Слике страница
PDF
ePub

fair weather and a calm. This has given my family the idea of endeavouring to divert the worst effects of my irascibility, and, like some experimentalists in electricity, to draw it off, or direct it towards some object where it might prove innocuous.

Sometimes the domestick animals are made use of, by way of trial, to know whether I may be approached with safety or not; and a cat or a dog is sent into the room to try my temper, before the family dare to interrupt me; as kings have tasters, who must eat a portion of the food prepared for them, before they venture to eat of it themselves. But as I have found out this scheme, they will not dare to practise it any longer; for yesterday I kicked the dog out of the room, and beat the servant unmercifully, for what I suppose he thought a prudent precaution.

Thus, Mr. WRITER, I have made a confes sion of my sin; and although I do not ask absolution for the past, request you to give me your advice, how I may live with less damage to my family and furniture in future.

CHRISTOPHER CHOLERICK, Gent.

I am extremely obliged to Mr. Cholerick for the good opinion he seems to have of the abilities of "The Writer"; and in return for his confidence, will take up the subject of his complaint and request, and treat them with all that seriousness and attention, which the case requires. I must confess, however, that I should not be thus ready to engage in so dangerous an enterprize, if I was any where near him; for as I shall give him advice which may be new and unexpected, I might receive an experimental proof of his disorder, more impressive than those he has related.

I have somewhere heard a story of a Prince, who was a great player of chess, but who was so passionate, that few persons dared to engage with him; he had a friend however who would sometimes adventure; but he always proceeded with great caution, and when he saw an opportunity for a check mate, got himself ready for a start, and the moment he had placed his piece, flew to the other side of the room; and then cried, check mate!

RETREAT FOR THE INSANE.

DR. GEORGE PARKMAN of this town, is about establishing a " Retreat for the Insane," and has published a sketch of the plan on which it will be conducted. The subject is interesting, and in copying a few of his concluding remarks, we feel assured of gratifying many a benevolent reader.

Ignorant and interested Physicians, he calls "Carnifices hominum sub honesto nomine fient." "Mankind's fell butchers with a nobler name."

He then addresses the princes of his time to rid the world of these pests of society :

"Vos quibus imperium est, qui mundi fræna tenetis
Ne tantum tolerate nefas, hanc tollite pestem
Consulite humano generi

Vel perfecte artem discant vel non medeantur."
"Ye who the reins of empire bear,
The human race in pity spare ;
Its scourges to destruction give,
And we shall then be well and live."

He adds, in speaking of the same art improp-
exercised,

"Nam si aliæ peccent artes tolerabile certè est.
Hæc vero nisi sit perfecta, est plena peric'li,
Et sævit tanquam occulta atque domestica pestis."

"If other arta perfection need,
No wondrous evils will succeed;
But physick treated as a trade,
Is fraud or ignorance display'd,
A hidden and domestick pest,
Our every comfort can molest ;
Bereave us of our every joy,
And fortune, health, and life destroy."

"A patient, confined at home, naturally feels resentment, when those, whom he has been accustomed to command, refuse to obey, or attempt to restrain him. We may attribute, in part, to similar causes, the indifference to the accustomed sources of domestick pleasure, the disgust towards the tenderest connexions, which are frequently early symptoms of insanity. The maniack is frequently unconscious of his dis-erly ease. He is unable to acount for the change in the conduct of his friends. They appear to him cruel, disobedient, and ungrateful. His disease aggravates their conduct in his view, and leads him to unfounded suspicions. Honce, the estrangement of his affections may frequently be the consequence of either the proper and necessary, or of the mistaken conduct of his friends towards him. Yet, the existence of the benevolent affections, in such cases, is often evidenced, by the patient's attachment to those, who have the immediate care of him, and who treat him with judgment and humanity. Even in those instances where the ingenious humanity of the Superintendent fails to conciliate, and the disease changes the aspect of nature, and represents all mankind as the leagued enemies of the patient, the existence of the social affections is often evidenced, by his attachment to some inferior animals. In most cases of insanity, originating in deviation from virtue, the degree of morbid ef-peared in your Spectator, relating to the scifect, on the intellect, is proportioned to the consciousness of shame, and to the remaining

virtue of the victim.

It has been said, by one, who has been a long time conversant with the Insane, I have nowhere seen fonder husbands, more affectionate parents, more pure and exalted patriots, than in the Lunatick Asylum, during their intervals of calmness and reason. A man of sen

scribable tenderness, and of most estimable
virtue.

The Superintendent of an Asylum for the In-
sane should possess mildness, and firmness of
the vigilance of an affectionate
friend, knowledge of the mind, zeal and sagac-
ity in the discharge of the duties of his office.

unanners,

EXTRACTS.

THE author of the celebrated latin poem
Zodiacus Vitæ, that goes under the name of
Palingonius, was Manzoll-who died about the
year 1530.

