GRAYDON'S MEMOIRS OF HIS OWN TIME. Sic ego sim ; liceatque caput canescere canis, Temporis et prisci facta referre senem. — Tibullus. E M 0 I R S HIS OWN TIME. REMINISC ENCES MEN AND. E. VENTS REVOLUTION. BY ALEXANDER GRAYDON. EDITED By JOHN STOCKTON LITTELL, MEMBER OF TUE HISTORICAL ROCIETV OF PKNNSVLV .NIA. PHILADELPHIA: LINDSAY & BL AKI ST ON. " 1846. Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1 846, BY JOHN S. LITTELL, In the Clerli's Office'of the District Court, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. GRIGGS & CO., PRINTERS. CONTENTS. Editor's Introduction. - xi Introduction. 13 CHAPTER I. - - ^- Bristol. — The Author's account of his family, and early education. — So ciety of Philadelphia. — Accident. — Family history. — Quakers. — School at Bristol. — School discipline. — Mr. Dove. — Philadelphia Academy. — Mr. Kinnersley. — Anecdote. — Early Adventure. — Author's early Cha racter. — Ballad. — Death of the Author's father. — Latin School. — Mr. Beveridge, — ^Anecdotes of Mr. Beveridge. — School anecdote. — Singular F petition. — Beveridge's poems. — Philadelphia. — Academy. — Author's ear ly class-mates. - - 16' CHAPTER II. Retrospective events in the Author's history. — Philadelphia. — Yellow fever. — Lodging-house. — Foot races. — Paxton boys.-^They threaten the city. — Ogle afid Friend. — Author's early amusements. — School anecdotes. — Sailing excursion. — Swimming and Skating. — Abbe Raynal. — Lodging- house guests. — Baron De Kalb. — Lady Moore. — Lady Susan O'Brien.-r- x.-. Woodward. — Sir William Draper. — Frank Richardson. — Anecdote.-—* Major ' Etherington. — Anecdote. — Majors Small and Fell.^General Reid. — Captain Wallace. — Anecdote of Joseph Church. — Rivington the printer. ¦ ^ ... . , 42 VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER HI. Page The Author mixes in new Society. — Is destined for the Law. — His charac teristic Indolence. — American players. — Anecdotes. — Dramatic Poetry. — Author's pursuits. — Debating Society. — Metaphysical subtleties. Causes of youthful follies.— Letters of Junius.— Tamoc Caspipina.— Mr. Duche. 79 CHAPTER IV. The Author removes to York.— Society there.— A Maryland Parson. — Odd character.— Judge Stedman.— Mr. James Smith.— Family circle- Author returns to Philadelphia. — Prosecutes the study of the Law. — Fencing.-^Mr. Pike.— City Tavern.— Singular case of mental derange ment. — Retrospective reflections. — Causes of the American War. — State ofParties.— Volun tear Companies. — Political consistency. — Preparations for War. — Anecdote. — Early attachment. — Dr, Kearsley.— Mr. Hunt. — Major Skene. . - - .100 CHAPTER V. , Congress Assembles. — Continental Battalions. — State of Parties. — Mr. Richard Penn. — His Character. — Levy of Troops. — Officers. — Ad- Venture. — Patriotism. — Recruiting. — 111 Success. — DiscipUne. — Author sent on a Mission. — Baron Woedtke. — Military Preparations. — Road to Albany. — Saratoga. — Fort Edward. — Lake George. — General Schuyler. — His Character. — Author returns to his Regiment. — Judge Livingston. 129 CHAPTER VI. The .\uthor leaves Philadelphia. — Appearance of "the Army. — Character • ofthe Soldiers. — Erection of Fort Washington. — Fort Lee. — Character of General Mifflin.— rAn odd Character.^Connecticut Light Horse. — Character ofthe Army. — Declaration of Independence. — Statue of George III. — British land on Long Island. — Action with the Enemy. — New York.— privations of Soldiers. — Long Island. — JEfltrenchments. — Skir mishing. — Miteight Scene in Camp. — Retreat to New York; — Reflec. tions. — Washington vindicated.— GeneralHowe. — CoaductoftheEritish^ 145 CONTENTS. Vll CHAPTER VII. Page Americans abandon New York. — Take post at Fort Washington. — Cha- racter of Officers. — Fire in New York. — Putnam. — Greene. — Promo tions. — Fort Washington threatened. — Summoned by General Howe. — Americans attacked and retire. — Account ofthe Engagement. 172 CHAPTER VIII. The Author a Prisoner. — Conduct of British Officers and Soldiers. — The Author's Treatment. — State of PTisoners. — Visuts to Prisoners. — Treat raent. — Major Maitland.^^Refleotions. — Americans and English con trasted. — Character of General Howe. — Killed and Wounded. — Charac ter of Mr. Becket.-^Humanity of British Officers. — March of Prisoners to New York. — Occurrences on the Road. — Generosity of a Highlander. — Disposal of Prisoners. — Officers' Quarters. — Baggage Restored. — Author appears in Regimentals. — Reflections, - - 903 CHAPTER IX. Pardon offered by Howe to the Americans, upon return to their allegiance. — Letter of General Washington. — An Officer's dinner party. — A singu lar Character. — Treatment of Prisoners. — Reflections on the American policy. — Memorial presented to General Howe. — Situation of Afiairs. — American Officers. — Deserters frora the cause of Independence. — Pros pects. — Coffee-house Incident. — British Provost Marshal. — Colonel Al len. — Result of application to General Howe..'— Exchange of Piisoners. — Removal of officers to Long Island. . - . - - 927 CHAPTER X. Situation of Officers at Long Island. — Society at .Flat-bush. — Manners of the People. — Mr. Bache. — Captain Hutchins. — Domine Reubell. — Do mine Van Zinder. — An Excursion. — Public Feeling. — Mr. Wallace. — Officers' Appointments. — Obstructions to an Exchange. — Hardships of Captivity. — Elagiac Stanzas of the Author. — Obstacles ta exchange of officers. — .Author visited by his Mother. — Maternal Anxiety. — British Post. — Officers. — Sir George Osborne. — Bon Mot. — Applications for . ' Author's rel^se. — Application to General Howe. — Author liberated on ¦ his Parole. — Reflections on War^ .... -264' CONTENTS. CHAPTER XI. Page The Author leaves Long Island for New York and Elizabethtown.— Author arrives at New York. — Travelling Companions. — Tench Coxe. — Ar rival at the American Camp. — General Washington.— Colonel Hamilton. — American Army. — General Wayne. — Occurrences on the Road. Au thor arrives at Philadelphia.— Arrival at Reading.— Political Feelings.— Declaration of Independence.— Character of Franklin.- Leading Men. — Mr. Canon. — Mr. Bryan. ... S'^'l CHAPTER xn. Philadelphia Threatened. — Washington marches to meet the Enemy. — Review ofthe Army. — Action at Brandywine. — Reflections on National Strength.^lMeasures of Washington.— Character of his Operations. — Defeat of Burgoyne.— Society at Reading.— Generals Mifflin, Gates, Con way, Lee. — Captain Speke. — Prisoners. — British Officers on Parole. — Author Exchanged. — M.irried. — Reflections. — Occurrence ofthe War. — Charles Thomson. . - . 989 CHAPTER XIII. Affectation in Titles. — Escape of Prisoners. — Major Williams. — Mr. For rest. — General exchange of Prisoners. — Supernumerary Officers. — Generals Washington and Charles Lee. — Character of Lee. — Drayton.-^ Laurens. — Military Anecdotes. — Author enrolled in the Militia. — Wanton Oppressioni — Mr. Parvin. — Quaker Opinions of War. — Dr. Franklin. — Visiters at Reading. — Mrs. Macaulay. — Popular Feeling. — Milton. — Constitutionalists and Republicans. — Author obtains an ap pointment. — John Dickinson. — Political Consistency. — Charles James Fox. • - . 313 CHAPTER XIV. Constitution of the United States. — Washington elected President. — Meeting of Convention. — The Senate. — Executive Power. — Regulation ofthe Press. — State ofParties. — Leading Characters in the Convention. — French Revolution. — Burke and Paine. — Washington's Administra tion. — Party Dissensions. — Mr. Jefferson. — State of Parties. . 339 CONTENTS. IX CHAPTER XV. Page Yellow Fever. — Marsh Effluvia. — Popular Feelings towards France. — Party Feelings. — A Threatened Insurrection suppressed by the Presi. dent. — The Western Expedition. — Address to the President. — French Party. — Treaty with Great Britain Opposed. — Rochefoucault. — French Travellers. — M. Talon. — Genet. — Washington's Retirement Character of Washington. .... . 365- CHAPTER XVI. Election of John Adams to the Presidency. — His Administration. — Mission to France. — French Party in America. — Imposition of Taxes. — Singular Fabrication. — Another popular Insurrection. — Election of Jefferson to the Presidency. — Popular Fanaticism. — Author's Political Principles. — Death of Washington. — Character of Jefferson. — Concluding Reflec tions. — Conclusion. .... . 385 APPENDIX. Alexander Graydon, the Elder, Dr. Lauchlan Macleane, - Warren, ... Battle of Bunker's Hill, . John Hancock, Reverend Jacob Duch6, - 417418421 491425428 Letter from Mr. Duch6 to General Washington, - . . 429 General Washington to Francis Hopkinson, . . . 437 Francis Hopkinson to Jacob Duche, ..... 438 Letter frora Mr. Duche to General Washington, . . - 441 Letter from General Washington to Mr. Duoh#, .... 442 Joseph Galloway, ....... 443 John Dickinson, ....... 445 Letter from Washington to Reed, - . . . . 449 Capture of General Charles Lee, . . . - - - 451 General Washington to Colonel Reed or Cadwalader, . 454 CONTENTS. 455457 459 4614624624G3 Washington at Brandywine, Battle of Monmouth, General Lee to General Washington, Genferal Lee to General Washington, Washington to Lee, Lee to Washington, Lee to Washington, Washington to Lee, - ^^^ Charges against Lee, '*'' Washington and Lee, - " ^"* Washington to Reed, -166 Lee's Queries, Political and Military, 466 Miss Franks and General Lee, - 468 General Lee to Miss Franks, 470 Colonel John Laurens, - 472 Charles James Fox, 476 Washington at Harrisburgh, - 478 President Adams, - - - 480 President Adam's Answer to the Harrisburgh Address. Comments by Mr. Graydon. . 482 Jefferson, His Election to the Presidency, 484 EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION. No apology will be offered by the Editor for the republication of this volume. The candid and intelligent reader, whatever may be his political predilections, who, in the spirit of honour able inquiry, seeks only for truth, who can value manly sincerity, and appreciate the importance of the subjects truthfully and grace fully discussed by its accomplished Author, would feel his under standing insulted, and his taste and judgment questioned, by any such attempt. Five and thirty years have elapsed since, at an obscure, pro vincial press, the first edition of this Work was anonymously, issued, and left to win its way, by slow degrees, and without any of the adventitious aids so abundantly characteristic of the present time, to public notice and favour. It was*, moreover, at that comparatively early period of our national being, a far more Serious enterprize to write and to publish a book, even of the modest dimensions of this, than can easily be conceived by those who only regard, with feelings approaching to wonder, the rapid and endless multiplications of the press at this more "prosperous xii EDITOB-'S INTRODUCTION. and more literary era. In addition to these disadvantages, although its respectable printer availed himself of such facilities for its external decoration as his, then, remote position enabled him to command, the appearance of the volume was singularly unattractive and defective. To these formidable obstacles to its success may be superadded yet another. The title, — a most important feature in the mystery of authorship, — failed to con vey a just idea of its character and scope, and, it dropped, un- . heeded, from the press.'' The personal friends of the Author, — and they were numerous and warmly attached, — it is true en couraged the publication of the Work by liberal subscriptions for copies, which, to some extent, were s,ubsequently distributed as gifts ; but its sale, at the book-stores, was extremely restricted, and scantily contributed to the liquidation of expenses incurred. This edition is presented to the public with a title somewhat modified, but, as the Editor conceives, more expressive and ap propriate ; and this is the only freedom, in the way of alteration, he has presumed to take. The personal nature of these Memoirs has left but little for the Editor to add, in regard to their estimable Author ; who has, with an unrestrained and a steady hand, frankly delineated his own character throughout the work. This, at all times, an extremely delicate and difficult task, is said, by those who knew him well, to have been faithfully accomplished; and although there was little beyond the limits of habitual and gentlemanly propriety for * The original title was as follows : — " Memoirs of a Life, Chiefly Passed in Pennsylvania, within the Last Sixty Years, with Qccasional Remarks upon the General Occurrences, Character and Spirit of that Eveijtful Period. Harrisburgh : Printed by John Wyeth. 1811." editor's introduction. xiu him to expose in the way of confession, that confession has been honestly and courageously made. In the year 1,785, having received, from the Executive Com mittee of Pennsylvania, an appointment to the Prothonotaryship of the newly organized county of Dauphin, Mr. Graydon re moved to Harrisburgh for the purpose of entering upon the duties ofhis office, which he continued to perform in a manner alike creditable to himself and advantageous to the public, until his sudden expulsion by Governor Mc Kean, — to whom belongs the unenviable distinction of being the father, of political proscription in the United States. He then retired to a small farm which he possessed in the vicinage of Harrisburgh, where he continued to reside until the year 1816, -when he returned to Phila,delphia with the intention of engaging in literary pursuits, and, with a view to the increase of a very restricted income, of entering upon the business of a Publisher. " There never breathed a man who, when his life Was closing, might not of that life relate Toils long and hard,"* and Mr. Graydon was, by no means, a fortunate exception to the general rule. Ere he could mature the plans, from which, in his life's decline, he had hoped to secure the independence he coveted, and which wouM have adorned, with a peculiar grace, his character, tastes, ahd years ; or froni which to repair the breach unexpectedly, cruelly, and causelessly made by arbitrary and vindictive Executive power, he yielded to the mandate whi9h all must obey, and closed his honourable, useful, and virtuous life on the second day of May, 1818, in the sixty-seventh year of his * Wordsworth. B XIV editor's introduction. age. Mr. Graydon was twice married. His first wife, in whom he has well succeeded in engaging the interest of the reader, was Miss Wood, from Berks country, who died at Harrisburg early in the year 1794. His second wife'was Miss Theodosia Pettit, daughter of Colonel Charles Pettit, of Philadelphia, who sur vived her husband eighteen years. He had no children by either marriage. Mr. Graydon was ardently attached to literature, and to lite rary pursuits. He was a frequent and acceptable contributor to the "Port Folio" in its palmiest days of popularity and influ ence. These contributions, which, for the most part, w^ere mo destly denominated "Notes of.i Desultory Reader," contain his opinions of the authors whose works he had read, accompa- . nied with OjCpasional critiques upon their style, and are invariably written in the strain of candour and ease that so remarkably cha racterize the Memoirs; affording, moreover, indubitable evidence of the elevation and purity of his own sentiments, and of an enlarged, well disciplined and highly cultivated mind. His lite rature, indeed, was various, extensive, and elegant to a degree unusual at the time in which he lived; and not very common among his steam-propelling, money-seeking countrymen, at any subsequent period. It was, at one time, the wish of the Editor to incorporate these articles into this edition of the Memoirs, but he was reluctant to swell the volume by the addition of matter having no connexion with the topics of which it treats. If, however, another edition should be called for, the original intention may be deemed worthy of reconsideration; or they may, perhaps, form a separate vo lume, under the title of " Remains." They were valuable con- XV tributions, and creditable to the periodical literature of the day, and are certainly deserving of publication and preservation. The Editor of the "Port Folio" in a notice of the Memoirs, contained in his number 'for April, 1818, in language appropriate and strong, declares that the "performance is one of the most interesting which the loom of American authorship has produced ;" and, in adverting to the unfortunate garb in which it came forth, remarks farther, that he felt no surprise that the public had failed to discover the " Gem, that wa^ concealed beneath an unpromising exterior." The brief critique is valuable, both on account of the justness of the writer's views, and also as evidence of a generous and candid contemporaneous appreciation of our Author. The following extract will not be unacceptable to the reader : — "We shall not hesitate to say, in going back to a book that* was published before our labour-s commenced, that our object is to stimulate the reading part of the community to the vindication of their taste, which deserves reproach while these Memoirs lie forgotten on the shelves. To those who would acquire a familiar view of the state of manners and public opinion about the time that our Revolution commenced, there is nothing which contri butes so much accurate testimony; and to. others, who have not forgotten this eventful period, we know of nothing more capti vating. We are aware that the fastidious delicacy of some has been offended by the freedom with which the writer has spoken of individuals ; but a very great distinction must be admitted be tween conversation and writing. Zimmerman justly remarks, that 'to entertain readers is only to deliver freely in writing that which, in the general intercourse of society, it is impossible to say with safety and politeness.' It is time thatt his mawkish delicacy xvi ¦(should be overcome, or we shall have nothing manly in our lite- ' rature; nothing true in our history, or just in our memoirs. Our writers, to be popular, must deal in the most ridiculous bombast and fulsome panegyric. Our western world must be peopled by nothing but a race of orators, like those who fulmined the thunder of eloquence on classical grounds, and heroes who would have rivalled a Marlborough, a Prince Eugene, or a Marshal Saxe. If Cumberland and Marmontel had written under all the restrictions which the fastidiousness of some of our good republicans would impose upon the Press, where would be the witchery of their pages } If the optimates of our cities — we should say, persons in society, if we could accompany the observation by a fac-simile of the customary shrug — if such people will insist on an exemption from the jurisdiction of the Press, they must contribute their quota to the general fund of amusement and instruction iu some other way. If they would prevent us from laughing at the ostentation of the exterior of their houses, let them show that hospitality and refinement dwell within the doors. If they cannot discern the pleasures and utility of literature, let them respect the pursuits of wiser men, and not act as if all knowledge was confined to the conclave of a bank or a counting-room. In conclusion, we must observe of Mr. Graydon's book, that its veracity and its candour are altogether beyond impeachment, and he has ques tioned no man's morality." Within a few weeks after the above was written, when called upon to record the demise of this excellent man, the same writer who enjoyed the pleasure and advantage of his personal friend ship, thus feelingly alludes to the much regretted event:— "Mr Graydon was one of the few survivors of that old school of ac- editor's introduction. xvii complished gentlemen, who flourished before our Revolution ; — , at a period when the courtesy of society was not disturbed- by insubordination in systems, nor violated by laxity in sentiments. That he has indulged himself in some harshness in these Memoirs will not be denied ; nor will that language be censured by those who remember the merciless persecution by which it was pro voked. " " So looks the chased lion Upon the daring huntsman that has galled him ; Then makes him nothing." In his youth, Mr. Graydon was remarkable for the elegance of his person, and he retained that advantage in an uncommon de gree to his latest hour. The elements of his temper were kindness and good will ; he was frank and generous ; his disposition was sociable and equally fitted to win esteem or disarm resentment ; his conversation, chaste and pleasant, diffused the same agreeable feelings around him which seemed to warm his own heart. His last private communication to the writer of this memorial, derives peculiar interest from the melancholy event by which it was speedily followed. The letter contained a translation of a Latin epigram ; and though the muse of our friend cannot boast the melody of the Swan, yet she breathes the same prophetic strain. The reader will require no apology for the insertion of an extract from Mr. Graydon's letter to the Editor :¦ — " In a slow convalescence from a lingering- indisposition, I have amused myself with the enclosed translation, which is at the service of the Port Fblio, if worthy of its pages. It struck me as a pleasing trifle, and though no poet, I had a mind to try how I could dress it in English metre.. I am not unmindful of b2 xviii editor's introduction. the story in Gil Bias of the Archbishop of Granada,— the old gentleman so celebrated for his homilies. For, though like him, I may not be sensible of a decadence in my mental faculties, it may nevertheless exist ; and, whether or not, every person, I pre sume who has attained to my years (65) will feel a want of the vis animce or animi, that is necessary to the ready performance of a literary undertaking, &c." THE ORIGINAL. Avulsa e ramo, frons 6 miseranda, virenti, Marcida quo vadis? — Quavadam, nescio — Quer-cum Maternam columenque meum stravere procelte. Inde mihi illudit Zephyrus, Boreasve; vagamque Nee contrd nltor. Quo Tendunt Omnia, Tendo ;. Qu6 fertur pariter folium lauri rosajque. ATTEMPTED IN ENGLISH. Torn from thy raurturing branch, poor, fallen leaf, What hapless lot awaits thy withering form? Alas! I know not,, but I mourn in chief,. My parent oak laid prostrate by the storm. Hence,, doomed the sport of every vagrant breeze, I'm hurried up the mounts then down again ; One while I mildew under shading trees. Now, whirl'd afield, I bleach upon the plain. In short, I go, where all things earthly tend. And, unresisting, meet my'wasting foes ; For oaks and brambles have one common end — The foliage of the laurel and the rose. *****"" The Memoirs contain some things that arebold and unpalateable, but it is a work of unexampled can dour and truth; and will conduce more to a veritable history of XlX the times, to which it relates, than any other publication now extant." * * * " Mr. Graydon never lost sight, of those im perishable principles for which he had contended on the field. He cherished the love of liberty, which beat in his heart until it became the impression of his conscience and the conviction of his understanding. Though a severe sufferer from political in tolerance, nothing like- tergiversation could be ranked among his failings. The perilous appearances in our political horizon never alarmed the soldier of the Revolution, who knew that the rela tions of truth and justice are immutable." In the year 1822, Mr. John Galt, well known for his many entertaining and valuable contributions to English literature, caused the re-publication of the Memoirs at Edinburgh, in a handsome volume, to which he prefixed a dedication to the Ame rican Envoy, then resident near the Court of St. James. In this dedication Mr. Galt bears the following judicious testimony, to the merit and character of the work : — " It is remarkable, that a production so rich in the various ex cellencies of style, description and impartiality, should not have been known to the collectors of American books in this country, especially as it is, perhaps, the best personal narrative that has yet appeared relative to the history of that great conflict which terminated in establishing the Independence ofthe United States. -The candour with respect to public occurrences, which it dis plays — the views of manners in Pennsylvania, prior to the memo rable era of 1776 — and the incidental sketches of historical cha racters, with which it is enriched, cannot fail to render the volume a valuable addition to the stock of general knowledge, and will, probably, obtain for the Author no mean place among those who have added permanent lustre to the English language." * 4-' ¦¦ XX editor's introditction. Commendations, thus unequivocal, from sources entitled to deference and weight, render it unnecessary to dwell longer upon the subject. It only remains for the Editor to allude, with be coming brevity, to his humble labours; and, while freely ardmit- ting a general and a cordial sympathy with the Author in flie feehngs and opinions he has so well portrayed and expressed, to disclaim responsibility for their utterance where it may not justly attach to him. He has, indeed, on several occasions, in the notes, ventured to express dissent from the judgments ofthe writer ; subsequent de velopments having placed within his reach, information which could not have been accessible to Mr. Graydon. The observations appended hy the Author to the last page of his private copy of the "Memoirs," are annexed to the original conclusion, injustice to him, and as a more befitting, present ter mination of the volume. But, as the Editor may not alter or -mollify any of its expressions,, it is but justice to himself to remark, that this is done withoiit concurrence, on his part, in all fhe sentiments they contain. On the contrary, he cannot, whatever may be his own predelictions, indulge in indiscriminate censure of the acts of any party that may chance to be in the ascendant. The great mass of the native population — and any disparagement of the other, influential and gradually con troUing portion, is emphatically disclaimed— who, alone, cherish an exclusive, or, at least, predominant attachment to the soil and institutions of their country, are, without doubt, patriotic ; and, perhaps, the only serious charge that may reasonably be placed to their account, is that of a too great ductility towards mere party-leaders ; adopting, without due examination or reflection ¦ such as becomes inteUigent citizens deserving of their freedom EDITOR S introduction. XXl and independence — the plausible dogmas of ignorant, unprinci pled demagogues, or of inexperienced and reckless experi mentalists. Whatever may have been the defects of the " Madlsonian PoUcy," to which Mr. Graydon aUudes — and in regard to which the knowledge of the Editor is entirely historical — it cannot, he presumes, be denied that the Government of the country, at that gloomy period, was encompassed by difficulties and menaced by dangers of no ordinary character ; and, as it was a manifest and monstrous dereliction of filial duty to withhold the necessary aid in her extrication and defence, so- was it little short of treason to interpose obstacles to the complete and triumphant vindication of her rights and honour. Yet, to such unnatural lengths have party antipathies, rage, and blindness, tempted men whose services and genius would otherwise have deserved and commanded un qualified admiration and gratitude. It is, assuredly, the part of wisdom to avoid warlike or angry collision and controversy with other nations, alike injurious in their tendency to prosperity and to morals ; — let the people, therefore, look well to their rulers, and be duly careful in their selection ; — but it is equally an obvious dictate of patriotism, whatever the "poUcy," by which she may become involved, at any and at every sacrifice, to shield the country from discomfiture and disgrace. Nor can the Editor permit the fears or the doubts of the Author, or of other equally thoughtful and patriotic men, to weaken his firm and abiding faith in the permanency of our institutions. Of the lasting prevalence of republican feeling, and of the rapidly progressive and widely spreading love for these institutions, no genuine son of the soU should ever encourage or entertain a doubt. It is true, that the xxii editor's introduction. people— fondly loved, and caressingly flattered by those who alone are capable ,of serving them, and who are, therefore, ex clusively deserving of their smiles and offices, and honours— have made some startling mistakes, which have paled the cheek, and checked the warm current of patriotic hope. We have seen, for example, a citizen of consummate ability, of profound learning, and of unsurpassed experience, hurled from the high station which his genius and talents adorned, in the whirl of popularity achieved by a patriotic and fortunate General, whose great mili tary talents, and briUiant exploits in the field, were deemed suffi cient qualifications for the most elevated of civic trusts ! We have, also, seen a statesman who, for forty years, has been a leading public servant, — exercising, in the national councils, a commanding and conservative influence ; and who, for two-thirds of this long period of toilsome, self-sacrificing devotion to his coun try, has been, of that country, — under the guidance of a higher InteUigence, — thrice the preserver ; — an Ulustrious offsprmg of its free, equalizing, and nurturing institutions, — its greatest living name, — we have seen this wise and generous man, ostracised by strangers who are called his countrymen; and another, without name, or fame, or service, elevated, by the controUing influence of the same law-created citizens, from the " thick darkness " of obscurity, to the Chair of Washington! Such occurrences overshadow with temporary gloom and despondency, the prospect into futurity, and sicken the heart and depress the spirit of the enUghtened patriot, whose duty it is, notwithstanding, never to despair while there is service to render or while a sacrifice is , required. After he had commenced the preparation of the Memoirs for xxm the press, and had made considereible progress in the division of the work into chapters for the greater convenience of reference, — a plan not adopted by the Author, — the Editor was fortunate in procuring a copy of the Edinburgh edition in which Mr. Galt had performed this service in a manner somewhat different, but, on the whole, very satisfactorily ; and his arrangement, in this respect, with slight modification, has been adopted. Beyond this, however, Mr. Galt did not venture to proceed. To this Edition, a Table of Contents, and a general Index have been added ; and also an Appendix containing illustrative matter, which could not, without burdening the page, be crowded into notes. Acknowledgements are due to Mr. Andrew Graydon, of Har risburgh, for the kindness and courtesy which unreservedly placed' at the disposal of the Editor, documents that have greatly facili tated his researches, and especially for the use of his Uncle's pri vate copy of the Memoirs, to many of the pages of which the Author had appended notes with a view, unquestionably, to a future republication. These notes have been faithfully transcribed and placed where their writer evidently intended them to appear; while' those of the Editor have received their appropriate designa tion. The volume is thus submitted, once more, but in a befitting di^ess, to the candour of the intelligent aad discriminating reader, as a valuable addition to the historical literature of the country for whose independence and happiness its Author perilled his fortunes and his life ; and whatever may be his impressions in respect to the opinions which it contains, their manifest sincerity will com mand respect, and the style and temper of their expression, XXIV while deserving of general imitation, wfll chaUenge good-wiU and admiration. The beautiful tribute of Wordsworth to the Memory of Lamb, is, with slight modification, almost equally applicable here, and may, not inappropriately, terminate the trespass of the Editor upon the patience of his reader : — " To a good man of most dear memory This stone is sacred. Here he lies apart From the great city ijvhere he first drew breath. Was reared and taught ; and humbly earned his bread To the strict labours ofthe merchants' desk. By duty chained. Not seldom did these tasks , Tease, and the thought of time so spent depress His spirit, but the recompense was high ; Firm Independence, Bounty's rightful sire ; Affections warm as sunshine, free as air; And when the precious hours of leisure came, Knowledge and wisdom, gained from converse sweet With books, or while he ranged the crowded streets With a kepn eye^ and overflowing heart : So genius triumphed over seeming wrong. And pour'd out truth in works by thoughtful love Inspired— works potent over smiles and tears. And as round mountain-tops the lightning plays, Thus innocently sported, breaking forth •? As from a cloud of some grave sympathy, Humour and wild instinctive wit and all The vivid flashes ofhis spoken words." > J. S. L. Germantown, Pennsylvania, i April nth, 1846. S " MEMOIES OF A LIFE, PASSED CHIEFLY IN PENNSYLVANIA. INTRODUCTION, The dealers in self-biography, ever sedulous to ward off the imputation of egotism, seldom fail to find apologies for their un- dertakings. Some, indeed, endeavour to persuade themselves, that they;^ design their labours merely for their scriitoires ; while others, less self-deceived, admit they have an eye to the public. The Cardinal De Retz is brought out at the request of a lady ; Rousseau, by the desire of showing himself to a misjudging world, in aU the verity of nature ; Marmontel, writes his life for his children at the instance of their mother ; and Cuniberland, so far as his motives can be coUected from his introduction, because he lived and was an author. If, from these, we recur to the account given of himself, by our own Franklin, we shall find, that, although addressed to his son, it is intended for the world ; • and/that the acknowledged motives to it, are a combination of famUy curiosity and personal vanity, with the desire of shpwing the connexion between thrifty youth ahd respectable age^^a, kind of practical comment on the useful truths, contained in Poor Richard's almaiiac. Next to the good fortune of having figured in some briUiant, active career ; of having been the companion of a hero, or the depository of statei secrets ; of having seen cities and men ; of having wandered '' through antres vast, and deSerts idle," or been 3 14 INTRODUCTION. the subject of " moving accidents by flood and field ;" *^ ^!°Y^'* inducement of Mr. Gumberiand, is perhaps the most pl^^^^bi^- Unfortunately, for the person, who, here presumes to appear before the public, he is wifliout one of these d-ms ^ attenUon He has no pretensions to fame or distinction m any ^-d, neiihe as soldier, nor statesmen, nor traveller, nor author. He is not wholly mthout hope, however, that his presumption may be pd- liated ; and that, in his object, of giving a representation of the character, spirit and more minute occurrences of his time, it wdl be perceived, that there is no form, mto which his work can be thrown, with so much advantage, as into that of personal me moirs. By his own story, if he ife not misled by seff-love, a kind of menstruum is afforded, for the incongmous mass of his mate rials, serving to harmonize, in some degree, the abrupt transitions and detached details, which, a delineation of the various incidents of "many coloured life" requires. As to himself, he is fully conscious, that it matters not, •To wkbm related) or by whom begot; and, therefore, he would fain buttress his undertaMng, by the opinion of an eminent poet, as vouched by Mr. Walpole, viz. " That if any man were to form a book, of what he had seen or heard hiinself, it must, in whatever hands, prove a niost useful and entertaining one." A most seducing ignis-fatuus truly, con sidering the latitude with which it is laid down ! But, far from wishing to forclose the reader by an opinion, which he must own he considets a very questionable one ; or to lure him on to an expefctation of what he might vainly seek to find, he an nounces at his outset, that the pages here set before him, hold out no other inducement to his perusal, than such as may arise from the fidelity With which he wUl relate incidents within the scope of ordinary life,; and depict some occurrences, which came under his notice, during the progress of the revolution, and since its con summation. Jn doing this, hfe vnll have occasion to speak as weU of others as himself. He may sometimes resort to inotives in ac counting for men's actions ; and, as these receive their qualities INTRODUCTION. 15 from the mind of the agent, he will vrith equal freedom and truth disclose the complexion of his own, having little, he thinks, no inclination that it should pass for better than it is. If the mould in which it has been formed, is not the most perfect, so neither, does he trust, is it absolutely the most worthless : if not calculated to produce a cast to the taste of worldly wisdom ; one, that may advance experimentally the sound philosophy of thrift, and prac tically mark the routes to private wealth and public greatness, it wUl yet be found abundantly fruitful, in negative instruction on both points, 16 BRISTOL. CHAPTER I. Bristol. — The Author's account of his family, and early education. — Society of Philadelphia.— Accident.— Family history.— Quakers.— School at Bristol.— School discipline.— Mr. Dove.— Philadelphia Academy.— Mr. Kinnersley,— Anecdote. — Early Adventure. — Author's early Character. — Ballad. — Death of the Author's father.— Latin School.— Mr. Beveridge.— Anecdotes of Mr. Beve ridge. — School anecdote. — Singular petition. — Beveridge's poems. — Philadel phia. — ^Academy. — Author's early class-mates. My recollections of the vUlage of Bristol, in which I was bom onthe 10th of AprU, N. S., in the year 1752, cannot be supposed to go farther back than to the year 1756 or 1757. There are few towns, perhaps, in Pennsylvania, which, in the same space of time, have been so little improved, or undergone less alteration.* Then, as now,t the great road leading from PhUadelphia to New York, first slrirting the inlet, at the head of which stand the mUls, and then turning short to flie left, along the banks of the Dela ware, formed the principal and indeed only street, marked by any thing like a continuity of buUding. A few places for streets, were opened frpm this main one, on which, here and there, stood an humble, solitary dwelling. At a corner of two of these lanes, was a Quaker meeting house; and on a stUl more retired spot, stood a smaU Episcopal church, whose lonely grave yard with'its * Just about the time of writing these memoirs, Bristol took a start, and has smce becorae a place of fashionable resort during the summer months to which Its baths and chalybeate waters, together with its convenience to the inhabitants of Philadelphia, by means ofthe then newly invented steamboats, have no doubt principally contributed. ' ' + 1811, BRISTOL. 17 surrounding woody scenery, might have fiiijnished an appropriate theme for such a muse ^s Gray's. These, together with an old brick jail, (Bristol havip.g once been the county town pf Bucks,) constituted all the public edifices in this m,y native town. Its site, though flat, i$ not unpleasant, particularly along the bank of the Delaware, rising to a commanding height froip a fair and gravelly margin. Hence,, the eye might ^ove at large both up and down the river, and after traversing a fine expanse of water in an oblique direction, find an agreeable i;e?ting place in the town of Burlington on the opposite shore,* As in this country, there 1$ little temptation to the tracing of a long line of ancestry, I shall content myself with deduci^ig a very brief genealogy. And this, not so much perhaps, from an ac quiescence in the revolution^ary idea of the insignificance of an illustrious pedigree, as from real inabUity to produce one. I can go no farther, at least, than to vou(?h, that w^ had a coat of arms. in the family, bojne about on the«body of an, old-fashioned chaise, and engraved upon our spoons, and a double-handled caudle cup. But if instead of groping amid§t the darkness of transat-, lantic heraldry, we confine ourselves to ouf own shores, which seems much the most congenial to the noble spirit of independence we are pleased to manifest on other occasions, I ain warranted in asserting, that I aro descended from ancestors, respectable both, as to station and character ; from a stock not ignoble, but honest and generous : And if parental propensities, are trgnsmitted to off-, * Bristol, in 1846, is the largest town in Bucks county, and is distant twenty miles from Philadelphia. "The Delaware branch of the canal from Easton ter. minates here in a spacious basin, bringing to the place an extensive coal trade. The Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad passes in the rear of the town. Steam boats are constantly touching at the landingK." Besides the Episcopal church,, above mentioned, and Quaker meeting house, there is now a Methodist meeting house, a bank, (the Bank of Bucks county,) an extensive flouring mill, several hotels and stores. " The distinguishing characteristic of the place, is its quiet ness and rural beauty. The population in 1840 was 1,438. Soott, in his geo graphy published in 1806, says that Bristol, at that time, contained 90 houses. By the census of 1800, the population was 511; in 1810, 698; in 1890, 908. Bristol was incorporated as a borough by Sir Wiliam Keith, goifernor ofthe pro- vince of Pennsylvania, on the 14th of N;ovember, 1720.''; — Ed> 2* 18 author's ancestry. spring in the human race, but in half the degree that they are among quadrupeds, flie value we may be disposed to set on vir tuous progenitors, is very far from chimerical. Several years residence on a farm, has afforded me opportunity for some ob servations upon flie nature of domestic animals ; and I have found, what I should have been disposed to laugh at, had I not proved it, that, among flie ox Iriiid especially, the vices, which seemed mere habits of the female parent, have invariably descended to her offspring. I venture this remark, though not quite in unison with the tone of the Subject ; and though liable to be strained into an assumption of worth on my part, to which I may in fact be whoUy destitute of pretension. My faflier was an Irishman, and, as it appears fi'om some im perfect documents in my possession, came to this country in the year 1730. He was born, I fliink, in Longford, and was brought up under the care of his maternal grandfather in Dublin, or its neighbourhood. Being designed for the pulpit, he had received a suitable education, to which, having added many of the accom plishments at that time in fashion, he was distinguished in PhUa delphia both as a scholar and a gentleman. It was not long since, that the late chief justice Shippen informed me, he was the person always appealed to, in the coffee-house controversies of the young men of the day, on points of science and literature. During his presidency of the county courts of Bucks, he had made himseff, as I have understood, a very tolerable lawyer, insomuch that at the time of his death, he was, as I have been informed, in nomination for the ofiice of a judge of the supreme court of Pennsylvania. From the copies of letters to his friends in Ireland, soon after his arrival in PhUadelphia, he appears not to have taken up veiy^ favourable sentiments of its inhabitants. "Most of our trading people here," says he, "are complaisant sharpers; and fliat maxim in trade, to fliink every man a knave, untU the contrary evidently appears, would do weU to be observed here ff any where.— In fliis province we have a toleration for all religions, which some have enlarged so far, as to make a neglect and in difference of all rehgion, their only religion." These being tiie opinions of a young mau but of about two and twenty years of accident. 19 age, it is not improbable, that they were too hastUy formed ; but ff, unfortunately for the honour of our infant metropolis, they were correct, it is some relief to hear, that mercantile integrity, joined to genuine and unaffected hospitality, was also to be found therj, as appears from the foUowing extract of a letter, dated the I8th of March, 1731. " Soon after we arrived here, it happened, and I hope providentially for us, (himseff and his father-in-law, Mr. Emerson, who made one family,) that we rented a house from one Mr. Peter Baynton, adjacent to his own, who is a considerable merchant in this city. As he is a man of singular sobriety, and not well affected to the reigning humour in this town, he has ad mitted us into his chief confidence, and distinguished us as his principal friends and associates, insomuch that he wUl. enter upon no project or design in trade, without admitting us to a share in it : and from the success of some we have already undertaken, we have not the least room to doubt of his sincerity and kind ness." Such is my father's sketch of Philadelphia manners eighty years ago.* From the same letter it appears, that at the instance of this Mr. Baynton, he had contemplated with him a partnership in trade, to be carried on in the town of Burlington, which, he observes, " though it be now somewhat obscure, it has yet many advantages capable of improvement.'' This contemplated removal, however, did not take place. He continued in business in PhUadelphia, and iu the war, probably, with Spain, which broke out in the year 1741, was concerned with several of the principal merchants in that city in buUding and fitting out the Tartar privateer.f This vessel, supposed to be the finest, as she was the largest, that had at that time, been built on the Delaware, had a singular fate. On her |)assage to the sea, at a fine season of the year, she was lost in the bay. To make the most of a gentle breeze that was blowing, she was »1731.t Commanded by Capt. Macky. She was launched 24th May, 1744. More than eighty people were drowned, among whom were Mr. Legate of New Castle, Capt. McKnight of Philadelphia, and Capt. Bodeman. She was a sharp-built vessel, and out of all proportion rigged and masted, and under ballasted. She overset in a moment with but little wind, and went down instantly. Letter 31st July, 1774, from Lynford Lardner to Richard Penn. 20 FAMILY HISTORY. under fuU saU, when either from a deficiency of ballast, a dispro portion in her rigging, or some other fault in her construction, she was almost instantaneously overturned by a flaw from the shore. The greater part of the owners, who had formed a party to see her out of the capes, were on board, ahd among them my father. So mUd was the day, and so little cause was there for appre hension, that he was amusing himself on deck with one of Mo- liere's plays, when tiie disaster occurred. Finding himseff pre cipitated among the waves, he immediately seized on a chest that had floated from the vessel, and placing himseff on the middle ofit, its extremities served to support a saUor on each side of him. In this situation, they were driven at the mercy of the waves for a considerable time, without any prospect of relief. They were sometimes about to quit their hold, and at once resign themselves to a fate, which appeared inevitable. This was peculiarly the case vrith one of the sailors, whom my father, exerted himseff to the utmost to encourage, since ff he had abandoned the chest, it would have lost its equUibrium, and in the weak, exhausted state in which they were, they must all have perished. At length, a vessel hove in sight and appeared to be making towards them : It proved to be so, and they were taken up while yet enough of vital power remained, to render the means used for their restora tion efficacious. The captain, ff I am not mistaken, and the greater part of tiie Tartar's crew, were drowned, as were most of the owners tiiat were on board. Although I have heard my father relate the circumstances of this misfortune, and have since heard it spoken of in tiie famUy, my recoUection of flie particulars is very imperfect. My mother, flie second wffe of my faflier, was tiie eldest of four daughters; she was born in the island of Barbadoes, and when about seven years of age, was brought to PhUadelphia by her parents, who then came to reside in that city. Her faflier was a German, born, ff I mistake not, in Frankfort on the Maine. He had been engaged in trade whUe in Barbadoes, and brought witii him into Pennsylvania, a pretty good property. Her moflier was from Scotiand, having first drawn breatia in tiie city of Glas gow; but by what means a pair of so little national affinity as these my grand parents on the mother's side, were brought to- FAMILY HISTORY. 21 gether, I never learned. From their conversation, however, I remember they had resided some time in London, previously to their settling in Barbadoes. Notwithstanding the apparent want of associating principles in some respects, they yet agreed very well : WhUe the tongue pf my grandfather faithfully retained the character of its original dialect, that of his spouse, though in a less degree, bore testimony also, to the country of her extraction ; and whUe he, a determined episcopalian, had his pew in Christ's chyirch, she, a strict presbyterian, was a constant attendant at Buttonwood meeting house. No feuds, however, were engen dered by this want of religious conformity ; and ff my grandfather sometimes consented to hear a sermon at the meeting house, it might be considered as a concession on his part, for a sermon of archbishop Tillotson, which was regularly read aloud, by one Of the family on Sunday evening. Though a loud talker, and some what rough and boisterous in his manner, the old gentleman was at bottom, highly liberal, benevolent, and good natured. The good lady, onthe other hand, was rather austere ; and the management of her family, strongly tinctured with the primitive discipline of her church. Her countenance, on Sunday, always assumed an un usual degree of severity, and whUe under her tutorage, I might truly say, in the meaning of the poet, it shone no Sabbath day to me. Then, instead of rest, my labours were augmented ; then chapters were to be read, and long catechisms to be conned or repeated. The best things may be overdone ; and the imposition of hard and unreasonable tasks is more apt to create disgust, than concUiation to instruction. So, at least, it was with me: I deemed my tutoress unfeeling and tyrannical, whfle, by her, I was considered as reprobate and incorrigible. Although my progenitors, on neither side, appear to have pos sessed the talent of amassing wealth, there is a circumstance com mon to both, which seems unequivocaUy to indicate liberality and sincerity of heart. And yet it is a circumstance, which, probably, would have escaped me, had it not been noticed by my uncle, by marriage, the late judge Biddle.* Your famUy, said he one * Edward Biddle, Esq. Wilkinson, in his " Memoirs" warmly eulogizes him. "He was a man whose public and private virtues commanded respect, and excited 22 QUAKERS. day to me, has had an honour which has happened to few, that of inducing two persons wholly unconnected with you, to at tach themselves to you; to make your interests tiieu- own, and wifliout contract or pecuniary tie, to remain wifli you tUl their deaths. One of fliese was a Scotchman, of the name of Thomas Gordon, who came into my grandfaflier's service m PhUadelphia, in flie capacity of a clerk, continued wifli him after he had de cUned business, and remained among us long after his deafli, untu tiie thne of his own decease, which happened at Reading, in tiie year 1777. He was born in Aberdeen, and had been bred to business in a counting-house at Rotterdam. He never was married. In his latter days, he became a perfect clock in regu. larity; was a truly honest man, and what wUl be tiiought still better by many, he was a genuine whig of seventy-six, tiiough "too old or infirm to carry arms in the revolutionary contest. The otiier, was a maiden lady of tiie society of friends, who, upon occasion of my mother being in want of a female domestic, offered to assist her for a short time, caipe into the famUy soon after I was born, and never left it untU taken from us by death, at an advanced age, in the year 1794. Her name was Ann Burgess; she was a woman of good understanding and reputably con nected. With the exception of the family of Doctor Denormandie, our own, and perhaps one or two more, the principal inhabitants of Bristol were Quakers. Among these, the names of Buckley, WU liams, Large, Meritt, Hutchinson and Church, are familiar to me. The last, bred to the trade of a cooper, but who had put his son in the business, and employed himseff more in the management admiration from all persons : He was speaker of the last assembly of Penn- sylvania under the proprietory government, and in the dawn of the Revolution devoted himself to the cause of his country, and successfully opposed the over bearing influences of Joseph Galloway: ardent, eloquent, and full of zeal, by hia exertions, during several days and nights of obstinate, warm and aniraated discus. sion, in exfrerae sultry weather, he overheated himself, and brought on an inflam- inatory rheumatism, which radically destroyed his health, and ultimately de- prived society of one of its greatest ornaments, and his country of a statesman, a patriot and a soldier; for he had served several campaigns in the war of 1756 and if his health had been spared, would, no doubt, have occupied the second or third place in the Revolutionary armies." — Ed. QUAKERS. 23 of a small farm and nursery of fruit trees, was a sincere and steady friend to our famUy. He was married to the sister of Ann Bur gess, just mentioned, and was a very worthy man, possessing a good natural understanding, with a strong addiction to philo sophical speculations. His attachment to my father went beyond friendship : it reached, to a-dmiration and veneration. He thought him, as he has often tolfl me, one of the best and wisest men that ever lived. I never knew him do a foolish thing, said he, but once. Upon my asking him what that was ; it was, said he, on occasion of some worthless fellow reporting that he had seen one or more Indians in the swamp beyond the church, assembling a body of the militia, of which he was colonel,* and marching out with drums beating, and colours flying, against the supposed enemy. But this instance is equivocal. Whether my father gave credit to the report or not, others might, and no doubt did be lieve it : It was alsb incumbent on him to be alert ; to inculcate that duty upon his men, and to inure them to alarms : and although more silence, and less parade, might have been more truly mUi tary, yet something of the "pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war," is allowable to militia, particularly to a body which had certainly never encountered an enemy. Besides, to the calm incredulity of friend Church upon this occasion, we might perhaps safely add, a little both of the spirit of party and of quakerism. The people of his society, from principles averse from war, were charged with being too friendly to the Indians ; with being too ready to paUiate their enormities, and conse quently, indisposed to listen to the alarming accounts, which the panic produced by Braddock's defeat, had spread throughout the country. By this event, every obstacle tp their incursions being removed, in the minds of the timid they were to be looked for * In Franklin and Hall's Gazette of February Qth, 1747, eight ofthe officers of Bucks county it is there stated — Alexander Graydon, Captain; Anthony Denor mandie, Lieutenant ; James Barker, Ensign. In the same paper of the 15th March, Same yeai?, it is farther stated — Superior officers of a regiment in Bucks county, Alexander Graydon, Esq., Colonel, Matthew Hughes, Esq., Lieutenant Colonel ; John Denormandie, Esq., Major. He was also recommended in a nomination for a field officer in the Provincial Corps raising in 1758, but he declined the ap- pointment. See his letter in Appendix. 24 DOVE. everywhere. From the consternation that prevailed, I can stfll recoUect, fliat the horrors of a discomfiture by such a. foe, were among my most early and lively impressions. To the terrors of flie tomahawk and flie scalpuig knffe, the imagination adds the savage yells, flie gloomy woods and dismal swamps, which are tiieir usual accompaniments; and, hence, minds that have been deeply impressed by the fatal fields of Braddock and St. Clair, are weU prepared for flie sombre interest imparted by Tacitus's affecting description of fliat of Varus, visited after an interval of six years, by Germanicus :¦ — Occulta saltuum, meestos, locos, vis-uque ac memoria deformes. Medio campi albentia ossa, utfageruni, ut restiterunt disjecta vel agger ata. "Those deep and dreary re cesses, hideous both to sight and memory; with the whitening bones, scattered or heaped togeflier, as either tiiey belonged to those who feU in flight, or met their fate resisting." There being no traces in my memory, of any incidents worthy of remark, during fhe period of my infancy, I pass on to the era of my removal to PhUadelphia, for the sake of my education. This, I suppose to have been, between my sixth and seventh year. I recollect littie or nothing of going to school at ^Bristol, farther than that there was one, and the master's name Pinker ton, a kind, good humoured Irishman, from whom I might have learned, that as one thing was cruel big, so another might be cruel little. In the city, I lived with, and was under the care of my grandfather. The school he first put me to, was that of David James Dove, an Englishman, and much celebrated in his day, as a teacher, and no less as a dealer in the minor kind of sathical poetry. To him were attributed some political effusions in this way, which were thought highlyof by his party, and made a good deal of noise. He had also made some figure, it seems, in the old worid, being spoken of, as I have heard, though in what way I know not, having never seen flie work, in a book, entitied— The Life and Adventures of the Chevalier Taylor.* As the story went, * This was TayW the occulist, spoken of in Boswell's life of Johnson, and who, though^ sprightly, was, according to the doctor, an instance how far impu dence could carry ignorance. He challenged me once to talk Latin with him, says the doctor. 1 quoted some of Horace, which he took to be my own speechl He said a few words Well enough. S^ SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 25 some one readiflg this performance to Mr. Dove on its first ap pearance, vrith the mischievous design of amusing himseff at his expense, as he knew what the book contained, he (Dove) bore testimony to the truth of the contents, with which, he said, he was perfectly acquainted, exclaiming, -as the reader went along, true, true as the gospel! but when the part was reached, in which he himself is introduced in a situation somewhat ridiculous, he cried out, it was a lie, a most abominable lie, and that there was not a syllable of truth in the story. At any rate. Dove was a hu mourist, and a person not unlikely to be engaged in ludicrous scenes. It was his practice in his school, to substitute disgrace for corporal punishments His birch was -rarely used in canonical method, but was generally stuck into the back part of the collar of the unfortunate culprit, who, with this badge of disgrace tow ering from his nape like a broom at the mast-head of a vessel for sale, was compelled to take his stand upon the top of the form, for such a period of time, as his offence was thought to deserve. He had another contrivance for boys who were late in their morn ing attendance. This was to despatch a committee of five or six scholars for them, with a bell and lighted lantern, and in this "odd equipage," in broad day light, the bell all the whUe ting ling, were they escorted through the streets to school. As Dove affected a strict regard to justice in his dispensations of punish ment, and always professed a wUlingness, to have an equal mea sure of it meted out. to himseff in case of his transgressing, the boys took him at his word"; and one morning, when he had over- staid his time, either through laziness, inattention, or design, he found himseff waited on in the usual foriji- He immediately ad mitted the justice of the procedure, and putting himself behind the lantern and bell, marched with great solemnity to school, to the no small gratification of the boys, and entertainment of the spectators. But this incident took plaCe before I became a scho lar. It was once my lot to be attended in this manner, but what had been sport to my tatot, was to me a serious punishment. The school wasj at this time, kept in VideU's alley, which opened into Seeond^ a littie below Chesnut street. It counted a number of scholars bf both sexes, though chiefly boys; and the assistant, or writing master, was John ReUy, a very expert pen- f 3 26 ACADEMY ^DOVE CHARLES THOMSON. man and conveyancer, a man of some note, who, in his gayer moods affected a pompous and technical phraseology, as he is characterized under the name of Parchment, in a farce written some forty years ago, and which, having at least the merit of no velty and personality, was a very popular drama, tiiough never brought upon the stage. Some years afterwards. Dove removed to Germantown, where he erected a large stone buUding, in tiie view of establishing an academy upon a large scale ; but I be lieve his success was not answerable to his expectations. I know not what my progress was under the auspices of Mr. Dove, but having never in my early years, been smitten with the love of learning, I have reason to conclude, it did not pass mediocrity. I recoUect a circumstance, however, which one afternoon took place at my grandfather's, to the no small entertainment ofthe old genfleman,who often adverted to it afterwards. Dove was there, and in endeavouring to correct my utterance, as I had an Ul habit of speaking with my teeth closed, as ff indifferent whether I spoke or not, he bawled out in one of his highest tones: " Why don't you Speak louder.? open your mouth like a Dutchnian — say yaw."* ^ Being now, probably, about eight years of age, it was deemed expedient to enter me at the academy, then, as it now continues * This Dove was a satirical poet, and has been described by Judge Peters, an early pupil ofhis, as a "sarcastical and iU-tempereii.dpggerelizer, who was but ironically Dove ; for his temper was that of a hawk, and his pen the beak of a fal con pouncing on innocent prey.'' He became, says Watson, a teacher of languages in the Philadelphia Acade- my, and was chiefly conspicuous for the part he took in the politics of the day, and by his caustic rhymes in ridicule of his opponents, ho wrote poetical illus- trations to accorapany the caricatures which abounded in his time, and was liim- -self, in turn, a rich subject for the caricaturist. Watson records a characteristic anecdote of Charles Thomson, secretary to the Congress of 1776 When young Thomson resided in the family of Dove, who, with his wife, was much addicted to scandal, a propensity in the highest degree ofi-ensive to the honourable nature of the future secretary. Wishing to leave them, but dreading their tongues he adopted an ingenious expedient to prevent their injurious exercise. He ffravelv inquired of them one evening if his conduct, as a boarder, had been satisfactory to them. They promptly replied m the affirmative. Would you, then, asked Thomson, be willing to give me a certificate to that effect? "6 certainlv " A certificate was accordingly given, and the next day he parted from tLm in pC^CS* — iitD, „';;• ANECDOTE. 27 to be, under the name of a university, the principal seminary in Pennsylvania; and I was accordinglyintroduced by my father, to Mr. Kinnesley, the teacher of English and professor of oratory. He was an Anabaptist clergyman, a large, venerable looking man, of no' great general erudition, though a considerable proficient in electiicity ; and who, whether truly or not, has been said to have • had a share in certain discoveries in that s'cience, of which Doc tor Franklin received the whole credit. The task, of the younger boys, at least, consisted in learning to read and to write their mo ther tongue grammatically ; and one day in the week (I think Friday) was set apart for the recitation of select passages in poetry and prose. For this purpose, each scholar, in his turn, ascended the stage, and said his speech, as the phrase was. This speech was carefuUy taught him by his master, both with respect to its pronunciation, and the action deemed suitable to its several parts. Two of these specimens of infantile oratory to the disturbance of my repose, I had been qualified to exhibit : FamUy partiality, no doubt, overrated their merit ; and heiice, my declaiming powers were in a state of such constant requisition, that my orations, like worn out ditties, became vapid and fatiguing to me ; and conse quently, impaired my relish for that kind of acquirement. More profit attended my reading. After .S^sop's fables, and an abridge ment of the Roman history, Telemachus was put into our hands ; and ff it be admitted that the human heart may be bettered by instruction, mine, I may aver, was benefited by this work of the virtuous Fenelon. While the mUd wisdom of Mentor called forth my veneration, the noble ardour ofthe youthful hero excited my sympathy and emulation. I took part, like a second friend, in the vicissitudes of his fortune, I participated in his toils, I warmed with his exploits, I wept where he wept, and exuUed where he triumphed. As my lot has been cast in a turbulent period, in a season of civil war and revolution, succeeded by scenes of domestic discord and fury, in all of which I have been compelled to take a part, I deem it of consequence to myseff, to bespeak toleration for the detail of a school-boy incident, that may in some degree serve to develope my character. It may equally tend to throw some light on the littie world, upon whose stage I had now entered. A few 28 ANECDOTE. days after I had been put under the care of Mr. Kinnersley, I was told by my class-mates, that it was necessary for me to fight a battie with some one, in order to estabhsh my claim to the ho nour of being an academy boy: that this could not be dispensed with, and tiiat they would select for me a suitable antagonist, one of my match, whom after school I must fight, or be looked upon as a coward. I must confess, that I did not at aU reUsh the proposal. Though possessing a suflScient degree of spirit, or at least irasci- bUity, to defend myseff when assaulted, I had never been a boxer. Being of a light and slender make, I was not calculated for the business, nor had I ever been ambitious of beuig the cock of a school. Besides, by the laws of the institution I was now a subject of, fighting was a capital crime; a sort of felony deprived of clergy, whose punishment was not to be averted by the most scholar-lUie reading; For these reasons, both of which had suffi-. cient weight with me, and the last not the least, as I had never been a wifful transgressor of rules, or caUous to the consequences of an infraction of them, I absolutely declined theproposal; al though I had too much of that feeling abOat me, which some might caU false honour, to represent the case to the master, whieh would at once have extricated me from my difficulty, and brought down condign punishment on its imposers. Matters thus went on untU school was out, when I found that the lists >vere appoint ed, and that a certain John Appowen, a lad who, though not quite so taU, yet better set and older flian myseff, was pitted against me. With increased pertinacity I again refused the combat, and insist ed on being permitted to go home unmolested. On quickening my pace for tiiis purpose, my persecutors, wifli Appowen at flieir head, foUowed close at my heeW Upon this I moved faster and faster, untU my retreat became a flight too unequivocal and in glorious for a man to relate of himself, had not Homer furnished some apology for the procedure, in making tiie heroic Hector thrice encircle the walls of Troy, before he could find courage to encounter the implacable AchiUus. To cut the story short my spirit could no longer brook an oppression so intolerable, and stung to the quick at tiie term coward which was lavished Upon me I made a halt and faced my pursuers. A combat immedi ately ensued between Appowen and myself, which for some time EARLY ADVENTURE. 29 was maintained on each side, with equal vigour and determina tion, when unluckUy, I received his fist directiy in my gullet. The blow for a time depriving me of breath, and the power of re sistance, victory declared for my adversary, though not vrithout the acknowledgment of the party, that I had at last behaved well, and shown myseff not unworthy the name of an academy boy. Being thus established, I had ho more battles imposed upon me, and none that I can recollect of my own provoking ; for I have a right to declare, that my general deportment was correct and un offending, though extremely obstinate and unyielding under a sense of injustice.* I gave an early instance of this, in once burning the rod with which my father had corrected me ; and upon his finding it out, and correcting me a second time, I de-- clared I would drown myself, and ran towards a creek in a meadow not far off, with such an appearance of determination to execute the threat, that he thought proper to despatch a servant after me in haste ; ahd upon my being brpught back, rather to yield to the violence of my temper, than persist in the attempt to subdue it. In saying my resistance proceeded from a sense of injustice, I would by no means have it understood, that my father had been culpable. I rather suppose-, that a too ardent idea of the rights of a chUd, had led me to consider- that conduct oppressive, which was merely the effect of a paternal concern for my weffare. WhUe upon the topic of those early adventures, by which we are initiated into the ways of the world, I may mention a circum stance of another nature, which happened not very long after my arrival in the city. One evening about dusk, I was amusing myself on the pavement befoi'e the door, with some marbles ; for having never been very strongly incited by a spirit of garnbling, I fre- quehtly played alone, and even when I had a companion I gene-. * The poignancy of my feelings on such occasions, has given me a degree of veneration for justice which I. have rarely discovered in others. Nor has my own interest or that of my connexfous or country, ever led me to espouse their cause, iwhen .unsupported by right Hence, I' can never be a patriot in the mo dern acceptation of the word ; more especially,, as in sifting the merits of a cause, I have a most unlucky propensity of referring all acts of subsequent aggression to the original wrong. A monstrous supererogation of mora,lity tjiisjin the eyes of orthodox patriotism. 3* 30 EARLY CH.iRACTER. ,a%p«f.™a P..«*.>». »;p;2 Slit' £r:'tl5 earnest. A littie, skulking rogue, wun wnom . „ orirl a's he lomed me m play with acquaintance, came up to me, and as ne jomc ^ J ^ ,. some marbles of his own, he took occasion to observe, that his were too small for him, but as mine, on the contrary, were large and exactly suited to his hand, he proposed an exchange, offermg me the odds, first, of two, and flien of tiiree for one. Havmg no disposition to traffic witii him, being pleased witii my own and satisfied with flieir number, I at first objected to his proposal, but he pressed me in so earnest a manner to accommodate him wifli but a part of mine, that after some hesitation, I consented. Wifli out giving me time for a resumption of my first determination, he picked up six or eight of my marbles, and throwing me down three dr four "times the number of his own, the amount of boot being apparently wholly unworthy of calculation, , he decamped in a twinkling. Upon gathering up the commodities I had received in such abundance, I found them rather light ; and on closer inspec tion, discovered, that as they had been but clay in the hands of the potter, so I had been an equally ductile material in the hands of a swindler. These things are but puerilities, and very trifles, it is true, but ean it be said that they are irrelative to the objects I set out with ? And are they not prototypes of the transactions, which the more important scene of man every day exhibits ? If swindling and oppression beset us in infancy, does experience warrant us in affirming that the state of manhood is exempt from them.? Might I here be pardoned a brief recognition of the qualities my ehUdhood had unfolded, I might say, that, with a sufficient share of obstinacy and impatience of control, I had never manffested a propensity to mischief; and though I might sometimes have been a foUower, I had never promoted or been a leader in those pranks which are denominated unlucky : Thank Heaven, I had never been fuUty of a trick, and rarely, ff ever, of a lie. I had no cunnmg, and consequently, gave no token of those talents which might qualffy me, one day, to rise in a commonwealtii. , On a scrutiny, tiierefore, of my character, the possibUity might have been inferred, that in an evil hour and at a riper age, my passions might have hur ried me into acts of fatal rashness, as, under better stars, tiiey might EARLY CHARACTER. 31 have- impelled me into the path of a Hampden; but, that in no situation, I could have trod the track of a Gracchus or a Drusus. The Gracchi fond of mischief raaking laws, And Drusi popular in faction's cause. Neither could the unshrinking determination which must enter into the composition of a Brutus, have justly been imputed to me ; not even on the specious ground of public good: my stuff was not so stern. My amusements, as I have aheady said, depended much upon myseff. I had a passion for drawing; and my early essays were considered as indications of much genius for the art. I was in the practice also, of cutting men and horses out of cards. By separating the legs of the bipeds, I mounted them without diffi culty; and by a simUar process on those of the quadrupeds, I could give tiiem a firm stand on a table. By these means I could either send them a hunting with a pack of hounds, in like manner set upon their feet, or attach unmounted horses to sleighs or wheel carriages (all of which I manufactured) at pleasure. My talent also gave me the command of regiments of cavalry, and my even ings, when there was no company,. were generaUy employed in ar ranging them in order of battle. Divided into two bodies, they were disposed in hostUe array, whUe round pieces of card representing cannon balls, were the missUes alternately thrown at the different corps ; that side being held to be defeated, which was first battered down. It was truly a war of extermination, as the vanquished were always cut off to a man-. Both my grandfather and grand mother, as well as my aunts, were pleased vrith my exhibitions ; and it became a matter of doubt in the family, whether my genius most inclined me to the profession of a limner or' a general. Music, too, was an art for which I had discovered a propensity, and had already the enthusiasm of an amateur. From the drums and fifes of Otway's regiment, which every morning passed our door, I had, among other tunes, learned the grenadier's mareh ; and I remember one day ,being on a visit to my fiither, who then resided in the country at a place of DoctOT Denormandie's, as I was whistiing it with great devotion, and marching to it in proper tinie,he was delighted, with the tru±h of my ear and the correctness 32 ADDISON BALLAD. of my performance : For he was much of a musical man, and played upon the violin, tiiough, as I have been informed by one of his old friends, with more of science than execution. Another cfrcumstance of some affinity to the topic, I cannot ¦withhold, since it is an evidence of my coincidence in taste with the celebrated Mr. Addison. I have somewhere seen it mentioned, that he was a warm admher of the baUad qf Salley of the alley. I once, when very young, heard my mother sing it over a cradle, and was so enraptured with its simple pathos,, that I was continually importuning her to repeat it. Whether it was the composition or the melody which had charmed me, I know not, but to my infant heart it appeared inimitably tender and affecting. The only verse I recoUect ofit isthe foUowing: — Of all the days within the week, I dearly love but one day. And that's the day that comes between Saturday and Monday : For then I'm drest All in by best. To walk abroad with Sally, She is the darling of my heart And lives in our alley. Though an old ballad, it is possible fliat it may be yet so weU known as to render this recital unnecessary, ff not to give it an appearance of triteness. At any rate, I should hardly have ven tured to notice it had it not been dignified by tiie approbation of a respectable name.* * The author ofthe Ballad was Henry Carey, translator of Dante, and a popu- lar English poet. " The works of Carey do not appear in any of our great col lections, where Walsh, Duke, and Yalden slumber on the shelf. Yet Carey was a true son ofthe muses, and a most successful writer. To this ballad of ' Sallvin our alley,' he prefixed an argument so full of nature, that the song may derive an additional interest from its simple origirt. The author assures the reader that the popular notion, that the subject of his ballad had been the noted Sally Salis bury, IS perfectly erroneous,, he being a stranger to her name at the time the song was composed. ° noimb 'Tr"' ',f ^".*"«^,^'^ ^^^' thebomidaries ofhis muse, so in this little reTd nasln"° 77 " T "' '""^ *' '^^^"'^ "^ ^ ''^'^'- -d disinte rested passion even in Jjg lowest class of human life. The real occasion was this : 33 It was some time .before my entering into the Latin school, that I had the misfortune to loose my father. This was in March, 1761. He had just finished a country house on a favourite spot, sufficiently elevated to overlook the adjacent district for some mUes round, and to command a view of the town of Bristol, dis tant not quite a mile, as well as that of Burlington, together with an extensive intervening tract of meadow ground, stretching to the shore ofthe Delaware, whose bright expanse was also subject ed to the eye. He had long been improving the site before he began to build ; had planted it with the best ifruits in every kind, and given to it the style of embellishment, both with respect to the disposition of the grounds and the trees, which was at that time in fashion. But this residence, at onee so cherished and de lightful, he was permitted to enjoy not quite a year. The blow was desolating to my mother, " whose heart was apt to feel ;" and who, in addition to the calamity of being bereaved of one with whom her union had been happiness uninterrupted, found herseff at about the age of two and thirty, solely involved in the cares of a young family of four chUdren, of whom I, about to complete my ninth year, was the eldest. To me, who was at home when the event took place, it was ratiier a shock than a matter of poignant grief It was the first death that had been brou^t home to me ; and the deep distress of the family, together with the dismal ap paratus of coffins and hearses, could not faU td overwhelm me in the general gloom. The next day I was sent to PhUadelphia, ¦ whiflier the remains of my father, attended by his faithful and de jected friend Joseph Church, were conveyed for interment. As funeral, honours upon these occasions, are the only solace of the A shoemaker's 'prentice, making holy-day with his sweetheart, treated her with a sight of Bedlam, the puppet-shows, the flying-chairs, and all the elegancies of Moorfields; whence proceeding to the Farthing, Pie-house, he gave her a collec tion of buns, cheese-cakes, gammon of bacon, stuffed beef, and bottled ale; through all which scenes the author dodged theiri (charmed with the simplicity of their courtship,) whence he drew this little sketch of nature ; but, being then young and obscure, he was very much ridiculed for this performance; which, neverthless, made its way into the polite world, and amply recompensed him by the applause of the divine Addison, who was pleased, more than once, to mention it with ap probation." — D' Israeli's Cala-mities of Authors. — En. 34 LATIN SCHOOL. afflicted, fliey were here bestowed wifli an unsparing hand. Much pomp was shown, and much expense incurred, both of which would have been saved had the wUl of the deceased, which en joined a plahi and economical burial, been previously opened. The pall, sustained by six of his old city friends, I foUowed as chief mourner, and saw flie body deposited in the grave yard of Market street meeting-house, in or near the tomb wherem his first wffe had beenlaid. My faflier, as already mentioned, came to fliis country a married man, ahd was about twenty years older than my mother. Though he died possessed of a large and valuable landed property in flie neighbourhood of Bristol, con sisting of an equal part of one thousand acres, purchased m con junction with Mr. M'llvaine in tiie year 1752 of WiUiam Whita ker of London, it was encumbered ; and the provision, made ne cessary by a settiement on his first marriage, for two chUdren, who were the issue of it, rendered the residue inadequate to the sup port of his widow and her chUdren. Hence, a removal of the fa mUy to PhUadelphia became expedient, and was resolved on as soon as the requisite arrangements could be made ; and it accord ingly took place in the course of the year.* * I was unwilling to enlarge on the topic of my family, or I might have said a great deal more of my father. From the enthusiasm with which I have heard him spoken of by some who knew him, I have reason to infer, that he was not only a man of unquestionable probity, but that there was, also, much of attraction in his character. Among his qualities, was that of a singularly clear and har- monious voice, which he frequently exercised in reading aloud. His choice of books for this purpose, often fell upon Telemaches, Don Quixote, and Shakspeare, passages from all of which, I remember to have heard him read ; particularly the opening ofthe first, which introduces the disconsolate Calypso with her attendant nymphs, and the two strangers just shipwrecked on her isle, and to which he gave all the romantic raelancholy and pathos that belong to it. From Don Quix ote, the mad attack on the wind-mills and the sheep, by his elevated voice and theatrical manner, for he really acted the passages, lost npthing ofthe animation originally impressed upon them by their inimitable author. Nor was Shakspeare more a sufierer in his hands. Parts of his Henry IV. I have heard him read, and also of his Julius Cajsar, in which the speech of Marcellus the Tribune, begin ning " Wherefore rejoice, what conquests brings he home? What tributaries follow him to Rome, &c." from the uncommon energy ofhis manrier of reciting it, is particularly impressed on my mind. I have understood from my mother that he had been a member of LATIN SCHOOL. 35 I have said that I was about to enter the Latin school. The person whose pupU J was consequently to become, was Mr. John Beveridge, a native of Scotland, who retained the smack of his vernacular tongue in its primitive purity. His acquaintance with the language he taught, was, I believe, justly deemed to be very accurate and profound. But as to his other acquirements, after excepting the game of backgammon, in which he was said to ex cel, truth XviU not warrant me in saying a great deal. He was, however, dUigent and laborious in his attention to his school ; and had he possessed the faculty of making himseff beloved by the scholars, and of exciting their emulation and exertion, nothing would have been Wanting in him to an enthe qualification for his office. But, unfortunately, he had no dignity of character, and was no less destitute of the art of making himseff respected than be loved. Though not perhaps to be complained of as intolerably severe, he yet made a pretty free use of the ratan and fhe ferule, but. to very little purpose. He was in short no disciplinarian, and-^ consequently very unequal to the management of seventy or eighty boys, many of whom were superlatively pickle and unruly. He was assisted, indeed, by two ushers, who eased him in the bur den of teaching, but who, in matters of discipline, seemed disin clined to interfere, and disposed to consider themselves rather as subjects than rulers. I have seen them slily slip out of the way when the principal was entering upon the job of capitally punish ing a boy, who from his size, would be likely to make resistance. For this had become nearly a matter of course ; and poor Beve ridge, who was diminutive in his stature, and neither young nor vigorous, after exhausting himseff in the vain attempt to denude the delinquent, was generally glad to compound for a few strokes over his clothes, on any part that was accessible. He had, in deed, so frequently been foUed, that his birch at length was rarely brought forth, and might truly be said to have lost its terrors — it was tanquam gladium in vagina repositum. He indemnified him seff, however, by a redoubled use of his ratan. a conversation and reading club in Philadelphia, in which the task of reading a new book was always devolved on hira when present,. and that, in this capacity. Young's Night Thoughts, on their coming out, were read by him to the com pany. 36 ANECDOTES OF MR. BEVERIDGE. So entire was the want of respect towards hun, and so liable was he to be imposed upon, tiiat one of the larger boys, for a wager, once puUed off his wig, which he effected by suddenly twitching it from his head under pretence of brushing from it a spider; and the unequivocal msult was' only' resented by the peevish exclamation oi hoot mon! Various were the rogueries- that were played upon him ; but the most audacious of all was the foUovringj At the hour of con vening in the afternoon, that being found the most convenient, from the circumstance of Mr. Beveridge being usuaUy a little be yond the time; the bell having rung, the ushers being at their posts, and the scholars arranged in their classes/ three or four of the conspirators conceal themselves without, for the purpose of observing the* motions of their victim. He arrives, enters the .school, and is permitted to proceed until he is supposed to have nearly reached his chair at the upper end of the room, when in stantly the door and every window-shutter is closed. Now, shrouded in utter darkness, the most hideous yells that can be conceived, are sent forth from at least three score of throats ; and Ovids, and VirgUs, and Horacies, together with the more heavy metal of dictionaries, whether of Cole, of Young, or of Ainsworth, are hurled vrithout remorse at the head of the astonished pre ceptor, who, on his side, groping and crawling under cover of the forms, makes the best of his way to the door. When attamed, and light restored, a death-like silence ensues. Every boy is at his lesson ; no one has had a hand or a voice in the recent atro city: what then is to be done, and who shall be chastised. S(Bvit atrox Volscens, nee teli conspidt usquam Jhictorem, nee quo se ardens immittere possit. Fierce Volscens foams with rage, and gazing round Descries not him who aira'd the fatal wound ; Nor knows to fix revenge. — ' This most intolerable outiage, from its succeeding beyond ex pectation, and being enthely to the taste of tiie school, had a run of several days ; and was only then put a stop to by the inter ference of the faculty, who decreed the most exemplary punish- SINGIJLAR PETITION. 37 ment on those who should be found offendirtg in the premises, and by taking measures to prevent a farther repetition of the enormity. I have said, and with truth, that I was no promoter of mis chief; but I will not take upon me to assert, that I was proof against the irresistible contagion of such a scene, or that I did not raise my voice in the discordant concert of the screamers : though I can safely declare, that I never threw at the master, and that I was wholly ignorant of the contrivers and ringleaders of this shameful proceeding. In the year 1765, Mr. Beveridge published by subscription a small collection of Latin poems. Of their general merit I pre sume not to judge, but I think I have heard they were not much commended by the British reviewers. The latinity probably is pure, the prosody correct, the versification sufficiently easy and sounding, and such as might serve to evince an intimate acquaint ance vrith the classics of ancient Rome : But I should doubt their possessing much of the soul of poetry. One of them is neither more nor less than an humble petition in hexamaters, and cer tainly a very curious specimen of pedantic mendicity. It is ad dressed to Thomas Penn, the proprietary of Pennsylvania; and the poet very modestly proposes, that he should bestow upon him a few of Bis acres, innumerable, he observes, as the sands of the Delaware ; in return for which, his verse shall do its best to confer immortal fame upon the donor. By way of farther induce ment to the gift, he sets before his exceUency the usual ingrati tude of an enriched and unknown posterity, on the one hand ; and on the other, the advantage which Ajax, ^Eneas and Maece nas derived from the muses of Homer, of VirgU and Horace. But lest I might be suspected of misrepresentation, let my good quondam preceptor speak for himseff. Jugera quum tibi sint quot habet Delavarus arenas, Quid magnum minimo tribuas si propria parvce. Fundamenta casoB, Boreoe qui frigora pellam. Non dabis ingrato dederis licet oeris egeno, Quodque tibi minimum, magnum esset pauca roganti. Sin renuas, tanti nee sint coramercia nostra. Hoc quoque ne pigeat cito spem proecidere vanam. 4 38 beveridge's poems. Neo periisse puta, dederis quod vivus amico ; Credere fas sit enim, si quid mea carmina possint. Sera licet, majora feras quam Mexico nobis, Seu Tagus auriferis exundans mittit arenis ; Auguror et si quid vives post fata superstes. Quid juvat ignotis, ingratis forsitan, auri Pondera, frugiferis vel millia jugera campis Linquere post natis ? Nequeunt nam prodere famam Divitiae, nequeunt titulis monumenta superbis. Quid foret .iEneas, et magni nominis Ajax, Atque alii quorum sunt nomina multa virorum ; Ni foret et vates divini carminis auctor Mffionides, sacro qui primus vertice Pindi Deduxit faciles Phoebo plaudente, Camcenas ? Vel quid Majcenas animi mentisque benignce Ni benefacta sui celebrasset carmen Horati, Et Maro munificum cecinisset gratus amicum ? &c. &c. Might not one here be tempted to exclaim in the sphit of Prior to Boileau ! Pindar, that eagle mounts the skies. While virtue leads the noble way : Too like a vulture Bev'ridge flies Where sordid int'rest lures the prey. I never heard, however, that the poet was the better for his appli cation: I rather think that the proprietor was of opinion, there was a want of reciprocity in the proposal, and that, whatever the carmen Horati vel Maronis might have been worth, that of Mr. Beveridge did not amount to a very valuable consideration. Another of the principal poems in this collection is a pastoral, Xvhich, ff Mr. Beveridge had had the salutary fear of BoUeau be fore his eyes, he certainly would not have written; since, never was production more completely under the lash of the foUowing satirical lines. Viendrai-je, eu une Eglogue entoure de troupeaux Au milieu de Paris enfler mes chalumeaux, Et dans mon cabinet assis au pied des h€tres Faire dire aux echos des sottises champStres ? 39 The complainant in this pastoral is an Edinburgh cit, whom he appropriately calls Urbanus : nevertheless he is, without the small est difficulty, transformed into a shepherd, surrounded with sheep, and proclaiming to the echoes his sottises champetres, in strains like these — Audiit et planotus geraebunda remurmurat Echo, Echo sola meos miserata est, inquit amores ; Tristia uam'miBstis ex saxis assonat imis, Flebile luctisonis responsat et usque cicutis. Me miserum quoties exclamo, lugubris ilia Me miserum ingeminat gelidis e vallibus : Eheu, Clamanti exclaraat, repetitis vocibus, Eheu ! But after all, it is perhaps too much to expect from a modern, good Latin, good poetry, and good sense, all at the same time. As it frequently happens in human affahs, that men are mis placed, and that those found in a subordinate station are better fitted for the supreme authority than those who are invested with it, so it generally was in the Latin school of the academy. The ushers, during the term of my pupUage, a period of four years, or more, were often changed ; and some of them, it must be admitted, were insignificant enough : but others, were men of sense and re spectability, to whom, on a comparison with the principal, the management of the school might have been committed with much advantage. Among these was Mr. Patrick AUison, afterwards officiating as a Presbyterian clergyman in Baltimore ; Mr. James WUson, late one of the associate justices of the supreme court of the United States ; and Mr. John Andrews, afterwards Doctor An drews of the University of Pennsylvania. It is true, they were much younger men than Mr. Beveridge, and probably unequal adepts in the language that was taught ; but even on the supposi tion of this comparative deficiency on their part, it would have been amply compensated on the score of judicious discipline and instruction. With respect to my progress and that of the class to which I belonged, it was reputable and perhaps laudable for the first two years. From a pretty close application, we were well grounded in grammar, and had passed through the elementary books, much to the approbation of our teachers ; but at length, with a single 40 PHILADELPHIA ACADEMY. exception, we became possessed of tiie demons ff lil^^^^^^;;^ idleness. We were, to a great degree, impatient of the estram s of a school ; and tf we yet retained any latent sparks of tiie emu lation of improvement, we were, unfortunately, never favoured wifli tiie coUision that could draw tiiem forth. We could feel- higly have exclaimed with Louis tiie fourteentii, mais a quoi sert de lire ! but where's the use of aU this pouring over books! One boy tiiought he had Latin enough, as he was not designed for a learned profession; his father thought so too, and was about taking him from school. Another was of opinion fliat he might be much better employed in a counting-house, and was also about ridding himseff of his scholastic shackles. As this was a con summation devoutiy wished by us all, we cheerfuUy renounced flie learned professions for the sake of tiie supposed liberty tiiat would be tiie consequence. We were aU, therefore, to be merchants, as to be mechanics was too humiliating; and accordingly, when the question was proposed, which of us_ would enter upon tiie study of Greek, the grammar of which tongue was about to be put into our hands, there were but two orthree who declared, for it. As to myself, it was my mother's deshe, from her knovring it to have been my father's intention to give me the best educa tion the country afforded, that I should go on, and acquire every language and scienccithat was taught in the institution ; but, as my evU star would have it, I was thoroughly tired of books and confinement, and her advice and even entreaties were overruled by my extreme repugnance to a longer continuance in the college, which, to my lasting regret, I bid adieu to when a littie turned of fourteen, at the very season when the minds of the studious be gin to profit by instruction. We were at this time reading Horace and Cicero, having passed through Ovid, VirgU, Cassar, and Sal lust. From my own experience on this occasion, I am inclined to think it of much consequence, that a boy designed to com plete his coUege studies, should be classed with those of a simUar destination. Of a dozen or more class-mates, the lapse of more than forty years, puts it out of my power to recognise more than three of them, who are yet alive ; though there may be others ; settled at a distance. One of those, who was the exception to the idle pro- 41 pensity Ihave mentioned, has lately filled an important office in the state ; another of them, though a boy of good parts and much vivacity, early betook himself to a very retired walk of life, from which he never emerged ; and the third, with whom I have ever continued in the closest intimacy and friendship, leads, in ease and affluence on his paternal estate, the happy lffe of a country gentleman, within a convenient distance of the metropolis. In making this enumeration, there occurs to me a member who joined us perhaps about a year beforeT left the college. I cannot call him a boy, since he was married, and for ought I know, between thirty and forty years of age. His puckered cheeks, at least, would have justified the latter part of this conjecture. He was preparing himseff for the pulpit of an anabaptist meeting-house i, and although the acquisition of his Latin was sufficientiy arduous in all conscience, he was yet courageous enough to be looking forward to the attainment also of the Greek and the Hebrew. With a rueful length of visage and features of the coursest mouldy his figure was taU, raw-boned and ungainly, and certainly a very heterogeneous ingredient in the mass in which he had chosen to compound it. But he was not more distinguished by the uncouth ness of his appearance than by the meekness of his deportment. It was of the back of this overgrown school-boy that Beveridge usually strove to avail himself, in those abortive, flagellant efforts I have mentioned ; and the function, however unpleasing to the Brobdingnagian, he had too strong a sense of duty to decline. Such was the personage, who, from a clerical ardour, had been tempted to transform himseff into this scholastic phenomenon, His name, I think, was Stevens ; and though I have amused my-. self with the recollection of his ludicrous attributes, it is with still more satisfaction I bear testimony to those, that, from their simple benevolence, were truly respectable, 42 RETROSPECTIVE EVENTS, &C. CHAPTER n. Retrospective events in the Author's history.^Philadelphia.— Yellow fever.— Lodging house.— Foot races.- Paxton boys.^They threaten the city.— Ogle and Friend. — Author's early amusement-s. — School anecdotes.— Sailing ex. cureion.— Swimming and Skating,— Abb^ Raynal.— Lodging-house guests.— Baron De Kalb.— Lady Moore. — Lady Susan O'Brien. — ^Woodward.— Sir Wil liam Draper. — Frank Richardson. — Anecdote. — Major Etherington. — Anec- dote. — Majors Sraall and Fell. — General Reid.— Captain Wallace.— Anecdote of Joseph Church. — Rivington the printer. Although it was in my fifteenth year, as already mentioned, that I took my leave of the academy, yet the chcumstances I am now about to avert to were antecedent to that event, and are to be considered as having taken place vrithin the five years pre ceding it. Among the persons who were acquainted and visited at my grandfather's, were Doctor La,ughlin M'Lean* and his lady. The latter rarely missed a day, when the weather was favourable, of caUing upon our countrywoman, my grandmother ; and I weU remember, she was always attended or rather preceded by a small white dog, enormously fat, in which quality he even exceeded his mistress, who yielded to few of her species and sex, in the pos session of an enviable embonpoint. The doctor was considered to have great skiU in his profession, as weU as to be a man of wit and general information, but I have never known a person who had a more distressing impediment in his speech. Yet, notwifli- standing this misfortune, he some years after, on his return to Europe, had the address to recommend himself to a seat in flie British House of Commons, He is understood to be tiie same Lauchlan Macleane, who at Edinburgh evinced a generous be nevolence in administering to the relief of the celebrated Oliver * Dr. Lauchlan Macmane. See Appendix B.— Eo. YELLOW FEVER. 43 Goldsmith, as related in the lffe of that poet; and it is this ch- ciimstance which has principally induced me to notice him here. About the year 1760 or 1761, to the best of my recollection, the city was alarmed by a visitation of the yeUow fever. I can say nothing of the extent of its ravages, having been, happUy, too young to be infected with the panic it produced, or to have been at all interested in the inquiry, whether it had an adequate cause. My impression rather was, that it was an occurrence by no means to be deprecated, since the schools were shut up, and a vacation of five or six weeks, its fortunate consequence. As the city was deserted by sueh as could leave it without too much inconvenience, my grandfather took refuge at his country house near Germantown, whither, as one of his family I accompanied him, and remained there untU the danger was supposed to be over. It was in the faU, probably of this very year, that my mother removed to Philadelphia, in the view of keeping a lodging house, an employment, which in Pennsylvania, has been the usual resource of persons in her situation, that is, of widows, reputably brought up, left in chcumstances too slender for the support of their famUies. She began with taking boys who went to the academy, of which there were generally a number from the southern provinces and the West India islands. Being thus esta blished, I left my grandfather's for her house, and by this change of residence, bid adieu to the old route, which for about two years I had traversed in going tO' and returning from school, in the winter four times, and in the summer six times a day. I had my choice, indeed, of different streets, and sometimes varied my course ; but it generally led me through what is now called Dock street, then a filthy uncovered sewer, bordered on either side by shabby stables and tan-yards. To these, succeeded the more agTeeable object of Israel Pemberton's* garden (now covered in part by the * This property, together with the mansion erected thereon, was originally in possession of William Clarke, Esq. For several years, says Watson, the pre. mises were occupied by sorae of the earlier governors. It was purchased by Andrew Harailton, Esq., Attorney General. Its next owner was Israel Pem berton, and subsequently became celebrated as " Pemberton's House and gardens," The building was large, containing many parlours and charabers, and stood on 44 FOOT B-iCES. bank of the United States)* laid- out in tiie old fashioned style of unfformity, wifli waUis and aUies nodding to theh brothers, and decorated with a number of evergreens carefully clipped into py ramidal and conical forms. Here the amenity of flie view usuaUy defamed me for a few minutes : Thence, turning Chestnut street corner to tiie left, and passing a row of dingy two-story houses, I came to tiie Whale bones, which gave name to the aUey, at the corner of which they stood. These never ceased to be occa- •sionaUy an object of some curiosity, and might be called my second stage, beyond which there was but one more general, ob ject of attention, and this was to get a peep at the race horses, which in sporting seasons were kept in the widow Nichols's stables, which from her house, (the Indian Queen at the corner of Market street,) extended perhaps two-thirds or more of the way to Chestnut street. In fact, throughout the whole of my route, the intervals took up as much ground as the buUdings ; and with the exception of here and there a straggling house. Fifth street might have been called the western extremity of the city. My course was much shortened by the removal to my mother's-, who had taken a house in Arch street, facing the Friends burying ground. The first lads that were placed with her, were two brothers, the sons of a colonel Lewis of Virginia, The youpgerj named Samuel, about a year older than myself, had the attrac tions of a pleasing countenance and great gentleness of manners. Though he belonged to a younger class than mine, the living and sleeping together were sufflcient to. cement a warm attachment the south side of Chestnut street, a short distance west of Third. After the decease of Mr. Peraberton, it was occupied by Alexander Hamilton, as Secretary of the Treasury of the tJnited States. The building was razed about the year 1800, and the grounds divided into building lots upon which were soon erected more convenient structures, many of which have already given place, in their turn, to the loftier and more commodious edifices of still more recent time.— En. * Purchased by the late Mr. Stephen Girard, and occupied for many years by him as a successful banker. His bank was in high credit at the tirae of his decease, and, under his able and judicious management, had always, and fre quently during periods of depression and trial, sustained its high reputation. At his death, the building was occupied .and known as "the Girard Bank,"— a new institution under far different auspices, which, in due time, met with a violent epd. The huildirig remains, however,— a lucky circumstance !— Er. . FOOT RACES. 45 between us, and there was not a' boy in the school in whose weffare and competitions I took so decided an interest ; the ar dour of which was in almost perpetual requisition, from the cir cumstance of his being a champion in the gymnastic exercise of running, which was then the rage. The enthusiasm of the turf had pervaded the academy, and the most extravagant transports of that theatre on the triumph of a favourite horse, were not more zealous and impassionedj than were the acclamations which fol lowed the victor in a foot-race round a square. Stripped to the shirt, and accoutred for the heat by a handkerchief bound round the head, another round the middle, vrith loosened knee-bands, without shoes, or with mocasons instead of them, the racers were started ; and turning to the left round the corner of Arch street, they encompassed the square in which the academy stands, while the most eager spectators, in imitation of those who scour across the course at a horse-race, scampered over the church burying ground to Fifth street, in order to see the state of the runners as they passed, and to ascertain which was likely to be foremost, on turning Market street corner. The four sides of this square can^^ not be much less than three-quarters of a mile ;* wherefore, bot tom in the coursers, was no less essential than swiftness, and in both, Lewis bore away the palm from every one that dared enter against him. After having in a great number of matches com pletely triumphed over the academy, other schools were resorted to for racers ; but all in vain : Levris was the Eclipse that distanced every competitor, the swtft-footed AchUles, against the vigorous agUity of whose straight and well-proportioned form, the long legged stride of the overgrown, and the nimble step of the dap per, were equally unavaUing. I was scarcely less elated with his triumphs, than ff I myself had been the victor: I was even supremely happy in the circumstance, which gave me a claim to a more than common degree of interest in him, and from my ex perience of the force of these associations, in which, by a kind of metonymy, we take the place of the real agent, I can fully enter into the feelings of the butchgr, whq ecstacied at the good be- * Overrated, as from the description of the city in Proud's History of Penn sylvania, it appears that the distance is not half a mile, being only a little more than 700 yards. 46 PAXTON BOYS. haviour of his dog at a buU baiting, exclaimed to Charies flie Second, "Damme, sir, ff that is'nt my dog!" Since the time of those explohs, in which I was too young to enter the Usts, I have valued myseff upon my own agility in running and jumping ; but I have never had the vanity to suppose, that at my best, I could have contended with any chance of success, in so long a race against Lewis. At what time I was separated from this friend of my youth I cannot remember ; but have to regret, that I lost the opportunity of seeing him, when several years afterwards, having I know not what business in Philadelphia which required despatch, he called upon me one evening when I chanced to be out, and as he was obliged to leave the city very early in the morning, staid in the hope of meeting me till a very late hour. But my engagements unfortunately detained me too long, and he had been obliged to depart before I returned. This could not have been long be fore the war, probably between the year 1770 and 1772, when we had both attained to years of manhood; but whatever may have been his destiny, I have never siuce heard of him.* Of aU the cities in the world, PhUadelphia was for its size, per haps, one of the most peaceable and unwarlike ; and Graiit was not wholly without data for supposing, that with an inconsiderable force he could make his way, at least, through Pennsylvania. So much had the manners of the Quakers, and its long exemption from hostUe alarm, nourished tiiis disposition, that a mere handful of lawless frontier men, was found sufficient to throw the capital into consternation. The unpunished, and even applauded mas sacre of certain Indians at Lancaster, f who in the jail of fliat tovm had vainly flattered fliemselves that tiiey possessed an asylum, had so encouraged their murderers, who caUed themselves Paxton hoys, that tiiey threatened to perpetiate the lUce enormity upon a * It is not pnly possible but probable, that he might have been one of the Lewis's who defeated the Indians in the great battle of Point Pleasant in the year 1774. There was a Gene^ral and a Colonel Lewis, brothers, the latter of whom fell in the action. — See Cuming's Tour, p. 123. t This was in December, 1763 ; six Indians were killed at Conestoga Manor on the 14th of this month ; and the reraainder ofthe tribe being fourteen in number were killed at Lancaster on the 27th. — 2d Proud, p. 326. PAXTON BOYS CAPTAIN LOXLEY. 47 number of other Indians under the protection of government in the metropolis ;* and for this purpose, they at length put them selves in arms, and actually began their march. Their force, though knowii to be small in the be^nning, continually increased as it went along, the vires acquirit eunde being no less the attri bute of terror than of fame. Between the two, the invaders were augmented to some thousands by the time they had approached within a day or two's journey of their object. To the credit, however, of the PhUadelphians, every possible effort was made to frustrate the inhuman design of the banditi; and the Quakers as well as others, who had proper feelings on the occasion, ex erted themselves for the protection of the terrified Indians, who were shut up in the barracks, and for whose immediate defence, part of a British regiment of foot was stationed there. But the citadel or place of arms was in th.e very heart of the city, all around and within the old courtrhouse and Friend's meeting house. Here stood the artillery, under the command of captain Loxley,f a very honest, though little, dingy-looking man, with regimentals, considerably war-worn or tarnished; a very sala mander m fire drake in the public estimation, whose vital air was deemed the fume of sulphureous explosion, and who, by what ever means he had acquhed his science, was always put foremost when great guns were in question. Here it was that the grand stand was to be made against the approaching invaders, who, ff rumour might be credited, had now extended theh murderous purposes, beyond the savages, to their patrons and abettors. Hence, the cause had materially changed its complexion, and instead of resting on a basis of mere humanity and pUghted faith, it had emphathically become the cause of seff-preservation ; little doubt being entertained that the capital would be sacked, in case of the predominance of the barbarous foe. In this state of con sternation and dismay, all business was laid aside for the more important occupation of arms. Drums, colours, rusty halberts and bayonets, were brought forth from their lurking places ; and, * About 140 in number.— 2(Z Proud, p. 326. t This doughty gentleman was a Lieutenant under Braddock in 1756, and was certainly a man of considerable influence and repute, notwithstanding the humorous description ofthe text. — En. 48 PAXTON BOYS. as every good citizen who had a sword had ghded it to his thigh, so every one who had a gun had placed it on his shoulder. In short, bella, horrida helia, war, destructive war, was about to desolate the hitherto peaceful streets of PhUadelphia. But wifli all fliis, tiie old proverb was not belied ; and tiie be nign influence of this ill wind was sensibly felt by us school-boys. The dreaded event was overbalanced in our minds by the holy- days which were the effect of it ; and so far as I can recaU iftiy feelings on the occasion, they very much preponderated on the side of hUarity. As the defensive army was without eyes, it had, of course, no better information than such as common bruit could supply ; and hence, many untoward consequences ensued : One was the near extinction of a troop of mounted biitchers from Germantown, who, scampering down Market street with the best intentions in the world, were announced as the Paxton boys, and by this mis take, very narrowly escaped a greeting from the rude throats of captain Loxley's artillery. The word fire was already quivering on his lips, but Pallas came in shape of something, and suppressed it. Another emanation from this unmUitary defect of vision, was the curious order, that every house-holder in Market street should affix one or more candles at his door before daylight, on the morning of the day on which, from some sufficient reason no doubt, it had been elicited that the enemy would full surely make his attack, and by no other than this identical route, on the cita del. Whether this Ulumination was merely intended to prevent surprise, or whether it was that the commander who enjomed it was determined, like Ajax, that ff perish he must, he would perish in the face of d^y, I do not know, but certain it is, tiiat such a decree went forth and was religiously complied with. This I can affirm from the • circumstance of having resided m Market street at the time. The sage precaution, however, proved superfluous, although with respect merely to tiie • nearness of flie redoubted invaders, there was colour for it. It was soon ascer- tamed that tiiey had reached Germantown, and a deputation of the least obnoxious citizens witii the olive branch, was sent out to meet fliem. After a pariey of some days, an armistice was agreed upon, and peace at length so effectuaUy restored, that [flie formi- PAXTON BOYS PARTY SPIRIT. 49 dable stragglers who had excited so much terror, were permitted, as friends, to .enter the city. Party spirit j at this time, ran veryhigh, and the Paxton* men * Generally known as " the Paxton boys," — from the township of Paxton, in Lancaster county, associated to avenge alleged barbarities of the Indians. Among their leaders were Stewart, Calhoun, Smith and Dickey. Tbey created much excitement at the time, (1764.) " In this year," — says Watson — " under an alarm of intended massacre, fourteen being previously killed on the Conestoga, the Indians sought shelter in Lancaster, and, for better security, were placed under bolts and bars in the county prison ; but, at noon, a party on horseback, from the country, rode through the streets to the prison, and there forcibly entered and killed unresisting men and women on the spot. The citizens of Lancaster were loudly blamed for their apathy. They suflfered the perpetrators of this cruel outrage to depart unpunished. Meanwhile other friendly Indians who had received information of this massacre, sought refuge in Philadelphia, the news of which exasperated the "Paxton boys," who at once resolved to march to the city, for the purpose of completing the destruction they,had commenced, and also to take summary vengeance upon the friends, residing there, of their intended victims. " The news of their approach, which outran them, was greatly magnified ; the utmost excitement prevailed, and a fearful struggle was anticipated. Among the citizens of Philadelphia were many wbo entertained feelings of bitter hostility towards the unfortunate race, for their conduct during the Indian war. The ' Paxtoij boys,' to the number of several hundred, armed with rifles, and clad in hunting shirts, affecting the rudest manners, approached the city in two divisions as far as Germantown, and the opposite bank of the Schuylkill, where they finally entered into affected negotiations with the citizens, at the head of whora was Dr. Franklin, and returned to their homes, to the terror of the country through which Ihey passed, " In the meantime, the Indians sought refuge in Philadelphia, having with thera their Moravian minister. They were at first conducted, by order of the governor, to the barracks in the Northern Liberties ; but the highlanders there refused them shelter, although it was cold December weather, and for several hours they were exposed to the unrestrained insults of the rabble. They were subsequently sent to New York. They were guarded by a company of seventy highlanders as far as Amboy, where they were stopped by order of General Gage. They next returned to Philadelphia. All these removals were measures of security, as fears were still entertained from many of the excited citizens, who were favourable to the movements which threatened their destruction. In the midst of the panic caused, at night, by the reported proximity of the ' Paxton boys,' the town was illuminated, alarm bells were sounded, and the citizens hastened for arms to the barracks. Many young Quakers joined the de fenders there, where they speedily threw up intrenchments. Dr. Franklin and others, who wenl forth to meet the leaders, conducted them into the city, that they might point out, if possible, those who had been guilty of alleged ex- cesses. But they failed to make the necessary recognition, aud fearing that the 5 50 PAXTON BOYS PARTY SPIRIT. were not wifliout a number of clamorous advocates, who enthely justified tiiem on tiie score of flieh sufferings from tiie savages, who, during flie war, had made incursions upon fliem, and mur dered flieh kindred and friends. It was even aUeged, that flie pretended friendly Indians hadbeen treacherous, having always maintained an understanding with flie hostUe ones, and frequently conducted tiiem into our settlements : But this rested on niere suspicion, without a shadow of proof that ever I heard of. ft was enough, however, to throw it out ¦ to obtain partisans to the opinion; and, whether the Paxton men were "more sinned against than sinning," was a question which was agitated witii so much ardor and acrimony, that even the school-boys became warmly engaged in the contest. For my own part, though ofthe reUgious sect which had been long wai-ring with the Quakers, I was entirely on the side of humanity and pubhc duty, (or in this, do I beg the question .') and perfectly recoUect my indignation at the sentiments of one of the ushers who was on the opposite side. His name was Davis, and he was really a kind, good natured man ; yet from the dominion of his religious or political pre judices, he had been led to apologize for, ff not to approve of, an outrage, which was a disgrace to a civilized people. He had been among the riflemen on their coming into the city, and talk ing with them upon the subject of the Lancaster massacre, and particularly of the kiUing of Will Sock, the most distinguished of the victims, related with an air of approbation, this rodomon tade of the real or pretended murderer. " I," said he, " am the man who kiUed WiU Sock— this is the arm that stabbed him to the heart, and I glory in it." Notwithstanding the fine colourmg of Mr. Davis, young as I was, I am happy in being able to say, that I felt a just contempt for the inglorious boaster, who appeared to me in tiie hght of a cowardly ruffian, instead of a hero. There was much political scribbling on tiiis occasion; and among flie citizens were well prepared to make good their defence, they professed to be satisfied and soon returned to their homes." Tbe Indians reraained in the city for several months, where their numbers were speedily thinned by the ravages ofthe small-pox. Fifty-six wore buried in the Potter's Field, now known as Washington Square, the good people of Phila. delphia preferring this to the more euphonous designation of Park !