I
S. G. & E. L. ELBERT
I r
i
SKETCHES
OF
PUBLIC CHARACTERS.
DRAWN" FROM
THE LIVING AND THE DEAD.
WITH
NOTICES OF OTHER MATTERS.
by X^^U^Am* <S ^
IGNATIUS LOYOLA ROBERTSON, L. L. D,
A RESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
#
« He that writes,
Or makes a feast, more certainly invites
His judges than his friends ; there's not a guest,
But will find something wanting or ill drest."
" But here, where Freedom's equal throne
To all her valiant sons is known ;
Where all are conscious of her cares,
And each the power that rules him shares,
- Here let the bard, whose dastard tongue.
Leaves public arguments unsung,
Bid public praise farewell ;
Let him to fitter climes remove.
Tar from the hero's and the'patriot's love,
And lull mysterious monks to slumber in their cell."
, NEW-YORK:
PUBLISHED BY E. BLISS.
AND SOLD BY G. C. & H. CARVILL ' W. B. GILLEY, AND C. S.
FRANCIS. BOSTON, HILLIARD, GRAY, & CO. AND CAR-
TER & HENDEK. PHILADELPHIA, JOHN GRIGG,
AND CAREY &Z, HART.
1830.
O. L. Austin, <fc Co. Printers.
m \
*
Southern District of New-York. ss.
BE IT RE-
MEMBERED, That on tl.e eleventh day of June, A. D. 1330,
in the 55th year of ihe Independence of the United States of
America, Ehmi Biiss, of the said district, hath deposited
in this office the tirle of a book, the right whereof lie claims
as proprietor, in the words following, to wit.
" Sketches of Public Characters. Drawn from the living
and the dead, with notices of other matters, by Ignatius Loyo-
la Robinson, L. L. D. a resident of the United States.
" He ihat writes,
"Or maUesa feast, more certainly invites
"His judges than his friends; there is not a guest,
"But* will find something wanting, or ill drest.",
" But here, <<where freedom's equal throne
"To all her valiant sons is known ;
* " Where all are conscious of her cares,
" And each the power ihat rules hire shares,
" Here let the .bard, whose dastard tongue
" Loaves public arguments unsung,
11 Bid public praise farewell ;
" Let him to fitter (dimes remove,
" Far from the hero's and ihe patriot's love,
"And lull mysterious monks to slumber in their cell."
In conformity to the act of the Congress of ihe United States,
intituled, w An act for the encouragement of learning by se-
curing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors
and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein men-
tioned;" and alpo to the act entitled, "An act supplementary
to an act, entitled, "An act for the encouragement of learn-
ing, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to ihe
authors and proprietors of such copies during ihe times there-
in mentioned," and extending the benefits thereof lo the Arts
of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other
prints."
FRED. J. BETTS,
Clerk of the Southern District of New-York,
CONTENTS.
LETTER I.
Webster , . . . 5
LETTER II.
Calhoun . . . . . ' . 30
LETTER III.
Everett . . . . .33
LETTER IV.
Livingston . . • . ,37
LETTER V.
Jones ..... 4i
LETTER VI.
Randolph « . - . . 47
LETTER VII.
Johnson * .. , . 53
LETTER VHK
Dwight - .57
LETTER IX.
The Presidents . . . . .63
LETTER X.
City of Washington 82
LETTER XI.
The Capitol— its ornaments . - * I GO
iv CONTENTS.
LETTER XIL
The President's House . . .110
LETTER XII L
Library of Congress — Columbian Institute — Lit-
erature of Washington — Periodicals . 117
LETTER XIV.
Colonization Society — The Clergy — Medical
School — Orphan Asylum — Tyber Creek — Man-
ners and Customs — College — Convent of Vis- ;
itation . , . .132
LETTER XV.
New- York— Poets .... 157
LETTER XVI.
Basil Hall— Owen . . . .179
LETTER XVII.
Painters . . . . .194
LETTER XVIII.
Dr. Mitchell . • . . .205
LETTER XIX.
Boston . . . . .212
LETTER XX.
Bartlet . . . . . .219
LETTER XXI.
Gen. Brown— Tudor — Judge Washington . 24i
LETTER XXIL
Patent Office
253
DEDICATION.
TO COLONEL A. WARD,
of westchester county, n, y.
Dear Sir,
I dedicate this little work to you, re-
membering, with pleasure and gratitude, your
kindness in rendering me every facility in grati-
fying my curiosity, on my first visit to Washing-
ton, while you held a seat in Congress. I had
been long enough in the United States to feel
an attachment to the country ; and I would not
yield a particle of my reverence for the distin-
guished men of it, to any reviler of them, who-
ever he might be. There is only one point in
which I am often constrained to agree with those
who are unfriendly to this nation, and that from
the truth of the remark, not the temper of it.
vi DEDICATION.
They say that " you never think of a man, howe-
ver great his virtues, and his talents, when he
is out of office ; that sometimes, at the death of
some one who has filled a considerable space
in the world, your gazettes praise him to-day,
and this is curtailed in to-morrow's paper ; and
by the time the next edition of an American Bi-
ographical Dictionary is printed, he appears in
aflat, chalky picture, of half a column, as grace-
less as his epitaph, in some country church-
yard, where his bones may rest ; and this, per-
haps, a character whose lights and shades, pro-
perly disposed of, might have been made a splen-
did portrait."
The writers of the day should speak freely of
the living ; the truly great have nothing to fear ;
the oftener their merits are discussed, the better
for them. In countries like England and the
United States, the abodes of free institutions and
freer minds, every thing should be presented in
full relief ; political and civil rights should be
closely examined, and the manners, habits, and
morals of the people, become a common topic :
the characters, services, claims, and pretensions
of men in high places, should be searched out
and precisely adjudged. The eyes of the pa-
DEDICATION. vii
triot writer should never be shut to the faults of
men in power, whether their station or authority
be executive, legislative, ministerial, or subal-
tern. I write my creed openly, my dear sir,
because I believe in it sincerely ; but ask no
man to follow it implicitly. You and I have long
since settled this, that to be friends, it is not ne-
cessary to agree in every particular in politics
or religion; and that more light is to be obtain-
ed from a strong and an honest mind, that dif-
fers from us, than from a shallow one whose
great merit is his acquiescence ; neither you
nor I love feeble spirits. I have spoken of men,
of measures, and of things, after my own man-
ner ; no one is answerable but myself : if there
is aught of evil in it, be it mine ; if aught of
good, place it, if you please, to the impres-
sions received from friends and intimate ac-
quaintances. You will probably revisit the seat
of government again as a politician ; your ser-
vices and talents will be wanted. I shall not be
there, as a looker-on in Venice ; but whatever
may be your pathway in the journey of life,
whether in the courts of justice or in the halls
of the legislature, may you be successful and
frappy, ana* still retain that bland and courteous
viii DEDICATION.
disposition, and that love to do kind things,
which secures the good man's benison, and the
orphan's prayer ; and without which talents,
office, and fame, are empty names.
Most truly,
Your devoted friend,
THE AUTHOR.
New-York, June, 1830.
SKETCHES
LETTER X.
Washington, Jan. 1830.
Dear Sir,
You are among the few in your coun-
try who take an interest in the affairs of this ;
and in compliance with your request, I shall
from time to time send you such notes as I
have made, or shall make of men and things
in the United States. I have seen and heard
much during the seventeen years I have resi-
ded in the United States, and think I can speak
with honesty and candour of their institutions,
their men, and of their affairs. Having assu-
med the responsibility of a citizen I shall call
it my country. As the alarms of war have
passed away, it is natural for the reading pub-
lic to seek for descriptions of orators, states-
men, poets, painters, &c. rather than of war-
riors or heroes. This is an active, thinking
age, and mind seems to be getting its pro-
per influence in the community, on this as
well as on the other side of the water. In my
2
6
WEBSTER.
remarks upon the good folks of this country, I
shall not confine myself to any regular or-
der, but give you my opinions, as they arise
in my mind, believing that in letters from one
friend to another there should be no disguise.
With this I send you several of the public
documents printed by order of Congress, and
a bundle of pamphlets containing some of the
best American speeches, and also forward a
slight notice of some of the most distinguish-
ed speakers. As the New-England orator,
Mr. Webster, now occupies the largest space
in the halls of Legislation, I shall give a
sketch of him, which I have no doubt is sub-
stantially accurate.
The person of Mr. Webster is singular and
commanding : his height is above the ordinary
size, but he cannot be called tall ; he is broad
across the chest, and stoutly and firmly built,
but there is nothing of clumsiness either in his
form or gait. His head is Very large, his
forehead high, with good shaped temples. He
has a large, black, solemn looking eye, that
exhibits strength and steadfastness, and which
sometimes burns, but seldom sparkles. His
hair is of a raven black, and both thick and
short, without the mark of a gray hair. His
eye brows are of the same colour, thick and
strongly marked, which gives his features the
WEBSTER.
7
appearance of sternness ; but the general ex-
pression of his face after it is properly examin-
ed, is rather mild and amiable than otherwise.
His movements in the house and in the street
are slow and dignified ; there is no peculiar
sweetness in his voice, its tones are rather
harsh than musical, still there is a great varie-
ty in them ; and some of them catch the ear
and chain it down to the most perfect atten-
tion. He bears traits of great mental labour,
but no marks of age ; in fact, his person is
more imposing now, in his forty-eighth year,
than it was at thirty years of age.
Mr. Webster was born in the state of New-
Hampshire, in the Town of Salisbury, on the
banks of the Merrimack ; his early education
was scanty, for at that time the public schools
in that part of New-England where he lived
were not in the same state they now are. A
few months of instruction from some badly ed-
ucated school-master was all that could be ob-
tained at home. Mr. Webster's father was a
man of note in his neighbourhood ; sometimes
a representative to the legislature, a county
judge, and at all times a farmer ; having seve-
ral children, he did not feel able to give them
the advantages of a liberal education ; but the
faculties of his son Daniel attracting the at-
tention of all the intelligent part of the com-
8
WEBSTER.
munity about him, he made an effort and sent
him to an academy to prepare himself for
college. The sagacious eye of his instructer
was not long in seeing his extraordinary ca-
pacity for his studies, for he strode before his
classmates with ease, and left them to come
up as they could.
In 1797 he entered Dartmouth college, and
graduated in course in 1801. In this semina-
ry he was distinguished as a young man of
astonishing powers of mind ; but he coursed
over too large a field of knowledge to allow
him time for those minute and accurate stu-
dies which alone can make a thorough classi-
cal scholar. On leaving college he took the
charge of an academy for a year, a usual
course for the graduates of that college, and
then commenced the study of the law. He re-
mained a considerable time in the country in
his native village in the office of a tasteful and
an elegant scholar, but who was then enga-
ged in the profitable part of his profession, the
collecting business ; and this practice being
soon understood, Mr. Webster was desirous
of seeing courts and witnessing a more enlar-
ged course of practice ; and for this purpose
went to Boston, and put himself under the care
of Christopher Gore, a distinguished advocate
in that metropolis. Gore soon saw and spoke
4
WEBSTER. 9
prophetically of the talents of his pupil. Some
political essays he wrote in the papers at that
time attracted the attention of men of judg-
ment, and these productions were spoken of as
exhibiting great vigour and point. As soon as
he was admitted to the bar he returned into
the country and commenced the practice of
his profession at Boscawen, the town adjoining
his native village. It was not long before all
eyes were turned upon him, and his business
rapidly increased, but he deemed the field too
narrow for him, and in about three or four
years he left Boscawen for Portsmouth, the
largest town in New-Hampshire, a place of
extensive commerce and great enterprise.
His fame had preceded him ; he was soon
known to all, and employed in most of the im-
portant cases in the courts throughout the
State. Smith and Mason were then his com-
petitors ; they were shrewd and learned men,
who had been brought up in a school of sharp
practice, and the young aspirant for distinction
had to fight them hard, and he did beard them
by all the subtleties of special pleading ; and
with equal taunts and gibes and sarcasms
and such weapons, inflicted equal harms un-
til they acknowledged him as their peer, and
made with him an amnesty that was perpetual.
Mr. Webster has often said that this was a
2*
10 WEBSTER.
good school for him. No doubt it was a good
thing for him to be under the necessity of con-
tending alone with his seniors, men who were
at the upper row of the bar and had long mo-
nopolized the best business. But Mr. Web-
ster had not been at the bar more than seven
years when he shared with them the leading
cases in all the courts.
At this time party spirit ran high, and the
prominent men in New-Hampshire were
anxious to see Mr. Webster display his pow-
ers in the halls of Congress. — He had taken
sides in politics in early life, and had been ac-
tive with his pen in support of his principles ;
but he never suffered his zeal to get the better
of his judgement ; — he was no demagogue.
The first halo of political glory that hung
around his brow was at a convention of all
the great spirits in the county of Rockingham,
where he then resided, and such representa-
tives from other counties as were sent to this
convention to take into consideration the state
of the nation, and to mark out such a course
for themselves as should be deemed advisable
by the collected wisdom of those assembled.
On this occasion an address with a string
of resolutions were proposed for adoption,
of which he was said to be the author. They
exhibited uncommon powers of intellect and
WEBSTER.
11
a profound knowledge of our national interests.
He made a most powerful speech in support of
these resolutions ; portions of which were re-
printed at that time and which were much ad-
mired in every part of the Union. From this
time he belonged to the United States, and not
to New-Hampshire exclusively. Massachu-
setts seemed to take as deep an interest in his
career as his native state. Not far from this pe-
riod, a traveller passing through Portsmouth,
when some election was near at hand, when
at the inn it was announced over the dinner ta-
ble that Mr. Webster was to speak at a caucus
that evening ; this news ran from one part of
the town to another and all were enthusiastic at
hearing that Mr. Webster was going to speak.
The gentleman's carriage came to the door
and he was about to get into it, when the hostler
said, sir, are you going to leave town ? Mr.
Webster is to speak to night. The gentleman
rinding all classes so much delighted to hear
that Mr. Webster was going to speak, order-
ed his horsesUb the stable, and put off his
journey until the morrow.
At early candlelight he went to the caucus
room ; it was rilled to overflowing, but some
persons seeing that he was a stranger gave
way, and he found a convenient place to stand ;
no one could sit. A tremendous noise soon
12
WEBSTER.
announced that the orator had arrived ; but as
soon as the meeting was organized, another
arose to make some remarks upon the object of
the caucus ; he was heard with a polite apathy ;
another and another came, and all spoke well,
but this would not do, and if Chatham had
been among them, or St. Paul, they would not
have met the expectations of the multitude.
The beloved orator at length arose, and was
for a while musing upon some thing which
was drowned by a constant cheering : but when
order was restored he went on with great se-
renity and ease, to make his remarks without
apparently making the slightest attempt to
gain applause. The audience was still, ex-
cept now and then a murmur of delight which
showed that the great mass of the hearers were
ready to burst into a thunder of applause,
if those who generally set the example would
have given an intimation that it might have
been done ; but, they devouring every word,
made signs to prevent any interruption. The
harrangue was ended ; the roar of applause
lasted long and was sincere and heart-felt. It
was a strong, gentlemanly, and an appropriate
speech, but not a particle of the demagogue
about it ; nothing like the speeches on the
hustings to catch attention. He drew a pic-
ture of the candidates on both sides of the
WEBSTER.
13
question and proved, as far as reason could
prove, the superiority of those of his own
choice ; but the gentleman traveller, who was
a very good judge, has often said that the most
extraordinary part of it was that a promiscu-
ous audience should have had good sense
enough to relish such sound, good reasoning, in
a place where vague declamation generally
is best received.
As the traveller went on toward the East,
he found the fame of the speech had preceded
him and was talked of in every bar room and
at every public table. In 1809 he was put in
nomination for congress and was elected. Par-
ties were nearly equally divided, but his name
gave great weight to the ticket. In New-
Hampshire the members of congress are cho-
sen by general ticket, without regard to dis-
tricts, or without any further regard to them
than that of consulting public feeling in se-
lecting candidates. In Congress he soon be-
came distinguished and was surrounded by the
New England ^legation, or rather a greater
part of them ; and was considered as conspicu-
ous among them, if not at that time precisely
their leader. On the great question of renew-
the Charter of the Bank of the United States
he made a long speech full of well tried facts
and sound principles. In any other but high
14
WEBSTER.
party times his reasonings would have been
irresistible. The question was lost, but when
the subject came up again after the peace of
1815, the advocates of the Bank did but little
more than repeat his arguments in favour of
its establishment.
On retiring from public life he found that
his pecuniary affairs were deranged and his
friends in Boston invited him to come there,
as a wider field for his talents, and promised
him business ; he removed in 1817, and at
once entered into full practice, and shared the
best of it, with the elder luminaries of the bar
of Suffolk. His practice was not confined to
that county, but he was called into Essex,
Middlesex, Norfolk, and in fact to other coun-
ties as far as he would go from home. His
fame was every day increasing at the bar ; and
he seemed to have forgotten that he was ever
a politician. To his clients he was every thing,
and they complained of nothing, but that it
was difficult from the press of those who
sought him, to obtain an audience to speak of
their cases. Some of the bar Wetted at his oc-
casional sharpness and overbearing ; and his
greatest admirers will not deny that at times,
he was petulant, and restive, and he seemed to
have forgotten, that he was in a different lati-
tude from that in which he was educated ; but
WEBSTER.
15
on reflection he generally made amends for
any pain he had given. There seemed in his
day a common law in New-Hampshire, as well
as in England, that every witness might, by ex-
amining counsel, be put to the torture and that
it was all fair play. In Massachusetts it was
not so. The rights and feelings of witnesses
were protected by the court, sometimes fas-
tidiously ; he knew nothing of that at first,
and when he had learned it, often forgot it. In
1823 he was elected from Boston to the legis-
lature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
but did not take an active part in any impor-
tant discussion, perhaps there was not any
thing which came up at that time to require
his aid.
In 1824, Mr. Gorham, who had ably and
faithfully represented the District of Suffolk
in Congress, resigned his seat in that body.
A merchant of talents, and polished educa-
tion, was put in nomination. Mr. Putnam was
one of the most decidedly popular men in the
district, and all parties had made up their
minds to send him, when some of Mr. Web-
ster's friends put him in nomination only a few
days before the election ; and when it was as-
certained that he would stand as a candidate,
there was a strong desire evinced among his
old friends to support his election ; but not
16
WEBSTER.
a few were pledged to Mr. Putnam, who was
a most unexceptionable candidate. In this
state of things caucuses were held, and at each
the speakers struggled to say the kindest
things of the two candidates ; and when they
had made a choice, appeared to regret that
both could not be members ;. suffice it to
say, Mr. Webster was chosen. He came
in at the next election unanimously, he was
of course the representative of a city, and a
people, and not of a party. From the House,
he was elected to the senate of the United
States, and in that body he took the same stand
he had held in the popular branch of the go-
vernment. He came to it, at once, as he was
known to all the members of the senate per-
sonally or by reputation. There is not, proba-
bly, a lawyer in the United States of his age,
who has argued so many important causes as
Mr. Webster, notwithstanding his long politi-
cal services.
When he came to Boston, he could not have
ranked among the first scholars of our coun-
try, for there were many in his own cir-
cle of acquaintance, before him in all the
nicities of classical learning. He had not felt
this before, and he now devoted many of his
leisure hours to classical learning, not merely
as an amusement, but as a study ; and at the
WEBSTER.
same time made himself master of the history
of his country ; a branch of learning in which
most of the American politicians are greatly
deficient. In this latter course, he saw minute-
ly the origin of our institutions, and the princi-
ples on which they had flourished.
These acquirements give a ripeness and
finish to his speeches on all national questions
which they had not before ; like Lionardo da
Vinci, he added to the magnificence of his ear-
ly designs, all the gatherings of experience,
and the improvements of taste. It is seldom
that the bold outline is patiently filled up*
The situation of every man has much to do
with his reputation, if it does not alter his
character. If it be true that
" Pigmies are pigmies still, though perch'd on Alps,
And pyramids are pyramids in vales,"
yet when the latter are placed on an eminence,
their morning and evening shadows are cast at
greater length, and the vast pile is seen in all
its magnificence at a much greater distance.
Coming to the metropolis of New-England, was
indeed setting himself on a hill. It was a hap-
py change, for he was made for that city, and
that city for him. He seems to have the same
power over the people of Boston, and indeed
of all Massachusetts, that Pericles had over
3
18
WEBSTER.
the Athenians, and for aught I know is likely to
last as long ; for fifteen years it has been wax-
ing apace without feeling any wanings of pub-
lic opinion. It may be that the measure of his
fame is filled up, and that he has reached his
acme ; but it is impossible for him to become
unpopular while he retains the powers of his
mind, and continues his exertions for the hon-
our of his country.
But to speak more particularly of his mental
endowments ; he is not wanting in originality,
but has not so much of it as to lead him per-
petually after novel creations. His memory
is strong, and the stores of his knowledge are
laid up in admirable order, and ready for use
as exigences or circumstances may require.
His early friends say that his imagination was
once of a high order, and that he wrote vigor-
ous poetry whenever he chose ; and as farther
proof of the strength of his fancy they produce
a splendid eulogy delivered by him on the
death of one of his classmates when in college.
It has the gorgeousness of youthful genius
about it, and was for years considered the most
extraordinary composition ever written at
Dartmouth college ; but if imagination was
then his most striking characteristic, it is not
so now. The severe discipline to which he,
on coming to the bar, put it under, soon de-
WEBSTER.
19
stroyed the inspiration of the muse, and laid
her lifeless at the feet of reason. That pow-
er of the mind, whatever metaphysicians may
call it, that looks over the utmost extent of a
subject at a glance ; that which grasps all its
near and remote bearings, and comprehends
its dependencies and relations, and can throw
out all the results of reasoning upon it to the
public in the smallest compass of time, is his,
— pre-eminently his. It may be called gen-
ius, judgment, talent — any thing — no matter
what : it is greatness, mental greatness, ab-
stracted from circumstances or accident.
There are men who say that Mr. Webster
has been over-rated — this is not true ; some of
his over-weening friends, have at times, for
want of discernment, spoken of his ordinary
efforts at the bar, and other places, as wonder-
ful productions, comparing them with his high-
est efforts. The greatest minds are sometimes
common-place, and many of his speeches
should have passed away as other common-
place matters have done. It is equally wrong
to look to his orations on great occasions for
the proudest productions of his intellect.
These productions are noble compositions,
powerful discussions of the subject in hand,
abounding in deep strength, pertinent remark,
and striking illustrations ; but they are not, af-
i
20
WEBSTER.
ter all the praise which has been bestowed up-
on them, his most felicitous labours. He can-
not lash himself into passion in the closet ; he
requires excitement that he cannot find there ;
he must be roused by some spirit of emulation,
rivalry, or resentment ; he must be awakened
by the cry that the Philistines are upon him,
before the strength of his seven locks are felt.
It is before a court and jury, or in the delibe-
rate assembly that the full extent of his pow-
ers can be understood ; and even there it de-
pends much on who his opponents may be,
whether he shall be great or not.
But if the oration at the landing of the Pil-
grims, is not his greatest effort, it was indeed
a fine one ; the production abounds in depth of
thought and majesty of language.
The oration at Bunker's Hill was literally de-
livered to the world. In the open air, exposed
to sun and winds, stood an orator ripe with the
thoughts of manhood, before all the impres-
sions and the glow of early days had gone ;
myriads of listeners were around him ; heroes
were clustering near him, among them the re-
presentatives of other hemispheres ; holy men
who were just entering eternity, were ready to
implore a blessing, and depart ; the bones of
friends, and enemies, were shaking in their
graves beneath the feet of new and old gene-
WEBSTER.
21
rations, and passing time, was announcing that
half a century had elapsed since the roar of
battle had broke over the sacred ground ; the
corner stone of a time defying monument was
then resting at his feet, and an hundred thou-
sand bosoms in his sight were swelling and
heaving with patriotism and republican pride ;
how sublime the scene ! what a moment for
" thoughts that breathe and words that burn :"
and is it not enough to say that all were sat-
isfied ?
His next oration was on the death of Adams
and Jefferson. It was delivered on the 2d
of August, 1826, in Fanuiel Hall, the cradle
of American liberty. Not more than one tenth
of those who strove to hear him could get ad-
mittance. The excitement was wonderful.
Happy is the orator who has an audience that
love him ; his glory is more than half perfect-
ed before an accent is heard, or his lips
move —
I have seen
The dumb men throng* to see him, and the blind
To hear him speak : the matrons flung- their gloves,
Ladies and maids their scarfs and handkerchiefs,
Upon him as he passed : The nobles bended,
As to Jove's statue ; and the commons made
A shower and thunder, with their caps and shouts :
I never saw the like.
CORIOLANUS.
3*
22 WEBSTER.
His manners at the bar, and in the delibe-
rate assembly, are peculiar. He begins to
state his points in a low voice, and in a slow,
cool, cautious and philosophical manner ; he
goes on hammering out link by link his chain
of argument with ponderous blows, and while
thus at labour, you rather see the sinews of
the arm, than the skill of the artist. It is in re-
ply, that he comes out in the majesty of intel-
lectual grandeur, .and lavishes about him the
opulence of intellectual wealth. It is when the
darts of the enemy have hit him, that he is all
might and soul ; it is then, that he showers
down words of weight and fire. Hear him,
and you will say that his eloquence is founded
on no model, ancient or modern, that he never
read the works of a master for instruction ;
all is his own, excellencies and defects. His
voice has an extraordinary compass ; for he
fills the largest room without great effort. His
emphasis belongs to himself alone ; it is found-
ed on no rule — nor can it be reduced to any.
Fanueil Hall, and the largest room of the
capitol, are within the power of his voice, and
he speaks in them with apparent ease. The
style of his eloquence is also all his own ; he
resembles no American orator we yet have
heard ; he does not imitate in the least, the
Addisonian eloquence of Alexander Hamilton,.
WEBSTER. 23
which was the day-spring in a pure vernal
atmosphere, full of health and beauty ; nor
does he labour for the sweetness of Fisher
Ames, whose heart on all great occasions,
grew liquid, and he could pour it out like water :
nor like him, could Mr. Webster, by the ma-
gic wand of the enchantress make a paradise,
and people it with ethereal beings ; no ; all the
subject of this notice did, or could do, was to
work in a straight-forward course, with mor-
tal engines, and show himself mighty in earth,
air, and water ; but in these his sway was
Herculean : He had all the elements at com-
mand, and he used them as one of earth-born
mould, but of gigantic proportions. He never
strives to dazzle, confuse or astonish ; but
goes on to convince and to conquer by legiti-
mate means. When he goes out to battle, it is
without squire, aid-de-carnp, or armour-bear-
er ; although hundreds are ready to take any
part in and about his person. In his conflict he
trusts to no arm but his own — he rests only on
the staff of his own spear.
I believe that it can be said of him, that'he
shews none of that vanity in debate, which
belonged to the very nature of the great father
of Roman eloquence, and was conspicuous in
all his acts of a public nature; but if he never
said with him " Video, patres concsripti, in me
24 WEBSTER.
ominum or a, atque occulos esse conversos yet
from his lofty carriage, his haughty brow, his
swelling veins, and curled lip, you would judge
that he had no small share of that sin ' 6 for
which fell the angels."
Some of his admirers talk of his wit in de-
bate. There is often a piquancy and girding re-
tort in his arguments, that by some may be call-
ed wit ; but it is not the wit of Sheridan or of
any professed wit ; nor that wit which sparkles
out, and illumines the subject under discussion,
and seems to be the offspring of the moment,
but is a matter of long and previous delibera-
tion, perhaps, of frequent rehearsal. Instead of
those pyrotechnics, of the war of words, Web-
ster's speeches abound in the burning intensity
of that heat which sheds a flash of light around,
such as we see proceeding from a glowing mass
of iron, when drawn by a powerful arm across
the anvil. In the United States, there have
been, and there now are, men of some one, or
more qualifications superior to any single trait
of Mr. Webster's mind. Some have more
learning, others more wit, some have a sweet-
er voice, others have a more refined taste ; and
not a few of more imagination ; but in the
combination of all these powers, he has no
equal. He seizes his subject, turns it to the
light, and however difficult, soon makes it fa-
WEBSTER.
25
miliar, however intricate, plain, and with a
sort of supernatural power, he possesses his
hearers, and controls their opinions. His
friends yield at once with a delighted willing-
ness, and his opponents give up after a few in-
effectual struggles ; even those who talk on
against him, show that their tones are altered,
and that they are conscious of the victory he
has achieved over them, and the thraldom in
which they are placed. The " reluctantes dro-
cones" after he has brushed the swarm of flies
away, soon become quiet in his grasp.