Considering myself therefore at a safe dis-sibility may daily witness there, scenes of indetance from Mr. Cholerick, the first "check" I shall give him will be to deprive him of the apology which he and every man of his temper are extremely ready to urge as their excuse, or an extenuation of their fault; viz. that "'tis their nature, and they cannot help it." This I utterly deny; I am no believer in that sort of mental imbecility, beneath the shade of which These high qualifications will be the constant aim of the Superintendent of the Proposwe often endeavour to dim the image of our faults and imperfections. Let me ask Mr.ed Institution. He is encouraged by the sup Cholerick, if he cannot, and does not, easily port and advice of his Professional Fathers." restrain his passion in most companies, and most places, except home? Did he ever upset the dishes on a friend's table, where he was invited to dine; or does he throw his tea or coffee in the face of any lady, but his wife? I presume not. These fits of passion are suffered to break out (I will not say are indulged) The speech of the old man who had misonly where we know we are masters; for we pent his youth in idleness and in pleasure, is can have the rule over our own spirits" as extremely strong and pathetick : long, as we are kept in check by company, or "quum serior ætas awed by the presence of those we consider our Sentiet ingenium, famam rem, membra perisse superiours. I should therefore advise the gen-Exiguo malis gustu & dulcedine inani. tleman, however tri e this advice may appear, Pune iterum ut multi dices, O tempora pulchra "to begin at home." Let him consider whether Quam malè vos novi! quo fugistis! miserum me !" his own house is not the point where the enemy chooses to assail him, and let him place prudence and caution on the watch, bring resolution to sustain the first attack, and have reason always in reserve to support him; and I doubt not but he will soon obtain the honour of a victory.

"When coming age shall set before your eyes
Talents and fortune, health and reputation,
For empty pleasures, appetites indulged,
Grovelling and low, forever gone and lost!
Will you not say, as many more have said,
Oh Time, for knowledge and improvement given,
How ill employ'd! Oh! whither are you fied?
Ah, never to return! Wretch that I am !"

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE BOSTON SPECTATOR. Sir,

I HOPE and believe you are mistaken in suspecting that philosophical disquisitions are interesting to but few in this part of the community. The paragraphs which have ap

ence of Physicks were very acceptable to me, and to several of my acquaintance; and were the subjects of considerable conversation.

A question was proposed, in one of your early numbers, as to the reason that a wheel turning on an axis, inclined to the horizon, had a tendency, when put in motion, to become erect. In a subsequent number, an ingenious solution was suggested, attributing this tendency to the compression and consequent elasticity of the atmosphere, between the lower part of the wheel and the earth, or whatev er surface might be under it. The writer accounted in the same manner for a common

spinning top's assuming an erect position on the floor, though considerably inclined when first put in motion.

The same principle undoubtedly operates in spring of the atmosphere has some effect, in both cases, but I am persuaded, though the these instances, it is very small, and by no means sufficient to account for the fact, which we observe. I immediately purchased a top, and amused myself as in the days of my youth, but with a different motive. I found that when the top had become erect, the application of a solid surface, vertically, near the body, did not make it incline to the opposite side. Now if compressed air would raise the top, the same compression between it and the surface, which I placed near it, would of course have given it, and kept it in, an inclined position.

again set it in motion, and immediately elevated it in the air, supported almost on a point. Here there could be no unequal spring of air, on either side; yet the upper axis, swinging round as before, soon took its vertical position.

By means of a weight, I set a small top in motion, in vacuo. The effect was apparently the same, though the atmosphere was exhaust. ed. Your correspondent was therefore mistak. en as to the principal cause; and on reflec.

tion, I am inclined to think the following theory is the truth.

The matter of all bodies, in rotatory motion, has a tendency to fly from the centre or axis of motion; and this tendency will every where be in proportion to the quantity of matter in a particular part, and its velocity. If therefore, while a body whirls round, there be more matter on one side of the axis of motion, than on the opposite, the centrifugal force will be proportionably strongest, where there is most

matter.

When a running top is thrown upon the floor inclined, it does not turn upon the central point of the pivot, but on a point, more or less distant from the centre, as the pivot is more or less acute. As it turns, therefore, there is constantly more matter, on that side of the axis of motion, which makes the obtuse, than on that, which makes the acute angle with the floor. The centrifugal force will consequently be strongest on the upper side, and tend to bring the whole body of the top in that direction. As the top becomes erect, the point on which it turns becomes nearer and nearer the centre of the pivot; when it becomes completely so, a line through the centre of the matter is the centre or axis of the motion; the centrifugal force operates every way equally; and the body revolves without vibration.

LETTER FROM RICHARD WATSON,

LORD BISHOP OF LANDAFF.

[Our readers of various tastes may be assured of finding much entertainment in the last volume of the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, from which we have been requested to insert the following letter from the excellent Dr. Watson to the late Dr. Eliot of this town. Indeed every American Library should be considered deficient in an important part, which has not a complete series of the collections of the Historical Society, and also the publications of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Massachusetts Medical Society, and the Massachusetts Agricultural Societies.]

Rev. John Eliot, Minister of the New North Church, Boston, New-England.

CALGARTH PARK, KENDALL, 13 JUNE, 1807.