— Ed. OGLE AND FRIEND. 51 pamphleteers of the day. Doctor Franklin, drew his pen in behalf of the Indians, giving a very affecting narrative ofthe transaction at Lancaster, which, no doubt, had its effect in regulating public opinion, and thereby putting a stop to the farther violence that was meditated. But it was not alone by hostile alarms, that the good people of PhUadelphia were annoyed. Their tranquillity had been likewise disturbed by the uncitizenlike conduct df a p&ir of British officers, who, for want of something better to do, had "plunged themselves into an excess of intemperance ; and in the plentitu-de of wine and hUarity, paraded the streets at all hours, A la clarte de cieux dans I'ombre de la nuit, ' to the no smaU terror of the sober and the timid. The firm of this duumvirate was Ogle and Friend, names always coupled to gether, like those of Castor and Pollux, or of Pylades and Orestes. But the cement which connected them, was scarcely so pure as that which had united those heroes of antiquity. It could hardly be called friendship, but was rather a confederacy in debauchery and riot, exemplified in a never ending round of frolic and fun. It was related of Ogle, that upon hhing a servant, he had stipulated with him that he should never get drunk but when his master was sober. But the fellow some time after requested his discharge, giving for his reason, that he had in truth no dislike to a social glass himseff, but it had so happened, that the terms of the agreement had absolutely cut him off from any chance of ever indulging his propensity. Many are the pranks I have heard ascribed, either conjointly br separately, to this par nohile fratrum. That of Ogle's first appearance in PhUadelphia, has been thus related te me by Mr. WiU Richards, the apothecary, who, it is well known, was, from his size and manner, as fine a figure for Falstaff as the imagination can conceive. " One afternoon," said he, " an officer in full regimentals, booted and spurred with a whip in his hand, spattered with mud from top to toe, and reeling under the effects of an overdose of liquor, made his entrance into the coffee-house, in a box of which I was sitting, perusiiig a newspaper, He was 52 OGLE AND FRIEND. probably under the impression, that every man he was ^ to meet would be a Quaker, and that a Quaker was no other tiian a hcensed Simon Pure for his amusement: for no sooner had he entered, than tiirowing his arms about the neck of Mr. Joshua .Fisher with the exclamation of— "Ah, my dear Broadbrim give me a kiss," he began to slaver him most lovingly. As Joshua was a good deal embarrassed by the salutation, and wholly unable to parry the assauU or shake off the fond intruder, I interfered in his behaff and effected a separation, when Ogle, turning to me, cried out, ' Hah ! my jolly feUow, give me a smack of your fat chops,' and immediately feU to hugging and kissing me, as he had done Fisher. But instead of the coyness he had shown, I hugged and kissed in my turn as hard as I was able, untU my weight at length brought Ogle to the floor and myseff on top of him : Nevertheless, I kept kissing away, untU nearly m'ashed and suffocated, he exclaimed, ^for Heaven's sake let me up, let me up, or you will smother me !' Having sufficiently tormented him and avenge^ Joshua Fisher, I permitted him to rise, when he . seemed a good deal sobered, and finding that I was neither a Quaker nor wholly ignorant of the world, he evinced some respect for me, took a seat with me in a box, and entering into conversa tion, soon discovered, that however he might be disguised by in toxication, he well knew what belonged to the character of a gen- tleinan. This," said Richards, " was the commencement of an acquaintance between us ; and captain Ogle sometimes called to see me, upon which occasions he always behaved with the utmost propriety and decorum." This same coffee-house, the only one indeed in the city, was also the scene of another affray by Ogle and Friend in conjunc tion. I know not what particular acts of mischief they had been guilty of, but they were very drunk, and their conduct so ex tremely disquieting and insulting to the peaceable citizens there assembled, that being no longer able to\ endure it, it was judged expedient to commit them ; and Mr. Chew happening to be there, undertook, in virtue probably of his office of recorder, to write theh commhment : But Ogle, facetiously jogging his elbow, and interrupting him witii a repetition of the pitfful interjection of ",^A, now, Mr. Chew .'" .be was driven from his gravity, and OGLE AND FRIEND.. 53 obUged to throw away the pen. It was then taken up by Alder man M n with a determination to go through with the busi ness, when the culprits reeling round him, and Ogle in particular, hanging over his shoulder and reading after him as he wrote, at length, with irresistible effect, hit upon an unfortunate oversight of the alderman. "Ay," says he, "my father was a justice of peace too, but he did not speU that word as you do. I remember perfectly well, that instead of an S he always used to spell cir cumstance with a C.*' This sarcastic thrust at the scribe, en tirely turned the tide in favour of the rioters; and the com pany being disarmed of their resentment, the alderman had no disposition to provoke farther criticism by going on with the mittimus. The irregularities of these gay rakes were not more eccentric than diversified; and the more extravagant they (^ould render -them, the better. At one time, they would drive full tilt through the streets in a chair; and upon one of these occasion^ on ap proaching a booril which had been thrown across the street, in a part that was undergoing the operation of paving, they lashed forward theh steed, and sousing against the spar with great vio lence, they were consequently hurled from theh seats, like Don Quixote in his temerarious assault of the windmUls. At anpther time, at Doctor Orme's, the apothecary, where Ogle lodged, they, in emulation of the same mad hero at the puppet show, laid about them with their canes upon the defenceless bottles and phials, at the same time assaulting a diminutive Maryland parson, whom, in their frolic, they kicked from the street-door to the kitchen. He was a fellow lodger of Ogle's ; and, t© make him some amends for the roughness of this usage, they shortly after took him drunk to the dancing asseinbly, where, through the instrumentality of this unworthy son of the church, they contrived to excite a notable hubbub. Though tbey had escaped, as already mentioned, at the coffee-house, yet their repeated maffeasances had brought them within the notice of the civU authority; and they had more than once been in the clutches ofthe mayor of the city. This was Mr. S , a smaU man of a squat, bandy-legged figure; and hence, by way of being revengeds on him, they bribed a negro with a precisely simUar pair of legs, to carry him a bUlet, which 54 - author's early h-VBIts. imported, fliat as tiie bearer had in vain searched the town for a pah of hose fliat might fit him, he now apphed to his honour to be informed where he purchased his stockings. I have been told that General Lee, when a captain in, flie British service, had got involved in this vortex of dissipation ; and although afterwards so strenuous an advocate for the civU rights of flie Americans, had been made to smart severely for flieh vio lation, by the mayor's court of PhUadelphia. The common observation, that when men become soldiers they lose flie character and feelings of citizens, was amply Ulustrated by the general conduct of the British officers hi America. Theh studied contempt of the mohairs, by which term all those who were not in uniform were distinguished, was manffest on aU occa sions: and h is by no means improbable, that the disgust then excited, might have more easily ripened into that harvest of discontent, which subsequent injuries called forfli, and which terminated in a subduction of allegiance from the parent land. At the era of these various intestine commotioijs, I could not have more than completed my twelfth year. My attention to my school exercises, as already observed, was not at this time to be complained of; and a part of my evenings was either employed in writing them or committing them to memory. In relation to the latter, I will mention a circumstance which to me appeared remarkable, though perhaps it was not peculiar. After labouring in vain to master my task, I have gone to bed, scarcely able to repeat a line of it, but in the morning when I awoke, it has been perfect in my memory. The same thing has often occurred in respect to tunes I have been desirous of acquiring : and indeed I have ever found, that the morning was the propitious season for the exertion of my mental facuUies. But though not materially deficient in attention, h had not the smallest reference to future utility ; and sometiiing less than A wizard might have said, I ne'er shall rise by benefice or trade. A scramble was ever my aversion, and tiie unflirUtiness of my character might also have been inferred, from my indifference to author's early amusements. 55 those games which have gain for their object. I never could boast my winning at marbles or chuckers ; and as I chiefly played them for pastime, I never attained to that degree of perfection in them, which the keener stimulus of profit is calculated to pro duce, and which alone perhaps can lead to the fame of a dabster. When in possession of any of these implements that were reckoned handsome or good, I never felt the incUnation I have observed in those of better trading parts, of turning them into pence : with me they were hobby horses, not articles of com merce ; and though I had no dislike to money, it never impressed me as a primary good, a circumstance more essential than may be imagined, to what is called success in lffe. I do not speak of this as a virtue ; and ff it were one, I have certainly littie reason to rejoice in it. It is not one of those, at least, which leads to riches apd advancement ; or which, under the world's law, has a right to look for other than its own reward. In gymnastic ex ercises, however, my relish was keen and altogether orthodox. For those of running, leaping, swimming and skating, no one had more appetite; and for the enjoyment of these, fatigue and hunger were disregarded. To these succeeded a passion for fowling and boating; fishing being too sedentary and inactive for my taste. If furnished on Saturday afternoon or other holyday, with cash enough for the purchase of powder and shot, or the hhe of a batteau or skiff, as the propensity of the day might incline, I had nothing more to wish for. In my land ram bles, the envhons of PhUadelphia for several mUes round, were thoroughly traversed, from the uplands of Springetsbury, Bush- hUl and Centre-wood, to the low grounds and meadows of Pas- syunk and Moyamensing; whUe, in my water excursions, the sedgy shores of the Delaware, as weU as the reedy cover of Petty's, League and Mud Islands, were pervaded and ex plored in pursuit of ducks, reed-bird and raU. No pestUent vapours then arose from these marshes; and instead of the deadly fevers which have since proeeeded from, or been fos tered by them, their effluvia gave a zest to the cold morsel in the locker. But notwithstanding the ardour with which these sports were 56 school anecdotes. pursued, I not unfrequentiy surrendered myseff to tiie reveries of a pleasing melancholy, to which I have ever been occasionally mclined. For hours togeflier have I sat alone, listening to the church beUs, which it was the custom to ring on flie evening be fore market day, and which, from tiie back part of a house wherein we some time resided on the south side of Arch street, were heard to much advantage. Rousseau, who takes great pains to represent himseff as different from all others, and who seems to suppose that the mould in which he was cast has been broken, informs us, tiiat the chime of beUs always singularly af fected him. But the lively testimony of my own feelings assures me, that never, not even on the day when he took a ramble in the suburbs of Annecy whUe Madam de Warrens was at vespers, and gave himseff up to those delightful iUusions, of whieh he has given so enchanting a description, was he more under the in fluence of their transporting sounds than I have been. How often has the simple melody of Turn again Wittington, " resound ing through the empty-vaulted night," completely Iffted me from the earth; absorbed me in etherial visions, and sublimed me into such abstraction from this low world and its concerns, as to identffy my conceptions with those of the poet, when he exclaims, , How vain the ardour of the crowd. How low, how little are the proud. How indigent the great ! The amusements I have been speaking of, were of no advantage to me as a student ; but what was lost to the mind by my strong addiction to active recreations, was gained to the body ; and tended to invigorate a constitution, naturally tender. My exer cises were often carried to toU. I was extremely fond of rowing, and took great delight in feathering my oar, sometimes skimming it along the surface of the vi;ater in the manner of a wherry man, sometimes resting it horizontaUy between the thole pins in flie fashion of a bargeman. I had also made some proficiency in sculling, which appeared tome a highly enviable qualification: but tiie trimming of saUs,. laying a boat to flie wind, wifli' the management of the helm and the applieation ofthe proper tenns, SAILING EXCURSION. 57 were, in my eyes, acquisitions more truly honourable than the best of those which are attained in a college. The subject recalls a memorable expedition I engaged in, when perhaps about the age of thirteen. Returning from morning school at eight o'clock, a boy, a brother of the late Mr. Robert Morris, proposed an ex cursion to Chester, for the purpose of seeing the Coventry frigate which there rode at anchor. From an over greediness of grati fication, his plan was to have two boats, whereas one would have been very ample for four of us, the number of the company. But then the projector of the voyage might have found competi tors for the hehn, which he wished tq engross ; and had, accord ingly, secured an' unambitious ship-mate, in a son of captain Loxley, of Paxton war memory, already mentioned. A skiff he had already prepared for himseff and his comrade, and suggested where a batteaU might be obtained for the other two of the party, one Corbett from the island of Montserrat, and myseff. Each boat had a sail, and he observed, that as the wind and tide would be favourable, we could run down in a few hours. I objected, that I had not breakfasted. Neither had he, he said, nor indeed any of us ; but fhis was of little consequence, as we could fur nish ourselves with cakes. My mind fluctuated awhUe between the charms of the adventure and the impropriety of going with out permission, and consequently subjecting my mother to a most distressing state of anxiety on my account : For I was nei ther an habitual truant-player, nor a contemner of the feelihgs of a most affectionate parent, though I should have been ashamed to have said so. But such was the eagerness for the frolic with my associates, that it would not admit of a moment's delay; and the allurements of pleasure proving too potent for principle, I yielded to persuasion, and we embarked. It was a fine morning; a gentle breeze propelled us in our course, and in a few hours we were delightfully wafted to the place of destination. We saw the frigate, heM the pleasure of saUing round her, the satis faction of counting her guns, of contemplating her bright sides, (for she appeared to be new,) of admiring her rigging, and the duck-lUce beauty with which she sat upon the water. But here fruition ended. Water excursions are keen whetters of the appe tite, and the caUs of hunger began to be importunate. I forget 58 SAILING EXCURSION. whether we had taken 'any cakes witii us, but ff we had, the sup ply had been very insufficient for the day's provision. Hereupon, a canvass took place ofthe state of our pockets: they were found empty and pennyless : We were, in short, a miserable crew of Gautiers sans argent, and being too proud to beg for victuals, we had no resource but unripe fruit.' As the wind was unfavour able to our return, we were obliged to wah for the turning of the tide, and in the mean time, employed ourselves in sauntering about the viUage, the orchards, and the shore. We found, too, that we were very much out in our reckoning, the tide of flood not making for above an hour later than our calculation. At length, however, we had the satisfaction to find, that the marks we had made in the sand were unequivocally encroached upon by the water, and that floating substances were at a stand, ff not, really changed in theh direction. We haUed the event, and im mediately embarked. But now our toUs began. It was already late in the afternoon : The wind, stUl ahead, had considerably in creased, and the lowering aspect of the sky indicated approaching rain. It came on about dusk, and in this situation we had to tug at our oars lUie galley slaves, for the whole distance of from six teen to eighteen miles. Then it was, we perceived the folly of our two boats. It was between ten and eleven at night when we reached the city, wet, almost starved, and exhausted vfith labour. As I well knew what must be my mother's cruel situation, I hastened to show myself, and found her a prey to the most af flicting uncertainty. She had not been able to obtain any satis factory tidings of me, and knew not what to conclude. My tres pass, however, being readUy forgiven, I appeased my hunger and went to bed. Extreme fatigue, especially when it has been min gled with anxiety, is unfavourable to repose, and I slept but iU. I was tormented with distressing dreams, contending, as it seemed, with tasks above my strengthj ahd buffetmg witii waves "in night and tempest wrapt." * Borne by th' outrageous flood To distance down, I ride the ridgy wave. Or whelm'd beneath the boiling eddy sink. The exercises of swimming and skating were so much witiim SWIMMING AND SKATING. 59 the reach of the boys of PhUadelphia, that it would have been surprising, had they neglected them, or even had they not ex celled in them. Both Delaware and SchuylkUl present the most convenient and delightful shores for the former, whUst the heat and the length of the summers invite to the luxury of bathing; and the same rivers seldom faU in winter, to offer the means of enjoying the latter; ahd when they do, the ponds always afford them. Since the art of swimming has been, in some degree , dig nified by Dr. Franklin's having been a teacher of it, and having made it the subject of a dissertation, I may, perhaps, be warranted in bringing forward my remark. When in practice, I never felt myseff spent with it ; and though I never ui^dertook to swim farther than across SchuylkiU, at or near the middle ferry where the bri'dge now stands, it appeared to me that I could have con tinued the exercise for hours, and consequently have swum some mUes. To recover breath, I only found it necessary to turn upon my back, in which position with my arms across my body or pressed to my sides, since moving them as many do, answers no other purpose than to retard' and fatigue the swimmer; my lungs had free play, and I felt myseff as perfectly at ease, as ff reclined on a sofa. In short, no man can be an able swimmer, who only swims with his face downward : The pressure of the water on the breast, is an impediment to respiration in that attitude, which, for that reason cannot be long continued ; whereas, the* only incon venience in the supine posture, is, that the head sinks so low, tiiat the ears are liable to receive water, a consequence which might be prevented by stopping them with wool or cotton, or covering them with a bathing cap. * With respect to skating, though the Pbiladelphians have never reduced it to rules like the Londoners, nor connected it with their bushiess like Dutchmen, I wUl yet hazard the opinion, that they were the best and most elegant skaters in the world. I have seen New England skaters. Old England skaters, and Holland skaters, but the best of them could but ." make the judicious grieve." I was once slightiy acquainted with a worthy, gentleman, the quon dam member of a skating club in London, and it must be ad mitted that he performed very well for an Englishman. His High 60 SKATING. Dutch, or as he better termed h, his ,Mter edge skating, might, for aught I know, have been exactly conformable to tiie statutes of fliis institution : To these, he would often appeal ; and I recoUec flie prbcipal one was, that each stroke should describe an exact semichcle. Nevertheless, bis style was what we should deem a very bad one. An utter stranger to the beauty of brmging for: ward the suspended foot towards the middle of flie stroke,-and boldly advancing it before flie other, at tiie conclusion of it, flius to preserve fliroughout his course, a continuity of movement, to rise like an ascending wave to Us acme, flien, gracefully lUce a descending one, to gUde into the succeeding stroke without effort either real or apparent— every change of foot wifli flns gentleman, seemed a beginning <)f motion, and requhed a most unseemly jerk of the body; and unequivocal evidence of tiie want of fliat power, which depends upon a just balance, and should never be lost— which carries the skater forward wifli energy witiiout ex ertion; and is" as essential to his swfft and graceful career, as is a good head of water to- the velocity of a mUl wheel. Those who have seen good skating wiU comprehend what I mean, stiU better those who are adepts themselves ; but exceUence in the art can never be gained by geometrical rules. The two reputed best skaters of my day, were General CadwaUader and Massey the biscuit baker ; but I could name many others, both of the aca demy and Quaker school who were in no degree inferior to them ; whose action and attitudes were equally graceful, and lUse thehs, no less worthy of the chisel than those, which in other exer cises, have been selected to display the skill of the eminent sculp tors of antiquity.* I here speak^ be it observed, of what the • Watson also informs us that " during the old fashioned winters, when, about New Year's day, every one expected to see or hear of an 'Ox Roast' on the Delaware, upon the thick ribbed ice, the river's surface was covered with skaters. Of the many varieties of skaters of all colours and sizes mingled together, and darting about here and there, 'upward and downward, raingled and convolved;' a few were at all times distinguished above the rest for dexterity, power and grace, and araong these were William Tharpe, Dr. Foulke, Governor Mifflin, C^ W. Peale, George Heyl, and Joe Claypoole, not to oinit a black Othello who, from his apparent muscle and powerful movement, might have sprung, as did the Moor from ' men of royal siege.' In swiftness he; had no corapetitor ; he out. stripped the wind; the play of his elbows in alternate movement with his 'low SKATING ABBE RAYNAL. 61 Pbiladelphians were, not what they are, since I am unacquainted with the present state of the art ; and as from my lately meeting with young men, who, though bred in the city had not learned to swim, I infer the probability, that skating may be equally on the decline. The Abbe Raynal,* when speaking of PhUadelphia, in his PhUo sophical History of the East and West Indies, observes that the gutter ' skates, while darting forward and uttering occasionally a wild scream peculiar to his race while in active exertion of body, was very imposing in ap pearance and effect. Of the gentlemen before enumerated, George Heyl took the lead in graceful skating, and in superior dexterity in cutting figures and 'High Dutch' within a limited space of smooth ice. On a larger field of glass, among others he might be seen moving about elegantly and at perfect ease, in curve lines, with folded arms, being dressed in red coat (as was the fashion) and buckskin ' tights,' his bright broad skates in an occasional round flashing upon the eye ; then again to be pursued by others he might be seen suddenly changing to the back ahd heel forward movement, offering them his hand, and at the same tirae eluding their grasp by his dexterous and sudden deviations to the right and left, leaving them to the toil .of 'striking out' after him with all their strength. "The next best skater, was Dr. Foulke. Skating 'High Dutch,' and being able to cut the letters of his own name at one flourish constituted his fame as a skater. , " C. W. Peale, (founder of the Museum) was only distinguished for using a remarkable pair of ' gutter skates,' with a singular prong, capped and curved backwards, with which he moved leisurely about in curve lines. They looked as if they had been brought to hira from afar, as a bontribution to the curiosities of his Museum."— Ed. * This celebrated person was born in 1712 : educated among the Jesuits, and had even become a member of their Order : but was expelled for denying the supreme authority of the church. He afterwards associated with Voltaire, D'Alembert, and Diderot, and was, by them, employed to furnish the theological articles fijr the Encyclopedia. In this, however, he received the assistance ofthe Abb6 Yvon, to whom he did not give above a sixth of what he received ; which, being afterwards discovered, he was obliged to pay- Yvon the balance. His most celebrated work is his Political and Philosophical History of the European settle ments in the East and West Indies; which has been translated into all the languages of Europe and much admired; This work was followed in 1780 by another entitled the Revolution of America, in which the Abb6 pleads the cause of the Americans with zeal. The dhief trait in Raynal's character was his love of liberty ; but when he saw the length to which the French Revolutionists were proceeding, he made one effort to stop them in their career. In May, 1791, he addressed a letter to the Constituent National Assembly, in which, after compli. menting them upon the great things they had done, he cautioned them against the dangers of going farther. He lived not only to see his forebodings of public 6 62 SKATING ABBE RAYNAL. houses are covered with slate, a material amply supplied from quarries in the neighbourhood. But, unfortunately, for tiie source from which the Abbe derived his information, there were no such quarries near the city that ever I heard of, and certainly but a single house in it with this kind of roof, which, from that chcum stance, was distinguished by the name of The Slate House. It stood in Second street, at the corner of Norris's aUey, and was a singular old fashioned structure, laid out in the style of a fortifica tion, with abundance .of angles both salient and re-entering. Its two wings projected to the street in the manner of bastions, to which, the main buUding retreating from sixteen to eighteen feet, served for a curtain. Within, it was cut up into a number of apartments, and on that account, was exceedingly weU adapted to the purpose of a lodging house, to which use it had been long appropriated. An additional convenience, was a spacious yard on the back of it, extending haff way to Front street, enclosed by a high wall, and ornamented with a double row of venerable, lofty pines, which affoi'ded a very agreeable rus in urhe, or rural scene in the heaft of the city. The lady who had resided here and given some celebtity to the stand by the style of her accom modations, either dying or declining business, my mother was persuaded by her friends to become her successor; and, accord ingly obtained a lease of the premises, and took possession of them to the best of my recoUection, in the year 1764 or 1765.* calamity realized, but to suffer his share of it. After being stripped of all hi^ property, which was considerable, by the robbers of the Revolution, he died iri poverty, March, 1796, in the eighty-fourth year of his a.ge.—Lond. Ency.— Ed. « The slate-roof house is still standing, in 1846, a creditable monument to the forbearance of its lady -owner, in the midst of thd general war which, for yearSj has been steadily waged against every relic of the olden-tirae. How much longer it will be suffered to remain it were vain to conjecture. Its origin, its uses, and the historical characters who, from time to tinie, have dwelt within its walls,- should create a feeling of interest, for its preservation on the part of Pbiladelphians) and prompt the adoption of immediate raeasures for that patriotic purpose. In this age of " Constitutional scruples," the city councils might not feel at Hberty to appropriate the sum necessary for its purchase and restoration ; but the citi^ zens themselves by limiting the sum to a trifle, might readily fill a subscription for a fe* thousand dollars, and, by placing it under the guardianship ofthe city, insure fot it the necessary care. We are informed by the zealous ohronicler.Wataon, that this house was erected LODGING HOUSE SLATE-ROOF HOUSE. 63 While in this residence, and in a still more commodious one in the upper part of Front street, to which she some years afterwards removed, she had the honour, ff so it might be called, of enter taining strangers of the first rank who vished the city. Those who have seen better days, but have been compelled by hard necessity, to submit to a way of life, which to a feeUng mind, whoever may be the guests, is sufficiently humiliating, are much indebted to Mr. Gibbon, for the handsome manner in which he speaks of the hostess of a boarding house at Lausanne. With the delicacy of a gentleman and the discernment of a man of the world, the historian dares to recognise that worth and refinement are not confined to opulence or station ; and that although, in the keeper of a house of public entertainment, these qualities are not inuch to be looked for, yet, when they do occur, the paying for the comforts and attentions we receive does not exempt us from' the courtesy of an apparent equality and obligation. An equally liberal way of thinking, is adopted by Mr. Cumberland, who tells us in his Memoirs, that the British coffee-house was kept by a Mrs. Anderson, a person of great respectabUity. If, then, an education and situation in early lffe, which enabled my mother to maintain an intercourse in the best families in the city, pretentions, in no degree impaired by her matrimonial connexion, or an in- dusfrious, irreproachable conduct in her succeeding years of widowhood, can give a claim to respect, I have a right to say with Mr. Cumberland, that the principal lodging house in PhUa- delphia, was kept by a person of great respectability. A biographical sketch of the various personages, who, in the course of eight or nine years, became inmates of this house, for Samuel Carpentef whom he eulogizes for his early public spirit, and that it was occupied by William Penn, on his second visit in the year 1700. One month after Penn's arrival, John Penn, called the "American," was born in this house. In 1703^ the property was purchased by William Trent, the founder of Trenton — the capitol of New Jersey, for £850. Watson quotes a letter from James Logan in 1700 to Penn as follows: "Williara Trent designing fbr Eng- lind is about selling his house, (that he bought of Sainuel Carpenter,) which thou lived in, with the improvement of a beautiful garden. I wish it could be made thine, as nothing in this town is so well fitting a Governor. His price is £900 of our money, which it is hard thou can'st not spare." He could not spare it, however, and it became the property of a Mr. Norris, in whose family it still continues, — En. 64 LODGING HOUSE GUESTS BARON DE KALB. might, from the hand of a good delinea:tor, be both curious and amusmg. Among these, were persons of distinction, and some of no distinction : many real gentlemen, and some, no doubt, who were merely pretenders to the appeUation. Some attended by servants in gay liveries ; some, with servants in plain coats, and some with no servants at all. It was rarely without officers of the British army. It was at different times, nearly fiUed by those of the Forty-second or Highland regiment, as also. by those ofthe Royal Irish. Besides these, it sometimes accommodated oflScers of other armies, and other unfforms. Of this description, was the Baron de Kalb, who visited this country probably about the year 1768 or 1769; and who fell a major-general in the army o'f the United States at the battle of Camden. Though a German by birth, he had belonged to the French service, and had returned to France, after the visit just mentioned. During our revolu tionary contest, he came to tender us his services, and returned no more. The steady and composed demeanour of the Baron, bespoke the soldier and phUosopher ; the man who had calmly estimated lffe and death, and who, though not prodigal of the one, had no unmanly dread of the other. He was not indeed a young man ; and his behaviour at the time of his death, as I have heard it described by Mons. Dubuissori, his aid-de-camp, was exactiy confoririable to what might have been supposed from his character.* *" The representation ofthe Baron," — says the author in a MS. note— "as an enthusiast for liberty, whose sicred cause he crossed the Atlantic to espouse, is one of the ' larae and irapotent conclusions ' of our republican fanatics. He cared just as much for our liberty, probably, as did the other French subjects who assisted us under the standard ofthe Count de Rochambeau. He, no doubt, thought the occasion favourable for crippling the power of Britain, and of avenging the loss of Canada. At the same time, he was politic enough to take the tone of the .people he was acting with, and might, therefore, have talked of liberty with the rest, but he would have deemed it quite sufficient to his fame, to be con- sidered as at once faithful to France and her allies, and of having acquitted him- self as a brave and accomplished soldier ; and this was all we had to require of him." The Baron was born in Germany, about the year 1717. When young, he entered into the service of France, in which he continued for forty -two years, and obtained the rank of brigadier-general. In 1757, during the war between Eng land and France, he was sent, by the French government, to the American LADY MOORE. 65 Another of our foreign guests, was one Badourin, who wore a white cockade, and gave himself out for a general in the Austrian service ; but whether general or not, he, one night, very unex pectedly left his quarters, making a masterly retreat with the loss of no other baggage than that of an old trunk, which, when opened, was fbund to contain only a few old Latin and German books. Among the former, was a folio, bound in parchment, which I have now before me ; it is a ponderous tract of the mys* tical Robert Fludd, alias de Fluctibus, printed at Oppenheim in the year 1618, and in part dedicated to the duke de Guise, whom the author informs us he had instracted in the art of war. It is to this writer probably, that Butler thus alludes in his Hudi bras : He, Anthroposophus and Floud, And Jac6b Behman understood. From this work of Mr. Fludd, which among a fund of other important matter,, treats of astrology and divination, it is not im probable that its quondam possessor Mr. Badourin, might have been a mountebank-conjuror, instead of a general. Among those of rank from Great Britain with whose residence we were honoured, I recollect Lady Moore and her daughter,, a coloniesj in order to learn the points in which they were most vulnerable, and how far the seeds of discontent might be sown in them towards the mother country. He was seized, while in the perforraance of his commission, as a sus pected person, but escaped detectibn. He thea went to Canada, where he re mained until its conquest by the British, after which he returned to Fl-ance. In 1777, during the war of the revolution, he came a second time to the United States, and offered his services to Congress. They were accepted, aniJ he was soon after raade a major-general. At first he was placed; in the northern army, but, when the danger which threatened Charleston from the formidable expedition under Sir Henry Clinton, in 1778, rendered it necessary to reinforce the American troops in the South, a detachraent was sent to them, consisting of the Maryland and Delaware lines, which were put under his command. Before he could arrive, however, at the scene of action. General Lincoln had been made prisoner, and the direction of the whole southern army devolved upon the Baron, untif the appoint ment of General Gates. On the 15th of August, Gates was defeated near Cam. den by Lord Rawdon, and, in the battle, De Kalb, who commanded the right wing, fell, covered with wounds, while gallantly fighting on foot. A tomb was erected to his memory, by order of Congress, in the cemetery of Camden. — Enc-y, Amer. — Ed. 6* 66 LADY MOORE WOODWARD. sprightly Miss, not far advanced in her teens, and who having apparently no dislUce' to be seen, had more tiian once attracted my attention.* For I was just touching that age when such ob- j,ects begin to be interesting and excite feelings, which disdain the invidious barriers, with which the pride of condhion would sur round itseff. Not that the young lady was stately; my .vanity rather hinted, *she was condescendingly courteous ; and I had no doubt, read of women of quality faUing in love with their in feriors : Nevertheless, the extent of my presumption was a look or a bow, as she now and then tripped along through the entry. Another was Lady Susan O'Brien, not more distinguished by her titie, than by her husband, who accompanied her, and had figured as a comedian on the London stage, in the time of Garrick, Mos- sop and Barry. Although ChurchiU charges him with being an imitator of Woodward^f he yet admits him to be a man of parts ; * Sir Henry Moore, the last British governor of New York, that I remember, (says Mrs. Grant,) came up this summer to see Albany and the ornament of Albany, Aunt Schuyler ; he brought Lady Moore and his daughter with ' him. This is the same family aluded to in the text, but I was not aware ('says the author in a MS. note) that Sir Henry was. governor of New York. Mrs. Grant and myself, probably not differing much in age, appear nearly at the same time tb have been looking back on the scenes of ouf youth, and to have brought to remembrance not only some of the characters, but to have coincided in our remarks on several subjects. The Miss Moore alluded to, I remember to have heard, was, some years after the time of this our joint recognition of her, consi dered as an elegant woman in England, where, it was said, she led the fashions. t Woodward,, endowed with various powers of face, Great master in the science of grimace. From Ireland ventures, favourite of the town, Lur'd by the pleasing prospect of renown ; A squeaking Harlequin made up of whim. He twists, he twines, he tortures every limb. Plays to the eye with a mere monkey's art And leaves to sense the conquest of the heart. We laugh, indeed, but on reflection's birtii. We wonder at ourselves, and curse our mirth, His walk of parts he fatally raisplaced. And inclination fondly took for taste ; Hence hath the Town so often seen displayed Beau in burlesque, high life in masquerade. But when bold wits, not such as patch up plays, . Cold and correct in these insipid days, ' LADY MOORE WOODWARD. 67 and he has been said to have surpassed aU his cotemporaries in the character of the fine gentleman ; in his easy manner of tread ing the stage, and particularly of drawing the sword, to which action he communicated a swiftness and. a grace which Garrick imitated, but could not equal.* O'Brien is presented to my recollection as a man of the middle height, with a symmetrical form, rather light than athletic. Employed by the father to in struct Lady Susan in elocution, he taught her, it seems, that it was no sin to love; for she became his wffe, and, as I have seen it mentioned in the Theatrical Mirror, obtained for him, through the interest of her family, a post in America. But what this post was, or where it located him, I never heard. A third person of celebrity and titie was sh WiUiam Draper,! Some coraic character, strsng.featured, urge To probability's extremest verge. Where modest judgraent her decree suspends. And for a time, nor censures, nor commends, Where critics can't determine on the spot, Whether it is in Nature found or not. There Woodward safely shall his powers exert. Nor fail of favour where he shows desert. Hence he in Bobadil such praises bore, ^ch worthy praises, Kitely scarce had more. Churchill's Rosciad. — Ed. * Shadows behind of Foote and WoodwARU came; Wilkinson this, O'Brien was that narae. Strange to relate, but wonderfully true, Tbat even shadows have their shadows too ! With not a single coraic power endued The first a raere raere mimic's mimic stood. The last, by nature formed to please, who shows. In Johnson's Stephen, which way Genius grows ; Self quite put ofltj affects, with too much art. To put on Woodward in each mangled part; Adopt his shrug, his wink, his stare : nay, more. His voice and croaks ; for Woodward croak'd before. When the dull copier simple grace neglects. And rests his Imitation in defects. We readily forgive ; but suoh vile arts Are double guilt in men of real parts. Churchill's Rosciad. — Ed. + Vide correspondence in the " Letters of Junius." In his celebrated contro- versy with the "great unknown," sir William displayed a degree of ability and 68 SIR WILLIAM DRAPER— FRANK RICHARDSON. who made a tour to tiiis country, a short time after his newspaper encounter with Junius. It has even been suggested that tiiis very incident sent flie knight on his travels. Whether or not, h had so important a cortsequence, h cannot be denied, that sir William caught a tartar in Junius ; and fliat when he commenced his attack, he had evidently underrated his adversary. During his stay in PhUadelphia, no one was so assiduous in his attentions to him as Mr. Richardson, better known at that time by the name of Frank Richardson, then from England on a vish to his friends. This gentieman was one of the most singular and successful of American adventurers. The son of one of our plainest Quakers, he gave early indications of that cast of character which has raised him to his present station, that of a colonel m the British guards. At a time, when such attainments formed no part of education in Pennsylvania, he sedulously employed him self, in acquiring skiU in the use of the small sword and the pistol, as ff to shine as a dueUist, had been the first object of his ambi tion. Either for a contempt for the dull pursuits of the "home skill that challenged the adtniration even of his relentless adversary. He attained the rank of General in the British army. He was born at Bristol, (England) where his father held the post of collector of the customs. He was thoroughly educated at Eton and at Cambridge. In 1763, he was" conqueror of Manilla." He arrived at Charleston, South Carolina, in January, 1770, and during the sum mer of that year visited Maryland where he was received with .much hospitality. From Maryland he passed into New, York, and while there, was married to Miss De Lancey, who died in 1778, leaving him a. daughter. In 1779, he was ap- pointed Lieutenant-Governor of Minorca. He died at Bath, January, 1787. Wraxall says he was " a man hardly better known to posterity by his cap- ture of Manilla, than by his correspondence with Junius. He was endowed with talents which, whether excited in the field or in the closet, entitled him to great consideration. His vanity, which led him to call his house at Clifton, near Bristol, " Manilla Hall," and there to erect a cenotaph to his fellow-soldiers, whd fell before that city during the siege exposed him to invidious coraraents. * * JuNius's obligations to his officious friendship for the Marquis of Granby was indelible: for, however admirably written may be his letter of the 21st of Janu ary, 1769, which opened the series of those celebrated compositions, it was Dra- per's answer, with his signature annexed to it, that drew all eyes towards the two literary combatants. Great as were Junius's. talents, yet, if he had been left to ej^hale his resentraent without notice or reply, he might have found it difficult to concenter on himself the attention of all England. — But, the instant that Sir William avowedly entered the lists as Lord Granby's champion, a new interest was awakened in the public mind«" — Ei>. ANECDOTE. 69 keeping youth " of his day, or from the singularity ofhis propen sities repeUing association, he was solitary and rarely with com panions. Fair and delicate to effeminacy, he paid great attention to his person, which he had the courage to invest in scarlet, in defiance of the society to which he belonged, in whose mind's eye, perhaps as to that of the blind man of Locke, this colour from theh marked aversion to it, resembles the sound of a trumpet; and no less in defiance of the plain manners of a city, in which except on the back of a soldier, a red coat was a phenomenon, and al\^ys indicated a Creole, a Carolinian, or a dancing master. With these qualifications, and these alone, perhaps, Mr. Richard son, at an early age, shipped himseff for England, where soon, having the good fortune to establish a reputation for courage by drawing his sword in behaff of a young man of rank, in a broil at the theatre, he was received into the best company, and thence laid the foundation of his preferment. Such, at least , was the generally received account of his rise. But whether accurate or not, his intimate footing with sir WiUiam, is an evidence of the style of his company whUst abroad, as well as of the propriety of his conclusion, that his native land was not his sphere.* As the story went : on Mr. Richardson's first going to England, he happened to be in the same lodgings with Foote, the come dian, with whom he became intimate. One day upon his coming out ofhis chamber, "Richardson," says Foote to him, " a person has just been asking for you, who expressed a strong desire to see you, and pretended to be an old PhUadelphia acquaintance. But I knew better, for he was a d d ill-looking fellow, and I have no doubt the rascal was a baUiff; so I told him you were not at home." But here either Foote's sagacity had been at fault, or he had been playing off a stroke of his humour, the visiter having really been no other than Mr. , a respectable * He is the same Richardson alluded to in the following extract of a letter from General Washington to Mrl Reed, dated 14th January, 1776: " Mr. Sayre has been committed to the tower, upon the information of a certain Lieutenant or Adjutant Richardson (formerly of your city,) for treasonable practices; an inten- ^ tion of seizing his majesty, and possessing himself of the Tower, it is said m " The Crisis." But he is admitted to bail himself in five hundred pounds, and. two sureties in two hundred and fifty pounds each." — Sparks' Writings of Wash. ington, Vol. iii. p. 242.— Ed. 70 MAJOR ETHERINGTON. merchant of PhUadelphia, tiiough not a figure tiie most debonah to be sure. From PhUadelphia, sh WiUiam passed on to New- York, where, ff I mistake not, he married. During his residence in that city, he frequently amused himself with a game of rackets, which he played with some address ; and he set no smaU value on the talent. There was a mechanic in the place, the hero of the tennis court, who was so astonishingly superior to other men, that there were few whom he could not beat with one hand attached to the handle of a wheelbarrow. Sir WiUiam wished to play with him, ^d was gratified; the New-Yorker having urbanity enough to cede the splendid stranger some advantages, and even in conquermg, to put on the appearance of doing it with difficulty: Yet, apart, he declared that he could have done the same vnth the incumbrance of the wheel-barrow. These are heresay facts : they come, how ever, from persons of credit, in the way of being acquainted with them. But what imports it the reader to know, that sh WiUiam Draper was a racket-player.? Nothing, certainly, unless we reflect, that he was a conspicuous character, the conqueror of Manilla, and still more, the literary opponent of Junius. Without granting something to celebrity of this latter sort, what possible interest could we take in learning that doctor Johnson liked a leg of pork, or that he could swaUow twelve or more cups of tea at a sitting.'* Major George Etherington, of the Royal Americans, was an occasional inmate of our house, from its first establishment on the large scale, untU the time of hs being laid down, about tiie year 1774. He seemed to be always employed in the recruiting ser vice, in the performance of which, he had a snug, economical * Much attention was paid to sir William, in Philadelphia, and among others who waited on him was a Mr. Wharton, an old Quaker who, from his pride and affected dignity of manner, received the title of Duke. Sir William observing that he entered the room and remained with his hat off, begged that as it was contrary to the custom of his society to do so, he would dispense with this unnecessary mark of respect. But the "Duke" feeling his pride piqued at the supposition that he should uncover to Sir William Draper or to' any other man, promptly corrected the mistake, into which Sir William's considerate politeness had betrayed him, by bluntly giving him to understand that his being Uncovered, was not intended as a compliment to him, but was for his own convenience and comfort — the day being warm. — Ed. MAJOR ETHERINGTON. Il method of his own. He generally dispensed with the noisy cere mony of a recruiting coterie ; for having, as it was said, and I believe truly, passed through the principal grades in its composi tion, namely, those of drummer and sergeant, he was a perfect master of the inveigling arts which are practised on the occasion, and could fulfil, at a pinch, all the duties himseff. The major's forte was a knowledge of mankind, of low lffe especially ; and he seldom scented a subject that he did not, in the end, make his prey. He knew his man, and could immediately discover a fish that would bite : Hence, he wasted no time in angling in wrong waters. His superior height, expansive frame, and muscular limbs, gave him a commanding air among the vulgar ; and, while enforcing his suit with all the flippancy of halbert elocution, he famUiarly held his booby by the button, his small, black, piercing eyes, which derived additional animation from the intervention of a sarcastic, upturned nose, penetrated to the fellow's soul, and gave him distinct intelligence of what was passing there. In fact, I have never seen a man with a cast of countenance so extremely SubtUe and investigating. I have myseff, more than once, un.dergone its scrutiny; for he took a very friendly interest in- my weffare, evinced by an occasional superintendance of my educa tion, in so far at least, as respects the exterior accomplishments. Above all things, he enjoined upon me the cultivation of the French language, of which he had himself acquired a smattering from a temporary residence in Canada; and he gave me a pretty sharp lecture upon a resolution I had absurdly taken up, not to learn dancing, from an idea of its being an effeminate and un manly recreation. He combated my folly with arguments, of which I have since felt the full force ; but which, as they turned upon interests, I was then too young to form conceptions of, they produced neither conviction nor effect. Fortunately ,for me, I had to deal with a man who was not thus to be baflfled. He very properly assumed the rights of mature age and experience, and accordingly, one dajr, on my return from school, he accosted me with, " Come here young man, I have something to say to you," and with a mysterious air conducted me to his chamber. Here I found myseff entrapped. Godwin, the assistant of TioU, the dancing master, was prepared to give me a lesson. Ether- 72 ANECDOTE. mgton introduced me to him as the pupU he had been speaking of, and saymg, he would leave us to ourselves, he poUtely re tired. The arrangement wifli TioU was, that I should be attended in fliemajor's room untU I was suflicientiy dtUled for flie public school; and the ice thus broken, I went on, and instead of stand ing in a corner, like a goose on one leg (tiie major's comparison) " while music softens and whUe dancmg fires," I became qualified for the enjoyment of female society, in one of its most captivating forms. Major Eflierington had a brother in the rank of a captain, so like himseff, as to realize the story of the two Socias, and to re move half the improbability of the plot of Shakspeare's Comedy of Errors. Any one^ at a first sight, might have mistaken the one for the other, at least I did, for a moment ; but on a close inspection it would be discovered, that the captain was more scant in his proportions, as well as several years younger than his brother. Tom, for so the captain was familiarly called by the major, had taken his turn to recruit in Philadelphia, whUe his superior was employed elsewhere. From a comparatively weaker discernment of. human character, he had enlisted a lad and con verted him into his waiting man, whom George, on a junc tion which soon after topk place, pronounced to be a fool, and ¦ wholly unfitfor a soldien This the captain denied strenuously, and the question became the frequent topic of good humoured altercation between them, untU an incident occurred, which gave the major an unequivocal triumph. One morning very early, the brothers lodging in the same apartment, this recruit, and for the first time, common servant of the two, softly approached the bed of the major, and gently tapping him on the shoulder to awaken him, very sapiently inquired, ff he might clean his shoes. George, with mfinhe presence of mind, repUed, that h was not material, but " go," says he, " and ask my brother Tom ff you may clean his." The poor feUow did as he was bid, and probably as he would have done ff he had not been bidden ; and Tom's slumbers became victims also, to the same momentous investigation. The major took care to (relate the chcumstance at the breakfast table, and, of course, obtained a unanimous suffrage to his opmion, fliat the. captain's recruit was not exceeding wise. MAJOR ETHERINGTON ANECDOTE. 73 Although Etherington was extremely deficient in literature, few* persons possessed more acuteness of intellect, or a happier talent for prompt replication. A warm dispute having one day taken place at the coffee-house, between Mr. Bradford, who kept it, and Mr. Delancey of New York, in which the parties appeared to be proceeding to blows, major Etherington stepped between them and separated them. The next day, on a supposition of partiality to Delancey, he was roundly taken to task by Bradford. He observed, that he had merely interfered as a ^common friend to both. "No sir," said Bradford, "you were the decided champion of Delancey, you laid your hands upon me, and kept your face to me, whUe your back was turned to him." " Very well then, sir," said Etherington, with quickness, "I treated you politely, and Mr. Delancey with a rudeness for which I owe him an apology." A ready, unexpected turn of this kind, has always a good effect on the bystanders, and they accordingly lent their aid in restoring good humour.* As I have said that the major commenced his military career in the humblest walks of his profession, the reader may expect to hear of the exploits which produced his extraordinary promotion. * There is another instance ofhis mental readiness, I had introduced into my manuscript, but which I was advised to suppress, as it was supposed to offer matter for malignant interpretation. But as I find my mother's character (S well understood aud remembered, I see no objection to introducing it now ; nor for my own part, did I before. The major, one. day, in passing the kitchen door, received upon his clothes a little dirty water which Miss Ann Burgess, the elderly Quaker lady, already mentioned as one of the family, had, without seeing him, cast out of a bowl. The major was more disturbed at the accident than might have been expected from one of his charaCterj and was not quite appeased by the evident concern aud all the excu.ses the culprit could make, when she thought proper lo set before him the conduct of Major Sraall, when a precisely similar accident which some time before had happened to him from the hands of my raother, aggravated, too, by the circumstance of his having been full dressed for an assembly, a toilet labour no less arduous with hirtij than the five hours work ofthe haughty Celia of Swifti Instead) said shoj of Major Small's refusing to be satisfied with her apologies, he made her a low bow, begged that she would be under no concern about the matter, and, very respectfully, walked up to her and kissed her. Theh I am to kiss you, I suppose. Eh ! said Etherington. This lucky hit, while it alarraed anS completely embarrassed the maidenly preciseness of the old lady, not aware that she had given an opening for it, put Etherington into a good humour and amicably terminated the affair. 7 74 •" MAJOR ETHERINGTON. But h was not to martial prowess that he owed it. The worid gave out, that a certain wealthy vriflow of the county of New Castle, became enamoured of him, and first purchased him a commission. His saving, knowledge soon enabled him to pur chase a better one, and from a captaincy, the station in which I first knew him, he had risen to that of a colonel, when I last saw him in PhUadelphia, just at the approach of the war. What then brought him there is uncertain. He was, however, taken notice of by the committee of safety; requhed to hasten his departure, ahd in the mean time, put under his parole. He endeavoured to make a jest of the matter, by assuring them, that they need not be under the least apprehension ofhis going an inch nearer to the scene where fighting was to be looked for. He several ti^es caUed to see us whUe in town, and observing me in the light in fantry unfform, he undertook to recommend to me, between banter and earnest, that ff I inclined to a military lffe, at once to get a commission in the British service, which he would charge himself to procure for me : That as to our idle; parade of war, it would vanish in smoke, or, if seriously persisted in, would infaUi bly terminate in our disgrace, if not ruin. I asked him ff he had been to see us exercise. "Oh no," said he, "that would be highly improper ; we make it a point in the army never to look at awkward men; we hold it unpolite.'' The colonel was no doubt correct in his opinion of our tactics ; though I was nettled a little at his contemptuous manner of treating us. But I here dismiss him with the observation, that he was a singular man, who knew the world and turned that knowledge to his advantage. He had certainly much mental abUity, and of a cast, which he himself conceived would have well qualified hhn for the bar; a profession, for which, he has told me, nature intended him. In this estimate of his talents, however, h is not improbable, that he might have attributed ,too much to management and chicane, which had essentially availed him in the business of recruiting: For he valued himself upon them here ; and I weU remember that upon my mother's teUmg him of captain Anstruflier, who had recruited in his absence, sending a drum about before he left the city, to proclaim, that ff any one had been aggrieved by him or his party, to caU upon him and he should be redressed, he re* GENERAL REID WARREN. 75 plied—" And was'nt he a d d fool for his pains .?" In men tioning captain Anstruther it occurs to me, that he may be the same who is stated to have iaUen as a general officer in the battle pf Corunna. There were two other majors, with whose company we were a long time favoured. These were Majors SmaU and FeU; and if names had any appropriation to the persons of those who bear them, these might very weU have been interchanged; for SmaU was a stout, athletic man, who might be supposed to possess a capacity io-c felling, while the other was one of the smallest men I have seen. Some one asking,_one day, ff major SmaU was at home.? "No," says FeU, "but the small major is." Small is a principal figure in Trumbull's print of the death of Warren. He is represented in the humane attitude of putting aside with his sword, a British bayonet, aimed at the breast of the dying patriot.* Another officer of the British army, who was some time our in mate, is suggested by a notice ofhis death in the Monthly Maga zine of March, 1807. This was General John Reid, who is stated to have died in his 87th year, the oldest officer in the service. In this account of him, it' is said, that in the meredian of his lffe, he was esteemed the best gentleman German flute performer in England : that he was also particularly famed for his taste in the composition of military music, and that his marches are still ad mired. This gentleman was a colonel at the time I speak of him. His fame as a performer on the flute I recollect, as also to have heard him play : but probably I was too little of a connoiseur to duly appreciate his talents. I cannot say that my expectations were fully answered; his tones were low and sweet, but the' tunes he played were so disguised and overloaded with variations, as with me to lose much of their melody. From these gentlemen of the army, I pass to one of the navy, rude and boisterous as the element to which he belonged. His name I think was Wallace, the commander of a ship of war on the American station, and full fraught, perhaps, with the ill humour of the mother country towards her colonies, which she was already * See Appendix C, fo? an interesting acpount of the battle of Bunker's Hill.— Ed. 76 CAPTAIN WALLACE JOSEPH CHURCH. beginning to goad to independence. His character upon tiie coast, was that of being insolent and brutal beyond his peers ; and his deportment as a lodger, was altogetiier of a piece with it. Being asked by my mother, who, by the deshe of the gentiemen, was in the custom of taking the head of her table, ff he would be helped to a dish thgit was near her, " Damme, madam," replied the ruffian, "h is to be supposed fliat at a public table every man has a right to help himseff, and this I mean to, do." Wifli a tear in her eye she besought him to pardon her, assuring him that m future he should not be offended by her officiousness. At another time, when Joseph Church of Bristol, who has already been mentioned as a friend of the famUy, was in town and at our house, which, in his vishs to the city, he always made his home, my mother mentioned to the gentlemen, who were about sitting down to supper, but three or four in number, of whoro captain WaUace was one, that there was a friend of hers in the house, a very honest, plain man of the society of Friends, and begged to know ff it would be agreeable to them that he should be brought in to supper. They all readUy assented, and none •with more alacrity than Wallace. Accordingly Mr. Church was introduced, and sat down. During supper, the captain dhected his chief discourse to him, interlardedVith a deal of very course and insolent raillery on his broad brim, &c. Church bore it aU very patiently until a,fter supper, when he at length ventured to say — "Captain, thou has made very free with me, and asked me a great many questions, which I have endeavoured to answer to thy satisfaction : Wilt thou now permit me to ask thee one in my turn.'" "Oh, by all means," exclaimed the captain, "any thhig that you please, friend — what is it.?" " Why, then, I wish to be informed, what makes thee drink so often ; art tifiou really dry every time thou cayriest the Uquor to thy mouth?" This was a home thrust at the seaman, whose frequent potations had aheady produced a degree of intoxication. At once, forgettmg the liberties he had taken, and the promise he had given of equal freedom in return, he broke out intp a violent rage, venting hhn seff] in the most indecent and illiberal language, and vocfferating, with an unlucky logic wl?.ieh reeoUed upon himseff— " What ! do you think I am hke a hog, only to drink when I am dry ?" But RrvmeTojT, the printer. ,. 77 matters had gone too far for a reply; and the object of his wrath very prudentiy left the table and the room as expedhiously as possible.. It cannot be denied, that there wag some provocation in the question proposed : but he knows little of the Quaker cha racter, who does not know, that the non-resisting tenent does not prohibit the use of dry sarcasm, which here was unquestion ably in its place. It would be easy to extend these biographical detaUs ; but my materials, at best, are too deficient in interest to warrant much presumption on the patience of the reader : I shall therefore only add to the list, the names of Hancock* and Washington, each of whom had at different times sojourned at our caravansary. Yet another, of some eminence, though not exactly in the same kind, whom I ought not to omit, was Rivington, the printer, of New York. This gentleman's manners and appearance were sufficiently dignified ; and he kept the best company. He was an everlasting dabbler in theatrical heroics. Othello, was the character in which he liked best to appear ; and converting his auditory into the " most potent, grave and reverend signioTs" of Venice, he would deliver his unvarnished tale ; *' Her father lovM me, oft invited me," &c. With the same ihagic by which the listening gentlemen were turned into senators, my mother was transformed into Desde- mona; and from the frequent spoutings of Rivington, the officers of the 42d regiment, and others, who were then, in the house, became fapiUiarized to the appellation, ai^d appropriated it. Thus, Desdemona, or rather Desdy, for shortness, was the name she generally afterwards went by among that set of lodgers ; and I recollect the concluding line of a poetical effusion of Lieute^ nant Rumsey of the 42d, on occasion of some trifling fracas, to have been — . " For Desdy, believe, me, you don't becorae airs !" In the daUy intercourse with her boarders, which my mother's custom of sitting at the head of her table induced, such fami liarities might be excused. They were only to be repeUed, at * For a Sketch ofthe Life and Character of Hancock, see Appendix D.— Ed. 78 least, by a formal austerity of manner, which was neither natural to her, nor for her interest to assume. The cause of umbrage was a midnight riot, perpetrated by Rumsey, Rivingtoji and Doc tor Kearsley, in which the doctor, mounted on horseback, rode into the back parlour, an4 even up stairs, to the great disturbance and terror of the family ; for, as it may weU be supposed, there was a direful clatter.. QiMdrupedante sov-Hu qudtit urtgula domum., DANGERS OF IDLENESS. 79 CHAPTER IE. The Author mixes in new Society. — Is destined for the Law. — ^His characteristic Indolence. — American players. — Anecdotes. — Dramatic Poetry. — Author's pur suits. — Debating Society. — Metaphysical subtleties. — Causes of youthful fol- lies. — Letters of Junius. — Tamoc Caspipina. — Mr. Duche. About the year 1769 or 1770, my grandfather died. My in attention to dates disqualifies me for fixing the year, nor is it ma terial. His disorder was a complication of dropsy and asthma. I well remember being with him a few evenings before his death, and seldom saw him in hetter sphits. He was anticipating my future consequence hi life; and, as like too many others, I was destined in vain, D'une robe a longs plis lalay/er le barreau — To sweep, with fuU-sleev'd robe, the dusty bar.* He was making himself merry with the fancy of my strutting with my full-bottomed periwig and small sword, the costume he attached to a bannister of law, as he was pleased to term what in England is caUed a barrister. But it wiU,be recoUected, that I have already said that the old gentleman was a German, no great adept in English, and let me add, no great scholar in any language ; although his man ners were those of a man of the world, and a frequenter of good company, somewhat blunt, however, and occasionally facetious. The story of the toper and flies, worked up into an ode by Peter Pindar, I have more than once heard related of him. The scene was laid in PhUadelphia, where, being at a friend's house to dine, * This quotation would apply better, or at least more literally, if gowns had been worn at our bar. 80 DANGERS OF IDLENESS. and asked to take some punch before dinner, he found several flies in the bowl. He removed them with a spoon, took his drink, and with great deliberation was proceeding to replace tiiem, "Why, what are you doing, Mr. Marks,"* exclaimed the enter tainer, "putting flies into the bowl .?" " Why, / don't like them," said. he, "but I did not know but you might," — his mode of suggesting that the bowl should have been covered ; for decanters and tumblers, be it observed, are a modern refinement In'the ap paratus of punch drinking. Whether the story really originated with my grandfather, tmd traveUed from the continent to the islands, where Doctor Wolcott picked it up ; pr whether the hu mour was of insular origin, and merely borrowed and vamped up ^J ^y grandfather, I pretend not to decide, but certain it is, that he had the credit of ft in PhUadelphia, many years before the works of Peter Pindar appeared,, If want of occupation, as we are told, is the root of aU evU, my youth was exposed to very great dangers. The interval be tween my leavmg the academy, and being put to the study of the law at about the age of sixteen, was not less than eighteen ••months; an invaluable period, lost in idleness and unprofitable amusement. It had the effect to esfl-ange me for a time from my school-companions, and, in flieh stead, to bring me acquainted wifli a set of young men, whose education and habhs had been wholly different from my own. They were chiefly designed for tiie sea, or engaged in the less humUiating raechanical employ ments ; and were but flie more to my taste for affecting a sort of rough independence of manners, which appeared to me manly. They were not, however;, worthless; and such of fliem as were destined to become men and citizens, have, .with few exceptions, filled theh parts in society wifli reputation and respectability. As I had now attained that stage hi tiie progress of tiie mind, in which Neglected Tray and Pointer lie And covies unmolested fly, the void was supplied by an introduction into tiie fah society, witii which fliese young men were in flie haWt of associatmg. It * Joseph Marks; the narae might have been mentioned hefore. FEMALE SOCIETY LOVE. 81 consisted generally of Quakers ; and there was a witching one among them, with whom, at a first interview in a party on the water, I became so violently enamoured, as to have been up, perhaps, to the part of a Romeo or a Pyramus, had the requisite train of untoward circumstances ensued. But as there were, no feuds betvyeen our houses, nor unnatural parents to "forbid what they coulf^ not prohibit," the matter hi due time, passed off with out any dolorous catastrophe. Nor was it long before I was translated into a new set of female acquaintance, in which I found new objects to sigh for. Such, indeed, I was seldom, ff ever, without, during the regt of my nonage ; and with g.s littie reason, perhaps, as any one, to complain of adverse stars. Nevertheless, I should hesitate in pronouncing this season of lffe happy. If its enjoyments are great, so are its solicitudes; and although it should escape 'the pangs of "slighted vows and cold^disdain," it yet is racked by a host of inquietudes, doubt, distrust, jealousy, hope deferred by the frustration .of promised intervievvs, and wishes sickening under the weight of obstacles toS %ighty to be surmounted. In the language of the medical poet, " The wholesome appetites and powers of life Dissolve in languor. Your cheerful days are gone ; The generous bloom that flush'd your cheeks, is fled. To sighs devoted and to tender pains, Pensive you sit, or solitary stray. And waste your youth in musing." But the perU of fine eyes, was not the only one which beset me. During my residence in the State-house, I had contracted an intimacy with the second son of Doctor Thomas Bond, who lived next door ; a connexion which continued for several years. ,.. He was perhaps a year older than myseff, and had, in like man ner, abandoned his studies, and prematurely bidden adieu to the ,^ college of Princeton. Handsome in his person, in his manner, confident and assured, he had the most lordly contempt for the ' opinion of the world, that is, the sober world, of any young man I have known ; as well as a precocity in fashionable vices, equalled by few, and certainly exceeded by none. Admiring his talents 82 RICHARD BOND. aqd accomplishments, I wUlingly yielded him the lead in our amusements, happy in emulating his degagee ah and rakish ap pearance. He it was who first introduced me to tiie fascination of a biUiard-table; and initiated me into the other seductive arcana of city dissipation. He also showed me where beardless youth might find a Lethe for its timidity, in the form of an execraljle potion called wine, on the very moderate terms of two; and six pence a quart. At an obscure inn in Race stieet, dropping in about'dark, we were led by a steep and narrow stair-case to a chamber in the third story, so lumbered with beds as scarcely tp leave room for a table' and one chair, the beds superseding the necessity of more. Here we poured down the fiery beverage ; and valiant in the novel feeling of intoxication, sallied forth in quest of adventures. Under the auspices of such a leader, I could not fail to improve ; nor was his progress less promoted by so able a second. In a word, we aspired to be rakes, and were gratified. ¦ Mr. Richard Bond, was the favourite of his father, studied physic under him, and notwithstanding his addiction to pleasure, would probably have made a respectable figure in his profession : for he had genius, no fondness for liquor, no unusual ¦ want of application to business, and vanity, perhaps, more than real propensity, had prompted his juvenile excesses. But he'was destined to finish his career at an early age, by that fatal disease to youth, a pulmonary consumption. He had a presentiment, of this, and frequently said when in health, it would be his mortal distemper. Yet his frame seemed not to indicate it : he had a pro- mment chest, with a habit inclined^to fulness. Our intimacy had ceased for some time before his death. I know not why, unless he had been alienated by a latent spark of jealousy, in relation to a young lady, for whom we both had a partiality ; mine, indeed, slight and evanescent ; his, deep and more lasting, and which, I have understood, only ended with his life. As h was necessary I should be employed, the choice of, a vocation for me, had for some time engaged the attention of my near connexions. The question was, whetiier I should be a merchant,; a physician, or a lawyer. My inclinations were duly consulted. I had no predUection for either, though I lUfcd flie law flie least of the three, being sensible that my talents were not CHOICE OF A PROFESSION. 83 of the cast which would enable me to succeed in that profession. I searched my composition in vain, for the materials that would be requhed. If they were there, fhe want of fortitude to bring them forth, would be the same as ff they were not; and this seemed a deficiency I could never supply. To rise at the bar with due gravity and recollection ; to challenge the attention of the court, the jury, and the by-standers ; to confide in my abUity to do justice to a good cause ; to colour a bad one by the re quisite artifice and stimulation; and to undertake to entertain. by my rhetoric, where I must necessarily fail to convince by my logic, I felt to be a task far beyond my strength ; and I shuddered at it, in idea, only, even in my most sanguine, seff-complacent moments. To what this infirmity, inaccurately termed diffidence, is owing, or whether it be a defect in the mental or bodily powers, is not, I believe, ascertained ; yet it exists to adegree scarcely super- able in some, while in others, it is a sensation almost unknown. It appears, however, to be considerably under the hifluence of education, since, if felt at all, it never shows itseff in a thorough bred Quaker : neither do we suppose it to exist in a Frenchman, though the phrase mauvaise honte, is a proof that the imbecility has been recognised by the nation ; a circumstance we might be led to doubt, too, from the account given by Doctor Moore of the National Assembly.* He tells us, that of the great number of members' of which it was composed, there appeared to be none who could not express themselves with perfect freedom and case ; and that there seemed to be a continual' competition for the pos session of the tribune. How different, he observes, from an as sembly of Englishmen! I might add, of Americans! But that the feeling is natural, ff indeed there could be a doubt of it ; that it was known to the ancients, and that it is not merely an effect of modern manners, is evinced from the following lines of Petro nius on Dreams, in which the trepidation is not only recognised, but very strongly depicted. • There is a striking coincidence between these observations and the follow- ing, in Miss Edgeworth's novel of "Patronage.'' "Strange that France shonld give a name to that malady of mind which she never knew, or of which she knows less than any other nation, upon the surface ofthe civilized globe !" 84 DIFFIDENCE MAUVAISE HONTE. "Qui causas orare solent, legesqne forumque Et pavido cernunt inclusum cordfr tribunal." I have said it is inaccurately termed dhfidence : it rather ap pears to me, to proceed from too much pride and seff-attention, a kmd of morbid sensibility, ever making se^f the principal figure in the scene, and overweeningly soUchous for the respect of the audience: dreading, in equal degree, its contempt and the humi Uation of a faUure. Hence, as one that is too fearful of falling vnll never excel in the hazardous exercises, such as riding and skating, so the destined public speaker who wiU not risk a fall, can never expect to, succeed. If he is too fastidious to submh to occasional humUiation, he must undergo the perpetual one of being really, as well as reputedly unqualified for his profession. Some diffidence or'distiust of our powers, does, no doubt, attend the species of mauvaise honte we are speaking of; but it is more often, I believe, the distrust of being able to display the talents we possess, or at least ascribe to ourselves, than an underrating of tiiem ; and appears to have its primary cause, as already said, in a temperament of too much susceptibility to shame, — and ff sc, the French have given it a very proper appellation. But notwithstanding my conviction of an inaptitude for the bar, it Was, however, the profession assigned me. I had declared for the study of physic, and overtures had accordingly been made to a practitioner of eminence, but he happening at the time to have as many students as he wanted, declined taking another. Failing here, it was deemed inexpedient any longer to defer placing me somewhere. I had certainly been already too long unemployed ; and my uncle, (the executor of my father's wUl, in conjunction with my mother) who had all along been desirous that I should go to tiie bar, his' own profession, again recommended h; and proposed taking me into his own family, where, by his assistance, the use of his library, which was a very ample one, and an occa sional attention to the business of his, office, that of Prothono- tary of the Common Pleas, which he held as deputy of the late Governor HamUton, tiien residing at BushhiU, I had tiie means of acquhing a knowledge of the law, botii as to principle and prac tice ; and the proposal being in many respects eligible and agree- AUTHOR BEGINS THE STUDY OF LAW. 85 able, was embraced. I was sensible that it was no less to my advantage than reputation, that I should be doing something : there was no one, with whom, in the character of a master, I could expect to be more pleasantly situated than with my uncle, who was a man of unbounded benevolence and liberality; and my imagination went to castle-buUding in the remote prospect of a trip to England, for the purpose of completing my education at the temple ; for whatever may be the case now, this was the grand desideratum or summum bonum with the aspiring law-youth of my day. As to the sober part of the calculation, whether tke occupation I was about to embrace was adapted to my talents, would command my application, and be likely to afford me the raeans of future subsistence, it was put aside for the more irarae diately grateful considerations already mentioned. I cannot venture to pronounce, however, that the medical profession would have suited me much better. In truth, I was indolent to a great degree ; and with respect to that heroic fortitude which subdues the raind to its purposes, withdraws it at will from the flowery paths of pleasure, and forces it into the thorny road of utility, the distinguishing trait in the character of Csesar, and which justifies the poet in designating hira as " the worid's great master, and his own," I have very little to boast of. I was ever too easily seduced by the charm of present gratification, and my general mood in youth, was an entire apathy to gainful views. With the strongest inclination to be respectable in lffe, and even with am bition to aspire to the first rank in my professsion, I yet felt an invincible incapacity for mingling in tbeworld of business, the only means by which ray desire could be gratified. My imagina tion, almost ever in a state of listless, amorous delirium. Where honour slill. And great design, against the oppressive load. By fits, impatient heaved, could rarely be brought dbwn to the key of sober occupation, or attuned to the flat fasque nefasque of the sages of the law ;* and * This state of mind is admirably represented by this short passage in Wa- verley : " all that was commomplace, all that belonged to the every-day world, was melted away, and obliterated in these dreams of imagination." 8 86 HIS CHARACTERISTIC INDOLENCE. my acquaintance with them, was of course,, a very slight one. Were we justified in laying our unthrfftiness on nature, I might say, that she never intended me for a man of business. If she has denied me the qualifications of an advocate, she has not cer tainly been raore liberal to me of those of a'trafficker; for whether it be owing to pride, to dulness, to laziness, or to impatience, I could never excel in driving a bargain: And as to that sphit of commercial enterprise or speculation, which only asks the use of raoney to increase it, I never possessed a spark of it ; and conse' quently, though I have soraetimes had cash to spare, it rarely, if ever, was eraployed; for the very good reason, that commodities in my hands, always turned out to be drugs. In thus character izing rayself, I affect not singularity: for the discomfort of my declining age, I but depict myseff too truly. A short time before the epoch of my becoming a student of law, the city was visited by the corapany of players, since styling theraselves. The old Araerican corapany. They had for several years been exhibiting in the islands, and now returned to the continent in the view of dividing their time and labours between PhUadelphia and New- York. At Boston, they did not appear, So peevish was the edict of the may'r, or at least of those authorities which were charged with the cus tody of the public morals. The manag'er was Douglas, rather a decent than shining actor, a raan of sense and discretion, married to the widow HaUam, whose son Lewis, then in full culrahiation, was the Roscius of the theatre. As the draraatic heroes were all his without a corapetitor, so the heroines were the exclusive pro perty of Miss Cheer, who was deeraed an admirable performer. The singing department was supplied and supported by tiie voices of Wools and Miss Wainwright, said to have been pupils of doctor Ame; whUe in the tremulous drawl of the. old man, in low jest and buffoonery, Morris, thence the rainion ofthe gaUery, stood first and unrivaUed. As for the Tomlinsons, tiie Walls, the AUens, &c., they were your bonffaces, your Jessamys, your Mock Doctors, and what not. On the female side, Mrs. Dbuglas was a respectable, matron-like dame, stately or querulous as oc- PHILADELPHIA THEATRICALS. 87 casion required, a very good Gertrude, a truly appropriate lady Randolph with her white handkerchief and her weeds ; but then, to applaud, it was absolutely necessary to forget, that to touch the heart of the spectator had any relation to her function : Mrs. Harraan bore away the palm as a duenna, and Miss Wainwright as a chamberraaid. Although these were among the principal performers at first, the company was from time to time essentially improved by additions: Among these, the Miss Storers, Miss Hallam and Mr. Henry, were valuable acquisitions ; as was also a Mr. Goodman, who had read law in PhUadelphia with Mr. Ross. This topic may be disgusting to persons of gravity ; but human manners are my theme, as well in youth as in age. Each period has its play things; and if the strollers of Thespis have not been thought beneath the dignity of Grecian history, this notice of the old American stagers may be granted to the levity of me raoirs. Whether tiiere may be any room for comparison between these, the old American company, and the performers of the present day, Lventure not to say. Nothing is more subject to fashion than the style of public exhibitions ; and as the excellence of the Lacedemonian black broth, essentially depended, we are told, on the appetite of the feeder, so, no doubt, does the raerit of theatrical entertainments : I cannot but say, however, that in ray opinion, the old company acquitted theraselves with, raost anima tion and glee — they were a passable set of coraedians. Hallara had merit in a nuraber of characters and was always a pleasing performer. No one could tread the stage with more ease : Upon it, indeed, he raight be said to have been cradled, and wheeled in his go-cart. In tragedy, it cannot be denied, that his decla- raation was either mouthing or ranting ; yet a thorough raaster of all the fricks and finesse of his trade, his raanner was both grace ful and impressive, " tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect, a broken voice, and his whole function suiting with forms to his conceit." He once ventured to appear in Hamlet either at Drury lane or Covent Garden, and was endured. In the account given of his performance, he is said not to have been to the taste of a London audience, though he is admitted to be a raan of a pleasing and interesting .address. He was, however, at PhUadel- ANECDOTE. phia, as much the soul of the Southwark tiieatre, as ever Garrick was of Drury lane; and ff, as doctor Johnson allows, popularity in matters of taste is unquestionable evidence of merit, we cannot withhold a considerable portion of it from Mr. HaUam, notwith standing his faults. The subject of fliis old company, opens the door tp a trhling anecdote of a very early origin. Over their stage, in irahatiori of the sons of Drury, they have fixed the motto of Totus mundus agit histrionem^The whole worid act the player. Some young ladies, one evening, among whom was one of my aunts, appUed to the gentieman who attended them for the meaning of the wor(}s. WiUing to pass himself off for a scholar, and taking for his clew, probably, the word mundus, he bpldly interpreted them into— " We act Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays," and the ladies were satisfied. But, to the lasting disquiet of the unlucky beau, they were not long after undeceived by some of their raore learned acquaintance. ' ' , Although the theatre must be admitted to be a stiraulous to those vices, which something inherent in our nature renders es sential to the favoured hero of the comic drama and the novel, it was yet useful to rae in one respect. It induced me to open books which had hitherto lain neglected on the shelf. A litfle Latin, and but a little, was the chief fruit of ray education. I was tolerably instructed in the rudiraents of grammar, but in no thing else. I wrote a very indifferent hand, and spelled still worse than I wrote. I knew little or nothing of arithraetic; that, as a branch of the mathematics, being taught in the academy after the languages. But now I becarae a reader of plays, and parti cularly of those of Shakspeare, of which I was an ardent and un affected adrairer. Frora these I passed to those of Otway and Rowe, and the other writers of tragedy, and thence to the English poets, of every description. Poetry, indeed, has continued to he my favourite reading; and when I feel disposed to read aloud, it is always my choice. From being wholly unapprised of the structure of the sentences^ and the place of the pauses in prose, the. reading of it requires much greater attention to the manage ment of thfe breath ; and is therefore, to me, much the most diffi cult and laborioils. Nor has ray bias for raetrical compositidns DRAMATIC POETRY. 89 been confined to the English authors. A small knowledge of French has enabled rae to make acquaintance with the Henriade of Voltaire, the poems of Boileau, and those of some other writers ; and that it has not been more general, has principaUy been owing to want of books. Nevertheless, I cannot but subscribe to the decree of the English critics, that the French is not the language of the Muses, at least in their sublimer moods. What, for in stance, can be more completely unbarraonious and halting, than these Unes in the Henriade, which appear to have been con siderably laboured to the end of producing a grand effect ? " On entendoit gronder ces bombes effroyables, De troubles de la Flandre enfants abominables. Le salt petre enfonc6 dans ces globes d'arain. Part, s'echauife, s'embrase, et s'ecarte soudain:" " Cannons and kettle drums — sweet numbers these." The term salt petre, though no doubt susceptible of elegance in French poetry, since it is used by one of its greatest masters, would in ours, set all collocation at defiance; and could appear in no other metre than doggerel. Observations, however, of this kind should not be dogmatically urged, since how far our taste for melody may be natural or artificial, is not easy to ascertain. But cer tainly the music of French numbers is extremely flat and mono tonous to an English ear,' though, to a Frfench one, our best-. sounding measure raay be sing song no less vapid. In the Latin classics too, I have been a dipper-; and the best of ray progress in that language is to be ascribed to my fondness for its poetry. Why was I not, when at school, imbued with the same relish! I might then have been a scholar, and the whole body of Roman poetry, the Corpus omnium veterum poetarum latinorum, (a huge, unwieldy tome, which had belonged to ray father) in a chronological series frora Andronicus and Eiinius to Maurus Terentianus, raight have been at my finger ends ; whereas now, only scraps of it are occasionally elicited with difficulty, either when disposed to learn, upon what subjects it was that Lu cretius, Catullus, TibuUus, Propertius, Lucanus, Statins, &c. &c. had respectively employed their pens; or when I would follow Mr. Gibbon in his references to the poets of later times, the Cal- 90 author's pursuits. phurnius's, the Nemesianus's, flie Claudi^nus's, flie Prudentius's and Sidonius's. StiU, according to ray manner, this was but a species of amusement, the dulce witiiout a particle of the Utile, to me who had no manner of concern witii tiie decline of the Roman empire or the songsters which belonged to h. It was not however Latin, but EngUsh poetry, which first led me astray: I did not, it is true, pen stanzas, but I often read them when I should have engrossed; I had, as Junius says of sir WiUiam Draper, "the melancholy madness of poetry wifliout flie insphation." The only project I embraced which promised advantage to me in my profession, or indicated a serious design to pursue it, was ray joining a society of young raen, instituted for the purpose of disputing on given subjects, as vireU as of reciting passages from the EngUsh classics. It chiefly consisted of law students, though there were some among us who were designed for the pulpit; and the merabers were generaUy such as had obtained degrees ia the seminaries either of Princeton or PhUadelphia. The first question in which I Was appointed to take a part, was that very hackneyed one, "Wbether a public or a private education is to be pre ferred." There were two on each side ; and our reasonings were reduced to writing and read in full assembly, where the president pro tempore made his decision, I soon discovered that the argu raents I had to reply to, tho^ugh proceeding frora one of high reputation for scholarship, had been borrowed almost word for word from RoUins's beUes-lettres. Restrained by delicacy from exposing the plagiarism, I answered thero as well as I could from my own resources, and had some allowances made me, since it had become pretty weU known, that RoUin was my real antago nist. In fact, roy opponent would hardly have ventured to put himself so much in ray power by stealing frora so common a book, had he not calculated pretty largely on ray unacquaintance with any books. It next feU to me to propound a question ; and having not long before met with one in a magazine which was suggested g.s a curious subject of investigation, I subraitted it to tiie asserably. It was, " Whether there be roost pleasure m flie reception, or cororouhicatioh of knowledge." As proposer of flie question I had the choice of my side, as weU as the conclusion of the argument ; and I declared for lie " communication," As metaphysical subtleties. 91 this was a subject on which school books gave no light, the dis putants had to draw solely froro their own funds ; and in some, there was a considerable faUing off. To me the topic was as new as to any of them ; but roy production had the good fortune to be approved, and to aid in obtaining the decision ofthe president. But I soon became weary of this scholastic employment. It ap peared tome both puerUe and pedantic; and the formality of addressing the chair with the feigned gravity of a pleader, re quhed a kind of grimace I felt myself awkward at. Indeed, the two orations I had written, like that of Cicero for MUo, were not delivered by their author, M'ho did not appear ; hut they were read for roe by my friend and feUow-student, Andrew Robeson. J once, however, with this same gentleman, risked my declaiming powers, in a scene of Venice Preserved ; but in what character I appeared I do not reiAeroher. I also involved royself about this period, in roetaphysical subtleties; and with Mr. Jaiiies Hutchinson, the late Doctor Hutchinson, who then lived with Bartram, the apothecary, and with whom I had become intimate, I frequently reasoned upon fate, "fixed fate, free-will, fore-knowledge absolute," &c. Our acquaintance found cement in the circumstances of our both being Bucks county men and exactly of an age. The doctor's father, Randal Hutchinson, a Quaker, did the mason- work of my father's house at Fairview ;* and agreeably to the custom in the country, resided with him while employed in it. , From family tradition, for I do not remember old Randal, he was what might be called a qu£er put. Being once, called upon for his song on occasion of a Uttle merriment, he declined it with the dry remark that he could do his own singing : and so indeed it appeared, as he was in the habit every evemng after work, of singing out in rustic drone to his hands assembled round him, a celebrated political poem of that tiroe, entitled The washing of the Blackmoor white. It was leveUed, if I do not roistalce, at the aristocracy of the day ; and if so, the doctor had a sort of heredhary right to that zeal against the well born of his own, which has rendered his naroe a fa- ' vourite signature with deroocratic essayists. But for all this, he * Part of this farm was subsequently converted into an occasional race-ground. 92 MORALITY OF FICTITIOUS HEROES. was a friendly man, and no foe to good company ; and as to po litical propensities, they seem in some men to be inherent in stincts, wholly independent of the reasoning faculty, and no more to be resisted than a constitutional tendency to be fat or lean : A sort of restless spirits these, prone to act, to confederate and in trigue; and who, though not absolutely bad at heart, have yet' a lamentable itch for mischief. If there are such men, my quondam friend was one of them. The old and the austere may declaim as they will against the folUes and vices of youth, the natural propensities will still pre vaU ; and for one student of law that is restrained by the solid eloquence of Professor Blackstone from " whiling away the awk ward interval from childhood to twenty-one," two or three per haps are lead astray by the seducing rake of Doctor Hoadley. Ranger, returning to the temple in a disordered dress, after a night of riot and debauchery, has unfortunately, more allurements for a young man of metal, and still more unfortunately for the generality of young ladies, to whom it is his first desire to be agreeable, than the sober, orderly student, pale with the incipient l-ucvhrations of twenty years. ; I wUl not undertake to say, that authors are right in exhibiting such characters as a Dorimant, a Jones, a Pickle, a Ranger, or a Charles Surface, but in" so doing they draw from nature, and address themselves to the taste of theh readers. Has ever novel or comedy been popular, whose hero is a man of strict morality and virtue ? The Grandison of Richardson, the BevU of Steel, and Henry of Cumberland, are but insipid characters in the eyes of those who are customers for the productions of the novelist and dramatist. Happy indeed, are tiiey, who, wifliout being lost to flie feeUngs of youth, can yet indulge thera wifli discretion and raoderation ; and who do not forget, that altiiougb the fashionable gaieties raay for a tirae re commend them to flie thoughtiess of both sexes, \t is appUcation to business that must provide tiie means of ease, contentment and respectability in life. Such was not my case. I wanted strengfli of raind for flie judgraent of Hercules, and was for seizmg flie present moment with Horace. I might not Uve to be old, and ff I did, what were hs duU satisfactions in comparison of the vivid, enfliusiastic enjoyments of youfli! In fliis'temper, I plunged deep DISSIPATION. 93 into dissipation, with the exception of gaming, having never found much attraction in the fortuhous evolutions of a shuffled pack of cards, or a shaken dice box. But the pleasures of the table, the independence of tavern revelry, and its high-minded contempt of the plodding and industrious, were irresistibly fascinatii^ to me. Though without the slightest addiction to liquor, nothing was more delightful to rae than to find myself a member of a large bottle association sat in for, serious drinking; the table officers appointed, the derai-johns fiUed, the bottles arranged, with the other necessary dispositions for such engageraents ; and I put no inconsiderable Value upon rayself for ray supposed, "potency in potting," or, in raodern phrase, ray hemg able to carry off a re spectable quantity of wine. Although a grievous headach was the usual penalty of ray debauch, the admomtion vanished with the indisposition, whUe a play or some other frivolous reading, beguUed the hours of penance. I blush to think of the many excesses I was guilty of while involved in this vortex of intemper ance. Wine rarely deprived me of my feet, but it sometimes inflamed rae to madness ; and, in the true spirit of chivalry, the raore extravagant am enterprize the greater was the teraptation to achieve it. Every occupation requires its peculiar talents, and where mischief is the object, the spirit of noble daring is certainly an accoraplishment. Hence, ray energy on these occasions v^as duly appreciated by my corapanions. As to those convivial quaU fications, which are wont fo set tlie table in a roar, I had never any pretentions to them, though few enjoyed them with raore relish. But these talents are often fatal to the possessor and they hastened, if they did not induce, the catastrophe of poor Kinners ley, a son of the already mentioned teacher at the acaderay. As he was several years older than rayself, he belonged to an elder class in the school of riot ; yet I have soraetimes fallen in with him. ' He had not indeed the gibes and flashes of merriment, which are attributed to the jester of Horwendillus^s court; but of all raen I have seen, he had the happiest knack of being gross without being disgusting, and consequently, of entertaining a company sunk below the point of attic refinement. Modest by nature, and unobtrusive, probably from a conviction that he thereby gave zest to his talents, he always suffered himself to be called 94 Richardson's novels. upon for his song, which he then generally accompanied with his violin, to flie exquisite delight of his hearers. He possessed huraour without griraace or buffoonery ; arid in the character of the drunken raan, which he put on hi some of his songs, and which may be endured as an imitation, he was pronounced by HaUam to be unequalled. But unfortunately, the character be came at length too rauch a real one ; and it is to be lamented, that one whose exterior indicated a most ingenious disposition^ should prematurely close- his career by habitual intemperance. The study of the law, as raay be supposed, went on heavUy during this round of dissipation. I occasionally looked into Blackstone, but carefiilly kept aloof frora tfee courts, where my attendance as a future candidate for the bar, was not to be dis pensed with. Light reading was the day's arauseraent ; and, as already said, it chiefly consisted of poetry and plays. The novels of Fielding and SmoUet I had read ; but as for those of Richard son, I had some how taken up the idea, that they were formal stuff, consisting chiefly of the dull ceremonials relating to court ship and marriage, with which. Superannuated aunts and grand mothers torment the young misses subjected tb their control. But taking up one evening the last volurae of Clarissa, I accidentally opened it at a letter relating to the duel between Lovelace and Morden. This arrested ray attention, and I soon found that the concerns bf raen, not less than those of the other sex, were bofli understood and spiritedly represented by the author. I immedi ately procured the work, and read it with more interest than any tale had eVer exched in me before. The cruel, unmerited mis fortunes of Clarissa, often steeped me in tears : yet the unrelenting viUany of her betrayer, vvas so ,relieved by great quaUties, so en tirely was he tiie gentieraan when, he chose to put h on, that the feeUng of destestation was interraingled "with adrairation and re spect ; and had figure, rank, fortune, borne me out in the re semblance, his, of aU the characters I had met with, would in flie vanity of my heart, have raost prorapted rae to an imhation ; though abhorring as much as anyone his vUe plotting and obdu racy. Like the young man mentioned in the letters of Lord Chesterfield, I almost asphed to the catastrophe, as weU as the accomplishroents of tiiis libertine destroyed. Nor was I singular MORAL EFFECTS OF NOVELS. 95 in this ambition : Lovelace has formed libertines, as MacHeath has formed highwaymen. A young American, when at the temple, between forty and fifty years ago, played the part of the former with too fatal success, of which, I have been told, he pre served, and sometimes showed the story, written by himself: and that this character was the model which the young Lord Lyttleton prescribed to himself, appears to me evident from the cast of some of his letters. "Rowe's Lothario, which Doctor Johnson tells us is the outUne of Lovelace, is ever more favoured by an audience than the virtuous and injured Altampnt whom, even the circumspect Mr. Cumberland brands with the epithet of wittol: And is there a young and giddy female heart, that does not beat in unison with Calista's when she exclaims : " I swear I could not see the dear betrayer Kneel at my feet, and sigh to be forgiven. But my relenting heart would pardon all. And quite forget 'twas he that had undone me." Richardson, it is true, could not have made his story either natural or interesting without ascribing great qualities to Lovelace. So refined and aU accomplished a woman as Clarissa, was not to be take^i with an ordinary roan ; yet what shall we say of the in struction intended to be conveyed by the exhibition of such a character ! Villain as he is, I very much fear, that to the youth of both sexes, he is, upon the whole, more admired than detested. The probability therefore is, that after aU our attempts at advice and reformation, the world wUl proceed according to its original impulse, and that each season of lffe will retain the propensities adapted to its destination. He who presumes to face the world in the character of his own biographer, ought to be armed with resolution for the encounter of great difficulties. To expose his follies, though but his very early ones, is far from a pleasant task ; and yet it is in soroe de gree, imposed upon him by the obligation he is under to repre sent himself truly. To do it lightly, as I have done, may argue with some, too much indulgence for vice ; and to treat the mat ter as a subject for deep. humUiation and cdntrition, would be to assume an austerity, I must confess I do not harbour. StUl I can 96 JUNIUS. say wifli truth, that the delineation is painful ; and that I feel h to require an apology on the score of decorum. It was about tiiis tiroe that' the letters of Junius appeared, and from fhe English gazettes found theh way into ours. The cele brity of these phUippics excited general attention, and, of course, mme; but flie mere fashion of admiring tiiem, would never have prevaUed over my indifference to their subject matter, to induce me to read them, had they not possessed a charm unusual in such performances. I sought thero with avidity, and read fliem with delight. Soroe diversity of opinion stiU exists with respect to their style. Cumberland gives us to understand, that he sees little to admire in them ; Johnson, however, seems to have thought differently ; and their continued popularity must be considered as something more than equivocal evidence of their merit.* Mr. Heron conceives their author, whoever he was, to have formed his style in a great measure, on ChUlingworth, §wift, Bolingbroke and Shebbeare. - I am unacquainted with the writings of Chil- lingwofth, nor do I discern in Junius any great likeness to Swift ; but there is certainly a striking resemblance in his manner to The dedication to a noble lord, prefixed to the remarks on the History of England by Bolingbroke, and also to Angeloni's Letters by Doctor Shebbeare, which, when I read them many years ago, ap peared to me to be written with uncommon spirit, elegance and force. But if Junius formed his style upon these distinguished writers, he sometimes drew his observations from those who are nearly obsolete. In his fifreenth letter, which is addressed to the Duke of Grafton, there is an allusion to a sentiment in Bacon's Advancement of Leaming, of which Mr. Heron does not seem to have been aware. " Yet, for the benefit of the succeeding age," says Junius in his concluding sentence, " I could wish that your retreat might be deferred uiitU your raorals shaU happily be ripened to that maturity of corruption, at which the worst exaraples cease tobe contajgious." Bacon has h, that "raen o'erspread wifli vice, do not so rauch corrupt pubUc manners, as those that are * Their "merit" it were folly to deny. This is great, beybnd dispute; but certainly much of their long continued popularity must be attributed to the still unrevealed mystery of their authorship, — Ed. JUNIUS. 97 haff evU, and in ^art only." Putredo serpens magis contagiosa est quam matura. I fliink m some of flie early editions of tiiis letter, flie words "as phUosophers teU us," were inserted between the words " which " and " flie," reading thus—" at which, as phi losophers teU us, the worst examples cease to be contagious." Were h warrantable to infer an imitation frora a sirailitude in a smgle point, Mr. Heron might go back to the Latin classics, and add the names of Horace, Juvenal and Pefronius to those of the English writers, whom Junius is supposed to have studied and to have had in his eye. ' That abrupt and indignant use of the im perative mood, so frequent in him, is also to be raet with in each of these Latin authors. " Content yourseff, my lord, with the many advantages," &c. — "AvaU yourseff of all flie unforgiving piety," &c.— " Return, my lord, before ft be too late," &c.— "Take back your mistress" — "Indulge the people. Attend New Market," &c. — "Now let him go back to his cloister," &c. Thus Horace — I nunc, argentum et marmor vetus, &c.-— / nunc et versus tecum meditare canoros ; and Juvenal, speaking of Han nibal, I demens, et scevos curre per Jllpes ; — and in the eloquent reflections over the body of Lycas in Petronius, the speaker ex claims, " Ite nunc mortaks, et magni cogitationibus pectora implete. Ite cauti, etopes fraudihus captas per mille annos, disponite." But whether Junius had models or not, he probably surpassed all who went before him in the graces of diction. He appears to have imparted an unknown music to EngUsh prose, and to have given it a fascination, in no wise inferior to the language of Rousseau. The beginning of his sentences are no less harmonious than his cadences at their close ; nor, to ray ear, can any lines in poetry, taking the preceding passage along with them, flow with more sweetness and ease, than- do the following, in one of the letters to the Duke of Grafton. "You had already taken your degrees with credit in those schools, in which the English nobility are forraed to vhtue," &c., as do also the four concluding periods of the letter containing the remarked sentiment from Lord Bacon. I am aware it may be thought, that too much stress is here laid on mere sound ; but ff we analyze the sources from which our relish of good composition is derived, we shall be compeUed tp acknowledge the great importance of the ear in the discernment 9 98 MR. DUCHE. of literary exceUence. Cicero, as we are told bj Lord Kames, I think, has even employed redundant words for the improvement of his harraony; and Rousseau informs us, that he has spent whole nights hi constructing and rounding a period ; hence may be inferred the importance these great writers attached to this part of their art. As h was highly fashionable at tiiis time to speak of Junius, he is descanted upon in the letters of Tamoc Caspipina, which came out in PhUadelphia in the year 1771. In these, he is prettily de nominated The knight of the polished armour, a fancy, with which the writer seems not a little pleased, since he has taken care that the idea shall not be lost for want of repeating.* These letters proceeded from the pen of the Rev. Mr. Duche, a very popular preacher of the Episcopal denomination. He had a fine voice and graceful delivery, but was never rated high in point of ability. His sermons were deeraed flowery and flimsy, like the letters^ of Caspipina. Mr. Duche was a whig'before, and, I believe, after the Decla ration of Independence; but being in Philadelphia when the British army .took possession of it, and thinking, probably, that his country was in a fair way of being subdued, he changed sides, and wrote a very arrogant, iU-judged letter to General Washing ton, in which he advises him to renounce a cause which had very much degenerated, and to " negotiate for America at the head of his array." Mr. Duche was weak and vain, yet probably not a bad man : His habits, at least, were pious ; and, with the ex ception of this political tergiversation, his conduct exemplary. His whimsical signature of Tamoc Caspiphia, is an acrostic on his designation, as. The Assistant Minister Of Christ's Church And St. Peters, In PhUadelphia, In North America, f * " I find C — grows raore and more dissatisfied with Junius. He entreated Sir William Draper, who was at New York in October last, once more to enter the lists with this Knight of the polished armour. Sir William, however, very politely replied, that he had engagements on his. hands at present of a more agreeable nature. Your Lordship has doubtless seen Lady Draper before this tirae, so that you raay guess what these engagements were." — Cpspipina's Litt. to Rt. Hon. Viscount P., ith July, mi.~Ej>. t A gentleman well acquainted with Mr. Duch6 in England, after the trans- actions alluded to, conceiving that his conduct was mistaken here, and particu- MR. DUCHE. 99 larly as to his being a Whig after the Declaration of Independence, expressed his wish that in the event of a second edition of these Memoirs, I would correct and alter the passage. But though willing to gratify this gentleman, I cannot do so at the expense of truth ; and I have no reason to suppose I have mis-stated any fact. As to my comments, they may not, perhaps, be warranted, but that must rauch depend on the political opinions of the time. Such a letter as the one alluded to might not, under some circumstances, have been arrogant, but from my irapression of the character of Mr. Duch6, and the part he acted, I am not induced to alter or suppress the epithet. Although pious and exemplary in his deportment, as I have admitted, he was rauch of a courtier, and, in my view> a person of so light a character as to be carried away by the prevailing fashion of thinking among what are called the better sort, by whom, at this tirae, the Whig cause was considered vulgar and rapidly on the decline. If the justness of the American claims warranted the blood which had already been spilt for them, the battles of Lexington and Bunker's Hill, with the invasion of Canada and assault on Quebec, the Declaration of Independence was not a moral but simply a political question ; and whether the measure was judicious or not, it could not convert a cause, originally good, into a seditious and criminal rebellion. For this reason it certainly savoured df arrogance in Mr. Duch6, to say the least of it, merely for this difference in opinion, to reproach his late associates with sinister views, and to advise General Washington to desert and betray them. See Appendix E, for this celebrated Letter, and others relating to the subject above referred to by Mr. Graydon. — Ed. 100 AUTHOR REMOVES TO YORK. CHAPTER IV. The Author removes to York.^Society there.^A Maryland Parson. — Odd cha racter.— Judge Stedman..— Mr. James Smith.— Family circle.— Author returns to Philadelphia.— Prosecutes the study of the Law.— Fencing.— Mr. Pike.— City Tavern. Singular case of raental derangeraent. — Retrospective reflec- tions.— Causes of the American War.— State of Parties; — Volunteer Com panies. — Political consistency. — Preparations for War. — Anecdote — Early attachment.— Dr. Kearsley.— Mr. Hunt.— Major Skene. My irregular course of life had much impahed my health, for the re-establishment of which, and to enable me to pursue my studies wifliout interruption from my free-Uving companions, my uncle advised ray spending the approaching sumraer in Yorktown. Mr. Samuel Johnson, the Prothonotary of that county, was his particular friend, a respectable man who had been in the practice of the law, arid had a very good libraty. Having been apprised of the project, he kindly offered me the use of his books, as weU as his countenance and assistance in my reading. Accordingly, I submitted to become an exUe from PhUadelphia, with nearly the same objects and feelings of Propertius, when he left Rome for Athens. '* Magnum iter ad doctas proficisci cogor Athenas^ RomaniE turres, et vos valeatis amici Qualiscunque mihi, tuque puella vale." Not that York* was an Athens ; but I was sent thither for improve- * York, the seat of justice for York county, is interesting on account of the revolutionary associations here adverted to. It is situated on the banks of Co. dorus creek. It'is a. rich and thriving borough, with a spirited and intelligent population of over five thousand. Araong the public buildings of the place, the new court-house, finished in, 1842, at a cost of about $150,000, will at once attract attention. Congress retired to York ftom Philadelphia, immediately after YORK. 101 ment, and there were various attractions in the city from which it was, no doubt, prudent to withdraw rae. It was in the spring of 1773, that I was transferred to this pleasant and flourishing viUage, situated about twelve raUes beyond the Susquehanna. It was this circumstance which rendered it an eligible retreat for Congress in the year 1778, when General Howe was in posses sion of the Capitol and eastern parts of Pennsylvania.* I was the battle of Brandywine, in September, 1777, and for nine months occupied the old court-house, which stood, until 1841, in the centre of the public square. Its population, at the period of Mr. Graydon's residence, could hardly have ex ceeded 1500. In the year 1800 the number of its inhabitants was 2500. — Rail Toads aiford convenient and daily access to Philadelphia, a distance of 83 miles — and to Baltimore, distant 56 miles. The society of York is excellent, and the citizens of the borough are influential throughout the county and state. — En. * Or rather when the Capitol held possession of Sir William Howe. We learn from the " Memoirs " of Lee, that, " while Washington was engaged, without cessation, in perfecting his army in the art of war, and in placing it out of the reach of that contagious malady so fatal to man. Sir William was indulging* with his brave tiToops, in all the sweets of luxury and pleasure to be drawn from the wealthy and populous city of Philadelphia ; nor did he once attempt to dis turb that repose, now so essential to the American general. Thus passed the winter; and the approaching spring brought with it the recall of the commander of the British army; who was succeeded by Sir Henry CUnton, heretofore his second." Wraxall, indeed, says that the " Howes appear to have been either lukewarm, or remiss, or negligent, or incapable. Lord North's selection of those two com - manders excited, at the time, just conderanation J, however brave, able, or meri torious, tliey might individually be esteemed as professional raen. 