There are many, and those too of no little
intelligence, who think and avow their opin-
ions, that the present race of politicians are in-
ferior to that which has just passed away ;
and to account for their opinion, they say it re-
quires less of talent, to administer a govern-
ment, than to make a constitution, and less en-
ergy to cultivate peace, than to fight out a re-
volutionary war. We are not converts to this
doctrine. To equipoise the general govern-
ment with state rights, to keep all safe on the
waves of party violence, to keep the great
states from infringing on the rights of the
small, and to take care that no state should op-
press its own citizens, is quite as hard a task,
and requires as much mind, prudence, labor,
and calculation, as did the great work of the
26
WEBSTER.
preceding generation, that of establishing na-
tional independence, and agreeing on a form
of popular government.
Mr. Webster has every advantage for intel-
lectual discipline, having been born among the
yeomanry of New-Hampshire, he became ear-
ly acquainted with their capacities, feelings
and habits, and from his practice as a law*,
yer among them, at the commencement of
his professional career, he became still more
accurately acquainted with their whole char-
acter. There is no profession, equal to that
of the law, to teach one a knowledge of human
nature ; entering on a political course, his
views were expanded and he saw men playing
higher games with pretty much the same mo-
tives. One of the evils attending great men in
England, and other aristocratic governments
is, that they have but little acquaintance with
the middling classes in society, and many of
them from being educated privately, have nev-
er tried their corporeal and mental strength
with beings of their own age.
When mind contends with mind, without any
of the distinctions of society in a public school,
the powers of each are very accurately mea-
sured—and the youth grows up to manhood
with a proper knowledge of his own capacity.
These school exercises are efficacious in ta-
WEBSTER.
27
king out of the mind that vanity, and conceit,
that partial friends are apt to infuse into for-
ward boys. The college in which Mr. Webster
was educated is most favourable to this mode
of testing minds. The scholars are all on an
equality the moment they enter the institution.
All have their way to make in the world — and
the moment they have graduated, fly off to dis-
tant places and begin their labors as those
well aware of what they have to do.
In every place where Mr. Webster has been
called to act, he has been prominent, in courts
of justice and in halls of Legislation. Before
he was thirty years of age, he stood unequal-
led in congress as a debater, and even then, his
claims were acknowledged by a most powerful,
but generous political opponent, Mr. Lowndes.
In the convention for altering and amending
the constitution of Massachusetts, the Pa-
triarch of that numerous and highly intel-
lectual body, John Adams, stated openly, that
Mr. Webster, was the first man among them ;
and indeed, he did not hesitate to say, that he
had never met in his long acquaintance with
statesmen, a superior mind, viewing him in
every respect.
His enemies say that he is ambitious ; this
will not be denied by his friends ; but can
there be such a thing as a statesman, without
28
WEBSTER.
ambition? Even the martyr's bosom is not free
from ambition ; he looks to the crown of glory
in another world. That Mr. Webster has fail-
ings, no one will deny ; for who is without
them? but they are not those which impair
his mind, or injure his political usefulness.
Some may have cause to complain of his dis-
tance or coldness ; others of his forgetfulness
or want of generosity in acknowledging their
merits. The nil admirari is frequently an in-
gredient in a statesman's creed, but after all,
justice in making out her balance sheet, has to
allow for the jealousies of the mediocre and
the little, as well as for the coldness of the
great. The writer of this article is no follow-
er, vassal, or even lover of Mr. Webster ; but
he thinks him a man of whom his country
should be proud, and one that every honest
politician should honor and protect ; for if he
sometimes acts with a party, his general sen-
timents are truly national and noble.
In every country the character of a public
man is common property, and in most coun-
tries they speak of them with great freedom,
and often with much profligate severity. Mr.
Webster, however, has suffered more from
injudicious and indiscriminating admirers than
from the bitterest enemies he has ever had.
Those nauseous flatterers and cringing toad-
' WEBSTER.
29
eaters who exist always near a great man, and
who are ready to lie, fume and cry aloud in
his praise, disgust honest admiration and of-
fend common sense ; no man has suffered more
from this pittiful race than Mr. Webster. They
are not content with showing the size of the
man from the impressions of his footstep ; nor
inferring his strength from his deeds of prow-
ess ; but they must deal in the miraculous :
Such a man as Mr. Webster requires no
such abettors or false aids ; he is above them.
On the basis of his own merits he may rest
his fame ; it will support through all the ages
of this republic a collossal figure for the pride
of the nation, and the delight of those who love
to contemplate the finest efforts of human
genius.
X.ETTER XX.
Washington, , 1830.
Dear Sir,
The Vice President, Mr. Calhoun, now
occupies a large space in the eye of the na-
tion. He is, indeed, a very considerable man
in the political world, and no ordinary one as
a statesman or an orator. He is now about
forty-eight years old, born in Pennsylvania,
and bred in South Carolina. He received his
education at Yale College, and was a favour-
ite of that great instructor, Dr. Dwight, then
president of that Institution. Soon after he
was admitted to the bar, he was sent to Con-
gress, and at once took a leading part in the
business and debates, of that period. From the
House of Representatives he was made Sec-
retary of War. In this office he made all his
calculations on a broad, bold scale ; he reor-
ganized the army and got rid of no small share
of the blustering ignorance which is always
found among the fair character and talents of
such bodies after a war of some continuance.
His plan of fortification for the most expo-
sed parts of the sea-board and frontiers was a
bold and magnificent one, worthy of the war
Calhoun.
31
department and of a great people. The par-
simonious were alarmed at the extent of his
expenditures, and the very prudent thought
him lavish of the public monies ; still the wise
and calculating supported him from a belief
in the utility of his measures. He hated that
parsimony which is always in the end the
worst of prodigalities. Such was the state of
the army when he came into office that it re-
quired a bold hand like his to reform it. There
can be no doubt but great injustice was done
to individuals in razeeing, yel, on the whole,
the public were benefitted by the reform.
From the head of the war department, Mr.
Calhoun was elevated to the Vice Presidency,
and served one term with Mr. Adams, and is
now on his second, with General Jackson.
The vice Presidency has not been a place
for an ambitious man heretofore. He was
not until the elevation of General Jackson
considered a member of the cabinet, and had
but little more to do than to preside in the
Senate. This requires but little talent. Mr.
Calhoun was a candidate for the presidency,
but at length sent in his declinature in favor of
general Jackson. This gave a shock to his
popularity, for he had then enlisted in his
cause some of the first spirits in the country.
These were all at once afloat and some con-
fusion ensuedo
32
CALHOUN.
Mr. Calhoun is now prominently before the
public. He has high claims and many friends ;
but he, nor any one else can divine his fate.
The changing winds are not more uncertain
than popular favour ; it bloweth where it listeth,
and no one comprehendeth it.
Mr. Calhoun is a man of great readiness,
sagacity and daring. He comes quickly to a
point, and acts fearlessly upon what he thinks
is well for him to do. In conversation Mr.
Calhoun is fluent, rapid and ingenuous, and
the productions of his pen are of the same
stamp. He stops for none of the graces of
finishing. His eloquence is not of a high
grade if manner and voice make up any por-
tion of eloquence. His action is vehement
and his words flow in torrents. When Secre-
tary at war he brought forward some of the
young men of talents he had known in college
or as fellow students at law, and every selec-
tion justified his knowledge of character, and'
his just appreciation of ability and tact for bu-
siness. He is ambitious ; but who would moil
and toil for many years for place and power
if he were not ambitious ? The thorny pinna-
cle of power must be reached by long and
painful labour and countless privations, anx-
ious days and sleepless nights belong to him
who seeks distinctions in any path of life.
LETTER XII.
Washington, — , 1830,
Dear Sir,
Mr. Everett you have seen, and
therefore I need not describe his person to
you ; when in Europe he was, as you know,
much caressed as a learned man ; his course
has been singular and prominent. While at
Harvard University as a student he was dis-
tinguished, though very young ; on leaving
college he studied divinity and was ordained
and settled a youthful prodigy. In elegant
literature he had no equal of his age and the
world was delighted with his pulpit eloquence ;
whenever he preached crowds of the most ac-
complished of both sexes assembled to hear his
splendid sermons ; these discourses if they had
not so much of the holy unction in them as in
some sermons of graver men, still there was a
purity of taste and a sweet solemnity that
made him delightful to hearers of all creeds. A
feVv years after his ordination he was elected
to a professorship in Harvard University.
This office he accepted on condition of being
jallowed to visit Europe and reside a year or
4*
34
EVERETT.
two in Germany. He set out on this tour with
all the ardour of a young man panting for
knowledge and ambitious of surpassing all, in
his accomplishments. In his absence he visit-
ed Rome, France, and England, and tarried
for some time at Gottengen, and became ena-
moured with German literature. He extend-
ed his travels to Greece, and there drank in-
spiration among the relics of ancient taste and
greatness. He examined the Parthenon in its
ruins with great minuteness, as well as all
other things worthy of notice. He returned
to his Alma Mater with a mind filled with
"the spoils of time," and a memory stored
with the humanities, the great object of his
travels, and commenced his labours as a pro-
fessor, and at once became the pride of the
University and the delight of hi;s pupils.
He did not confine himself to the instruc-
tion of college classes, but gave a splendid
course of lectures on Architecture, which
was numerously attended by the most enlight-
ened persons of both sexes in the metropolis
of New-England. At this time he was consid-
ered the Editor of the North American Re-
view, which was well conducted, and took the
lead in the periodicals of the country. His
portions of the work are distinguished for taste,
talent and learning ; there is a variety and
EVERETT.
35
raciness about his productions that mark one
born and bred among the Muses ; In fact he
was a scholar by profession, and wore the lau-
rel among all the lettered and polite as an eve-
ry day ornament. In an evil hour for American
literature the politicians of his District turned
their eyes upon him as member of Congress,
and he left the lecture room, perhaps never to
return. In Congress he is respected for his
learning, and talents. When he rises all are
anxious to catch every word he has to say —
not that his eloquence there, is as good as it was
in the pulpit, or the lecture-room, but that the
information he gives may be relied on, for he
has day and date, chapter and page, for every
thing he says, and the purity of his language
forms a great contrast to that of many of those
around him. He has too much refinement for
the rough and tumble of Congress skirmishing.
In this body he has frequently been selected
as Chairman of committees to make reports,
on important subject^, and these are generally
admired for their clearness of reasoning and
appropriateness of style ; these reports are said
to prove that he is greater in the closet than
on the floor of the House ; but he is great
every where.
Such men are wanted in the American Con-
gress, for loving the country so much as I do,
36
EVERETT.
1 am constrained to confess that there is no
little ignorance in the National assembly, and
that learning does not always receive its due
honour. Mr. Everett's eloquence is charac-
terized by taste, sweetness, harmony, delicacy
and correctness. It has the Ciceronian flow,
ease and purity, and all the great Roman's ac-
curacy and marks of scholarship. He is
said to be ambitious, and to dearly love polit-
ical distinctions. Of this, it is probable, he will
soon get cured in the shiftings and chang-
ings of party, and in the fulness of his genius,
return from the bustle of the Hall of Legis-
tion to the groves of the Academy he desert-
ed. If it should so happen, it will be well ; for
learning should have more knowledge of the
world than it generally has, and the world
should have more learning than it is disposed
to honour and cherish.
LETTER IV.
Washington, « , 1830,
Dear Sir,
Edward Livingston, of the Senate,
is a hale, vigorous man, past the grand cli-
macteric. He has been active in profes-
sional and political pursuits for more than
forty years. He was born in the state of
New- York, and by brilliant talents, and fa-
mily connexions, was early brought into pub-
lic notice. As a lawyer he was conspicuous
and took a high stand, at a very early
age, at the bar. In 1793 he was in Con-
gress, and took an active part on the questions
which arose upon Jay's Treaty. He was, of
course, in the minority ; which is the best
school for a young, aspiring politician. He
can discuss measures without being responsi-
ble for them, and learns the science of attack
and defence without danger of injuring his
reputation. After being in Congress for some
years, he was elected mayor of the city of
New-York; an office then next, in point of
emolument, to that of the President of the
United States. It is said that he was a very
38
LIVINGSTON.
effective, energetic executive officer ; and
" that there never was a better judicial officer
on the bench than Edward Livingston. " He
was succeeded by De Witt Clinton.
When the United States extended their
sovereignty over Louisiana by purchase, Mr.
Livingston went to settle in New-Orleans.
Here he was at once the first lawyer of that
country, and was employed in all the impor-
tant cases. Being master of the French and
Spanish languages, and well read in the civil
law, he was called upon to compile their code ;
which was so ably done that his compilation
is considered the law of the land in all the
courts. Since that period he has been em-
ployed by that state to form a penal code of
laws, a code of procedure and of state pri-
son discipline. All this he has furnished ;
and Congress are about to take a part of it for
the District of Columbia. In preparing this
he has spared no labor, and suffered no obsta-
cle to deter him for a moment. A very con-
siderable portion of the manuscript of his code
was burnt in the city of New-York, at ten
o'clock in the evening, and at seven next
morning he sat down to begin his labors upon
it anew. What cannot be accomplished by
such perseverance ? In making up these codes
he has ransacked the annals of all ages and
LIVINGSTON.
39
nations, and read every treatise on crime and
punishment that the lettered world affords :
and in addition to this, held a correspondence
with all the philanthropists of the age : nothing
has escaped him.
" To him familiar every legal dome,
The Courts of Athens, and the Halls of Rome."
Those who have read these codes, do not
hesitate to say, that for comprehension and
clearness, exactness in defining crime, for dis-
tinctness and simplicity in making out the
modes of proceeding to ascertain the guilt or
innocence of a prisoner, that his surpasses all
other codes that can be found. And another
excellence of it is, that it leaves as little for
the discretion of the judge as possible.
Although Mr. Livingston's life has been a
busy one, and he has done much at the bar
and in Congress, and out of these walks of
life he has contended with principalities and
powers in more than a ten years warfare,
and come off with success ; still he looks to
his code for permanent fame. Besides its
learning and wisdom, there is a living and
immortal principle in it, that will bless it for
ever. It is a benevolent code. His justice
is not a confused, sanguinary Deity, who lifts
her devouring sword at every offence ; but
■.OB
40
LIVINGSTON.
one who punishes in mercy, making discrimi-
nations in the nature of punishments as she
discovers differences in the nature of crimes.
If Mr. Livingston does not, in his lifetime, see
it adopted entire, by any state or country, he
will find that its spirit will silently enter the
penal codes of all civilized nations, and sweet-
en the bitter fountains of penal vengeance.
Mr. Livingston is one of the most learned
men of his age ; for he has been assiduous in
acquiring knowledge, and has lost none of his
acquisitions by ill health or decay of mental
powers. If his style is less copious than it
was in his earlier days, it has lost nothing of
its vigour or spirit : even his imagination has
all the creative powers it had when he first
appeared before the public, as his last speech
in the Senate, on Mr. Foot's resolutions, will
fully show.
LETTER. IT.
Washington, Jan. 1830.
Dear Sir,
Mr. Wirt you have heard of as the Author
of the British spy and several other works
which have been read and admired in this
Country and in Europe. He is now about sixty
years of age, a stout, fair, good looking man.
He has been for many years a laborious law-
yer, and for several years past Attorney Gen-
eral of the United States, which office he has
filled with credit to himself and to the Nation.
His manners are bland and courteous, partic-
ularly, to those who seek him, tinged with a
little of that Virginian trait — self-considera-
tion, which gives a dignity to a public man
when it does not degenerate into the affecta-
tion of high bred fashion without many early
advantages. Mr. Wirt, in the midst of the busi-
ness of an arduous profession, has made himself
a fine classical scholar. His imagination is
strong and refined. He sees every subject in
itstrue light and paints it with a master's touch;
some of his descriptions glow with all the co-
lours of fancy and are yet most admirably true
5
42
WIRT.
to nature. Many of his intellectual portraits
are of the first order of genius, and some of his
narratives are wrought up to a dramatic affect.
His often supposed that one so imaginative
could not have a logical mind. This is an
error : No one would deny to Shakespeare or
Milton a good share of logical power, yet
they "exhausted worlds and then imagined
new." Strip the arguments of Mr. Wirt of all
their beautiful drapery, and tear away all the
clusters of diamonds that sparkle around them,
you will find as sound reasoning as in the dry
speeches of a professed logician, who from an
iron throat and hide-bound brain, give his hear-
ers a string of tasteless sylogysms. By many
Mr. Wirt is held up as the first orator in the
United States, and no one will venture to say
that he is not among the first. His fame had
reached its acme before he was made Attorney
General ; there is nothing in the duties of that
office, in quiet times, to increase a man's know-
ledge or his fame. Most of the business of
the United States is done by the district attor-
nies, who are generally men of talents and do
their work so well, that but little of it goes to
Washington, for the attorney general to at-
tend to. Mr. Wirt is held in high estimation by
the Supreme Court, and the bar of that court at
Washington. In Virginia and in Maryland Mr.
WIRT.
43
Wirt was familiarly known as an advocate ; but
the good people of the East had never heard
him in a cause until last year. In an equity
cause of importance involving reputation and
large sums of money, he made his appearance
in Boston. No great actor that ever crossed
the Atlantic was more talked of before his arri-
val than Mr. Wirt. The learned, the Thebans
of both sexes assembled to hear his argument,
but with the most kindly disposition imgina-
ble. He was pitted against their Champion,
and the interest was wound up to a high pitch.
The race was as well contested as that great
one between Henry and Eclipse ; and like that
won by half a neck. In other words it was
thought a fair match ; bone and muscle con-
tended with blood and spirit. Mr. Wirt lost his
cause but came off with the affectionate res-
pect of the people, even of his opponents.
Thobo interchanges Of civilities among Eas-
tern and Southern men, united with a display
of the powers of each have a good effect in
removing prejudices and establishing friend-
ships among the people of different sections of
of the country.
Look into the Supreme Court of the Uni-
ted States, almost any day of its session, and
you will perceive a small man with a solemn
44
JONES.
countenance, a slow, low voice, with a head
covered with thick hair growing rapidly grey,
and with eyes fixed upon his papers, talking
to the court as if they were statues, but in a
strain of most powerful reasoning : This is
General Walter Jones, one of the first law-
yers in the United States. He was educa-
ted at William and Mary College, is a good
classical scholar, and one of the best meta-
physicians of the country. He is unlike the
orators of the south ; there is no dash of elo-
quence in his speeches, but a neat, elegant
and appropriate choice of words is found in
every remark that falls from him. Those who
know him speak well of him as a gentleman ;
but it is only as a public man that I know
him. He resides in the city of Washington
and is engaged in all the important causes that
originate there, and in many from abroad.
When once engaged he touches every point
in a subject before he sits down ; and he is
sometimes tedious from the great length and
minuteness of his arguments, but in making
an analysis of them, when he has finished
you find that they have been as close and
particular as the subject would admit of, and
the reviewer would meet with no small diffi-
culty in suggesting any alterations for the
better. The Supreme court have a profound
JONES.
45
respect for General Jones and never lose a
word of his argument however long he may
be in a cause. He meets the arguments of
his opponents with more ingenuity, if possible,
than he shows in makng his own ; he seizes the
weak points with acuteness and turns them to
his advantage with great adroitness, but with-
out sneer or sarcasm. In the circuit court of
the District of Columbia he is engaged in all
the trials, and is as good a jury lawyer as any
man at the bar. There are times, when
warmed with his cause before a jury, that he
is thought to be eloquent ; certainly he is very
impressive and successful. His is a species
of eloquence, and that of the very best kind to
an enlightened jury ; and the manner of sum-
moning a jury in the District, secures the best
of the citizens for the pannel. In the street
and in the court room, Jones seems to be in a
constant state of abstraction, a sort of disease
of the mind. This is adduced by his city
friends as a wonderful proof of mental labour.
It may be so in his case ; but abstraction of
mind, and absence of mind, are frequently ta-
ken for the same thing ; they are not so :
the former is the power of concentrating
thoughts on one subject, and calling them in,
as it were, from all their wanderings, to in-
crease their force in its consideration ; while
5*
46
JONES.
absence is an unconsciousness of any thought,
and may belong to one grade of intellect as
well as to another. There are no uniform
symptoms of mental greatness ; it shows itself,
when it exists, under all guises and in various
modes ; but under any, it can never be entire-
ly concealed. How unlike each other are
these distinguished lawyers ! as unlike as Ci-
cero and Sallust. All hearers like both ; but
each has his devoted admirers.
X.ETTER VI.
Washington Jan. 1830
Dear Sir,
I have often seen that most singular man
you enquire after ; and often heard him speak.
Many of the sketches of his person have been
more accurate than those given of his mind. It
must be confessed that his person and dress
are so unique that a just representation of
them would, to those unacquainted with Mr.
Randolph, seem a caricature. He is about
six feet in height, perhaps his narrow chest
and long legs make him appear a little taller
than he is. His head is small, his shoulders
high, and all parts of his physiognomy, except
his eye, altogether unintellectual. He is beard-
less, or nearly so, and his muscles and his
skin about his face shrivelled, although he is
not more than fifty-six years of age. Notwith-
standing his height, his frame is so slender that
his weight is not more than one hundred and
thirty pounds. His long legs support a short
body that is not more than a talon in the waist"
His arms are very long and small and his fin-
48
RANDOLPH.
gers bird-claw-like, and in debate he makes
them very expressive. His hair is dark, thin
and lank, and lies close to his head. His move-
ments are rapid and awkward. His voice
is shrill and high, and perfectly soprano : lat-
terly his voice has lost most of its power ; his
throat seems to be dry and husky. This is
the effect of disease, for he has long been an
invalid, the fine piercing and fife-like notes of
his voice are nearly extinct. So much for his
person. His mind is still more singular than
his person. His perceptions are, 1 speak of
him as he has been, quick and his impressions
strong ; but it is in the strength and elevation
of his imagination that he is above most men.
His judgment, from every evidence I have
ever seen or heard, is either feeble or never
consulted in his acts or speeches. His mem-
ory is good, often minutely accurate ; but it is
now somewhat impaired. His attainments
are considerable, rather miscellaneous than
political or professional. His knowledge of
the English language is critical and extensive,
and he is quite fastidious in his choice of
words ; and one of his best things about him
is that he keeps a constant vigil over the good
old English, his mother tongue. His acquain-
tance with English history is minute ; and it
may be said of him that he is well read in gen-
RANDOLPH.
49
eral history ; but saving and excepting the an-
nals of his own state he knows not much of
American history. His classical knowledge
has been overrated. In the common latin
classics he is quite at home, and quotes with
great readiness, but his acquaintance with
those less read in this country must be limit-
ed, for in his passion for display he never
mentions them.
Mr. Randolph has been in congress most of
the time since he was eligible from constitu-
tional age, and at all times has been conspicu-
ous as a declaimer, but never has shown the
slightest tact for business. I believe the Jour-
nals of congress do not show that he ever made
a report in all this length of time ; and no one
recollects of his ever having drawn a bill.
He has nothing more to do with the ordinary
proceedings of con^r^s tk&n l^at comet
that appeared in our solar system had in reg-
ulating the motions of the planets.
The only congressional business he ever set
seriously about, was the impeachment of judge
Chase, and in this he failed. He made a splen-
did declamation on this subject, mostly unsup-
ported by the facts in the case ; he laboured
hard to demolish the judge but did not suc-
ceed ; the good sense of the Senate saved the
50
RANDOLPH.
enroachments on the judiciary. Randolph
came out of the contest without a single laurel.
He has notwithstanding his pretentions to
consistency been a politician that no party
could for a moment, or but for a moment trust.
He disliked Washington, and violently op-
posed John Adams, and was disappointed in
Jefferson, as from him he expected much,
but the philosopher could not, or certainly
did not trust him. He openly quarrelled with
Madison and never was cordial with Munroe.
He raved like a madman against John Q. Ad-
ams, and said and did every thing in his power
to injure his administration ; and it is well
known that he supported Jackson from his
dislike to Adams, for he did not stop in Wash-
ington to witness the inauguration, but hurried
»&'tQ Virginia, thinking he had done enough
for tli «
By profession Mr. Randolph is a democrat,
by every habit an aristocrat, for he is proud as
Lucifer, and except in his maudlin moments
suffers no one to approach him with familiar-
ity. His friendships are as capricious as an
April cloud; and his enmities bitter and last-
ing. His tongue " a chartered libertine" has
under it the venom of asps. No one can tell
on whom his next cateract of abuse is to fall,
and no one is secure from it. He has libelled
RANDOLPH.
51
some of the best men the country ever produ-
ced, and praised many that no body else ever
heard of ten miles from their native village.
He has, like the jesters in the courts of Kings
in former days, been previleged, to rail on all
around him, and it must be confessed, that
this same railer is diabolically ingenious in his
invention of phrases, and in his choice of
words, to give force to his fiendish disposition.
He stole a leaf from the curse-book of Pandi-
monium to express his hatred for Henry Clay.
The victim of his wrath called Randolph to
the field, and fired an ineffective shot at the
shadow, in order to convey away the agonies
of his resentment. It may be asked by you,
if there are no bright spots on his escutcheon,
no fair side to the medal. It is said that he
is generous at times ; — that he is a kind mas-
ter to his slaves ; — that he is a good neigh-
bour ; and always popular in his district ; —
these things are something, and in a fair esti-
mate of him should not be forgotten ; and not-
withstanding his love of English books, English
manners, Baronial Castles and feasts, and his
profuse panegyrics on Ducal pedigrees, which
show more acquaintance with the blazonry
of their armorial bearings than of his own
Country's history, yet, there are men who say
that he loves his country, and like his father
52 RANDOLPH.
would have the courage to fight for it, that is
if he could have his own way of fighting.
On the whole survey of his character Mr,
Randolph may be set down as one of the most
eccentric beings that any age ever produced,
and perhaps this same examination would as-
sist to confirm the moral philosophers in their
opinions that all eccentricity is a species of
madness.
X.ETTER VH.
Washington, Jan. 1830.
Dear Sir,
Col. Richard M. Johnson, now of the
House of Representatives was last year of the
Senate. He is about fifty one or two years old
a full blooded Kentuckian, that is a man gen-
erous, warm-hearted, brave, ambitious ; and
supplying the defects of education, by perse-
verance, hardihood, and fearlesness. He was
sent early in life as a representive in Congress,
and at once took an active part ; and quite
a high-minded one, all things considered.
Among the memorabilia of his life it should
not be forgotten, that he had the magnanimity
to espouse the cause of Mrs. Hamilton, on a
petition for pay for the services of her husband,
for many years in the revolutionary war.
This pay, Col. Hamilton had relinquished, ia
order that his motives should not be questioned,
in the course he was about to recommend to
Congress in regard to his funding system. He
had made a noble sacrifice on the altar of pat-
riotism, and he was now no more. The great
6
54
JOHNSON.
man when living, had asked nothing. He was
dead ; and it was right that the nation should
remember the wisdom of one so generous,
Col. Johnson never gave up the point until it
was accomplished. Story, and others came
to the aid of Johnson in this cause of justice,
and the bill was passed although prejudice
and party strove against it. In this, as in
many other instances, Johnson acted above
party.
Col. Johnson was a zealous advocate for
the war of 1812, and after voting for it, went
home and assisted his brother to raise a regi-
ment of mounted volunteers : took a Lt. Co-
lonel's commission, and marched to join gen-
eral Harrison, and was foremost in the battle
of Thames river. To this regiment command-
ed by his brother and himself, then divided in
the fight, much of the glory of that victory is
due. He took his course against the Indians,
and it is said that in this conflict he shol the cel-
ebrated chief, Brigadier General Tecumseh,
the most renowned savage since the days of
King Philip.
His own account of the deed is plain and
modest. The Indian shot at him, and wounded
him in the arm, when Col. Johnson fired his
horse-pistol at him within six or eight yards
and brought him to the dust. Johnson was
JOHNSON. 55
then ignorant of his rank, but at once surmis-
ed it from the instant retreat of the whole bo-
dy of Indians, and the terrible howl that ac-
companied it. They who deny that this sa-
vage was the fierce Tecumseh never refused
to Johnson the palm of gallantry and suc-
cess in battle. Johnson is a plain unaffected
man, a warm and persevering friend, a strong
partizan, and both friends and enemies know
where to find him. He has not a particle of
hypocracy in his nature ; he speaks of men
in, or out of office, with great freedom ; and
poising himself at all times on his own mag-
nimity never becomes the slave of any body,
or set of men. He is honest, fluent and open
in debate, and speaks right on, what he does
think, whether it be politic or otherwise for
party ; though he has very good party tact,
having been nurtured in it. There is noth-
ing in his speeches either remarkable for elo-
quence or learning ; but abundance of direct-
ness and honesty. Every body is pleased with
the sentiments of the man, if they do not think
him a first rate orator ; it must however be
acknowledged that there are those who think
him remarkably eloquent. Something of his
popularity arises from his having been a con-
stant advocate for the abolition of imprison-
ment for debt. In season, and out of season
56
JOHNSON.
he has never deserted his cause ; but has
gone on to call the attention of the philoso-
phic and wise to the sufferings of the unfortu-
nate debtors throughout the country.