Reverend Sir,

THE day before yesterday I was honoured by your letter of the 26th May, 1806, delivered to me by Mr. Buckminster, whom I could not prevail upon to favour me with more than an en passant visit; though I am certain, from what I saw of him, that I have cause to lament, that his engagements would not suffer him to make a longer stay.

I accept with great pleasure and gratitude the distinction you announce to me of being elected a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society. My studies have not, at any period of my life, been particularly directed to historical inquiry; and, at the age of seventy, I must despair of being able to render the Society any service as an associate; especially as I am unacquainted with its general design, as it respects ancient or modern history.

united into one whole, originating in Adam, and subjected to the moral government of that one incomprehensible Being from whom every thing is derived. The real existence and the extent of this moral government is best discerned by comparing the circumstances of the whole species, with respect to happiness, morals, and intelligence, at distant periods. The peopling of America by European christians, and the rise of a great empire, (which is now beginning to attract the notice of other States) in that quarter of the globe, will be contemplated by future ages as important epochs in the general history of man; and they will, by the art of printing, become known to our latest posterity, freed from that confusion, uncertainty, and contradiction in which the histories of remote ages are universally involved.

If the labours of your Society are restricted, principally, to the history of your own country, here is abundant matter for erudite and extensive investigation. In addition to all that can now be known of the civil histories of Peru, of Mexico, and of the savage nations yet subsisting in the interior of the country, a copious source of historical detail is opened by the separation of America from Great Britain. The causes which produced that separation, the great men who accomplished it, and the consequences which have followed it, highly

merit the most accurate narration. The introduction of the sciences, the establishment of literary societies, the cultivation of the arts, the gradual improvement or deterioration of the principles of government in the several states composing the general confederation, the policy or impolicy of European alliances, the extension of commerce, the practicability or utility of forming American settlements in Asia or Africa, these, and matters such as these, present themselves to my mind as fit objects of historical discussion. But I forbear, from not having any knowledge of the ends for which your Society has been instituted; and I conclude with expressing my most ardent wishes, that the offspring of Great Britain may be as illustrious in the peaceful arts of life, as the mother from which she has sprung has long been, and that it may be more fortunate than the parent has been in escaping the calamity of frequent wars, principally occasioned by the avarice of commerce, and the also, in escaping that excess of wealth, which, ambition of despotism; and more fortunate, by introducing luxury, contaminates the probstrength of nations, and subverts the freest ity of individuals, enervates the physical constitutions.

I have the honour to be,
Reverend Sir,
Your faithful servant,
R. LANDAFF.

INFIDEL WRITINGS OF ADVANTAGE TO THE

CAUSE OF CHRISTIANITY.

Nothing can be more interesting, either to "THERE will be such men as Hobbes, so philosophers or divines, than the history of the long as the world endures, and perhaps it is human species, considered either in its several necessary that there should be such. It is for parts, or as constituting one great whole. the interest of truth that skepticks and infidels The first will be gratified with tracing the should occasionally start up and give the progression and retrogradation of human intel- alarm to society. Those countries that conlect, according to the influence of physical and tinue longest in the enjoyment of peace, are in moral causes, in every part of the world, and the greatest danger either of losing their libin every age; and the second will be pene-erties, through domestick encroachments, or trated with the highest veneration for the of becoming a prey to the power of foreign inBible, which commences, as it were, and arvasion. The reason of this is partly the ranges the history of mankind, by referring weakness and effeminacy, which long relaxaall nations to one common stock. In this tion brings on all orders of men, and partview the distinction between ancient and mod-ly the incapacity of defence, arising from ern history vanishes, the two together are the disuse of war. So it is in the state of

moral and religious truth. While their interests are unagitated, they become less attended to, less understood-in process of time, that knowledge which should be general becomes the property of a few. Hence arbitrary tenets and theological prerogative! Hence truth unexercised, in darker times, was soon so covered with the rust of superstition, that she lost the very principles and springs of her being. It is the spirit of inquiry that keeps her in a proper condition of defence, that polishes, brightens, and refines her."

POETRY.

SELECTED,

THE URN OF HIM I LOVE.
When airy forms soft flitting thro' the gloom,
BENEATH pale twilight's solitary gleam,
Catch, as it were, a glimpse of day's last beam,
Pensive I seek my EDMUND's lonely tomb.

Light fall the dews upon thy hallow'd urn,
thou who sleep'st unconscious of my woes!
While I, at melancholy night's return,
O'er the pale marble strew the weeping rose.
Ah! why does musick breathe along the bowers
The melting song of fascinating love!

Ah! why does gaudy summer lead the hours,
And shed her flowery chaplets through the grove?
Yet I have felt her animating power,
Have tasted all her beauties, all her sweets;

Have marked the colour of each opening flower,
And raptur'd bore them to my lov'd retreats.

For then, my EDMUND, summer's noblest pride,
Would kiss the wreath VIOLA's fingers wove;
Would say her hands the lily's white outvied,
And fondly whisper his increasing love.
But hush'd forever is that tuneful breath,
His breast no more with love's pure flame shall burn
His heart is cold within the gripe of death :
O, hours of bliss! ye never shall return.

