boats was observed to be missing, and several others much shattered and damaged.

Commodore Preble, in his account, says, that he was led to believe ‘that those boats were detached from the enemy’s flotilla to intercept the ketch, and without suspecting her to be a fireship, the missing boats had suddenly boarded her, when the gallant Somers and the heroes of his party observing the other three boats surrounding them, and no prospect of escape, determined at once to prefer death, and the destruction of the enemy, to captivity and torturing slavery, put a match to the train leading directly to the magazine, which at once blew the whole into the air, and terminated their existence;’ and he adds, that his ‘conjectures respecting this affair are founded on a resolution which captain Somers and lieutenants Wadsworth and Israel had formed, neither to be taken by the enemy, nor suffer him to get possession of the powder on board the Intrepid.’144 Soon after these events, commodore Preble gave up the command in the Mediterranean to commodore Barron, and returned to the United States. His eminent services were enthusiastically acknowledged by his admiring fellow-citizens, as well as those of his associates in arms, ‘whose names,’ in the expressive language of congress on the occasion, ‘ought to live in the recollection and affection of a grateful country, and whose conduct ought to be regarded as an example to future generations.’

While the squadron remained before Tripoli other deeds of heroism were performed. William Eaton, who had been a captain in the American army, was, at the commencement of this war, consul at Tunis. He there became acquainted with Hamet Caramauly, whom a younger brother had excluded from the throne of Tripoli. With him he concerted an expedition against the reigning sovereign, and repaired to the United States to obtain permission and the means to undertake it. Permission was granted, the co-operation of the squadron recommended, and such pecuniary assistance as could be spared was afforded. To raise an army in Egypt, and lead it to attack the usurper in his dominions, was the project which had been concerted. In the beginning of 1805, Eaton met Hamet at Alexandria, and was appointed general of his forces. On the 6th of March, at the head of a respectable body of mounted Arabs, and about seventy Christians, he set out for Tripoli. His route lay across a desert one thousand miles in extent. On his march, he encountered peril, fatigue, and suffering, the description of which would resemble the exaggerations of romance. On the 25th of April, having been fifty days on the march, he arrived before Derne, a Tripolitan city on the Mediterranean, and found in the harbor a part of the American squadron destined to assist him. He learnt also that the usurper, having received notice of his approach, had raised a considerable army, and was then within a day’s march of the city. No time was therefore to be lost.

The next morning he summoned the governor to surrender, who returned for answer, ‘My head or yours.’ The city was assaulted, and after a contest of two hours and a half, possession was gained. The Christians suffered severely, and the general was slightly wounded. Great exertions were immediately made to fortify the city. On the 8th of May it was attacked by the Tripolitan army. Although ten times more numerous than Eaton’s band, the assailants, after persisting four hours in the attempt, were compelled to retire. On the 10th of June another battle was fought, in which the enemy were defeated. The next day the American frigate Constitution arrived in the harbor, which so terrified the Tripolitans that they fled precipitately to the desert. The frigate came, however, to arrest the operations of Eaton in the midst of his brilliant and successful career. Alarmed at his progress, the reigning bashaw had offered terms of peace, which being much more favorable than had before been offered, were accepted by Mr. Lear, the authorized agent of the government. Sixty thousand dollars were given as a ransom for the unfortunate American prisoners, and an engagement was made to withdraw all support from Hamet. The nation, proud of the exploits of Eaton, regretted this diplomatic interference, but the treaty was subsequently ratified by the president and senate.

During the year 1804, the Delaware Indians relinquished to the United States their title to an extensive tract east of the Mississippi, between the Wabash and Ohio, for which they were to receive annuities in animals and implements for agriculture, and in other necessaries. This was an important acquisition, not only for its extent and fertility, but because, by its commanding the Ohio for three hundred miles, and nearly half that distance the Wabash, the produce of the settled country could be safely conveyed down those rivers, and, with the cession recently made by Kaskaskias, it nearly consolidated the possessions of the United States north of the Ohio, from lake Erie to the Mississippi.

Early in the following year Mr. Jefferson was re-elected to fill the president’s chair by the decided majority of sixty-two votes against sixteen, a circumstance which he viewed as an indication of a great decay in the strength of the federal party.145 George Clinton was also elected vice-president.

During the year 1806, a circumstance occurred which put to the test the attachment of the inhabitants of the southern and western states, as well as the good faith of the American government in her foreign relations. Colonel Burr, whose character and influence had formerly encouraged him in the hope of filling the highest office of his country, subsequently lost the public confidence and fell into obscurity. While unobserved by his fellow-citizens he was by no means inactive; he was employed in purchasing and building boats on the Ohio, and in engaging men to descend that river. His professed intention was to form a settlement on the banks of the Washita, in Louisiana; but the nature of his preparations, and the incautious disclosures of his associates, led to the suspicion that his real object was of a far different character.

‘His conspiracy,’ says president Jefferson, in a letter to the marquis de la Fayette, ‘has been one of the most flagitious of which history will ever furnish an example. He meant to separate the western states from us, to add Mexico to them, place himself at their head, establish what he would deem an energetic government, and thus provide an example and an instrument for the subversion of our freedom. The man who could expect to affect this with American materials must be a fit subject for Bedlam. Nothing has ever so strongly proved the innate force of our form of government as this conspiracy. Burr had probably engaged one thousand men to follow his fortunes, without letting them know his projects, otherwise than by assuring them the government approved of them. The moment a proclamation was issued, undeceiving them, he found himself left with about thirty desperadoes only. The people rose in a mass wherever he was, or was suspected to be, and by their own energy the thing was crushed in one instant, without its having been necessary to employ a man of the military but to take care of their respective stations. His first enterprise was to have been to seize New Orleans, which he supposed would powerfully bridle the upper country, and place him at the door of Mexico. It is with pleasure I inform you that not a single native Creole, and but one American, of those settled there before we received the place, took any part with him. His partisans were the new emigrants from the United States and elsewhere, fugitives from justice or debt, and adventurers and speculators of all descriptions.’ In August, 1807, he was tried before chief-justice Marshall, and the evidence of his guilt not being deemed sufficient he was acquitted. The people, however, very generally believed him guilty.

The American government at this period began to be seriously affected by the contest which was raging in Europe. Under the guidance of the splendid talents of Napoleon the military prowess of France had brought most of the European nations to her feet. America profited from the destruction of the ships and commerce of other nations; being neutral, her vessels carried from port to port the productions of France and the dependent kingdoms; and also to the ports of those kingdoms the manufactures of England: indeed, few ships were found on the ocean except those of the United States and Great Britain. These advantages were, however, too great to be long enjoyed unmolested. American ships carrying to Europe the produce of French colonies were, in the early stage of the war, captured by British cruisers, and condemned by their courts as lawful prizes; and now several European ports under the control of France were by British orders in council, dated in May, 1806, declared in a state of blockade, although not invested with a British fleet; and American vessels attempting to enter those ports were also captured and condemned. France and her allies suffered, as well as the United States, from these proceedings; but her vengeance fell not so much upon the belligerent as upon the neutral party. By a decree, used at Berlin in November, 1806, the French emperor declared the British islands in a state of blockade, and of course authorized the capture of all neutral vessels attempting to trade with those islands. From these measures of both nations the commerce of the United States severely suffered, and their merchants loudly demanded of the government redress and protection.

This was not the only grievance to which the contest between the European powers gave rise. Great Britain claimed a right to search for and seize English sailors, even on board neutral vessels while traversing the ocean. In the exercise of this pretended right, citizens of the United States were seized, dragged from their friends, transported to distant parts of the world, compelled to perform the duty of British sailors, and to fight with nations at peace with their own. Against this outrage upon personal liberty and the rights of American citizens, Washington, Adams, and Jefferson had remonstrated in vain. The abuse continued, and every year added to its aggravation. In June, 1807, a circumstance occurred which highly and justly incensed the Americans. The frigate Chesapeake, being ordered on a cruise in the Mediterranean sea, under the command of commodore Barron, sailing from Hampton roads, was come up with by the British ship of war Leopard, one of a squadron then at anchor within the limits of the United States. An officer was sent from the Leopard to the Chesapeake, with a note from the captain respecting some deserters from some of his Britannic majesty’s ships, supposed to be serving as part of the crew of the Chesapeake, and inclosing a copy of an order from vice-admiral Berkeley, requiring and directing the commanders of ships and vessels under his command, in case of meeting with the American frigate at sea, and without the limits of the United States, to show the order to her captain, and to require to search his ship for the deserters from certain ships therein named, and to proceed and search for them; and if a similar demand should be made by the American, he was permitted to search for deserters from their service, according to the customs and usage of civilized nations on terms of amity with each other.

Commodore Barron gave an answer, purporting that he knew of no such men as were described; that the recruiting officers for the Chesapeake had been particularly instructed by the government, through him, not to enter any deserters from his Britannic majesty’s ships; that he knew of none such being in her; that he was instructed never to permit the crew of any ship under his command to be mustered by any officers but her own; that he was disposed to preserve harmony, and hoped his answer would prove satisfactory. The Leopard, shortly after this answer was received by her commander, ranged along side of the Chesapeake, and commenced a heavy fire upon her. The Chesapeake, unprepared for action, made no resistance, but having suffered much damage, and lost three men killed, and eighteen wounded, commodore Barron ordered his colors to be struck, and sent a lieutenant on board the Leopard, to inform her commander that he considered the Chesapeake her prize. The commander of the Leopard sent an officer on board, who took possession of the Chesapeake, mustered her crew, and, carrying off four of her men, abandoned the ship. Commodore Barron, finding that the Chesapeake was very much injured, returned, with the advice of his officers, to Hampton roads. On receiving information of this outrage, the president, by proclamation, interdicted the harbors and waters of the United States to all armed British vessels, forbade intercourse with them, and ordered a sufficient force for the protection of Norfolk, and such other preparations as the occasion appeared to require. An armed vessel of the United States was despatched with instructions to the American minister at London, to call on the British government for the satisfaction and security which this outrage required.

Buonaparte having declared his purpose of enforcing with rigor the Berlin decree; the British government having solemnly asserted the right of search and impressment, and having intimated their intention to adopt measures in retaliation of the French decree, the president recommended to congress that the seamen, ships, and merchandise of the United States should be detained in port to preserve them from the dangers which threatened them on the ocean; and a law laying an indefinite embargo was in consequence enacted. A few days only had elapsed when information was received that Great Britain had prohibited neutrals, except upon most injurious conditions, from trading with France or her allies, comprising nearly every maritime nation of Europe. This was followed in a few weeks by a decree issued by Buonaparte, at Milan, declaring that every neutral vessel which should submit to be visited by a British ship, or comply with the terms demanded, should be confiscated, if afterwards found in his ports, or taken by his cruisers. Thus, at the date of the embargo, were orders and decrees in existence rendering liable to capture almost every American vessel sailing on the ocean. In the New England states, the embargo, withholding the merchant from a career in which he had been highly prosperous, and in which he imagined that he might still be favored by fortune, occasioned discontent and clamor. The federalists, more numerous there than in any other part of the Union, pronounced it a measure unwise and oppressive. These representations, and the distress which the people endured, induced a zealous opposition to the measures of the government.

The president, in his message on the opening of the tenth congress, stated the continued disregard shown by the belligerent nations to neutral rights, so destructive to the American commerce; and referred it to the wisdom of congress to decide on the course best adapted to such a state of things. ‘With the Barbary powers,’ he said, ‘we continue in harmony, with the exception of an unjustifiable proceeding of the dey of Algiers towards our consul to that regency,’ the character and circumstances of which he laid before congress. ‘With our Indian neighbors the public peace has been steadily maintained. From a conviction that we consider them as a part of ourselves, and cherish with sincerity their rights and interests, the attachment of the Indian tribes is gaining strength daily, is extending from the nearer to the more remote, and will amply requite us for the justice and friendship practised towards them. Husbandry and household manufacture are advancing among them, more rapidly with the southern than northern tribes, from circumstances of soil and climate; and one of the two great divisions of the Cherokee nation has now under consideration to solicit the friendship of the United States, and to be identified with us in laws and government in such progressive manner as we shall think best.’

Mr. Jefferson, following and confirming the example of Washington, determined not to continue in office for a longer term than eight years. ‘Never did a prisoner,’ says the president of the American republic, ‘released from his chains, feel such relief as I shall on shaking off the shackles of power. Nature intended me for the tranquil pursuits of science, by rendering them my supreme delight. But the enormities of the times in which I have lived have forced me to take a part in resisting them, and to commit myself on the boisterous ocean of political passions. I thank God for the opportunity of retiring from them without censure, and carrying with me the most consoling proofs of public approbation. I leave every thing in the hands of men so able to take care of them, that if we are destined to meet misfortunes it will be because no human wisdom could avert them.’

ADMINISTRATION OF MR. MADISON.

Mr. Jefferson was succeeded in the presidency by Mr. Madison. One of the first acts of congress under the new president was to repeal the embargo; but at the same time to prohibit all intercourse with France and England.

In the non-intercourse law a provision was inserted, that if either nation should revoke her hostile edicts, and the president should announce that fact by proclamation, then the law should cease to be in force in regard to the nation so revoking. On the 23d of April, Mr. Erskine, minister plenipotentiary from his Britannic majesty to the United States, pledged his court to repeal its anti-neutral decrees by the 10th of June; and, in consequence of an arrangement now made with the British minister, the president proclaimed that commercial intercourse would be renewed on that day; but this arrangement was disavowed by the ministry; and, in October, Mr. Erskine was replaced by Mr. Jackson, who soon giving offence to the American government, all farther intercourse with him was refused, and he was recalled.

The Rambouillet decree, alleged to be designed to retaliate the act of congress which forbade French vessels to enter the ports of the United States, was issued by Buonaparte on the 23d of March. By this decree, all American vessels and cargoes, arriving in any of the ports of France, or of countries occupied by French troops, were ordered to be seized and condemned.

On the 1st of May congress passed an act, excluding British and French armed vessels from the waters of the United States; but providing, that if either of the above nations should modify its edicts before the 3d of March, 1811, so that they should cease to violate neutral commerce, of which fact the president was to give notice by proclamation, and the other nation should not, within three months after, pursue a similar course, commercial intercourse with the first might be renewed, but not with the other.

In August the French government assured Mr. Armstrong, the American envoy at Paris, that the Berlin and Milan decrees were revoked, the revocation to take effect on the first day of November ensuing. Confiding in this assurance, the president, on the second day of November, issued his proclamation, declaring that unrestrained commerce with France was allowed, but that all intercourse with Great Britain was prohibited.

Great Britain, having previously expressed a willingness to repeal her orders whenever France should repeal her decrees, was now called upon by the American envoy to fulfil that engagement. The British ministry objected, however, that the French decrees could not be considered as repealed, a letter from the minister of state not being, for that purpose, a document of sufficient authority; and still persisted to enforce the orders in council. For this purpose British ships of war were stationed before the principal harbors of the United States. All American merchantmen, departing or returning, were boarded, searched, and many of them sent to British ports as legal prizes. The contempt in which the British officers held the republican navy, in one instance, led to an action. Commodore Rogers, in the President frigate, met in the evening a vessel on the coast of Virginia; he hailed; but, instead of receiving an answer, was hailed in turn, and a shot was fired, which struck the main-mast of the President. The fire was instantly returned by the commodore, and continued for a few minutes, when, finding his antagonist was of inferior force, and that her guns were almost silenced, he desisted. On hailing again, an answer was given, that the ship was the British sloop of war Little Belt, of eighteen guns. Thirty-two of her men were killed and wounded, and the ship was much disabled.

For several years the Indian tribes residing near the sources of the Mississippi had occupied themselves in murdering and robbing the white settlers in their vicinity. At length, the frontier inhabitants being seriously alarmed by their hostile indications, in the autumn of 1811 governor Harrison resolved to move towards the Prophet’s town, on the Wabash, with a body of Kentucky and Indiana militia, and the fourth United States regiment, under colonel Boyd, to demand satisfaction of the Indians, and to put a stop to their threatened hostilities. His expedition was made early in November. On his approach within a few miles of the Prophet’s town, the principal chiefs came out with offers of peace and submission, and requested the governor to encamp for the night; but this was only a treacherous artifice. At four in the morning the camp was furiously assailed, and a bloody contest ensued; the Indians were however repulsed. The loss on the part of the Americans was sixty-two killed, and one hundred and twenty-six wounded, and a still greater number on the side of the Indians. Governor Harrison, having destroyed the Prophet’s town, and established forts, returned to Vincennes.

In November reparation was made by the British for the attack on the Chesapeake. Mr. Foster, the British envoy, informed the secretary of the United States, that he was instructed to repeat to the American government the prompt disavowal made by his majesty, on being apprized of the unauthorized act of the officer in command of his naval forces on the coast of America, whose recall from a highly important and honorable command immediately ensued, as a mark of his majesty’s disapprobation; that he was authorized to offer, in addition to that disavowal on the part of his royal highness, the immediate restoration, as far as circumstances would admit, of the men who, in consequence of admiral Berkeley’s orders, were forcibly taken out of the Chesapeake, to the vessel from which they were taken; or, if that ship were no longer in commission, to such seaport of the United States as the American government may name for the purpose: and that he was also authorized to offer to the American government a suitable pecuniary provision for the sufferers, in consequence of the attack on the Chesapeake, including the families of those seamen who fell in the action, and of the wounded survivors. The president acceded to these propositions; and the officer commanding the Chesapeake, then lying in the harbor of Boston, was instructed to receive the men who were to be restored to that ship. The British envoy, however, could give no assurance that his government was disposed to make a satisfactory arrangement of the subject of impressment, or to repeal the orders in council. These orders, on the contrary, continued to be enforced with rigor; and, on the restoration of a free commerce with France, a large number of American vessels, laden with rich cargoes, and destined to her ports, fell into the power of British cruisers, which, since 1803, had captured nine hundred American vessels.

Early in November, 1811, president Madison summoned the congress. His message indicating an apprehension of hostilities with Great Britain, the committee of foreign relations in the house of representatives reported resolutions for filling up the ranks of the army; for raising an additional force of ten thousand men; for authorizing the president to accept the services of fifty thousand volunteers, and for ordering out the militia when he should judge it necessary; for repairing the navy; and for authorizing the arming of merchantmen in self-defence. A bill from the senate, for raising twenty-five thousand men, after much discussion, was also agreed to by the house.

The American congress, although continuing the preparations for war, still cherished the hope that a change of policy in Europe would render unnecessary an appeal to arms till May in the following year. Towards the close of that season, the Hornet arrived from London, bringing information that no prospect existed of a favorable change. On the 1st of June, the president sent a message to congress, recounting the wrongs received from Great Britain, and submitting the question, whether the United States should continue to endure them, or resort to war. The message was considered with closed doors. On the 18th, an act was passed, declaring war against Great Britain; and the next day a proclamation was issued. Against this declaration, however, the representatives belonging to the federal party presented a solemn protest, which was written with great ability.

At the time of the declaration of war, general Hull was also governor of the Michigan territory, of which Detroit is the capital. On the 12th of July, with two thousand regulars and volunteers, he crossed the river dividing the United States from Canada, apparently intending to attack Malden, and thence to proceed to Montreal. Information was, however, received, that Mackinaw, an American post above Detroit, had surrendered to a large body of British and Indians, who were rushing down the river in numbers sufficient to overwhelm the American forces. Panic-struck, general Hull hastened back to Detroit. General Brock, the commander at Malden, pursued him, and erected batteries opposite Detroit. The next day, meeting with no resistance, general Brock resolved to march directly forward and assault the fort. The American troops awaited the approach of the enemy, and anticipated victory; but, to their dismay, general Hull opened a correspondence, which ended in the surrender of the army, and of the territory of Michigan. An event so disgraceful, occurring in a quarter where success was confidently anticipated, caused the greatest mortification and amazement throughout the Union.

General Van Rensselaer, of the New York militia, had the command of the troops which were called the army of the centre. His head-quarters were at Lewistown, on the river Niagara, and on the opposite side was Queenstown, a fortified British post. The militia displaying great eagerness to be led against the enemy, the general determined to cross the river at the head of about one thousand men; though successful at first, he was compelled, after a long and obstinate engagement, to surrender. General Brock, the British commander, fell in rallying his troops.

The army of the north, which was under the immediate command of general Dearborn, was stationed at Greenbush, near Albany, and at Plattsburgh, on lake Champlain. From the latter post, a detachment marched a short distance into Canada, surprised a small body of British and Indians, and destroyed a considerable quantity of public stores. Other movements were anxiously expected by the people; but, after the misfortunes of Detroit and Niagara, the general deemed it inexpedient to engage in any important enterprise.

While, on land, defeat attended the arms of the republic, on the ocean we gained victories, which compensated our loss, and gained us immortal glory. On the 19th of August, captain Hull, commanding the Constitution, of forty-four guns, fell in with the British frigate Le Guerriere. She advanced towards the Constitution, firing broadsides at intervals; the American reserved her fire till she had approached within half pistol-shot, when a tremendous cannonade was directed upon her, and in thirty minutes, every mast and nearly every spar being shot away, captain Dacres struck his flag. Of the crew, fifty were killed and sixty-four wounded; while the Constitution had only seven killed and seven wounded. The Guerriere received so much injury, that it was thought to be impossible to get her into port, and she was burned. Captain Hull, on his return to the United States, was welcomed with enthusiasm by his grateful and admiring countrymen. The vast difference in the number of killed and wounded certainly evinced great skill, as well as bravery, on the part of the American seamen. But this was the first only of a series of naval victories. On the 18th of October, captain Jones, in the Wasp, of eighteen guns, captured the Frolic, of twenty-two, after a bloody conflict of three-quarters of an hour. In this action the Americans obtained a victory over a superior force; and, on their part, but eight were killed and wounded, while on that of the enemy about eighty. The Wasp was unfortunately captured, soon after her victory, by a British ship of the line. On the 25th, the frigate United States, commanded by captain Decatur, captured the British frigate Macedonian. In this instance, also, the disparity of loss was astonishingly great: on the part of the enemy, a hundred and four were killed and wounded; on that of the Americans, but eleven. The United States brought her prize safely to New York. A most desperate action was fought on the 29th of December, between the Constitution, of forty-four guns, then commanded by captain Bainbridge, and the British frigate Java, of thirty-eight. The combat continued more than three hours; nor did the Java strike till she was reduced to a mere wreck. Of her crew, a hundred and sixty-one were killed and wounded, while of that of the Constitution there were only thirty-four.

These naval victories were peculiarly gratifying to the feelings of the Americans; they were gained in the midst of disasters on land, and by that class of citizens whose rights had been violated; they were gained over a nation whom long continued success had taught to consider themselves lords of the sea, and who had confidently affirmed that the whole American navy would soon be swept from the ocean. Many British merchantmen were also captured, both by the American navy and by privateers, which issued from almost every port, and were remarkably successful. The number of prizes made during the first seven months of the war exceeded five hundred.

At the commencement of the session of congress held in the autumn of 1812, the president, in his message, stated that immediately after the declaration of war, he communicated to the British government the terms on which its progress might be arrested; that these terms were, the repeal of the orders in council, the discharge of American seamen, and the abandonment of the practice of impressment; and that the ministry had declined to accede to his offers. He also stated that, at an early period of the war, he had received official information of the repeal of the orders in council; that two propositions for an armistice had been made to him, both of which he had rejected, as they could not have been accepted without conceding to Great Britain the right of impressment. The rejection of these propositions was approved by the national representatives, who, far from abandoning the ground they had taken, adopted more vigorous measures for the prosecution of the war.

While the war was proceeding in America, a friendly power abroad interposed for its termination. Soon after the spring session of congress, an offer was communicated from the emperor of Russia of his mediation, as the common friend of the United States and Great Britain, for the purpose of facilitating a peace between them. The offer was immediately accepted by the American government, and provision made for the contemplated negotiation. Albert Gallatin, James A. Bayard, and John Quincy Adams, were appointed commissioners, and invested with the requisite powers to conclude a treaty of peace with persons clothed with like powers on the part of Great Britain. They were also authorized to enter into such conventional regulations of the commerce between the two countries as might be mutually advantageous. The two first-named envoys proceeded to join their colleague at St. Petersburgh, where he then was as resident minister from the United States. A commission was also given to the envoys, authorizing them to conclude a treaty of commerce with Russia, with a view to strengthen the amicable relations, and improve the beneficial intercourse, between the two countries.

On the 24th of May, congress was convened by proclamation of the president. Laws were enacted, imposing a direct tax of three millions of dollars; authorizing the collection of various internal duties; providing for a loan of seven and a half millions of dollars; and prohibiting the merchant vessels of the United States from sailing under British licenses. Near the close of the session, a committee appointed to inquire into the subject made a long report upon the spirit and manner in which the war had been conducted by the British.

The scene of the campaign of 1813 was principally in the north, towards Canada. Brigadier-general Winchester, of the United States army, and nearly five hundred men, officers and soldiers, were made prisoners at Frenchtown, by a division of the British army from Detroit, with their Indian allies, under colonel Proctor. Colonel Proctor leaving the wounded Americans without a guard, the Indians returned, and deeds of horror followed. The wounded officers were dragged from the houses, killed, and scalped in the streets. The buildings were set on fire. Some who attempted to escape were forced back into the flames, while others were put to death by the tomahawk, and left shockingly mangled in the highway. The infamy of this butchery does not fall upon the perpetrators alone, but extends to those who were able, and were bound by a solemn engagement, to restrain them. The battle and massacre at Frenchtown clothed Kentucky and Ohio in mourning. Other volunteers, indignant at the treachery and cruelty of their foes, hastened to the aid of Harrison. He marched to the rapids of the Miami, where he erected a fort, which he called fort Meigs, in honor of the governor of Ohio. On the 1st of May it was invested by a large number of Indians, and by a party of British troops from Malden, the whole commanded by colonel Proctor. An unsuccessful attempt to raise the siege was made by general Clay, at the head of twelve hundred Kentuckians; but the fort continued to be defended with bravery and skill. The Indians, unaccustomed to sieges, became weary and discontented; and, on the 8th of May, they deserted their allies. The British, despairing of success, then made a precipitate retreat.

On the northern frontier a body of troops had been assembled, under the command of general Dearborn, at Sackett’s Harbor, and great exertions were made by commodore Chauncey to build and equip a squadron on lake Ontario, sufficiently powerful to contend with that of the British. By the 25th of April the naval preparations were so far completed, that the general and seventeen thousand troops were conveyed across the lake to the attack of York, the capital of Upper Canada. On the 27th, an advanced party, commanded by brigadier-general Pike, who was born in a camp, and bred a soldier from his birth, landed, although opposed at the water’s edge by a superior force. After a short but severe conflict, the British were driven to their fortifications. The rest of the troops having landed, the whole party pressed forward, carried the first battery by assault, and were moving towards the main works, when the English magazine blew up, with a tremendous explosion, hurling upon the advancing troops immense quantities of stone and timber. Numbers were killed; the gallant Pike received a mortal wound; the troops halted for a moment, but, recovering from the shock, again pressed forward, and soon gained possession of the town. Of the British troops, one hundred were killed, nearly three hundred were wounded, and the same number made prisoners.

The object of the expedition attained, the squadron and troops returned to Sackett’s Harbor, and subsequently sailed to fort George, situated at the head of the lake. After a warm engagement, the British abandoned the fort, and retired to the heights at the head of Burlington bay.

While the greater part of the American army was thus employed, the British made an attack upon the important post of Sackett’s Harbor. On the 27th of May, their squadron appeared before the town. Alarm guns instantly assembled the citizens of the neighborhood. General Brown’s force amounted to about one thousand men; a slight breastwork was hastily thrown up at the only place where the British could land, and behind this he placed the militia, the regulars, under colonel Backus, forming a second line. On the morning of the 29th, one thousand British troops landed from the squadron, and advanced towards the breastwork; the militia gave way, but by the bravery of the regulars, under the skilful arrangement of general Brown, the British were repulsed, and re-embarked so hastily as to leave behind most of their wounded.

The sea-coast was harassed by predatory warfare, carried on by large detachments from the powerful navy of Great Britain. One squadron, stationed in Delaware bay, captured and burnt every merchant vessel which came within its reach, while a more powerful squadron, commanded by admiral Cockburn, destroyed the farm-houses and gentlemen’s seats along the shore of Chesapeake bay. Frenchtown, Havre-de-Grace, Fredericktown, and Georgetown were sacked and burnt. Norfolk was saved from a similar fate by the determined bravery of a small force stationed on Craney island, in the harbor. A furious attack was made upon Hampton, which, notwithstanding the gallant resistance of its small garrison, was captured.

The ocean was the theatre of sanguinary conflicts. Captain Lawrence, in the sloop of war Hornet, on the 23d of February, met the British brig Peacock, and a fierce combat ensued. In less than fifteen minutes the Peacock struck her colors, displaying at the same time a signal of distress. The victors hastened to the relief of the vanquished; the same strength which had been exerted to conquer was equally ready to save; but the Peacock sunk before all her crew could be removed, carrying down nine British seamen, and three brave and generous Americans. On his return to the United States, captain Lawrence was promoted to the command of the frigate Chesapeake, then in the harbor of Boston. For several weeks the British frigate Shannon, of superior force, had been cruising before the port; and captain Broke, her commander, had announced his wish to meet, in single combat, an American frigate. Inflamed by this challenge, captain Lawrence, although his crew was just enlisted, set sail on the 1st of June to seek the Shannon. Towards evening of the same day they met, and instantly engaged, with unexampled fury. In a very few minutes, and in quick succession, the sailing master of the Chesapeake was killed, captain Lawrence and three lieutenants were severely wounded, her rigging was so cut to pieces that she fell on board the Shannon, captain Lawrence received a second and mortal wound, and was carried below; at this instant, captain Broke, at the head of his marines, gallantly boarded the Chesapeake, when resistance ceased, and the American flag was struck by the British. Of the crew of the Shannon twenty-four were killed and fifty-six wounded. Of that of the Chesapeake, forty-eight were killed and nearly one hundred wounded. The youthful and intrepid Lawrence was lamented, with sorrow deep, sincere, and lasting.146

The next encounter at sea was between the American brig Argus and the British brig Pelican, in which the latter was victorious. Soon after, the American brig Enterprise, commanded by lieutenant Burrows, captured the British brig Boxer, commanded by captain Blyth. Both commanders were killed in the action, and were buried, each by the other’s side, in Portland.

While each nation was busily employed in equipping a squadron on lake Erie, general Clay remained inactive at fort Meigs. About the last of July, a large number of British and Indians appeared before the fort, hoping to entice the garrison to a general action in the field. After waiting a few days without succeeding, they decamped, and proceeded to fort Stephenson, on the river Sandusky. This fort was little more than a picketing, surrounded by a ditch, and the garrison consisted of but one hundred and sixty men, who were commanded by major Croghan, a youth of twenty-one. The force of the assailants was estimated at about four hundred in uniform, and as many Indians; they were repulsed, and their loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners, is supposed to have exceeded one hundred and fifty; those of the remainder who were not able to escape were taken off during the night by the Indians. The whole loss of major Croghan during the siege was one killed and seven slightly wounded. About three the next morning the British sailed down the river, leaving behind them a boat containing clothing and considerable military stores.

By the exertions of commodore Perry, an American squadron had been fitted out on lake Erie early in September. It consisted of nine small vessels, in all carrying fifty-four guns. A British squadron had also been built and equipped, under the superintendence of commodore Barclay. It consisted of six vessels, mounting sixty-three guns. Commodore Perry, immediately sailing, offered battle to his adversary, and on the 10th of September the British commander left the harbor of Malden to accept the offer. In a few hours the wind shifted, giving the Americans the advantage. Perry, forming the line of battle, hoisted his flag, on which were inscribed the words of the dying Lawrence, ‘Don’t give up the ship.’ Loud huzzas from all the vessels proclaimed the animation which this motto inspired. About noon the firing commenced; and after a short action two of the British vessels surrendered, and the rest of the American squadron now joining in the battle, the victory was rendered decisive and complete. The British loss was forty-one killed, and ninety-four wounded. The American loss was twenty-seven killed, and ninety-six wounded, of which number twenty-one were killed and sixty-two wounded on board the flagship Lawrence, whose whole complement of able-bodied men before the action was about one hundred. The commodore gave intelligence of the victory to general Harrison in these words: ‘We have met the enemy, and they are ours. Two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop.’

The Americans were now masters of the lake; but the territory of Michigan was still in the possession of colonel Proctor. The next movements were against the British and Indians at Detroit and Malden. General Harrison had previously assembled a portion of the Ohio militia on the Sandusky river; and on the 7th of September four thousand from Kentucky, the flower of the state, with governor Shelby at their head, arrived at his camp. With the co-operation of the fleet, it was determined to proceed at once to Malden. On the 27th the troops were received on board, and reached Malden on the same day; but the British had, in the mean time, destroyed the fort and public stores, and had retreated along the Thames towards the Moravian villages, together with Tecumseh’s Indians, amounting to twelve or fifteen hundred. It was now resolved to proceed in pursuit of Proctor. On the 5th of October a severe battle was fought between the two armies at the river Thames, and the British army was taken by the Americans. In this battle Tecumseh was killed, and the Indians fled. The British loss was nineteen regulars killed, and fifty wounded, and about six hundred prisoners. The American loss, in killed and wounded, amounted to upwards of fifty. Proctor made his escape down the Thames.

On the 29th of September the Americans took possession of Detroit, which, on the approach of Harrison’s army, had been abandoned by the British. Preparations were now made for subduing Upper Canada, and taking Montreal; but owing to the difficulties attending the concentration of the troops, and perhaps also to the want of vigor in the commanders, that project was abandoned, and the army under Wilkinson, marching to French Mills, there encamped for the winter. This abortive issue of the campaign occasioned murmurs throughout the nation, and the causes which led to it have never been fully developed. The severest censure fell upon general Armstrong, who was secretary of war, and upon general Hampton. The latter soon after resigned his commission in the army, and general Izard was selected to command the post at Plattsburgh.

