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VOL. I.

DEVOTED TO POLITICKS AND BELLES LETTRES.

BOSTON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1814.

NO. XXXVII.

POLITICAL.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, A PROCLAMATION.

WHEREAS, the enemy by a sudden incursion have succeeded in invading the capital of the nation, defended at the moment by troops less numerous than their own, and almost entirely of the militia ;-during their possession of which, though for a single day only, they wantonly destroyed the publick edifices, having no relation in their structure to operations of war, nor used at the time for military annoyance; some of these edifices being also costly monuments of taste and of the arts, and others depositories of the publick archives, not only precious to the nation as the memorials of its origin and its early transactions, but interesting to all nations, as contributions to the general stock of historical instruction and political science:

And whereas, advantage has been taken of the loss of a fort, more immediately guarding the neighbouring town of Alexandria, to place the town within the range of a naval force, too long, and too much in the habit of abusing its superiority, wherever it can be applied, to require as the alternative of a general conflagration, an undisturbed plunder of private property, which has been executed in a manner peculiarly distressing to the inhabitants who had, inconsiderately, cast themselves on the justice and generosity of the victor :

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Was the government of the United States not yet sufficiently disgraced-was British indignation not yet sufficiently excited, that we must needs have such a shameless and insulting proclamation as this! There seems to be no end to the humiliation we are doomed to suffer no stop to Mr. Madison's ingenuity in devising means to exasperate his enemy, and make this detestable war, a war of extermination. We are at a loss which ought most to be despised-the effrontery with which the President here announces his own criminal conduct, or the falsehood by which he attempts to inflame, at once, the American people, and British commanders.

"Whereas, the enemy by a sudden incursion have succeeded in invading the capital of the nation-"! In what sense of the terms And whereas, it now appears by a direct communican this unblushing man pretend that the visit cation from the British naval commander on the Amer- of the British to Washington was a mere surican station, to be his avowed purpose to employ the prize? He had some months' warning that force under his direction "in destroying and laying Admiral Cochrane was certainly destined to waste such towns and districts upon the coast as may the Chesapeake, with an army. It was an enbe found assailable;" adding to this declaration, the tire week from the time the British squadron insulting pretext, that it is in retaliation for a wanton destruction committed by the army of the United States entered the Potomac and Patuxent, which in Upper Canada, when it is notorious, that no destruc-indicated their precise object, to the time the tion has been committed, which, notwithstanding the multiplied outrages previously committed by the enemy, was not unauthorised, and promptly shown to be so; and that the U. States have been as constant in their endeavours to reclaim the enemy from such outrages,

by the contrast of their own example, as they have been

ready to terminate, on reasonable conditions, the war itself:

And whereas, these proceedings and declared purposes, which exhibit a deliberate disregard of the principles of humanity, and the rules of civilized warfare, and which must give to the existing war a character of extended devastation and barbarism, at the very moment of negociations for peace, invited by the enemy himself, leave no prospect of safety to any thing within the reach of his predatory and incendiary operations, but in a manly and universal determination to chastize and expel the invader.

capital was taken. Could this, considering the short distance they penetrated, be called a

sudden incursion ?

And why was "the capital of the nation defended at the moment by troops less numerous than the small detachment which the British landed?" Can Mr. Madison possibly be ignorant that he begins his proclamation with a charge against himself which would had a tribunal that would try him. Has he cost him his office and perhaps more, if we not over and over proclaimed to the world that his means were abundant both for defensive and offensive warfare, and yet the capitol, the place of his residence, with its monuments of taste and of the arts" was entered

and held in possession at pleasure, by less than three thousand troops, defended, as he states, by still fewer ?

"And these almost entirely of the militia." Who stripped Virginia and Maryland of the regular troops, raised by Congress, but this same James Madison, who now seems to de

Now, therefore, I, James Madison, President of the United States, do issue this my proclamation, exhorting all the good people thereof, to unite their hearts and hands in giving effect to the ample means posses. sed for that purpose. I enjoin it on all officers, civil and military, to exert themselves in executing the duties with which they are respectively charged. And more especially, I require the officers commanding the respective military districts, to be vigilant and alert in providing for the defence thereof; for the more effect-plore the forlorn situation of the place? Is ual accomplishment of which, they are authorised to Call to the defence of exposed and threatened places, portions of the militia most convenient thereto, whether they be or be not parts of the quotas detached for the service of the United States under requisitions of the general government.

On an occasion which appeals so forcibly to the proud feelings and patriotick devotion of the American people, none will forget what they owe to themselves; what they owe to their country and the high destinies which await it; what to the glory acquired by their fathers,in establishing the independence which is now to be maintained by their sons, with the augmented strength and resources with which time and heaven have blessed them.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed to these presents. Done at the City of Washington, the first day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and four

the President preparing the bill of his own impeachment, or wantonly insulting the people he had nearly ruined?

If the publick edifices at Washington were precious to the nation, how will the appointed guardian of them and the nation justify himself for his flagrant breach of trust?