The balmy gales that fan the perfum❜d dales,
And o'er the golden-bosom'd meadows play,
Fast as remembrance of the past prevails,
Bear the heav'd sigh upon their wings away.
Dearer to me is winter's gloomy reign,
The rushing blast that sweeps along the plain;
The angry tempests when around they fly :
The dark clouds low'ring in the lurid sky;

The wind that sobs along the rocky shore ;
The scream of sea fowl, and the ocean's rave,
Which casts its billows with tremendous roar,
In sparkling foam upon the gelid cave.
Yes-these dark scenes afford my soul delight
Sick'ning from day's refulgent beam I turn :
Weeping I hide me in the shades of night,
And only joy to clasp my EDMUND's urn.

[blocks in formation]

DEVOTED TO POLITICKS AND BELLES LETTRES.

VOL. I.

POLITICAL.

POR THE BOSTON SPECTATOR.

CAPTURE OF THE ESSEX..... BELLIGERENT

RIGHTS....NEUTRAL RIGHTS.

THE regret we experience on account of the loss of one of our valuable frigates, and the death of many of our excellent seamen, is, in some measure, alleviated by the honour reflected on the country, from the heroick conduct of Captain Porter and his crew. Whether the virtue, bravery, so commendable in itself, has not been carried in this instance to a degree which prudence would pronounce excessive, is not for us to determine. The tribunal to which Captain Porter is legally accountable will award him the high credit to which he is unquestionably entitled, with or without quah fication, as they shall deem meet. That he is a brave, a very brave man, is a fact which the world will readily acknowledge. If Troy could have been saved by the hand of any, our Hector's could have saved it.

BOSTON, SATURDAY, JULY 23, 1814.

her rights in favour of one belligerent, the oth-
er may justly expect and claim a similar sacri-
fice in her behalf, and proceed to conduct on
that presumption. Whether such questions
are to be first made matters of complaint or
discussion, between governments, must depend
on circumstances of convenience.

I have but one other point of doctrine to ad-
vance. If a belligerent violate the laws of a
neutral nation, he forfeits his right of protec-
tion from that nation.

I shall now apply these doctrines to the case immediately before the publick.

NO. XXX.

From the Spanish government, what is Mr. Madison's prospect of redress? What does be consider the Spanish government? Who is, in his view, the lawful sovereign of Chili,— Joseph Bonaparte-Ferdinand VIIth, or the Creoles of the Province? Will he apply to King Joseph? Non inventus. He is an outcasta vagabond. Will he apply to Ferdinand VIIth He has never recognized himhe refused to recognize those who acted in his

name.

But admit that these difficulties are surmounted; that the king of Spain is ready to open books, or rather to settle all accounts with the government of the United States. Will such a process be agreeable to Mr. Madison? We venture to predict he will not be impatient or anxious for a comparison of claims. Let us look back, for a moment, for some of the items, to which his attention would requested.

Commodore Hillyar attacked Captain Porter
within the jurisdiction of the Spanish provin-
cial government of Chili, and took the Essex.
At first view, it would appear that, in this
act, an outrage was committed by Captain
Hillyar against the Spanish government and
that the Spanish government, for the attack
and capture of the Essex, within its jurisdic-be
tion, was accountable to the government of the
United States. Consequently, that the Span-
ish government have a claim on Great Britain,
for the wrong done them; and the United
States on Spain, for the loss of the Essex, and

We are now enabled, from the official letter
of Captain Porter, to take a view of this event,
in all its bearings, as it respects the British-the destruction of her crew.
the Spanish-and ourselves. This is our pres-
ent purpose.

But the Spanish government have no cause of complaint against Great Britain, if the stateThe armed subjects of governments at war ment of Captain Porter be correct; and we have a right to destroy one another. This presume it is. It appears that the Governour right, which each power possesses equally, is of Valparaiso waved his right of neutrality, in to be exercised like all other rights, without favour of the British commander. "During infringing those of another. the action," says Captain Porter, "our Consul Arms cannot be used legally, in any territo-General, Mr. Poinset, called on the Governour ry, at peace, but by the authority, or with the of Valparaiso, and requested that the batteries consent of the government of that territory. might protect the Essex. This request was To kill or destroy is the prerogative of the po- refused, but he promised that if she should litical sovereignty there established succeed in fighting her way to the common anchorage, he would send an officer to the British commander, and request him to cease firing; but declined using force under any circumstances; and there is no doubt of a PERFECT UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THEM."

Therefore if one power presume to kill or destroy within the jurisdiction of another, it is an insult to its sovereignty-a violation of its exclusive rights.

When all nations are at peace, one nation may abandon any of its rights in favour of another, and not give a third any cause of of

fence.

Captain Porter, notwithstanding one or two reflections, in the course of his letter, has, by this representation of facts, completely justified the British commander, in the only circumstance, wherein he could have been wrong. This statement being true, the question between the Spanish and British governments is settled at once. The only cause of complaint, remaining, therefore, is our's, against the gov ernour of Valparaiso.