Major-general Harrison, commander-in-chief of the eighth military district in the United States, issued a proclamation, stating, that the enemy having been driven from the territory of Michigan, and a part of the army under his command having taken possession of it, it became necessary that the civil government of the territory should be re-established, and the former officers resume the exercise of their authority. He therefore proclaimed, that all appointments and commissions which have been derived from British officers were at an end; that the citizens were restored to all the rights and privileges which they enjoyed previously to the capitulation made by general Hull on the 15th of August, 1812; and, until the will of the government should be known, directed that all persons having civil offices in the territory of Michigan, at the period of the capitulation of Detroit, should resume the exercise of the powers appertaining to their offices respectively.

The United States squadron, chased by commodore Hardy with a superior naval force, had taken refuge in the harbor of New London, where the decayed and feeble state of the fortifications afforded a precarious defence. The menacing appearance of the British squadron at the entrance of the harbor, and the strong probability that the town would be destroyed in the conflict, which had been long expected, produced among the inhabitants the greatest consternation. In this moment of alarm, the major-general of the third division, and the brigadier-general of the third brigade, considered themselves justified, at the earnest entreaty of the citizens, in summoning the militia to their assistance. Governor Smith, of Connecticut, approved this proceeding, and immediately forwarded supplies, and adopted measures of defence. ‘On this occasion,’ said the governor to the legislature, ‘I could not hesitate as to the course which it became my duty to pursue. The government of Connecticut, the last to invite hostilities, should be the first to repel aggression.’

The Indians at the southern extremity of the Union had imbibed the same hostile spirit as those at the north-western. They had been visited by Tecumseh, and by his eloquence had been persuaded that the Great Spirit required them to unite and attempt the extirpation of the whites. In the fall of 1812, a cruel war was carried on by the Creeks and Seminoles against the frontier inhabitants of Georgia. General Jackson, at the head of two thousand five hundred volunteers from Tennessee, marched into the country of the Indians. Overawed by his presence, they desisted for a time from hostility; but, after his return, their animosity burst forth with increased and fatal violence. Dreading their cruelty, about three hundred men, women, and children, sought safety in fort Mimms, in the Tensaw settlement. Although frequent warnings of an intended attack had been given them, yet, at noonday, on the 30th of August, they were surprised by a party of six hundred Indians, who, with axes, cut their way into the fort, and drove the people into the houses which it inclosed. To these they set fire. Many persons were burnt, and many killed by the tomahawk. Only seventeen escaped to carry the horrid tidings to the neighboring stations. The whites resolved on vengeance.

Again general Jackson, at the head of three thousand five hundred militia of Tennessee, marched into the southern wilderness. A detachment under general Coffee encountering at Tallushatchie a body of Indians, a sanguinary conflict ensued. The latter fought with desperation, neither giving nor receiving quarter, until nearly every warrior had perished. Yet still was the spirit of the Creeks unsubdued, and their faith in victory unshaken. With no little sagacity and skill they selected and fortified another position on the Tallapoosa, called by themselves Tohopeka, and by the whites Horseshoe Bend. Here nearly a thousand warriors, animated with a fierce and determined resolution, were collected. Three thousand men, commanded by general Jackson, marched to attack this post. To prevent escape, a detachment under general Coffee encircled the Bend. The main body advanced to the fortress; and for a few minutes the opposing forces were engaged muzzle to muzzle at the port-holes; but at length the troops, leaping over the walls, mingled in furious combat with the savages. When the Indians, fleeing to the river, beheld the troops on the opposite bank, they returned and fought with increased fury and desperation. Six hundred warriors were killed; four only yielded themselves prisoners; the remaining three hundred escaped. Of the whites, fifty-five were killed, and one hundred and forty-six wounded.

It was deemed probable that further resistance would be made by the Indians at a place called the Hickory-ground; but on general Jackson’s arriving thither in April, 1814, the principal chiefs came out to meet him, and among them was Wetherford, a half-blood, distinguished equally for his talents and cruelty. ‘I am in your power,’ said he; ‘do with me what you please. I have done the white people all the harm I could. I have fought them, and fought them bravely. There was a time when I had a choice; I have none now, even hope is ended. Once I could animate my warriors; but I cannot animate the dead. They can no longer hear my voice; their bones are at Tallushatchie, Talladega, Emuckfaw, and Tohopeka. While there was a chance of success I never supplicated peace; but my people are gone, and I now ask it for my nation and myself.’ Peace was concluded, and general Jackson and his troops enjoyed an honorable but short repose.

It was the declared intention of the British to lay waste the whole American coast, from Maine to Georgia. Of this intention demonstration was made by their descent upon Pettipauge, and the destruction which followed in that harbor. Early in April, a number of British barges, supposed to contain about two hundred and twenty men, entered the mouth of Connecticut river, passed up seven or eight miles, and came on shore at a part of Saybrook called Pettipauge, where they destroyed about twenty-five vessels. Guards of militia were placed without delay at nearly all the vulnerable points on the seaboard, and where troops could not be stationed patrols of videttes were constantly maintained.

On the 25th of April, admiral Cochrane declared, in addition to the ports and places blockaded by admiral Warren, all the remaining ports, harbors, bays, creeks, rivers, inlets, outlets, islands, and sea-coasts of the United States, from Black Point, on Long Island sound, to the northern and eastern boundaries between the United States and the British province of New Brunswick, to be in a state of strict and rigorous blockade. On the other hand, the president of the United States issued a proclamation, declaring that the blockade proclaimed by the British of the whole Atlantic coast of the United States, nearly two thousand miles in extent, being incapable of execution by any adequate force actually stationed for the purpose, formed no lawful prohibition or obstacle to such neutral and friendly vessels as may choose to visit and trade with the United States; and strictly ordered and instructed all the public armed vessels of the United States, and all private armed vessels commissioned as privateers, or with letters of marque and reprisal, not to interrupt, detain, or molest any vessels belonging to neutral powers, bound to any port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States; but, on the contrary, to render all such vessels all the aid and kind offices which they might need or require.

The pacification in Europe offered to the British a large disposable force, both naval and military, and with it the means of giving to the war in America a character of new and increased activity and extent. The friends of the administration anticipated a severer conflict, and prepared for greater sacrifices and greater sufferings. Its opposers, where difficulties thickened and danger pressed, were encouraged to make more vigorous efforts to wrest the reins of authority from men who, they asserted, had shown themselves incompetent to hold them. The president deemed it advisable to strengthen the line of the Atlantic, and therefore called on the executive of several states to organize and hold in readiness for immediate service a corps of ninety-three thousand five hundred men.

The hostile movements on the northern frontier were now becoming vigorous and interesting. In the beginning of July, general Brown, who had been assiduously employed in disciplining his troops, crossed the Niagara with about three thousand men, and took possession, without opposition, of fort Erie. In a strong position at Chippewa, a few miles distant, was intrenched an equal number of British troops, commanded by general Riall. On the 4th, general Brown approached their works; and the next day, on the plains of Chippewa, an obstinate and sanguinary battle was fought, which compelled the British to retire to their intrenchments. In this action, which was fought with great judgment and coolness on both sides, the loss of the Americans was about four hundred men, that of the British was upwards of five hundred. Soon afterwards, general Riall, abandoning his works, retired to the heights of Burlington. Here lieutenant-general Drummond, with a large reinforcement, joined him, and assuming the command, led back the army towards the American camp. On the 25th was fought the battle of Bridgewater, which began at four in the afternoon and continued until midnight. After a desperate conflict the British troops were withdrawn, and the Americans left in possession of the field.

The loss on both sides was severe, and nearly equal. Generals Brown and Scott having both been severely wounded, the command devolved upon general Ripley. He remained a few hours upon the hill, collected the wounded, and then returned unmolested to the camp. This battle was fought near the cataract of Niagara, whose roar was silenced by the thunder of cannon and the din of arms, but was distinctly heard during the pauses of the fight. The American general found his force so much weakened, that he deemed it prudent again to occupy fort Erie. On the 4th of August it was invested by general Drummond with five thousand troops. In the night between the 14th and 15th, the besiegers made a daring assault upon the fort, which was repelled with conspicuous gallantry by the garrison, the former losing more than nine hundred men, the latter but eighty-four. The siege was still continued. On the 2d of September, general Brown, having recovered from his wounds, threw himself into the fort, and took command of the garrison. For their fate great anxiety was felt by the nation, which was, however, in some degree, removed by the march from Plattsburgh of five thousand men to their relief. After an hour of close fighting they entered the fort, having killed, wounded, and taken one thousand of the British. The loss of the Americans was also considerable, amounting to more than five hundred. On the 21st of September, the forty-ninth day of the siege, general Drummond withdrew his forces.

The march of the troops from Plattsburgh having left that post almost defenceless, the enemy determined to attack it by land, and, at the same time, to attempt the destruction of the American flotilla on lake Champlain. On the 3d of September, Sir George Prevost, the governor-general of Canada, at the head of fourteen thousand men, entered the territories of the United States. On the 6th they arrived at Plattsburgh. It is situated near lake Champlain, on the northern bank of the small river Saranac. On their approach, the American troops, who were posted on the opposite bank, tore up the planks of the bridges, with which they formed slight breastworks, and prepared to dispute the passage of the stream. The British employed themselves for several days in erecting batteries, while the American forces were daily augmented by the arrival of volunteers and militia. Early in the morning of the 11th, the British squadron, commanded by commodore Downe, appeared off the harbor of Plattsburgh, where that of the United States, commanded by commodore M’Donough, lay at anchor prepared for battle. At nine o’clock the action commenced. Seldom has there been a more furious encounter than the bosom of this transparent and peaceful lake was now called to witness. During the naval conflict the British on land began a heavy cannonade upon the American lines, and attempted at different places to cross the Saranac; but as often as the British advanced into the water they were repelled by a destructive fire from the militia. At half-past eleven the shout of victory heard along the American lines announced the result of the battle on the lake. Thus deprived of naval aid, in the afternoon the British withdrew to their intrenchments, and in the night they commenced a precipitate retreat. Upon the lake the American loss was one hundred and ten; the British, one hundred and ninety-four, besides prisoners. On land, the American loss was one hundred and nineteen; that of the British has been estimated as high as two thousand five hundred.

The inhabitants of the middle and southern states, anticipating a great augmentation of the English force, and uncertain where the blow would fall, made exertions to place every exposed position in a posture of defence. About the middle of August, a British squadron of between fifty and sixty sail arrived in the Chesapeake, with troops destined for the attack of Washington, the capital of the United States.

A body of five thousand of them having landed, an action was fought at Bladensburg, six miles from Washington. General Winder commanded the whole American force; commodore Barney the flotilla. The British were commanded by major-general Ross and rear-admiral Cockburn. The Americans were repulsed, and the British advanced towards the capital. A body of militia had been assembled in this emergency; but the president and heads of departments, on reviewing the force brought out for defence, despaired of success, and dispersed. General Ross, at the head of about seven hundred men, took possession of Washington, and burned the capitol, or senate-house, the president’s house, and public offices, the arsenal, the navy yard, and the bridge over the Potomac. The loss of the British in this expedition was nearly a thousand men, in killed, wounded, and missing; the loss of the Americans was ten or twelve killed, and thirty or forty wounded. Commodore Barney’s horse was killed under him, and himself wounded in the thigh and taken prisoner; but he was parolled on the field of battle for his bravery. The capture of Washington reflected no credit upon those by whom it ought to have been defended; but the destruction of the national edifices was still more disgraceful to the character of the invaders. The whole civilized world exclaimed against the act, as a violation of the rules of modern warfare. The capitals of most of the European kingdoms had lately been in the power of an enemy; but in no instance had the conqueror been guilty of similar conduct. The act was also as impolitic as it was barbarous; it naturally excited an indignant spirit throughout the republic, and led its inhabitants to vie with each other in exerting all their faculties to overcome the ravagers of their country.

After the capture of Washington, the British army re-embarked on board the fleet in the Patuxent, and admiral Cockburn moved down that river, and proceeded up the Chesapeake. On the 29th of August the corporation of Alexandria submitted to articles of capitulation, and the city was delivered up to the British. On the 11th of September the British admiral appeared at the mouth of the Patapsco, fourteen miles from Baltimore, with a fleet of ships of war and transports amounting to fifty sail. The next day six thousand troops were landed at North point, and commenced their march towards the city. In this march, when the foremost ranks were harassed by a brisk fire from a wood, major-general Ross was mortally wounded. A battle was fought on this day. The American forces, the militia, and the inhabitants of Baltimore, made a gallant defence, but were compelled to retreat; the British, however, abandoning the attempt to get possession of the city, retired to their shipping during the night of the 13th of September.

On the ocean, the Essex, commanded by captain Porter, after a bloody combat, struck to a British frigate and sloop of war, whose united force was much superior. The American sloop Peacock captured the Epervier, of equal force. The sloop Wasp, commanded by captain Blakely, captured the Reindeer, and afterwards, in the same cruise, sunk the Avon, both of superior force. She made several other prizes, but never returned into port; she probably foundered at sea.

The closing scene of this unnecessary and disgraceful war, the more detestable when contemplated as a series of human sacrifices for the preservation of a commercial system, was creditable to the genius and bravery of the American republic. The operations of the British in Louisiana were commenced by a small expedition, the naval part under the command of captain Percy, and the troops under colonel Nicholls. They landed and took forcible possession of Pensacola, and were aided by the Spaniards in all their proceedings; they collected all the Indians that would resort to their standard; and colonel Nicholls then sent an officer to the piratical establishment at Barataria to enlist the chief, Lafitte, and his followers in their cause; the most liberal and tempting offers were made them.

These people, however, showed a decided preference for the American cause; they deceived the English by delay; conveyed intelligence of their designs to the governor at New Orleans, and offered their services to defend the country. Disappointed in securing their aid, the expedition proceeded to the attack of fort Bowyer, on Mobile point, commanded by major Lawrence, with one hundred and thirty men. The result, however, was a loss to the besiegers of more than two hundred men; the commodore’s ship was so disabled that they set fire to her, and she blew up, and the remaining three vessels, shattered and filled with wounded men, returned to Pensacola. While the British thus sheltered in this place, where they were busily occupied in bringing over the Indians to join them, general Jackson formed an expedition of about four thousand men, regulars and militia, to dislodge them. He summoned the town, was refused entrance by the Spanish governor, and his flag of truce was fired upon; the British soldiers being in the forts, where their flag had been hoisted, in conjunction with the Spanish, the day before the American forces appeared. Preparations were immediately made to carry the place; one battery having been taken by storm, with slight loss on either side, the governor surrendered, the English having previously retired on board their ships. The forts below, which commanded the passage, were blown up, and this enabled the English fleet to put to sea.

General Jackson then evacuated the Spanish territory, and marched his troops back to Mobile and New Orleans, which he reached on the second day of December. Having reviewed a corps of volunteers the day of his arrival, he immediately proceeded to visit every post in the neighborhood, to give orders for adding fortifications, and establishing defensive works and outposts in every spot where the enemy might be expected, as there was the greatest uncertainty where a landing would be made; he mingled with the citizens, and infused into the greater part his own spirit and energy. By his presence and exhortations they were animated to exertions of which before they were not supposed to be capable. All who could wield a spade, or carry a musket, were either put to work upon the fortifications, or trained in the art of defending them. The Mississippi, upon the eastern bank of which New Orleans stands, flows to the ocean in several channels; one, leaving the main stream above the city, runs east of it, and forms in its course lake Pontchartrain and lake Borgne. Early in December, the British entered this channel, with a force of about eight thousand men, a part of whom had just left the shores of the Chesapeake, the remainder having arrived direct from England.

A small squadron of gun-boats, under lieutenant Jones, was despatched to oppose their passage into the lake. These were met by a superior force, and after a spirited conflict, in which the killed and wounded of the British exceeded the whole number of the Americans, they were compelled to surrender. The loss of the gun-boats left no means of watching the movements of the enemy, or of ascertaining where the landing would be made. Orders were given for increased vigilance at every post; the people of color were formed into a battalion; the offer of the Baratarians to volunteer, on condition of a pardon for previous offences, if they conducted themselves with bravery and fidelity, was accepted. General Jackson, after applying to the legislature to suspend the act of habeas corpus, and finding that they were consuming these extreme moments in discussion, proclaimed martial law, and from that moment his means became more commensurate with the weight of responsibility he had to sustain.

On the 22d the British, having landed, took a position near the main channel of the river, about eight miles below the city. In the evening of the 23d, general Jackson made a sudden and furious attack upon their camp. They were thrown into disorder; but they soon rallied, and fought with a bravery at least equal to that of the assailants. Satisfied with the advantage first gained, he withdrew his troops, fortified a strong position four miles below New Orleans, and supported it by batteries erected on the west bank of the river. On the 28th of December, and the 1st of January, vigorous but unsuccessful attacks were made upon these fortifications by the English. In the mean time both armies had received reinforcements; and general Sir E. Packenham, the British commander, resolved to exert all his strength in a combined attack upon the American positions on both sides of the river. With almost incredible industry, he caused a canal, leading from a creek emptying itself into lake Borgne to the main channel of the Mississippi, to be dug, that he might remove a part of his boats and artillery to that river. On the 7th of January, from the movements observed in the British camp, a speedy attack was anticipated. This was made early on the 8th. The British troops, formed in a close column of about sixty men in front, the men shouldering their muskets, all carrying fascines, and some with ladders, advanced towards the American fortifications, from whence an incessant fire was kept up on the column, which continued to advance, until the musketry of the troops of Tennessee and Kentucky, joined with the fire of the artillery, began to make an impression on it which soon threw it into confusion.

For some time the British officers succeeded in animating the courage of their troops, making them advance obliquely to the left, to avoid the fire of a battery, every discharge from which opened the column, and mowed down whole files, which were almost instantaneously replaced by new troops coming up close after the first; but these also shared the same fate, until at last, after twenty-five minutes’ continual firing, through which a few platoons advanced to the edge of the ditch, the column entirely broke, and part of the troops dispersed, and ran to take shelter among the bushes on the right. The rest retired to the ditch where they had been when first perceived, four hundred yards from the American lines. There the officers with some difficulty rallied their troops, and again drew them up for a second attack, the soldiers having laid down their knapsacks at the edge of the ditch, that they might be less encumbered. And now, for the second time, the column, recruited with the troops that formed the rear, advanced. Again it was received with the same galling fire of musketry and artillery, till it at last broke again, and retired in the utmost confusion. In vain did the officers now endeavor, as before, to revive the courage of their men; to no purpose did they strike them with the flat of their swords, to force them to advance; they were insensible of every thing but danger, and saw nothing but death, which had struck so many of their comrades.

The attack had hardly begun, when the British commander-in-chief, Sir Edward Packenham, fell a victim to his own intrepidity, while endeavoring to animate his troops with ardor for the assault. Soon after his fall, two other generals, Keane and Gibbs, were carried off the field of battle, dangerously wounded. A great number of officers of rank had fallen; the ground over which the column had marched was strewed with the dead and wounded. Such slaughter on their side, with scarcely any loss on the American, spread consternation through the British ranks, as they were now convinced of the impossibility of carrying the lines, and saw that even to advance was certain death. Some of the British troops had penetrated into the wood towards the extremity of the American line, to make a false attack, or to ascertain whether a real one were practicable. These the troops under general Coffee no sooner perceived, than they opened on them a brisk fire with their rifles, which made them retire. The greater part of those who, on the column’s being repulsed, had taken shelter in the thickets, only escaped the batteries to be killed by the musketry. During the whole hour that the attack lasted, the American fire did not slacken for a single moment. By half after eight in the morning, the fire of the musketry had ceased. The whole plain on the left, as also the side of the river, from the road to the edge of the water, was covered with the British soldiers who had fallen. About four hundred wounded prisoners were taken, and at least double that number of wounded men escaped into the British camp; and a space of ground, extending from the ditch of the American lines to that on which the enemy drew up his troops, two hundred and fifty yards in length, by about two hundred in breadth, was literally covered with men, either dead or severely wounded.147 Perhaps a greater disparity of loss never occurred; that of the British in killed, wounded, and prisoners, in this attack, which was not made with sufficient judgment, and which, besides, was embarrassed by unforeseen circumstances, was upwards of two thousand men; the killed and wounded of the Americans was only thirteen.

The events of the day on the west side of the river present a striking instance of the uncertainty of military operations. There the Americans were thrice the number of their brave assailants, and were protected by intrenchments; but they ingloriously fled. They were closely pursued, until the British party, receiving intelligence of the defeat of the main army, withdrew from pursuit, and recrossed the river. They then returned and resumed possession of their intrenchments. General Lambert, upon whom the command of the British army had devolved, having lost all hopes of success, prepared to return to his shipping. In his retreat he was not molested; general Jackson wisely resolving to hazard nothing that he had gained in attempting to gain still more.

The Americans naturally indulged in great joy for this signal victory. Te Deum was sung at New Orleans, and every demonstration of gratitude manifested by the inhabitants of the Union generally. The state of Louisiana passed votes of thanks to several of the officers concerned in the defence, and omitted general Jackson, in consequence of his having set aside the action of the civil authorities and proclaimed martial law.

Although the results of the war had been honorable to the American arms, a large portion of the inhabitants of the New England states were unceasingly opposed to the measures of the administration. The governor of Massachusetts convoked the general court of that state; the legislature of Connecticut was about to hold its usual semi-annual session; and the legislature of Rhode Island also assembled. When these several bodies met, what should be done in this unexampled state of affairs became a subject of most solemn deliberation. To insure unity of views and concert in action, the legislature of Massachusetts proposed a ‘conference,’ by delegates from the legislatures of the New England states, and of any other states that might accede to the measure. Their resolution for this purpose, and the circular letter accompanying it, show, that the duty proposed to be assigned to these delegates was merely to devise and recommend to the states measures for their security and defence, and such measures as were ‘not repugnant to their federal obligations as members of the Union.’

The proposition was readily assented to by several states, and the delegates appointed in pursuance of it met at Hartford, on the 15th of December following. The convention recommended, 1. That the states they represent take measures to protect their citizens from ‘forcible draughts, conscriptions, or impressments, not authorized by the constitution of the United States.’ 2. That an earnest application be made to the government of the United States, requesting their consent to some arrangement, whereby the states separately, or in concert, may take upon themselves the defence of their territory against the enemy, and that a reasonable portion of the taxes collected within the states be appropriated to this object. 3. That the several governors be authorized by law to employ the military force under their command in assisting any state requesting it, to repel the invasions of the public enemy. 4. That several amendments of the constitution of the United States, calculated in their view to prevent a recurrence of the evils of which they complain, be proposed by the states they represent for adoption either by the states’ legislatures, or by a convention chosen by the people of each state. Lastly, That if the application of these states to the government of the United States should be unsuccessful, and peace should not be concluded, and the defence of these states be still neglected, it would, in their opinion, be expedient for the legislatures of the several states to appoint delegates to another convention, to meet at Boston, in June, with such powers and instructions as the exigency of a crisis so momentous may require. The effect of these proceedings upon the public mind in the aggrieved states was alike seasonable and salutary. The very proposal to call a convention, and the confidence reposed in the men delegated to that trust, served greatly to allay the passions, and to inspire confidence and hope. Nor was the influence of this body upon the national councils less perceptible. Within three weeks after the adjournment of the convention and the publication of their report, an act passed both houses of the national legislature, and received the signature of the president, authorizing and requiring him to ‘receive into the service of the United States any corps of troops which may have been or may be raised, organized, and officered, under the authority of any of the states,’ to be ‘employed in the state raising the same, or an adjoining state, and not elsewhere, except with the consent of the executive of the state raising the same.’ Before the commissioners who were sent to confer with the government could reach Washington, a bill passed the senate, providing for the payment of the troops and militia already called into service under the authority of the states. The arrival of the treaty of peace at this juncture rendered all farther proceedings unnecessary.

During the preceding year the British government had declined to treat under the mediation of Russia, and a direct negotiation had been agreed on. Ghent was ultimately determined as the place of meeting; and in the autumn of 1814 the commissioners prosecuted their labors, but at first with very doubtful success. By the 24th of December a treaty was agreed upon and signed by the plenipotentiaries of the respective powers at Ghent; and in February of the following year it received the ratification of the president.148

While the people of the United States were rejoicing at the return of peace, their attention was called to a new scene of war. By a message from the president to the house of representatives, with a report of the secretary of state, it appeared that the dey of Algiers had violently, and without just cause, obliged the consul of the United States, and all the American citizens in Algiers, to leave that place, in violation of the treaty then subsisting between the two nations; that he had exacted from the consul, under pain of immediate imprisonment, a large sum of money, to which he had no just claim; and that these acts of violence and outrage had been followed by the capture of at least one American vessel, and by the seizure of an American citizen on board of a neutral vessel; that the captured persons were yet held in captivity, with the exception of two of them, who had been ransomed; that every effort to obtain the release of the others had proved abortive; and that there was some reason to believe they were held by the dey as means by which he calculated to extort from the United States a degrading treaty. The president observed, that the considerations which rendered it unnecessary and unimportant to commence hostile operations on the part of the United States were now terminated by the peace with Great Britain, which opened the prospect of an active and valuable trade of their citizens within the range of the Algerine cruisers; and recommended to congress the consideration of an act declaring the existence of a state of war between the United States and the dey of Algiers, and of such provisions as might be requisite for the prosecution of it to a successful issue. A committee of congress, to whom was referred a bill ‘for the protection of the commerce of the United States against the Algerine cruisers,’ after a statement of facts, concluded their report by expressing their united opinion, ‘that the dey of Algiers considers his treaty with the United States as at an end, and is waging war with them;’ and in March war was declared against the Algerines.

An expedition was immediately ordered to the Mediterranean, under the command of commodore Bainbridge. The squadron in advance on that service, under commodore Decatur, lost not a moment after its arrival in the Mediterranean in seeking the naval force of the enemy, then cruising in that sea, and succeeded in capturing two of his ships, one of them commanded by the Algerine admiral. The American commander, after this demonstration of skill and prowess, hastened to the port of Algiers, where he readily obtained peace, in the stipulated terms of which the rights and honor of the United States were particularly consulted by a perpetual relinquishment, on the part of the dey, of all pretensions to tribute from them. The impressions thus made, strengthened by subsequent transactions with the regencies of Tunis and Tripoli, by the appearance of the larger force which followed under commodore Bainbridge, and by the judicious precautionary arrangements left by him in that quarter, afforded a reasonable prospect of future security for the valuable portion of American commerce which passes within reach of the Barbary cruisers.

President Madison, in his message to the congress of 1816, having adverted to the peace of Europe and to that of the United States with Great Britain, said, he had the ‘satisfaction to state, generally, that they remained in amity with foreign powers.’ He proceeded to say, that the posture of affairs with Algiers at that moment was not known; but that the dey had found a pretext for complaining of a violation of the last treaty, and presenting as the alternative war or a renewal of the former treaty, which stipulated, among other things, an annual tribute. ‘The answer,’ says the president, ‘with an explicit declaration that the United States preferred war to tribute, required his recognition and observance of the treaty last made, which abolishes tribute, and the slavery of our captured citizens. The result of the answer had not been received. Should he renew his warfare on our commerce, we rely on the protection it will find in our naval force actually in the Mediterranean. With the other Barbary states our affairs have undergone no change. With reference to the aborigines of our own country,’ he continues, ‘the Indian tribes within our limits appear also disposed to remain in peace. From several of them purchases of lands have been made, particularly favorable to the wishes and security of our frontier settlements as well as to the general interests of the nation.

In some instances, the titles, though not supported by due proof, and clashing those of one tribe with the claims of another, have been extinguished by double purchases, the benevolent policy of the United States preferring the augmented expense to the hazard of doing injustice, or to the enforcement of justice against a feeble and untutored people, by means involving or threatening an effusion of blood. I am happy to add that the tranquillity which has been restored among the tribes themselves, as well as between them and our own population, will favor the resumption of the work of civilization, which had made an encouraging progress among some tribes; and that the facility is increasing for extending that divided and individual ownership, which exists now in movable property only, to the soil itself; and of thus establishing, in the culture and improvement of it, the true foundation for a transit from the habits of a savage to the arts and comforts of social life.’

The doubtful state of the relations between the United States and the dey of Algiers, to which the president alluded in his message, arose either from a strong impulse of the love of extortion in the dey, or from the influence of some foreign personages; the rising differences were, however, settled by the prudent management of the American consul, Mr. Shaler, and peace has not since been broken on the part of the Algerines.

Among the incidents of domestic interest which indicate the rapid growth and increasing prosperity of the republic, we may notice the formation of the territory of Indiana into a state, and its admission into the Union; the progress of canals in various states; the institution of a national bank; and the arrival of many thousand emigrants, chiefly from Great Britain. Treaties were, during this year, negotiated with the Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Cherokee Indians, ceding large portions of their respective territories to the United States, and acknowledging their tribes to be under the protection of the republic.

ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES MONROE.

The term of Mr. Madison’s administration having expired in the year 1817, James Monroe was inaugurated president, and Daniel D. Tompkins vice-president. In his speech to congress on his inauguration, the president expresses sentiments in which every true friend to the human race will fully concur. ‘It is particularly gratifying to me,’ says Mr. Monroe, ‘to enter on the discharge of these official duties at a time when the United States are blessed with peace. It is a state most consistent with their prosperity and happiness. It will be my sincere desire to preserve it, so far as depends on the executive, on just principles, with all nations, claiming nothing unreasonable of any, and rendering to each what is its due.’

During this year the republic received another accession by the erection of the territory of Mississippi into a state, and its admission into the Union. By the act of admission it is provided, that the public lands, while belonging to the United States, and for five years from the day of sale, shall be exempted from all taxes; that lands belonging to the citizens of the United States residing without the state shall never be taxed higher than lands belonging to persons residing within the state; and that the river Mississippi, and the navigable rivers and waters leading into it, or into the gulf of Mexico, shall be common highways, and forever free of toll or duty to all the citizens of the United States. In return for this concession, congress provided, that, after paying a debt to Georgia and indemnifying certain claimants, five per cent. of the net proceeds of the public lands lying within the state shall be devoted to the making of roads and canals for the benefit of the state.

In the summer of this year an expedition was undertaken against East Florida by persons claiming to act under the authority of some of the revolted Spanish colonies. The leader of this expedition styled himself ‘Citizen Gregor M‘Gregor, brigadier-general of the armies of the united provinces of New Grenada and Venezuela, and general-in-chief, employed to liberate the provinces of both the Floridas, commissioned by the supreme governments of Mexico and South America.’ The persons that combined for this purpose took possession of Amelia island, at the mouth of St. Mary’s river, near the boundary of the state of Georgia. The president, apprized of this transaction, ordered an expedition, consisting of naval and land forces, to repel the invaders, and to occupy the island. A squadron, under the command of J. D. Henley, with troops under the command of James Banhead, arrived off Amelia island on the 22d of December, and the next day took possession of it, hoisting the American flag at Fernandina. The president, in a message to congress relative to the capture, observed: ‘In expelling these adventurers from these posts it was not intended to make any conquest from Spain, or to injure, in any degree, the cause of the colonies.’ The real reason of the measure seems to have been, that the invasion interfered with endeavors which were then making on the part of the United States to obtain the cession of the Floridas from the Spaniards.

In the following year the Union received the accession of another state, that of Illinois. At the time of its admission, the government of the United States granted to the state one section or thirty-sixth part of every township for the support of schools, and three per cent. of the net proceeds of the United States’ lands lying within the state for the encouragement of learning, of which one-sixth part must be exclusively bestowed on a college or university. The constitution happily provides that no more slaves shall be introduced into the state. In 1819, the Alabama territory was admitted as a state into the Union; and the Arkansaw territory was, by an act of congress, erected into a territorial government. In the following year the district of Maine was separated from Massachusetts, formed into a distinct state, and admitted into the Union.

During this year the American congress did themselves honor by providing more effectually against carrying on the slave-trade. The enactment declared, that if any citizen of the United States, being of the ship’s company of any foreign ship or vessel engaged in the slave-trade, or any person whatever being of the crew or ship’s company of any ship or vessel owned by, or navigated for, any citizens of the United States, shall on foreign shore seize any negro or mulatto, not held to service or labor by the laws either of the states or territories of the United States, with intent to make him a slave, or shall decoy or forcibly bring or receive him on board with such intent, he shall be adjudged a pirate, and on conviction shall suffer death.

A treaty for the cession of the Floridas was concluded at Washington, February 22, 1819, between Spain and the United States. In the year 1821, it was reluctantly ratified by the king of Spain, and possession was taken of those provinces according to the terms of the treaty. On the 1st of July, general Jackson, who had been appointed governor of the Floridas, issued a proclamation, declaring ‘that the government heretofore exercised over the said provinces under the authority of Spain has ceased, and that that of the United States of America is established over the same; that the inhabitants thereof will be incorporated in the union of the United States, as soon as may be consistent with the principles of the federal constitution, and admitted to the enjoyment of all the privileges, rights, and immunities of the citizens of the United States; that in the mean time they shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and the religion they profess; that all laws and municipal regulations which were in existence at the cessation of the late government remain in full force, and all civil officers charged with their execution,’ with certain exceptions and limitations, ‘are continued in their functions.’ On the 7th of July, the colonel commandant, Don Jose Gallava, commissioner on the part of his Catholic majesty, made to major-general Jackson, the commissioner of the United States, a delivery of the keys of the town of Pensacola, of the archives, documents, and other articles, mentioned in the inventories, declaring that he releases from their oath of allegiance to Spain the citizens and inhabitants of West Florida who may choose to remain under the dominion of the United States. On the same day, colonel Joseph Coppinger, governor of East Florida, issued a proclamation to the inhabitants, announcing that, on the 10th day of this month, ‘possession will be given to colonel Robert Butler, the commissioner legally authorized by the United States.’ The American authorities were accordingly put in possession of the Floridas.