Col. Johnson is an invalid from the wounds
he received in the battles in which he was en-
gaged, and looks pale in his seat in the Senate
or House, and is seldom seen at the convivial
board or the evening party. He is careful of
his health ; but notwithstanding the feeble state
of it, he manages to get through a great mass
of business in the course of the day. The
western members have an onerous correspon-
dence with their constituents. It is any thing
but a sinecure to be a Member of Congress
from the other side of the Allegany. Col.
Johnson is a popular man, and has many
friends in various parts of the Union, who
speak of him as Vice President of the United
States for the next election. With politics I
have nothing to do, there are a great many
politicians and philanthropists who would be
gratified to see him elevated to the second
office of the nation.
LETTER VXXX.
Washington Jan 1830,
Dear Sir,
Mr. Dwight is from the mountains of
Massachusetts. The pure skies of Berkshire
have given his person an athletic frame, hut his
polished manner and city air mark him as
a well bred man. He is in Washington a
fashionable man, not of the Brummel school
of affectation and pretension, but of that easy-
dignified cast that shows the man of mind as
well as of manners. If he moves down the
dance with grace, his powers are not confined
to the ball room, for the Belle who has been
his partner there, the next day hears him as
she listens from ; the gallery of the house of
representatives, mingling in the debate ; and
in a sweet sonorous, but manly voice, support-
ing or defending his" side of the question in an
argument at once lucid and powerful. If he
were assiduously to cultivate eloquence, he
would be second to none in the country, for
he has every physical and mental capacity
6*
DWIGHT.
for a great speaker. When any high respon-
sibility is upon him he is powerful in debate,
Mr. Dwight is a popular man in the Housey
for he is affable to all, and yields as far as ne-
cessary for courtesy to every one, but never
gives up a jot of principle. His independence
in his course of debating and voting is as great
and as completely maintained, as that of the
roughest member who makes a declaration
of his independence at every paragraph of
his speech. There is no small degree of
tact necessary in understanding the temper of
a deliberate assembly, and this he has equal to
any member of congress. He has been long
enough there to fathom all the depths of par-
ty policy, which after all has no witchcraft
in it, to use his knowledge to advantage. Mr*
Dwight does better in a complicated, than in
a familiar question : as a strong man appears
best when he has weight to carry to swell his
muscles. He is yet young and will probably
serve his country for many years, and were I
his particular friend I would whisper in his
ear, "omnia vincit labor" which is the true
motto for a man of talents.
The present Attorney General John Mc
Pherson Berrien is from Georgia but I under-
stand that fre is a native of Philadelphia. He
BERRIEN.
59
is a most eloquent speaker. In the senate he
was a model for chaste, free, beautiful elocu-
tion. He seemed to be the only man that
Webster softened his voice to, when he turn-
ed from his seat to address him. There is not
the slightes dash in his manner ; it is as grave
as it is pleasant. His views are clear, and he
meets the subject manfully. In his arguments
there is no demagogical praises of his constitu-
ents, no tirade of abuse against his opponents,
or of the section of country from whence they
came. He is said to have been a good judge
on the bench, and an excellent lawyer at the
bar, and surely he was a host for his party in
the Senate. He is now an Attorney General,
and a cabinet councillor as well as counsel
for the cabinet. The public of all parties have
great confidence in him, and he stands fair
for higher promotion. It is so seldom that
we hear in Congress a classical style of speak-
ing, that a man who has any regard for the ad-
vancement of taste, admires such a speaker.
He is said to be a lover of literature, and it is
to be hoped that in his high office, he will ad-
vise the President to recommend its protec-
tion and encouragement. The President and
heads of departments can do much for litera-
ture and science, if they feel disposed to do it.
The records of the nation are not yet thor-
60
M'DUFFIE.
oughly examined. It is time the work was
done. The present is the hour to begin, and
the zeal of the future may atone for the apathy
of the past. It is a solemn truth that the Uni-
ted States do not support a single literary
man ; as such, the nearest to it is the librarian
of Congress and he is obliged to be a mere
shelf and catalogue man, whatever may be
his acquirements.
Mr. M'Dtiffie who has figured in
congress, for several years past from South
Carolina is an eleve of Mr. Calhoun. He is a
fiery speaker ? full of gesture, and one would
think to see him, when speaking, and if out
of distinct hearing, that he was wrought up to
a frenzy, such is the violence of his manner.
Mr. M'Duffie is unquestionably a man of
talents ; but like most men of talents whose
early education was defective, he mistakes
his own thoughts and opinions for original
thoughts, because he is not sufficiently ac-
quainted with the thoughts and opinions of
those who have gone before him', and prides
himself upon being the author of axioms that
were promulgated ages before he was born.
Mr. M'Duffie has been prominently brought
before the public, and has been able to sup-
port a high character, for high intellect even in
DAVIS. 61
his errors. His late reports on several sub-
jects prove that he is industrious and, that he
spares no pains in his researches ; and all be-
lieve that when time has taken off the fiery
edge of his spirits, that he will be a still more
conspicuous statesman than he now is, for un-
til lately he tore his passion to the very rags ;
when the subject might have been discussed
in the quietness of a quaker meeeting.
Mr. Davis of Massachusetts is a fair speci-
men of the talent, gravity and solidity of the
New-England people. He thinks correctly
and talks well ; not easily moved to resent-
ment or worked up to passion ; his speeches
are one unbroken chain of argument ; his
language is plain but forcible ; his manner
calm, even, and manly ; his voice is clear and
strong, and precisely such a one as gains at-
tention and secures it. He is always so self-
poised that no one can shake him from his
purpose ; so well informed that he is never
put down by any detection of a mistake in
what he states for facts ; so just to others that
no one can complain that he misrepresents
them, and he understands his subjects and his
rights so well, that he is never called to order,
without assuming to direct, he often leads the
debate, for the productions of an honest and
62
DAVIS-
powerful mind, have their effects on friends
and opponents. His speeches are listened
to and read for the information they contain,
and they never offend taste by any extrava-
gance of diction or inference, and some of his
speeches are models of strength, symplicity
and good English.
BETTER ILK
4
Washington, 1830.
Dear Sir,
The rapid growth of this country has been
the wonder of the world ; but the causes of this
growth have been overlooked or misunderstood.
It has vaguely been attributed to their freedom ;
yet the aborigines were freer than they have
been ; and what did they do for the advancement
of national prosperity? The secret of their growth
has been the development of their civil institu-
tions ; the seeds of which they brought from
their native land. They have grown up without
fetters. The very independence of this people
was a living principle in them, when they first
reached these inhospitable shores ; and in the
fulness of time it burst into a flame. In all their
reasonings they united the government of man
with the government of God, and insisted that
the ruler over men should be just, ruling in the fear
of God. The history of the colonies is full of
their wise sayings and doings, but I have not
time to draw your attention to any portion of it ;
64
THE PRESIDENTS.
at this moment my remarks will be principally
confined to the current events, and to living
men ; but occasionally shall take a limited re-
trospection. It has often been remarked that
elected rulers have not been as good as heredi-
tary ones ; and the history of Great Britain is
quoted as proving it. That the house of lords
have been, and still are, a highly honourable
body, no one will deny ; and that it contains
many true patriots is very certain; but I should
doubt very much whether, at any time, it con-
tained so much practical talent, and mental ac-
tivity, as the house of Commons. The whole
of the rulers in the United States are virtually
elected directly by the people, or selected by
those they have elected for that purpose. The
seven Presidents that have ruled over the Uni-
ted States since 1789, is a proof that a man must
have some rare qualifications to induce the great
mass of the people to give their votes for him.
He must have some strong hold of their affec-
tions for services rendered, or have given proofs
of powers from which great services may here-
after be expected, who ventures to think of being
President of the United States.
Those who have held this office have been
men of distinction. The first can never be
equalled, because he lived in an age that can
never return ; and circumstances gave him op-
THE PRESIDENTS.
65
portunities for exertions that no man ever had
before him, or can have after him. He was
raised up for the times. He was a warrior of
that peculiar cast that such a struggle demanded.
He inspired his followers with confidence in his
capacity and courage, and the nation with the
belief that he was born for their deliverer. His
wisdom as a chief magistrate of the United
States was as conspicuous as his military tal-
ents. He was advised by the speech of the trusty,
but influenced by no man's opinions without
sufficient reasons were adduced to support them.
The shocks of party never moved him ; he was
as quiet in the midst of the denunciations of de-
magogues and the startling prophecies of the
wily, as if all had been peace and sunshine.
He contemplated with great care, and acted
with unequalled decision. He read men with
great sagacity, and selected his officers for their
talents and probity. He was seldom wrong in
his judgment. He may have committed errors,
but never did any foolish acts. He was truly
the father of his country.
The second President, Mr. Adams, was a
true patriot and a high spirited man. He en-
tered on his duties with more of the experience
of a statesman than his predecessor had done,
but was wanting in the prudence of that great
man. He was cast, indeed, on evil times, and
was easily chafed by untoward circumstances.
7
66
THE PRESIDENTS.
There had bfcgun to be less patriotism and more
management among politicians than when the
government was first organized. Party spirit
had increased, and entered more into the pro-
ceedings of Congress than m the administration
of Washington ; party spirit raged with violence
everywhere; the hydra heads of the French
revolution were reared in every quarter of the
country ; and the fiendish spirit of anarchy was
in them. The political atmosphere was poison-
ed, and like the mother of mankind, many of the
honest were seduced and overcome by that sub-
tlety which the serpent once possessed, and
which has since been so hateful to mankind.
Mr. Adams breasted the storm with great ener-
gy ; and if not always with judgment, yet al-
ways with sincerity and capacity. He never
cowered at opposition, nor shrunk from respon-
sibility. One of the evils of his nature was that
he had not enough of plausibility to qualify and
soften his rigid determinations. He persisted
in forming a navy against all opposition, and the
result has proved his foresight. In most instan-
ces he put good men into high places, and ne-
ver tolerated a feeble or bad man because he
was with him in politics. Times have changed :
and those who were once his enemies, have be-
come his friends.
He returned to private life after administering
the government one term, and lived many years
THE PRESIDENTS.
67
as a sage whom all men, of all parties, sought to
learn the history of past events and to hear him
discourse on matters of government. His space
in history will be an enviable one.
The successor of Mr. Adams was quite differ-
ent from him in his mental organization and
political views. He had drank deeply of the
new school of philosophy, made conspicuous by
Mandeville, Bollingbroke, and their successors,
on both sides the Alps. It was studied in Italy
and France, had reached Germany, and swept
over the Netherlands. It had in it many good
points ; it inculcated the broad doctrines of
equality in civil rights, and wared with the hie-
rarchies every where. The theories formed in
this school were beautiful and splendid, and have
in part been realized by the present age. The
predecessors of Mr. Jefferson had acted upon
the maxim, Adhere to that which has been found
to he good and practical, and he cautious of the un-
tried and theoretical ; his, to venture on the untried,
if it promised more happiness to mankind, fearless
of the consequences. They distrusted human
nature, he reposed implicit confidence in it.
Perhaps the change at this time in the parties
was fortunate for the nation ; it checked the
vaulting ambition of many, and prostrated the
pride of some who were beginning to think that
they wTere made to rule. Some began to taik
of family connexions and distinctions, who have
68
THE PRESIDENTS.
now passed away, and are forgotten ; and who,
from a momentary political or pecuniary eleva-
tion, began to think that some way might be de-
vised to give permanency to their importance by
securities to succession. The policy of Jeffer-
son and his party sunk all these visions in night,
and broke down all the hopes of the aristocracy
of the nation. The change that followed was
not without its evils. New men arose, and ma-
ny of them, the creatures of circumstances, were
destitute of political wisdom or true patriotism ;
and not a few who assisted in building up the
republic, were not allowed to assist in adminis-
tering the government. The navy was reduced,
the vessels of war sold off, the army not thought
much of, and the dreams of perpetual peace in-
dulged. This did not last long, and Mr. Jeffer-
son found that it would not answer, in the present
state of mankind, to beat swards into ploughshares,
and spears into pruning hools too soon. He re-
vived some of the doctrines he intended to ex-
plode, and consented to think it was better to
whip insolent foes, than to buy their good will at
too dear a rate. Public opinion is always fluc-
tuating, but never so far out of the wTay as closet
reasoners believe, particularly when the public
are as enlightened as this.
Mr. Jefferson was communicative, free and
generous in his disposition, and fascinating in his
manners. He practised the republican sympLU
THE PRESIDENTS.
69
city he taught, and in a most extraordinary de-
gree took the people along with him, and re-
tained his office, and the place he held in their
affection, during the eight years of services.
Though historians will differ greatly upon the
effect his course and character had on the na-
tional growth and prosperity, yet all will agree
that the man was learned and philosophical, and
that while he pursued a course of his own, he
had the power of stamping his own impressions
upon minds beyoniany statesmen of the age in
which he lived ; that he was not avaricious may
be known by the poverty in which he died.
It is curious to observe how the fate of an age
is in some measure decided by a trivial matter.
By a provision in the constitution of the United
States, which has since been altered, the Presi-
dent and Vice President were voted for, without
discriminating between them, or directing who
should hold the first or second office. This was
left to depend upon the votes. The highest
number from the Electoral Colleges was conside-
red as having been given for the President. Mr.
Jefferson and Mr. Burr had an equal number of
votes, and therefore, there was no choice by the
people. In the House of representatives the
states were for a long time equally divided. For
a while it was thought Mr. Burr would have
been elected to fill the office of President. The
difference between the men was great. Aaron
7*
70
THE PRESIDENTS.
Burr had in him the elements of a great sol-
dier and a profound Statesman, He was six-
teen years the junior of his opponent, full of ac-
tivity and ambition ; and that ambition that looks
beyond the hour. He had been a soldier of the
revolution, was with Arnold in his expedition to
Canada by way of the Kennebeck. He had
left the halls of learning at the age of nineteen
to join this hazardous enterprize ; had been se-
lected by Arnold to traverse the wilderness alone
to communicate with Montgomery who had push-
ed his way by the lakes. For this adventure he
was made the aid of Montgomery, and was at
his side when the lamented warrior fell. He
rose still higher in the army during the course of
the war, and had left his name high on the list
of those brave and gallant youths who had gi-
ven a spirit of chivalry to the American army.
When the revolutionary conflict was over, he en-
tered professional life, and at once took a deci-
ded part ; was soon known as a most promising
man. His legal attainments were great ; and as
an advocate he had no superior. Bland, smooth
and eloquent, he guided the populace ; saga-
cious, penetrating, insinuating, and learned, he
influenced those in high places in the courts, or
deliberate assemblies. He was equal to any task,
for he had a constitution that knew no fatigue,
and a spirit of perseverance that nothing could
break down. His tongue was never silent from
THE PRESIDENTS.
71
any dread of dignity or power, and his heart ne-
ver palpitated at the presence of man. Open,
bold, and daring, he sought political distinction,
and was determined to have it. If such a man,
in the prime of manhood, for he had only reach-
ed his forty-fifth year, could have come to the
Presidency when the world was in such confu-
sion, he would have appealed to their pride, and
millions would have responded to his voice ; he
would have pointed out a new path to glory, and
myriads would have rushed to take it. The timid
and philosophical even now, shudder to think
what he might have done, and the adventurous
and ambitious on the wane of life rave at what
was lost in so great a man. The judicious
however feel assured that the destinies of na-
tions are in the hands of God, and without deci-
ding any thing upon this subject, pursuade them-
selves that all has been for the best.
Mr. Madison followed Mr, Jefferson. The
country was then so exhausted and worn out by
embargoes and non-intercourses, that Mr. Mad-
ison found the people in a very restless state.
To pursue the system that had been tried and
found totally inefficacious, would have been idle,
and worse than idle ; it would have proved mis-
chievous. Mr. Madison delayed, and reasoned,
and forbore, until he found the west would not
forbear anv lonyer. when in 1812 he recom-
72
THE PRESIDENTS.
mended a declaration of war, which was instantly
declared by an act of Congress, and which, on
the same day, received his signature. The Pre-
sident was placed in a perilous situation ; for
the country was unprepared for war. The sup-
ply of the munitions of war wTas scanty, the
treasury nearly empty, but few soldiers in the
army, and no experienced commander at call.
Those brave men of the revolution had not kept
up with the rapid advancement of military tac-
tics, and there were few young men who had
made military science a study. The navy was
small and not fully manned, and the enemy were
on our coast. This was a trying situation for
the President. The war went on, Mr. Madi-
son did every thing he could, but the war ma-
chinery was in bad order. Sometimes the na-
tion was grieved by the loss of an army, and
now cheered by a splendid victory. No small
portion of the wealth and talent of the country
were opposed to the war, and were reluctant
to support it. To brace up under all the evils
Mr. Madison had to contend with, required the
philosophy of a great mind. He struggled
through all ; met all the dishonour with com-
posure ; received all the news of success with-
out any of the unnerving effects of joy ; in fact,
he made the best of his situation ; and found
himself, at the close of the conflict, as popular
as he was at the commencement of it. Mr.
THE PRESIDENTS.
73
Madison was one of the framers of the constitu-
tion of the United States, and had more to do in
its formation in convention, and of the support
of it in his native state, than any other man. His
views of this great instrument have been pro-
found and consistent in every stage of the at-
tack and defence upon it, in, and out of Con-
gress. He has never flinched from defending
his first views of its powers, and of the inten-
tions which were incorporated with it, at its
birth. He is now old, and on the confines of
eternity ; but his last effort, in the Virginia
Convention, for constitutional liberty, proved
that the faculties of a well regulated mind will
last long. Honesty of intention preserves an
accuracy of memory and a consistency of con-
duct.
Mr. MONROE succeeded Mr. Madison. He
came into power in quiet times ; the first term
with little opposition ; the second term with
none. The country recovered rapidly from the
exhaustion of war ; party spirit had, in a good
degree, lost its rancour ; the whole community
were busy in retrieving lost time ; and the
President had no great difficulties to contend
with. To appease those hungry for office was
the most trying evil he had to encounter. To
his honour be it said, that in his administra-
tion, and by his recommendation, the pension
74
THE PRESIDENTS.
law was passed, giving a crust of bread and a
pitcher of water to the war-worn soldier, who
should have been stayed with faggons and com-
forted with apples, from the hands of a grateful
people, but who had been left to hunger and
thirst by the way-side.
John Quincy Adams was successor to Mr.
Munroe ; he had been Secretary of State during
Mr. Munroe's administration. There was no
choice by the electoral colleges, and the states
in the House of Representatives decided the
question brtvveen him and General Jackson,
who were the two highest candidates. Jackson
had the highest number of electoral votes, and
his disappointed supporters were determined to
run him for the next term, and instantly took
measures for this purpose. The electioneering
campaign began earlier than it was ever known
to have commenced before, and was conducted
with great bitterness. Mr. Adams administered
the government with the most scrupulous integ-
rity. His policy was to keep things as they
were. He made no changes by removing one
and bringing in another ; and when vacancies
occurred, he was quite as likely to nil them up
with opponents as friends. Every one granted
to Mr. Adams first rate talents ; and all, who
were capable of judging, acknowledged him to
be the most thorough-bred scholar and diplomat-
THE PRESIDENTS.
ist of the country. He was patient of labour,
indefatigable in his researches, apt in acquiring
and ready in using all useful knowledge. He
had the experience of a lawyer, a legislator, and
of a minister at different courts ; and last of all
as a secretary and cabinet councillor of the Pre-
sident of the United States. Ancient and mo-
dern languages were familiar to him, and he
required no interpreter in his intercourse with
foreign embassadors. No man, however great
his patriotism or his talents, had ever filled the
presidential chair with such rich and varied ac-
quirements as Mr. Adams ; and one at a dis-
tance would have supposed that he would have
been the most popular President this country
ever had. It was not so. He had broke friend-
ship with his old federal friends by voting for
the embargo, and by taking a course for him-
self ; and had been, in a manner, estranged
from them for the space of eighteen years.
They came to his support because they knew
his ability to serve the nation, and they saw his
scrupulous honesty in office. They had, how-
ever, deep and terrible ranklings in their bo-
soms at the same instant they dropt their votes
into the ballot box for his election ; for he had
openly, as they said, made the insanity of a few
pass for a disease among the many. He receiv-
ed his information of what they were saying and
doing from prejudiced sources; and he was not
76
THE PRESIDENTS.
sufficiently acquainted with his own people and
kindred to judge of them correctly ; for he had
not lived with them much. He forgot, that, if,
in the plenitude of freedom, now and then, one
talked daggers, there was a redeeming spirit in
the great mass of the people that would not suf-
fer them to be used. This was not all ; the
party he had served so heartily were not satis-
fied with one who would administer the govern-
ment without being influenced by party ; avow-
ing openly that a party administration was the
true genius of a republican government ; and
whether the axiom be right or wrong, it is one
that will be acted upon hereafter ; and all politi-
cians will agree that it is a better course than to
purchase enemies to make them friends.
Mr. Adams was surrounded by men who had
no sympathy for one another ; they were paired,
not matched: fortuitous circumstances brought
them together, but there was no real congeniali-
ty among them. Although a republican of pri-
mitive simplicity, Mr. Adams had no qualifica-
tion for meeting every. day men with those little
courtesies which secures their affections. Jeru-
salem might have been burnt a thousand times
before he would have sat at the gate to steal
away the hearts of the people. But when he
was met directly, and enquired of directly, no
man ever spoke more freely, or more honestly.
He had no disguise about him ; he discovered
THE PRESIDENTS. 77
more singleness of heart, and disinterestedness of
purpose, than any man I ever knew in a politi-
cal station. He has retired from office in the
fulness of intellectual vigour, with sufficient
means for an elegant independence for life. He
will bring forward no claims for unrequited ser-
vices, nor proffer any appeal to his country's
generosity for assistance and support. For the
city of Washington he has done more than any
of his predecessors ever did ; for general libe-
rality he is behind no one. The true otium cum
dignilate is his, and the belief is, that his coun-
try's history is to be the object of his future la-
bours. His descendants will have a rich inhe-
ritance in his fame ; for his little errors will be
buried with him, and his great merits perpetu-
ated.
The present incumbent of the presidential
chair, General Jackson, is indeed a remarkable
man. He began life in the humblest walks, and
had no advantages of early education ; but such
was his energy of character, that he soon at-
tracted notice. The West was new, and he grew
up with the society around him, and early took
a leading part. He had been engaged in politi-
cal life, acted for a while in a judicial charac-
ter, and afterward become a politician again.
He was a soldier from a child, and attracted at-
tention from his high and heroic qualities in the
8
78
THE PRESIDENTS.
discharge of his duties. The fighting on the
frontiers has been more calculated to make
daring, prompt, and chivalrous men, than regu-
lar fighting in lar^e armies ; for in these Indian
hunts every individual has an opportunity of
displaying his prowess, while in a large and re-
gular army, individuals must be restrained by
the great mass, and each has, in a good mea-
sure, to share with them in good or evil report.
Men grow hardy and adventurous who have to
keep arms in their hands for defence. General
Jackson was a terror to the Indians from the
Ohio to New-Orleans, and westward to the
rocky mountains. He annihilated the Semi-
noles, and terrified all those friendly to them.
When the war broke out, in 1812, General
Jackson was a Major General in the militia of
Tennessee ; and as soon as it was found that
Great Britain would probably attack New-Or-
leans, he was sent to the relief of that place.
He had many difficulties to encounter in or-
ganizing his forces. They came, many of them,
from more than a thousand miles up the river,
without arms, and depended on finding them at
New-Orleans ; but government had been remiss
in sending them. When General Jackson heard
that the British forces had made good their
landing, he marched out and met them, that same
night, as they were at supper. The conflict
was a very sharp one, and succeeded in putting
THE PRESIDENTS.
79
the British General on his guard ; and in fact,
checked the march of his army from the twenty-
third of December to the eighth of January.
By this time the American army was prepared
for them. On that day General Jackson fought
them, and obtained a signal victory. Call it
what you please, chance or a miracle, it was a
wondrous fight, and the gratitude of the Ameri-
can nation was unbounded. It was of incalcu-
lable service to his country in general, and to
that part of it more especially. It will not be
denied that he is a lover of military discipline,
and probably has sometimes carried his love of
martial law too far. It was too critical a mo-
ment to carry a statute book in one's pocket, or
to square every march by the doctrines of
tresjmss quare clausum f regit. He had a people
to save, and it was not in his nature to do it
gently. There was something in the boldness
of the veteran soldier that was attractive to
most men, and particularly to the young. The
suggestions of those who preferred a civilian to
a soldier were lost in the huzzas of those who
panted for military distinction ; and at every
pause and return of the shout he gained popu-
larity. In most states the change was rapid,
and he came into office by a large majority. If
he was not as perfect and capable a man as his
friends represented him to be, he was a much
better man than his enemies described him to
80
THE PRESIDENTS.
be* The fire of his temper had become a
fiame less wild than when he was earning his
military laurels. The hatchet had been buried
and the wampum exchanged, and most of his
enmities were gone. He has now administered
the government for nearly a year, and has
shown nothing of a disposition to act the milita-
ry chieftain. No gens d' arms guard his door,
no halberdiers his person. He has never as
yet amused the good citizens of Washington with
a military execution, himself preceded by laurel-
ed lictors with their fasces and axes, and with
the Master of the Horse at his heels. If the
apprehensions of those who foretold such things
were honest, they are happily disappointed. If
they mistook not the man, as I believe they did,
they certainly misunderstood the genius of the
people. They forgot the omnipotence of public
opinion in a great and a free country. Every
thing political must be shaped by it, every thing
exist by it. Public opinion may be as volatile
as the air around us, but nevertheless as vital to
republican institutions as that is to animal life.
Mind in this country is operating upon mind,
and opinion struggling with opinion for light and
knowledge. Every faculty of man is in a state
of improvement. Intelligence meets with, and
combats ignorance, and ignorance becomes illu-
mined by the conflict, infidelity is overcome by
faith, and truth elicited by error. In such a
I
THE PRESIDENTS.
81
state, while every man is testing his own pow-
ers, and examining the rights and capacities of
others, and attempting to place all things on the
basis of philanthropy and justice, although there
may be a good share of evil abroad, yet the
dread of the talents, fame or influence of any
one man, is not one of these evils.
If military ambition once burned in the breast
of General Jackson, it should be recollected that
he has reached that period of life, when the
flame would begin to diminish. He is more
than double the age of Alexander when he died,
and much older than Caesar when he fell. Age
always holds on what it has gained, but seldom
desires to make exertions for new honours, par-
ticularly military ones. I have entered into
this subject more particularly, not that I ever
thought he would give the nation a military cast
of character, any more than a civilian, but be-
cause the politicians in England, and in fact in
all Europe, affected to believe that this nation
was rapidly passing to a military despotism, be-
cause they selected General Jackson for their
President, and argued from it the downfal of the
liberties of the country, citing ancient instances
of the insatiable appetite of military chieftains.
There is no parallel between the cases — there is
no force in the argument.
8*
*
Washington, , 1830.
Dear Sir,
We will now turn, for a moment, from
the subject of man, to contemplate the growth
of a city. Each subject has its singularities,
and each affords instruction.
The Potomac had been considered the centre
of the British Provinces in North America long
before the organization of a Federal government
was ever thought of by the North or the South.
A few of the wise men of Virginia had, in their
political forecasts, drawn upon their imagina-
tions so far as to think it within the limits of
conjecture, that through the Potomac the great
western lakes would find a highway to the
ocean, and the immense interior bordering on
them would be opened to the advantages of com-
merce with foreign nations. When, or how,
this was to be brought about, was not distinctly
understood. The subject was one of those great
matters of feeling and reasoning commingled,
that are often the precursors of investigation and
effort, and for many years remain as impres-
CITY OF WASHINGTON.
83
sions and presentiments, before the event gives
to vague conjecture the character of prophecy
or foreknowledge. These opinions were gain-
ing ground in Virginia from age to age, and
fastened themselves on the mind of Washington,
from his earliest years ; and so deep, that when
his reputation had reached the acme of human
glory, he was willing to risk some portion of his
fame in making every exertion to direct his
countrymen to this great national object, con-
nected with the government of the United States
and the future welfare of his country ; but no
place was now precisely designated.
In March, 1791, the President of the United
States was authorised to appoint commissioners
to lay out this city, and prepare suitable build-
ings for the government before the year 1800.