'Their ardour in the cause itself was doubted; aud still more questionable was their attachment; to the administration. Never, perhaps, in the history of modern war, has an array, or a fleet, been more profusely supplied with every requisite for brilliant' aiid efficient service, than were the troops and ships sent out by Lord North's Cabinet in 1776, across the Atlantic. But, the efforts abroad, did not correspond with the exertions made at home. The energy and activity of a Wellington, never animated that torpid mass. Neither vigilance, enterprise, nor cooperation characterized the campaigns of 1776and 1777. Dissipation, play, and relaxation of discipline, found their way into the British carap." Lee, with a just and generous regard for the reputation, even of an enemy, says, in his Memoirs, in reference to the earlier movements of Sir William in America, " it would be absurd to impute to him a, want of courage, for he emi nently possessed that quality. To explain, as some haye^ attempted to do, his apparent supineness, by .supposing him friendly to the Revolution, and, therefore, disposed to connive at its success, would be equally stupid and unjust, for no part 9* 102 YORK SOCIETY THERE. weU received by Mr .^ Johnson, but with that formal, theoretical kind of politehess, which distinguishes the manners of those who consthute the hetter sort, in small secluded towns : and ff, in these days, the Prothonotary of a county of German population, was not confessedly the most considerable personage in ft, he must have been egregiously wanting to himseff. This could with no propriety be imputed to my patron. Although' apparently a mUd and modest man, he evidentiy knew his consequence, and never lost sight of it, though to say the truth, I received full as much of his attention as either I desired or had a right to expect : He repeated the tender of his books and services, complimented me with a dinner, suggested that business and pleasure could not be well prosecuted together, and consigned me to my meditations. I established myself at a boarding-house, at whose table I found a practising attorney, a student of law, another of physic, and a young Episcopal clergyman, who had lately arrived from Dublin. The first was a striking instance of what mere determination and perseverance wiU do, even in a learned profession. He was an Irishman, a man of raiddle age — the extent of whose attainments was certainly nothing more, than in a coarse, vulgar hand, to draw a declaration ; and in equally vulgar arithmetic, to sum up the interest due upon a bond. His figure was as awkward as can well be imagined, and his elocution exactly corresponded with it. From the humble post of under-sheriff, he had lately emerged to his present station at the bar, and was already in good practice. By industry and econoray, his acquisitions soon ex ceeded his expenses ; and he died not long since, in p'retty afflu ent circumstances. Justice, however, requires ft should be added, that his want of brUliant qualities, was compensated by an ade quate portion of common sense, by unblemished mtegrity, and liberality in his dealings with tiie poor. Nor should h be forgot ten, that after having taken part with his adopted country m flie struggle for her rights, he did not, like too many of his country men, by a blind obedienoe to vindictive passions, much more than of Sir William's life is stained with a single departure frora the line of honour." It must be confessed, however, that at this time Sir William had «,not beeome acquainted with the alliirergents of Philadelphia society, where, " snug as afiea," as facetiously sung by the poejt, he ir^velled long and luxuriously,— En." A MARYLAND PARSON. 103 efface the merit of his services.' — The law-student was from Wilmington ; an easy, ^ood-natured young man, whose talents appeared to be misplaced in theh present direction. They were, probably, better adapted, to the army, into which he entered x)n the breaking out of the war, and was killed at the battle of Bran dywine, holding the rank of a Major in the Pennsylvania line. — The student of physic, though with sorae rusticity to rub off, was yet a pretty good scholar; nor was he deficient in natural endow ments. To these, he added a manly and honourable way of thinking, which raade him respectable in the army, (which he also afterwards joined,) as well as in the path of civil life, in which he possesses an honourable station in the western country. The clergyman was only an occasional lodger, his pastoral duties often caUing him to Maryland and elsewhere, whieh pro duced absences of several weeks at a time. He had probably the propensities of that species of gownman, which I have heard Whitfield call a downy doctor ; as, whatever might have been his deportment on soleran occasions, in his intercourse with me^ he did not seem to be one who considered the enjoyraent of the present sublunary scene, by any means unworthy of regard. One day, as I was strumming a tune from the Beggar's opera, upon a fiddle I had purchased, with a view of becoming a performer upon it, he entered my apartment. " What," says he, " you play upon the violin, and are at the airs of the Beggar's opera!" He imme diately began to hum the tune I had before me, from which, turn ing over the leaves of the note-book, he passed on to others, which he sung as he went along, and evinced an acquaintance with the piece, much too intiraate to have been acquired, by any thing short of an assiduous attendance on the theatre. After amusing himseff and rae for some time with his theatrical recol lections, " I ara," said he, " to give you a sermon next Sunday, and here it is," puUing from his pocket a manuscript. Perusing the title page, he read, it was preached at such a tirae in such a place, and at another time in such a place, giving me to understand from the dates, that it was not of his own coraposition, and that he made no difficulty of appropriating the productions of others. In a word, Mr. L — ,— seemed in all respects to be what was then caUed in Pennsylvania a Maryland Parson; that is, one who 104 MR. JAMES SMITH. could accoraraodate hiraseff to his company, and pass, from grave to gay, from lively to severe," as occasioii might require. Among his other accomplishments, he was no incompetent jockey; at least I have a right to infer so, from the results of an exchange of horses between us, a short time before my return to the city : I do not, however, insinuate that he took me in, but merely that he had the best of the bargain. Besides my fellow boarders there were several young men in the tovm, whose company served to relieve the dreariness of my solitude ; for such it was, compared with the scene from which I had removed. These, for the most part are yet living, generally known and respected. There was also in the place an oddity, who, though not to be classed with its young men, I sometimes feU in with. This was Mr. James Smith,* the lawyer, then in con siderable practice. He was probably between forty and fifty years of age, fond of his bottle and young corapany, and pos sessed of an original species' of drollery. This, as may perhaps be said of aU persons in this way, consisted more in the manner than the matter ; for which reason, it is scarcely possible to con vey a just notion of it to the reader. In him it rauch depended on an uncouthness of gesture, a certain ludicrous cast of counte nance, and a drawling raode of utterance, which taken in con junction with his eccentric ideas, produced an effect irresistibly coraical ; though on an analysis h would be difficult to decide, whether the man or the saymg. most constituted the jest. The most trivial incident from his mouth was stamped with his origi nality, and in relatmg one evening how he had been disturbed in his office by a cow, he gave inconceivable zest to his narration, * Mr. Smith, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was a native of Ireland, whence his father eraigrated, it is supposed, between 1715 and 1720. James Smith received his education at the College of Philadelphia. After his admission to the bar, he removed to the vicinity of Shippensburgh, and there established himself as a lawyer and surveyor, but soon after removed to York, where he continued to reside, during the remainder of his life. He held high rank at the bar and, was greatly distinguished for his wit and good humour. He was a member of several iraportant conventions. In 1775, he was elected to Congress, and retained his seat in, that body, until November, 1778, when he resumed his professional business, from which he vsrithdrew in 1800. He died ' in 1806.— Ep. JUDGE STEDMAN ANECDOTE. 105 by his manner of teUhig how she thrust her nose into the door, and there roared, lilce a JVumidian lion, hike tiie picture of Gar rick between tragedy and coraedy, his phiz exhibited a struggle between tragedy and farce, in which the latter seemed on the eve of predominating. With a sufficiency of various reading to fur nish him with materials for ridiculous allusions and incongruous combinations, he was never so successful as when he could find a learned pedant to play upon : and of all men. Judge Stedman, when mellow, was best calculated for his butt. The judge was a Scotchman, a raan of reading and erudition, though extremely magisterial and dogmatical in his cups. This it was which gave pohit to the humour of Smith, who, as if deshous of coraing in for his share of the glory, whUe Stedman was in full display of his historical knowledge, never failed to set him raving by some monstrous anachronism, such for instance, as " don't you reraera ber, Mr. Stedman, that terrible bloody battie which Alexander the Great fought with the Russians near the Straits of Babelman- del?" "What, sir!" said Stedman, repeating with the most ineffable contempt, " which Alexander the Great fought with the Russians! Where, mon, did you get your chronology.'"' "I think you wUl find it recorded, Mr. Stedman, in Thucidydes or Herodotus." On another occasion, being asked for his au thority for some enormous assertion, in which both space and time were fairly annihilated, with unshaken gravity he replied, " I am pretty sure I have seen an account of it, Mr. Stedman, in a High Dutch almanac printed at Aleepo," his drawling way of pronouncing Aleppo. While every one at table was holding his sides at the expense of the judge, he, on his part, had no doubt that Smith was the object of laughter, as hewas ofhis own unutterable disdain. Thus every thing was as it should be, all parties were pleased ; the laughers were highly tickled, the seff- complacency ofthe real dupe was flattered, and the sarcastic vein of the pretended one gratified; and this, without the smallest suspicion on the part of Stedman, who, residing in Philadelphia, was ignorant of Smith's character, and destitute of penetration to develope it. York, I must say, was somewhat obnoxious to the general charge of uasociableness, under which Pennsylvania had always 106 FAMILY CIRCLE. laboured : or ff I wroiig her, I was not the kind of guest that was calculated to profit of her hosphality. Perhaps I approached her under unfavourable auspices, those of a young man debauched by evU coraraunications ; or perhaps there was a want of conge niality between her raanners and raine. Be h as it may, there was but a single house in which I found that sort of reception which invhed me to repeat my vish; and this was the house of a Jew. In this, I could conceive myself at home, being always received with ease, with cheerfulness and cordiality. Those who have known York, at the period I ara speaking of, cannot faU to recoUect the sprightly and engaging Mrs. E., the lffe of aU the gaiety that could be mustered in the viUage : always in spirits, fuU of frolic and glee, and possessing the talent of singing agree ably, she was an indispensable ingredient in the little parties of pleasure which sometimes took place, and usually consisted in excursions to the Susquehanna, where the corapany dined, and, when successful in angling, upon fish of theh own catching. It was upon one of these occasions, the suranier before I saw her, that she had attracted the notice of Mr. John Dickinson, the cele brated author of the Farmer's Letters. He had been lavish in her praise in flie company of a lady of my acquaintance, who told rae of it, and thence inferred, how much I should be pleased with her when I got to York. I paid little attention to the in formation, having no conception that I could take any interest in the company of a married woman, considerably older than myself and the mother of several chUdren. The sequel proved how much I was raistaken, and how essential to ray satisfaction was female society; the access to a house in which I could domesti cate myseff, and receive attentions, not tiie less grateful from ap parently being blended with somewhat maternal. The master of the house, though rauch less briUiant than the mistress, was always good-humoured and kind; and as fliey kept a small store, I re paid as weU as I could the hosphality of a frequent dish of tea, by purchashig fliere what articles I wanted. After whUing away about six monflis, the allotted time of my exUe, reading a littie law in tiie raorning, and either fowling, riding or strolling along the banks of the Codorus, a beautiftil stream which passes through tiie town, in the afternoon, I at AUTHOR RETURNS TO PHILADELPHIA. 107 length set out on ray return to PhUadelphia. For the sake of company and yet more for the satisfaction of seeing the country, I took a circuitous route, crossmg the Susquehanna at M'Call's ferry, at the JVarrows. This place is rude and romantic to a great degree. The water is extremely deep, above fathoms,* as it' is stated in Scull's map, and the current much obstructed by rocks, which rise above the surface in huge and shapeless craggs. Leaving the river, we crossed the Octararo, which discharges itself into it ; and thence, shaping our course through a pleasant country to Newark and WUmington, we reached Philadelphia after a journey of three or four days, in the latter part of October. I cannot take my final leave of York before mentioning, that I visited it again when Congress held theh session there, in the year 1778. Mr. Johnson, who had been a widower, was then married to a lady from Maryland. The laws having been sUenced by arms, he was no longer Prothonotary; and what was still more unfortunate for him, he had no chance of ever becoming so again, being much disaffected to the Araerican cause. I found him extremely soured by the state of affairs : He was at no pains to conceal his disgust at it, and shook his head in fearful antici pation of future calamities. Five years had produced a consider able change in respect to the inhabitants of the town. The young men I had been acquainted with had been generaUy in the army, and were consequently dispersed. The E -'s were not there ; or at least, I did not see them ; and ff ray memory does not mislead me, the family had removed to Baltimore. Although I had not made rayself a la^vyer, I returned to the city somewhat improved in health, as well as in my habits of living. My disposition, however, was unaltered. I still affected the man of pleasure and dissipation ; had a sovereign contempt for matrimony, and was even puppy enough, with shame I yet think of it, to ape the style of Lovelace, in some of my epistolary * From the account of Theodore Burr, who threw the immense arch of 360 feet, 4 inches, over the river at this place, in the winter of 1814-15, the depth of the Water is 150 feet. This rioble bridge was, in part, carried away by the flood of March, 1846 — the greatest known within fifty years. — Eo. 108 PROSECUTES THE STUDY OF THE LAW. correspondencies. As my uncle was stUl bent on qualifying me for .the practice of my profession, he proposed my pursuing my stiidies, for tiie whiter, under tiie dhection of Mr. James Allen. As this .gentieman was Avifliout a clerk, my being there was con sidered as a matter of mutual convenience. In return for the use of his books, I did the business of his office, which was not very burdensome, and left me sufficient time for reading. Mr. AUen, the second son of old Mr. WUliam AUen,* the chief justice, and perhaps the richest and most influential person in the province, was a man of wh and pleasantry, who, for the gratification' of his ambition, was determined also to be a man of business, the only road in Pennsylvania, to honours and distinction. For this pur pose, he engaged in the practice of the law, in which,, at this time, he was very assiduous and attentive. As he was very gentleraanly in his manners, good-humoured and affable, I passed my time with him altogether to my mind. His good sense and good breeding, suggested the true line of behaviour to one be yond the age of apprenticeship, and who,, though doing fhe busi ness of a clerk, did not perform it for hire. He also took a friendly interest in my improvement, submitting the cases in. which he was consulted to my previous examination and opinion, and treating the timidity which raany feel on first speaking in public, as a weakness very easily overcorae. In relation to the * The sarae gentleraan alluded to by Howe in his " 2Vorj-oJi»e," quoted by Sparks, in the Appendix, to the 4th vol. of the'writings of Washington, as Mk. William Allen, a gentleraan who was supposed to have great family in fluence in the province of Pennsylvania; Mr. Chalmers, much respected in the three lower counties on the Delaware and in Maryland; and Mr. Clifton, the Chief of the Roman Catholic persuasion, of whom there was said to be many in Philadelphia, as well as in the rebel army, serving against their inclinations : these gentlemen were appointed commandants of corps, to receive and form for service all the well-aifected that could be obtained, (meaning loyalists, of course,) and what was the success of these efibrts ?"— To the honour of the American name, and with native pride — I answer in Howe's own language,—" In May, 1778, when I left America, Colonel Allen had raised only 152 rank and file; Colonel Chalmers, 336, (a goodly proportion, however, for the three patriotic coun ties on the Delaware !) and Colonel Clifton, 180 ; which, together with three troops of Light Dragoons, consisting of 132 troopers, and 174 real volunteers from Jersey, under Colonel Vandyke, amounting in the whole to 974 men, constituted all the force that could be collected in Pennsylvania, after the most indefatigable exertions during eight months." — Ed. ' DR. SKINNER. 109 subject, he gave me, I remember, a very laughable account of his own coup d'essai in conjunction with the facetious Harry Elwes, at Easton. To have been regular in the history of my education I should have mentioned, that I had already acquired sufficient knowledge of French to be able to read it with tolerable facility. I now undertook to learn the use of the small sword of a Mr. Pike, who had lately arrived in Philadelphia, and was much celebrated for his ability both as a dancing and - fencing raaster. Arauseraent and exercise were ray inducements to the undertaking, little thinking that I was acquiring professional skUl, and that a sword, in a year or two, would be a badge of iny calling. From what I have since seen, I do not think fhat Mr. Pike, although, like Rousseau's master, sufficiently ^r de Part de tuer un homme, was an accomplished swordsman. He nevertheless probably taught the science very well, and had certainly a knack of close pushing, which I have never raet with in any other ; that is, in the exercise of quarte and tierce, by placing the point of his foil near the guard of his adversary's, he could disengeige and thrust with such quick ness, as with certainty to hit the arm of the assailed. I laboured in vain, for six or eight raonths to acquire this dexterity: froin continued practice, however, the slight of hand came at last, upon which I valued myself not a little, and was equaUy valued by others. There was but one other pupil in the school who had been equally successful, and this was my particular friend the reverend Mr. Clay, of New-Castle, who was then a merchant, and who, in respect of his present clerical function, might say, non hos qucesitum munus in usus. This accomplishment had nearly brought me, when in the array, into perilous contact with a Doctor Skinner,* who had the fame of a dueUist, and having * Alexander Sj^inner. — He is depicted at large; by General Henry Lee, in his "Meraoirs of the War in the Southern Department of the United States." "He was a native of Maryland. He was virtuous and sensible; full of original humour of a peculiar cast J and eccentric in mind and manners. In person and in love of good Oheer, aS well as in dire objection to the field of battle, he resem- ^iled, with wonderful similitude, Shakspeare's Falstaff'. Yet Skinner had no hesitation in, fighting duels, and had killed his raan. When urged by his friends to explain why he, who Would, when called upon by feelings of honour to risk his life in single combatj advance to the arena ?vith alacrity, should abhor so 10 110 DR. SKINNER. aheady kiUed his man. A Mr. Hanson of Maryland, who had been a scholar of Pike, and knew what I could do, had made a considerable bet with the doctor, that he would find a person in the army, who in sphe of him, would hh him in thrusting tierce, or rather quarte over the arm. He caUed upon me, when the army dreadfully, the field of battle, — he uniformly, in substance, answered^ that he considered it very arrogant in a surgeon (whose province it was to take care of the sick and wounded) to be aping the demeanour and duty of a commissioned officer, whose business it was to fight : an arrogance which he cordially con temned, and of which he should never be guilty. Moreover, — he would add,— he was not more disposed to die than other gentlemen; but that he had an utter aversion to the noise and turmoil of battle. It stunned and stupified him. How- ever, when Congress should tliink proper to honour him with a commission, he would convince all doubters that he was not afraid to push the bayoiiet." General Lee, in describing an action near a stream over which his dragoons could not pass — being too wide for their horses to leap, and too deep in mud for them to attempt to ford— it was impossible to pursue the advaritage his troops had gal lantly gained, and " having only sabres to oppose to the enemy's fire, and those sabres withheld from contact by the interposing chasm, he was forced to draw off' from the vain contest, after several of his dragoons had been wounded, among whora was Dr. Irvin, surgeon of the legion cavalry," states, that such was Dr. Skinner's unvarying objection to Irvin's custom of risking his life, whenever he was with the corps going into action, that, kind and amiable as he was, he saw with pleasure, that his prediction, often communicated to Irvin to stop his practice, (which, contrasted with^his own. Skinner felt as a bitter reproach) was at length realized, when Irvin was brought in wounded ; and he would not dress his wound, although from his station he had a right of preference, until he had attended upon all the privates — reprehending with asperity Irvin's custom, and sarcastically complimenting him, occasionally, with the honourajble scar he might hereafter show. Surely he was the Dr. Sitgreaves of Cooper ! When he first appeared in the lower country, he wore a long beard and huge fur cap, the latter through necessity, the first through some superstitious notion, the meaning of which it was impossible to penetrate. An officer who really esteemed him, asking him " why he suff'ered his beard to grow to such an unusual length," he tartly replied, " It is a secret, sir, betwixt my God and myself, that huraan impertinence shall never penetrate." On a night alarm at Ninety-Six, as Colonel Lee was hastening forward to ascertain the cause, he met Skinner in full retreat, and stopping him, said, " what is the matter Doctor, whither so fast —not frightened I hope ?" " No, Colonel, nd," replied Skinner, " not absolutely frightened, but, I candidly confess, most damnably alarmed." Being once asked which of the ladies of South Carolina possessed in his esti- mation, the greatest attractions ? he replied, f'The widow Izard beyond all com parison. I never pass her magnificent sideboard, but the plate seems ready to tumble into my pocket." — Ed. MR. BRADFORD MR. ROBINSON. Ill lay at Haerlem heights, to know if I would push : With some reluctance I consented, but before the tirae appointed arrived, some movement took place, which separated me from Mr. Skin ner, and the question was not decided. The instruction I re ceived frora Pike, I considerably improved by practice, and began to grow vain of my skiU, until I met whh Major Clow (or Clough) of Colonel Baylor's dragoons, who had been a pupU of Angelo and others of the best masters in Europe. He, soon convinced me that I had still much room for improvement ; though he was pleased to assure rae, that I was by far the best fencer he had met with in America, and much superior to Benson, a fencing master in New York. During the time of ray being whh Pike, Mentges, who was afterwards a Colonel in our service, had opened a fencing school. Among his scholars were Messrs. Robeson* and Bradford ;f then * Perhaps the son of him — mentioned as Robinson, by Watson, whose ortho graphy in names, like the ^tyle of his inimitable " Aimals " is sui generis ! The gentleman, referred to by Watson, " was Clerk of the Provincial Council, and owner of the first hired prison. In 1685 he gave oflfence to the council, and they resolved 'that the words spoken by him', concerning the impeachment against Judge Moore, was drawn hah nab, whiits vortex the mechanical interest, as well as that nuraerous portion of the community in republics, styled Tfie People; in monarchies. The Populace; or still more irreverently. The Rabble or Canaille. But notwith standing this almost unanimous agreement in favour of liberty, neither were all disposed to go the same lengths for it, nor were they perfectly in unison in the idea annexed to it. Wilkes had just rendered the term popular in America ; and, though perhaps there is not any one in our language raore indefinite, yet the sense in which it was doubtless most generally received, was that which brings it nearest to licentiousness and anarchy, since hallowed by the phrases of Equality, and the Rights of Man. The Quakers, as a society, were charged with disaffection, and probably with truth. They were desirous, however, of screening themselves under their non-resisting principles and known aver sion to war ; and in tMs, although they might not have been sin cere, they at least were consistent. But notwithstanding their endeavour to keep aloof from the contest, a good number of tiieh young men swerved from their tenets ; and affecting cockades and uniforms, openly avowed theraselves fighting raen. They went so far as to form a company of light infantry, under the comraand of Mr. Copperthwahe,* which was called The Qiialcer Blues, and instituted in a spirit of competition with The Greens, or, as they were sneeringly styled. The silk stocking company, commanded by * Joseph Cowperthwait.— He was Sheriff of Philadelphia County, and sub. *equently a Justice ofthe Peace. A gentleman of intelligence and influence.— Eov VOLUNTEER COMPANIES. 123 Mr. John Cadwalader,* and which having early associated, ;had already acquired celebrity; This nickname evinced, that the canker worm, jealousy, already tainted the infantUe purity of our patriotism. The command of this company, consisting of the flower of the city, was too fine a feather in the cap of its leader to be passed by unenvied: it was, therefore, branded as an aristo cratic assemblage, and Mr. (since general) Mifflin, had the credit of inventing the invidious appeUation. To this association I be longed. There were about seventy of us. We met morning and evening, and from the earnest and even enthusiastic devotion of most of us to learn the duty of soldiers, the company, in the course of a summer's training, became a truly respectable militia corps. When it had attained some adroitness in the exercises, we met but once a day. This was in the afternoon, and the place of rendezvous the house of the captain, where capacious demi johns of Madeira, were constantly set out in the yard\vhere we formed, for our refreshment before raarching out to exercise. The ample fortune of Mr. Cadwalader had enabled hira to fiU his cel lars with the choicest liquors ; and it must be admitted, that he dealt them out with the most gentlemanly liberality. He probably meant it, in part, as an indemnification for our voluntary submis sion while under arms, to all the essential points, as well as the little etiquette of subordination, required of privates under the most regular discipline. On taking a retrospect of the company, and lookhig round for * John Cadwalader was, subsequently to this period, appointed Colonel of one ofthe City Battalions, from which rank he rose to that of Brigadier-General, and was entrusted with the command ofthe Pennsylvania troops in the Winter cam paign of '76 and '77. He act6d in this comraand, and as a volunteer.in the Battles of Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, and on other occa sions, and received the thanks of Washington, whose confidence and esteem he always possessed. He waS appointed to command one of the divisions into whicb the army was separated when Washington determined to attack the enemy at Trenton ; but in donsequenoe of the ice in the river, neither he nor General Irvine, the commander of another division, could cross the river in time. But, the day after Washington's return, he effected the passage, supposing hira still on the Jersey side, and pursued the vanquished enemy to Burlington. In 1778, he was appointed by Congress, Geueral of Cavalry — an appointment which he declined on the score of being raore'useful in the station which he occupied. He died Feb. 10, 1786, in the 44th year ofhis age. — Ency. Amer. — Ed. 124 POLITICAL CONSISTENCY. those who remain of it, I see a few who are yet alive and in re spectable situations. Much flie greater number, however, have resigned their places to that posterity, for, whose interests h was the fashion of seventy^six to be extremely concerned. It is to be hoped, therefore, that posterity wUl continue to pay the easy re compence of an annual toast to the memory of those departed friends, who no longer stand in their way. But I am chiefly struck with the strong tendency to evaporation, which inheres in a fiery zeal ; as weU as with the utter insignificance of that duU quality, consistency, on, the versatUe scale of republican virtue. I have a gentiem,an in ray eye who was ever araong the foremost in patriotisra, and for volunteering our services on every occasion. Was there an enterprise in view, replete with diffieulty and dan ger! The GremSj in his opinion, should monopolize, or at least partake of the ^ory. Was there a sacrifice" to be raade to economy ! They should be the first to set an exaraple of frugahty to their countrymen. In short, were it, '*to fight, to fast, to drink up ElsU, eat a crocodile, he'd do't." Yet this gentleman, so fuU of zeal in sevenity-five, was so thoroughly emptied of it in sevenjty- six, as to translate himseff to the royal standard in. New York; for which, however, he found a salvo in the Declaration of Inde-. pendenee. On. the conclusion of the war, he was, in conside ration of his youth and inexperience when he committed the faiix pas, permitted to return to the bosora of his country, and adroitly falling in with the views of the prevailing party, he obtained a subordinate appointment in the Treasury Department, during the Presidencies of Washington and Adams : when again wheeling about with the public sentiment, which ushered into office first M'Kean and then Jefferson, he obtained, upon the principle pro bably of a quid pro quo, an office from each of them, the latter of whieh he yet retains, and, like the French revolution, returnmg to the point fi?ora which it set out, he is now as pure a pafriot as he was at the commencement of his career. It must be confessed, that the gentlepian has had a serpentine course : Yet, vrithout ar raigning his motives, whioh may have been good, though diver sified, I shall content myself with observing, that he has had the singular fortune to behold with equal eye, the carting of the tories in PhUadelphia in the year 1775 ; the sad havoc of the whigs in PREPARATIONS FOR WAR ANECDOTE. 125 New York, in flie year 1776; the discomfiture of the anti-fede ralists, in the years 1790 and 1794; then the overthrow and per secution of the federalists in the year 1800 : In each and every of these turmoUs, he has contrived to be uppermost, and stiU rides triumphant on the surface of the tempestuous sea, an unequivocal proof of his fitness for the times in which he has been destined to appear. This instance would not have been adverted to, were it not that in an Ulustration of the times, it was too remarkable to be oraitted. In preparing for, the scene of war that was approaching, no raartial employraent was neglected. It was even deemed of con sequence to be a marksman with a pistol ; and cqnnected with this object, I recollect an unpleasant incident, which might also have proved a serious one. Captain Biddle and myself having gone out to take a shot, and posted ourselves in a situation, thought convenient and safe, we marked our target on a board fence, in a cross street, between Arch and Race streets. We had fired several times, and were' loading again, when a raan suddenly coming upon us, out of breath, pale as ashes, without his hat and his hair standing on end, exclairaed, that we had killed 'his chUd. This information, as may be supposed, put a stop to our amusement ; and we immediately accompanied him to his house, with feelings not to be envied. When we arrived, however, we found raatters not so bad as had been anticipated. The chUd was crying in its mother's arras : it had been struck upon the body ; but the force of the blow had been broken by a loose, linsey petticoat. The ball had passed through a pane of glass; and frpra the ap pearance of the hole exactly corresponding to its size without di verging cracks, it must have had considerable force, though dis charged at a distance which we thought greater than our pistols would carry. By expressions of concern for the accident and the accompaniment of a few dollars, our transgression was overlookedj and all perturbation composed. The daily unremitted course of exercise which my military duties and my fencing, at this time composed, had thoroughly established my health. The serious aspect of the times, had also brought teraperance into fashion ; and instead of tavern suppers, I generaUy passed my evejiings with my female acquaintance, II* 126 DR. KEARSLEY. among whom there was one to whom my affections were deeply and permanently -engaged. The attachment was reciprocal ; and tiie din of arms which threatened us with a separation, involving a cruel uncertainty in respect to the destiny of our love, but served to render h more ardent and more tender.-* Vows of constancy were mutually pUghted ; and we gave so much of our time to each otber, that I had littie to spare to my quondam corapanions, whom I was really desirous of shaking off, and who, on their part, com plained that I had turned dangler, and become good for nothing. There was a time when their raiUery might have had sorae effect, but now h was entirely thrown away, and, hke a true knight, I wholly devoted rayself to ray mistress and my country. Among the disaffected in PhUadelphia, Doctor Kearsley was pre-eminently ardent and rash.f An extremely zealous loyalist, and impetuous in his temper, he had -^ven rauch umbrage to the whigs ; and if I ara not mistaken, he had been detected in some hostUe machinations. Hence he was deeraed a proper subject for the fashionable punishraent of tarring, feathering and carting. He was seiz-ed at his own door by a party of the mUitia, and, in the attempt to resist thera, received a wound in his hand from a baj'^onet. Being overpowered, he was placed in a eart pro vided for the purposCj and amidst a multitude of boys and idlers, paraded through the streets to the tune of the rogue's march. I happened to be at the coffee-house When. the concourse arrived there. They made a halt, whUe the Doctor foaming with rage and indignation, without his hat, his wig dishevelled and bloody from his wounded hand, stood up in the cart and caUed for a bowl of punch. It was quickly handed to him ; when; so vehement was his thirst, that he drained h of hs contents before he took h from his lips., What were the feelings of others on this lawless proceeding, I know not, but mine, I must confess, * " And flinty is her heart can view, To battle march a lover true,. Can hear, perchance, his last adieu. Nor own her share of pain." t Nephew of the celebrated Tk, John Kearsley— founder of " Christ Chnrch Hospital for Poor Widows." A gentleman much distinguished for his public spirit, and architectural taste."-^ED>. MAJOR SKENE. 127 revolted at the spectacle. I was shocked at seeing a lately re spected citizen so cruelly vUified, and was imprudent enough to say, that had I been a magistrate, I would, at every hazard, have interposed ray authority in suppression of the outrage. But this was not the only instance which convinced rae, that I wanted nerves for a revolutionist. It must be adraitted, however, that the conduct of the populace was raarked by a lenity which pecu Uarly distinguished the cradle of our republicanism. Tar and feathers had been dispensed with, and excepting the injury he had received in his .hand, no sort of violence was offered by the mob to their victim. But to a raan of high spirit, as the Doctor was, the indignity in hs lightest form was sufficient to madden him : it probably had this effect, since his conduct became so ex treraely outrageous, that it was thought necessary to confine hira. Frora the city he was soon after reraoved to Carlisle, where he died during the war. A few days after the carting of Mr. Kearsley, Mr. Isaac Hunt, the attorney, was treated in the same manner, but he managed the raatter much better than his precursor. Instead of braving his conductors like the Doctor, Mr. Hunt was a pattern of meekness and humility ; and at every halt that was made, he rose and ex pressed his acknowledgments to the crowd for their forbearance and civility. After a parade of an hour or two, he was set down at his own door, as uninjured in body as in mind. He soon after removed to one of the islands, if I raistake not, to Barbadoes, where, it was understood, he took orders.* Not long after these occurrences. Major Skene of the British army, yentured to show hiraself in PhUadelphia. f Whatever * He did take orders, and upon his return to England, became a tutor in the family of the Duke of Chandos. He was the father of Mr. Leigh Hunt, cele brated for his poetic genius, and for many valuable contributions to English literature.— Ed. t We are glid not to lose sight of this truly loyal and facetious gentleman. In the Appendix to the 3d volume of Sparks' Life and Writings of Washington, is the following notice of him : " Major Skene had Jjeen appointed Governor of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and empowered to raise a regiment in America. On this ground he was taken into custody, when he arrived in Philadelphia, June, 1775 ; his papers were ex. amined by order of Congress, and he was retained as a prisoner. He had been 128 MAJOR SKENE. might have been his inducement to the measure, it was deemed expedient by the newly constituted authorities, to have him arrested and secured. A guard was accordingly placed over him at his lodgings, at the city tavern. The oflScer to whose charge he was especially committed, was Mr. Francis Wade, the brewer, an Irishman of distinguished zeal iu the cause, and one who was supposed to possess talents peculiarly befitting him for the task of curbing the spirit of a haughty Briton, which Skene undoubtedly was. I weU recollect the day that the guard was paraded to escort him out of the city on his way to sorae other station. An immense crowd of spectators stood before the door of his quarters, and lined the street through which he was to pass. The weather being warm, the window sashes ofhis apartment were raised, and Skene, with his bottle of wine upon the table, having just finished his dinner, roared out in the voice of a Stentor, " God, save great George our /eing .'" Had the spirit of seventy-five in any degree reserabled the sphh of Jacobinism, to which h has been unjustly compared, this bravado would unquestionably have brought flie Major to the lamp-post, and set his head upon a pUte ; but as, fortunately for him, h did not, he was suffered to proceed wifli his song, aud the audhory seeraed more generally araused than offended. many years in the army ; was an ensign at Carthagena and Porto Eello, under General Wentworth; he served in Flanders; was a Lieutenant at the battle of Culloden; served under Sir Jeffrey Amherst in Canada; was first Major of Bri- gade at the conquest of Martinique and Havana, at which latter place he entered the breach when it was storraed ; was ofl;en wounded ; was appointed to run a line between Canada and the British Colonies, and to superintend the settleraent of the border country, then uninhabited ; and, in 1773, he applied to Lord Dart- mouth to recommend him to the King for the appointment of Governor of Ticon. deroga. Crown Point, and their dependencies, where he, at that time, commanded a corps of militia, having lands and a residence at the southern extremity of Lake Champlain." — En. CONGRESS. 129 CHAPTER V. Congress Assembles. — Continental Battalions. — State of Parties. — Mr; Richard Penn. — His Character. — Levy of Troops. — Officers. — Adventure. — Patriotism- — Recruiting. — 111 Success. — Discipline. — Author sent on a Mission. — Baron Woedtke. — Military Preparations. — Road to Albany^ — Saratoga-. — Fort Edward. — Lake George. — General Schuyler. — His Character. — Author returns to his Regiment. — Judge Livingston. In the spring of 1775, Congress assembled in PhUadelphia. It was in every respect a venerable assembly ; and although Penn sylvania had delegated to it some of her raost distinguished cha racters, they were supposed to be eclipsed by the superior talents which carae from the southward and eastward. New England had sent her Adams's, and Virginia her Lee's and Henry's ; all of whom were spoken of as men of the first rate abilities. Not long after the organization of this body, theh president, Peyton Randolph of Virginia, died, and John Hancock, of Boston, was selected to supply his place. Towards the close of the year, they passed a resolution for levying some continental battalions, four of which were to be raised in Pennsylvania. One had already been raised and officered by the province ; but as the applicants for commissions in this, were not of my set of acquaintance, I did not apply. Upon the promulgation, however, of this resolution of Congress, I signified to the committee of safety, in whom the power of appointment was lodged, and of which body my uncle was a member, my wish to be employed. The appointments were made, and in a list of thirty-two captains, I ranked the six teenth, and accordingly received my commission from Congress, dated January the 6th, 1776. Upon this nomination of the com raittee of safety, which also extended to, all the inferior comrais sioned officers, the field officers, who had already been assigned 130 CONTINENTAL BATTALIONS. to particular battalions, had a meeting for the purpose of selecting tiieh captains and subalterns. In fliis arrangementj h feU to my lot to be attached to the third battalion, under the command of Colonel John Shee, and of which Mr. Lambert Cadwalader, tiie younger brother of Mr. John Cadwalader, aheady mentioned, was Lieutenant-Colonel. It appeared to haveibeen the primary object of these gentiemen, to select as much as possible theh officers frora the city and its neighbourhood, of whora they had a greater proportion tiban was to be found in eiflier of the other regiments, respectively comraanded by St. Clair, Wayne and Magaw. But this circumstance, though it might have a propitious influence on the discipline of the regiraent when raised, was certainly un favourable to the business of recruiting, since, as the country was chiefly to be depended upon for men, country officers would »f course, have the best chance of obtaining them. But two gentlemen of what might be called our principal fami lies, had come forward on this occasion. These were Mr. Cad walader, and Mr. WUliam Allen, who was appointed Lieutenant- Colonel of the regiment of St. Clah : so that of four sons, the eldest alone, Mr. John Alien, was an acknowledged disapprover of our proceedings. The father, too old to be active, was yet supposed to lean to the whig side. - It would appear, however, from the sequel, that this family were either never cordial in the cause, or that they had inconsiderately imagined that its object might be obtained by a resolute show of resistance, merely; since upon the adoption of the measure of independence, all the sons, excepting James, joined General Howe in New York. He re mained at home, and took his chance with his native country, though wholly inactive. I remember once seeing him on New York island, towards the close of the summer of 1776, where he probably carae to see how the land lay. But he was then in declining health, and in soraewhat raore than a year after, was reUeved from aU sublunary solicitudes ; as was his father also, before the close of the war. The revolution was fatal to this famUy, precipitating h from the very pinnacle of importance in Pennsylvania, down to the lowest depth of insignificance wifli both parties. Its early whigism had perhaps as much disgusted the tories, as its final defection had exasperated tiie whigs ; and RICHARD PENN ANECDOTE. 131 the British army, though h yielded it protection, afforded ft little of respect. Mr. William AUen endeavoured to recover his con sequence by raising, or endeavouring to raise, a regiment on the royal side, in PhUadelphia in the year 1778, very pompously heading his recruiting advertisement with the words, nil desperan- dum Teucro duce, et aus^ce Teucro. It is to be presuraed, how ever, that this swaggerhig motto referred to General Howe, and not to hiraseff. Nor, in adverting to the rautability of human affairs, can we overlook the unfavourable tendency of the contest to the proprie tary family. Both the brothers, John and Richard Penn, had been governors of Pennsylvania ; the former being in office at the be ginning of hostUities. By yielding to the torrent, which it would have been impossible to withstand, he gave no offence, and avoided reproach ; though it was deemed expedient to have hira secured and reraoved from Philadelphia, on the approach of the royal army in the year 1777. Mr. Richard Penn, having no official motives for reserve, was even upon, terms of famUiarity with some of the most thorough-going whigs, such as General Lee and others : An evidence of this was the pleasantry ascribed to him, on occasion of a member of Congress, one day observing to his compatriots, that at all events "they must hang together:" "If you do not, gentlemen," said Mr. Penn, "I can tell you that you will be very apt to hang separately."* Of all the governors of Pennsylvania under the old regime, he was probably the most popular, though his popularity might not have been precisely of the kind which hradiates a favourite of the present day. It was, it raust be confessed, a good deal confined to the city ; and perhaps rather rauch to that description of per sons, who are not the chosen people of Virginian repubUcanism. * This witticism is claimed for Franklin by Sparks, who thus relates it in his Life of Franklin, page 408. It was at the signing ofthe Declaration of Indepen dence. "We must be unanimous," said Hancock; "there must be no pulling different ways ; vve raust all hang together.'' " Yes," replied Franklin, "we must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately." It has been ascribed also to Mr. John Penn, one of the signers of the Declara tion of Independence, and o, member of Congress from North Carolina. Who ehall settle the knotty point ! — Ed. 132 OFFICERS. But h was such as was then in fashion, and good and substantial enough for those who knew no better. It required, however, fewer sacrifices ; and might yield possibly as much pleasure on retrospection, as that enjoyed by the most idolized of our demo cratic worthies.* Against the expected hostUities, Pennsylvania had made im mense exertions. Prior to the four regiments of St. Clair, Shee, Wayne and Magaw, that of De Haas, and Hand's rifle regiment, were already raised and equipped ; and afterwards, Irvine's, and two provincial battalions, respectively commanded by MUes and Atiee, in the whole, nine regiraents, complete and very reputably ' officered. Had all the other provinces done as much in proportion to their ability, and the raen been enlisted for the war, we might have avoided the hair-breadth 'Scapes which ensued. To return to smaller concerns. An anxiety little inferior td that of the colonels, in procuring what they thought good officers for their regiments^ at this time, agitated the commanders of com panies, in respect to the subalterns that should be assigned them. My second lieutenant, Mr. Forrest,f who had served his appren ticeship to an apothecary in Philadelphia, I well knew to be active, capable, and more than commonly adroit in the mUitary exercises ; but my first lieutenant, I had not yet seen. I was not, hovyever, long in the dark, and when he appeared, I cannot say that his exterior was the most prepossessing ; or that it announced those qualities we at first look for in the soldier. He was taU, extremely thin, and somewhat lounging in his appearance ; and to add to its uncouthness, he wore an enormous fur cap. Colonel Shee used * Richard Penn was the brother of John Penn, Governor of Pennsylvania, at the commencement of hostilities. He is described in Watson's Annals, as " a fine portly looking man,-;-a hon vivant, very popular. He died in England in ] 81 1 , at the age of 77 "Jears. — Ed. t Subsequently known as Colonel Forrest, and distinguished for zeal and ac tivity during the revolution. He was in several engageraents, and had the cha- racter of being a brave and skilful officer. Afler the war herresided at German- town, where his opinions underwent a remarkable change. He attached himself to the society of Quakers, adopting their language and garb. He was a man of considerable humour, and of manners agreeable to the " sovereign people," who, in 1815, elected hira to Congress. He died in the year 1836, atthe age of eighty- three years, — Ed. RECRUITING ADVENTDRE. 133 to describe soraewhat humourously, his first irapression upon him; and when he was first seen by a little Scotch servant boy of my mother's, who afterwards became my druraraer, he eraphatically exclaimed : Well, sic an a spindle ! Yet for all this, any raan might have thought himself honoured in having Mr. Edwards for his lieutenant. Thpugh born in Pennsylvania, he was recent from a college in Rhode Island. Possessing good sense, a remarkable aptitude to take a polish, and talents to recommend himself to his superiors in command, he soon obtained the favour of the colonels of the regiment, with whom he was upon a very famUiar footing. He was, besides, a man of courage ; and in the course of the war, became the aid-de-camp and particular friend of General Lee ; so much so, fhat he was one of the principal devisees in the wUl of that officer. Of my ensign, it will be enough to say, that he was a plain and unaspiring man, who, in the walk of hurable duty, " kept the noiseless tenor ofhis way." The object now was to raise ray corapany, and as the streets of the city had been pretty well swept by the preceding and conterapo rary levies, it was necessary to have recourse to the country. My recruiting party was therefore sent out in various directions ; and each of ray officers as well as myself, exerted himseff in the busi^ ness. Among the raany unpleasant peculiarities of the American service, it was not the least that the drudgery, which in old mUi tary establishments belong to sergeants and corporals, here de volved on the commissioned officers ; and that the whole business of recruiting, drilling, &c., requhed their unremitted personal at tention. This was more emphaticaUy the case in recruiting ; since the coramon opinion was, that the raen and, the officers were never to be separated, and hence, to see the persons who were to com mand them, and above all, the captain, was deemed of vast im portance by those inclining to enlist : for this reason I found it necessary, in coraraon with ray brother officers, to put ray feelings raost crueUy to the rack ; and in an excursion I once raade to Frankford', they were tried to the utmost. A number of fellows at the tavern, at which miy party rendezvoused, indicated a deshe to enlist, but although they drank freely of our liquor, they stiU held off. I soon perceived that the object was to amuse them selves at our expense, and that ff there might be one or two among 12 134 PATRIOTISM. thera really disposed to engage, the others would prevent them. One feUow in particular, who had made the greatest show of taking the bounty, presuming on the weakness of our party, con sisting only of a drummer, corporal, ray second lieutenant and myself, began to grow insolent, and raanifested an intention to begin a quarrel, in the issue of which, he no doubt calculated on giving us a drubbing. The disgrace of such a circurastance, pre sented itself to my raind in colours the raost dismal, and I re solved, that ff a scuffle should be unavoidable, it should, at least, be as serious as the hangers which ray lieutenant and rayseff car ried by our sides, could make it. Our endeavour, however, was to guard against a contest ; but the moderation we testified, was attributed to fear. At length the arrogance of the principal ruffian, rose to such a height, that he squared himseff for battle and ad vanced towards me in an attitude of defiance. I put him by, with an admonition to be quiet, though with a secret determination, that, if he repeated the insult to begin the war, whatever might be the consequence. The occasion was soon presented; when taking exceUent aim, I struck him vvith my utmost force between the eyes and sent him staggering to the other end of the room. Then instantly drawing our hangers, and receiving the manful co-opera tion of the corporal and drummer, we were fortunate enough to put a stop to any farther hostilities. It was some tirae before the fellow t had struck, recovered from the blow, but when he did, he was quite an altered man. He was as submissive as could be wished, begging my pardon for what he had done, and alfliough he would not enlist, he hired hiraseff to rae for a few weeks as a fifer, in which capacity he had acted in the raUitia ; and during the time he was in this employ, he bore about the effects of his insolence, in a pair of black eyes. This incident would be littie worthy of relating, did it not sen^e in some degree to correct flie error of those who seem to conceive the year 1776 to have been a season of almost universal patriotic enthusiasm. It was far from prevalent in my opinion, among the lower ranks of the people, at least in Pennsylvania. At aU tiraes, inefeed, Ucentious, levelling principles are much to the general taste, and were of course popu lar with us ; but the true merhs of the contest, were littie under stood or regarded. The opposition to the claims of Britain origi' RECRUITING, 135 nated vtjith the better ^sort : it was truly aristocratic in its com mencement; and as the oppression to be apprehended, had not been felt, no, grounds existed for general enthusiasm. The cause of liberty, it is true, was fashionable, and there were great prepara tions to fight for it ; but a zeal proportioned to the raagnitude of the question, was only to be looked for in the minds of those sagacious politicians, who inferred effects from causes, and who, as Mr. Burke expresses it, "snuffed the approach of tyranny in every tainted breeze."* Certain it was, at least, that recruiting went on but heavily. Some officers had been more successful than others, but none of the companies were complete ; mine perhaps contained about haff its complement of raen, and these had been obtained by dint of great exertion. In this situation. Captain Lenox of Shee's regiment also, suggested the trying our luck on the eastern shore of Maryland, particularly at Chester, situated on the river of that narae. It having been a place of some trade, it was supposed there might be searaen or long shore men there, out of employ. We accordingly set out on the expedition, making our first effort at Warwick, an inconsiderable village, a few mUes within the boundaries of Maryland. Here we remained a day or two, our stay having been prolonged by bad weather. At the tavern we JDut up at, we made acquaintance with a gentleman of note, who resided in the neighbourhood, and pretty generaUy known by the familiar narae of Dan Heath. He seeraed to like our company, as he was continually with us while we staid. Mr. Heath was a sportsman, and apparently too little interested in political con cerns, to b'e either much of a whig or a tory, though from the in difference he evinced, we rather concluded him the latter. He helped us, however, to recruit, a fellow, he said, who would do to stop a bullet as well as a better man, and as he was a truly worth- * " The American Revolution is, universally, admitted to have begun in the upper circles of society. It turned on principles too remote and abstruse for vui. gar apprehension or consideration. Had it depended on the unenlightened raass ofthe community, no doUbt can be entertained, that the tax imposed by parlia ment, would have been paid without a question. Since, then, the upper circle of society did not take its irapulse from the people, the only remaining inquiry is who gave the Revolutionary impulse to that circle itself? It was unquestionably Patrice; Henrx." — Wirt's, Life of Henry. — Ed. 136 RECRUITING. less dog, he held, that the neighbourhood would be much in debted to us for taking him away. When we left Warwick, he fulfiUed his promise of accompanying us some raUes under pre tence of aiding us in getting men, but as he showed us none, we were convinced that he attended us more for his own sake than ourSj and that having nothing to do, probably, he had avaUecJ himself the opportunity to kiU a little tirae. He gave the tone to the conversation on the road, which generally turned on the sports of the turf and the cockpit ; but he never spoke with so rauch aniraatidn, as when expatiating on those feats of human prowess, wherein victory is achieved by tooth and nail, in modern phrase, by biting and gouging : and pointihg out to us one ofthe heroes of these dheful conflicts : " There," says he, " is a feUow that has not his raatch in the country : see what a set of teeth he has, a man's thumb would be nothing to them." On bidding good morning to Mr. Heath, with whose vivacity we were amused, we pursued our course to Chester, and as soon, as we arrived there, delivered our letters of introduction. The gentlemen to whom they were addressed, received us with the ytmost politeness, and declared their warmest wishes for the success of our errand, though accompanied with expressions^! regret, that they could not give us encouragement to beat up in their town, as well because there were few, if any, in it, that were likely to enlist, as that their own province was about raising troops ; and as that was the case, it would not be taken well should they assist in transferring any of their men to the line of Pennsylvania, With such unfavourable prospects in Maryland, it would have been folly to have proceeded far ther: we therefore, set off' on our way horae the next mo'rning, dechning several invhations to dinner. We fonnd this country well deserving of its reputation for hosphality. Between War wick and Georgetown, we were taken home to lodge by a gen tleman of the name of WUmer, whom we had never seen be fore : We were warmly pressed by Mr. Harry Pierce, with whom we met by accident on the road, to spend some time with him at his residence in the neighbourhood, and met with no less cor diaUty, from Mr. Thomas Ringold, of Chester, who had once when very young, lodged at my mother's. Returning by War- THE author's SUCCESS IN RAISING MEN. 13T wick, we sent forward our solitary recruit, for whom we tossed up; and in winning, I was, in fact, but a very small gainer, since his merits had been set at their fuU value by Mr. Heath ; and he was never fit for any thing better than the inglorious post of camp colour man. After this unsuccessful jaunt, I bent my course to the Four-lane ends, Newtown, and Corryell's ferry ; thence passing into Jersey, I propeeded to the Hickory tavern, to Pittstown, Baptisttown, Flemmingtown, and other towns, whose names I do not remem ber. As Captain Stewart (the late General Walter Stewart) of our regiment, had recently reapt this field, I was only a gleaner: In the whole of my tour, therefore, I picked up bitt three or four men: and could most sincerely h^ve said. That the recruiting trade, with all its train. Of endless care, fatigue, and endless pain, I could most gladly have renounced, even without the very pre ferable alternative of Captain Plume. My number of privates might now have amounted to about forty, but these were soon augmented by the noble addition of one and twenty stout native Americans,- brought by Lieutenants Edwards and Forrest from Egg Harbour. Towards spring, our battalion was complete; and already, from the unremitted attention that had been paid to it by the of ficers of every grade, it had made, for so short a time, a very laudable progress in discipline. Besides partial drillings it was exercised every morning and evening; and what was of stUl more importance, habits of obedience and subordination were strictly inculcated and maintained. We were comparatively well armed, uniformed and equipped ; and it, is but justice to say, that in point of all the exteriors, by which military corps are tested, ours was on a footing with themost promising on the, con tinent. We were quartered in the barracks, together with the other battalions that were raising ; and by way of counteracting the general gloom, not diminished by the practice of fast-days and sermons, borrowed from New England, we promoted balls and other amusement. Had the contest been a rehgious one, and our people been inflamed by a zeal on points of faith like 12* 138 AUTHOR SENT ON A MISSION. the Crusaders or the army of Cromwell, this might have been the proper method' of exching them to acts of heroism; but they were to be taken as they were, and as this was not the case, ft was certainly not the mode to make soldiers in Pennsylvania. The purhanical spirit was unknown among us; and the endea vour to promote it, did but conflict with other propensities on which a mUitary ardour might be engrafted. It might, how ever, have been wholly different in New England; but whether so or not. General Lee, with his usual profaneness, treated their solemnities with ridicule, telling them, in the spirit of the-ancient fable of Hercules and the wagoner, that Heaven was ever found favourable to strong battalions. About the close of the month of May, I was appointed to carry a sum of money in specie to General Schuyler at Lake George, for the purpose of promoting the operations in Canada ; and I owed ray nomination to this service to the friendly intentions of President Hancock, who had particularly designated me. Ensign Stout was the officer assigned hy Colonel Shee to accompany me.* We accordingly set out in a chair, that being thought the most convenient mode of carrying the money, which was enclosed in two or three sealed bags. One soldier mounted and armed in addition, constituted the escort; and we were furnished with credentials for obtaining fresh horses as often as they might be necessary. To see the country between New York and the Lake, which was entirely new both to my companion and myself, was highly agreeable ; but we did not so weU like the responsibUity, of our charge. It is obvious that it might have been wrested from us, without great difficulty, even though each one of the triumvi rate had possessed the bravery of Caesar. Hence, poUcy dictated * Colonel John Shee. He was, I think^ from Lancaster county. He had the confidence of Washington, who, in a leUer to the President of Congress, of 10th June, 1776, says, "to Congress I submit the propriety of keeping the two Continental battalions, under Colonels Shee and Magaw, at Philadelphia, where there is the greatest probabiiity of a speedy attack upou this place from thp King's troops," It will be seen, hereafter,, that, having obtained leave of absence to visit his faraily, he " converted that leave into an entire abdication ofhis coramand." An extraordinary procedure, certainly, on the part of an officer who had proved his capacity and zeal, and who had enjoyed,, in a high degree, the confidence and esteem of his superiors.. — Eo,. ' BARON WOEDTKE. 139 the concealment of the treasure, so far as might consist with the requisite vigilance.' At Princeton, where we dined on the second day of our journey, we thought proper to have our bags brought into our room. The inn-keeper, like the generality of his profes sion, was loquacious and inquisitive; and being an extremely good whig into the bargain, took the liberty of sounding us re specting the contents of our bags,, of which he had formed a very shrewd guess. We did not think it necessary to deny that they contained raoney, or to conceal from him' the object of our mis sion, which he was equally desirous of knowing. Upon learning that the destination was Canada, he entered into a dissertation upon our affairs in that quarter, teUing us among other things, that the Prussian General, the Baron Woedkie, had been a few days before at his house, on his way to- that country. But he reprobated the Baron in very hard terms, repeatedly exclaiming- with a most significant eraphasis, that he was no general ; and in the sequel, favouring us with his reasons for this opinion, gave us' to understand, that he (the Baron) had raade his servant grease with afeather a certain part, to which he gave its very coarsest appellation, that had suffered frora the friction of riding. Whe ther our host had become acquainted with this circumstance by looking through a key-hole, or by what other means, we were not informed, but its unlucky effect upon him, convinced me of the justness of the observation, that no man is a hero to his valet de chambrc. This same Baron it was, who, finding liberty, one day, the impassioned theme of some members of Congress and others, exclaimed — ih,liberdyis afineding; I lilces liherdy ; der koenig von Prusse is a great man for liherdy ! and so no doubt he was, for his own liberty or importance as a meraber of the Germanic body; and it might puzzle many a flaming demagogue to show a better title to the character.* ' * The honest Baron, however, was not more absurd than was the sticklers for Bonaparte, who always connected liberty with his name and views, as the sarae men did those of Robespierre, when riding at the top ofthe revolutionary wheel. With them liberty appeared to mean hostility to all regular, legitiraate govern ment; which, in the same vocabulary signifies tyranny. New power creates new men, ergo, the devotion to it of all ambitious insignificants. Brigadier-General the Baron de Woedtke. — Wilkinson in his Memoirs gives some account of this Prussian officer ; but it is, by no means, flattering, 140 NEW YORK MILITARY PREPARATIONS. But notwithstandmg this requishe for our service, evinced by the Baron's love of liberty, I beUeve he did not very weU suh us ; and that altiiougb The Prussian General made a great noise upon his first appearance, tiie public mind in, respect to him, whether correct or not, pretty weU accorded with that of our host, who, at parting with us, expressed much anxiety for our safety and that of our charge, recomraending to us in .future, not to take our bags out of the chair, where we breakfasted and dined. The propriety of this advice we were aware of, and observed it where practica ble ; that is, where the treasure was sufficiently under our eyes without reraoval. At New York, we spent about an hour in a slight survey pf flie barricades, which General Lee had caused to be thrown across some of the streets ; and on our way out of town, fell in with a New England regiment at exercise. Its commander was ex tremely busy, in instructing his troops in street firing, at that day, our most favourite manoeuvre ; as we simply supposed that aU our great battles were to be fought in our cities. We surveyed these men with all the respect that was due to the great military reputation of their country; but, we were obliged to confess, that they did not entirely come up to the ideas we had formed of the heroes of Lexington and Bunker's hill. This, we took to be a militia corps, from the circurastance of its not being a He had been sent with instructions to the Baron, to detach 500 men, to cover General Arnold's retreat from Montreal. In his search for the Baron, he en countered difiieulties and hardships, which are graphically described: "Afler a night's rest in a filthy cabin, I resumed my march, and the first officer of my acquaintanee whom I met, was Lieutenant-Colonel Williara Allen, ofthe second Pennsylvania regiraent, who, tb my inquiry for De Woedtke, replied, he had 'no doubt the beast was drunk:, and in front of the army.' I then informed him of my orders for a detachment. His reply was remarkable : ' This array, Wilkinson, is conquered by its fears, and I doubt whether you can draw any assistance from it ; but Colonel Wayne is in the rear, and if any one can do it, he is the man.' On this I quickened my pace, and half an hour afler met that gallant soldier, as much at his ease as if he was marching to a parade of exercise; he confirraed Allen's report respecting De Woedtke, and without hesitation determined to exe cute the order." " The Baron," says Sparks, " had been for raany years an officer in the army of the King of Prussia, and had risen to the rank of Major. Coming to Phila delphia with strong letters of recommendation to Dr. Franklin frora persons of erainence in Paris, he was appointed by Congress a Brigadier-General. He died at Lake George in the summer of 1776." — Ed. SARATOGA CANADA COMMISSIONERS. 141 whit superior, in any visible respect, to the worst of ours. How ever, thought we, these men raay nevertheless have some knack at fighting, which only discloses itself in the moraent of action. After leaving New York, we passed through a nuraber of viUages between that city and Albany ; but these, of which the alraanacs will give a rauch inore accurate account than I can, I shall neither undertake to name. or locate. Poughkeepsie, how ever, raust be excepted ; as here we quartered^ for a night, under the hospitable roof of old Doctor Baird, so called to distinguish him from his son of the same profession. The doctor was a re lation of Mr. Stout's, and on my being raade known to him, I had the satisfaction to find that he had forraerly been acquainted with both ray father and raother, of whom he spoke in the warmest and most friendly terms. My mother, he was pleased to say, he remembered, the finest girl in PhUadelphia ; and that she had the manners of a lady bred at a court. The old gentleman was one of those who went under the denomination of tories ; but ff it was justiy applied, he possessed too much liberality to permit his politics, in any degree, to interfere with the duties of hospitality. He considered us probably as young men, deluded but not sedi tious ; as accessary to, but not responsible for, the calamities which were about to befal the country ; and in addition to a good supper, entertained us with the railitary exploits of the Duke of Marlborough, who appeared to be his favourite hero. In the morning betimes we pursued our journey, and in the course of it, reached Albany about noon. Here we dined with a gentleman in regimentals bearing the title of raajor; though Ido not either recoUect his name, or , the corps to which he belonged, 'ff indeed he belonged to any, for majors and captains had by this time, become very good traveUing appellations. He had just re turned from Canada, and drew a most laraentable picture of our affairs in that country, descanting upon raen and things with equal freedom and satire. He delivered himself with unusual flip pancy ; and wound up a very animated phUippic upon our mili tary operations in that quarter, with an, " in short, gentlemen, we have commissaries there without provisions ; quarter-masters with out stores ; generals without troops ; and troops without discipline, byG— d." 142 LAKE GEORGE. Leaving Albany, we passed by Stillwater, Saratoga, and other places, which have since acquired interest from the defeat and surrender of General Burgoyne and his army. Near to Fort Ed ward we met Doctor Franklin, Mr. CarroU, and (I think) Mr. Chase, returning from Canada, to which they had been deputed comraissioners from Congress.* We delivered thera a letter from that body, as we had been enjoined to do ih case of meeting thera, as also to take their orders in respect to our ulterior pro-^ ceedings.: As they made no change in our destination, we went on. Iraraediately beyond- Fort Edward, the country assumed a dreary, cheerless aspect. Between this and lake George, a dis tance of about twelve miles, it was almost an entire wood, ac quiring a deeper gloom, as well from the general prevalence bf pines, as from its dark, extended covert being presented to the imagination as an appropriate scene for the "treasons, stratagems and spoils" of savage hostUity ; to which purpose, it had been de voted in former days of deadly dissension. It was in this tract of country that several actions had been fought ; that Baron Dies- kau had been defeated ; and that Araerican blood had flowed, as well as EngUsh and French ; in commemoration of which, the * Tfie commissioners were Dr. Franklin, Samuel Chase, and Charles Carroll of Carrollton, all signers of the Declaration of Independence ; and the Reverend John Carroll, afterwards Romish Archbishop of Baltiraore, whose religious pro fession and character, and French education peculiarly- fitted him, it was sup posed, "to exercise a salutary influence with the priests in Canada, who were known to control the people." Mr. Chase was greatly distinguished by his eloquence, abilities, and zeal in the revolutionary cause. In 1791, hewas ap pointed Chief Justice of the general Court of Maryland ; and five years afterwards was promoted by Washington, to the office of an associate judge ofthe Supreme Court of the United States. Having, in his official conduct, given much offence to the Democratic party, he was impeached by the House of Representatives- His trial before the Senate " is memorable oi^ account of the excitement which it produced, the ability with which he was defended, and the nature of his ac quittal." He continued the exercise of his judicial functions, with signal ability, until his decease, on the I9th of June, 1811. < Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the last of the signers of the Declaration, was born in 1737. He was a member of Congress for several years. He served in the United States from 1788 to 1791, from which time until 1801, he was an active member ofthe Senate of Maryland— his native state. He died on the 14th of November, 1832.— Ed. LAKE GEORGE GENERAL SCHUYLER. 143 terror we attach to the adventitious circumstances which seem to accelerate man's doora, had given to a piece of standing water near the road, the narae bloody pond. The descending sun had shed a browner horror on the wilderness ; and as we passed the dismal pool, we experienced that tiansient emotion of commissera- tion, which is natural to the mind when conternplating past events, involving the fall of friends, the fortune of war, and the sad lot of human kind. Denique ob casus bellorum, et sortem hominum. At length, after a journey of three hundred and thirty miles, arriving at the quarters of General Schuyler, on the border of the Lake, we acquitted ourselves of our charge. He proposed to me, ff agreeable, to go on with it ; but in addition to attractions of a private nature, which drew me to Philadelphia, the wish to be there in order to raake provision for our raarch to New York, orders for which had been daily expected before we set out, in duced rae to decline the opportunity of seeing the country beyond the Lake, as well as ray friends in the northern army. We there fore only staid at this post, until the return despatches to Congress were prepared, which was the third day after our arrival. Though General Schuyler has been charged with such haughti ness of demeanour, as to have induced the troops of New Eng land to decline serving under his command, as stated in Marshall's Life of Washington, the reception we met with, was not merely courteous but kind. His quarters being contracted, a bed was prepared for us in his own apartment, and we experienced civili ties that were flattering from an officer of his high rank. Though thoroughly the man of business, he was also a gentleman and man of the world ; and well calculated to sustain the reputation of our army in the eyes of the British officers, (disposed to de preciate it,) as is evidenced by the account given by General Burgoyne of the manner in which he Vas entertained by him at Albany. But that he should have been displeasing to the Yankees, I am not at all surprised: he certainly was at no pains to conceal the extreme conterapt he felt for a set of officers, who were both a disgrace to theh stations and the cause in which they acted!* * Peabody, in his Life of Sullivan, speaks of General Schuyler " as a. brave and indefatigable officer, whose unpopularity through a lar^e portion of the 144 CHARACTER OF GEN. SCHUYLER. Being yet a stranger to the character of these men, and the con stitution of that part of our railitary force which in Pennsylvania was considered as the bulwark of the nation, I must confess my surprise at an incident which took place whUe at dinner. Besides the General, the raembers of his faraily and ourselves, there were at table a lady and gentieman frora Montreal. A New England Captain came in upon some business, with that abject servUity of manner, which belongs to persons of the raeanest rank : he was neither asked to sit or take a glass of wine, and after announcing his wants, was dismissed with that peevishness of tone we apply to a low and vexatious intruder. This man, in his proper sphere, might have been entitled to better treatraent ; but when presuming to thrust himself into a situation, in which, far other qualifications than his were required, and upon an occasion too which involved some of the most important of human interests, I am scarcely prepared to say, it was unmerited.* The day we spent at this station was employed in taking a view of the remains of Fort William Henry, and in sauntering country it is not easy to explain." Mr. Graydon has briefly solved the mystery. Of the justice of the above observations, respecting New England ofiicers, we have no means of judging. It cannot, however, fail to excite a feeling of regret that such severity of expression was considered necessary in regard to them, what ever may have been their demerits. Our New England brethren nobly performed their whole duty throughout the entire war, and well have they since sustained their republican institutions and character. General Schuyler had the reputation of being cold and reserved in his intercourse with officers and men. Such was his natural disposition. But he was a brave, accomplished and devoted patriot, and his name and reputation will ever be dear to his comitry. General Wilkinson's impressions, however, appear tp have been of a difl'erent and more favourable character. He says, " Schuyler was an eleve of Major- General Bradstreet in the sevenyears' war, possessecfa strong, fertile and cuhi- vated mind ; with polished manners he united the most amiable disposition and insinuating address, and his convivial pleasantry never failed to interest and enliven his society ; in the discharge of his military duties, he was atle, prompt, and decisive, and his conduct in every branch of service marked by active in dustry and rapid execution." — Ed. * See in Appendix H, a letter from General Washington to President Reed, dated " Head Quarters, Passaic Falls, 18th Oct., 1780," on the subject of Ge neral Schuyler and General Arnold, also showing that he never had any particular consideration for, or confidence iu, the latter. — Ed. RETURN OF THE AUTHOR JUDGE LIVINGSTON. 145 along the margin of the immense fountain of pure water which constitutes Lake George. We were much indebted upon this occasion to the polite attentions of Mr. Brockolst Livingston,* who was at this tirae one of the Aids-de-carap of Gen. Schuyler, and who so far dispensed -with his avocations as to show us what was wortiiy of being seen. We lost no time in setting off, as soon as the despatches were ready for us ; and returned with all possible expedition, in order to prepare ourselves for the expected march of our regiment to join the main army under the Comraander- in-chief. Orders for that purpose had already been received, and were complied with in about a week after our return. The troops were transported by water to Trenton ; from whence marching to Elizabethtown, they were again embarked in vessels which carried them to New York. * Son of the celebrated William Livingston — Governor of New Jersey. He was entered as a, student at Nassau Hall, Princeton, but left the College, in 1776, for the field, and became one of the family of Gen. Schuyler. He was afterwards attached to the suite of Gen. Arnold, with the rank of Major, and shared in the honour of the conquest of Burgoyne. In 1779 he accompanied Mr. Jay to Spain, as private Secretary. In 1802 he was called to the Bench of the Supreme Court of New York, and in 1806, was transferred to that of the Supreme Court of the United States, which station he held, with distinguished abiUty, until his decease in March, 1893, in the 66th year of his age. — Ec ^ 13 146 THE AUTHOR LEAVES PHILADELPHU. CHAPTER VI. The Author leaves Philadelphia. — Appearance of the Army. — Character of the Soldiers. — Erection of Fort Washington. — Fort Lee. — Character of General Mifilin. — An odd Character. — Connecticut Light Horse.— Character of tbe Array. — Declaration of Independence. — Statue of George III. — British land on Long Island. — Action with the Enemy. — New York. — Privations of Soldiers. — Long Island. — Entrenchments. — Skirmishing. — Midnight Scene in Camp. — Retreat to Nevv York. — Reflections. — Washington vindicated. — General Howe, — Couduct of the British. The much deprecated event of marching from PhUadelphia, was not the less afflicting for having been foreseen. The reader is acquainted with the attraction which existed there ; and it is for those alone who have felt the effervescence of the passions, to form a just conception ofthe pangs, attendant on this separa tion from it. To say it was a disruption of my heart strings, would be a language, neither too forcible nor figurative for the occasion. The other absences imposed by the demands of impe rious duty, were not without disquietude ; but they were cheered by the prospect of a speedy termination. This, before me, was a toiling sea without a shore ; a dreary, UUmitable void ; and in subjecting myself to the stem mandate which now forced me away, I recognise a sacrifice which imparts some merit to my poor exertions in behalf of my country. If equal deprivaflons were sustained by others, I venture confidently to affirm, that es timated by the measure of suffering, none were greater than my own. On account of my late service interfering with the neces sary preparations for the march, I had been permitted fof about a week, to defer the moment of exile. When no longer to be postponed, I took my passage in the stage, where, indifferent ta all around me, I sat ruminating on scenes of happiness departed, cheeriess and lost to every hope of their return. Dreams of glory, it is true, sometimes crossed my imagination, but discordant to APPEARANCE OF THE ARMY. 147 the tone of the predominant passion, the images were painful, and deeply tinged with despair. In so desolating a frarae of mind, I perceived the necessity of active .duty, which should leave me no time for reflection ; and under this impression, as I approached my place of destination, became as impatient for its attainment as I had been reluctant in setting out for it; eager to immerse myself in martial occupations, " As in the hardy camp and toilsome march, Forget all softer and less manly cares." A considerable portion of our motiey army had already as sembled in New York and its vicinity. The troops were chiefly from the eastern provinces; those from the southern, with the exception of Hand's, Magaw's, and our regiment, had not yet come on. The appearance of things was not much calculated to excite sanguine expectations in the mind of a sober observer. Great nurabers of people were indeed to be seen, and those who are not accustomed to the sight of bodies under arms, are al ways prone to exaggerate them. But this propensity to swell the mass, had not an equal tendency to convert it into soldiery; and the irregularity, want of discipline, bad arms, and defective equipment in all respects, of this multitudinous assemblage, gave no favourable impression of its prowess. The materials of which the eastern battalions were composed, were apparently the same as those of which I had seen so unpromising a specimen at Lake George. I speak particularly of the officers, who were in no single respect distinguishable from their men, other than in the coloured cockades, which, for this very purpose, had been pre scribed in general orders ; a different colour being assigned to the officers of each grade. So far frora airaing at a deportment which might raise them above their privates, and thence prompt them to due respect and obedience to their coramands, the ob ject was, by humUity, to preserve the existing blessing of equa lity : an illustrious instance of which was given by Coloilel Put nam, the chief engineer of the army, and no less a personage, than the nephew ofthe Major-General of that name. " Whatj" says a person meeting him one day with a piece of meat in his hand, " carrying home your rations yourself, Colonel !" " Yes," says 148 CHARACTER OF THE SOLDIERS. he, " and I doit to set the officers a good example." But if any aristocratic tendencies had been really discovered by the Colonel among his countrymen, requiring this wholesome example, they must have been of recent origin, and the effect of southern con tamination, since I have been credibly informed, that it was no unusual thing in the army before Boston, for a Colonel to make drummers and fifers ofhis sons, thereby, not only being enabled to form a very snug, economical mess, but to aid also considera bly the revenue of the family chest. In short, it appeared, that the sordid spirit of gain was the vital principle of this greater part of the army.* The only exception I recollect to have seen, to these miserably constituted bands frora New England, was the regiment of Glover from Marblehead. f There was an ap- * This sentiment is supported by a passage in a letter from General Washing- To.v to General Reed, dated Cambridge, 10th February, 1776. "Notwithstanding all the public virtue which is ascribed to these people; there is no nation under the sun that pays more adoration to money than they do." I am aware that these references to General Washington's sentiments will be ftrongly repulsive to the feelings, of many worthy men, from the consideration that the General's eharacter stands particularly high in New England, and that in that quarter ofthe Union are found not only the greatest number of his admirers, but also many ofthe ablest defenders ofhis policy and fame. But can these con fidential declarations ofhis opinions, emanating from an ardent love ofhis coun try and zeal in her cause, justly lessen him in the estimation of a single man of liberality and understanding? Is truth to be eternally muffled up and the mate- rials of faithful history suppressed, lest her exposure in certain instances may be displeasing to some good men and grateful to a malignant faction ? for useful it cannot be. To the promulgation indeed of these truths, the retribution is certain. His book, " the unkindest cut of all," to an author, will not sell. It wili be shunned like a pestilence in those places, where the truths it holds out, are unwelcome. For this reason I have been given to understand that ray publication will not do at all for a New England market. Sorae repugnance of the same kind would seem to exist against it in New York, as not long since a tTaok-seller of that city informed me he could uot dispose of a single copy. Even in its birth-place, Penn sylvania', it is very illy calculated for popularity ; and as for Virginia and her dependencies sweeping the whole Southern States to Louisiana inclusive, it raust then be, if not too contemptible for notice, a. subject of the bitterest execration. Nevertheless, I am consoted by the invincible pride of conscious honesty and the major amica Veritas, in a collision with all other friendships. t John Glover, a native of Marblehead, in Massachusetts, a Brigadier-General in the army of the United States. With his command he formed the advance of the army in its passage ofthe Delaware, and was, of course, at the Battle of Tren ton. He conducted Burgoyne's army, after its surrender, through the New Bng- CHARACTER OF THE SOLDIERS GENERAL GLOVER. 149 pearance of discipline in this corps ; the officers seemed to have mixed with the world, and to understand what belonged to their stations. Though deficient, perhaps, in polish, it possessed an apparent aptitude for the purpose of its institution, and gave a confidence that myriads of its meek and lowly brethren were in competent to inspire. But even in this regiment there \vere a number of negroes, which, to persons unacou.stomed to such as sociations, had a disagreeable, degrading effect. If there were any troops here, at this time, from Jersey, I do not recollect seeing them ; and those of New York, appeared not to be very numerous. They, however, afforded officers,, who might have been distinguished without a badge ; and who were suffi-. ciently men ofthe world, to know that the levelling principle was of all others, the most incompatible with good soldiership. Colo-. nel Hamilton* had been furnished by this province, raaking his debut in the new career as a captain of artillery ; but I never saw hira in this capacity, and I believe he was soon taken into the faraily of the Commander-.in-chief. Reinforcements were yet ex pected frpra the southward. Among these were MUes'sf and land States. He enjoyed, in a very high degree, the confidence and esteem of the. Commander-in-chief, whose commendation was warmly bestowed. He served throughout the war with high reputation,-i«En. * Al,E3!ANDER Hamilton, a name not very dear to the "progressive democracy "• of our party.ridden country, but nevertheless, one of the brightest and greatest that ever adorned the annals of any nation. His personal appearance is graphically described by Sullivan in his " Familiar Letters," already quoted : "He was under middle siie, thin in person, but remarkably erect and dignified in his deportment. His hair was turned back from his forehead, powdered, andl collected in a club behind. His complexion was exceedingly fair, and varying frora this only by the. almost feminine rosiness of his cheeks. His might be considered^ as to figure and colour, an uncommonly handsome face. When at rest, it had rather a severe and thoughtful expression ; but when engaged in conversation, it easily assumed an attractive smile. When he entered a room it was apparent, fmm, the respect.. ful attention ofthe company, that he was a distinguished person. His appearance and deportment accorded with the dignified distinction to which he had attained in public estimation." At the period ofhis death, in July, 1804j he was in his 48th year. — Ed. t Miles is mentioned by Washington in his letter tothe President of Congress, dated New York, August 12th, 1776: " The enemy have made no movements of consequence, nor have we any farther intelligence of their designs. Colonel Smallwood and his battalion got in on 13* 150 CHARACTER OF THE SOLDIERS. Atlee's provincial regiraents frora Pennsylvania ; Hazlet's* from Delaware, and Smallwood'sf frora Maryland, both, I think, onthe continental establishment; and hi addition, large drafts from flie militia of Pennsylvania. AU these were asserabled in time for flie opening of the campaign : but although the multitude, of which ) they were a part, contained some excellent raw materials, and was not without officers of spirit, possessing feelings suitable to their situation, yet diffused throughout the mass, they were certainly extreraely rare. The eye looked round in vain for the leading gentry of the country; those, raost emphaticaUy pledged to the cause, "by lffe, by fortune, and by satered honour ;"| and taking the army in the aggregate, with its equipments along vrith it, he must have been a novice or a sanguine calculator, who could sup pose it capable of sustaining the lofty tone and verbal energy of Congress. In point of numbers merely, it was deficient; though a fact then little known or suspe-cted. Newspapers and common report, indeed, made it immensely numerous ; and it was repre sented that General Washington had so many men, that he wanted Friday ; and Colonel Miles is also here with two battalions more of Pennsylvania riflemen." * Colonel John Haslet : He distingmshed himself at the Battle of Long Island. In 1776, with seven hundred and fifty raen, he attacked the enemy's outposts at the Village of Mamaronee, and foreed their guards, taking thirty-six prisoners, a, pair of colours, and sixty stand of arms. He was killed at. the Battle of Prince. ton. t Colonel William Smallwood was at the action of While Plains. He was pro moted to the rank of general, and, in 1777, was despatched to take command of the Maryland Militia on the Western Shore. He joined the main army in Sep tember of the same year, and was at the Battle of Germantown. In 1785, he was elected to Congress-, and the same j^ar. Governor of Maryland. He died, Febru ary, 1792.— Ed. t Congress, to be sure, were privileged ; and there must be ciyJl functions as well as military. But these were a good deal a matter of ehoice ; and as the war was a common cause, the very creature of association, its rubs should have been simewhat equalized. Thoughts of this kind, however, would sometimes intrudeinto minds soured by hard duly. Another thiug which also tended to lessen the number of young raen of figure was, that many prudent men thought the time extremely convenient for sending their sons lo Europe for education. There they could be better taught and were out of harm's way ; ahd upon the whole, one is justified in saying as Cornelius Nepos does of the Athenians, in his Life of Thrasybulus, num^m iMi& temporibus: fortius, boni pro, libertate loquebantur, quam pugnabunl. FORT WASHINGTON. COLONELS MAGAW AND PUTNAM. 151 no more, and had actuaUy sent raany home, as superfluous. It is true, there were men enough coming and going ; yet his letters of that day demonstrate how truly weak he was in steady, perma nent soldiers. It was probably between the twentieth and twenty-fifthof June, that I arrived in this busy scene ; in a few days after which, our regiraent and Magaw's* were marched towards Kingsbridge, and encamped upon the ground on which Fort Washington was erected. We were here under the coraraand of General Mifflin, and iramediately employed in the construction of that fortress, under the direction of Colonel Putnam, who, as aheady men tioned, was our principal engineer, and, considering his want of experience, not destitute, perhaps, of merit in his profession. As a man may be a rhetorician or a logician though unacquainted with the tenns ofthe art, so might Mr. Putnam have been a good practical artist, though misterming the Gorge the George. But this was merely a mistake in pronunciation ; and I will not per mit myself to question, that he had real science enough to have smelt out Moliere's jest about a dend-lune and a lune toute en- tiere.j * Colonel Robert Magaw. — He was appointed to the command of Fort Washington. When General Howe demanded the sarrender of the garrison. Colonel Magaw returned the following gallant answer to the British Adutant. General : — "15th November, 1716." " Sir, if I rightly uuderstand the purport of your raessage from General Howe, communicated to Colonel Swoope, this post is to be immediately surrendered, or put to the sword. I think it rather a mistake, than a settled purpose of General Howe, to act a part so unworthy qf himself, and of the British nation. But give me leave to assure his Excellency, that, actuated by the raost glorious cause that mankind ever fought in, I am determined to defend this post to the very last ex tremity. — Robert Magaw."' — E«. i Colonel RtJi'DS Putnam. — In regard to his qualifications as an engineer, General Washington, in his letter to Congress of 20th December, 1776, says, "I have also to mention, that, for want of some establishment in the department of engineers, agreeably to the plan laidj before Congress, in October last, Colonel Putnam, who was at the head ofit, has quitted, and taken a regiraent in Massa chusetts. I know of no other man tolerably well qualified, for the conducting of that business. None of the French gentleman, whom I have seen, with ap- pointments in that way, appear to me, to know any thing of the matter." And again in his letter to Congress, frora Pompton Plains, in July, 1777, he remarks^ 152 FORT WASHINGTON. In the course of some weeks, our labours had produced im mense mounds of earth, assuming a pentagonal form, and finally issuing in a fort of five bastions. As Csesar, in his operations, has been said to have made great use of the spade, I shall not insist upon the improhus labor being beneath the dignity of a soldier ; but certain it is, that we then thought it so, and that the continual fatigue-duty we were subjected to, was not only extremely ' irksome, but unfavourable also to our improvement in tactics, which, nevertheless, was assiduously attended to. The perpe tual clouds of dust which the dry weather of the season occa sioned, gave us the appearance of scavengers ; a chcumstance sadly at variance vi'ith the neatness of person inculcated by Colonel Shee, and of which he was an enthusiastic admirer : it made our duty also extreraely severe, and gave me an inflamma tion in my eyes, which was the only indisposition I experienced during the carapaign. Sickness, however, on the approach of fall, prevaUed araong our men to a great degreee ; and litfle more than haff our nuraber, was at any time fit for duty. Thus, without fighting, are armies " sluggishly melted away." One ofthe chief objects in building Fort Washington is under stood to have been, to prevent the enemy passing up the Hudson, on whose eastem bank it stood, on very commanding ground. On the opposite side of the river. Fort Lee, in the same view, was afterwards erected : and these, with the sinking of some hulks in the channel, were expected, or at least hoped, to be sufficient for the purpose. But the inefficacy of these impedi ments was soon evinced by two frigates, that taking advantage of a favourable wind, saUed by us with great gallantly, in English phrase, returning our fire in great style. We were too high for their guns to be brou^t to bear upon us with any certainty; though one ball was thrown into the fort. Our elevated situation was nearly as unfavourable to the success of our fire upon them ; "Colonel Putnam, I imagine, will be with him (General Schuyler) before this, as his regiment is part of Nixon's brigade, who wilt answer every purpose he can possibly have for an engineer at this crisis." Colonel Putnam served well and faithfully, throughout the war ; at its close he held the rank of Brigadier-General, and was, subsequentlyj one of the first set tlers IB the North Western territory.— Ed. GENERAL MIFFLIN. 153 to remedy which in future, a battery was constructed below, in a very advantageous position. But this was attended with no better effect; as two other frigates, not long after, passed in defiance of the guns of both batteries, and apparently without having sus tained the slighest injury. I afterwards learned, however, when prisoner in New York, that upon one of these occasions, one of the frigates had been hulled, and sorae raen killed and wounded ; among the latter, a midshipman, a son of Mr. Courtland Skinner, of Amboy, lost his arm. To have been regular, I should have mentioned the ar'rival of the hostUe forces, and their occupancy of Staten Island as a pre paratory station. From the uncertainty in what quarter they might invade us, the utmost vigUance was inculcated every where, and observed at our post. The lines were raanned every raorn ing an hour before day-light ; we were several tiraes forraed for action; and once raarched to Blooraingdale in fifll expectation of meeting the enemy, who it was confidently asserted, had raade good a landing there, or in the neighbourhood. The intelligence proved untrue, ff such indeed had been received. But it is not improbable, that it was merely a contrivance of General Mifflin, to inure us to alarms and render us alert, objects, that to a certain extent, were not without utility; but the Generalwas a bust ler, who harassed us unnecessarily; and, considering the un avoidable severityof our duty, to the real injury of the health of the troops. His manners were better adapted to attract popularity than to preserve it. Highly animated in his appearance, and possessing in an eminent degree the talent of harranguing a mul titude, his services in giving motion to the mUitia, were several times, in the course of the war, felt and acknowledged ; but that he was equally calculated to keep alive military ardour and con fidence, cannot be affirmed. He was full of activity and appa rently of fire ; but it rather resembled the transient blaze of light combustibles, than the constant, steady flarae of substantial fuel : though in saying this it should be mentioned, that I have no ground to insinuate that his forthude was not equal to any de mand that might have been made upon it. He assumed a little of the veteran from having lain before Boston ; was very fond of teUing us that he would bring us into a scrape ; and it must be 154 AN ODD CHARACTER. confessed, that he was considerably happy in the display of that apathy to human carnage, which is aflfected by great oommanders, in the spirit of which flie great Frederick teUs us, that "When sovereigns play for provinces, the lives of men are but as coun ters." So much 'tis better to direct the game, than be a compo-- nent part of its machinery! But whatever might have been Mifflin's deficiencies, he had many qualifications for his station that too many others, placed in higher ones, wanted. He was a man of education, ready apprehension and brilliancy ; had spent some time in Europe, particularly in France, and was very easy of access with the manners of genteel life, though occasionally evolving those of the Quaker. In delineating both men and events, ray object is truth; otherwise the friendly attention I never fail to receive from this gentleman, might have led me into a strain of less qualified encomiura.* The first frigates that passed us, took their station in Tappan sea, where an attempt was made to set them on fire. It failed as to the larger vessels, but a tender was destroyed. One of the persons who embarked in this ^service as a volunteer, was the surgeon's mate of our regiment, a singular character and degene rate son of Mordecai Yarnall, a Quaker preacher. I was amused * General Thomas Mifflin. — He was appointed Quarter-master-General by Washington, in 1775. Richard Henry Lee, in his reply to Washington's letter informing him of this, says : — " I think you could not possibly have appointed a better man, to his present ofiice than Mr. Mifilin. He is a singular man, and you certainly will meet with the applause and support of all good men, by pro moting and countenancing real raerit and public virtue, in opposition to all private interests and partial afifection." He distinguished himself at the siege of Boston by his coolness and intrepidity, and, at the age of 32, was appointed by Con gress, a Brigadier. In 1777 he was promoted to the rank of Major-General. In 1783, he was elected to Congress from Pennsylvania, his native state, and presided, with ability and dignity, over the deliberations of that body. In 1785, he was speaker of the Legislative Asserably, and subsequently, presiderit ofthe Suprerae Executive Council. He had been a member of the convention which framed the Constitution of the United States, and, in 1799, assisted as president of the convention, in forraing the new Constitution of the Slate. He was the first Governor under this Constitution, and held the ofiice for nine years, having been thrice elected. As president of Congress, he received, at Annapolis, the resigna tion of General Washington, as Commander-in-chief, delivering on the occasion, a brief, but eloquent address in reply to the speech of Washington. He died, at Lancaster, on the 21st of January, 1800, aged 56.— Ed. CONNECTICUT LIGHT HORSE. 155 with his oddities, and sometimes listened to his imitations of his father's manner of preaching, as well as that of many others of the public friends. Though a temporary apostate from the prin ciples of his forefathers, in which he had been strictly brought . up, I never doubted that they had taken root in him; and that if he was not prematurely cut off, they would vegetate and fruc tify in due season : nor was I mistaken. Many years after, I saw him zealously sustaining his paternal vocation, surrounded by a circle of friends. He had come to preach in the town in which I resided : I went to hear him, and had the pleasure of taking him home with me to dinner with several of his atten dants, where every thing passed with as much gravity and de corum, as if I had never seen him in any other character. Mr. Yarnall's former profaneness could not but have occurred to him on this occasion; but whatever might have been his recollec tions, he dissembled them admirably. Among the military phenomena of this campaign, the Connec ticut light horse ought not to be forgotten. These consisted of a considerable number of old fashioned men, probably farmers and heads of families, as they were generally middle aged, and many of them apparently beyond the meridian of life. They were truly irregulars; and whether their clothing, their equip ments or caparisons were regarded, it would have been difficult to have discovered any circumstance of uniformity; though in the features derived from " local habitation," they were one and the same. Instead of carbines and sabres, they generally carried fowling pieces; some of them very long, and such as in Pennsyl vania, are used for shooting ducks. Here and there, one, " his youthful garments, well saved," appeared in a dingy regimental of scarlet, with a triangular, tarnished, laced hat. In short, so little were they like modern soldiers, in air or costume, that, dropping the necessary number of years, they might have been supposed the identical men who had in part composed Pepperil's array at the taking of Louisbourg. Their order of march corre sponded with their other irregularities. It " spindled into longi tude immense," presenting so extended and ill-compacted a flank, as though they had disdained the adventitious prowess derived from concentration. These singular dragoons were vo- 156 CHARACTER OF THE ARMY. lunteers, who came to make a tender of their services to the Commander-in-chief. But they staid not long at New York. As such a body of cavalry had not been counted upon, there was in all probability a want of forage for their jades, which, in the spirit of ancient knighthood, they absolutely refused to de scend from; and as the general had no use for cayalierSin his insular operations, they were forthwith dismissed with suitable acknowledgments for their truly chivalrous ardour.* An un lucky trooper of this school had by some means or other, found his way to Long Island, and was taken by the enemy in the bat tle of the 27th of August. The British officers made themselves very merry at his expense, and obliged him to amble about for their entertainment. On being asked, what had been his duty in the rebel army, he answered, that it was to flank a little and carry tidings. Such at least was the story at New York among the prisoners. But notwithstanding the unwarlike guise of the troops from New England, there was no part ,of the continent perhaps, in which so little impression could be made, or in which the enemy was so cautious of advancing. Their numbers and zeal ren dered them formidable when fighting on their own ground pro aris etfods; and pitiful as was the figure the eastern men made this campaign, the defence of Bunker's hill was worthy of the bravest veterans.f I attempt not to assign a cause for the falling * It appears from a letter of General Washington, that they refused fatigue duty, because it was beneath the dignity of troopers. t General Washington writes under date of 10th February, 1776, to Joseph Reed: "The party sent to Bunker's HiU had some good and some bad men en gaged in it. One or two Courts have been held on the conduct of part of thera. To be plain, these people are not to be depended upon if exposed ; and any man will fight well if he thinks hirnselfin no danger. Ido not apply this only to these people. I suppose it to be the case with all raw and undisciplined troops."— Sparks, Vol. iii. p. 285. With no other motive than a love of justice, a protest must here be entered against a judgment so severe as that expressed by our authorlh the text. What ever may have been the deficiencies of a portion of the New England troops in equipment and discipline— deficiencies by no nieans peculiar to them— the cou rage, fortitude, and self sacrificing zeal with which the trials and difiieulties of the Revolution were met, enditoed, and finally overcome, ought not to be questioned. AU this is matter of history. The country that could furnish such " exigent CHARACTER OF THE ARMY. 157 off; and should even be fearful of recognising it, were there not documents in existence, and hundreds yet alive tqi attest the truth of my representations. I have in vain, endeavoured to ac count for the very few gentiemen and men of the worid, that at this time appeared in arms from this country, which might be considered as the cradle of the revolution. There were some indeed, in the higher ranks; and here and there a young man of decent breeding, in the capacity of an aid-de-camp or brigade major; but any thing above the condition of a clown, in the regiments we came in contact with, was truly a rarity. Was it, that the cause was only popular araong the yeomanry.? Was it, that raen of fortune and condition there, as in other parts of the continent, though evidently most interested in a contest, whose object was to rescue American property from the grasp of British avidity, were wUUng to devolve the fighting business on the poorer and humbler classes ? Was it, in short, that they held the language ofthe world, and said, "Let the guU'd fools the toils of war subdile, Where bleed the many to enrich the few?" Or was it, that that simple way df thinking and ill appreciation of military talent, which had made a driveUing deacon,* second men " as Prescott, Warren, Greene, Knox, Putnam, Lincoln, Stark-, and SuLLt VAN ; an Adams, a Hancock, an Otis and a Quincy, cannot be supposed to be defi". cient in enlightened patriotic zeal, or in men with " hearts to do and dare," all that brave and patriotic men may do and dare, in defence of their liberties and rights • and the page of History^glo^s with the story of their services, suflerings and worth. — Ed. * This was General Ward,* with wliose resignation and that of Brigadier Prye General Washington makes himself merry in a letter to General Lee, published in the Memoirs of the latter. So little does the cbaracter of the time appear to be known at present, that I deera it necessary to forlify my remarks. * General Artemas WarB. — He had been appointed) by the Provincial Con gress of Massachusetts^ commander of all the forces raised by that Colony. He was the first Major-Gleneral in the American array. He graduated at Harvard, in 1748. " For several years he vpas an active and useful member ofthe General Court, and, in 1774, one of the Provincial Congress. He served in the war pre vious to the peace of Parisj and when the Revolutionary struggle commenced was appointed Major.Gcneral, and was even thought of as Generalissimo. 14 158 GENERALS WARD AND FRYE. in command; was then prevalent among them ? Whatever was the reasoUj^New England was far behind the other provinces in the display of an ardent, unequivocal zeal for the cause, in the quaUty of her oflScers ; and notwithstanding that she has since 'shown herself more prolific of Uberal, well-informed, exigent men, than any other part of the union, her soldiery, at the time I am speaking of, was contemptible in the extreme. Neither did the fighting department appear to be fashionable among the gentry of Virginia; It must be admitted that she furnished some gentiemen aids-de-camp and volunteers, and afterwards, corps of cavalry, respectably officered; but the seri ous, drudging business of war, devolves on the infantry; and in this description of force, she evinced but little brilliancy. One of her regiments, I recollect, did duty with us whien we were encamped on Haerlem heights'. Its commander bad the ap pearance of a reputable planter, and might for any thing I know to the contrary, have been both patriotic and brave ; but neither himself nor his officers, were of the kind that bespoke the elite of their country : they Were not in the style of their vocation; in a word, they were nOt Baylors, nor Griflfins, nor Lees, nor Mon-J^ roes. But allowing every possible merit to these gentlemen, it does not lessen \he force of m^ observation in respect^ to theh State, of whose subsequent exertions, I am ignorant. He commanded the troops a£ Camhridge until the arrival of Washington, when he was placed at the head of fhe right wing at Roxbury. His firmness and in trepidity were strikingly displayed oh various trying occasions. He resigned his comrnission in April, 1776, though at the request of Washington he continued for sorae tirae longer in coramand. ' He was after wards- chosen one ofthe Council /• of Massachusetts^ where he was distinguished fo? his integrity and independenct .; ,; , 6f spirit. He was elected to Congress on the oi'ganfzation of the General Govern. j| ^ ment, and died late in the year 1800, at the age of sevenfy-f hree."— £nc. ^roei-.-^ ,,, En. Brigadier-General Joseph • Frye.— Washington writes concerning him to Congress, 31st August, 1775:— "He .entered into the service as early as 1745, and rose through the different railitary ranks, in the iwo succeeding wars, to that of Colonel. From these circumstances, together with the favourable repotf made to me of 'hira, t presume he sustained tlie character of a good officer, thouigh I do not find it distinguished by any peculiar service.';. Colonel Frye received from Congress the appointment of Brigadier-Gener^in the Coritilienfial army, upon the recomraendation of the Commander-in-chief. ¦* He resigned his commission in April,- 1776.- Ed. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 159 Among the mistakes of my life, in a view to advancement, I may justly reckon my- not essaying the aid-de-camp career. To the rank and pay of raajor, which followed the appointment, an exemption from hard duty immediately tpok place, and the for tunate, incumbents had cause to hug themselves in a world of other pleasant consequences. They, comparatively, fed weU and slept well ; used horses legs instead of their own, upon a march ; and were, besides, in the true "road to preferraent. The late Ge neral Walter Stewart,* was a younger Captain than rayself, in the same regiment'. But he chose the better- path I allude to : in doing so "he escaped captivity, was warmly recoraraended to Congress by bis General, and complimented with a regiment, while his elder oflSicers were languishing in captivity, neglected, superseded and forgotten. Captain ScuU, also, of our regiment, had attached himself to General Thomson ; and the Colonels fear ing they should lose more of us,, were assiduous in representing the eraployment of an aid, as not only unworthy of a man of spirit, but as being out of the line of promotion : In tiie latter, at least, they were egregiously raistaken. ^> ? # w "^^^ Declaration df Independence, f whose date will never be * Honourable mention is made of Colonel Walter Stewart by General Wash ington in his letter of 13th January, 1780, to Lord Sterling. Colonel Stewart rendered valuable services' at the time of the revolt in the Pennsylvania line, which were recognised by Washington and Wayne. — Ed. ¦ * t The Declaration of Independence was read, in public, by Commodore Hop kins, from " the platform of an Observatory which had Aeen erected by Ritten- house, at the rear of the State House. But few people asserabled to hear i|; and among these there were no manifestations of enthusiasint They quietly retired at its conclusion. It was abpve the comprehension ofthe mass. The principles . upon which it was based, and the language of the Declaration itself, were not immediately appreciated and understood. Anothei proof of what has been else where asserted in these ' Memoirs' — that the 'Revolution is universally admitted '_ to have begun in the upper circles of society.' • The apathy, timidity, or igno rance, thus manifested at its' birth-place was not imitated elsewhere, and whatever may haye been the reception of the great intelligence by the army — among the people, and nowhefe more warmly than at Boston, the riews was received, ac cording to BoTTA, ' with transports of joy.' Nor were any of those public demon strations omitted which governments are accustomed to employ, on sirailar ocpasions, to conciliate the favour ofthe people. The artillery was fired, bonfires were kindled,, the people seemed a)ctually delirious^ with exultation. On the llth of July, the manifesto of Congress was published In New York, and was read to each-brigade of the American army, which, at that time, yvas assembled in the 160 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. forgotten so long as Liberty remains the fashion, and demagogues continue tp thrive upon it, was, with the utmost speed, trans- mhted to the armies ; and when received, read to the respective regiments. If it was not, embraced with all the enthusiasm that has been ascribed to the event, it was at least hailed with accla mations, as no doubt any other act of Congress, not flagrlntly iraproper, would at that tirae have been. The propriety of the measure had been little canvassed among us ; and perhaps it was to our honour, considered merely as soldiers, that we were so little of politicians. A predUection for republicanisra, it is true, had not reached the army, at least the Pennsylvania line ; but as an attenipt to negotiate in our unorganized situation, would pro bably have divided and ruined us, the step was considered wise, although a passage of the Rubicon, and calculated* to close the door to accommodation. Being looked upon as unavoidable, if resistance was to be persisted in, it was approved; and produced vicinity of the city : it was received with universal acclamation. The same evening the statue of George III., which had been erected in 1770, was taken doiyn^and dragged through the streets. It was decide(ithat the lead of which it was composed,.should be converted into musket balls. These excesses, however blameable in themselves, were not without utility if considered politically ; they excited the people and hurried them on to the object that was desired.' At Balti more, Independence having been proclaimed in the presence of cannoniers and militia, the people oould not contain their enthusiasm. The air'resounded with salutes of artiUery, and the shouts that hailed the freedom and happiness of the United States of America, The efiigy ofthe King became the sport ofthe popu. }ace,"and was afterwards burnt in the public square. The rejoiclogs at Boston were the- greatest of aU. Independence was there proclaimed from the balcony of the State House, in the presence of all the authorities, civil and military, and of an immense concourse of people, as weU from the city itself as frora the coun try. The garrison was drawn up in order of battle in King street, which from that moment took the name of State street; the troops forraed in thirteen detachments, to denote the thirteen United States. At a given signal, a salute of thirteen cannon was fired upon Fort Hill, which was immediately answered by an equal number frora the batteries of the Castle, of the Neck, of 'Nantasket, and of Point Alderton, The garrison, in their turn, fired thirteen salutes of musketry, each detachraent firing in succession. The authorities and most considerable inhabitants then convened at a banquet prepared in the Council Chamber. All the bells rung in token of felicitation ; the joy was universal, and its demonstra- tions were incessantly renewed. In the evening all the ensigns of royalty, lions, sceptres or crowns, whether sculptured or painted, were torniin pieces, and burned." — Ed. STATUE OF GEORGE III. DEMOLISHED. 