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the present station, it would be peculiarly impro- them. In these honorable qualifications, 1 behold per to omit, in this first official act, my fervent the surest pledges, that as, on one side, no local supplications to that Almighty Being, who rules prejudices or attachments, no separate views nor over the universe, who presides in the councils of party animosities, will misdirect the comprehen nations, and whose providential aids can supply sive and equal eye which ought to watch over this every human defect, that his benediction may great assemblage of communities and interestsconsecrate to the liberties and happiness of the peo-so, on another, that the foundations of our national ple of the United States, a government instituted policy will be laid in the pure and immutable prinby themselves for these essential purposes, and ciples of private morality; and the pre-eminence may enable every instrument employe·l in its ad- of a free government be exemplified by all the ministration, to execute, with success, the functions attributes which can win the affections of its citiallotted to his charge. In tendering this homage zens, and command the respect of the world. to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own; nor those of my fellow. citizens at large less than either. No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible band which conducts the affairs of men, more

I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can inspire; since there is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists, in the economy and course of nature, an indissoluble union between virtue and

than the people of the United States. Every step, happiness-between duty and advantage-between by which they have advanced to the character of the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous an independent nation, seems to have been dis. policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity tinguished by some token of providential agency. and felicity-since we ought to be no less perAnd, in the important revolution just accomplished, suaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can in the system of their united government, the never be expected on a nation that disregards the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so eternal rules of order and right which Heaven many distinct communities, from which the event itself has ordained—and since the preservation has resulted, cannot be compared with the means of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the by which most governments have been estab. republican model of government, are justly conlished, without some return of pious gratitude, sidered as deeply, perhaps, as finally staked, on the along with an humble anticipation of the future experiment entrusted to the hands of the Ameri blessings, which the past seem to presage. These can people. reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have forced themselves too strongly on my mind to Besides the ordinary objects submitted to your be suppressed. You will join with me, I trust, in care, it will remain with your judgment to decide thinking that there are none under the influence of how far an exercise of the occasional power delegatwhich, the proceedings of a new and free govern. ed by the fifth article of the constitution is renderment can more auspiciously commence. ed expedient, at the present juncture, by the nature of objections which have been urged against the By the article establishing the executive de system, or by the degree of inquietude which has partment, it is made the duty of the president "to given birth to them. Instead of undertaking par recommend to your consideration, such measures ticular recommendations on this subject, in which as he shall judge necessary and expedient." The I could be guided by no lights derived from official circumstances under which I now meet you, will opportunities, I shall again give way to my entire acquit me from entering into that subject farther confidence in your discernment and pursuit of the than to refer you to the great constitutional char- public good: For, I assure myself, that, whilst ter under which we are assembled; and which, in you carefully avoid every alteration which might defining your powers, designates the objects to endanger the benefits of an united and effective gowhich your attention is to be given. It will be vernment, or which ought to await the future lessons more consistent with those circumstances, and far of experience, a reverence for the characteristic more congenial with the feelings which actuate rights of freemen, and a regard for the public me, to substitute, in place of a recommendation of harmony, will sufficiently influence your deliberaparticular measures, the tribute that is due to the tions on the question, how far the former can be talents, the rectitude, and the patriotism which more impregnably fortified, or the latter be safely adorn the characters selected to devise and adopt and more advantageously promoted

RECAPITULATION.

guns p. lbs. men kd. wd, Hyder Ally, 16. is 96 110 4

6

kd. 136 20

guns p.
20 9

lbs.

men

180

11

wd.

33

To the preceding observations I have one to May channel, was obliged to go round the Overfall add, which will be most properly addressed to the Shoals to get into the bay. It was during this house of representatives. It concerns myself, and time that the action took place. To the right of will therefore be as brief as possible. When the fighting ships, the English brig Fair American, was first honored with a call into the service of of 16 guns, is seen chasing and firing at one of my country, then on the eve of an arduous strug-the Hyder Ally's convoy, which escaped under the gle for its liberties, the light in which I contem. Jersey shore. At a distance is seen the vessels plated my duty, required that I should renounce convoyed by the Hyder Ally steering up the bay. every pecuniary compensation. From this resolution I have in no instance departed. And being still under the impressions which produced it, I must decline, as inapplicable to myself, any share Gen. Monk, in the personal emoluments, which may be indis. pensably included in a permanent provision for the The night on which the American troops crossed executive department; and must accordingly pray the Delaware was cold-the ice making on the that the pecuniary estimates for the station in river. The morning was ushered in with a heavy which I am placel, may, during my continuation storm of rain and sleet, the soldiers were exhaust. in it, be limited to such actual expenditures as the ed with fatigue, and their arms rendered, in some. public good may be thought to require. degree, useless by the rain. In this situation, gen Having thus imparted to you my sentiments, as Sullivan, who commanded the advance, sent col. they have been awakened by the occasion which William Smith, one of his aids, to inform general brings us together, I shall take my present leave, Washington of the state of his troops, and that but not without resorting once more to the benign he could depend on nothing out the bayonet, in the Parent of the human race, in humble supplication, impending attack, being then within a short dis that, since he has been pleased to favor the Ameri- tance of Trenton. General Washington answered can people with opportunities for deliberating in him in a voice of thunder, and with the countenance perfect tranquility, and dispositions for deciding of a hero, “Go back, sir, immediately, and tell genewith unparalleled unanimity, on a form of govern-ral Sullivan to go ox!” ment for the security of their union, and the advancement of their happiness, so his Divine Blessing may be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations, and the wise measures on which the success of this government must depend.

