timents of Junius before they appeared in print. It is also affirmed, that he made a deathbed declaration, that he was not Junius. Mr. Heron seems to be governed by the consideration of the motive and capacity of the candidates for the fame of Junius. Instead of these being criteria, by which we can determine the controversy, they are themselves questionable, and matters entirely of opinion. Of Mr. Hamilton his judgment is this. "W. Gerard Hamilton it could not "be. No, these letters bespeak a mind too fervid, to have ever "sunk into that placid unambitious indolence, in which that "gentleman spent the latter part of his life. They are evidently the results of a course of study and practice in bu "siness different from that, in which the earlier years of "Hamilton had been passed. His habits and sentiments

"did not permit him to become so violently the partizan of "Wilkes, nor to dive so deep in the puddle of city politics. "He could have no interest to conceal at his death, that he "was the writer of Letters so eloquent, so mighty in their effects, in their principles so truly constitutional. And "assuredly the author of the letters of Junius had a mind supe "rior to the caprice of concealing his right to them, at a time, "when its notoriety could only exalt his fame without hurting "his interests. The power of classical allusion, the familiar cc acquaintance with the rites of the Romish religion, the ad"mirable skill in the nicest points of constitutional law, "which appear in the following Letters, are qualities well "known not to have belonged even to the manly and accomplished mind of Hamilton."

Having disposed of the abovementioned persons, and also decided, that the palm was not due to a clergyman by the name of Rosenhagen, Mr. Heron thus proceeds. "I believe "myself to have nearly discovered, who was certainly the "author of these Letters; but I have without entirely satis"fying myself protracted my enquiries and renewed my δε

doubts, till the necessity of publication calls upon me to in"terrupt them with an imperiousness, that is no longer to be "resisted." That necessity was indeed imperious, which

obliged him to usher his book into the world in this " ques❝tionable shape," when he was on the verge of a discovery, that would have given it immense value. But it seems not only to have prevented him from expressing his doubts, but also to have given him an unlimited assurance. He draws conclusions, which no length of research would warrant, and which in their own nature must rest on the mere authority of his own opinion. "The author of these letters was no other than the "celebrated Dunning, afterwards Lord Ashburton. He a"lone had the motives for personal attack against Lord Mans"field and the Duke of Grafton, which certainly inflamed "the mind of Junius. He alone possessed that knowledge " of the constitutional law of England, which Junius has so "eminently displayed. He alone had reasons of personal "interest to resolve from the very first, that his secret should "die with him, and to the last to adhere to that resolution." Mr. Heron makes several other observations of the same import, which it is unnecessary to quote ; for it is certain that, unless we have better evidence than this, who is Junius "God only knows.”

REVIEW.

Voyage a l'ouest des monts Alleghanys, dans les Etats de L' Ohio, du Kentucky, et du Tennessee, et retour a Charleston par les hautes Carolines. Par F. A. MICHAUX, M. D. &c. 8vo, Paris An XII. [1804.]

WE are desirous of giving our readers a brief ac

count of this publication, as the copy before us is the only one in this part of the country, and as the information, it contains, is very important and interesting.

The author is the son of Andr. Michaux, whose Flora

Boreali-Americana was reviewed in our number for October last; and, in the same walks of natural history and botany,

sequitur patrem passibus æquis." Under the auspices of his Excellency, M. Chaptal, minister of the interior of France, he undertook this journey into the country west of the Alleghany mountains. The main object was to ascertain the relative situation of the principal towns on the great rivers, that empty into the Mississippi; to obtain precise ideas of the state of agriculture and the natural productions of the region, and to procure exact information on the commercial relations of the western states and Lower Louisiana.

He sailed from Bourdeaux on the 7th of Fructidor [August] of the IX year [1801], and arrived at Charleston S. C. the ninth of October following. In the spring of 1802 he took passage to New York, and thence the stage to Philadelphia. Hence he pursued the usual route through Lancaster, York, and Carlisle to Shippensburg.