By an act of May, 1796, the commissioners
were authorised to borrow money for the ad-
vancement of the buildings, and to pledge the
lots that had been given to the United States, as
well as the faith of the government, to refund
the loan. In 179S there was an act passed, sup-
plementary to the aforesaid, to hasten the pro-
gress of the public improvements. So far were
the public buildings finished, that, in April, 1800,
an act was passed authorising the President to
remove, with all the departments, from Phila-
delphia to the Federal City, which had been
previously named the City of Washington, in
84
CITY OF WASHINGTON.
honour of the President ; and in pursuance of
this act the government was removed and com-
menced operations in the city of Washington the
first day of December, 1800. It cannot be deni-
ed but that the character, wishes and influence of
Washington, had no small share in fixing the
seat of government. Like all other of his acts-
it has proved to have been dictated by wisdomy
justice, and forecast ; for the site is one of the
finest in the world for a city. From the hill on
which stands the capitol, the most noble view
presents itself to the eye of the beholder that
the imagination could paint. From the north,
round to the south, a circular line of high
grounds is seen, making within them the interior
of an immense amphitheatre ; which, it is said,
resembles the appearance of Rome from some
of the elevations in or near the Eternal City. The
east view is extensive, but not bounded by high
lands ; The horizon sinks with the power of vi-
sion. On the south, the broad and peaceful
Potomac is seen for many miles, extending to
Alexandria, and even to Mount Vernon. . The
whole panorama is bold, magnificent, pictur-
esque, and yet soft and beautiful ; it only re-
quires the moral consecration of long past
events, the massy piles of ancient grandeur, the
deep and solemn recollections of the mighty
dead, to make the impression, at this view from
the capitol, such as crowds on the mind when
CITY OF WASHINGTON.
85
one views the Vatican or domes of St. Peter. It
was laid out on a noble plan, but it will require
the lapse of half a century to fully develope all
its beauties. The eye of practical utility is long
in discovering the harmonious proportions that
philosphical forecast designs for the completion
of distant ages. The colossal figures of Praxi-
telles were the subject of derision among minor
artists, who did not foresee the elevation for
which they were made ; but when placed in the
lofty niches of the temple, his master designs
found their exact situations, and breathed harmo-
ny and sweetness on every beholder. The city
of Washington struggled with every difficulty in
its commencement. The great founder did not
live to see it the seat of government ; he died a
year before the consummation of his wishes.
We had at the time of the beginning but few
native artists to assist him, and the foreigners he
employed had many preconceived opinions at
war with his great plans. Economy was the
order of the day, and it was hard to make frugal
statesmen understand, that judicious expendi-
ture, on a broad scale, would, in the end, be the
most prudent course. They considered the ne-
cessities of a session ; he, the requisitions of
ages. The country was straitened in her
finances, and the great mass of the legislature
mistook the expansion of republican simplicity
and grandeur in building a city, for regal munifU
86
CITY OF WASHINGTON.
cence and aristocratic calculations ; and of course
every broad plan was narrowed down, and every
detail cramped by the wants of the treasury.
Other causes transpired to increase these dif-
ficulties. When the site of the Federal City
was fixed upon, speculators from every quarter
of this country, and also from abroad, flocked
in, to share in the chances of gain. Instead of
forwarding the enterprise, they did much to re-
tard it, by giving the lands a fictitious value,
and by keeping up nominal prices until there
were no real ones. It was a fair subject of spec-
ulation, but it was managed badly. The agri-
culture of the surrounding country was not pre-
pared to give a ready and an abundant supply
to the calls of the newly congregated popula-
tion, and the whole concern went sadly on, year
after year : at this period the market for provi-
sions was scanty, fluctuating, and often exorbi-
tant ; and sometimes it was hardly possible to
procure wholesome provisions, at any rate.
The dwelling houses in general were small, and
inconvenient ; and not only the citizens, but
public functionaries, and political dignitaries,
were crowded into narrow lodgings ; and amidst
the most anxious struggles for appearances
among the leaders of fashion, the nakedness of
the land was often seen by the sojourners as
well as felt by the inhabitants. The great mass
of the population suffered in some way or other,
CITY OF WASHINGTON,
87
and but few of the comforts of life, then, as well
as at present, so fully enjoyed in the cities of the
United States generally, were known in Wash-
ington.
In summer the streets were in a good measure
deserted, and in winter all was bustle and con-
fusion. The streets were without sidewalks or
pavements, and in this naturally humid climate
and soft loomy soil, the mud was frequently
deep and troublesome. The greater part of the
visiters, and many of the members of Congress
boarded in Georgetown. The English goods
shops were there also, and many of the best wine
and grocery stores. These daily inconveniences
were annoying to the members of Congress, and
they were in ill-humour when any call for mo- _
ney was made for the city ; and it was evident
that the dislike to Washington, as a permanent
seat of government, was fast advancing to a de-
termination to remove it. The goodly streets
and comfortable rooms in the dwelling houses in
Philadelphia were remembered, and nothing
but reverence for the name of Washington kept
those feelings from breaking out into acts of le-
gislation.
This was the state of things up to 1814, when
the calamity which at first was supposed to have
given a finishing stroke to all the hopes of the
city fell upon it ; In August, of that year, it was
taken by the British without much bloodshed.
89 CITY OF WASHINGTON.
The troops brought to defend it were well
enough, and might have been made good sol-
diers, if there had been union, concert, and en-
ergy among the leaders. Civil and military au-
thority and influence were jumbled together, and
confusion, defeat, and disgrace followed. The
blame was shifted from one to the other, and has
not as yet settled precisely any where ; but er-
ror, and gross error, must rest somewhere.
The whole country was mortified at such an
event, although it reflected no great honour on
the enemy. The capitol, as far as it was finish-
ed was burnt ; the President's house, the public
offices, and the public property of the navy yard.
The whole city resembled ' the skin of an im-
molated victim and every appeal to the sympa-
thies and pride of the country was made. When
Congress next assembled, after a few struggles
for the removal of the seat of government, the
most vigorous steps were taken to restore the
city to tranquillity, and to repair the. public loss-
es. It being once settled that pride and jus-
tice would not suffer the removal of the seat of
government, private enterprise followed public
spirit. The corporation of the city seemed to
be animated with a new soul, and individuals,
relieved from the fear of change, risked all they
could command in real estate. Landed proper-
ty arose in value, and hope, energy, and active
business, took the place of despair, listlessness,
CITY OF WASHINGTON. $9
and, wasting, repining indolence. New streets
were opened, dwelling houses and stores were
then erected. The trade came to the city, the
boarders left Georgetown and came to Washing-
ton, and a new face was put on every thing in
the city ; churches were built, institutions of
learning arose, and large, if not ample provision
was made for other necessary improvements on
the face of nature. This work has been going
on ever since the close of the war ; but it must
be pleasant to the citizens of Washington to re.
fleet, that when all things are taken into consi-
deration, that they are not indebted to the gov-
ernment, in equity, for one dollar for all their
grants and favours ; but that, in truth, the gov-
ernment is indebted to the city for more than
a million of dollars, putting a fair value on the
property now owned by the United States within
the city, which cost them nothing. Blessings
are said to come in clusters ; for as soon as the
city began to flourish, it became healthy. The
low grounds were drained, and the fever and
ague, once prevalent, are now rarely known
among the evils of Washington ; and at present
the city is decidedly the most healthy of any
in the United States, or perhaps in the world.
The water of Washington is of the best quality,
and can be brought to every door in the greatest
abundance, at a very moderate expense. This
9
90
CITY OF WASHINGTON.
was provided for in the charter given to the cit y
under the administration of Mr. Jefferson.
The schools in Washington are respectable
and instructers very well supported. The spirit
of religious freedom is as manifest here, as in
older cities. Toleration, in general, is a growth
of long experience and sound information ; here
intolerance had neither precedents or law. The
restraints on the exercise of liberty are fewer
here than in any other city known to civilized
man ; and yet the morals of the people are good,
and every year growing better. The whole
population of the city have been misrepresen-
ted as to manners; morals, habits and disposi-
tions. No people are more kind, or more hos-
pitable, or have better feelings than the Wash-
ingtonians. The bland Marylander, the lofty
Virginian, and intelligent, shrewd Eastern inha-
bitant, coalesce, commingle, and amalgamate,
until the virtues of all are seen united in the
most. As they become less dependant on Con-
gress, the more elevated is their standard of
mind and morals. When they looked to the
members of Congress as superior beings, who
might annihilate the city by a vote, the very
vices of the legislators were copied, and the ef-
fect was bad. Taken as a whole, the members
of Congress were not of the highest order for
imitation. Men are seldom virtuous in bodies, in
which, in most cases, but little individual respon-
CITY OF WASHINGTON.
91
sibility is felt or acknowledged. The corpora-
tion are assuming an energy of character wor-
thy of freemen, and are looking at the true in-
terests of the citv, and the citizens are uniting
their efforts for the prosperity of themselves
and neighbours. The patronage of Congress,
the attention of the corporation of the city, and
the efforts of individuals are now beginning to
be seen and felt. In former years their exer-
tions were not properly appreciated, because
they could not be seen in their effects ; they
were actually laying the corner-stone deep ia
the mire and water, where it was difficult for the
nicest observer to fairly calculate the value of
means used to produce ends ; now all things are
seen most fully ; and effects are in proportion to
labours ; and whatever is done is visible in the
improvements of the city. The city is indeed
an emblem of our nation in its growth and cha-
racter, if not at first, certainly in the Liter peri-
ods. It was most assuredly afflicted in its com-
mencement, had no great seasons of prosperity
in its early day, and in the end, owed its glory
and stability to the outrage done upon it. The
streets are now provided with ample sidewalks ;
new squares are opened, the streets are gradua-
ted, and put in a proper state to be ornamented
with trees and fountains. The Ohio and Chesa-
peake canal, which has been begun, and will be
put in operation by the enterprise of individuals,
92
CITY OF WASHIGTON.
the spirit of the corporation and the liberality of
Congress, is one day to be the pride, the conve-
nience, and the source of prosperity to the city.
The trade will increase, which will increase the
number of inhabitants, and afford them many ad-
vantages, by bringing fuel and provisions to the
city, and reduce the prices of all the necessaries
of life, to as low a scale as that of the most fa-
voured cities of the United States. The Wash-
ington market, with a little alteration, might be
made as good as any we know of. The glades
of Virginia furnish beef, pork, and butter, of the
best kinds ; and the immediate neighbourhood,
with a litlle care and attention, would be suffi-
cient, and more than sufficient, for all the de-
mands of vegetables and poultry. The soil and
climate are well suited for all the fruits of the
temperate zone. Peaches, plumbs, apples, and
almost every other fruit are, or may be raised,
of the first order. Washington is the happiest
region of flowers. A garden here might be
made to yield something for the basket of Flora
for nearly three quarters of the year. With a
small expense a fountain might be made in eve-
ry garden, to refresh the vegetation in the warm-
est seasons of the year, \fterthe most promi-
nent sites for business are filled up in the city, a
better taste will prevail in erecting domicils, and
those dwellings a little removed from the bustle
CITY OF WASHINGTON.
93
will not be complete or satisfactory without a
garden of flowers.
To pass from the dulce to the utile, there are
fine building materials in abundance, in or near
the city, or can easily be brought to it. The
city abounds in the best of clay ; and bricks can
be furnished to any extent, at a few weeks no-
tice ; and fuel can easily be procured to burn
the greatest number of kilns that may be set up.
Ornamental trees for the high way or malls
would be of rapid growth, much more rapid,
take the whole number and variety of ornamen-
tal trees together, than that of any climate more
southerly or northerly in this country. It is
seldom that the winter is severe enough to in-
jure them, and droughts in the summer are not
common. Showers are frequent ; the clouds
following along the Shenandoah and the Poto-
mac, in the highlands, spread over the country
where the Potomac assumes a broader surface,
and gives a freshness to the vegetation along its
banks. The soil is porous and quickly imbibes
the rain, so that no stagnant waters are found
to originate diseases in the hottest weather.
There is none of that spungy, humid state of
the atmosphere here, so common at the north
in August, generally denominated dog-days.
The heat of Washington is not greater at any
season than at Boston or Montreal ; but is more
oppressive by its long continuance, and the tri-
9*
94 CITY OF WASHINGTON.
fling change in the atmosphere from noon to
midnight. This may be, and indeed is exhaust-
ing ; but in this season there are but few preva-
lent diseases ; and the deaths that happen are
often among those who have not been the most
prudent ; or whose constitutions have been bro-
ken and decaying in previous years. Man is
subject to the first great denunciation of his
Maker every where, dust thou art and to dust
slialt thou return ; but he is as much privileged
here, as any where, to escape it as long as pos-
sible. In fact, nature has done enough for the
city to make it one of the most delightful abodes
in the world ; art now must do her share. Cap-
ital, industry and business are now only wanted
to give interest, beauty, yea, more, splendour to
all in and about Washington ; commerce is want-
ed to obtain this capital and to secure prosperity
to to the city, but it can never be so great and
all-absorbing as to endanger the welfare of the
city by those fearful fluctuations that large com-
mercial cities are liable to. None of those sud-
den changes in the markets can effect the great
mass of the citizens, when but a small part of
them are engaged in commerce, nor is it so near
the sea as to fear that its usual supplies can be
cut off by a war or blockade. The back coun-
try is sufficient for all exigencies, and perma-
nent requisitions for the main articles of life, and
and it will have easy communication with the
CITY OF WASHINGTON.
95
eastern and southern cities by steam boats and
rail roads. If a real and not a fictitious value
is given to property in the City of Washington,
it cannot fail to advance most rapidly. The
general temperature of the climate, the certain-
ty of wholesome supplies of provisions, the
chances of good schools, which will be found
here if they are not common now ; ^numerous
and well organized associations, united to the
easy access to genteel society, on those terms
which cannot be common in other cities, will
induce many respectable families, with but
moderate means, to make this a place of resi-
dence. It is a question, with many if this gol-
den age will ever come ; but who can doubt it.
Look at the changes of the last ten years, and
say if these have in them no promising augury ?
If the citizens do not abandon real for imagina-
ry right ; if the congress of the United States
do their duty, as we trust they will, the prosper-
ity of the City of Washington is certain. Some
of the citizens of the district of Columbia are
anxious to be represented in congress ; but it
would be a miserable policy to change the hold
they have on the general goverment for legisla-
tive protection, for the honour of having a single
representative in congress. The government is
growing rich and the fostering hand of power
will be, hereafter, extended more liberally to
the district than it has been.
96
CITY OF WASHINGTON.
With industry, enterprize, prudence, and har-
mony the city of Washington may be made a
place of trade, manufactures and learning. The
trade will be very considerable when the canal
is opened and the surrounding country catches
the spirit of the age. Manufactures will of
course go pari passu with the demand of those
articles that can be made here cheaper than
elsewhere. In addition to the water power in
the neighbourhood, fuel can be afforded cheap,
by way of the river and canal, either in wood
or coal for steam engines. A well balanced
business extending to all the common branches
of industry might be carried on here for the
prosperity of the city. Taste, and the arts must
grow up where there is no sudden influx of
wealth, no deep commercial speculation, whose
success gives no settled plans for mental im-
provement, and whose reverses damp the ardor
and dry up the aliments of learning. Those
cities whose income have been the most regular,
not those which at seasons have been the most
wealthy, have given the most encouragement to
the arts. It is true the Medici, the great Flo-
rentine merchants, were patrons of the arts ; but
not from the success of any particular enter-
prize, but from a settled plan to spend so much
of their income as they could spare for this pur-
pose, and they made as regular appropriations
for letters and the arts as for household expen-
CITY OF WASHINGTON.
97
ses. It is not with the excess of wealth that
learning flourishes, but with the judicious use of
it. Pericles ornamented his native Athens to
the delight of his own, and to the wonder and
admiration of succeeding ages, and yet his rev-
enues were not large ; but who ever heard of the
artists, or of the men of letters patronized by
Croesus. A national University to be establish-
ed in this city, was contemplated by that great
father of his country, Washington. His views
were expanded and noble. The University was
not only to be one in name, but in truth a place
of letters and sciences, with the arts, both useful
and ornamental in their train ; a place where all
that is known should be taught. Such a Uni-
versity, besides diffusing pure knowledge, would
do much towards breaking down the prejudices
that exist between the different sections of our
country. Educated together the youths of the
north, and the south, the east, and the west
would scan each others merits in their early
days, and find out each others mental powers.
Such an education would give them opportuni-
ties of knowing each too, when they came into
active life, and assist them to form accurate opin-
ions of each others powers and capacities, and
fitness for particular offices. Such a univer-
sity would be a resort for men of taste and leis-
ure, who with their families would come to at-
tend the lectures of the professors of the uni»
98
CITY OF WASHINGTON.
versity ; as none but distinguished men could
hold these offices. In truth, whatever way we
look into our country's welfare, or however bold
and sagacious our reach may be, on close inspec-
tion, we shall find that the mind of Washington
had been there before us, arranged our antici-
pations and marshalled all our array of thoughts,
and he with equal clearness saw all the difficul-
ties we had to encounter, and the virtues it would
require to overcome them. He prayed the na-
tion might possess them ; he believed it did, or
would, so that his beloved republic would es-
cape the fate of all former republics, whose his-
tories are satires on the stability of governments
and the virtue of the human race.
We are now, in fact, the only republic on
earth ; those so called in South America, and
hailed with such enthusiasm by the lovers of lib-
erty, are at present only mock-suns on the clouds
formed by our rising brightness. The temples
of South American liberty have not as yet been
purified from the stains of the idols which inha-
bited them. Superstition and ignorance, and
the sounds of strife and blood-shed as yet
drown the bustle of the commitia. They have
ample means in their hands and they have
the wishes of the better part of mankind for
their success. We have believed, and still fondly
hope, that the American Republic is not to be
joined to those of former ages, over which the
CITY OF WASHINGTON.
plough-share of desolation has been driven and
on many of whose brightest deeds the pall of
oblivion has fallen. That the fears of the timid
may prove idle, that the anticipations of the
wise may be realized, and the hopes of the most
sanguine be fulfilled, should be every patriot's
prayer ; but neither prayers, or wishes or hopes
will avail, without enterprize, energy, learning,
virtue and perseverance ; all these are in the
people, and if they be true to themselves they
will perpetuate their liberties. Their destinies
are in their own hands. The responsibility of
this age is tremendous, and it will be increa-
sed with every succeeding one. The pillars of
the temple are knowledge and virtue, and as long
as these remain unbroken the edifice will stand ;
but faction, like the strong man, may break them
down and strew destruction around, but this evil
may God avert.
XiETTER XX.
Washington, Jan. 1830.
Deak Sir,
The capitol of the Congress of the Uni-
ted States is a very noble building. The order
is called Corinthian ; but, in truth, it is a med-
ley of all orders. The whole edifice is now
completed. It covers an acre and a half and
1820 feet of ground. It has been an expensive
building, having cost the United States nearly
three millions of dollars. The square on which
the capitol ^stands contains more than twenty
acres, and is laid out in a very handsome style,
and is filled up with trees and shrubbery in a
nourishing state. The dome of this building is
the third in point of size in the world ; next to
St. Paul's, and before St. Sophia's ; but this
building has been so often described, that I shall
not attempt it ; but give you a few remarks up-
on the ornaments of the building, which have
not been so particularly mentioned.
Several artists of note have, from time to time,
been employed on the capitol, and it bears
marks of their taste and talents. They have
ORNAMENTS OF THE CAPITOL. 101
ornamented the inside of the dome and other
parts of the building with the labours of theirart.
Over the western door of the dome is a grop
in bass-relief, representing the preservation of
Capt. John Smith from the wrath of Powha-
tan, by the kind interference of his daughter,
Pocahontas. This is the work of Capelano, an
artist of considerable talent ; but he had seen
more Italians than Indians, and his savages are
Italian banditti, and his intended child of the
forest an Italian queen. In this picture, howe-
ver, notwithstanding all its defects, there is more
variety of expression in the countenances of the
group, than is generally found in stone. This
work attracts much attention, and elicits many
criticisms ; but it will continue to be admired, in
spite of its faults. Smith was a hero whose
name is imperishable ; his life has more of ro-
mance in it than that of any other man in the
annals of history. Over the east door is a rep-
resentation of the landing of the Pilgrims at Ply-
mouth, 1620. The Indians on the rocks, the
boat, the shore, the sea, are all well executed ;
but the artist mistook the character of the com-
ers to the new world ; he has given the religious
adventurers the hat of the ancient Pilgrim, and
the dress also ; when nothing would be farther
from the truth. They were puritanical adven-
turers, and not crusading pilgrims. The sub-
ject is one much better for the pencil than the
10
102 ORNAMENTS OF THE CAPITOL,
chisel ; but it was given to illustrate a portion of
American history, and the artist was told the
story by those who, probably, did not precisely
understand the capacities of his art, and he set
about it as it was, a subject dictated to him, and
which some body else would have been engaged
to execute, if he had remonstrated against it.
The Pilgrims of that day never thought of their
glory in stone. The pen and the pencil have
secured their immortality long since. The
sculptor was Causici.
Over the north door is sculptured William
Penn, making his treaty with the Indians, in
1680. He is holding the parley, in the fearless-
ness of innocence, with the savages, who seem-
ed to have caught the same^s-pirit and to be go-
verned by the same peaceful principles. This
treaty is worthy of all praise, for it was kept in-
violate for sevenlf^ years ; , but the moral sub-
limity oft the subject must be fully understood
before you can relish the design. There is nei-
ther beauty or attraction in it, taken by itself.
The capacities of the art do not reach such a
subject. The painter would do better here also.
" Gods, not men, should breathe in stone" They
are only seen in naked majesty. The modern
succinct dress in marble may be made by skill
so as to be endured, but never to be admired.
Phidias could not have given immortality to a
modern martinet, in dress, with all his frogs and
ORNAMENTS OF THE CAPITOL. JQ3
taggery. The sculptor would have preferred
the Winnebago, in his war dance, almost in na-
tive nakedness, to one so bedizzened.
On the pannels between the doors, looking
above them, are several fine heads in bass-relief.
One of Columbus is so near a resemblance to
some fine pictures of him, that it is probable the
sculptor had hit upon something near a true like-
ness. The head of Sir Walter Raleigh is also
a fine one, resembling the best prints of him.
They are richly deserving a place here. This
talented, but unfortunate Englishman, deserves
to be remembered in a country on whose shores
he made a vigorous struggle to plant a colony.
It was not his fault if it did not succeed. The
heads of la Sale, and Sebastian Cabot, are rough
statuary, but have considerable expression and
life in them. They, too, merit a place in this
pantheon, if enterprise and success are sub-
jects of reward in this way. These are strong,
and severe pieces of physiognomy, but nof with-
out talent and character. They could not be
recommended as models, nor are they so recom-
mended ; but they are worthy of attention and
notice.
Over the great eastern door, outside of the
dome, there is a head of Washington, taken from
a picture, or bust, of an earlier age in Wash-
ington's life, than is seen in Stuart's great pic-
ture. The bust has a striking likeness to the
104 ORNAMENTS OF THE CAPITOL.
head of the late Judsre Washington. It is a la-
boured production of Capelano?s chisel. It is
supported, to speak in the language of heraldry,
by Fame, with her clarion on one side, and by
the genius of immortality, ready to place the
wreath on his brow, on the other. It is ad-
mired by many, and is certainly a specimen of
very good proficiency in the art. But it is be-
yond the art, and skill, and genius of Canova,
to give us a just idea of Washington. The im-
age in our minds was all perfect : the eye could
not be satisfied with any effort, however mighty,
to give it body and tangibility.
It was reserved for Lugi Persko to produce,
by patient labour, and unquestionable skill, uni-
ted to the soul of genius, a work that will immor-
talize the sculptor, and do honour to our coun-
try. It is an ornament for tire tympanum of
the east front of the capitol. The figures are
colossal ; the design is full of meaning, and yet
is marked with great simplicity. On the right
of the spectator is seen Hope, leaning on her
anchor, and extending her right hand to the skies,
directing her looks to the Genius of America, a
still loftier figure, in partial armour. Hope is
describing to the Genius some of these visions of
glory which are crowding on her soul : some of
those unborn ages of her beloved republic ;
while the Genius of the Nation, with dignified
mien and placid countenance, points over a
ORNAMENTS OF THE CAPITOL. 105
third figure, which is Justice, of a size in keep-
ing with the others, and seems to say, we ask
nothing that we are not entitled to by the stern-
est decisions of the goddess. The eyes of Jus-
tice are not, as usual, blinded, but are opened
on the day, that she may see and judge all that
passes under the sun. Between Hope and the
Genius of America, there is an American Eagle,
a noble piece of statuary ; the talons grasp the
emblematical weapons of defence, with charac-
teristic power. The breast, the wings, the tail,
are full of life and strength, as is the head and
beak of majesty. The head of the eagle is
turned to the Genius, and " with eye retortive
looks creation through.*' The easy, elegant,
and natural flow of the drapery, the fine finish
of the hands and arms, and the graceful attitudes
of these figures, take away, even when you are
close to them, all those impressions of coarse-
ness which susceptibility and taste have felt at a
near inspection of colossal figures. It is not in
nature to love the person of a giant. It was only
through the medium of his deeds of generosity
and valour that Hercules won the hearts of those
that praised him. Between the overgrown and
the diminutive exist the forms of symmetry,
grace, and beauty. That art must be exquisite
that gives us those huge dimensions, as it were,
directly in our eye-shot, and still contrives to -
take off the general impression of coarseness.
10=*
106 ORNAMENTS OF THE CAPITOL.
Mr. Persico's work is now to be examined from
the ground only ; the proper line of vision be-
ing extended more than an hundreed feet from
the object. At this distance the figures appear
about the size of human beings, full grown. I
have no hesitation in saying that they are far
superior to any thing of the kind in this coun-
try, entirely free from that hoiden air, or that
prominence of parts, often made in works of this
sort, to catch the gaze of the tasteless spectator.
This group appears all life, celestial life ; spi-
rits communing with spirits, in the dignity and
calm repose of upper natures, without a single
throe of mortal thought-bearing.
After having snfil so much of the work, it is
proper that I should say something of the artist.
Mr. Persico is a Neapolitan, of about thirty
years of age, or perhaps he is a little older, and
full of the inspiration of his art. The clash of
parties does not interest him, or the animated
debate detain him but for a moment. The gaie-
ties of the saloon, or the festive board, have but
few charms for him, notwithstanding he posses-
ses the mercurial temperament of his nation.
Distinction in his art is the predominant passion
of his soul ; and if he looks at a fair one ever so
earnestly, it is only to find some line of beauty,
or some grace of form or motion, to transfer to
stone ; or, if he listens to an orator m the glow
of his genius, and when the light of his mind is
ORNAMENTS OF THE CAPITOL. 1Q7
beaming on all around him, it is only that he
may catch all this to give it to after ages, when
the image of the speaker has faded from the me-
mories of living men.
The ornaments of the Superior Court Room
are not numerous. The only one worthy of
particular attention is a group opposite the bench
of justice. On the left, as seen from the bench,
is a figure too lank and lean for a cupid, or an
angel ; but is probably intended for one or the
other of these supernatural beings, or perhaps
for the Genius of the constitution. The figure
has wings, and holds the constitution of the Uni-
ted States in its hand. On the head of the
figure, whatever it may bi^is a glory, or a
schekina. This is in bad taste. It is attempt-
ing too much, and therefore produces a failure.
All the other parts of the design are classical.
This is from sacred history. The middle figure
is Justice sitting in a chair, (Phidias or Praxi-
telles knew nothing of such a seat for the god-
dess,) with her right arm leaning on her sword,
and holding the equal scales in her left. The
face of this figure is excellent, and the drapery
flowing and easy. Her proportions are rather
more delicate than those in which the ancients
exhibited the inflexible goddess. Before her
sits the bird of wisdom, perched near some vo-
lumes of law ; but the owl is formed in the mo-
108
ORNAMENTS OF THE CAPITOL.
dern school ; and the capitol to a groat, Mi-
nerva would not know her bird if she should see
him so beaked, so feathered, so trim and dove-
like, unless she should guess it out by recog-
nizing her sister Justice in the form of this
beile, or resort to her divinity to discover the
whole group in their transformation. This room
is one of deep interest to every lover of his
country. To see seven quiet, good looking
men, covered with a slight robe of black, with-
out enough of the insignia of office to tell them
from so many pall bearers, sitting together, lis-
tening to the arguments of men from every state
in the Union, on great and important questions,
of municipal, civirjftnd international law ; and
thus without any emotion or excitement, settling
all the numerous conflicting opinions that have
grown up in this republic since its formation, is
a specimen of the moral sublime, unequalled in
the annals of civil or ecclesiastical history.
These oracles of the Delphie cave have as yet
been free from the corruption or fear of executive
power, and uninfluenced by party strife in the
halls of legislation. As long as this sanctuary
is unassailed, and talents and integrity are se-
lected and maintained in this branch of govern-
ment, so long will it be the palladium of Ameri-
can liberties ; but wo-betide the hour when
political rancour shall come within these walls.