The conduct of the enemy at Alexandria is certainly incomprehensible; it is new in the annals of British warfare; it was such as we did not expect from them, and such as we cannot yet believe will be pursued in future, as a system. But the vulgar reflection which the President takes this occasion to utter, against the general conduct of their navy is illiberal, FALSE, and in the highest degrec im

politick. Great Britain has just reason, the whole world will acknowledge, not only to be proud of the successful valour of her navy, but of the honour and magnanimity with which its operations have been executed. This is but a just concession, and were it possible for Mr. Madison to disgrace any other than himself, by his sweeping, unqualified detraction, we should feel humbled by his unmerited and fruitless attempt. We do not wish or expect him to flatter his enemy; but to throw gross and unfounded aspersions in their teeth, when so much depends on their magnanimity and forbearance, is an act so outrageously unseasonable, that the President's object cannot be mistaken-he wishes to enrage the officers of that navy-he wishes them to strike with their utmost vengeance, that we, in turn, may be maddened with resentment.

"And whereas it now appears by a direct communication from the British naval commander on the American station, to be his avowed purpose to employ the force under his direction," in destroying and laying waste "such towns and districts upon the seacoast "as may be found assailable;" adding to this declaration the insulting pretext that it is in retaliation for the wanton destruction committed by the army of the United States in Upper Canada--"

Here let it be remarked that ever since the political revolution which placed democrats at the head of our national affairs, it has been the undeviating jolicy of government, basely to conceal every part of a French document, which would tend to excite the indignation of the American people, and to garble, select,and misrepresent every English paper, so as to exhibit such portions only, as, detached from their connexion, would produce that effect. We are therefore confident, degrading as it is, and unworthy of the chief magistrate of the United States, that this is the case at present. Mr. Madison was afraid to trust the whole of Admiral Cochrane's correspondence to the American publick; if he had sup posed it would have produced such irritation as it is his grand object to effect, he would have done it, but it does not appear in his proclamation. The terms of the sentence he has chosen to publish plainly show, that he has suppressed an important part-the conditions to which the threat is annexed. other man but James Madison, or one of his clan, such an infamous deception would be incredible of him we can believe any thing unworthy of an honourable statesman. Why should Admiral Cochrane communicate his intentions in this manner, if they were not accompanied by conditions? Why were not the conditions published with the menace, unless because Mr. Madison felt convinced they would have turned the responsibility of the threat's being executed upon himself, in the publick opinion? Indeed we are given to understand there was more in the letter, but of this, what he deigns to communicate, he clothes in his own language.

In any

"When it is notorious that no destruction. has been committed by the United States' ar, my in Upper Canada] which notwithstanding the multiplied outrages previously committe i

by the enemy, was not unauthorized, and
promptly shewn to be so." In this short sen-
tence, there are two palpable untruths. It is
a fact, which we confess with regret, and only
because it is absolutely necessary the people
of the United States should trace all their suf-
ferings to their proper source, that the inva-
sion of Canada has exhibited a species of war-
fare, which the publick feeling of this country
would not justify, even if the war had been
considered necessary and politick. The Ca-
nadians are as loud in their complaints for
"the burning of Newark, and the atrocities
committed at Queenstown, Dover, St. David's,
Long Point, and Chippewa" as we can be for
ravages on the Atlantick coast. But we do
not rely on these facts, from the complaints of
the enemy alone. That outrages, unusual in
ordinary warfare, have been perpetrated by the
invaders of Canada, is corroborated by the offi-
cial accounts in the archives of government
by the boasts of some who were active in
these scenes of plunder and destruction, and
more particularly by the private confessions of
other honourable officers of the army, who
were reluctant witnesses to conduct of which
they were most heartily ashamed. We know
this to be correct, and could mention names
which would silence all cavilling and Mr.
Madison himself.

Now of all the conflagrations and destruction of property effected in Canada, we know of but a single instance where there has existed a shadow of proof that it was "unauthorized by government and promptly shown to be so.' This was in the case of the village of St. David's, where the commanding officer, or rather we believe some subordinate, was lately tried and dismissed the service!

The second falsehood in this sentence, is the transposition of the order of events. This is of the utmost importance to be observed, for on it depends the real character of transactions. Private plunder, devastations by fire, &c. in him who aggresses, are barbarous, and forbidden by the rules of civilized warfare; but if truly retaliatory, they are allowable. Now in justice to the English, and in order to keep in view Mr. Madison's awful responsibility to the American nation, let it be distinctly remembered that the first blow, by land, against private property, was struck by our troops in Canada; and the first marauding at sea, by our privateers at the eastward. It is notorious, to use Mr. Madison's language, that, in every departure from the customary rules of warfare, until the disgraceful scene at Alexandria, the British have specified in their several attacks, the particular outrage, which they meant to retaliate. It was the publicity of these facts that, when the enemy began their destruction on our seacoast, suppressed popular resentment among us-that feeling which, like electricity, has pervaded the whole union, since the ravages committed under Capt. Gordon.

are the measures which he pursued to reclaim
the enemy from outrages, which they had not
perpetrated.