Collection of Scraps

FROM VARIOUS SOURCES.

The above anecdote was related by col. Smith, a short time after the event, who added, that he never saw a face so awfully sublime as general Washington's when he addressed him.

The churches. Extract from a sermon preached at New York, by the rev. Dr. Rodgers, Dec. 11, 1783, the day appointed by congress as a public thanksgiving throughout the United States. On the 8th April, 1782, an action took place at "It is much to be lamented, that the troops of a the entrance of the Delaware bay, between an nation who has been considered as one of the bulAmerican sloop of war, commanded by capt. Barney, warks of the reformation, should act as if they had called the Hyder Alley, mounting 16 six pounders, waged war with the God whom Christians adore. and carrying 110 men; and the British sloop of war They have, in the course of this war, utterly des General Monk, under capt. Rogers, of 20 nine royed more than fifty places of worship in these pounders, and 136 men. The former had four men states. Most of these they burnt, others they le killed and eleven wounded; the latter twenty kil velled with the ground, and in some places left led and thirty-three wounded. In the navy de-not a vestige of their former situation; while they partment at Washington is a representation of this have wantonly defaced, or rather destroyed others, action. On the left of the painting appears Cape by converting them into barracks, jails, hospitals, Henlopen light-house, and on the right, the point riding schools, &c. Boston, Newport, Philadel. of Cape May. In the centre is seen the Hyder phia and Charleston, all furnished melancholy inAlly and General Monk engaged, the latter in the stances of this prostitution and abuse of the houses act of striking her colors. In front is the frigate of God;-and of nineteen places of public worship Quebec, which, not finding sufficient water in Capel in this city, when the war began, there were but

46.

nine fit for use when the British troops left it. It is "The road through which they marched was true, Trinity church, and the old Lutheran, were lined with spectators, French and American. On destroyed by the fire, that laid waste so great a one side the commander in chief, surrounded by part of the city, a few nights after the ene- his suite and the American staffs, took his station; my took possession of it; the fire was occasioned on the other side opposite to him, was the count de by the carelessness of their people, and they pre- Rochambeau, in like manner attended. The capvented its more speedy extinguishment. But the tive army approached, moving slowly in column, ruinous situation in which they left two of the Low with grace and precision. Dutch Reformed churches, the three Presbyterian churches, the French Protestant church, the Anabaptist church, and the Friends new meeting house,

"Universal silence was observed amidst the vast concourse, and the utmost decency prevailed, ex

was the effect of design, and strongly marks their hibiting in demeanor an awful sense of the vicissitudes of human life, mingled with commiseration enmity to those societies." for the unhappy. The head of the column ap

Of the middle Dutch church, which, in the begin. proached the commander in chief—O'Hara, mising of the war, was used by the British as a pri- taking the circle, turned to that on his left for the son, and afterwards converted into a riding school, purpose of paying his respects to the commander in the venerable Dr. Livingston thus expresses him- chief, and requesting further orders; when quickly self, in a sermon, delivered July 4, 1790, when discovering his error, with embarrassment in his it was for the first time opened for public wor- countenance, he flew across the road, and advanc. ship, after being repaired: ing up to Washington, asked pardon for his mistake, apologized for the absence of lord Cornwalls, and begged to know his further pleasure.

"I dare not speak of the wanton cruelty of those who destroyed this temple, nor repeat the various indignities which have been perpetrated. It would "The general feeling his embarrassment, relievbe easy to mention facts which would chill your ed it by referring him, with much politeness, to blood! A recollection of the groans of dying pri- general Lincoln for bis government. Returning to soners, which pierced this ceiling, or the sacrile- the head of the column, it again moved, under the gious shouts and rough feats of hormanship exhi- guidance of Lincoln, to the field selected for the bited within these walls, might raise sentiments in conclusion of the ceremony. your minds which would, perhaps, not harmonize with those religious affections, which I wish, at present, to promote, and always to cherish."

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"Every eye was turned, searching for the British commander in chief, anxious to look at that man heretofore so much their dread. All were disappointed.