During this year Missouri was admitted as a state into the Union, forming the eleventh state added to the thirteen confederated states which signed the declaration of independence, making the present number of the United States twenty-four. The proposition for the admission of this state, which was brought forward in the session of 1819, produced vehement discussion in the congress, and excited an intense interest throughout the whole Union. The inhabitants of Missouri, the territory having been considered as a part of Louisiana, had derived from their connection with the Spaniards and French the custom, which they deemed equivalent to the right, of possessing slaves; it was proposed, however, in admitting the territory to the privileges of a state, to prevent the increase and to insure the ultimate abolition of slavery, by the insertion of the following clause: ‘Provided, that the further introduction of slavery or involuntary servitude be prohibited, except for the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted; and that all the children born within the said state after the admission thereof into the Union shall be free at the age of twenty-five years.’ Judging from the previous views and measures of the general government, in similar and analogous cases, it could hardly have been conjectured, that the result of proposing such a limited and qualified restriction would be doubtful. The house of representatives, after a short but animated debate, refused to pass the bill without the restriction; but the senate refused to pass the bill with it; consequently the bill itself was lost, and Missouri still continued under her former territorial government.

Such was the rapidity with which the several proceedings passed in the two houses of congress, that it was scarcely known beyond its walls that such a question was agitated, before it was decided. When, however, it came to be generally known what principles had been advanced, what votes had been given, with what ardor and vehemence the advocates of slavery had urged their demands, not merely upon the justice, the reason, and good sense of congress, but upon their interests, their prejudices, and their fears, by how slender a majority a measure had been checked, which, in the estimation of many of the best friends of American liberty, would have been productive of incalculable and interminable mischiefs, it excited a feeling of universal surprise and alarm. It is instructive to observe that many of the staunchest advocates of liberal ideas, who delighted in appropriating to themselves exclusively the name of republicans, suffered their jealousy of the interference of the congress in the internal government of an individual state to engage them on the side of the perpetuators of slavery. Jefferson, who prided himself in being the devoted friend of liberty, thus expresses himself: ‘The real question, as seen in the states afflicted with this unfortunate population, is, are our slaves to be presented with freedom and a dagger? For, if congress has the power to regulate the conditions of the inhabitants of the states within the states, it will be but another exercise of that power to declare that all shall be free. Are we then to see again Athenian and Lacedemonian confederacies? to wage another Peloponnesian war to settle the ascendency between them? Or is this the tocsin of merely a servile war? That remains to be seen; but not, I hope, by you or me. Surely they will parley awhile, and give us time to get out of the way.’149 The consequence of this combination was the passing of the bill for the admission of Missouri in the next session of the congress, without the restricting clause.

No circumstances of particular interest in the transactions of the general government occurred till the year 1824, when articles of a convention between the United States of America and Great Britain for the suppression of the African slave-trade were subscribed at London by plenipotentiaries appointed for that purpose. By the first article, the commanders and commissioned officers of each of the two high contracting parties, duly authorized by their respective governments to cruise on the coasts of Africa, America, and the West Indies, for the suppression of the slave-trade, are empowered, under certain restrictions, to detain, examine, capture, and deliver over for trial and adjudication by some competent tribunal, any ship or vessel concerned in the illicit traffic of slaves, and carrying the flag of the other.

In the spring of this year a convention was also concluded between the United States of America and the emperor of Russia. By the third article of this convention it was agreed, ‘that, hereafter, there shall not be formed by the citizens of the United States, or under the authority of the said states, any establishment upon the northern [north-west] coast of America, nor in any of the islands adjacent, to the north of fifty-four degrees and forty minutes of north latitude; and that, in the same manner, there shall be none formed by Russian subjects, or under the authority of Russia, south of the same parallel.’

This year is signalized in American history by the visit of the venerable la Fayette, on the express invitation of congress. He arrived in the harbor of New York on the 13th of August, and proceeded to the residence of the vice-president at Staten island. A committee of the corporation of the city of New York, and a great number of distinguished citizens, proceeded to Staten island to welcome him to their capital. A splendid escort of steam-boats, decorated with the flags of every nation, and bearing thousands of citizens, brought him to the view of assembled multitudes at New York, who manifested their joy at beholding him, by acclamations and by tears. At the city hall the officers of the city and many citizens were presented to him; and he was welcomed by an address from the mayor. While he was at New York, deputations from Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Haven, and from many other cities, arrived with invitations for him to visit them. After remaining a few days at New York, he proceeded to Boston, where he met with the same cordial reception. The general soon after returned to New York, visited Albany and the towns on Hudson’s river, and afterwards passed through the intermediate states to Virginia. He returned to Washington during the session of congress, and remained there several weeks. Congress voted him the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, and a township of land, as a remuneration, in part, of his services during the war of the revolution, and as a testimony of their gratitude.

In the year 1825, John Quincy Adams was inaugurated president of the United States, and John C. Calhoun, vice-president. In his speech to congress the president took a retrospective view to the epoch of the confederation. ‘The year of jubilee since the first formation of our union,’ observed Mr. Adams, ‘has just elapsed; that of the declaration of our independence is at hand. Since that period, a population of four millions has multiplied to twelve. A territory bounded by the Mississippi has been extended from sea to sea. New states have been admitted to the Union, in numbers nearly equal to those of the first confederation. Treaties of peace, amity, and commerce, have been concluded with the principal dominions of the earth. The people of other nations, inhabitants of regions acquired, not by conquest, but by compact, have been united with us in the participation of our rights and duties, of our burdens and blessings.’ Having noticed the progress of agriculture and of settlements, of commerce and arts, of liberty and law, Mr. Adams thus sketches the features of the administration of the preceding president: ‘In his career of eight years, the internal taxes have been repealed; sixty millions of public debt have been discharged; provision has been made for the comfort and relief of the aged and indigent among the surviving warriors of the revolution; the regular armed force has been reduced, and the constitution revised and perfected; the accountability for the expenditure of public moneys has been made more effective; the Floridas have been peaceably acquired, and our boundary has been extended to the Pacific ocean; the independence of the southern nations of this hemisphere has been recognised, and recommended, by example and by counsel, to the potentates of Europe; progress has been made in the defence of the country, by fortifications and the increase of the navy; towards the effectual suppression of the African traffic in slaves; in alluring the aboriginal hunters of our land to the cultivation of the soil and of the mind; in exploring the interior regions of the Union; and in preparing, by scientific researches and surveys, for the further application of our national resources to the internal improvement of our country. In this brief outline of the promise and performance of my predecessor, the line of duty for his successor is clearly delineated. To pursue to their consummation those purposes of improvement in our common condition instituted or recommended by him, will embrace the whole sphere of my obligations.’

The transactions between the United States and the Indian tribes have occasioned considerable discussion among the philanthropists of both the new and the old world; we shall, therefore, notice the treaties which were formed somewhat particularly. In February, a treaty was concluded with the Creek nation of Indians. The commissioners on the part of the United States represented to the Creeks, that it is the policy and wish of the general government, that the several Indian tribes within the limits of any of the states of the Union should remove to territory to be designated on the west side of the Mississippi river, as well for the better protection and security of the said tribes, and their improvement in civilization, as for the purpose of enabling the United States, in this instance, to comply with a compact entered into with the state of Georgia, on the 24th of April, 1802. The chiefs of the Creek towns assented to the reasonableness of the proposition, and expressed a willingness to emigrate beyond the Mississippi, those of Tokaubatchee excepted. The Creeks accordingly, by the first article of the treaty, ceded to the United States all the lands within the boundaries of the state of Georgia now occupied by them, or to which they have title or claim, lying within certain described boundaries; and by the second it was agreed, that the United States will give in exchange for the lands hereby acquired the like quantity, acre for acre, westward of the Mississippi, on the Arkansas river. Other stipulations favorable to the equitable claims of the emigrating parties were made; particularly that a deputation may be sent to explore the territory herein offered them in exchange; and if the same be not acceptable to them, then they may select any other territory west of the Mississippi, on Red, Canadian, Arkansas, or Missouri rivers, the territory occupied by the Cherokees and Choctaws excepted; and if the territory to be selected shall be in the occupancy of other Indian tribes, then the United States will extinguish the title of such occupants for the benefit of the said emigrants.

The Kansas Indians, by treaty, ceded to the United States all their lands both within and without the limits of Missouri, excepting a reservation beyond that state on the Kansas river, about thirty miles square, including their villages. In consideration of this cession, the United States agreed to pay three thousand five hundred dollars a year for twenty years; to furnish the Kansas immediately with three hundred head of cattle, three hundred hogs, five hundred fowls, three yoke of oxen, and two carts, and with such farming utensils as the Indian superintendent may deem necessary; to provide and support a blacksmith for them; and to employ persons to aid and instruct them in their agricultural pursuits, as the president may deem expedient. Of the ceded lands, thirty-six sections on the Big Blue river were to be laid out under the direction of the president, and sold for the support of schools among the Kansas. Reservations were also made for the benefit of certain half-breeds; and other stipulations mutually satisfactory. It was also agreed, that no private revenge shall be taken by the Indians for the violation of their rights; but that they shall make their complaint to the superintendent or other agent, and receive justice in a due course of law; and it was lastly agreed, that the Kansas nation shall never dispose of their lands without the consent of the United States, and that the United States shall always have the free right of navigation in the waters of the Kansas.

A treaty was also concluded with the Great and Little Osages, at St. Louis, Missouri. The general principles of this treaty are the same as those of the treaty with the Kansas. The Indians cede all their lands in Arkansas and elsewhere, and then reserve a defined territory, west of the Missouri line, fifty miles square; an agent to be permitted to reside on the reservation, and the United States to have the right of free navigation in all the waters on the tract. The United States pay an annuity of seven thousand dollars for twenty years; furnish forthwith six hundred head of cattle, six hundred hogs, one thousand fowls, ten yoke of oxen, six carts, with farming utensils, persons to teach the Indians agriculture, and a blacksmith, and build a commodious dwelling-house for each of the four principal chiefs, at his own village. Reservations were made for the establishment of a fund for the support of schools for the benefit of the Osage children; and provision was made for the benefit of the Harmony missionary establishment. The United States also assume certain debts due from certain chiefs of the tribes; and agree to deliver at the Osage villages, as soon as may be, four thousand dollars in merchandise, and two thousand six hundred in horses and their equipments.

In May a general convention of peace, amity, navigation, and commerce, between the United States of America and the republic of Colombia, was signed by the president, at Washington.

The fiftieth anniversary, the jubilee, as it was termed, of American independence, was observed throughout the states with great enthusiasm, and was rendered additionally interesting by the remarkable circumstance that both Adams and Jefferson, eminent men among the fathers of their country, died on that day.

The opposition to the administration of Mr. Adams gained strength and development by daily increase, and numerous parties combined for its support or overthrow in various parts of the country. These parties were generally of a geographical character, and in the nineteenth congress it was usually found that the representatives from the southern, took sides directly opposed to those from the northern and western states. A resolution was expressed in some quarters to put down the administration at every hazard, no matter what might be its policy, its integrity, or its success. The cry of corruption was re-echoed by office seekers, and the more desperate portion of the oppositionists, till it began to gain currency with the public, and proved sufficient to secure the downfall of the administration against which it was raised.

The Panama mission was a fruitful subject of clamor and opposition. It was stigmatized as imprudent, unnecessary, at variance with our true and prevailing policy, and pregnant with peril. Charges of extravagance in expenditures were next brought against the heads of the government, and resolutions were introduced in congress, intimating that the executive patronage was too large, and ought to be diminished. The assertion of the president of his constitutional authority to appoint, during the vacation of congress, diplomatic agents to transact the foreign business of the country, was represented as the assumption of an undelegated power. Every opportunity was seized to represent the policy of the federal authorities as tending towards consolidation, and as indicating a disposition for an expensive and magnificent scheme of government.

In conformity with the views of the opposition, a nomination for the next presidency was immediately made, and in October, 1825, the legislature of Tennessee recommended general Jackson to the suffrages of the people of the United States for the highest office in their gift. The nomination he formally accepted, in an address delivered before both houses of the legislature of that state, in which he resigned his seat in the senate. In this address he plainly intimated his dissatisfaction at the result of the late presidential election, and a willingness to sanction an opposition to the administration on the ground of its corrupt origin. This same ground had been taken by the adherents of the vice-president in the discussion of Mr. M’Duffie’s proposed amendment of the constitution in the first session of the nineteenth congress. The public mind was irritated and exasperated by these charges, which were diffused with an industry and zeal to be paralleled only by their baseness. Accusation and recrimination became frequent and passionate, and the most bitter and indignant feelings took place of the tranquillity that had so long reigned in the political world.

At length the charge of corruption was brought from a responsible quarter, and an investigation ensued, which resulted in the complete acquittal of the parties accused. Directly after the adjournment of the eighteenth congress, a letter appeared, bearing date the 8th of March, 1825, purporting to relate a conversation with general Jackson, in which he said that a proposition had been made to him by Mr. Clay’s friends to secure his election to the presidency, on condition that Mr. Adams should not continue as secretary of state. This proposition was said to have been indignantly repelled. A correspondence immediately ensued on this subject between Mr. Beverly, the author of the letter in question, and general Jackson, in which an account of the negotiation alluded to was given at length, and the general disclaimed making any charge against Mr. Clay, and denied having accused him of being privy to the communication. Testimony was now produced by Mr. Clay and his friends, which completely refuted the charge of bargain, and hurled it with scorn in the teeth of his enemies. It was proved beyond a question that in voting for Mr. Adams in the house of representatives, Mr. Clay and his friends had acted with entire consistency, and that any other course would have indeed laid them open to the charge of gross and palpable violation of the principles they had always professed in relation to the election. But the accusation had been made to answer the purpose for which it was framed, and the opposition to the administration had found a permanent basis to build upon.

Mr. Adams continued to act on the principles which he had professed in his inaugural speech, of administering the government without regard to the distinctions of party. In the distribution of offices he asked merely as to the qualifications of the candidates, not of their political opinions. No one suffered by that ruthless policy, which bears so close a resemblance to the proscription of the Roman emperors; the one striking at life itself, the other at the means of life. It is difficult to say which of the two is the more cruel, but they are surely equally unjust and vindictive. The system which makes the presidential chair a mere scramble for office, and the chief executive of the nation a dispenser of loaves and fishes to political adherents, is too mean, narrow, and contemptible, not to be subversive of all the best purposes of government, and must end in the subversion of government itself. The political forum is converted into an arena of battle, and the first moments of victory are sacred to spoil, devastation, and rapine. The lust of gold stifles the cry of mercy, and all the rules of honorable warfare are violated in the fierceness and vindictiveness of triumph. Office holders should be content with fulfilling the duties of their respective stations, and not consider themselves in the light of mere partisans, rewarded for upholding a particular man or set of men. The people pay them for a different service. Mr. Adams regarded this subject in its true bearings, and he acted in it with the stern and fearless integrity which has marked the whole course of his political life. Regardless of consequences, he was perhaps often injudicious in the diffusion of executive patronage, and sometimes furnished the enemy with artillery to be employed in the destruction of his own citadel.

But however the efforts of the opposition might embarrass the movements of the administration, they could not retard the rapid progress of the country in wealth and prosperity. The great works of internal improvement contemplated by the act of April, 1824, were prosecuted with great spirit and vigor. Many routes for roads and canals were surveyed, and a great mass of topographical knowledge was thus collected at Washington. The attention of the general government was also directed to many other subjects of internal improvement, such as the navigation of several important rivers, building lighthouses, piers, and removing obstructions from bays and harbors. The navigation of the Mississippi and Ohio was much improved during this year, by the removal of snags and other impediments from their channels. An impulse was thus given to the efforts of the state governments, and canals and roads were laid out in various directions. Manufacturing establishments flourished with great vigor, and gave proofs of becoming lasting sources of wealth and employment to the national industry. In the year ending September 30, 1826, the value of domestic manufactures exported amounted to five millions eight hundred and fifty-two thousand seven hundred and thirty-three dollars, of which one million one hundred and thirty-eight thousand one hundred and twenty-five dollars consisted of cotton piece goods. The increase of tonnage in the United States during 1826, was one hundred eleven thousand and seventy-nine tons, being double the increase of any one of the preceding twelve years. In conformity with the plan proposed for the settlement of the remaining tribes of the aborigines on the west of the Mississippi, provision was made for the removal thither of such Indians as were disposed to emigrate. Fourteen hundred Shawnees, and about seven hundred Creeks, removed in this manner to spots selected by themselves. The Cherokees refused to cede another foot of land, notwithstanding the efforts made by the general government to procure such a cession of territory as would satisfy the claims of Georgia. The north-western Indians now gave hostile indications, and attacked and murdered some American citizens; but by the prompt measures adopted by governor Cass, the murderers were given up and tranquillity again restored.

Congress having adjourned without passing any law for the purpose of meeting the restrictive measures of the British government in respect to the colonial trade, the president issued a proclamation, dated March 17th, closing the ports of the United States against vessels from the British colonies, which had been opened by the act of 1822. By this measure the British restrictions were completely reciprocated, and the president was sustained in it by public opinion.

The second session of the nineteenth congress commenced on the 4th of December, 1826, when the two houses were organized in the usual manner. The message of the president on this occasion gave a clear account of our foreign relations, and made particular reference to the controversy with Great Britain on the colonial trade. The death of the emperor Alexander of Russia was mentioned in terms which the friendly feelings displayed by that monarch towards this country seemed to require. Our commercial connections with France and the Netherlands were represented to be placed on a more favorable basis than at the commencement of the preceding congress. In the post-office there had been received during the year a surplus of eighty thousand dollars above the expenditures. The revenue was sufficiently large to authorize the application of seven millions sixty-seven thousand and thirty-nine dollars to the reduction of the public debt, and three millions nine hundred and forty-four thousand three hundred and fifty-nine dollars to the payment of interest. A system was recommended for the permanent increase of the navy; the unsettled land claims in Florida and Louisiana; the works of internal improvement, reported by the board of engineers; and the attention of congress was particularly called to the irregularities of the Brazilian and Buenos-Ayrean squadrons towards neutral flags. The estimates of appropriations for the different departments of the government were submitted with the message; and a system of cavalry tactics prepared during the summer under the direction of the war department. These were the most important topics suggested by the message.

The Creek controversy, which might have been considered as happily settled by the treaty of 22d of April, was still to continue a subject of excitement. Instead of waiting till the tribes had removed from their ceded lands, governor Troup ordered the surveyors employed by him to enter the Indian territories and commence the surveys, previous to the time prescribed by the treaty for the removal. The Indians resisted these encroachments, and the governor ordered out a force of militia. In this posture of affairs, the president determined to support the laws of the Union by the authority which the constitution had placed in his hands, previously submitting the affair to congress, to have it determined whether it were necessary to resort to any new measures. On the 5th of February he transmitted to both houses of congress a message, in which he gave a plain statement of the facts, and declared his determination to enforce the laws, and fulfil the duties of the nation by all the force committed for that purpose to his charge. ‘That the arm of military force will be resorted to only in the event of the failure of all other expedients provided by the laws, a pledge has been given by the forbearance to employ it at this time. It is submitted to the wisdom of congress to determine, whether any further acts of legislation may be necessary or expedient to meet the emergency which these transactions may produce.’

Great excitement was displayed in both houses on the receipt of this message. The committee of the representatives, to which it was referred reported that it ‘is expedient to procure a cession of the Indian lands in the state of Georgia, and that until such a cession is procured, the law of the land, as set forth in the treaty at Washington, ought to be maintained by all necessary, constitutional, and legal means.’ The firmness of the president brought the governor of Georgia to reason, and he addressed a letter to the delegation of that state at Washington, submitting to the decision of congress, and denying any intention of a resort to force, except the sovereignty of the state came into collision with the United States. A cession of the Creek land in Georgia was finally procured, and the dispute in respect to this portion of the Indian territory was put at rest.

A bill for an additional protection on woollens was agitated during this session, and finally laid on the table by the casting vote of the vice-president. The defeat of this measure occasioned much discussion in all parts of the Union, and stimulated the friends of this branch of industry to renewed exertions. In Pennsylvania a state convention was proposed, to choose delegates to attend a general convention at Harrisburg on the 30th of July, 1827. Other states answered with alacrity to this invitation, and a meeting was held at the appointed time, of delegates in the highest degree respectable in point of talent, weight of character, and dignity of standing. The reports of their committees, on various subjects connected with domestic industry, exhibited the importance and the necessity of increased protection, and a memorial to congress, drawn up in conformity with these views, was unanimously adopted. These proceedings were received in the southern states with much dissatisfaction. They were represented as at war with their best interests, and with the spirit of the constitution. No means were omitted to raise a strong excitement in the community, in opposition to all increase of the woollen duty; but at the time of the twentieth congress, the public mind was more and more impressed with the opinion that effectual measures would be resorted to for the relief of this branch of national industry.

We have not room for a detailed account of the various measures of Mr. Adams’ administration. During the whole of it the United States enjoyed uninterrupted peace; for the foreign policy of the government had nothing in view but the maintenance of our national dignity, the extension of our commercial relations, and the successful prosecution of the claims of American citizens upon foreign governments.

A portion of these claims upon Sweden and Denmark was obtained, and the claims which arose against the Brazilian government, during the war between that power and Buenos Ayres, were speedily adjusted by the liquidation of the claims. The exorbitant pretensions of Great Britain respecting the West India trade were resisted, although at the expense of the direct trade between the United States and the British islands.

The difficulties which occurred in carrying into effect the treaty of Ghent, relative to deported slaves, and other property taken away, having been found insurmountable, the sum of one million two hundred and four thousand nine hundred and sixty dollars, which was amply sufficient, was obtained from the British government in satisfaction of these claims. A convention was also concluded with that government, and a mode provided for the peaceable settlement of the long pending and finally threatening dispute concerning the north-east boundary of the United States. The treaty of commerce between the United States and Great Britain, and the convention effecting a temporary compromise of their conflicting claims to the territory west of the Rocky mountains, both of which expired by their own limitation, October 20th, 1828 were renewed for an indefinite period, with liberty to either party to terminate them, on giving one year’s notice. Some commercial difficulties, which grew out of an adherence of the government of the Netherlands to the principles of discriminating duties, were adjusted to mutual satisfaction. New treaties of amity, navigation, and commerce, in which the liberal principles maintained by the United States, in her commercial and foreign policy, were generally recognised, were concluded with Colombia, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Guatemala, and the Hanseatic league.

It was, however, in the domestic policy of the government, that the character of the administration was most strongly displayed. During its continuance in office, new and increased activity was imparted to those powers vested in the federal government, for the development of the resources of the country; and the public revenue liberally expended in prosecuting those national measures to which the sanction of congress had been deliberately given, as the settled policy of the government.

In the condition which we have described, in peace with all the world, with an increasing revenue, and with a surplus of five millions one hundred and twenty-five thousand six hundred and thirty-eight dollars in the public treasury, the administration of the government of the United States was surrendered by Mr. Adams, who became a private citizen, to general Jackson, his successor.

Thus ended the administration of Mr. Adams; an administration marked by definite and consistent policy and energetic councils, governed by up-right motives, but from the beginning devoted to the most violent opposition and a signal overthrow. The election which terminated in the defeat of Mr. Adams was marked with extreme bitterness, asperity, and profligacy. On both sides the press was virulent, libellous, and mean. No privacy was safe, no confidence was sacred; even the tombs of the illustrious dead were violated, and their ashes defiled. The arts of party warfare were more insidious than the arts of savage treachery, and its arms more ruthless than the tomahawk or the scalping knife. Calumny and falsehood were the usual resources of the most violent partisans, and the only weapons that they never for a moment laid aside. The brave soldier was described as a malignant savage, and the experienced statesman as a man who had purchased by intrigue a position that he was determined to maintain by corruption. It must be most sincerely hoped that an era may never again arrive in our history to be stamped so indelibly with the brand of shame; that public opinion will ever require of the public press a more decent regard to the charities of life and the duties of truth.

ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JACKSON.

As the election of General Jackson to the presidency of the United States brought the democratic party into power, and was hailed by that party as an event, in their view, most auspicious to the interests of the country, unusual efforts were made to render the occasion of his inauguration, one of great interest and attraction. On the 4th of March, 1829, the ceremony took place, and was, in all respects, grand and imposing. At half past eleven of that day, the president elect, preceded by the marshal of the district, and the committee of arrangements, entered the senate chamber, and took his seat in front of the secretary’s desk. On the right of the president’s chair sat the distinguished chief justice of the United States, and the associate judges. The left was occupied by the foreign ministers and their suites, in their official costumes. The rear of the senators and the lobby under the eastern gallery were occupied by ladies; while the western gallery was assigned to members of the house of representatives.

At noon, all repaired in solemn procession to the eastern portico of the capitol; where, in the presence of an immense concourse of people, filling the portico, the steps, and the inclosure, the president delivered his inaugural address.

After expressing his gratitude to the nation for the honor conferred on him, and a determination to promote the welfare of his country, he proceeded, as is usual on similar occasions, to state his political creed; or those principles which would guide him in the administration of the government. “I shall keep steadily in view,” said he, “the limitation, as well as the extent of executive power.” With foreign nations, he would study to preserve peace, and cultivate friendship. The rights of the separate states should be respected, and the power, which they had reserved to themselves should not be confounded with those, which had been granted to the confederacy. A due solicitude should be exercised in the management of the public revenue, and a strict and faithful economy observed in the administration of the government. Agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, should be equally favored. Internal improvement and the diffusion of knowledge should be promoted, as far as might be consistent with the constitution. An increase of the standing army for the present would not be deemed advisable; but a gradual increase of the navy, would be urged as important to the national honor, and national security.

He next spoke of the Indian tribes—towards whom it would be his desire to observe a just and liberal policy—to secure their rights and administer to their wants, as far as duty to the government and justice to the people would admit.

One task—that of reform—would demand his speedy and vigilant attention. Abuses had sprung up, which had brought the patronage of the federal government into conflict with the freedom of elections. These must be corrected and those causes counteracted, which had disturbed the rightful course of appointment to office, and which had too often placed, or continued power in unfaithful, or incompetent hands.

In the selection of men to office, it would be his endeavor to place power in the hands of those whose diligence and talents would insure the faithful performance of their respective duties.

In conclusion, he said—“A diffidence, perhaps too just, in my own qualifications, will teach me to look with reverence to the examples of public virtue, left by my illustrious predecessors, and with veneration to the lights that flow from the mind that founded, and the mind that reformed, our system. The same diffidence induces me to hope for instruction and aid from the coordinate branches of the government, and for the indulgence and support of my fellow-citizens generally. And a firm reliance on the goodness of that Power whose providence mercifully protected our national infancy, and has since upheld our liberties in various vicissitudes, encourages me to offer up my ardent supplications, that He will continue to make our beloved country the object of his divine care and gracious benediction.”

The oath to support the constitution was next administered to him by Chief Justice Marshall. This was announced by the prolonged discharge of artillery from various points; during which the president was conducted to his mansion, where he received the congratulations of the people.

Antecedently to the formation of his cabinet, much speculation existed in the country, as to the persons whom General Jackson would call to his counsels. As he was in a great measure uncommitted in respect to the future policy of his government, no inconsiderable anxiety was felt, especially by office holders, on the subject of these appointments, as these would furnish some indications as to his future course. All speculation, however, was soon terminated by the nomination of Martin Van Buren, of New York, as secretary of state; John H. Eaton, of Tennessee, as secretary of war; Samuel D. Ingham, of Pennsylvania, secretary of the treasury; John Branch, of North Carolina, secretary of the navy; William T. Barry, of Kentucky, postmaster-general; John M. Berrien, of Georgia, attorney-general. These several nominations were ratified by the senate, without opposition.

At the time of his appointment, Mr. Van Buren was governor of the state of New York. This office he immediately resigned—retiring with a complimentary address from the legislature of that state. Mr. Van Buren was considered as a man distinguished for tact and self-possession, and as destined to act a distinguished part in the public counsels to which he had been called. The attorney-general was considered a man of liberal attainments, and fully qualified, by his learning and eloquence, for the station to which he was elevated. The other members of the cabinet had not been particularly distinguished for their public services. Mr. Eaton was the personal friend of the president. Mr. Ingham had been an active partisan in Pennsylvania, the state which brought General Jackson into the field, as a candidate. The motives which influenced the appointment of Mr. Branch as secretary of the navy were never satisfactorily ascertained. Previously to this time, the postmaster-general had not been a constituent of the cabinet, but it was now determined to introduce him as a member. Mr. Barry, who succeeded John M’Lean, in this office, the latter being removed to the bench of the Supreme Court, was one of the leaders of the relief party in Kentucky.

The cabinet was now constituted; and, after confirming the nominations of several individuals to diplomatic posts, and lucrative stations in the land office, custom-house, and navy, the senate adjourned on the 17th of March, the Executive having informed that body, that he had no further business to lay before them.

In the course of his inaugural address, General Jackson had expressed his conviction of the necessity of reform, in regard to the distribution of the public offices, within the control of the executive. To this “task of reform,” as he termed it, he immediately addressed himself, on the adjournment of the senate. Availing himself of the right of the Executive to fill vacancies occurring in the recess, he removed the principal officers of the treasury, the marshals, and district attorneys in most of the eastern, middle, and western states, the revenue officers of the chief Atlantic ports, the greater part of the receivers and registers in the land office, and changed the ministers plenipotentiary to Great Britain, France, Netherlands, and Spain.

But a still more unprecedented change was made in the post office department—the number of removals here, between the 4th of March, 1829, and the 22d of March, 1830, being four hundred and ninety-one. These removals contrasted strongly with those of former administrations. Washington, during his administration of eight years, removed but nine; Mr. Adams, ten; Mr. Jefferson, thirty-nine; Mr. Madison, five; Mr. Monroe, nine; John Quincy Adams, two.

The removals thus effected by General Jackson, so sudden, and so numerous, were strongly censured by the opposers of the administration. The president was charged with usurping an authority not conferred by the constitution, which it was contended only gave him the right to fill vacancies, either accidentally occurring, or caused by some official misconduct. It was charged, also, that prior to his election, he had expressed an opinion, that members of congress should not be appointed to office, during the term for which they had been elected, nor for two years after. Yet, in direct opposition to his express views, he was conferring a greater number of offices on members of congress, in the compass of a single year, than any of his predecessors had done, during the entire period of their administration.

On the other hand, the friends of the president justified his course. They maintained that he was “solely invested with the right of removal; that it was a discretionary right, for the exercise of which he was responsible solely to the nation; that that power was given to enable him, not only to remove incumbents for delinquency, or incapacity, but with the view of reforming the administration of the government, and introducing officers of greater efficiency, or sounder principles into its various departments. Occasion was also taken, owing to the defalcation of a few of those removed, to assert the necessity of reform; and great efforts were made to create an impression on the public mind of the necessity of a general removal of the officers of the federal government.”150

The preceding changes were the subject of much discussion, on the assembling of congress. A spirited opposition was instituted by the minority in the senate, against the principles of the Executive, in relation to removals, both on the ground of their unconstitutionality and inexpediency. Most of those who had been appointed by the president to office were, notwithstanding this opposition, confirmed; but several were rejected by strong votes.

On the 7th of December, 1829, commenced the first session of the twenty-first congress. Andrew Stevenson was again elected speaker of the house. On the day following, the president communicated his first message. It embodied several topics of interest and importance. The principal of these related to an amendment of the constitution, to the choice of president and vice-president—a modification of the tariff—a provision for the disposition of the surplus revenue, after the extinguishment of the national debt—the assignment of a territory west of the Mississippi for the Indian tribes, within the states—and a consideration of the expediency of extending the charter of the Bank of the United States.

The foreign relations of the state, the president said, were satisfactory, except in relation to England and France. The boundary line between Maine and the British Provinces of Canada and New Brunswick was still the subject of controversy; for although by mutual consent the question had been submitted to the king of the Netherlands, neither party would abide his decision.

Another controversy between these two governments respected the West India trade. The treaty of commerce between the two countries, on the termination of the late war, although reciprocal, did not extend to the colonial possessions of Great Britain. In consequence of this, the policy of England was to render the intercourse of the United States with the West Indies, chiefly, if not exclusively, advantageous to herself. Accordingly, in different years, various acts had been passed by the British government, having the above monopoly in view. Measures retaliatory had, from time to time, been adopted by the United States. In effect, the trade was lost to the United States. This important subject was now brought to the attention of congress, and before the close of the session the controversy was adjusted. It was conceded to the British government, what it had long claimed, but denied by the American government—the exclusive power to the former of regulating her colonial trade. The president was also authorized to confer on British vessels all those privileges, as well in the circuitous, as in the direct voyage, which Great Britain had demanded. These concessions being deemed sufficient by the British government, her West India ports were opened by her to the United States, on terms satisfactory to the latter. A renewal of the trade was the immediate consequence.

The controversy between the United States and France related to depredations upon the property of American citizens, during the reign of Napoleon. Claims growing out of these depredations remained unpaid. The president informed congress that he had given instructions to our minister to press these demands on the French government, with appropriate earnestness.

He next proceeded to recommend “such an amendment of the constitution, as would remove all intermediate agency in the election of president and vice-president.” “The mode,” said he, “may be so regulated as to preserve to each state its present relative weight in the election; and a failure in the first attempt may be provided for, by confining the second to a choice between the two highest candidates. In connexion with such an amendment, it would seem advisable to limit the service of chief magistrate to a single term, of either four, or six years.”