161 no resignations araong the officers thatl E^ra aware of, except that of Lieutenant-Colonel WiUiara Allen, already raentioned, who was Avith his regiment in Canada. He called at our camp on his way to Philadelphia, where he appeared soraewhat surprised and raor tified that his exaraple had no followers. Being now independent, we had . no farther use for a king, or even the semblance of one ; for which reason the equestrian sta tue of George the Third, in New York, was thrown down and demolished. The head of the King was cut off by way of in flaming the public valour : but so little was the spirit of seventy- six like the spirit of subsequent eras, that the act was received with extreme coldness and indifference. Had even George him self been among us, he would have been in no great danger of personal injury, atleast frora the army. We were, indeed, begin ning to grow angry with him ; and were not displeased with Paine for caUing him a royal brute, but we had not yet acquired the true taste for cutting throats. The suspense in which we had for many weeks been held, in respect to the meditated operations of the enemy, was at length removed by the landing of a considerable force ori the 22d of August, on Long Island. Among the measures taken to counter act hira, hand-biUs, addressed to the Gerraan troops, inviting de sertion by a proraise of land, were prepared by^Congcess, and . endeavoured to be circulated among them. For this business, Christopher Ludwig, a baker of PhUadelphia, was, araong others, selected. As he was a Gerraan, and had been a soldier in his younger days, he was supposed to be peculiarly fitted for the purpose. FuU of zeal for the cause, he was already at his post, and was bold enough to undertake the perilous eraployraent ; but whether he ventured himself in the enemy's camp, I never learned. I rather suspect he was shy, as he well knew the penalty of detection in such an enterprize. At any rate, the overtures had no effect : no deserters came over to us. This Ludwig, though far advanced in years, could yet play the old soldier with much address, and thence contrived to raake himseff conspicuous. Be ing employed sorae time after to manage the ovens, he assuraed the titie of Bakerniaster- General of the army, and made a vow never to shave his beard until a fortunate conclusion of the con- 14* 162 BAKER-GENERAL— THE BRITISH LAND ON LONG ISLAND. test.* It is a little remarkable, tiiat tiie patriotism of the Baker- General should have displayed itseff in the sarae raanner as that of Cato did, during tiie civU war of Rome, who, as we are in- formed by Lucan, neither shaved, nor cut his hair. " tt primum toUi feralia viderat arma, Intonsos rigidara in frontem descendere canos Passus erat, ratestamque genis increscere barbam^ For when he saw the fatal faction's arra, The coming war, and Rome's impending harm j Regardless quite of every otisr care, Unshorn he left his loose neglected hair, Rude hung the hoary honours of his head. And a foul growth his mournful cheeks o'erspread."' The forces of the enemy, which had been landed on Long Island, had extended themselves as far asFlatbush and New Lots, between which places and our works at Brooklyn, runs a ridge of pretty lofty hiUs. Here it was, that being met by our troops under the comraand of Generals Sullivan and Stirling, the action of the 27th of August commenced ; of which, as I was not pre- * Mr. Graydon, on a Iteaf of his private copy of the Memoirs, wrote, " a gen tleman corrects me, and saya, it was not until a conclusion of the war, but until we regained possession of Philadelphia. Be it so." Christopher Ludwiok — the " Baker-General " — lies conspicuously buried in the grave-yard of St. Michael's (Lutheran) Church, at the upper end of German- town. From his monument we learn that he was born in Germany, where he learned his "trade and business of Baker. In early life hewas a soldier and a sailor, and visited the East and West Indies. He came to Philadelphia in 1755, and by industry and integrity accumulated a handsome property, part of which he devoted to the service of his adopted country, in the contest for Inde pendence. Was appointed Baker-General to the Army,, and, for faithful servicesi received a written lestimony frora the Commander-in-chief. On every ^occasion his zeal for the relief of the oppressed was manifest, and by his last wiU he bequeathed the greater part of his estate for the education of the poor, of all de norainations, gratis. He lived and died respected for his integrity and public spirit. Reader, such was Ludwick. Art thou poor ? venerate his Character. Art thou rich ? imitate his Example." Mr. Ludwick died in 1801, aged nearly 81 yeara — In his humble sphere he rendered faithful service in the cause of Independence ; services which entitle him to grateful remembrance, and more than justify a passing tribute to his patriotism aud worth.^-Eu. NEW YORK PRIVATIONS OF SOLDIERS. 163 sent, I know nothing more than is given in the historical accounts of this affair. The manifest superiority of the enemy on this oc casion, owing more to mismanagement, perhaps, on our side, than want of bravery in the troops engaged, rendered it expedient to draw our forces to the point that had been chosen for the contest ; and an express was accordingly sent off, requiring the imraediate march of Shee's and Magaw's regiraents to New York. Being forthwith put in motion, we proceeded with the utmost speed, and reached the city in the afternoon ; but by this time the con flict was over, and the firing had ceased. Here, therefore, we were quartered for the night, under orders to be in readiness to cross the East river by break of day in the morning. Glover's regiment was also moved to this place, and was under similar orders for Long Island. Few particulars of the day's combat were yet known, though it was pretty well ascertained that we had been handled severely, and lost a considerable nuraber of officers and men ; but what proportion had been kUled, or were prisoners, was merely conjecture. New York was, at this time, a scene of tumult and confusion, and, it, raight be added, of dis- raay. The circumstances, however, did not deprive rae of ray appe tite, and the inclination for a good supper, which I had not for soine months enjoyed; and therefore, as soon as our men were dismissed to their quarters, which was not until dark, Mr. Forrest and myself, set out in pursuit of this object. But some of the public houses were full, others had no eatables in. them, and we began to fear,, that this little enjoyment we had proraised our selves, was not to be obtained ; and that we should be obliged to go ;to bed supperless. After trying the best looking inns to no purpose, we essayed those of more humble appearance, and at length entered one, that was kept by a middle-aged, matronly lady. We asked if she could give us supper ; she gave us the cora mon answer, that there was nothing in the housfe. We were now about to give the matter up, and had retired beyond the door, with somewhat of a disconsolate air, perhaps, when the good woman seemed touched with compassion for us. She had pro bably sons of her own ; or if not, she was of that sex which, Ledyard tells us, is ever prone to acts of kindness and humanity. 164 NEW YORK PRIVATIONS OF SOLDIERS. She caUed us back and told us, that she believed she could make out to. give us a lobster. At this we brightened up, assuring her, as we really thought, that nothing could be better : and being shown into a smaU, snug apartment, we called for a pint of wine. We now thought ourselves, instead of outcasts, favourites of fortune, as upon comparing notes with our brother officers, next day, we found we had reason, since scarcely one of them had been able to procure a mouthful. Our lobster being quickly served up, we fell to witb most exceUent appetites, and between it and our wine entirely forgot our toils, most fervently realizing the sentiment of the song, that " a bottle and kind landlady cure all again." On the next day, early in the forenoon, we were transported to Long Island ; raarched down to the entrenchments at Brooklyn, and posted on their left extremity, extending to the WaUabout. The arrival of our two battalions, (Shee's and Magaw's, which always acted together,) with that of Glover, had the effect, I have always found t^ be produced, by a body of men under arms, having the appearance of discipline. Although, owing to the dysentery which had prevailed in our camp, our number was so reduced, that the two regiments could not have amounted to raore than eight hundred raen, raaking in the whole, when joined with Glover's, about twelve or thirteen hundred ; yet it was evid&t that this small reinforcement, inspired no inconsiderable degree of confidence. The faces that had been saddened by the disasters of yesterday, assuraed a gleara of animation, on our approach ; accompanied with a murmur of approbation in the spectators oc casionally greeting each other with the remark, that "these were the lads that might do something." Why it should be so, I know not, but the mind instinctively attaches an idea of prowess, to the silence, steadiness, and regularity of a military assemblage ; and a hundred weU dressed, well armed, and weU disciplined grenadiers, are more formidable in appearance, than a disjointed, disorderly multUude of a tiiousand. Our regiments, to be sure, could not arrogate such perfection ; but tiiat they were distin guished in our young array, may be inferred, from an official let ter from General Washington, wherein he states, tiiat "tiiey had been trained with more than coramon attention." To sustain LONG ISLAND ENTRENCHMENTS. 165 the duty now imposed upon us, required both strength of body and of mind. The spot at which we were posted, was low and unfavourable for defence. There was a fraised dhch in hs front, but it gave little proraise of security, as it was evidently coramanded by the ground occupied by the enemy, who entirely enclosed the whole of our position, at the distance of but a few hundred paces. It was evident, also, that they were constructed batteries, which would have rendered our particular situation ex tremely ineligible, to say the least of it. In addition to this dis comfort, we were annoyed by a continual rain, which, though never very heavy, was never less than a searching drizzle, and often what raight, with propriety, be called a smart shower. We had no tents to screen us from its pitiless pelting ; nor, ff we had had them, would it have comported with the incessant vigUance required, to have availed ourselves of them, as, in fact, it might be said, that we lay upon our arms during the whole of our stay upon the island.* In the article of food, we were littie better off. We had indeed, drawn provisions, whose quality was not to be coraplained of. Our pickled pork, at least, was good; but how were we to cook it. As this could not be done, it was either to be eaten as it was, or not eaten at all ; and we found upon trial, that boiling it, although desirable, was not absolutely necessary ; and that the article was esculent without culinary preparation. I remember, however, on one of the days we were in this joyless place,, getting a slice of a barbacued pig, which some of our soldiers had dressed at a deserted house which bounded our lines. There was an incessant skirmishing kept up in the day-time between our riflemen and the enemy's irregulars; and the firing * Had not this work been written a few -years too early, I might have scienti fically talked of our bivouacking; but like the man who had been all his life talking prose without knowing it, we, poor ignorants !^had been bivouacking here two nights without being sensible that we were in the performance of a grand operation, become grand at least, from the raking up, and applying to it of an old obsolete French word, by the greatNapoleon ; and which all military men since, are ambitious of being engaged in, for the sake of employing in despatches and private letters, this new and fascinating phrase. Even Sir Walter Soott re solved not to be behind thera in fashionable graces, — tells us in his Waterloo. "That line so -black And trampled, raarks the bivouack." 166 skirmishing — a battle apprehended. was sometimes so brisk, as to indicate an approaching general engagement. This was judiciously encouraged by General Washington, as it tended tb restore confidence to our men, and was, besides, showing a good countenance to the foe. On the morning after our first night's watch. Colonel Shee took me aside, and asked rae what I tbought of our situation. I could not but say, I thought it a very discouraging one. He viewed it in the same Ught, he said, and added, that if we were not soon withdrawn from it, we should inevitably be cut to pieces. So impressed was he wjth this conviction, that he de sired me to go to the quarters of General Reed, and to request him to ride down to the Unes, thathe raight urge him to propose a retreat without loss of time. I went, but could not find him at his quarters, or at any of the other places where it was likely he might be. It was not long, however, before he came to our station, and gave the Colonel an opportunity of conferring with him. This day passed ofi' like the last, in unabating skirmishing and rain. After dark, orders were received and communicated to us regimentally, to hold ourselves in readiness for an attack upon the enemy; to take place in the course ofthe night. This excited much speculation among the officers, by whom it was considered a truly daring undertaking, rendered doubly so from the bad condition of our arras; so long exposed to the rain: and although we had bayonets, this was not the case with the whole of our force, upon whom we must depend for support. It was not for us, however, to object to the measure; we were soldiers, and bound to obey. Several nuncupative wills were made upon the occasion, uncertain as it was, whether the persons to whom they were communicated would survive, either to prove or to execute them. I was for a while under the impression that we were to fight; and, in the language of the poet, was " stiffening my sinews artd summoning up my blood," for what, wifh the rest, I deemed a desperate encounter. But when I came to con sider the extreme rashness of such an atterapt, it suddenly flashed upon my mind, that a. retreat was the object ; and that the order for assailing the enemy, was but a cover to the real design. The more I reflected upon it, the more I was convinced that I was right ; and what had passed in the morning with Colonel Shee, midnight scene in camp. 167 served to confirm me in my opinion. I communicated my con jecture to some of the officers, but they dared not suffer them selves to believe it well founded, though they gradually came over to my opinion ; and by midnight, they were, for the most part, converts to it. There was a deep murraur in the camp which indicated some raovement; and the direclion of the decay ing sounds, was evidently towards the river. About two o'clock, a cannon went off, apparently from one of our redoubts, " piercing the night's dull ear," wifh a tremendous roar. If the explosion was within ourlines, the gun was probably discharged in the act of spikingit; and itcould havebeen no less a matter of speculation to the enemy, than to ourselves. I never heard the cause of it ; but whatever it was, the effect was at once alarming and sublirae ; and what with the greatness of the stake, the darkness of the night, the uncertainty of the design, and extreme hazard of the issue whatever might be the object, it would be difficult to con ceive a more deeply solemn and interesting scene. It never re curs to my mind, but in the strong imagery of the chorus of Shakspeare's Henry the Vth, in which is arrayed, in appropriate gloom, a similar interval of dread suspense and awful expecta tion. As our regiment was one of those appointed to cover the retreat, we were, of course, araong the last to be drawn off, and it was near day-break before we received orders to retire. We were formed without delay, and had marched near half way to the river, when it was announced that tbe British light horse were at our heels. Improbable as was the circumstance, it was yet so strenu ously insisted upon, that we were halted and formed, the front rank kneeling with presented pikes, which we had with us, to receive the charge of the supposed assaUants. None, however, appeared ; and the alarm must have proceeded from the fear of those who gave it, magntfying the noise of a few of our own horse men into that of squadrons of the eneray. We again took up the Une of march, and had proceeded but a short distance, when the head of the battalion was halted a second time. The orders we had received were erroneous : We were informed that we had come off too soon, and were commanded with all expedition to 168 RETREAT TO NEW YORK. return to our post.* This was a trying busmess to young soldiers ; it was, nevertheless strictly complied ^with, and we remained not less than an hour in the lines before we received the second order to abandon them.f It may be supposed we did not Unger; but though we moved with celerity, we guarded against confusion, and under the friendly cover of a thick fog, reached the place of embarkation without annoyance from the enemy, who, had the morning been clear, would have seen what was going on, and been enabled to cut off the greater part of the rear. One of my soldiers being too feeble to carry his musket, which was too pre cious to be thrown away, I took it from hira, and found myself able to carry it, together with ray own fusee. On attaining the water, I found a boat prepared for ray company, which immedi ately embarked, and taking the helm myseff, I so luckily directed the prow, ho object being discernible in the fog, that we touched near the centre of the city. It was between six and seven o'clock, perhaps later, when we landed at New York ; and in less than an hour after, the fog having dispersed, the enemy was visible on the shore we had left. Next to the raerit of avoiding a scrape in war, is that of a dex terous extrication from it ; and in this view, the removal of so * This is stated in Gordon's history, vol. 2, page 103, to have been owing to a mistake of Colonel ScammeU, who delivered the orders to General Mifflin to brmg off the whole covering party, instead of a particular regiment. t This circumstance is noted by General Heath in his Memoirs : — " In this retreat from the Island, and which was well conducted, au instance of discipline and of true- fortitude was exhibited by the American guards and pickets. In order that the British should not get knowledge ofthe withdrawal of the Ameri cans, untu their main body had embarked in the boats and pushed oflTfrom the shore, (a matter of the highest importance to their safety,) the guards were ordered to continue at their respective posts, with sentinels alert, as if nothing extraordinary was taking place, until the troops had embarked: they were then to come ofi; raarch briskly to the ferry, and embark theraselves. But the guard came off, and had nearly reached the landing-place, when they were ordered to face about, march back, and re-occupy their former posts ; which they instantly obeyed, and continued at them, until called off to cross the ferry. Whoever has seen troops in a simUar situation, or duly contemplates the human heart in such trials, weUltnow how to appreciate the condncl of these brave men, on this occa sion." — Ed. REFLECTIONS ON THE MEASURE. 169 great a number of men, stated I think at nine thousand, with can non and stores, in one night, was, no doubt, a masterly move ment, tiiough not classible perhaps with the great retreats. The Memoirs of the Duke of Sully relate an operation very similar to it, and to which much applause is given. This was achieved by the Prince of Parma, whose army, lying between Rouen and Caudebec, was in the night transported across the Seine, and thus preserved from the destruction that impended from the forces of Henry the IVth, ready to fall upon it in the morning. " Could it appear otherwise," observes the writer, "than a fable or an illu sion.? Scarce could the king and his army trust the evidence of their own eyes." After a comfortable brealdast, which I got at the coffee-'house, I met with Colonel Melchior of the "commissary department. Being one of my old and particular PhUadelphia acquaintances, he offered me his bed to repair my want of rest. I had not slept for two nights ; and as my brother, a lad of about nineteen and an ensign in the regiment, had undergone the same fatigue, I took him along with me, and locking the door of the apartment to ex clude intruders, we snatched a refreshing nap of five or six hours: after which, we felt ourselves alert and ready for the farther tasks which duty raight impose. General Washington has been censured for risking his army upon Long Island, and General Howe for permitting it to escape with impunity.* Reasoning from the facts which have evolved, the blame in both cases, seems to be weU founded. But this is not the mode of judging contingent events. In conducting the war on our side, a great variety of interests was to be consulted. Our * Sparks ascribes the unfortunate issue of the Battle of Long Island, " to the illness of General Greenk. He had superintended the erection of the military works, and become thoroughly acquainted with the grounds. In the hopfe of his recovery, Washington deferred sending over a successor, till the urgency of affairs raade it absolutely necessary; and then General Potnam took the com mand, without any previous knowledge of the posts whioh had been fortified be yond the lines, or ofthe places by which the enemy would make their approach; nor had he time to acquire this knowledge before the action. The consequence was, that, although he was the commander on the day ofthe battle, he never went beyond the lines at Brooklyn,, and could give no other orders than for sending out troops to meet the enemy al different points." — Ed. 15 170 WASHINGTON VINDICATED. cities, were, ff possible to be maintained, and no property to be sacrificed without the most manffest necessity, lest it might create disgust and disaffection. Congress, also, was to be obeyed; in which body, no doubt, there was enough of local feeling. Hence, New York must be defended ; and rf so, there was nothing wrong in risking an action on Long Island ; it was even better than awaiting it in the city. Add to this, that the combatants had not yet measured arms with each other ; and General Washington was not without ground for hope, that his troops would prove equal to the invaders. He knew tbe British were not invincible. He had even seen them panic struck under Braddock and Dunbar, and was aware of their having been staggered by a handful of irregulars at Bunker's hill. But it is sufficient for his exculpation, that the necessity of atterapting the defence of New York, was too imperious to be dispensed with. Otherwise, there can be no question, that with the unpromising' army he comraanded, he should have been extreraely cautious of committing himself in insular posts. No General will, of choice, convert hi§ army into a garrison, and invite a siege. Had this been done at New York, General Howe, by blockading it, would soon have reduced us to the necessity of starving, surrendering,^ or fighting our way out again ; a few batteries and redoubts do not render a place capable of sustaining a siege, or had he preferred an assault, what fortifi cations were there to justUy the assertion, that it' was tenable for a single day ? As to General Howe, I have scarce a doubt that he might have carried the entrenchments at Brooklyn, and cut off the troops posted there. Even without, intercepting with his ships of war, the passage of East river, the retreat across it would have been sufficientiy difficuh and tardy, to have rendered the loss of much the greater portion of our army inevhable. , That the works would have been weU defended and cost him a great many men, can neither be affirmed nor denied. The feelings of raw troops are too uncertain to be calculated upon ; and considering what had recently happened, it is rather to be presumed, that the defence would not have been obstinate. But General Howe, h shouldbe remembered, was yet a stranger to our circumstances and the character of our force. Though he had just vanquished a part of GENERAL HOWE CONDUCT OF THE BRITISH. 171 it in the open field, the remainder was behind entrenchments, sup ported by redoubts ; and he had cause for being cautious frora what had happened at Bunker's hill. Besides, he probably reasoned as we at fhst did, that our losses might be more easily supplied than his own; and, from the boldness of Congress in declaring independence in defiance of the concentrated power of Britain, he had certainly grounds to conclude, that their resources were great and their army extremely nuraerous.- In addition to these considerations, he had no reason to calculate on our pre cipitate retreat. He was preparing to attack us under the cover of batteries; and, in that case, might havebeen enabled to destroy the rear of our force with little loss to himseff. It must, however, be admitted, that the character of Sir WUliam's Generalship rather savoured of caution than enterprise. 172 AIiIERICANS ABANDON NEW YORK. CHAPTER vn. Americans abandon New York. — Take post at Fort Washington.— Character of Ofiicers.— Fire in New York. — Putnam. — Greene.— Promotions. — Fort Wash ington threatened. — Summoned by General Howe. — ^Americans attacked and retire, — Aofcounl ofthe Engageraent, On the thirty-first of August, the day after the retreat from Long Island, we raarched beyond King's-bridge towards the Sound, and crossing the Brunx, encamped about eighteen or or twenty miles from the city of New York. I say encamped, though, in fact we had no canopy but the sky, and nothing be tween our bodies and the earth, but the clothes we had on, and the blanket which eaoh of us carried along with him. We might, however, have lodged comfortably on the green sward, had not the imaginations of some of our party been stiU haunted by light horse ; an alarra having been given in the night,- whether in jest or earnest, I cannot say, that they had assailed us again. But it turned out to be nothing more than the scampering of a few colts, that were probably equally alarmed at seeing so many two- legged intruders extended on their feeding grounds. My memory does not enable me to say how long we reraained at this place; but I recollect we were soon joined by a portion of the army, araong which was the regiment of Hazlet from De laware. When the post was sufficiently strengthened to observe the motions of the enemy hovering in the Sound, and threaten ing the country about Frogs-point, we retook our old ground at Fort Washington. While here, we acted in detachment at Mor- risania, then menaced by a body of the British, which had beea thrown into Buchanan's and Montresors islands, lying in the mouth of Haeriem river, within two hundred or a hundred and fifty yards of the main land. I recoUect, at least, that theu sen^ TAKE POST AT FORT WASHINGTON. 173 tinels appeared to be within gun-shot,* and that, one day, I had considerable difficulty in restraining Captain Miller of Magaw's regiment, who carried a rifle, from shooting one of them, which he had no doubt he could do. This was a kind of warfare which appeared to me both cruel and useless ; and I reprobated it so earnestly, that for this time, I turned Miller from his purpose. But the carrying a rifle, is too apt to create an appetite for the savage mode of warfare which does its work in concealment ; and makes a merit of destroying the enemy whenever and where^ ever he raay be found. At the time of these raovements, the raain army very imprOf perly still lingered at New York. There cannot remain a doubt, that this city should have been evacuated, as soon as possible, after the quitting of Long Island. This was as obvious to me then as it is now, and I had backed my opinion with the bet of a beaver hat, that there would be no attempt to defend it. It * General Heath stales that " the chain of sentinels within half gun-shot of each other, were planted from one side of the shore to the other, and near the water passage between Morrisania and Montresors Island, which in some places is very narrow. The sentinels on the Araerican side were ordered not to fire at those ofthe British, unless the latter began ; bul the British were so fon(l of beginning, that there was frequently a firing between them. This having been the case oue day, and a British oflicer walking along the. bank on the Montresors side, an American sentinel, who had been exchanging some shots with a British sentinel, seeing the ofiicer, and concluding him lo be better game, gave him a shot and wounded hira. He was carried up to the house on the island. An ofiicer With a flag soon came down to the creek, and called for the American officer of the picket, and informed him, that if the American sentinels fired any more, the commanding officer on the island would cannonade Colonel Morris' house ii^ which the officers of the picket were quartered. The American ofiicer immedi- ately sent to our General to inquire what answer should be returned. He was dii-ected to inforra the British officer, that the American sentinels had always; been instructed not to fire on sentinels, unless they were first fired upon, and then lo return the fire ; that such would be their conduct : as to the cannonading of Colonel Morris' house, they might act their pleasure, The firing ceased for some tirae, but a raw Scotch sentinel, having been planted one day, he very soon afler discharged his piece al an American sentinel, nearest to him, which was immediately returned. This brought down a British officer, who, calling lo the American officers, observed, that ' he thought there was to be no firing between sentinels.' He was answered that their own began. ' He shall then pay for it.' The sentinel was directly after relieved, and the firing ceased, the sentinels be coming so civil to each olher, as to supply each olher with tobacco by throwing it across the streara." — Ed. 15* 174 NEW YORK ABANDONED. appears from documents since published, that it was the opinion of the Commander-in-chief, that it should be abandoned^ as weU as of other ofiicers in whom he principally confided, though not ofthe majority of ihe councU of war. Not long after, however, the propriety of the measure became so apparent, that it was uni versally concurred in, and the place was "given up, though not without a considerable loss of stores. Previously to this opera tion, our numbers had been much reduced by the. desertion of great bodies ofthe militia, and some ofthe other troops that had. been infected by their bad example, as appears from the letters of the General. A greater loss than themselves, was that of the arms and ammunition they took away with them. I very weU recoUect, that it was found necessary to post- a guard at King's- bridge to stop the fugitives ; and that upon one of them being arrested with a number of notions in a bag, there was fbund among them, a cannon ball, which, he said, he was taking home to his mother for the purpose of. pounding mustard. Such was the story; and though I was not a witness of the fact, I can vouch for its being entirely in character. An instance of shamer ful cx)wardice was also given by Parson's and FeUow's brigades (in which, their Generals, however, were not implicated) as men tioned in an official letter of the 16th of September : on this oc casion I have understood that the General lost all patience, throwing his hat upon the ground in a transport of rage and in dignation.* A day or two after this dastardly affair, better. conduct was shown by some companies of Colonel Weedon's regiment frorn Virginia, and some rangers composed of volun teers from different New England regiments under the comraand of Major Leitch and Colonel Knolton, both of whom were mor tally wounded. The army now took a position upon the higb grounds sur rounding Fort Washington, comprehending the heights of Haer- * According to General Heath, this was on the 15th of September. He says, " Here the Araericans, we are sorry to say, did not behave well ; and here it was as fame halh said; that General Washington threw his hat on the ground,-ex- clairaing • are these the men with which I am lo defend America !' But several things may have weight here;-the wounds received on Long Island were yel bleeding; and the officers, if notthe men, knew that the city was not to be de fended,"— En. ' FORT WASHINGTON. 175 lem and the difficult pass towards King's-bridge. A double row of lines was thrown up, nearly extending from Haerlem river to the Hudson, on the south, looking towards New York, of which General Howe was now in possession. General Washington appears to have had a good opinion of this post : but though certainly strong by nature and improved by entrenchments in its most accessible parts, its eligibility, for any other purpose, than that of a temporary encampment, was very questionable. It was liable to the same objection, as the posts of Brooklyn and New York. It was only open to the country on the side of King's- bridge; and consequently, the slightest demonstrations of the adversary, in that quarter, must have induced its abandonment, unless we should have been disposed for an encounter of sirailar difficulties to those, from which we were just extricated, and again trying the fortune of an escape across a river under the very paws of the eneray. But the idea, about this time, seems to have been taken up of making our resistance, a war of posts; or of disputing inch by inch, our ground. This sort of war, how ever, when referring to the operations of a weaker army, in a country without regular fortresses, appears to be scarcely practi cable, unless it should have the good fortune to be protected by a succession of Thermopyles. There are few posts which may not be turned and blockaded by a superior foree ; and the e.xpe rience of a campaign is sufficient to evince the fallacy of sup posing a position to be good merely because its approaches are difficult.* The impropriety of remaining in the present one, was immediately perceived by Lee, who joined us about the middle of October. He declared at once against the policy of having any thing to do \yith the islands, about which we had been clinging so pertinaciously; and with a figure somewhat too bold for the genius of our patriotism, exclaimed, that "he would give Mr. Howe d, fee-simple ih them." ¦ * This opinion is corroborated by General Sarrazin's observations in his His ¦ tory ofthe War in Russia and Germany, on the post of Borodino, tending to show the facility of mancEUvring Kutusoffout of it, and, of course, the impropriety of attacking sueh posts, if strong, since the holders of Ihem may always be forced to abandon. To prove the justice of his assertion, he quotes Kutusoff's letter to the Emperor Alexander. 176 BRITISH ADVANCE — AMERICAN TACTICS. But before we permit ourselves to arraign the conduct of the Commander-in-chief, we ought to obtain a clear idea, of what his operations should have been. Because, inferior to the foe,- was he, therefore, to have kept at an awful distance from him.? Would this have satisfied the country, or promoted the cause h had in hand .? It had been buoyed up into an exalted opinion of its prowess ; and thence expected fighting, if not victories. To have wholly shunned the conflict then, would have been a confession of a weakness, which, as the people were not pre pared for, it was dangerous to expose: It would have been too sudden a descent from the high gi'ound of independence.* * Congress, in October, had resolved, " that Fort Washington be retained as long as possible." " This decision," says Sparks, " appears to have been partly in consequence of a resolve of Congress, passed five days before, desiring Gene ral Washington ' by every art, and at whatever expense, to obstruct effectually the navigation of the river belween Fort Washington and Mount Constitution, as well to prevent the regress ofthe enemy's frigates lately gone up, as to hinder them from receiving succour.' On the following November, Washington wrote to Greene, then al Fort Lee, expressing his conviction, that the enemy would invest Fort Washington, and adding, 'I must recommend to you lo give every attention in youj power, and all the assistance you can, to that garrison.' In a letter to General Greene, dated Sth November, 1776, General Washington writesi, 'If we cannot prevent vessels from passing up, and the enemy are possessed of the surrounding country, what valuable purpose can it answer to atterapt to hold il post, frora which the expected benefit cannot be had ? I ara, therefore, inclined to think, that it will not be prudent lo hazard the men and stores at Fort Wash-' ington ; but, as you are on the spot, I leave it to you to give such orders as to its evacuation, as you may judge besl, and so far revoking the order given to Colo nel Magaw to defend it to the last.' " On the 16th ofthe same month, in a letter to Geueral Lee, he announces, that Colonel Magaw- "finding there was no prospect of retreating across the North River, surrendered the post." The loss of killed and wounded was not then known, but Washington believed it to have been considerable, from the length and severity of the engageraent. In a subsequent teller he says, " Colonel Magaw could not get the men to man the lines, otherwise he would not have given up the Fort." The garrison at Fort Washington consisted of four Colonels, four Lieute nant-Colonels, five Majors, forty-six Captains, one hundred and seven Lieutenants, ' thirty-one Ensigns, one Chaplain, two Adjutants, two Quarter-masters, five Sur geons, two Commissaries, one Engineer, one Wagon-master, and 9607 privates. The censure that has been cast upon the Comraander-in-chief in connexion wilh this surrender, prorapts the extension of this note bevond what, under other cir curastances, raight be considered ils proper limit. Like every other action of hia Ufe, the lapse of time, aiid the CoUection and concentration of authsntip know:- BRITISH ADVANCE AMERICAN TACTICS. 177 About the middle of October, General Howe having drawn his raain body to Frog's-point, the immediate necessity of a removal of our army from its present post became apparent; and was resolved on accordingly. It is not to be supposed, without ascribing an exfreme want of discernment to our counsels, but that the danger of remaining on a strip of land embarrassed by the Hudson and the Sound, must have been perceived and duly estimated, before the arrival of General Lee. Nevertheless it seems to have been considered, that by hoVering about New York, restricting the limits of the enemy, and thereby obliging him to have recourse to counteracting movements, the campaign might be consumed in fruitless operations. This mode of pro ceeding, extremely perilous, and only harassing to ourselves, may probably be referred in part to a proud military spirit, which ledge, exhibits slill more conspicuously, the wisdom and ability which always characterized his proqpedings. In a letter to President Reed, dated 29d August, 1779, caused, says Sparks, "by the tenour of Mr. Reed's letter, and by General Lee's Queries respecting the capture of Fort Washington, which were designed to oast blame and disparagement upon the Commander-in-chieP' — General Wash ington thus wrote : " When I carae to Fort Lee, and found no measures taken lowards an evacuation, in consequence of the order before mentioned ; when I found General Greene, of whose judgment and candour I entertained a good opinion, decidedly opposed to it; when I found other opinions so coincident wilh his ; vvhen the wishes of Congress to obstruct the navigation of the North River, which were delivered in sueh forcible terms, recurred ; when I knew that the easy communication between the different parts of the army, then separated by the river, depended upon it; and, lastly, when I considered that our policy led us to waste the carapaign without coming to a general action on the one hand, or suf fering the enemy to overrun the country on the olher, I conceived that every ira pediraent, that stood in their way, was a raeans lo answer these purposes ; — these, when thrown into the scale wilh those opinions, which were opposed lo an eva cuation, caused that warfare in my mind, and hesitation, which ended in the loss ofthe garrison ; and, being repugnant to my own judgment of the advisableness of attempting to hold the post, filled me with the greater regret. The two great causes which led lo this misfortune, and which I have before recited, as well, perhaps as my reasoning upon it, which occasioned the delay, were concealed from public view, and of course left the field of censure quite open for any and every labourer, who inclined to work in it; and afforded a fine theme for the pen of a malignant writer who is less regardful of facts than of the point he wants lo establish, where he has the field wholly to himself, where concealment of a few circumstances answers his purposes, or where a small transposition of thera will give a very different complexion to the same thing." — Ed. 178 FIRE IN NEW YORK. could not brook the supposed disgrace of flying before the foe, and in part to that prime source of our disasters, short enlistments and the militia system. For want of a permanent established force, which would have placed our cause above th^ reach of vulgar opinion, the public raind was perpetually to be consulted. The popularity of the raeasure declaratory of independence was sus pended on our chance of success; and this would principaUy be estimated by the ground we raaintained or lost. Hence, as every acre had its political value, the defensive, warfare on the large scale, could not safely be adopted ; nor for that reason, can the Fabian fame, of "never having yielded the public safety to cla.mour," be fully ascribed to General Washington. While the main army remained at the heights of Haerlem, a period of five weeks, from about the^ middle of September to the middle of October, we (Shee's and Magaw's regiments) consti tuted apart ofit, and did duty accordingly. It was my chance to be on guard on the night of the fire at New York,* on the picket, advanced about a mile in front of our lines. For a con siderable extent, the heavens appeared in flames, and from the direction of the light, I could not doubt there was a conflagra tion in the city. I raight have been distant from h about nine mUes ; and had not my situation been overlooked by a hiU di rectly in front, the cause might perhaps have been distinctly de veloped. Whether this fire was produced by accident or desigri, has never, I believe, been ascertained. By the British it was considered as proceeding from us. A few weeks after, having, for some purpose which I do not recollect, been sent, together with Captain Beatty,,with a flag, we talked with the officer who met us, about the extent of the fire and its cause. He said he was unacquainted with the cause, but presumed Mr. WAsmNO- ton's people knew more about h than they did.f The antipathy prevailing between the southern and eastern troops, had been the cause of a court martial, of which I was a * This it appears from General Heath's " Memoirs," was on the night between the 20lh and 91st of September. + This officer was right according to Judge Henry. See his account of this fire, page 185, ofhis "Campaign agaiust Que^iec." COURT MARTIAL. 179 member, upon the conduct of Lieutenant Stewart, of SmaU wood's regiment, better known by his subsequent titie of Major Jack Stewart. He had been arrested by General SiUiman, on account of some aUeged disrepect or disobedience to that officer. As the majority of the court were southern men, it was not at all won derful that Stewart was soon acquitted with honour. In so con temptible a light were the New England meh regarded, that it was scarcely held possible to conceive a case, which could be construed into a reprehensible disrespect ofthem. Thinking so highly as I now do of the gentlemen of this country, the recollec tion is painful, but the fact must not be dissembled: Even the celebrated General Putnam, riding with a hanger belted across his brawny shoulders, over a waistcoat without sleeves (his sum mer costume) was deemed much fitter to head a band of sickle- men or ditchers, than musketeers. He might be brave, and had certainly an honest manliness about him ; but it was thought, and perhaps with reason, that he was not what the time required. We had a regular army to oppose, and this could only be done by discipline and regular soldiership.* Neither did General * Mr. Graydon in a note, writes : "That General Putnam was deficient in these points, may be inferred from the following passage in a letter dated 15th January, 1 777, from General Washington to General Reed : ' Many days ago I wrote to General Putnam, supposing him to be al Princeton. What he can be doing at Crosswicks, I know not, after my repeated wishes to hear of him at Princeton. Surely he is there by this time I' " The quotation from General Washington's letter ceriainly authorizes no such inference ; and the sneer of our author is unjust. General Putnam, always distin guished, proved himself equal to every emergency, and this, notwithslanding his defective education, which, in truth, was extremely restricted. He was bred, from his earliest boyhood, to agricultural pursuiis. If wanting in polish, which, from the nalure of his occupations, may be admitted, the deficiency was more than counterbalanced by his noble and disinterested zeal in the cause which he de fended with unwavering fidelity, and of which, he was al once an ornament and a support. In 1755, at the commencement of the war belween England and France, at the age of thirty-seven, he was appointed coramander of a company and joined the army near Crown Point. In 1757, he was promoted lo the rank of Major. During the entire war he was distinguished for his bravery and ability, and in 1764, retired lo his country-home. He was soon caUed to fill several offices in Salem, Massachusetts, his native-town, and to represent il in the Geueral Assembly. When hostilities commenced between England and the Colonies, "Putnam received the intelligence while ploughing in the middle of a field; he 180 'generals PUTNAM AND GREENE. Greene himself,, shine with all the eclat that his character has since deservedly acquired.* There were none, by whom an unofficer-like appearatice and deportment could be less tolerated than by a city-bred Mary- lander, who, at this time, was distinguished ty the most fashion-, ably cut coat, the most macaroni cocked hat, an4 hottest blood in the union ; if tiiere was any exception, it was to be found among the chUdren of the sun of a stiU raore southern location. Araong aU these, the point of honour was raaintained, as it still seems to be, with considerable punctUio ; and the dashing man ner of Stewart, and indignant tone of Captain Smith (now Gene ral Smith,) who testified in his behalf, impressed the court, I remember, with a high idea of their mUhary qualities: and brave raen they certainly were — a praise, indeed, due to the officers frora Maryland generally ; as weU as to those of Small- wood's, battalion, which behaved weU and suffered severely on lefi; his plough there, unyoked his team, and, without changing his clothes, set off for the scene of action. He levied a regiment under Colonial authority in Con necticut, and marched to Cambridge. His Colony appointed him a Major-General, and Congress soon after confirmed to him the same rank inthe Continental army. About this time the British offered him the rank qf Major-General in His Majesty's service, wilh a pecuniary remuneration for his treason ; bul the temptation could not influence him." He served throughout the war, and died May 29th, 1790, aged seventy -three yeairs. — Ed. * In what respect General. Greene was deficient, we are not informed. We may infer, however, that the author has reference lo his deportment, also. His father was an artizan, and a, Quaker preacher, near the town of Warwick in Rhode Island. An ignorant and illiterate man, unable properly to estimate the value and advantages of education, but who is said to have been very careful of the mural aud religious instruction of his children. Greene was a self educated man. In 1770, he was elected to the Slate Legislature, and in 1774, enrolled himself as a private in a company called the Kentish guards. "After the battle of Lexington, the State of Rhode Island raised what was termed an army of observation, aud chose Greene its commander, with the title of Major-General. His elevation from the ranks raay give some idea of the estimation in wliich his military talents were held." His services were of the most brilliant eharacter, and it has been said that Washington was anxious, in the event of his decease, that Greene should be his successor. Il is very generally admitted, that of all the officers engaged in the revolutionary contest, Greene was most eminently qualified to succeed to the high command, if death had deprived the country of the services of Washington. General Greene, died, within three years after the termination of the war, at the age of forty-four years. — Ed. AUTHOR AT FORT WASHINGTON — COLONEL SHEE. 181 Long Island and at Whhe Plains. Its officers exhibhed a martial appearance by a uniform of scarlet and buff; which, by the by, savoured somewhat of a servUity if imhation, not fully according with the .independence we had assumed. The coraraon soldiers from the east and south, did not much better assiraUate than the officers ; but a fraffic was soon established between the forraer and the Pennsylvanians. This consisted in a barter of the ration of rura for that of raolasses. The Yankees did not care for the first, and our Irishraen could very well dispense with the latter. It has been supposed that the Pennsylvania line consisted chiefly of Irish, but this would by no means appear from my company. Out of seventy-three men, I find there were twenty frora Ireland, four frora England, two frora Scotland, two from Gerraany, and the remaining forty-five were Araericans. To these, adding four American officers, the proportion of Irish is but little more than a fourth. The official letters of General Washington ascertain the move ment of the army towards White Plains , to have coraraenced on the twentieth of October. We were very desirous of being at tached to it, both for the sake of variety, and the better opportu nity of seeing service and acquhing distinction ; but to our ex trerae chagrin, found that we were to remain in our prison. It was perhaps supposed, wc had an affection for the work of our hands ; but if so, nothing could be more erroneous. We were weary -of the sameness of garrison duty, which, from the great extent of ground we had to guard, becarae very severe. It was not unusual for a captain to be on guard twice a week, and a subaltern oftener. Our battalion was now commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Cadwalader ;* Colonel Shee, having before the march of the array, obtained leave of absence to visit his family, and converted that leave into an entire abdication of his comraand. This was cer tainly an extraordinary incident, and one I have never heard ac counted for. Whatever cause he might have had for disgust, or * Colonel LambeR* CAdWalaDeA. — He was made prisoner on the surrender of Fort WashingtoHj bul, at the request of General Prescott, who, when himself a prisoner, at Philadelphia^ liad received attentions from Colonel Cadwalader's father — he waa immediately released without parole by Sir WiUiam Howe. — Ep. 16 182 dOUISfCiL OF SAFETY. for conceiving tiiat our affairs were tending to ruin, his duty seeraed too iraperious to be reUnquished; and when Colonel Cadwalader acquainted sorae of us with his suspicion and indeed conviction, tiiat he would not return, we were truly astonished. But though I attempt not to apologize for his conduct, I must say, that he had some useful talents for tiie coramand of a regi ment. He was remarkably attentive to the necessary accomo dations of every kind, whether of food, clothing, tents, arms or accoutrements ; indefatigable in his endeavours to proraote disci pline, and even enthusiastic in what regarded the neatness and soldier-lUfC appearance of the corps. He was, moreover, gentle manly and agreeable in his manners. Whether his promptness in discerning dUficulties overmatched his fortitude in sustaining them-, I venture not to say ; but he left us in the manner stated. Mr. Shee is no longer in a situation to be hurt by a recognition of his delinquency, if such it was ; nor is it mentioned from a disrespect to his memory. Sueh a motive I disclaim. With me, he was ever friendly, and free from party rancour c personally, I liked the man, and accepted his civilities, which I never faUed to receive on raeeting him in Philadelphia. An event that took place a few weeks after the retirement of the Colonel, had -almost tempted some of us to follow his iUau- dable example. The committee, or council of safety, as it was now caUed, had undergone a reg^eneration ; and consisted, with perhaps art exception br two, of a new set of raembers. Persons acquainted with the genius of liberty, will not be surprised at this. To borrow the language of French paradox, there is nothing permanent in a revolution, but change. In the auction of popu larity, the bid is ever raore attended to than the inclination or ability to pay ; andthe' most boldly-dashing patriot is ever the most successful one. So it proved in the couneU. New men, in flated with a little brief authority, are always glad of an occasion for displaying their consequence ; and partial to the source from whence they derive their importance,- they are ever ready to recognise aristocratic oppression. In this spirh, they lent an ear to all the idle, ill-founded reports of the cowardly, skulking sol-- diers, who, under pretence of sickness, or otherwise, had found tiieir wajf to PhUadelphia. These fellows told' the CouncU Uiat" PROMOTIONS. 183 their Captains had cheated them, and the CouncU, witiiout in quiry, seeraed to take the raatter as proved. They accordingly wrote an iUiberal letter to Colonel Cadwalader on the subject, which he thought it his duty to lay before us, though despising the low spirit that had dictated it. In addhion to this affront, this sarae body, who still retained the power of appointment to military comraand, went on in the manufacture of Majors and Colonels, in utter disregard of the claims of the officers in service, and soraetiraes, from the coursest raaterials. An hour's visit to the camp, seemed to have raore raerit in their eyes, than (Jaily and nightly duty in it ; and a little self-puffing, with due incense, could hardly fail to propitiate these great dispensers of coramis sions.* One instance of their propensity to make promotions, occurred in the case of an Adjutant, who had been enclosed by the Hessians in the battle of Long Island. He contrived to conceal himself in the woods 'till dark, when, from his understanding and speaking German, he was enabled to answer and elude their sentries ; and by so doing to getbackto our lines. For this piece of address, which consisted raerely in good hiding * Similar practices and treatment of the ofiicers doing duty on the Canada fi-ontier in the war of the Madison Administration, in aid of their Imperial ally, have excited a similar remark. In the spirited address to the public, dated Bufialo, June 12th, 1815, and signed by Col. Robert Purdy and William Thomas, in behalf of the ofiicers ofthe Line, and ofthe Hospital and Medical Staff, is this "They regret, too, that a winter's carapaign at Washington should often avail more than seven in the field ; and that those who reraain at their posts on a, frozen frontier, in the perforraance of their duty, should thereby lose their grade, to give place to some who have been basking in the sunshine of favouritism, and feasting on the delicacies of the metropolis." The just inference frora such facts as these, is, that parasites are as rauch al home at democratic, as at royal courts, the eternal babble about intrigue aud corruption in the latter notwith. standing. By observations of this kind, I would, forasmuch as in me lies, pre vent the deception which popular forras of government impose on benevolent minds. Whatever other excellencies they may possess. Justice, Honour and Ge nerosity are not araong their attributes, and whatever of patriotism and virtue they may boast, 'tis certainly not the man of probity who succeed the best in them. Displease whom I may by such avowals of the truth, my mite shall be contributed to undeceiving the world ; and I should hold myself a traitor to my fellow men, if, undertaking to promulgate the results of my experience, I should conceal or misrepresent facts on whioh the happiness of ftiture generations may essentially depend. 184 REMONSTRANCE OF OFFICERS. and speaking his mother tongue, the councU invested him with a majority, at once jumping him over the heads of all the Captains and subaherns in the line. This Adjutant was Menzies, already spoken of as a fencing- master in Philadelphia ; and who first ap peared there in the less dignified character of a dancer on the stage, a circurastance which rendered his preferment stiU more galling. I should be unjust, however,- if I did not say, that Menzies, though at this time little known, turned out to be an honest, wortiiy man, attentive to duty, correct in his demeanour, and generally esteemed, though certainly not for talents that could throw others into shade, or justify his irregular advancement. Conscious of integrity, soured by hard duty, /and smarting under the reflection, that while we were sustaining the severest privations, the very men who imputed fraud to us, were snug and secure at their fire-sides, we declared that we would not remain a day longer in a service, at once so thankless and preposterous. Colonel Cadwalader, to whom we made the declaration, remon strated against its rasliness^ while he admitted the enormity of tbe provocation. He observed to us, that nothing could justify such a step in the heat of a campaign ; that it would ruin us in the pubhc opinion, and embitter our future lives ; that it would recoU upon ourselves, and be an everlasting blister to our sensibility. Iri shoft, he said every thing which a sensible, prudent man, ac« quainted with the world, could say upon the occasion. We felt the full force of his reasoning and acquiesced in it ; though I have not an idea that one of us would have put the threat in execution, had we been left entirely to ourselves. Our vapouring was the effect of sudden passion, which at length vented itself in the foUowing letter, written and sent off with nearly as littie con sideration, as we had used in taking up our first resolution. " Gentlemen, " Were it not that some expressions of resentment are natural to the human mind when'h feels itself injured, we shpuld disdain the meanness of teUing you, how rauch we were mortified on seeing your letter to Colonel Cadwalader, containing your Uliberal charge against the Captains of his battalion, of witiihold- ing the pay due to their men. " For the same reason, we cannot forbear mentioning our dissaT REMONSTRANCE OF OFFICERS. 185 tisfaction at the late appointments and promotions, wherein some that have never been in service, are preferred to those who have undergone the toUs and dangers of a severe campaign, and others of an inferior rank to those of a superior, without any proof, or, as we presume, suggestion of misbehaviour in the latter. "As to the accusation of fraud! we are above it. We mean not a vindication: to atterapt it,. would betray a meanness which might almost justify the base suspicion. In a word, we deny the charge, and rest perfectly easy under a consciousness that it can^ not be supported. "As to the promotions, we shall only say, that the man who feels no indignity upon such occasions, wants an essential qualification for a soldier, and is, in our opinion, unworthy to bear a com-^ mission. "But do not iraagine, gentlemen, by this, that we are envious of superior merit. For our parts, we pretend tp very little ; and in any other service, for merit is rated by comparison, we should think ourselves inadequate to our present appointment^. We entered into the army not for pay or preferment, but to serve our country to the best of our poor abilities : 'Tis this alone which keeps us in at this hour, as we conceive, and in so doing, we hope we raay not incur the imputation of vanity, that notwith standing the insignificance of our services, the cause as well as our honour, might suffer from our resignations. However, we mean not to continuS in the army, nor do we intend to accept of commissions oh the new establishment ; and it is a matter of the utmost indifference to us, how soon the council of safety may take it into their heads to appoint others more to their satisfaction in the room of, gentlemen, " Your most obedient servants." This angry epistle was signed, I think, by five of us. We heard no more of it ; but in the sequel, we had reason to wish that it never had been written ; and were convinced, that sUence under suffering, is generally, if not always, wise. The denouement ofthe drama, in which we were acting a part, was now rapidly approaching. After the action of White Plains, of which, as I was not there, I shall say nothing. General Howe 16* 186 FORT WASHINGTON INDEFENSIBLE. with his army, was falling down upon our post ; and we had little doubt, that his object was to invest h without delay. On receipt of this inteUigence, Colonel Cadwalader proposed to me to WaUj with him to the Fort, (for we were now stationed in the Unes of Haerlem heights,) that we might endeavour, by an examination of its means of defence, to colkct, whether it could be the design to hold it. We went and reconnoitered it, and the result was, that it was absolutely untenable, and must be abandoned ; though stUl, all the measures taking, seemed to point to a defence. I vrill not undertake minutely to describe the situation of the Fort, as ray raeraory might not enable me to do it truly. But I recollect, as it has been observed by General Lee, that there were no bar racks, or casemates, or fuel, or water within the body of lie place. It was an open, earthern construction, with ground at a short distance on the back of it, equally high if not higher ; with out a ditch of any consequence, if there was a ditch at all; no outworks, an incipient one on the north, not deserving the appel lation, or any of those exterior, raultiplied obstacles and defences, that, so far as I can judge, could entitle it to the narae of a for tress, in any degree capable of sustaining a siege. It required no parallels to approach it : the citadel was at once within reach of the assailants. In addition to this, there were no magazines of any kind prepared ; and it is stated in the Annual Register, which carried on the history of the war, that with its other deficiencies, there was not found in it ammunition adequate to the shortest defence. Yet, it was to be defended, as will soon appear : and Gordon, in his history, gives a letter from Colonel Magaw, stating that he could hold out untU the latter part of December, an opinion which shows hira to have been more miserably deficient in judgment than ever we supposedhim to be. He had heard of sieges being protracted for months and even years ; he had a, good opmipn of the spirh of his garrison ; and, as the place he had to defend was caUed a Fort, and had cannon h, he thought the deuce was in h if he could not hold out a few weeks. Such, probably, were Uie data of his calculation, ; nor, though friendly to the memory of a sincere and gaUant raan, can I suppose thera a jot better. While we remained in this incertitude in respect to our destination, and the main armies were manoeuvering above us DEMONSTRATION OF AN ATTACK. 187 about the Brunx, Lord Percy, who coramanded the British troops on York Island, thought proper, one day, to appear in force 'in the plains of Haerlem, lying between his and our advanced posts. It was on Sunday, the day his lordship was supposed to prefer for his military operations.* As we were both too insignificant and too distant to admit the supposition that it was intended as a diversion, in favour of General Howe, his object probably was to put our countenance to the test ; to feel our pulse, and if he found it tremulous, to push us into the Fort. But, on the other hand, if he found it full and regular, it was only to bluster awhile with his artUlery ; skirmish a little witb his small arms, and retire. This was all, at least, that came of a very pompous display. We had one field piece with whieh we answered his fire ; and from the carcass of a white horse,, which was left to bleaching on the ground he occupied, we had satifactory evidence that our balls had reached hira. It was not our business to quit the high ground in force, although some of our men were permitted to skirmish with the light parties which approached us. The firing was pretty warm, and a few men kUled and wounded on either side. An Irish lad of about eighteen, who belonged to my company, kiUed a British soldier and brought off his arms; which on the evening parade, were formally presented to him by Colonel Cadwalader, in regard of his bravery. History has preserved no record of this affair, ¦ which, triffing as it was, is as well deserving of memorial, as many others that have been preserved in the transactions of our petite guere. Had it passed between the grand armies, it would without doubt have been taken notice of; btit as it did not, we are reduced to the unfortunate situation of Sir John Falstaff at the battie of Shrewsbury, in being obliged, though late, to attend to its bxioking ourselves. The celebrated Thomas Paine,t how- * It was probably, on the 27th of October, as it is noted in General Heath's Meraoirs, that in the forenoon of that day, a heavy cannonade was heard towards Fort Washington, and as this was the day of the action at While Plams, il is probable there was a concert belween Generals Howe and Percy. t When this man's pamphlet, " Coramon Sense," first appeared. Dr. Franklin was generally considered as "the real author. Paine bul the ostensible one. It made considerable noise, and certainly pul Ihings in a new and strong light,, but,. 188 SKIRMISHING— CAMP COMFORTS. ever, happened to witness the proceeding from Fort Lee, and gave us a handsome puff in one of the PhUadelphia papers of the day. , , ¦ ^ r Another affah, which never got beyond the precincts of our secluded position, was the cai get something betier than clippers and supon; and to give one or two tea-drinkings, at which the rebel clan that attended them, was honoured with the company of some of the Misses Vanhorne, avowed whigs, notwithstanding their civility to the British officers. She also avaUed herself of the opportunity of learning from Major WiUiaras, the art of making Johnny cakes, in the true Maryland fashion ; and good part of an after noon, I remember, was spent in the notable cookery.. But these recreations did not interfere with the object of her expedition, and her design of getting me home, I, in vain, endeavoured tp dissuade her from her purpose. She was resolved to prove the result of an application ; and, in this view, in one of her first visits to New York, caUed upon Mr. GaUoway, who was sup' posed to have much influence at Head (JuarFers. He spoke en couragingly of the attempt, and said, he had little doubt, but it 267 would succeed. What would be the proper raode of applying to Sir WilUam Howe ? she asked. By memPrial, said Mr. Gal loway ; at the same time, kindly offering to sketch one out for her, if she chose it. As she could do^no less than accept his offer, and thank him for it, he went to work, and in a few minutes produced, what he said, accorded with his ideas on the subject. He then read to her, what he had written, purporting, that, "Whereas Mrs , had_ always been a true and faithful sub ject of his Majesty George the Third; and whereas, her son, an inexperienced youth, had been deluded by the arts of designing men," " 0, sir," said she, " that will never do ; my son can not obtain his release on these terms." "Then, madam," said he, somewhat peevishly, "Ican do nothing for you." She en deavoured to soften as well as she could, the refusal to comply with what he had recomraended, and left hira, a good deal depressed in her expectations. Fearful, that, in her ardour to obtain her object she might be tempted to go too far, I had cau tioned her against yielding to any improper concessions ; and had soleranly declared, that I would accept of ray enlargement upon no other terms than those of an exchange, or a parole. This first discomfiture, did not induce an abandonment of her pursuit: in a matter which interested her feelings, no one was more persevering; and she continued to advise with every one, she thought likely to have influence, and a disposition to assist her. Among the rest, she addressed herself to a Mr. Andrew Elliot, a person of respectability^ and well known both in Philadelphia and New York. His advice was, that she should go at once in person to General Howe. Those you have applied to, or may apply, to, said he, have little or no interest, though they may not choose to say so; but a direct, personal appUcation to the Commander-in-chief, will, I verily believe, be propitious to your wishes. She had been some time between Flat-bush and New York, before this was suggested to her; and she secretly re solved to take an opportunity of putting it in execution. On one of hef excursions tothe city, she had been waited upon by her old acquaintance. Captain Grant, of the forty-second regi ment. From him she found, that Colonel Stirling, and most of the old oflioers of the regiment, were there ; but upon Grant's 268 APPLICATION TO GENERAL HOWE. being unable to deny, that' he, and consequently, the rest of them, knew, she had a son a prisoner, she at once testified by the coldness of her manner, that she had expected something better from them than a total neglect of me. Unacquainted with the human heart, under the baneful influence of party fury, and raaking no aUowance for the repulsive nature of misfortune, especiaUy when coupled with iraputed guilt, she had made cal culations littie warranted by the practice of the world, more par ticularly of that part ofit, which is flushed with prosperity. On account of sorae meditated operation of the army, no one at this tirae was permitted to pass the lines ; and so far from get ting me home with her, she was not without anxiety respecting her own return, which had been already longer protracted than she had counted upon. This interdiction of intercourse continued for several weeks ; but as soon as it was removed, and it became probable, that General Howe's attention was less engrossed by great concerns, she determined to gi-ve the advice ,of Mr. EUiot, a trial. Accordingly, one morning she went to New York, and without acquainting me with her design, which she knew I would oppose, boldly waited upon Sir William Howe ; and asking to speak with hira, was shown into a parlour, where, taking a seat, and meditating upon the manner of addressing hira when he should appear, he came into the room, and had got pretty near hex before she perceived hira. Rising, she said, " Sir WUliam Howe, I presume !" He answered by a bow. She then made known her business, doubtless in her best style of elocution, and concluded by expressing the greatness other obligation for his Excellency's permission for me to go home with her on parole. "And then immediately to take up arms against us again, I suppose !" said the General. " By no raeans, sir ; I solicit his release upon parole ;• that wUl restrain him untU exchanged : but on my own part, I will go farther, and say, that if I have any mfluence over hira, he shall never take up arms again." Here, the feeUngs of the pahiot were whoUy lost in those of the "war- detesting" raother. The General seemed to hesitate, but gave no answer. On the renewal of ber suit, however, he appeared by his manner, for he was sparing of words to assent, and so she" construed h. But to put the matter out of doubt, she asked: "' Have I your ExceUency's AUTHOR LIRERATED ON PAROLE. 269 permission for ray son to go home with me on his parole .?" Bow ings he answered " yes." *' May Colonel Miles and Major West," added she, be permitted to go also .-"' " Now, madara," observed the General, "you are malting two requests instead of one." She begged his pardon for presuming to do so, as she ought cer tainly to be satisfied with the great favour already granted ; and inquired if she was to raention the raatter to Mr. Loring. He said it was unnecessary, as the proper measures would be taken to effect the purpose. The reason of her mentioning Colonel Miles, and Major West, was, that they had already obtained a promise of being liberated on parole ; and she was apprehensive, that unless they were put upon the sarae footing with me, I should suspect improper terms had been made, and mar the whole busi-^ ness. This caution, probably, was unnecessary ; - the boon was extended to these gentleraen, as I presurae it woiild have been, had they not been mentioned. From the General's quarters she immediately went to Mr. Loring, whom she had known in, Phila delphia, where he had some tirae resided, and acquainted him with the indulgence which had been granted her ; upon which, he was pleased to observe, that it was more than I was entitled to, as not one of the prisoners had been more upon his high horse. Whatever grounds there maybe for ascribing cruelty to General Howe, it must be admitted, that no obduracy appeared at this in terview ; and I have been careful to give it, precisely as it was related by my mother. War, indeed, in its essence is cruelty, esp e- eially civil war : Its tendency is to make men ferocious and merci less. In conflicts, in which our lives are continuaUy at stake, we at length becorae callous even to the loss of our own party, and have, of course, still less concern for the destruction of our ad versaries, notwithstanding, that particular situations may som_e- times call forth strUiing examples of sympathy and generosity. When, raoreover, we consider the foe as obnoxious to legal punishment, our hearts are too apt to be steeled against all "com punctious visitings of nature." Such seeras to be the nature of man ; and the apathy of Howe to the miseries of his prisoners, serves to show that he was too like the bulk of his species, ever prone to severity against the opposers of established authority, when partaking of, or friendly to it; What was the conduct of 23* 270 REFLECTIONS ON WAR. the Duke of Alva, in the Low Countries .? That of the British, which we, as liege subjects^, did not then disapprove, against the rebels in the year forty-six, comraeraorated by SraoUet, in his "Mourn, hapless Caledonia, mourn.'" What were the hideous enormities of the French republicans against the people of La Vendee, and what mercy was evinced towards Burr, by the high- toned advocates of prerogative, under the mUd sway of Mr. Jef ferson ? Though the abuse of power is always detestable, yet it may not be improper to look at home, before we devote others to destruction as monsters of unheard of cruelty. I neither have paUiated, nor do I mean to paUiate the sufferings of the prisoners at New York: they were shocking to huinanity, and rto one wit nessed, them with more anguish than myself; but this is no reason that we should not ask ourselves whether it was to be expected, that they were at once to be set at liberty, and if not, what other mode or place of confinement was within the power of the enemy.'' or if the want of good and sufficient food, and other ac commodations was the caqse of the mortality, are we perfecfly sure they had bettej to adrainister .? If, in an enthely new state of the world, we are, on account of former injuries, to reject the aid of the only nation upon earth which has power to rescue us frora irapending perdition, it certainly behoves us, to inquire cajmly into the extent of her aggressions, and for our o-wn sakes, if not for hers, or the sake of justice, to adrait the effect of any alleviating circumstances which raay be found. But few of us, I trust, are in the unhappy predicaraent, to have been so hysterically alarraed during the war, as to be unable to forgive ; or to have incurred disgraces which can only be washed out and avenged by the coramon destruction of our old enemy and ourselves. AUTHOR LEAVES NEW YORK. 271 CHAPTER XI. The Author leaves Lpng Island for NeW York and Elizabethtown. — Author ar rives at New York. — Travelling Companions. — Tench Coxe. — Arrival al the American Camp. — General Washington. — Colonel Hamilton. — American Array. — General Wayne. — Occurrences on the Road. — Author arrives at Phila delphia. — Arrival at Reading. — Political Feelings. — Declaration -.of Independ ence. — Character of Franklin. — Leading Men. — Mr. Ce^non. It was not long before the welcome suraraons arrived for our repairing to New York, for the purpose of being transported from thence in a flag vessel to Elizabethtown; and upon this occa sion, we were escorted to the end of the viUage, by a no small troop of our less lucky feUow-prisoners. It was made a condi tion by Loring, that our boarding should be paid before we left Flat-bush; and the heart of old Jacob, was accordingly gladdened by the sight of a sum of raoney he had despaired of receiving. He and I parted very good friends ; and it was but justice to say, that the treatraent I received from him and his faraily, Mr. and Mrs. Hagerraan, was both civil and obliging. As there was no subject upon whichwe, prisoners, had been so much in the dark, and were at the same tirae, so anxious to be informed of, as that of the state of our army and public aff'airs in general, Tudor, on my coming away, furnished me with a kind of cypher, by which, as soon as I had time to inform rayself, I was to satisfy him by letter on certain points he particularly wished to know. The disguise was not in the character, but in the substitution of one piece of information for another, — for instance, a lady who was to be named, -was to signify the army, and if that was strong and in a, prosperous train, it was to be indicated by announcing the health and charming looks of the lady. > There was a scale in the key, by which the intelligence raight be graduated ; and 272 AUTHOR ARRIVES AT' NEW YORK. it was so contrived, as to admit of the transmission of pretty satisfactory information in a few important particulars. Know ing the deep interest that was taken in the expected communi cation, it was among my first cares on getting home, to perform this duty. But I must admit, that ray statements, though correct in the main, were rather more flattering, than rigid tiuth would warrant. I could not endure the thought of reducing ray com panions in, misfortune to despair. It was certainly admissible on this occasion, to adopt the practice of painters; and in pre serving the Uneaments and character of the countenance, to ren der the portrait as pleasing as possible. It had the effect, as I afterwards learned, to put them in good heart: for, ahhough I had not said every thing which might have been wished, it was ascribed to a propensity I was supposed to have, of looking rather on the unfavourable side of things ; and as I, so littie san guine, had ventured to say 'so much, it ^as inferred, that I might, with truth have said a great deal more. The particulars of this pleasing trip to New York, have en tirely escaped my memory; as, bow w^e travelled, though I pre sume it was in a wagon for the convenience of jiarrying our baggage ; whether it was in tbe forenoon or afternoon ; whether we left the city on the day we reached it, &c., though as to this, it is more than probable, that it was not until the day after, as I well recollect breakfasting with my raother at the house of Mr. Matthews, the Mayp'r, and that his daughter, who entertained us, was so raucb- to ray taste, that, for the raoment I quite forgot the politics of her father, and raight even have swerved, perhaps,, from my loyalty to an aUegiance, a thousand times sworn else where. But it must not be iraagined from the circumstance of this breakfast, that I had apostatized from my principles. I have,, fortunately, an excuse for accepting civilities from the offspring of an inveterate, and reputedly persecuting tory, which, I am not without hope, will obtain my pardonfrom^ the most deter mined and le^st compounding republican of the present hour.. A Miss Seymour, a cousin of Miss Matthews, had long been de sirous^ of getting to Philadelphia to see her father who lay sick there ; arid as it was known to Mr.. Matthews that my mother was soon to go thither, he had made himself acquainted with MR. TENCH COXE. 273 her, and recommended his niece to her protection in the medi tated journey. This it was, that procured me the honour of breakfasting with Miss Matthews, with whom her cousin stayed. But who, pray, -was this sick Mr. Seymour .'' methinks I hear some high-toned, fastidious seventy-six man exclaim. He was, you may rest assured, sir, no "anti-revolutionary adherent of the enemy." He was no less a personage than Commodore Seymour, who, at this time, had the coramand of the Delaware gun-boats. — Yes, Comraodore of the gun-boats! Another pecca- diUo, if haply they may be so called, of a simUar coraplexion, I must confess myself guilty of'; though, frora an exuberance of good fortune, not always attending ray imputed apostacies, I have, if I would avail myself of it, an equaUy good come off here. To raake aprofert then of my offence with its ablution along with it, I undertook to bring out, and actually did bring out with me, at the request of Mr. Tench Coxe, now in the full tide of republican orthodoxy, a letter to a lady in Philadelphia} to be delivered by ray own hand to another lady in that city; which commission I faithfully executed. I cheerfully did that for him, which shortiy before, would have been the greatest favour to myself: ' Haud ignarus mali, raiseris succurere disco. Having aUuded to this gentieman before, and in a manner, that may not be pleasing to him, although I have said nothing which does not arise froni facts, of which he will not deny the correct ness, I here sincerely avow, that I ara rauch more disposed to do him a good than evil oflBce. Notwithstanding the contrasted vi cissitudes of our fortune, and that the great eras of his poUtical ascension, have been those of my depression, I have not forgotten our boyish days, of which he, not long since put me in mind; my early acquaintance in his family ; the pleasant hours I have passed with himself and his brother (nearer my own age) as well at his father's house in town, as at his seat on the Schuylkill; and that his mother was always spoken of by raine, as the near est friend of her youth. Such recollections are far more grateful to the heart, than the bitter collisions of interested manhood, or t\ie "fury passions" of political dissension. But not to Unger in New York at a moment so precious, I 274 ARRIVAL AT THE AMERICAN CAMP. have to state, that after the signing of a new parole by Miles, West and myself, at the office of Mr. Loring, our littie party with the addition of Miss Seymour, embarked in a small sloop for EUzabethtown-point, then held by us. The oflicer commanding on this occasion, was a son of Doctor Auchmuty, araong the most distinguished in New York, for his zeal in the royal cause. The behaviour of this gentleman was perfectly agreeable to us; and we parted on the most civil terms. It is not impossible, though such rapid promotions are hardly to be looked for in the British array, that he raay be the General Auchrauty, who not long since, acquitted, hiraself so well at Montevideo; as he was stated in the newspapers to be a son of the Doctor.* The wea ther being fine, but with very little wind, our passage was a pleasant one ; and in the course of the day, we had once more the happiness of treading our own ground. I should in vain en deavour to describe ray feelings on this occasion; for although they were chastised by the recollection, that my present liberty was held on sufferance, they were yet Ught, joyous and tumultu ary. I had been about eight months captive ; and it was more than a year since I had seen Philadelphia. It must now have been from ray best data for ascertaining it, about the middle of July. Our army lay at Morristown ; and after casting about fot the means of being conveyed thither, we, at length, found them in a coal-wagon, little inferior to a coach and six, in a journey, which too much crowded the mind with pleasing ideas, to admit of much concern about the choice ofa vehicle. When within a few railes of our destination, we met the General, on horseback, \vith three or four attendants. He recognised us, and stopping a few rainutes congratulated my mother on the success of her' errand ; and at going on, informed us, that he should return to camp in a few hours, whfere he expected to see us. By his ap- * Lieutenant-General Sia Samuel Auchmuty. — He was the youngest son of the Reverend Dr. Auchrauty, Rector of Trinity Church, New York ; was born June 2-2d, 1758, and received his education at King's (now Colurabia) College. He joined the Royal array under Sir Wra. Howe, as an ensign in the 45tli regiment, in 1776. Mr. Graydon in a, note, says, "He was, I reraember, ra- ther a serious young man, raodest and unassuming in his manners, though I should have supposed him one or two and twenty, instead of nineteen, which the dale ofhis birth made him at Ihe time referred lo." — Ed. GENERAL WASHINGTON — COLONEL HAMILTON. 275 pointment, on his return, Colonel Miles, Major West and myself waited upon him at his marquee in the evening. In -the course of conversation, he asked what we conceived to be the objects of General Howe, provided the question did not, in our opinion, interfere with our parole. Colonel-MUes taking the word, re pUed, that in his opinion, he meditated a co-operation with the northern array by means of the Hudson. The General heard him ouf, and then observed, that indications and probabUities both tended to that conclusion ; but, that nevertheless, he had little doubt, that his object was PhUadelphia. I mention' this, as it is stated by Mr. Marshall, that he was a good deal embarrassed on fhis occasion, and rather inclined to believe, that the move ments of General Howe would be up the Hudson. Whatever might have happened afterwards to alter or unsettle his opinion, it was certainly at this time, as I have mentioned; and he spoke as if bis conviction was strong. He had unquestionably good intelligence; and a person who had coraraunicated with him, had, not lon'g before, been executed as a spy at Brunswick. This man, who generally resided at New York, under the dis guise of a zealous royalist, had been indiscreet enough to unbo som himself to Major Williams, who, in the spring of this year, on the prpspect of an exchange, which however proved abortive, l^ad been summoned to tbat city. He gave him rauch informa tion as to what was passing there ; and among other things which regarded us, told him, that interest had been made for my going out on parole, but I was considered not sufficiently well disposed, (the fashionable phrase for yielding whiggism,) to be entitled to the indulgence. It was but a few weeks after this interview with WiUiams, that, in attempting to induce two Bri tish soldiers to desert to our army with inteUigence, he was de tected and suffered. The day of our arrival and the succeeding one, we spent at Morristown; and here, for the first time, I had the pleasure of knowing Colonel Hamilton. He presided at the General's table, where we dined ; and in a large coinpany in which there were several ladies, among whom I recollect one or two of the Miss Livingstons and a Miss Brown, he acquitted himself with an ease, propriety and vivacity, which gave me the most favourable im- 276 COLONEL HAMILTON. pression of his talents and accomplishments — talents, it is true, which did not indicate the solid abiUties his subsequent career has unfolded, but which announced a brilliancy which might adorn the most polished circles of -society, and have fitted him for the part of an Algarotti at the court of a Frederick. " Vous, que les graces et les ris Formerent pour flatter et plaire," to borrow the words ofthe king, in an address to this favourite: Or in reference tP his later conduct and matured capacity, vvhere shall we find one to whom the language of Tibullus to Messala, would better apply ! "Nara quis te majora gerit castrisve, forove?" "Who the state's thunder, better foVra'd to wield. And shake alike the senate and the field !"* * Sullivan, in his " Familiar Letters," already quoted, says, " The eloquence of Hamilton was persuasive and commanding; the more so as he had no guide but the impulse of a great and rich raind, he having had little opportunity to be trained at the bar, or iu popular assemblies. Those who could speak ofhis man ner from the best opportunities to observe him, in public and private, concurred in pronouncing him lo be a frank, araiable, high-minded, open-hearted gentleman. He was capable of inspiring the most affectionate attachment^ but he could make those, whom he opposed, fear and hale hira cordially." Harrison Grav Otis, of Boston, delivered there an eulogy uppn Hamilton, and the following is a concluding paragraph ofhis eloquent performance: "The universal sorrow, manifested in every part of the Union upon the melancholy exit of this great man, is an unequivocal testimonial of his public worth. The place of his residence is overspread with a gloom which bespeaks the pressure ofa public calamity ; and the prejudices of party are absorbed in the overflowing^ tide of national grief." The man, thus honoured and lamented, and whose repulalion grows still brighter wilh the lapse of time, was one of those towards whom Mr. JEFrERSoN, as we learn from his own " Correspondence," cherished a degree of " envy, hatred and malice," which il is difficult lo believe even party rage and malevolence, however violent and bitter, could have prompted and sustained. Yel this active, encj-g-ettc enmity, could not long operate injuriously to the character of such a man as Hamilton, while the "greal Aposlle of Democracy," in his own carefully preserved and ostentatiously published ?' Writings," has greatly aided Posterity in finding for km an appropriate njche in the teraple of fame. " In that remarkable chronicle of slander and second-hand abuse, the Am of Jefferson, Hamilton," says the New York Review, "is assailed no less than seventeen limes; just one-fourth of all Mr. Jefferson's on dits are levelled against the man whom he felt to be, of all others, his most dangerous competitor for the highest honours ofhis country." — Ed. COLONEL TILGHMAN CONDITION OF THE ARMY. 277 With Colonel TUghman,* another of the General's aids, I was well acquainted, as he was a Philadelphian, and had been a Lieutenant of the light infantry company of Greens, already raen tioned. By him and Colonel Hamilton, I was taken in the even ing to drink tea with some of the ladies of the viUage, where were also those with whom we had dined. I had been extremely anxious to see our army. Here it was, but I could see nothing which deserved the name. I was told, indeed, that it was much weakened by detachments ; and I was glad to find, there was some cause for the present paucity of sol diers. I could not doubt, however, that things ^ere going well. The Commander-in-chief and all about him, were in excellent spirits ; and as to General Wayne, whora I waited upon at his quarters, he entertained the most sovereign contempt for the enemy. In his confident way, he affirmed, that the two armies had interchanged their original modes of warfare. That for our ¦parts, we had thrown away the shovel, and the British had taken it up, as they dared not face us without the cover of an intrench ment. I made some aUowance for the fervid manner of the General,! who, though unquestionably as brave a man as any in * Colonel Tench TiLghman. — General Washington thus writes to General Sullivan in Congress, May, 1781: "This gentleman came out a captain of one ofthe light infantry companies of Philadelphia, and served in the flying camp in 1776. In August of the same year he joined my family, and has been in every action in which the main array was concerned. He has been a zealous servant and slave to the public, and a faithful assisiant to me for nearly five years, a great part of which lime he refused pay. Honour and gratitude interest me in his favour and make me solicitous lo obtain his commission. His modesty and love of concord place the date of his expected commission at the 1st of April, 1777, because he would not take rank of Hamilton and Meade, wjio were de clared Aids in order (which he did not choose lo be) before thai period, although he had joined my family and done all the duties of one, from the Isl of September preceding." Tilghman was despatched by Washington to Congress wilh intel ligence of the surrender of CornwalUs, and "a horse properly caparisoned', and an elegant sword, were given to hira." Colonel Tilghman died in Ballimore in April, 1786, in his 43d year. - His death was deeply regretted by General Wash ington, and Robert Morris, in a letter lo the General, said : " You have lost in him a mosl faithful and valuable friend. He was lo me the same. I esteemed him very, very much, and I lamented his loss exceedingly." — Ed. t In bravery, in heroic achievement, and in devoiion lo the cause of his coun- try in all its phases, he was unsurpassed, and his abilities as a commander were 24 278 GENERAL WAYNE. the army, was nevertheless, soraewhat addicted to the vaunting style of Marshal VUlars, a man who, like himself, could fight as weU as brag. By the bye, I do not know whether this talent might not have been of use in our army: h certainly is, or at least is considered to be so, in a French one, since, of aU the gas- conaders in the world, the GaUic commanders must confessedly take the pas. It had been huraourously stated in the English prints, that upon a gentleraan, who had been in America and seen our troops, being asked, what was their uniform, he replied: " in general, it is blue and buff, but by this tirae it must be all buS'!" The period for this unity of colour, however, had not yet arrived; though frora the motley, shabby cover ing of the men, it was to be inferred that it was rapidly approaching. Even in General Wayne himself, there was in this particular, a considerable falling off. His quondam regimental, as Colonel of the 4th battalion, was, I think, blue and white, in which he had been accustomed to appear with ex eraplary neatness ; whereas he was now dressed in character for M'Heath or Captain Gibbet, in a dingy red coat, wilh a black, rusty cravat, and tarnished laced hat. In short, from all I could see, I was by no means warranted in supposing that our affairs wei'e ih a very prosperous train, notwithstanding the cheerful appearance at Head Quarters : but I endeavoured to suspend my opinion until I should have longer and better means of forming a conclusion. We hired a wagon at this place, to carry us to Mr. Vanhorne's at Bound-brook, where my mother expected to find her horse and chair, agreeably to the arrangement made with Major Pauli. This was a subject of much raillery on the road, particularly wilh Colonel Miles, who could not persuade himself that a Hessian could forego so fine a chance of plunder ; and he tobk it for granted, that the Major had not only appropriated the equipage to himself, but sold it long since, and put the proceeds in his pocket. But, on tbe contrary, in the strutting phraseology of Burgoyne, he had been " conscious of the honour of soldiership," of a very high order. His life is a history ofthe war. He was at Ticonderoga, Brunswick, Brandywine, Germantown, White Marsh, Monmouth, Stony Point, and in several other engageraenls ; — always eflicient, and tilways distinguished. He died in December, 1796, in the 52d year ofhis age.— Ed. COLONEL BLAND GENERAL HENRY LEE. 279 and with good faith performed what he had proraised. We had, in fact, met the poor beast in questiPn, on the road to Morristown, but quantum mutatus ab illo ! how changed from the sleek, well- fed animal, that had, about six weeks before, entered the town of Brunswick! A constant padding of the hoof for this space of time, first on the royal and then on the rebel side, with such casual supplies of forage as campaigning affords, had reduced him, to the continental standard; and although it had been sug gested to ray raother as he passed with the chair, that they raight be hers, she was unable to recognise either : the chair she could not claim, and as to the horse, she was sure he was not hers. Whether there were any arrangements with Mr. Vanhorne, I do not know ; but his hospitality ought certainly to have been recompensed, by an unlimited credit on the public stores.* His house, used as a hotel, seemed constantly fuU. It was at this time occupied by Colonel Bland,f of the Virginia cavalry, and the officers ofhis corps, to whom we were introduced; and among others, if my memory does not mislead me, to Captain Lee, after wards so distinguished as a partisan, and now known as General Harry Lee. J Notwithstanding the number of guests that were to * This Mr. Vanhorne, however, appears to have been a suspicious character, if il is of him that General Washington thus speaks in his letters to General Reed. In the first, dated January 12th, 1777, he says: — "I wish you had broughl Vanhorne off wilh you, for, from his noted character, there is no dependence lo be placed on his parole." In the olher, of 19lh January, ofthe same year, he says : " Would it not be besl to order P. Vanhorne to Bruns wick ? These people, in my opinion, can do us less injury there than any where else." He kept his post • nolwilhstanding, at Bound-Brook, where he alternalely entertained the ofiicers of both armies, being visited sometiraes by the one, and sometimes by the other. t Colonel Theodoric Bland — of the first regiment of light dragoons, was appointed to sup&rintend the march of the Convention troops to Oharlotlesville » Virginia, and was directed by Washington to. lake command there. He was the author of a Treaiise on Military Tactics, which was approved and strongly re commended by the Commander-in-chief General H. Lee speaks of him in his Memoirs, as "noble, sensible, honourable and araiable." — Ed. } This gallant and celebrated officer was a graduate of Princeton College, and during the whole war was actively and usefully employed. He commenced his brilliant public career as " a Captain of one of the six companies of cavalry, raised in Virginia, and in 1777, under Lieutenant-Colonel Bland, he joined the main Provincial army," By his discipline and care of his men and horses, he 280 GENERAL HENRY LEE. be provided for, there appeared no deficiency in accommodation; and we supped and lodged weU. As the horse and chair were not expected back for a day or two. Major West, who was in no hurry, undertook to wah for h, and bring h on to PhUadelphia; while the rest of us, who had objects, more or less attracting in view, pursued our way the next raorning. No other incident on the road occurred, interesting enough to have left any trace in my memory, except the meeting with Mr. and Mrs. Coxe, at Nesha- • rainy Ferry. Matters had been arranged for this interview wiUi my raother on her way to New York ; and they now met her in consequence of a notice from her, that she would lbe there at an appointed tirae. Their object was, to learn what she raight know pf their son, as well as son-in-law, Mr. Andrew Allen. They were deeply affected at the dispersed situation of their faniily, and feelingly alive to the unhappy effects of civU dissension. The old gentleman, I recollect, blained the step which had been taken by Mr. AUen, and his son ; alleging, that they had been precipi- early attracted the attention of Washington, " who, at the battle of Germantown, seleded him, wilh his company, to attend as his bodyguard." In consequence of his cool ahd determined bravery in several exploits, which, for waul of room, cannot be narrated here, he was promoted by Congress to the rank of Major, with the cotnmand of a separate corps of cavaky, consisting of three companies. In 1780 he was sent with his legion to the army of the Soulh, under Gen. Greene, having been previously raised to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He served wilh greal distinction throughout the war, and has left a well written, manly and authentic " History ofthe War in the Southern Department ofthe United Slates." In 1 786 he was elected lo Congress from Virginia, his naiive Slate. He was a member of the Convention bf Virginia that ratified the present Federal Consti tution, of, which he was a strenuous advocate. He was three years Gbvernor of the Slate. In 1799 he was again chosen a member of Congress, and was selected, vvhile there, lo pronounce a funeral eulogium upon Washington. He prepared the celebrated resolutions, moved by the late Chief Justice Marshall in the House of Representatives, from which General Lee was accidentally absent at the time, expressive of the grief of Congress upon receiving intelligence of the decease of Washington, the last of which resolutions was as follows: — " Resolved, that a Comraittee, in conjunction with one frora the Senate, be appointed to consider on the most suitable manner of paying honour to the memory of the MAN, first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his fellow-citizens." Before the accession of Mr. Jefferso*(, General Lee, like raany of the olher Fathers ofthe Revolution, retired lo private life. He died on the 25lh of March, 1-818, in his 63d year.— Ed. ¦"'* AUT-HOR ARRIVES AT PHILADELPHIA. 281 tated into it by Christian Huck, who had assured them, that mea sures were in agitation for their imraediate arrest and confine ment. We reached PhUadelphia in the evening, where, h wUl b& enough for me to say, that my fondest anticipations were realized in a raeeting with the object, which had caused the deepest sighs of my captivity. Were I dealing in fiction, or speaking of another, a more particular representation might be required, of so auspicious a winding up, of a more than twelve months' absence, incessantly galled by sickly hope^ and feverish uncertainty. But, in situations of tender interest, the fastidious delicacy, or, as the French raight caU it, the mauvaise honte of English manners, for bids a man to place himself. It is observable, that this highest seasoning of French memoir writing, is wholly omitted by Mr. Cumberland, who must have known the nation's taste. He gives us to understand, indeed, tbat he was married ; and more tban onee, marshals his children before us ; but he never ventures to disclose a single circumstance of his love, or to descant upon what ought to be considered', as the sine qua non of his two con ditions of a husband and a father. Mr. Gibbon, it is true, touches upon bis attachment to MademoiseUe Curchod, afterwards Madame Necker; but, evidently with a mortal fear of being laughed at,, for only glancing at his "early love." Perhaps nothing is more. characteristic of the manners of the two nations, than this very circumstance-,, which serves also araong others-,, to justify Sterne, in his singular declaration, tha;t the French are too serious.* An * The Edinburgh Revi'ew, in descanting on the correspondence of Baron Grimm, observes, that il chronicles the deaths of half the Author's acquaintance,. and makes jests upon them all ; and is much more serious in discussing the merits of an opera-singer, than in considering I'he evidence for the being of a God, or the first foundations of morality. Grimm, though a German, was tho roughly i^J-CTicAi^eiZ by his long residence in France.. Hewas among Rousseau's most early acquaintances on his first going to Paris, and with some oihers, was once engaged with him lo traverse all Italy on fool ; bul the project, of which the parties were at first highly enamoured, came lo nothing." The pedestrian exploit lost its charms, as the time for undertaking it approached. The review of the " Correspondence, Litteraire, Philosophique et Critique. Par le Baron de Giimm, et par Diderot," is by Lord Jeffrey, and is included in the Philadelphia edition of Jeffrey's " Contributions to the Edinburgh Review. — £d. Pi 24* 4^ 282 AUTHOR ARRIVES AT PHILADELPHIA. araour iii theh hands, be h theh own or another's, is always an extremely grave affair ; and thence derives an interest, which an EngUsh writer in his own case,, would be sure to spoU, by a levity assumed frpm the apprehension of ridicule. But, to what ever cause this diversity of sentiment may be owing, h shows the superior decorum of English Uterature, as formed m the school of Addison, Steel, Johnson, &c. to that ofthe French, under tiie guidance of VoUaire, Rousseau, Raynal, &c. ; the one, by its circumspection, cherishing religion, morals, and government; the other, by hs Ucentiousness, undermining them all. , Having now brought myseff back to PhUadelphia, frora whence I marched tiie preceding summer, it naturaUy puts an end to the narrative of ray campaign and captivity ; as, though yet a prisoner, I was at home. What I have farther to say, therefore, wiU have less the ah of adventure ; and I shaU, consequently, be relieved, I hope, from so minute an attention to my own concerns. One of the first things which struck us, on getting within our own terrhory, was the high price of wine and other liquors. We attributed this to their growing scarcity, though equally owing, probably, to the incipient depreciation of the paper currency, of which we had then no idea. We saw, to our great surprise, no mUitary parade upon, our journey, nor any indication of martial vigour on the part of the country. General Washington, with the little remnant of his army at Morristown, seemed left to scuiHe for liberty, like another Cato at Utica.* Here and there, we saw a mUitia man with his contrasted coloured cape and facings; and -vve found besides, that Captains, Majors and Colonels had * The wisdora of Washington's proceedings was acknowledged and appre ciated by those especially who were merely spectators of the greal drama in which he was performing the most conspicuous part. Walpole, a cool and saga cious observer, writing lo Horace Mann, in December, 1776, says, "Washington has retired wilh his wliole array lo other heights about five miles off, seeming to intend to protract the war, as was always thought would be their wisest way." Again March 5th, 1777, he writes : " The campaign in America has lost a great deal of its florid complexion,, and General Washington is- allowed by both sides not to be the vvorst General in the field." And again he writes, April 3, 1777: " Washington, the Dictator, has shown himself both a Fabius and a Camillus. - His march through our lines is allowed to have been a prodigy of generalship. ' Walpole here alludes to the passage of the Delaware,, and the surprise and capture of the Hessians at Trenton.— ^d,. PROCEEDS TO READING'. 283 become "good cheap" in the land. But, unfortunately, these war-functionaries were not found at the head of their raen : They, more generally, figured as bar-keepers, condescendingly serving out small measures bf liquor, to their less dignified customers. StUl were they brimfuU of patriotism, the prevailing feature of which was, to be no less ardent in their pursuit, than fervent in their hatred of Tories.* During a stay of a few days in Philadelphia, ray raother and myseff, I recollect, dined at President Hancock's. He had been one of the opposers of her scherae of going into New York, but was sufficiently a man of the world, to put on an appearance of being pleased ,with its success. Yet, as he was araong the most conspicuous on the American side, and deeply staked in the issue of the contest, it is not uncharitable to suppose, that he was not very cordially gratified by an event which might give to tbe adverse cause any colour of clemency. But I have no right to attribute his advice upon the occasion, to other than the raost friendly motives; since mine, had I been consulted, would have been the same. My mother, as already mentioned, having removed her resi dence to Reading, thither, in company with the lady so often adverted to, whose family was also established there, we pro ceeded in high spirits. Many other PhUadelphians had recourse to this town, as a place- of safety frora a sudden incursion of the enemy ; and, among a score or more of fugitive families, were those of General MifBin and my uncle, as I have caUed Mr. Bid dle, though only standing in that relation by marriage. It was also the station assigned to a number of prisoners, both British and German, as well as of the principal Scotch royalists, that had been subdued and taken in North Carolina. I soon discovered that a material change^had taken place .d.illing my absence from Pennsylvania ; and that the pulses of many, that at the tirae of my leaving it, had beaten high in the cause of Whigisra and fiberty, wiire^ considerably lowered. Power, to use a language which had already ceased to be orthodox, and could, therefore, * The generous exertions of the Philadelphia troop of cavalry, and other por tions of the militia, in the preceding winter, are honourable exceptions to the general supi-jieness.. 284 politica;l feelings. only be whispered, had fallen into lo-w haiids : Thj^J)etter^; sort were disgqsted. and weary of the war. Congress^ indeed, had given out that they had counted the cost of the contest : but it was but too apparent, that very raany pf tiiejr adlierents, had made false calculations on the subject, having neitiier aUowed enough for disasters in the field, nor doraestic chagrins, the in evhable conse£uence_of a dissolution of_oId_2°^^'^^^ i^ suraption of new.* It was, in fact, just beginning ;|g Be per ceived, that the^,ardour of the inflamed; radtiiude.. is. not to_k tempered; and that the instigators of revolutions are rarely ^ose who are destined to conclude them, or profit by them. The great cause of schism among the Whigs, had been the Declaration of Independence. Its adoption had, of course, rendered numbers malcontent; and thence, by a very natural transition, consigned them to the Tory ranks. Unfortunately for me, this was the pre dicament in which I found my nearest and best friend, whose ex ample had, no doubt, contributed to the formation of my political opinions, and whose advice, concurring with my own sense of duty, had placed rae in the array. I now discovered, that we no longer thought or felt alike ; and though no rupture took place, some coldness ensued, and I have to regret a few words of asperity which passed between us, on occasion of the French alliance. But this was but a momentary blast; a^ neither of us was infected with that hateful bigotry, which too, generaUy actuated Whigs and Tories, and led to mutual persecution, as one or other had the ascendency. As to the Whigs, the very cause for which they contended was essentially that of freedora, and yet alL the freedom it granted, was, at the peril of tar and feathers, to think and act like themselves, the extent, indeed, of all toleration pro ceeding from the multitude, whether advocating the divine right of a king; the divine sovereignty of the people; or of the idol it may be pleased to constitute its unerring plenipotentiaiy. Toleration is only to be looked for upon points in which men aie indifferent ; or where they are duly checked and restrained by a salutary authority. * For some justifications of these reraarks, which, I know, have been tHsnghl heterodox — see Wilkinson's Memoirs,, vol. 1, pp. 201-2 — particularly a- cited letter from General, Schuyler to General Heath, dated Saratoga, July 28th,,l,W' POLITICAL FEELINGS. 285 Mr. Edward Biddle, theh hi a declining state of health, and no longer in Congress, apparently entertained sentiments not accord ant with the measures pursuing ; and in the fervid style of elocu tion, for which he was distinguished, he often exclaimed, that he really knew not what to wish for. "The subjugation of my country," he -would say, "I deprecate as a most grievous calamity, and yet sicken at the idea of thirteen, unconnected, petty demo cracies : if we are to be independent, let us, in the name of God, at once have an empire, and place Washington at the head of it."* Fortunately for our existence "as a nation, a great proportion of those, whose early exertions tended to that issue, were not aware pf the price by which it was to be acquired ; otherwise, my kno-wledge of the general feeling at this time, so far as ray raeans of inforraation extended, obliges rae to say, that it -would not have been achieved. Not that disgust and despondence were universal among the leading and best informed Whigs, but an equal propor tion of disaffection to independence, in the early part of the year 1776, must have defeated the enterprize. Still, it maybe ob-i served, that as Whigism declined among the higher classes, it in creased in the inferior ; because they who coraposed thera, thereby, . obtained power and consequence. Uniforms and epaulets, with mUitia titles and paper money, making nurabers of persons gen tlemen who had never been so before, kept up every where throughout the country, the spirit of opposition ; and if these were not real patriotism, they were very good substitutes for it. Could there, in fact, be any coraparison between the condition of a daily drudge in agricultural or raechanic labour, and that of a spruce, militia-man, living without work, and, at the same tirae, having plenty of continental dollars in his pocket! How could he be otherwise than well affected to such a cause ! Shortly after the Declaration of Independence by Congress, a Constitution had been formed for the Commonwealth of Pennsyl vania. This was understood to have been principally the work * I have presumed to put in the wrong, those who were adverse to the Decla ration of Independence ; and the high ground on which we have since stood, fully justified rae : but presenl appearances seem again lo unsettle the question, in the minds of those at least who are heterodo-x enough to doubt the eligibility of a dependence on France. 286 ' DR. FRANKLIN. of Mr. George Bryan, in conjunction with a Mr. Canon, a school master ; and it was severely reprobated by those, who thought checks and balances necessary to a legitimate distribution of the powers of governraent. Doctor Franklin was also irapUcated in the production ; and either his participation in it, or approbation of it, was roundly asserted by its fautors. The Doctor, perhaps a sceptic in relation to forms of goverraent, and ever cautious of comraitting himseff, had thrown out an equivoque about a wagon, with horses, drawing in opposite directions ; as, upon the adoption of the federal constitution he told a pleasant story of a self-com placent French lady who always found herself in the right. But whether he meant by his rustic allusion, to show his approbation of checks or otherwise, is an enigma that has never been solved; nor is it worth the trouble of solution. The constitutionalists, however, claimed him ; and whetiier he thought with them or not, he was too prudent to disoblige thpm. It is rather probable the phi losopher was of opinion, th^t the ferment of the revolution should be left to work itself off; that the effect could not be produced I by the exhibition of paper sedatives; and that, therefore, theform ^of a constitution was scarcely worth quarrelling about. His ob servations erabraced moral, no less than natural subjects : and as he had discovered that oil would smooth the ruffied surface of the sea, so had he found it most effectual in assuaging the troubled minds of his feUow men. Hence, his demeanour to both parties was so truly oily and accommodating, that it al-ways remained doubtful to which he really belonged ; and whUe president of the Executive CouncU, to which office he had been elected on his re turn from France, he sedulously avoided voting on questions, which partook of the spirit of party. No man , had scanned the world more critically than the Doctor ; few have profited more by a knowledge of it, or raanaged it more to their own advantage. Old, and without an object to intrigue for, he seeraed wholly de-: voted to his ease and amusement ; and I have been told by a gentleman who acted with him as Vice-President, that he not only devolved upon him the whole business of the department, but even declined the trouble of thinking. As to the Constitution, whose provisions it was soraetimes necessary to consider, it did not appear to him, that he had ever read it ; or if he had, that he DR. FRANKLIN ^MR. BRYAN. 287 deemed h worthy of remembering. In short, as to the political concerns ofthe State, he was apathy hself; and like King Lear it was obviously his "fast intent, to shake aU cares and business from his age."