In time of war, a neutral nation is in reason and justice restricted within certain bounds of impartiality, towards the belligerents. The neutral may not only enjoy her rights, but must preserve them-at least, must not suffer them to be infringed by one belligerent to her advantage, and to the disadvantage of the other. This is plain common sense, and is of course a principle which has always been recognized by jurists. To do otherwise, and yet be neutral, would render neutrality a solecism. From these two considerations, a power's exclusive sovereignty within its own realm, and the duty of impartiality which attaches to a neutral, arises the principle that belligerents are, by right, secure from the attacks of one another, within neutral jurisdiction. If the neutral suffers her sovereignty to be usurped by one belligerent, and to the injury of anoth-lous, we will say, disgraceful, hue and cry er, it is a breach of her neutrality, and the neutral is occountable to the suffering belligerent, for the wrong sustained.

These positions, I imagine, will be controverted by no one. I corclude it will now likewise be granted, that if a neutral sacrifice

"First," says the king of Spain, "a military expedition was fitted out from the United States, under General Miranda, consisting of troops principally American citizens, with provisions and munitions of war, for the express purpose of overturning my government, in South America, and wresting from me my provinces. The whole transaction was undeniably conducted with the knowledge and connivance of the government of the UnitedStates-and as was said, at the time, and never disproved, with their countenance, if not their aid."

"By a fraudulent purchase from France of my territory of Louisiana, to which she had obtained no just claim, that country has been occupied, and placed under the government of the United States, without my consent,against my wishes and interest, and in violation of my rights."

"At several dictinct times, troops have marched out of the United States for the pub-lickly avowed purpose of revolutionizing the province of New Mexico-have made war against my authority in that country, have kept it in a state of anarchy, causing much. bloodshed, among my unoffending, loyal subjects."

"Several hostile attempts have been made against my government, within the Floridas. Troops belonging to the United States, undera regularly commissioned officer, General Matthews, entered my dominions in arms committed outrages, and threatened the reduction of St. Augustine, the capital."

"Such are some of the injuries and insults, which for several years past have marked the conduct of the government and citizens of the United States, though professing to be the friends of Spain."

Had Captain Porter, in no instance, violated the neutral rights of that province ? Had he never, at Valparaiso, or any of its outports, exercised jurisdiction, nor infringed any of the laws of the country? It does not appear by his letter, that he had, or had not. We trust it will be proved, in the events that he had not. Then his right to protection will be valid, and "I demand satisfaction for these insulte-I. our claim upon the Spanish government will demand reparation for the very serious wings stand. The state of the case will be this, not- I have thus sustained-Let this be accomplishwithstanding the absurd doctrine, and ridicu-ed, and I will cheerfully insemify you for the loss of the frigate Essex, taken within my ju-risdiction."

that has been raised-The British comman-
der has done no more than he had a right to
do. The American commander has done noth-
ing that he had not a right to do.. The
ish governour has done wrong, and the
ish government owes us satisfaction.

We have suggested the probable result of an application, by, Mr. Madison, to the Spanish Span-government for redress, to shew that no such Span-application can be expected. The argressions, which have been committed against that pow

[ocr errors]

er, have been so frequent and gross, a discussion of wrongs, betweet the governments, will never be instituted by Mr. Madison. He cannot, he dares not complain. His French policy and measures have deprived his country of her rights; she must bear injuries in silence, for her rulers can have no face to ask reparation.

WE have been much pleased with the following very sensible and seasonable remarks, in the Salem Gazette of yesterday.

"It is much to be regretted, that the opinions of many men upon subjects of national concern, are oftener the dictates of passion, than the result of deliberate and fair inquiry. Disregarding the common maxims of human action, and rejecting those principles, which guide the mind in the discovery of truth and right, they hastily condemn every thing, that wounds their pride or baffles their expectations, and approve whatever is in accordance with their prejudices and desires. Common sense is silenced; and that inveterate delusion, which broods over this country like a deadly pestilence, has so infected the mind, that error is as frequent, as the occurrences which give rise to them. This will ever be the case, when men choose to subject their reason to their passions, and suffer their judgments to be formed in the mould of their prejudices.

How many have associated with the capture of the Essex a violation of the laws of nations, and all the rules of common warfare! And why this association? Because hatred of England, and an overweening vanity, cannot be reconciled to the misfortune upon any other principles, because all the calamities of this war are to be imputed, not indeed to the stupidity and wickedness of a corrupt administration, but to the injustice of a barbarous, oppressive, liberty-hating enemy !—an enemy, who has, for twenty years past, been freely expending her blood and treasure for the defence of freedom, and in behalf of mankind; an enemy, who is now receiving the voluntary offerings of love and thanksgiving of all Europe, for her great and magnanimous efforts to preserve the independence of nations and the right of self-government.****

"Neither the laws of honour, nor the voice of justice, require an enemy, whom chance or preparation has made superior, to equalize his strength to his antagonist's, before he begins the contest. Wars are not always made to enable the parties to destroy each other" in style," or to become rivals in chivalry; but are waged to redress grievances on the one hand, and to resist claims on the other; and he who gets a drubbing must make the best terms he can.