Next, adverting to the surplus revenue, he expressed his belief, that the most safe, just and federal disposition, which could be made of the surplus revenue, would be its apportionment among the several states according to their ratio of representation; and should this measure not be found warranted by the constitution, that it would be expedient to propose to the states an amendment, authorizing it.

In regard to the disposal of the Indian tribes, the president suggested the propriety of setting apart an ample district, west of the Mississippi, and without the limits of any state or territory, now formed, to be guarantied to the tribes as long as they shall occupy it; each tribe having a distinct control over the portion designated for its use. “There,” said the president, “they may be secured in the enjoyment of governments of their own choice, subject to no other control from the United States, than such as may be necessary to preserve peace on the frontier, and between the several tribes.”

Another important subject, included in the message, and one which, as years have succeeded, has occasioned great political dissension, was the subject of the renewal of the charter of the United States Bank. Although several years would elapse, before the charter would expire, the Executive deemed it a subject of sufficient importance, thus early to bring it before the legislature and the people. In so doing, and in the terms employed, he was understood to be opposed to such an institution. “Both the constitutionality and the expediency of the law creating this bank,” he observed, “are well questioned by a large portion of our fellow-citizens; and it must be admitted by all, that it has failed in the great end of establishing a uniform and sound currency.”

“Under these circumstances, if such an institution is deemed essential to the fiscal operations of the government, I submit to the wisdom of the legislature, whether a national one, founded upon the credit of the government, and its revenues, might not be devised, which would avoid all constitutional difficulties; and, at the same time, secure all the advantages to the government and country that were expected to result from the present bank.”

The message of the president, embracing subjects of great importance, and unfolding, as it did, his views in relation to them, excited an intense interest throughout the country. It gave birth to strong and animated debates in the national legislature, in which many of the ablest statesmen of both political parties participated. The subjects of greatest interest debated, related to the Indian affairs—the public lands—the United States Bank—the tariff—and internal improvements.

One of the most embarrassing subjects which fell under the cognizance of the new administration, related to the Indian tribes, within the limits of the states already admitted into the Union; but especially to the Cherokees, a powerful tribe, within the limits of Georgia. This state laid claim to the territory occupied by the tribe; and, encouraged by the views of the executive, viz., that he could not interpose to prevent a state from extending her laws over the tribes, within her limits, authorized an intrusion upon the Indian territory for the purpose of surveying it, and extending her jurisdiction over it. The state laws were accordingly attempted to be enforced. One George Tassel, a Cherokee, was arraigned for the murder of another Cherokee, tried, and condemned.

About this time, Samuel Worcester and other missionaries were arrested, by order of the governor, and taken before the superior court of Gwinnett county, for refusing to obtain a permit from the government of Georgia to reside within the territory, or to take an oath of allegiance to the state. Mr. Worcester and Mr. Thompson, being missionaries, were discharged by the court, on the alleged ground, that they were agents of the government, having been employed to disburse among the Indians a portion of their annuities. This decision of the court gave great offence to the state authorities; and the governor obtained from the general government a disavowal that the missionaries were its agents. No sooner was this disavowal received, than Mr. Worcester and Ezra Butler were warned to quit the nation, with which order, not complying, they were arrested, tried, and sentenced to four years confinement at hard labor, in the penitentiary of Georgia. Much indignation was manifested throughout the country at this violation of personal rights, superadded to what this course was claimed to be, a complete disregard of the federal compact, and the faith of treaties. The decision of the president, however, sustained Georgia in the ground she had taken, and she proceeded to carry out her policy towards the Cherokees.

The case of the missionaries, however, was, at length, brought before the Supreme Court of the United States. The decision of that court, March 30, 1832, involved the question of jurisdiction over the country of the Cherokees. The claims of Georgia were set aside by this decision, as unconstitutional; and her laws by which the Indians had been deprived of their rights, and the missionaries confined and imprisoned, were pronounced null and void. This decision of the supreme judicial tribunal of the United States was resisted by Georgia, and the missionaries continued in prison. This unpleasant controversy was, at length, ended by a letter addressed, January 8th, 1833, by the missionaries to the governor of Georgia, in which they informed his Excellency, that they had forwarded instructions to their counsel, to prosecute the case no farther. Upon this, January 14th, his Excellency issued his proclamation remitting the farther execution of the sentence, and discharging the missionaries from prison. We shall only add, that on the 23d of May, 1838, a military force of several thousand men, under the command of Gen. Scott, was assembled on the Cherokee territory, for the purpose of removing the nation to the territory assigned them beyond the great river of the west, a bill having passed congress in 1831, authorizing the president to set apart such portions of the public territory, west of the Mississippi, as he should deem necessary for the permanent residence of the Cherokees, and other emigrating tribes. This bill, at the time of its introduction into congress, 22d of February, 1830, gave rise to a long and spirited debate in both houses, during which the whole subject of the relations of the federal government with the Indians was developed. The final vote on it in the house was close, being one hundred and two affirmative, and ninety-seven negative. In the senate, the majority was larger. The passage of this bill, connected with the course taken by the president in relation to the Indians, formed an era in the policy of the United States, respecting the aboriginal tribes.

Another exciting topic agitated in congress, related to the public lands. These lands were acquired by the federal government in two modes. The portion west of the Mississippi, forming much the larger part, is held under the Louisiana treaty, having been acquired by purchase from France. The residue was acquired at the treaty of 1783, the fruits of conquest from the crown of Great Britain. Out of these territories, new states had been formed. Prior to the adoption of the federal constitution, but few sales had been made. In 1800, the acts containing the principal features of the present land system were passed. These have been subsequently modified, and in 1820 cash sales were substituted for sales on credit.

Acting upon the new principle advanced by Georgia, in relation to the sovereignty of the state over all lands within its limits, some of the new states have set up a claim to the property in the soil of all lands, not owned by individuals, as an incident of sovereignty.

In consequence of these claims, and memorials of some of the western legislatures against the existing mode of disposing of the public lands, Mr. Foot, of Connecticut, on the 29th of December, 1829, introduced into the senate the following resolution:—“Resolved, that the committee on public lands be instructed to inquire into the expediency of limiting, for a certain period, the sales of the public lands, to such lands only as have heretofore been offered for sale, and are subject to entry at the minimum price, and also whether the office of surveyor-general may not be abolished, without detriment to the public interest.”

This resolution was immediately and strongly opposed, as a part of a systematic policy for crippling the growth of the west. It was urged that it would serve to prevent emigration to those states, within whose territory these lands lay. The debate to which this resolution gave rise continued for several weeks, during which Messrs. Hayne and Webster made speeches, which will long be remembered for their eloquence, ingenuity and power. Others mingled in the warm and animated discussion, wandering from the subject of the public lands to discuss almost every topic of general interest connected with the politics of the day.

In his message to congress, the President had expressed an opinion against renewing the charter of the United States Bank, which would expire in 1836. The bank had not applied for such renewal, but being pressed on the attention of congress, it was referred to the committee on finance in both houses of congress for examination. On the 30th of April, 1830, Mr. M’Duffie, the chairman of the committee of ways and means, in the house, made a report diametrically opposite to the recommendations of the President. Respecting the first proposition contained in the message, that congress had not constitutional power to incorporate a bank, the committee deemed that question no longer open for discussion. They also came to a different opinion from that contained in the message, respecting the expediency of the measure. The report from the committee on finance in the senate concurred with that of the house in its conclusions, and was equally decisive in its condemnation of the sentiments of the President. The effect produced in the public mind by the message was entirely done away, and the stock of the bank, which had fallen, upon the delivery of the message, from one hundred and twenty-six to one hundred and twenty, rose, after the publication of these reports, to one hundred and twenty-seven, and finally attained the price of one hundred and thirty dollars per share.

In December, 1832, a memorial was presented to congress from the president and directors of the United States Bank for a renewal of its charter. Soon after, a committee was appointed by the house to investigate the proceedings of the bank. A majority of this committee, adopting the views of the Executive, reported against a renewal of the charter, principally on the ground of a violation of its charter by illegal transactions. A counter report was presented by the minority, in the conclusion of which they bore unequivocal testimony to the fidelity of the officers of that institution. On the 10th of June, the question was taken in the senate on a bill to incorporate the bank, which passed that body by a vote of twenty-eight to twenty. On the 3d of July the question was taken in the house, and the charter renewed by a vote of one hundred and seven to eighty-five. On the 10th, the bill was returned by the President with his objections.

Although not unexpected to the country, the veto put upon the bill by the President gave great dissatisfaction to the friends of the bank in every section of the United States. A general disturbance of the currency was predicted as the necessary consequence. “We have arrived at a new epoch,” said one of the advocates of the bank on the floor of the senate: “We are entering on experiments with the government and constitution of the country, hitherto untried and of fearful and appalling aspects.” Another subject of importance introduced in the message respected internal improvements. During the administration of Washington and the elder Adams, no application was made of the public revenue to internal improvements; the government having as many demands upon the treasury, growing out of debts incurred in the Revolution, as could be met. But during the presidency of Mr. Jefferson, the internal improvement policy was begun, by an act passed May 1st, 1802, making appropriations for opening roads in the north-west territory. This was followed by other similar appropriations. During Mr. Madison’s administration, the appropriations were increased, and still further augmented, while Mr. Monroe was in office. On the accession of Mr. Adams, the policy was still pursued; and as he was understood to give a still more liberal construction of the constitution on this subject, more appropriations were made for the above object during his administration than during those of all his predecessors. General Jackson, while holding a seat in the senate of the United States, had voted with the friends of internal improvements. It was therefore anticipated by a numerous class in the United States, and among them were some of his friends, that he would follow out the policy of his predecessors. In his message to congress, however, he first manifested an unwillingness to the exercise of this power by congress. As the session advanced, it became more and more apparent that he was hostile to all appropriations to the above object. And, finally, all doubt was ended by his return of several bills appropriating money for internal improvements, with objections.

A decided majority in congress being in favor of such appropriations, notwithstanding the views of the Executive, several bills were introduced into the house similar to those which the President had rejected, and were passed by both houses by decided majorities. The President and his cabinet thus found themselves compelled to yield to public opinion expressed in congress, and although their determination checked the action of the federal government in relation to internal improvements, still they had surrendered every principle, upon which their opposition to the system could be founded. By these decisive votes in congress, this policy was considered as firmly established, and nothing was required to carry it into effect with moderation and discretion, but the harmonious co-operation between different branches of the government.

During the summer of 1831 a new cabinet was organized, consisting of Edward Livingston, of Louisiana, secretary of state; Louis M’Lane, of Delaware, secretary of the treasury; Lewis Cass, of Ohio, secretary of war; Levi Woodbury, of New Hampshire, secretary of the navy; Roger B. Taney, of Maryland, attorney-general.

The public press had for some time been filled with rumor that there existed but little, if any harmony in the first cabinet. The question of the succession, it is said, was a matter of jealousy and disunion even at this early day. But the chief difficulty, according to a communication from the attorney-general, arose from a determination on the part of the president to compel the families of the dismissed members to associate with the wife of the secretary of war. By this statement it appeared, that these ladies had, in accordance with the general understanding of the female part of society at Washington, declined to visit the family of the secretary of war, and that this neglect, being resented by that gentleman, had produced a coolness between him and the heads of those families. As the President warmly espoused the feelings of the secretary of war, as of an old and confidential friend, it was rumored early in the year, that their removal would be a consequence of this resentment; and the attorney-general stated, that about that time a confidential friend of the President (Richard M. Johnson), called upon him and other refractory members, as from the President, and intimated to them that, unless they would consent to at least a formal intercourse between their families and that of the secretary of war, he had determined to remove them from office. They replied, that while they felt bound to maintain a frank and harmonious intercourse with their colleague, they would not permit any interference with the social relations of their families, and wholly refused to comply with the request. Other friends, however, interfered, and the president was induced to waive any further prosecution of the subject at that time. To that refusal, however, he attributed the want of harmony in the cabinet, and its consequent dissolution.

On the 4th of July, 1831, a treaty settling the claims of American citizens on France for spoliations during Napoleon’s government was signed by Mr. Rives, and Sebastiani, at Paris, and the ratifications in due time were exchanged between the two governments.

By this treaty, the French government agreed to pay to the United States, for seizures, captures, sequestration, or destruction of their vessels, cargoes, or other property, 25,000,000 francs, in six equal annual instalments. The government of the United States on their part, agreed to pay 1,500,000 francs to the government of France, in satisfaction of all claims in behalf of France, its citizens, or the royal treasury, either for ancient supplies or accounts, or for unlawful seizures, captures, detentions, arrests or destruction of French vessels, cargoes, or other property, in six annual instalments, to be reserved out of the instalments payable to the United States; interest at the rate of four per cent., is to be allowed on the above sums, from the exchange of the ratifications. The sum thus stipulated to be paid by France did not amount to more than one-third of the just claims of the citizens of the United States, but their liquidation, even upon terms comparatively unfavorable, was so desirable, that the conclusion of this treaty was hailed by all parties.

During the spring of 1832 hostilities were commenced by the Sac and Fox Indians on the western borders of the United States, under the celebrated chief, Black Hawk. This aggression created a necessity for the interposition of the Executive, who ordered a portion of the troops under Generals Scott and Atkinson, together with a detachment of militia from the state of Illinois, into the field. After a harassing warfare, prolonged by the nature of the country and the difficulty of procuring subsistence, the Indians were defeated, and Black Hawk and the Prophet were taken prisoners. The confederated tribes of the Sacs and Foxes have long been distinguished for their spirit of adventure, as well as their restless and savage disposition. During the late war with Great Britain they aided her by their arms. In 1829 and 1830, these tribes, claiming a part of the country upon Rock river, attempted to establish themselves in that quarter, and the necessary consequence of which was frequent collisions with the white inhabitants. In 1831, their aggressions were so serious as to require a detachment of troops in the field. The appearance of these alarming the Indians they agreed to confine themselves to their own lands west of the Mississippi. Scarcely, however, had this arrangement been settled, before a party of these Indians assaulted and murdered a number of the Menomonies, a tribe friendly to the United States, while encamped in the village of Prairie du Chien. This wanton outrage, it was deemed necessary to rebuke, lest these disaffected Indians should harass and disturb the border settlements. Accordingly, General Atkinson was ordered, March 7th, 1832, to demand the surrender of the Menomonie murderers. This demand was disregarded. Hostilities immediately ensued, which were terminated in the month of August following by a general battle, which led to the entire rout of the Indians, and of the delivery of Black Hawk and the Prophet, on the 27th of August, as prisoners of war. These leaders of the war were conducted to Washington, whence they passed through some of the principal cities of the United States, and were sent home, having pledged to conduct themselves with due regard to the United States.

On the 3d of December, 1832, the twenty-second congress commenced its second session. In his message, the President, having alluded in brief but appropriate terms to the cholera, which had been spreading its desolations over portions of the United States, represented the relations of the country with foreign powers in a state of amity. The finances of the country were in a prosperous state; the national debt on the first of January, 1833, would be reduced to about seven millions; doubts were expressed as to the safety of the deposits in the United States Bank, and a decision of the question as to the disposal of public lands was urged.

December 10th, the President issued a solemn and impressive proclamation addressed to the citizens of the United States, in relation to the hostile attitude of South Carolina to the Union, in consequence of the acts of congress of 29th May, 1828, and of 14th of July, 1833, altering and amending the several acts imposing duties on imports—which acts had, in a convention of the above state, held at Columbia, November 24th, been pronounced to be unconstitutional, and therefore void, and of no binding force within the limits of that state. This proclamation was an able document, furnishing a sound exposition of the principles and powers of the government, and breathing a spirit of patriotic devotion to the constitution and union of the states. It evinced a fixed determination to maintain the laws and to resist all treasonable and disorganizing measures. Happily, this firmness of the Executive, with subsequent conciliatory measures of congress, saved the Union. For a considerable period the southern states, with the exception of South Carolina, had been considered, opposed to the exercise of power by the federal government. This state, although voting with the adjacent states on all local and on most national questions, had on some occasions, as in 1816, been foremost in asserting the right of congress to legislate on certain disputed points. Among these were the subjects of internal improvement, the United States Bank, and the tariff. A change of opinion had now taken place there, and it began to go beyond any of the advocates of state rights in its assertion of state sovereignty. A vehement opposition to the tariff, both in 1824 and on the subsequent modification in 1828, had been led by the talented delegation from South Carolina in congress; and when they were defeated in the halls of legislation, with characteristic energy they renewed their efforts to overturn the system, and to render it unpopular with the people. In the latter part of November, 1832, a state convention assembled at Columbia, which, at length, passed an ordinance, by which they declared: “That the several acts and parts of acts of the congress of the United States, purporting to be laws for the imposing of duties and imports on the importation of foreign commodities, and now having actual operation and effect within the United States, and more especially” two acts for the same purposes passed on the 29th of May, 1828, and on the 14th of July, 1832, “are unauthorized by the constitution of the United States, and violate the true meaning and intent thereof, and are null and void, and no law,” nor binding on the citizens of that state or its officers; and by the said ordinance it is further declared to be “unlawful for any of the constituted authorities of the state or the United States, to enforce the payment of the duties imposed by the said acts within the same state, and that it is the duty of the legislature to pass such laws as may be necessary to give full effect to the said ordinance.” This tone of menace naturally aroused the Executive to corresponding energy and decision. He immediately issued a proclamation, which will be long admired for its sound and able exposition of the principles of the constitution—for its breathings of a spirit of exalted patriotism—and its eloquent appeal to Carolina herself and to the other states, which were perhaps ready to join her standard, to remember the toil and blood which American liberty cost—the sacredness of the constitution—and the importance of the preservation of the Union. While the proclamation of the President was commended by most of the states of the Union, as an able and judicious document, it served to increase, rather than allay, the excited citizens of South Carolina. The legislature of that state being in session, authorized and instructed her governor to issue a counter proclamation, which he did on the 20th of December, in which, in consonance with the legislative resolutions, he “solemnly warned the citizens of South Carolina against all attempts to seduce them from their primary allegiance to the state.” “I charge you,” said he, “to be faithful to your duty as citizens of South Carolina, and earnestly exhort you to disregard those ‘vain measures’ of military force, which, if the President, in violation of all his constitutional obligations, and your most sacred rights, should be tempted to employ, it would become your solemn duty at all hazards to resist.” On the same day general orders were issued by authority of the legislature, to raise volunteers, either in companies, troops, battalions, squadrons, &c., for the purpose of repelling invasion and in support of the rights of the state. Under a deep sense of the importance of energy befitting the emergency, the President, January 16th, 1833, addressed a message to congress, in which, after giving a history of proceedings both on the part of Carolina and the general government, he recommended the adoption of such measures as would clothe the Executive with competent power to suppress the risen spirit of insubordination—sustain the public officers in the discharge of their duties—and give power to the courts to carry out their constitutional decisions. While the storm was apparently thus gathering strength, and was ready to burst in still greater violence upon the nation, two events occurred which served to allay it, and indeed were the harbingers of comparative peace and amity. The first of these was an affectionate appeal of the general assembly of Virginia to the patriotism and magnanimity of South Carolina, expressed in a preamble and resolutions, as honorable to the “Ancient Dominion” as any act of her life, and worthy of her in the days of Patrick Henry and his contemporaries. The other event was the passage of a bill introduced by Mr. Clay, termed the “compromise bill,” which was designed as an act of pacification between the north and south—a middle course between extremes; and although not entirely satisfactory perhaps to either party, it was accepted by both, and was the means, under Providence, of staying the risen storm. A convention was soon after held in South Carolina, which, in view of the appeal of Virginia, and the modification of the tariff, proceeded to recommend the following ordinance: “Whereas, the congress of the United States by an act recently passed has made such a reduction and modification of the duties upon foreign imports, as amounts substantially to an ultimate reduction of the duties to the revenue standard, and that no higher duties shall be made than may be necessary to defray the expenditures of the government:” “It is therefore ordained and declared, that the ordinance, entitled ‘An ordinance to nullify certain acts of the congress of the United States, purporting to be laws laying duties on the importation of foreign commodities,’ and all acts passed in pursuance thereof, be henceforth deemed and held to have no effect; provided, that the act entitled ‘An act further to amend the militia laws of this state,’ passed on the 20th day of December, 1832, shall remain in force until it shall be repealed, or modified by the legislature.”

The excitement at Washington at this time was seldom if ever surpassed. Every day was prominent with important measures and occurrences. The reception of, and debate upon, Mr. Clay’s “compromise bill” were things not to be forgotten. The senate, we are told, was a scene of the most intense interest. A multitude of both sexes filled the hall. Profound silence and gravity prevailed, and a deep sensation was evinced, as much by that general silence, as by the marked interruption of it once or twice by audible emotions. There was an opinion expressed on many sides that the “tariff bill would not, after all, pass the senate.” But the opinion was not, we see confirmed, by the issue. It passed that body by a vote of twenty-nine to sixteen. It was called the “bloody bill,” by the government journal, and was held by it to represent “the mortal remains of state rights.”

Congress adjourned on Friday morning, March the 1st, at one o’clock. On the following Monday, General Jackson, who had been re-elected President, was inaugurated with much parade and amid great shoutings. His address on the occasion, was received with great applause. The oath was administered to him and Mr. Van Buren by the chief justice. The President in his address recognised the importance of state rights, but properly insisted upon the equal, if not superior value of the Union, and the sacred duty of every state to contribute to its preservation by a liberal support of the government. He recognised the interest and importance of the time, and promised all his powers to sustain that principle which should make and continue us a united and happy people.

During the summer of 1833, the President visited New England, by the way of Philadelphia and New York; and, having proceeded as far as Concord in Massachusetts, returned again to the seat of government.

In this tour, the President was received in every place through which he passed with those demonstrations of respect and attention which are overdue to the chief magistrate of a free and enlightened people. Whatever opinions were entertained of his administration by his political opponents, they united in every suitable expression of honor to the man, whom the suffrages of a majority had elevated to the highest office in the nation. The President’s tour commenced on the 6th of June, and was suddenly terminated in the beginning of July—his return to Washington being hastened, as was said, by the state of his health, which had become too feeble to endure the fatigue incidental to such an expedition.

About this time several changes were effected in the cabinet. Edward Livingston, secretary of state, received the appointment of envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States to the court of France, and Louis M’Lane, secretary of the treasury, took his place, and William J. Duane, the office of Mr. M’Lane.

On the 18th of September, a communication was read to the cabinet by the President, showing his decision on the subject of the removal of the public deposits from the Bank of the United States. His own mind was determined upon that of removal; and he begged his cabinet “to consider the proposed measure as his own—in which he should require no one to sacrifice opinion or principle.” Mr. Duane being opposed, as was thought, to this course of the President, was removed, and R. B. Taney appointed in his place.

On Monday, the 30th of June, congress terminated its session. A few days before the close of the session, Andrew Stevenson was nominated as minister to the court of St. James, and Roger B. Taney, as secretary of the treasury. The latter gentleman had received his appointment from the President, during the recess of the senate. It had been the uniform practice for appointments of this kind to be laid before the senate, at the commencement of the session; but General Jackson had withheld his name till near its close; and for nearly seven months Mr. Taney had been permitted to discharge the duties of an office, which, according to the substantial meaning, if not the literal construction of the constitution, he had no right to hold.

The rejection of Mr. Stevenson was justified, on the principles early advanced by General Jackson, that the appointment of members of congress to important offices was calculated to introduce corruption into the government. But other reasons operated, and among them, the disclosure made to the senate of the assurance of the President months previously, through the secretary of state, to Mr. Stevenson, that he should have the appointment. This promise was made, it was said, under the expectation that Mr. Stevenson would carry out the views and several measures of the Executive; and in this view the ratification of his nomination was deemed highly improper.

Before the session closed, the following nominations were made and confirmed. John Forsyth, of Georgia, to be secretary of state; Levi Woodbury, of New Hampshire, secretary of the treasury; Mahlon Dickerson, of New Jersey, secretary of the navy; William Wilkins, of Pennsylvania, minister to Russia.

Just before the termination of the session, June 21st, the President communicated to congress, in a special message, the death of the illustrious La Fayette, which took place at his residence, La Grange, in France, on the 20th of May, at the advanced age of seventy-six. At the same time, orders were issued to the army and navy to honor the memory of the last of the generals of the Revolution. The house and senate chamber were both hung in black, agreeably to a resolution, unanimously adopted. It was also recommended by resolution, to the people of the United States to wear a badge of mourning for thirty days; and John Quincy Adams was appointed to deliver at the next session of congress, an oration on the life and character of our country’s friend.

The second session of the twenty-third congress commenced December 1st, 1834. The foreign relations of the country were represented by the President in his message to be unimpaired, and with all countries, save France, the understanding was such as was desirable. That government, however, still continued to persevere in her omission to satisfy the conceded claims of our citizens. The other prominent subjects regarded the United States Bank—the regulation of the deposits—and the impolicy and unconstitutionality of appropriations for internal improvements. The conduct of France towards the United States, in neglecting the payment of a just and already allowed debt, was generally censured in the United States. The President informed congress, “that, in his opinion, the United States ought to insist on a prompt execution of the treaty, and should an appropriation not be made by the French Chambers at their next session, prompt measures would not only be most honorable and just, but have the best effect on our national character.” This recommendation of the President was considered by some, in its practical effect, as a declaration of war, and especially as he recommended, in case of longer neglect, a law authorizing reprisals upon French property. But the expediency of reprisals upon French property recommended by the President, or indeed of any immediate action on the part of the national government, was considered by many extremely doubtful; and the senate, on the 14th of January, by a unanimous vote, stated this to be its opinion in a resolution to that effect. A similar resolution was adopted by the house. The prospect of a serious collision between these two nations, for a time so dark, at length passed away. In 1835, the President announced that France had acknowledged the validity of our claims as liquidated by the treaty of 1831, although payment was still withheld.

It may here be added, that during the year 1836, the President announced to the great satisfaction of the country that the appropriations having been made, our diplomatic relations with France had been resumed, and promised to be mutually beneficial to the two countries.

On the 6th of July, occurred the death of the venerable John Marshall, in Philadelphia, in the eighty-eighth year of his age. He had long been an ornament to the legal profession, and for several years had filled with distinguished ability the office of chief justice of the United States. To great talents and distinguished attainments, he united that integrity which inspired all parties with confidence, and that Christian principle which caused the nation to mourn over him at his decease, as “a great man fallen in Israel.”

The twenty-fourth congress commenced its first session on the 7th of December, 1835. James K. Polk was elected speaker. Among the appointments by the President at this period, were those of Roger B. Taney, as chief justice of the United States, and Andrew Stevenson, minister to Great Britain. The nomination of the latter met with strong opposition in the senate.

During this session the committee on naval affairs in the senate reported a bill, directing an “exploring expedition” to the Pacific Ocean and the South Seas, and authorizing the President to send out a sloop of war for that purpose. Mr. Reynolds, who may be considered the father of the scheme, presented the subject with much eloquence in the hall of representatives, at Washington. But the most important act of the legislature, was the “deposit or distribution act”—or a law requiring and regulating the deposits of the money of the United States with the banks of the several states, and the distribution of the surplus revenue among the several states. In the senate, the vote on the engrossment of the bill was, yeas, forty; nays, six. In the house, yeas, one hundred and sixty-three; nays, forty-four.

In April, an act had passed congress establishing the territory of Wisconsin. In June, Arkansas was admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original states—together with Michigan, under certain conditions. The act of admission settled the boundary dispute between Ohio and Michigan—and Michigan was admitted on her assent to the act.

Congress adjourned on the 4th of July—without any other event of much importance within the walls of the capitol. The only appointment of note made near the close of the session, was that of Lewis Cass, as minister to France.

One week after the close of the session, (July 11th,) an important circular was issued from the treasury department in relation to money to be received in payment for public lands. By this circular the receivers of public money were instructed, after the 15th day of August next ensuing, to receive in payment of the public lands nothing except what is directed by the existing laws, viz., gold and silver, and in proper places, Virginia land scrip. In order to secure the faithful execution of these instructions, all receivers were strictly prohibited from accepting for land sold, any draft, certificate, or other evidence of money or deposit, though for specie, unless signed by the treasurer of the United States, in conformity to the act of April 24th, 1820.

The last annual message of General Jackson was transmitted to the twenty-fourth congress, on the 6th of December, 1836, that body having entered upon its second session the preceding day.

The foreign relations of the country the President represented as amicable. In regard to the “deposit or distribution act,” passed by the last congress, it had received, he said, his “reluctant approval,” and “the consequences apprehended from it had been measurably realized. It was an act merely for the deposit of the surplus moneys of the United States in the state treasuries for safe keeping, until wanted for the service of the general government—but it had been spoken of as a gift—would be so considered—and might be so used.”

Contrary to the views of a large portion of the citizens of the United States, the President represented the “specie circular” of the 11th of July, as producing many “salutary consequences.” “It is confidently believed,” said he, “that the country will find in the motive which induced that order, and the happy consequences which will have ensued, much to commend and nothing to condemn.” In opposition to this opinion of the President, there were those who attributed to the operation of that circular a great part of the pecuniary embarrassment and disturbances of the currency, which afflicted the country.

Early in 1837, (January 14th,) a resolution called the “expunging resolution,” originally introduced into the senate, March 18th, 1833, and which had given birth to long and even acrimonious debates, was adopted by a majority of that body. The object of this resolution was to obliterate, or expunge from the senate journal a resolution adopted March 28th, 1834, censuring the President for removing Mr. Duane, and assuming power over the public revenue not conferred by the constitution. This latter resolution had given the President and his friends serious annoyance, and frequent but vain efforts had been made to blot it from the journal. At length, Mr. Benton succeeded by a small majority; and late at night, on the 10th of January, 1837, the secretary of the senate, by order, brought the journal of 1833–4, into the senate chamber, and spread open the condemned page upon the table. He then proceeded to draw black lines on the four sides of the recorded resolution, and on the face of it wrote—“expunged by order of the senate, January 16th, 1837.” Against this proceeding, Daniel Webster, in behalf of himself and colleague, read a solemn protest.

The time for the election of a successor to General Jackson having arrived, the ceremony of counting the votes given by the several electoral colleges for that object took place in the presence of both houses of congress, on the 8th of February, 1837, when Martin Van Buren was declared to be elected President for four years from the 4th day of March. The candidates were five in number. Mr. Van Buren, received of the votes cast, one hundred and seventy; William Henry Harrison, seventy-three; Hugh L. White, twenty-six; Daniel Webster, fourteen; and William L. Magnum, eleven.

In reviewing the administration of General Jackson, it is not to be denied that he was a remarkable man. He doubtless possessed many of those great qualities which give to one the indisputable command over the many. He was early inured to hardship and danger, and early acquired great independence of thought and action, and a contempt of opposition, which followed him through all the vicissitudes of his career. He made no pretensions to learning, or scholarship of any kind; indeed, his education was superficial and but barely sufficient to conduct him decently through life. In an accurate knowledge of the theory and science of government, and the details of legislation, many of his contemporaries were immeasurably his superior; but what he lacked in knowledge, he made up in boldness and decision. His measures were often hastily conceived, but pertinaciously adhered to. Obedience to his commands were as much required, while President of the United States, as while a general at the head of our armies. It is not to be denied, that he entered upon the discharge of his duties as president with an honest desire to serve his country faithfully, but such was the natural pertinacity of his character, that in the opinion of his political opponents, he was led to insist upon measures, the wisdom of which, under other circumstances, he himself would have questioned. The destruction of the United States Bank was in reality the great measure of his administration, he early conceived a prejudice against the officers of that institution, and was probably honest in the belief that its management was wrong. Hence, he was led with characteristic ardor to commence measures of hostility against it, which, it is well known, ended in the ruin of that great fiscal institution of the country. Its fall involved the fortunes of hundreds and thousands, whose entire means of subsistence were embarked in its immense capital. The ruin of this institution, in the belief of many, was conducive to the interests of the country, notwithstanding the sufferings it entailed upon thousands. Another portion of the community believe its downfall to have been the precursor of that wide spread commercial embarrassment—that derangement of the currency—that blight and bankruptcy of thousands, which for years distressed and harrassed the country. General Jackson, as a military commander, had doubtless his defects. He was stern, imperious, and determined. Yet, for his bravery, his patriotism, his success, he deserves a grateful remembrance; and due respect will doubtless be paid to his memory by the generations that follow. His reputation as a statesman will not be so unequivocal. Different estimates will be made—different views will be entertained. All will accord to him energy, independence, promptness, and determination; while some will not give him credit for having pursued that line of policy which resulted in the greatest prosperity to his country.

ADMINISTRATION OF MARTIN VAN BUREN.

On the 4th of March, 1837, the inauguration of Mr. Van Buren took place in accordance with the form prescribed by the constitution, in the presence of a large assemblage from all quarters of the country. The ex-president, the President elect, and the chief justice of the United States, arrived at the scene about twelve o’clock; the two former in a beautiful carriage, made from the timber of the frigate Constitution, escorted by the Potomac Dragoons, and a corps of infantry.

The address of Mr. Van Buren, on the occasion of his inauguration, may be said to have disappointed both political parties throughout the country. The temper of it was conceded even by his opposers to be good, and its entire exemption from invidious comparisons and allusions was worthy of all commendation. It was even less partisan, perhaps, than the political friends of the new President expected or desired; but to his opponents it induced the hope, that the vindictive strife which had long harassed the country, would be followed by a more tolerant policy. “If any exception be taken to the address,” said a distinguished journal, soon after its delivery, “it certainly will not be from the south, whose good-will its language is particularly adapted to conciliate.” By way of conciliating the south, he repeated an expression of opinion made before his election, that no bill which had for its object the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia against the wishes of the slave-holding states, would receive his sanction during his presidential career. To this he added: “For myself I desire to declare, that the principle that will govern me in the high duty to which my country calls me, is a strict adherance to the letter and spirit of the constitution, as it was designed by those who framed it. Looking back to it as a sacred instrument carefully and not easily framed; remembering that it was throughout a work of concession and compromise; viewing it as limited to national objects; regarding it as leaving to the people and to the states all power not explicitly parted with, I shall endeavor to preserve, protect, and defend it, by anxiously referring to its provisions for direction in every action. To matters of domestic concernment, which it has intrusted to the federal government, and to such as relate to our intercourse with foreign nations, I shall zealously devote myself; beyond those limits I shall never pass.”