ORNAMENTS OF THE CAPITOL. 109
to poison the fountains of justice, or to weaken
her arm. The bickerings above them, in the
senate chamber, may pass away, and the many
boisterous and idle speeches be forgotten, while
the country is safe ; but once pollute this hall,
and the guardian Genius of the liberties of this
country will leave it for ever.
LETTER XII.
Washington, , 1830.
Dear Sir,
The President's House. — I shall be
particular in my description of this building, as
so much has been said of it which was errone-
ous. It is a magnificent mansion, or rather will
be when finished. It stands near the centre of
one of the largest squares of the city, on an em-
inence, nearly a mile and an half west from the
Capitol. The building is of the Ionic order, with
a southern and a northern front. It is one hun-
dred and seventy five feet long, and eighty-five
in width ; it has two lofty stories above the base-
ment. There are thirty. one rooms of consid-
erable size within the walls. As you enter the
north door there is a fine large hall, called the
entrance hall. At the left of this is the eastern
room, whose length is the width of the house,
making a room in the clear eighty feet in length,
forty feet in width, and twenty-eight feet in
height, with four fire places, two of them of ele-
gant marble jams, mantle-pieces, &c. From the
PRESIDENT'S HOUSE.
Ill
south of the Hall you enter the elyptical room,
which is the general audience room on Levee
niehts. The east room was intended for a gen-
eral audience room ; and the elyptical room to
receive foreign ambassadors, and public func-
tionaries, on occasions of ceremony ; but the
east room not having been furnished, until lately,
the elyptical room has been used for all public
ceremonies. East of the elyptical room is the
Green Drawing Room ; this is of a medium size
for such an edifice. On the west of the elypti-
cal room is the Yelloic Drawing Room ; on the
west from this is the large Dining Room, of a
fine size, and farther west still is the small Dining
Room, and bevond this is the Porter's room.
The north front of the upper story contains
six rooms for various purposes. The south front
has seven rooms ; the anti-chambers, the audi-
ence chamber, and Lady's Parlour ; this is di-
rectly over the elyptical room, and of the same
size of that. The basement story contains ele-
ven rooms, kitchen, pantry, butler's room, <kc.
These are cool and convenient in the summer,
and warm in the winter from the massy walls of
the edifice.
Some of the furniture of the house is elegant,
but in general it looks much abused from the
crowds of careless visiters. The Lady's par-
lour may be said to be superbly furnished, but
this remark does not extend to many other
112
PRESIDENT'S HOUSE.
rooms. Within twelve years past congress have
expended eighty thousand dollars in furnishing
this mansion, and there was some old furniture
of the former stocks. Some portion of the plate
is elegant and is now worth twenty thousand dol-
lars, or more.
The ornaments are sparse and not of high or-
der. In the second south-east room there is a
map of Virginia ; a portrait of Bolivar ; a bust of
Washington, and one of Americus Vespacius.
These latter ornaments are very good specimens
of the arts. In the third room, the anti-chamber,
there is an engraving of the declaration of inde-
pendence in a gilt frame. In the yellow drawing
room there is a portrait of Washington from the
pencil of Stuart. In this room there is a French
piano, which it is said cannot be kept in tune.
In the days of omens, when Memnon's harp re-
sponded to the ray of - the sun, or JEolus first
breathed among the reeds, this might be thought
to have a mysterious bearing on the jars of the
Cabinet councils or at least, a Greek Poet would
have said that the Genius of the place was not
always happy, and tuneful. This palace belongs
to the people, and should be adorned with the
best specimens of the fine arts the country can
produce. The works of the great painters
should hang upon the walls, and those of their
sculptors fill every niche. To the tenants of this
house it cannot be of much importance, for to
PRESIDENT'S HOL'SE.
113
them it is only a caravansy, where they throw
down their wallets to cast a horoscope to lay
spirits, and raise spells, and their hour comes,
and they take up their march without restora-
tion to health, or a forgiveness of their sins.
Such is the omnipotence of the public mind in
a free government. The whole square, except
a few spaces for iron gates is surrounded by a
substantial stone wall of excellent masonry.
The four public offices of the secretaries are
within these walls. The view from the north
front is extensive and beautiful, but from the
south front it is more extensive and still more
resplendent, embracing in its range a lovely
prospect of the Potomac.
The site of the house is elevated about sixty
feet above the river, and the descent is quite
gradual to it. On the south-eastern side of the
wall there is a stone arch for a gateway, it looks
from the antiquity of the style and the colour of
the material of which it is made, as if it had
stood centuries defying the climate. Two large
ancient weeping willows, one on each side of
the arch, add much to its venerable appearance.
These trees have not grown up since the date
of the federal constitution. They are older than
the city's charter. They were provincial seed-
lings, now national monuments. It is said that
an accomplished lady of the Great House in for-
mer days when congratulated upon her eleva-
11
114 MERIDIAN HILL.
tion remarked with a smile, " I don't know that
there is much cause for congratulation ; the
President of the United States generally comes
in at the iron gate, and goes out at the weeping
willows."
Meridian Hill as seen from the president's
house is situated about three quarters of a mile
west of Columbia college, is a handsome seat,
built by commodore Porter at great expense,
which has been the temporary residence of Mr.
Adams the late president of the United States.
It probably derives its name from the expecta-
tion that an observatory would be erected there
by the government of the United States. To-
ward such an object there were some steps ta-
ken. In the year 1821 the president of the Uni-
ted States authorized, under a resolve of con-
gress, William Lambert, Esq. a distinguished
mathematician to take proper measures for as-
certaining with precision and accuracy the lon-
gitude of the Capitol from Greenwich or Paris.
He was assisted in taking his observations by
William Elliot Esq. who had an extensive astro-
nomical knowledge and experience in the use
of instruments. This commission was executed
to the satisfaction of the president. The govern-
ment also sent an experienced mathematician,
Mr. Hasler to Europe to purchase or cause to
be made, all such instruments as might in his
r
MERIDIAN HILL.
115
opinion be necessary for an observatory. A
most costly and admirable set of instruments
was procured probably, equal, or superior to
any set in Europe ; but the observatory was not
erected, and when it was recommended by the
next president, the whole was ridiculed and lost.
The costly materials are nearly ruined by rust,
and neglect. It is not made the duty of any
department to take care of them. If this plan
of erecting an observatory bad been carried in-
to effect we should now make all our calcula-
tions of longitude from Washington, instead of
Greenwich, which might have been called an
era of scientific independence, which it behooves
this country to declare as soon as possible.
They have scarcely a map or chart of their own,
out of their own territories. They have in the
midst of every boast been guided more by the
light of other minds than their own. a mortify-
ing fact to those of their countrymen who are
willing to make every exertion to wipe away
this stain from their "proudly emblazoned es-
cutcheon,'- and to make this equal with other na-
tions in contributions to the common stock of
knowledge. Individuals have done much, gov-
ernment but little, in the cause of science.
The government have done nothing of a public
nature in the city to assist in measuring space
or time. There is not even a public clock to
regulate the hours of business or pleasure, or to
116
MERIDIAN HILL.
tell the weary and restless applicant for office
how pass his long, and tedious days of heats
and chills, in waiting for a definite answer from
a department of the government. Indeed, I had
almost forgotten to state that there is a sun-dial
on the front of the department of State. This
was probably, put there as the devise of some
philosopher to teach the passing generations of
politicians a solemn moral ; the design was a
happy one, for it has often marked the hours
of a great man's fame, and seen them pass away
as a shadow on its face*.
XiETTER Xm.
Washington, Jan. ~, 1830.
Dear Sir,
The Library of Congress. — Congress
had provided but few books for the general rea-
der, until Mr. Jefferson offered his library to
them as nucleus for a future national library ;
the journals, laws, and state papers were about
all the representatives of the United States could
have access to in their public reading room, un-
til the Jefferson library was purchased. It was
a cheap one for the United States considering
how many excellent papers in the form of
speeches, tracts, pamphlets, and books it con-
tains upon revolutionary history. The argu-
ments urged to bring on the contest, the reason-
ing required to keep the spirit of patriotism
alive, to induce the people to form and accept a
form of goverment, to secure the liberty they
had achieved, are found in this library in great-
er abundance, than perhaps in any library be-
longing to an individual in this country. In
forming this library Mr. Jefferson had exercised
11*
118 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.
his judgment, no doubt ; but much of the most
valuable part of it was the growth of the times
of struggle and determination, and if they had
not been gathered then, would have been lost
by neglect, and they could not now be called
back by any conjuration. The collections in
this library of history, general politics, statis-
tics, and scientific works and classical literature
is considerable ; the deficiencies of Mr. Jeffer-
son's library, have been supplied by the appro-
priations of congress for the library department ;
the library committee are members of congress
of a high literary and scientific reputation, and
what they recommend seldom meets with any
obstacle. They have with great taste and judg-
ment purchased many rare works of great value
to scholars, as also many of high taste and fash-
ion for those who have only time to indulge the
eye upon wire-wove or vellum paper, or impe-
rial bindings, or exquisite engravings. The ex-
penditure of about five or six thousand dollars a
year is a trifle for the government, and yet, by
this appropriation, in twenty years this will be,
one of the first libraries in the world ; as it now
is, it probably stands the fourth in this country ;
but there are several of the minor class that are
at present nearly equal to it, in point of numbers.
There is a very respectable library belonging
to a company in the city. It contains between
five and six thousand volumes, and these are
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. H9
very well selected, It is as rich in American
literature as any miscellaneous library of its
size in the United States.
This library is increasing under judicious
management, and promises to be in a few years
an extensive concern.
Each branch of the government has an ac-
cumulating library. That of the state depart-
ment is of considerable magnitude ; but is of
very little value at present to any one, but those
in its immediate neighbourhood. This is not as
it should be ; the library of the state department
ought to be kept in a spacious room, fitted with
every convenience for taking notes and making
extracts, &c. It should contain all the Ameri-
can works to be found in the book market, in
proper order for the inspection of every visiter
properly introduced. The sums now expended on
European works are next to useless here ; which
under proper direction would, in the course
of a few years, make up a very fine collection
of American books. Of the current publications
there are a considerable number of volumes de-
posited in that office by the laws of copy-right,
and in addition to this supply, a few thousand
of dollars annually would tell well in increasing
the stock. The secretaries of state have gene-
rally been scholars, and it is therefore surpri-
sing that this library should not be found in a
better state, one we mean more conducive to
120
COLUMBIAN INSTITUTE.
general cunvenience and the diffusion of infor-
mation relating to our own country. It is but
justice to say that these remarks apply to the
library as it was before Mr. Van Beuren came
into office. It is to be hoped that he has made
some reform in the premises.
The Columbian Institute was incorporated in
1819 ; it had existed for some time before this
period as a literary and scientific society. It
was founded upon a noble basis, to promote
learning in all the various branches of arts, sci-
ences, and letters. Its members are resident,
corresponding, or honourary. Contributions are
exacted of the resident members, of papers upon
such subjects as each member choses to write
upon ; and there has, from time to time, been a
good deal of talent exhibited. These papers are
kept on file, and will be useful to the society
hereafter. Congress has granted to this insti-
tution the use of several acres of land for a bo-
tanic gorden and other purposes. By the libe-
rality and exertions of some of its members this
garden has been well laid out, and many of the
trees and shrubs of other countries have been
transplanted and nurtured there. This, with a
little of that liberality that congress has shown
to some other institutions or other projects,
would flourish ; for there are several literary
and scientific men who would spend many of
COLUMBIAN INSTITUTE.
121
their leisure hours in the botanic department of
the society if they could do it to advantage.
Congress has furnished the society with a
convenient room under the library of congress
where the collections of books, minerals and cu-
riosities are deposited. Resident members are,
it is said receiving encouragement from corres-
ponding members, by way of donations, books,
and minerals, and works from their own pens ;
and after the bustle of politics is over, it is to be
hoped that the watchful eye of the scientific and
literary part of congress will see the wants of
the society, and that the liberal part will be dis-
posed to aid in giving it something annually to
carry on their useful labours. The members
are most certainly labouring for the good of the
community at large, not for themselves, and
therefore deserve encouragement. It has talent
sufficient among its members to do honour to the
reputation of the country in the literary and sci-
entific wTorld, as yet, their publications have
been but few, but those are of a high order and
have been well received every where. The
first was a Eulogy on Mr. Jefferson, by Mr.
Harrison Smith. This is not only valuable as a
composition, but it is more so as arising from a
particular acquaintance of Mr. Jefferson who
knew him in the ease and freedom of domestie
life. The second was an ample memoir of John
Adams by a relation, friend3 and familiar ac*
122
COLUMBIAN INSTITUTE.
quaintance, Judge Cranch. This is a chaste,
plain, sensible discourse upon the merits of the
great patriot of the east. It abounds in facts
and judicious reflections, and will be a valuable
document for the future historian. The next
was of a more general character, from Mr.
Southard, the secretary of the navy. The gen-
eral strain of the orator was to show that it was
the duty of government to patronise the arts,
and sciences in this country. His doctrines
were sound and most manfully enforced, and
should have made a deeper impression on the
national legislature than we fear they have.
The last was from Mr. Everett, and as might have
been expected was a splendid performance. Line
upon line and precept upon precept, are still want-
ted to rouse our government to become the pa-
tron of letters, the arts and sciences and the
friends to the learned men of the country.
The society in the summer of 1827 met with
a great loss in the death of Robert Little, who
had been a most active member. He was a
thorough scholar, a zealous promoter of letters
and sciences and deeply engaged in the welfare
of the Columbian Institute. The death of a man
of virtue and good sense is a calamity at all
times, but ^the loss of an active, intellectual
member of an infant society is incalculable.
Mr. Little was an ardent, but practical man and
had the faculty of infusing his enthusiasm into
LITERATURE OF WASHINGTON.
123
others less apt to kindle than himself. He was
devising liberal things for the Institute, which,
would soon have been carried into effect if he
had been spared a short time, only, to have ma-
tured his plans and made a communication of
them. Foreigners have as yet a right to smile
at this government for their neglect of learning
but we trust that the groves of the academy are
growing up ; that the Pierian springs are gush-
ing from the hills, and that the muses will not
forever be frightened away by the spasms of
party, or neglected for petty electioneering de-
bates.
Men in office, in Washington, have been, and
are, too busy to make books ; they hardly read
them. Some of the different documents from
the several Presidents, and members of the suc-
cessive cabinets, are works of great merit, of
their kind. Among the most conspicuous of
these is the Report of Mr. Adams, when he was
Secretary of State, on weights and measures.
This is a most learned Report, and is creditable
to the nation, as well as to the author. The first
book, giving any account of the District of Co-
lumbia, was written by Col. Lear, who was an
aid to Washington, and afterward Consul to Al-
giers, &c. This book is now out of print. Since
that time, several descriptions of the District, and
city, have been given by residents, travellers,
124 LITERATURE OF WASHINGTON.
and all sorts of people — some of them full of er-
rors and absurdities. The best accounts were
from the pen of the librarian of Congress, G.
Watterson, Esq. and much careful detail may be
found in Elliot's Washington Guide. Samuel
Harrison Smith, Esq. formerly editor and pro-
prietor of the National Intelligencer, published
a history of a session of Congress. It was the
session of 1801. The volume contained 190 pa-
ges, and gives a condensed view of the pro-
ceedings of that year.
S. Blodget, finding how scanty the statistical
information was in the country, wrote a work
upon that subject, and brought his calculations,
conjectures, data and results, down to 180G.
Although not a perfectly accurate book, it was
a good one, and gave a good deal of information
to the people of the United States, on subjects
they did not know much about, or had reasoned
too little upon. Mr. Blodget was among the
first settlers in Washington, and like many other
sensible men, was romantic in his calculations
on the probable yearly increase of the population
of the city.
B. Woodward published a work in Washing-
ton, on the substance of the sun, which made
some noise in its day.
Mr. Watterson, we have before mentioned,
has written several popular and useful books —
u Letters from Washington;" "Course of Stu-
LITERATURE OF WASHINGTON. 125
dy ;" " L. Family " Tabular Statistics of the
United States," &c. The public are much in-
debted to him for much useful information, con-
veyed in a good style. Some of the sketches of
the great men, in and about Washington, which
are to be found in his works, are splendid and
original, and give a very fair view of their cha-
racter.
The public are much indebted to a lady of
Washington, Mrs. Harrison Smith, for two very
clever novels, one called " A Winter in Wash-
ington," the other, " What is Gentility ?" The
peculiar habits and manners of the fashionables,
and of those who would be fashionables, are hit off
with admirable tact, and the prevailing follies of
the society of the District exposed and satirized
with no little neatness. The latter of these
books, particularly, should be read by those who
are in the chrysalis state, and whose wings and
colours are growing.
Dr. Thomas Ewell, of Georgetown, published
a volume of Chemical Discourses, which were
well received ; and Dr. J. Ewell has published,
in Washington, an improved edition of his work,
the Medical Companion. This is a most valu-
able family book. It contains, in an attractive
form, many useful precepts, directions, and reci-
pes for the use of families in sickness ; and
where physicians are not to be had readily, is
invaluable.
12
126 LITERATURE OF WASHINGTON.
Thomas Law, Esq., has, although now nearly
.an octagenarian, lately published a book upon
currency. He is a man of no ordinary powers
of mind. His life has been an eventful one. In
England, his native country, he was considered
a man of mind. In India he was distinguished
for his financial talents, and was a great bene-
factor to the natives, by his judicious plans for
their relief* .He was the companion of Teign-
mouth, and the friend of Sir William Jones.
Active and enterprising, he saw the accounts of
the establishment of our Federal City, and he
hastened to this country to identify himself with
its growth, from the corner stone to the setting up
the gates thereof. He purchased largely of the
soil, built on an extensive scale, suggested ten
thousand plant* for the improvement of the city,
and for the prosperity, of the nation ; but the
slow, doubtful, and often strange course of Con-
gress, came not only in his way, but in the way
of all those deeply interested in the welfare of
the city ; and he has spent the days of his matu-
rity and wisdom in unavailing efforts for ihe im-
provement of it. It is happy for him, however,
that he has lived to see the dawn of a better day
for Washington ; and if he cannot stay here long
to enjoy it, as a good man he will rejoice in the
hopes of his friends and descendants. If his diap-
pointments have been numerous, yet it can not
be said that they have soured his temper or
LITERATURE OF WASHINGTON. 127
hardened his heart, or that his tenants have felt
his resentment, because he was deceived by
those who could have favoured his plans. In this
world, the insults received from those above us,
are often repeated by those below us, in« pitiful
and aggravated forms.
One of the most useful books printed in
Washington, is the National Calendar, by
Peter Force. It contains, among other things,
much useful information. The first number of
this work contains some excellent historical re-
marks upon the District of Columbia and of the
city of Washington, which have- furnished au-
thentic matter for most of those who have writ-
ten any thing upon the subject since.
Gales and Seaton have, at great expense and
trouble, printed three pondej^gAftifctfft^^coi--
gressional Debates, jifl KTet,
been paid for their t^B na-
work ; ancM (^present
race of politicians^mduie benefit of those who
come after them, should be continued. Indivi-
duals, however enterprising, cannot afford such
expenditures on works that are in fact rather
printed for other ages than our own. Gales and
Seaton are well qualified, in all respects, to give
these debates to the public, freed from party bi-
asses, and properly pruned, and brought down
to a reasonable length ; and also capable of se-
parating the chaff from the wheat, and freeing
128 LITERATURE OF WASHINGTON.
the reader from the labour of getting rid, by his
own mental process, of all the crudities of legis-
lation.
There are several bookstores in Washington,
in the hands of business men, who publish many
current works, and are usefully engaged ; but the
most important establishment in the city is P.
Thompson's. His store is not so large, per-
haps, as some in New-York, Boston, or Philadel-
phia ; but, for rare editions of valuable works,
in many languages, is not surpassed in the Uni-
ted States. It contains most of the best editions
of classical works to be found in Europe, and
also many works of great taste in the printing
and binding, &c. To the visiter, this bookstore
is what bookstores were in the days of Johnson,
fc^d B^kg^^T.^, a reading room for clas-
^^ere desirous of seeing
more^B ^^buy. The
is i^| ^education, and is
often an index, ana lean^^commentator on
his most profound volumes, when the examiner
wishes for, and needs a guide, which is often the
case in this country, where scholarship is not a
profession, except with a few. The writer for
one, among many, has to acknowledge his po-
lite attention and valuable assistance in frequent
examinations of matters out of the common path
of literary intelligence.
PERIODICALS.
129
The city has not been wanting in newspa-
pers since its first establishment. The National
Intelligencer was commenced in 1800, when the
city was actually made the seat of government,
for thirteen years it was published three times a
week, and since that time it has been a daily
paper. During the first of its years, there was
a weekly paper connected with it, and growing
out of it, called the United States Gazette.
Since it has been published daily there has been
a tri-weekly paper for the country, bearing the
same name, and containing all the best matter
of the daily, without the advertisements or other
mere city concerns. It has a most extensive cir-
culation through every part of the Union.
The Weekly Register was first published in
1807, and in 1808 changed its name to the
Washington Monitor. It was edited by Mr.
John Colvin, whose life was passed mostly in
literary labours in Washington. He was a man
of abilities, and some of his writings show supe-
rior acquirements.
In 1809, Dinmore and Cooper published the
Washington Expositor.
At the commencement of the war, in 1812,
the Washington City Gazette was published by
William Elliot.
The Hive by Mr. Lewis.
The Senator by Mr. Cummings.
In 1823 the National Journal was got up and
12*
130
PERIODICALS.
published twice a week. The next it was a tri-
weekly paper ; but in a short time become a
daily, and has continued so ever since.
From 1822 to 1824 the Washington Republic
can was in existence. This was ably conducted,
but it was at length absorbed in the Journal.
In 1824 The Telegraph was established, and
within a few years was purchased by Duff Green,
who conducts it now. This is an extensively
circulated paper.
A short time since there was a religious pa-
per coming out once a week, called the Colum-
bian Star, which has since been transferred to
Philadelphia. It was rather a religious than a
political paper, and was edited with a brisk reli-
gious spirit, but had no offensive sectarian cast.
John Colvin, in the latter part of his life, com-
menced his Weekly Messenger which publica-
tion his wife conducted for several years after
his death.
A periodical called the Theological Reposi-
tory was kept up a while by the contributions
of the clergy.
The Columbian Register is a religious pa-
per, has been published in this city for nearly
two years and is still continued. It is a religious
paper of a very tolerant spirit.
A literary paper has lately been got up here,
called the Washington City Chronicle which
PERIODICALS.
131
promises fair to be a valuable repository of use-
ful knowledge.
It would be pleasant to make some remarks
upon the talents displayed in the several works
we have mentioned, but in most cases it is too
late to censure, and it would do no good to com-
mend ; for most of the writers in them have pas-
sed away where praise and blame are equal,
and it is never safe to cause the ghost of a poli-
tician to come up ; for their graves, like the wiz-
zard, Michael Scott's, are full of strange things.
No one, who wishes to amuse, or arouse the peo-
ple, must look back on matters not easily ex-
plained, and perhaps not worth knowing, if they
could be known. Most things bear the stamp
of the hour, and all that belongs to that hour, is
not easily recalled. Every passing day has its
signet, but the impression is often too faint to
be retained on the memory. The life of a politi-
cian resembles that of a feeder at an ordinary of
a hotel ; he sees one after another go away, un-
til his turn comes to depart also ; such is the
career, and the impression of one who takes an
active part in the affairs of men.
LETTER XXV.
Washington, , 1830.
Dear Sir,
The American Colonization Society
was established in this city about thirteen years
since, and at once engaged the attention of some
of the first men in the country, in the slave-hold-
ing states, as well as in the non-slave-holding
states. The great objects of this society were
to found a colony in Africa of the free people of
colour of the United States ; that in process of
time a place might be prepared for the surplus
population of the blacks, and to extend the bles-
sing of civilization and religion into the interior
of Africa. If the maxim " Finis origine yendit"
is to hold as in any measure true, this society
cannot fail of success. They were fortunate in
their late agent Mr. Ashman ; he was a soldier,
a politician, a judge, and a divine ; he pursued his
own plan, with that which was marked for him,
with the romantic spirit of a crusader and the
zeal of a martyr, to which glory he at length ar-
COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 133
rived. They have been fortunate too in their
secretary and principal agent in Washington,
the Rev. Mr. Gourley ; who, with those acquire-
ments, talents, and attractive virtues that would
make him eminent in his profession, has left his
high calling, and given up the pulpit, to labour
in this cause, which neither promises worldly
interests or glory. Thirteen annual reports are
already before the public, and abound in interest
both in manner and fact. The colony planted
in Africa has had much to struggle with, but has
succeeded beyond the expectation of many of its
wisest founders, who were well aware of the dif-
ficulties of the undertaking. No event since the
adoption of the Federal constitution and the es-
tablishment of the Bible Societies, has called
forth more mind or eloquence than the welfare
of this society. There are already twelve state
Colonization Societies in the Union, and others
are forming. These are under the direction of
the men most distinguished for talents and vir-
tues in their several states. In addition to these
there are already established, and most of them
in a flourishing condition, about one hundred aux-
iliary societies scattered throughout the coun-
try. The whole will constitute a moral engine
whose power must be felt at home and abroad.
God speed them. If he does not prosper this plan,
or some other, I know not what evils a century
may produce.
134
COLONIZATION SOCIETY.
The subject of slavery with this nation is, the
dead fly in the ointment. The non- slave holding
states approach the subject with great reluctance,
for the Harry Percys of the south start up with
rage at the slightest allusion to it ; but it is ne-
cessary that the subject should be fairly and
openly discussed, and the extent of the evil un-
derstood, not only for the satisfaction of the pre-
sent generation, but that this age may devise
some means to protect future ages from the
overwhelming growth of this evil. The non-
slave-hoMing states had many errors of opinion
to correct. Their impressions of cruelty of the
masters of slaves are quite imaginary. From
no slight acquaintance with the subject, I have
no hesitation in sa\ ing that in general, the slaves
are well treated. The subject of slavery was
incidentally discussed in the nineteenth con-
gress, occasioned by a member of the House
from the state of New-York, having offered a
resolution to inquire into the case of a free
black, who had been confined in the jail of the
District of Columbia, as a runaway negro, and
who was at length sold as a slave for cost and
charges. The state of New-York was in a fer-
ment on this subject, and the honourable mem-
ber offering the resolution had partaken deeply
of the excitement. The speech made by Col.
Ward in support of this resolution was spirited
and eloquent. He recounted, in most animated
COLONIZATION SOCIETY.
135
language, the circumstances of the case and in-
sisted upon some security for the Africans of his
state, who should chance to pass into anoth-
er that might be a slave-holding one. The
South Carolinians, and Georgians were most fu-
rious in the debate, but the ferment lasted only
for a short time. The next congress the same
gentleman presented some petition from his con-
stituents touching upon the same subject, the
storm was up again, and he defended the peti-
tition with his usual zeal and ability, but there
the matter rested. Col. Ward did all an able
member should or could have done. If these
colonization societies are kept alive with the
spirit that has been shown in them, in times past,
I firmly believe that, by the smiles of Provi-
dence, the blessing of liberty will, in no distant
day, cheer even the sun-stricken African on his
native shores. That the race will not only be
free, but enjoy their freedom accompanied by
all the arts of civil life, and those institutions
which will secure them to the christian family
for ever. The thought is an animating one and
should arouse the liberal and the philanthropic
throughout this great country to come to the
work most heartily, with purse, pen, and tongue,
which when united seldom fail of success. The
most enlightened portion of the blacks have a
just view of their own situation, and are anxious
to prevent any spasmodic exertions for their
130
CLERGY.
emancipation. At the time every African heart
was overflowing with gratitude to Col. Ward for
his bold end philanthropic exertions in their
cause, I heard one of their preachers in the
pulpit, at Washington, make a most judicious
speech upon the subject. It was full of politi-
cal wisdom and christian feelings; it inculcated
thankfulness to friends and forgiveness to ene-
mies, and it was accompanied by a prophecy
that the time was approaching for their libera-
tion. He saw in the spirit of the thousand in-
stitutions of charity and benevolence which
abounded in the world, the political redemption
of his race.* The speech of the good, and intel-
ligent member of congress, he said, was only a
part of that, which in a few ages should be on
every patriot's tongue ; and freely remarked to
his hearers, that, if they were religious, and
prayerful, God would hasten the day of this de-
liverance.
Clergy. — The religious denominations are as
numerous in Washington, according to the num-
ber of inhabitants, as in any other place in our
country ; but if there is no great harmony among
them, there is no discord. Each pursues his
own course, and preaches his own doctrines, un-
molested by controversy or opponents. Con-
gress protects all, and cherishes none. They
have a fair field for the display of their talents,
THE CLERGY.