THE SURRENDER AT YORKTOWN. From the Richmond Compiler, of April 10, 1818. As every incident connected with our revolutionary history, is "Cornwallis held himself back from the humiliatinteresting to the great mass of the people, I shall ing scene; obeying sensations which his great chasolicit a niche in your paper to answer an inquiry racter ought to have stifled. He had been unforin a late Compiler, concerning the surrender of the tunate, not from any false step or deficiency of exBritish army at Yorktown, Virginia; and hope that ertion on his part, but from the infatuated policy your readers will experience the same pleasure in of his superior, and the united power of his enemy reading the account, that I enjoy in the narration: brought to bear upon him alone. There was noth"At two o'clock in the evening, Oct. 19th, 1781, ing with which he could reproach himself; there the British army, led by general O'Hara, marched was nothing with which he could reproach his out of its lines, with colors cased and drums beat-brave and faithful army; why not then appear at its ing a British march, head in the day of misfortune, as he had always done in the day of triumph?

"It will be seen in the sequel, that O'Hara, and not Cornwallis, surrendered the British army to the allied forces of France and America. In this af fair, lord Cornwallis seemed to have lost all his former magnanimity and firmness of character,be sunk beneath the pressure of his misfortunes, and for a moment gave his soul up to chagrin and

BOFTOW.

"The British general in this instance deviated from his usual line of conduct, dimming the splendor of his long and brilliant career.

"Thus ended the important co-operation of the allied forces. Great was the joy diffused throughout our infant empire."

I cannot end this interesting detail as recorded the very instant the enemy were entering the fort, by Henry Lee, without giving you his panegyric on which swept down a whole phalanx of the foe. For the father of our country. this heroic action he was honored with a commision; but in his old age he could not write his name with his left hand.

"This wide acclaim of joy and of confidence, as rare as sincere, sprung not only from the conviction that our signal success would bring in its train Another of these venerable men, trembling with the blessings of peace, so wanted by our wasted age, applied for the necessary papers to obtain a country. And from the splendor with which it pension. The judge enquired where he had serv. encircled our national name, but from the endeared? “Why, hrst,” said he, "in the old French war." ing reflection that the mighty exploit had been Ah, says the judge, you cannot obtain a pension for achieved by our faithful, beloved Washington. We services at that period; did you serve in the revohad seen him struggling throughout the war with lutionary army? "O yes, I served all the war, I was inferior force against the best troops of England, at the battle of Bunker's Hill-afterwards at Long assisted by her powerful navy; surrounded by diffi-Island, and the capture of the Hessians at Trenton culties, oppressed by want; never dismayed, never-I was at the attack of Germantown, and the batappalled, never despairing of the commonwealth. tle of Monmouth,-and, finally, at the capture and siege of Yorktown, in Virginia-and," added the "We have seen him renouncing his fame as a old man, his eyes re-kindling with the fire of '76, soldier, his safety as a man; in his unalloyed love "I was the first American centinel placed at the quarof country, weakening his own immediate force toters of lord Cornwalls, after he was an American pristrengthen that of his lieutenants; submitting with equanimity to his own consequent inability to act, and rejoicing in their triumphs, became best calculated to uphold the great cause entrusted to his care; at length, by one great and final exploit, un- The subsequent narrative is no idle fiction of the der the benign influence of Providence, lifted to brain; we vouch for its authenticity, and no doubt the pinnacle of glory, the rewards of his toil, his but many of our readers are already acquainted sufferings, his patience, his heroism, and his virtue. with the names and circumstances depicted. We Wonderful man! rendering it difficult by his con duct throughout life to decide whether he most excelled in goodness or in greatness."

soner."

PRIVATE BENEFICENCE.

From the Philadelphia Centinel.

shall ever feel pleasure in embellishing our columns with such instances of private beneficence, so honorable to the cause of humanity, and we cannot but anticipate a concurrence in opinion of our pa trons and correspondents.

Revolutionary soldiers of Connecticut. Among the applicants for pensions was lieut. M. who obtained his title by his valor. His declaraIn the year 1806, a professional gentleman of this tion was made out in due form, and certified by the city had obtained a judgment, for a few hundred judge who knew him well, and could safely attest dollars, against an old, infirm gentleman, who had his merits and his services. The needy veteran formerly been a commissary to the United States' possessed an infirmity which rendered him unable army, during the revolutionary war, and who, by to write his name, and, in signing the necessary repeated misfortunes, had become reduced from documents, he could only make his mark. At the easy circumstances to absolute penury and disstorming of Fort Montgomery, by the British, he tress.-An execution had been taken out, and the advocate called on the sheriff of Philadelphia coun. was in the act of touching off a cannon, loaded to the muzzle with every kind of missile, when a shotty, presented it to him and requested that it might carried away his arm, and the match dropped upon be executed immediately. "It shall be done sir," the ground; he immediately seized it with his left said the minister of justice, and the gentleman was band, and fired the piece, at the very point and at about leaving the apartment, when his ears were saluted with an exclamation not unlike that which