On the 1st of September, an expedition of about 25 sail and from 2 to 3000 troops, commanded by Sir John Sherbroke, entered Penobscot bay, took the small fort at Castine, and possessed themselves of the towns of Castine and Belfast The frigate Adams was up the river at Hampden. A ship, two brigs, and several small craft were sent up the river to destroy her. Captain Morris defended her until the attempt was evidently fruitless, then abandoned and blew her up. Sir John Sherbroke has issued a proclamation, claiming possession of all the country east of Penobscot river, enjoining good order and a respect to property among his troops, and inviting the inhabitants to a quiet pursuit of their several crcupations.

We shall offer but one more remark on this subject, and that deserves serious consideration. Our whole warfare, from the first, was in its nature and prospect, a war against individual property, except the few brilliant efforts of our infant marine. It was never suggested by our rulers that we could make any impression on the navy of Great Britain, or subdue her armies. The conquest of Canada was threatened, and has afforded only an incessant theme of ridicule-but the commerce of Great Britain, the floating property of individual subjects, the plunder or destruction of this, was the efficient means by which we were to bring that nation to our terms. We have done with this disgusting, mortifying proclamation. It is intended to do evil, and it probably will embitter the conflict in which we are engaged. The requisitions for defence by the President are now no virtue. The executives of the several states are left to use their means, and we trust in heaven that in the defence of our territory, our lives, and our property, they will use them with success. The general government has wasted all its On the 1st inst. General Brisbane, with a means in unjust aggressions and in exasperat-force estimated at 5000, entered the United ing the foe. But we can defend our homes, States at the north-east corner of New York, or at least try it to a desperate extremity, and advanced along the west shore of Lake without partaking of his indelible crimes, who Champlain, towards Plattsburg, which is little brought these calamities upon us. If ven- more than thirty miles from the line. Their geance is directed against us, under the vir- fleet kept near them on the lake. Our force tuous and inflexible STRONG, we must and remaining at Plattsburg is but about 1500; will do our utmost. General Izard with 4000 having recently left it, and by the last accounts was at Saratoga, destination unknown. Plattsburg falls next.

We are indeed happy to find that the politicks of our last number are in perfect consonance with the tone of publick opinion. The general detestation of Mr. Madison and his war is deep and fixed. The line of distinction is drawn on men's hearts, and will regulate their conduct through and after this dark day of trial-not a finger will be raised in support of Mr. Madison's grounds of war, nor his honour, nor to aid his offensive measures against the British colonies; but every nerve will be exerted, if necessary, to repel plunder and devastation. The cause and conduct of government becomes every hour more abhorred, as the distress which threatens, requires and commands exertion.

On the 29th of August, the inhabitants of Alexandria, unable to defend themselves were compelled to sign a capitulation, surrendering all naval and ordnance stores; all ships and their furniture; merchandize of every description-that which had been recently removed to be brought back; and provisions to be furnished for the ships at the market price. The next day, the President issued the Proclamation in our first page.

General Brisbane has issued Brigade Orders, enjoining upon his troops the most rigid discipline, holding every individual amenable to punishment, who shall in any way molest the persons or property of unoffending citizens of the United States, declaring that it is not against such persons that Great Britain makes war; but against the government, whose folly and ambition have brought the miseries of war into their country, and against the army and individuals, in support of such a government."

August 4th. Col. Croghan with about 700 American troops attacked the British fort at Mackinaw, at the west end of Lake Huron; was repulsed and has retreated.

It is reported that 3000 British have landed atGravelly point,20 miles from Sacket's harbour. On the 2nd inst. the English ships at Alexobstructions have been placed in the river, which they cannot pass-that they have been attacked from the shores-and that the British were again landing at Patuxent.

When the President shall be compelled by Congress to disgorge the whole of Admiral Cochrane's correspondence, hopes are yet entertained that the threat which has been pub-andria dropped down the river. It is said that lished will wear a qualified aspect. These hopes are corroborated by the date of the letter, which preceded the taking of the capital for neither there nor at Alexandria, was the threat executed ;-and by the express language of General Brisbane's orders, which breathe a spirit of generous and magnanimous warfare. We believe Mr. Madison has plunged into new iniquity and shame, and that his efforts will recoil upon himself. But peril stares us in the face; we must prepare for the worst, still remembering, in our toils and sacrifices-in the loss of property and blood, if it must be, that the act of June 1812 brought these disasters to our happy, quiet shores.

We have not yet forgotten the proclamations issued on the early invasion of Canada-we remember, that though the aboriginals were as much interested and as justifiable in defend ing their soil and homes, as the European colonists, yet QUARTER was refused the latter, in case they should be found in armis, aided by Indian allies. Is there a parallel atrocity on record in the history of any war? We know of none. We might pursue the subject to a length exceeding our bounds, but the recollec- BOSTON, SATURDAY, SEPT. 10, 1814. tion of our readers will render it unnecessary. After all this, Mr. Madison has the audacity DOMESTICK. Events of a very interestto proclaim to the United States, the Brisishing and gloomy character are now pressing and the world, that nothing has been done in We shall endeavour to note the Canada, which was not justifiable!! Such most important.