An officer has a right to annihilate the whole force of his adversary, if thereby he can save all the lives of his own crew. Advantage is always sought in war, with all diligence; for the object is, discomfiture and peace."

GENERAL REGISTER. BOSTON, SATURDAY, JULY 23, 1814.

EUROPEAN. Very singular! a month has elapsed since we have received any advices from Europe, excepting two articles; one from the London Gazette of June 2, in Canada, stating that on the 30th of May, a Definitive Treaty of Peace between Great Britain and

France, was signed at Paris, by Viscount Castlereagh, the Earl of Aberdeen, K. T. Gene

ral Viscount Cathcart, K. T. and Lieut. Gene-, ral Sir Charles William Stuart, K. B. Plenipotentiaries of His Britannick Majesty and by the Prince de Benevento, Plenipotentiary of His Most Christian Majesty.

A second article of news is from Spain, via Newport,-containing a very singular decree of Ferdinand VIIth renouncing his acceptance of the Constitution, annulling the powers of the General and Extraordinary Cortes, and making void all their acts and decrees, and forbidding any of his subjects giving the said Cortes support or countenance, under pain of death. The event has been welcomed by the army with apparent joy; but we apprehend new troubles in Spain, from a measure which wears a somewhat different aspect from the other recent events in Europe. The decree is dated, Valeria, May 4, 1814.

DOMESTICK. The rumour of an armistice between Great Britain and the United States remains without confirmation.

On Monday the 11th inst. two ships, 4 brigs and two schooners, under Commodore Hardy, appeared off Eastport, Maine, and sent in a boat, demanding the surrender of the fort. After some minutes consideration, the flag of the fort was struck; 70 men and the United States' property were taken. Private property was not touched

An additional force of 1 ship of the line, 3 frigates, a ship, and brig, arrived in the Chesapeake, on the 11th inst. and went up the bay.

LITERARY AND MISCELLANEOUS.

FOR THE BOSTON SPECTATOR.

THE WRITER, No. XI.

IT is the nature and business of man to search after happiness. All are engaged in this pursuit, and however different, various, or divergent the paths we tread, we have all the same bright object in view; and in the spring time of youth, at least, all expect to obtain and enjoy it. Since then this desire is so general, or rather universal in the human breast, and as the world appears not decided on the best and surest way to acquire this "greatest good," I shall endeavour in this and the following number, to show that there is one sure way, (and there is but one) a plain and easy way, to obtain the blessing; and notwithstanding it is too often passed by, as not offering the gilded but deceitful joys which lures the wayward fancy of the thoughtless and wanton, yet it is eminently " a way of pleasantness," and those who walk in it never fail to go on their way rejoicing."

In some fables and allegories mankind are represented to be inquiring after happiness; but although this idea may be worked up into a handsome figure of speech, I doubt whether it will comport very accurately with real life. I believe rather that every one is so sure that he is in the right road, that he thinks it entire ly unnecessary to inquire, and would feel more offended than obliged, if you were so of ficious as to tell him he was in a wrong.

It is however certain, that there is a wrong way a way that leads to misery, instead of happiness; and into which we are too often misled by false appearances, and wander widest from the object of our pursuit, when our arms are just open to embrace it.

Lured by the glitter of wealth, or seduced by the wanton eye of unlawful love; roused by the trump of fame, or soothed by the softer strains of indolence and ease, we submit ourselves to the guidance of passions; and borne along by their eager and impatient footsteps in a hasty and unreflecting career after the

goddess of our desires, we either forget or foolishly deny that "Virtue alone is happiness below." There is not however a more solemn truth, nor one more interesting for mankind to know and acknowledge, than this short aphorism of the poet. Let it be understood that in the idea of virtue I include that of religion, (in my mind indeed I cannot separate them,) and then I will appeal to the heart of man for a confirmation of this great truth. If indeed there is a heart so depraved that it is entirely insensible to the pleasure of virtuous actions, with such an one I have nothing to do. He who feels no emotions in relieving distress, sees no beauty in benevolence, esteems not the piety of a mother, the chastity of a sister, or the fidelity of a friend, has not a human heart he is an ideot without feeling, or a demon and has none but those of a fiend. To such the appeal is not meant to be made. But to all who have human sensibilities remaining, though depraved; to all who have any of the sympathies of their nature still hovering round their hearts to guard some corner uncorrupt by vice; to these, whether old or young, this solemn truth is advanced, fearless of contradiction: To be happy, man must be virtuous.

Why then all this bustle, all this toil, all these schemes and contrivances to be happy? Why wander about in so many bye-paths, when the strait and certain road is before you? We have only to walk uprightly, and we shall walk safely. We have only to preserve our minds pure, our consciences clear, our hearts without guile, and peace, and pleasure, and happiness will make their abode with us. The heart of the pious and good man reposes softly, though his head may be pillowed on a stone; whilst the guilty rest on thoras, even when reclined on the soft bosom of love.

Whilst we are innocent, we eat the bread of cheerfulness, and the cup of life is sweet to our taste; but no sooner are we corrupted by vice, than it becomes bitter, and the longer we drink of it, the more difficult it will be 10 make the nauseous draught go down."