On retiring from the presidential chair, General Jackson published a farewell address to his fellow-citizens, after the example of Washington. By his political friends this address was highly extolled, both for the wisdom and importance of its political maxims, and the warm regard expressed for the country and its institutions.

Others regarded it with less favor. They could admit that it expressed sound constitutional opinions on some important points, and developed the true policy of the federal government in relation to its intercourse with foreign nations—in relation to the several state sovereignties, and to the means of defence by an increase of the navy, and the establishment of more and better constructed fortifications. But they were not prepared to unite with this “second father of his country”—as his warm admirers denominated him—in his views of the currency of the country, nor in the wisdom of the measures which he had pursued, and which he still recommended in relation to it. They also dissented from some of his statements respecting the success of his administration, and particularly from the declaration, that he had left the “people prosperous and happy.”

Immediately after the termination of the twenty-fourth congress, the senate, in conformity with a previous summons issued by the President of the United States, held an extra session, for the purpose of transacting executive business. The following gentlemen having been nominated by the President, were confirmed by the senate, for the offices which they respectively filled, and composed the new cabinet, viz.: John Forsyth, secretary of state; Levi Woodbury, secretary of the treasury; Joel R. Poinsett, secretary of war; Mahlon Dickerson, secretary of the navy; Benjamin F. Butler, attorney-general. These gentlemen, with the exception of Mr. Poinsett, were members of the cabinet of General Jackson.

From whatever source it originated, there was no doubt of the fact, that a most extraordinary pressure in pecuniary affairs was now experienced throughout the country. From New York city a committee of merchants proceeded to Washington to confer with the President, upon the present and the threatening difficulties, and to obtain, if possible, the repeal of the treasury circular. The answer they received was, that it would neither be repealed nor modified. In the month of May, the financial affairs of the country reached a crisis towards which they had for some months past been rapidly hastening. The banks of New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore having suffered a heavy run for specie, which they could now no longer endure, resolved to suspend specie payments; which suspension was soon generally followed by a like suspension on the part of the banks throughout the whole country. Numerous failures of the merchants in all the principal cities were, about the same time, matters of almost daily occurrence. In New York they became at length so much a matter of course that they ceased to excite notice.

The banks in which the United States government deposited the national revenue were involved in the greatest calamity; and of course the law of congress which required these revenues to be deposited in specie-paying banks could not be complied with. The consequent embarrassment experienced by the government, induced the President on the fifteenth day of May, to issue his proclamation for an extra session of congress, to be convened on the first Monday of September following.

The extraordinary condition in which the country now found itself, led to a variety of measures for the purpose of affording temporary relief. Several of the state legislatures passed acts legalizing the suspension of specie payments on the part of the banks, and declaring that it should work no forfeiture of their charters. Some of the city governments passed by-laws, directing the issue of certificates for small sums, from five cents to two dollars, which should be receivable for taxes and debts due to the city government. Baltimore, for example, passed an ordinance for the issue of such certificates for an amount not exceeding one hundred thousand dollars, and Philadelphia a like ordinance for certificates to the amount of one hundred and thirty thousand dollars. The banks themselves were obliged to adopt new rules of business, and the entire pecuniary condition of the country seemed suddenly changed.

On the 4th of September, in compliance with the proclamation of the President, congress assembled in extra session. In his message of the following day, the President alleged as the reason for convening congress in extra session, the inability of the government to comply with the law requiring the revenues to be deposited in specie-paying banks, the apprehension that the suspension of specie payments in addition to the before existing pecuniary embarrassments of the country would so far diminish the public revenue, that it would be insufficient to defray the unavoidable expenses of the government, and the difficulties experienced by the mercantile interest in meeting their engagements. “Sensible that adequate provisions for these unexpected exigencies could only be made by congress, convinced that some of them would be indispensably necessary to the public service before the regular period of your meeting, and desirous also to enable you to exercise your full constitutional powers for the relief of the country,” the President remarks, “I could not with propriety avoid subjecting you to the inconvenience of assembling at as early a day as the state of the popular representation would permit.” The message proceeds to ascribe the pecuniary embarrassments of the country to the redundancy of credit acquired by excessive issues of bank paper, and by means of foreign loans, contracted by the states and state institutions; and above all, by the lavish accommodations extended by foreign dealers to our merchants, and as the consequence of this redundancy of credit, to what the message terms, “a spirit of adventurous speculation, embracing the whole range of human enterprise.” The President next adverted to the best mode of keeping the public funds. A national bank, as a fiscal agent, he repudiated, and also local banks, they having failed to answer the expectations of the government in this particular. He would propose “a separation of the fiscal operations of the government from those of individuals or corporations;” a divorcement of the government from banks and banking, and a thorough change of the custodaries of the public revenue. As a means of immediate relief, he advised to the postponement of the fourth instalment of the deposits with the states, and the issue of treasury notes receivable for all public dues, but without interest. Both by the President and the secretary of the treasury a new mode was proposed of keeping the public revenue. They proposed to place it in the custody of commissioners, or receivers-general, at certain central points; into their hands it was to be paid, and kept by them, subject to the call and control of the treasurer. Most of the money, it was supposed, could be paid out near the places where it was collected, and thus save the expense and hazard of transmission to the seat of government. “This organization,” said the secretary, “would be advantageous as a separate establishment for this business alone, and as an independent check on most of those collecting the revenues. But it would require some addition to the present number of offices, and in the first instance would more increase the public expense.” The whole additional offices supposed to be necessary were ten. The annual increase of expenses was estimated at sixty thousand dollars. The danger of losses would be no greater, and probably less, under this organization, than at present. Such was the general plan proposed for keeping the public moneys, and which it was urged would render the government more independent, and less subject to be affected by the vicissitudes of trade and speculation, and less under the control of selfish and moneyed corporations.

In accordance with the recommendation of the President and secretary of the treasury, a bill was early introduced into the senate for the safe keeping of the public funds, commonly denominated the Sub-Treasury bill. This was intended to be the prominent measure of the session, and was urged with great power and by numerous considerations upon the senate and house of representatives. By the senate it was adopted by a vote of twenty-six to twenty. In the house, after undergoing an animated and protracted discussion, it was laid upon the table, by a vote of one hundred and twenty to one hundred and seven. Subsequently, an effort was made to reconsider the vote by which the bill was laid upon the table, but was lost; the motion for reconsideration being itself disposed of in the same manner by a vote of one hundred and nineteen to one hundred and four.

The extra session of congress was brought to a close on the 16th of October. The two principal measures adopted, designed for the relief of the government, were the postponement to the first day of January, 1839, of the payment of the fourth instalment of the deposits with the states, and the issue of treasury notes to an amount not exceeding ten millions of dollars, reimbursable in one year, and of the denomination of not less than fifty dollars.

In the autumn of 1837, an insurrection broke out in the British provinces of Upper and Lower Canada. Citizens of the United States, sympathizing with the insurgents, enlisted into their cause, and attempts were made, in violation of the laws of the United States, to raise troops in our territory to aid the revolutionists. Great excitement prevailed among the inhabitants along the line of our north-western frontier. The President of the United States in order to sustain the laws, issued his proclamation under date of the 5th of January, declaring that all persons who should compromit the neutrality of the United States, would render themselves liable to punishment under those laws, which would be rigidly enforced. At the same time orders were issued from the war department to General Scott to repair to the Canada frontier with an armed force, to be furnished by the States of New York and Vermont, for the purpose of repelling an apprehended invasion of our soil. The immediate occasion of issuing these orders was an attack made by an armed force from Canada upon the American steamboat Caroline. This vessel, owned by an American citizen, and bound for Schlosser, upon the east side of the Niagara river, and within the United States, was boarded about midnight, on the 29th of December, by seventy or eighty armed men, who immediately commenced an attack upon the crew and passengers with muskets, swords, and cutlasses, and soon set her on fire, towed her into the current of the river, and abandoned her to the mercy of the cataract. Out of thirty-three individuals known to have been on board of her, twelve could not be found, and of those found, one, Amos Durfee, was dead, having been shot through the head with a musket hall, and several others were wounded.

Immediate steps were taken by the department of state to bring the whole subject to the notice of the British government. Sir Allen N. M’Nabb, the commander of the British forces on the Niagara frontier, in justification of this attack on the Caroline, alleged that he had the most positive information that she had been sold to the pirates on Navy Island, and, loaded with provisions and munitions of war, was destined to co-operate with the British rebels. Although the civil war in Canada was soon brought to a close, the difficulties between the two governments, growing out of the attack on the Caroline, still remained unadjusted.

The second session of the twenty-fifth congress commenced on the first Monday of December, 1837. The message of the President represented the condition of our foreign relations as not materially changed since the last annual message of his predecessor. Of questions pending between the United States and foreign governments, the most important regarded our north-eastern boundary. “The sole result of long pending negotiations and a perplexing arbitration,” the President observed, “appears to be a conviction, that a conventional line must be adopted, from the impossibility of ascertaining the true one, according to the description contained in the treaty. Without coinciding in this opinion, which is not thought to be well founded, my predecessor gave the strongest proof of the earnest desire of the United States to terminate satisfactorily the dispute, by proposing the substitution of a conventional line, if the consent of the states interested in the question could be obtained. To this proposition the British government have not yet replied.” The President urges upon the consideration of congress the claims of the government upon Mexico; that government having as yet declined to do any thing satisfactorily for the adjustment of our demands upon her for many cases both of public and private wrongs. The subject of the collection, transfer, and safe keeping of the public moneys was again represented as requiring the attention of the legislative department. The President considered congress as having decided, at the last session, against the creation of a national bank, and also against the deposit system. He therefore brought forward again the sub-treasury scheme as the only remaining expedient. A graduation of the prices of the public lands according to a valuation to be made, and an extension of the pre-emption laws in favor of settlers, were measures which the President seemed to regard with favor. The system of removing the Indians commenced by Mr. Jefferson in 1804, having been steadily persevered in by every succeeding president, was well nigh terminating in complete success, almost all the Indian tribes having been removed and established west of the Mississippi. The war in Florida still continuing, the principal part of the army had been concentrated there, with a view and in the expectation of bringing the war in that territory to a speedy close.

The second session of the twenty-fifth congress was terminated on the 9th of July, 1838, without however any thing having been done for the safe keeping, transfer, collection, and disbursement of the public moneys; and on the 14th of the same month, the secretary of the treasury issued his circular to the collectors and receivers announcing this fact, and urging upon them the necessity of scrupulously enforcing the regulations and instructions of the department, of accuracy in their accounts, punctuality in their returns, promptness in their payments, and of an entire forbearance to use any part of the public moneys. The acts passed at this session of congress were chiefly of a private nature, and few, if any of the measures recommended by the President in his message, were adopted.

On the 13th of August, 1838, by previous concert, many of the banks resumed specie payments. On the 23d of July previous, a convention was held in the city of Philadelphia, in which the banks of the states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri, were represented, and which unanimously resolved to recommend the 13th of August as a suitable and convenient time, on which to resume. Accordingly, on the arrival of that day, the resumption was generally effected without commotion, without injury to themselves, and without inconvenience to the mercantile part of the community. This was an event which had been devoutly looked for, and was welcomed by the whole country. Some anxiety was felt as to the effect resumption would have upon the specie-paying banks; but generally, it was accomplished with ease. In Philadelphia, where this anxiety was perhaps the greatest, the demands for specie were confined to the wants of the community for change.

On the 3d of December, 1838, the twenty-fifth congress commenced its third session. On the following day the President transmitted his message, in which he represented the foreign relations of the country as generally friendly. With Mexico an advance had been made toward an adjustment of difficulties by the conclusion of a treaty, which, when ratified, would refer all subjects of controversy to the arbitrament of a friendly power. The work of removing the Indians west of the Mississippi was yet in successful progress, the entire removal of the Cherokees having been now effected.

Of the financial state of the government and country, the President spoke in tones of exultation. “When we call to mind,” said he, “the recent extreme embarrassments produced by excessive issues of bank paper, aggravated by the unforeseen withdrawal of much foreign capital, and the inevitable derangement arising from the distribution of the surplus revenue among the states as required by congress; and consider the heavy expenses incurred by the removal of Indian tribes; by the military operations in Florida; and on account of the unusually large appropriations made at the last two annual sessions of congress for other objects, we have a striking evidence in the present official state of our finances, (estimated at $2,765,000 in the treasury on the 1st of January, 1839,) of the abundant resources of the country to fulfil all its obligations.”

This, by the opposition, was considered an extraordinary representation on the part of the President, when it was considered that the government had resorted to the issue of treasury notes by millions; and had withheld more than nine millions from the states, in order to maintain its credit and continue its operations. But still more extraordinary was it, in the view of some, that all the improvements in the condition of the country should be ascribed to the agency of the general government; when it was well known that the government as such, had done little, if any more than look after its own interest. Not a measure had been adopted for the relief of the banks, except extending the time of payment of the public deposits, which the government could not collect—and nothing for the people, except postponing the payment of bonds for duties to the amount of four or five millions of dollars.

The President also renewed his recommendation of the sub-treasury, and urged its adoption on the ground, as it was then understood, of a recent remarkable defalcation of a collector in one of the principal cities of the Union. This collector, it was subsequently made known to congress by a special message, was Samuel Swartwout, collector of the customs at New York. He was appointed to the office of the customs by General Jackson, in April, 1829, during the recess of the senate. On the 29th of March, 1830, he was nominated to the senate, and confirmed for four years. In 1834, he was appointed again. His term expired in March, 1838. To the nation this defalcation was surprising and distressing, and the more startling, as from the secretary’s report it appeared, that during the whole time of Mr. Swarlwout’s continuance in office, no suspicions had been excited at the treasury, that he was guilty of default. Yet, on investigation, it appeared that his peculations began with the first year of his holding the office, and continued to roll up rapidly to the close. It amounted to about one million and a quarter of dollars.

On the 26th of February, a message from the President was transmitted to congress, in relation to difficulties which existed between Maine and “the disputed territory.” Portions of this territory were under the actual jurisdiction and sovereignty of the British authorities, and other portions was under the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the State of Maine. Pending the negotiations between the government of the United States and that of Great Britain, for a final adjustment of the question, it seems to have been understood by the State of Maine, that the actual state of things in the territory was to remain undisturbed—Great Britain exercising her sovereignty where she already held it, and Maine doing the same. It appears, however, that a numerous band of depredators, chiefly from the adjoining British provinces, but without the sanction of their own government, entered on a part of the territory actually held by the State of Maine, and proceeded to cut down and destroy the timber. The governor of Maine, on being apprised of this fact, and under a special resolve of the legislature, despatched the land agent of the state, with what was deemed a sufficient force to repel the aggression. While the agent was proceeding in the accomplishment of his duty, he was seized by the trespassers and conveyed a prisoner into the province of New Brunswick. Thereupon, the governor of Maine dispatched a sheriff, and an officer appointed in place of the land agent, with an armed force, to vindicate the authority and honor of the state. Sir John Harvey, the lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, took fire, and a warm, if not an angry, correspondence ensued between him and the governor of Maine. The whole country, both on the side of Maine and in the British provinces, was thrown into a state of intense excitement; troops were raised and other hostile preparations made by both parties, and every thing seemed to threaten an immediate collision. In this crisis of affairs, the President of the United States transmitted a special message to congress, inviting their attention to the subject; and Major Gen. Scott received orders to repair to the scene of threatened hostilities, for the purpose of arresting any hostile movement, until an opportunity could be afforded for the two governments to treat upon the matter in dispute. The message to congress resulted in the passing of the act before mentioned, conferring additional powers on the President, and General Scott soon succeeded in restoring the quasi belligerents to a more amicable temper, and in effecting a temporary adjustment of the immediate difficulties. The military forces were to be withdrawn, and a small civil posse was to be left under the land agent to protect the timber, already cut, and to prevent further depredations, and the questions of possession and jurisdiction, were to remain as they were before the strife began.

During the third session of the twenty-fifth congress, an event occurred which excited the sensibilities of the whole nation, and called forth expressions of decided disapprobation from the candid of all parties. This was a duel fought with rifles near the city of Washington, between Jonathan Cilley and William J. Graves, both members of the house, the former from Maine, the latter from Kentucky. On the third fire, Mr. Cilley fell, mortally wounded.

The remains of the murdered man were attended to the grave by the President, the heads of departments, the members of both houses of congress, and a large concourse of citizens. The judges of the Supreme Court, then in session, were invited to attend the funeral. Most honorable to themselves, and honorable to the exalted stations they held, they entered upon their record the following resolves:

Resolved, That the justices of the Supreme Court entertain a high respect for the character of the deceased, sincerely deplore his untimely death, and sympathize with his bereaved family in the heavy affliction which has fallen upon them.

Resolved, That with every desire to manifest their respect for the house of representatives, and the committee of the house by whom they have been invited, and for the memory of the deceased, the justices of the Supreme Court cannot, consistently with the duties they owe to the public, attend in their official characters the funeral of one who has fallen in a duel.

Resolved, That these proceedings be entered on the minutes of the court, and that the chief justice inclose a copy to the chairman of the committee of the house of representatives.

The above tragical event justly excited the indignation of the nation. From every quarter a demand was made for some law to prevent such “wickedness in high places.” At length, a bill for an act was reported by a committee appointed for that purpose, which passed by a vote of one hundred and ten to twenty-one. The first section provided, that if any person shall, in the District of Columbia, challenge another to fight a duel, or accept a challenge, or shall knowingly carry a challenge to fight a duel in or out of the District of Columbia; and such duel shall be fought in or out of said district, and either of the parties shall be slain or mortally wounded, the surviving party and others connected, shall, on conviction, be punished by imprisonment and hard labor in the penitentiary for a term not exceeding ten years.

A second section provided, that the mere challenge, or aiding and abetting a challenge, which resulted in no duel, should be punished as above, for a term of five years.

A third section provided, that if any person be guilty of assaulting, striking or wounding another, for refusing to accept a challenge, or who shall post or publish any person, or use toward them opprobrious language for refusing to accept a challenge, shall, on conviction, be punished as above for a term not exceeding three years.

In August following (26th, 1839,) an event of a novel and interesting character occurred in the capture of the schooner Amistad, a Spanish vessel, found lying in the waters near Long Island. On board of her were two white men, Spaniards, Jose Ruiz and Pedro Montez, and fifty-four African negroes, under the command of one of their own number, whose name was Cinquez. The Amistad, it appeared from subsequent investigations, had sailed from Havana, in the Island of Cuba, for another port in the West India Islands, with a cargo of merchandise, and the Africans on board, claimed as slaves by the two Spaniards, Ruiz and Montez. After having been four nights at sea, the negroes rose upon the whites, killed the captain and crew, took possession of the schooner, and, in endeavoring to return to Africa, were at length found conveyed to the shores of Long Island.

The Amistad was first discovered by the United States revenue brig Washington, which took possession of her, with her cargo and crew, and brought her into the port of New London. The negroes, after an investigation before the district judge, were committed to take their trial before the circuit court of the United States, to be holden at Hartford, on the 17th of September, on a charge of piracy and murder on the high seas. The grand jury, however, under the charge of the court, found no bill against them, and they were discharged from the complaint, but retained in custody under a claim of property interposed by Ruiz and Montez—of the captors for salvage—and of the United States, made in compliance with a demand of the Spanish minister, that they should be surrendered to Spain, in accordance with a treaty existing between that government and the United States. The district attorney also filed a claim on behalf of the United States, that they should be delivered into the hands of the President to be sent back to Africa. On this state of the case, a writ of habeas corpus was obtained from the circuit court then in session at Hartford, to try their right to their liberty. That court decided, that as the Africans were held in custody under a regular process from the district court, they could not be discharged by habeas corpus, but must take their trial on the merits of the case. When the cause came on before the district court, the several claims aforesaid, with a single exception, were declared unfounded, and the Africans were ordered to be delivered to the President to be restored to Africa. From this decree an appeal was taken to the circuit court, which affirming the decree as a matter of form, the case was carried to the Supreme Court of the United States, which adjudged the Africans entitled to their unqualified discharge. The negroes rested their claim on the ground that they were free inhabitants of Africa, had been seized and sold to a slave trader, who had carried them to Cuba in violation of the existing laws of Spain. The conduct of the President of the United States, in making the United States government a party against these Africans, and in appealing from the decree of the district court in their favor, at the instance of the Spanish minister, was regarded by the friends of the Africans as an unwarranted and illegal exercise of power, and was severely reprobated and condemned by many of the public journals. The President was charged with being desirous of delivering up the Africans to the Spanish government, and was said to have ordered a vessel of war to proceed to New Haven, Connecticut, to be ready to take the Africans, for this purpose, from the hands of the district court. The friends of the President, however, claimed that he acted in this matter from a desire merely to ascertain the treaty obligations of the United States, and to preserve them inviolate.

On the 9th of October, 1839, another suspension of specie payments commenced at Philadelphia. It was soon followed on the part of the banks in the interior of Pennsylvania, in Baltimore, in Washington, and in Richmond, until in a short time it became general throughout the south and south-west. In this suspension the banks of New York and New England did not in general participate, but with the exception of the Rhode Island banks, continued to meet the demands made upon them for specie. This suspension was supposed to have for its immediate cause the difficulties and embarrassments of the United States Bank of Pennsylvania, whose drafts on Paris had been protested for non-acceptance. The drafts, however, were, on arriving at maturity, with a single exception, honored by Rothschild.

On the assembling of the twenty-sixth congress, on the 2nd of December, much difficulty was experienced in organizing the house of representatives. Five persons belonging to New Jersey had received certificates of election from the governor, which certificates, it was contended, of right belonged to others. On this question the two political parties in congress were suddenly arrayed against each other, and the state of feeling which followed can scarcely be described. At length the following resolution was offered to the house by Mr. Graves.

Resolved, That the acting clerk of the house shall proceed with the call of the members from the different states of the Union in the usual way, calling the names of such members from New Jersey as hold the regular and legal commissions from the Executive of that state. The discussion of the above resolution was continued until it was apparent to the whole house—the clerk refusing to put it—that unless some other and extraordinary measure was adopted, commensurate with the difficulties in which they were involved, no organization could be effected. In this juncture a resolution was offered, appointing Mr. Adams chairman of the house, which being adopted by a large majority, he was conducted to the chair.

Under the guidance of Mr. Adams, the house proceeded on the 12th to ballot for a speaker. Six ballotings were taken, when no choice having been made, an adjournment to the 16th was moved and carried. On this latter day, the balloting was resumed and resulted, on the eleventh balloting, in the choice of Robert M. T. Hunter,—the New Jersey members not voting.

On the 20th, the question was taken on a resolution to administer the oath to the five gentlemen from the State of New Jersey, who had presented credentials to the speaker and demanded to be sworn, and decided in the negative, one hundred and sixteen to one hundred and twelve.

This decision created a great sensation throughout the Union. It was a wide departure from precedent, and deeply wounding to the pride of New Jersey, as well as injurious to her interests.

The subsequent history of this case is interesting, but, in the opinion of the whig party, reflected great discredit on the majority in the house of representatives. An investigation of the subject was ordered, and the committee on elections entered upon the duty assigned them. They were proceeding in their investigations, when, on the 28th of February, the house directed the committee “to report forthwith which five of the ten individuals, claiming seats from the state of New Jersey, received the greatest number of lawful votes from the whole state for representatives in the congress of the United States, at the election of 1838, in said state.”

This committee reported in favor of the five administration candidates. A minority report was at the same time presented, which was ordered to lie on the table.

On the 10th of March, a resolution was introduced by Mr. Petriken, declaring the five persons who had brought no legal certificates, entitled to their seats, and directing the speaker to qualify them.

The previous question being moved by the author of the resolutions, debate was suppressed, and the vote taken, and the resolution adopted by a vote of one hundred and eleven to eighty-one; several whig members refusing to vote.

To a portion of the American people, no act could have appeared more arbitrary and unjust, however right and proper it might have seemed to the party in power; nor could many divest themselves of the impression, that this course was adopted to secure certain objects, which the administration had in view.

The opposition to Mr. Van Buren’s administration, growing out of his views and his course in relation to the currency, and augmented and heightened by the commercial revulsions which the country had experienced, and the pecuniary embarrassments under which it had been laboring for years, was now fast approaching to its crisis. On the 4th of December, 1839, a Whig National Convention, composed of delegates from the different states assembled at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for the purpose of nominating candidates for president and vice-president of the United States. The convention remained in session between two and three days, when having selected William Henry Harrison, of Ohio, as candidate for president, and John Tyler, of Virginia, as candidate for vice-president, and with great unanimity of feeling, resolved to support them, it adjourned.

The nomination thus made was unexpected to a considerable portion of the whig party. For a long time, their attention had been turned towards Henry Clay, and an anxious wish prevailed on the part of his special friends, that he should be put in nomination. They confidently expected it. But antecedently to the meeting of the convention, it had been the general, and even the universal opinion, that when that body should assemble and an interchange of views had been made, the man should be selected, who, it was thought, would concentrate the greatest strength against the existing administration. Preferences were, therefore, to be surrendered at the shrine of the country’s good—while, therefore, it was at first with painful emotions that the friends of Mr. Clay yielded, it was done with great unanimity and even cheerfulness, when it was perceived that by the nomination of Gen. Harrison other influences and interests would be secured, which were likely to result in his election.

From this time, General Harrison was distinctly before the people of the United States, as the candidate of the whig party for the presidency. With unexampled unanimity they rallied about him; and from this time the two great parties took the field, and never since the adoption of the constitution, did political enthusiasm rise higher, or were greater efforts made to elect the candidates, which each party proposed. The powers of the press were called into requisition, conventions, mass-meetings, varying from one thousand to twenty-five thousand, were assembled in various sections of the country; clubs were formed—log cabins erected, and the excitement and enthusiasm rolled up and were prolonged by the long and patriotic appeals of many of the first orators and statesmen in the country. The entire country was moved; the common business of men was visibly neglected and forgotten; the one all-absorbing theme was the approaching election and its issue. On that issue thousands were staked, and as men had thousands depending, their efforts were correspondingly vigorous and varied. Happy would the historian feel, if he could in truth exempt either party from the imputation of unfairness in every political transaction connected with the presidential election. Which party was the most censurable, we shall not attempt to decide. Individuals belonging to both were in some transactions sufficiently wrong.

On the 21st of July, 1840, the twenty-sixth congress adjourned. Two acts only of a public character are worthy of notice. The one providing “for taking the sixth census of the United States,” and the other “for the collection, safe-keeping, transfer, and disbursement of the public revenues.”

The act, viz., that for the collection, &c., of the public revenue, usually denominated the sub-treasury system, may be regarded as the great financial measure of Mr. Van Buren’s administration. It was early proposed by him, and in every subsequent message was urged upon the consideration of congress, as the best scheme which could be devised, by which the public revenue could be collected, safely kept, transferred, and disbursed. The debates on this system, by the supporters and opposers of the administration during the several sessions in which it was agitated, would fill volumes. By the President and his friends, it was eulogized and warmly recommended; by the opposition party, it was pointedly resisted and condemned. On this measure, and others, of a financial character connected with it, perhaps more than any other Mr. Van Buren staked his political fortune. With this, he entered into the election as a candidate for the presidency a second term.

On the 7th of December, 1840, the second session of the twenty-sixth congress commenced. Mr. Van Buren presented his last annual message; in which, after representing the foreign relations of the country as amicable, he proceeded to express his pleasure, that notwithstanding the various embarrassments which the government had to encounter; the great increase of public expenditure by reason of the Florida war; the difficulty of collecting moneys still due from certain banks, and the diminution of the revenue, &c., the business of the government had been carried on without the creation of a national debt.

Nominally the government had no such debt, but the foundation of a large debt had been laid, and only a few months from the time Mr. Van Buren left the presidential chair, the disclosure was made, that the country was involved in debt, and congress was called upon to provide means to sustain the waning credit of the government.

On the 10th of February, the ceremony of counting the votes for president and vice-president, took place in the hall of the house of representatives, in the presence of both houses of congress. The result was at length announced by the vice-president, as follows: For president—William Henry Harrison, of Ohio, two hundred and thirty-four; Martin Van Buren, of New York, sixty. For vice-president—John Tyler, of Virginia, two hundred and thirty-four; Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, forty-eight; Littleton W. Tazewell, of Virginia, eleven; James K. Polk, of Tennessee, one.

The majority for General Harrison in the electoral college was one hundred and forty-eight; a greater majority than any president had had, since the days of Washington. And thus a question was officially decided, which had excited the two great political parties of the country for months, and called forth more efforts on either side, than had been made at any previous election, since the formation of the government. The press, daily and weekly, had continued to pour out its political sentiments, and spread abroad its influences for and against the respective candidates; considerations of great interest and importance were urged; much truth was uttered and disseminated, and much calumny, falsehood, and detraction; popular meetings in numbers, character, and enthusiasm, never before known on the American soil, were held towards the conclusion of the political contest in every state, and in almost every county. Statesmen and orators of the highest reputation and ability itinerated the country, urging the freemen of the nation, on the one hand to retain the then president in power, and to carry out the principles and policy of his administration, as they valued the prosperity and perpetuity of the government; and, on the other hand, endeavoring to persuade them to discard a man, who by his selfishness, his disregard of the wants and necessities of the country, his obstinate adherence to measures after they were proscribed by the people, was laying the foundation of the ruin of the country; and to elevate a man to his place, one of the remnants of the “olden time;” a friend and companion of the earlier patriots of the country, who would restore the ancient order of things, and bring back the government to its original principles of action.

ADMINISTRATIONS OF WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON AND JOHN TYLER.

William Henry Harrison was inducted into the office of President of the United States, on the 4th of March, 1841. The ceremony of inauguration was attended by an immense concourse of people from all parts of the Union, who now united in giving an appropriate welcome to the hero, whom they had elevated to this proud distinction. For a period of twelve years, the government had been under the control of a party, whose principles and policy were opposed to those of General Harrison, and his political friends. It was quite natural, therefore, that on the occurrence of a change of administration so grateful to the latter, they should give expression to their feelings in demonstrations of unwonted joy.

The inaugural procession was grand and imposing, comprising several military companies, officers and soldiers, who fought under General Harrison, with a flag displayed at their head, taken from the enemy at the battle of the Thames, the President elect on a beautiful white charger, the committee of the senate, ex-presidents of the United States, the judiciary, foreign ministers, members of congress, members of the Harrisburg convention, governors, and ex-governors of states, members of state legislatures, officers of the army and navy, citizens, Tippecanoe clubs, corporate authorities, &c.

The inaugural address of General Harrison was a clear, plain, comprehensible document, and was delivered in a full, clear, unbroken voice, interrupted occasionally by the shouts of the multitudes responding to the principles and sentiments, which the address contained. The President elect spoke of his political sentiments and of the principles, which should govern him in the administration of the government. He declared himself clearly and explicitly in favor of a single presidential term, recognised the peculiar principles of the party which had chosen him to office in regard to the currency, spoke of the abuse of the veto power, the importance of preserving the elective franchise in its purity, the impropriety of Executive interference with the legislation of congress, the necessity of maintaining the national honor, of keeping the public faith with the aborigines of the country, and pledged himself to preserve the Constitution, so far as in him lay, in its original purity. Just as the President elect came to the concluding paragraph of his address, he paused to receive the oath of office from the hands of the chief justice of the United States; which done, he concluded with the following solemn and impressive declaration. “I deem the present occasion,” he said, “sufficiently important and solemn to justify me in expressing to my fellow-citizens a profound reverence for the Christian religion, and a thorough conviction that sound morals, religious liberty, and a just sense of religious responsibility, are essentially connected with all true and lasting happiness; and to that good Being, who has blessed us by the gifts of civil and religious freedom, who watched over and prospered the labors of our fathers, and who has hitherto preserved to us institutions far exceeding in excellence those of any other people, let us unite in fervently commending every interest of our beloved country in all future time.”

The new senate having been convened, proceeded shortly after the induction of General Harrison into office, to confirm the nominations made by him of gentlemen, whom he wished to constitute his cabinet—viz., Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts, secretary of state; Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, secretary of the treasury; John Bell, of Tennessee, secretary of war; George E. Badger, of North Carolina, secretary of the navy; John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky, attorney-general; and Francis Granger, of New York, postmaster-general.

Thus was the government organized under the presidency of General Harrison, and in a manner which the friends of the President regarded as highly auspicious to the best interests of the country. Many great and difficult questions, connected both with the foreign and domestic policy of the government, met the administration at the very threshold of its coming into power, and required all their wisdom, and skill, and patriotism, for a safe and satisfactory adjustment. On the one hand, there were the north-eastern boundary question, still pending with Great Britain, and certain difficulties and delicate matters growing out of the burning of the steamer Caroline, and the subsequent arrest and imprisonment, in the state of New York, of one Alexander M’Leod, a British subject, for the murder of Amos Durfee, one of the crew of that boat; and on the other, the agitating and embarrassing questions relating to the currency and financial condition of the country. The party, however, which had placed General Harrison in power, flattered themselves, that with the aid of the able cabinet he had selected, he would soon be able to adjust and arrange those difficult matters in a manner highly conducive to the national welfare. On the 17th of March, the President issued his proclamation convening congress to assemble in extra session, on the 31st of May following, for the purpose of taking into consideration the condition of the revenue and finances of the country. The great subject which had been the gist of the political controversy just ended, was thus to receive the almost immediate attention of congress; and the friends of the administration indulged the hope that the measures, which they believed the good of the country demanded, would soon be adopted, and on a footing promising the most complete success. What then was their disappointment and their grief, when, in less than a month reports were spread throughout the country, that the President was dangerously sick, and in a few days after, that he was no more! On the 4th of April, 1841, the following circular, signed by the different members of the cabinet, was issued, announcing to the nation the intelligence of his death.