When I trace the heroes of seventy six through greeted corporal Trim, as the beneficent and philanall their countless difficulties and hardships-when I behold all the dangers, and plots which encom-thropic Toby swore, that the lieut. should not sink, passed them, their "hair breadth escapes" and final but march. "This execution," said he "shali never glorious triumphs-I am as strongly impressed be served by," then turning to his clerk, he with the belief that our cause was guided by hea

ven, as that Moses and the Israelites were directed continued, "give Mr.—a check for the amount." by the finger of God, through the wilderness. The greatest astonishment was excited-the eye

of inquiry was turned on the sheriff, but "the and from them it was learned, that the enemy, afform of his visage had changed;" instead of the ter having plundered them of their last rag, had stern unbecoming features of a minister of justice, set fire to the house, and that one of the unfeeling his countenance seemed beaming with seraphic monsters had cast my little infant into the flames; mildness and unbounded benevolence-the warm with much difficulty it was saved by its half discurrent of life, which for a moment had mantled tracted mother. To proceed, however, to that his cheeks with crimson, had again receded to the heart, but a ray of ethereal sweetness remained, which language is inadequate to portray.

part of the story which accounts for my conduct this morning; as soon as day light appeared, we set out for New Jersey, where I had some relations. The situation of my family was such as "I could wish," said the gentleman, when his as could hardly have failed to excite commisseration tonishment had in some measure subsided, "that in a breast less interested for them than mine. you would so far gratify me as to inform me of the Seated in a wretched cart, which was drawn by a motives which have excited your munificence in decrepit old horse, without clothing sufficient to the present extraordinary manner." "You shall screen them from the severity of the weather, they have my reasons," said the good Samaritan, "and were destined to pass another night, with no other then judge for yourself of the propriety of my con- shelter than the canopy of heaven, ere they could duct." "In the month of December, 1777, which, reach their place of destination. While engaged you will recollect, was just after the battle of Ger- in meditating in what manner the night could be mantown, and when our army had retired to Val-best passed in our present situation, darkness beley Forge, I obtained from general Washington, gan to overshadow us; the wind blew with inunder whom I at that time held a captain's com creased violence, and the rain poured down upon mission, a furlough of absence from the army for us in torrents. It was at this critical juncture, one month, for the purpose of visiting my wife that a borseman approached, and inquired who I and three small children. It was at that period was, and whither I was going. After listening to of the revolution, when our army had scarcely any [a hasty recital of our misfortunes, he dismounted thing but their patriotism with which to cover from his horse, unfastened the only blanket which themselves, and little else than a love of liberty to he had to screen himself from the storm that raged, afford them subsistence. I set out on my journey passed it around the neck of my wife, and threw to Chesnut Hill, on foot, consoling myself for the the extremities of it over the heads of my shiverweariness of the way, with the endearing antici-ing children. Having done this, he dropt a tear uppations of again folding to my bosom the partner on my hand, as he pressed it between his, gave me of my life and the tender pledges of our conjugal his best wishes, and vaulting into his saddle, was affection. As I turned from the high-way into the out of sight in a moment. And now, need I inform Avenue which led to the scene of my former do. you, that this man was a commissary to the army, mestic felicity, and beheld the moon-beams play and the identical person against whom the iron hand ing on leafless branches of the majestic oaks, which of the law was this morning directed; or could were wont to shadow my humble dwelling, how anj-you for a moment believe, that I could seize on mated, how exquisite were the sensations which the palsied frame of my family's benefactor, and took possession of my breast! I was at that mo. immure it within the cold inhospitable walls of a ment at the pinnacle of human felicity-the next prison? GOD FOBID!" A gleam of exultation flashprecipitated me into the abyss of despair. The ed across his countenance as the last sentence pashouse which I fondly anticipated as sheltering all sed emphatically from his lips. The advocate that was near and dear to me, was a smoking heap of smoking ruins. The desolating Briton had been there, and had left me to contemplate, in speechless

agony, the devastation of his sacrilegious hand, An appalling silence prevailed, save only when in terrupted by the hollow blasts of the evening as they swept through the wide and melancholy waste. The moon, which, at this moment, emitted her fee. ble rays from behind a cloud, enabled me to disco. ver, at a short distance from this scene of misery and destruction, my shivering wife and children,

bowed in silence and retired; the remaining auditors averted their heads, and the benevolent and eloquent speaker passed from before them.

PENSIONERS' MUSTER.

The following incidents of the actors in the revolu tion, may aptly be placed in this collection for preservation. It is copied from the Connecticut Mirror, printed at Hartford, on the 7th August, 1820.

commenced a special session, for the purpose of On Tuesday last the county court for this county

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