GENERAL REGISTER.

upon us.

The value of the property destroyed at Washington is now stated at about 2,000,000. The enemy did not visit the foundery. The guns of the "Independence" are yet our own.

The heads of department are beginning to fall. Armstrong has resigned the duties of his office, overwhelmed with universal detestation. The same fate, erelong, we trust, awaits the President.

Rumour says our ministers have found their instructions too limited for the objects of their negotiation, and that they have applied to our government for more extensive powers.

The inhabitants of Boston, on Saturday 1st expressed their perfect reliance on the Exec; utive of this state for every practicable measure of defence, and their readiness to cooperate in effecting his purposes.

force, from the militia of the country, to repair His Excellency has ordered a considerable

to the capital. All classes are on the alert, and our means of security are rapidly advancing.

Last report-That Belfast was evacuated, that the militia marching thither had been ordered to Wiscasset, the next attack being expected at Wiscasset or Portland-and that 120 | vessels had been burnt in Penobscot bay. If there be any truth in this last, it must be exaggerated. The account comes in a letter from Bristol, Maine, said to be received there by express.

LITERARY AND MISCELLANEOUS.

FOR THE BOSTON SPECTATOR.

THE WRITER, No. XVIII. Ir is often entertaining, and sometimes useful to hear the observations and remarks which are made upon our character as Americans ; upon our manners, our religion, our virtues and our vices, by strangers and foreign gentlemen, who occasionally reside among us, or travel through our country with opportunity to make such remarks, and who are qualified to compare and contrast our customs with those of oz.er nations, and have judgment to form an opinion of our character from our principal concerns and habits of life. The Chinese gentleman, who lately made a visit here, lived very retired, and did not appear to take much interest in, either our publick, or private reputation; yet as he seemed to be a man of some intelligence, I have thought it almost impossible that he should have lived for so many months in a country and among a people so distant and so different from his own, without having some new and strange ideas respecting us. I could not believe, that he should have no curiosity to pry, in some measure, into our modes of thinking, our religion, our motives of action; to be able to carry home traits of our national character,and give to his countrymen some account of what by them must be considered a singular race of men.

Impressed with an idea of this sort, and very desirous to know what opinion this Chinese may have formed of us, I have taken some pains to ascertain whether he used to write at ail, or had, during his stay among us, committed any of his ideas or observations to paper. After much search and diligent inquiry, I have had the good fortune to get possession of a bundle of papers left behind him, consisting of sketches or rough draughts of letters, written to his friends in Canton; and an imperfect sort of journal, or book of memoranda, on which he noted down what appeared to him singular or extraordinary; and in which are many shrewd remarks, and some satirical observations relating to our American manners. As I never had any desire of hoarding up literary treasure, I am always ready to communicate all my knowledge, whether original or acquired, to the publick; and, like most people entrusted with a secret, whenever I think I know more than my neighbours, am ever uneasy, till I have an opportunity to make them as wise as myself. I shall therefore occasionally, and as I can procure a translation of them, enrich my weekly numbers with some of the observations and remarks of this Clinese.

What I have already been able to get rendered into English, will serve for the entertainment of this day, and afford my readers a specimen of the writing and opinions of this

stranger.

"The principal aim of these people seems to be to get money; and although their religion teaches them to despise riches, and their great prophet has expressly told them, that it is im

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possible for rich men to go to heaven, yet money is certainly their favoured idol, and they make more sacrifices to wealth, than to the unseen god, whom they profess to adore. Even among the ministers of their humble and self-denying religion, although I am assured that most of them are peaceable, and contented, and happy without riches, there are some that are greedy of worldly gain; and one of them, since my residence here, instead of attending to his religious duties, has employed his time in writing an angry book, and endeavouring to sell it for a great price to increase his wealth; and, what appears more inconsistent in his character as a minister of Jesus, this very book, by which he hopes to raise up and swell the amount of his own riches, uncharitably pulls down the fame and reviles the character of his neighbour and fellow christian. "Among the other classes,the desire for riches is more constant; they often however feel ashamed of this overruling propensity, and endeavour, by a forced display of charity, to conceal it, and to deceive the world by erecting institutions for the purposes of benevolence. But here they often fail, and have never, I am told, succeeded so well as their brother christians in England, the nation from whence they are descended.

reason.

"It has generally been the boast of people professing this religion, that they take care of the poor and sick, who are not able to take care of themselves; and in England, particularly, it is believed there are a great many places established and supported for such purposes. There are also some, on a small plan, here; but it is thought to be much to their discredit, that they have not been able to collect donations sufficient to built a house to receive, generally, the sick, poor, and those deprived of Endeavours are now using to establish such a place, called a "General Hospital;" but although some men, of better hearts, have offered to pay very liberally towards it, yet the most of them, even of the rich ones, love their money too well to part with it merely for the sake of humanity and their religious obligations. Nay, it is even said, that when an old person on his death-bed had ordered a considerable sum to be paid out of his estate for the benefit of this Hospital, that the heirs, or those who now have the management of the money, have refused it; and notwithstanding they are rich themselves, are greedy to increase their gold, by sharing a part of what was meant to be given to the poor and needy."