“An all-wise Providence having suddenly removed from this life William Henry Harrison, late President of the United States, we have thought it our duty, in the recess of congress, and in the absence of the vice-president from the seat of government, to make this afflicting bereavement known to the country, by this declaration, under our hands. He died at the President’s house, in this city, this 4th day of April, Anno Domini, 1841, at thirty minutes before one o’clock in the morning.

“The people of the United States, overwhelmed like ourselves, by an event so unexpected and so melancholy, will derive consolation from knowing that his death was calm and resigned, as his life has been patriotic, useful, and distinguished; and that the last utterance of his lips expressed a fervent desire for the perpetuity of the Constitution, and the preservation of its true principles. In death, as in life, the happiness of his country was uppermost in his thoughts.”

A bereavement like this, unprecedented in the annals of the country, excited a universal sentiment of grief; and men of all parties united to do homage to the memory of the illustrious dead. After the performance of appropriate religious service at the presidential mansion, the body, followed by a magnificent cortege, was conveyed to the receiving tomb, in the city of Washington, whence it has been since transferred, at the request of the family friends, to a rural mound on the banks of the Ohio, near the former abode of the deceased.

The sad event was subsequently celebrated in all the principal cities and towns in the nation, by funeral processions, and funeral orations, in honor of the departed President.

On the very night of the melancholy catastrophe, the cabinet despatched a special messenger to the residence of the vice-president, in Virginia, to acquaint him with the national loss, that he might enter on the duties of the presidential office, which were now devolved on him by the Constitution. The vice-president, on receiving the intelligence, hastened to the seat of government, took the oath to discharge the duties of the office of President of the United States, invited the cabinet chosen by General Harrison to remain in their places, and immediately entered on the administration of the government. Thus, for the first time, in the history of the United States, was the vice-president called to discharge the functions of President.

President Tyler, having no public opportunity of presenting to the nation an exposition of the policy, which would guide his administration, in the form of an inaugural address, early after entering upon the duties to which Providence had called him, issued an official address to the people, containing a brief exposition of the principles, which he designed should govern him in the administration of public affairs. These were in general in accordance with those of his predecessor, and of the great political party, which had elevated him to the second office in the nation.

On the 13th of April, President Tyler addressed to the people of the United States, a recommendation of a national fast, to be observed on the 14th of May, with reference to the recent melancholy national bereavement. This recommendation of the President was strictly regarded throughout the country, and the 14th of May, 1841, was solemnly and religiously observed as a day of national fasting, humiliation and prayer.

On the 31st of May, 1841, congress assembled in accordance with the proclamation, which had been issued by President Harrison, and forthwith entered upon the business for which they had been assembled.

The first bill of importance, matured and adopted, was one to establish a uniform system of bankruptcy throughout the United States. As a reason for the adoption of such a system, it was urged with just weight, that owing to the extraordinary revulsions in trade and the pecuniary embarrassments resulting therefrom, which had taken place in the country within the last four years, there were more than five hundred thousand debtors in the United States, insolvent and for ever cut off from the prospect of being able to do any thing, either for themselves or their creditors, unless a bankrupt law should be passed for their relief. Petitions against the passage of this bill were also presented: and it met with strenuous opposition from members of congress of both political parties. The chief exception taken to the bill was its retrospective operation—discharging, as it did, contracts made before its passage. The operation of this measure was doubtless to furnish relief to many honest debtors; but it is needless to say, that the dishonest, in too many instances, took advantage of its provisions, and released themselves from solemn obligations, which they were able, but which they were unwilling, to fulfil.

The sub-treasury law, which Mr. Van Buren had so often and strenuously recommended to congress, and which had been adopted towards the close of his administration, was among the earliest laws repealed at the extra session. The vote on the question of repeal in the senate was twenty-nine to eighteen; in the house, one hundred and thirty-four to eighty-seven.

Another important measure adopted, was a bill providing for the distribution of the net proceeds of the public lands, and to allow to actual settlers certain pre-emption rights.

The main provisions of the bill are, that from and after the thirty-first day of December, 1841, there shall be allowed and paid to the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Michigan, over and above what each of the said states is entitled to by the terms of the compacts entered into between them and the United States upon their admission into the Union, the sum of ten per cent. upon the net proceeds of the sales of the public lands, which subsequent to the thirty-first day of December, 1841, shall be made within the limits of the said states respectively; and that after deducting the said ten per cent. and what by the before-mentioned compacts has been allowed to the states aforesaid, the residue of the net proceeds, after paying the expenses of the General Land Office, the expenses of surveying, and selling the said lands, &c., shall be divided among the twenty-six states of the Union, and the district of Columbia, and the territories of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Florida, according to their respective federal representative population, as ascertained by the last census, to be applied by the legislatures of the said states to such purposes as the said legislatures may direct; the share of the district of Columbia, however, to be applied to free schools, or education in some form, as Congress may direct. The net proceeds of the said sales are to be paid to the agents of the states, at the treasury of the United States, half yearly, that is, on the first day of January, and the first day of July, in each year.

The act grants to each of the states to which the ten per cent. distribution is to be made, five hundred thousand acres of land for purposes of internal improvement; or in cases where such grants have heretofore been made to any state, such number of acres as together with the previous grants, shall amount to five hundred thousand acres.

The provisions of this act in regard to pre-emption, are, substantially, that, with certain limitations, and restrictions provided in the act, every person being the head of a family, or widow, or single man, over the age of twenty-one years, and a citizen of the United States, or having filed a declaration of an intention to become a citizen in accordance with the naturalization laws, who since the first day of June, 1840, has settled, or shall hereafter settle on the public lands, may have the privilege of purchasing such land in which he has settled or shall settle, not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres, on paying to the United States the minimum price of such land.

The act is to continue in force until it shall be otherwise provided by law, unless the United States shall become involved in war with any foreign power, in which event, it is to be suspended during the war; and if at any time during the existence of the act, there shall be an imposition of duties on imports inconsistent with the provisions of the revenue act of 1832, and other revenue laws, and beyond the twenty per cent. duty on the value of the imports established by that act, in such case, the act is to be suspended until this cause of suspension shall be removed.

The duties on imports, having been constantly decreasing for several years, in accordance with the provisions of the revenue act of 1832, the revenue had at length become insufficient for the purposes of the government. A bill, therefore, was passed by congress for the imposition of duties of twenty per cent. on the value of all articles of import not expressly excepted therein. It was to take effect on the 1st of October, 1841.

But the great measure of the extra session however, was the establishment of a Bank of the United States. Whether there should be such an institution in the country, existing by any law of congress, had, indeed, been a great and exciting question for the twelve previous years. Both General Jackson and Mr. Van Buren, and the party, which they represented, were hostile to any such institution. During the then recent presidential contest this question had been extensively discussed, and the rival candidates, it was very well understood, entertained opposite views on the subject. The election of Gen. Harrison was considered, therefore, as an expression in favor of such an institution, by that majority of the people, which elevated him to the presidency; and the creation of such a bank, it was understood, was among the weighty and important matters on account of which the new President issued his proclamation for an extra session of congress. President Tyler, too, in his message to congress, on the assembling, seemed to join in the intimation before given by President Harrison, that some suitable agency ought forthwith to be established, for the purpose of collecting, keeping, and disbursing the public revenues.

Accordingly, soon after the opening of congress, a bill for the establishment of a National Bank, prepared by the secretary of the treasury, Mr. Ewing, was referred to a committee of the senate. This bill being drawn up by a member of the cabinet, it was generally supposed was in accordance with the views of the President, and if passed, would receive his sanction.—The bill provided for the establishment of a bank in the district of Columbia, to be termed, the “Fiscal Bank of the United States,” with power to establish branches in the states, with the consent of the states.—The committee of the senate to whom the subject had been referred, after due deliberation, reported a bill for the establishment of a Fiscal Bank, concurring in the main with the bill framed by the secretary of the treasury, but differing from it in one important feature, namely, in the power of the parent bank to establish branches in the different states without their assent. The charter of the bank of 1816 was assumed as the basis of the bill. The parent bank was to be located at the city of Washington, and to be under the control of nine directors, to be appointed annually, and to receive an annual stipend for their services, but not to be allowed any accommodation from the bank, in the shape of loans or discounts. The parent bank was to make no loans or discounts except to the United States government, and to that, only such as should be authorized by law. The capital stock of the bank was to be the sum of thirty millions of dollars; congress retaining the power to increase it to fifty millions. The dividends were to be limited to seven per cent. on the capital stock, the excess over that sum to be reserved until it should constitute a fund of two millions of dollars to be appropriated to the purpose of making good any losses which might be sustained, and the excess beyond that sum of two millions to be paid into the United States treasury. The directors were to have power to establish branches in the different states, and to commit the management of them to such persons as they should see fit. Foreigners were prohibited from holding any part of the capital stock. The United States were to subscribe for one-sixth part of the shares, and the individual states were also to be allowed to subscribe. Such were the main features of the bill as reported by the committee of the senate.

This bill, on being reported to the senate, encountered strenuous opposition from the anti-administration senators, who used all their efforts and skill, first to render it a nullity by means of different amendments which they proposed, and finally to destroy it altogether. The great advocate of the bill was the chairman of the committee who reported it, the Hon. Henry Clay. The most serious opposition to it came in the shape of an amendment, prepared by the Hon. Wm. C. Rives, of Virginia. This senator, perceiving in the bill what he deemed an infringement upon the rights of the states, reserved to them by the constitution, moved so to amend it, that no branches should be established in the states without the assent of their legislatures; branches being once established, however, not to be withdrawn without the assent of congress. This amendment was regarded by Mr. Clay and those who acted with him, as calculated to affect the bill in a vital part, and was strenuously resisted. After considerable debate, however, and a calculation of the probable chances of its passage unless some concession were made to the views of the friends of state-rights, Mr. Clay consented to a compromise, and the bill was so modified as to give the parent bank power to establish branches in such states as should not at the first session of their legislature, holden after its passage, express their dissent, and to make it imperative on the directors to establish a branch in any state in which two thousand shares should have been subscribed, or should be holden, whenever upon application of the legislature of such state congress should by law require the same. In case the legislature of any state should express neither assent nor dissent, its assent was to be presumed; and it was to be the duty of the directors to establish branches in the states, at all events, whether with the assent of the states or against their dissent, in case congress should by law so direct, for the purpose of carrying into effect any of their constitutional powers.

With this amendment, and some others of less importance, the bill finally passed the senate, and in a few days thereafter the house of representatives, and was presented to the President for his approval. The President, after retaining the bill in his hands until the constitutional period of ten days, allowed him for the purpose of consideration, had nearly expired, and during which time the whole country was awaiting his decision with the most anxious solicitude, at last, on the 16th of August, returned it to the senate with his veto.

In his assigning his reasons for such a measure, the President says, “the power of congress to create a National Bank to operate per se over the Union has been a question of dispute from the origin of the government. Men most justly and deservedly esteemed for their high intellectual endowments, their virtue, and their patriotism, have in regard to it, entertained different and conflicting opinions. Congresses have differed. The approval of one President has been followed by the disapproval of another. The people at different times have acquiesced in decisions both for and against. The country has been and still is agitated by this unsettled question. It will suffice for me to say, that my own opinion has been uniformly proclaimed to be against the exercise of any such power by this government. On all suitable occasions, during a period of twenty-five years, the opinion thus entertained has been unreservedly expressed.”

This exercise of the veto power by the President, produced a great sensation both in congress and elsewhere throughout the country. With the political friends of the President, that is, with those to whom he owed his elevation to power, it was generally a subject of extreme regret; and it was even rumored that, in consequence of the veto, the cabinet would be dissolved, and an open separation would ensue between the President and the whig party. By the anti-administration party, on the other hand, the veto was hailed with joy, and the President, it was said, had saved his country. The message, however, met with a milder reception from the dominant party in congress than had generally been anticipated. The President seemed to be generally regarded as honest in his convictions and conscientious in his scruples, and a desire was soon manifested, on the part of those whose views differed from his, to have a new bill introduced into congress which should be free from what the President regarded as constitutional objections. The reasoning of the President in regard to the bill which he had returned, seemed to be directed mainly against the power to discount, and the power to establish offices of discount in the different states. In regard to the power to deal in exchanges, he expressed himself with more favor, and it was pretty generally inferred by those who read the message, that he would not disapprove a bill to establish a bank whose object should be to deal in exchanges. Accordingly, in a few days after the reception of the veto, a bill to establish such a bank under the title of the “Fiscal Corporation of the United States,” was introduced into the house of representatives, by the Hon. John Sergeant, of Pennsylvania, soon passed, sent to the senate, there confirmed, and transmitted to the President for his signature. This bill, it was supposed, had been drawn up by those well acquainted with the President’s views, and in such a manner that he would surely give it his sanction. It was supposed that the party in power would not hazard a second experiment of the kind without having satisfactorily ascertained that such was the fact. But rumor soon began to whisper, that this bill also was to meet the fate of its predecessor. Nothing, however, was definitely known on the subject, until the 9th of September, when the President fully confirmed all that rumor had said, by returning the bill to the house of representatives with his veto.

This was a result sufficiently mortifying to the party, which had contributed to the election of Mr. Tyler as the associate of the lamented Harrison, and tended, in no small degree, to weaken the confidence which that party had reposed in him. From this time, it was obvious, that the President and his former political friends could no longer act in concert.

On the 13th of September, congress adjourned. Two days before, the whig members of the senate and of the house of representatives held a meeting in the city of Washington, at which it was resolved to publish an address to the people of the United States, containing a succinct exposition of the prominent proceedings of the extra session.

In that address, after speaking of the repeal of the sub-treasury law—the enactment of the land bill—and the passage of the bankrupt act—on account of which, considering their importance, they might well congratulate themselves and the country—they proceeded to profess their “profound and poignant regret,” that they had been defeated in two attempts to create a fiscal agent, of the necessity and importance of which they had satisfactory proof. “Twice have we,” said they, “with the utmost diligence and deliberation matured a plan for the collection, safe-keeping, and disbursing of the public moneys through the agency of a corporation adapted to that end, and twice has it been our fate to encounter the opposition of the President, through the application of the veto power. The character of that veto in each case, the circumstances in which it was administered, and the grounds upon which it has met the decided disapprobation of your friends in congress, are sufficiently apparent in the public documents, and the debates relating to it. This subject has acquired a painful interest with us, and will doubtless acquire it with you, from the unhappy developments, with which it is accompanied. We are constrained to say that we find no ground to justify us in the conviction that the veto of the President has been interposed on this question solely upon conscientious and well considered opinions of constitutional scruples as to his duty, in the case presented.” In another part of that address they say, “It is with profound sorrow we look to the course pursued by the President. He has wrested from us one of the best fruits of a long and painful struggle, and the consummation of a glorious victory; he has even, perhaps, thrown us once more upon the field of political strife, not weakened in numbers nor shorn of the support of the country, but stripped of the arms which success had placed in our hands, and left us again to rely upon that high patriotism, which, for twelve years, sustained us in a conflict of unequal asperity, and which finally brought us to the fulfilment of those brilliant hopes which he had done so much to destroy.”

The dissatisfaction thus manifested by the dominant party in congress soon extended itself to the cabinet of the President, which, in less than a week following the second veto of the President, was dissolved; the different members, with the exception of the secretary of state, resigning their places. The reasons for this step were given in detail, in a letter addressed to the President by Mr. Ewing, the secretary of the treasury, and published in the public journals. These reasons mainly referred to the exercise of the veto power by the President, and more especially to the course which Mr. Ewing stated the President had pursued in relation to the bill for the establishment of a fiscal corporation. This bill, Mr. Ewing says, was drawn up at the President’s request, considered and approved by him, and at his instance introduced into congress. On the resignation of his cabinet, the President nominated the following gentlemen to fill their places, viz.: Walter Forward, of Pennsylvania, secretary of the treasury; John M’Lean, of Ohio, secretary of war; Abel P. Upshur, of Virginia, secretary of the navy; Hugh S. Legare, of South Carolina, attorney-general; and Charles A. Wickliffe, of Kentucky, postmaster-general; which nominations the senate confirmed.

It may be here added, that great surprise was manifested, and deep regret expressed, that Mr. Webster, the secretary of state, still continued to occupy his place in the cabinet. His political friends, while they believed he was actuated by pure and patriotic motives, would have been better pleased, had he by resignation borne signal testimony against a course pursued by the President, subversive of some of the most favorite measures of the party, which had elevated him to the high office he held. The continuance of Mr. Webster in office proved, however, of signal advantage to the country, as through his instrumentality, more than that of any other man, that long agitated and most vexatious question, relative to the north-eastern boundary, was settled to the satisfaction of both the governments, interested therein.

On the 6th of December following, the twenty-seventh congress commenced its second session. In his message on the following day, the President adverted to several topics of national interest—the principal of which were our relations with Great Britain—the Florida war—the census—the tariff—and the adoption of some plan for the safe-keeping of the public funds.

Great Britain had made known to this government, the President said, that the expedition, which was fitted out from Canada for the destruction of the steamboat Caroline, in the winter of 1837, and which had resulted in the destruction of said boat, and the death of an American citizen, was undertaken by order from the authorities of the British government; and that if Alexander M’Leod, a British subject, indicted for that murder, was engaged in that expedition, that government demanded his release, on the ground that he was acting under orders of the government. Fortunately for the peace of the two countries, before this demand was made, M’Leod had been tried in the state of New York and acquitted. The affair of the Caroline, however, remained unadjusted; and, having now been publicly sanctioned by the British government, it would become a matter of grave negotiation with that government.

The war with the Indian tribes on the peninsula of Florida during the summer and fall, had been prosecuted with untiring activity and zeal. In despite of the sickness incident to the climate, our troops had penetrated the fastnesses of the Indians, broken up their encampments, and harassed them exceedingly.

The census for 1840, had been completed, and exhibited a grand total of 17,069,453; making an increase over the census of 1830, of 4,202,646, and showing a gain in a ratio exceeding thirty-two and a half per cent., for the last ten years.

Apprehending that a revision of the tariff might be deemed necessary, the President expressed a wish, that in that case, moderate counsels might prevail. In regard to discrimination as to articles, on which a duty might be laid, he admitted that so long as reference was had to revenue to the wants of the treasury, no well founded objection could exist against such discrimination, although by that means incidental protection should be furnished to manufactures. It might, however, he said, be esteemed desirable that no such augmentation of the taxes should take place, as would have the effect of annulling the land proceeds distribution act of the last session, which act is declared to be in operation the moment the duties are increased beyond twenty per cent., the maximum rate established by the compromise act.

Next, he adverted to a pledge, which he had given at a former day, to suggest a plan for the control and safe-keeping of the public funds. “This plan contemplates,” said he, “the establishment of a board of control, at the seat of government, with agencies at prominent commercial points, or wherever else congress shall direct, for the safe-keeping and disbursement of the public moneys; and a substitution, at the option of the public creditors, of treasury notes, in lieu of gold and silver. It proposes to limit the issues to an amount not to exceed 15,000,000 dollars—without the express sanction of the legislative power. It also authorizes the receipt of individual deposits of gold and silver to a limited amount, and the granting of certificates of deposit, divided into such sums, as may be called for by the depositors. It proceeds a step further, and authorizes the purchase and sale of domestic bills, and drafts resting on a real and substantial basis, payable at sight, or having but a short time to run, and drawn on places not less than one hundred miles apart—which authority, except in so far as may be necessary for the government purposes exclusively, is only to be exerted upon express condition, that its exercise shall not be prohibited by the state in which the agency is situated.

“In order to cover the expenses incident to the plan, it will be authorized to receive moderate premiums for certificates issued on deposits, and on bills bought and sold, and thus, as far as its dealings extend, to furnish facilities to commercial intercourse at the lowest possible rates, and to subduct from the earnings of industry, the least possible sum. It uses the state banks at a distance from the agencies as auxiliaries, without imparting any power to trade in its name. It is subjected to such guards and restraints as appear to be necessary. It is the creature of law, and exists only at the pleasure of the legislature. It is made to rest on an actual specie basis, in order to redeem the notes at the places of issue—produces no dangerous redundancy of circulation—affords no temptation to speculation—is attended by no inflation of prices—is equable in its operation—makes the treasury notes, which it may use along with the certificates of deposit, and the notes of specie paying banks—convertible at the place where collected, receivable in payment of government dues—and, without violating any principle of the Constitution, affords the government and the people such facilities as are called for by the wants of both. Such, it has appeared to me, are its recommendations, and in view of them it will be submitted, whenever you require it, to your consideration.”

Among the measures adopted by the second session of the twenty-fifth congress, the first we shall notice was an act for apportioning the representatives, among the several states according to the fourth census. Several different ratios were proposed, but at length the number of one representative for every 50,179 was adopted by the house. This number was changed in the senate for 70,680; and after a long discussion in the house, the amendment was agreed to. A further amendment was also concurred in, viz., that each state having a fraction greater than a moiety of the said ratio should be entitled to an additional representative. This act received the approval and signature of the President on the twenty-fifth of June. But accompanying the message, announcing that approval, was an intimation that he had caused the act to be deposited in the office of the secretary of state, accompanied by an exposition of his reasons for giving it his sanction. Such a course on the part of a president, being unprecedented, a resolution was adopted, calling on the secretary for an authenticated copy of those reasons.

When furnished, it appeared that the chief objection which the President had to the bill, was its mandatory requisition upon the states to form districts for the choice of representatives to congress, in single districts. Of the constitutional power of congress in this respect, as well as in regard to the policy of the act, he had serious doubts; but he had signed the bill “from respect to the declared will of the two houses.”

The course thus taken by the President, in depositing this act, with his reasons, in the office of the secretary of state, being entirely novel, and in the view of many highly exceptionable, the subject was referred to a committee, who submitted a long report, in which they said, “the committee consider the act of the President, notified by him to the house of representatives, in his message of the 23d ult., as unauthorized by the constitution and laws of the United States, pernicious in its immediate operation, and imminently dangerous in its tendencies. They believe it to be the duty of the house to protest against it, and to place upon their journal an earnest remonstrance against its ever being again repeated.”

On the 31st of March, 1842, an interesting scene transpired in the Senate. This was the withdrawal of Mr. Clay from his senatorial office, to private life, after a continuous service of nearly thirty-six years in the public councils, in conformity to a letter of resignation, which, on the 16th of February, he had addressed to the general assembly of Kentucky. Previously to retiring, Mr. Clay made use of the occasion of presenting the credentials of his appointed successor, to address to the senate some valedictory remarks, in which he touched briefly and successively on the high constitutional attributes and character of the senate, on his long service in that and other departments of the public service, on the state of public affairs, with some references personal to himself. This address, delivered with unusual earnestness and depth of intonation, was received by the senate, and an immense concourse of auditors, with deep silence and the most profound attention. As it was an event, and a moment calculated to fill the veteran statesman with emotion, it was one which imparted a sympathetic interest to the public; and, in the expectation and hope of hearing again, and for the last time, the manly tones of that voice which had so often thrilled every heart with delight and admiration, the chamber and galleries were early filled with an eager and anxious auditory of both sexes. Seldom have the anticipations of any assemblage in the capitol been more richly realized, or their sensibilities more profoundly excited. The scene was indeed most impressive, and will never be forgotten by any of the thousand individuals who witnessed it. At one moment, when the orator approached the theme of his gratitude to the noble state, which had so long honored and cherished him, when his utterance was choked, and his voice failed, and he paused to wipe the tears from his eyes, it is believed there were few other eyes present which remained dry.

In the course of his valedictory, he said: “I go from this place under the hope that we shall mutually consign to perpetual oblivion, whatever personal collisions may at any time unfortunately have occurred between us; and that our recollections shall dwell in future only on those conflicts of mind with mind, those intellectual struggles, those noble exhibitions of the powers of logic, argument, and eloquence, honorable to the senate, and to the nation, in which each has sought and contended for what he deemed the best mode of accomplishing one common object, the interest and the most happiness of our beloved country. To these thrilling and delightful scenes, it will be my pleasure and my pride to look back in my retirement with unmeasured satisfaction.”

In conclusion, he added: “In retiring as I am about to do, for ever from the senate, suffer me to express my heartfelt wishes that all the great and patriotic objects of the wise framers of our constitution may be fulfilled; that the high destiny designed for it, may be fully answered; and that its deliberations, now and hereafter, may eventuate in securing the prosperity of our beloved country, in maintaining its rights and honors abroad, and upholding its interests at home. I retire, I know, at a period of infinite distress and embarrassment. I wish I could take my leave of you under more favorable auspices; but, without meaning at this time to say whether on any, or on whom reproaches for the sad condition of the country should fall, I appeal to the senate and to the world to bear testimony to my earnest and continued exertions to avert it, and to the truth that no blame can justly attach to me.

“May the most precious blessings of Heaven rest upon the whole senate, and each member of it, and may the labours of every one redound to the benefit of the nation, and the advancement of his own fame and renown. And when you shall return to the bosom of your constituents, may you receive that most cheering and gratifying of all human rewards—their cordial greeting of ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’

“And now, Mr. President, and senators, I bid you a long, a lasting, and a friendly farewell.”

During the month of June, 1842, the Exploring Expedition returned to the United States, having been absent three years and ten months, and having sailed nearly 90,000 miles. The vessels attached to this expedition left the Capes of the Chesapeake, August 19th, 1838, and sailed for Rio Janeiro, whence, on the 6th of January, 1839, they sailed for the north of Patagonia, and thence to Nassau Bay, in Terra del Fuego. The Peacock, Porpoise, and two schooners thence made cruises towards the pole; but as the season was far advanced, they did not quite reach the highest latitude attained by Cook. The Vincennes remained at Nassau Bay to carry on surveys, and magnetic observations. In May, the vessels were again together at Valparaiso, and in July they left the South American coast, and after surveying fourteen or fifteen of the Pawmotee Islands, two of the Society Islands, and all the Navigator’s group, on the 28th of November, they reached Sidney, in New South Wales. On their second antarctic cruise, land was first discovered in longitude 160 degrees east, and latitude 66 degrees, 30 minutes south. The Vincennes and Porpoise pursued the barrier of ice to the westward, as far as 97 degrees east longitude, seeing the land at intervals for fifteen hundred miles. They could not land, however, though many specimens of rocks were collected and brought home. On the 24th of April, the vessels proceeded to the Feejees, where nearly four months were occupied in surveys and scientific observations. They next visited the Sandwich Islands—the Vincennes spending the winter at the group. The Peacock and Flying Fish were cruising in the equatorial regions of the Pacific, visiting and making charts of the various groups of islands scattered throughout the seas. In the spring of 1841, the Vincennes and Porpoise were on the coast of Oregon, where the former was wrecked. They made several land expeditions into the interior, of from five hundred to a thousand miles each, and one of eight hundred miles to San Francisco, in California. The vessels left California in November, 1841; and, after touching at the Sandwich Islands, and visiting Manilla, Singapore, and the Cape of Good Hope, reached New York as above stated.

During their absence, they surveyed nearly two hundred and eighty different islands, besides eight hundred miles in Oregon, and one thousand, five hundred miles along the icy barrier of the antarctic continent. The number of sketches of natural scenery brought home, were about five hundred; the number of portraits about two hundred. Of birds about one thousand species, and twice that number of specimens were collected; besides great numbers of fishes, reptiles, insects, shells, &c. This expedition was fitted out at a great expense, and its results have proved highly honorable to the nation which projected, and the officers who executed it. Several volumes containing a history of the expedition, with its discoveries, scientific researches, &c., have been published, at the national expense.

On the 20th of August, 1842, an important treaty with England, the first it is believed ever negotiated with that power in the United States, was ratified by the senate, by a vote of 39 to 9. By this treaty, the north-eastern boundary between the United States and Great Britain was settled. For nearly half a century, this question had agitated both countries; and while the question had thus remained unsettled, events were frequently occurring to create new difficulties in reference to it, until, at length, such was the sensitiveness of parties interested, it was perceived that the controversy must be settled, and that, too, in a spirit of conciliation and compromise, or the countries might find themselves, ere long, involved in war. But in this state of things, the English ministry resolved to gratify at once their sense of the importance of immediate adjustment, and their respect for the government of the United States, by sending a special and extraordinary mission. For this work of reconciliation, they selected Lord Ashburton, a gentleman fully acquainted, for many years, with affairs between his own country and ours; and who was ready to sit down to existing topics in a business-like way, to treat them frankly and fairly, and to remove all obstacles, as far as he was able. He is reported to have said of himself, “I came not to make difficulty, but to make a treaty.” Fortunately for the country, at this most important juncture, Mr. Webster was still in the cabinet. Perhaps no other citizen in the United States was so competent to negotiate on this confessedly important, but difficult subject. The President also manifested a sincere desire to arrange the questions in difference between the United States and England, in a manner honorable and satisfactory. As the states of Massachusetts and Maine were interested in the divisional or boundary line, which should be agreed upon, commissioners were appointed by the legislature of those states, to protect their respective interests—on the part of Maine, EDWARD KAVANAUGH, EDWARD KENT, N. P. PREBLE, and JOHN OTIS; on the part of Massachusetts, ABBOT LAWRENCE, JOHN MILLS, and CHARLES ALLEN.

By the first article of this treaty, the north-eastern boundary line is defined and established. “It is hereby agreed and declared, that the line of boundary shall be as follows:—Beginning at the monument at the source of the river St. Croix, as designated and agreed to by the commissioners under the 5th article in the treaty of 1794, between the governments of the United States and Great Britain; thence, north, following the exploring line run and marked by the surveyors of the two governments, in the years 1817 and 1818, under the 5th article of the treaty of Ghent, to its intersection with the river St. John, and to the middle of the channel thereof; thence, up the middle of the main channel of said river St. John, to the mouth of the river St. Francis; thence up the middle of the main channel of said river St. Francis, and of the lakes through which it flows, to the outlet of the lake Pohenagamook; thence, south-westerly, in a straight line, to a point on the north-west branch of the river St. John, which point shall be ten miles distant from the main branch of the St. John, in a straight line, and in the nearest direction; but if said point shall be found to be less than seven miles from the nearest point of the summit or crest of the highlands that divide those rivers, which empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the river St. John, then the said point shall be made to recede down the said north-west branch of the river St. John, to a point seven miles in a straight line from the said summit or crest; thence, in a straight line, in a course about south eight degrees west, to the point where the parallel of latitude of 46 degrees, 25 minutes north, intersects the south-west branch of the St. John; thence, southerly, by the said branch, to the source thereof in the highlands, at the Metjarmette portage; thence, down along the said highlands which divide the waters which empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the Atlantic ocean, to the head of Hall’s stream; thence, down the middle of said stream, till the line thus run intersects the old line of boundary surveyed and marked by Valentine and Collins, previously to the year 1774, as the 45th degree of north latitude, and which has been known and understood to be the line of actual division between the states of New York and Vermont on one side, and the British province of Canada on the other; and, from said point of intersection, west along the said dividing line as heretofore known and understood, to the Iroquois or St. Lawrence river.”

It was also stipulated that each country should maintain on the coast of Africa, a naval force of vessels sufficient to carry in all not less than eighty guns, to be independent of each other, but to act in concert and co-operation, for the suppression of the slave trade. By the 10th article, it was stipulated that fugitives from justice found in either country should be delivered up by the two governments respectively upon complaint and upon what should be deemed sufficient evidence to sustain the charge.

On the 10th of November, 1842, the President issued his proclamation, announcing the ratification of the treaty, and the exchange of ratifications between the two governments, which was done at London on the 13th of October, 1842, by Mr. Everett and the Earl of Aberdeen.

Thus was settled a controversy, which for half a century had disturbed the harmony of the two governments—which had given birth to frequent disturbances, within and in the neighborhood of the disputed territory, and which as the controversy remained unsettled, was becoming more perplexed and intricate, and every year more likely to engender hostilities between the two nations.

Among the measures of a public nature, which occupied the attention of the 2d session of the 27th congress, no one excited more interest than the revision of the tariff. The government was in debt, and its credit in the wane. Authorized loans could not be negotiated. The revenue was falling off. The manufacturing interests were suffering; all branches of industry were drooping. Said the Committee, to whom the subject was referred, in their report, “A well regulated tariff, on a scale sufficient for the wants of the government is the only effectual remedy for the evils the government and the people are now suffering. It will inspire confidence throughout the country. It will again set every wheel in motion. It will improve and enlarge the currency. It will send out its life, giving influence to the extremity of the nation, and give vigor and activity to the whole system. It will (and nothing else will) restore credit to the country. The people of this country know that our resources are abundant. Let them but see that congress has provided a proper revenue, and has done it in such a manner, as at the same time to encourage and protect their own protective industry in all its branches, whether it relates to commerce, agriculture, manufactures, or the mechanic arts, throughout the broad extent of our lands, and the credit of the government will commence at once, and receive all the aid it may need.”

In accordance with these views, a bill was reported by the above committee, providing, 1st, a general ad valorem duty of 30 per cent. with free exceptions, where the duty was on that principle. 2. A discrimination was made for the security of such interests as could not be preserved without it, as well as for revenue, by specific duties on valuations, some higher, and some lower than the general ad valorem duty.