137
in any form of Christian doctrine. There is, or
rather has been, some opposition to the Unita-
rians ; but that is nearly over ; and the other
denominations are learning a lesson from the
Rev. Dr. Mathews, of the Catholic faith, to do
good, walk humbly, and love mercy, and live in
unity with all mankind. The clergymen of
Washington, as a body, have as good a share of
talents as those of other cities, and the religious
character of the people stands as high. Consi-
dering that the city is a thoroughfare, it is as-
tonishing that there is no more fanaticism preva-
lent here. A learned, pious, evangelical body
of divines, is the greatest blessing to any place,
in a free country, that can be imagined. The
pulpit with them is a High School, in which, in
addition to a common code of ethics, the great
doctrines of divinity are taught, the precepts of
salvation are explained, and heaven brought
down to earth. Whatever there is deep in phi-
losophy, beautiful in morals, charming in litera-
ture, or sweet in affection, are made familiar to
man by the zeal and learning of the pulpit. It
brings man to a familiarity with his Maker, and
takes away his enmities to his fellow men ; it
gives a high zest to life in the hopes of futurity,
and takes away the darkness and horror from
the grave, and the sting from death, by the light
it gathers and sheds from the Gospel. This
country has been advanced half a century in it3
13
138
THE JUDICIARY.
intelligence by the pulpit, notwithstanding that
much time and breath has been wasted in idle
disputes, and frivolous distinctions, in points that
were nugatory, or in commentaries that were
absurd.
The Bar of the District of Columbia is nume-
rous, for the population and business ; but it is
certainly respectable in point of talents and
learning : but there does not appear to be that
esprit du corps among them, as exists in some
parts of our country, among the gentlemen of
the bar ; but they are gentlemanly and courte-
ous towards each other. Men, similarly edu-
cated, are alike in every part of the world. If
law be a science, it is only the science of bring-
ing particular cases under fixed and settled
rules. Morals change with every age, and
opinions fluctuate with every hour, and old
enactments give place to new ; but that sagacity
which brings all the powers of the mind to the
standard set up, whatever it may be, makes the
good lawyer, whether the possessor be in Tur-
key or in the United States.
Congress has made a very good judiciary
system for the District of Columbia. A Dis-
trict Court has been established here, upon the
same principles as those of other districts in the
United States. This bench is filled by Judge
MEDICAL SCHOOL. 139
Cranch ; whose talents, learning, patience, and
integrity, are well known to all who have the
honour to know him.
There is also a Circuit Court for the District
of Columbia, which is held four times a year.
Judge Cranch is Chief Justice of this Court ;
Judges Thurston and Morsell, are assistant Jus-
tices. This court find some little inconvenience,
at times, from the singular fact, that what is law
in one part of their jurisdiction, is not law in
another ; the statutes of Virginia, and in like
manner those of Maryland, being still in force in
those parts of the District which formerly be-
longed to those states ; and in the growth of
these states, there is no proof that they were
ever so kind as to copy much from each other.
The professors of the healing art are nume-
rous and highly respectable in Washington.
Most of them are men of good education, and
not a few of them have seen considerable prac-
tice before they came to this city. Some of
them have served in the army or navy, and oth-
ers were educated abroad, or in the first schools
in this country. They deserve much credit for
getting up a medical school, which has been in
operation but a few years only ; but the lectures
delivered here, in the different departments, are
of a high order, and have been delivered with-
out any of that quackery, that struggles for efr
140 ORPHAN ASYLUM.
feet ; and that produced, thinks of nothing else.
The graduates are well instructed ; and if, as
yet, are not numerous, have been respectable
for acquirements. It is connected with Colum-
bia College, and is composed of a Dean and
Faculty, made up of professors in such branches
as are generally taught in such an institution.
The Washington City Orphan Assylura was
got up by certain charitable ladies of distinction
and worth in this city. With indefatigable la-
bour and persevering exertion, they have laid
the foundation of an excellent seminary, as well
as an asylum for those helpless infants that have
been deprived of their parents. It is not con-
fined to one sex, but is intended to exercise cha-
rity on a broad scale. A lady of property, Mrs.
Van Ness, gave the corporation a lot of ground,
in a pleasant and central situation, in Tenth
Street ; and on it the association have erected a
suitable building for their kind purposes. The
corner stone of this edifice was laid in the sum-
mer of 1S28, with solemn and impressive cere-
monies, accompanied with the orphan's prayer,
and the good man's benison. These asylums
have, after the fashion of this hospitable and in-
dustrious age, taxed the ladies of this city with
making articles of taste and fancy, which when
mingled with other articles purchased for the
occasion, are exposed at a Fair, and the sums
ORPHAN ASYLUM.
141
realized from the sales are directed to the benefit
of the institution. The Sisters Of Charity have
their fairs also.
Every age has something or other, for good
or evil, to mark its existence. The brightest
constellation of this age of improvement is its
charities. They grow up in every society, they
extend to every climate, and thus reach all
mankind.
• There has been established, by the Catholics
in this city, for several years past, an institution
of charity for orphan females ; and connected
with it a primary school for day scholars. This
is a most excellent institution, under the care
of intelligent Sisters, whose vows extend to a
devotion of their time, that can be spared from
their religious exercises, to the educating of the
infant, female mind in religious duties and useful
knowledge. This delightful, but onerous task,
is performed with true zeal, and untiring con-
stancy, by those Sisters whose sole business is
to do good, and wish well to mankind. The
school is an admirable one ; each Sister has her
branch of studies to attend to in these schools,
and is not directed to others, but pursues that
until teaching in it is easy and familiar. Their
buildings are convenient, their grounds are laid
out with taste, and every arrangement unites
judgment, economy, cleanliness and industry ;
and, in fact, all the household virtues are con-
13* *
142 TYBER CREEK.
stant handmaids of religion with the Sisters of
charity. These schools are every day becom-
ing more justly appreciated, and the knowledge
of their merits more fully developed. It would
be agreeable to the writer to enter into some of
the minute facts relating to this institution, in
which there are no pecuniary views, no particle
of worldly ambition, none of the pride that seeks
for praise only. They are ambitious only as
far as their fame may benefit the houseless child
of want, whose yearnings have elicited their
pity, and whose cries have gone up to heaven
for succour. The charities of this age are not
confined to males or females ; they belong to the
warrior in the day of his glory, and to the female
in the hour of her beauty and dominion ; they
preserve the peaceful walks in the feuds of
party strife, and in the change of political pow-
er. Sectarians and oppositionists are all ac-
tive in extending the influences of charity ; and
if she is made, by those of limited knowlege,
and of narrow views of man, accessary to bigot-
ed notions, and persecuting zeal, this is only
accidental and short-lived, or occasional, while
the great acts she is called to perform, in every
country, are, as a whole, pure, lofty, and noble.
I cannot pass over the Tyber without saying
one word of that pleasant little stream.
TYBER CREEK.
143
" And what was Goose Creek once, is
Tvber now," was wittily said, and ought not to
to excite the indignation of our countrymen as
much as it has done against the English Ana-
creon ; for our part we will forgive him this
splenetic remark and all the other vitupurations
he was guilty of, save and except his attack on
Washington himself, for the pleasure he has af-
forded us in his exquisite poetry since : and we
can easily believe that he who wrote Sacred
Melodies to atone for writing amorous ditties,
has, in his heart, repented for his sins in attack-
ing the greatest patriot of all times. It falls out
that if there is satire in the line, there was not
much truth in it. The name of the stream was
not changed by way of making great things out
of little, from Goose Creek to Tyber ; Goose
Creek belongs to the vulgate of the boys, who
sailed boats, and shot ducks in the stream ; but
the old deeds of more than a century ago call it
by the name of Tyber Creek. It is said that a
landholder who lived on what is now called Cap-
itol Hill,-finding the strong resemblance in the
natural panorama of the surrounding country,
named his little territory Rome, and the brook at
the foot of the hill Tyber ; but this little brook
may be of more importance to mankind than that
Tyber which "flows fast by the Eternal City."
For this pure little stream, when other streams
shall " mourn tlieir fountains dry" may be con-
144
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
veyed in abundance to every part of the city, to
refresh and adorn it, when the malaria has
made Rome a desert.
The manners and customs of Washington
demand a moments attention :
I have already in the historial sketch of the
city, glanced at the general character of the in-
habitants, but it may be well to speak of them
more distinctly, as they are often either igno-
rantly or wilfully misrepresented ; sometimes,
indeed, caricatured by those who imagine they
are praising them. And it must also be remem-
bered that their general character must be eve-
ry day changing, from the increase of popula-
tion, and the great influx of strangers ; who,
finding now what could not have been offered
them in the earlier years of the history of the
city, comfortable quarters, and good fare, are
willing to make longer visits, and become
more more acquainted with the manners and
habits of the citizens of Washington. The
amiable and scholar-like Warden, now resident
in Paris, who has written in a distant land a
good history of this country, gave, about thirteen
years ago, a lively description of all he saw wor-
thy of record in the District of Columbia, hav-
ing spent the summer here ; but many things
have altered since that time, and what was then
as much as could honestly be said of them, must
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
145
fall short of the truth now. He seemed to feel
alarmed for the society of the city, in contempla-
ting the numher of beauties married from the
circles of fashion, by the members of congress,
from time to time. This laudable custom still
continues ; but there are no complaints of it as an
evil, at present ; in fact, the dread of it as such,
could only have existed in a bachelor's brain ;
and if he had thought as much of the doctrine
of political economy, as of his affectionate gal-
lantry, he would soon have discovered that the
supply is increased by the briskness of the de-
mand." The manners of a people are at all
times affected by the greater or lesser impor-
tance they attach to themselves ; particularly
when this self esteem is made up in a consider-
able degree of the space they may fill in the
public consideration. The people of Washing-
ton know that whatever transpires in the city,
of a public nature, is a matter of deep interest
to the rest of the nation. In such a place, the
affairs of government are constantly discussed.
The movements of the executive and the doings
of the legislature are instantly known to all,
and commented upon by all classes. The in-
terest, however, which may be felt is not pre-
cisely in proportion to the magnitude of the sub-
ject ; but oftener according to the bearing it
may have on themselves. The appointment of
a minister, or the recall of one, or of a judge of
146
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
the Supreme Court, or the rapid advancement of
a naval or military officer, great things in them-
selves, because they are important to the coun-
try, make up only an item in the mass of daily
information ; but the removal, or appointment
of a clerk, or auditor, or any head of a Bureau, is
an affair directly within their vision, and comes
home to their business, and bosoms. But all
these things, however pleasant or painful they
may be for the moment, are hardly remembered
a day, and certainly are forgotten in a few
weeks, in the quid nunc appetite of a free peo-
ple. These changes produce a sort of mercu-
rial disposition in a population ; which may, and
in fact does, tend more to their happiness than
that apathetical character which despotic govern-
ments give to a people. Politics are all-absorb-
ing topics of this republic. More time is cer-
tainly taken up than necessary ; but still a good-
ly share of our time, and many exertions are ne-
cessary to keep the lamp of knowledge and the
torch of liberty in pure and regular burning, and
to save it from being deadened by the chills of
indifference, or blown out by the fierce storms
of faction. Restlessness, anxiety, and the sick-
ness and fever of party feuds, is the tax that in-
telligence has had, in every age, to pay for free-
dom ; it was never sustained without it. The
men of Athens, it is said, spent more than a
fourth part of their time in politics. In Rome,
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
147
the busy tribunes kept the people awake to their
interests, and jealous of patrician power. The
struggles between the nobles of Venice and the
merchants, kept the whole population involved
in endless disputes. In England, for centuries,
public attention has been exerted, and great
struggles made for public and private rights.
The history of this country is a history of po-
litical discussions, and perpetual struggles for
liberty. The people have, from the first settle-
ment of the country, devoted more than a quar-
ter part of their time in learning their rights and
in defending them, and in building up their in-
stitutions. All, from twenty years of age to the
grave, in any change of years or situation in
life, are daily engaged, among other things, in
politics. Washington is the centre of all this
bustle, the very ear of Dionysius, in which every
remote whisper is reverberated. The com-
plaints of the great and the little are all heard
here ; the feeble, who mutter, but dare not speak
aloud ; the bold, who rave in their disappoint-
ments, and invoke the curses of the upper and
the nether world, are also heard. The peo-
ple of this city have the finest opportunity of be-
coming acquainted with the talents and charac-
ters of the prominent men in the country. They
see at every touch and turn the obsequious min-
ion, with his simperings and flatteries, and the
consequential patron, bloated with " a little
148 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
brief authority." They not only see, but read,
and read pretty thoroughly too, the true cha-
racter of men in power. It falls to their lot
often to see men one day surrounded by secre-
taries, foreign ministers, and a bowing crowd ;
who, on the next, pass off to private life, without
a farewell salutation ; and another set arrive,
who bustle through their reign, and then sleep,
either living or dead, with their predecessors.
This proves the force and majesty there is in
the people ; but it lessens the importance of the
individuals. To the great politicians of former
ages, such a government, had it been truly
sketched, would have justly been classed among
the wildest fictions ever created ; but its perpe-
tuity is a problem, the most timid need not fear
a solution of. The intelligence of the commu-
nity may safely be trusted in modelling a new,
or repairing the defects of any form of govern-
ment. There is no virtue or spell in any form
of a constitution. The whole political safety, in
a republic, consists in the purity and in the
soundness of the great body politic.
The literary taste of the inhabitants now does
them credit, and it is every day growing better.
The visiters find but little time to devote to
reading, and their previous acquirements are
sufficient for all the demands of the occasion ;
and to the honour of the country, I speak of the
ladies more particularly, these are are sufficient
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 149
for their purpose. In some of the prettiest, a
close observer will see the lisp or drawl of the
drawing room conversation, which is only a
manner put on for the time. In the moments
of intoxicated vanity from admiration and flat-
tery, even the political philosopher looks wise
and straightens up ; and can youth and beauty
be expected to be more firm or insensible ? The
diplomatic corps at Washington have not, in for-
mer years, done much either to enrich, embel-
lish, or enlighten the city. Those who have
been sent here in former times, have, with some
honourable exceptions, been of a secondary or-
der of diplomatists, with their equipage and par-
ties, and after making a dash, have hardly been
heard of again. Many of them, no doubt, were
men of talents ; but there was no opportunity of
displaying their intellectual powers here. The
corps are now, however, very respectable. The
English minister is a scholar and a gentleman.
The French minister, I make no distinction in
their different ranks, is said to be a man of cour-
tesy and learning ; and those from Netherlands,
Holland, and Russia, are thought to be men of
fine manners and high intelligence. South
America, in her infancy, has sent us a good
share of talents ; men of the most inquisitive
minds, who are indefatigable in studying the po-
litical institutions of this country, and in making
themselves acquainted with the manners and
14
150
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS,
customs of it. This remark is not confined to
the representatives of the new republics alone ;
for no man in Washington was more respected
and loved for his amenity, frankness, integrity,
talents, and patriotism, than the late Brazilian
minister, Mr. Rebello. His name is in every
literary and -scientific institution, and the poor
have blessed him for his kindness. In former
times a man was thought to have every claim
to society, who was known to be familiar with a
baron, count, or minister ; but the people are
growing more republican every day, and the
smiles of a diplomatist is not now the standard
for the admeasurement of claims to society.
Now and then a romantic girl is found flirting
to catch an attache ; but she is, fortunately, nine-
ty-nine times out of the hundred, unsuccessful.
During the session of Congress, the amuse-
ments of Washington absorb no^small portion of
the attentipn of the visiters, as well as members.
Political struggles produce a sort of dramatic in-
fluence on society ; not that the theatre is very
well attended ; but for (ho short time it is kept
open, it finds a very tolerable support when
the press of visiters is great. The President's
levees, and the parties of the secretaries, foreign
ministers, heads of Bureaus, and those citizens
who can afford to make parties, are frequent,
and well attended. At these parties are collect-
ed the most distinguished men, not only of the
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
151
nation, but many foreigners of note. The visit-
ers, who do not think of distinction, like well
enough to see what is passing, and they find
easy access to the social circles, and mingle in
the throng, to see and examine for themselves.
It is not difficult to get an introduction to men
of importance, and to pass a social half hour with
them. These routs are rather to be remember-
ed, than enjoyed at the moment. These parties
are so crowded as to level all distinctions.
Governors, generals, judges, and political mana-
gers, whose influence is something in a little dis-
trict, are all lost in this congregation. Orators,
whose speeches were fine at home, and doubt-
less raised a most noble flame among their po-
litical partisans, are astonished at being over-
looked ; and poets, whose works have been
printed on wire-wove and hot-press paper, and
sent to the ladies' toilets in silk or morocco bind-
ing, are mortified that not even a belle lisps a
line of their works, or ever whispers their names.
The traveller, who has seen every kingdom on
which the sun looks down, is put precisely on a
par with him who has just come down from the
mountains, or out of the West, or from the East.
Fashion is the bed of Procrustes, and all are
suited to its dimensions. A whiskered dandy,
a black-stocked, officer-like looking man, and a
quizzing-glass attache, are all moving about,
regardless of those they jostle or crowd. If you
152
COLLEGE.
inquire who it is that pushes you out of the way
to get at a partner for the waltz, no body can
tell you, and perhaps he hardly could himself, if
you were to ask him, who he was ; no matter,
he seems genteel, and that is sufficient for the
hour. The waltz goes on, much to the gratifi-
cation of the exquisites ; for belles — aye, grave
matrons, are swimming round in the dance, if
Dervise-like whirling can be called dancing,
and you see blowsy impudence and simpering
familiarity gazing with Asiatic voluptuousness
upon seemingly unsuspecting innocence, made
giddy by unnatural motion, or unmeaning flat-
tery. There is not much harm in all this ; for
each one is taught to play a part, and it is all
acting. There is an apparently sober, quiet
part of the joyous whole, who are insinuating
the little rumours of the day ; of this lady's par-
tialities, and of that gentleman's indiscretions,
and without any decided ill nature, but just by
the way of amusement,
"4 Distort the truth, accumulate the lie,
And pile the pyramid of calumny." <
This is a picture of all societies, where per-
sons unknown to each other, except from the
introduction of the moment, assemble.
There can come no harm from our looking
out of the limits of the city for a moment. The
COLLEGE. 153
College of Georgetown is delightfully situated
on an eminence, that commands a fair prospect
of all around. This institution was established
about forty years since. It is a Catholic semi-
nary, and was made a University by Congress in
1815, with the power of granting degrees. The
college buildings are commodious and sufficient-
ly elegant for all the purposes of a school. The-
library is respectable, and the system of educa-
tion is liberal ; the modern languages are taught
there, with the classical, and youths of all deno-
minations are received as students. The facul-
ties are composed of pious and learned men,
and the young gentlemen I have known, who
were educated there, have been well instructed.
The Catholic clergy of Maryland are in posses-
sion of handsome revenues, arising from large
tracts of glebe lands, throughout the state.
These revenues have been kept for the true
purposes of religion and learning, and the eccle-
siastical orders have never been charged with
ambition, as they have in other countries, nor
have they aspired to high offices in the state or
general government. The Protestant denomina-
tions of every shade of doctrine have, unques-
tionably from principle, in some period or other
of the history of Maryland, been openly and se-
cretly hostile to the Catholic church ; but it has,
gone on with such a tolerant spirit as to disarm-
all sects of their enmity, and nearly all of their.
14*
V
J54 CONVENT OF VISITATION.
opposition. The clergy of Maryland protected
those persecuted by the Church of England on
one side of them, and those exiled by the Puri.
tans of the East on the other. In a free coun-
try all men should, in the article of religious be-
lief, be persuaded in their own minds, and the
constitution of every state should give equal
protection to all creeds ;
" Tros, Rutulus ve, nullo discrimine habebo,"
should be the language of the lawgiver in every
age and nation. In the District of Columbia,
this principle is fairly acted upon, and the com-
munity feel its beneficial effects.
The Convent of Visitation is an object of deep
interest to all who take a part in what may be
emphatically called the glory of this country —
its education. Seminaries for boys are suffi-
ciently numerous in most parts of the country ;
% the people have now to refine and exalt their
character, not add to their numbers ; but well
regulated female schools are yet much wanted.
This Convent was established more than thirty
years ago, by Archbishop Neale, a most worthy
Prelate, and upon a most improved plan, with
the piety and zeal of the order of which it is a
part. There is infused into the constitution of
it some of the most liberal principles of the age.
The superior is elected by the sisterhood every
three years, and is ineligible for more than
CONVENT OF VISITATION. 155
two terms in succession. Thus the elective
franchise in this country, in its most republican
form, has found its way into " The Convent's
Shade."
The number of Sisters, or nuns, is about fifty ;
and they are all devoted to religious duties and
to the education of females. The younger Sis-
ters are set to keep an eleemosynary school, and
do much good by diffusing correct principles
and information among the poor ; but the most
valuable part of the establishment is the board-
ing school for young ladies. This is in a most
flourishing condition. The Sisters themselves
are highly educated, in every branch of science,
and in all the current and fashionable literature
of the age, as well as in the profound ethics and
the sublime doctrines of the Christian religion.
In this institution the great evil of most schools
is avoided ; this evil is to make one person
teach many branches, and of course no one can
be profound in all. Here, each sister selects
her department, and never walks out of it ; six
or seven, therefore, are united as instructers in
the same branch, and the indisposition of one or
two does not interfere with the course of instruc-
tion in any branch.
The languages are taught here with great ac-
curacy, and with a pure, lady-like, and natural
accent, the charm of polished society. The
system of education here, extends to the minute
156 CONVENT OF VISITATION.
duties of housewifery, and the pupils graduate
with a thorough acquaintance with the science
of the kitchen and mysteries of the culinary
art, without which no woman can be said to be
all-accomplished.
The system of government in this school is
admirably strict, not severe ; decided, not im-
perative. There is no espoinage ; no making
use of one to find out the faults of another ; but
their care and watchfulness are so sisterly and
maternal, that the pupil is naturally moulded,
not drilled, to good manners. Discipline is con-
stantly going on even in those hours of relaxa-
tion in which girls left to themselves often ac-
quire an awkwardness of manners that cleave to
them for the whole course of their lives. Such
schools are rare* The Ursulines have just
opened one on the same plan, near Boston,
which is flourishing under a most accomplished
superior.
If this age has any thing to boast of over
those that are gone by, it is in the difference of
education, and the facilities it has invented to
give a genteel education to female youths, with-
out endangering the health, or diminishing the
grace and beauty of their persons.
2.ETTER XV.
New -York, 1830,
Dear Sir,
This city is Called the London of Amer-
ica. Its growth since the close of the revolu-
tionary war has been most wonderfully rapid.
When the British evacuated it, in 1783 there
were not twenty five thousand inhabitants in it,
and the population is now over two hundred
thousand. There is no city on the habitable
globe so well situated for commerce as New-
York. The deep and surrounding waters af-
fording docks at the most trifling expense : its
central situation in regard to the south and east,
make it the mart for both. The influx of for-
eigners is greater here, than in all the other
cities in the United States. All tongues and
languages are heard in Broadway, from the dawn
to midnight. The activity of the people is, or
seems to be greater here than in other places.
The houses of public worship, as most of them
are called to distinguish them from churches,
158
NEW-YORK.
when they are nearly the same, are numerous
and many of them splendid. The hotels are
spacious, and some of them kept in a great style.
Many of the private houses are also elegant.
There is as far as I can see a great deal of
wealth, no small share of bustle in this city, and
a pretty large share of want and suffering. The
people are forever finding fault with the corpo-
ration, as the mayor alderman and recorder are
called, but this body spend a large sum of mon-
ey yearly and probably much more judiciously
than they have credit for. "There is a respecta-
ble college in the city which has sent forth ma-
ny fine classical scholars ; but the people as a
body are just beginning to be literary and sci-
entific, but have made no small advances in
knowledge. The interior of the state has grown
beyond all parallel; from a secondary state, it
has become the first in the union in population,
and second to none in enterprize. This state
alone has more than two thirds as large a popu-
lation as the whole of the United States had
when the revolutionary war broke out. The
soil is rich, take the whole territory together,
and seems capable of, as yet, unlimited cultiva-
tion. The great canals bring the remote inte-
rior to the seaboard ; an intercourse hardly
dreamt of by the people of a former age. The
foundations are laid for literary and scientific
instructions in every part of the state which,
NEW-YORK.
159
when its resources are more fully developed
will place her as forward in the blessings of in-
struction, as she now is in activity, population
and enterprize. The race of men, which Has
gone off the stage, laid the foundation for her
present and future greatness. The Clintons,
the Livingstons, the Van Courtlands, with Ham-
ilton and an hundred others, were shrewd men
who foresaw the rising greatness of the state
and laboured to place many things in the right
way for improvement. Their memories are res-
pected, at the present time, and will be venera-
ted hereafter. The politics of the state are va-
cilating and uncertain, but no matter, the true
leaven is in the people and the p eople's institu-
tions. The professions are as bodies, learned,
and prosperous, and the yeomanry increasing
in wealth and knowledge ; and these things are
the brightest promise and the surest hopes of a
people. Individual reputation has not, it is true,
so great a security in the shifting winds of po-
litical doctrines, as in some other states, but in
the end, this is no great evil, for many assume
and support, in other places, a fictitious reputa-
tion, which perhaps may do more injury than
the premature decay of the political importance
of a few ambitious statesmen. It is however to
be regretted that her influence in the national
government is not greater than it is, having for
several years past been nearly neutralized, by
160
NEW- YORK.
the strength of parties. She has many lessons
to learn, but she is aware of her situation, and
that is nearly half the battle, for a change of
circumstances.
In New-York' there are several writers of dis-
tinction who have assisted to enlighten the com-
munity in various ways, and whose productions
are well known to all the reading people. Paul-
ding, for wit, and satire, is second to no one.
His satire upon those pompous, inane travel-
lers who swarm in this country, is so keen, and
yet so playful, that those ridiculed must be quite
tempted to laugh at their own picture, from his
pen. Pausing can be grave as well as gay.
Genuine humour however, is a scarce article ;
there are an hundred good orators to one Juve-
nal or Junius. The people of this country are
beginning to value the refinements of wit, and
to show some tolerable taste in judging of it.
You are acquainted with the works of chan-
cellor Kent. He is the Blackstone of the Uni-
ted States for he has written four volumes of
commentaries of nearly or quite the size of
his great prototype.
The work is found in almost every law-library
from New Orleans to Maine and highly esteem-
ed in every part of the United States. The
style is easy, the language neat and pure, and the
law unquestionable. It is a standard book, used
in the courts. • It was fortunate for the whole
NEW-YORK. 161
country that one state had so absurd a law in
its code as to deprive themselves of the wisdom
of a good judge, when he had reached the age
of sixty. The Chancellor having reached that
age, was out of office while all his corporal and
mental powers were in full vigour. To have
returned to the bar, would have been irksome,
and he wisely commenced his legal labours as
author, and satisfied the whole country, that
profound lawyers and judges who wield a pen,
as well as advocate or decide a cause, were to be
found in the United States, as well as in England.
The Chancellor is now about sixty six years
of age, but as fresh and young as the bard of
Teos describes himself to have been, when he
had numbered as many years. Neither in move-
ments, nor limbs, or mind, or imagination, can
you see a particle of coming age in the Chan-
cellor ; one might say of Kent, what a grave, or-
thodox divine, of the true puritanical stamp,
once said of Hamilton. He came from the east
to see the man of mighty mind, whose reports,
speeches, and whole course of political life, had
pleased him so much. The desired interview
was had, and the conversation lasted long, and
was discursive and animated. When the holy
man came home, all were inquisitive to know his
opinion of Hamilton ; " was he as great as you
expected ?" asks one ; " yes, greater," was the
reply ; " what did he talk about ?" said another ;
15
162
POETS.
■ every thing,' said the divine ; " describe him,7
says a third ; the old man began, hesitated, went
on, run a parallel with one, as to his eloquence,
with another as to his depth of thought and rea-
soning ; and so on to a dozen, but all did not
suit him, or convey, in his mind, any portion of
his meaning ; at last in despair of doing justice
to his subject he broke out and said, " why, he is
as playful as a kitten."
The Edinburgh Review has in the last num-
ber stated that the people of the United
States are wanting in Imagination. This asser-
tion is the offspring of a profound ignorance of
the subject of which the writer was treating.
They are full of imagination ; a more mercurial
people does not exist this side of Arabia. If
the writer had said that their imaginations were
not cultivated, and that taste was not yet suffi-
ciently refined to place them among the first
grade of poetical nations, there might have been
some truth in the remark ; but it only argues an
ignorance of this people from Maine to New-Or-
leans, to say that they are wanting in imagina-
tion. I will now name a few of the poets of this
country to you. They are of the growth of dif-
ferent parts of the country, most of them how-
ever northern and eastern born.