* With respect to Mr. Bryan, so conspicuous at this era in the home departraent, he was one of those, whose memory treasures up small things, with even more care than great ones. , He was said to be a very diligeht reader, and was certainly a never weary monotonous talker, who, in the discourses he held, seldom failed tp give evidence of an acquaintance with the most minute, recon dite, and out of the way facts ; insomuch, that a. bet was once offered, that he could name the town-cryer of Bergen-op-Zoom.f As Ireland had given him birth, he was probably like the bulk ofhis emigrating countryraen, in the antipodes at all points, to whatever was English ; and a staunch patriot, of course. It was, moreover, his passion or his policy, to identify himself with the people, in opposition to those, who were termed the well horn, a designation conceived in the genuine spirit of democracy, and which, as it * Dr. FliANKLiN was chosen President of the Convention to form a Conslitulion for the Stale of Pennsylvania, and while a member of this Convention, he was, also, a raember of Congress where important duties required his occasional attend ance. " He is reported," says Sparks, " to have been the author of the most re markable feature in this Constitution, that is, a single Legislative, Assembly, instead of two branches, which other Statesmen have considered preferable, and which have since been adopted by all the States of the Union, as well as in olher countries where the experiment of popular forms has been tried. He disapproved of the distinctions of rank incident to two Assemblies, one being called the Upper and the other the Lower House, as having an aristocratical tendency, unfavoura ble to the liberty and equality, which are the essence of republican institutions." These distinctions, borrowed, as are too raany other opinions and practices, from England, however significant and expressive there, are utterly meaningless here, yet are obstinately persevered in. It is time that this absurd iraitation of Lords and Commons should be discontinued, and the common-sense of the country is appealed lo in this behalf. At the period of the adoption of this Conslilution, Franklin was in his 71sl year ; but he was, nevertheless, according lo Sparks, actively atlentive to his two-fold duties, the assertion of our author's informant, to the conlrary notwithstanding. — En. t This place was probably suggested to the mind of the bettor frora the circum stance of its having been taken in the year 1747, by Marshal Count Lowenoahl though deemed impregnable, and being, on that account, a common theme in conversation and newspapers. 288 MR. BRYAN MR. CANON. may be supposed, did " yeoman's service " to her cause, now dispensing with hs use from a just deference to hs weU born ad vocates from Virginia and her dependencies. In otiier respects Mr. Bryan was well enough : let us say, a weU raeaning man, and even one, who, in the main, felt he was acting the patriot : for this part, it is'weU known, is played in very different styles. Should any reader require a proof of this, I might refer him tothe modes of Washington and Jefferson. ¦ Sorae only see danger, bless their optics ! on the side of aristocracy ; and, therefore, rivet themselves with all their might, in an anti-patrician spirh of per verseness to every thing candid, or noble, or honourable. Nothing is republican wdth thera, but as it is crawling, and mean, and can died over with a fulsome and hypocritical love for the people. I do not say that Mr. Bryan was actuated by such motives, but merely, that his patriotism was of the humble character they are calculated to inspire. Ofhis colleague Mr. Canon, it may notbe uncharitable to presume, that having the little knowledge of man, and scholastic predilection for the antique in liberty, which gene rally falls to the lot of a pedagogue, be acted accordingly.* But death quickly snatched him away ; ostendent terris hunc tantum fata. These constituted the duumvirate, which had the credit of framing the Constitution and thence laying, in Pennsylvania, the corner stone of that edifice, which, however retarded in its pro gress by aristocratical interferences, towers, like another Babel, to the skies, and will continue to tower, until finally arrested and dUapidated by an irremediable confusion of tongues : for anarchy ever closes the career of deraocracy. * As to myself, who always find il irapossible to separate frora my idea of a good government, soraewhat of ignoble fireside corafort and tranquillity, I must say, that I have but a poor opinion of old Roman felicity, notwithstanding the im mense amor patria that attended il. PHILADELPHIA THREATENED. 289 CHAPTER Xll. Philadelphia Threatened. — Washington Marches to meet the Enemy.— Review of Ihe Army. — Action al Brandywine. — Reflections on National Strength. — Measures of Washington.— ^-Character ofhis Operations, — Pefeat of Burgoyne. — Society at Reading.-^Generals Mifilin, Gates, Conway, Lee. — Captain Speke. — Prisoners. — British Ofiicers on Parole. — Author Exchanged. — Married. — Re fiections. — Occurrence ofthe War. — Charles Thomson. General Howe had reraained inactive during the sumraer, and it was not until the latter part of August, that it became manifest that Philadelphia was his object. This rendered it ex pedient in the opinion of the active Whigs of that city, to put out of the way of mischief, the most influential and zealous of the disaffected ; several of whom were accordingly, on authority of Congress, apprehended, and deported to the western parts of Virginia. On their way thither, they passed through Reading; and it being proposed by some of tbeir old fellow citizens there resident, to show them some attention in their misfortune, the pro position was generally approved, and I was' among the numbei? of those who called on them, at the inn at which they stopped. Here, we found some of the principal and most respectable Quakers, Mr. James Pemberton, Mr. Myers Fi.sher, and several others, whom I do not, with certainty, recoUect. Mr. Fisher was the only one of this society, with whom I was personally acquainted ; and he, I remember, took occasion significantly to observe, that " I did not look as if I had been starved by those sad people the British." Byt I found among them another ac quaintance of a wholly different order. This was no other than ¦ my old friend Pike, the fencing raaster, w-ho, although he had dissembled so well at the outset of thq business, as to render it dubious whether he was for or against us, had, in tbe sequel it 25 290 WASHINGTON MARCHES TO MEET THE ENEMY. seems, evinced himself a true-hearted Briton, to which circum stance, he owed the honour ofhis being in his present very good company, as he termed it. The red coat and laced hat of Pike, were, to be sure, very strikingly in contrast with the flat brims, and plain drab-coloured garments of the rest ofthe assemblage: nevertheless, from an internal simUarity, this seemingly discord ant ingredient incorporated perfectly well with the mass; and friend Pike, as he was called, officiating in the capacity of a major domo or caterer at the inns tbey put up at, was a person, I found, of no small consideration with his partj^. The prisoners were not much .dejected, probably looking upon themselves as martyrs to the cause of their country ; and, in fact, though ap parently well pleased with the civUity we showed them, their manner rather indicated, that they considered us, as more ob jects of pity than themselves. How much is it to be lamented, that the public good should not always be so manifest as not to be mistaken ! If this were the case, how many of the fa?itastic tricks we plgy ofi' against each other, in its^ name, might be spared ! But then, we should no longer be the self-important, "forked-animals," "the quintescence of dust," called man. Having drawn together his forces. General Washington marched to meet the enemy, who, from the head of "Elk, was directing his course to Philadelphia. As it had been given out by the disaffected, that we were much weaker than in truth we were, the General thought it best to show both Whigs and Tories the real strength he possessed ; and in this view, took his route through the city, the bellorum, maxima merces, or at least, the great object of the carapaign, and the point, wbich if gained, would, in tbe opinion of Mr. GaUoway, be decisive of the con test. I happened to be there at the time, and from the coffee house corner, saw our army with the Commander-in-chief at its head, pass down Front street. The sight was highly interesting to persons of all descriptions; and araong the many who, perhaps, equally disclaimed the epithet of Whig or of Tory, Mr. Chew, from an upper window in the house of Mr. Turner, appeared a very anxious spectator. By the hye, it might savour of bigotry, to impute guilt to this want of decision. In civU commotions, there is generaUy so much to disapprove on both sides, and the REVIEW OF THE ARMY. 291 issue is so littie answerable to tbe designs of tbe well-meaning men erabarked in them, that neutrality, if it could be maintained, raight often be the most eUgible part. Atticus was perhaps as good, and probably a wi.ser man than either Cicero, or Pompey, or Csesar. There are certainly tiraes in which inaction becomes virtue, notwithstanding that active ardour may be more conge nial to uprigbt intention ; and that it is in the glowing tempera ment of a Cato, disdaining that " his house should stand secure and flourish in a civil war," that the noblest feelings of an honest heart are to be looked for. And yet, this very Cato, under the guidance of the same poet,' who puts this heroic sentiment into his mouth, is raade to counsel his son to "live retired, and to content himself with being obscurely good." The irapression made by this review of the American army, it is to be presumed, was rather favourable than otherwise from the propensity of persons unaccustomed to the sight of large bodies of raen, to augraent thera. But it was very disproportioned to the zeal for liberty, which had been raanffested the year before. It amounted to but about eight or nipe thousand men, according to Chief Justice Marshall ; but these, though indifferently dressed, held well burnished arms, and carried them like soldiers, and looked, in short, as ff they might have faced an equal number with a reasonable prospect of success. The action which ensued at Brandywine, on the eleventh of Septeraber, is an instance', among many others furnished by his tory, both of the temptation to dispute the passage of a river by fronting the eneray on the opposite side, and of the inefficiency of such atterapts. The difficulty and ineligibUity of these under takings, are noticed by raost of the writers on the art of war, and particularly by the Marquis De Feuquiere.* To a person of any * He says^ "It is impossible to guard the shores of a river when the ground to be guarded is of a great extent, because the assailant, pointing his efibrts lo several places, for the purpose of separating the forces of his adversary, and to draw his attention to spots very distant from each other, at length determining to make his effort at the point where he finds the least ability to resist, always prevails over the labours and vigilance of his enemy ; more especially when he employs the night for the execution of his enterprize, that being raost favourable for concealing the place of ids principal effort." 292 BRANDYWINE. military experience, who reflects how easy it raust be, to distract the opposing array by faUacious demopstrations, in a situation at once concealed frora observaition, and exempted frora the peril which results frora moveraents in the face of an adversary, ih a state of profit by tbem, the little chance of succeedmg in tiie effort, on a merely defensive plan, must be apparent. Where, indeed, the defending General shall perrait hiraself to become the assailant, tf occasion should offer, he, in sorae degree, balances advantages ; and the conception of General Washington,' as mentioned by Judge Marshall, of crossing at the lower ford to attack the eneray's right under Knyphausen, was raasterly ; and raight, if rapidly put in execution, have handsomely turned the tables. It can hardly be doubted, however, that a position on the enemy's flank to the westward, would have been more eUgible than that taken in front; and that the raeans of annoying and possibly crippling hira on his raarch, which was all that could reasonably be looked for from an army so inferior as ours, might have offered at this river or at Schuylkill. Tbis was probably, at one time conteraplated, under the recommendation, as it was said, of General Greene. But the public clamour demanded that a battle should be risked for tbe city ; and I well remember, that it was given out at Reading, on the suggestion of General Mifflin, that Greene, of whora he was no friend, was jealous of Southem influence, and, therefore, indifferent to the fate of PhUadelphia. But tf Greene really advised the raea,sure attributed to him, thereby securing the open country to our array in case of disaster, in pre ference to the plan adopted,- and which, in addition to its other faults, tended to place us in the nook forraed by t;he course ofthe Delaware, I cannot but say, that, whatever were his raotives, and we have no ground to presume them bad, he was right. Yet, if Congress required that the enemy should be fought, and we have good authority that they did require it,, the opportunity of bringing him to action, in any other raode than that of placing ourselves directly in his way, raight have been lost.* * "The expediency of fighting this battle," says Sparks, in his Life ofWisH- iNGTo.v, " with a force so rauch inferior, ahd under many disadvanlages,1ias been questioned by foreign writers. If the subject be viewed in a military light oilly, tliere may, perhaps, be just grounds for criticism. But it should be differently REFLECTIONS ON NATIONAL STRENGTH. 293 But why so much caution, it may be asked, against a foe in the very beartof the country.' Why not rather turn out en masse, surround, and make a breakfast of Mr. Howe and his mercena ries .-" Could not a population of two milUons of souls, have fur nished fighting Whigs enough for the purpose .'' Where were the muhitudes which used to appear in arms, in the commons of PhUadelphia.? Where the legions of New-England men that hemmed in Gage at Boston.' Where, in short, the hundred and fifty thousand men in arras throughout the continent, spoken of by General Lee* and others, at the beginning of the contest.' Where were the Pennsylvania rifleraen, those forraidable, un erring marksmen, each of whom, could venture to put a ball in a target, held by his brother.' How came it, that that excellent jest ofa British dragoon pursuing one ofthem round a tree, was not exemplified on this occasion.' These things promised well; they were flattering in the extreme, and admirably calculated to buoy us up in a confidence of the martial superiority of freemen to slaves. Yet, on the day>of trial, from whatever cause it pro ceeded, the fate of the country and its liberties, was always comraitted to a handful of mercenaries, the very things, which were the eternal theme of our scorn and derision. The fact must either be, that the effective strength of a nation does, after all, reside in regular, disciplined forces, or that appearances ¦ were lamentably deceitful ; that all the patriotic ardour we had at first displayed, had already evaporated ; and that the gallant affair of Bunker's hUl, and others, were but the effects of mo- regarded. General Washington knew the expectation of the country and of Congress ; and he was persuaded, that a defeat would be less injurious in its effects on the public raind, than the permitiing of the enemy to march to Phila delphia without opposition. He doubtless hoped lo make a betier resistance ; which he would have done, if he had not been deceived by contradictory intelli, gence in the time of battle, against which no foresight could guard. Although some ofhis troops behaved ill, yet oihers, and the larger part, fought with signal bravery, and inspired hini and theraselves wilh a confidence, which could have been produced only by the trial." See Appendix K. — Ed. * Not less than a hundred and fifty thousand gentlemen, yeomen and farraers are in arms, determined to preserve their liberties or perish. — Letter from Gene ral Lee to General Burgoyne. *25 294 REFLECTIONS ON NATIONAL STRENGTH. mentary exchement. America does not seera to be a soU for enthusiasm ; and I am not at all disposed to dispute the assertion contained in a letter of General Du PortaU, in the time of the war, tbat there was more of it in a single coffee-house in Paris, than on our whole continent put together. From these facts, and facts they assuredly are, let our theoretical men calculate the probable result of a formidable invasion of our country in our present state of preparation ; and, if in the heroic epoch alluded to, when there had been reaUy a promise of great things, so little was done, how much less, is rationally to be expected from the erapty vapouring of deraagogue valour. Would it have been credited in the year 1775, that a British array of eighteen thou sand men could have marched in perfect security from the Chesapeake to PhUadelphia .' that a much smaller foree could have penetrated througl;i the Jerseys to the Delaware .' and that mere partizan-bodies, could bave traversed the southern states in utter contempt of the long knife of Virginia ! All these things were done; and yet our babbling statesmen will talk, "Ye Gods! how they will tallf," of the irresistable prowess of a nation of freemen ! From the perseverance of Spain, when com pared with the short-lived exertions of Austria and Prussia, some argue the superiority of a determined people to regular armies. But it is not certainly like Spain, that we would wish to have our country defended to be first over-run and destroyed! Neither can the glory we aspire to, be raerely that of the boxer, who bears a great deal of beating, and solely depends on out- winding his adversary. I have lately seen sneers at what are called technical armies ; but what are we to call thpse with which Napoleon has achieved his victories and attained his present fearful ascendancy! We can hardly say, they are not technical, because, in part, composed of conscripts; and, if by the term, is meant disciplined, who wiU deny them that qualification.' Previously to Sir William Howe's getting possession of Phila delphia, measures were taken by General Washington to give him battie a second time. The two arraies were on the point of engaging, and the encounter was only prevented by a heavy fall of rain. The weather continued wet for a day or two ; and by MEASURES OF GENERAL WASHINGTON. 295 damaging our ammunition, rendered it inexpedient to seek the enemy.* While our army had been preparing for action, I have been informed by several discerning officers, that the General discovered unusual impetuosity ; and that as he rode along the line exhorting his raen to do their duty, his raanner evinced an extrerae irapatience of ill-fortune, and a deterraination to retrieve it, or perish in the attempt. Although defeat had been the consequence of his unequal conflicts with the foe, and his country seemed lost to the gene rous ardour which had once inspired ii, his manly mind was not subdued. Of this he gave an iUustrious instance in his assault of the post at Germantown. That the British army was not de stroyed on this occasion, and Philadelphia recovered, has been represented by certain malcontents, as a shameful dereliction of a victory already gained; and General C. Lee, sneeringly de nominates it a stroke of the bathos. But what would he that we should have done .' He would hardly have had us press on hap-hazard, without redressing the disorder which had taken place in our line; a disorder which might have ensued, had even General Lee himself coramanded. Besides, the step would * "After allowing his raen one day for rest and refreshment, Washington re turned across the Schuylkill, and took the Lancaster road, leading to the left of the British army, fully determined lo offer battle. This bold step, taken before the enemy had left the field of action al the Brandywine, was a proof that the late repulse had in no degree unsettled his own resolution, or damped the ardour of his troops. Tho two armies' met twenty-three miles from Philadelphia, and an engageraent was actually begun belween the advanced parties, when a heavy rain oame on and rendered both armies totally unfit to pursue the contest. Wash ington retired to tlie Yellow Springs, bul was not followed by the British ; and he finally passed over the Schuylkill at Parker's Ford." Washington gives the following account ofhis movements on this occasion : — "When I last re-crossed the Schuylkill, il was wilh a firm intent of giving the enemy battle wherever .1 should meet ihem; and accordingly I advanced as far as the Warren Tavern upon tho Lancaster road,near which place the two armies were uport the point of coming to a general engagement, but wore prevented by a most violent flood of rain, which continued alt the day and following night. When il held up, we had the mortification to find our ammunition, which had been completed lo forty rounds a man, was entirely ruined; and in that situation we had nothing left for il, but lo find out a strong piece of ground, which we could easily maintain, till we could get the arras pul in order, and a recruit of am munition." — Sparks' life of Washi-ngton. — En. 296 CHARACTER OF HIS OPERATIONS. have been by no means congenial with his own conduct at Monmouth; which was sufficiently circumspect and respectful of an enemy, he here seeras to consider as nothing.* But the reputation of a commander ought not to depend upon a sarcasm; and in order to have shown, wherein General Washington's conduct had been defective, Mr. Lee should have fairly set be fore us, what Duke Ferdinand, whom he is pleased to bring into contrast, would have done. Possibly, the Duke might have duly respected the British grenadiers, and made comparisons not altogether animating, between the respective numbers, equip ments and discipUne, ofhis own array, and thatof his adversary. But this, as a prudent General, he would, doubtiess, have kept to hiraself; since to proclaim the bravery of an eneray, to our own men, on the field of action, is at best, but a doubtful mode of encouraging thera. It would, however, be no just disparage ment of General Washington, to admit his inferiority to Prince Ferdinand, in matters wherein the desultory Indian warfare, had furnished no experience. We had no right to count upon him as consummate in the science of tactics; or to hold him fully corapetent to the nice arrangements required in the movements of an army, should it even be disciplined. Indeed, it was ob servable, and confirmed by every instance which came under my notice, that little benefit, with respect to the' discipUne of parade, so essential to the effect of operations on the large seale, was derived from any of the gentlemen who bad been in the provincial service. The , fortitude which is acquired from a familiarity with the perils and privations of war, was conspicuous in many; but being too far advanced in life, readily to acquire new habits, tbey were far from exceUing in the business of manoeuvring, or in an aptitude of imparting to their men the air * A partial advantage over the enemy, was, probably, all that was contem. plated on this occasion, and it was certainly as much as we had a right lo calcu late upon with our very inferior army. This may account for the delay at Chew's house, which has been so much censured by those, who have rashly asserted that a complete victory was in our power. I presume this is the first defence that has been made of the failure at Ger- manlown, and I must confess my satisfaction to find that it agrees with General Wilkinson's and General Henry Lee's opinions of (hat affair. DEFEAT OF GENERAL BURGOYNE. 297 and adroitness of regular soldiers. In the situation of our army, necessarily deficient in discipline, something of that attention to minutise ; that acquaintance with the duties of the adjutant and drill sergeant with the occasional exercise of them, which have been ascribed to the King of Prussia ; that searching eye, which runs along the line, detecting at a glance, the remissness of every lounger, might have been desirable in its commander, possessing, in other respects, exterior quaUfications for the station, in a de gree not to be surpassed : a manner which at once inspired con fidence and attachment ; a figure pre-eminently gentlemanly, dignified, commanding, equaUy removed from heaviness and flip pancy, and blending the gravity of the sage, with the animation of the soldier. Had it belonged to Alexander, Hephaestion would have lost his compliment, as it must infallibly have prevented the mistake of the mother of Darius. The success of General Howe ; the loss of Philadelphia ; as well as the ground given in the northern quarter by the retreat of General St. Clair ; were amply counterbalanced by the utter ex tinction of Burgoyne's army on the fifteenth of October.* As Reading lay in the route from Saratoga to York where Congress was now assembled, we received before that body, the particu lars of this glorious event, from Major WUkinson,! who was * On the return of General Burgoyne lo England, on his parole, the King re fused to see him, and he in vain solicited a Court-martial. Under these circum stances, he threw himself upon Parliament, and a motion was made in the House of Commons, for an inquiry into the Convention at Saratoga; which was got rid of by the previous question." Note by the Editor of Walpole's Letters. — Ed. t Afterwards General James Wilkinson. He was more distinguished for his ponderous "IMemoirs" of doubtful authorily, than for any very effective service in war al any period ofhis career, although, like anoiher celebrated chieftain, he was a " hero of two wars" the Revolutionary and Madisonian, that is to say, he belonged lo the army at both periods. He was no doubt a brave man. He was sent by Gates lo Congress to communicate intelligence of Burgoyne's surrender. He was also Charged with being concerned in the famous Conway cabal. In return for the rnagnauimity of our author in his reference to this gentleman, il is bul proper that the General's very favourable, bul no doubt very just, impressions in regard to him should appear. In Vol. I. al p. 339, ofthe Memoirs of Wilkin son, we read as follows : " Besides Mr. Biddle, I had anoiher acquaintance, a contemporary whose independence of sentiment and manly deportment, had at tracted iny attention and engaged my esteem during ray residence in Philadeir phia; but exclusive ofhis personal merits, a congeniality of feeling and parity of 298 AMERICAN GENERALS. charged with the despatches of GeneraL Gates. But without loading my Meraoirs with obvious and thte reflections on this memorable' occurrence, I turn a moment to myself, to observe: That were I a prey to the vulture of ill-starr'd ambition, the men tion of a gentleraan, with whom I coraraenced in the same rank, my military career, and who is now in fhe chief comraand ofthe American forces, might suggest somewhat unpleasantly, the im measurable distance he has left me behind ; but the recollections his narae awakens with infinitely more interest, are of a nature wholly different. They, relate to pursuits and occupations of a character more congenial to that season of life, when, as a stu- - dent of physic, he attended raedical lectures in Philadelphia, be fore either of us wore a uniform, and before a foundation was laid for the raany strifes which have since ensued. Thus much without connecting him with any of them, I freely pay to the remembrance of an early friendship, ever renewed when casual-, ties have brought us together, raaugre the estranging influence of different party-associations. The ensuing winter, at Reading, was gay and agreeable, not withstanding that tbe eneray was in possession of the metropolis. The society was sufficiently large and select; anda sense of com mon suffering in being driven from their homes, had the effect of more closely uniting its raembers. Disasters of this kind, if duly weighed, are not grievously to be deplored. The variety and bustle they bring along with them, give a spring to the mind; and when Ulumined by bope, as was now the case, they are, when present, not painful, and when past, they are among the incidents most pleasing in retrospection. Besides the famihes established in this place, it was seldom without a number of vi siters, gentieraen of the array and others. Hence the dissipation of cards, sleighing-parties, baUs, &c., was freely indulged. predicament, as il regarded a passion which above all oihers mosl interests the youthful heart, had produced a confidential intimacy, the recollection of which at this distant day, awakens the sweetest sensibilities of my bosom; and I know not whether I compliment the living or the dead, when I declare that I have rarely met wilh a raan of more refined honour, a more feeling heart, or raore polishedmariners,lhan Alexander Graydon, Esq." The Memoirs of Wilkinson were printed iu 1816. — Ed. '' GENERAL MIFFLIN. 299 General MifHin, at this era, was at home, a chief out of war, complaining, tbough not iU, considerably malcontent, and appa rently, not in high favour at Head Quarters. According to him, the ear of the Comraander-in-chief, was exclusively possessed by Greene, who was represented to be neither the ; most wise, the most brave, nor most patriotic of counsellers.* In short, the campaign in tbis quarter, was stigmatized as a series of blunders ; and the incapacity of those who had conducted it, unsparingly reprobated. The better fortune of the northern army, was ascribed to the superior talents of its leader; and it began to be whispered, that Gates was the raan who should, of right, have the station so incompetently sustained by Washington. There was, to aU appearance, a cabal forming for his deposition, in which, it is not improbable, that Gates, MiflSlin and Conway were already engaged; and, in which, the congenial spirit of Lee, on his exchange, immediately took a share. The well known apostrophe of Conway to America, importing " that Heaven had passed a decree in her favour or her ruin, must lortg before have ensued, from the imbecility of her military counsels," was, at this time, famiUar at Reading ; and I heard him myself, when he was afterwards bn a visit to that place, express himself to the * A far abler, more sincere, and more " earnest raan," as 'Carlyle would ex press il, than General Mifflin, namely. General Henry Lee, entertained and ex pressed a very different opinion. "No man," he says, " was more familiarized to- dispassionate and minute research than General Greene. He was patient in hear ing every thing offered, never interrupting or slighting what was said; and, having possessed himself of the subject fully, he would enter into a critical comparison of the opposite arguments, convincing his hearers, as he proceeded, of the pro priety of the decision hewas about lo pronounce." " His vivid plastic genius operated on the latent elements of martial capacity in, his army, invigorated its weakness, turned ils confusion into order, and its despondency into ardour. A wide sphere of intellectual resource enabled him lo inspire confidence, to re kindle courage, to decide hesitation, and infuse a spirit of exalted patriotism in the citizens ofthe State. By his own example, he showed the incalculable value of obedience, of patience, of vigilance and temperance. Dispensing justice, with an even hand, to the citizen and soldier ; benign in heart, and happy in manners; he acquired the durable attachment and esteem of all. He collected around his person, able and respectable officers; and selected, for the several departments, those who were best qualified lo fill them. His operations were then commenced with a boldness of design, well calculated to raise the drooping hopes of his coun- try, and to excite the respect of the enemy." — Ed. '300 MIFFLIN — GATES — LEE CONWAY. effect : " That no man was raore a gentieraan than GeneralWASH- INGTON, or appeared to more advantage at his table, or in the usual intercourse of Ufe ; but as to his talents for the command of an army, (with a French shrug) tbey were miserable indeed."' Ob servations of this kind, continually repeated, could not faU to make an impression .vvithin the sphere of their circulation ; and it may be said, that the popularity of the Commander-in-chief, was a good deal impaired at Reading. As to myself, however, I can confidently aver, that I never was proselyted ; or gaye into the opinion for a moment, that any man in America, was worthy to supplant the exalted character, that presided in her army. I raight have been disposed, perhaps, to believe, that such talents as were possessed by Lee, could they be brought to actsubordi- nately, raight often, be usefuhto him; but I ever thought it would be a fatal error, to put any other in his place. Npr was I the only one, who forbore to become a pE^rtizan of Gates.* Several others thought they saw symptoms of selfishness in the business; nor could the great ecZa^ of the northern campaign, convince them, that its hero was superior lo Washington. The duel which af terwards took place between Generals Conwayf and Cadwalader, * General Horatio Gates was an Englishman, and had served in America during the war of 1755. Little is known ofhis early career. He is^said lo have been born in 1728, " and rose to the rank of major by the force of nierit alone." Horace Walpole, in v/riting to Horace Mann, speaks of the god-son ofthe lat ter, Horatio Gates, and ofhis capture of Burgoyne, at Saratoga. He settled in Virginia, where, at the commencement of the war of the Revolu tion, he received from Congress the appointraent of Adjutant-General, with the rank of Brigadier lo the army assembled before Boston in the first campaign. After the capture of Burgoyne, when the popularity of Gates, in consequence of this good fortune, was at ils height, " intrigues were commenced for elevating him to the station occupied by Washington, which were as shameful as they were un successful." How far he was engaged in them it is not now possible to determine. In June, 1780, Gates received the Chief command of the Southern army, and ¦ when about to leave Virginia for the soulh, "his old acquaintance, General Charles Lee, wailed on him to take leave, and pressing his hand, bade him bear in mind, that the laurels of the North must not be exchanged for the *ill6w of the South." He was defeated by Cornwallis, at the battle of Caraden, on the 16th of August. He died on the 10th of April, 1806, in the 78th year of his age."— Ed. + General Thomas Conway was born in Ireland. He received a military edu cation in France, where, at the age six years, he accompanied his parenls. He SOCIETY AT READING. 301 though immediately proceeding from an unfavourable opinion expressed by the latter of the conduct pf the forraer at German- town, had perhaps a deeper origin, and sorae reference to this intrigue :* as I had the raeans of knowing, that General Cad walader, suspecting Mifflin had instigated Conway to fight him, was extremely earnest to obtain data from a gentleman who lived in Reading, whereon to ground a serious explanation with Mifilin. So much for the manoeuvring, which my location at one of its principal seats, brought me acquainted with ; and which, its authors were soon after desirous of burying in oblivion. Among the persons, who, this winter, spent much time in came to this country with strong recommendations, and, in 1777, received from Congress the appointment of Brigadier-General. He was, however, distinguished only by his ridiculous hostility to Washington, and by his absurd endeavour to place his friend General Gates, in the Chief command of the army. " In this he was supported by several members of Congress. He was appointed by that body Inspector-General of the Army, with the rank of Major-General, but, was soon obliged to resign his commission, on account of his unpopularity with the officers. In consequence of his calumnies against Washington, he was chal lenged by General Cadwalader, and wounded in the head. Supposing that he was mortally injured, he wrote a satisfactory letter of apology lo Washington, for the injury he had endeavoured to infiict upon his character." He returned to France at the close ofthe year 1778. The absurd aspirations of the English General, Gates, the weak and mi serable intrigues of his countryman and partisan, Conway, the vanity and in subordination of their able but eccentric countryman, General, Charles Lee, caused far more annoyance to the Commander-in-chief, than the inexperience of all the other officers together, who, suddenly summoned lo the field from the ordinary avocations of life, v^ere compelled lo learn the art of war, amidst ils perils and responsibilities. — Ed. * Not that General Cadwalader was induced from the intrigue to speak un favourably of General Conway's behaviour al Germantown. That of itselfj was a sufficient ground of censure. Conway, it seems, during the action, was found in a farm-house by Generals Reed and Cadwaladbr. Upon their inquiring the cause, he replied, in greal agitation, that his horse was wounded in the neck. Being urged lo get anoiher horse, and al any rale to join his brigade which was engaged, he declined it, repeating that his horse was wounded iu the neck. Upon Conway's applying lo Congress, some lirae after to be raade a Major-General, and earnestly urging his suit, Cadwalader made known this conducl of his atGermau' town ; and it was for so doing, that Conway gave the challenge, the issue of which was, his being dangerously wounded in the face from the pistol of General Cadwalader. He recovered, however, and some time time after went to France. 26 302 MR. DUER CAPTAIN SPEKE. Reading, was one Luttiloe,^ a foreigner, who was afterwards arrested in London on suspicion of hostUe designs ; also Mr. WilUam Duer, who either was, or lately had been, a raember of Congress. His cbaracter is well known. He was of the dash ing cast, a man of the world, confident and animated, with a promptitude in displaying the wit and talents he possessed, with very little regard to the decorum, which either time or place imposed. Of this he gave an instance, one day, at Mr. Edward Biddle's, which, had it been on a theatre, where the royal cause was predominant, I should have relished : as it was, it was unpleasant to me. Captain Spekef of the British army, a prisoner, was present, with his eye on a newspaper, several of which had lately corae out of Philadelphia, when Duer, taking up another began to read aloud, commenting with much sarcasm on the paragraphs as he went along. Speke bore it a good while, but at length Duer's reraarks became so pinching that he was roused to reply. To this he received a ready re joinder, and a warm altercation was on the point of taking place, when Captain Speke prudently took the resolution of re linquishing the field; and taking up his hat, abruptly retired. * Henry Lutterloh, Esq., a German. He is so called in the account, under the bead of Briiain, in Dobson's Encyclopedia, and was concerned with De la Motte who was executed for treason, whom, on being arrested, he informed against. Henry Emanuel Lutterloh.— On Ihe 14th of April, 1790, at the second session of the first Congress, after the organization of the Government, a petition was presented by this gentleman praying to be allowed the pay and emoluments of a colonel, in consideration of military services rendered to the United States during the war. This petition was referred to the Secretary of War, who reported on the 20th May. His report was referred to a committee, and their report was taken up on the 2d of August, and disagreed to, and the petitioner had leave granted him lo withdraw his petition. At the third session of this Congress, he presented another petition praying tbat his memorial might be reconsidered— and he Was again rejected. At the first session ofthe second Congress, he again petitioned. A committee reported, bul there was no action on the report; bul at the next session, the House resolved — that the account of "Colonel Henry Ema nuel Lutterloh, for his travelling and passage expenses incurred in coming to America, and joining the army of the United States, in 1777, being seven hun. dred and forty-six dollars, be settled, and the amount thereof to be paid out ofthe treasury ofthe United States." History of Congress during first term of Wash ington. — Ed. + Captain Speke was taken prisoner at the battle of Germantown. CAPTAIN SPEKE. 303 AsSpeke, although a thorough Englishman, was a well-bred man, with whom I had becoine acquainted, and had exchanged some civilities, I was nota Uttle hurt at this circurastance, as the cora pany in general seeraed to be. Duer for his part triumphed in his success, displaying a heart, which however bold on the safe side of the lines, might nevertheless have been sufficiently meek on the other ; at least, such a conduct would but conform to tbe result of my observations on persons who play the bashaw in prosperity; and I believe it is pretty generally agreed, to be no mark of game to crow upon a dunghill. While upon the subject of Captain Speke, I will finish the Uttle I have to say of him. He belonged, if my recollection does not fail rae, to the sarae re giment with Mr. Becket ; at least, he was well acquainted with him, and told me he had heard him speak of rae. He was young and Uvely, with an addiction to that sly significance of remark, characteristic both of his proiession and his nation; and which may be pardoned, when accompanied with good humour. Taking up my hat, one day, when at his quarters, to take coffee with him and one or two others of his fellow prisoners, he observed, that it was a very decent one, which is more, said he, than I can say of those generally worn by the officers of your array : they have precisely what we call in England, the damn my eyes cock. At another tirae, having called upon me at my mother's, I was led by some circumstance, to advert to the awkward form and low ceiling of the room ; but " faith," said he, looking round, " you have made the most of it with furniture ;" which was true enough, as it was unmercifully overloaded with chairs, tables and famUy pictures. Such freedoms may fully justify me in scanning Mr. Speke, who, to say the truth, was, in point of inforraation, far above the level which is allowed to the gentleraen ofthe British army, by Swift and other writers of their nation. As to " your JYoveds and Blutarks, and Omurs and stuff," I know not if he was ofthe noble Captain's opinion, in Hannah's aniraated plea for turning Hamilton's bawn into a barrack; but be had read some of the EngUsh poets ; and speaking of Prior and Pope, I remember his saying, that the former was much preferred to the latter, by people of taste in England. But grant what we may to the sprightUness and easy gaiety of Prior, this can hardly be 304 BRITISH OFFICERS ON PAROLE. the award of sound criticism. Being heartUy tired of the condi tion of a captive, Mr. Speke was extreraely anxious to get rid of it, and to this effect suggested, that by mutual exertion, we might be exchanged for each otber. He said, that if I could obtain perraission for him to go into Philadelphia on parole, he had no doubt of having sufficient interest to effect it, I accordingly took the liberty to write to General Washington on the subject, hut was a long time in suspense as to the success of my ap plication. An additional induceraent to the step, was, that both Colonel Miles and Major West, had by requisition of General Howe, repaired to PhUadelphia ; and I every day expected a similar summons. It had been given out that these gentlemen had not observed all the passiveness which had been enjoined upon thein by their parole ; and I well knew that I was charged with a like transgression. I had spoken freely, it is true, ofthe treatment of prisoners; and this was considered by the Tories and some of the British officers in our hands, as very unpardonable in one who had been favoured as I had been ; and I was aware that I was threatened with a retraction of the indulgence. I re mained, however, unmolested. The situation of Miles and West in the neighbourhood of th6 array at White Marsh, was, perhaps; uie circumstance which gave colour to the accusation against them ; but they were not long detained. Besides, that it would have Ul ooraported with the indulgence I enjoyed, it was abhorrent to my feelings, to behave haughtily to a prisoner. .There were two puppies, however, in that predica ment, in whom I iraraediately recognised the insolent manner of a genuine scoundrel in red; and these, I cautiously avoided. They were subalterns ; one of whom, of the name of WUson, was base enough, under the false pretence of being related to the Cap tain Wilson, who he had some how learned had treated me with civility, to borrow a few guineas of my raother, which h unluckily slipped his raeraory to repay. Had I been aware of the apphca tion, the loan would have been prevented ; but I never knew of the circumstance until after his exchange. With the exception of these feUows, who, I had the mortification to hear, had found theh way to General Washington's table, at the time of theh being > BRITISH OFFICERS ON PAROLE. 305 taken, all the prisoners in Reading behaved with rauch decency. Among them, were a nuraber of Gerraan officers, who had really the appearance of being, what we call, down-right raen. There was a Major Stine, a Captain Sobbe and a Captain Wetherholt of the Hessians, whora I soraetiraes fell in with. There were several others, with whora I was not acquainted, and whose names I do not remsember. One old gentleman, a colonel, was a great pro fessional reader, whom, on his application, I accommodated with such books of the kind, as I had. Another of them, a very portly personage, apparently replete with national phlegm, was, never theless, enthusiastically devoted to music, in whieh, he was so. absorbed,, as seldora to go abroad. I did not know this rausical gentleman, except by sight ; but I have understood frora those who did, that call upon him at what tirae they would, and, like- another AchUles in retirement, Amus'd at ease, the godlfke man they found'. Pleas'd wilh the solenm harp's harmonious sound : for this was the obsolete instrument, from which he extracted thc' sounds that so much delighted him. But of aU the prisoners, one Graff, a Brunswick officer taken by General Gates's army, was admitted to the greatest privileges. Under the-patronage of Doc tor Potts, who bad been principal sui^eon in the Northern Depart ment, he had been introduced to our dancing parties ; and being always afterwards invited, he never failed to attend.. He was a young' man "of raild and pleasing raanners, with urbanity enough to witness the little' triumphs of party without being incited to ill humiour by them. Over-hearing a dance called for, one evening, which we had named Burgoyne's surrender, he observed to his, partner, that it was a very pretty dance, notwithstanding the name ;, and that General Burgoyne hiraself would be- happy to dance it in such good company. There was also a Mr. Stutzoe, of the Brunswick dragoons, than whose, I have seldom seen a figure more martial ; or a manner more indicative of that manly open ness, which is supposed to belong to the character of a soldier. I had a slight acquaintance with him ; and recollect with satisfac- 26* 306 EXCLUSIVE PATRIOTISM. tion, his calUng on me at the time of his exchange, to raake me his acknowledgraents, as he was pleased to say, for my civilities to the prisoners. Perhaps I may be excused for these trhlin.g detaUs, when it is considered, that they serve to raark the teraper of the times, and to show, that they were not all fire and fury, as certain modern pretenders to the spirit of Seventy-Six, have almost persuaded us they were. It ought to be granted, indeed, that an equal degree of toleration was not every where to be met with. It would scarcely have been found in that description of persons, which soon arrogated, ahd have since voted theraselves the exclusive possession of all the patriotism in the nation.. Even that small portion of the monopolists which resided at Reading, revolted at a moderation th.ey did not understand ; and all who were less vio lent and bigoted than themselves, were branded as Tories. All the families which had removed from Philadelphia were involved in this reproach ; and, in their avoidance of tbe enemy to the manffest injury of their affairs, tbey were supposed to exhibit proofs of disaffection.' Nor was I much better off: my having risked myself in the field was nothing : I should .have staid at home, talked big, been a mUitia-man and hunted Tories. In confirraation of ray remark, that toleration was not among the virtues affected by those whd were emphatically~styled the PEOPLE, I wUl instance the case of a young Scotch officer of the name of Dunlap, who was one day beset in the street by certain persons overflowing whh Whigism ; and, for presuming to resent the insuhs he received from them, was not only severely cudgeled, but afterwards put, to jaU. This treatment raight have fahly squared with that of our officers from the. royal side, in relation to the fish sellers ; tbougb I wUl undertake to aver, that, generally speaking, the prisoners in our hands, were treated bbth witii lenity and generosity. Some time after this affray, happening, at a table in Philadelphia, to be placed by the side of Doctor Witherspoon, then a member of Congress, I took occasion to raention h to him ; : and to intercede for his good offices in regard to tiie liberation of v Dunlap, who was stiU, in jail. I counted soraetbing upon the national spirit, supposed to be so prevalent among North Britons; DR. WITHERSPOON. 307 and yet more, upon the circurastance of knowing frora Dunlap and two other young Scotchraen, his fellow prisoners, that Doctor Witherspoon had been well acquainted with their faraUies. I did not find, however, that the Doctor was much melted to corapassion for the mishap of his countryman, as he contented himself with coldly observing, that if I could suggest any substantial ground for hira to proceed upon, he would do what he could for the young man. It appeared to me, that enough had been suggested, by my simple relation of the facts ; and I had nothing more to offer. But whether or not ray application was of any benefit to its object, my presentation of the laddies to the recollection of the Doctor, seemed to have something of national interest in it ; and had the effect, to incite hira to a shrewd reraark, according to his raanner. He told me he had seen the young men soon after they had been taken,, and was suprised to find one of them, whose name I forget, so rauch of a cub. His father, said he, was a very sprightiy fel low, when I knew hira. This lad is the fruit of a second marriage ; anid I immediately concluded, when I saw him, said the Doctor, that Jeraraey, or Sawney something, mentioning the father's narae, had taken some clumsy girl to wffe for the sake of a fortune.* * John Witherspoon, D. D., L. L. D. He was born in Scotland, and was dis tinguished among the Scotch Clergy for talent and influence. He was twice in vited lo the Presidency of Princeton College, and finally arrived in New Jersey wilh his family, in 1768. The War of the Revolution dispersed the students, and President 'Witherspoon almost immediately entered upon political life. He was a member of the Convention which formed tlie Constitution of New Jersey, and in 1776 was appohited a member of Congress, and retained his seal during the War. His name is affiled to the Declaration of Independence, and the articles of Confederation. After the War^ he relumed to his duties al the College. He died in 1794, ih the 7.3d year of his age. — Ency, Amer. "On the morning of our national birthday,, the fourth of July, 1776, when the Declaration of American Independence was made — when the Commillee, pre viously appointed lo draft that instrument, madp their report through their Chair man, Tho.mas Jefferson — and by whom il was read, the House paused — hesi. tated. That instrument,. Ihey saw, cut them off' -even from the mercy of Great Briiain. They saw with prophetic vision all the horrors of a sanguinary war — carnage and desolation passed in swift review before them. They saw the prospect of having riveted slill more closely upon their already chafed and bleed ing limbs' the chains of slavery. The House seemed to waver — silence, d.eep and solemn silence, reigned throughout the hall of the spacious Capitol. Every 308 SELFISHNESS OF COMMUNITIES. On looking back here, and adverting to the free observations I have frora tirae to tirae made, both on revolutionary men and raeasures, I am aware, that I have no forgiveness to expect from many, for atterapting to rub off the fine varnish which adheres to thera. But I set out with the avowed design of declaring the truth; and to this, I have raost sacredly and concientiously con forraed,, according to my persuasions, even as to the colouring of each particular I have touched upon. The same veracity shaU direct ray future delineations, well knowing, that, independently of ray obligation to do justice, this alone must constitute the merit of my Memoirs. That we were not, and still are not with out patriotisra, in an equal degree, perhaps, with other nations, I . have no inclination to question ; but that a noble disinterestedness and willingness to sacrifice private interest to public good, should be the general disposition any where, ray acquaintance with human nature, neither warrants rae in asserting or believing. The preva lence of generous sentiment, of which, no doubt, there is a portion, in all coraraunities, depends very much upon those, who have the direction of their affairs. Under the guidance of Washington,, both during the Revolution and bis adrainistration of the Generali Government, the honourable feelings being cherished and brought countenance indicated that deep meditation was at work ; and^ the solemn reso lutions were calling for double energy. At this fearful crisis,, when the very destiny of the country seeraed to be suspended upon tbe action of a moment, the silence, the painful silence was broken. An aged patriarch arose — a venerable. and stately form, his head white with the frosts of many years.. He cast on the asserably a look of inexpressible interest and unconquerable determination; while on his visage the hue of age was lost as burning patriotism fired his cheek. ' There is,' said he, ' a tide in the affairs of men, a nick of time. Wo perceive il now before us. That noblfe instrument upon your table, which ensures immortality to its author,, should be subscribed this very morning,.by every pen in the house. He who will not respond. to its accents and strain every nerve to carry into eff'ect its provisions, is unworthy the name of a freeman. Although these gray hairs must descend into the sepulchre, I would infinitely rather they should descend thither by the hand of the public executioner, than desert at this crisis the sacred cause of my country.' The patriarch sat down, and forthwith ^j the Declaration Was signed by every member present. Who was that venerable J patriarch? R -was John Witherspoon, of Nfew Jersey, a distinguished Minister ^ of the Presbyterian Church, a lineal descendant of John KN0X,,the great Scotch EeformBr.*'^;%)eecA of the Bev.. S. S. Templeton.r—Eo. THE AUTHOR EXCHANGED AND MARRIED. 309 into action, they had a temporary predorainance over those, which were selfish and base. But these, in their turn, having acquired the ascendency, we may sadly recognise with the poet, that " An empty forra Is the weak virtue that araid the shade Ijiamenting lies, with future schemes amus'd. While wickedness and folly, kindred powers, Confound the world." The liberty I have taken, in raaking the reader the confidant of the attachment I carried with me into the array, and brought home with me, unimpaired, on the extension of ray parole, ini poses it upon rae as a sort of duty in point of poetical justice, to announce ray raarriage, which took place in the spring of 1778. But this was not until my exchange had been notified to me by Colonel Boudinot, the Coraraissary of prisoners ; and having now little before me, but tbe vapid occurrences of retired life, I shall here hold myself absolved frora farther attention to any matters merely of a personal or private nature. Captain Speke had gone into PhUadelphia, some time before ; and it is not improbable, that we had bden exchanged for each other ; but, of this, I was not informed. I was now at liberty to act, and was also liable to be caUed into Service ; but, however wUUng I might have been to_ consider rayseff a soldier, or to obey orders, I had no regiment to join, or men to command. The third battalion still existed in name, but with scarce a particle of its original mate rials. It was entirely changed as to officers and men, with the exception, perhaps, of one or two of the forraer, that had escaped captivity by absence on account of sickness or otherwise. The affair of .Fort Washington, had an effect not unlike that of enter ing into a raonastery in England, in days of yore : as, in the one case, a man was said to be civilly dead, so in the other he was militarily so ; and although as much alive as ever to corporeal wants and necessities, yet was he dead as an antedUuvian, as to all purposes of worldly advantage. Nor was it the garrison alone, but the very event itself, that was offensive to remembrance ; and it has grown into a sort of fashion among our annalists, to pass lightly over this inauspicious transaction, somewhat in the 310 HISTORICAL TRUTH. same spirh, that Rome, according to Lucan, was wiUing to forget the disastrous day of PharsaUa. " Tempora signavil leviorum Romar malorum Hunc voluit nescire diem." The compUer of the article "Araerica," in Mr, Dobson's En cyclopedia, does indeed inform us, that there was such a fortress, which, sorae how or, other, feU into the hands of tbe British, who by the bye, did not catch a map ofthe garrison. Other chro niclers"^ of an humbler class, are equally concise upon the occa sion ; and even the very fancfful biographer, who gives to the boy hood of General Washington, certain prettinesses we should have littie suspected h of, and to General Wayne, the manners of a rustic booby with the blundering faciUties of a true Hiber nian, finds, in h, no attractions for the strokes of his very popular pencU. These are but summaries, it .is true, in which we ought not to look for fuU detaUs ; yet, as they are more generally read than ampler histories, and thence tend to fix the colours of the time, h is of consequence that tbey should exhibh some resem blance of the facts and characters they profess to treat, of.* * There is no allusion in these remarks to The Life of Wathington, by Dr. Ramsay, which, in fact, 'I did ndt see until after they were written. Though brief on the transaction, as the nature of his work required, he touches^it with a due regard to truth and the repulalion of those concerned. The false in manners and character is as reprehensible as the false in fact, but when the former is built upon the latter il is truly odious. Nor can the making of a good book, in the language of the Trade, juslify the transferring a story from the infancy of Doctor BjEattie to that of General Washington, nor from the cups of an old army contractor in the war of 1756, to those of General Wayne in the war of the Revolution. In the one case. General Washington is represented as a pert jackanapes of a much later dale, as the bon repos of Gener^ Wayne sets him before our eyes as a man wholly unacquainted wilh the forms of good society. On the conlrary. General Wayne was a fashionable and dressy man, farailiar with city raanners, and the tone of good breeding in his day. How unworthy, then, of the biographer, and still more of the clerical character, to vamp up and misapply old stories by way of seasoning to his kickshaws !* * The presenl generation is more fortunate, if not wiser than the past. The press literally groans with elementary books, adapted to every capacity, andthe business of education is becoming comparatively easy over the "royal road,' unknown to our plodding predecessors. In regard to Histories and Biographies, CHARLES THOMSON:. . 311 But whatever may have been the common reluctance to advert to the unlucky occurrences of the war, and the propensity to dwell only on pleasing ones, nothing can be more fair, and free frora misrepresentation, than were the official statements both of Congress and General Washington. Even the British officers, from an experience of their veracity, carae to consider the narae of Charles Thomson,* as a ¦voucher, not to questioned ; nor was there is no end to them, and the silly and once popular inventions of Weems, who is above referred to, are seldora seen in the hands pf judicious and well inforraed people. The strearas of knowledge have been explored lo their various sources and the result is a flood of authentic and healthful inforraation, invigorating and fertilizing every section of this broad land. Foremost among the ablest of these explorers is Ma. Jared Sparks, whose many and important contributions to his torical and biographical lore entitle him to the gratitude of his country. The industry and research displayed, especially in his noble editions of the Life and Writings of Washington, and of Franklin, can scarcely be conceived by the mere reader of History. The Student only can properly appreciate the ability and labour of this indefatigable investigator and Author.' These, with his " Ame rican Biographies," the work of various hands, and the numerous- girailar and equally authentic publications which every where abound, leave no excuse for ignorance in regard, especially, lo the history of our countrjr, and the lives and services of its distinguished raen. — Ed. * Charles Thomson — the "Man of Truth," as he was styled by the Indians. He was Secretary to the Congress of the Revolution — was a naiive of Ireland — and carae to this country, indigent and friendless, at the age of eleven years. His " quiet raeraory" attracts but liltle notice in this bustling age, indiff'erent to every thing but gain, yel the simple story of his useful and virtuous life would be rich in impressive teachings. Thomson was furnished by one of his brothers with the means to enter the school of Dr. Allison, before mentioned, at Thunder Hill, in Maryland. It is related, — so great was his thirst for knowledge, al a time when " books were so rare that a single lexicon served the whole school, — that one ofthe boys having brought from Philadelphia a volume ofthe Spectator, Thomson was so delighted with it, that upon his school-fellows' telling him that a whole set of the work was for sale at a Book-Store in that place, he sel oif the next day, wiihout asking leave, walked the whole distance, and having pos sessed himself of the treasure, returned to school wiihout farther delay." At this Seminary he made such proficiency in the Greek and Latin languages and Mathematics, as lo enable him, while still very young, lo keep the Friends' Academy in Philadelphia. He subsequently married and entered into business there. H-e was a strict republican in his principles, and has had the credit of having been first in opposition to, the Slamp Act in Pennsylvania. He discharged the duties of the office of Secretary to Congress, from the period of its first assem bling to the close of the war, with credit to himself and advantage lo the public. His integrity was unimpeachable, and " procured implicit cjredit for every thing 312 CHARLES THOMSON. less respect due to the communications of the Commander-in- chief, from which the annunciations of Congress were generally derived. Such was the spirit and the policy of Seventy-Six ; and they were successful ^s they were honourable. Why then, they should have been so lamentably departed from, and a suppressio veri, have becorae the primary maxira of our government, it is for the republicans of the GaUic school to explain. published in his name." He assisted in the organization of the new government, after the adoption ofthe Constitution, and was deputed to inform Washington of his nomination to the Presidency. He soon after retired to private life, and em ployed himself upon a Translation of the Bible and a Synopsis of the New Tes- tament. He died in 1834, aged 95 years. — Ed. affectation in titles. 313 CHAPTER XIII. AfTeetation in Titles. — Escape of Prisoners. — Major Williams. — Mr. Forrest. — General Exchange of Prisoners. — Supernumerary Officers. — Generals Wash ington and Charles Lfee. — Character of L^e. — Drayton. — Laurens. — Military Anecdotes. — Author enrolled in the Militia. — Wanton Oppression. — Mr. Parvin. — Quaker Opinions of War. — Dr. Franklin. — Visiters al Reading. — Mrs. Macaulay. — Popular Feeling. — Milton. — Constitutionalists and Republicans. — Author obtains an appointment — John Dickinson. — Political Consistency. — Charles James Fox. My hankerings after the business of the tented field, which, dog's Ufe as it is, I had become fond of, had led me to visit the camps both of White Marsh and "Valley Forge, at each of which I spent a day or two. At the first, we had a better army than I had yet seen. The post too, I thought a good one ; and it soon after appeared to be sufficiently respected by General Howe, to induce him to decline attapking it, although he had apparently drawn out his army for the purpose. At Valley Forge, tbe aspect of affairs was different, the army being re duced and in a wretched state. Baron de Steuben was, how ever, here; and just .beginning to infuse) into it, that discipline and regularity, in which it was stiU too deficient. On reaching the camp, I shaped my course for the tent of Colonel Stewart, who, I was infornned, was at a barbe^cue on the banks of the SchuylkUl ; and being directed to the place, I found him there, together with the greater part of the principal officers of the army. It is scarcely necessary to say, that the Commander in Chief was not there, nor any of those more immpdiately attached to his person. Neither was General Lee of the company. He had been invited, but had drily replied, that " he did not like barbecues." In fact, they are seldom a very attic entertain ment ; and it is probable that Lee's mind was not disposed to 27 314 ESCAPE OF PRISONERS. hilarity. He had but lately been exchanged ; and it is not un- charhable to suppose, that he was beginning to discover, that, much as he hated the British court, he wasnot, as he had once supposed, Americanior ipsis Americanis, more American than the Americans themselves. It beirig late in the afternoon, the party was joyous and pretty full of liquor ; and I had the chagrin to observe, that the drummer and fifer who made music for them, arid were deserters from the enemy, were sneering at some of the gentlemen, who did not entirely preserve the dignity of their stations ; and were by much too liberal in the reciprocal use of the term General, for that oblivion to self-eonsequence, which is the most graceful attendant of condition, and so rauch appreciated in tbe British army, as to introduce a species of affectation in the other exfreme, substituting Mr. for the title -oi rank. Lee, for instance, says Mr. Howe and Mr. Wolf; and it was not always a disrespect, when a British officer said Mr. Washington. I am sensible, that it is against the laws of good fellowship, for a sober man to make reflections upon a mellow company into which he may chance to be introduced ; but I mention no names, and indeed my memory wbuld hardly serve me were I disposed to do it. StiU, I have a perfect recollec tion of the circumstance ; and cannot but recognise, that there was no time, at which tbe question sometimes peevishly asked by Conway, Di^ Congress see you hefore. they appointed youi might not have been applicable to some of the officers of our army in every grade. On the. first day of December, '1777, my fellow-prisoners on Long Island were, on account of a suspected descent upon that place, put on board of a prison-ship, and there detained two weeks. Their treatment, it seems, was not to be complained of. It could hardly have been otherwise, says the officer from whose information I give the statement, since, it would not have been safe for any man or dozen of men to have treated us ill. During their confinement, Major Jack Stewart, before noticed in these memoirs, and one or two others, whom I do not re member, found means to make their escape. A boat, one eve ning, happened to be fastened to the vessel's side. The chance MAJOR WILLIAMS-:— MR. FORREST. 315 of escaping in her was immediately suggested by Lieutenants Forrest and Woodside, the latter also of Shee's regiment, and they resolved to make the attempt : but, previously to engaging in it, tbey stepped between decks, eitber for some papers or articles of clotbing that were in their trunks. In the mean. time, Stewart and the others avaUed themselves of the oppor tunity, quietly let themselves down into the boat, cast her off, and let her drift astern of the ship. Tbey were lucky enough to get clear of her unperceived ; and at length to reach the Jersey shore in safety, notwithstanding that their elopement was soon discovered. But it being dark, pursuit was unavailing, as were also some random shots fired upon the occasion. The disappointment to Forrest and Woodside, when they found theraselves supplanted, was extreme ; and still more cruel when it appeared, that the adventurers had been successful. Early in tbe Spring, I. think, of 1778, I got a letter from Major WUliams, acquainting me with his release, by exchange, if I am not mistaken.* It breathed the most extravagant joy; and the excessive friskiness he describes on touching our actual territory, put hie in mind of that of Francis the First, upon find ing himself once more at Uberty, after his long detention at Madrid. WiUiams, it is true, was not restored to a throne ; but he was restored to his country, to the right of proclaiming his sentiments and wishes, to the right of locomotion and action, and, above aU, tothe right of avenging his wrongs, and particu larly a cruel confinement in the provost prison, from which his exchange had, immediately deUvered him. His motives, there fore, for exultation, were not less than those of the King of France. In the summer foUowing, I bad also notice of the liberation of -Mr. Forrest, which, from the singularity of its circumstances, requires some detail. It had been a settled opinion among us at Flatbush, that if the place, or we who were stationed there, by a mUitary operation, should fall into the hands of our people, for * He was exchanged for Major Ackland of Burgoyne's army, of whose kind ness and liberal treatment of Williaras, see an interesting account in Wilkinson's Memoirs, v. i. pp. 376— 77.— Ed 316 ESCAPE OF, PRISONERS. , ever so short a time, we were ipso facto released from the obligation of remaining with the enemy, notwUhstanding our parole ; and h was under this idea^ combined with a lucky and unexpected adventure, tbat Forrest found himself a freeman. I know not how far this opinion of ours may be conformable to the jus belli as established among nations, but it was our 'deduc tion from principles, which we held to be correct, and of general and equal application. I think it is also recognised in the old play of prison-base, from whichj if the idea was not original, it is more probable we derived it, than eitber from Grotius, Puffendorf, or Vattel. One Mariner, a New Yorker, in revenge for some real or supposed iU treatment from Matthews,, the mayor of that city, made a descent, with a small party, upon the island, with the view of getting Matthews into his clutches, who, as I have already mentioned, had a house at Flatbush, and generally slept there. He had it also in view, to obtain the release of a Captain Flahaven, who had been biUetted in my place, on Jacob Suydam. Disappointed in both objects, he liberated Forrest by means of his magical power, and made prisoners of Mr. Bache and Major Moncrief, the latter of whom spent much of his time at Flatbush, where he had a daughter. But I wiU give the relation in the words of Mr. Forrest, who, on my application for the particulars of the event, has thus communicated them in answer to certain queries proposed; " Mariner was the man who took me from Long Island. He was a shoemaker, and had been long confined and cruelly used, as I understood, by Matthews, who, it seems, knew him person ally. The name of the officer who lodged whh me was Flahaven, a captain, who had been in the provost with Mariner, and whom he particularly wished to release; but, having changed his quarters, he could not be got at. Mariner crossed from the Jersey shore, and retreated to, and landed at the place of his departure, or near it, a distance of two mUes across. His party consisted originally of twenty militia men, in two flat- bottomed boats. At his landing on Long Island, he left his two boats under the guard of five men, while he visited the interior; but these five, hearing a firing, which was kept up upon us hy ESCAPE OF PRISONERS. 317 the Flatbush guard, whUe we were taking our prisoners, con cluded that Mariner was defeated and taken ; so, without further ceremony, they took one of the boats and made their escape. The other boat, as we reached the shore, was just going adrift : we were much crowded in her, butit fortunately was very calm, otherwise we could not have weathered it. Matthews was on the top of his house, at the time of the search for him. We got, from our place of landing, in wagons, to Princeton. Mr. Bache and Moncrief lodged there in the same house with me for two or three days. How they were disposed of afterwards, I do not know, as I was sent on with an explanatory letter from Governor Livingston to General Washington ; but Bache I think was sent home shortly, and Moncrief also, (who was a good prize,) as a prisoner on parole. Mariner's party must have stayed at Flatbush nearly two hours, for they were there some time before the alarm was taken, and there was afterwards time to despatch an express to Brooklyn for assistance, and the rein forcement which came in consequence, was pretty close upon us; as we could see them on the shore, when we had left it about a quarter of an hour. This happened on the 15th of June, 1778, the very day two years, I had marched from Phila delphia." From this episode it appears, that the moral of .^sop's fable, respecting the eagle at the top of the tree, that, by the law of power, had made free with the fox's whelps below, was very near being brought home to Mr. Matthews. Mr. Bache, as Forrest has told me, was overwhelmed with his disaster ; and interceded with him, as, from his civUity to us, he had a right to do, for his good offices with Governor Livingston, which, I have no doubt, wbre duly exerted for him. Major Moncrief, like an old soldier, submitted with, a more equal mind to the fortune of war, reminding Bache, that he had often told him, they were not safe at Flatbush. But Bache had peculiar cause for dejection, on account of the consternation, into which his wife and children had been thrown by the attack of his house, and his being forcibly seized and borne away in the dead ofthe night. Upon delivering Governor Livingston's letter to General 27* 318 ESCAPE OF PRISONERS GENERAL EXCHANGE. Washington, Forrest stated the circumstances under w'hich he had come out, and had conceived himself liberated, but added, that if the act did not meet his ExceUency's entire approbation, he begged to be permitted to return immediately to New York. The General obser-^^ed, that h was a nice case, on which, much might be said on both sides; but that, at any rate, a return- to confinement was unnecessary ; that he was at Uberty to go home, and that, if upon consideration, he should be of opinion, that the mode of his release was not warranted by the rules and usages of war, a prisoner of equal rank should be exchanged for him. Not long after this enterprise of Mariner, a general exchange of prisoners took place, and all were put upon an equal footing. To beguile the tedious hours of captivity, Colonel Magaw had taken to himself a wife, as had one or two others. A policy had arisen from the pressure of our affairs, to give every man ¦ a commission who was likely to pick up a few re cruits. This, at least, was the case in Pennsylvania ; hence, as to officers, all the regiments were not only complete, but overflowing ; and upon the reorganization of the army, there were a great many supernumerary. Of this description, those who had been taken at Fort Washington, emphatically were. They were considered as extinct ; and their places had been supplied by others. A show, indeed, was made in the fall of 1778, of doing justice to their claims, so far as it might be prac ticable. But it was evident, that a reinstatement in the rank to which vthey were entitled by the rule of seniority, was not to be effected whhout extreme embarrassment, and injury to th^ Ser vice. A vei-y fevsr, who had been willing to engage in the, scramble, had been retained ; but none without the chagrin of seeing new men, and numbers who had originally ranked below them, now above them. Captain Tudor contrived to squeeze in, as did also Captain BUes ; and I do not recoUect another of our regiment, except Bitting, who was provided for. He was a second Lieutenant with us, and lost his life in the rank of a Captain, at the time of the mutiny in the Pennsylvania line. In Marshall's Life of Washington, he is erroneously caUed, Billing. But on consideration, I rather think, that Bitting had Hot been SUPERNUMERARY OFFICERS. 319 a prisoner ; and if so, he is no exception to the general exclu sion, and his advance in rank is naturaUy accounted for. He was at liberty to attend to his interests. I never applied for reinstatement; but, had my country really -wanted my serviceSj and there had been an opening, in which I could have been pro vided for, without too much degradation, I do not hesitate to say, that I should have laid aside all private considerations, and em braced it. To show, that I do not exaggerate the difficulties which opposed a continuance in the army, I shaU content my self with referring to two letters of General Washington upon the subject.- In the first, dated the 10th of November, 1777, addressed to Congress, he says : "Among the various difficulties attending the army, the adjustment of rank is not the least. This, owing to the several modes, the several principles that have prevailed in granting commissions, is involved in great perplexity. The officers of the Pennsylvania troops are in much confusion about it : in many instances, those who were junior in rank, from local and other circumstances, have ob tained commissions older in date than those which were granted afterwards to officers their superiors before. This, with many other irregularities, has been, and is, the cause of great uneasi ness ; and though precedency of rank, so claimed, should not be supported in justice, or upon any principle, we find all, having the least pretence for the title, strenuous to support it, and wil ling to hold a superiority." In the second letter, dated August .21st, 1778, relating to the restoration of Colonel Rawlings, who had presented a memoria] in behalf of himself and the officers of his corps, after doing ample justice to their bravery at Fort Washington, he says : " It seems hard that officers of their merit should be overlooked ; and a loss to the service, that they should remain unemployed : but, the consequences that would attend their incorporation with any of the corps now existing, appear too disagreeable to try the experiment." A conviction of the existence of these obstacles, concurring with motives of a private nature, induced me to renounce the soldier's trade ; ]^ut not without poignantly regretting my " occupation gone," as often as "the spiritrstirring drum," or other "circumstance of glorious war," reminded me of the deprivation. i 320 GENERALS WASHINGTON AND CHARLES LEE. The bitter animosity of General Lee* to the Commander in Chief after the afiair of Monmouth, is well known. There were not wanting a good number, who thought he had been hardly dealt with; and, with these, added to many that had real or imaginary grounds for discontent, and the still greater number, who already saw in Washington a character and influence, which might give a check to the democratic career they had in contemplation, he was in hopes of being able to form a party. About this time, being in Philadelphia, I had the pleasure; one ¦day, of meeting my old friend Edwards in the street. He was now the aide-de-camp of General Lee, with the rink of Major. He was lavish in the praise of his General, whom he spoke of as one with whose conversation, abounding with wit and in struction, I could not but be delighted ; and proposed taking me to dine with him that very day. While we were yet upon his * General Charles Lee was born in England, was a soldier of fortune, and i citizen of the world. He was the third major-general appointed by Congress. He was a man of ardent temperament, independent in thought and action, and very ambitious. He so far imposed upon the credulity of Mr. Thomas Rodfiey, of Delaware, as to induce him to believe that he was the author of the " Letters of Junius." Twenty years after the death of Lee, Mr. Rodney thus communicated this important confession to the public : " General Lee said there was not a man in the world, no, not even WoodM, the publisher, that knew who the author was; that the secret rested wholly wilh himself, and for ever would remain with him. Feeling in some degree surprised at this unexpected declaration, after pausing a little, I replied, ' No, General Lee, if you certainly know what you have affirmed, it can no longer remain solely with him ; for certainly no one could know what you have affirmed but the author him self.' Recollecting himself, he rephed, ' I have unguardedly committed inyself, and it would be but folly to deny to you that I am the author ; but I must request you will not reveal it during my life ; for it never was, nor ever will be, revealed by me to any other.' He then proceeded to mention several circumstances to verify his being the author, and, araong them, that of his going over to the Continent, and absenting himself from England the most of the time in which these letiers were pubUshed in London. This he thought necessary. Jest by some accident the author should become known, or at least suspected, yhich might have been his ruin." He died in Philadelphia, on the 2d of October, 1782, at the age of fifty- one. In his delirium, the last words he was heard to utter were, " Stand by mo, my brave grenadiers !" He had previously expressed a wish " not to be buried within a mile of Presbyterian ground — as he would, otherwise, be too near very bad company !" He was buried in Chrisl Church Cemetery, in Second Street on the south side qf the Church. See Appendix (L). — Ed. GENERALS WASHINGTON AND CHARLES LEE. 321 subject, the General appeared on the other side of the street, and, crossing over to us, I had the honour of being presented to him. He soon, however, marred Edwards's proposal of dining at his quarters, by asking wbere he dined, and giving him to understand, that he, tbe General, did not dine at home. Whether he was now in one of his saving moods, to which he was said to be occasionally addicted, and only meant this as a ruse de guerre to keep tbe war from hisown territories, I know not, but certain it is, that Edwards had calculated upon a different arrangement, and fuUy expected to have owed bis dinner ofthe day to the cook of bis GeneraL After a few minutes' conversa tion, I left him, but not before agreeing with Edwards upon a time and place of meeting next day. The life of General Lee, as presented in the volume pub lished by one of his friends, under the title of Memoirs, holds out very salutary instruction to factious and discontented spi rits.* Though he commences his career among us, as an American and a democrat, he at length subsides in the Eng Ushman and aristocrat. He finds out that he has kept very bad company in America ; and that her independence, which he has been among the most ardent to promote, will be a curse rather than a blessing to her. Washington, to him, becomes another George the Third; and his 'earwigs,' co.urtiers as cor rupt as those of any sceptred calf, wolf, hog, or ass ; to use the language of his letter to Dr. Rush. It must be confessed, however, that if he acted to the best of his judgment at Mon mouth, his treatment is to be lamented, as a hard gnd ungener ous return for the zeal he once manifested in bur cause. But his conduct in this affair, to say the least of it, betrays a total want of American feeling. Having, in the latter part of his captivity, been treated with attention by the British officers, his old discontents appear to have been effaced by tbe greater poignancy of new ones ; and if, as has been asserted, he ex- * The Life of Lee,' by Mr. Spakks, in the 8lh volume of the new series of " The Library of American Biography," published in 1846, raay also be strongly recora raended. It is the raost satisfactory acoount of this erratic genius that has yet appeared, and is exceedingly interesting and well written. — En. 322 ' CH-iRACTEB OF LEE. claimed in the hearing of his troops, that " the British grena diers never run," it would almost seem a sufficient ground to convict him of disaffection, if not treachery. I shall not, how ever, impute them td him ; neither am I prepared to say, that his conduct was unmilitary. I would rather suppose, if he committed a fauh, it was because he was too respectful of the enemy ; and that he was too scientific, too much of a reasoner for a merely executive officer ; " for action too refined," as Pope says, or as Voltaire expresses it : Mais souvent il se trompe k force de prudence, II est irresolu par trop de prevoyance, Moins agissant qu'habile. — * As to his early republicanism, and fancied attachment to liberty and the rights of man, there is no reason to think him insincere. That he cordiaUy detested, at least, the courtly arts, for which he had not temper ; and in whose cafeer, if he ever tried it, he had been far outstripped by more pliant competitors, I have not the smallest doubt ; but, if he supposed, by an ex change of the sovereign one for the sovereign many, he was to restore the reign of manly candour and blunt honesty, how much, how yery much, alas, was he deceived ! With all his abUities and acquaintance with the polite world, the General was certainly a very indiscreet man, with Uttle dignity of character : witness the frequent scrapes he got into, and particularly the ridiculous one with Miss Franks, in which, the most complete success of the jeu d'esprit could have added nothing to the fame of the major-general.f In my interview with Edwards the next day, he gave me a number of military anecdotes, and let me into the state of par ties in the- army. As might be supposed, he was a warm par tisan of Lee, though at the same time, expressing great respect for the virtues of the Commander-in-chief. Among other things, he gave me the details of Lee's quarrel whh Mr. William Henry * See Appendix M. — En. t See Appendix N. for. the particulars of this a:ffair.— Ed. CHARACTER OF LEE DRAYTON. 323 Drayton,* repeating the words of the letter of defiance, of which he was the bearer, and in which Mr. Drayton is sarcas tically represented as a mere Malvolio, &c.— also, of the duel with Colonel Laurens, in which he acted as the second or friend of Lee. Colonel Laurens and his attendant, Colonel HamUton, were, it seems, rather date in coming to the ground. During the delay produced by this circumstance, Edwards took occasion to amuse his Principal, if amusement it might be called, with some metaphysical subtilties on predestination, free will, &c.,, a little in the style of the disquisition of the Brissotines on a future state, when on their way to the guillo tine. From want of punctuality in the adversaries, he also suggested, that they might not. come at aU ; but Lee repUed, there was no danger of that, as Colonel Laurens was a man of unquestionable bravery ; and the observation was imme diately verified by his appearance.f The manner of fighting was somewhat new; and, ifl am not mistaken, it was on Lee's suggestion it was adopted. Taking their ground and facing each other, it was agreed, that either should fire when he * This eminent citizen was cut off in the midst of his useful and brilliant career, al an early stage of the Revolution. He died in Philadelphia, September, 1779, in his thirty-seventh year. William Henry DrAyton, of South Carolina, was one of the earliest and most active defenders of th^ liberties of his country, in the first stages of the revolutionary movements. His writings contributed equally to enlighten the public mind, and enforce the claims of justice. A charge to the Grand Jury of Charleston, delivered by him as Chief Justice of South Caro- lina, on the 23d of April, 1776, is one of the mosl important historical documents of that period,, whether considered in regard to the facts it contains, or the force of ils arguments. He was an efficient member of Congress, and was conspicuous for the part he took in counteracting the objects of the British Commissioners, by several spirited and well- written essays in , the newspapers. — See Drayton's Me moirs, and Sparks' Writings of Washington, vol. v. p. 439. Mr. Jefferson was indebted alraost as much to Judge Drayton's celebrated " Charge," as he was to the patriotic and spirited citizens of Mecklenburgh, for the sentiments and much of the language of the " Declaration of Independence,'' that enduring monument at once of patriotism, and of genius and skill in the art of appropriation ! — Ed. t For anoiher purpose the Editor has been kindly furnished by Mk. George W. P. CnsTis, with some interesting peirticulars in relation to this gallant officer, which, as they will bear repetition,^ he has placed in the Appendix, to which the reader is referred. See Appendix O. — Ed. 324 'MILITARY ANECDOTES LAURENS. thought proper. Accordingly they both advanced, and the effect was, that at the same instant, each presented and drew the trigger. Colonel Laurens' ball grazed the side of General Lee, carrying away some flesh and ptoducirtg a considerable effusion of blood. The Principals proposed another shot, but the Seconds agreed that enough had been done; and so the affair ended, without the smallest bearing, however, on the point in controversy, to wit, whether General Lee was right or wrong in speaking reproachfully of the Commander-in-chief; and only estabUshing the fact, that the combatants could risk their lives with the gallantry and self-possession of soldiers and men of honour.* Major Edwards further gave me the particulars of a similar affair, in which he himself had been concerned as principal in Ca roUna ; and, in which, the smaU knowledge he had derived from me, in the noble science of fencing, had enabled him to triumph over an adversary, who thought to obtain an advantage of him by commuting the pistol, with which it had been at first agreed to fight, for the small sword. His skiU in the weapon was not, indeed, brought to the test ; but the readiness he evinced to put it to issue, induced his prevaricating opponent to succumb and make him concessions. .^ From his aptitude to take the tone of good company, and his * Had not this " fact" been well " established" before ? History informs us that it had ; and if it were untrue, the hostile meeting here referred to, cannot fairly be cited in . verification., Although brave men, as in this instance particularly, have resorted to this mode of adjusting their difficulties, many a poltroon has been forced, sadly against his own volition, into this position of " honour." There can be nothing raore insanely absurd than the condescension of men, especially those of unquestionable reputation for courage, to this savage and senseless mode of '' esta blishing the fact ;" and il is much to be regretted that such raen, at least, should be deficient in the greater courage to resist and defy the customs and requisitions of society, when —as is too often the case — they are at variance with the solemn and iraperative requisitions of the laws of God. A clever anecdote has been related of General Adair. A young officer con ceiving himself aggrieved, challenged the veteran, who took no. notice of the niatter. A second note was the consequeilpe, in which Adair was informed, that if " satisfaction" were not accorded, he would " post" hira as a coward ! The General then replied, in substance, that he might proceed, but assuredly in so doing he. would "post" hiraself a "fool and a liar," as certainly no man would believe him. — Ed. WANTON OPPRESSION MR. PARVIN. 325 close intimacy whh Lee, whose manners and phraseology were in the style ofthe highest military school, this gentieman, whose first appearance had been so unpromising, had become a distin guished proficient in all the cavalier airs and " convenient seeming" of a man of the sword ; of which the favour of Lee, in selecting him for his second in his duels, may be considered as a proof; as tbe devising to him a third part of his landed estate in Virginia, may be taken as a voucher for his satisfac tion with him, in the capacity of his aide-de-camp. As soon as it was understood at Reading, that I was no longer in the army, care was taken to have me enrolled in the miUtia ; and for decUning to perform a tour of duty, which was immediately imposed upon me, I found myself fined in a sum, which I do not now recollect, but which, when reduced to specie, was far from inconsiderable. I must confess, I consi dered this as very unfair treatment, and accordingly, submitted my case in a memorial to President Reed, who shortiy after came to Reading, in consequence of a proclaimed intention to visit the different parts of the State, for the purpose of hearing and redressing grievances. I was not at home when he arrived, but had left my memorial with a friend to be presented to him. It was very favourably received, the gentieman who delivered it, being instructed to inform me, that the President would have been glad to have seen me at Reading : that he considered the fine which had been imposed upon me, very improper, and that he would do what he could to prevent its exaction. His inter- poshion proved effectual ; and I had no further molestation from the militia-men. During the high-handed game, that was at this time playing by that description of patriots, who, from their close adherence to their homes, might emphaticaUy be said to be fighting pro focis, a Mr. Thomas Parvin, of the Society of Friends, was an object of much wanton oppression. He resided at Maiden Creek, about six mUes from Reading, and was nearly broken up by the levies on his property for taxes and mUitia fines. A cow or a horse, for instance, was often taken and sold for some tri fling demand, and no surplus returned. Having sons grown up, and enrolled in the mUilia, he was the more exposed to rapacity. He frequently came to my mother's, to vend some product of 28 326 QUAKER OPINIONS OF WAR MR. BENEZET. his farm, and talking with him one day, on the subject of his grievances, I was drawn into a discussion of the non-resisting principles of his sect; and urging their impracticabUity in the present state of the world, in a manner that discovered sym pathy for his sufferings, he was not displeased, and proposed lending me a treatise in defence of their tenets, which he begged I would read and give him my opinion pf. In a few days, he ac cordingly sent it, accompanied with a very long letter, so ac curately written in all respects, as to convince me that Mr. Parvin was a well-educated man and no mean polemic. In compliance with his request, after reading his pamphlet, I gave him pretty fully my observations in writing ; and here, I con cluded the discussion would terminate. In a few weeks after wards, however, I found it renewed in a letter from Anthony Benezet of PhUadelphia.* This pious and truly benevolent man, thus explains in his first sentence,, the cause of his ad dressing me : " Esteemed Friend, " My friend Thomas Parvin having communicated to me, thy remarks with respect to tbe sentiments many in our Society hold in the case of war, I found my- mind drawn affectionately to salute thee, and take the liberty to enclose thee a coUection of reUgious tracts, which, I have, at different times been instru mental in publishing." And he is further pleased to say — "I am persuaded, that to a man of thy generous turn of mind, many of the sentiments wiU not be disagreeable, particularly the extract from the wrhings of Soame Jenyns," &c.— This was an extract from his Vievi^ of the Internal Evidence of the Christian Religion. There were several other tracts in the volume, one of which, A Letter from EUzabeth Webb to An thony WiUiam Boehm, Mr. Benezet adds, " I think might prove agreeable to thy mother and aunt, whom I affectionately salute." As it is not my intention to lead the reader into the subject of this correspondence, h is enough to have barely stated h ; and * Anthony Benezet was a native of France. His parenls were Huguenots, aud carae to Philadelphia in 173 1. His first employment was that ofa teacher at Germantown. He was particularly distinguished for his general philanthropy, and ardent opposition to the slave trade. He became a Quaker, and died at Philadelphia in May 1784, at the age of 71 years.— Ed. ME. IZARD CAPTAIN OADSDEN. 327 it appears to me, that I should have been wanting to myself, had I suppressed an occurrence, which procured me the good opinion of these plain, but innoxious, intelligent, and pious men. In the summer probably of 1782 or '83, or thereabouts, Mr. Ralph Izard, and Captain Gadsden, of South Carolina, being on a tour tbrough Pennsylvania, brought me a letter of introduc tion from Colonel Magaw, at CarUsle. Being desirous to render them all the attention in my power, I had the pleasure of often being with them. Captain Gadsden was a young man, who had perhaps never been out of America ; but Mr. Izard, who was advanced in years, had spent much of his time in Europe, and was very entertaining on the subject of bis travels ; giving me, among other things, a more satisfactory account of the awful wonders of Pompeu and Herculaneum, than I had yet received. His manner, though blunt, announced the style of the best company ; and though one of those who deliver their opinions with freedom and decision, he seemed untinctured with asperity upon every subject but one ; but this never failed to produce some excitement, and his tone ever derived anima tion from the name of Dr. Franklin.* When, therefore, the Doctor's daughter, Mrs. Bache, in speaking of the Carolinians, said, that " she hated them all from B to Z," the saying, I pre sume, must be taken inclusively ; since, though I know nothing ofthe sentiments of Mr. Bee, I am enabled to pronounce those of Mr. Izard to have been anti-Franklinian in the extreme. What cause he had for this, I do not know, but he certainly lost no opportunity of inveighing against the philosopher, to whom, he said, he had once been warmly attached, and had * Mr. Izard had been in France, and on his return " complained that Dr. Franklin neglected to raake proper representations lo the French Ministry." He deemed it necessary to alarm the French Government with the danger of the United Slates falling into the hands of England, unless she would contribute largely to the support ofthe Republican cause. Count de Vergennes upon hearing of these statements, declared that nothing could be more pernicious than to attempt to alarm the French Government with false and exaggerated accounts. And in his letter to Luzerne the French Minister at Philadelphia, he writes, " I flatter myselfj that these marks of regard will be understood by the patriots, and will destroy any prepossessions, which the ill-advised language of Mr. Izard and Mr. Arthur Lee may have produced." — Sparks' Writings of Washington, vol. vii. Ed, 328 DR. FRANKLIN. attended as his friend, at the time he was so ' unmercifully bespattered by Wedderburne. I sat upon thorns, said Izard ; and had it been me, that had been so grossly insulted, I should instantly have repelled the attack in defiance of every conse quence, whereas, this old man sat cowering like a caitiff, with out daring to utter a syllable.* But in repeating the words, I do not join in the reproach of the Doctor's forbearance. Ashe was not a ready public speaker, silence, was, perhaps, most prudent and dignified. The extreme wariness of his character," it is true, is not more congenial to my feeUngs thart to those of Mr. Izard. Nevertheless, when I reflect, that he possessed qualities, which have not only enabled him to extend the limits of human knowledge, but have pre-eminentiy entitled him to the fame of a wise man ; that, to soUdity of understanding, he added the amenity of wit and good humour, and that his weight and influence, so far as I know, have never been lent to in humanity, immorality, injustice, or oppression, I am entirely disposed to acquiesce in the award of the world, and to consider him as orie, who has done honour to his country. He died before the volcanic explosion of the French Revolution; but, as he teUs us in his life, he had an early and steady abhorrence of tyranny, we cannot, without giving the lie to this assertion, suppose, if he had Uved, that he could in any event have been a jacobin or the fautor of a ferocious despotism. Mr. George Lux, of Baltimore, who had married a daughter of Mr. Edward Biddle, was, at this time, at Reading, and by me, introduced to Mr. Izard and Mr. Gadsden. Mr. Lux was the greatest reader in a certain line, I have ever known. His historical knowledge was accurate to minuteness ; and he seemed * The forbearance and coolness of Franklin on this memorable occasion, how ever offensive il may have been to Mr. Ralph Izard was well understood and ap preciated by much wiser heads. The following letter quoted by Sparks in his Life of Franklin, p. 370, from Dr. Rush to Mr. Arthur Lee," will show the high estimation in which Dr. Franklin was held by his countrymen." " There is a general union among the colonies which no artifices of a Ministry will be able to break. Dr. Franklin is a very popular character in every part of America. He will be received, and carried in triumph to his house, when he arrives among us. It is lo be hoped he will not consent to hold any more offices under govern ment. No step but this can prevent bis being handed down to posterity among the first and greatest characters in the world." — En. VISITERS AT READING. 329 intimately acquainted with the ramifications and affinities, not only of the great famUies in England, but also of those on every part of the continent of Europe. Of these, he spoke with a precision which astonished Mr. Izard, particularly when he learned that he had never been out of America. " To what purpose is it," said he, when afterwards speaking of Mr. Lux, " that I have been traveUing all my life, when this gentleman, who has never left his armchair, knows more of the countries I have visited than I do ; and what perplexes me most of all is, that he even knows better than myself, the public business I was employed in, and which was of a secret nature." But this latter knowledge was obtained by Lux's having officiated for his amusement, (having nothing better to do,) as secretary to the board of Congress, which had regulated Mr. Izard's affair. Yet with all this information, Mr. Lux appeared to me to pos sess but a very moderate share of judgment or discernment, and to be little more tban a dry matter of fact man. He had a handsome paternal estate ; and at Chatsworth, bis seat near Baltimore, was in tbe habit of entertaining all strangers of dis tinction, though so shamefuUy negligent of his person, which was naturally none of the best, as to seem not at all adapted to this function. Among his guests, he was once honoured with the company of Mrs. Macaulay, the historian, whom, at her request, as he informed me, he accompanied to Mount Vernon, on a visit to General Washington, where they stayed some days. , While in conversation, one day after dinner, the lady, in a high repubUcan strain, took occasion to expatiate on the vast advan tages of rotation in office. This was in the manner of an ap peal to her host, of whose approbation she seemed to be secure ; but as the General was rather a practical or accidental, than a republican by preference, I will not say a repubUcan malgre lui,* * It may be safely averred, that a majority of our best whigs of 1776, were not republicans by predilection ; but still the best of practical republicans, as honest and virtuous men. Nothing can be further from the truth than the idea propagated for party pur poses, that the Declaration of Independence was an option raade between the monar chical and democratical form of government. The measure was adopted with ex treme reluctance, as the effect of dire necessity alone, as the only means of uniting and giving efficiency to the opposilion, and of obtaining foreign aid if it should be 28* 330 MRS. MACAULAY. he could only-carry his politeness so far as not absolutely to dissent from the opinion ; and there was, of course, no cqm- mingled flow of soul upon the occasion. But Mrs. Macaulay was not the only person of her nation, who has found the re pubUcanism of the new world, lagging shamefully behind that of the old. Experience is the best of schools ; and, in the philanthropic science of levelling, as in others, we may truly say : Here, shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, And drinking largely sobers us again. One ofthe strongest cases in point, and which has been strangely overlooked, is that of the poet Milton, against whom the great Samuel Johnson, is supposed to be even more than usually in tolerant. He certainly could not have been aware, nor Mr. Boswell either, (or from his profusion we should have heard of it) of the following passage in the Paradise Regained, the last work, and therefore, to be presumed to contain the last and most solemn opinion of its author. necessary — in short, as the only alternative between subjugation and voluntary submission. The general sentiment in America, as the publications of the era will testify, was an ardent atlaehraent to the British Constitution, and a deep regret that we were refused an equal participation in its benefits, in common wilh our fellow- subjects on the other side of the ocean. This was the constant language of the day, both in public and private discourses, in official and in anonymous publica tions ; and it was not until a separation was deeraed unavoidable that any attempts were made to set forth ils advantages. In the sarae spirii, afler having become a nation, and being invested with the right of governing ourselves, it was the policy of our best and wisest men, alas, how fruitless ! to check the wildness of innova- tion, and to cling as much as might be, to the genius of the institutions under which we had enjoyed our unexampled prosperity ; and in the same view to obli terate, as soon as possible, the mutual animosities engendered by the unhappy contest. Such was the object of Washington, Jay, Hamilton, and olher virtuous and enlightened statesmen ; and we have it from Mr. Burke, that even Dr. Franklin whose name is oflen used to sanction the vagaries of democracy, suffered not only a sigh, but an expression of regret lo escape him, on account of the happiness we were about to lose by our separation from the mother country, (see his Appeal lo the Old Whigs) ; and yet our post. revolutionary and imported patriots, would make us believe that the heginners of the Revolution were whigs after the fashion of Thomas Paine and certain olher European maleconlents and reformers, aud our first Congresses coraposed of Jacobins, " as true as ever sntiffed the scent of blood," or devised the expeditious mode of taking off the heads of aristocrats by the guil lotine. MILTON POPULAR FEELING. 331 ^ And what the people, but a herd confus'd, A miscellaneous rabble, who extol Things vulgar, and well weigh'd, scarce worth the praise: They praise and they adraire they know not what ; And know not whom, but as one leads the other ; And what delight to be by such extolled. To live upon their tongues and be their talk. Of whom to be despised, were no small praise. It would be difficult to conceive sentiments more at variance with the republican maxim ovVox populi vox Dei; and yet, they are the sentiments of the subttme poet John Milton, the demo- crg-t, the regicide, the secretary and parasite of Oliver Crom well. From this one man, we may learn the character of his sect, the immaculate, people-adoring republicans of the present hour. For the love of liberty, they will kill a king ; yet fawn upon a usurper, clothed with a power infinitely less accountable, infinitely more oppressive and tremendous. The crime then, is not in " one proud man's lording it over the rest,"* but that he sbould lord it in opposition to our particular interests and prejudices. In the direction of these, he cannot be too high handed. Party; spirit, in Pennsylvania, had by this time, taken a con sistency, and the politicians were divided intp Constitutionalists arid^^^ipjjjilicans. The first raUied round the constitution al ready formed, which was reprobated by the others, for its total deficiency in checks and counterbalancing powers, thence tend ing, as it was alleged, to rash, precipitate, and oppressive proceedings. The term repubhcans was embraced, as recog nising the principles of the revolution, apd as indicative perhaps of tenets, which admitted the utUity of modifications and re straints, in a system resting on the broad base of general suf frage and popular sovereignty. The word democrat was not yet much in use, neither was the distinction established between a democrat and a republican, which appears to consist in the idea, that the former is for placing the whole governing power in the " multitude told by the head ;" the latter, for giving it some checks, and infusing into it a leaven of what is termed by Mr. Burke, the natural aristocracy of a country. But to do * Terres tot posse sub uno Esse viro. — Lucan. 332 CONSTITUTIONALISTS AND REPUBLICANS. this, where the source of power has been diligently explored and discovered too, like that of the Nile, and universal suffrage with the right to pull down and build up again, thence recog nised as a fundamental, may weU puzzle the learned advocates for strong executives, and independent judiciaries, and in the end, perhaps, turn all their fine-spun theories into lumber, little better than nonsense. However, like the rest of my country men, With sad civility, I read, With honest anguish and an aching head. To counteract the constitutionalists, the disaffected to the revolution were invited to fall into the republichii ranks ; and there was an agreement, or at least an understanding,, among the lawyers, who were generaUy on the republican side, neither to practise or accept of any office under the constitutionV which, in that case, they would be bound, by an oath, to support. But the constitutionalists had a Roland for their Oliver.^ They had proihonotaryships, attorney-generalships, chief justiceships, and what not to dispose of. Patriots have their price, 'tis said ; and persons were found to accept of these, some of whom, indeed, had cautiously avoided committing themselves by the promul gation "of rash anathemas. AU, however, were not so fortunate, if fame is to be believed ; and although the fruit was to them forbidden, they were tempted, and did eat. But in this age of thrift and self-aggrandizement, I am not going to impute it to , them as a crime. Who would now reject the means of better ing his condition, through tbe childish fear of being charged with a dereliction of piinciple 1 It is not of such imbecUity that the world is now " the friend, or the world's law." Bonaparte would never have made himself a consul, much less an emperor, by such squeamishness. Soon after the organization of the Republican Society, it was proposed to me by my friend Major ScuU, then in Philadelphia, to join it; but after the recent agitations of the greater contest with the mother country, I felt no inclination to disturb myself with domestic broUs. My eyes, indeed, were open to the iUibe- rality of the constitutionalists, and the extreme„jg.al.QUsy.Jhey already manifested against those who had been in ...the- army ; but on the other hand, so far as I can recall my feelings, I did CONSTITUTIONALISTS AND REPUBLICANS. 333 not ful]yj;elish.the policy of courting the disaffected, and those who had played a safe and calculating game. But they were rewardedTor it : peff, it appeared, was a better goal than liberty; and at no period in my recollection, was the worship of Mammon more widely spread, more sordid and disgusting; Those who had fought the batties of the country, at least in the humbler grades, had as yet earned nothing but poverty and con tempt ; while their wiser feUow-citizens who had' attended to their interests, were the men of mark and consideration.* As to miUtary rank, no man seemed to be without it, who had an inclination for it; and the title of major was the very lowest that a dasher of any figure would accept of Nothing more was wanting for its attainment than to clap on a uniform and pair of epaulettes, and scamper about vvith some mUitia general for a day or two. And thus, the real soldier was superseded, even in the career of glory. Never having been good at a scramble, as already observed, whether honour or profit were the meed, I did not press into the field of pretension ; and being in a state of apathy as tothe poUtical parties, I declined enlisting with either. The agitations which now prevaUed in the capital, led to the weU-known outrage on Mr. WUson, who, for the exercise of his professional duty as a lawyer, in behalf of certain persons who had been prosecuted for treason, had been proscribed by the mobility. The punishment decreed for his crime, was banish ment to the enemy, yet in New York : and for the purpose of inflicting it, an attack, by men in arms, was made upon his house, into which a number of his friends had thrown them selves, with a determination to resist the assailants. A few Uves were lost before the tumult was suppressed ; but as my residence at Reading deprived me of the means of a personal knowledge of the transaction, it is enough for me to notice it as one of those which shows the toleration of the vulgar heart, and the * These assertions are supported by sundry letiers from General Washington to General Reed, in which he reprobates, in strong language, the rage" for " money- making speculations." In one dated December 12lh, 1778, speaking of the officers in the army, he says, " resignations must cease to be wonderful, when it is a fact too notorious to be denied that oificers cannot live in the army under present cir cumstances, whilst they see others enriching themselves in an infinity of ways. These are severe tests of public virtue, and should not in point bf policy, be pushed too fer." 334 AUTHOR OBTAINS AN APPOINTMENT. idea it. annexes, to what it is pleased to term the blessings of liberty. The constitution kept its ground in defiance of its adversa ries ; and as it is sometimes easier to make a pun than to avoid it, it may be said, that The confederates of Bar, were completely foiled in their undertaking. They came over by degrees ; and it at length appeared, tbat the cobweb ties, by which, they had vainly flatt6r6d themselves they could pinion the love of interest, had only benefited the least scrupulous of the confederates, who Uke the stronger flies, had burst their flimsy fetters, and thence, dashed at the treacle, unannoyed by competition. All interdiction to practice being now removed, I found h necessary once more to open my law books. I obtained adnnit- tance as an attorney in the county of Berks ; and was already employed to bring, actions and defend them; but was soon drawn from this track by the following incident. Among a number of newly introduced maxims of republi canism, it was a highly favoured one in Pennsylvania, to bring justice home to every man's door. In the spirit of this prin ciple, several new counties had been erected ; and in the year of 1785, I had the good fortune, through the warm exertions of an influential friend, to obtain an appointment to the Prothono taryship of the county of Dauphin. By a combination of small circumstances working together for my advantage, I obtained, contrary to expectation, the suffrage of the Supreme ExecuUve Council, of which Mr. Dickinson was then President. The RepubUcan party possessed a majority in the CouncU; and Colonel Atiee, who belonged to it, was designated for the office. He was conspicuous as a party-man, and, if I mistake not, at the time, a member of the Legislature ; and on the score of services and character, no one had better claims. But upon this occasion, the negative character of my politics, contrary to the usual course of things, probably gave me the advantage. To keep out Atiee, the constitutionalists were disposed to give their votes to any one of his competitors. Of course, I had all their strength; and by adding to h two or three republican votes, I acquired a greater number than any in nomination. As the mode was to vote for the candidates individuaUy, there was no physical, or perhaps moral impediment, to each of them re- JOHN DICKINSON. 