This measure was powerfully sustained by the friends of the manufacturing interests in the country. But it met with great opposition. Every inch was contested. Great excitement prevailed, both in and out of congress. Parties were nearly equally balanced on the question; and, for a time, serious apprehensions were entertained as to its fate. But, at length, (July 16th,) the bill passed—in the house, by a vote of 116 to 112,—in the senate, (August 5th,) by a vote of 25 to 23.

Thus was decided, a question, which, in the view of many, was of incalculable importance to the country; one, certainly, which had interested all hearts, and had given birth to debates, as warm and animated, as any which had been listened to for years. All eyes were now turned towards the Executive, upon whom devolved the fearful responsibility of approving or rejecting it.

In a few days, the decision of the President was communicated to congress—he had rejected it—had added another veto to those which had already filled his friends with surprise and regret.

At the opening of the extra session of congress, the President had himself recommended a distribution of the proceeds of the public lands among the states; and an act was accordingly passed to that effect; but it ordained “that if at any time, during the existence of that act there should be an imposition of duties or imposts, inconsistent with the provision of the act of the 2d of March, 1833, and beyond the rate of duties fixed by that act, to wit., 20 per cent. on the value of such imposts, or any of them, then the distribution should be suspended, and should continue so suspended, until the cause should be removed.” The bill now presented to the President for his consideration provided, that notwithstanding the duties were raised beyond 20 per cent., the distribution should be made. On this ground principally the veto was based.

The friends of a judicious tariff were thus placed in a most embarrassing situation. It had been their intention to adjourn soon after the passage of this important measure; but, under this unexpected defeat and embarrassment, what should they do? Not a few were for closing the session, and placing the responsibility upon the President. But the country was suffering; the credit of the government was sinking lower and lower. Something must be done. Another effort must be put forth. Sacrifice must be made.

While the judicious and patriotic men in congress were thus deliberating as to the path of duty, a committee of the house, at the head of which was Mr. Adams, to whom the veto message of the President had been referred, reported. After reviewing the course which the Executive had pursued—his repeated attempts to frustrate the action of congress by the exercise of the veto—“that regal power of the constitution,” they observed; “the whole legislative power of the Union has been for the last fifteen months, with regard to the action of congress, upon measures of vital importance, in a state of suspended animation, strangled by the five repeated strictures of the executive cord.” “The will of one man has frustrated all the labours of congress, and prostrated all their powers.” “The power of the present congress to enact laws essential to the welfare of the people, has been struck with apoplexy by the Executive hand.” In such terms, did the committee speak of the alarming and unreasonable exercise of the veto power by the President. Two counter reports were made by members of the committee, who dissented from the report.

On the 17th of August, the house passed upon the tariff bill returned by the President. The vote stood 96 to 87—two thirds not voting in the affirmative, as required by the constitution, the bill was rejected.

On the 22d of August, the same revenue bill, which had been vetoed by the President, was passed by the house, 105 to 102, with the exception of the section concerning the land fund, and the duties upon the articles of tea and coffee, which were omitted. “We do not remember ever to have witnessed, during thirty-five years attendance at the house of representatives,” said the editor of the Intelligencer, “a more exciting scene, a severer contest, a greater earnestness and self devotion, than characterized the proceedings and votes on this bill.” Many were reluctant to strike out the land clause, and thus yield to what they considered prejudice and obstinacy on the part of the President—but the exigencies of the country demanded the sacrifice at their hands, and in the spirit of patriotism they made it.

On the 27th of August, the bill with amendments passed the senate by the close vote of 24 to 23, and on the 29th these amendments were concurred in by the house; and the bill, soon after, received the signature of the President, and became a law of the land.

The report of the committee on the veto of the President of the revenue bill has already been noticed. Against this report, the President on the 30th of August entered his solemn protest, transmitted to the house in a special message. “I protest,” said he, “against this whole proceeding of the house of representatives, as ex parte and extra judicial. I protest against it, as subversive of the common right of all citizens to be condemned only upon a fair and impartial trial, according to law and evidence before the country. I protest against it as destructive of all the comity of intercourse between the departments of this government, and destined, sooner or later, to lead to conflict fatal to the peace of the country, and the integrity of the constitution. I protest against it in the name of that constitution, which is not only my own shield of protection and defence, but that of every American citizen. I protest against it in the name of the people, by whose will I stand where I do, and by whose authority I exercise the power which I am charged with having usurped, and to whom I am responsible for a firm and faithful discharge, according to my own convictions of duty, of the high stewardship confided to me by them. I protest against it in the name of all regulated liberty and all limited government, as a proceeding tending to the utter destruction of all checks and balances of the constitution. And I respectfully ask that this, my protest, may be entered upon the journal of the house of representatives, as a solemn and formal declaration, for all time to come, of the injustice and unconstitutionality of such a proceeding.”

On receiving this protest, the house passed these resolutions. 1. That the President had no right to make a formal protest against votes and proceedings of this house, declaring such votes and proceedings to be illegal and unconstitutional, and requesting the house to enter such protest on its journal. 2. That the aforesaid protest is a breach of the privileges of the house, and that it be not entered on the journal. 3. That the President of the United States has no right to send a protest to this house against any of its proceedings.

On the 31st of August, the 2d session of the 27th congress was terminated. It will be memorable in the history of the country for the length and arduousness of its labours, the obstacles which it encountered in the path of its duty, and the variety and importance of the legislation which it accomplished in despite of all the difficulties thrown in its way.

It was the longest session ever held under the government; extending through a period of 269 days. The session next to this in length was the second under Mr. Van Buren, which lasted 229 days. At this latter session the reports made were 716; bills reported, 524; bills passed by the house, 211. By the former, reports made, 1098; bills reported, 610; bills passed, 299.

The third session of the 27th congress commenced on the 5th day of December, 1842. In his message transmitted to congress two days after, there being no quorum in the senate earlier, the President represented the foreign relations of the country as in general amicable. The late treaty with Great Britain was cause of congratulation, as thereby it was to be hoped the good understanding existing between the two governments would be preserved for an indefinite period. Some misunderstanding had arisen in regard to the 10th article, which related to the suppression of the slave trade. A practice had threatened to grow up on the part of British cruisers, of subjecting to visitation ships sailing under the American flag. This was regarded as in fact a right of search, which would not be tolerated, and such had been the representation of the Executive to the British government. The President expressed his regret, that the treaty had not also embraced the Oregon Territory—but he indulged the hope that an early settlement of the question of title to this portion of the continent would remove all grounds of future collision between the two governments.

The vexatious, harassing, and expensive war which so long prevailed with the Indian tribes inhabiting the peninsula of Florida, had been terminated; the army was relieved from a service of the most disagreeable character; and the treasury of a large expenditure. Only such a number of troops would be continued there as were necessary to preserve peace.

The President again urged upon congress his plan of an exchequer, which at the late session had received no favour. In conclusion, he recommended a reimbursement of a fine imposed on General Jackson at New Orleans, at the time of the attack and defence of that city.

On the 9th of January, 1843, the committee of ways and means to whom had been referred the plan of the President of an exchequer, reported adversely thereto; and on the 27th this report was accepted, and the resolution accompanying it adopted by the strong vote of 193 to 18. The resolution was, that the plan presented to congress of an exchequer ought not to pass.

Among the important acts passed at this session was one for the repeal of the bankrupt law.

On the 13th of December, 1842, a bill was introduced into the house for the repeal of the bankrupt law passed on the 19th of August, 1841. On the 16th of January, 1843, the bill passed the house by a vote of 140 to 71. The question on its repeal was taken in the senate February 25th, 1843, and the repeal passed by a majority of 32 to 13. It was provided in the bill that the act should not affect any case or proceeding in bankruptcy commenced before the passage of this act, or any pains, penalties, or forfeitures incurred under the said act; but every such proceeding may be continued to its final consummation in like manner, as if this act had not been passed. At the time of the passage of the original act, there existed a strong sentiment in its favour throughout the country. Such a system had been called for for years—such a measure it was supposed would relieve many unfortunate debtors, who, but for such relief, would find no opportunity, and possess no ambition to attempt to retrieve their fortunes. It was urged also for the continuance of the act, that if harm had resulted from it, the harm was not likely to continue. The dishonest had received its benefit—the mass of insolvency had been swept away by the law already in force. A fair field was open for amendments to the law if found objectionable; and amended as it might be, it would operate for the benefit of the creditor more than the debtor. Besides, it was hardly to be hoped that the present generation would see another law in force, should this be repealed. Such were some of the considerations urged in favour of continuing the law. But a great change had been effected in public opinion throughout the country, and not a few of the members of congress, who had originally urged the passage of the act, and were firm in their belief that its operation would be beneficial, now voted for its repeal.

On the 1st of March, Mr. Forward resigned the office of secretary of the treasury, and John C. Spencer, then secretary of war, was soon after nominated to fill his place. His confirmation passed the senate by a majority of one.

On the 3d of March, an act was approved by the President for promoting the means of future intercourse between the United States and the government of China. By this act 40,000 dollars were placed at the disposal of the President to enable him to establish commercial relations with China. Under this act, Edward Everett, then minister and envoy extraordinary to England, was nominated and confirmed as commissioner. It may be here added, that Mr. Everett declining this honor, Caleb Cushing, of Newburyport, Massachusetts, was appointed to take his place, and John Tyler, son of the President, was appointed his private and confidential secretary. Fletcher Webster of Boston acted as secretary of the mission.

At the above date (March 3d) the President approved of another important act, viz., to provide for carrying into effect the treaty between the United States and Great Britain, concluded at Washington, August 9th, 1842. By this act, 300,000 dollars were to be paid in equal moieties to Maine and Massachusetts. Also the President was authorized to employ so much of the naval force as was requisite to fulfil the 8th article relating to the suppression of the slave trade.

The third session of the 27th congress closed on the 3d of March, 1843. Several important bills failed, among which may be mentioned a bill to reduce the postage on letters—a bill to authorize the adoption of measures for the occupation and settlement of the Oregon Territory, and for extending certain laws of the United States over the same—and a bill for the relief of Andrew Jackson.

On the 8th of May, Daniel Webster having accomplished the great object for which he retained his place in the cabinet, when his associates resigned, viz., the settlement of the north-eastern boundary between the United States and Great Britain, resigned the office of secretary of state, and Hugh S. Legare, attorney-general of the United States, was appointed temporarily to fill that office.

On the 8th of June, the President, accompanied by the secretary of the treasury and the postmaster-general, left Washington, for a visit to Boston to attend the celebration of the completion of the Bunker Hill Monument. During his progress, he was received with the honors due to the chief magistrate of a great and powerful nation. The celebration took place on the 17th. An oration was pronounced by Daniel Webster, commemorative of the great events by which our country had arisen to its exalted station, and of the virtues of those noble men who laid the foundation of our civil and religious institutions. It was a grand and imposing scene. Thousands were gathered to the spot once moistened by the blood of patriots; and grateful homage went up to Him, under whose fostering care the nation enjoyed a measure of prosperity unknown to any other nation on the globe.

But scarcely were the festivities of the occasion ended, when the melancholy intelligence was circulated that Mr. Legare, the attorney-general, and acting secretary of state, had suddenly deceased at his lodgings in Boston. He had followed the President to mingle in the joys of the occasion, but sickness fell upon him, and in a brief space he was numbered with the dead. He sustained the reputation of a man of rare endowments—of great requisitions, and exalted character. In consequence of this death, the President and suite soon returned to the seat of government.

On the 8th of July, 1843, the cabinet of the President was reorganized by the appointment of Abel P. Upshur, secretary of state; John C. Spencer, secretary of the treasury; J. M. Porter, secretary of war; C. A. Wickliffe, postmaster-general, and John Nelson, attorney-general.

The 1st session of the 28th congress commenced on the 5th of December, 1843. On the organization of the house of representatives, a flagrant violation of law was perpetrated by the majority. On the 25th of June, 1842, an act was passed by congress providing for the election of representatives in the several states by districts. This law, some of the states saw fit to set at defiance. New Hampshire, Georgia, Mississippi and Missouri, severally nullified this eminently democratic measure. In Georgia, indeed, the legislature framed and passed a districting bill, but the governor vetoed it, avowing in his message that he did this less from hostility to the district system, than to avoid the appearance of complying with the requisitions of congress.

On the organization of the house, the members from those states, twenty-one in number, appeared and claimed the right to vote. A protest from the whig majority was read, but in defiance of that, and the plain and explicit act of congress to the contrary, they were suffered to vote for speaker and clerk, and subsequently they were appointed upon various committees. When these flagrant violations of law had been perpetrated, the house directed the committee on elections to inquire into and report on the matter. That committee, as was foreordained, reported that the second section of the apportionment act was unconstitutional. The house promptly adopted the report, and thus the whole matter was settled, virtually on the basis that no law is of binding force, which conflicts with the interests or the will of the triumphant democracy. The choice of speaker fell on John W. Jones of Virginia, who had been returned by 33 majority, and whose seat was then contested by his opponent, John M. Botts.

In his annual message, the President represented the question between the United States and Great Britain, relating to the title of the Oregon Territory, as still unadjusted. Our minister at London had received instruction to submit to the British government propositions for the final settlement of the question, and the hope was indulged that this controversy of increasing interest might be brought to a speedy and happy termination.

But the prominent subject of the message related to Texas. The annexation of that territory to the United States was supposed to be occupying a large share of the executive attention, and intimation had been given in the official organ, that considerable progress had already been made towards the accomplishment of that object. The message was less explicit on the subject than the people had reason to anticipate from what had been semi-officially published; but it was apparent that the interest taken in Texas by the Executive foreshadowed his ultimate purpose in relation to her becoming a part of the Federal Republic.

On the 8th of January, 1844, an act passed the house of representatives, reimbursing a fine imposed upon General Jackson at New Orleans, at the time of the attack and defence of that city. The repayment of this fine had been recommended by the President in his annual message in December, 1842, but so much opposition to the measure had been manifested, that until now a favorable vote could not be obtained. The history of the imposition of this fine, according to a writer on the spot, is briefly as follows.

After the signal defeat of the British on the 8th of January, they withdrew on board their ships. News of peace with Great Britain meanwhile reached the city. General Jackson, notwithstanding, persisted in continuing martial law. This created dissatisfaction among the volunteers on the line. One of them, Louallier, a member of the legislature, who had acted in a highly meritorious manner in the defence, setting an example to the native citizens which had a great effect (in fact he had more of the American feeling than any Louisianian I had become acquainted with,) conceived that the unbending military discipline of Jackson towards the citizens and volunteers was oppressive, and wrote an anonymous letter on the subject, which was published in a New Orleans paper. The editor of the paper was ordered to appear before the general, escorted by a military guard, and being threatened with punishment, gave up the author. The displeasure of the general was now turned against Louallier, who was immediately put under strict arrest, while an order was issued forbidding any further publications on these subjects—thus silencing the press. Louallier was ordered to be tried for treason by a court martial, and if the court had been sufficiently compliant, there is no doubt that he would have been shot: but, fortunately, General Gaines, who presided, was the means of preventing so shocking a catastrophe. In the mean time, the friends of Louallier applied for a habeas corpus, which was issued by Judge Hall, after it had been refused by Judge Lewis. Jackson not satisfied with simply disregarding the writ, sent a file of men, who seized the judge, carried him ten or twelve miles out of the city, and left him with orders not to return. It was soon after the official announcement of peace, and the cessation of martial law, that Judge Hall returned to New Orleans and summoned General Jackson to appear before him and answer for his disobedience of the writ of habeas corpus. This General Jackson refused, for which refusal Judge Hall fined him one thousand dollars.

This was the fine which the President recommended Congress to reimburse. The payment of it was strenuously resisted, on the ground that it would be reflection upon Judge Hall, who imposed it in the discharge of his official duty, for a violation on the part of General Jackson of the laws of the constitution. The act for reimbursing the fine, however, passed both houses of congress—the vote in the former being taken January 8th, 1844, the anniversary of the battle of New Orleans, and standing 158 to 28. The vote in the senate was taken February 14th, and stood 30 to 16. The act disclaimed any reflection upon Judge Hall. The original fine was 1000 dollars. This with the interest amounted to 2700 dollars, which was forwarded to the general from the public treasury at Washington by a special messenger.

On the 2d of March, 1814, a most tragical event occurred on board the United States steamship Princeton, during her return from an excursion down the Potomac. Captain Stockton, the commander of the ship, had invited the President, the secretaries with their families, and several members of congress to an excursion down the river. The day was fine; the company large and brilliant—probably not less than 400 of both sexes. During the passage, one of the large guns on board, called the Peacemaker, carrying a ball of 225 pounds, was fired several times, exhibiting the great power and capacity of that formidable weapon of war. The ladies had partaken of a sumptuous repast; the gentlemen had succeeded them at the table, and some of them had left it. The vessel was on her return up the river, opposite the fort, when Captain Stockton consented to fire another shot from the same gun, around and near which, to observe its effects, many persons had gathered, though by no means so many as had witnessed the previous discharge.

The gun was fired. The explosion was followed, before the smoke cleared away so as to observe its effects, by shrieks of woe which announced a dire calamity. The gun had burst three or four feet from the breech, and scattered death and desolation. Mr. Upshur, secretary of state; Mr. Gilmer, recently appointed secretary of the navy; Commodore Kennon, one of its gallant officers; Virgil Maxcy, lately returned from a diplomatic residence at the Hague; Mr. Gardener of New York, formerly a member of the senate of that state were among the slain. Besides these, seventeen seamen were wounded, and several of them mortally. Captain Stockton, Colonel Benton of the senate, Lieutenant Hunt of the Princeton, and W. D. Robinson of Georgetown were stunned by the concussion.

The scene baffles description. Wives widowed in an instant by the murderous blast! Daughters smitten with the heart-rending sight of their fathers’ lifeless bodies! The wailings of agonized females! The piteous grief of the unhurt but stricken spectators! The wounded seamen borne down below! The silent tears and quivering lips of their brave and honest comrades, who tried in vain to conceal their feelings! What words can adequately depict a scene like this!—A few days after, the funeral ceremonies, which were conducted with appropriate order and solemnity, took place at the presidential mansion, at which were present the surviving officers of government, civil, military and naval; the foreign ministers, members of both houses of congress, and relatives and personal friends of the deceased.

Shortly after the above sad event, Mr. Upshur’s place in the department of state was supplied by the appointment of John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, and the vacancy occasioned by the death of Mr. Gilmer was filled by the appointment of John Y. Mason.

On the 22d of April, a message was transmitted to the senate by the President, announcing to that body the negotiation of a treaty with Texas; the object of which was to annex that territory to the United States. “I transmit herewith,” said he, “for your approval and ratification, a treaty which I have caused to be negotiated between the United States and Texas, whereby the latter, on conditions therein set forth, has conveyed all its rights of separate and independent sovereignty and jurisdiction to the United States. In taking so important a step, I have been influenced by what appeared to me to be the most controlling considerations of public policy, and the general good; and in having accomplished it, should it meet with your approval, the government will have succeeded in reclaiming a territory, which formerly constituted a portion, as it is confidently believed, of its domain under the treaty of cession of 1803, by France to the United States.”

By this treaty, the republic of Texas was to be annexed to the United States as one of the territories. Her public lands were ceded and subject to the laws regulating public lands in the other territories of the United States. Her public debt and other liabilities to be assumed by the United States, &c.

The annunciation that such a treaty had been negotiated by the President so secretly, excited no small surprise throughout the country, and immediately awakened deep concern and anxiety in the bosoms of those who were opposed to the measure. In the view of this portion of the community, the admission of Texas was a serious calamity, inasmuch as it involved the extension of slavery, if not an open rupture with Mexico, which still laid claim, with what justice we do not here pretend to decide, to the republic, as a part of her rightful domain. On the other hand, these and other objections had no force with a large party, who were in favor of her admission. They saw in such a measure not merely the extension of the great principle of liberty, and the wider diffusion and enjoyment of our inestimable privileges and institutions, but the means of great wealth, inasmuch as her rich lands might be devoted to the production of cotton and other agricultural products, and would furnish a mart for such surplus slave population, as was not needed in contiguous states. It was confidently asserted that it would not increase slavery in the land, but serve to place what was deemed a necessary evil at a farther remove from the non-holding slave states.

On the 8th of June, a direct vote was taken on the question of ratifying the above treaty, when it appeared that 35 members were against its ratification, and 10 in favor of it. It would have required 34 votes (two thirds) according to the constitution to ratify the treaty, whereas more than two thirds voted against it.

On the rejection of this treaty, the President transmitted a message to the house of representatives, informing that body of the action of the senate, and virtually requesting them to adopt some course, by which his object should be obtained. He said, “While I have regarded the annexation to be accomplished by treaty, as the most suitable form in which it could be effected, should congress deem it proper to resort to any other expedient conformably with the constitution, and likely to accomplish the object, I stand prepared to yield my most prompt and active co-operation. The great question is not as to the manner in which it shall be done, but whether it shall be accomplished or not.”

During the progress of these interesting measures in congress, not less interesting events were transpiring in other parts of the country. Another presidential election was approaching, and already the several parties were marshalling their forces for the contest. Within a few days, three conventions were held for the purpose of nominating candidates for the two first offices in the country, to be voted for in November, 1844.

The first of these was a whig convention convened on the 1st of May, in the city of Baltimore. Over the deliberations of this convention, the Hon. Ambrose Spencer of New York presided. By this convention, composed of a large delegation from every state in the Union, Henry Clay of Kentucky was unanimously recommended, as the whig candidate for the presidency of the United States. At the same time Theodore Frelinghuysen of New Jersey was nominated to the office of vice-president.

On the following day the foregoing nominations were ratified by a grand national mass convention, composed of young men from all parts of the Union—probably the largest political assemblage ever convened in the United States in a regular convention. John M. Clayton, of Delaware, presided.

On the 27th of the same month, May, the democratic national convention assembled in the city of Baltimore for a similar object of this convention. H. C. Wright of Pennsylvania was elected president of the convention. Previous to the meeting of this convention, it was generally anticipated that Martin Van Buren, of New York, would be its unanimous choice for the presidency. Not a few of the delegates had been specially instructed to give their votes for him. The popularity of Mr. Van Buren, however, had, from various causes, been for some time diminishing. His letter in opposition to the annexation of Texas had served to cool the friendship of many of his southern political friends. In addition to these considerations, there were probably others which have not yet transpired from the bosoms of some who exercised a paramount influence in the Baltimore convention. Be this, however, as it may, a plan was projected to pass Mr. Van Buren, and select another candidate. This was accomplished by requiring a majority of two thirds of the delegates present in favor of the candidates elected. To the adoption of such a rule, the friends of Mr. Van Buren, for a time, strenuously objected. They were, however, overruled, and at length it came to pass, that the man, who, it is believed, nearly every state in the Union had in one way or another recommended to the suffrages of the convention, was laid aside, and a candidate in the person of James K. Polk was selected, whose name, previously to the convention, had scarcely ever been heard in connection with the first office in the land. Most remarkable was it, that the man who, during the first seven ballotings of a convention so large, did not receive a single vote, and in the eighth balloting but forty-four, should on the ninth receive every vote of the convention, being 266 in number. At the same time George M. Dallas, of Pennsylvania, was nominated for vice-president.

On the same day, in another part of the city of Baltimore, a Tyler national convention, as it was called, was assembled for the purpose of nominating John Tyler to the office of President. Of this convention Judge White, of Connecticut, was elected president. The convention was composed of delegates from various parts of the union, without restriction as regards to number from any state or district, or any question as to the manner of their appointment; by this convention John Tyler was nominated for the presidency. It adjourned without nominating a candidate for the vice-presidency, but adopted a resolution recommending the appointment of a committee, who should report a candidate for the vice-presidency through the public papers.

The candidates thus nominated by these several conventions, accepted their nominations, and from this time the political campaign opened with all that activity and busy bustle, which of late have characterized our presidential elections. Immense mass meetings of old and young were held in every section of the country, for the purpose of approving of the several nominations, and of stimulating the friends of the respective candidates to every effort to secure their election. It may here be added, that on the 30th of August, Mr. Tyler, finding himself without a party adequate either in numbers or zeal to elect him, wisely withdrew from the presidential canvass. The course he had pursued was popular with no party. Yet, on withdrawing his name, he seems, for reasons not well understood, to have aided the election of Mr. Polk, by removing from office those who were friendly to the election of Mr. Clay, and substituting in their place men well known to favor the pretensions of his rival.

The 28th congress closed its first session of 196 days, on the 17th of June. Little business of importance had been accomplished. Several bills deeply affecting the interests of the country were lost. Fortunately for the manufacturing interests, a bill having for its object an essential alteration of the tariff, and which was urged by its advocates with great force, was laid upon the table of the house by a vote of 105 to 99. A post-office bill, reducing the rates of postage was passed by the senate, but was neglected by the house, as was also its own bill for regulating postage, and the franking privilege of members of congress.

On the 2d of December congress again assembled—it being the 2d session of the 28th congress. In his message, the President represents the relations of the country with foreign powers as satisfactory. The negotiations with Great Britain in relation to Oregon were in hopeful progress. The condition of the public treasury, and of the public credit were highly gratifying. The annexation of Texas was again brought to the consideration of Congress, and a joint resolution was recommended as the form by which that annexation might be perfected—to be made binding on the two countries when adopted in a like manner by the government of Texas.

On the 10th of January, 1845, an important treaty between the United States and the Chinese empire, was ratified by the senate by a unanimous vote. This treaty was concluded by Caleb Cushing, United States commissioner to China, and Tsiyeng, governor-general of the Two Kwangs, on the part of the Emperor, at Wang-Hiya, on the 3d of July, 1844. By this treaty our relations with China were placed on a new footing eminently favorable to the commerce and other interests of the United States. An abstract of the most important articles are subjoined.

Art. 1, Provides that there shall be a perfect and universal peace, and a sincere and cordial amity between the United States of America and the Ta Tsing Empire.

Art. 2, Provides that citizens of the United States resorting to China for the purpose of commerce, will pay the duties of import and export prescribed in the tariff annexed to the treaty, and no other duties or charges whatever; and that the United States shall participate in any future concession granted to other nations by China.

Art. 3, Provides for the provision of citizens of the United States at the five ports of Kwang-chow, Hiyamen, Fa-chow, Ningpo and Shang-hai.

Art. 4, Provides for citizens of the United States to import and sell, or buy and export, all manner of merchandise at the five ports.

Art. 16, Provides for the collection of debts due from Chinese to Americans, or from Americans to Chinese through the tribunal of the respective countries.

Art. 17, Provides for the residence of citizens of the United States; the construction by them of dwellings, storehouses, churches, cemeteries and hospitals, and regulates the limits of residence—and trade permitted to citizens of the United States at the five ports, and the ―― appertaining thereto.

Art. 18, Empowers citizens of the United States freely to employ teachers and other literary assistants, and to purchase books in China.

Art. 19, Provides the means of assuring the personal security of citizens of the United States in China.

Art. 21, Provides that subjects of China and citizens of the United States in China, charged with crimes shall be subject only to the exclusive jurisdiction each of the laws and officers of their respective governments.

Art. 22, Provides that the merchant vessels may freely carry between the five ports and any country with which China may happen to be at war.

Art. 34, Provides that citizens of the United States engaged in contraband trade, or trading clandestinely with such of the ports of China as are not open to foreign commerce, shall not be countenanced or protected by their government.

A treaty similar to the preceding was made by Great Britain with China somewhat earlier. A new era has commenced in the history of that extensive empire. And now that access to her population is comparatively easy, and religious instruction is allowed to be disseminated by means of missionaries, tracts, &c., a happy change may be anticipated in respect to a people where religion, laws and customs have remained without alteration for centuries. Thus good has resulted from evil. The conduct of England in respect to the opium trade a few years since, was reprobated by all civilized nations; but Providence has overruled events so that the light of Christianity will at no distant day enlighten and bless China, with her hundreds of millions of now ignorant and superstitious idolators.

The rejection by the senate of the treaty concluded by the President with Texas, noticed page 824, in no wise abated the ardor of the Executive in respect to her annexation to the United States. In his annual message, as already observed, he proposed to effect her admission into the Union by a joint resolution of congress. Unconstitutional as such a mode of annexation was deemed to be by many sound and patriotic men, the measure found favor with a large party in the United States, and a corresponding party in congress. The resolution was opposed with great force, and by powerful argument. The consequences were clearly set forth—those which were certain, and other consequences which were probable. It was urged as an act of injustice to Mexico, and that hostilities with that government would likely ensue—that our territory was sufficiently extended—that our public debt should not be enlarged by the assumption of hers—and finally, and more than all, that the evils of slavery would be greatly augmented as its theatre would be widely extended. But the President and other friends of the measure regarded it with great favor. General Jackson, now in the decline of life, and even on the verge of the grave, was appealed to, and not in vain, to urge the democratic party to consummate the annexation before his departure. The discussion of the subject in congress, and in the public papers was strong and animated. At length on the 23d of January, 1845, the question was taken in the house of representatives, and the resolution adopted by a vote of 118 to 101.

The democratic votes in favor of the resolution were 53 from free, and 59 from slave states. Eight whigs, all from slave states, voted in favor. Of the votes in the negative, 28 were democratic from free states; 70 were whig—52 from free states, and 18 from slave states.

The resolution from the house underwent important amendments in the senate, in which body it passed by a vote of 27 to 25. In these amendments the house concurred by a vote of 132 to 76.

The resolution thus passed was as follows.

Resolved, &c., That congress doth consent that the territory properly included within, and rightfully belonging to, the republic of Texas, may be created into a new state, to be called the state of Texas, with a republican form of government to be adopted by the people of said republic by deputies in convention assembled, with the consent of the existing government in order that the same may be admitted under the states of this Union.

The consent of congress to this resolution was given upon certain conditions—the first was that a constitution adopted by the people of said republic should be laid before congress on or before the 1st day of January, 1846—the second was, that all mines, minerals, fortifications, harbors, arms, navy, &c., should be ceded to the United States—public lands to be retained by Texas for the payment of her debts—a third condition was, that new states might hereafter be formed out of the said territory of Texas.

An amendment of the above resolutions proposed by Mr. Walker was adopted by a vote of 27 to 25.

This amendment allowed the President of the United States, instead of proceeding to submit the foregoing resolutions to the republic of Texas as an overture on the part of the United States for admission, to negotiate with that republic, then

Be it resolved, That a state to be formed out of the present republic of Texas, with suitable extent and boundaries, and with two representatives in congress until the next apportionment of representation, shall be admitted into the Union by virtue of this act, on an equal footing with the existing states, as soon as the terms and condition of such admission and the cession of the remaining Texian territory to the United States shall be agreed upon by the governments of Texas and the United States. This amendment was concurred in by the house by a vote of 132 to 76.

As these measures in regard to the admission of Texas were adopted at the close of the session of congress, it was expected that Mr. Tyler would leave it to his successor to consummate the wishes of congress, and it was also understood that Mr. Polk had determined to negotiate a treaty with Texas under the alternative offered by Mr. Walker’s amendment. President Tyler, however, determined to forestall the action of his successor, and hence despatched an express to communicate to Texas, that he had decided to invite Texas into the Union, under the provisions of the resolutions as they passed the house of representatives, without the exercise of farther treaty making power.

During the preceding session of congress, the subject of a change in existing rates of postage had been discussed, and a bill making alterations had passed one branch of the national legislature. At the present session, the subject was revived, and a bill reducing the rates introduced. It was understood to find no favor with the postmaster-general and some others—but a reduction of rates had long been demanded by the public, and, in accordance with the public sentiment, the bill passed the senate February 8th, by a vote of 38 to 12: in the house, on the 16th, 158 to 74—to go into operation the 1st of July, following.

On the 12th of February, the ceremony of opening and counting the votes of the electors of President and vice-president of the United States took place in the presence of both houses of congress. Tellers were appointed as usual, who, having read and counted the votes, made duplicate lists thereof. These being delivered to the president of the senate, he made declaration of the result; viz., That the whole number of votes given was 275, of which James K. Polk, of Tennessee, had 170, and was duly elected President of the United States for four years from the 4th day of March ensuing. Henry Clay had 105 for the same office. The vote for vice-president stood 170 for George M. Dallas, of Pennsylvania; for Theodore Frelinghuysen, of New York, 105.

On the 4th of March, at half past two in the morning, the second session of the 28th congress was brought to a close, and at the same time was terminated the presidential career of John Tyler, who soon after retired to his farm in Virginia.

In reviewing the presidential career of Mr. Tyler, it is impossible to free him from the charge of inconsistency. In the Harrisburg convention, he was a member, a vice-president, and an ardent supporter of Mr. Clay—and when, after some three days’ deliberation, it was decided to place General Harrison in nomination, few, if any, appeared more deeply aggrieved than Mr. Tyler, that the claims of Mr. Clay were set aside.

The selection of a candidate for vice-president, next became an object of deep solicitude. The friends of General Harrison were naturally anxious that the choice should fall upon a known and ardent Clay man. To this end, the name of John J. Crittenden was brought forward, but his friends felt unauthorized to pledge his assent. Others were named—Governor Dudley—ex-Governor Owen, and Benjamin Watkins Leigh; but for various reasons their names were withdrawn. At length the name of John Tyler was introduced, and under a belief that he was an uncompromising whig, he received the unanimous vote of the convention.

On the death of General Harrison, Mr. Tyler succeeded to the presidency. Thereupon he issued an address to the people, which was plainly and generally understood to indicate his resolution to unite in such measures with regard to the currency, as the new whig congress (which General Harrison had called to meet in extra session at an early day) should deem advisable. A variety of circumstances concurred to evince that such was at that time his intention. But the tenor and language of his conduct were soon changed. He differed from the party which elevated him to office—repeatedly vetoed their most important and most valued measures—removed from office nearly all who had contributed to his election, and threw his entire influence into the hands of the opposite political party.