FOR THE BOSTON SPECTATOR.

LETTER TO LORD BYRON.

My Lord,

WILL you indulge an individual, of whom your Lordship has been too often unmindful, in once more using the freedom of a friend?

While briefly reviewing the spirit of your poesy, a remote or Werter cousin of mine,* far however from being in the fifteenth remove, has imparted much delight by a promise of accompanying me. To your Lordship I need not describe the majesty of her mien, the sweetness of her smile, or the lightning of her displeasure : her enemies, indeed, reproachfully insinuate, that both her smiles and her frowns are the wild offspring of Caprice; but such misapprehensions, be it known, arise solely from the misrule of those, who usurp her rightful dominion.

Should any remark, which we may esteem it our duty to communicate, be unwelcome or [* This communication is signed “CHRISTIANITY CRITICISM."]

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unmusical to your Lordship's ear, the purity of our motives, we are persuaded, will secure us from the possibility of blame : moreover, so far from presuming to be infallible, our friendly expostulations claim no other merit than that of rapid impressions. It is neither foaming mead, nor beverage of wormwood, with which our cup is overflowing; but of whatever ingredients the mixture may be composed, we hope your Lordship will not find the infusion unpalatable or unsalutary.

You de

What lofty aim, allow us to inquire, what glorious achievement, what purpose worthy of an immortal mind, are you emulous to accomplish? The advancement of human kind, do you answer, toward the perfection of their nature? A godlike ambition. Surely then the flame of soul, the fiery vigour, bestowed by Heaven in munificence of love, was never meant to be wasted in throwing rainbows around the crimes of a Barabbas. ceive yourself, my Lord. To canonize the bloody adventurer, to amuse the idle and the frivolous, to soil the chastity and whiteness of the young imagination; or from the mart of Fancy to purvey for the insatiable appetite of Athenian curiosity; cfforts like these, my Lord, are not formed to promote the wellbeing and perfection of the world, nor to enthrone their performer in the Temple of Fame. From efforts like these, unborn millions will not imbibe the enthusiasm of virtue; nor in the clime of immortality, remembering their divine and rescuing intervention, will they enwreathe your brows with the amaranth of gratitude: such holy raptures are reserved for Bards, who illustrate in life the divinity of their extraction, for Bards who pour upon darkling man the unsullied beams of the fountain of light.

If elevating and purifying the affections. constitute the higher excellencies of poetry, and these, we conceive, may to numbered among its cardinal virtues, your productions seem not deplorably wayward merely, but dis

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a miserable deficiency of judgment. Whenever we yield to your guidance, contemplate the savage grandeur of your Genius, and follow the wild stream of its incantations(and where are they, on whom the Mountain of Adamant has not resistless attraction ?)-do we after our disenchantment, if indeed our disenchantment be ever effected, find our hearts warmed with love to God and good will to man? We appeal to your Lordship. Do you not feel, after examining the Beggar's Opera, the Robbers, the glozings of Thomson's accursed Archimage, and the felon features of your Buccanier fragments, that the moral impressions you receive if not precisely, are essentially the same ? That the immutable distinctions of right and wrong become blended and obscured? That the affinities of truth and falsehood, purity and impurity, honesty and fraudulence, claim to be most intimate? That the momentary impulses of the unprincipled and blasphemous, presume to be paramount to the hallowed and immoveable resolves of the pure in heart?

Your equivocal morality, my Lord, if you possess qualities in any degree meriting the name of morality, we caninot but disapprove. In the room of beautifying, it would undermire and demolish the fair fabrick of civil union. Because your hero's atrocities are avowed, will you term this statement unfair, untrue, and sweeping ? If it do not accord with the letter, it unquestionably accords with the spirit of your productions. The crimes of Conrad, for example, you acknowledge but simply in the abstract; while to the undistinguishing or less discerning, you render them

illustrious by imposing magnanimity and seducing love of enterprize. The causes that impelled him to his inhuman mode of life, a universal warfare, you content yourself with rapidly sketching-and how fecble and unimpressive the result!-while the consequent enormities you suffuse with such a blaze of glory, such a glow and radiance of colouring, as would deceive, if it were possible, even the elect.

Medora, your Lordship delineates as lovely and affectionate, and we are not inclined to question her personal loveliness, nor the amiable qualities of her heart; but do not consider us unreasonable, when we enxiously inquire- Who is Medora, and what character is she made to assume? This is not imper.. tinent curiosity, my Lord: your readers feel momently exposed to the inconvenience of committing a misnomer. In what relation Medora stands to the corsair, notwithstanding his exclamation amid the palace tumult-remember we have wives'-they own themselves puzzled to determine. Their puppy brains, as Cowper humourously sings, are unable to comprehend the case, or to solve the difficulty. Now, were we disposed to be uncharitable, an imputation that would rather excite our compassion than our surprize, we might be tempted to style the peculiarity of her situation, to use a phrase of softened import, exceedingly unwarrantable. To speak plainly, it appears more difficult to ascertain what Medora is, than what Medora is not.