The following remark on the fare at public houses occurs at page 34. "Taverns are greatly multiplied in the United "States, especially in the villages; but, except in large "towns, they are bad enough. However in rum, brandy, "and whiskey there is no deficiency of supply; for these ar❝ticles are considered, as of the first necessity, and the prof"its of the innkeepers principally arise from the sale of ar"dent spirits, of which there is a great consumption. Trav"ellers must wait the usual hour of the family for their repast. The breakfast consists of bad tea, worse coffee, and "slices of bacon, fried in a pan, to which are sometimes ad"ded eggs, or a broiled chicken. The dinner is of boiled "salt beef and roasted fowls, with rum and water to drink. "Supper consists of tea, coffee, and bacon. There are al"ways several beds in the lodging chamber, which are rarely "furnished with light colored sheets, and fortunate is the "traveller, who arrives on the day, when they are changed."

Meeting at Shippensburg with an American officer, who was going to Pittsburg, they agreed to buy a horse to carry their baggage; and whom, in the yankee style, they could al

ternately" ride and tie," and thus lighten the fatigues of their journey over the mountains. He makes but few remarks on these sublime elevations. His chief attention was directed to the trees, which covered their sides, or the shrubs, which fringed their tops. In the valley of Ligonier he discovered a new species of the Azalea, which was in full bloom. The shrub was twelve or fifteen feet high; and the flowers, which were perfectly white, and much larger, than those of the coccinea and other varieties, diffused a most delightful fragrance.

The historian of the Whiskey Rebellion, Judge Brackenridge, may avail himself of the following document in the second edition of his book. Describing the rejoicings at Bedford on account of taking off the tax on whiskey, M. Michaux observes p. 42, "the taverns, and particularly that, "where we lodged, were filled with drinkers, who made a "shocking tumult, and appeared excessively intoxicated. "The chambers, the entries, and the stairs were strewed "with men, that were dead drunk; and those, to whom ut❝terance remained, expressed only grumblings of rage and "horrid imprecations. The passion for spiritous liquors is one of the traits, that characterizes the inhabitants of the "interior. This passion is so strong, that they quit their "homes from time to time to go and get drunk at the tav"ern; and it may be doubted, whether there are ten in a “ hundred, who can refrain, when they have the opportunity "for indulgence."

The VI chapter contains " an account of Pittsburg; its "trade; the construction of vessels of heavy tonnage, and a "description of the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers." This is an interesting chapter, but it has few particulars, which are not more distinctly and fully stated by Mr. Harris, who was there eight months after, and about the time M. Michaux arrived in France. Indeed the similarity of the accounts of the two writers is so apparent, that it is probable they consulted the same intelligent gentlemen at Pittsburg, and obtained from them similar documents.

Meeting with Mr. Craft, who was going to Kentucky, M. Michaux agreed to be his companion. On July fourteenth they set out on foot across the country to Wheeling, and thence took water passage.

The particulars of the villages, they passed, and of the settlements on the borders of the Ohio, till they arrived at Limestone, contain little, that is important, or new.

The following is extracted to corroborate what has been elsewhere published of the size of some trees on the banks of the Ohio. "Having stopped at a house on the right hand"bank of the river, thirty six miles above Marietta, we saw a sycamore, Platanus Occidentalis, whose trunk at two feet "above the ground was swolen in a prodigious manner. "Two feet higher it measured forty seven feet in circumfer It appeared to preserve the same dimensions to the "height of fifteen or twenty feet, where it divided into branch"es of proportionate size. There appeared no indications "of its being hollow, and I convinced myself, that it could "not be so, by striking it in several places with a beetle. "Our host assured us, that one much larger grew in the "woods about two miles distant. This reminded me of

ence.

a remark of my father's, as he passed this way, that on << an island below Marietta there is a sycamore, which at five "feet above the ground, where the stock was most uniform, 66 was forty feet four inches in circumference, making about "thirteen feet diameter."

gust.*

He arrived at Limestone in Kentucky on the first of AuThe remarks, which he made here" on the shells and fish of the Ohio, on the settlers upon the banks of "the river, on the state of agriculture, emigrations, and the "commercial relations of this part of the United States," form the interesting subject of the twelfth chapter.

He mentions a large kind of muscle, of which there are abundance in the bed of the Ohio, from two to five inches in length, whose shell contains a fine pearl, which is wrought at * It is printed " Avril,” but this must be a typographical error.

Vol. II. No. 4.

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