The retirement of Mr. Tyler, is, perhaps, too recent to justify a decided opinion as to the merits of his administration. During the heat of party strife, an impartial judgment is seldom apt to be exercised. We look at men and measures, at such times, through a false medium. In order to [give] a fair and full estimate of the measures of a government, it is necessary that years should pass by, and with them the political pride and party prejudice of the principal actors at the time of their adoption and influence. But whatever may be the ultimate decision of posterity in regard to the administration of Mr. Tyler, as a whole, it is certain, that nothing can rescue him from the charge of a vacillating policy, by which he alienated from his society and friendship nearly every man, who aided in elevating him to office; and that without securing the esteem of the party whose cause he espoused, and the members of which he honored with office. Measures beneficial to the country, were indeed adopted during his administration; but it is also true that, through his exercise of the veto power beyond all former precedent, other measures of no less importance in the view of his former friends, and which had been perfected at the expense of much time and labor, were frustrated. In short, during nearly the whole of his administration, Mr. Tyler went counter, in the opinion of his friends, to those principles which he had avowed prior to, and early after, his accession to the presidency. And in so doing, he sadly disappointed his early political friends and associates, while he secured to himself, it is well known, neither the respect nor support of the democratic party.

ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES K. POLK.

On the 4th of March, 1845, James K. Polk was duly inaugurated as President of the United States. The ceremonies at the Capitol on the occasion were witnessed by a large concourse of citizens, both from the vicinity and a distance. As is usual, the President elect, on taking the oath of office, delivered an address explanatory of his political sentiments, or those fundamental principles, by which he designed to administer the government during his presidential term.

After expressing his thanks to his countrymen for the unsolicited confidence reposed in him, and invoking the aid of the Almighty Ruler of the universe, he said: “It will be my first care to administer the government in the true spirit of the constitution, and to assume no powers not expressly granted or clearly implied in its terms.” It would also be his aim to see that the general government did not trench on the rights of the states, nor the states overstep the limits of power reserved to them. He should steadily aim to perpetuate the blessings enjoyed under the constitution, and especially to preserve the Federal Union in its integrity, and in all that pertains to its honor and prosperity. He expressed himself opposed, to a national bank, and all other extraneous institutions planted around the government to control or strengthen it, in opposition to the will of its authors. In respect to the expenditure of the public money, he should feel it to be his duty to recommend the strictest economy compatible with the public interest. In regard to the adjustment of our revenue laws, and the levying of taxes necessary to the support of the government, he considered it a cardinal principle, that no more money should be collected than the necessities of an economical administration required. He was in favor of a tariff for revenue, and such as would afford incidental protection to our home industry, but was opposed to a tariff for protection merely. He was in favor of the annexation of Texas, and congratulated the country that measures were in progress for her reunion. In respect to Oregon, he claimed our title to it to be “clear and unquestionable.” In the management of foreign relations, he would aim to preserve a careful respect for the rights of other nations, while our own would be the subject of constant watchfulness. Public officers would be held to a strict performance of their duties, especially those charged with the collection and disbursement of the public revenues. Although chosen by a party, in his official actions he would not be the President of a part only, but of the whole people of the United States. In conclusion he said, “I enter upon the discharge of the high duties which have been assigned me by the people, humbly supplicating that Divine Being, who has watched over and protected our beloved country from its infancy to the present hour, to continue his gracious benedictions upon us, that we may continue a prosperous and happy people.”

The President immediately after his induction into office, proceeded to the formation of his cabinet. The new senate being in session, he nominated James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, as secretary of state; Robert J. Walker, of Mississippi, secretary of the treasury; William L. Marcy, of New York, secretary of war; George Bancroft, of Massachusetts, secretary of the navy; Cave Johnson, of Tennessee, postmaster-general, and John Y. Mason, of Virginia, attorney-general.

On the evening of the 8th of June, an event occurred calculated to make a deep impression upon the whole people of the United States. This was the death of General Jackson, who breathed his last, at his residence at the Hermitage, Tennessee, in the 79th year of his age. His funeral solemnities took place on Tuesday, the 10th, the Rev. Dr. Edgar preaching a most impressive and eloquent sermon on the occasion. After the religious services were ended, the body was conveyed to the vault prepared many years since for its reception. Several thousands of persons were present at the solemn ceremonies, which were closed by the discharge of three volleys over the grave.

We have elsewhere spoken of General Jackson in respect to his military and political character. That he was “a soldier of dauntless courage, vigor, and perseverance, an officer of skill and sagacity, of quickness of perception, and of prompt and resolute execution of his purpose, there is, probably, and hereafter there will probably, be no division of opinion, either at home or abroad. That he was sometimes stern and severe, too stern and severe, none can doubt; nor will it be questioned probably, that while in general he sought to distinguish himself by exalting the character and honor of his country, he was not unfrequently rash, and too obstinately bent on pursuing his plans and purposes to their end, in despite of the opinion and advice of his political friends and associates.”

To all, however, whatever estimates they may have formed of the excellence or defects of his administration, it must be pleasant to learn that the closing days of his life were devoted, according to statements made to the public, to a wise preparation for that eternity to which he was hastening. He claimed to rest his hopes for acceptance with God, on the merits of Jesus Christ. His final interview with his family was deeply tender and impressive. He took leave of each one with great deliberation, and in a manner most kind and affectionate. He took leave with similar tenderness of his servants, who had collected in his room, or at the windows, and in conclusion he expressed the hope, that he should meet them all again in a world of glory.

The solemn event was every where received with due sensibility, and its announcement followed by appropriate demonstrations of respect to the memory of the departed. The President of the United States issued his public order, directing suitable demonstrations of public sorrow and sympathy to be made at the several naval and military stations of the country. With great propriety did that public order conclude by saying, “Let the virtues of the illustrious dead retain their influence, and when energy and courage are called to trial, emulate his example.”

The first session of the 29th congress commenced December 1st, 1845. The Hon. John W. Davis, of Indiana, was elected speaker of the house of representatives.

On the following day, the President transmitted his message to both houses of congress. The principal topics of public interest contained in the message related to Texas—to Oregon—to our relations with Mexico—to the public lands—and to the sub-treasury.

In regard to Texas, the President informed congress, that the terms of annexation which were offered by the United States to that government, by the joint resolution of the last congress, had been accepted by Texas, and that nothing, therefore, remained to consummate that annexation, but the passage of an act by congress, to admit the state of Texas into the Union, upon an equal footing with the original states. “Strong reasons exist,” he observed, “why this should be done at an early period of the session. By the constitution of Texas, the existing government is continued only till congress can act; and the third Monday of the present month is the day appointed for holding the first general election. I cannot,” added the Executive, “too earnestly recommend prompt action on this important subject.”

The President next spoke of our relations with Mexico, “which,” he observed, “have not since the last session been of the most amicable character. On the 6th of March, the Mexican envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the United States, made a formal protest against the annexation of Texas; in which he regarded that annexation as a violation of the rights of Mexico, and in consequence of it, he had demanded his passports. Thus, by the act of Mexico, all diplomatic intercourse between the two countries had been suspended.” Nor was this all. The belligerent conduct of Mexico had rendered it necessary, in the opinion of the President, to take measures to protect and defend Texas against her menaced attack. “I deemed it proper, therefore,” observed the President, “as a precautionary measure, to order a strong squadron to the coast of Mexico, and to concentrate a sufficient military force on the western frontier of Texas. Our army was ordered to take position in the country between the Neuces and the Del Norte, and to repel any invasion of the Texan territory which might be attempted by the Mexican forces. Our squadron in the Gulf was ordered to co-operate with the army.” Up to the date of the message, however, Mexico had made no aggressive movement, nor had the American forces, on their part, committed any act of hostility. Such was the position of our affairs with Mexico on the opening of the session of congress.

The President next adverted to the subject of the Oregon territory. Previous to his induction to office, three several attempts had been made to settle the questions in dispute about Oregon between the two countries by negotiation, upon the principle of compromise, each of which, however, had proved unsuccessful.

These negotiations look place at London, in the years 1818, 1824, and 1826: the first two under the administration of Mr. Monroe, the last under that of Mr. Adams. The negotiations of 1818 having failed to accomplish its object, resulted in the convention of the 20th of October of that year. By the third article of that convention, it was “agreed that any country that may be claimed by either party, on the north-west coast of America, westward of the Stony mountains, shall, together with its harbors, bays, and creeks, and the navigation of all rivers within the same, be free and open for the term of ten years from the date of the signature of the present convention, to the vessels, citizens, and subjects of the two Powers; it being well understood that this agreement is not to be construed to the prejudice of any claim which either of the two high contracting parties may have to any part of the said country, nor shall it be taken to affect the claims of any other Power or State to any part of said country; the only object of the high contracting parties in that respect, being to prevent disputes and differences among themselves.”

The negotiation of 1824 was productive of no result, and the convention of 1818 was left unchanged.

The negotiation of 1826 having also failed to effect an adjustment by compromise, resulted in the convention of August the 6th, 1827, by which it was agreed to continue in force, for an indefinite period, the provisions of the third article of the convention of the 20th of October, 1818; and it was further provided, that it shall be competent, however, to either of the high contracting parties, in case either should think fit, at any time after the 20th of October, 1828, on giving due notice of twelve months to the other contracting party, to annul and abrogate this convention; and it shall, in such case, be accordingly entirely annulled and abrogated after the expiration of said term of notice.

From this time, for several years, the subject rested in quietness. At length, in October, 1843, the minister of the United States in London, made a similar offer to those of 1818 and 1826. Thus stood the question when the negotiation was transferred to Washington. On the 26th of August, 1844, the British plenipotentiary offered to divide the Oregon territory by the 49th parallel of north latitude, leaving the free navigation of the Columbia river to be enjoyed in common by both parties. This proposition was rejected by the American plenipotentiary on the day it was submitted. The British plenipotentiary next, in turn, requested that a proposal should be made by the United States, for an equitable adjustment of the question.

Such was the state of the negotiation on the accession of Mr. Polk to the presidency. “Anxious to settle this long pending controversy, I was induced,” he observed, “to make a further proposition, which was a repetition of the offer of the parallel for 49 degrees of north latitude, without the free navigation of the Columbia river. This proposition was rejected by the British plenipotentiary, and here all negotiation ceased.”

Such was the state of this important and delicate question on the meeting of congress. Attempts at compromise had failed. Great anxiety was beginning to be felt by statesmen on both side the waters in relation to this subject. More and more sensitiveness was prevailing, in reference to the claims of the respective parties. The President, under a belief that the question should be settled, advised that the year’s notice, required by the convention of the 6th of August, 1827, should be given to Great Britain.

“By so doing, at the expiration of a year, we shall have reached a period,” said the President, “when our national rights in Oregon must either be abandoned, or firmly maintained.”

In regard to the tariff, the message was explicit. The President reaffirmed doctrines, which, before his elevation to the Executive chair, he was known to profess in regard to the protective system. He was against it—against the tariff act of 1842—a revision and modification of which he strongly recommended.

In respect to the public domain, the President proposed to reduce the price to one dollar per acre, and to graduate the price to lower rates upon such portions as should remain for any considerable time unsold. Next, he adverted to the safe keeping of the public money. “Entertaining the opinion,” said he, “that the separation of the moneys of the government from banking institutions is indispensable for the safety of the funds of the government, and the rights of the people, I recommend to congress that provision be made by law for such separation, and that a constitutional treasury be created for the safe keeping of the public money. The constitutional treasury recommended is designed as a secure depository for the public money, without any power to make loans or discounts, or to issue any paper whatever, as a currency or circulation. I cannot doubt that such a treasury as was contemplated by the constitution, should be independent of all banking corporations.”

Such were the views of the Executive in regard to these great questions of national policy. Great differences of opinion existed among the American people in relation to several of them. It was foreseen that the public discussion of them would intensely excite the nation, and great apprehensions were entertained lest hostilities should grow out of the question pending between the United States and Great Britain. A war with Mexico at even an earlier day had been predicted, and the message of the President was not calculated to allay anxiety respecting it.

Indeed, this anxiety was destined to be increased by the course adopted by certain political leaders in congress. As early as the 9th of December, General Cass introduced into the senate the following resolutions:

“Resolved, That the committee on military affairs be instructed to inquire into the condition of the national fortifications, and of their armaments; and whether other defensive works are necessary; and into the condition and quantity of the military supplies; and into the state of the means possessed by the government for the defence of the country.

“Resolved, That the committee on the militia be instructed to inquire into the present condition of that great branch of the public service; and into the state of the militia laws; and that they be further instructed to report such changes in the existing system, as will give more experience and efficacy to that arm of defence, and will place it in the best condition for protecting the country, should it be exposed to foreign invasion.

“Resolved, That the committee on naval affairs be instructed to inquire into the condition of the navy of the United States, and into the quantity and condition of supplies now on hand; and whether an increase of them is not necessary to the efficient operation of the navy, and to its preservation and augmentation; and, generally, into its capacity for defending our coasts and our commerce; and for any service the exigencies of the country may probably require.”

The belligerent aspect of these resolutions was not to be mistaken; and, at length, when taken up for consideration, the mover of them, while he disclaimed any wish to hasten hostilities between Great Britain and America, expressed his conviction that a crisis was approaching.

The United States would not and could not relinquish her claim upon Oregon. “Shall we recede?” he inquired. “No, sir, as to receding it is not to be thought of for a moment. It is a thing I allude to, only to denounce it. War,” he added, “was a great calamity, and should if possible be avoided: but there were other calamities more to be dreaded than war, and among those calamities was national dishonor.”

To these resolutions, thus introduced, it was replied, that there could be nothing urged by way of objection in themselves considered. It was right to inquire into the state of our national defence, and to provide against the possible contingency of war; but it was the remarks of the mover of them which gave them their peculiar significance. They were in effect a declaration of war. They would be so considered, and would awaken the anxieties of the entire country. They might also seriously interfere with and retard the settlement of a question of vast moment pending between the United States and Great Britain. After a full consideration of these resolutions, however, and suitable explanations on both sides, the resolutions were unanimously referred to the committee on military affairs.

In accordance with the recommendation of Mr. Polk, at an early day of the session, joint resolutions for the admission of the state of Texas into the Union were introduced into the house of representatives. These resolutions with a preamble were as follows.

“Joint resolutions for the admission of the state of Texas into the Union.

“Whereas the congress of the United States, by a ‘joint resolution,’ approved March the 1st, 1846, did consent, that the territory properly included within, and rightfully belonging to, the republic of Texas, might be erected into a new state, to be called the state of Texas, with a republican form of government, to be adopted by the people of said republic by deputies in convention assembled, with the consent of the existing government, in order that the same might be admitted as one of the states of the Union; which consent of congress was given upon certain conditions specified in the 1st and 2d sections of said joint resolutions: and whereas the people of the said republic of Texas, by deputies in convention assembled, with the consent of the existing government, did adopt a constitution, and erect a new state, with a republican form of government, and in the name of the people of Texas, and by their authority, did ordain and declare, that they assented to and accepted the proposals, conditions, and guaranties contained in said 1st and 2d sections of said resolutions: and whereas the said constitution, with the proper evidence of its adoption by the people of the republic of Texas, has been transmitted to the President of the United States, and laid before congress, in conformity to the provisions of said joint resolutions; Therefore

“Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the state of Texas shall be one, and is hereby declared to be one, of the United States of America, and admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original states in all respects whatever.

“Be it further enacted, That until the representatives in congress shall be apportioned, according to an actual enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States, the state of Texas shall be entitled to choose two representatives.”

It was scarcely within the reasonable hopes of the opposers of the annexation of Texas, that after the adoption of the measures, with that object in view, by the preceding congress, the present congress would do any thing by which to prevent her admission into the Union. A few, perhaps, indulged the belief, that further proceedings might be stayed; and with that object in view, petitions and remonstrances were sent in from various parts of the Union. The President had, indeed, in his message congratulated congress and the nation that “this accession (of Texas) to our territory had been a bloodless achievement. No arm of force had been raised to produce the result. The sword has had no part in the victory. We have not sought to extend our territorial possessions by conquest, or our republican institutions over a reluctant people.” This was admitted by the opposite party, but they predicted war as a consequence, and this danger of a collision with Mexico they would have avoided, by preventing the admission of Texas. Besides, the extension of slavery was more distressing to many in all quarters of the Union; and, moreover, it was urged that it was of dangerous tendency and doubtful consequences to enlarge the boundaries of this government or territory over which our laws are now established. “There must be some limit,” said a wise and aged statesman, “to the extent of our territory if we would make our institutions permanent.”

The opposers of annexation, in various parts of the country, were anticipating a warm and exciting debate on the subject in congress, and members of that body, who represented this party, were themselves, it is believed, prepared to present strong, and to themselves, satisfactory reasons, why the project should be abandoned. But to the surprise of all, when the subject came up for consideration, discussion was prevented by an early movement of the previous question. To such a summary process strong remonstrances were made; but to the friends of the measure in congress, who believed the most valuable benefits would result to the Union by its consummation, debate seemed needless; and, consequently, the resolutions were urged to a speedy adoption. On the 16th of December, the question was taken, and the resolutions were adopted by a majority of 141 to 56. A few days after they received the sanction of the senate. In this latter body, however, an opportunity was given for the opposers of annexation to urge their objections. This was done with great dignity; but a majority in the senate, as in the house, if not in the country, were found in favour of the measure.

Thus by a novel, and to many an unconstitutional process, was Texas admitted into the Union, and “without any intermediate time of probation, such as other territories had undergone before their admission, she was vested with a right to send two representatives to congress, while her population was insufficient to entitle her to one, except, under the specific provision of the constitution, that each state shall have at least one representative.”

As early as October, 1845, an inquiry had been made by order of the President, of the Mexican minister for foreign affairs, whether his government “would receive an envoy from the United States, intrusted with full powers to adjust all questions in dispute between the two governments.” During the same month, an affirmative answer having been received; in November, the Hon. John Slidell, of Louisiana, was commissioned as such, and on the 30th of the same month arrived at Vera Cruz. The government of Mexico, notwithstanding its pledge, refused to receive him in the diplomatic character to which he had been appointed; and, after spending some time in the country, he returned to the United States.

The military force, which the President in his annual message informed congress he had ordered to take a position “between the Neuces and the Del Norte,” was for some months concentrated under General Taylor at Corpus Christi: but, on learning the probable refusal of the Mexican government to receive our envoy; and moreover, Texas having by her act of a previous date, declared the Rio del Norte to be her boundary, the President, in January, directed General Taylor to remove from Corpus Christi, and to concentrate his troops on the left bank of the Del Norte. At the same time all aggressive acts were strictly forbidden.

Accordingly, on the 11th of March the troops were put in motion, and on the 28th of that month arrived on the left bank of the Del Norte, opposite to Matamoras. About the same time a depôt was established at Point Isabel, near the Brasos Santiago, thirty miles in the rear of the encampment.

These measures, adopted by the President, by which the American troops passed the Neuces, the boundary claimed by Mexico, was considered by a large portion of the people of the United States as impolitic, if not unjust; and strongly tending to strengthen the misunderstanding already existing between the two governments. At least, the territory thus occupied was a subject of dispute, and by many its occupation was deemed a belligerent act.

It was naturally so considered by Ampudia, who was commanding the Mexican forces at Matamoras, and who notified the American general to break up his camp within twenty four hours, and retire beyond the Neuces. On the 24th of April, General Arista superseded Ampudia in command, and forthwith communicated to General Taylor, that “he considered hostilities commenced, and should prosecute them.” On the same day, a party of dragoons of sixty-three men and officers from the American camp, who had been despatched up the Del Norte to reconnoitre, were attacked by a body of Mexican troops. Sixteen were killed and wounded, and the remainder taken prisoners.

For a time following the occupation of the left bank of the Del Norte, the situation of the American army was considered exceedingly critical. In point of numbers, it fell far short of the Mexican force under General Arista, and supplies of food were difficult to be obtained. In this situation, General Taylor availed himself of authority given him by the President to call upon the governor of Texas for four regiments of state troops, and on the governor of Louisiana for four regiments, to be sent him as soon as practicable. These eight regiments were expected to make a force of nearly 5000 men, and were, in the opinion of General Taylor, sufficient: but General Gaines, having command in the southern department, under an apprehension that a much larger force would be necessary, made requisitions upon several of the governors of the southern states for a large volunteer force. In consequence of this call, a large force was ultimately concentrated under General Taylor—more than was deemed needful, and they were dismissed, while General Gaines, though considered patriotic in his measures, was adjudged to have transcended his authority.

Before, however, any of the above troops had reached the camp of General Taylor, his situation had become alarming. His provisions were nearly exhausted. The Mexicans were surrounding him, and his communication with Point Isabel was liable to be interrupted. At length, leaving a garrison of 700 or 800 men at his works opposite Matamoras, he set out with his other forces on Friday, the 1st of May, for Point Isabel to give protection to that place, and re-establish his communication with his supplies.

This movement upon Point Isabel was effected, without encountering a single Mexican. In place of molesting General Taylor, the enemy concentrated his forces about the camp which he had just left. On the morning of the 3d, the American works were attacked by the Mexican batteries from the opposite side of the river, while a detachment of their forces made a simultaneous attack on this side of the Rio Grande, in the rear. The Americans returned the fire with so much effect as to silence, in a short time, the Mexican batteries, while the attack in the rear was still more easily repulsed. The Americans lost but a single man. The Mexican loss was considerable. Matamoras itself suffered considerably.

On the 7th General Taylor commenced his return to his camp. He anticipated opposition, but little did anyone apprehend such attacks and such victories as the Americans won.

On the 8th, the Mexican forces had reached Palo Alto, with an intention to intercept the American general, and if practicable to prevent his return to his camp. The two armies met, and for five hours such a battle raged as the annals of history seldom record. The Mexican force exceeded 5000 men, with seven pieces of artillery and 800 cavalry. The American troops were 2300, with but two eighteen pounders and two light batteries. The loss of the Americans was comparatively trifling. Two brave officers were severely wounded. Major Ringgold and Captain Page, the former of whom soon after died. The loss of the Mexicans, according to the official report of General Arista, was, in killed, 98—wounded and missing, 142. The American army encamped on the field.

On the following day, General Taylor again moved with his forces towards his camp opposite Matamoras; and, on reaching Resaca de la Palma, a few miles only from his destination, he again encountered the enemy, and a battle, shorter in its continuance, but far more severe, ensued. The Americans were still more triumphant, capturing eight pieces of artillery, with a large quantity of ammunition; three standards, and several hundred prisoners, among whom was General La Vega. The loss of the Americans in this action exceeded that of the preceding day. According to the report of General Taylor in both actions there were 3 officers and 40 men killed, and 13 officers and 400 men wounded. General Arista reported as killed, officers and men, 154; wounded, 205, and missing, 156; making a total of 515.

“The glory of the American arms,” says a writer, “never shone brighter than in the brilliant contest of Palo Alto of the 8th, and in the even more brilliant contest of Resaca de la Palma of the 9th of May. On both days our soldiers

“They fought at great odds, with a foe superior in numbers, and in a position which the enemy had selected. But these only gave opportunities for more striking displays of personal valor. These disadvantages only served to show the decided superior power of the American arms.”

It was the wish of the American general to follow up the advantage thus obtained, but having no adequate means of crossing the river, he was obliged to content himself with the victories he had won. The American force once more took up its quarters at the camp opposite Matamoras, while the Mexican general retreated up higher into the country.

While affairs were thus progressing in the south between the two contending armies, an intense interest was kindling up in every part of the United States—and while, with but few exceptions, the people regretted the occurrence of any misunderstanding with Mexico, a general sympathy was felt for the American army (intelligence had not yet been received of the battles of the 8th and 9th,) environed as it was supposed to be by a superior force, and nearly destitute of supplies. In this state of things, a bill for “an act providing for the prosecution of the existing war, &c., was introduced into congress, the preamble to which was as follows. “Whereas, by the act of the republic of Mexico, a state of war exists between that government and the United States,” &c. To this preamble strong objections were expressed by some, but the bill, nevertheless passed both houses by large majorities. By this act, the President was authorized to employ the militia, naval, and military forces of the United States, and to call for, and accept the services of any number of volunteers not exceeding 50,000, either cavalry, artillery, infantry, or riflemen, &c. Besides the above, the regular army was increased several thousand, the enlistments being made for five years.

On the day the foregoing act was approved, the President issued his proclamation announcing the existence of war, “by the act of the republic of Mexico,” and calling upon the “good people of the United States to exert themselves in preserving order, and in maintaining the authority of the laws, and in supporting such measures as might be adopted for obtaining a speedy, a just, and an honorable peace.”

The winter had been spent by congress in the discussion of topics of great national interest, among which the most prominent related to Oregon; and particularly to the question arising out of the recommendation of the President in his annual message, whether the convention of August 6th, 1827, between the United States and Great Britain, in relation to the joint occupation of that territory, should be abrogated by giving to the latter government the year’s notice required by said convention.

Since the formation of the government, no question perhaps excited greater interest, or elicited warmer discussion than this. By not a few it was apprehended that the practical effect of such notice would be a war between the two governments. The debate took a wide range, and several were the modes suggested, or the resolutions offered, according to the terms of which the notice should be given. But, at length, on the 16th of April, the question was taken in the senate on a resolution, which had originated in the house and been amended in the senate, to give said notice, and decided in the affirmative by a majority of 40 to 14. On being returned to the house, the latter agreed to the senate’s amendments, but added still further amendments. These latter, however, were negatived by the senate, and the house insisting, a conference was solicited by the latter. This being accepted by the senate, a committee of conference was appointed, who reported the following preamble and resolution, which passed the senate by a vote of 42 to 10, and the house by a vote of 142 to 46.

“A Joint Resolution concerning the Oregon territory.—Whereas, by the convention concluded the twentieth day of October, eighteen hundred and eighteen, between the United States of America and the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, for the period of ten years, and afterwards indefinitely extended and continued in force by another convention of the same parties, concluded the sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, it was agreed that any country that may be claimed by either party on the north-west coast of America westward of the Stony or Rocky mountains, now commonly called the Oregon territory, should, together with its harbors, bays, and creeks, and the navigation of all rivers within the same, be “free and open” to the vessels, citizens, and subjects of the two powers, but without prejudice to any claim which either of the parties might have to any part of said country; and with this further provision, in the second article of the said convention of the sixth of August, eighteen hundred and twenty-seven, that either party might abrogate and annul said convention, or give due notice of twelve months to the other contracting party—

“And whereas it has now become desirable that the respective claims of the United States and Great Britain should be definitely settled, and that said territory may no longer than need be remain subject to the evil consequences of the divided allegiance of its American and British population, and of the confusion and conflict of national jurisdictions, dangerous to the cherished peace and good understanding of the two countries—

“With a view, therefore, that steps be taken for the abrogation of the said convention of the sixth of August, eighteen hundred and twenty seven, in the mode prescribed in its second article, and that the attention of the governments of both countries may be the more earnestly and immediately directed to the adoption of all proper measures for a speedy and amicable adjustment of the difficulties and disputes in respect to said territory—

“Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, in Congress assembled, That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby authorized, at his discretion, to give the British government the notice required by its said second article for the abrogation of the said convention of the sixth of August, eighteen hundred and twenty-seven.”

Thus was decided a question which had greatly agitated the entire country, and which, in the progress of discussion, had occasioned observations and reflections strongly calculated to disturb the harmony of the two governments, and which, in the opinion of some, were designed to produce such an effect. But the folly and guilt of engendering war between two nations so allied, and in which Christian principle was bound to hold sway, was, on several occasions, and by some of the principal men of the nation, pointed out. Solemn warning was given to those, who would madly have rushed to arms by setting up claims of doubtful validity, and which, it was well known, would never be acceded to by the British government. But, at length, the troubled waters grew calmer; and, while to a small portion of congress and of the nation, the resolutions adopted were still obnoxious, a vast majority of the people were gratified at their mild and conciliatory tenor.

It still remained to be known in what spirit this resolution would be received by her majesty’s government: but it was devoutly desired that it might lead to a final and harmonious settlement of all questions pertaining to the territory of Oregon.

And so it resulted fortunately, for the peace of the two powers immediately concerned, and to the peace of the continental powers of Europe.

On the 28th of April, the President gave official notice to her Majesty, Queen Victoria, that “the convention of August 6th, 1827, would terminate at the end of twelve months from and after the delivery of these presents.”

Before the delivery of this notice, however, the subject of an amicable settlement of all questions relating to Oregon, had occupied her Majesty’s government, and, on the 18th of May, Mr. M’Lane, our minister, informed Mr. Buchanan that the British minister at Washington would soon receive instructions to submit a new and further proposition, on the part of the British government, for a partition of the territory in dispute.

On the 10th of June, the President made a special and confidential communication to the senate, informing that body, that such a proposal had been made, and requesting their advice as to the action, which, in their judgment, it was proper to take in reference to it. At the same time he reiterated the views which he had expressed in his annual message, “that no compromise which the United States ought to accept, could be affected;” “that our title to the whole of Oregon” was maintained “by irrefragable facts and arguments,” and that the claim “could not be abandoned without a sacrifice of both national honor and interests.” Such was the tenor of the President’s communication. But he solicited advice.

On the 12th, the senate adopted, 38 to 12, the following resolution. “Resolved, (two-thirds of the senate concurring,) That the President of the United States be and he is hereby advised to accept the proposal of the British government accompanying his message to the senate, dated June 10th, 1846, for a convention to settle boundaries, &c., between the United States and Great Britain, west of the Rocky or Stony mountains.”

On the 16th of June, the President communicated to the senate a copy of a convention, or treaty, which had been concluded and signed on the 15th inst. settling boundaries, &c., in relation to Oregon—whereupon the senate by a vote of 41 to 14 advised and consented to the ratification of the same.

The two principal articles of this treaty are as follows.

“Art. 1, From the point on the 49th parallel of north latitude, where the boundary laid down in existing treaties and conventions between Great Britain and the United States terminates, the line of boundary between the territories of her Brittannic Majesty and those of the United States shall be continued westward along the 49th parallel of north latitude to the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver’s Island, and thence southerly through the middle of the said channel, and of Fuca’s Straits, to the Pacific Ocean; provided, however, that the navigation of the said channel and straits, south of the 49th parallel of north latitude, remain free and open to both parties.

“Art. 2, From the point at which the 49th parallel of north latitude shall be found to intersect the great Northern branch of the Columbia river, the navigation of the said branch shall be free, and open to the Hudson’s Bay Company, and to all British subjects trading with the same, to the point where the said branch meets the main stream of the Columbia, and thence down the said main stream to the ocean, with free access into and through the said river or rivers—it being understood that all the usual portages along the line thus described, shall in like manner be free and open. In navigating the said river or rivers, British subjects, with their goods and produce, shall be treated on the same footing as citizens of the United States—It being, however, always understood, that nothing in this article shall be construed as preventing, or intended to prevent, the government of the United States from making any regulations respecting the navigation of the said river or rivers, not inconsistent with the present treaty.”

Thus was finally settled (ratifications being afterwards duly exchanged) a question which had involved the two governments in discussions long and wearisome for a series of years, and which, in its progress, was threatening the peace and amity of the two nations. The treaty thus confirmed was not in all its provisions quite acceptable, nor was it considered the most advantageous that could have been negotiated; but the senate received, as it was entitled to, the thanks of the country for terminating a controversy fraught with dangers every month that it continued.

Several important bills were passed during the session, among which was a bill to protect the rights of citizens of the United States residing in Oregon—a bill for the establishment of the Smithsonian Institute, for the Increase and Diffusion of Knowledge among men—a bill re-establishing the sub-treasury—a warehousing bill—a bill for the improvement of certain rivers and harbors within the United States—and a bill to indemnify citizens of the United States for French spoilations. The two last of these bills, to the great regret of persons interested therein, as well as many others who desired to see the intents of navigation advanced and protected, and that numerous class of citizens indemnified for losses which they had years since sustained by reason of French depredations, and which, according to agreement, the government of the United States were solemnly bound to pay, were vetoed. Loud complaints were uttered against the President for his course pursued in relation to these bills, which had been discussed with signal ability, and had received the decided sanction of both houses of congress.

Towards the close of the session, a bill for the reduction of the duties on the importation of foreign goods and manufactures, passed the house of representatives by a majority of nineteen votes. In the senate it was carried by the casting vote of the vice-president. To those who were satisfied with the tariff of 1842, the alterations proposed by this bill were strongly condemned. They predicted as a consequence, and one which could not be avoided, the ruin of several important branches of manufactures, while it was exceedingly doubtful whether the revenues arising under this new tariff would suffice for the wants of the government. The Democratic party, however, stood pledged to alter the tariff of 1842, and although the friends of protection for a time cherished hopes that the interests of the manufacturers, and as they believed, the interests of the country, would be regarded; those hopes were dispelled by the action of congress on the subject.

On the 10th of August, at noon, congress brought its long and stirring session to a close. It had lasted for 253 days, or more than two thirds of a year. During few sessions were there ever more important subjects under debate. The results of several measures adopted remain to be seen. But, while it is occasion of congratulation, that our difficulties with Great Britain have been amicably and timely adjusted, it is matter of serious regret, that a war should be continued with Mexico. The final result of this, in regard to Mexico, may, perhaps, not be problematical—but the “end is not yet;” and before that end is reached, the people of the United States may as much regret that it was commenced, as the Mexicans themselves. The American army is at this present time, September, 1846, on its way from Matamoras to Monterey and other points. Santa Anna has superseded Paredes in the government, but what are his wishes in regard to peace have not transpired. Should he decide for war, the Americans can “apparently conquer a peace” only by taking up their march to the “Halls of Montezuma.”