The obscure but touching song- lucus a non lucendo'-in which your Lordship introduces this mournful maiden to our sympathy, affords indubitable proof that her heart throbbed exclusively for your ruthless Homicide of the Sea, and at the same time that her devotion was so perfectly unrewarded, that his shedding a single tear upon her grave would be-perchance the closing testimonial of consummate affection, the melancholy tribute to years of remembered bliss-no verily, but

"The first-last-sole reward of so much love!' Exquisite sensibility! Prodigality of adoration! The most disinterested upon record!What mystery of iniquity, my Lord, induced you to couple together a sweet Eolian Malvina, and a ferocious, demoniack marauder with garments rolled in blood!

Some have whimsically, and perhaps ironically, defended your Lordship by suspecting, that, like the drooping Viola, he never told his love; such a mysterious, unimparted, unconfirmed attachment, if not supremely unnatural, is totally inconsistent with the rest of the character. Fidelity to Medora you denominate his only, his last remaining virtue. We therefore feel justified in the conclusion, that if Medora be the undisputed bona fide wife of Conrad, said Conrad may claim pre-eminence among the undisputed bona fide ruffians of your Lordship's manufacture, and have his claim allowed. It was not without sorrow we saw his one, solitary, Phoenix virtue evaporate in smoke ; the dew-drop from the crag fell into the ocean; the luminous bubble, the snowy foam, mingle with the black flood, on whose surface they were feigned to be gleaming in beauty; the tempestuous hemisphere of clouds involve with eternal gloom the islet of azure.

It may not be unamusing to dream, for a moment, by what accident of flood or field Medora happens to find herself upon the Pirates' Island, and so comfortably dwelling in the watch-tower of their amiable Chieftain.

-To be concluded in our next

POETRY.

FOR THE BOSTON SPECTATOR.

The following translation of Dr. Geddes' "Ad umbram Gilberti Wakefield elegia," has not appeared in print. The original may be found in the Monthly Magazine, vol. 12th, and is said to be the last production of that celebrated scholar. C.

THEE, too, the boast of every critick tongue,

Has fate severe snatched headlong from our eyesSnatched from a weeping wife-an offspring youngFriends dearly loved; and all the good and wise! How hard thy doom! in dungeons long enthralled,

Scarce flies thy joyous foot their dreary bourne ;
When, lo! to death's dark mansion art thou called
Whence man returns not, nor can e'er return. -
True, good and bad, wise, simple, rich, and poor,
Whoe'er has drunk th' ethereal flood of day ;
Kings, courtiers, beggars must alike explore,
Soon or more late, th' irremeable way.

Yet who laments not that while fools survive,
While guilt grows old in infamy and crime,
Worth, wisdom, piety, that chief should thrive,
Fall like a rose-bud, weltering in its prime.
Yet though too short the date to thee assigned,

Not short, the genuine fame just Heaven imparts,
Yes! thou hast lived, and long shall live behind
Thy splendid image, Wakefield, on our hearts.
Meanwhile, betake thee to the fields of bliss ;
Th' Elysian plains no cloud can e'er eclipse,
For not for thee, yawns Ereb's dread abyss,
Nor pitchy Phlegeton shall soil thy lips.

No grey-beard judge shall now thy cause decide,
Impartial Minos here the balance holds !
Hark! as he sees thy Spirit onward glide,

His tongue the ready plaudit thus unfolds, "Fear not, pure Shade, thy sufferings all, we know ; "These, Hermes long has hastened to reveal : "Though right and wrong be oft misnamed below, "Substantial justice here alone we deal. "Here rank is nought, and nought imperious power ; ""Tis virtue, virtue only can avail : "Go, choose thy lot, command each future hour;

66 All, all is thine, plain, woodland, hill, and dale. "Wouldst thou with wisdom's sons divide the scene? "Lo! Pherecydes, Solon at thy will, "The Samian, Thales, Epicurus keen,

"Stagyra's sage, and Plato sager still. "There, pride of Rome, th' illustrious Catos shine!! "Brutus, and Pliny, Tully sweet of sound! "Here, Seneca, and Marcus named Divine ! "By rank imperial, less than virtue crowned!! "Compatriot with thyself, amid the throng

"See Locke, see Bacon, of coequal boast; "See Newton; first the sapient train among ! "The fame, and glory, of the British coast!! "Or does thy ear sweet Oratory please, "With soothing sounds, and soul-compelling power? "Lo! where Eolides suspends the breeze,

"The honeyed stream, from Nestor's lip devour. "Feast on the tones that Pericles of old, "Like thunder, threw o'er deep distracted Greece; "The torrent of Demosthenes behold!

"The golden periods none would wish to cease!! "Drink from the Ciceronian fount that flows "Copious and calm, there, Fox, in future time, "Not meanly seated, mid them shall repose, "Or break in tones, as cogent, as sublime.