335 ceiving the vote of every member. A promise to one, was riot broken, by voting also for another, unless it was exclusively made. The President had, probably, given a promise to Colonel Atiee as well as to myself; and considering me, perhaps, as too weak to endanger his success, thought he might safely gratify my friend, who pinned him to the vote, whicb, on coming to the box, he seemed half incUned to withhold. Or, where was his crime, if he really thought our pretensions equal, and there fore determined not to decide between us? Such were the accidents wbich procured my unlooked-for appointment. Mr. Dickinson, for his want of decision, as it was called, was bitterly inveighed against by his party; and the next day at the coffee-house, when receiving the congratulations of some of my acquaintances, Mr. Michael Morgan O'Brien, who chanced to be present, and to whom I was then introduced, asserted it as a fact, that the President had suffered his hand to be seized and crammed into tbe box with a ticket for me ; "but no matter," said he, "you are a clever fellow, I am told, and I am glad that you have got the office." That this gentleman, who had been a short time among us, should have been so furious a partisan in our poUtics, can only be accounted for, from his being perfectly in the O'Flaherty style, and conse quently a ready champion of the cause of those he was in the habit of associating with. In the station of President, Mr. Dickinson added not much to his reputation, in the opinion of either of the parties. By en deavouring to stand well with both, he, unfortunately, pleased neither. He had been brought in by the republicans ; and had soon after been virulently attacked by a writer under the>«sig- nature of Valerius, who was no bad imitator of the manner of Junius. Against the charges that were urged against him, he made his own vindication, which> even by his political friends, was thought nerveless and whining. Upon the expiration of his term of service as Presidept of Pennsylvania, he retired to WUmington, in the State of Delaware, where he became a plain Quaker, in the principles of which sect, I think, he had been educated. But his Quakerism did not prevent his becom ing President of this State, as he had before been of Pennsyl- 336 JOHN DICKINSON. vania. Neither did' it, in his old agp, so far withdraw him from worldly concerns, as to restrain his pen from again dipping in poUtics, during the progress of the French Revolution, with the sublime virtues and benign influences of which, he appears to have been deeply and permanently smitten : insomuch as to be rendered so acceptable to the Jeffersonians, as just before his death, whiclj, happened in the year 1808, to be held up by thgt^. as a candidate for a seat in the House of Representatives of the United States. While residing in the State, of Delaware, he seems always to have been claimed by this class of politi cians ; and from his Fabius, which is a curious jumble of irre concilable, abstract contradiction, and philanthropic inconsist ency, he, probably, belonged to them. Like fhe rest ofthe sect, he is for devolving the whole virus of the revolution on the shoulders of Robespierre, and his immediate colleagues; and but for a few unlucky ffs, he is persuaded, aU things would have gone well. The unfortunate Louis, he loves with no less enthusiasm, than he does the fanatic multitude, whose demoniac frenzy sent him to the scaffold ; and he apostrophizes the manes of the dead monarch with as much solemnity and pathos, as if his blood had been a banquet to the Federalists, who, it is true, are wholly lost to the moraUty, which would, with Fabius, transfer the gratitude which might have been due to the king, to those, who, though not actually his murderers, do yet exultingly trample upon his ashes. Mr. Dickinson was very far from a consistent politician. Though so Uttie of a republican at the commencement of our revolution as to boggle at independence, he became so out rageous a one in the sequel, as to be an amateur of French liberty, and in respect to the parties in England, a Foxite* pro- * Many, I am Vfell aware, are partial lo Mr. Fox as a statesman. His abilities might have been very great, but he can hardly be called a candid, principled, and viriuous citizen. If, when he became minister, he pursued the same policy that Mr. Pill had done, il is evident that his opposilion to him proceeded from factious and interested motives, under the influence of which, he acted the part of a wild and disorganizing Jacobin. He is said to have been a pleasing companion, and whal is called a good-natured man, which is generally, by the by, an unprincipled one. Refined virtue is indignant and somewhat austere. Estimating him, how ever, from his historical fragment of the reign of James the Seoond, one would suppose him to have been a humane, just, and generous man. — (See Appendix P.) JOHN DICKINSON 0. J. FOX. 337 fessed.* To account, for this, for certainly there is a glow of sentiment in his writings which would promise better things, we must have recourse to some casualties in his public career. * The successors of the Men of the Revolution must be gi-atefiil for what this distinguished gentleman did, and not indulge in feelings of dissatisfaction for what he omitted to do, especially as Mr. Dickinson lived long enough, as may be in. ferred from his subsequent career, to regret the extreme moderation which charac terized his proceedings at the period of the Declaration. He was like many men of whom we read, and who at all times abound, who are endowed with suffi cient sagacity to discern the right, and wilh ample ability for its assertion or de fence, but who, either frorri irresolution, or a desire to please all parties, are, at the final moment, unfaithful to themselves or to great public interests coraraitted to their charge. It cannot be supposed that Mr. Dickinson designedly erred, or that his motives, at any period, were either sordid or unpatriotic. He was a man of great elevation of character and purity of conduct; but it certainly is unfortu nate for his reputation that he omitted the immortal act of affixing his signature to the Declaration op Independence. That only was wanting to place him in the highest rank among the Revolutionary worthies to which, otherwise, his dis tinguished abilities vvould, unquestionably, have entitled him. Wilh all his talents, however, he lacked the great qualifications essential to the perfection of the charac ter of a real statesman, — the promptitude, decision, and boldness which nerved the heart and the pen of a Henry and an Adams ; and he was, moreover, not thoroughly weaned from habitual and hereditary attachraent to England ; or, perhaps, not sufficiently disinterested to stake his honour, and life, and fortune, upon an issue that it was, assuredly, his greatest misfortune ever to have considered doubtful, or uncalled for, by the suicidal policy of an infatuated Ministry ; — a policy^ the design and inevitable tendency of which was, the degradation ofhis country, and the con sequent debasement of its citizens. The Declaration appears to have surprised Mr. Dickinson into opposition before his raind could perceive that il was unavoid able, or necessary. With the best intentions, he was, of course, slill under the guidance of huraan motives ; and it will be no very violent exercise of charily to yield the largest allowance for the influence of early education, which inculcated endurance, and reverence, especially for the authority and institutions of the Father-land, — for constitutional timidity, from which even Tolly — glorious in other attributes, — was not exempt; or for a predilection fbr a cautious, temporizing policy which looked rather to a tardy and peacefiil accomplishment of its end ; than to a prompt redress of grave and acknowledged grievances, through violence and bloodshed. Whatever may have been the motives by which he shaped his course, he is, unquestionably, entitled to the enduring gratitude of his country, — gratitude that should not be withheld because he paused, irresolute, at that point of time and tide, which, " taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." He had, most ably and faithfully, served his country to that momentous and perilous period, and, ifhe theu hesitated, or .declined to take the leap, it should be remembered that the sacrifice was by no means essential to the cause of Independence ; which, indeed, was neither injured nor retarded by his indecision : while the consequences flowing from such indecision afiected his own reputation alone. There were, moreover, 29 338 ) THE PROTHONOTARYSHIP. In the first plijce, then,-'from his supposed want of energy while in the first Congress, Mr. John Adams had, in a letter inter cepted and published by the British, styled him, "a piddling genius;" and Mr. Adams heing after-wards President of the United States, and then , thoroughly anti-Gallican, might, pos- sjbly, have contributed to place Mr. Dickinson in the opposite ranks. Probably, too, the once celebrated Pennsylvania farmer, and writer of Congressional addresses, was not altogether pleased at finding himself in^ the background, and eclipsed .by statesmen of less standing than himself, the HamUtpns, the Ameses, &Ci It is enough for those beneath the sphere of competition to exclaim : Let modest Forster, if he will, excel Ten metropolitans, in preaching well. In addition to this liberty was the stock, on which the farmer's celebrity was engrafted ; and, lest the fine foUage might " grow into the yellow leaf," he was, perhaps, resolved to cherish, at all events, the vigour of the parent tree ; and hence, liberty, even to jacobinism, was among the toys of his dotage. ¦ This is the best I can say, for a teacher of poUtical ethics, who (with whatever good intentions) for wisdom, gives us folly; for virtue, "deeds to make heaven weep, a!U earth amazed," under the idea of modeUing the world according to a pretty theory. The post I was honoured with, fuUy satisfied my ambition ; it was sufficiently respectable, and in a few years, wholly ade quate to my wants. The duties it imposed, I was pretty well acquainted whh ; and I exerted myself to lay such a foundation in the ¦ office arrangements, as might support a regular super structure. The trust committed to me, was conscientiously attended to, and I venture to say, not negligently executed. My cares for a future competency, which alone had disturbed me, Were done away by my establishment; a new town was rising uiider my eyes on the magnificent banks of the Susquehanna ; and though remote from the capital and obscure, I had little ' left to wish for; — a state too tranquU to be lasting. other members ofthe same memorable Congress, equally irresolutCj and withoui a tithe ofhis redeeming talents, who also suffered the "fair occasion" to pass "for ever by." — Ed. CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 339 CHAPTER XIV. Constitution of the United Slates. — Washington elected President. — Meeting of Convention. — The Senate. — Executive Power. — Regulation ofthe Press.— 'State of Parties. — Leading Characters in the Convention. — French Revolution. — Burke and Paine. — Washington's Adrainistration. — Party Dissensions. — Mr- Jefferson. — Slate of Parties, Being now about to enter upon political discussions, I deem it due to those enthusiastically republican readers, who think we can never sufficientiy praise ourselves, to teU them to stop here ; if, from some unlucky notices I may have given, they have not already anticipated me. I am truly sorry that my conviciions will not permit me to trace events in the usual strain of panegy ric ; but I am compelled, in the style of a grunibler, to say, that the patriotism, which had been calculated upon to bear us out with littleiorno aid from authority, and, which, inthe opinion of many, was still in full vigour, was, to the eyes of all sober men, wholly inadequate to the demands which were made upon it. It had the knack, indeed of evading the most important of them, by representing tbem as spurious ; and this was chiefly done, by restricting patriotic duties to the limits of a State- The country of a demagogue is the precise sphere of his in fluence ; and making common cause on this principle, they were e-verj where deaf as adders to the claims of a general interest. The articles of Confederation, receiving cement from the sense of common danger, which prevaUed during the war, had occasionally afforded faint marks of continental impression ; but as soon as the fear of subjugation was removed, they were no better than a rope of sand ; and the general sovereignty was a vdry unequal match for the thirteen individual ones. The voice of the United States, was, as h had been observed, but 340 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. the drone of the bag-pipes. Its buz was heard, but it contributed not at all to the modulation of the music. It could recommend, but not enforce a measure ; and hence, the imposition of cer tain internal taxes, and a duty of five per centum on imported articles, essential to the discharge of the public debt and the fnlfilment ofa stipulation in the treaty of peace, could never be accomplished. The refractory States were not to be moved by considerations of national justice or character ; and they were equally regardless of the consequences of a dissolution of the Union. To rescue the country from the impending anarchy and ruin, the influence of General Washington was called for, and again exerted for its salvation. Nothing less than the weight of his name could have induced the adoption of the new federal con stitution, which had been framed under his auspices ; and it had become -very doubtfiil, whether the anxious struggle for independence had not been in vain, and the anticipated blessing of self-government, would not be frustrated in its very dawn. The interests opposed to an efficient union of the States, were truly formidable, _as_weU_J'rom the ^^ ^^ of the popular leaders that it would lessen, if not annihilate their importance, as from the too contracted notions of the people at large, and their inabUity to comprehend the necessity of a general con trolling authority. The battie was hard fought on both sides. To-lbe manly sense and patriotic eloquence of the~ohe, was opposed the tnte, but seductive cant of sedition and faction, The refined and irresistible reasoning of PubUus, the signature to^a series of essays chiefly written by Colonel HamUton, was assailed by incessant voUeys of words of dire import, such as monarchy, aristocracyT monopoly, and consolidation.* But the * Whatever frantic and unscrupulous demagogues may choose to assert to the contrary, it is matter of history, which, however, it is not always convenient or even possible for them to consult, — that Hamilton gave to the new Constitution, after its adoption, a cordial and manly support. That he had, previously, delibe rately fbrmed, and unreservedly expressed, opinions, which no man possessed of decent intelligencfe, or a spark of generosity, will deny were honestly entertained, — adverse to some of its provisions, — matters concerning which, wise and virtuous and patriolic men might well differ, and about which they unquestionably did differ, — is aleo true ; and there were then, as there are now, few. men living so well entitled, by deep study, and enlightened reflection, to hold, and to promulgate CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 341 lastjbeing the lucky hit, from which most immediate effect was anticipated, it was most unmercifully hackneyed in the service. The Constitution was represented to be a consolidation, not a orjginal views upon this or other grave national interests, as Alexander Hamilton; who, of all the statesmen of the period, or of later time, ranks next to Washington, and whose name and meraory, second only to hie, should be fondly cherished as a proud, national inheritance ; for it has rarely happened that " to those mansions where the raighty rest Since their foundation came a nobler guest." The Life of Patrick Henry, writlen by a disciple ofx Thomas Jefferson, him self a professed admirer, at least, of the " Forest-born Demosthenes," and who furnished materials for his biography : — informs us that the celebrated orator, whose patriotisra and wisdom the revilers of Hamilton, — between whom and Henry there was, on this Subject, a perfect coincidence of opinion, — never think of ques tioning, opposed with all the power and influence ot his surpassing eloquence, tha adoption of this same Constitution. We learn also from unquestionable authority, that this Constitution as finally adopted in Convention, was the result of wise and patriotic conciliation and compromise on the part of all ils members. Washington, as is well known, was President of this Convention, and even he has been charged wilh hostility to the work it accomplished. In the letter addressed by bim in his official capacity, to the President of Congress, enclosing the result of the anxiously patriotic labours ofthe enlightened body over which he had presided, — this passage occurs, and should be deeply impressed on the hearts and memories of present and future statesmen and legislators : "The Constitution which we now presenl, is the result ofa spirit of araity, aud of that mutual deference and concession which the peculiarity of our political situation rendered indispensable." Washington's opinion expressed on another occasion, as we learn from Sparks' Life, p. 403 ; — was, " Nor am I yel such an enthusiastic, partial, or indiscriminat ing admirer of it, as not to perceive that it is tinctured with some real though not radical defecis." ^ Franklin said, " I consent to the Constitution becanse I expect no better, and because I ara sure it is not bad." And Madison, in the 57th number of the " Federalist," a neglected volume which all honest " Deraocrats," not easily frightened by a name, would be wiser for perusing, says : — " It was acceded to by a deep conviction of the necessity of sacrificing private opinion and partial interests to the public good, and by a despair of seeing this ne cessity dirainished by delays or by new experiments." The last number ofthe Federalist, writlen by Hamilton, proves the coincidence of opinion between him and the illustrious raen thus cited. He says — "The system, though it may not be perfect in every part, is, upon the whole, a good one ; is the best that the present views and circumstances will permit, and is such an one as promises every species of security, which a reasonable people can desire." — Ed. 29* 342 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. confederation of the States ; and under this shrewd idea, its adversaries very ingeniously endeavoured to ward off the im putation of anti-federalism, now becoming odious. They con tended, that they were, in fact, the federahsts, as the self-styled federalists, were consolidators, aristocrats, and monarchists. Luckily, at this time, there were no French imjierialists, or promoters of universal despotism ; or, without doubt, they would have been these too. But the tribunitial arts of the soi di- sanies federal men, were all in vain. Some dire^infatuation, according to them, had seized upon the people ; and to perdi tion they ^ust go, since_their_best_fnends were ho longer lis tened to. The grand processions of trades and occupations whiph were exhibited at Boston, New York, and PhUadelphia ; the hint of which, was, probably, taken from the shows of Ta merlane at Samarcand, * had corapletely federalized the popu lace of these capitals, and given an eclat to the business else where, that could not be resisted. Under the " curses" therefore " not loud but deep," of its enemies, the measure was sullenly acquiesced in ; and the Constitution gradually ratified by the States. By this event, the constitutional party of Pennsylvania, was laid aLthe feet of the Republicans, who now triumphing under the appjellation of federalists, overwhelmed their adver saries with the" short-lived odium of antifederalism. But the reputation of W"ashington which had carried the new system, was no less necessary to give efficacy to its operations, than it had been to originate it, and obtain its ratification ; and as he could not but be aware of this, he consented from a sense of duty, but withoiit' a particle of that " sweet, reluctant, amo rous delay" with which more ethereal patriots sometimes yield to the wishes of the people, to be a candidate for the presidency. As the disapprovers of the Constitution, knew that their oppo sition to his election would be unavailing, they gave none, but contented themselves with taunts and dismal forebodings. Ge neral Washington was then elected ; f and I mention U as a * " The public joy was testified by illuminations and masquerades ; the trades of Samarcand passed in review ; and every trade was emulous to execute some quaint device, some marvellous pageant, with the materials of their peculiar art." — Gibbon's Decline and Fall, Harper's Edit., vol. iv. p. 283. Ed. t He thus wrote in his Diary, on the day of his departure, two days after re. ELECTION OF WASHINGTON. 343 proof of my decided conduct in the controversy, that my coun try did me the honour to appoint me one of his electors. Had not my persuasion of the pressing importance of the measure forbade my being passive, it would have been scarcely possible to have remained so. From an idea that those holding offices under the State, wopld feel it their interest to oppose a system which circumscribed the authority from which they derived them, and might, thence, disturb the enjoyment ofthem, or even render them nugatory, they were confidently appealed to by the anti-federalists, as the natural enemies of the constitution : while, on the other hand, persons who had been in the army, were counted upon by the federalists, as likely to promote a scheme, in which the late Commander-in-chief, had taken so warm a part. But I did not wait to be solicited by the parties; neither did I poise their relative strength, or listen, for a mo ment, to the narrow dictates of self-interest. I am happy in being able to say, that I was an early, undisguised, ardent, active, and, in my sphere, conspicuous partisan of the Constitu tion ; of course, a mark for the vengeance of the professional wielders of the people, who felt the potency of their incanta tions most cruelly impaired by its adoption. The discomfiture being complete, they made a virtue of necessity ; and not long after, yielded with a tolerably good grace, to the call of a. con vention for altering the constitution of the State, so as to render it more conformable to that of the United States. They consi dered this, and wisely, as a means of recovering their lost con sequence ; and exerting themselves at the elections for members of this convention, they contrived to take the field, with a force not yery inferior; to that of their adversaries. This body has been considered respectable for abilities : and among the men of note who were delegated to it, may be found ceiving from Congress, through its special messenger, Charles Thomson, notifica tion of his election : " About ten o'clock I bade adieu to Mount Vernon, to private life, emd to do mestic felicity ; and, with a mind oppressed wilh more anxious and painful sensa. tions than I have words to express, set out fbr New York, in company with Mr. Thomson and Colonel Humphreys, with the besl disposition to render service to my country in obedience to its call, but with less hope of answering its expecta. tions." — Ed, 344 MEETING OF CONVENTI6N. the names of Mifflin, M'Kean, Wilson, Lewis, Ross, Addison, Sitgreaves, Pickering, GaUatin, Smilie, Findley, and Snyder. I had myself the equivocal honour of being a yea and nay mem ber ; but having been elected in the room of one who died, I did not take my seat, untU some progress had been made in the business. The point which had excited most interest, and was thence the subject of the warmest controversy, was now upon the carpet. This was the construction of the senate, or upper house, (as it is sometimes called,) of the legislature. A com mittee, selected for the purpose, had reported an outlipe of the constitution; and that part of the report which recommended the choosing of senators through the medium of electors, was under discussion. Mr. Wilson took the lead-in opposilion to the report ; Mr. Lewis in support of it. It was urged by the latter and his co-operators, that the senate should be so consti tuted as to form a check upon the house of representatives ; andf as in the proposed mode of creating it through the alembic of electors, it would be purged of the impurities of an immediate election by the people, the desideratum would be obtained ; — that being chosen by a selected few, it was presumable, it would be more wise, more respectable, and more composed of men of wealth, than if chosen by the multitude ; and hence it was in ferred that it would partake, in no inconsiderable degree, ofthe proper qualities of an upper house — of a house of lords, it might have been said if the idea had been endurable. As to Mr. WUson's scheme, (for he had moved a substitute,) of choosing the senators in the same manner as the representatives, with the exception only of larger election districts, it was repro bated as doing away every purpose of a divided legislature— since that the persons composing the two houses, would be pre cisely of the same character, and too homogeneous to operate as corrective^ of each other ; and that unless the elector-sys tem should be adopted, the convention had been called in vain. WUson, in defence of his plan, was for resting the ch.ance of the two bodies being sufficient checks upon each other, upon the circumstances of their different spheres of election ; of t^eir sitting in different chambers, which would produce, he con tended, an esprit du corps in each ; and their being chosen for CONSTITUTION OF THE SENATE. 345 different pei^iods, the representatives for one year, the senators for four years. He moreover urged, that electors would open a door 'to unfair practice ^nd intrigue; that the senators should be as much favourites of the people, as the representatives, and be inspired with equal confidence, by equally feeling themselves their choice. As the debate seemed to turn upon the idea, that this was a contest between the principles of democracy and aristocracy, and that great advantages would be gained to either that might prevail, a considerable degree of heat was engendered ; and Wilson, hitherto deenled an aristocrat, a monarchist, and a des pot, as all the federalists were, found his adherents on this occa sion, with a few exceptions, on the democratic or anti-federal side of the house. In the list of exceptions, I was; but not'so much from the arguments adduced, though appearing to me both ingenious and sound, as from my conviction of its being whbUy immaterial, so far as a check was contemplated, whether the senate was brought together through the intervention of electors or not ; and I was, of course, adverse to a measure, at once, circuitous, useless, and unpopular. As/ it was my practice to commit my thoughts to paper, upon questions which underwent discussion, I have the following note of this. " The desire of choosing senators through the medium of electors, is certainly founded on a fallacious idea : for, admitting that a small number of dispassionate, sensible men, would make a better choice than the people at large, is it possible that the advocates for the measure can be so blinded by prejudice as not to see, that it is not the most dispassionate and intelUgent men that will be sought for as electors, but the most devoted tools of party ; and that the prevailing party, in the district, wiU alvvays make the senator 1 To suppose the contrary, or that any one, when parties run high, (and when do they not 1) would be voted for as an elector; merely from a reliance on his wisdom and integrity, without a knowledge of his sentiments, is to suppose a political miracle, and to forget that ever party spirit existed. Let it not be said that the object is to get a good man of what ever party. This is contrary to all party policy -and practice, which, if it cannot succeed in procuring the election of its own 346 author's opinions. members, prefers the weakest and most contemptible of the other side, as being less capable of doing mischief. The respec tabUity of the Maryland Senate, which has been so often instanced in the debate, proves nothing to the purpose. If it is a respectable body, and of superior wisdom to the other house, it is not because it is chosen by electors. It must be owing to the more enlightened persons who compose it, reserving them selves for it, and having sufficient interest with the people to secure their seats ; which interest would be the same without the intervention of electors; and if the State of Maryland shall have a wiser and higher toned Senate than Pennsylvania,' it must be attributed to the, more aristocratical state of society there, which furnishes them with more suitable materials, and gives the men of wealth and information a superior degree of influence." Thus far the note, the observations in which seem fully justi fied by events. Let us consider the objects which regulate the choice of electors of a President and Vice-President, and then say, whether the Senate would have been bettered by the elector scheme. I myself was once chosen an elector, but it was be cause my voice was known to be for Washington, not person ally on my own account. As another mean to improve the upper house,* a proposition was brought forward by the friends to the elector plan, to apportion- the senators by means of a ratio compounded of wealth and numbers ; the intention of which was, to give greater security to property, by increasing the weight of the wealthy districts, beyond what they would derive from population alone. After reprobating the idea of introducing so invidious and sordid a principle into the government, and remarking that it could not answer hs purpose, unless this increased representa tion wks under the sole guidance of the rich, who are rarely oppressed by the poor, my note goes on to say :— " Whatever advantages may, for a time, be given to the poor, by a state of turbulence and confusion, as soon as order is restored, the pre- * A protest is again entered against the phrase. When will the good sense of a republican people discard the senseless designation !— Ed. executive power. 347 dominance of wealth immediately returns. It' seems unneces sary to protect local wealth. It is not probable, that the local distinctions now prevailing wiU continue, but rather that weahhy individuals will make common cause." A scheme of the same kind as this compound ratio, was adopted by the National Assembly of France ; speaking of which, I find Mr. Burke has this remark, with which part of mine exactly coin cides. " If any favour," says he, " was meant to the rich, the privUege ought to have been conferred on the individual rich, or of some class formed of rich persons; because the contest between rich and poor, is not a struggle between corporation and corporation, but a contest between men and men ; a com petition, not between districts, but between descriptions." I aim at no triumph by these remarks, and am not so un candid as not to own, that before being led to examine it, I was as much seduced by the plausibUity of the ebctor scheme as any one. I was at first induced to oppose it in the case of the Senate, in the view of applying it in the choice of a chief magis trate, under an idea, that if might at least have the wholesome effect of mitigating the fury of a general election in a matter of so great interest, by putting the object a little out of sight ; but I npw doubt whether it would be productive even of this good. The animated discussions which had taken place in the Con vention, onthe formation ofthe Senate, had produced no incon siderable degree of ill-hurnour among the members of that body, and more especially, as is usual, among the losers. For my own part, I was considered by them as an apostate from my principles ; as a deserter of the federal standard ; and at tables, where I occasionally fell in with my federal acquaintance, was treated by them with much unpleasant Coldness and, neglect. As, however, I had acted honestly, from the best lights my un derstanding afforded, I was not to be browbeaten into a retrac - tion of the sentiments I had uttered ; and was as confident in my opinions, as they could be in theirs ; in which, I presume, I have been justified by events. As to the executive power, the structure, as it now stands, appeared to have been reared before I became a member of the 348 executive power. Convention. It would seem, that it had been agreed upon, and reported by a committee of nine members, who had been selected- for the purpose of framing and methodizing the out lines of the constitution. At any rate, no essential opposition was made to this article, which, in my opinion, is the most ex ceptionable of any in the instrument. The following note con tains the chief ground of my objection to it, viz. : " When I consider the strong temptation to the courting of popular favour, held out by the governor's re-eligibility at the end of three years, I am induced ,to condemn the section, and to prefer electing him for a certain period, say four, five, six, seven, or so many years as- might be. deemed safe and expedient; at the end of which term, either a perpetual or very long exclusion to take place. An exclusion, long enough to wear out the influence acquired whilst in office, and to make a re-election a too re mote and uncertain contingency, to be worth improper sacri fices and compliances.* The rotation founded on a short exclusion, appears to be inadequate to its object; and to have little other effect, than to compel us to part with a chief magis trate, however patriotic his conduct, or pressing the exigence. To it, I would prefer an uninterrupted re-eligibUity." This idea I communicated to several of the leading members of the Convention, but do not recollect, that any of them seemed much impressed with its importance. Mr. Lewis, indeed, did not seem to think unfavourably of it ; but had been so much hurt with losing the electors, that he seemed to despair of redeeming the loss, by the substitption of any olher good, and therefore declined attempting any alteration in the article : and having too littie confidence in myself to undertake a change in it, with out able support, I suffered il lo pass wiihout publicly testifying my disapprobation of it. Whal made the general acquiescence in it more remarkable, was, that it was thought necessary to remedy the evil arising from the annual election of sheriffs, who, it was observed, were too intent on preserving the good will of their constituents, to do their duty to effect, until theh * I was not aware, until very lately, that General Lee uses precisely the same reasoning in a letter dated July 29th, 1776, to Patrick Henry, jun., Governor of Virginia. , > regulation of THE PRESS. 349 ultimate term of service was secured. Perhaps it was deemed a kind of profanation of the high function of chief magistrate, tosuppose that any considerations of this, sort could warp the manly march of him, who might have the honour to be invested with il. Bul, whatever force there maybe in the foregoing sentiments, candour compels me lo own, that at this moment, I am much less tenacious of them than I have been. Were the Governor's the only station to be sought for, the reasoning raight be conclusive ; but there are so many other temptations to a man smitten wilh a love of the pubUc coffers, of influence and power, that it amounts lo much less than I once supposed. Indeed, the best, and perhaps only security, for a firm and up right administration, is lo be .found, in innate dignity of mind. And the more we contemplate the construction of a popular form of governmeni, the more shall we be convinced, that no checks are competent to master corruption, or supply the want of integrity; and that afler all the jargon about anti-republican tendencies, no tendency can be repubUcan unless il be virtuous. Next to the construction of the senate, the regulation of the press was the ground of mosl acrimony in the Convention. Whether or not the truth should be received as a justification, on prosecutions for libels, divided its law characters. I was among the simple voters who thought that it ought; and although now absolved from my sin, by federal opinion,* I was then sub jected to the imputation of wild innovation and democracy. I could say a greal deal more of what was done in this assembly, and produce a world of political reasoning, vastly edifying and profound ; but enough, in all conscience, of the business of con stitution making ! Could we have made the people wise, mode rate, disinterested, we should have laboured to some purpose ; but, where they are under no dominion but that of their selfish passions, hurrying them on to a goal, regardless of conse- * Declared in the Sedition Law, and in the defences to the prosecutions under the reign of Jefferson. It is also, if I am not mistaken, now the doctrine and law of libels in England, as introduced by Mr. Fox, and concurred in by Mr. Pitt. And Hamilton's definition of the Liberly of the Press is, — " the right of pub lishing the truth with good motives, and to an usefiil end, whether it inculpates the government, the magistrates, or private individuals." 30 350 STATE OF PARTIES. quences, of what use are aU the constitutions that have been made by the friends to Uberty, in America or France ? They want an essential ingredient of aU laws. They may be just in their sanctions, wise and honest in their injunctions ; but where are their enforcing and prohibitory powers? As they are, I am sick of them. Wilh all their seeming beauties, they contain a latent flaw ; and I am almost tempted to reject the flattering theory of our institutions, as Bajazet does the Paradise of Mahomet. Prophet, take notice, I disclaim thy paradise. Thy fragrant bowers and everlasting shades ; , Thou hast placed woman there, and all thy joys are tainted. If woman spoils the one, so does selfish man the other. The sitting of this assembly for new-modeUing the constitu tion, had the effect that had been anticipated by the anti-federal ists. It enabled them to discharge a great portion of the odium with which, they had been loaded by their recent discomfiture; and although they had been completely laid upon their backs, it was evident that from this position they had already turned upon their sides, and were in a fair way of being very soon on top of their antagonists. Such are the advantages of a stea,dy, undeviating, profligate pursuit of power, over a regard for the public good, desultorily exerted without concert or system ! A panic, terror of the power of the uniop under the new constitu tion, prevailed in the Convention ; and some, who were not infected with h, acted as if they were, for the purpose of morti fying Wilson, who had spoUed their favPurile scheme. The bugbear of consolidation stalked hideously among ws, to the dis may of rnany federahsts, no less than of the anti-federalists; and, at no small expense of the cogitative powers, raany inge nious devices were framed to resist his encroachments. A balance vvas anxiously sought where none could be obtained; for where two parties only fight, one must prove the strongest. By means of a third, indeed, the weaker adversary may be put upon a par with thp stronger, as the House of Lords, in the British consthution, is supposed to hold the balance between the King and the Commons; or as either one of the three may do il between the other two. But whh respect to any imagined STATE OF PARTIES. 351 hostility between the General Government and those of the par ticular Stales, if it exists, it must lake its course ; there seems to be no control. The former wiU be potent when administered by men who have no. scruples in regard lo means ; but weak as the old confederation when in the hands of the principled and conscientious. The power of the country, under her existing establishraents, will be wielded by the turbulent and most daring ;* and if, these, by any chance, should be thrown from the greater wheel, they wUl immediately avail themselves of in herent jealousies to get possession of the smaller ones, by an unprincipled use of which they will still find means to keep the ascendant. When the federalists held the helm of the General Government, there was an incessant jarring between that and the Stale authorities, then managed by their adversaries ; and were the former as little restrained by a concern for the public good as the latter, they would have played the same game against Mr. Jefferson and his sect; instead of which, since their accession lo national rule, they have been suffered to proceed withbut the smallest annoyance, in a part in which they were obviously most vulnerable ; and in which, if their own malig nant, Catilinarian spirit had prevailed among the federalists, they would most assuredly have been assaUed. Nor lel il be said, that they had not this in their power, after the actual war- measures of Governor Snyder against President Madison. If ever sincere raen shall again acquire the stations they ought to possess, then again shall we be stunned by the brawlings of anti-federal discord. The edifying unity of deraocracy will no longer be marred by a division into schools, nor will the Binnses and Duanes turn their arms upon each other. , The Convention, il has been observed, was deemed respecta ble for abUity ; and upon a comparison with the materials of our Slate legislatures, il no doubt was. It had a good raany * The language here suggested by experience, is substantially the same as that quoted from the Cinna of CorneiUe, by Mr. Shepherd, in his Paris of 1802 : Maisquand le peuple est maitre, on n'agit qu'on tumnlte. La voix de la raison jamais ne se consulle; Les lionneurs soul rendus aux plus ambitieux, L'autoritd livret aux plus seditieux. 352 LEADING CHARACTERS IN CONVENTION. speakers in h; but, that an aptitude to prate is no conclu sive evidence of sound judgment, is an observation as old, al least, as Sallust. The raost able debaters in the body, were WUson* and' Lewis.f Ross,J Addison,§ Sitgreaves,||. and Gal- * The Honourable James Wilson. He was born in Scotland, in 1742. He was educated at Glasgow, Sl. Andrews, and Edinburgh. He arrived in Phila delphia, in 1766, and found employraent as a tutor in the college and academy, and early acquired a high reputation as a classical scholar. He commenced the study of law, in the office of John Dickinson, and commenced its practice at the expiration oftwo years, first at Reading, and then at Carlisle. In 1775 he was elected to Congress. He was a uniform advocate of the Declaration of Indepen- dence, which he signed. In 1787, he was a member of the Convention which framed, the Federal Constitution. In 1789, he was appointed by Washington, a judge ofthe Supreme Court of the United States. He died in August, 1798, at the age of fifty-six years. His political and legal disquisitions are extant in three volumes, and much e'steemed.-^Ency. Amer. — Eo. t Mr. Lewis became, subsequently, a prorainent member of the Philadelphia Bar, distinguished alike for his talents and eccentricities. — Et). } The Honourable James Ross. He slill resides (1846) at Pittsburg, venerable for his years, his virtues, and public services. He acted a very conspicuous part in the politics of Pennsylvania, from the close of the Revolution until the year 1808. He was the candidate for the office of Governor in opposition to Judge McKean, in 1799, and in 1802; and was again a candidate, in opposition to Simon Snyder, in 1808. He was, for many years, the acknowledged head of the Bar in Allegheny county. — Ed. § Judge Alexander Addison. He was aman of strong and cultivated mind; a distinguished jurist, and an able theologian. He was the author of a volume of "Reports of Cases in the County Courts ofthe Fifth Circuit, and in the High Court of Errors and Appeals ofthe State of Pennsylvania." — Eo. II Samuel Sitgreaves was an erainent jurist, an upright and virtuous citizen. He was born in Philadelphia, on the 16lh day of March, 1764, where he received an excellent education, and where, in 1784, under the auspices ofthe latere. spectable William Rawle, he was admitted to the Bar. In 1785, he removed to Easton, in Pennsylvania, where he entered upon the practice of his profession. , In 1794, he was elected lo Congress, where he served with usefulness and dis tinction. He also particularly distinguished himself as one of the Commissioners to England, — while the United Stales were worthily represented by the Honourable Rufus King,— for the settlement of claims under the Treaty of 1783. During his sojourn abroad, he visited the Continent, and was at Paris when Napoleon was invested with the office and honours of the First Consulship. Having accomplished the object ofhis raission, he returned from Europe in 1801, immediately after the inauguration of Mr. Jefferson ; and from that event, may be dated the retirement of Mr. Sitgreaves frora public hfe. It could hardly, iudeed, be expected that the third President could find befitting employment for an ardent admirer ofthe first, for one who felt a pride in being known as a Wasiiingtonian Republican. On its organization, in 1814, Mr. Sitgreaves was elected President of the Easton LEADING CHARACTERS IN CONVENTION. 353 1 latin,* were coraparatively young statesmen; though each of the three first, acquitted himself handsomely ; the last did not venture beyond an isolated observaiion. Il was singular, by the bye, and honourable to the liberality of our country, to hear a French accent intermingling wilh our own, on a question for framing a Constitution for Pennsylvania. It was reaUzing the Bank, in which office he continued to the time of his decease, in the sixty-fourth year of his age, — on the 4lh dky of April, 1827. Mr. Sitgreaves was much distinguished fbr his companionable qualities, for pungent wit, and keen repartee. He was a gentleman of the old school, of whiclj few remain in advantageous con trast to the multitude of the new, and he well maintained the dignity of his order in the prominent social position to which his learning, abilities, and virtues emi nently entitled him, — Ed. • Albert Gallatin was born in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1761, and was edu cated at the University of that city. For many years he was a resident of Penn sylvania. He arrived at Boston, in 1780. He opposed the adoption ofthe Federal Conslitulion, a proceeding obnoxious to Deraocratic censure in the case of Hamil ton, bul in that of Gallatin, a venial oflfence. In 1793 Mr. Gallatin was elected by the Legislature of Pennsylvania, to the Senate of the Union, *' although," as it was said, " he entertained doubts of his own eligibility." When he look his seat, the question of citizenship was revived, and he lost it, " afler an elaborate investi gation and report, on the ground that he had not been nine years a legally natu- ralized citizen of the United States." He was, however, subsequently elected to Congress, where he continued for six years, distinguished for his financial abilities, and as one ofthe leaders of the. Democratic party. In 1801 he received from Mr. Jeppeeson the appointment of Secretary of the Treasury, which office he filled, wilh distinguished ability, until the year 1813. Hewas one of the Coraraissioners at Ghent, and was subsequently appointed Minister to the Court of France, whence he returned in 1823. Afler a short interval spent in retireraent at his residence, New-Geneva, he was, in 1826, appointed Minister to England. On his return he retired to Baltimore, bul soon reraoved to New York, where he slill resides (1846). His last appearance in public life, was as a meraber ofthe Free Trade Convention, which assembled at Philadelphia, in 1831, and of which respectable and able body, it was intended to propose him for President ; but, anticipating the movement, he rose and nominated for that office, Mr. P. P. Barbour of Virginia, who had, for a single session, occupied the post of Speaker of the House of National Representatives. Mr. Barbour was elected. In this Con. ventfon Mr. Gallatin attracted much attention. His foreign accent, which was remarkable considering his long residence in the country, the character ofhis em. ployments and associations, — rendered it extremely difficult to comprehend his speech, but, he was, nevertheless, considered an oracle by the members, — many of whom — their impracticable object to the conlrary notwilhstanding, — were men of high character and distinction in public life,— and when he rose to address the Convention, which was seldom, he was closely surrounded by an eager and attentive auditory. — Ed. 30* 354 LEADING CHARACTERS IN CONVENTION. nihil humani alienum puto of Terence. May we never have reason lo repent our extreme complacency to human race — oratory, whether declaiming on man's equality, or the freedom of the seas! WUson was truly greal; but, enthusiastically democratic. The symptoms of returning reason, evinced in the adoption of the Federal Constitutioil, bad, probably, pul him in good humour with tbe people, and made him more than ever in love with " free and independent man." He drew, to be sure, a picture of a free citizen, in the act of disposing of his suffrage, Uttle answerable to the sad realities, which are found upon an election, ground. Royalty, with its mosl splendid re galia, was made lo hide its dirainished head. Nevertheless, it was a pretty fiction ; and I yviU not deny, that I did not listen to it, with, perhaps, somewhat more than a derai-conviction. Ces pauvres Savdydrds sont si lonnes gens ! as Jean Jacques says. And who could say less ofthe good souls of Pennsylvania? There was something singular in^Wilson's mode of arriving at his goal. It was different at least from that which I should have taken,; and he appeared studious lo avoid the beaten road. StUl, he never faUed lo throw the strongest lights on his sub ject, and thence, rather to flash than elicit conviction, syUogisti- cally. It has been said, that he required preparation. At any rate, he produced greater orations than any other raan I have heard; and I doubt much whether the ablest of those who sneer al his occasional simplicities and "brUliant conceits," would not have found him a truly formidable antagonist. Mr. Lewis furnishes an instance of what may be done by forthude and perseverance, in a pursuit to which the mind has a bias. With nolhing raore than the common attainments of a country school, he took the resolution to make himself a lawyer; and quilting agricultural employments, he applied himself for a year or two to the acquisition of Latin ; after which, he com menced his jurisprudential studies in the office of Mr. Nicholas Wain, then in the first practice in Philadelphia. His mind ap peared to be wholly occupied by his business ; and he gave every difficulty which occurred a thorough investigation. In a word, his success was complete ; and from the first degree of eminence al the Bar, he had been called upon to serve his coun- LEADING CHARACTERS IN CONVENTION. 355 try in the Legislature, and now in the Convention. He was not, however, with the sage of Monticello, for confining aU virtue lo the labouring orders ; though, from his early habits in life, probably weU acquainted with them. Well knowing, that the morality of a gentleman, was at least upon a par with that of a tUler of the earth ; that Don Quixote (supposed a natural character) had more honour, though less cunning than his squire, (a natural character too) ; and that city vices are amply matched by rustic rogueries; he seemed without a chosen people; and, upon this occasion, was the advocate of what was called the aristocracy. But though keen and fertile in re sources, he was, both from education and the bent of his stu dies, destitute of the comprehensive means possessed by Wil- souj who was a Scotchman ahd a scholar, and had peculiarly devoted himself lo the researches which afford materials for the construction of republican institutions ; and which, in his hands would have been absolutely perfect, bul for one unlucky thing, which seems to have eluded his calculations — this was, that political data do not admit of mathematical results.* Mr. Pickering was not an idle member.f His aims were honoura- ? Madame de Stael is ofa different opinion. She says, referring to M. de Condorcet's Essay on Probabilities, that the nuraber of divorces, thefts, and mur ders, that will be commiited in a jiountry where the population ^.nd the religious and political situation remain the sarae, raay be calculated wilh as much precision as.the births and deaths ; and hence, she infers, when the science of politics shall have arrived at her favoured perfectibility, it may be submitted to the evidence of mathematical conclusions. t Colonel Timothy Pickering. — He was .sent by Washington, in 1787, as a Commissioner to organize the County of Luzerne, and to reconcile the minds of the Wyoming settlers to the new jurisdiction of Pennsylvania. He took up his abode in the valley, near Wilkesbarre, in the furtherance of these objects. He was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1745, and Was graduated at Harvard College, in 1763; and, afler the necessary preparation, was admitted to fhe practice of thelaw. He was in the public service from the comraenceraent of the Revolution, almost to the close of his long and illustrious life, filling various elevated and responsible stations with great ability and unquestionable integrity. He was highly esteemed by General Washington, and heartily disliked by Mr. Jepferson, circurastances which entitle him, in advance, to the respect of his countryraen. He served faith fiilly and with distinclion during the war, and was at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown. He succeeded General Greene in the office of Quartermaster- General, in which he greatly "contributed to the surrender of Cornwalus at York- 356 leading characters in convention. ble and palriotic as those he has since pursued ; and his sug gestions were the eraanations of right reason and experience* General Mifflin soraetimes spoke to questions of order, bul. nothing more : and as lo Chief Justice M'Kean, I shall only say, that his conduct gave no token of the zeal he not long afterwards displayed in the democratic career. But, as it is the people who make governors, Eh J que faire Mons., Pel tier ? — whal the deuce is an eager candidate lo do 1 For least of all men, can he say with Fontaine, in his tale of Joconde : Ce n'est pas mon metier de cajoler personne. As to those great occidental luminaries, Messrs. Smilie* and FiNDLAY,f their conducl upon this occasion, was truly in cha racter ; ever tremblingly alive to the soveranity of the people. Nor, have their labours in the good cause been less exemplary than their zeal; since, if we excepta sUghl eclipse of a few. digits through the obtrusion of Washington with his Federal Consti tution and Federal exercises, they have been constantly glaring, full-orbed, in the political firmament ; and we are certainly in debted for their uninterrupted public services, from the com raenceraent of our independence to the presenl hour. Nor shaU I risk lessening the merit of their perseverance, by inquir ing how much of the public money they might have pocketed in all that time ; or whether any other trade they could have town." In 1791 he was made Postmaster General. In 1794, Secretary of War. In 1795, Secretary of State, from which office he was removed, in 1801, by Presir dent Adams, and he returned lo Massachusetts. In 1803, he was chosen by the Legislature of that State, a Senator in Congress, for an unexpired term, and again in 1805. In 1811, he was chosen by the Legislature a member ofthe Executive Council of Massachusetts : and, during the Madisonian war, was a member ofthe Board of War for the defence of the Slate. In 1814, he was elected to Congress, where he continued until 1817, when he retired finally to private life. He died in January, 1829, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. "In private he was a model of republican siraplicity — was mild, courteous, and unassuming. In public he was able, energetic, brave, and disinterested." — Ed. * John Smilie, subsequently a member of Congress ; an active^ energetic, and ardent politician of the Democratic schbol. — Ed. t The Hon. William Findlay, afterwards Senator in Congress, and three years Governor of Pennsylvania, from the year 1817. He was born at Mercersburg, and is still (1846) living in Philadelphia.— Ed. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 357 turned their hands lo would have proved equally productive. Let it- no longer be said that the people are ungrateful, or that virtue, in republics, goes unrewarded. If Washington has no tomb, he must soraehow have displeased the people. He fought their batties, it is true, but was he suffi cientiy tender of their pockets ; sufficientiy obsequious to their sovereignty ? did he tell them, that he hoed ihem ? No : bul he presumed to differ from them in opinion', and give them advice, and freemen choose lo think for themselves : nor will they sub- mil to admonition from the bench or the pulpit.* During the shling of the Convention, the direful revolution in France was in progress, and hs proceedings sometimes appealed to, as guides for our conduct. Though hardly daring to blame, and less impressed than I ought to have been with the treatment of the clergy, I presume no one ever heard me praise : for there was folly enough to disgust, before the appearance of crime; and I thought the nation was about to throw away the most amiable part of its character. I reraeraber, one day, al the table of General MifHin, at this lime Presideni of the Slate, when the Parisian courtesans were applauded for contributing their patri otic gifts, I ventured lo caU in question the~ imraense raerit of the proceeding. I was stared at by a pious clergyman for the shocking heterodoxy of my sentiments; and should, probably, * " "The young American of the future, looking back on the history of his country in the days ofhis grandfathers, may, perchance, find books enough written in our own times,' to teach him that what was called the old Federal parly, with Washing ton al ils head, and such men as Jay and Hamilton in ils ranks, was a vile nest oftrailors, busily eraployed in the subversion of American freedom; that the ^eo^Ze, aUve to their machinations, and infiuenced only by strong intelligence and stern integrity, deposed these unworthy guardians of public freedora ; and, selg.oling men who raodestly shrank from notoriety, and whose patriotism was above suspicion, dragged thera from their beloved retireraent, and forced upon them office and honour ; and that, under the auspices of Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, placed in the highest stations as well-tried and honest friends of their country, the torrent of treason was checked. But, sometimes, it providentially happens that one who was an actor in the busy scenes of past history rises up and tells his story. He may inform us, for instance, how one of these high functionaries, of patriotism so pure, was afterward tried for treason tq that country which he loved so well ; and how the other, with thjS ferocity of a bloodhound, sought fhe life of his illustrious corapeer, because he stood in the way of his ambition." — New York Review, vol. ii. p. 191.— Ed. 358 BURKE AND " TOM PAINE." have been drawn into an altercation, no less disagreeable than indiscreet, had not the General in a friendly manner pacified the parson by whispering him in the ear, that I was perfectly well disposed, and only sporting an opinion. So overwhelming was the infatuation, so ominous the fanaticism, that even this godly personage had quite forgotten that incontinence was a sin. He " could have hugged the loicked sluts ; they pleased him." Nearly about the tipie of this occurrence, I happened to be al Reading, where Burke's Reflections on the French Revolu tion, wilh Paine's Rights of Man, both of which had just come out, were the general topic of conversation. I had seen neither ; and when they were given me to read, I was apprised of the delight L should receive from the perusal of Paine's pamphlet. As to Burke, I was told it was hea,vy and tedious, but that it was necessary lo condemn myself lo a wading through il first, for the sake of better understanding and relishing Paine's, which was in answer to it. I read thera ; bul to my great raisfortune, and contraiy to all expectation, I became so firm an adherent to Burke, that his opponent made not the smallest impression. I have already raade confessions which cautious raen raay start at. But this is worse than all. The stolen Ribbon of Rousseau was nothing lo it : nor, although events have proved me right, is that of any consequence. Many olher ihings have turned out right too ; but that does not lessen the odium of their early advocates. It is the essence of sound civism to think with one's feUow-citizens ; on no account to anticipate thera ; and I ought lo have thought wrong, because it was the fashion. Republican morality, like republican other things, being made by general suffrage, will not always lake the trouble to ferret truth from her weU; and as it is manufactured pro re nata, on the spur of the occasion, h is Uable, of course, to gentle fluctuations— but infinitely safer, by the bye, in practice, than that of the old school. I here speak frorn woful experience. Under the administration of President Washington, the pros perity of the country was advanced with a rapidity which ex ceeded the mosl sanguine expectation of the friends lo the new system. Il afforded a cheering example, of whal a republic is capable, whose councils are solely directed with a view to the WASHINGTON S ADMINISTRATION. 359 general good ; and if ever a portion of the human race was in that auspicious predicament, il was that composing the popula- tiqn of these United Stales.* But whal is the general prospe rity to hearts that are torn by the furies of disappointed ambition or avarice ! It is but as paradise to the foe of mankind, engen dering a more deadly venom in the tortured soul, soothing ilself with the dire imagery of Claudian's Alecto. Siccine tranquillo produci soecula cursu ? Sic fbrtuhatas patiemur viveres genies ? &;c. &c. Unfortunately there was no proportion between the offices lo be disposed of, and the persons who had been in expectancy. No thing less than miraculous power could have so distributed the loaves and fishes as to fiU the immense multitude that hungered for them ; and the dissatisfied only repined at a success, which, * All this is now historical and requires no illustration. Yet, in the year 1796, the " Sage of Monticello'' thus wrote to Mazzei, an Italian who had resided in this country, and with whom the "Sage" had formed an intimacy : " The aspect of our politics has wonderfiilly changed since you lefi us. In place of that noble love of liberly and republican government which carried us triumph antly through the war, an Anglican Monarchical and Aristocratical Party has sprung up, whose avowed object is to draw over us the suhstance, as they have already done tlje forms, of the British Governmeni. The main body of our citizens, however, reraain true to their republican principles ; the whole landed interest is republican," and so is a gi:eat mass of the talents. Against us are the Executive, the Judiciary, two out of the three branches of the legislature, all the officers of the government, all who want to be officers, all liraid men who prefer thevcalin of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty ; British merchants, and Americans trad ing on British capitals, speculators and holders in the banks and public fimds, a contrivance invented for the purposes of corruption, and for assimilating us in all things to the rotten, as well as the sound parts of the British model. It would give you a fever, were I to name to you the apostates who have 'gone over to these heresies, men who were Samsons in the field, and Solomons in the council, but who have had their heads shorn by thh harlot England." The vanity of the Italian was not proof against the temptation to inform the world that he was in correspondence with this philosopher, and the letter found its way, much to the chagrin and annoyance of its writer, into the French news papers. Mr. Jefferson attempted to explain, but it was an embarrassing businese, and he could riot, satisfactorily, dispose of il. By " the Executive" he did not mean the President; and by " Samsons in the field," he did mean the Society of the Cincinnati, &c. &c. , " Oh ! what a tangled web we weave. When first we practice to deceive !" — Ed. 360 PARTy DISSENSIONS. in giving happiness to the community, promised stability lo the rulers whose labours had procured it, and, in so doing, seemed to ratify the blanks as well as prizes which had been drawn. In each ofthe Slates, there were, no doubl, numerous maleconlents; but they probably most abounded jn Virginia and Pennsylvania. In the former there was a number of aspirants for high office, who could illy brook, that while they, in their closets, remote from the din of arms and clangour of trumpets, had been quali fying themselves for the greal affairs of the new empire coming out ready made to their hands, others, who had spent their youth in the unlettered business of the camp, should be preferred to employraents they deeraed exclusively due to their own superior attainments. Mr. Jefferson* and Mr. Randolph had indeed been gratified with places, but there were others equally ardent for them, unprovided for; and olher raotives concurring, the native Slate of the President was perhaps the most refractory in the Union. The chagrin in Pennsylvania did not proceed frora precisely the same causes. The discontented here had hardly looked for the flattering notice ofthe General Government; but they felt, (I speak of them in the aggregate, with due latitude for honest exceptions,) that their intriguing parts would be mi serably circumscribed by the operation of the new system ; and that on a theatre, where talents and character were the sole, re commendation lo office and consequence, their chance of influ ence was a very sorry one. Far different was it in the State governmeni, in which they had been accustomed to shine and to dictate. There a Uttle learning would go a great way ; and cunning was a quality of infinitely more advantage to the pos sessor than wisdora or true abUity; and though the State authorities were stiU in force, they vvere ho Ipnger supreme, but subordinate. I am aware that this representation does not agree whh the prevalent idea of our party dissensions. This recognises, with very liltle discriraination, a lofty tone and aris tocratical tendency on the part of the federalists ; while, on that of their opponents, it discovers an ardent concern for the * Mr. Jefferson had been appointed Secretary of State ; and Edmund Ran. DOLPH, also of Virginia, Attorney. General. — Ed. PARTY DISSENSIONS. 361 people's rights, somewhat more jealous, perhaps, than necessary, and an enthusiastic attachment to liberty, excessive indeed, but even amiable in hs extravagance. That this enthusiasm or fa naticism had once existed, raay be granted ; btit to adrait that U prevails lo any degree at present, would require a deterraina tion to believe in defiance of the clearest evidence to the con trary, since they who are or were supposed to have it, are con spicuous for an overweening partiality for the most flaghious and desolating system of arbitrary rule that was ever established lo an equal extent upon mankind, without even being disguised by a moUifying appellation. My hypothesis, therefore, musl ab solutely exclude the love of liberty and equal rights, as a general feeUng, among the democrats of the day, not only now, but in time past. Whatever benevolent motives they raight claim, it is perfectly fair lo conclude, that they were actuated by a head long instinct of self-love ; a blind, infuriate impulse, prompting those possessed wilh il, lo reraove, at whatever price, every bb- stacle to the consuraraation of their unhaUowed purpose, of rising upon tbe rubbish of widespread havoc and devastation. It is no objection to this supposition, that raany of the deraocralical leaders had loo much property themselves to favour such an object. They might not all have been aware of it ; and those that were, no doubl entertained the idea that they could restrain their instruments when necessary ; or even if they could not, they should, al all events, escape unhurt in virtue of their fel lowship. This is the unction, which in these cases is always laid to the soul : nor can il be supposed, that the Duke of Or leans thought his head in the smallest danger from those he had kindly helped by his vote to the head of the king. As lo the great leader of the opposition, there is reason to believe, he was head, heart, and hand in the noble project of re novating, by first destroying, the world. Tout detruire, oui tout detruire ; puisque tout est recreer, says Mons. Robaud de Sl. Etienne. He had been in France, and drank deep of her Ute rature and philosophy. His official doings and messages show his utter conterapt for un vrai trivial, un clarte trop familiaire ; and that he was wholly of that school, which teaches, as Mr. Burke leUs us, « that any good arising from religion or morality 31 362 PARTY DISSENSIONS MR. JEFFERSON. may be better supplied by a civic education, founded in a know ledge ofthe physical wants ofmen, progressively carried lo an enli^lened self-interest, which, when weU understood, wUl iden tify wilh an interest more enlarged and piibUc." Robespierre, to be sure, gave an unlucky illustration of this fine doctrine in France. His enlightened self-interest gave him clearly to per- ceive, that as he aspired to sovereign riile himself, so oihers did the same ; and that, therefore, unless he sent them to tiieir eter nal sleep, they would do as much for him. But in America, h has turned out betier ; and the enlightened self-^interest which prorapted Mr. Jefferson to cast an eye upon the presidency,* has most edifyingly identified with the interests of the mouth of la bour ; if not the whole, at least a very essential part of the public. This mouth of labour, by the bye, is one of the fine figures of speech, by means of which this gentieraan has been enabled lo triumph over the popularity even of Washington ; al though h is sacrilegiously thought by some to savour a Utile of that jargon, which the same Mr. Burke somewhat harshly de nominates, " the patois of fraud, the cant and gibberish of hypo- * Of tills " enlightened self interest," and the enlightened tactics which enabled Mr. Jefferson to triuraph, there are extant very remarkable and satisfactory proofs. Davis, in his Life of Burr, says, " It is a remarkable fact, that, previous to the balloting in Congress, [for President,] all parties and sections of parties concurred in the opinion that the election would finally be determined, as it was, by New York, New Jersey, and Maryland. These three states would render the election of Colonel Burr certain ; two ofthem could elect Mr. Jefferson. The vole of New York was lo be decided by Theodorus Baily, of Duchess County, and Edward Livingston, ofthe City of New York; the vole of New Jersey, by Mr. Linn; and the vote of Maryland, by Mr. Dent, or Mr. Baer." The New York Review, in commenting upon this passage, holds the following significant language : " What Was the future history of these gentlemen ? Mr. Baily was made Post master of the City of New York, Mr. Livingston was appointed tJnited States District Attorney for the district of New York, Mr. Linn became supervisor of internal revenue for the State of New Jersey, and Mr. Dent was appointed United Stales' Mafshal fot the Potomac District of Maryland. It is a raarvellously strik ing coincidence that these gentlemen should thus all have been honoured with appointraents to offices in the President's gift. Doubtless .the. only inquiries, con cerning each, were, is he honest — is he capable — is he faithful lo the Constitution! It is refreshing to tufn away frora the traitorous conspiracies of the wicked Federalists, and dwell with lingering delight on such immaculate patriotism as this."— Ed. MR. JEFFERSON STATE OF PARTIES. 363 crisy." Bul we, on this side of the water, ought to have more indulgence for a trade growing out of our institutions. As the people give power, and power promotes thrift, the people may ceriainly be compliraented a littie ; and hence, intolerance to wards deraagogues, may fairly be ranked among the anti-repub lican tendencies. No -censure, therefore, is airaed at one who is the quintessence of good republicanism, and loo pure lo take a stain, though fondling with imperialisra. For my own part, I am elated with the opportunity of recording my veneration fqr a patriot who has so rapidly advanced, the morals of this new world, and whose scrupulous observance of truth pre-emi nently entitles him to the motto of vitam impendere vero. The French revolution then, from the attachment now shown by the Jeffersonians to the absolute despotism that has been pro duced by it, it is fair to conclude, was less beloved by them for any phUanthropic disposiiion it manifested, than frora. its being an engine wherewith lo assaU their adversaries in power ; and it was so much the better adapted to this purpose, as it was in conflict with Britain, that accursed island, which, in the opinion of aU sound Jacobins, ought long since to have been sunk in the sea. To declare a neutrality, therefore, with respect to the belli gerents, as was done by the administration, what was it but a base dereliction of the cause of republicanism — a most enormous act of ingratitude lo those liberty-loving men, who had benevolently taken off the head of Louis the Sixteenth, our late generous ally and " protector of the rights of man V and who, by so doing, had made Iheraselves the undoubted heirs of the iramense debt of grathude we had contracted with the murdered monarch ? On the score of this gratitude transferred, can it ever be forgot ten, what a racket was made with the citizen Genet? The most enthusiastic horaage was too cold to welcome his arrival; and his being the first minister of the infant repubUc, " fruit of her throes, and first born of her loves," was dwelt upon as a most endearing circumstance. What hugging and lugging ! What addressing and caressing ! Whal mountebanking and chanting ! with liberty-caps, and other wretched trumpery of sans culotte foolery ! "Give me an ounce of civet, good apothecary, to sweeten my Imagination !" 364 STATE OF PARTIES. In short, it was evident that the governraent was, if possible, to be forced from its neutrality ; and that nolhing less than a common cause wilh France, a war of extermination with Eng land and the other monarchies of Europe, would satisfy the men who are now so outrageously pacific as to divest themselves of the means of annoyance and defence, and lo place their glory in imitating the shrinking policy of a reptile.* Fortunately for the nation, Washington was at the head of il ; or the rage for universal republicanism, combining with the plea of gratitude derived from Jacobin moraUty, would have riveted us in liege subjection to the imperial Napoleon.f * "Asevents rolled on, one circumstance and another conspired tomEirkmore distinctly the Jines between the parties ofthe day, and at the periodof the election ofthe third President ofthe United States, they were very clearly defined through. out the Union, under the names of Federalists and Democrats. In the first class were to be found Washington, Hamilton, Jay, Pickering, Ames, Maeshali, and others like them ; the last enrolled in its list Jefferson, Burr, George Clinton, Madison, and many more throughout the State." — New York Rev. ii. p. 192. Ed. , t By drawing themselves within the shell like a tortoise, and thence called the Terrapin system of policy. YELLOW FEVER. 365 CHAPTER XV. Yellow Fever. — Marsh Effluvia. — Popular Feelings towards France. — Party Feelitigs. — A Threatened Insurrection suppressed by the President. — The Western Expedition. — Address to the President. — French Party. — Treaty with Great Britain Opposed. — Rochefoucault. — French Travellers. — M. Talon. — Genet. — Washington's Retirement. — Character of Washington. Such was the slate of parties in the sumraer of 1793, when the metropolis of Pennsylvania, then resounding whh unhallowed orgies at the dismal butcheries in France, was visited with a calamity, which had niuch the appearance of one of those in flictions which Heaven soraetiraes sends to purify the heart. A disease that was soon recognised lo be the pestUential yeUow fever, carried off several persons early in the month of August ; and gradually spreading in all directions, raged with the most fatal malignancy unlif the close of October. Those whose property enabled them to do it, fled with precipitation from the city, which was supposed to have been deserted by half its inhabitants ; but enough remained behind to sweU the mortality to several thousands. The dismay was, if possible, increased by the disagreement of the physicians as to the mode of treating the disprder ; and numbers, who had exulted in the havoc of their kind, because belonging to a different class, feeling death to be a serious evU when brought home to themselves, shrunk . appalled wilh abject terror, at the dangers which surrounded Ihem. To each his suff'rings : all are men, Condemn'd alike to groan. The tender for another's pain, Th' unfeeling for his own. A general gloom pervaded the country ; for although the ravages 31* 366 YELLOW FEVER. of the disease were yet confined lo Philadelphia, it was not sup posed they would remain within these Umhs, notwithstanding that every precaution which the most unfeeUng vigUance could suggest, was used, to prevent the spreading of the pestUence. Measures were taken in almost every town and viUage lo pro- hibh the entry of persons suspected of infection ; and even fugi tives from the seat of h, though in health, were regarded with a jealous eye. Some of the people of Harrisburg were for fol lowing the exaraple of their neighbours, though a malady not less fatal than that in PhUadelphia, was raging among them selves. But the difference was, that one was called a plague, the other but a siraple fever. It is somewhat remarkable, that if the yeUow fever is of foreign origin, as insisted upon by many, that a disease of a similar type should make ils appearance at the sarae time on the banks of the Susquehanna, at the distance of a hundred miles. Shall we say^ that the state of the atmo sphere which generated the one was favourable lo the diffusion of the other ? This, I believe, is the doctrine of those who con tend that the yeUow fever is of exotic growth, and always imported, when it appears among us. It would be highly pre sumptuous in me to undertake to decide, when " doctors dis agree;" but that a stateof the air should be favourable and' adequate to the diffusion, but not to the origination of a conta gion, is certainly refining somewhat nicely. I venture, however, no opinion upon the subject. With respect lo the mortality produced by the two diseases, that al Harrisburg was, I believe, in proportion lo the population of the place, as great as that at Philadelphia. I cannot take upon me minutely to describe the symptoms of the Harrisburg disease, nor were they the same in all that were sick, but a general one was, an affection of the stomach, or nausea with violent retchings and a yellowness of the skin. Sorae were iU a week, some longer, some died in two or three days from the time of their being seized, and others, who we're walking about with symptoms only of the ague, sud denly look iU and expired. The black vomit, which has some times been supposed peculiar to the yeUow fever, appeared in some cases. I was attacked with a quartan ague about the MARSH EFFLUVIA. 367 middle of September, but had none of the grievous symptoms of the malignant fever which prevailed. Whatever may be the points of discriraination between the bilious . and yeUow fever, the origination of the one seems to depend on the same cause which spreads the other ; and this appears to be a torrid sun acting upon a moist soU, or upon im pure and stagnant water. The matter which produces agues, and which, according to Doctor Cullen, is miasraata alone, is, I take it, competent also to the generation of bUious fever in habits disposed to it ; and if not to the generation, al least to the pro pagation or spreading of the yeUow fever; wherefore, the vapours from low and marshy situations and waters, rendered baneful from certain adventitious circumstances, may be pro nounced to be the support or aliment of all these diseases, raore peculiarly of the latter perhaps, wheiiv the exhalations are rendered more than commonly' noxious from the general state of the atmosphere. Egypt, Syria, and Turkey, are at once the seat of the plague, and of bilious and intermitting fevers. Bul the deleterious effects of marsh effluvia in warm climates, have perhaps been known from the earliest time. They are at least recognised by SUius Italicus, who wrote in the reign of Nero. Speaking of a pestilence which raged in the Roman army in the second Punic war, he ascribes il lo the fervid rays of the sun, acting upon the stagnant and widespread waters of the Cyane. Criniger astriferis Titan fervoribus auras Et patulam Cyanam, late palustribus undis Stagnanlem, stygio Cocyti opplevil odore. This cause existed at Harrisburg. A piiU-dam had been erected the season before on the Paxton, rather a turbid and sluggish stream, within five or six hundred yards of the middle of the town, on hs eastern side. The obstruction must have spread the water over a surface of from eight to ten acres ; and this, co-operating wilh a state of the atmosphere unusually mor bid this Season in such situations, may fully account for the fever which prevaUed. In the fall of the year 1792, there were some cases of h, and stiU more in that of 1794, equally maUg- 368 POPULAR FEELING TOWARDS FRANCE. nant; afler which the miU-dam was removed. I have been the more particular on this subject, though wiihout being able to offer any thing satisfactory, from knowing il to have been a matter of some interest with the physicians of PhUadelphia, to ascertain the nature of the Harrisburg disease ; thence to de duce data lowards the solution of the question, whether the yellow fever, as appearing in our cities, be, or not, a malady of exclusively foreign origin. The distress I saw around me ; the dismal tidings from Phila- ladelphia; and above all, the frightful mania which had taken possession of a vast majority of my feUow-citizens, induced a dejection of mind I had never before experienced. I had been for sorae time labouring to stem the torrent of fanaticism among my townsmen ; but to no other purpose than that of increasing their violence, and drawing down upon myself the denunciation of being inimical to liberty and an unnatural partisan of Eng land. It was in vain I urged that I was only treading in the steps of the President, whom all pretended to revere ; that he had chosen for his country the path of neutrality,* and that il was the duty of all good citizens to acquiesce in it, until it should be abandoned by those who were legally constituted to say what should be the state of the nation in relation to the powers at war. The bringing of the name of Washington to my aid, produced no sort of erabarrassraent among the maniacs for re generation, who, in the sarae breath, extolled hira to the skies and denounced perdition on those who supported his policy. In fact, his narae was constantly used to sanction the measures of his opponents ; and even in the contest for the presidency be- ' tween Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson, it is a matter of notoriety, that his dislike to the adrainistration of the former was atro ciously asserted, in defiance of his letter announcing his accep- » The cabinet of Washington decided, unanimously, that a proclamation should be issued, " forbidding the icitizens of the United Slates to take part in any hosti lities on the seas, either wilh or against the belligerent powers, and warning them against carrying to any such powers any of those articles deemed contraband ac cording to the modern usages of nations, and enjoining thera from all acts and proceedings inconsistent with the duties ofa friendly nation towards those at war." — Sparks' Life of Washington. — Ed. PARTY FEELING. 369 lance of the comraand of the army, and unqualified approbation of the steps which had been taken. It has been said, that hell itself cannot be governed wiihout some degree of truth ; and if so, for policy-sake at least, we ought not wholly to discard her. My indignation at this base dereliction of every honourable and moral principle, conspiring with my firm conviction that my opinions were correct, made rae an enthusiast in the cause I had espoused ; and the feeble efforts of my pen were employed in vindicating the conduct of administration. In exposing the foUy, the frenzy, the duplicity and hideous wickedness of its adversa ries, I derived an additional incentive to exertion, frora the consideration, that the civUized world was so singularly circum stanced, that good men of every nation and country had a common cause to maintain ; and, that in the threatened universal wreck, conditions were so confounded, that eVen the private American citizen might feel himself nearly on the same eminence with those great and truly enlightened European statesmen, who were labouring to avert tbe irapending desolation: as in a vessel in danger of foundering, tbe navigator's skiU is, at the moment, of no account ; and the meanest hand on board, raay be engaged in stopping the leak and plying the pump, to as much effect as the captain. Bul of what use are endeavours to fix the charge of swindling on a political adversary 1 He denies it, and retorts the accusation. Thus, wilh two-thirds of the people, who are incapable of investigating the truth, did they even think it worth their pains to do so, the parties as to honesty, are left upon a level; and, hence, as the sovereign has no objection to being deceived, he will be deceived, and villany wiU be triuraphant. Such has been, and wUl be, the common effect of appeals to Mr. Jefferson's Bar of Public Reason, which, if the phrase be not inlended as a sarcasm upon the tribunal, it must be raeant as a cruel mockery of those who are interested in just decisions from it.* * The writer of these observations is not ignorant that writing in this strain' of remark, subjects him, in the eyes of your able politicians, to the imputation of ex treme folly. Who, say they, but an arrant oaf could expect to succeed in a go vernment of popular sovereignty, by reason and good faith ? The people must be deceived ; and to be induced to be led by men of rank and inteUigence, then: proper 370 PARTY FEELINGS. Araong the abominsttions of this rage for French liberly and fralernh u there has been aU along an utter disregard of the mosl obvious dictates of justice, huraanity, and consistency. In the beginning, the Revolution must at all events go on : ca ira was the word, and no matter by whal monsters the business was conducted. Power, for this reason, was always the criterion of right : and Robespierre, until his head was ascertained to be off, was no less popi lar with us than the besl of his predecessors. And for what was this horrible sacrifice of every thing we had heretofore been taught lo consider as virtuous and honest? To deslroy kings and nobles, monarchy and aristocracy, and to make a huge republic of the world, wherein aU men were to be equal ; or if there should, peradventure, be a little temporary inequality, it should alone be founded on the uninvidious pre eminence of intellectual acuteness in the acquisition of pelf, or popular suffrage ; sound titles, without question to superiority araong men ! Colonel Chartres,* for instance, among the first, leaders, their prejudices must be humoured, — they must be flattered and cajoled. But, if it be really so, for the interests of morality, and the safety and honour of the community, he must say, in his turn, that il is raatter of no very poignant re. gret how soon such form of government is exchanged for another, prosper yfho may by the demagogue game. The reader, nevertheless, will do him egregious wrong, ifhe concludes, from the remarks of this kind scattered through his work, that he is a friend to arbitrary rule, — or yet disposed to part wilh our present sys tem, however much abused. The remarks are the effect of an uncontrollable in dignation at seeing the fair fabric of liberty we have reared, defaced by unhallowed hands, and daily dilapidating under the sapping process of pretended patriots. Bul so averse is man from giving himself a master, that though almost despairing ofthe reappearance ofthe day when honest men shall eraerge firom their degrada tion, and the real friends ofthe people be again taken into favour, he would not yet be among the last to oppose monarchical encroachments. If we would look for fhe persons most likely to favour these, we shall find thera in that class, who consider government as a source of selfish emolument, and always use it for that purpose, whatever form it assume. The demagogue and the court favourite, says Mr. Burk^ in a quotation from Aristotle, are not unfirequently the same identical men. * Damned to an eternal infamy of fame by Pope and Arbuthnot. This wretch was infamous for all manner of vices, and the point of the aUusion wiU be betier understood by a quotation from Pope, and the celebrated character qf him, in the form of an epitaph, by Dr. Arbuthnot. The former, speaking of money, and doiibting whether its invention has been more useful than injurious to mankind. PARTY FEELINGS. 371 and naraes beginning with every letter of the alphabet araong the latter. But since this great republic has not come, or since, at least, il has not come precisely in the form that was pre dicted, having clothed itself in iraperial purple, instead of the plain homespun garb in wbich it was expected to appear ; and, having, moreover, in the place of ils forraer hosts of patriotic citizens and citesses, presented us with dukes and titled raen in numerable, with its Abrantes, its Cadores, its Ponte Corvos and Benevenlos, whal is the ground of our attachment now to the great nation 1 To restore the freedom of the seas, and destroy that Pandora's box of human ills, Greal Britain. Wisely an swered again, and shrewd and patriotic raust be the men who "And I, vvho think more highly of our kind, (And surely, Heav'n and I are of a mind,) Opine, that nature, as in duty bound. Deep hid the shining mischief under ground : But when by man's audacious labour won, Flam'd forth this rival to ils sire, the sun. Then careful Heav'n supplied two sorts ofmen, To squander These, and Those lo hide again. Like Doctors thus, when much dispute has past. We find our tenets just the same at last. Both fairly owning, Riches, in effect. No grace of Heav'n or token of the elect ;" Giv'n to the fool, the mad, the vain, the evil. To Ward, to Waters, Chartres, and the Devil !" The Epitaph is as follows ; it conveys a raoral, and no apology is offered for its insertion here : " Here continueth to rot the body of Francis Chartres, who, with an injlexj,bh constancy and inimitable uniformity of life, persisted, in spile of age and infirmi ties, in the practice of every human vice, excepting prodigality and hypocrisy ; his insatiable avarice exempted him from the first, his matchless impudence fi-om the second. Nor was he more singular in the undeviating promty ofhis manners, than successful in accumulating wealth ; for without trade or profession, without tmst of public money, and withoiit bribe-worthy service, he acquired, or more properly created, a ministerial estate. He was the only person of his time who could cheat without the mask 6^ honesty, retain his primeval meanness when pos sessed of ten thousand a year, and having daily deserved the gibbet for what he did, was at last conderaned to it for what he could not do. Oh, indignant reader ! tliink not his life useless to mankind! Providence connived at his e.xecrable designs, to give to after-ages a conspicuous proof and example of how smaU esti mation is exorbita.nt wealth in the sight of God, by his bestowing it on the most unworthy of all mortals." — Ed. 372 , A THREATENED INSURRECTION. began and sliU maintain their claira to .exclusive popularity and confidence by two "Such admirable and soUd systems of policy and ethips; and- shrewder stiU that goodly, portion ofthe people, which shows itself capable of appreciating and rewarding such transtiendent state abiUty I But I must not encroach on' the pro vince of the parly editor. As every circumstance was seized by the discontented to embarrass the adrainistration, or, in the proverbial phrase, " to slop the wheels of governmeni," a handle was raade of the excise law. A duty being laid upon whiskey, that general and fiavourile beverage in Pennsylvania, it was found a potent theme for the purpose of sedition ; and it was, accordinglyj preached upon wilh so much unction, that an insurrection was the conse quence'. It began beyond the mountains in the summer ©f 1794, spreading from west to east with wonderful ra,pidity. Harris burg was quickly infected ; and a raeeting had been called for the purpose of passing sorae inflammatory resolutions. By the persuasion, however, of a few of us, who were untouched by the, contagion, these inconsiderate men were induced to desist ; though less perhaps from a sense of their error, than from our assurance that a body 6f troops were on their march to the seat of insurrection ; and that if they persisted in their urtderlaking, they would involve themselves in the guilt of a forcible opposi tion to the laws, -and most surely have cause to repent of their temerity. Il is difficult to say what might have been the issue of this commotion, had not the President taken immediate measures for its suppression, and called out a force so respect- ,; able as at once to overawe the seditious, and thereby prevenl the effusion of blood. The insurgents, who had once assembled al Parkinson's ferry, had proposed another meeting al Brad dock's field ; a location, without doubt, adopted in terrorem, and by way of hint lo the efferainate federalists, whal a set of bloody-minded feUows they had to deal with. But the device, '' however weU conceived, was wholly lost upon General Wash ington, who had seen aU sorts of folks in his campaigning, and knew that men with moccasins, and leggings, and hunting shirts, and tomahawks, and rifles, were just about as brave as men with powdered heads and silk stockings, and no braver: SUPPRESSED BY THE PRESIDENT. 373 and that their standing on Braddock's field, (tremendous spot lo be sure 1) would not make them a jot more ready to leave their carcasses to bleach there araong bones that had been whitening by a forty years' exposure. At any rate, these formi dable circumstances did not prevenl his putting himself in a posture to bring this lawless assemblage to reason ; and what was equaUy unlucky for them, was, there being at his disposal a nuniber of persons who had also seen Service, and therefore as little Uable as himself to be dismayed by hideous grimaces. To cut a well-known story short, there was no fighting after aU ; h being thought best by the insurgents, on serious deliberation, to send p,mbassadors to sue for peace, one of whora, if I raistake not, was the veteran statesman Mr. Findlay, a man so rainutely acquainted wilh the whole business, as lo have been enabled to write a book upon it nearly as thick as a well-sized cheese ; and in .which, I am told, for I have never read it, he belabours General Hamilton most unmercifully.* Washington, as already observed, was still too popular, for a direct attack. Whenever, therefore, he was spoken of, it was with the warmest profes sions of veneration for his virtues and good intentions — thus complimenting his heart at the expense of his head, and repre senting him as a good, easy simpleton, who, not very well aware of the tendency of his measures, was continuaUy led into scrapes by the cunning rogues who surrounded hira, the archest of whom, al this time, was Harailtop. How exhUarating lo * Ex.governor of Pennsylvania, to whora aUusion has already been made. I He waa the father ofthe late James Findlay, Secretary ofthe Commonwealth during a portion ofthe service of Governor Porter ; and ofthe present respectable Judge Findlay, who is indebted for his position as President Judge ofthe District Court forfthe city and county of Philadelphia, to Governor Shunk, son-in-law of ex- governor fiNDLAY. ' The " Cheese'.' referred to, — a mouldy affair, — contains a historyof the Insur rection, which, as it was written by an ardent though able politician, may, perhaps, be consulted with some advantage by the curious reader, if he wiU, at the same time, peruse Braokenridge's " Incidents of the Western Insurrection," and also General Hamilton's official Report in the Araerican State Papers. Its censure of Hamilton cannot be supposed to have operated very injuriously to that gentleman's reputation. What may be the view which posterity will take of the attempt,— or whether it wiU take any,— is solely the business of posterity, with which it would be presumptuous to intermeddle here. — Ed. , !•, 32 3t4 WESTERN EXPEDITION. ^ ¦ • wounded ipatriotisra, thus by a stroke of the pen to sink into a fool and a knave, these two great»champions of federalism I The Western Expedition, as h W«,s caUed, gave me an oppor tunity of seeing a nuraber of ray old friends from PhUa,delphia ; a«nd it afforded? also a raoraentary triumph to the poor handful of HaTxisJjurg Federahsts, who were stated by their opponents to amount to only five.^ A French flag, which had been flying atthe court-house then buUding, had beent the cause of some squibbing in the newspaper; and this flag was peremptorily ordered lo be taken down by the troops from the city. Had I been disposed for revenge, I might upohi; this occasion have been fuUy gratified, as I was repeatedly asked who bad caused it lo be pul up, ahd impliedly censured'" for giving evasi.v^ an swers to the questions; which, from their manner, evinced 'a'' disposiiion to treat the aulhors^of it.mtich more ropghlyrthan would have been agreeable to me. Conspicuous among the crowd that rolled oh from the east ward, was Governor Mifflin, who had been vibrating with much address between the parties ; and ha'd really. the merit of kee^ ing thera in tolerable huraour, yvithin the sphere of his influ'ence ; that is^ wilhin the Umits of the State. • Such in the midst the parting isthmus lies, WhUe swelling, seas on "either side arise. He had a large suite, which, a^ it cpnsisted of geatlemef of both parties, he was tugged a good deal in opposite directions^ though, on this occasion, his leaning was decidedly Federal, and being so, he did rae the honour to accept of a bed at my house, instead of one at General Hanna's, which he had in his offei^ I have no doubt, however, that his head and heart were g6nei||ly right, maugre a conduct often wrong ; and thougli'*I am as little addicted as any one to compromise belween my conscience'^nd ' an oppodng inlerfest, and of course not at aU disposed to apo logize for his temporizing, I cannot but admit, that Miffiin was a pleasing man, and one to whora I was indebted for many acts of kindness. But popularity and the bustie of public life were hobby-horses he could not dispense whh. He must mount ihem, ADDRESS TO THE PRESIDENT. 375 therefore, though at somethmg more than a risk of being spat tered; by the dirt which they raised. , On ;the day after his arrival he convened the people al the market-house, and- gave thera an animated harangue, in which •there was nothing exceptionable save a monstrous suggestion, that the British had stirred up the ^discontents to the westward, and been the cause of the present opposition to government. I woader if Mr.. SmUie, Mr. Gallatin, and the rest of them, were «aware that they were but the puppets of this aborainable nation ! In a few days after the Governor, General Washington, ac companied by Colonel Hamilton, came on. After waiting on them, I prevailed upon the burgesses to present an address to the President, which I sketched out, and which, from the cor diality of the answer, appeared to have been well received. But as they have both been published, il is unned^essary to insert them here.* - ' As, to myself, I could not partake of the glory of this expe dition. An ague, which had, hung about me ever since the preceding, fall, had rendered me unfit for service. Neverthe less, I procured a substitute, in preference lo claiming an exemption on account of ray debUity. • C^ That this coraraotion, in' its infancy, was highly pleasing to the Opposition lea'ders, can hardly be doubted ; and that it was cherished also by the French rainister as- a favourable cir cumstance towards the predorainance^of the Gallic interest, is fairly lo be inferred from his aotice of our " early decrepitude," |knd his intimation, tfat for sorae thousands of doUars he could have plunged us into a civil war. ' But, I think, he was mis taken here, as the intriguers were neither fighting men, nor disposed for absolute anarchy : yet, from his assertion, of what heilmiglit have done by means of cash, it is a matter of obvious deduction, unless Mr. Fouchet was a liar, that he had an under standing on the subject with the master-democrats, who, by wa,y bf apology, as I take h, for not driving on the insurrection*" with more spirit, had pleaded their Want of pecuniary means. ¦if ' .K^ * They wiU be found in Appendix Q. What the author hesitated to do, may not inappropriately be done by another.^— Ed. •i^j 376 jay's TREATY. Some of them, indeed, might have been wiUing to touch the doUars, had the Frenchraan been fool enough 16 bring them forth; but even in that case, he would hate been overreached and gol nothing for his raoney. • One more stand was made against the popularity of the President. The occasion was found in the treaty wilh Britain, negotiated by Mr. Jay. This was to have been expected; as a heavy clamour was raised at the lime of his appointment to the mission, upori grounds it would be both tedious and- unne-,. cessary to go over. The treaty, after much deliberation, had been ratified in the constitutional mode ; but as it depended on the House bf R^resentatives to make the appropriations neces sary for carrying it into effect, it was here attempted to be defeated by withholding them. Mr. Jay was as much vili fied,* as if he had laid the entire interests of his country al the * John Jay was a native of New York, where he was born in December, 1745. He was a graduate of King's (now Colurabia) College ; and, in 1768, was ad mitted to the Bar. In 1774 he was a delegate to the first American Cuiigress, which met at Philadelphia. In 1776 he was chosen President of Congress. In 1777 a member ofthe Convention which framed the Constitution of New York, and in the following year he was appointed Chiefjustice of that Slate. In 1779 he was again in Congress, and presiding over the deliberations of that body. In tbe same year he was appfointed Minister Plenipotentiary to Spain, fqr the purpose of obtain ing from that government an acknowledgraent of our independence, to form a treaty of alliance, and to procure pecuniary assistance. In 1782 he was appointed one of the Commissioners to negotiate a peace with England. In 1 784 he returned lo the United Slates. On his arrival he was placed at the head'of the Department for Foreign Affairs; and on the adoption of the present Constitution, he was apj.^ pointed Chief Justice of the United States. He was the author of several of the numbers of " The Federalist." In 1794 he concluded with Great Britain the treaty known as "Jay's." Before his return, in the year 1795, he had been elected Governor of New York. He resigned his office of Chief Justice, upon receiving information of this event, and continued in the office of Governor untU 1801, when he retired to private life. He died. May 17, 1829. His personal appearance is thus described by Sullivan : — " His height was a. little less than six feet; his person rather thin, bul well • formed. His coraplexion was without colour, his eyes black and penetrating, his nose aquiUne, and his chin pointed. His hair came over his foreheadf was lied behind, and lightly powdered. His dress black. The expression of his face was exceedingly amiable. When standing, he was a Uttle inclined forward, as is not uncommon with students long accustomed to bend over a table. His manner was very gentle and unassuming. His deportment was tranquil ; and one who ROCHEFOUCAULD. 377 feet of a foreign power; for such things were then justiy con sidered as crimes. But shaU the treaty go into effect? This was the question in the House of Representatives, and it was debated for weeks upon every point but the one really in issue, namely, whether any treaty, whatever might be its stipulations or advantages, was admissible with Great Britain; and whether the anti-Pederal party, should it relinquish the vital nourisbraent it derived from a deadly, implacable, and everlasting enmity to that accursed island, would be able to sustain itself, or have a chance of ever rising again. These were the merits of the case, though cautiously kept out of view. The treaty, how ever, stood its ground ; and the sole consolation of the defeated faction, was to wail, with what patience it might, for the death or resignation (to borrow its own phraseology) of the " first and greatest of revolutionary patriots." Before dismissing the topic, it may be reraarked, that the ground upon which the treaty was mosl strenuously assailed, was, that il imposed some slight restrictions upon our trade. Yes — this was a ground taken by the very candid and impartial men, who now advocate non- intercourse laws and perpetual embargoes, rather than expose themselves to a collision with the other beUigerent nation. In the spring or suraraer of 1795, a letter was delivered by a gentieman at my bouse, which gave me the opportunity of a transient acquaintance with the Duke de la Rochefoucauld LiANcouRT, who, being on a lour lo see the country, was re commended to my attentions. My respect for the writer of the letter would have induced me to avaU myself of the honour h offered rae ; but being indisposed and depressed by a domestic affliction, I did not go out, and thus escaped the scrutinizing had met him, not knowing who he was, would not have been led to suppose that he was in the presence of one eminently gifted by nature with intellectual power, and who had sustained so many offices of high trust and honour. History wiU assign to John Jay an elevated rank among the great; not only so, it will place him equally high among the pure and viriuous. Throughout his useful and honourable life, he was governed by the dictates of an enlightened Christian con science. He thought and acted under the conviction, that there is an accounta bility far more serious than any which men can have lo their feUow.men. The bravest soldiers, and the vKorthiest statesmen, have ever been those who believed in suoh accountability." — Ed. 32* 378 FRENCH TRAVELLERS M. TALON. eye of an iUustrious traveller.* It is certainly a perilous thing, to (Stand before a man about to make a book, and who gauges and proves you with a view to making your quantities and qualities a component part of the subject matter. General Hanna, ^ it appears, had been in this predicament; and, aU things considered, he comes off very well. His age, I must say, was pretty accurately guessed at by the Duke, who is also correct in his other observations, that the General preferred chewing to sraoking tobacco. Were I about framing an hypo thesis why Mr. Hanna makes a somewhat better figure in the tour than the gentlemen of Reading, in spite of their acknow ledged hospitality and " obliging answers to inquiries," I should say, that he talked European politics wilh rather more under standing than they did, little, as the Duke tells us, they are al best understood in America. Those talked in Reading, proba bly, were not entirely to the taste of a good Frenchman, who, if I understand the character that phrase would designate, would cry vive la nation et sa gloire, not only in exile, but with his neck under the guillotine. Now, though the Reading gen tlemen spoke wilh just abhorreace bf the crimes of the Revolu tion and with due respect of the Marquis de la Fayette, they raight neither have. testified a desire, that England should be brought to the feel of France, nor that the destinies of the world should be subjected to her control ; Ihings, which, from his party-leanings, Mr. Hanna, might have countenanced. All this, however, is but conjecture; and as lo the accuracy of the noble tourist's facts, so far as I ara acquainted whh them, I have nothing to object, except as to the havoc of names. From this gentleraan, I turn to others of his nation whom he speaks of in his travels ; and for whose acquaintance I was in debted to Major Adam Hoops, who, I should have mentioned * This nobleman was a member of the Constituent Assembly in 1789, al the dissolution of which he look the military command al Rouen, as Lieutenant-Gene- ral. He resided for eighteen months in England, previously to his tour through the United Slates, which he completed in 1 798. After the restoration he was created a Peer. , His life was published by his son in 1827. The principal work of Rochefoucauld is his Voyage dans les Etats. Unis, jubUshed at Paris in eight vols, octavo. — ^Ed. ASYLUM CITIZEN GENET. 379 before, did me the honour to attach himself to my company, in the capachy of a volunteer, during part of the campaign of 1776. A letter from hira about the year 1790 or '91, so far as my recoUection serves, introduced me lo Mr. Talon, then en gaged with, the Viscount De NoaiUes, in establishing a settie ment on the north brancb of the Susquehanna, and to which they gave the name of Asylum.* In the course of this business, he several times passed through Harrisburgh, and never failed, on these occasions, giving me an opportunity of seeing hira. Mr. Talon fully justified to my conception the favourable idea that is given by Lord Chesterfield and oihers, of a Frenchman of rank. I have seldom seen a gentieman wilh whose manners I was more pleased. Though he spoke bul little English, and I less French, yet from the knowledge we respectively had of each other's language, we contrived to make ourselves mutuaUy understood. On one of his visits lo Harrisburgh, he was at tended by not less than ten or a dozen gentlemen, all adventurers in the new establishraent, from which tbey had just returned on their way lo Philadelphia. Of these, I only recoUect the names of M. De Blacons, Captain Keating, and Captain Boileau. My brotherf and myself, who had waited on them at their inn, were * The Due de la Rochefoucauld, in his travels, has given a fiiH account of this place, as it appeared in 1795. " Messrs. Talons and De Noailles, came to this country ftom France, intending to purchase, cultivate, and people, 200,000 acres of land. They had interested in their project sorae planters of Sl. Domingo. Messrs. Morris and Nicholson sold them the lands, and, in December, 1793, the first tree was cut at Asylum. M. De Noailles was to manage the concerns of the colony at Philadelphia. M. Talon atiended to the erection of log-houses, and the preparation of land for the reception of the colonists. They were disappointed ¦ in the receipt of a part of the funds upon which they had relied, and were obliged to relinquish their purchase and improvements. They then became joint partners in the business with Morris and Nicholson. The quantity of land was enlarged to a million of acres, and Talon was to act as agent, with a salary of $3000 and the use of a large house. Ignorance of the language, want of practice in business of this nature, other ayocations, and the embarrassments ofthe company, deprived Talon of the happiness of opening a. comfortable asylum for his unfortunate countrymen, of aiding thera in their settlement, and thus becoraing the honoured founder of a colony. He and M. De Noailles, sold out to Mr. Nicholson." — Travels. — Ed. i The late highly respectable and esliraable William Gravdon, Esq., of Har risburgh, before mentioned. The same who was made prisoner, and concerning whom the author, long in suspense, had suffered great anxiety. — Ed. 380 CITIZEN GENET. kept to supper, and I have rarely- pasSed- a more agreeable evening. The refreshment of a good meal, coffee. and wine, had pul in motion the national vivacity ; and the conversation, car ried on in English, which raany of the company spoke very weU, was highly animated. Captain Keating was, in fact, an Irishman, and Captain BoUeau had been araong the troops which had served in thi? country. As to Mons. Blacons, he was but a novice in the language ; yel hurried away by a high flow of spirits, he ventured so boldly in it, expatiating to me on a projected road from Asylum to PhUadelphia, which, accord ing to him, required nothing but the consent of the Legislature, to be corapleted out of hand, that Talon, astonished at his volu" bility, exclairaed ce n'est pas lui c'est le vin que parle, " that il certainly was not he, but the wine that was talking." The French Revolution being touched upon, it carae into my head to ask Captain BoUeau, how it happened, that he and the other gentlemen who had been in Araerica, and raust of course have been araong the foremost in inculcating the doctrine of liberty in France, were now so entirely in the background? His an swer was interrupted by a loud and general laugh ; and Talon, who had probably been adverse to the revolution in aU its stages and modifications, (as he was the person on account of whose courteous reception General Washington had been roundly taken lo task by the citizen Genet,)* enjoyed the thing so much, that he thought it worthy of remembering, and put me in mind of it, in an interview whh him a long time afterwards. This gentieman had apparentiy stood high in the confidence of tfie King, as, on_once dining with him, at his lodgings, he, at the instance of a French lady, from Sl. Domingo, v/ho was present and had observed that I was uninfected with the regicide mania, » First Minister of the French Republic to the United States. He was the occasion of infinite trouble and embarrassment to President Washington. His conduct became at length so offensive, that the Araerican Minister, Gouverneur Morris, was instructed to demand his recall of the French Government. Genet received letiers of recall, although his mission would have terminated at the tiine if he had not been, as the party in France lo which he had been indebted for his mission, was overthrown. M. Genet remained in the United States, and retired into the interior of the Slate of New York and devoted himself to agricultural pursuits. He married a sister ofthe late De Witt Clinton. Ed. ASYLUM M. TALON. 381 showed me his picture on the lid of a box studded with diamonds, that had been presented to him by his Majesty, as the inscrip tion imported. The Duke de la Rochefoucauld gives some particulars of the Asylum settleraent, humorously called by sorae of the settlers, refugium peccatorum, and enumerates the famUies which had estabUshed themselves there, many of whom from their names I remember to have seen ; but I have understood, that the settle ment is now entirely abandoned by the French, and I have been told by persons who have seen the tract, that one raore rugged and niountainous, except the particular spot whereon the town stands, could hardly be found. In this, it agrees with Mr. Talon's account of it, who, upon my asking him as to ils situa tion, said, the mountains were trop rapproches, thereby convey ing the idea of a narrow strip of flat land along the river. The affairs of France were a subject not often touched upon by Mr. Talon ; but it was impossible not sometimes to advert to thera, and he testified much concern for the death of the murdered Malesherbes, who, if I raistake not, was one of the counsel for the king. He spoke of him as a noble, generous raan — un gal lant homme, was, I reCoUecl, one of his expressions. Talon was understood to have been in the law-line hiraself, and to have been Avocat-general under the old regime. If this was the fact, the ofiice was, apparently, through royal favour, hereditary in his family, as one of the same narae in that oflSce, is. spoken of by Cardinal de Retz, in the following very honourable raanner, and the more so frora his being in the opposite party, and a foe lo his seditious designs. " Talon, Advocate-general, raade one of the finest speeches that was ever made on a like subject. I never heard or read any thing more eloquent. He' raixed with his reasons whatever could serve lo make them- the more moving. He invoked the manes of Henry the Great, and kneel ing down, he called upon St. Louis to protect the kingdom of France. You fancy, perhaps, that you had laughed at this spectacle ; but h had moved you, as it did the whole company, upon whom it worked in such a manner, that the clamours of the inquests began, as I perceived, to decrease by it." Though this quotation may be thought a strange wandering from my 382 WASHINGTON RETIRES FROM THE PRESIDENCY. purpose, inasmuch as it mingles the transactions of ages past whh those of the present, I could not suppress h, since il places in so amiable a light the virtue of patriotism, and the irresistible eloquence which may flow from that source. We loo have our sainted friend in Heaven, who, by a stretch of -fiction, more warrantable, may be supposed lo be watching over the destinies of this country ; bul much I question, whether an equally solemn invocation to his manes would find matter so soft as was found in the breast of this Catiline, and in the hearts of those who were set in motion by his machinations. To return to our own affairs. Although no other specific ground of opposition than those already mentioned, was taken against the President, yet tbe whole tenor of his administration was bitterly and incessantiy inveighed against as hostile to liberty. The logic of democracy was extremely compendious, and therefore the raore satisfactory to superficial inquirers. On the one hand, il pointed lo republican France ; on the other, to a combination of despots — anH this was enough. In so interest ing a struggle, could any friend to his kind be neutral ! And the inference was, that they who were not for France, were against her, and monarchists, tories, and tyrants of course. The name of England too, was well calculated to rouse old resent ments ; and the single circumstance of her being opposed to France, was quite sufficient to raake all staunch, Boeotian whigs, allies of the latter. Was she not, it was asked, engaged in a cause exactiy simUar lo our own — and shaU we side wilh royal- ists, against her. ShaU we not rather, in the glowing language of Genet, march to combat under her banners, and repay her for the generous assistance she gave us in our contest? Such arguments struck the public sensory with force ; and the impres sion they made, was not to be effaced by any reasoning more complex and refined. Besides, who listens lo reasoning that runs counter to his passions, his prejudices, and his interests ? One perhaps in a thousand. It now became evident that to be popular, or even tolerated, it was necessary to be a partisan of the French ; as to doubt, raerely, the holiness of their cause, was the certain road lo odium and proscription. It is not al all to be wondered al, therefore, that the prudent, the timid, and the CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON. 383 thrifty, all lent themselves to democracy, and helped to swell a tide, which seemed ready to rise above all mounds, and lo bear down every thing before it, even to the weight and popularity of Washington. That good man now began to doubt whether the prize of independence, which had cost him so inany anxious days and sleepless nights, were really worth the sacrifices which had been made for il ;* and whether posterity might not have cause to question the value of his services, or even, under the smart of anarchy, to exclaim — " Curse on his virtues, they have undone his country !" Weary of the struggle " wilh vice and faction," he at length resolved, at the expiration of his second term of service, to retire from the presidency, and leave it tobe scuffled for belween Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson. Never had the soul of Washington exhibited more illustrious proofs of true nobiUty than in that very part of his life which exched the mosl viperous malignity, and broughl upon him the execrable charge of having legaUzed corruption. Though always greal — though in his early manhood distinguished as the protector of his country frora savage inroad and depredation — though the only man perhaps in America, who by a transcen dently virtuous, prudent, dignified, and persevering deportment, could have kept us united, and carried us triumphantiy through the Revolution — he never appeared to more advantage than during the arduous season of his eight years' presidency. Like the magnanimity displayed by Cato in his march through Syrtes and Libyan deserts, it might justly be preferred lo the most briUiant miUtary achievements. ^ Hunc ego per Syrteis Libyesque extrema triumphum Ducere maluirim, quam ter Capitolia curru Scandere Pompeii, quara frangere coUa Jugurthae. Contrasting the glorious height to which he carried the American name, with its present lamentable degradation ; the prosperity to which he raised his country with its present wretched state of despondency and subserviency to a foreign and despotic power ; are we not fully justified in applying lo * A very similar reflection is made by Judge Brackenridge in his Incidents of the Western Insurrection. 