Go to the filthy sons of intemperance and sensuality, and look at their pleasures; see them in their polluted haunts, hear the vulgar oaths, the obscene jests, their rude noise and brutal quarrels, and say if happiness is here. Return and visit the abodes of purity, innocence, christian charity, and love, and say if here she is not? Indulge your evil passions, cherish revenge, foster envy in your bosOMS, gratify your lusts, give the reins to unruly desire, will you then overtake happiness in her flight, or will she come and hold communion with such guests? No! you must banish these from your heart, or you banish happiness

forever.

Socrates and Plato, although they had not the privilege of being christians, saw and acknowledged the beauty of virtue; and they taught their disciples that happiness, or the favour of the gods, could only be secured by the practice of it. And the great Addison, when

he called his libertine relation to his bed-side to see how a christian could die, was a glorious proof of the happiness of virtue even in the pangs of death.

The eastern nations, with minds bewildered and perplexed by false religions, and corrupted by voluptuousness and servility, yet are sensible to the charms of virtue, and frequently delight to exhibit her, in their figurative language, as most amiable and engaging.

My readers will remember that I told them, I had been a great traveller. When I was in Constantinople, I used to frequent the coffeehouses where the Turks assembled to smoke,

drink coffee, and hear the tales of their poets or story tellers. At one of these entertainments, the company appeared to be unusually attentive and pleased; and I was very desirous of knowing the subject, or nature of the discourse which had given them so much amusement and satisfaction. I was told it was a sort of allegory, but newly related amongst them, called the "Vision of Ahmrad. With some difficulty I procured a manuscript of it, and had it translated into English, and as it is an illustration of the great truth I have been endeavouring to establish in this paper, I shall present it to my readers entire in my next.

BONAPARTE.

We find the following brief outline of Bonaparte's real character, in an Address, delivered eleven years ago, in this town, by Dr. J. S. J. GARDINER.

unworthy of your regard. From the common
evils of life I am happily exempt. War, with
his calamitous attendants, rapine, desolation,
and famine, has kept aloof from my peaceful
dwelling. My friends and near relatives have
none of them found an untimely grave. Pov-
erty with its numberless distresses, hunger,
wretchedness, and the prisoner's chain, has not
yet visited me. My troubles are from within,
the terrifying offspring of a distempered im-
agination.

to such musty stuff, and drowned, meditating on the reveries of my favourite authors. With the youngest of the sisters I should certainly have fallen in love, had I found her in some

more romantick situation. Had I found her weeping in some dungeon, a helpless captive, or heard her soft melodious voice stealing over the waves of some glassy lake, at night, and when the moon shone through a parting cloud, her beauty would have been irresistible. But from the dulness of the present scene, I longed to escape; and when the carriage, that conveyed me away, arrived at the door, I sprang into it with unfeigned delight.

When very young, I commenced reading Novels. This first implanted in me a love for something like literature. Unhappily, no experienced friend was at hand to give me salu- There is a time of life when every reading tary advice, and recommend books of such solperson begins to compose; and from the imid worth, as would improve my taste and cor- perfect models, which I had chosen, I was rect my imagination. Like a spoiled child, about to form my style. Possessed with a whose health and palate are ruined by impru scribbling mania, poetry and prose flowed from dent indulgence in high-seasoned food, I chose my quill in abundance. My poetry was crowdnot the wholesome, simple diet that strength-ed with indistinct images and sentimental "The character of the First Consul, that ens the mind; but such books as would best phrases, which no one could understand. Such setter up and puller down of Kings, is one of please my own vitiated taste. From stories of epithets as "leafy grove" (have not forests the most extraordinary, with which history has "Jack the giant killer," I ascended to the from time immemorial had leaves !) "purling presented us. We read of no eminent per- Arabian Nights' Entertainments," and thence brook" (the word purling was to my earsson, in whom such contradictory qualities to the more peruicious, because more fascina- sweet beyond expression), "gaudy tulip," &c. seem to have united. Crafty and ferocious, ting, productions of the day. With Mrs. Rat- and " she spoke and died," to crown all, flashintriguing and bold, cru-1 by nature, and mer-cliffe I travelled through forests infested by ed from my brain, as if a ray of heaven had ciful only from policy, of superiour talents, of desperate banditti, and, enraptured, at twilight, gleamed upon it. My prose was almost literunbounded ambition, commanding the energies gazed upon the tumbling cataracts near. With ally copied from the host of novels, that pour of a people, mighty in numbers, warlike by her, I traversed the dreary courts of some di- forth from our town circulating-libraries. education, enthusiastick for glory, flushed with lapidated and deserted castle; with her, I visit- From these I learned to prefer sound to subsuccess, he is, perhaps, the most formidable ed the dark damp vault; heard the deep stance, and to drown all the principles of genfee, that freedom and civilized man had ever groans of its murdered lord; and started at uine taste in the jingle of words, and in the yer to encounter. In Alexander and Cæsar, every breath of wind that sighed through the rapid fumes of an overstretched fancy. The ambitious as they were, we discover nothing lattice, or waved the tags of the time-worn tap-syllable "ville," for instance; this charming mean and low; but a greatness of soul, a gen-estry. In short, I was so much captivated by cluster of letters was fagged on to the names erosity of nature, which extorted admiration her enchantment, that I regarded her as the of each hero and heroine. If the story of a even from enemies, and mitigated, in some paragon of literature, and her works as the young man were to be told, he was destined to measure, the miseries they inflicted. They standard of taste. Accordingly every book save his sweetheart from drowning, or engage were too magnanimous for hypocrisy. They must be crowded with scenes of troubles, nev- in some Quixotick expedition, no matter how would never have stooped to the mean dissim-er witnessed in real life; situations in for- unlawful, in her defence. After years of abulation of personating different characters. ests, never heard of; ruined fortifications, sence mai of sorrow, they met most wonderThey would not have appeared Musselmen in never reared; and lakes, not yet discovered fully, never more to part. If a young woman, Egypt, or Catholicks at Rome. In the various by "human research" Every thing that bor--she must, blush in all the modesty of naanecdotes recorded of the First Consul, we do dered on the marvellous claimed my unqualifi- ture; but what should be the proper exciting not discover a single generous action. Re-ed admiration. Decayed vaults, haunted ab- cause of her blushes, I knew not how to disserved and unsocial in his manners, tyrannical criminate. Instead of that dignified, unobtruand vindictive in his disposition, he revolves, in ding modesty, which ever accompanies virtue, the gloomy recesses of his own mind, plans of I often made her blush, when she should have future conquests, and projects of universal embeen indignant. I often made her weep at a pire. tender recital, the design of which evidently was to destroy her principles. She however must be all goodness," though I knew not what goodness was. She must be all "feel