“Or, wouldst thou with thy favourite bards retreat, "And hear them, still, their melodies resume! "Lo! Linus, Hesiod, Moschus, Bion sweet! "Homer divine, and Pindar, bold of plume! "Euripides, the drama's perfect type, "Eschylus there, and Sophocles resort; "The swain Sicilian, tunes his Oaten pipe; "And, mid his snows, Anacreon still would sport! “There, Maro, Flaccus, and the bard who fell "Victim to love, to love, the Art he taught; "Sublime Lucretius, whom thy toils so well "Spent, while on earth, with splendor new have fraught.

"There, roam they all consociate, and with these ; "The British bards, ethereal Milton, Pope; “Dryden; and he, who most the soul could seize "With mimick terror, or celestial hope, "Immortal Shakespeare; nor remotely roves "Pale Cowper, still by many a friend bewailed : "Whom, melancholy to th' infernal groves

"Sent immature, e'er nature half had failed!! "Bards, sages, patriots, go, attend, at will: "For thee, the train of heroes boasts no cham: "Spurn them—a race whom basest passions fill:

66

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Vain, proud, perverse, intent on human harm!!! He said, and straight thy favoured shade, I thought, Thus Gilbert to the righteous judge replied; "Since mine the boon to choose my future lot, "Amid the sages let me e'er reside; "Mid genuine sages, not the sophist race, "Whom now, as ever, from my heart I hate! "Nor give me, oft mid Orators, a place ; "Vain senseless wranglers, full of fume and prate. "Such, mid the senate, seemed loquacious Pitt; "To pour the wordy torrent, never loth; "Such Windham, when by passion roused, he spit His bursting Vomica, of bilious froth !* "But, let me oftener, with the bards renowned "My station take, and join their dulcet lay! "O! let the bards with soft, melodious sound "Sooth me, revive, and all my bosom sway!! "But from your heroes, ever let me fly !! "Arms, impious arms! their hands barbarian wield. "Unawed by all the terrors of the sky; "To all the charities of nature steeled: "Struck by their spear; lo! heavenly freedom falls : "And countless burdens crush the crouds around! "Hence ye profane, your sight my soul appals: "Let never tyrant near my paths be found" !!! Most wise thy choice, dear Wakefield, such to me, Should fate vouchsafe, thy harpings I will join; Yes! to thy heavenly harpings will I flee ; And strike, with trembling hands, the strings divine! Loud will I strike them, if the Muses smile; Sweet Terpsichore, Erota sweeter still; The Muses, every care that best beguile,

To me, an antidote for every ill.

Hear them, my friend, and with them oft unite :
Soon shall I join thee, as these tremors tell,
Faint are my limbs,-already death's in sight-
But, 'tis enough-respected shade, farewell.

* We ever regretted, most sincerely, that the elegant scholar, whose worth the original of these lines was intended to comme orate, should ever have sullied his brilliant literary carter by dabbling injudiciously in political controversy; and we again te gret that his eulogist could not bestow just praise on his deserving friend, without descending to aspersions, which no man can red without disgust.

BOSTON

Editor.

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED FOR JOHN PARE, BY MUNROL & FRANCIS, NO. 4, CORNHILL

DEVOTED TO POLITICKS AND BELLES LETTRES.

VOL. I.

POLITICAL.

FOR THE BOSTON SPECTATOR.

AFTER A STORM THE AIR IS MORE PURE..

THE course and consequences of Mr. Madison's administration teach us how far our system of government, once deemed so perfect security to the people, is from affording that security, when the corruption or supineness of the people suffers it to fall into bad hands. We now find that an unprincipled faction, with the president as their chief, can provoke, insult, and declare war against a powerful nation, seeking peace and amity with the United States can persist in hostilities, until, from resentment for wanton aggression, an enraged army is brought upon our extensive seacoast, and then can leave us, or rather force a large portion of the community in spite of our opposition to the contest, and the rulers who began it, to sacrifice our lives in self defence, or abandon our hard-earned property to the mercy of an enemy, and fly like vagabonds, without house or home, into the interior.

We do not mean however to find fault with the plan of our government, to the exculpation of those, whose iniquitous conduct has brought us into this dreadful alternative. Every system is capable of abuse; and it is true that none of the evils we experience can be said to arise necessarily from the nature of the federal constitution. Such men, as governed our country in the glorious commencement of its political career, would have still preserved our tranquillity and our prosperity. They would neither have sold us to France, nor ruined the country, for the sake of aggrandizing themselves. Our form of government docs not necessarily put villains and traitors in the higher offices, but gives full scope to those vulgar passions and prejudices, which have that tendency-and full scope to the wickedness of such characters, when they gain the ascendant.

If we ever improve, it will be when, under the lash of bitter experience, we not only see, but feel,-feel universally, the necessity of improvement.

In other countries, defective systems have been perfected by adversity. If the adversity be not so severe as wholly to crush the spirit of freedom, and reduce men to utter despondency, there is reason to hope for such a result.

BOSTON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1814.

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FREE TRADE AND SAILORS' RIGHTS."