384 CHARACTER OP WASHINGTON. him the " fine rapture" of Lucan, in regard to the patriot of Rome? Ecce parens verus patrias, dignissimus aris Roma tuis ! His country's, father here, O Rome, behold. Worthy thy temples, priests, and shrines of gold ! If e'er thou, break thy lordly master's chain. If liberty be e'er restor'd again, Him shalt thou place in thy divine abodes. Swear by his holy name, and rank him wilh thy gods.* * Next to a man's acts, it would seem that the best test of his feelings and dis positions was his private confidential sentiments to his fi'iends ; and in a letter from this virtuous citizen to Gen. Reed, of Noveraber 27th, 1778, is the following pas. sage : — " It is also most devoutly to be wished that faction was at an end, and that those to whom every thing valuable was entrusted, would lay aside party views and return to first principles. Happy, happy, thrice happy country, if such were the goveimment of it ! But, alas ! we are not to expect that the path will be strewed with flowers. The great and good Being, who rules the universe, has disposed matters otherwise, and for wise purposes, I am persuaded." Such were the ema nations of his patriotism and piety ! ELECTION OF MR. ADAMS. 385 CHAPTER XVL Election of John Adams to the Presidency. — His Administration. — Mission lo France. — {"rench Parly in America.-^tmposition of Taxes.^Singular Fabrica tion. — Another popular Insurrection. — Election of Jefferson to'the Presidency. Popular Fanaticismv — Author's Political Principles. — Death of Washington. Character of Jeffersoui — Concluding Reflections. — Conclusion, In the contest for the Presidency, Mr. Adams prevailed by a very small majority. Hence, federalism was still ascendent in the national councils, though considerably depressed in those of some of the States, which were working by sap, whUe their myrmidons abroad, displayed as much ardour to storm the strong hold of aristocracy, as tbe Parisians had done to demolish the Bastile. The tone given by Washington was maintained by his successor. Equally federal, he spoke a language more lofty ; and in his answers to the numerous addresses, which were presented to him on occasion of the insolence of the French Directory, he was thought egregiously heterodox; particularly in one, in which, he somewhat unnecessarily, indeed, takes occasion to speak of his having once had the honour to stand in the presence of the Ma jesty of Brhain. Shocking sounds, to be sure, to the repubUcan ears of the day 1 Though, now we can talk of the Imperial Ma jesty of France, without the smallest danger of setting our teeth on edge, or of being proscribed for mcivism. Nay, we even permh a democratic edhor to live, who not long since proposed to turn our repubUcan President into a Monarch, and to invest his lemples with a diadem. But I must hasten through tiie storray scene of Mr. Adams's Administration. The RepMicans, as they now^ styled themselves, (for nothing is more conducive to a successful cajolery of the people, then a weU chosen appeUation,) having got rid of Wash ington, continued their efforts for the ascendency with increased 33 386 FRENCH PARTY IN AMERICA. hopes and animation. They were no longer the enemies, but the friends and watchful guardians of that constitution they had so lately deprecated as the greatest evil that could befal them ; or, to use the words of citizen Fouchet, they had " disembarrassed themselves of the insignificant denomination of anti-federalists, and taken that of patriots and republicans." This wag, doubt less, an able manoeuvre. They got possession, by it, of a popular name, and their next care was to show how well they deserved it. An occasion soon occurred for a display of theh new patiiot- ism and republicanism. This was the arrogant and swindling conduct of the Directory, already mentioned. Theh demand of tribute, and threat, in case of non-compliance, to barter us away as they had done Venice, being properly felt and resented by the sound part of the community, addresses to the President were poured jn from every part of the Union, expressive of a sense of the outrage received, and a determination to support the govern ment in any measures of defence which the crisis might demand> The Directory did, unquestionably, make a sad blunder here, and inight have ruined their cause, if any thing could have ruined it. Instead of playing to the hands of their partners on this side the water, they forced them most unmercffuUy by leading a suit they could not follow, but were absolutely obliged to ruff. Never theless, the awkward thrust was parried with admirable dexterity ; and joining a cry they could not silence, they came forward.vrith their addresses, too, breathing a most ardent zeal for the honour of their country, and a vehement indignation at the affront which had been offered it. To take off a little, however, fi'om the odium incurred by the Directory, under whose auspices.they fought and machinated, they feU upon the extraordinary expediejit of sending an extraordinary envoy, on their own account, to France, and the extraordinary personage selected for this service, was Doctor Logan. He was held out, at least, as the . party's messenger. It appears to be in the essence Of Jacobinism, as ob served by Mr. Burke, to excite contempt and laughter no less than horror and tears ; in the words of a French wrher, on ne peut s'ernpecher d'en pleurer, et d'en rire. In France, its vis comica was Ulustrated in dubbing the ruthless Duke of Orleans, Monsieur Egalite ; and in America, it exempUfied itself, in dub- FRENCH PARTY IN AMERICA LOGAN's MISSION. 387 bing Doctor Logan an Ambassador of the people : and h was even attempted in abject apery of the fantastic tricks ofthe great Alma muter at Paris, to bring the Doctor's wffe upon the stage in tiie manner of Roland's and Tallien's. It is perfectiy in my recoUection, that some of the democratic prints of the day, spoke of Logan and Deborah, in tbe style of Louvet and his Ladouiskie. The object of the Doctores mission, or going, (ff not sent,) was twofold ;* first, to assure the Directory that they had yet a strong party in America, which, if properly cherished and co-operated with, would soon be predominant, and enabled to repay their as sistance with interest ; and second, to show the people of this * In Sullivan's Letiers there is a reference to this gentleman and his mission. He says "early in 1798, a ceriain Dk. Logan departed from Philadelphia for P^ris, charged with a private mission on public affairs lo the Directory. By whom sent was no secret, the House addressed the President, two to one, on this serious subject; and a Uke address passed the Senate, with only five dissentients. In this address it is said, " We deplore that there are those who call themselves by the American name, who have daringly insulted our country, by an usurpation of powers not delegated to them, and by an obscure interference in our concerns." Mr. Jeffekson was said at the tirae, lo have sent Logan to Paris. In one ofhis letiers, he answers some inquiry on this subject; and says, that the accusation is groundless ; that Logan was self-appointed, and that he (Mr. Jefferson) did no more than give him some sort of passport." Whether this gentleman vvas self. appointed, or whether he was sent by Mr. Jefferson and his party, to which Mr, Logan was attached, is a matter of very little consequence now, whatever may 'have been the degree of irritation produced by his movements at the periodof his alleged " obscure interference." He bas been represented by his friends, as a re spectable, benevolent, man, whose object in this affair, as in every olher of a public nalure, in which he engaged, was service to his country and his fellow-raen. If he mistook his vocation and over estiraaled his abilities, and the sincerity and virtue of his associates, or employers, by whom he was flattered and caressed for purposes of their own, that was his misfortune, and withoui question, he lived long enough to discover it lo be so ! But, in regard lo his truly estimable wife who, like himself, is now beyond the reach of censure or of praise, and who is here, somewhat rudely and abruptly exposed to public gaze, the Editor may be permiited to remark, — (while expressing surprise and regret that the Author should have permiited himself, even while under the influence of strong party resentment, to be betrayed into an otherwise unaccountable impropriety, inconsistent with his own elevation of character as a generous and accomplished gentleman,) — that none who knew her could, wilh truth, utter a word in disparagement of her fair claim to unlimited respect and regard, or could lay to her charge, aught that cfluld derogate from the dignity and purity with which, meekly and beautifully, she invariably sustained, the proudest character to which woraan may aspire — ftat qf an enlightened, patriotic, unobtrusive, American Matron. — Ed. 388 FRENCH PARTY IN AMERICA. country, that the Directory had no quarrel with, thepi, but merely with their rulers ; and thence, holding out an inducement to change them. What a blessed picture of republicanism was here ! and to give hs figures fuU relief, the proper light to set them qff, it should be observed, that the persons exhibiting it, had engrossed the commodity and possessed it exclusively. By the fundamental principles of the constitution, and indeed of aU the elective sys tems, to certain persons is delegated the power to govern : if they misuse the trust, they are removable by the votes of tiie people, and others put in theh places ; but fading to accomplish this, the wheels of government were to be stopped, and its fiinc- tions usurped by any that might choose to do it : Can a clearer definition be given of anarchy.' What lover of state juggling but must be charmed with the series of able trickmg, by which the virtuous Jeffersonians crawled into power ? As Doctor Logan has lately been to England, with the same pacific views, (he teUs us,) with which he went to France, I shall not contest his motives in either case. Still, the use that was made of his voyage to France, by the party devoted to her, is a circumstance too im portant to be omitted in a recognition of the devices of the faction. It was to have been expected, that the unexampled profligacy and insolence of the ruling power in France, would have consi derably depressed their Democratic adherents in America, and strengthened the Federalists in the same proportion ; but the con sequences were directly the reverse. Alarmed much more than necessary at the menace of the Directory, and relying more upon the addresses from the people, than a considerate attention to their sentiments would warrant ; (as, although they all expressed a warm regard for the honour of the country, they, for ' the most part, driveUed about the unkindness of the dear Sister-Republic,) the administration and its friends in Congress, seemed to think, that they were assured of the public support, in any measures against France, however energetic they might be. Im this per suasion, such as deemed a state of hostility preferable to a state of fraternity with her, probably thought the occasion too favour able to be suffered to pass away ; and in this view, an attitude unequivocally hostUe, was taken by the government. A pro- IMPOSITION OF TAXES. 389 visional array was voted, volunteer corps invhed,, ships of war equipped, and as a part of tbe system of defence, against a foe, which was weU known to have numerous partisans among us, the alien and sedition laws were enacted. But the most volcanic ground of aU was yet to be trodden. Money was to be raised, and not a little would suffice. The ordinary revenues were in-. sufiicienl ; and the adherents of the foreign power, already exulted in the anticipated ruin of their adversaries, who vainly flattered themselves with a pubhc confidence, which could not be shaken. With less abUity, the intriguers had vastly more cunning than the federahsts ; and from theh better acquaintance with the human heart in hs selfishness and littlenesses, they weU knew, that a direct and sensible application to the pocket, would be more likely to blow up the prevaUing party than any thing else. It has been well said, that a disorderly people will suffer a robbery with more patience than an impost. Under this conviction, the patriots had long sickened at perceiving that the community was satisfied ; and that the current expenses of govemment were so easily raised. This was truly provoking. They wished the people to feel, they said. It was not right that they sbould pay without knowing it ; and hence, a furious and persevering clamour against indirect taxation. It was reprobated as hateful and anti-. republican in the extreme ; it was not to be endured ; and, inas much as it aimed at deceiving the people (wicked thing!) by cheating them into contributions, whioh their love of country would always most cheerfully afford when necessary, it was re presented to be unworthy of freemen ; and to imply a suspicion both of the virtue and understanding of the community, which, about the same time was voted by the democratic part of con gress, to be the most enlightened on the globe, France herself scarcely excepted. All this was vastly fine and highly pleasing, no doubt, to the galleries ; a charming material too, for the repub lican editors to cook up a most savoury dish for their customers. *rhe simple, well meaning federalists were, in their turn pleased also, at finding that their opponents were smoothing the way to a measure, that, in tbe present conjuncture, would be exceedingly eligible for them ; and therefore, with no smaU degree of seff-com- placency for their supposed address, took the tricksters at theh 33* 390 IMPOSITION OF TAXES. word, and passed a law for a direct tax. Its operation was on houses and lands ; but stiU keeping in view, the policy of favour ing the industrious and frugal at the expense of the luxurious, the . farmer paid very littie -for his property in proportion to the idle gentieman or inhabitant of a city, who gratified himseff in the enjoyment of a sumptuous house.^ In the same spirit, a tax had been laid upon carriages kept for comfort and pleasure ; an article which, beyond aU others, made manifest the discrimination in be half of the mouth of labour. Nevertheless, it was the mouth that from the hollow, pretended solicitude of its parasites that it might not be " deprived of the bread that it earned," was brought to clamour the loudest against taxes which did not effect it, and had, in fact, a tendency to relieve it; another proof of the inconside- rateness of the multitude, and of the superior potency of words to things, and consequently, of the very little chahce indeed of honesty and fair dealing in a contest with knavery and hypocrisy, before "the bar of public reason." This tax on real property, was the fatal blow to federalism in Pennsylvania. The Stamp Act was, indeed, bad enough, because it was a Stamp Act that first excited our displeasure with the mother country : The very name of an excise was hateful to free men :* The alien law, set at naught one of the inherent rights of man, ihat is, the right of impatriation and expatriation, of coming and going and saying and doing whatever the love of liberty prompted ; and the -sedition law was still more execrable, since, in permitting the truth to be given in evidence in exculpation of a libeller, it gagged the mouths alone of patriotic liars and calum niators, the only species of partisans whose labours could be eflacient in a cause, emphatically that of falsehood. But, though all these sad doings had been carefully impressed upon the sensory of the great Germanic body of Pennsylvania, they had not fully wrought the desired effect. Their pockets had hitherto been spared, and wheat had borne a good price. But now theh vul nerable part was touched, and they began to look about them. * It is remarkable, that the Federalists seemed really to believe, what it was evident from the conduct of their opponents, they did not believe, viz. That the people were enhghtened. They were persuaded^ however, ofthe efficacy of flat tety, and laid it on thickly.. IMPOSITION OF TAXES. 391 Nor were there wanting "friends ofthe people" to sympathize in their oppression, and to put them in mind, that it was to avoid the payment of taxes we went to war with Great Britain ; that the federahsts, therefore, were as tyrannical as she had been, and that this tax upon farms, hduses and windows, was but the beginning of a system, which would soon extend to every thing ; and that we should have a:t length a tax upon horses, wagons and ploughs; or as h was expressed in a handbiU, circulated in favour of the election of Thomas M'Kean, " a horse tax, a cart tax, a plough tax, &c. &c." The love of pelf was completely roused; and many an honest farmer came to the poll with a countenance of as much anxious determination, as ff upon his vote the question was suspended, whether he was to remain the independent man he was, or to sink into a pennyless vassal. Nor is it to be wondered at, that he was thus "perplexed in the extreme," when it is con sidered, that although we never bribe, all offices were afloat, and depended for their re-settlement on the issue of the election and the wUl of the successful candidate. The success of a good trick, is only a theme for mirth among those who have talents for the business of electioneering. Low cunning, indeed, such as is moulded into the buffoon characters, we see in novels and upon the stage, your Sancho Panzas, Tony Lumpkins, &c. passes current for extreme cleverness, among the bulk of our rural statesmen. These are ofthe class of Mr. Jefferson's chosen people, however ; and though, when in their place, their petty rogueries are very harmless and diverting ; yet, when agog for office, with the extensive means of mischief they possess, in their sovereign capacity, they may, nevertheless, be fully com petent to the ruin of a nation.* The name of Washington, as * This idea, a little dilated upon, will enable me to defend myself against a charge made against me, of portraying my countrymen in very dark colours. I do, however, believe that they are naturally as good, and from the influence of their habits and inslitulions, better as respects the more atrocious vicefe, than the people of mosl olher countries, .,of Europe iri particular. But, I am constraiped to, believe, also, that in a governraent so constituled as ours, when immoral men rule the corruption at the head, il will soon be diffused throughout every part of the the body politic. One thing lending to this is the desire of office very generally pervading the coraraunity, and slill more so the wish of being on the strongest side and acting with the majority, which is even more prevalent. The ignorant 392 SINGULAR FABRICATION. already observed, was always usurped by tiiis species of good repubhcans; and so deplorable was the stupidity of a certain por tion of the most enUghtened people upon earth, that the foUowing fabrication was not tob monstrous for their inteUectual guUets. John Adams, h was stated, was about to umte his house to that of his Majesty of Brhain, either by marrying one of his sons to one of the King's daughters, or one of his daughters to one of the King's sons, (I forget which,) but the consequence was, that the bridegroora was to be King of America: — That General Wash ington had heard of this, as well as of the other anti-repubUcan conduct of the President, at which, he was, of course, most grievously displeased: — That, therefore, he went to talk to Mr. Adams upon the subject, and by way of being more persuasive by appearing gay, good-humoured and friendly, he dressed him self in a suit of white, and discoursed with him very mildly ; but neither his dress nor his arguments were of any avail. Then he waited upon him a second time, and in order to render his re monstrance more solemn and impressive, he put on a suit of black, and set before Mr. Adams the heinousness of his proceedings ; but to as little purpose as before. He, at length, paid him a third and last visit, in which he appeared in full regimentals, when find- and timid are entirely swayed by it, so are the cunning and interesled„a&weU as that lighter kind of stuff which yields to the puff of every fashion^; descriptions these, which comprehend by far the larger portion of all communities. It requires sorae strength of mind, as well as strong political impressions, and, a dignified, sense of virtue, to resist a torrent of public opinion eraanating from tbe source of power, and carried by the force and influence of triumphant faction into private dealings, consigning to odium and sometiraes to proscription, every raan whether lofty or humble, who does not fall in. Admitting this to be the case -(and will any candid man deny it when the public mind is- in a slate of high agitation?), it is not lo make the people more than ordinarily flagitious^to maintain that they then become corrupt and instrumental to corruption. Even their honest preju dices, no less than their vices rnay enlist them in a policy ruinons to their country. Slill I must say, that prejudices are as unamiable as they are mischievouss No political opinions should be taken up, and still less persisted iil, without strict ex amination. Want of candour is want of justice ; and a tenet that will not bear the test of that golden rule, of doing unto others, nothing that we would not choose they should do unto us, ought, without hesitation, to be discarded; Love of country can no raore juslify us in doing wrong, than love of ourselves. It is, in fact, wilh raost people, the sarae thing,, however they may be pleased to.d)gnifi[ if. with the name of patriotism. ANOTHER INSURRECTION. 393 ing the President stUl deaf to good counsel, he drew his sword, declaring, he would never sheath it, untU Mr. Adams had relin quished his wicked designs ; and so left him a sworn enemy. During tbe circulation of this ingenious romance, not iU adapted to the capacities it was designed for, and having all the marks of verachy derivable from circumstantial minuteness ; the letter from General Washington, announcing his acceptance ofthe command ofthe provisional army, and his approbation ofthe measures pur suing, was also circulating in the federal prints. But this signified nothing, as they never reached the persons to be deluded by the story ; and even if they had reached them, the letter would imme diately have been knocked down as a federal lie. Such, be it again observed, is the bar of public reason. The consequence of these united efforts of patriotism and in vention, was another insuirection. The sedhion which began in the county of Northalmpton, ran in a vein through the counties pf Berks and Dauphin, spreading the infection by means of' liberty poles, successively rising in grand colonnade, from the banks of the Delaware to those of the Susquehanna. Mr. Adams had now to set to work, to quell this second effervescence of liberty; and it proved a matter of no great difficulty, when force was applied. Poor Fries,* Uke the whiskey insurgents, was, for a time, left in the lurch ; but finally sent " a coloneling," by good Governor M'Kean. The object of the tumult, however, was perhaps fully obtained ; and had Fries been hanged, it would have been deemed but a very small sacrifice. It enUsted the feeUngs and resentments of a populous district on the side of democracy; and by the spirit of turbulence and discontent it * This was distinguished as Fries's Insurrection. It had its origin in an at tempt of the Federal Government to collect a direct tux. The tax particularly objected lo was the " house tax." It broke out al the close ofthe year 1798, and discords prevaUed to an enormous extent, throughout a large portion ofthe coun ties of Bucks, Northampton and Montgoraery; and greal difficulties attended the Assessors in the execution of their duties. At the head of these hostile move ments, was a certain John Fries. He was tried and found guilty of conspiracy, and was sentenced to one year's iraprisonraent, a fine of flfty dollars, and lo give security for his good behaviour for a year. This interesting trial was published in Philadelphia, in the year 1800, and was reported in short hand by Thomas Carpenter. — Ed. 394 MR. JEFFERSON ELECTED PRESIDENT. scattered abroad in the State, it helped lo prepare the way for the coming in of Mr. M'Kean, as its Gbvernor ; and thence, by the "momentum of Pennsylvania poUtics," (noticed by Mr. Dallas,) to pave the way for the accession of Mr. Jefferson to the Presidency. It gave occasion too, for a useful nickname on the administration of Mr. Adams, which with a sardonic grin, not unworthy the taunting malignity of demonsi, was by the re cent shouters for the mountain party of Robespierre, denomi nated, a reign of terror, now become a truly odious thing. Such a fund of republicanism, as was, by these means infused into Pennsylvania, could not fail to operate favourably for the republican candidate, Chiefjustice M'Kean; and he was, conse quently elected Governor in preference to Mr. Ross ; and the same causes, aided by Callender's Prospect before us, that- chef d'ceuvre of civic piety, operating in the same direction through out the Union, not long after, invested Mr. JefferSon with the presidency. Summoque ulularunt vertice nympha.* Ye who have genius for the epic, employ your talents here! one entire action of twelve years successfully terminated at last, not by ruffians stained with blood, but by meek and -gentle operators in the " swindling arena." Such a result was to have been looked for. The morbid state of the public mind, was, I repeat it, to have been deduced from the very addresses to the President, -which have been considered as indicative of a manly, patriotic vigour. They will on the con trary (at least it Was the impression made upon me at the tirae of their appearance) be too generally found to breathe a spirit of bigotry ; not a generous love of country, not an adequate horrof of vice, not a proper understanding of the subject, but rather a whining lamentation, that the conduct of tbe Directory, so little fraternal, had a tendency to impede and interrupt the glorious career of iUuminatism and kingly demolition. This was evi dently perceived and felt by Mr. Adams; and was, doubtless his inducement for complimenting the Harrisburgh addre-sSjWhose merh, if it had any, was, that it cut deeper and approached * Nymphw, by some of Virgil's commentators, are here understood lo mean furies, and may easily be extended to the furies of Jacobinism ; vphich, no doubt, howled in exultation upon this occasion. POPULAR FANATICISM. 395 nearer to the source of the evU than the general tenor of the addresses had done.* Let us love our country, let us cherish our institutions, and check their tendency to corruption and abuse; but let us no more think of putting the throats of those who may differ from us in their civU poUty, than of those who difler from us in their religious creed. Should we not look with something more than pity on the fanatic, who should languish to kiU the Pope, to exterminate the cardinals, and annihUate the Holy See.? What then but an equally silly spirit of fanaticism, can induce us to sigh for the re-generation of Europe in the ex tinction of her kings and privileged orders ! Does any one now suppose that it would meloriate the condition of mankind .? But the symptoms of this most loathsome mental distemper, were never more manifest than shortly before the downfal of federal ism, when the gallant Truxton, for an achievement that re dounded to his country's glory, and for which he should have received her unqualified, warmest applause, was assailed with brutal rage, and called a ruffian and a murderer. Could any thing more cleaily demonstrate, that love of country was swal lowed up in a rage for political theory? By this memorable victory of Pennsylvania democracy for the behoof of Virginia aristocracy, occasion is afforded for much seri ous reflection on the sad effects of party fury; and giving the reign to those vindictive passions, which arise from selfishness opposed. No man, perhaps, ever more fatally and intempe rately rioted in their indulf;ence than Mr. M'Kean. But the affair is old, and I am little disposed to renew it. As keenly sensible to injury as any one, I have felt with poignancy, and given vent to my indignation ; but it is neither for my reputa tion nor my repose, to cherish feelings which deform the outward man, and prey upon the breast which harbors them. I shall be cold, therefore, upon a subject, wherein warmth and even acri mony might be justified. From the account I have given of my political opinions, it can scarcely be necessary to say, that my vote was on the federal side, and given for Mr. Ross; and that I was of course involved * See the Address? with the answer of Mr. Adam3, in Appendix R.— Ed. 396 author's POiLITICAL PRINCIPLES. in the proscription that foUowed the defeat of my party. In a word, I was one of those, who were loaded with reproach and detruded from office, as men unworthy to partake of the honours, or even to eat the bread of their country. The ext^t of my offending, the reader is acquainted with. It was the crime of my'party in being prematurely right ; in daring to be wiser than the great body of the people. Why then did I not play the dotard with my country .? Why did I not sigh for fraternity with France, unconscious of the peril that awaited il .' " I swear 'tis better lo be much abus'd, Than bul to know't a little." If I unfortunately thought differently from Mr. M'Kean on the highly interesting subject of Gallic republicanism, and, in so doing apostatized from my former Whigism, I can only say, I could not help it. That I did not forego my opinion when I found it repugnant lo his, is not a matter of so easy extrication. I was contumacious, I know I was. But my conscience is satis fied ; and that I never shouted in the sanguinary triumphs of the Jacobins, will, though it has made me poorer, bring conso lation along with it, in the close of a life, which, in all other respects I could wish, bad been equally blameless. An early enthusiast in a most unfashionable cause. Some sign to me unknown Dipp'd me in ink, ray pareht's ox my own ; even before my sentiments could be relished by the generality ofthe party to which I belonged ; and whUe, from their novelty, they were so shocking lo others, as to draw into question the sanity of my intellects. I had even ventured to shed a tear for the fate of Louis and his family ; I had presumed to doubt the wisdom of Brissot, and to arraign the humanity of Robespierre, long before the guUlotine had granted toleration for these opinions. But independent of so much heterodoxy, my simple vote had been suflScient for the punishment that ensued ; since the posses sions of the vahqliished, were, in the true spirh of fhe feudal author's POLITICAL PRINCIPLES. 397 system, to be parcelled out among the champions of the victorious leader. This, without doubt, was a mutual preliminary to a part nership in the war; and as among the holders of office, in the apologetic naivete of Mr. Jefferson, " few died and« none re signed," what was left but to cashier them .' I forbear to reherate here, the stale remark that the free, unbiassed' suffrage ofthe citi zens, is the basis of the^ republican form of government. Maxims have their use, but must be wholly disregarded in extreme cases ; as, in England, the Habeas Corpus act. Republicanism herseff, was here in danger. Was not a band of conspirators, with Washington at their head, in the very act of establishing a mo narchy under the insidious mask of federalism .''* A man desirous to laiowthe world ought to place himself in every situation to which the vicissitudes of life may expose him. Above aU he should be acquainted with adversity, and that particular kind of it, which results from a sudden reverse of fortune. But lo see the heart of mah, in that most unfavourable point of view, in which the milk of human kindness is turned to gall and bitterness, he should behold it when elate with a "republican triumph." It has twice been my lot to smart under the hand of oppression. I have been exposed to the fury both of royal. and republican ven geance ; and unless I may be misled by the greater recency of the latter, I am compelled to say, that the first, though bad, was most mhigated by instances of generosity. If it produced the enormities the reader has been made acquainted with, the other was ruthless enough to rejoice at the sight of helpless families, at once reduced to indigence, stripped of their subsistence, driven from tiieir homes, and sent to seek their bread by toiling in a wUderness. This is no exaggerated picture ; I saw the reality and felt it too, in the case of a near connexion. And for what crime was h the punishment.' For embracing the poUcy of Washington; for being true to the dictates of honest}'; tothe * This apostacy to monarchy, was inferred from President Washington's not joining the French against England ; but now, when Spain is contending for her rights and Uberties, the Jeffersonians can make comraon cause with her perfidious oppressor without danger of any such deduction or iraputaiion. Their incorrupti. ble republicanisra can even take the fraternal hug with an emperor without the smallest suspicion of contamination; 34 398 death of WASHINGTON. interests of their country, to the interests of humanity; for having larger hearts, and greater minds, and nobler souls than those, who, by the inscrutable wiU of Heaven, were permitted to be their chastisers. ' The death of the great Fatiier of his Country, which happened between the election and the inauguration of the Governor, af-' forded another instance of democratic versatility. He was pub licly and pathetically lamented and extolled by the leaders ofthe party: By Mr. M'Kean, whUe in the very act of chastismg his foUowers; and by Mr. Jefferson whUe contemplating a simUar conduct. The latter, it is said, made a visit fo his tomb, which he plenteously bedewed with tears, and groaned aloud with every gesture of the deepest woe.* AchiUes himself was not more in consolable for the loss of his Patroclus : and even in the sacrifice of twelve young Trojans to his manes, he was far outdone by this iUustrious modern mourner, with the remarkable difference, how ever, that whereas the one made victims of the enemies, the other selected for immolation, the friends of the lamented dead. Ulcuraque ferent ea facta minores ; Vincel amor patrioe, laudumque immensa cupido. In the election of Mr. Jefferson the long and persevering efforts of democracy had obtained their ultimatum; the beginning of that millenium that had been so anxiously sighed for. With this pro pitious era, therefore, I close my narrative of political events and party machinations. I had, indeed, aimed at nothing more than * The reader of Mr. Jefferson's "Memoirs and Correspondence" will turn away with loathing from this miserable exhibition of hypocrisy ; particularly when he recalls to his recollection certain passages ofthe "Ana," in which the cloven foot is unskilfully concealed. Washington was fully advised of Ma. Jefferson'9 duplicity as to himself, and placed a proper estimate upon his character and designs. In his letter to John Nicholas, dated 8lh March, 1798, Washington wrote : " Nothing short of the evidence you have adduced, corroborative of inti mations which I had receirved long before throngh another channel, could have shaken my belief in the sincerity of a friendship which I had conceived was possessed for me by the person [Jefierson] to whom you affude. But attempts to injure those who are supposed to stand well ia the estiraation of flie people, and are stumbUng blocks in the way, by misrepresenting their political tenets, and thereby to deslroy all confidence in them, are among the means by Which the: Government is to be assailed, and the Constitution destroyed." — Ed;- CHARACTER OF JEFFERSON. 399 a sketch of pubUc affairs, in so far as my fortune was more pecu Uarly impUcated in them. As to the conduct of Mr. Jefferson, in the management of his high trust, it would appear to have been his primary object, to discredit the repubUcan form of government, by illustrating the abuses of which it is' susceptible, and its proneness to become the prey of unprincipled intriguers. I should suppose him to be a monarchist of the true imperial cut ; and that his administration was peculiarly calculated to surfeit us with liberty; to expose the nakedness of our systems, and the extreme fragUity of those ties he once denominated LUliputian. Upon this hypo thesis, all is plain and consistent; on every other, inexplicable, unless we can admit the possibUity of a philosopher being a fool, or, of a patriot being a ndan solely bent on filling his pocket. Methinks I see the mighty personage, like a sated Condor on the Andes, sublimely perched on Monticello, triumphantly deriding the clumsy labours of New England morality, and self-compla- cently counting the gains of his superior illumination. But whether the speculum through which I view him may magnify or diminish him, show him justly or distort him, it is too manifest a truth, that the lesson given by France, we are inculcating wifh all our might, and erecting America, also, into a beacon instead of a guide. To the ^ad example of former Republics, we are eagerly adding our own, and certffying in colossal characters to the world, the melancholy result of "this last and' fairest experiment," in favour of free government.* * The melancholy result alluded to, is, that a combination of selflsh, unprin. cipled men, are able to pass themselves off for paragons of virtue and patriotism. But, suoh is our ms medicatrix natura ; our tendency to resist and recover from the impolicy of our rulers, that our country is slUl prosperous in defiance of all their sinister efforts for our ruin : and hence il is, that not only the mass of our own people are imposed upon, but the enlightened of other nations, who know nolhing of our affairs in detail. "It is thus, in America," says Madame de Stael, "that a great number of political problems appear to be solved, because the citi zens are happy and independent," Yes, several political problems are, indeed, solved, and one ofthem is, that demagogues arenas oranipotent here as ever they were in the Republics of Greece, and that an Arislides among us is not a jot more secure from ostracism than he was at Athens. But still, it is true, we go on, and are getting rich, and have no tyranny or injustice that we do not inflict ourselves ; and the great problem that yet remains lo be solved, is, how long a Eepublic pan flourish or subsist without good morals. A rigorous prosecution of 400 CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS. As to myself, I have obtamed the reward which perhaps every man must look for, "who, upon the strength of innocence alone, shall dare openly to speak the truth, witiiout first propping him seff by cabals, without forming partiesfor his protection." I have not only been punished by my political enemies, but have seen the justice of the measure solemnly ratified by the suffrages of those whom I supposed to be my friends. For the sake of a paper constitution, whose threatened destruction has become the trick of the demagogue, seeking power, as hs preservation be comes his device, so soon as he is invested with it, .a host of officers, tha:t had been prostrated by the pioneer of Mr. Jefferson, were coolly and remorselessly consigned to their fate by the fede rahsts. The substance of justice was exchanged for its shadow, and the principle established, that virtue is a certain bar to the attainment of power, an encumbrance which the candidate cannot too soon shake off; and, that corruption and wrong mark ihe route to be pursued.* This, be it known, is the unanimous de cree in Pennsylvania, the law of the land, nemine eontradicerde. A simUar, but much less galling and extensively mischievous in^ stance of ratified oppression, gave birth to the Social Contiact of Rousseau. He had been borne down, unjustly, as he supposed, by the French ambassador to Venice, to whom he had been secre tary, and with wbom he had a dispute ; and his oppressor, x;ouh- tenanced and supported by the community, first gave him, as he the last war by Britain for two years more, would have thrown much light on the solution ofthe problem. * They had .soon, moreover, the mbrlifioation to find that he had no longer the ability to serve them. His influence with the democrats was at an end ; and he was bnly potent while acting in their views, and hunting down with thera in fuU cry, their political opponents, il niight now be said of him as it was of Labienus, when he left Osesar's standard for Pompey's : ' Fortes in armis CiBsaris Labienus erat nunc transfurga vilis. The only result, then, of this grand political manoeuvre was that the federalists exclusively fastened on themselves the odium of this man's tyrannical charaeter by this their sanction of , his violent and oppressive conduct. Strange that they should forget that their principles were essentially bottomed on raorality and virtue ; Ihings much raore sacred and radicaUy important than the forms of a CoAstilvilion, REFLECTIONS. 401 informs us, the idea of a comparative analysis of the government and society to whose justice he had appealed in vain. " Every body agreed," says he, "that I was insulted, injured and unfor- nale; that the ambassador was mad, cruel and iniquitous, and that the whole of the affah dishonoured bim forever. But what of this.? He was the ambassador, and I was nothing more than the secretary. The justice and inutUity of my complaints, left in my mind seeds of indignation against our foolish civil institutions, by which the welfare of the public and real justice are always sacrificed, to I know not what appearance of order ; and which does nothing more, than add the Sanction of public authority to the oppression of the weak and iniquity of the powerful." It is scarcely necessary to mention, that these remarks refer to the ancient monarchy of France. Could the author of the Social Contract bave supposed that they could ever be equally applicable to institqtions expressly founded on the principles of liberty and justice, and which even aim at restoring the natural equality of mankind ! But Rousseau was not aware, that the germ of the evil he complained of, was not in any particular form of goverment, but in the world, ever slavishly inclined to offer incense to power, with very little regard to the general justice of its exercise. If the end of punishment be to reform, mine has been wholly lost upon me ; though my example has no doubt been useful to others. I was too high-toned and indiscreet even in the opinion of many federalists; for many there were who saw no wisdom in martyrdom.* I am still, however, to speak the truth, a most * Matters are now both better understood and better managed; and much toleration is granted to those ardent and aspiring spirits, who cannot endure to wait unlU virtue shall obtain her own reward. The process is loo slow, the re sult loo uncertain. Hence the short cut to distinction and office, bids fair to be all the raode ; and, lo the honour of democracy be it said, that she suffers apostacy to go unrewarded, having truly more joy, as it would seera, in the recognition of one repentant sinner, than in the contemplation of ninety j ust. All that appears exceptionable in the tergiversating business, is, that in the way il is now prac ticed, it looks too much like deserting and taking advantage of our duUer and less ethereal political associates. Bul, if the federalists would one and all corae into the measure ; if, as a party they would renounce Iheir opposilion and their errors ; if they would proclaim themselves converts, succumb to their victors, and taking their cUesfrora the tamed shrew of Shakspeare, would say the sun was the moon, or the moon was the sun, in obedieuce to the whim of democratic dictation; why 34* 402 REFLECTIONS. incorrigible sinner, though somewhat cooled of my ardour ; and so littie amended by the chastisement I have received, as to be hold, if possible, with increased contempt and execration, the procedures of those yery great and good men, under whpse auspices it has been administered. The.possession of power has exhibited them in even blacker colours, than did the sink in which they "lay straining their low thought," to obtain it: and although unable to vie with our dear departed sister repubUc in deeds of martial emprize, \ye certainly " gall her kibes," in those of fraudulent achieyeroent. In tiuth, we must by this time ht nearly mature. Hypocrisy, we are told, is the consummation of vice; and the libertine hero of Moliere's Festin de Pierre, is not thought ripe for destruction until he receives this last polish of villany. If there be any tbing wrong in this language, it does not arise from its being applied to a point of which there is any doubt; but merely from its solemnity approximating it to bombast, by being employed on a matter, become trivial. from ^xtreme fami liarity. However shocked at first, we now only laugh at the monstrosities of the era. After what we have seen in France, and are now witnessing at home, Caligula's making his horse . consul is a thing of very easy belief; nor is any historical pheno menon more incredible than the mutual passion subsisting be tween enthusiastic republicanism on the one hand, and the most desolating and dismaying system of despotism, which the worlcl has yet beheld, on the other.* then " the doors of honour and confidence, would be thrown open, to aU," and we should hear no more of faction and " anti-republican tendencies." But, how far this might improve our morals, and narrow the ground for European defamation, is another thipg,, but wholly immaterial to a coraraunity whose " own approba- tion of its own acts," to use the words of Burke, " has to them the appearance of a public judgment in their favour." * "A perfect democracy," says theinspired Burke, " is the most shameless thing Jn the world. And as it is the most shameless it is also the most fearless. It is less under responsibUity lo one of the greaiest controlling powers on earth, the sense of fame and estimation. The share of infamy that is Ukely to faU lo the Jot of each individual in public acts, is smaU indeed ; the operation of opinion being in the inverse ratio to the number of those who abuse power. Their own approbation of their own acts, has to thera the appearance of a public judginent in. their favoujc." Whp Qoul.d not qoijclude, from the justness in every iota of REFLECTIONS. 403 Though this picture may pass with some, for a hideous cari cature, enough of truth, I trust will be found in it, to convince them that we are no longer in that full tide of successful ex periment, that wafted Mr. Jefferson into office,* that, on the contrary, we felt the influence of " retiring ebb," and were therefore, needleissly vigilant in guarding against the inroads of British corruption. Neither have we shown that we are so en tirely well adapted to our institutions as lo render it a necessary ingredient in the education of our youth, to prepossess them with a bigoted aversion to every other mode of government, and thereby to render them the ready patrons of insurrection and anarchy in every quarter of the globe. The commentaries of Blackstone, we are told by a great law character and writer, should be studied with caution, since he is heterodox in some of his opinions, and does not trace power to its genuine source ; that is, " through its small and pure streams up to the free and independent man." Mr. Burke too, comes under the lash ofthe American statesman, who, with a sneer, that had much better been spared, insinuates his want of integrity, and talks of his .'¦ hew creed." But what did Mr. Wilson know of his old one .'' Was it ever confided to him.' Did Mr. Burke ever teU him that he was not a monarchist, but a repubUcan ? For he certainly these reraarks, that their author had been an eye witness ofthe administration of JiFFERSON and Madison, in every stage of their barefaced effrontery and duplicity! I almost pity these unhappy men, destined lo wear out the wretched remnant of their days without one drop of the balm of selCapprobation, absolutely cut off from the pleasure, no less than the profit of reading Burke, as in every page of his political morality,, they would be sure of raeeting a culling satire on thera- selves. But, of demagogues and tyrants, the condemnation is the same. Magne paler divQm, sa3Vos punire tyrannos Haud alia, ratione veils, cura dira libido Moverit ingenium fervenle tincla veneno Virtutem videantj intabescantque relicta,. Pers. Sat.. 3d. * This truly "successful esrperJment " is partially explained; and the raeans by which Mr. Jefferson was 'J wafted into office," fully exposed, if biographers ind historians always speak the truth, by a scrap of secret history for which, I believe, the world is indebted to Mr. Davis, the able and candid author ofthe Life of Burr. See Appendix S. — Ed. 404 REFLECTIONS. never told the world so. Mr. Wilson was an able man, and his eloquence as a speaker, singularly forcible and commanding ; but when he undertakes to raise trophies to himself from the dispraise of such men as Blackstone and Burke, he engages in a task which may justly be termed a bold onei As to the fine allegory, under which the fountain of political power is represented to have been at length discovered, like the source of the NUe, what does h amount to .' It may be happily conceived, but it is Uttle satis factory. "Men's rights," says Mr. Burke, "are their advan tages." This is coming to the point: and it is not a discovery ofthe source of power, that decides the question of human hap piness, but how its streams can be best distributed for the attain ment of that end. After finding power to originate in the free and independent man, we have yet to inquire. Whether this free and ind,ependent man, will .voluntarily submit to the restraints which the good of the community requires of him. If he wiU, Mr. Wilson is both practically and theoretically right; and thje question, as to forms of government, is at rest. But his manner seems rather too dogmatical, considering that he is the advocate ofa system, whicb, however plausible in theory, has experienca against it : and when he compliments us Pennsylvanians, for our lpve " of liberty and law," he must certainly have adopted the maxim of laudando admonere, since neither in the attack of his own house, nor in our two more recent insurrections, is this dis tinguished love of law to be recognised. There appears to rae,, therefore, more propriety and wisdom in speaking of our institu? tions, as experiments, whose failure may be deemed the general misfortune of mankind, as is done by Mr. HamUton, in his Fe deralist, than in treating those' with disrespect and asperity, who have laboured to support other principles of government, — prin- cipless too, which seem absolutely essential to order, in the na tion of which they were subjects. That we possess advantages,, which are not to be found in the old world, I have no difficulty in believing ; bul in an estimate of our comparative superiority, it is but fair to abstract from our polity the benefits derived from our state of society and population. Instead, then of engaging in scholastic disputations and wars of extermination about politi cal, modes of faith,, let us be content with performing our duties RELFECTIONS. 405 lo the system we have estabUshed for ourselves: and, in the writings of this very Mr. Burke, heretic and apostate though he be, a most excellent lesson may be found for our purpose. It is in his Appeal to the Old Whigs, page 82, ofthe New York edi- ¦ tion. The passage struck me, as containing reasoning, at once new, moral and refined; but I have since found it to be merely a dilatation of 1he quatrain of Gui du Fur de Pibrac, in words, which are evidently the text of Mr. Burke's most beautiful com mentary. Aime I'etat, tel que tu le vols etre : S'il royal aime la royaute ; S'il ne Test point, s'il est comraunaute Aime le aussi, quand dieu t'y a fait naitre.* Still if the sentiment be thought too indulgent to legitimate monarchy ,f (and nothing royal is to be endured, it seems, unless proceeding from fraud, usurpation and violence) I say with Mr. WUson, that democracy is the best of all possible governments— if the people arenot wanting to themselves. But, that we have been latterly a good deal wanting to ourselves, I must be per mitted to believe ; and also to think with Mr. HUlhouse, that in the present corrupted state of our morals, what has been absurdly termed a strong executive, and thought our best security, has be come our greatest bane — that the splendour of chief-magistracy we must not look lo have; but, in its stead, an unostentatious, ephemeral head, begotten by chance, and dying whUe yet in in fancy — literally coming up and cut down like a flower. The attributes of royalty, neither become us, nor are good for us. * It may thus be translated : Love the stale to which you belong, such as you find il to be : if, of the royal kind, love and be loyal to it : if, on the contrary, it be a comraonwealth, equally love and be faithful to it, since Heaven has raade it the place of your nativity. i t This reraark anticipated the great question, since made, between legitimacy and usurpation, A shape, imparted to politics about the time of the battle of Waterloo, in 1815, and not adverted to in discussion, until after that event. Re publicanism having been fairly renounced by the French Revolutionists, the only ground left for thera, was the vindication of new monarchy in opposilion to the old, of upstarts supported by human slaughter, lermed glory, in opposilion to the civil arts, of industry and> coraraerce, fostered by the influences of religion and peace. A stale of things vainly stigraatized as indicative of imbecihty and na tional degradation. 406 REFLECTIONS. They sink our great men into very Uttle ones, or only,"aggranr dize them into baseness." To give any chance therefore for the operations of patriotism, we must smother that obtrusive thing called self; and by taking away, or rendering power uncertain and fugitive, we must, with pious humUity, endeavour to de liver ourselves from temptation. > I am aware of the offence which may be given by these ob servations; but I wUl not now begin to cajole, when I have foregone beyond redemption, what might once have been gained by it. Having spoken truth so long, I wiU persevere to the end ; nor, though fully admitting that by a virtuous use of the govern ment we possess, we may become the most happy people upon earth, am I at all disposed to conceal, that by the nefarious po licy in fashion, we are in a fair way of rendering ourselves the most miserable. One of its fundamental maxims, and, to all appearance, its most favourite one, is, that Britian must be de stroyed.^ A power which is evidently the world's last hope against the desolating scene of universal slavery.* A country too, which in the language of a native American, who teUs us, he had entertained the common prejudices against her, presents " the most beautiful and perfect model of public and private prosperity, the most magnificent and at the same time, raost solid fabric of social happiness and national grandeur. And yet all this is to be demolished, because some thirty years ago,f we were engaged whh her in a contest, which, so far as indepen dence is implicated, appears now to have been a truly ' unpro fitable one.' But God forbid that the long-lived malice of Mr. Jefferson, should be gratified! And the deprecation is equally extended to his successor, should he unhappily harbour the same pitiable rancour. .If these gentiemen, daring the war, have had their nerves too rudely shocked by the invader, to be able to recover their propriety, or to adhere to the assurance given in * If there is any thing degrading in this sentiment, we may thank ourselves for affording ground for it. For il is absurd lo talk of fighting, where empty trea suries are .preferred to full ones, where cowardice has been inculcated both by maxims, and devices, and where the people have been taught to believe, that taxa tion is oppression. "¦ + It will be recollected that these Memoirs were first printed in the 'y^^' 1811.- Ed. REFLECTIONS. 407 the Declaration of Independence, of considering the English as "friends in peace, and only enemies in war," they ought to re flect, that it is not strictly patriotic, to risk the ruin of their country, to obtain revenge. Or, if they are only unluckily com mitted, through a prodigality of stipulation, for the sake of dear Louisiana-^God send them a good deUverance, or at least their country a happy riddance, both of the vender and vendees. That England has long been, and stUl is fighting the battie ef the civilized world, I hold it to be an incontrovertible truth.* The observation I know lo be Irhe, but I am not a servile fol lower in. the use of h. So long ago as the year 1797, I was the author ofthe following sentiment in Mr. Fenno's Gazette. "As lo Great Brhian, with all her errors and vices, and little perhaps as America may owe her, considering the situation in which she has been fortuitously placed by the dreadful convulsions of Eu rope, so far from wishing her downfall, I consider her preserva tion ^s of real importance to mankind ; and have long looked upon her as the barrier betwixt-the world and anarchy."]: The * The reader must slill bear in mind the period -at which this was written. Napoleo{j, " the Conquerer of Nations," occupied fhe throne of France, and was waging his yet successful war against the dynasties of "out-worn Europe." England was not fighting the " battle of the civilized world ;" she was fighting for its mastery. During all the early part of that contest down, al least, to the treaty of tilsit, she was upholding the cause of despotism ; and if she afterwards became involved in a struggle for self-preservation, it was owing in no inconsi- deiable degree to her own arabition. She has carried her encroachments into every quarter of the wprld; and, magnificent as is her now culminating power, and imposing the repulalion and. achievements of her statesmen, literati and war riors, the spectacle is marred by the consideration that injustice and outrage have contributed lo place her on the lofty eminence which she occupies. Arrogance and oppression have every where marked her course. No 'barrier that force or genius could overthrow, has been permitted lo stand between her interests, real or imaginary, and the rights and liberties of nations. In the East, province after province has been annexed lo her possessions, and even the Celestial Empire has lately yielded to her aggressions. In her passion for aggrandizement and domi nion, she has reared an empire upon which the sun never sets ; and an American may be pardoned some complacency in the reflection, that this nation, haughty, rapacious; and powerful as she is, received her first material check from the hands of the Fathers of this Republic— En. t This passage is in an article in the Gazette ofthe United States of November 10th, 1797, signed "A Country Subscriber," and is the cpnclusion of a slight spar- ting wilh Mr. CoEBETT, which gentleman, by the bye, has given a notablfe in- 408 REFLECTIONS. sentiment was then in me an original conception, I had never heard it before, if ever il had been uttered. It has hnceSsingly been among my strongest convictions, with the modification, |hat she is now our protection from despotism ;\ and it is there fore natural, tbat I should be gratified by the very able and valuable pamphlet which Mr. Walsh has presented to his conn- try.* It is to be wished it may be read as weU as the other writings he is submitting to us, with candour and a proper feel ing for the general interest, nbt merely of this- nation, but of mankind. In contemplating the enormities of the time, it is re markable, that we can only find matter for Ulustration, in the poets who flourished amid the confusions whicb prevailed in the decline of the Roman' empire. Thus, Mr. Walsh has frequent recourse to Claudian, whose poem in Rufinum.very forcibly de- stance of his candour in his Selections from Porcupine's Gazette, pubUshing herein my atlack and his answer lo it, but wholly suppressing this rejoinder. * "A Letter on the Genius and Dispositions of the French Government,' published in 1810. Jeffrey, in his review of Mr. Walsh's " Appeal from the Judgments of Great Britain respecting the Unitecf States of America," mentions this pamphlet in cordial terras of praise, — he styles it "a work of great merit, whioh attracted much notice, both in Great Britain and America." » * * " The author,- in a strain of great eloquence and powerful reasoning, exhorts his country to make common cause with England in the great struggle in which she was then en gaged with the giant power of Bonaparte, and points out the raany circumstances, in the character and condition of the two countries that invited them to a cordial alliance." Within two years, however, after the publication of this eloquent exhortation to an "alliance," the overweening insolence, and wanton outrages of England upon the rights of American citizens, forced the country, all unprepared as she was, into the Madisonian War ! That struggle' taught our haughty and hereditary foe, that she could not always expect to be invincible, and the recollec tion of its early disasters and subsequent triumphs will nerve -the, American heart . for future trials, if, unhappily, they should become necessary for the preservation ofthe national integrity and honour; and for the advancement of the principles which are identified with the American name. The question concerning Oregon — prematurely agitated by the party President of the day, may yet, perchance, afford cause for rupture, leaving still unsettled this absorbing question of the tiraes, and serving to revive liie slumbering animosity which mutual interests have al layed but not eradicated. For the hpnour of human nature, and in deference lo the peaceful spirit and "tendencies of the age, it is lo be hoped that a resort lo bar barous usage in the settleraent of this great dispute, may be avoided ; bul the pretensions of Englutid are put forth with characteristic disregard of justice; and tliese pretensions it Concerns the national honour strenuously to resist.— Ed. REFLECTIONS. 409 picts the dark atrocities of a ferocious and despotic usurpation, which, though acted on an infinitely smaller theatre than that of the present day, had those dismaying appearances which so over power and confound the mind, as to perplex it, even wUhdoubts of an overruling Providence.* I have dipped deeper into politics than I intended, or conceived would be necessary at my outset: but without an obvious de parture from the declared design of my work, and a dereliction of the sacred duty which every annalist owes to the world, the sub ject, however trite and unpleasant, could not be avoided ; and much as I dwell upon it, it yet forms but a very imperfect sketch of our public transactions. It has relieved me,, however, from a detaU of my own personal concerns, which beiiig made up of the common occurrences of still life, chequered as usual with good and with evU, it would be highly arrogant in me to suppose could be-in any degree worthy of the public attention. I shall only advert to them, therefore, for the single purpose of mentioning, tbat my mother, who has acted no inconsiderable part in my nar rative, finished, under my roof, -a long and well spent lffe, pro- h'acted to' her seventy-eighth year, on the 23 d of January, 1807. Her excellent constitution sunk under the republican havoc on her family : her first symptom of decay followed close upon it ; and she feU a martyr, in all probability, to the ever memorable triumph of what has been impiously caUed, The triumph of good princi ples. Perhaps, however, she had lived long enough. Of the part I have acted in this turbulent scene, the reader is truly informed. Whether it was wise or unwise, I wiU take upon me to say, it was conscientious and disinterested. Yet U certainly makes but a very sorry figure at an era so distinguished for rapid acquisitions of fortune and dignity. To have commanded a com pany in tiie Continental army at the age of three and twenty, and not to have advanced an inch in the glorious career of personal aggrandizement, makes good, I think, my promise of negative instruction ; and I must be as very a wretch in the eyes of the * Thus expressed in the opening ofthe poem ; Ssepe mihi dubiam traxit sententia mentem Curarent Superi terras-, an nullus inesset Rector, et ineerto fluerent mortalia casiii 35 410 REFLECTIONS. aspiring, as was the unambitious Richard Cromwell in those of the Prince of Conti — Why even the imperial Napoleon himself had scarcely a fairer prospect, when making his debut as an artiUerisl before the walls of Toulon. . Then, " what a rogue and pleasant slave am I !" Nevertheless, with respect to the glory acquired by what may be termed dvic accomplishments, 1 have some ragged pride in making it known, that my insignificance, is not so much owing to an ab solute ignorance of the game, as to a want of the nerve that is necessary for playing it to advantage. Though unambitious of philosophic fame, I have no desire to pass for a simpleton ; and therefore wish it to be understood, that I am not to learn, that this revolution business and republicanism, with whatever purity begun, has nearly issued in a scramble, in which all morality and even decency being thrown aside, he is the cleverest fellow, that, by trick or violence can emerge the fuUest handed. I regret that I am obUged to say so, I would much rather be the encomiast than the satirist of my country, which I have no doubt contains so ample a portion of manly sentiment, as, under better auspices, to entitie it to a lofty strain of panegyric. But it wiU be said I am a party-man ; and as aU party-men are prejudiced, these censures must go for nothing. I am indeed a party-man, as I conceive there is a right and wrong in politics as in other things : I freely admit it too that I am prejudiced, to a great degree; but all my prejudices, I trust, are in favour of honesty and fair dealing, and where these appear, no one has more toleration for error. Tbis is an indulgence I, may have heed of myself; but I refieet with satisfaction, that among my faults, I have no act of deceit^ injustice or oppressionj (for I have some-' times had a littie power) to reproach myself with; and this I say without fear of contradiction.r I have some reliance too that those who know me, even of the opposite political party, wiU give me credit for general good intention, and openness of character; and this granted, I ask no quarter for my sentiments.- ff they are erroneous and unfounded, let them be scouted and exposed ; I REFLECTIONS. 411 shaU be among the first to condemn them if persuaded of their falsity. And I here recognise with suitable feelings, the liberal and un sought patronage to this undertaking, frbm many of my neigh bours and townsmen, with whose political conduct and opinions, mme have generally been in coUision. If I have been less ac commodating to their sentiments, than I could have wished, they will read my apology in the tenor of my performance, which does not merely purport to speak with plainness, but manifests, I pre sume, that it has done so in reality, without respect to parties or to persons. I bave occasionally, I am sensible, expressed myseff with some asperity ; with more, perhaps, than may be thought congenial to the nature of my work; but this must be attributed to my awful impression of the dangers which surround us, emd a solemn apprehension, that all the advantages of our situation are about to be sacrificed to a profligate rage for place and party supremacy. 412 CONCLUSION. CONCLUSION. V Thus, uncalled for, have I ventured upon a pretty full account, both of my life, and my opinions. Of the value of either, it is not for me to judge ; but as it was my lot to enter upon manhood just at the commencement ofthe Revolution, and to be a witness of its progres.s, its consummation, and its consequences, it ap peared to me, that the period, if justly delineated, could not be altogether destitute of instruction : I have endeavoured to depict it truly ; and, I trust, I have done so, in regard al -least to the phases presented to my vision. The facts I have related, I have either witnessed myself, or received on such authority, as leaves with me little doubt of their correctness ; and my inferences, though sometimes harsh, are always the result of the most deliberate and candid reflection : Whatever therefore, may be the errors of my book, they are not those of wilful misrepre sentation. Ample* matter has occurred, since the publication of these Memoirs, not only to justify the free remarks therein made on the conduct and character of our democratic leaders, but to war rant shafts of moral indignation against their subsequent acts, keen as were ever hurled from the pen of a Juvenal. But, poUtics are at no time a pleasant topic, and their discussion must necessarily embrace newspaper common-places a hundred * The observations that follow were found in the handwriting of the author upon the last page of his private copy of the " Memoirs." It is proper that they should be added here, as they are explanatory of his motives, and, were no doubt, intended for the position in whioh they are now placed. — En. CONCLUSION. 413 linies repeated. For these reasons, and the addUional one, that the registry of recent facts, is not the object of the writer, he spares himself the disagreeable task of tracing the undignified, pettifogging, mischievous course of the Madisonian policy. He cannot but felicitate himself, however, upon his good fortune in meeting with the letters of General Washington* serving as fhey'do, to confirm many ofhis statements which were received with more than distrust,! perhaps, and thought to proceed either from a misanthropic temper, too hasty observation, or specu lative notions of human virtue, graduated on too high a scale, and thence engendering a disposition to censure unnecessarily. As to his political opinions and remarks, he wiU only say in an ticipation of comments, which may probably be made, that how ever shocking they may be to many honest, well-meaning, re publicans, and however they may tinge with diabolical gall, the pancreatic juices of that other description of patriots, which no term can aptly designate but that of Jacobins, he feels pride no less than confidence in avowing them. Whatever may be their reception cit the present day, he has not the smallest doubt of their entire orthodoxy in lime to come, when the general in terests of mankind, not those of a party, when history, not fac tion, shall decide. " With respect to the freedom taken with private characters, it was 'at ohe time iny intention, from knowing it to be the de sire of some of my best friends, to expunge sueh passages as inight, in any degree, give pain to the descendants or connexions ofthe persons mentioned. But, on reflecting that each of these friends would be as tenacious in retaining some, as in suppress ing others of the passages; that by suppressing them all, I should reduce the work to a miserable piece of baldness and stupidity, and that by diminishing, I should, in regard to those who were suffered to remain, evince a premeditation that would afford new cause of offence, — that, moreover, as I have not presumed to meddle with what constitutes the real value of character, but, have merely glanced, at singularities and deficiencies of the * Since included in the W;riting.s of Washi.igton, edited by Mr. Spares.— Ed. t In 1811, upon the first publication of the Memoirs.— Ed. 35* 414 CONCLUSION. lighter kind, neither inconsistent wUh uprightness nor benevo lence, and that in these respects, I have made as free with my own family as that, of others, I have, at length, come to the conclusion, that it wiU be best and most discreet, to abide by my first indiscretion. " It is unnecessary to. pursue the topic ; but a curious discus sion of it may be found in a discourse of M. Boileau prefixed to his satires, in which he undertakes to justify his own freedom by the examples of the ancients, particularly of Horace and of Persius; from whom, to be sure, he gives instances, that would, by no means, comport with the correctness of modern manners. It would appear, however, that somewhat of this questionable license is essential lo the relish of that description of composi tion, termed Memoirs. ' To entertain readers,' says Dr. Zim merman, ' is, in my opinion, only to deliver freely in writing, that which in the general intercourse of society, it is impossible to say either with safety or politeness.' May it not be this, which renders so agreeable, the apparently unimportant garru lity of Montaigne .-" Upon the whole, if he has sometimes been querulous, it has been through the fear of trusting himself lo the yehemence of his feelings, which is apt to hurry him beyond bounds, when he sees turpitude triumphant. He is not formed for a miserable, passive, victim of injustice, however gilded by high authority ; and no man, however exalted his station^ has yet presumed, or ever shall presume, to treat him as such, without feeling his resistance, and the keenest shafts of his resentment." APPENDIX APPENDIX. 417 APPENDIX. A. PAGE 23. — Note. ALEXANDER GRAYDON, ESQ. The following is copied from papers filed in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania : Alexander Graydon recommended to be a field-officer on A list of recommendations. ALEXANDER GRAYDON TO RICHARD PETERS. AprU SOth, 1758. Dear Sir — I yesterday received a letter from Richard Walker, Esq.* dated, the 27th inst. in which he informs me, that he has been prevailed on to enter his name in the list of officers, to command the new corps for this province, and that he has ventured to set my name down also, conjuring me at the same time, in a very friendly and affectionate manner, not to decline the service at this time. He farther desires I would communicate my answer to you without delay. I have a very great esteem for Mr. Walker, and believe he wUl make an excellent officer. I am sure, that he wUl act upon principles that few soldiers do. I sincerely wish I could ac company him. I have employed the few hours between the receipt of his letter, and my present writing, in balancing the matter within my breast, and considering the position in which I find myself as to my affairs here, and the occasion so pressing, * This Mr. Walker is marked on the list as having been recommended by Mr. Allen and Mr. Growdon. 418 APPENDIX. it would be impossible to put my affairs in order, to accept such an employment. I have come, therefore, to the result, not lo stand in the way of betier men. ~ I was surprised never to have had the least intimation, from any of my friends, before Mr. Walker's letter, of there being any thoughts entertained of me. I have never been able to learn what officers are intended to be made ; into what order the troops are lo be disposed ; or in short, any measures about this whole matter. Perhaps there was reason for keeping all secret. But I am of opinion, that had all the measures relative lo raising these troops, been properly planned ahd published, as in some of our neigh bouring provinces has been the case, the service would have been greatly forwarded. But I write to you as a friend, not a secretary. In short, there is little encouragement for any to enter into the service of this province, unless they can support themselves with the reflection, that yirtue is its own reward.. I am, dear sir, your affectionate friend, and humble servant ALEXANDER GRAYDON. B. , PAGE 42. DR. LAUCHLAN MACLEANE, A name,'wliich, from its subsequent association with the ques tion of the authorship of Junius, has acquired considerable pos thumous, celebrity. Prior, in his excellent Life of GoldsmitW^ pubUshed in 1837, thus writes in reference to Dr. Macleane : " A fellow student named Kennedy, under the plea of great distress and a pledge of the speedy arriyal of his own remit tances, persuaded Goldsmith to become answerable for a portion of his debts, which, however, failed to be discharged at the APPENDIX. 419 ispecified time promised by the debtor. Goldsmith was, in con sequence, caUed upon for payment, but being unable to raise the amount, was, in turn, obliged to have recourse lo the assist ance of two fellow-students to escape a dUemma that threatened his personal liberty. These were men of considerable attain ments, and not undistinguished in their respective spheres of life. One was Dr. Joseph Fenn Sleigh, an amiable and intelUgent Quaker, the school-fellow of Burke, at BalUtoro, the first friend of Barry the painter, and who died prematurely in 1771, an eminent physician in Cork. The other was Dr. Lauchlan Macleane, a former associate in Trinity CoUege, whose career seems to have embraced many changes of scene, and who afterwards by the public situations he held, the painphlets he wrote, a challenge sent to Wilkes and not accepted, and the party with which he was connected, drew considerable notice in the political circles of London between the years 1765 and 1776. " The son of a gentleman of small fortune in the North of Ire land, and born about the year 1728, he was transfetred, at the age of eighteen, from a school near Belfast, to Trinity College, DubUn. Here he became known to Burke and Goldsmith, and proceeding to Edinburgh to study physic, his nanje appears in the Ust of the Medical Society, January 4th, 1754, a year after that of Goldsmith, by whom he was introduced. He afterwards visited America — whether at first as a private practitioner, or medical officer in the army, does not appear; probably, as was then not unusual, officiating in both capacities. While in this country he acquired great medical reputation ; followed by its common attendant, envy, ftom the leSs fortunate ofhis brethren; and an anecdote is told of him at this time, which Almon quotes in one of his publications, as an instance of what he terms ' true riaagnanimity.' A rival practitioner, extremely jealous of his success, and who had adopted every means, not excepting the most unfair, of injuring his credit, was, al length, alHicted by the dangerous Ulness of an only son ; and as possessing the first cha racter for professional skill, Dr. Macleane was solicited to attend. His zeal proved unremitting; he sat up with the patient many nights, and chiefly by his sagacity and indefatigable efforts suc ceeded beyond expectation in restoring the young man to health ; 420 APPENDIX. refusing all consideration for his labours, and saying to his friends, ' Now am I amply revenged.' "In 1761, whUe surgeon of Otway's regiment, quartered at PhUadelphia, a quarrel took place with the Governor, against whom Macleane, who was a man of superior talents, wrote a paper distinguished for ability and severity, which drew general attention. Colonel Barre, subsequently so weU known in poli tical life, then serving there with his regiment and who was pro bably involved in the quarrel, is said to have formed a regard for him in consequence ofthe part he took; but it is more likely that a previous acquaintance existed, as the Colonel had been likewise a member of Trinity College. Under the patronage of this oflScer he returned to England, renewed his acquaintance with Burke, and procured an office under government. While travelling on the continent, in 1766, he proved useful to Barry, then on his way to Italy, who became known to him throughthe introduction of his first patrons, Burke and Dr. Sleigh. Soon afterwards he became successively private Secretary to Lord Shelburne, and under Secretary of State for the Southern Depart ment, retiring from office with his patron on the dissolution of the ministry .drawn together by the Duke of Grafton. In May, I77I, Lord North gave him the situation of superintendent of lazarettos, with, as the newspapers of the day state, 'a salary of jGlOOO a year, and — two pounds per diem travelling expenses.' In January following, he received the colleclorship of PhUadel phia; this was soon exchanged for an appointraent in India, where he subsequently became a kind of agent to Mr. Hastings. In that capacity he brought home the Governor General's condi tional resignation of office ; yet the latter, with that singularity which often influenced his proceedings in the government of India, took a spfeedy opportunity of disavowing both his agent and his act, although communicated lo tbe Court of Directors in his own handwriting. In proceeding again to India, intending, it is said, to lake strong measures for an explanation of beha viour that seemed to throw censure upon his honesty or honour, the ship, in which he embarked, foundered, and aU on board perished, with papers seriously criminatory, according to report, of the administration of Mr. Hastings. Dr. Macleane enjoyed APPENDIX. 421 the credit of being quick, clear-headed, and weU informed ; and by some was considered as possessing ' wonderful powers ;' an impediment in speech precluded him from being useful in Par liament, or shining in conversation. His private character for benevolence and several good qualities stood high in the opinion ofhis friends." His claim to the credit of the authorship of Junius is not treated with much respect by Mr. Prior, who proves, to his own satisfaction at least, that they have no real foundation ; but his reasoning is far from conclusive. It is diflScult, in this age of free and bold discussion, to appreciate either the depth of the excitement caused by the publication of these celebrated "Let ters," or the danger lo which discovery would have exposed their author, who was seldom free from apprehension. Every artifice, therefore, that would serve to divert attention from their real author would, naturally, be adopted by him, and tbe simple expedient 6f including himself in a general censure, or even the employment of the language of praise — ^would have been per fectly justifiable in view of the peculiar circumstances under which he wrote. Recent alleged discoveries have again con nected Dr. Macleane's name with the authorship of Junius — a secret too long and mysteriously kept to admit a hope of ils revelation^ — Ed. C. PAGE 75. WARREN. Battle of Bunker's Hill. The author, in a MS. note, says, " Hand U should be. I wrote from recollection not having the print before me. He has a sword, indeed, in one hand, but not in that employed in the humane act. But, if General Heath is correct, the whole per- 36 422 APPENDIX. haps, is but a fiction of the painter. Heath says that Warren was killed merely as a spectator, at some distance from the com batants." The scene, as represented by the picture of TrumbuU, is un doubtedly a poetical license. No such occurrence as is there described really occurred. Neither is Heath correct in his state ment of the circumstances of Warren's death. General Henry Lee, in his Memoirs, has also faUen into several errors in regard to the same event, although with a nearer approximation to truth than Heath or several others who have written upon the subject. He gives, it is true, just credit to Ihegallant Prescott. He says, " Warren who feU nobly supporting the action, was the favourite of the day, and has engrossed the fame due to Prescott. Bunker's HUl too has been considered as the field of battie, when it is well known thatit was fought upon Breed's Hill, the nearest ofthe two hills to Boston." " No man," he contitiues, "reveres the character of Warren more than the writer ; and he considers himself not only doing justice to Colonel Prescott, bul perform ing an acceptable service lo the memory of Warren, who, being a really great man, would disdain to wear laurels not his own." - The editor of this volume is fortunate in having in his posses sion, authentic and interesting data in relation to the " Battie of Bunker's Hill," and though the information may, by some, be deemed misplaced here, he wiU, nevertheless, risk the censure of the critics. The text affords an opportunity for its introduc tion — and Truth, wherever she may alight, should be welcomed and cherished. To a MS. of his friend, the late estimable and Reverend Ed ward G. Prescott, a grandson of Colonel Prescott of Pepperell, Massachusetts, commander ofthe American forces, on the occa sion of the memorable battie, the editor is indebted for the fol lowing particulars whicb he has abridged to the limits prescribed to a note, the interesting facts set forth rendering an apology for ils length unnecessary. On the 16th of June, 1775, Colonel William Prescoti, of Pep perell, at his own especial request, received orders to raarch to Charlestown in the evening, having under his command hisown regiment, that of Colonels Bridge and Frye, and one hundred and APPENDIX. 423 twenty men from the Connecticut regiment, together wUh Cap tain Gridley's company of artillery, and two field pieces. The object of this expedition which was to possess and fortify Bun ker's HiU, was to be kept profoundly secret — one day's provision was distributed among the troops, and suflScient suppUes, both of refreshments and men, were promised him, to be sent in the morning. The whole number of men under his comraand, amounted to about one thousand. Early on the evening of the memorable I6th of June, these few forces under the coramand of Prescott, assembled on the common at Cambridge, where a blessing upon their expedition was devoutiy asked by the Re verend President Langdon, of Harvard College. Al the con clusion of these services, Colonel Prescoti led the way towards Charlestown neck, preceded by two sergeants having dark lan terns open only at the rear. He was accompanied by Colonel Gridley, the Chief Engineer, who was to lay out the ground — by the late Governor Brooks, who was, at, that lime, a Major in Bridge's regiment, and by Mr. Winthrop. Upon their arriyal, great doubt arose as to which part of the heights it was expedient to fortify. It has often been asserted that Breed's Hill was se lected through mistake — such was not the case. Both that and Bunker's HUl form a continuous chain, bul, at that time, the name of Bunker was the only one given to any part of the height. The remainder of it might, therefore, properly enough, have been considered as included in the orders under that general title. At all events, according to the statements of Colonel Prescott, and of Governor Brooks, a council was called of the officers, and the subject discussed until very late in the night. It was by them determined, that the hiilnow known as Breed's, but then having no separate name, was the most suitable for the purpose, and came within the orders given to Colonel Prescott. Thereasons forthis opinion, were sufficiently evident. Bunker's hdght was too far from the enemy to annoy their shipping, or to give our forces any advantage over their army, while the point selected, was admirably adapted for both purposes. Colonel Prescott, accompanied by Major Brooks twice went down to the sea shore to reconnoitre. They could not beUeve that they were atthe very gates of the enemy's stronghold, and had not been 424 APPENDIX. perceived. -It was, however, so. God had darkened their eyes, and they heard the British sentry on his rounds, uttering the de ceitful hail, " all's well !" Morning, however, drew near. The English man of war, caUed the Lively, &rst discovered our Uttie band, and opened upon them volley after volley. The enemy were taken by surprise. High above them, they saw our forti fications, commanding them in all their positions, and could scarcely credit their own senses, that so daring an exploit had been undertaken. General Gage summoned his, oflScers to a council of war. AU was commotion. The frigates, floating batteries, — the cannon and mortars on Copp's hiU, were each aiming at our gaUant countrymen — still they toiled on. There was but one moment of doubt, during the time they occu pied that proud position. This was when the first man was killed. A private of the name of Poblard from BiUerica was theflrst martyr ; he had ventured in front ofthe works, and was struck down by a cannon-shot. Our countrymen, unused to the sight of violent deaths, then hesitated. Colonel Prescott ordered his burial at once. The men, headed by the chaplain, demanded that prayers, should be said over him. They were ordered by the Colonel to disperse to their work, and to bury him immedi ately — it was done, but some of the men left the hill, and didnot again return to it. This circumstance depressed them at a time when all their energies were most needed. Their commander perceiving it, mounted the breast-works, and continued there in defiance of the shot of the enemy, giving the necessary directions, until again their usual spirits had returned to them. Meanwhile the British were not idle. Gage, with his officers and others in whom he had confidence, went up lo Beacon HiU to reconnoitre; after having looked thrbugh his telescope for some time, he handed it to a Mr. WUlard, a mandamus coun sellor, and describing the leader of the American troops as head and shoulders above the works, asked him who it was, and if the rebels would fight. WiUard told him, that it was his brother- in-law, Prescott; "as to his men," said he, " I cannot answer for them ; hut Colonel Prescott will flght you to tlie gates of Hell!" The regiments were intrusted to Colonel Prescott, and the orders were transmitted to him alone. Upon him rested the responsi- APPENDIX. 425 bility ; and that he had the chief command, was acknowledged on the field by General Warren, the President of the" Provincial Congress of Massachusetts ; who look a gun and cartouch box, and told him that he had " come to learn service under a soldier of experience." Alas! that the lesson should have been so short! GaUant, eloquent, patriotic Warren stepped but on the field of battie, to be gathered into tbe harvest of Death ! Not obUged to be in the way of danger, he volunteered for the good of his country— and that country will never cease to repay him by a cherished recollection of his virtues, and an honest pride at the mention of his name ! — Ed. D. PAGE 77. JOHN HANCOCK. A few years later than the period referred to by onr author, Hancock is thus described by Sullivan, in his interesting and instructive " Familiar Letters on Public Characters :" " He will be considered in the history of our country, as one of the greatest men of his age. How true this may be, distant generations are not likely to know. He was the son of a clergyman in Braintree, and was educated al Harvard Col lege, and inherited a very ample fortune from his childless uncle. Hancock left no child. He had a son who died at an early age from an unfortunate accident. Hancock was sent as a delegate to Congress in 1774; and in consequence of his per sonal deportment, and his fame as a patriot, he was elevated, in an assembly of eminent men, to the dignity of President, which office he held when the Declaration of Independence was signed, al which lime he was only thirty-nine years of age. "In June, 1782, Hancock had the appearance of advanced age, though only forty-five. He had been repeatedly and se- 36* 426 APPENDIX. verely afflicted with the gout, a disease much more common in those days than it now is, whUe dyspepsia, if it existed al aU, was not known by that name. .As recoUected, at thjs time, Mr. Hancock was nearly six feet in stature, and of slender person, stooping a little, and apparently enfeebled by disease. His manners were very gracious, of the old style of dignified complaisance. His face had been very handsome. Dress was adapted quite as much to be ornamental as useful. Gentlemen wore wigs when abroad, and, commonly, caps, when at home. Al this lime, (June, 1782,) about noon, Hancock was dressed in a red velvet cap, within which was one of fine linen. The latter was turned up over the lower edge of the velvet one, two or three inches. He wore a blue damask gown, lined with silk ; a white stock, a white satin embroidered waistcoat, black satin smaU-clothes, white silk stockings, and red morocco sUppers. It was a general practice in genteel famiUes, to have a tankard of punch made in the morning, and placed in a cooler when the season required it. Visiters were invited to partake of it. At this visit, Hancock look from the cooler, standing on the hearth, a full tankard, and drank first himself, and then offered it to those present. Hancock was hospitable. There might have been seen at his table, all classes, from grave and dignified clergymen, down to the gifted in song, narration, anecdote, and wit, with whom ' noiseless faUs the fool of Time, that only treads on flowers.' There are more books, more reading, more thinking, and more interchange of thoughts de rived from books and conversation at present, than there were fifty years ago. It is to be hoped that society is wiser and happier than it was, from being better instructed. Some per sons niay be of opinion, that if social inlercourse is on a betier footing now, than formerly, it is less interesting, less cordial than herelofore. Il is not improbable that increase of numbers and of wealth, tend to make the members of society more sel fish ; and to stifle expansive and generous feelings. Modes of life run into matters of show and ornament ; and it becomes a serious occupation, to be able lo compare condition on advan tageous terms. " Though Hancock was very wealthy, he was too much oc- APPENDIX. 427 cupied with public affairs to be advantageously attentive lo his private. The times in which he lived, and the distinguished agency which fell to his lot, from his sincere and ardent devotion to the patriot cause, engendered a strong self-regard. He was said lo be somewhat sensitive, easily offended, and very uneasy in the absence of the high consideration wbich he claimed, rather as a right, than a courtesy. He had strong personal friends, and equally strong personal enemies. From such causes arose some irritating diflfiiculties. He had not only a commanding deportment, which he could qualify with a most attractive amenity, but a fine voice, and a highly graceful manner. These were traits which distinguished him from mosl men, and quali fied him to preside in popular assemblies, with great dignity. He was not supposed to be a man of great intellectual force by nalure ; and his early engagements in political Ufe, and as the scenes in which he was conversant, caUed for the exercise of his powers only in the public service, he was so placed as not to have had occasion to display the force of his mind, in that service, so as. to enable those of the present day to judge of it, excepting in his communications, as Governor of Massachusetts, to the Legislature. " If history has any proper concern with the individual qualities of Hancock, il may be doubtful whether, in these re spects, distant generations will know exactly what manner of man he was. But, as a, public man, his country is greatly in debted to him. He was most faithfuUy devoted to her cause, and il is a high eulogy on his patriotism, that when the British Government offered pardon to all the rebels, for all their offences, Hancock and Samuel Adams were the only persons to whom this grace was denied." — Ed. 428 APPENDIX. E. PAGE 99. REVEREND JACOB DUCHE. Extract from a letter from General Washington to the Presi dent of Congress, dated 16lh October, 1777: — "I yesterday,, through the hands of Mrs. Ferguson, pf Graham Park, received a letter of a very curious and extraor dinary nature from Mr. Duch^, which I have thought proper to transmit to Congress. To this ridiculous, illiberal performancCj I made a short reply, by desiring the bearer of it, if she should, hereafter, by any accident, meet with Mr. Duch^, to,teU him I should have returned it unopened, if I had had any idea of the contents ; observing at the same time, that I highly disapproved the intercourse she seemed to have been carrying on, and expected it would be discontinued. Nolwilhstanding the author's assertion, Icannot but suspect that the measure did not originate with him ; and that he was induced to il by the hope of establishing his interest and peace more effectually with the enemy." " Mr. Duche had married a sister of Mt. Francis Hopkinson, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, who, •when Duchy's letter was writlen, was at Bordentown, as a member of the Continental Navy Board. A copy was for warded lo Mr. Hopkinson, and he wrpte a letter to Mr. Duch6 on the subject, wbich he enclosed to General Washingfon, that il might be transmitted to him in PhUadelphia through the regular conveyance of a flag."* * Sparks' Life and Writings of Washington. — Eo. APPENDIX. 429 The Editor of these Memoirs is indebted to a friend for a MS. copy of the celebrated letter of the Reverend Mr. Duch^ to General Washington, with corrections to conform to the copy revised and pubUshed by Mr. Duche himself, in the Penn sylvania Ledger of the 17th December, 1777. It is as foUows : MR. DUCHE TO GENERAL WASHINGTON. "Philadelphia, October 8, 1777. " Sm, " If this letter should find you in councU or in the field, before you read another sentence, I beg you to take the first oppor tunity of retiring, and weighing well its imporlant contents. " You are perfectly acquainted with the part I have taken in the present unhappy contest. I was indeed among the first to bear my public testimony .against having any recourse to threats, or even indulging a thought of an armed opposilion. The torrent soon became too strong for my feeble efforts to resist. I wished to follow my countrymen, as far only, as virtue and the righteousness of theii' cause would permit me. I was, however, prevailed upon, among the rest of my clerical brethren, to gratify the pressing desire of my fellow-cilizejis, by preaching a s'ermon to one of the city battalions. I was pressed to pubUsh this ser mon, and reluctantly consented. From a personal attachment of near twenty years' slanding, and a high respect for your character, in private as well as in public life, I took the liberly of dedicating it to you. I had your affectionate thanks for my performance, in a letter wherein you express, in the most deli cate and obliging terms, your regard for me, and your wishes 6f a continuance of my friendship and approbation of your conduct. "Farther than this I intended not to proceed. My sermon speaks for itself, and utterly disclaims the idea of independency. My sentiments were weU known to my friends. I communicated them without reserve, to many respectable members of Con gress, who expressed a warm approbation of them. I persisted to the very last moment in using the Prayers for my Sovereign 430 APPENDIX. and Royal Family, though threatened with insult from the vio lence of a parly. " Upon the Declaration of Independency I caUed my vestry and solemnly put the question to them, whether they thought it best, for the peace and welfare of the congregations, to shut up the churches, or to continue the service without using the prayers for the royal fainily. This was the sad alternative. I concluded to abide by their decision, as I could not have lime to consult my spiritual superiors in England. They determined it most expedient, under such critical circumstances, to keep op^n the - churches, that the congregations might not be dis persed, which we had great reason to apprehend. " A very few days afler tbe fatal Declaration of Independence, I received a letter from Mr. Hancock, sent by express to Ger mantown, where my family were for the summer season, ac quainting me that I was appointed Chaplain to the Congress, and desired to attend them at nine o'clock the next morning. Surprised and distressed by an event I was not prepared to ex pect — obliged to give an immediate answer, without the oppor tunity of consulting my friends, I rashly accepted the appoint ment. .. I could have but one motive for taking this step. I thought the churches in danger, and hoped by these means fo have been instrumental in preventing those iUs I had so much reason to apprehend. I can, however, wilh truth declare, that I then looked upon independency rather as an expedient, and a . hazardous one indeed, thrown out in terrorem, in order to pro cure some favourable terms, than a measure that was to be seriously persisted in al all events. My sudden change of con ducl wiU clearly evince this to have been my idea of the matier. " Upon the return of the Committee of Congress, appointed lo confer wilh Lord Howe, I soon discovered their real intentions. The different accounts which each member of the committee gave of this conference, the tirae they took to make up the matier for public view, and the amazing disagreement betwixt the newspaper accounts and the relation I myself had from the mouth of one of the committee, convinced me that there must have been some unfair and ungenerous procedure. Their de termination to treat on no other ground than that of indepen- APPENDIX. 431 dency, which put it out of his lordship's power to mention any terms at all, was a suflScient proof to me that independency was the idol they had long wished to set up, and that . rather than sacrifice this, they would deluge this country in blood. " From this moment I determined upon my resignation, and in the beginning of October, 1776, sent il in form to Mr. Han cock, after having officiated only two months and three weeks ; and from that time, as far as my safely would permit, I have been opposed to all their measures. This circumstantial account of my conduct, I think due lo the friendship you were so oblig ing as to express for me, and I hope will be sufficient to justify any seeming inconsistencies in the part I have acted. " And now, dear Sir, suffer me in the language of truth and real affection to address myself to you. AU the world must be convinced that you are engaged in the service of your country from motives perfectly disinterested. You risked every thing that was dear to you. You abandoned aU those sweets of do mestic life of which your affluent fortune gave you the uninter rupted enjoyment. But had you 1 could you have had the least idea of matters being carried to such a dangerous extremity as they are now'? Your mosl intimate friends at that time shud dered at the thoughts of a separation from the mother country ; and I took it for granted that your sentiments coincided wilh theirs. Whal bave been the consequences of this rash and violent measure ? A degeneracy of representation— confusion of counsels — blunders without number. The most respectable characters have withdrawn themselves, and are succeeded by a great majority of iUiberal and violent men. " Take an impartial view of the present Congress, and what can you expect from them 1 Your feelings must be greatly hurt Jay the representation from your native province. You have no longer a Randolph, a Bland, or a Braxton ; men whose names wiU ever be revered, whose demands never arose above the first ground on which they set out, and whose truly generous and viriuous sentiments I have frequently heard with rapture from their own lips. O my dear Sir, what a sad contrast! Characters now present themselves whose minds can never mingle with your own. Your Harrison alone remains, and he 432 APPENDIX. disgusted with his unworthy associates. As to those of my own province, some of them are so obscure that their very names never met my ears before, and others have only been dis tinguished for the weakness of their understandings and the vio lence of their tempers. One alone I except from the general charge. A man of virtue dragged reluctantly into their mea sures, and restrained by some false ideas of honour from re tracting, after having gone too far. You cannot be at a loss lo discover whose name answers to this character.' " From the New England Provinces can you find one that as a gentleman you could wish to associate with? unless the soft and mUd address of Mr. Hancock can atone for his want of every other qualification necessary for the stalion he fills. Bankrupts, attorneys, and men of desperate fortunes are his colleagues. "Maryland no longer sends a Tilghman and a Protestant Carroll. CaroUna has lost ils Lynch, and the ejder Middleton has retired. " Are the dregs of a Congress then slill lo influence a mind like yours? These are not the men you engaged to serve. These are not the men that America has chosen to represent her now. Mosl of them were elected by a little low faction, and the few gentiemen that are among them, now weU known to be upon the balance, and looking up to your hand alone lo move the beam. 'Tis you, Sir, and you alone that supports the present Congress. Of this you must be fully sensible. Long before they left Philadelphia, their dignity and consequence was gone. What must it be now, since their precipitate re treat ? I write with freedom, but vvithout invective. I know these things to be true. I write to one whose own observation musl have convinced him that they are so. " After this view of Congress, turn to your army. The whole world knows that ils very existence depends upon you, that your death or captivity disperses it in a moment, and that there is not a man on that side of the question in America, capable of succeeding you. As to the army itself, what have you to expect from them? Have they not frequently abandoned even yourself in the hour of extremity ? Have you, can you have, APPENDIX. 433 tiie least confidence in a set of undiscipUned men and officers, many of whom have been taken from the lowest of the people, wUhout principle and without courage. Take away those that surround your person, how few are there that you can ask lo sit at your table ? " Turn to your little navy— of that liltle, what is lefi ? Of the Delaware fleet, part are taken, the rest must soon surrender. Of those in the other Provinces, some taken, one or two at sea, and oihers lying unmanned and unrigged in their harbours. "And now where are your resources? 0, my dear Sir! how sadly have you been abused by a faction void of truth and vbid of tenderness to you and your country ! They have amused you whh hopes of a declaration of war on the part of France. Be lieve me from the best authority, it was a fictio'n from the first. Early in the year 1776, a French gentieman was introduced to me, with whom I became intimately acquainted. His business, to aU appearance, was to speculate in the mercantile way. But I believe it wiU be known that in his own country he moved in a higher sphere. He saw your camp. He became acquainted with aU your military preparations. He was introduced to Congress, and engaged with them in a mercantile contract. In the course of our intimacy he has frequently told me he hoped the Americans never.would think of independency. He gave me his reasons : ' Independency,' said he, ' can never be supported unless France should declare war against England. I well know the state of her finances ; years to come wUl not put them in a situation to venture upon a breach with England. At this moment there are two parties in the Court of VersaUles, one enlisted under the Due de Choiseul, the other under Count Maurepas. Choiseul has no chance of succeeding. He is violent for war. Maurepas must get the better. He is for economy and peace.' This was his information which I men tioned to several members of Congress. They treated it as a fable, depending entirely on Dr. Franklin's intelUgence. The truth of the matter is this : Dr. FrankUn built upon the success of Choiseul. Upon his arrival in France, he found him out of place, his counsels reprobated, and his party dwindled to an insignificant faction. This you may depend upon to be the 37 434 APPENDIX. true state of the Court of France. And further, by vast numbers of letters found on board prices la,ken by the King's ships, il appears that aU commerce with the merchants of Prance, through whom alone your supplies have been con veyed, will soon be at an end, the letters being full of complaints of no remittances from America, and niany individuals having greatly suffered. " From your friends in England, you have nothing to expect Their numbers are diminished to a cipher. The spirit of the whole nation is in fuU activity against you. A few sounding names among the nobUity, though perpetuaUy rung in your ears, are said to be without character, wiihout influence. Disappointed ambition, I am told, has made them desperate, and they only wish to make the deluded Americans instruments of their rei|p'^e. AU orders and ranks of men in Great Britain, are now unani mous, and determined to risk their all on the contest. Trade and manufactures are found to flourish; and new channels are continually opening, that wiU, perhaps, more than supply the old. In a word, your harbours are blocked up, your cities faU one after another, fortress after fortress, battle after battle is lost. A British army, after having passed almost unmolested through a vast extent of country, have possessed themselves with ease of the Capital of America. How unequal the contest now ! How fruitless the expense of blood ! "Under so many discouraging circumstances, can virtue, can honour, can the love of your country prompt you to persevere. Humanity itself (and sure I am humanity is no stranger to your breast) calls upon you to desist. Your army must perish for want of common necessaries, or thousands of innocent families must perish to support them. Wherever they encamp Ihe country must be impoverished. Wherever they march the troops of Britain will pursue, and must complete the devastation which America herself has begun. "Perhaps it may be said that ' it is belter lo die than to be slaves.' This, indeed, is a splendid maxim in theory; and, perhaps, in some instances, may be found experimentally true. But where there is the least probability of an happy accommo dation, surely wisdom and humanity caU for some sacrifices to APPENDIX. 435 be made to prevent inevitable destruction. You well know that there is but one invincible bar to such an accommodation ; could this be removed other obstacles might readily be over come. 'Tis to you, and you alone, your bleeding country looks, and caUs aloud for this sacrifice. Your arm alone has strength sufficient to remove this bar. May Heaven inspire you with the glorious resolution of exerting this strength at so interesting a crisis, and thus immortalizing yourself as friend ^nd guardian of your country. " Your penetrating eye needs not more explicU language to discern my meaning. With that prudence and delicacy, there fore, of which I know you to be possessed, represent to Con gress the indispensable necessity of rescinding the hasty and ill-advised Declaration of Independency. Recommend, and you have an undoubted right to recommend, an immediaie cessation of hostilities. Let the controversy be taken up where that Declaration left it, and where Lord Howe certainly ex pected to find il. Let men of clear and impartial characters, in or out of Congress, liberal in their sentiments, heretofore independent in their fortunes (and some such may surely be found in America), be .appointed to confer with His Majesty's Commissioners. Let them, if they please, prepare some well- digested constitutional plan, to lay before them as the com mencement of a negotiation. When they have gone thus far, I am confident that the mosl happy consequenfces wiU ensue. Unanimity -will immedialely take place through the different Provinces. Thousands who are now ardently wishing and praying for such a measure, wUl step forth and declare them selves the zealous advocates of constitutional liberly, and mil lions wUl bless the Hero that left the field of war to decide this most imporlant contest with the weapons of wisdom and humanity. "0 ! Sir, let no false ideas of worldly honour deter you from engaging in so glorious a task. Whatever censures may be thrown out by mean and illiberal minds, your character wUl rise in the estimation of the viriuous and noble ; it will appear wilh lustre in the annals of History, and form a glorious con trast lo that of those who have sought to obtain conquests and 436 APPENDIX. gratify their own ambition by the destriietion of their species and the ruin of their country. " Be assured, Sir, that I write not this under the eye of any British officer, or person connected with the British army or ministry. The sentiments I express are the real sentiments of my own heart ; such as I have long held, and which I should haye made known to you by letter before, had I not fully ex pected an opportunity of a private conference. When you passed through PhUadelphia on your way to WUmington, I was confined by a severe fit of the gravel to my chamber. I have since cpntiiiued so much indisposed, and times have been so very distressing, that I had neither spirit to write a letter, nor oppor tunity to convey it when written. Nor do I yet know by what means I shaU gel these sheets to^your hand. " I would fain hope that I have said nothing by which your delicacy can be in the least hurt. If I have, I assure you, il has been withoui the least intention ; and, therefore, your can dour will lead you to forgive me. I have spoken freely of Congress and of the Army. But whal I bave said, is partly from my own knowledge, and partly from the information of some respectable members of the former, and some of the best officers in the . latter. I would not offend the meanest person upon earth. What I say to you I say in confidence, and to answer whal I cannot bul deem a most valuable purpose. I love my country. I love yoju. Bul to the love of truth, the love of peace, and the love of God, I hope I should be enabled, if called to the trial, lo sacrifice every other inferior love. " If the arguments made use of in this letter, shduld have so much influence as to engage you in the glorious work which I have so warmly recommended, I shall ever deem my success as the highest temporal favour that Providence could grant me. Your interposition and advice I am confident would meet wilh a favourable reception from the authority under which you act. Ifil should not, you have an infallible resource still left. Nego tiate for America al the head of your Army. " After all it may appear presumption in an individual to ad dress himself to you on a subject of such magnitude, or to say what measures would best secure the interest and welfare of a APPENDIX. 4317 whole continent. The friendly and favourable opinion you have always expressed for me, emboldened me to undertake il, and (which has greatly added to the weight of this motive) I have been strongly impressed with a sense of duly upon the occa sion, which left my conscience uneasy and my heart afflicted tiU I had fully discharged U. I am no enthusiast. The case is new and singular to me. But I could not enjoy a moment's peace, lill this letter was written. With the mosl ardent prayers for your spiritual as well as temporal welfare, I am. Your most obedient and Sincere friend and servant, (Signed) Jacob Duche. His Excellency Gen. Washington. general WASHINGTON TO FRANCIS HOPKINSON.* "Head Quarters, 21 November, 1777. " SlE, " I am favoured with yours of the 14th instant, enclosing a letter for the Reverend Mr. Duche. I will endeavour to for ward it to him, but I imagine it will never be permitted to reach his hands. I confess to you, that I was not more sur prised than concerned at receiving so extraordinary a letter from Mr. Duch^, of whom I had entertained the most favour able opinion, and I am still wUling to suppose, that il was rather dictated by his fears than by his real sentiments ; but I very much doubt whether the great numbers of respectable charac ters, in the State and Army, on whom he has bestowed the most unprovoked and unmerited abuse, wiU ever attribute il to the same cause, or forgive the man who has artfully endeavoured to engage me to sacrifice them to purchase roy own safety. " I never intended to make the letter more public, than by » Sparktf Life and Writings of Washington.— Ed. 37* 438 APPENDIX. laying it before Congress. I thought this a duty, which I owed to myself; for, had any accident happened to the army entrusted to my conimand, and had it ever afterwards appeared, that such a letter had , been writlen to and received by me, might it not have been said, that I had betrayed my country ? And would not such a correspondence, if kept a secret, have given good grounds for ll^e suspicion ? I thank you for the favourable sentiments which you are pleased to express of me, and I hope no act of mine wiU ever induce you lo aller them. I am, &c. " George Washington." FRANCIS HOPKINSON TO JACOB DUCHE.* " Bordentown, 14th November, 1777. " Dear Brother, " A letter signed with your name, dated at Philadelphia, on the 8th of October, and addressed to his Excellency General Washington, is handed about the. country. Many copies are taken, and I doubt not but it will soon get into the press, and become public throughout the continent. Words cannot express the grief and consternation that woundqd my soul at the sight of this fatal performance. Whal infatuation could influence you lo offer to his Excellency an address, filled with, gross misrepre sentation, iUiberal abuse, and sentiments unworthy of a man of character? You have endeavoured lo screen your own weak nesses by the mosl artful glosses, and lo apologize to the General for the instability of your temper, in a manner that I am sure cannot be satisfactory to your own conscience. " I could go through this extraordinary letter, and point out to you truth distorted in every leading part. But the worid wiU doubtiess do this with a severity that must, be daggers to the sensibilities of your heart. Read that letter over again, and if possible divest yourself of the fears and influence, whatever they were, that induced you lo pen il. Consider ils contents with an impartial eye, and, reflect on the ideas it wiU nalurally * Sparks' Life and Writings of Washington.— Fn. APPENDIX. 