In this country there are no authors by pro-
fession ; a few, perhaps, might be named, who
have devoted a great portion of their lives to
POETS.
163
literature. Xoah Webster, Hannah Adams, and
perhaps one or two more ; but generally, all
the poets of the present day, and all other wri-
ters in our country, are engaged in professional
pursuits, and take up the pen occasionally, as
circumstances require or opportunity offers.
Doctor George J. Percival has devoted more
of his time to poetry, than most of his brothers
of the tuneful choir. He has written enough to
make a very considerable volume. His Prome-
theus, although not so much read as many of his
other works, is full of deep philosophy and fine
poetry. His smaller pieces are in every maga-
zine and newspaper in the country. His lan-
guage is copious, smooth, and well chosen. He
unites much of the strength of Akenside with
the sweetness of Kirk White. His elements
are all poetical ; and if his whole time was de-
voted to writing, his country would be greatly
the gainer by it ; but the stern necessity which
binds, and often controls the destiny of the sons
of song, makes him the supervisor of the works
of others, and editor of many compilations, when
he%should be devoted to the offspring of his own
genius. He is yet young for one of so ripe a
fame ; and much is to be hoped for him in time
to come. He is so mild, so gentle, and has so
little of envy in his nature, that those who know
him, love him ; and he has seldom, (a rare oc-
164 POETS.
currence,) found even an enemy to his muse.
I do not recollect a single criticism on his works
that contained any acrimony.
Bryant was educated a lawyer, and has been
seduced from the hard labours of the profession,
by his love of letters, to become an editor of a
paper, and a general writer. His poetry has
been greatly praised by those who were the best
judges of literary merit. He has been more po-
pular with scholars than with the great mass of
the reading "community ; yet with them he holds
a high rank. He is natural, easy, and tasteful,
and condenses his thoughts with great power
over language, by having clear views of his
subject. He is descriptive when his subject ad-
mits of it, but is always master of the philosophy
of the heart, without which verse is nothing
but a dress for moral sentiment and metaphysical
reasoning.
The Muse of Charles Sprague was, like
Hoole's nurtured in a banking house. He has
long been cn^ajred in the duties of a bank
officer, and discharged them with the most un-
wearied industry and care ; but these arduous
labours have not repressed his warmth of zeal,
or clipt the wings of his imagination. Some of
his poetry is as solid and pure as the precious
metals of his vaults.
POETS,
165
The Rev. Samuel Gilman, of Charleston,
South-Carolina, is a poet of highly refined taste,
and has given the public several morceaus of
poetry, that show the vigour and delicacy of his
muse. He has sometimes attempted subjects
that were not poetical, being too high for the
descriptive, such as the burning of the Rich-
mond Theatre. Poetry may darken the gloomy,
aggravate the awful, and extend the vast ; but
when a scene is so overwhelming, so recent, and
so settled in agony upon every nerve of the
whole people, there is nothing left for the muse
to do. At such a moment, grief is tearless and
wo is dumb. To attempt, then, a requiem for
the dead, is labour lost ; the eye cannot see an
epitaph, traced with ever so bold a hand ; nor
the ear hear a lamentation, however deep and
loud it may be. This poem has, however, ma-
ny fine touches of sentiment in it, and proves
that the author, on a subject softened by dis-
tance, or time, could be both descriptive and pa-
thetic.
N. Carter, whose classical travels have been
extensively read in this country, was also a
poet. He has given the public many pieces on
occasional subjects ; but the most considerable of
his productions is his Phi Beta Kappa poem on
the Pains of the Imagination. The verse of
this poem is smooth, harmonious, and sweet;
15*
166
POETS.
the philosophy true, and the sentiment touching.
Indisposition gave a melancholy shade to his
drapery ; but it is disposed of with exactness
and taste. The news of his death has just
reached us. He was too delicate for his pro-
fession, the editor of a newspaper. Men are
seldom found in the place best suited to their
talents.
Dawes is quite a young man ; but has writ-
ten enough, that is beautiful and attractive, to
place him in the constellation of poets that has
lately risen to the view of the American people ;
a constellation that emits a mild and lovely
light ; but one that has not shone long enough,
as yet, for the observer to calculate its precise
range in the heavens, or to mark the exact
magnitude of the different stars that form it.
Justice, in time, will be done to each and all ;
for the night of ignorance and superstition, in
which the streaming meteor excited the wonder
and fastened the gaze of nations, while the har-
monious movements of the planets were but lit-
tle noticed, has passed away for ever, and every
eye is now fixed upon the regular, the beauti-
ful, the shining heavenly body, whether it
" Adorns the eve, or ushers in the morn."
But to come down from the Empyrean to which,
POETS. 167
in contemplating the subject of poetry and its
authors, I am often carried ; and to speak plain-
ly of these writers, I think that they will not
have occasion, in the end, to complain of the
discussions of the public on their respective
merits ; for there is no one person, in this com-
munity, as there has been in England, at some
periods in her history, who was the arbiter ele-
gantiarum of the public, and from whose judg-
ments it were in vain to appeal.
The Rev. Mr. Upham, of New-Hampshire,
has written enough to show that the fire of true
poetry is within him, and it would not, we con-
conceive, take either from the sanctity of his
calling, or from the time that could be better
occupied, if he were to indulge himself in a lit-
tle devotion to poetry ; . perhaps more true pie-
ty has been conveyed in verse than in almost
every other way. In the first place it is attract-
ive, and will be read when graver discourses
will not, and is remembered much longer than the:
same sentiment in prose.
Halleck l^as been often before the public, in
pieces of infinite wit and playfulness. There is
a flow and ease of composition, probably in
this, as in most other cases, the effect of great
labour ; for I cannot conceive of ease being ac-
quired in verse without it, which has distinguish.
168
POETS.
ed him among his brethren. He has gathered
up, or suffered somebody else, to collect a
volume or two of his poems, and has not a few
still floating in the journals of the day. His
playful scraps are not inferior to Moore's,
which have lately been collected by his poetical
friends. I. name this to show how difficult.it
is to succeed in wit and satire, especially if it
assumes a playful manner. The grave rebuke
is easy, but the ironical smile is of difficult at-
tainment. It is a powerful and a dangerous
weapon, and is apt to be freely used when the
possessor is unconscious of its effects ; but I do
not know that Mr. Halleck has used it on any
but lawful subjects, and in a gentlemanly man-
ner. His hit at the Percys was a fair one.
Mr. JVells, of Boston, has been the success-
ful writer for several prize odes and has nu-
merous cups and pieces of plate as trophies of
his muse. He is well read in English poetry
and has a fine taste in it. His imagination is
prolific, but he chastises his productions with
the greatest scrupulosity. He comes from ac-
tive business to his books, as an elegant amuse-
ment, and not as the labour of life : this is the
charm of letters, when they can be used as the
ornaments of social intercourse and polished
society, and the mind is improved and the dispo-
sition sweetened by them in these hours which
POETS.
169
might otherwise be spent in trifling amusements,
o>r idleness, which is still worse. It is one of
the best proofs of the progress of refinement in
this country that neither wealth, nor martial
achievements are held in much estimation un-
accompanied by respectable literary attain-
ments, and a lady of ever so fine teeth, or
beaming eyes, could hold her place as a belle
not a moment after it was known that her pro-
nunciation was vulgar, or her grammar bad.
Mr. Sands is a poet of most exquisite taste.
He wrote in connection with his friend Eastburn
that beautiful Indian tale Yamoyden. It is a fine
specimen of poetry. Mr. Sands is now quite
devoted to letters, in some shape or other. His
productions often adorn the annuals printed in
this country, such as the Talisman, Souvenir, &c.
Whatever comes from his pen has the marks of
mind and taste about it. He is now engaged
in a biographical work of some importance,
which will, no doubt, receive the justice it de-
mands from his pen. Yamoyden is a poem
which has been admired by the lettered and
tasteful, but has not yet floated into that popu-
lar current of distinction which it will inevitably,
sooner or later find. Mr. Sands is a ripe scho-
lar, familiar with all the best specimens of an-
cient and modern poetry, and if his muse has a
fault, it is that of being too fastidious and severe
170
POETS.
in her corrections of her own inspirations ; but
this is so rare a fault in this country, where it
must be confessed, you may find more genius
than taste, that it should be forgiven for its sin-
gularity.
Among the most remarkable instances of pre-
cious talents and acquirements is James Nack
the deaf and dumb poet of the city of New-York.
He is now not far from twenty years of age,
but as young as he is, he has written more vol-
uminously than any poet among all those I have
named. But only one volume of his works is
'as yet printed, though he has many manuscripts
on hand which will probably see the light when
he has become more known. This young man's
growth has been most wonderful. He was born
with perfect organs of hearing, and of speech,
and retained them until he was nine years old,
when by an accident his head was so crushed
as to have destroyed his auditory nerves, and
by degrees his faculty of speech was lost — a
very natural consequence of his misfortune. His
father had been unfortunate in business as a
merchant in Nack's infancy, and he had no ad-
vantages of schooling but what he picked up
from his sisters, yet was considered a good rea-
der at four years of age, and he had a passion,
a very common one in forward children, of
preaching — that is, in a solemn way, muttering
over their fancies. A bright and observing
POETS.
171
child sees the great attention and reverence
that is paid to the services of the clergyman,
not only by his parents and his brothers and sis-
ters, but by all in the church. He is taught
that the speaker is a good man, and in the first
awakenings of his mind he attempts to imitate
him. Nack had heard the singers in the church,
and had caught something of the chiming of
words, and once, being without a hymn book, he
framed a couplet, for which he was applauded,
and this encouraged him to make a few lines
every day, and before he was in his ninth year
he had a good knowledge of rhymth and rhyme
from a cultivated ear. This he has so com-
pletely kept in his memory that I question very
much, whether there is any poet living who has
a better knowledge of rhyming words in the
English language than Nack.
As soon as he recovered from the injury done
to his head, as far as he ever recovered ; he was
sent to the assylum for the deaf and dumb. But
it is quite questionable whether the instructors
of that excellent institution ever precisely un-
derstood the bent and the extent of his genius.
At about twelve years of age Nack wrote a
tragedy ; this he destroyed ; but his mind at that
time, was in one constant dramatic effort ; it
was an expedient he resorted to, to get rid of
the deep wretchedness he felt at being, as it
were, left alone with himself to contemplate his
172
POETS.
misfortune in losing his hearing and speech. In
the regions of imagination he was soothed, and
warmed with all the dreamy delights to be found
in such fairy land ; an expedient that riper
minds have resorted to, to soften the agonies
of the heart.
The productions of his fourteenth year were
numerous, but to use his own words " most of
these have perished except two or three small
pieces inserted in my published volume. Most
of the minor pieces in that volume, were written
in my fifteenth year, among which, those I am
proudest of, are Blue eyed Maid, the Grave of
Mary, and the Gallant Highland Rover.''
In his fifteenth year he wrote another trage-
dy. It was written under peculiar circumstan-
ces, at the early dawn of the morning in the
winter season, in the garret where he lodged,
without a spark of fire, and only a stump of a
pen, and without a table, he stole the moments
to write a long tragedy on his knees. He had
no sooner finished than he concealed it, and has
never suffered it to be seen.
In his sixteenth year he wrote, with many
other poems, that beautiful effort of genius, the
Minstrel Boy. This came from his heart, and
it reaches the heart of every reader. It has a
deep tone of feeling, a sweetness of language
and ease of versification that will secure its im-
mortality.
•
POETS.
173
Until his sixteenth year he had never found
any one who was capable of understanding his
character, and of giving him advice and encour-
agement united to friendship. It was then he
began to fee] the balmy soothings of kindness
that came with advice and patronage. It was
not until this period that he had found books, ex-
cept by accident. He now was in the library
of a gentleman of taste who was as kind to him
as a father. This situation opened a new world
to hini. He revelled in fresh delights ; devoured
books upon poetry, history, philosophy, fiction,
mathematics, politics, ethics, criticism, and the-
ology, formed a thousand theories and tore them
up, root and branch, for new creations ; and these
again shared the same fate. He wrote, as well
as read on all these subjects, and piled manu-
script upon manuscript, which he sometimes
viewed with all the rapture of genius, and then
with freakish untowardness turned from his nu-
merous progeny with loathing. With all the
irritation of wounded sensibility he grows fever-
ish over his reminiscences, and then again hur-
ries on to perform some new task. He seems
to have no dread of any labour, however severe
it may be, if it will please a friend or come to
any account for himself or others.
His acquirements, at this early age, in the
languages and all the branches of knowledge,
ordinary, and extraordinary is superior to that of
16
174
POETS.
any youngs man's of the same age I have ever
met with. There is a strength and maturity
about his mind not to be found in one who has
had the use of his ears and tongue. His criti-
cisms have a sagacity and shrewdness unequal-
ed by those who were critics long before he was
born. He acquires a language with the most
astonishing facility. No one I ever knew, could
do it with the same readiness, except the late
learned orientalist, George Bethune English.
Nack unites in a most astonishing degree those
two seemingly inconsistent qualities restlessness
and 'perseverance. He reads, writes and does all
things as though he had just breathed the Del-
phi vapour, and perseveres as though he were
chained to the spot by some taltsmanic power,
li e is a bunch of delicate fibres, too susceptible
for composure, or rather of nerves, jarred to ag-
ony, if struck by a rude hand. Poetical beings
are often too sensitive when in possession of
every natural property and gift, but when de-
prived of the charms of hearing and speaking,
the pulses of the heart seem to beat in our own
sight, without even the thinest skin to hide them ;
open to every blast of a cold and cruel world.
But in a few years he will find things changing
around him, and these' youthful labours now
viewed as useless, will become in his opinion,
as the foundation stones of a goodly edifice in
the fashioning of which he has learnt the skill
POETS. 175
of a literary architect and acquired the strength
to raise a temple of imperishable fame, for his
own and his country's glory.
The ladies of this country may justly put in
their claims for distinction, in every path of lit-
erature, but particularly in poetry. It is con-
sidered among the elegant accomplishments of
the age, and the great number who possess the
talent prove that this is a land of pure etherial
fancy, and correct taste. Mrs. Sigourney who
was known as a poet, in her maiden days, then,
Miss Huntley, has not with the cares of her
family, as is often the case with female musi-
cians, or poets, neglected her devotions to the
muse ; but has given the world other effusions
since, marked with more strength and beauty
than those which charmed all who read them,
in her earlier days. There is. a sweetness, a
depth of feeling, a grasp of thought, united with
the most perfect care and elegance in her wri-
tings, that shows she was intended to be con-
spicuous among gifted minds, and an ornament
to the virtuous as well as intellectual part of the
community. From her residence of elegance
and taste on the banks of the lovely Connecticut,
she sends forth her minstrelsy, to guide the
young and to delight the old, and to improve all
ages ; may it be long before others shall supply
her place ; may the flowers of her arbours bloom,
and her harp be in tune, until nature shall re-
176
POETS.
quire that repose that philosophy contemplates
with composure and religion with visions of hope
and transport.
Mrs. Hale, who is now conducting a literary
periodical in Boston, has besides several respec-
table works in prose, written many pieces of
fine poetry. She is now in a circle of intelli-
gence and taste, where her merits will be ack-
nowledged. The "muses may owe their birth to
a village, and love to reside for a season amid
sylvan scenes, but some Athens must be near
for them to resort to occasionally, and receive the
homage their inspirations deserve, and which it
was never known that their modesty refused.
Apollo must listen if the best song of the Nine
is expected.
It is a long time since the public have heard
any thing from Mrs. Gilman, except her fame
as the pride of the social circle, and the first in
every charitable exertion, but it will be long be-
fore the lovers of genuine pathos and poetry will
forget ' Jephthah's vow.' by Miss Howard. We
hope the mild air of the south will not incline
her to forget her early promise to her country,
that such talents should not be hid.
Mrs. Ware is the editor of the Bower of
Taste, a periodical of reputation, printed in
Boston, along side of Mrs. Hale's magazine.
V
POETS.
177
These rival ladies, I use the word in its primitive
sense, divide a liberal patronage, in that city.
She too, is a poet, and established her reputation
by writing occasional hymns and odes, before
she took the editor's chair, and came out as one
of the literati by profession. There is ease,
spirit and mind in her verse, and her prose is
tasteful and elegant. The fact of these two ed-
itors and that of there being so large a number
of females who are writers, speak volumes for
the advancement of education here. It is evi-
dence of the polish and intelligence of a nation,
that their females assist in directing the minds
of the rising generation. The writings of Han-
nah More, Joanna Baillie, Miss Lucy Aikin and
Miss Mitford, with a host of others, are now,
and for a long time have been, an honourable
portion of English current literature which has
found its way among the reading, community, in
the United States.
Hannah Adams, Miss Sedgewick, Mrs. Childs
(formerly Miss Francis,) Mrs. Willard and
others have been eminently successful in lead-
ing the youths of this country in the paths of
knowledg'e. Acquainted with the infant mind,
they early learnt the best methods of instilling
virtuous principles, and making pure impres-
sions, with the facts and reasoning that go to
make up the mass of information which is pos-
16*
175
POETS.
sessed in the maturity of the understanding. A
sound principle, taught in the nursery, and af-
terwards cherished in the domestic circle, seems
written on the heart and brain together, and is
seldom or never effaced. They may be obscu-
red for a while by false doctrines and loose ha-
bits, but they break out and shine again when
these delusions have passed away.
Of the male and female poets I have not ffiven
a tenth part of the names of those who have
gained a considerable share of fame by their
productions ; and there are many who write well
for amusement, who will not avow their produc-
tions. This is decidedly a land of poets as well
as painters ; but it is strange that there should
be so much written when authors are so wretch-
edly paid for their labour. It is not strange
that authors in this country are badly paid when
the fact is known that about five hundred Eng-
glish works are reprinted here a year. Some
of them, are standard works, and of service in
diffusing useful knowledge, but with these all
the trashy novels, as well as the good ones are
found.
LETTER ZVZ.
XeicYork, , 1830.
Dear Sir,
I regret that you should have given so
much credit to capt. Basil Hall's account of the
people of the United States. There have been
a race of wretched travellers from England
whose works have passed among the people as
honest chronicles, when they were, in truth, a
tissue of falsehoods and absurdities. Ash was
a miserable liar, and is not now believed by any
one. Kendal had not the spirit of on old wo-
man, and Miss Fanny Wright was a dreaming
enthusiast when she gave an account of this
country. Hall came to write a book and by his
being a post capt. in the navy had access to
good society ; but he was a wretched specimen
of English manners. He attempted to be re-
publican and was most insufferably vulgar. I
have never met with a well bred Englisman in
this country who was not ashamed of him, nor
an American who did not despise him.
Your alarm for the religious character of the
United States is altogether unnecessary ; the
180
BASIL HALL.
people, as a mass, are as truly religious, as any
people in the world, and do as much for the
support of it as any other people ; and in most
cases, throughout the whole country, the pay of
the clergy is from voluntary taxation. The va-
rious creeds professed have but little influence
on the public morals, because good moral con-
duct is either the basis, or a prime ingredient,
in all the creeds. A good patriot, when he
sees any religious sect doing justly and walking
humbly, does not quarrel with them for shades
of difference between them and himself in reli-
gious belief. The impression you have of the
influence of Mr. Owen and his disciples, is alto-
gether erroneous. You get a wrong statement
from the two parties who talk the most about it.
The followers of Owen are enthusiastic in all
they do and say ; and their accounts of their
success cannot be depended upon, even to the
slightest detail ; they see every thing as reform-
ers, and turn it all to their advantage. If
you were to listen to them, you would sup-
pose that the reign of reason, after their fashion,
had come, and all superstition and priestcraft
were falling into the dust at once, and an exalt-
ed moral feeling and principle was directly to
take the place of ignorance and debasement. If,
on the other hand, you should hear the timid and
scrupulous portion of the community, you would
think the altars of true religion were at once to
OWEN, &c.
181
be overthrown, and the reign of infidelity and
libertinism were to ensue.
Hall thought that he had acquired more in-
formation than all his predecessors, and should
be enabled to enlighten all his countrymen
respecting this country ; for he assumed to think
deeply on all subjects ; but you can hardly
find a book containing more charlatanry than his
in all the bookstores in England.
I went last evening to the Hall of Science, as
it is called, to hear and see Miss Fanny Wright.
She was to deliver one of her lectures on Know-
ledge. She is a tall, bony woman, of a good
countenance, and not an ungraceful person. Her
style of elocution is imposing. She speaks as
one conscious of high mental powers, and as one
believing that she was born for a reformer. She
has nothing, however, of novelty in her theory.
She said what Mary Woolstoncraft had said
before she was heard of, in a more fascinating, if
not in so logical a manner. She inveighed against
the established order of things, as if the whole
world were deceived and led blindfolded by
rulers, judges, divines, and pretended moralists,
of all classes. I have a full belief that the mis-
taken woman is sincere in her creed, if creed it
can be called that denounces all creeds, human
and divine. But she propagates error under the
guise of doing good, and sows the seed of moral
evil under the lofty pretensions of eradicating
182
OWEN, &c.
fixed and settled errors. A misguided multitude
follow her ; some honest dupes, but more dis-
honest mal-contents are in her train. She at-
tacks the altar of God as though it were an al-
tar of Baal ; and solemnly pronounces the whole
profession of priests a race of hypocrites.
There were many things in her lecture that
were very good, if they were unconnected with
the vile slanders she so shamelessly uttered.
Her whole course of conduct shows that she is
both ambitious and benevolent ; and she thinks
that she hides the former under the mantle of
the latter ; but in this she is as silly as the os-
trich, who thinks herself concealed, when she
has only hid her head. To see a man in the
profligacy of a coarse, strong and misguided in-
tellect, railing at religion and trampling upon
every thing sacred, is painful enough ; but to
behold a woman, of a refined education, fitted
for all the charities of life, so far unsex herself
as to promulgate doctrines, that bring down the
pride of female virtue, and place every one of
her sex on a par with the impure and wicked, is
too painful to dwell upon. This misguided wo-
man is now followed and cheered by those who
are at war with the established order of things;
but the most will drop off, one after another ;
and the probability is, that she will find herself,
in her old age, deserted by those who once af-
fected to admire her, and be left to mourn over
OWEN, &c.
183
her worse than useless life ; then she will see
the difference between philosophical benevo-
lence and Christian charity ; the one is stained
with the filthy currents of this world, and par-
takes deeply of the nature of the earth, while
the other is illumined by the light above, and
grows brighter and stronger as its burthens in-
crease. Such spirits as Fanny Wright are
blessings in disguise. If there was nothing to
alarm the city, the watchmen would sleep on
their posts. Our spiritual watchmen are but
men, and they require to be alarmed by some
symptoms of danger to keep them awake. A
rude attack may make them more united ; a
charge brought against them for want of con-
cord, may teach them to move in more harmo-
ny. From evil, good may come. Moral evil
is, perhaps, as necessary to fulfil the designs of
Heaven, as natural evil. Fire, flood, pestilence,
and war, are all instruments in the hands of a
just God, for wise purposes, and why not a re-
viler of his nature and government ?
There is a most active spirit abroad in the
cause of benevolence and religion ; it pervades
every part of this country ; large sums are
yearly collected for all the purposes of enlight-
ening the rising generation ; Bibles and good
books are put into the hands of all classes of
the people, and it is a prevailing fashion in the
upper circles to know. something of the Scrip-
184
OWEN, <fcc.
tures. Men now discuss the subject of divinity
as well as others, and form their own opinions
upon these weighty matters ; and while child-
ren are taught theology in the nursery, and the
philosopher is as much pleased with the subject
as the priest, there can be no just fears from a
few specious reformers, who make themselves
conspicuous by their blasphemies, rather than
from their reasoning powers. Ever since I
have looked on men, I have never known it
fail, that the blasphemous were in the end de-
serted, and their names held in abhorrence. The
Sunday Schools, w hich are established in all parts
of this country, and are so numerous that their
honest register seems to stagger all belief, are
soon to be the greatest moral engine, next to
that of permanent day schools, that civilization
has ever devised. A thousand false teachers of
infidelity cannot withstand the force of these
modes of instructing the youthful mind. These
false teachers may seem to have great influence
with the people ; but it must be remembered,
that the sincere followers of such lecturers as
Owen and Fanny Wright, are those who have
long been infidels ; the rest of the audience are
made up of those who are curious to hear all
things, but are not converts, or likely to be ;
or those whom idleness, or accident, throw in
by way of amusement ; and it is not to this latter
class the difference of a pin's fee whether they
OWEN, &c.
185
take a lounge into the theatre, fall into a gam-
bling room, or stroll up to the Hall of Science, to
hear the female orator. They must have some-
thing to amuse themselves with, and a female
preacher is as good as any thing else. It would
be wrong to infer their depravity from the place
where they happened to be seen. To the hon-
our of the females of the United States, it should
be said that they have given no encouragement
to Miss Wright or her doctrines. You might
follow her from one part of the country to ano-
ther, and you will not find that she is protected
by any portion -of the female community. It is
possible that now and then one or two women,
either careless of their reputation, or urged by
insatiable curiosity, may have been seen among
her audience ; but I have never known an in-
stance. The females of the United States are,
in general, well educated, and in some portions
of the country highly so. And I have never
known more than a half dozen female infidels
in my long acquaintance here.
17
LETTER XVII.
.New- York, , 1830,
Dkar Sir,
Having glanced at a few of the poets,
perhaps you will expect me to^ay something of
the painters. Those who have passed off the
stage have found historians, who, if they have
not done them justice, have, certainly, had oppor-
tunities to speak of them more particularly than
I can, in these familiar letters to a friend. As all
artists belong to a nation and not to particular
cities, I shall not take any pains, to name them
with any territorial reference, any farther than
as citizens of this country. If one place claims
their birth, another may have called forth their
talents, and the patron is often better to an ar-
tist, than a parent.
Dunlap, to use a Yankee phrase, is one of
those artists who started from his own head. He
began by copying some prints in India ink, and
then proceeded in painting portraits in Crayons.
PAINTERS.
187
In 1783 he painted General Washington and his
lady, who sat to him at head quarters, Rocky
Hill, New-Jersey, when the self taught artist
was only seventeen, years of age. These were
so much extolled, considering the youth of the
artist, that in 1784 he was sent to England to
study his art, and on this adventure, for it was
indeed a great one, he received the attentions of
Mr. West. On returning to this country, in 1787,
he gave up his profession and began mercantile
pursuits. He early discovered a literary taste,
which in fact is almost indiv isible from a taste for
painting. In 1789 he wrote a tragedy ; " The
Father of an only child." This was brought out
immediately and was very successful. This led
him to an intimate acquaintance with theatrical
people, who induced him to enter into dramatic
speculations, as a manager and author, and
which ended as such speculations generally do,
in the loss of all the cash a man has when he
commences ; but as he was honest and honoura-
ble, and more sinned against than sinning, he
had no great difficulty in settling up, and begin-
ning anew* In 1808, he assumed the peiicil as
a miniature painter, and followed this branch of
the art with success, but was induced by the
friendly offers of Cooper, the tragedian, then in
the zenith of his fame, to take a.department in the
management of a theatre in New-York ; but af-
ter two or three years he grew tired of that, and
188
PAINTERS.
took up his pencil again as a miniature painter.
Stuart saw the cleverness of the artist and ad-
vised him to try oil ; and his advice was follow-
ed, and with great success ; hut soon after this
time Dunlap received the appointment of depu-
ty pay master general in the militia of the state
of New-York. It was a busy office, as the troops
were in arms on the seaboard and frontiers, and
allowed him no time for his professional pur-
suits. In 1816, he returned to the arts he had
left, and from which he had so often played tru-
ant, and commenced anew, with youthful vigour
and delight and has ever since been constant to
the Muses.
Since that time he has been most industrious,
and besides a great number of portrait and fan-
cy pieces, he has produced four great histori-
cal pictures. The first was Christ disputing
with the doctors in the temple. This was so
much admired that he was induced to try his
hand again, and Christ rejected was his next.