A

NO. XXXVIII.

word of this now escapes them-they see their wise and vigorous leaders humbled in the dust-their councils defeated-the capitol blown up the heads of department quarrelling and dispersed their army, raised and supported at an expense of fifty millions, wast

to a few impotent regiments-the remains the navy skulking up our rivers-the treasury exhausted-ormous debts accumulated and their edit gone. A nation, whom, by shing our resources in provoking hostilithey have made our enemy, assailing us east, west, north, and south! and sixty thousand of our peaceful citizens now in arms, at the call of our state Executives, to guard our native soil! In such a scene of misery, professions of confidence in our national rulers

would indeed be unseasonable: these very men now wish to bury all distinctions-they are willing to suppress their politicks-they cry to the people, Save our country, or we perish.

THIS ridiculous imposition has now lost THIS ridiculous imposition has now lost charm, even among the most perverse and norant; and those who lately saw it swung through our streets, with only disgust, would now look upon it, were it to be seen, with dignation. What millions would the United States now pay with cheerfulness, for that free trade, which they enjoyed, when Bonaparte and Madison began the ruin of our commerce? What a sad reverse in the exercise of American sailors' rights, since their government has been fighting for the right of British sailors to abandon the flag of their native country, in her hour of peril! No-it is not in defence of Bonaparte's maritime law, nor to gratify the cupidity of British deserters, Yes; let us to arms, for our families and that the worthy yeomanry of Massachusetts are our homes-but, when the preparation for batnow in arms at South Boston. They have untle gives us leisure, let us look back to the furled the FLAG OF MASSACHUSETTS-they journals of Congress, and of the state Legisla come at the summons of our beloved gover-tures-let us read, over and over again, the nour, to discharge the sacred duty of repelling lists of Yeas and Nays on questions of Embarinvasion-an invasion which we owe, as every man of them knows, to Mr. Madison and his raising armies-invasion of Canada, &c. Let. go, Non-intercourse, Non-importation, Warsupporters. Madison's fifty millions, which he us be familiar with the names of those worthies, has squeezed from an oppressed nation, and who have brought us to hear the roaring of squandered in corruption or schemes worsc cannon, instead of the sound of hammer and than useless, could not raise such an army, as axe-to see the flames of towns and shipping, four words, in the present cause-" Citizens, instead of flourishing villages and enrichting defend your soil"-No sooner were they utcommerce. "These molten calves be thy tered, than the dust rose on every avenue to gods, O Israel !" Boston. This is honourable, and bespeaks a sentiment, which, we trust, will carry us successfully through the battle, if it must be encountered.

British commanders must undoubtedly obey their instructions; yet we still indulge a hope they will not be found instructed to drive us to extremities. We consider their hostile weapons arrayed by Mr. Madison against us; we execrate his folly, but we must repel the blow, which threatens destruction. God grant, that while we have an arm to defend our unalienable rights, we may learn the value of those which we have too tamely surrendered.

Again we say, "Free Trade and Sailors' rights," that gross, insulting imposture, would not have commanded the roll of a Drum, by state authority; nor would "the Conquest of Canada," were it ever so practicable, have called a single husbandman from his harvest. It is certainly not easy to see distinctly what Old Massachusetts rouses from her loved permanent good can grow out of our present tranquillity, because she is threatened. The calamities. A mere change of administration contest of our national rulers is foreign to uswill be but winding up the clock that it may we detest it-and have more reason to do so run down again, and who does not sicken at now than ever. The government which plungthe thought of repeating the process. Weed us into these calamities cannot aid us-it is may safely say more we may be assured, if our present trials do not better our political state, they will make it worse. That mismanagement, which has driven us to the very verge of ruin, if not punished in an exemplary manner, and guarded against by wise provisions, will but afford encouragement to the profligate become a precedent, and subject us to perpetual tyranny. Hope, in

COCHRANE'S LETTER. Copy of a letter from Vice-Admiral Cochrane, to Mr. Monroe.

His Britannick Majesty's ship the Tonnant, in the Patuxent River, 18th Aug.1814. SIR-Having been called upon by the Governour-General of the Canadas to aid him in carrying into effect measures of retaliation against the inhabitants of the United States, for the wanton destruction committed by their army in Upper Canada, it has become imperiously my duty, conformably with the nature of the Governour-General's application, to issue to the naval force, under my command, an order to destroy and lay waste such towns and districts upon the coast, as may be found as sailable.

I had hoped that this contest would have terminated, without my being obliged to resort. to severities which are contrary to the usage of civilized warfare; and' as it has been with extreme reluctance and concern that I have found myself compelled to adopt this system of devastation, I shall be equally gratified; if the conduct of the Executive of the United States will authorise my staying such proceedre-ings, by making reparation to the suffering inhabitants of Upper Canada: thereby manifesting, that, if the destructive measures pursued. by their army were ever sanctioned, they will no longer be permitted by the Govern

as weak,as it is wicked-but we rather rejoice, that we are not to be polluted by its touch; it is our pride to owe it nothing but a just sentment for our innumerable wrongs.

THE tone of democratick resolutions has wonderfully changed. But a year or two since, they teemed with expressions of confidence in the wisdom and energy of our rulers. Not a

ment.

I have the honour to be, Siritin mazga.

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