439 raise in the minds of the multUude. You wiU then find, that by a vain and weak effort you have attempted the integrity of one whose virtue is impregnable lo the assaults of fear or flattery, whose judgment needed not your information, and who, I am sure, would have resigned his charge the moment he found it likely lo lead him out of the paths of virtue and honour. You wUl find that you have drawn upon you the resentment of Con gress, the resentment of the army, the resentment of many worthy and noble characters in England, whom you know not, and the resentment of your insulted country. You have ven tured to assert many things at large of the affairs of England, France, and America, which are far from being true, and which, from your contracted knowledge in these matters, il is impossible for you to be acquainted with. In the whole of your letter, you have never once recommended yourself to those, whose favour you seem desirous of obtaining, by expatiating on the justice or humanity of their conducl, and al the same time have said every thing that can render you odious to those, on whom the happiness of your future life must depend. " You presumptuously advise our worthy. General, on whom miUions depend with implicit confidence, to abandon their dear est hopeSj and with or wiihout the consent of his constituents lo ' negotiate for 4'>nerica at the head of his army.' Would not the blood ofthe slain in battle rise against such perfidy? And with whom would you have him negotiate? Are they not those, who, without the sanction of anjf civil, moral, or religious right, have come three thousand miles to destroy our peace and property, lo lay waste your native country with fire and sword, and cruelly murder its inhabitants ? Look for their justice and honour in their several proclamations, and look for their huma nity in the jails of New York and Philadelphia, and in your own Potter's Field. The wholfe force of the reasoning con tained in your letter tends to this point : that virtue and honour require us to stand by truth, as long as it can be done with safety, but that her cause may be abandoned on the approach of danger ; or, in other words, that the justice of the American cause ought to be squared by the success of her arms. " On the whole, I find it impossible lo reconcile the matter and 440 APPENDIX.- slyle of this letter wUh your general conduct, or with the virlul& of your heart. I would fain hope, notwithstanding your asser tion to the contrary, that you wrote it with a bayonet held to your breast, by order of the- unprincipled usurpers of your native city. But my chief motive for writing to you at this lime is to assure you, that I firmly beUeve that our just defensive war wUl be crowned with success, and that we shaU ere long return to our habitations in Philadelphia. I would, therefore, most earnestiy warn you to evade the dismal consequences of your ill-judged address to our beloved General. Do aU you can to ¦wipe off, if possible, ils unhappy effects. I tremble for you, for my good sister, and her little family. I tremble for your per sonal safely. Be assured I write this from true brotherly love. Our intimacy has been of a long duration, even from our early youth ; long and uninterrupted, withoui even a rub in the way ; and so long have the sweetness of your manners, and the inte grity of your heart, fixed my affections. " I am perfectiy disposed to attribute this unfortunate step to the timidity of your temper, the weakness of your nerves, and the undue influence of those about you. Bul will the world hold you so excused ? WiU the individuals you haye so freely censured and characterized with contempt have this tenderness for you? I fear not. They wUl only judge of your conduct by its rashness, and proportion their resentment to their sensibility .of the wounds you have given. I pray God lo inspire you with some means of extricaling yourself from this embarrassing diffi culty. For my own part, I have well considered the principles on which I took part with my country, and am determined to abide by them to the last extremity. I beg -my love lo my good mother, and my affectionate sisters. I often think of them with greal pain and anxiety, lest they should suffer from the want of those necessary supplies, that are now cut off. May God pre serve them and you in this lime of trial. I am, &c. " Francis Hopkinson." appendix. 441 jacob duche to general washington.* "Asylum, Lambeth, 2 April, 1783. « Sir,— " WiU your Excellency' condescend to accept of a few Unes from one, who ever was and wishes stiU lo be your sincere friend, who never intentionally sought lo give you a moment's pain, who entertains for you the highest personal respect, and would be happy to be assured under your own hand, that he does not labour under your displeasure, but that you freely for give whal a weak judgment, but a very affectionate heart, once presumed to advise? Many circumstances, at presenl unknown to you, conspired to make me deem it my duly lo write lo you. Ignorance and simplicity saw not the necessity of your divulg ing the letter. I am convinced, however, that you could not, in your public stalion, do otherwise. I cannot say a word in vin dication of my conduct but tbis, that I had been for months before distressed with continual apprehensions for you and aU my friends wiihout the British lines. I looked upon all as gone ; or that nothing could save you, but rescinding the Declaration oflndependency. Upon this ground alone I presumed lo speak ; not to advise an act of base treachery, my soul would have re coiled from the thought; not to surrender your army, orjjetray the righteous cause of your country, but, al the head of that army, supporting and supported by them, to negotiate with Briiain for our constitutional rights. " Can you then join wUh my country in pardoning this error of judgment? WiU you yet honour me wilh your great interest and influence, by recommending, at least expressing your appro bation of the repeal of an act, that keeps me in a state of banish ment from my native country, from the arms of a dear aged father, and the embraces of a numerous circle of valuable and long-loved friends ? Your liberal, generous mind, I am per suaded, will never exclude me wholly from your regard for a mere poUtical error; especially, as you must have heard, that, since the date of that letter, I have led a Ufe of perfect retirement, * Sparks' Life and Writings of Washington.— Ed. 442 APPENDIX. and since my arrival in England have devoted myself wholly to the duties of my profession, and confined my acquaintance to a happy circle of literary and religious friends. " I have writlen lo my faiher and to many of my friends largely on this subject, requesting them lo make such application to the Slate of Pennsylvania in my behalf, as may be judged necessary and expedient. Should this application be honoured , with success, I know of nothing that would more effectually satisfy my desires in a matter of such importance to myself and my family, as a line or two from your Excellency, expres sive of your approbation of my return. Temporal emoluments are not wanting to induce me to remain for life on this side of the Atlantic. I have been most hospitably received arid kindly treated by all ranks of people, and I should be ungrateful not lo acknowledge in the strongest terms my obligations to those who have placed me in the easy and comfortable situation I now enjoy. It is not necessity, therefore, but unalterable affection lo my naiive countiy, that urges me lo seek a return. Wilh every good wish and prayer for your best felicity, and my most hearty congratulations on the happy event of peace, I have the' honour to be your Excellency's most obedient and humble servant, "Jacob Duche.'' • general washington to jacob duche. "Head Quarters, 10 August, 1783. " Sir, " I have received your letter ofthe 2d of April, and, reflecting on its contents, I cannot but say that I am heartily sorry for the occasion which has produced it. Personal enmity I bear none to any man. So far, therefore, as your return to this country depends on my private voice, it would be given in favour of il with cheerfulness. But, removed as I am from the people and policy of the Stale in which you formerly resided, and lo whose determination your case must be submitted, it is my duly, what ever may be my inclination, to leave its decision lo its constitu tional judges. Should this be agreeable to your wishes, it can not faU to meet my entire approbation. I am, &c. " George Washington." APPENDIX. 443 The laws of Pennsylvania, excluding the refugees from that State, were not repealed till afler the adoption of the Constitu tion of the United Stales. Mr. Duch6 returned to Philadelphia in the year 1790, much broken in health, having suffered a paralytic affection. He died in 1794, being then, about sixty years of age.* — Ed. F. PAGE 117. JOSEPH GALLOWAY. , The seventh volume of Sparks' edition of the works of Franklin contains, in a note, the following biographical notice of Mr. GaUoway, from the pen of Mr. J. Francis Fisher, of Philadelphia : — " Joseph Galloway, son of Peter GaUoway, was born in the neighbourhood. of West River, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, about the year 1730. As his family was respectable and of good fortune, his education was probably the best that could be obtained in the middle colonies. He came early in life lo PhUadelphia, where he commenced the practice of the law, in which he attained eminence. In the year 1757, he was elected to the Assembly for the County of Philadelphia, and immedialely took a prominent stand in that body, being a member of most of the committees, and conslantiy employed in public duties, as we find, in the votes, by his compensation for extra services. The next year he was chairman of the committee on grievances, and managed the prosecution of Dr. Smith and Mr. Moore for a libel on the Assembly. In subsequent years he held the same place ; and his Report, in 1764, on the slate and grievances of the province, was the occasion of his weU-known speech pub- * Sparks' Life and Writings of Washington. — Ed. 444 APPENDIX. Ushed with Dr. Franklin's Preface, in answer to one of the celebrated John Dickinson. " He sided with Dr. FrankUn in opposition to the Proprietary interest, and urged the resumption of the Governmeni by the Crown. And though, on this account in 1764 he lost his elec tion in the county, he was, the next year, returned a member, and was chosen Speaker of the Assembly, lo which office he was successively re-elected till the year 1774. "In 1757 he was one of the agents of Pennsylvania al the treaty with the Indians at Easton. In the next year, as one of the commissioners under the act for granting one hundred thou sand pounds, he entered into a controversy with the Governor, which may be seen al length in the votes, and- Gordon's History. What were his powers as a speaker tradition does not say, bul he led the popular party in all their attacks upon the Proprietary interest ; and was so highly esteemed by them, that they dele gated him as a member of the General Congress, which met al PhUadelphia, in 1774. Whether he look an active part in their proceedings does not appear. His name is signed lo the de clarations and resolutions ; but he seems to have soon abandoned the Revolutionary cause, under the influence of his loyal princi ples or his sordid fears. " Afler the British tl"oops had penetrated into New Jersey, in 1776, on their then intended march to Philadelphia, he was among those who joined the army, previous to the capture of the Hessians at Trenton. He afterwards accompanied them on their route by the way of Chesapeake Bay, and with them entered the city of Philadelphia, in the latter end of September, 1777. Here he was an active agent under Sir WUliam Howe, the Commander-in-chief of the British forces in America. On the evacuation of Philadelphia, in June, 1778, he went to New York, where he remained some months, and thence sailed for England, accompanied by his only daughter, abandoning (according to his own account) an estate of the value of forty thousand pounds, which had been confiscated by the Government of Pennsylvania in pursuance of his proscription and attainder. But the larger part of this estate, which he held by courtesy, being the in heritance of his wife, the daughter of Lawrence Growdon of APPENDIX. 445 Bucks County, (for a long time Speaker of the Provincial Assembly,) was restored to their daughter. Il is called Trevose, and is slill owned by his descendants, having continued in the family since the settlement of Pennsylvania. " On his arrival in England, GaUoway was examined before the House of Commons on the transactions in America, and his representations, which are in print, did not reflect much credit on the British Commanders. He published, in 1779, a pamphlet, entitled, Letters to a Noblenian on the conduct of the war in the Middle Colonies, in which, notwithstanding his attachments, he discloses and reprehends the conduct of the British troops, especially in New Jersey. He also pubUshed 'A Letter to Lord Howe,' ' A Reply to the Observations of General Howe,' ' Cool Thoughts on the Consequences of American Indepen dence,' ' Candid Examination of the Claims of Great Britain and her Colonies,' ' Reflections on the American RebeUion in 1780,' and some olher pamphlets. He was, it is believed, a pensioner of the British Government, and he resided in Eng land lill the time of his decease, in 1803." During the controversy between the friends and opponents ofthe Prbprietary interests, Galloway and Dickinson look each an active part. " Each pubUshed a speech which he had de- hveted in the Legislative Assembly ; and it was remarkable that the introduction to each (one written by Dr. FrankUn, who opposed the Proprietary interest, and the other by Dr. Smith the , coadjutor of Dickinson,) were al the lime raore adraired than the original corapositions." — Watson. — Ed. G. PAGE 119. JOHN DICKINSON. John Dickinson was a native of Maryland, where he was born in 1732. His parents soon afterwards ' removed to Delaware, 38 446 APPENDIX. where they educated theU son. He read law in PhUadelphia, and, in the farther prosecution of his legal studies, in the Temple a-t London. Upon his return to Philadelphia, he commenced the successful, practice of his profession, and was early elected to the Legislature of Pennsylvania, in which body his aptitude as a speaker and general tact gave him considerable influence. " The election of members of legislature, in the autumn of 1764, was," says Sparks, "sharply contested. It turned dn the question of a change of government. The proprietary party, having much at stake, redoubled their efforts; and, in the city of PhUadelphia, and some of the counties, they were successful. Franklin, after having been chosen fourteen years successively, now lost his election, there being against him a majority of about twenty-five votes in four thousand. But, after all, it was an empty triumph. When the members convened, there were two to one in favour of the measures of the last Assembly, and they resolved to carry these measures into 'effect. Being determined to pursue their object with all the force they could bring to bear upon it, they appomted Dr. Franklin as a special agent to pro ceed to the Court of Great Britain, and there to fake charge of the petition for a change of government^ and to manage the gene ral affairs of the province.. This appointment was ,a surprise upon the proprietary party. They had imagined, that, by defeat ing his election, they had rid themselves of an active and trouble some opponent in the Assembly, and weakened his. influence abroad. When it was proposed, therefore, to raise him to. a situa tion, in which he could more effectually than ever serve the same cause, the agitation of the House, and the <;lamour out of doors was extreme. His adversaries testified their chagrin by the means they used to prevent his appointment. John Dickinson, while he could not refrain from eulogizing him as a man, inveighed stre nuously against his political principles and conduct ; at the same time exhibiting syriiptoms of alarm, that would seem almost lu dicrous, if it were not known what power there is in the spirit of party to distort truth and pervert the judgment. > ' The gentiehian proposed,' he says, in a speech to the House, 'has been called here, to-day, a great luminary of the learned world. Far be it from me to detract from the merit I admire. Let him still shine. APPENDIX. , 447 but without wrapping his country in flariies. Let him, from a private station, from a smaller sphere, diffuse, as, I think, he may, a beneficial light ; but let him not' be made to move and blaze like a comet, to terrify and distress.' When," continues Sparks, " the second Congress assembled, the relations between the Colo nies and Great Britain had assumed a new character. The blood of American freemen had been shed on their own soil by a wanton exercise of military power. This rash act dissolved the charm, which had hitherto bound the affections of many a conscientious American to the British Crown, under the long revered name of floyalty. The hour of trial had come. After an animated debate, which continued for several days, it was declared that hostilities had commenced, on the part of Great Britain, with the design of enforcing ' the unconstitutional and oppressive acts of Parliament ;' and it was then resolved, with great unanimity, that the Colonies should be immediately put in a state of defence. This was all that the most ardent friends of liberty desired ; the more mode rate party, at the head of which was Dickinson, urged that they never had anticipated resistance by force, but had always confided so much in the justice of the British government, as to believe that they would come to a reasonable compromise. Another op portunity ought to be offered, and they were strenuous for sending a petUion to the king.' Its most zealous advocate was John Dickinson, by whom it was drafted. It has been said, indeed, that this token of humUity was yielded mainly to gr'atffy his wishes. The uprightness of his character, his singleness of heart, and tiie great services he had rendered to his country by his talents and his pen, claimed for him especial consideration. The tone and language of the petition were sufficientiy submissive, and it stands in remarkable contrast in the Journals, with other papers, and the resolves for wariike preparations. Mr. Jefferson teUs us, that Mr. Dickinson was so much pleased when U was adopted, that he could not forbear to express his satisfaction by saying: 'There is but one word, Mr. President, in the paper, which I disapprove, - and that word is Congress.' Whereupon Mr. Harrison, of Virginia, rose and said : ' There is but one word m the paper, Mr. President, which I approve, and tiiat word is Congress.' " 448 , APPENDIX. Mr. Dickinson's first pubUcation against the English govern ment appeared in 1765. In this year he was appointed a diele- gate-to the Congress held at New York. In 1767, he issued, at PhUadelphia, his celebrated "Farmer's Letters," a production " which had great influ'ence in enlightening the minds of the American people, on the subject of their rights." They were WTitten with his distinguished ability^ against the revenue laws, and were widely popular with all classes of 'readers in this coun try, for their research, vigour and perspicuity of their style. At the time of their publication in the United States, Dr. Franklin, in the discharge qf public duties, was in London, where he caused their re-publication, accompanied by a commendatory preface from his own pen. "Besides," says Sparks, "the patriotic motive for this re-publication, it afforded him an opportunity of showing that the extreme warmth with which Mr. Dickinson had opposed his appointment in the Pennsylvania Assembly had not produced, on his part, any diminution of ^personal- regard." These " Letters " were translated into French and published at Paris. At length, the great question of National Independence iDecame the engrossing topic in "newspapers, pamphlets, at public meet ings, as well as in private circles. It was evident that adarge majority of the nation was prepared for that measure. Among the doubters was the virtuous, the patriotic, the able, but irresolute John Dickinson.*' His opposition to the Declaration rendering him unpopular, " he withdrew from the public councils, and did not recover his seat in Congress untU about two years afterwards. He then returned earnest in the cause of Independence. He was ' subsequently President (Governor) of Pennsylvania and Dela ware successively, and died at WUmington, in February, 1808." Ed, APPENDIX. 449 H. PAGE 144. GENERAL WASHINGTON TO PRESIDENT REED. "Head Quarters, Passaic Falls, 18lh October, 1780." "Dear Sik, " By your favour of the 3d from Bethlehem,. I perceive my letter of the 1st has not got to your hands; but I have the pleasure to find, that the business you wer^ upon anticipated the purposes of it, and was in a fair way to answer the end.* " Arnold's conduct is so villanously perfidious, that there are no terms which can describe the baseness of his heart. That overruling Providence, which has so often and so remarkably interposed in our favour, never manifested itself more conspicu ously than in the timely discovery of hiis horrid design of sur rendering the post and garrison of West Point into the hands of the enemy. I confine my remark to this single act of perfidy ; for I am far from thinking he intended to hazard a defeat of this important object, by combining another with it, although there were circuinstances which led to a contrary belief The confidence and folly, which have marked the subsequent con^ duct of this man, are of a piece wUh his villany; and all three are perfect in their kind. The interest you take in rny supposed escape, and the manner in whi'ch you speak of it, claim niy thanks as much as if he had really intended to involve my fate with that of the garrison, and I consider it as a fresh instance of your affectionate regard for me. "As I do not r-ecoUect ever to have had any very particular conversation with General Schuyler respecting Arnold,' I should be glad to obtain a copy of the letter in wh'ich you say my. 'opinion and eopfidence in him (Arnold) is conveyed in terms., of affection and approbation.' Some time before or after Ar-. nold's return from Connecticut (the conversation made so Uttle * General Washington had' writlen, requesting President Reed to cause to Le sent forward as expeditiously ag possible a supply of flour to the army. 38* 450 APPENDIX. impression on me, that I know not which,) General Schuyler informed me, that he had received a letter from Arnold, inti- *mating his intention of joining the army, and rendering such services as his leg would permit, adding that he was incapable of aciive service, but could discharge the duties of a stationary command without much inconvenience or uneasiness to his leg. I answered, that, as we had a prospect of an active and vigor ous campaign, I should be glad of General Arnold's aid and as sistance, but saw little prospect of his obtaining such a command as appeared to be the object of his wishes, because it was my intention to draw my whole force into the field, when we were in circumstances to commence our operations against New York, leaving even West Point to the care of invalids, and a small garrison of mUitia ; but if, after this previous declaration, the command of the post, for the reasons he assigned, would be more convenient and agreeable to him than a command in the field, I should readUy indulge him, having had it hinted to me, by a yery respectable character, a member of Congress* (not General Schuyler,) that a measure of this kind would not be unacceptable to the State most immediately interested in the welfare and safety of the post. " This, to the best of my knowledge and recollection, is every syllable that ever passed between General Schuyler and me re specting Arnold, or any of his concerns. The inanner and the matter appeared perfectly uninteresting to both of us at the time. He seemed to have nD other view in communicating the thing, than because he was requested to do it, and my answer, dictated by circumstances, you already have; but how it was communi cated, the letter will show, " That General Schuyler pos.sesses a share of my regard and confidence, I shall readily acknowledge. A pretty long ac quaintance with him, an opinion of his abUities, his intimate knowledge of pur circumstances, his candour as far as I have had opportunities of forming a judgment ofit, added to personal civilities and proofs of a warm friendship, whieh I never had a doubt of, would leaye me without excuse, were I lo withhold these from him. What ascendency he, may haye over the army * Robert R. Livingston^ APPENDIX. 451 is more than I can teU; but I should not be surprised if he stands in a favourable point of view with respect to their esteem. The means he took to acquire a true knowledge of their dis tress whUe he was with them, the representations he made to procure relief, and his evident endeavours to promote the object for which he was appointed, seem lo have made this a natural consequence. I am, dear Sir, &c." — Ed. I. PAGE 232. CAPTURE OF GENERAL CHARLES LEE. The capture of this eccentric officer occurred on the I3th of September, 1776, at Baskingridge, New Jersey. It was effected by a party of British cavalry under Colonel Harcourt. General Wilkinson in his " Memoirs " gives the following interesting ac count of the event : — " General Lee wasted the morning in altercation with certain militia corps who were of his command, particularly the Connec ticut Light Horse, several ofwhorn appeared in large full-bottomed perukes, and were treated very irreverently. The call of the Ad jutant-General for orders also occupied some of his time, and we did not sit down to brealcfast before 10 o'clock. General Lee was engaged in answering a letter from General Gates, and I had risen from the table, and was looking out of an end window, down a lane about one hundred yards in length, which led to the house from the maim road, when I discovered a party of British troops turn the corner of the avenue at full charge. Startied at this unexpectedspectacle, I exclaimed, 'Here, sir, are the British cavalry!' ' Where T exclaimed the General, who had signed tiie letter in the Uistant. 'Around the house;' for fhey had opened files and encompassed the building. General Lee ap peared alarmed, yet coUected, and his second observation marked his self-possession : ' Where is the guard.?— d—n the guard, why 452 APPENDIX. don't they fire P and after a momentary pause, he turned to me and said 'Do, sir, see what has become of the guard!' The women of the house at this moment entered the room, and pro posed to him to conceal himself in a bed, which he rejected with evident disgust. I caught up the pistols which lay on tbe- table, thrust the letter he had been writing into lay pocket, and passed into a room at fhe opposite end of the houscj where- 1 had seen the guard in the morning. Here I discovered their arms, but the men were absent. I stepped out of the door, and perceived the dragoons chasing them in different directions, and receiving a very uncivil salutation, I returned into the house. " Too inexperienced immediately to penetrate the motives of this enterprise, I considered the rencontre accidental, and from the ter rific tales jipread over the country, of the violence and barbarity of the enemy, I believed it to be a WEmton murdering party, and! determined not to die without company. I accordingly sought a position where I could not be approached by more than one per son at a time, and with a pistol in each hand, I awaited the ex pected search, resolved to shoot the first and the second person who might appear, and then to. appeal to my sword. I did not long remain in this unpleasant situation, but was apprised of the object of the incursion, by the very audible declaration, ' If tlie General does not surrender in flve minutes, I will set flre to the house;' which, after a short pause, was repeated with a- soleran oath ; and within two minutes, I heard it proclainied-, ' Here is the General, he has surrendered.' A general. sUout ensued, the trumpet sounded the assembly, and the unfortunate Lee, mounfed on my horse, which stood ready at the door, was hurried off in triumph, bareheaded, in his slippers and blanket-coat, his coUar. open, and his shirt very much soUed from- several day's use. " What a lesson of caution is to be derived from this. event, and how important the admonition furnished by it ! What an evidence ofthe caprice of fortune, ofthe falUbUity of human projects, and the inscrutable way's of Heaven ! The capture of General Lee, was feU as a public calamity; U cast a gloom over the country, and excUed general sorrow. This sympathy was honourable to the people, and due to the stranger who had embarked his for tune with them, and determined to share their fate, under, cir- APPENDIX. 453 cumstances of more than common peril. Although this misfor tune deprived the country of its most experienced chief, I have ever considered the deprivation a public blessing, ministered by the hand ef Providence; for if General Lee had not abandoned caution for convenience, and taken quarters two mUes frora his army, on his exposed flank, he would have been safe ; if a do mestic traitor, who passed his quarters the same morning on private business, had not casually faUen in with Colonel Har court, on a reconnoitring party, the General's quarters would not have been discovered ; if my visit, and the controversy with the Connecticut Light Horse, had not spun out the morning un seasonably, the General would have been at his camp ; if Colonel Harcourt, had arrived one hour sooner, he would have found the guard under arms, and would have been repulsed, or resisted until succour could have arrived ; if he had arrived half an hour later the General would havebeen with his corps; if the guard had paid ordinary attention to their duty, and had not abandoned their arms, the General's quarters would have been defended; or if he had obeyed the peremptory and reiterated orders of General Washington, he would have been beyond the reach of the enemy. And shall we impute to blind chance, such a chain of rare incidents .'' I conscientiously answer in the negative ; be cause the combination was too intricate and perplexed, for acci dental causes, or the agencies of man. It must have been designed. So soon as Lieutenant Colonel Harcourt retreated wilh his prize, I repaired to the stable, mounted the first horse I could find, and rode full speed to General SuUivan, whom I found under march, towards Pluckamin." — Ed. 454 APPENDIX. J. PAGE 238. LETTER TO COLONEL REED, OR COLONEL JOHN CADWALADER, AT BRISTOL. Catnp'above Trenton Falls, 23d December, 1776. Deab. Sir, The bearer is sent down to know whether your plan was attempted last night, and if not to inform you, that Christmas- day at night, one hour before day, is the time fixed upon for our attempt on Trenton. For Heaven's sake, keep this to yourself, as the discovery ' of it may prove fatal to us ; our nurabers, sorry ara I to say, being less than I had any con ception of; but necessity, dire necessity, wiU, nay must, justify an attack. Prepare, and, in concert with Griffin, attack as many of their posts as you possibly can with a prospect of success; the more we can attack at the same instant, the more confusion we shall spread, and the greater good wUl result from it. If I had not been fully convinced before of the enemy's designs, I have now ample testiraony of their inten tions to attack Philadelphia, so soon as the ice will afford the raeans of conveyance. As the colonels of tbe continental regiments might kick up sorae dust about coramand, unless Cadwallader is considered by thera in the light of a brigadier, which I wish hira to be, I desired General Gates, who is unwell, and applied for leave. to go to PhUadelphia, to endeavour, if his health would permit him, tocaU and stay two or three days al Bristol in his way. I shall not be particular; we could not ripen matters for an altack, before the time raentioned in the first part of this letter ; so much out of sorts, and so rauch in want of every thing, are the troops under Sullivan. The letter herewith senl,iforward APPENDIX. 455 on to PhUadelphia; I could wish it to be in lime for the southern post's departure, which wiU be, I believe, by eleven o'clock to-raorrow. I ara, dear Sir, &c. GO. WASHINGTON. P. S. I have ordered our raen to be provided with three days provisions ready cooked, with which, and their blankets, they are lo march ; for if we are successful, which Heaven grant, and the circumstances favour, we raay push on. I shall direct every ferry and ford lo be well guarded, and not a soul suffered to pass without an officer's going down wtth the per mit. Do the same with you. — Ed. K. PAGE 293. WASHINGTON AT BRANDYWINE. Bis.set, in his continuation of Hume and SmoUet, in his ac count of the battie of Brandywine, subjoins the following note of a private letter from Major Ferguson — son of the historian of Rome^to his father, from which, it is inferred, tiiat the life of General Washington was, on that day, in imminent danger, and absolutely in the power of Major Ferguson. While this officer lay with a party of his riflemen on a skirt of a wood in front of General Knyphausen's division, the circum stance happened of which the letter in question gives the follow ing account: — " We had not lain long when a rebel officer remarkable by a Hussar dress, passed towards our army within a hundred yards of my right flank, not perceiving us. He was followed by an other dressed in dark green and blue, mounted on a good bay horse, with a remarkable large high cocked hat. I ordered three 456 APPENDIX. good shots to steal near them and fire at them ; but the idea dis gusted me and I recalled the order." The letter, after some farther particulars not necessary to repeat, states, that U was afterwards collected "from some wounded rebel officers, that *v General Washington was all that morning with fhe Ught troops, . and only attended by a French officer in a Hussar dress, he himself dressed and mounted in every respect as above de- sciibed." In commenting on the above, Mr. Graydon, in a note ap pended lo it, observes, " Whatever truth there may be in this relation, and whoever might have been the. person ip dark green and blue with the remarkable large high cocked l^at,^ no one ac quainted with the style of General Washington's costume diiring the war, or any other time, can suppose itto have been him, who was so generously dealt with by the Major. The General's uni form or military dress was blue and buff, which, it may be very safely averred he never varied, at least to an entire change of colours : neither was he ever seen in a hat of the description given in the letter. It is true, he wore a cocked hat, but, of a moderate size. It might, indeed, have been somewhat larger than those in fashion in America at the beginning of the war, but, it could by no means have answered to the colossal dimen sions given by the Major. The General had too correct a taste in dress, to figure in the bully-like garb of a BobadU or a Pistol; and there was no inducement to such a disguise, being as much in danger in green and blue with a large hat, as in blue and bufi' with a smaU one. Major Ferguson, therefore, might have spared himself the self-gratulation of 'not knowing at the time who if was,' since, if justly described, most assuredly it was not General Washington. " — Ed. appendix. 457 page 320. THE BATTLE OF MONMOUTH. The Editor is indebted lo Mr. Sparks' edition of the " Life and Writings of Washington," forthe following interesting par ticulars concerning General Charles Lee, and the Battle of Monmouth : — " Soon after General Lee rejoined the army al Valley Forge, a curious incident occurred. By an order of Congress, General Washington was required to administer the oath of allegiance to the general officers. The Major-Generals stood around Washington, and look hold of a Bible together, according to the usual custom ; but, just as he began to administer the oath, Lee deliberately withdrew his hand twice. This movement was so singular, and was performed in so odd a manner, that the offi cers smiled, and Washington inquired the meaning of his hesi tancy. Lee replied, ' As lo King George, I am ready enough fo absolve myself frora aU allegiance lo him, but I have some scruples about the Prince of Wales.' The strangeness of this reply was such, that the officers burst into a broad laugh, and even Washington could not refrain from a smile. The ceremony was of course interrupted. Il was renewed as soon as a composure was restored proper for the solemnity of the occa.sion, and Lee took the oath with the olher officers. Con nected with the subsequent conducl of General Lee, this incident was thought by some, who were acquainted wilh il, lo have a deeper meaning than al first appeared, and to indicate a less ardent and fixed patriotism towards the United States, than was consistent with the rank and professions of the second officer in command ofthe American forces. " The army having crossed the Delaware in pursuit of the 39 458 appendix. British retreating frora Philadelphia, a council of war was held at HopeweU, June 24th, in which, afler stating the relative strength and position of the two armies, the Comraander-in- chief proposed the following questions. " ' Will it be advisable for us, of choice, to hazard a general action 1 If it is, should we do it by iraraediately making a general attack upon the enemy,, by attempting a partial one, or by taking such a position, if it can be done, as may oblige them to attack us ? If it is not, what raeasures can be taken, with safety to this array, lo annoy the enemy in their march I In fine, what precise line of conduct will it be advisable for us lo pursue V " hee was strenuously opposed to a general ^action. Being the higbest in rank, and an officer of great experience, the younger officers were much influenced by his arguments and opinions. The council finally decided that a general action was not advisable, but that ' a detachraent of fifteen hundred raen be immediately sent lo .act, as occasion may serve, on the enemy's left flank and, rear, in conjunction with the other Con tinental troops and militia, who are already' hanging about them, and that the main body preserve a relative position, so as to be able to act as circuraslances raay require.' This decision was signed by all the officers except Wayne. It appeared, however, that there was a wide difference of opinion as to the number of men, that ought to be sent against the enemy, although the council ultiraately agreed on fifteen hundred. Lee, Stirling, Woodford, Scott, Knox, and Poor, were for this num ber ; bul Steuben, Duporlail, Wayne, Patterson, Greene, and Lafayette were for twenty-five hundred, or at least two thousand. It was the idea of some of the officers, also, that the detachment ought to attack the enemy, though not lo bring on a general action ; while oihers believed, that nothing more should be done, than lo skirmish with the out-guards, and thus harass the re treating eneray as circumstances would permit. " " After the councU was dissolved, Greene, Lafayette, and Wayne, wrote separately to the Commander-in-chief, explaining more fully their views. They were not for pushing the enemy to a general action at all events ; but they were decidedly of appendix. 459 opinion, that a large detachment should be sent forward lo attack their rear, and that the main army should be drawn into such a position as lo coraraence an engageraent, should the prospects be favourable. These views accorded with those of the Coraraander-in-chief, and he promptly determined to act in conformity wilh them. From General Lee's rank the advanced detachment fell under his comraand, although he was totally opposed to the raeasure adopted. Lafayette went to Washington, rerainded hira of this embarrassment, and offered to take command of the attacking division. Washington said, that such an arrangeraent would be entirely agreeable to hira, bul that il could not be effected without the previous consent of General Lee. When Lafayette applied to Lee, he very readily assented, saying that he disap proved of the plans of the Commander-in-chief, that he was sure they would fail, and that he was wiUing to be relieved from any responsibiUty in carrying them into execution. La fayette immediately took command of his division and marched towards the enemy. Afler reflecting upon the matter, Lee wrote to General Washington as follows. , GENERAL LEE TO GENERAL WASHINGTON. " Camp at Kingston, 25th June, 1778. " Dear General, " When I first assented lo the Marquis de Lafayette's taking the command of the present detachment, I confess I viewed it in a very different light froih that in which I view it al present. I considered it as a more proper business of a young, volun teering general, than of the second in coraraand in the army ; bul Ifind U is considered in a different manner. They say that a corps consisting of six thousand men, the greater part chosen, is undoubtedly the mosl honourable command next to the Com mander-in-chief; that my ceding it would of course have an odd appearance. I must entreat, therefore, after making a thousand apologies for the trouble my rash assent has occa sioned you, that, ff this detachment does march, I may have 460 APPENDIX. the coraraand of it. So far personaUy; bul, to speak as an officer, I do not think that this detachment ought lo march al all, untU at least the head of the enemy's right column has passed Cranberry ; then, if il is necessary to march the whole army, 1 cannot see any impropriety in the Marquis's command ing this detachment, or a greater, as an advanced guard of the army ; but if this detachment, wilh MaxweU's corps, Scott's, Morgan's, and Jackson's, is to be considered as a separate, chosen, active corps, and pul under the Marquis's command until the enemy leave the Jerseys, both myself and Lord Stirling wiU be disgraced. I am, dear General, yours, &c. " Charles Lee." As Washington had already given the comraand to the Marquis, it could not with propriety be withdrawn without his consent. Lee applied to him for the purpose, bul the Marquis said he could not without great reluctance give up the com mand ; that it had been yielded to hirn freely, and he was par ticularly desirous of retaining it. This was on the second day before the battie, and there was a prospect that the enemy would be overtaken during the day. After Lee had urged the point, and appealed to the generosity and raagnanimity of the Marquis, the latter al length agreed that if he did not come up wilh the enemy so as to make an attack that day, he would then resign the command. Lee had already been detached with a smaller division, but was instructed rtot to interfere with the Marquis, if he had concerted any definite plan of attacking the enemy. The day passed over without coming lo an action, and late at night Lafayette wrote a note to Lee resigning the comraand. The result, in regard to General Lee, is well known. The battle look place the next day, in the midst of which Lee retreated, contrary to the expectations of the Commander-in- chief, and in such a manner as lo threaten the mosl serious consequences to the army. He was met by Washington whUe retreating, and was addressed by him in a lone of reprimand and censure, which wounded the pride, of Lee, and gave rise lo the following correspondence. APPENDIX. 461 GENERAL LEI! TO GENERAL WASHINGTON. " Camp, English Town, 1 July [29 June ?], 1778. " Sir, " From the knowledge I have of your Excellency's character, I must conclude that nothing but the misinformation of some very stupid, or misrepresentation of some very wicked person, could have occasioned your making use of so very singular ex pressions as you did on ray coraing up to the ground where you had taken post. They iraplied that I was guilty either of dis obedience of orders, want of conduct, or want of courage. Your Excellency will therefore infinitely oblige me, by letting me know on which of these three articles you ground your charge,, that I may prepare for my justification, which I have the happiness to be confident I can do to the army, lo the Con gress, to America, and to the world in general. Your Excel lency must give me leave to observe, that neither yourself, nor those about your person, could from your situation be in the least judges of the merits or demerits of our manoeuvres ; and, to speak with a becoraing pride, I can assert that lo these manoeuvres the success of the day was entirely owing.f I can boldly say, that had we reraained on the fiirst ground, or had we advanced, or had the retreat been conducted in a manner different from what it was, this whole army and the interests of America would have risked being sacrificed. I ever had, and hope ever shall have, the greatest respeci and veneration for General Washington. I think him endowed with many great and good qualities ; but in this instance I raust pronounce, that he has been guilty of an act of cruel injustice lowards a man, who ceriainly has some pretensions to the regard of every servant of this country. And I think, Sir, I have a right to demand some reparation for the injury commhted ; and, unless I can obtain il, I must, in justice to myself, when this campaign is closed, Mfhich I belieye will close the war, retire from a ser vice at the head of which is placed a man capable of offering such injuries. But at the same time, in justice lo you, I must 39* 462 APPENDIX. repeat that I from my soul believe, that it was not a motion of your own breast, bul instigated by some of those dirty earwigs, who will for ever insinuate themselves near persons in high office ; for I reaUy am convinced, that when General Washing ton acts from himself, no man in his array will have reason lo complain of injustice or indecorum. I am. Sir, and hope I ever shall have reason to continue, your most sincerely devoted humble servant. " Charles Lee." GENERAL WASHINGTON TO GENERAL LEE. " Head-Quarters, English Town, 30 June, 1778. " Sir, "I received your letter (dated through mistake the Isl of July), expressed as I conceive in terms highly improper. I am not conscious of having made use of any very singular expres sions at the time of meeting you, as you intimate. Whal I re collect lo have said was dictated by duty, and warranted by the occasion. As soon as circumstances wUl permit, you shall have an opportunity of justifying yourself to the army, lo Con gress, lo America, and to the world in general, or of convincing thera that you were guilty of a breach of orders, and of misbe haviour before the eneray, on the 28th instant, in not attacking them as you had been directed, and in making an unnecessary, disorderly, and shameful retreat. I am, Sir, your mosl obedient servant. " George Washington." GENERAL ,LEE TO GENERAL WASHINGTON. "Camp 28 [30?] June, 1778'.* "Sir, "I beg your ExceUency's pardon for the inaccuracy in mis- * This letter in the original is dated Jime 28lh, which is evidently a mistake, because that was the day ofthe battle; and moreover it must have been written after the preceding one from General Washington to which it is an answer. Hence both of General Leo's offensive letters were erroneously dated. APPENDIX. 463 dating my letter. You cannot afford me greater pleasure, than in giving me the opportunity of showing to America the suffi ciency of her respective servants. I trust that temporary power of office, and the tinsel dignity attending il, will not be able, by all the mists they can raise, to offuscale the bright rays of truth. In the mean time your Excellency can have no objection lo my retiring from the army. I am, Sir, your mosl obedient humble servant. " Charles Lee',. GENERAL LEE TO GENERAL WASHINGTON. "Camp, 30 June, 1778. « Sir, " Since I had the honour of addressing my letter by Colonel Fitzgerald to your Excellency, I have reflected on both your situation and mine, and beg leave to observe, that it will be for our mutual convenience that a court of inquiry should be irarae diately ordered ; but I could wish that it might be a court- martial ; for, if the affair is drawn into length, it may be diffi cult to collect the necessary evidences, and perhaps might bring on a paper war betwixt the adherents to both parties, which may occasion some disagreeable feuds on the continent ; for all are not my friends, nor all your adrairers. I raust entreat there fore, from your love of justice, that you will immediately ex hibit your charge, and that on the first halt I may be brought to a trial ; and ara, Sir, your most obedient humble servant. " Charles Lee." GENERAL WASHINGTON TO GENERAL LEE. " Head-Quarlers, English Town, 30 June, 1778. " Sir, " Your letter by Colonel Fitzgerald and also one of this date have been duly received. I have sent Colonel ScammeU, the Adjutant-General, to put you in arrest, wbo wiU deUver you a 464 APPENDIX. copy of the charges on which you will be tried. I am, Sir, your most obedient servant. " George Washington." CHARGES AGAINST GENERAL LEE. " First ; Disobedience of orders in not attacking the enemy on the 2Sth of June, agreeably lo repeated instructions. " Secondly ; Misbehaviour before the enemy on the same day, by making an unnecessary, disorderly, and shameful retreat. " Thirdly ; Disrespect to the Commander-in-chief, in two letters dated the 1st of July and the 28th of June." The court-martial was convened on the 4th of July, consist ing of one major-general, four brigadiers, and eight colonels. Lord Stirling was president. The court sat frora tirae to time till the 12th of August, when they declared their opinion, that General Lee was guilty of all the charges, and sentenced him to be suspended from any coramand in the arraies of the United States for the terra of^ twelve months. The testimony of the trial was extremely full, and it exhibits a minute detail of the operations in the battle of Monmouth. Congress approved the sentence of the court-martial, by a vote of thirteen in the affirmative and seven in the negative, and ordered the Proceed ings of the court lo be published. — Ed. M. PAGE 322. WASHINGTON AND LEE. The foUowing letters and notes respecting the publications of General Lee, are takqn from the 6th vol. of the " Life and Writings of Washington," fediled by Mr. Sparks :— APPENDIX. 465 " General Lee's publication in Dunlap's Gazette of the 3d, and I have seen no other, puts me in a disagreeable situation.* I have neither the leisure nor inclination to enter the lists wilh him in a newspaper; and so far as his production points to personaUty, I can and do from my inmost soul despise U ; but, when he has most barefacedly misrepresented facts in some places, and thrown out insinuations in others, that have not the smallest foundations in truth, not to attempt a refutation is a tacit acknowledgment of the justice of the assertions; for, though there are thousands who know how unsupported his piece is, there are yel tens of thousands that know nothing of the matter, and wiU be led naturaUy lo believe, that bold and confident assertions uncontradicted musl be founded in truth. "It became a part of General Lee's plan, from the moment of his arrest, though it was an event solicited by himself, to have the worlds believe that he was a persecuted man, and party was at the bottom of il. Bul however convenient it may have been for his purposes to establish this belief, I defy him, or his mosl zealous partisans, lo adduce a single instance in proof of it, unless bringing hira lo trial, al his own request, is consi dered in this light. I can do more ; I will defy any person out of my own family, to say that I have ever mentioned his name, if il was to be avoided ; and, when not, that I have not stu diously declined expressing any sentiment of him or his beha vour. How far this conduct accords with his, lel his own breast decide. If he conceives that I was opposed to bim, because he found himself disposed lo enter into a party against me; if he thought I stood in his road lo preferment, and that il was therefore convenient lo lessen me in the esteem of my countrymen, in order to pave the way for his own ad vancement, I have only to observe, that, as I never entertained any jealousy of him, so neither did I ever do more, than comraon civility and proper respeci lo his rank required, to conciliate his good opinion. His temper and plans were too versatUe * This was a long and elaborate article, signed by General Lee, and containing a free discussion of the affair at Monmouth, and of some points relating to his trial. Boastful and egotistic, it met with little favour from any party. It was reprinted in Rivington's Gazette. 466 APPENDIX. and violent to attract my admiration; and that I have escaped the venom of his tongue and pen so long, is raore to be won dered at than applauded; as il is a favour of which no officer, , under whose iramediate coraraand he ever served, bas the hap piness, if happiness can thus be denominated, of boasting." ¦ TO PRESIDENT REED. " West Point, 29th July, 1 779. " Dear Sir, "I have a pleasure in acknowledging the receipt of your obUging favour of the 15lh instant, and in finding by ft, that the author of the Queries Political and Military* has had no i. * These Queries were written by General Charles Lee, arid printed anony mously in the Maryland Journal, a paper published' by William GonnARn, a friend of General Lee. The Queries were penned in a very raalignant spirit, and were designed lo injure General Washinhton, as far as it could be done by such an effusipn of spleen and ill-temper. The following are specimens : "Whether it is salutary or dangerous, consistent with or abhorrent from the spirii and principles of liberly and republicanism, tp inculcate and encourage in the people an idea, that their vvelfare, safely, and glory depend on one man? Whether they really do depend on one man ? " Whether amongst the late warm, or rather loyal addresses of this city (Phila- delphia) to his Excellency General Washington, there was a single mortal, one gentleman only excepted, who could possibly be acquainted wilh his merits ? "Whether the gentleman excepted does really think his Excelleijcy a great man, or whether evidences could not be produced of his thinking quite the reverse ? "Whether the armies under Gates and Arnold, and the detachment under Stark lo the northward, or that immediately under his Excellency in Pennsyl vania, gave the decisive turn to the fortune of war ?" There were twenty-five queries of a similar tenor and bearing. The " gentle man" here referred to was President Reed, who wrote to Washington, when he forwarded to him a copy of the Queries : " I should not have troubled you with the enclosed paper, if I did not know that you can look down with contempt on these feeble efforts of malevolence and resentment, and that I am introduced into it to bear false witness. I have addressed a piece to the printer, wherein I have made such remarks and taken such a notice of this atlempt, as I thought a respect to my own character required. I have also the pleasure of assuring you, that the performance has met wilh the most general detestation and resentment, involving the printer and all concerned in a most disagreeable dilemma. This is so true a criterion of the sense of the public, that I cannot help congratulating you on this genuine mark of public affection." — MS. Letter, July 15th. Much indignation was expressed against Goddard when the Queries appeared APPENDIX. 457 great cause to exult in the favourable reception of them by the public, Wiihout a clue, I should have been at no great loss to ttace the malevolent writer'; but I have seen a history of the transaction, and fell a pleasure raingled with pain at the narra tion. To stand weU in the estiraation of one's country is a happiness that no rational creature can be insensible of To Be pursued,, first under the raask of friendship, and, when dis guise would suU no longer, as an open calumniator, vvith gross misrepresentation and self known falsehoods, carries an alloy, which no mind can bear whh perfect composure. " The motives which actuated this gentleman, can better be accounted for by hiraself than by rae. If he can produce a single instance, in which I have raentioned his name, after his trial commenced, where it was in my power to avoid il, and,, when it was nolj where I have done it wUh the sraallest degree of acrimony or disrespect, I will consent that the world shall view my character in as disreputable a light, as he wishes to place it. What cause there is, then, for such a profusion of venom, as he is emitting upon all occasions, unless by an act of pubUc duty, in bringing him to trial at his own soUcUation, I have disappointed him and raised his ire ; or he conceives that, in proportion as he can darken the shades of my charac ter, he illuminates his own ; whether these, I say, or motives stiU more hid(^en and dark, govern him, I shaU not undertake to decide ; nor have I tirae to inquire into them at present. " If I had ever assumed the character of a mUitary genius and an officer of experience; if, under these false colours, I had solicited the coraraand I was honoured with; or if, after my appointment, I had presumptuously driven on, under the sole guidance of my own judgment and self-wiU, and misfor tunes, the result of obstinacy and misconduct, not of necessity, had followed, I should have thought myself a proper subject in his paper. A large number of the most respectable citizens of Baltimore with- drew their patronage from the Maryland Journal, publicly avowuig as a reason, that they considered it subservient lo the interests of the enemy. Mr. Goddard pubhshed a recantation, in which he acknowledged, that "he had transgressed against truth, justice, and his duty as a good citizen," in giving currency to the Queries, and at the same tirae declared the author of them to be General Lee. 468 APPENDIX. for the lash, not only of his, bul of the pen of every olher writer, and a fit object for pubUc resentment. But when.il is weU known, that the command was in a manner forced upon rae, that I accepted il with the utmost diffidence, from a consciousness that il req^uired greater abilities and more experience than I possessed, to conduct a great mUitary ma' chine, embarrassed as I knew ours must be by a variety of complex circumstances, being as it were bul littie more than a mere chaos ; and when nothing more was promised on njy part, than has been most inviolably., performed ; it is rather grating to pass over in silence charges, which may impress , the uninformed, though oihers know, that these charges have" neither reason nor truth to support them, and that a plain and simple narrative of facts would defeat all his assertions, not withstanding they are made with an effrontery, whieh few men do, and, for the honour of human nature, none ought to posb^ss. " If this gentleman is envious of my station, and thinks I stand in his way lo preferment, I can assure him, in most solemn terms, that the first wish of my soul is to return lo that peaceful relirenient, and domestic ease and happiness, from whence I came. To this end all my labours have been directed, and for this purpose have I been more than four years a perfect slave, endeavouring under as many embarrassing circumstances as ever fell to one man's lot to encounter, and with as pure mo tives as ever man was influenced by, lo promote the cause and service I had embarked in." — Ed. N. PAGE 322. ( MISS FRANKS AND ^GENERAL C. LEE. Miss Franks, in throwing the pointed shafts of her wil, spared neither friend nor foe. At the Mischeanza, given at Philadel- APPENDIX. 469 phia by the officers of the BrUish array to Sir William Howe, previously to his relinquishment of command, Miss Franks appeared as one of the Princesses, in supporting whose claims to superior beauty and accomplishment, the assembled Knights were to contend at a tournament exhibited. The evacuation of the city immediately following. Miss Franks reraained behind. Lieutenant-Colonel Jack Steward of Maryland, whose previous Mntimacy with her could alone juslify the faraUiarity of his con diict, dressed out in a handsorae suit of scarlet, taking an early occasion to pay his corapliraenls, said to her in the true spirii of gallantry, " I have adopted your colours, my Princess, the better to secure a courteous reception — deign to smUe on a true Knight." To this speech Miss Franks made no reply; bul turning to the conipany who surrounded her, exclairaed — " How the ass glories in the Uon's skin." Nor was this the only rub experienced by the Lieutenant- Colonel. While the company were enjoying themselves in lively conversation, their mirth was interrupted by loud clamours Irom the street, which occasioned them to hasten to the win dows, the betier to ascertain the cause. High head-dresses were then the reigning fashion among the British belles. A ;iemale appeared on the street, surrounded by a crowd of idlers, ragged in her apparel, and barefoot, but adorned with a tower ing head-dress in the extreme of the mode. Miss Franks readily perceived the intent of this tumultuous visit; and on the Lieutenant-Colonel's observing, that the lady was equipped alto gether in the English fashion, replied, " JVoi altogether, Colonel ; for though the slyle of her head is British, her shoes and stock ings are in the genuine Continental fashion." During an interval of dancing, at a splendid baU given by the officers of the army, to the ladies of New York, Sir Henry CUnton, having previously engaged in conversation with Miss Franks, called out to the musicians, *' Give us, ' Britons strike home.'" " The Commander-in-Chief has raade a mistake," ex claimed Miss Franks, " he meant to say, Britons— g-o home." There were very few men qualified to enter the lists with this inteUigent lady— for her information was extensive, and she had wit at wilL She didj however, on one occasion, meet a sups- 40 470 '' APPENDIX. rior, and appeared bereft of her brilliancy of talent, by receiving with anger, what was only intended as a saUy lo excite merri ment. I allude to her correspondence with General Charles Lee, whose letter is bul littie known, and certainly possesses a starap of humour that renders it worthy to be preserved. general lee s letter to miss franks. « Madam, " When an officer of the respectable rank I bear, is grossly traduced and calumniated, it is incumbent on him to clear up the affair to the world, with as little delay, as possible. The spirit of defamation and calumny (I ara sorry" to say it) is grown to a prodigious and intolerable height on this Continent. If you had accused me of a design to procrastinate the war, or of holding treasonable correspondence with the enemy, I could have borne il : this I am used to ; and this happened to the great Fabius Maximus. If you had accused rae of getting drunk, as often as I could gel liquor, as two Alexanders the Great have been charged with the vice, I should perha,ps have sat patient under the imputation ; or even if you had given -the plainest hints, that I had stolen the soldier's shirts, this I could have put up with, as the great Duke of Marlborough would have been an example: or if you had contented yourself with asserting that I was so abominable a sloven, as never to part wilh my shirt, untU ray shirt parted with me, the anecdotes of my Ulus trious namesake of Sweden* would ha'^'e adrainistered some comfort lo rae. But the calurany you have, in the fertiUty of your raaUcious wU, chosen to invenl, is of so new, so unprece dented, and so heUish a kind, as would raake Job himself swear like a Virginia Colonel. " Is U possible that the celebrated Miss FranksjI a lady who has had every human and divine advantage, who has read, (or al least raight have read) in the originals, the New and Old * Charles XII. t Theyoung lady was a Jewess. appendix. 471 Testaments, (though I ara afraid she too seldom looks even into the translations) I say, is it, possible that Miss Franks, with every huraan and Divine advantage, who might, and ought to have read these two good books, which (an old Welsh nurse, whose uncle was reckoned the best preacher in Merionethshire, assured me) enjoin charity,, and denounce vengeance against slander and evil-speaking ; is it possible, I again repeat U, that Miss Franks should, in the face of day, carry her raalignity so far, in the presence of three most respectable personages ; (one of the oldest religion in the world, one of the newest, for he is a New-Light Man, and the other, most probably, of no religion at all, as he is an EngUsh saUor) but I demand it again and again, is it possible that Miss Franks should assert it, in the presence of these respectable personages, ' that I wore green breeches patched wUh leather V To convict you, therefore, of the falsehood of this most diabolical slander, to put you to eternal silence, (if you are not past aU grace) and lo cover you with a rtiucb larger patch of infamy than you have wantonly endea voured to fix on niy breeches, I have thought proper, by the advice of three very grave friends, (lawyers and merabers of Congress, of course excellent judges of delicate points of honour) lo send you the said breeches, and with the consciousness of truth on my side, to submit them to the most severe inspection and scrutiny of you, and all those who raay have entered into this wicked cabal, against my honour and reputation. I say I dare you, and your whole junto, to your worst : turn them, examine them inside and outside, and if you find them to be green breeches patched with leather, and not actually legitimate Sherry Vallies,* such as his Majesty of Poland wears, (who, let me tell you, is a man who has made more fashions than aU your knights of the Mischeanzaf put together, notwithstanding their beauties) I repeal il, (though I ara almost out of breath with repetitions and parentheses) that if those are proved to be * A kind of long breeches, reaching to the ankle, wilh a broad stripe of leather on the inside of thcthigh, for the conveniency of riding. t An entertainment given to General Howe, just before his departure for Europe, at which were introduced lilts and tournaments in honour of the ladies, ofwhorn jMiss Franks was one. 472 APPENDIX. patched green breeches, and not legitimate Sherry VaUies (which a raan of the first bon ton might be proud of) I wiU sub mit in silence lo all the scurrUity which I have no doubt you and your abettors are prepared to pour out against me, in the public papers, on this important and interesting occasion. But Madam ! Madam ! reputation, (as ' Common Sense' very sensi bly, though not very uncommonly, observes) is a very serious thing. You have already injured rae in the tenderest part, apd I demand satisfaction ; and as you cannot be ignorant of the laws of duelUng, having conversed with so raany Irish officers, whose favourUe topic it is, particularly in the company of ladies, I insist on the privilege ofthe injured party, which is to name his hour and weapons ; and, as I intend it to be a very serious affair, will not admit of any seconds ; as you may depend upon il, Miss Franks, that whatever may be your spirit on the occasion, the world shaU never accuse General Lee of having turned his back upon you. In the raean time, I am yours, . C. L. "P. S. I have commumcated the affair, only to my confident tial friend, who has mentioned it to no more than seven mem bers of Congress, and nineteen woraen, six of whom were old maids, so that there is no danger of ils taking wind on my side, and I hppe you will be equaUy guarded on your part." Garden.^ — Ep. O. ' PAGE 323. i = ¦ ' " 1'- ¦ Arlington House, February, 14, 1846; ;'. .. Near Alexandria, D. C- *¦ My Dear Sir, % ' * , # I send you a few ske'tches of Laurens. He was, indeed, the Bayard ofhis age, "un chevalier, sans peuret sans reproche." Lieutenant-Colonel John Laurens was the son of Henry Lau- APPENDIX. 473 rens. President of the Revolutionary Congress, and called Tower Henry, from the circumstance of his being confined in the Tower, (of which Earl Cornwallis was constable,) at the time that his gaUant son, Lieutenant-Colonel Laurens, was negotiating at York Town, for the surrender of said constable, and his whole army. Colonel Laurens was educated in England, as were most of the young Carolinians of fortune and family in the olden time^ and had married a Miss Manning, the daughter of the Lieu tenant Governor of the Bank of England, when the troubles, between the Mother Country, and the Colonies, commenced. Knowing the ardour of young Laurens in the cause of liberty and his native land, his English friends and connexions were very desirous of preventing his return to America, well knowing the part that he wbuld take in the approaching contest. His father-, in-law offered him a check for 10,000 guineas, if he would give his word of honour, not to leave the British shores. Laurens rejected the offer with disdain, and though closely watched, suc ceeded in concealing himself among the ballast of a ship bound to America, and safely reached his native land. He immediatey took a decided and zealous part in behalf of his country, and though a very young soldier, soon acquired such distinction, tbat in the campaign of 1777, he was attached to the military family of the Commander-in-chief as Aid-de-camp, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Associated wUh HamU ton, the two youthful brothers in arms, and Aids-de-camp, were considered as the very eUte of the Head Quarters. In the cam paigns of 1777 and 1778, Laurens greatly distinguished himself. At the battle of Germantown, he rushed up to the door of Chew's, House, which he forced partly open, and fighting with his sword with one" hand, with the other he appUed to the wood work a flaming brand, and what is very remarkable, .retired from under the tremendous fire of the house, with but a very slight wound. At the battle of Monmouth, Laurens was again in the very thickest of the fight. Leading repeated charges pn the enemy, rallying the broken, and every where displaying that chivalric courao-e, that extorted admiration frbm all, even from his ene- mies. In 1781, he was sent on a special mission to France, to expe- 40* 474 APPENDIX. dite the aid in money, stores, naval and military forces which hadbeen delayed, tiU the cause of American Independence began to suffer grievously. Laurens, upon his arrival in France, pro ceeded directly in the object of his mission. He would not listen to the arguments, apologies, &c., of ministers and cour tiers ; his demand was, " Show me the Kingv" and would only, in full court at VersaUles, consent to deliver his despatches into the king's own hand. His promptness, energy, and lofty bear ing, brought the French court and ministry to their senses, his demands were complied with, and Laurens sailed in triumph on his return to America, laden with those essential aids that soon after brought the War of the Revolution to a happy and glorious end. The aissistance obtained by the genius and force of cha racter of Colonel Laurens, moved the armies to York Town, and to the consummation of the contest. At York Town, Colonel Laurens again assumed his station, as Aid-de-camp to the Com mander-in-chief., The 14th of October, 1781, when his beloved associate and brother in arms, HamUton, was about to lead the assault on the redoubts, Laurens obtained a command of about eighty men,, and in the very height of the storming, the Lieutenant-Colonel was seen gallantly leading his men, and the flank of the American troops and leaping into the enemy's works, he made Major Campbell, the, British commanding officer, a prisoner with his own hand. In 1782, Colonel Laureijs had the command of a body of troops in his native State, and while operating on the Combahee, he encountered a British force sent out from Charles ton. Laurens was at a lady's house, Ul from fever, when in formed that the enemy were "approaching. He sprung from his bed, and prepared for the combat, though scarcely able to sit on his horse. As he moved from the house, he told, the lady that if she would look out from her portico, she would' see a battle-- poor fellow it was bis last. As the British troops landed from- their barges a spirited attack ensued, and Laurens was mortally wounded at nearly the first fire. As he feU into the arms of Cap tain Beall, tbe Captain endeavoured to console him by express ing a hope that the wound would not prove mortal. Laurens lepUed:; "No, no my dear fellow, this is as it should be. Idle APPENDIX. 475 but you know I have often wished to die in battle ; my country is free, and no longer needs my services. FareweU. I die con tent." Such was the admiration felt for the personal character of Laurens in the British army, that Major B. who commanded the BrUish detachment, on his return home after the war, was ac tually " sent to Coventry " by his brother officers, who said, " How could you kiU that noble fellow. Colonel Laurens, and the war so nearly at an end," to which B. in justification, replied: " I went up the river rather on a trading, than a fighting expe dition. We wanted bread, and proposed to give clothes and groceries in exchange, but to all our overtures, Laurens sternly answered: 'Blood for bread, with the enemies of my country.' He attacked us on our landing, and I regret his fall, gentiemen, as much aS you do." Colonel Laurens lies buried in the garden of the house from which he marched to his last battie. The ancients would have erected an altar to ''such a Roman;" the Americans are content that the rank grass should alone wave over the ashes of Him who was the pride of their chivalry. The purest of Patriots. The bravest of the brave of warriors. The most energetic and successful of diplomatists. "Do you remember Laurens.'" said the author to the venerable General Philip Stuart, " who led the forlorn hope of Colonel WUliam Washington's horse at the bat tle ef Eutaws, and was desperately wounded." The gaUant ve teran replied, "After the action, our HospUal was in the most wretched state imaginable; the wounded were dressed with a kind of coarse osnaburgs, that rather Uritated and increased, than assuaged the anguish of our wounds. At this time Laurens ar rived.. On beholding our destitute and suffering condition, he called to his servant, ' open my portmanteau, sir, take out the dozen cambric ruffled shirts that I brought from France, tear them up into bandages for the gentiemen's wounds.' It was done. Now, my dear sir," continued the maimed soldier ofthe Revolution, "you may well suppose that I remember Laurens." I send you, my dear sir, these few sketches of the Life and Character of Colonel Laurens, from The Recollections. It is part of the plan of that work, to introduce brief Memoirs of those 476 APPENDIX. whom Washington loved, who were attached to his person, or employed by him in important services, during the War of Inde pendence. I. remain, dear sir, Your obedient and humble servant, GEORGE W. P. CUSTIS. John S. Littell, Esq. P. S. The author of the "Recollections," knowing that La Fayette was the associate of HamUton and Laurens, at the Head Quarters, in 1777, asked ^the good General as to the respective degrees of attachment felt toward the Chief, by the distinguished young Aids-de-camp, La Fayette repUed : " The attachment of HamiUon was pure, generous, enthusiastic; that of Laurens — devotional." Page 336. CHARLES JAMES FOX. The PhUadelphia edition, published in 1846, of " Contribu tions TO THE Edinburgh Review by, Francis Jeffrey;" — a compilation that will find its way into every respectable library, contains an exceedingly able Review of Mr. Fox's "History of the early part ofthe Reign of James the Second." The glaring faults and the manly virtues, — no less than the transcendent genius and abilities of this illustrious statesman, have alike, ar rested the attention of mankind ; and Lord Jeffrey, within two years of his decease, and with the full development of his striking character, fresh before the world, has sketched it— its light and shade — with a master's hand; andwhUe drawing " His frailties from their dread abode," has done noble justice to a name that will ever adorn the period of England's annals, most iUustrious for the number, talent and achievements of its statesmen, literati and heroes.- appendix. 477 "To those," he says, "who know Mr. Fox only by the great outiines of his public history, — who know merely that he passed from the dissipations of loo gay a youth, into the tumults and cabals of a political Ufe,— and that his days were spent in con tending about pubUc measures, and in guiding or averting the tempests of, faction,— the spirit of indulgent and tender feeUng which pervades this book, must appear unaccountable. Those who live much in tbeworld, even in a private station, commonly have their hearts a littie hardened, and their moral sensibility a littie impaired. But, statesmen and practical poUticians, are, with justice, suspected ofa stiU greater forgetfulness of mild im pressions, and honourable scruples. Coming necessarily into contact with great vices and great sufferings, they must gradu ally lose some of their horror for the first, and much of their compassion for the last. Constantly engaged in contention, they cease pretty generally, to regard any human beings as objects of sympathy or disinterested attachment; and, mixing much with the most corrupt part of mankind, naturaUy come to regard the species itself with indifference, if not with contempt. All the softer feelings are apt to be worn off", in the rough conflicts of factious hostUity ; and all the finer moralities to be effaced, by the constant contemplation of expediency, and the necessities of occasional compliance. "Such is the common conception which we form of men, who, have lived the life of Mr. Fox; and such, in spite of the testimony of partial friends, is the irapression which most private persons would have retained of him, if this volume had not come to convey a truer, and a more engaging picture lo the world at large, and to posterity. " By far the most remarkable thing, then, in, this book, is the tone of indulgence and unfeigned phUanthrophy which prevaUs in every part of it ;— a most amiable sensibility to all the kind and domestic affections, and a sort of soft-heartedness towards the sufferings of individuals, which seem hitherto to have been thought incompatible, with the stern dignity of history. It can not but strike us with something still more pleasing than sur prise, to meet with traits of almost feminine tenderness, in the sentiments of this veteran statesman; and a general character of 478 appendix. charity towards all men, not only remote from the rancour of vulgar hostility, but purified in a great degree from the asperities of party contention. He expresses indeed, throughout, a high- minded contempt for what is base, and a thorough detestation for what is cruel: But yet is constantly led, by a sort of gene rous prejudice in favour of human nature, to admit all possible palliations for the conduct of the individual delinquent, and neyer attempts to shut him out from the benefit of those natural sympathies, of which, the bad as well as the good are occasion ally the objects, from their fortune or situation. He- has given a new character, we think, to history, by this soft and conde scending concern for the feelings of individuals; and not only left a splendid record of the gentleness and affectionate simpli city of his own dispositions, bul set an example, by which we hope that men of genius may be taught hereafter, to render their instructions more engaging and impressive. Nothing, we are persuaded, can be more gratifying to his friends, than the im pression of his character, which this work wUl carry down to posterity ; nor is it a matter of indifference to the country, that its most iUustrious statesman should be yet more distinguished, for the amiableness ofhis private affections." — Ed. Q. Page 375. Washington at Harrisburgh. [From the Oracle of Dauphin, of Monday, 6th October, 1794.] " On Friday last, the President of the United States, arrived in this town. The pleasure excited in beholding, for the first time, our beloved chief, in this borough, is not easily described. The following address was delivered to him, by the burgesses, in be half of the inhabitants of the town : — APPENDIX. 479 " To his Excellency George Washington, Esquire, President of the United States of America : " Sir, WhUe we, the Burgesses and Citizens of Harrisburgh, rejoice in the opportunity of presenting our respects, to a cha racter so justly revered and dear lo Americans, we cannot but lament, that we should owe it to an interruption of the peace and prosperity of our country, those constant objects of your public cares. We trust, however, that the just indignation which fires the breasts of all virtuous citizens, at the unprovoked outrages committed by those lawless men, who are in opposition to one of the mildest and most equal governments, of which the condition of man is susceptible, will excite such exertions, as to crush the spirit of disaffection wherever it has appeared ; and that our political horizon will shine brighter than ever, on a dis persion of the clouds, which now menace and obscure it. " Though our sphere of action is too limited to produce any im portant effects, yet we beg leave to assure your Excellency, that, so far as it extends, our best endeavours shall not be wanting to support the happy constitution, and wise administration of our government. "Signed in behalf of the Borough. Conrad Bombach, Alexander Berryhill. "Harrisburgh, October 3d, 1794." Burgesses. To which the President was pleased to return the foUowing answer: — " To tlie Burgesses, and other Citizens of Harrisburgh: " Gentiemen — In declaring to you, the genuine satisfaction I derive from your very cordial address, I wiU not mingle any ex pression of the painful sensations, which I experience from the occasion that bas drawn me hither. You wiU be at no loss to do justice to my feeUngs. But, relying on that kindness of Pro vidence tdwards our country, which every adverse appearance hitherto has served to manifest ; and counting upon the tried good sense, and patriotism of the great body of our feUow-citi- zens, I do not hesitate to indulge with you, the expectation of 480 APPENDIX. such an issue, as wiU serve to confirm the blessings we enjoy, under a constitution, that weU deserves the confidence, attachf ment, and support of virtuous and enUghtened men. " To class the inhabUants of Harrisburgh among this number, is only to bear testimony to the zealous and efficient exertions, which they have made, towards the defence of the laws." " Go: Washington." " October 4th, 1794." R. Page 395. PRESIDENT ADAMS. The address of the inhabitants, of the Borough of Harrisburgh, in the State of Pennsylvania, to the President of the United States:* "Sir, at a time when the minds of men are so intoxicated with ideas of reform, and visionary schemes for meliorating the condition of humanity, as to. be fatally inattentive to their own security, and regardless of considerations, which have hitherto been deemed the most sacred and obligatory, there may be pro priety in the declaration of sentiments, which, in more settled times, might, at least, be thought superfluous. .From the gene rality also of the practice of expressing approbation of the measures of government at the present crisis, motives might be attached to the omission of it, less honourable than a disinclina tion to intrude upon the managers of the public concerns, or a reluctance to suppose that, in the resistance of outrage and maintenance of national independence, they would not receiye the support ofthe virtuous part ofthe community. "Under these impressions, we, the subscribers, inhabitants ofthe Borough of Harrisbprgh, beg leave to declare that we, are too highly sensible of the prosperity we enjoy, to be wiUing to * By Alexander Graybon, Esq.-^Eo. appendix. 481 relinquish it without an effort for its preservation ; and that, in our wishes for the happiness of others, we have not lost sight of our country and ourselves. — That in our opinion, the conduct and designs of the French Republic (scarcely aggravated or made more apparent by the profligacy of their avowal), are such as produce alarm and indignation, in every breast that feels for the honour and happiness of America, and to excite the appre hensions of every man, of whatever nation or country, who may place a sense of justice, morality and piety, among the orna ments of his nature and the blessings of society. That under this persuasion, we hold it wise to be prepared for every event, and shall, therefore, most cheerfully acquiesce in such measures of defence, as may be adopted by you, sir, and the other branches of the administration, at the present most momentous period. And as your past conduct has invariably commanded the respect and approbation of every ingenious mind, so we have the most perfect reUance that, in future, it will continue to be influenced by the purest motives, and clearest perceptions of the pubUc good. We beg you to accept our cordial wishes for your personal welfare and happiness." MR. ADAMs's ANSWERj " To the inhabitants of the Borough of Harrisburgh in the Stale pf Pennsylvania : — " Gentiemen— Your address has been presented to me by Mr. Hartiey, Mr. Sitgreaves, and Mr. Hanna, three of your repre sentatives in Congress. " I know not which to admire most, the conciseness, the energy, the elegance or profound wisdom of this exceUent ad dress. "Ideas of reformation, and schemes for meUorating the con dition of humanity, should not be discouraged when proposed with reason, and pursued with moderation; but the rage for in novation, which destroys every thing because it is established, and introduces absurdities the most monstrous, merely, because tbey are new, was never carried to such a pitch of madness in any age of the world, as in the latter end of the boasted 41 482 APPENDIX. eighteenth century, and never produced effects so horrible upon suffering humanity. " Among all the appearances, portentous of evil, there is none more incomprehensible than the professions of republicanism, among those who place not a sense of justice, morality, or piety among the ornaments of their nature and the blessings of society. As nothing is more certain or demonstrable, than that free re publicanism cannot exist without these ornaments and blessings, the tendency of the times is rapid towards a restoration of the petty military despotisms of the feudal anarchy, and by their means a return to the savage state of barbarous life. " How can the press prevent this, when all the presses of a nation, and indeed of many nations at once, are subject to an imprimatur, by a veto upon pain of conflagration, banishment, or confiscation. "That America may have the glory of arresting this torrent of error, vice, and imposture, is my fervent wish ; and if senti ments as great as those from Harrisburgh, should be found uni versally to prevaU, as I doubt not they will, my hopes wiU be as sanguine as my wishes." "JOHN ADAMS." "Philadelphia, 12lh May, 1798." COMMENTS BY MR. GRAYDON. A comparison of this answer of Mr. Adams, with the pre ceding one of General Washington, tends to iUustrate the diffe rent characters of the men. In the one, we find every sentiment restrained by the most prudent and judicious circumspection; it says no more "than just the thing it ought."— But, in that of Piesident Adams, the address seems to have been seized on as a text, for a very bold and excursive commentary, in which have been indulged some flights of fancy, and a prophetic dictunj, which, however it might be warranted by appearances at the time, has not yet been fulfiUed, nor is likely to be. As to" the admonitions scattered through the answers, generally to the nu merous addresses presented, considering the temper of the time. appendix. 483 and authority of Mr. Adams's character in point of poUtical wis dom and sagacity, they are rather laudable than censurable; though in minds not duly impressed with the awfulness of the crisis, they might be liable to the imputation of a party spirit, not quite becoming in a cbief magistrate. But, what is truly wonderful and deplorable, is, that the man who could utter such sentiments in the year 1798, should, in a very short time after, have faUen into the democratic ranks, and have advocated the pretensions of France, a war with England, — and in short, all the measures of that portion of the people, whose views and policy he had so poignantly reprobated. * ***** , Whatever evasions may be employed to apologize for this change, as that the danger of democratic anarchy was reraoved, and the petty despotisms apprehended, were swallowed up in the grand, overwhelming empire of Napoleon, the character of revolutionary France, in some of its most menacing aspects, was the same. The same imprimatur on all the presses of one na tion, and indeed of more nations than were subject to it in 1798, remained, the same torrent of vice and imposture, for the same flagitious purposes of arbitrary rule, and extended dominion. The same efforts, but with more alarming efficiency, were in operation for dangerous innovations, for Gallic predominance, and the flood of immorality inseparable from it. Yet lament able to be reflected on,4he patriotism of Mr. Adams, " with all these appearances portentous of evU," did ebb from the full tide of federalism, to the dead low water mark of democracy and jacobinism. But Mr. Adams seems, unfortunately, to have exclusively chosen public life for his profession, as well as that of his sons. What then was to be done .' Democracy was in the ascendant, and tobe statesmen out of place, was as abhorrent to the genius of thrift, as to be lawyers without litigation, carpenters without houses to build, or shoemakers without leather. In this unto ward predicaraent, the eldest son boldly determines " not to deli berate, but to act," and is rewarded accordingly. And the old gentieman, either for his own good, or ofthe rest of his family, seems equally bent on a course of activity. WeU did General 484 appendix. Hamilton seem to comprehend his character, when he states him as capable, through the vexation of wounded vanity, of directly changing his political course. In the clashings of his cabinet, the federalists seemed to prefer the opinions of General Hamil ton, to his own. Hence, he renounces at once both the party and the creed, and he takes himself to those of the jacobins, thus rendering himself a memorable example of the truth of Solon's aphorism, — that "no man can be pronounced happy, until he dies, — none secure from degeneracy until death has put its seal on his character." S. page 403. THOMAS JEFFERSON. HIS ELECTION TO THE PRESIDENCY BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. "On the llth of February the ballots were opened. During the performance of this ceremony, a most extraordinary inci dent occurred. As il is known lo but few now living, and never been publicly spoken of, il has been deemed proper to record it here, as a part of the history of that exciting contest. "The Aurora of the 16th of February, 1801, reraarks, that ' the tellers declared that there was sorae informality in the votes of Georgia; but, believing them to be true votes, reported them as such.' No explanation ofthe nature of this inforraalily was given ; nor is it known that any has ever been given since. Had it been announced at the time, there can be no doubt U would have proved fatal to .the election of Mr. Jefferson. Whether the interest of our country would or would not have been thereby promoted, is not a question for discussion here. " By the Constitution of the United Stales at that time it was provided, art. 2, sect. 1, 'The electors shall meet in their re- APPENDIX. 485 spective Stales, and vote by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shaU not be an inhabitant of the same stale wilh themselves. And they shall make a list of all the persons voted for, and of the nuraber of votes for each, ivhich list they shall sign and certify, and Iransrait, sealed, to the seat of Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate, The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives open all ihe certificates, and the . votes shaU then be counted. The person having the greatest nuraber of votes shaU be the President, ifi such number be a majority ofthe whole number of electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such majority, and have an equal number of votes, then tbe House of Representatives shall im mediately choose, by baUol, one of them for President ; and if no person have a majority, then frora the five highest on the list the said House shall, in like manner, choose' the President. But, in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by Slates, and a majoriiy of all th,e States shaU be necessary to a choice.' " From the above extract it wiU be seen tbat the. Constitution, is imperative as to the form and manner in which the electoral returns are to be made. The ceremony of opening was per formed in the presence of the two Houses. The package of a State having been Oper^d by the Vice-President, it was handed by him to the tellers, ^fer. Jefferson was the presiding officer. On opening the package endorsed Georgia votes, it was dis covered to be totaUy irregular. The statement now about to be given, is derived from an honourable gentleman, a member' of Congress frora the State of New York, during the adminis-, tration of Mr. Jefferson, and yet living (1837) in this State, He says that Mr. Wells (a teller on the part of the. Senate) informed him that the envelope, was blank ;; that the return of the votes was not authenticated by the. signatures of the electors, or any< ^ ofthem, either on the outside or the inside of the envelope, or in any other manner; that it raerely stated in the inside that the votes of Georgia w^re, for Thomas Jefferson, four,, apd, for 4,1«> 486 APPENDIX. Aa^on Burr four, wiihout the signature of any persore whatso ever. Mr. Wells added, that he was very undecided as to the proper course to be pursued by the tellers. It was, however, suggested by one of them that the paper should be handed to the presiding officer, wiihout any statement from the teUerS; except that the return was informal ; that be consented to this arrangement under the firm conviction that Mr. Jefferson would announce the nature of the informality from the Chair ; but, to his utmost surprise, he (Mr. Jefferson) rapidly declared that the voles of Georgia were four for Thomas Jefferson, and four for Aaron Burr, without noticing their inforraalily, and in a hurried manner put them aside, and then broke the seals and handed to the tellers the package from the next state. Mr. WeUs . ob served, that as soon as Mr. Jefferson looked at the paper pur porting to contain a stateraent of the electoral vole of the State of Georgia, his countenance changed, but that the decision and proraptitude with which he acted on that occasion, convinced hira of that which he (a FederaUst,) and his party had always doubled, that is to say, Mr. Jefferson's decision of character, at least when his own interest was at hazard. Mr. Wells furlher slated, that if the votes of Georgia had not been thus counted, as it would have brought all the candidates into the house, Mr. Pinckney among the number, Mr. Jefferson could not have been elected President. ^ " The sarae honourable meraber oflirongress furthei stated, that some few years after receiving the above information from Mr. WeUs, ho became intimately acquainted with John Nicho las, v^ho was one of the tellers referred to, and who had re moved from Virginia, into the western part of the Stale of NeW York. Mr. Nicholas gave to the honourable meraber the same statement in substance, not knowing that it had been previously derived from Mr; WeUs. Mr. Nicholas was a warm personal friend of Mr. Jefferson, and declared that he never felt so astounded in his Ufe, as when he discovered the irregularity. He claimed some credU for the adroit manner in which he had managed Mr. Rutledge, so far as to obtain his consent to hand tbe paper to Mr. Jefferson wUhout public explanation from the APPENDIX. 487 tellers, and which was effected by a conciUatory appeal to the magnaniraity of the raember from South Carolina. " The whole number of electoral voles given at the election in 1800, was one hundred and thirty-eight : necessary to a choice, seventy. Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Burr had each, accord ing to the return raade, seventy-three. Georgia gave four votes. If that number had been deducted from Jefferson and Burr, as illegally returned, of which there is no doubt, they would have had only sixty-nine votes each ; consequently they would not have had, iii the language of the Constitution, ' a raajority of the whole nuraber of electors appointed,' and the candidates out of which a choice of President must be made, would have been Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Burr, Mr. Adaras, Mr. Pinckney. The Federal members would then have said lo the Republicans, we will unite wilh you in the choice of either of the gentieraen pre sented to the House excepi Mr. Jefferson ; and if the Govern ment is to be brought to a termination by our failure to elect a President, the responsibility wiU be on you. And is it to be believed, that in such a case the doubtful members who were sighing for office, if any such there were, would have rejected the suggestion in tolo?" — Davis' Life of Burr, vol. ii. pp. 71-74.— Ed. INDEX. Adair, General, Anecdote of, 324. Adams, Mr. John, election of, to the Presidency, 385; administration of, 388; imposition of taxes by, 389; tactics of his opponents, 391; singular fabrication, 392; addresses to, 394; reply of, 481; Mr. Graydon's comments on, 482. Anecdotes, 88, 131. Andrews, Dr. John, 39. Allen, Colonel William, 108, 130, 140; defection of to the British, 131, 161; visit of, to Captain Graydon, 236. Allen, Janies, 108, 118. Allen, Andrew, 118,280. Allen, Colonel Ethan, 241, 243, 260. Atiee, Colonel, 150, 334. American Tactics, 176. Policy, 234. Array, appearance of the, 147, 256; character of the, 148, 150, 156; review of, before the battle of Brandywine, 291; state of parties in, 322. Generals, 298. Americanisms, 229, 249. Axtle, Mr., 252. AUison, Patrick, 39. Aids-de-camg, advantages of the station of, 159, Addison, Alexander, 352. Arnold, Washington's opinion of, 449. 490 index. Autobiography, motives in writing, 13; qualifications for writing, 95. Auchmuty, Lieutenant-General Sir Samuel, 274. Badourin, Mr., 65. Bradford, William, 111; character of, 112. Baird, Dr., 141. Baxter, Colonel, 201. Bache, Theophylact, 250; kindness of, 250; capture of, 317. Bache, Richard, 250. Bache, Mrs. Sarah, 250, 327. Bland, Colonel, Theodoric, 279. Brandywine, Battle of, 291; reflections on, 293; incident at, 455. Blancons, M., 380. Beveridge, John, 35; anecdote of, 36; poetical atterapts, death of, 37. Beckwith, Lieutenant, humane and generous conduct of, 213; charac ter of, 219. Bergen-op-Zoora, 287. • .'.; Benezet, Anthony, 326. Bristol, past and present condidon of, 16; inhabitants of, 22. Biddle, Judge, character of, 21. Biddle, Mr. Edward, 285. British, descent of, on Long Island, 162; engagement with the Ameri can troops, 163; skirraishing between the two armies, 173; capture of Fort Washington by, 176,202; treatment of prisoners by, 207, 252; loss of, in the battle, 216. British soldiers, considerate treatment of, by the Americans, 214; on parole, 304. Bitting, Captain, 318. Bond, Mr. Richard, 81. Boileau, Captain, 380. Bunker's Hill, Battle of, 421. Burke, Edmund, opinions of, 403, 404. Burgess, Miss Ann, 22; anecdote of, 73. Burgoyne, General, opinion of, respecting taxation, 114; capture of, 297. Bryan, George, 287. Burr, Colonel Aaron, 357. Carey, Henry, 32. Caspipina Tamoc, 98. Arbuthnot, Captain, 75. index. 491 Chalmers, Colonel, 108. Clay, Rev. Mr., 109. Caraden, Lord, reraark of, to Dr. Franklin, 116. Cadwalader, General John, 123, duel of with General Conway, 301. Cadwalader, Colonel Lambert, 181; gaUantry of at Haerlem Heights, 196. CarroU, John, 142. CarroU, Charles, 142. CarroU, Mrs., 244. Chase, Samuel, 142. Character, an odd, 154, 231. Camp comfort.1, 189. Chathara, Lord, remark of, 254. Captivity, 257. Charlton, Dr., 261. Clarkson, Mr., 265. Canon, Mr., 288. Chartres, Colonel, character of, and epitaph on, 370. Chew, Benjamin, 117, 290. Clinton, Sir Henry, 101. Clifton, Colonel, 108. Clongh, Major, 111. Congress at Philadelphia, 129. Continental Batallions, 129. » Commissioners to Canada, 142. Connecticut Light Horse, 155. Council of Safety, 182; injudicious conduct of, 183; remonstrance of officers, 185. Coffee-House Incident, 240. Conyngham, the Provost Marshal, 241. Coxe, Tench, 273. Conway, General, 299; conduct of, at the Battle of Germantown, 301. Communities, selfishness of, 308. Constitutionalists, 331. Confederation, articles of, 339. Constitution of the United States, adoption of, 340; opinions of Wash ington, Hamilton, Henry, Franklin and Madison respect ing, 341; question of its adoption, 342. Church, Mr., anecdote of, 76. ChurchiU, quoted, 67, 68. 492 index. Draper, Sir WUliam, 67; visit of, to PhUadelphia and New York, 70. Davidson, Lieutenant, 189. Davenport, Captain, 237. Drayton, WUliam Henry, 323. De Kalb, Baron, motives of, in espousing the American cause, 64; gallantry and death of, 65. Debating Society, 90. Dement, Mr., 215. Deserters from the cause of Independence, 238. L'. -.^n.J Democrat, the term, 331. Democracy, the, 364; Burke's definition of, 402. Diffidence, 83. Dickinson, John, 106, 118, 337, 445. Dinner Party, A, 230. Dove, James, 24, anecdote of, 25. Donop, Colonel, 265. Duche, Rev. Jacob, 98; Author of Tamoc Caspipina, 98; Letter .of, to General Washington, 99, 429. Duer, William, 302. Dunlap, Mr., harsh treatment of, 306. Duelling, 324. Early Reminiscences, 28, 30. Edwards, Lieutenant, 133, 320. England, political ascendancy of, 407, arrogance and arabition of, 408. Etherington, Major George, 70; kindness of, to Mr. Graydon, 71; talent of, for repartee, 73; knowledge of, of mankind, 74. Etherington, Captain, anecdote of, 72. Elegiac stanzas, 258. Engineer Departraent, deficiency in the, 151. Elliot, Mr. Andrew, 267. Exclusive patriotisra, 306. Franks, Miss, repartees of, 469. / Farraer's Letters, 106, 118. Franklin, Dr., conversation of, with Mr. Pratt, 116; anecdote of, 131; views of, on governraent, 286; poUtic conduct of, 328. Fast Day, 137. Flat Bush, Society at, 246, 253. INDEX. ^gg Fanning, Colonel, 255. Flahaven, Colonel, 316. France, National Asserably of, 347; Revolution in, 357- popular feeling towards, 368, 375, 388, 394, 403. FeU, Major, 75. Female Society, 81. French Language, 89. Fencing, 109, Feuquiere, Marquis de, 291. Federalists, 364, 397. French Travellers, 377. French Settlement in America, 379. French party in America, 388. Fisher, Mr., 263. Findlay, Williara, 356, 373. Fries's Insurrection, 393. Foot Race, 45. Forrest, Colonel, 132, 246, 315. Fort Washington, -152; inefficiency of, 152; American Army in the Jl vicinity of, 174; untenable character of, 186, 192, 210; threatened attack upon, 187; skirraishing, 188 ; invested by the enemy, 191 ; considerations relative to its defence, 192 ; battle on the neighbour ing heights, 193 ; gaUantry of the Araericans, 197, 253; capture of, in, 197, 216. Fox, Charles Jaraes, remark of, 256 ; character of, 336 ; Jeffrey's Sketch of, 477. Fonquet, General, Defence of Lafldshut by, 191. Fouchet, M., 375. Fludd, Robert, Treatise of, 65. Frye, General Joseph, 158. Graydon, Alexander, motives of, in writing, 14; ancestry ofj 17; family history of, 20 ; father of, 20, 23 ; removal of, to Phi ladelphia, 24 ; early education of, 25; anecdote of, 28 ; early character of, 29; associates of, 40; retrospective events in the historyof, 42; early habits and- arauseraents of, 55; school anecdote df, 56 ; acquaintance of, wilh Major Ether ington, 72 j introduction into new society, 81 ; choice of a profession by; 83; begins the study of law, 108; retrospective refiections,- 114; enters the army as captain, 129; anxiety 43 494 INDEX. respecting his subalterns, 132; success in re&ruitingi 137'; mission to General Schuyler, 138; incidents on the route,' 139, 143; return, 145; leaves . PhiladelpKia, to join the array, 145 ; remarks on the condition of the army, 147; adventures on Long Island, 164 ; skirraishing with the ene-s my, 165; impending engageraent, 167; retreat, 167; gal-^ lant conduct of his regiment, 168 ; raarches to Fort Wash? ington, 172 ; remarks on Araerican tactics, 177 ; garrison duty, 181; ludicrous incident,- 189; insecure position of< 190; participation of, in the battle of Haerlem Heights, 195; perilous situation and capture, 204; barbarous treatnjent of, 206; reflections on the loss of the fort,' 211 ; generous con duct of a British officer, 313 ; anxiety on account of his bro ther, 217 ;.marched to New York, 220 ; occurrences on the- raad, 222 ; disposal of the prisoners, 224 ; baggage restored^ 335; stroll through the city, 225 ; letter fVom his mother, 228: letter to her from Washington, 229; treatment of pri soners, 234; meraorial to Gtoeral Howe, 236; civilities to, 236 ; letter to the British officers, 239 ; exchange of prison-' ers, 245 ; removal from New York, 245'; situation 'at Flat Bush, 248; parole, 245; interview with Colonel Fanning, 254; stanzas by, 258; obstacles to an exchange of prisoners, 259; visited by his mother, 261, 264; residence at Flat Bush, 266; application to General Hbwe by his raother for his release, 268; liberation on parole, 269; arrives at New York, 271; at the American camp, 274; interview with Washington,' 275; opinion of HamUton, 276 ; occurrences on the road, 279; reaches Philadelphia, 281; proceeds to Reading, 283; political feelings, 284; Wilkinson's ppiiiibn- of Mr. Graydon, 297; he is exchanged; and marrieSj 309; unfair treatment of, 325; aversion of, to political dissensions, 332 ; appointment to the prothonotaryship of Dauphin county, 334, 338; advocates 'the adoption of the national constitution, 343; .election of, to the, state convention, 344; views of questions debated in that body, 345 ;. writes the address to President Washington on the occasion of the whiskey insurrection, 375; politipal principles of, 396; pro scription of, by the Democracy, 400; reflections, 401; , publication of his Memoirs, xi. ; character of, the work by the editor of the Port Folio, xv. ; character of Mr. Gray- INDEX. 495 don, xvi.; translation of a Latin epigram by, xviii.; repub lication of the Meraoirs, by Mr. Galt in, Scotland, xix; death of Mr. Graydon, xvi. Graydon, Alexander, senior, recomraended to be a field officer, 417; death and character of, 33. Graydon, William, 379. Galloway, Joseph, 117, 267, 443. Grant, Mrs., Memoirs of, quoted, 249. Galt, John, his tribute to Mr. Graydon, xix. Gates, General, 300. Graff, Mr., 305. Gadsden, Captain, 327. Gallatin, Albert, 353. "Greens, The," 123. George the Third, deraolition of the statue of, 161. Greene, General, 169; opinion of the tenability of Fort Washington, 176,202; character of, 180: HamUton's eulogium on, 313: General Henry Lee's opinion of, 299. Germantown, Battle of, 295. Genet, Citizen, 363, 379, Gibbon, the Historian, remark of, 63. Grimra, Baron, correspondence of, 281. Gordon, Thomas, 32. Glover, General John, 148. Governor, re-eligibility of the, 348. Hanson, Mr., 110. HamUton, Alexander, 149; personal appearance of, 149; character of, 275; course of, in reference to the Constitution, 341, Harrisburgh, 365; Washington at, 478: Mr. Adams at, 480. Haslet, Colonel John, 150. Hand, Colonel, 147. Haerlera, occupation of the Heights of, by the American army, 178; battle on the heights of, 196, 202. Hancock, President, 283, 425. Hanna, General, 374. Henry, Patrick, influence of, in giving theimpulse to the American Revolution, 135; opinion of the Constitution, 341. Heath, General, raemoirs of, quoted, 173, 174. Heath, Dan., 135. Hessian, insolence of a, 207. 496 INDEX. Hesketh, Captain, 228. Highlander, generosity of a, 223. Historical truth, 310. Howe, General, 101; Wraxall's opinion of, 101; Lee's ditto, 101, 215: Walpole's ditto, 214; supineness of, 102; cautious ge neralship of, 170; attack on Fort Washington, 196; Bur goyne's remark on his dispositions at Bunker's HiU, 214; ob- ¦ servation of, respecting Washington, 257; proclamation of, offering pardon to the Araericans, 227 ; memorial to, on the part of the prisoners, 236; result of the application, 244 ; in terview with Mrs. Graydon, 268. Hopkinson, Francis, letter to Mr. Duche, 438 ; letter from General Washington to, 437. Hoops, Major Adam, 378. Hoekley, William, 112. Houssacker, Colonel, 237. Hutchinson, Dr., 91. Hunt, Isaac, treatment of, 127. Huck, Captain/ 260. Hutchins, Captain Thomas, 251, Izard, Ralph, 227. Idleness, dangei:s of, 80. Independence, declaration of, 159; reception of, by Congress, 307, and the country, 160; motives which induced it, 329. Indians, alarm caused by, 23, 46 ; attempted massacre of, 47. Irish, feeling of, in favour of the Revolution, 122. Introduction, 13; editor's introduction, xi. Jay, John, 357, 376, Treaty of, 376. Jefferson, Mr., opinion respecting coraraerce, 353; abuse of HamiUon by, 276, and of Washington, 359; poUtical views of, 361 ; reward of partizans by, 362; election of, to the Presi dency, 384 ; character of, 399 ; means employed to secure his election, 403. Johnson, Samuel, 100, 107. Johnstone, Governor, 119. Johnson, Mr., 223. Johnson, Heathcote, 236. INDEX. 497 Junius, style of, 96, 97; claim of General Charles Lee to the author ship ofthe Letters of, 320; Dr. Macleane's do. 421. Kearsley, Dr., 78, 126. Keating, Captain, 380. Kinnesly, Mr., attainments of, in Electricity, 27; catastrophe of the son of, 93. Lake George, 142. Laurens, John, Colonel, 323; duel of, with General Charles Lee, 334 ; character of, 472. Lewis, Mr., 344, 348, 352, 354. Lewis, Samuel, 44. Lee, Henry, Meraoirs of, quoted, 101; character of, 279; opinion of General Greene, 299. Lee, Richard Henry, opinion of General Mifflin, 154. Lee, General Charles, profane reraark of, 138; opinion of. respecting Fort Washington, 177, 193; character of, 320; dislike of Washington, 320; capture of, 451; arrest and trial of, 459, 468; Letter to Miss Franks, 468; abuse of Washington, 465. Lenox, Captain,, 200, 259. Legislature, division of, into two houses, 287. Liberty, professions of attachraent to, 139. Livingston, Judge Brockolst, 145. Loxley, Captain, 47. Love, 81,281. Long Island, battle of, 163; skirmishing between the armies, 165-, gallantry of the Araericans, 168; causes of the loss of the battie of, 169; Lee's opinion of the impolicy of retaining possession of, 177; escape of prisoners from, 314. Loring, Commissary, 245. Ludwig,, Christopher, Baker General of the army Ipl. Lux, Mr. George, 328, 329. Lyttelton, Lord, opinion of, on -taxation, 114. Lutterioh, Henry, 302, Macleane, Dr. Lauchlan, 42, kindness, of, to Dr. Goldsmith, 42, bio graphical notice of, 419; reputed author of the Letters of Junius, 418. 42* 498 INDEX. Mauvaise honte, 84. M'Kean, Thoraas, character and services of, 120, 121, 394, 395. Martial Exercises, 123, 125. Martial Farae, Elements of, 216. Major; a travelling, 141. Magaw, Colonel Robert, gaUant reply of, 151; surrender of Fort Washington by, 176; remarks on the plan of defence adopted by, 191; inadequacy of the garrison, 191; untenableness of the Port, 186, 192^ captivity and marriage of, 318. Maidand, Major, 210. Matthews, Mayor, 252, 272. Matthews, General, 264. Manuel, Captain, 221. Mariner, Mr., descent of, on Long Island, 316. Macauley, Mrs., interview of, with Washington, 359. Maryland Senate, 346. Mazzei, Mr. Jefferson's Letter to, traducing Washington, 329. McHenry, Dr. Jaraes, 244. Menzies, Colonel, anecdote of, 112; escape of, from the enemy, 183. Mental Derangeraent, singular case of, 113. Melchior, Colonel, 169. Mercer, General, 300. MUes, Colonel, 149, 357, 369, 275, 304. Mifflin, General, Thomas, 153, 154, 299, 356, 374. Midnight Scene in Camp, 167. Militia, Insubordination of, 193. Militia Captain, a, 309. Miller, Captain, 216. ¦ MUitary Rank, difficulties in the adjustment ofi 319.. Milton, quotation from, 331. Moore, Lady and Daughter, 66. Morality of Fictiiious Heroes, 92. Morrisania, Encampment at, 173. Moncreif, Major, 252; capture of, 317. Monmouth, Battle of, 457. National Strength, Reflections on, 293. New York, military preparations in, 140; alarra at, produced by the INDEX. 499 result of the battle on Long Island, 163; evacuation of, by the American army, 172; conflagration at, 178. New-England Officers, 143, 156, 179; vindication of, 157*. NoaUles, Viscount De, 379. Novels, injurious influence of, 92, 95. Nocturnal Incident, 189. Ogle and Friend, anecdotes of, 51. O'Brian, the Comedian, 67. Otis, Harrison Grey, Eulogium of, on HamUton, 376. Osborne, Sir George, hearUess bon mot of, 366. Paxton Boys, 46. Party Spirit, 49, 350, 360, 369, 384, 401, xxn. Parson, a Maryland, 103. Parma, Prince of, masterly retreat of, 169. Paine, Thomas, 187. Parole, question respecting, 260. Pauli, Major, 365. Parvin, Mr., oppression of, 335. Paine, Thoraas, 358. Prescott, Colonel, 423, Peale. C. W., 61. Pemberton's House and Gardens, 43. Penn, Richard, anecdote of, 131; popularity of, 132, Penn, John, 132. Penn Faraily, influence ofthe Revolution upon, 131. Pennsylvania, exertions of, in the Revolution, 132; foreigners among the troops of, 181; constitution for, 286; party spirit in, 331, 350; convention for changing the constitution) 344; debates on that occasion, 345; State Senators, 346, Executive power, 347; re-eligibility ofthe Gover nor, 348; regulation of the Press, 349; threatened in- surreclion in, 372, 393. PhUadelphia in 1731, 19; academy of, 40; yellow fever in, 1760, 44; taken possession of by General Howe, 287; theatric cals, 8,7. Pike, Mr. 289. Prisoners, difficulties in the way of an exchange of, 257; miserable condition of, 233, 244, 270; exchange of, 245, escape of* from Long Island, 314; general exchange of, 318.. Pickering, Colonel Timothy, 355, 500 INDEX. PoUtical differences with England, 114. proscription, 401. " ] inconsistency, instance of, 124. feeUngs, 284. Posts, policy of a war of, 175. Promotion not always the reward of merit, 183. Popular fanaticism, 395. Putnam, Colonel, 147, 151. ' Putnam, General, 169, 179, 180. Quakers, friendliness of, towards the Indians, 23 ; peaceful principles of, 46, 122, 326. « Quaker Blues," 122, Raynal, Abbe, 61. Rawlings", Colonel, 1 94; gaUantry of, at the battie of Haerlera Heights, 197, 200, 319, Randolph, Edraund, 360. ReUy, John, 25. Reid, General John, 75. Reed, General Joseph, character and services of, 119., Revolution, causes of the, 116; opinions of HoraceWalpole respecting, 115; disposition of the people towards, 122; origination of, in the upper classes of society, 134; influence of Pa trick Henry in producing, 135. Recruiting adventures, 133, 137. Reubell Doraine, 253. Reading, society at, 299; British officers on parole at, 304 ; visiters at, 329. Republicans, 331. Richardson, Mr., 68; anecdote ofhis visit to Sir WiUiara Draper, 69. Richardson, Captain, 255. Rivington, the King's Printer, 77. Richardson's novels, 94. Rivers, difficulty of disputing the passage of, 291. Robinson, Mr., 111. Ross, John, 118, 394. Ross, James, 352. Robertson, General, 259. Rochefoucauld, 377. Rousseau, 400. INDEX. 501 "SaUy of the AUey," origin ofthe ballad of, 33. Sailing excursion, 57. Skating, 59. Slate Roof House, The, 62; inmates of, De Kalb, 64; Badourin, 65; Lady Moore, 65; O'Brian, 67; Sir WiUiam Draper, 68; Major Etherington, 70; Majors SmaU and Fell, 75; Captain Wallace, 75; Rivington, 77. Sparks, Mr., quoted, 127, 140, 177; value ofthe writings of, 311. Smallwood, Colonel William, 150. Staten Island, occupation of, by the British, 153. pcammell, Colonel, mistake of, 168. St. Clair, retreat of, frora Ticonderoga, 297. State Senators, raode of electing, 347. Stael, Madarae De, opinion of, 355. Stevens, Mr., 41. Stedman, Judge, anecdote of, 105. Stedman.'Mr., unfounded censure of, 192; testimony of, to the gallantry ofthe Americans, 216. Skene, Major, 127,208,228. Shee, Colonel John, 130, 138; retireraent of, from the array, 181. Stewart, Colonel Walter, 159, 313. , Stewart, Major John, escape of, 314. Stewart, Lieutenant, trial of, 179. Steddiford, Ensign, 207. Speke, Captain, 302. Sedition Law, 349. Swiraraing and skating, 59. Smith, James, 104; anecdotes of, 105. Skinner, Alexander, 109, 110. Shippen, Edward, 118. "Silk Stocking Company, The," 123. Smith, General, 180. Sitgreaves, Samuel, 352. SraiUe, John, 256. Singular Fabrication, 392. School Anecdotes, 56. Soldiers, character of the, 148, 150, 156, privations of, 164, panic of, 174; contrast inthe appearance of the British and American, 314. Supernumerary officers, 318. 502 INDEX. Sunday, injudicious treatraent of children on, 21. Susqyehanna Bridge, 107. Schuyler, General, 143, character of, 144; conversation with Washington respecting Arnold, 449. Sullivan's " FamiUar Letters," quoted, 146, 276. Stutzoe, Mr., 305. Suydam, Jacob, 248, 253. Snyder, Governor, 351. Tartar, Privateer, shipwreck of, 19. Taylor, ChevaUer, 24. Taxes, direct, imposition of, 389. Taxation wiihout representation, 115, 117. Target-shooting, 125. TaUeyrand, an American, 125. Talon, M., 379, 381. Theatre, influence of, 88. Tilghman, J., 117. Tilghraan, Colonel Tench, 277. Tilghraan, Edward, anecdote of, 260. Ticonderoga, capture of, by Colonel AUen, 242. Titles, affectation in, 314. Thomson, Charles, anecdote of, 26; character of, 311. " Toper and the Flies," origin of the story of, 79. Townshend, Charles, reraark. of, respecting General Johnstone; 120. Tudor, Mr., private correspondence witb, 271. Truxton, Commodore, 395. United Slates Bank, 44. Vandyke, Colonel, 108. Van Zinder, Domine, 253. Van Home, Mr., 263, 279. Van Horne, Misses, 265. Valley Forge, army at, 313. Virginia, aversion of, to the Infantry Service, 158. Volunteer Companies, 122; Quaker Blues, 123; The Silk Stocking Company, 124. Wharton, Mr., alias Duke, 70. INDEX. 503 WaUace, Captain, insolence and brutality of, 76, WaUace, Mr., 253. Wraxall, quoted, 101. Walpole, Horace, quoted, 128. Wade, Francis, 128. Washington, opinions of, respeellng the army, 148, 156; vindication in reference to tbe Battle of Long Island, 170; chagrin of, at the pusiUanimity of his soldiers 171; sagacity of, respecting Fort Washington, 176, 194; tactics of, 178; narrow escape of, at the Battle of Haerlera Heights, 200; interest of, in Mr. Graydon, 229; marches against the enemy at Brandywine, 290, incident there, 455; result of the Battle, 293; subsequent measures of, 295; opera tions of, at Germantown, 296; cabal against, 299; election , of, to the Presidency, 343; prosperity of the country under his administration, 358; neutrality of, in reference to France and England, 368; suppression of the whiskey insurrection by, 373; retires frora the Presidency, 382; character, 383, and death of, 398; Letter of, to Mr. Duche, 433; correspondence with General Lee, 463; Letters to President Reed, 449, 454, 466; arrival at Har risburgh, 478. Warren, General, 431. Wayne, General, 277. War, reflections on, 269. Ward, General Artemas, 157. Warren, Captain, 221. Walsh, Robert, quoted, 408. West, Major, 230, 269, 304. Western Expedition, 374. Wilson, James, 333, 344, 352. Wilson, Captain, 212, 230. WUson, Judge, 39. Wirt, WiUiam, quoted, 136. WUkinson, General, quoted, 139; cbaracter and services of, 397; opinion of Mr. Graydon, 298, White Plains, action at, 187. Williaras, Major, Escape of, 315. WiUiams, General Otho Holland, 242. 504 INDEX. Witherspoon, Dr., 307; anecdote of, on the Declaration of Indepen dence, 307. Whitemarsh, army at, 313. Whiskey Insurrection, 372. Woodward, The -Actor, 67. Wordsworth, tribute of, to Lamb applied to Mr. Graydon, xxiv. Woedtke, Baron, 140. Yarnall, Dr., 155. Yellow Fever, 365; causes of, at Harrisburgh, 365. York, past and present condition of, 100; Society at, 102, 106; Con gress at, 107. \ THE END.