"Alas! thy dazzled eye

Beholds this man in a false glaring light,

Which conquest and success have thrown upon him ;
Didst thou but view him right, thou❜dst see him black
With murder, treason, sacrilege, and crimes
That strike my soul with horror but to name 'em."

THE CONFIDANT, No. XI. THE letter, containing the following communication, bore the post-mark of Hartford, Connecticut. I have but one objection to its insertion-it is longer than the intended limits of these numbers admit.

DEAR CONFIDANT,

Your friendly advice to those persons, who from time to time have entrusted you with the history of their past lives, encourages me also to address you, upon a subject very near my heart.

beys, chiefs of robbers dressed out in all the
habiliments of ideal honour, while devoted to
the trade of murdering mankind, so corrupted
my taste and darkened the picture of real life,
that nothing, but such frightful stories as
make one's blood run cold, could satiate the
craving appetite of my mind. Like the pro-
fessed gambler, when deprived of his customa-
ry nightly debauch, I was restless and misera-ing," though I knew not how to distinguish
ble, whenever my mind relaxed from the high-
wrought scenes described by these pernicious
books; whilst those of sterling worth were
neglected, as sordid dross, as the musty mus-
ings of some plodding monk.

between the most debased, and the most culti-
vated feelings of the human heart and I
thought there was no more attraction in a
"Ruth" gleaning in the fields of Boaz for
bread to sustain her aged mother, than in my
In the winter of the year sometime past, at favourite character of "Sensibility" shedding
the solicitation of a friend and distant relation the tear of sympathy over the luckless carcase
of my age, I accompanied him to his residence of a deceased kitten. Accustomed from my
at H---- Here I beheld a scene entirely youth up to pride and egotism and an over-
new. Every thing was kept in the nicest weening fondness for what was my own, I
order. The servants were respectful, and obe- surveyed these little effusions, and thought
dient. The pursuits of the family were right-with pleasure on my future rise in life. That
each. The long winter evenings beneath our this pride, a blasting mildew to my happiness,
ly assigned, and separate hours appointed for I felt the effects of this pernicious dreaming,
northern sky were devoted to intellectual en- witness the sleepless night, the hurried dream.
tertainment. The family, among whom were Oft at midnight hour, when through my case-
my friend and two lovely sisters, having drawnment the moon flung her pale light, rising I
close to the fire, were amused and instructed
by the perusal of some useful and entertaining

A proper Confidant I have long desired to obtain, but alas! no one, of my own habits and sentiments can I find, who is able to afford rebook. Not those, to which I had been accuslief for the malady of the mind. Some will tomed ; but the most refined of our English betray, some despise me for the too ready divines, historians, poets, and philosophers. To trust I may repose in them. To you only, these at that time I had not the disposition to therefore, through the medium of a publick attend; but sat on the sofa, with legs projected print, can I apply for advice. My situation is to the centre of the room, in a kind of defiance peculiar and to some persons it may appear

gazed upon the page of rival genius. This served only to inflame my ambition, and spur

me on to further exertions. Some time since, I wrote a short poem. As I surveyed it through the medium of bad taste and partiality, it seemed good-very good. I thought, for the first time. I would print my own composi tion; but endeavoured to find first whether

[ocr errors]
« ПретходнаНастави »