This was indeed a great effort, it is a sublime
subject. The great masters of a religious age
had devoted painful years to scripture delinea-
tions, and while ponderous tomes of divinity, as
it is called, have sunk into the dust, those splen-
did efforts of human genius have survived as
models and lessons to this, and, will descend, to
future generations. This is indeed an epic la-
bour ; hundreds of figures appear on the canvass,
PAINTERS. 189
and most of these full of history. Dunlap had
never seen West's great picture ; he had only-
read his outline. It is quite a different thing in
design, and a judicious critic might, we think, say
that in many points of his picture he has been
quite equal to that great master. The angelic
composure of Christ in Dunlap's picture, has, in
my mind, as much truth to nature, as the down-
cast countenance of " the man of sorrows" ex-
hibited in West's. We prefer to see his divine,
rather than his human nature, in every exhibi-
tion of our Saviour ; but we will not dwell on
this or any other point in the picture ; the sub-
ject is one of eternal interest, and will for ever
employ the pen, the pencil, and the tongue of
fire of the most gifted of the human race. The
next was the bearing of the Cross ; — this was
full of holy feeling. The fourth was Death on
the Pale Horse. West had done the same, but
we have no hesitation in saying that in many
points Dunlap has the advantage of West : we
mean, particularly, in colouring. The fifth Cal-
vary ; this picture is all original, as in fact the
others are in most of their features. It was a re-
mark made by an American lady of taste which
is founded on truth, that the more we see of
the historical pictures of the gjeat masters of
Europe, the more we value the productions of
Trumbull, Allston, Dunlap, and others we have
seen brought out among ourselves.
17*
190
PAINTERS.
Dunlap has been distinguished as an author,
as well as a painter. He has figured in biogra-
phy as well as in the drama. He was admired
among the scholars of an age gone by, and is
honoured by the present, as a man of genius
and of taste, and it is no easy matter to keep up
with the march of improvement at this time. He
has reared a monument to Brown the novelist,
to Cook .the tragedian, and to others of less
note. May he be rewarded according to his
deeds.
Sargent's picture of The landing of the
Pilgrims was, I speak in the past tense, for 1 un-
derstand that it was destroyed by some accident,
much dmired in its day by the descendants
of the pilgrims, and spoken well of by those who
did not feel any extraordinary sympathy for that
race of men. The event of the landing of those
few wanderers had nothing in it of very great
sublimity or interest when taken by itself, un-
connected with the past or the future in relation
to that period. A handful of adventurers. setting
foot on an inhospitable shore, in an inclement sea-
son is, no doubt, a subject of sympathy, but not
of wonder. The appearance of a northern sky
in such a season bf the year was a fine object
for the painter, and Sargent availed himself of
it. He was northern-born and had lived, for the
usual months in the year, under such a sky as
PAINTERS.
191
our forefathers first saw on their first landing, a
freezing atmosphere, rocks, ground, all covered
with a mantle of snow, while a low and sickly
looking sun threw a few faint rays on the iron-
bound, frost-bound coast. The dignity of the
group was conspicuous in the picture. All they
had suffered, all they were prepared to suffer,
and what they hoped to effect, was well con-
ceived and defined in the painting. The pious,
providence trusting, resigned look, was there
also. A little of the soldier was still seen in
Miles Standish — yea, more of it than of the
saint. The females were well displayed ; not
with Amazonian hardihood and fearless look ;
but yet there was no timidity, no shrinking
weakness, no dread of the savages, nor of a
more appalling foe ; a long and dreary winter,
without house or home, or any shelter for them-
selves or their little ones. They stood, they
looked, they went forward, as those who believe
that they have a God for their protector. That
painter is good for nothing who cannot impress
us with the moral sublimity of virtue, and give
us the majesty of religion, with all her sweet-
ness. There is a spirit of prophecy in the
hearts of the good in every undertaking, which
if it has no defined views, no tongue, but only
speaking looks, yet it lives and dwells in every
vein, and kindles in every eye, and has full pos-
session of the soul, as certain as the soul has an
192
PAINTERS.
existence ; and the painter of this picture had
genius enough to seize the thought and make
the hest of it.
The next picture, from the same artist, was
Christ's entrance into Jerusalem. This
was also a popular picture. It was remarkable
for variety in the expression of the countenance
of the Hosannah-crying multitude. The face of
the Saviour is wonderfully fine. An Indian
chief once viewing the picture in the presence
of the author of these remarks, looking stedfast-
ly in the face of our Saviour, said, emphatically,
that is a good man. The last and only remain-
ing picture I know from Sargent, is the Dinner
Party ; a specimen of the extraordinary power
of light and shade ; to exhibit which seems the
great object of the artist in this painting. Sar-
gent formerly took several portraits which were
praised for their spirit and exactness.
Vanderlyn's paintings have attracted the at-
tention of the lovers of the arts, both here and
on the other side of the water. His Ariadne is
an exquisite painting. It is the semblance of
enamoured beauty, in dreaming innocence. The
sleeping princess seems to glow with visions of
eternal love, while her faithless spouse is steal-
ing away like a thief from the shores of Naxos,
and tarnishing by his perfidy the glories of his
adventures. Thirty centuries are lost in con-
PAINTERS.
193
templating this picture. The mind of the spec
tator is impressed with the whole scene as.if the
present was the precise hour of her desertion,
and feels all the passion of love and grief and
resentment, crowding upon his heart, as he ga-
zes upon the sleeping beauty ; and seems to
dread that she should awake in his presence, to
realize and bewail her misfortunes, before he has
quitted the scene. Such is the power of the
artist.
Marius on the ruins of Carthage is from the
same hand. The savage pride of the great Ro-
man general, nursing himself with high resolves,
drawing aliment for the concentrated energies
of his soul from the awful ruins around him, and
looking, feeling, and expressing, by his very si-
lence, the eternal truth of the indestructibility
of mind ; that mind, which in him, no misfor-
tunes could subdue.
The panorama of the Garden of Versailles is a
work of a different kind, but of great merit.
Those who have visited the place say that the
faithfulness of the picture is admirable ; and
certain it is that the beauty of the light and
shade is hardly to be equalled. This painting
has been exhibited in several of our cities, with
great success. The artist is now engaged in a
panoramic view of the falls of Niagara. All
former attempts to convey on canvass this sublime
scene in nature, have fallen short of even majes-
194
PAINTERS.
ty ; and all I have seen did not show any of that
terrific^ grandeur which belongs to the subject.
The occasional war of the elements, as exhibited
in tornadoes or volcanoes, have often been suc-
cessfully represented by the pencil ; but such a
perpetual display of the wonderful works of Om-
nipotence, as the rising and setting of the sun,
and the eternal agitation of the ocean, are not
within the capacities of the painter. By great
effort, he may bring to your own recollection
the images that have been there before ; but his
powers add nothing to them. These are sub-
jects for the muse of poetry, not of painting ;
and if his attempt is successful, in any conside-
rable measure, as his friends say that it will be,
he will have added to the capacities of his art,
and secured his immortality.
Washington Allston, now of Boston was a
native of Carolina, and received his education
at Harvard College, where he graduated in
1800. His taste led him to think of painting as
a profession. Soon after leaving college, he
hastened to Europe, and commenced his pupil-
age with the zeal of youthful genius. In the
bosom of the arts he became known as a man
of promise, and his fame often came across the
Atlantic to raise the expectations of his country-
men. They were not disappointed ; he return-
ed with a mind enriched by travel and obser-
PAINTERS. 195
vation, without any diminution of his character
or simplicity of his manners. In Boston he sat
down to his profession, and every production of
his pencil was anticipated with painful anxiety ;
not from apprehensions of disappointment in the
work, but from the intense desire of being grati-
fied with the sight of his productions. He is
above the envy of his compeers ; for he comes
in competition with no one. The fashionable
world has no charm for him, and he is never
found in its circles. A little coterie of dear
friends is his passion, and his hours of relaxation
are spent with them ; but in these hours he is
exact and systematic. It is true of him, that he
flatters no one, abuses no one, nor is found in
the train of any one. He has truly an inde- •
pendent mind, without one particle of the mo-
roseness which often accompanies that godlike
virtue. He seeks no idol of the day for patron-
age and praise, nor follows in the train of a reign-
ing belle to catch an approving smile, which on
the morrow may lead others to seek him : no,
for he feels a security in his own fame, that re-
quires no such momentary aid ; his reputation
will be increasing when the politician's fame is
blown away by some new burst of infernal smoke,
and the beauty is no longer remembered. He
has that popularity that follows merit ; he wants
not that which is sought for by conforming to
the lights and shades of the hour ; nor did Alku
■
196 PAINTERS.
ton ever complain for want of patronage ; his
productions being promised as soon as commen-
ced. I have seen but three from his pencil —
Elijah fed by the ravens in the wilderness — Jere-
miah i?i prison, dictating his prophecies to Baruch
his scribe — and the dead man into whose grave
the body of Elijah was cast, waking into life.
These have been seen by a good portion of
those who have any taste for the fine arts, in the
several great cities in the United States, and
their merits thoroughly examined. The first,
Elijah fed by the ravens, is marked by the boldest
scenery. The Judean mountains seemed fitted
for the abode of prophecy. It is more natural
and more sublime to place the voice of inspira-
. tion among the deep caverns and strong shades
of the mountains, than by fountains or caves in
the sunny fields of cultivation. Allston has
caught the true philosophy to nurse his genius
by the perpetual contemplation of those scenes
and events, in the revelations of God to man, in
which the power of God-head, transcending his
natural laws, is visible and unquestionable. His
two other works are of the same class, drawn
from the same source. Such a cause admits
every variety of talent and demands every
extent of power. The picture of the hand
writing on the wall, the appearance of which
has long been expected and so much desired,
is of the same character.
#
PAINTERS. 197
Until within a few years past, our artists had
to find their way entirely alone. They had no
concert, no associations for mutual aid, and mu.
tual instruction ; they had no place for the ex-
hibition of their productions ; they were seen
by chance ; and the fame of most of the paint-
ers depended upon ignorant admiration, or ill
natured criticisms, even perhaps less intelligent.
Ordinary reputation will always be local ; but
then it often happened that those of a higher grade
found their fame not more extended, Euid proba-
bly not so distinctly allowed when it was known,
as those of no solid merits. Academies and ex-
hibition rooms, which have been got up in our
principal cities, within a few years past, give
the youthful aspirant for fame a chance of being
known, and of having his merits justly appre-
ciated. In New-York an Academy of Design has
been established, and a distinguished artist put
at the head of it. Mr. Morse has been known
to the public as a painter for some years. His
Dying Hercules was considered a good speci-
men of drawing, as well as colouring. He has,
like many of our painters, been chiefly employ-
ed in taking portraits ; but his taste and talent,
I should think, would lead him to historical
painting : but what was more immediately in
my mind is, that he has commenced a course of
lectures on his art ; the first, probably, that has
been undertaken in this country. From what I
18
108
PAINTERS.
have read of them, I think there can he no doubt
of their utility and success. He matures his
subject well, and gives it those minute finishings
which make the great charms of the writers of
the classical ages. The bold truths and start-
ling positions, so much the fashion of the present
age among men of genius, will pass away and
be forgotten, when the .more natural, and, at
first, less attractive productions of taste, will be
fresh and increasing in value. The polished
lectures ' of Sir Joshua Reynolds will ap-
pear in new and splendid editions, when those
of Fusilli, full of gigantic throes of thought and
night. mare figures of rhetoric, will only be found
in the libraries of the curious. To aid Morse,
there came many young men of merit. A word
must answer for them ; and as they are now in
the glorious career of omulation, adding to their
fame every passing day, this course, perhaps, is
best. To make only a few remarks on them, is
not to say they do not deserve much ; but is only
saying that, as yet, they arc striving for the
mastery, and their comparative merits are not
as yet decided.
B. W. Wm is a historical painter, he spent
some time in Italy in pursuit of liis art, with a
most perfect devotion to it- -.He is delicate and
elaborate in his finishings, and every thing from
his pencil shows, that with the elements of a
I'AINTr.KH.
■ ' i 1 ;il painter he has the industry llint ounu re h
fliirrcsH. In colouring, ho imitates the Venetian
masters, nnil I Ik- elfocl is often delightful. I In
i \< | \(»iin»», and the country has much to o.\-
peol from him.
livmiAM, in u portrait and historical pain-
ler ; Ih has made many lino portraits lor t Iio
exhihition room. His colouring in admirahlo ;
his linislun;; lint ly minute. 1 1 1 m female head i
of tuNlo ami fuHliimi, in hitfh dress, have heen
the admiration of men of judgment, m»l only in
; lu <il y, hiil m other cities, whom they could
not have heen lullm m< d hy the social and vir-
tuous mia lilies of I ho individual. The talents of
tlx- artist could alone have heen tho foundation
of ihcir ojimiouM.
T. C ( c mminch is a raifliaturo painter, and
JIOMNOHMCH a ^oo.l Ii.im » >l < .i|.:i<-ily in ln:i line ;
and il is a hram h ofdillioull allainmetit. Mis
sketchc arc lull of life mind and spirit hcciiih
lo awake in In . na :.! .hadowy lines.
II. Inman, a portrait and historical painter, i ;
a ^real favourite in New- York. No is not more
I han twenty four or live years old, and yet he has
attained to an honourahle eminence m Inn pro-
>'<•■ 100. Hi : compositions aie hold in design,
and happy in effect. Mo never hv.vauh to think
i
200
PAINTERS.
of a difficulty in his art, and seldom does he
meet one. His colouring is remarkably fine,
and all speak of him as full of still greater pro-
mise, wkile they are admiring what he has al-
ready done. This is unforced praise from them,
for he has no management in eliciting admira-
tion and praise : it comes from his labours alone.
A. B. Duraxd is a landscape painter, and
would be very clever in this branch, if his pre-em-
inent talents as an engraver did not put him as a
painter, in the back ground. His productions are
in every work of standard taste and talents pub-
lished in this country. I have many of his works
in my mind which are exquisite, but as they are
not before me, I shall refrain from my criticisms
lor fear of not doing justice to his merits.
G. W. Hatch is in the same line as Durand,
and has given the most astonishing proofs of
genius. A distinguished artist, on seeing some
of his productions, and understanding to what
age he only had attained, observed, " I know
not to what eminence this voung man mav not
aspire if his life is spared."
Be>~net is one of this gifted society, and
uses his pencil or his graver as occasion re-
quires with ease and talent.
PAINTERS.
102
There are others of reputation in their pro-
fessions who may not be connected with any as-
sociations for the improvement in the arts. Fro-
thingham, a self-taught artist, is an excellent por-
trait painter, who has laboured along with every
difficulty, but who has now reached a stand that
will insure profitable business. He began his
career near Boston, where Stuart was in full bu-
siness, and if he cannot be said to be a pupil of
that great artist, he certainly has caught much of
his manner. The public have been gratified
this year by seeing some of the specimens of his
pencil. The engravings of the heads of Bishop
Cheverus, and the Rev. Doctor Channing, with
others, have given Hoogland an enviable repu-
tation as an artist. Indeed, one might continue
until a volume might be written on the works
of the clever artists now in the active pursuit of
fame and emolument. There is no want of ta-
lent in any department of the arts or sciences,
or in any walk of literature in this country ; pa-
tronage alone is wanted to fill the principal ci-
ties with the first rate proficients.
So much has been done for the advancement
of female education among us that in almost
every walk of life, the women of this coun-
try, have claims for distinction. We have named
a few of those who, possessing a good share of
poetical talent, or are known in the groves of
18*
202
PAINTERS.
learning ; we will mention a few also who are
distinguished as painters. Our ladies are as
yet mostly amateurs, a few only have made
the art a profession. Among the amateurs, and
probably first among them, or female profes-
sional painters, is Mrs. L. Russel, formerly
Miss Smith, daughter of B. Smith, Esq. of Bos-
ton ; she is indeed a most talented woman, but I
am not now attempting to describe her general
scope of intellectual acquirements, but it is as a
painter only I mention her. She, early in life,
discovered a partiality for drawing, and instead
of always copying the lessons of her master, she
boldly designed for herself, to the admiration of
her acquaintances. A long residence in Eu-
rope, particularly in France, gave her fair op-
portunity of improving her skill and refining her
taste in the art.
Some copies she made while she was in Eu-
rope from the works of the masters, astonished
the modern professors, and while they wondered
at her production, would not be persuaded that
she was a native of the new world, and not one
reared in the bosom of the arts. She has taken
several fine portraits of her friends. One of
John Adams, which, allowing for a little of the
female and the friend which is thrown into the
picture, is most excellent, and certainly the
next to Stuart's of any one I have ever seen of
this venerable patriot. There is a freedom of
PAINTERS.
203
pencil and brilliancy of colouring in h£r paint-
ings rarely equalled in this country, so prolific
in painters of great merit. She is to our great
painters what Lord Lyttleton was to Pope among
the poets — an amateur and proficient of exqui-
site taste, who did rxot wish to rank among the
poets ; this, however, was forbidden by the just
laws of Parnassus, and he was put in the cata-
logue of British Bards, so must she among the
painters. Had Mrs. Russel continued her la-
bours, or amusements, call it what you please,
we too should have had an Angelica Hoffman.
Miss Jane Stuart, a daughter of the vete-
ran painter of that name, early discovered marks
of genius in the art. She had made considera-
ble progress in her studies before her father knew
her talent in this way. She copied her father's
paintings as often as she had opportunities, and
with great success. Her friends persuaded her
to attempt original pictures ; and encouraged
by their kindness and patronage, she ventured to
receive now and then a sitter, and was quite suc-
cessful. She is now engaged in the profession,
and discovers much of her father's manner, and
no small share of his spirit. Encouraged by
the munificent and intelligent patrons of her fa-
ther, with industry and patient labour, she will,
without doubt, be a first rate portrait painter.
Miss Goodrich, of Connecticut, has been a
204
PAINTERS.
miniature painter for several years, and some of
her likenesses are said to be very fine ; particu-
larly of ladies. She, as well as those we have men-
tioned, is an estimable woman, as well as a fine
artist. In addition to these there are a great num-
ber of ladies who excel in landscape and ornamen-
tal painting, and several have succeeded in Li-
thographic drawing, who are unwilling to make
their merits known to the public. There are
branches of this art for which the retired life of
many of the ladies in this country is well fitted
to cultivate, and as the country grows in wealth,
a taste for the fine arts will increase, and then
those high accomplishments may be made, when
necessary, a source of emolument far greater*
LETTER XVIII,
New- York, , 1830,
Dear Sir,
I was yesterday introduced to the Ly-
ceum of this city by one of its principal mem-
bers, Dr. De Kay, whose urbanity, intelligence
and devotedness to literary and scientific pur-
suits, are well known in this city: The subjects
of natural history are admirably arranged, and
scientifically classed ; but as you are much bet-
ter acquainted with all these matters than I am,
I shall hasten to the authors and builders of these
institutions rather than dwell on the minute rela-
tions of their extent or excellence.
In one of the rooms of the Lyceum are seve-
ral large cases, marked with the name of Doctor
Samuel L. Mitchell, which is as familiar to you on
the other side of the Atlantic as with us, on this ;
for he has received academic honours from every
literary and scientific institution, I believe, of
note in the world ; and the Doctor himself is less
understood than any other man living. Some
have laughed at him as a credulous, rhapsodical
lover of learning, but without much true science,
206
DR. MITCHELL.
and entirely destitute of judgment and common
sense. Others, and particularly those in fo-
reign countries, hail him as the most learned man
in America ; for they have received more infor-
mation from him than from others, and it is na-
tural they should suppose that he was truly at
the head of our savans and literati. The Doc-
tor has analysed every thing which has been
brought forward for nearly half a century past,
in matter and mind ; and he cannot complain
if he should now be analyzed himself. In
that part of his character which assures a man
true respect and affection from those around
him, a kind disposition and a benevolent heart,
and a life of charitable deeds, the Doctor has
nothing to fear from any scrutiny. But to com-
mence as the moral anatomist, upon his capaci-
ties, powers and organizations, it may be said
that his memory is wonderful, and he has stored
up an immense accumulation of facts in every
art and science, and every incident in history ;
not contented with this, he never suffers a fact,
or circumstance, which he has taken pains to
treasure in his memory, to be there alone ; but
he makes a minute of it on paper, and puts that
in a pigeon-hole, to answer as a voucher to his
memory, if that should fail him, or be doubted
by himself or others. From these methods he
has obtained advantages over most men, in fact,
I might say, over any one I ever knew. He has
DR. MITCHELL.
207
not only been industrious in this accumulation
of valuable materials, but his mind has been ac-
tive in reasoning upon them. He is happy in
great quickness of perception, and falls more
naturally into a train of correct reasoning, than
those who labour ever so hard for it. He de-
scribes with great ease, and often most felici-
tously. If his style is sometimes tainted with a
little vanity, it bears no marks of arrogance.
It is true that he never fears to meet a subject,
however novel, and it is true that he seldom
touches one without giving it some new grace
or ornament. He is equally happy in giving
names as characteristics. A monster of the
ocean unknown, and of course unnamed by an-
cients or moderns, some ten years ago was
caught in our waters ; the Doctor saw, dissect-
ed it, and named it " the Vampire of the
oceau and I challenge the lovers of BurTon to
produce a more accurate, lively, and philoso-
phical description in all that admired author's
works, than was given of this anomaly. The
Doctor is called credulous ; indeed he is ; but
his is not the credulity of wondering igno-
rance, that knowing nothing, believes every
thing ; whose imagination makes hobgoblins and
" chimeras dire and fears the powers of fiends,
because he knows nothing of angelic natures.
The Doctor's credulity, in all the wonders of
creation, is like that charged by the noble Fes-
208
DR. MITCHELL.
tus upon Paul — " much learning makes thee
mad:" by which madness was meant an un-
bounded credulity in believing a newly promul-
gated religion, which was to the wise a stumbling
block and to the Greeks foolishness. The Doc-
tor's credulity arose from knowing more than
other men. He was acquainted with the laws
of nature, and knew not where to fix her bounds.
He saw that she was carrying on innumerable
processes, in an immense laboratory, and could
not say what she might not produce next. If
he who knows but little is credulous, he who
knows much is more so. About forty years
since, a wise father, whose son had been in In-
dia, heard his accounts of certain religionists of
that country, suspending themselves with hooks
thrust through the flesh or the ribS, and swin£-
ing for hours in the air, said, " My dear son, I
believe your narrative fully, because you have been
taught to tell the truth ; but do not repeat the story,
for others will not believe you ; it is too much for
them to credit ; wait a while, and others will tell
the tale, ami you may confirm it ; J will assure you
it is dangerous to be a discoverer ;" — and the
friends of Fulton begged of him not to persist in
his speculations on the use of steam engines.
Such credulity as Dr. Mitchell possesses, has
been the promoter of all that is useful in the arts
and sciences. Tecumseh said to an Indian
agent, " You tell me that you know how many
DR. MITCHELL.
209
steps it is round this earth, and you never crossed
the mountains ! Tell me who is the mother of all
the rivers ; how deep is the sea ; and when the sun
will grow old, and die, like my forefathers ; I will
then believe that you can tell me how long my arms
must he to embrace my mother earth" The agent
replied, " I can tell you when yon moon shall
hide her head, and become dark ; and you will
see the darkness come on ; and all yon tribes
shall see it also." The wondering savage
seized the thought, and bought the secret ; fore-
told the eclipse to his followers ; this increased
their confidence in him ; the eclipse happened ;
his fame was established ; and he threatened the
agent and astronomer, from whom he obtained
the secret, with death, if he was not out of his
reach forthwith. The moral is at hand ; ma-
ny a one has availed himself of the Doctor's
information, calculations, and conjectures, and
tried to hide his own ignorance in abusing the
source from whence his knowledge flowed.
There is a vanity, however, in human nature,
which the good Doctor has a share of; that is,
a desire of having a reputation for knowing al-
most all things ; yet it must be confessed, that
the Doctor's manner is modest enough.
The Doctor has been charged with enthusi-
asm. He is enthusiastic ; but it is that ardour of
mind that wishes to raise the standard of know-
ledge above what it is in this country, which
19
4
210
DR. MITCHELL.
is, indeed, a pardonable enthusiasm. Nothing
good or great was ever achieved without it. It
is the " divine inflation" which swells the bo-
soms of the gods of knowledge, when they la-
bour for the sons of men.
The Doctor is not only credulous, inquisitive,
enthusiastic, but ambitious. He wishes this coun-
try to be the first on earth, and himself the first
in the country. This is fair ; and if he fails in
either, after having made the struggle to bring
about his wishes, who will say that the attempt
was not a noble one ? Give us more such ambi-
tious men as Sir Humphry Davy, such credu-
lous ones as Columbus and Fulton, and you may
cover them with the names of enthusiasts, dupes,
and insane men, and every o^ber epithet that
ignorance and dulness can pick. up, or mouth,
after some disappointed rival has once spoken it.
There is another sin the Doctor has long been
guilty of; and that is, the sin of perseverance
in attempting to enlighten mankind, after scio-
lists and fops have satirized him for attempting
to make them wise. This is a l- grievous of-
fence" and one that can never be forgiven,
while envy has so much sway among men.
If any one denies the Doctor taste and sci-
ience, let him go and view his cabinet of curi-
osities, and see the order and beauty of his
arrangement. Every thing in its place, from
the butterfly and humming-bird, caught on the sum-
DR. MITCHELL. 211
mer fiourr, to the tooth of the mastodon, the
horns of the elk, and the brick, coming all the
way from Babylon, to the meteoric stone coming
from God-knows-where, and then ask him if
there is not taste, science, skill, patience, and
much that should make a great philosopher in
Dr. Mitchell's cabinet.
X
LETTER XIX.
Boston, 1830.
Dear Sir,
I am now in Boston, the metropolis of
New-England. It answers my expectations, in
most respects, and in many instances, far ex-
ceeds them, The city has improved since I
visited it in former years. The buildings are
of a convenient kind, and many of them elegant.
No seventy thousand people on the globe are
better lodged, or from what I see of the market,
and public and private tables, better fed. The
people are mostly of one descent from the first
settlers of the country, and have about them all
the marks of their ancestors ; nor are these
characteristics of this people confined to this
city, every part of the commonwealth have
the same. The city of Boston abounds in
public schools of the first order. The poor
share with the rich the blessings of education.
The city boasts of ample public libraries ; and
private ones are more numerous, and better
chosen than can be found in any other city in
this country ; and perhaps I might venture to
BOSTON.
213
say in any other in the world. The police is
excellent. The streets are clean, and all things
show a well regulated community. The affairs
of state are managed by a numerous assembly
of representatives who are, generally speaking,
highly intelligent men ; if in tlve multitude of
counsellors there is safety, this state cannot suf-
fer, or be in danger.
The College Halls, within three miles of the
city are ancient and noble edifices. This uni-
versity dates its origin nearly as far back as the
foundation of the city. The men as you walk
the streets have that solemn determined look,
which their fathers had when they came out in
open warfare with the mother country, and un-
questionably are as brave as they were, with
much more intelligence. On the Exchange are
to be found the old fashioned, honest merchant,
with the bustling, modern, brokering speculator.
The courts of justice, have the respect and con-
fidence of the people ; and when it is said, " the
Supreme Court have so decided" all conflicting
opinions cease, and the rule laid down by them
becomes absolute. They venerate the laws
and are ready to protect the court on any occa-
sion. The high places of the judgment seats,
and even those of minor power, have on gene-
ral been well filled, for public opinion would
not tolerate any but good talents and of unques-
tionable probity on the bench for any length of
19*
214
BOSTON.
time. The volumes containing the reported de-
cisions of their Supreme Court, have been
thought well of in England, and 1 have heard
arguments from lawyers in this city that would
do honour to the fierce Brougham or to the
straight forward Scarlet.
Every profession has its learned men in this
place, and many of them of true merit in socie-
ty. Although this state first began the revolu-
tionary war, they have but little rebellious mat-
ter about them. They are all as quiet as any
community I ever saw, under their own govern-
ment. Three years before the contest for in-
dependence closed, the people had made them-
selves a constitution, and form of government ;
which was in most of its features a model for
many other states' constitutions. John Han-
cock, the first signer of the declaration of inde-
pendence, was their first governor. He was a
man who filled a great sphere in society, and has
left an imperishable name for his country's his-
tory. He was in the chair of the commonwealth,
except one year, from 1780 until his death in
1792. The learned, philophical Bowdoin filled
the chair of the commonwealth, that year. It
was this year that this state had to crush an in-
surrection that threatened to subvert the gov-
ernment. Samuel Adams, who was a patriot,
and should have been called the Inflexible, was
his successor. A good and a great man succeed.
BOSTON.
215
ed him, Increase Sumner, who was as just as he
was amiable. Caleb Strong was chosen after
him. He came from the interior of the state,
a wise, shrewd, catious man, who was a fair
representative of the first settlers of the country,
who were, as wise as serpents, and as harmless as
doves. He was sudceeded in 1807 by James
Sullivan, a bold, energetic chief magistrate ; who
was strongly opposed, at his coming in, by a
powerful party, but died in less than two years,
having gained by his upright, and independent
administration the confidence of most of his con-
stituents. In 1809 Christopher Gore, a well
bred politician, a scholar and a gentleman, was
his successor. In 1810 Elbridge Gerry, who
had been an efficient member of the state legis-
lature in 1775, and a member of the continen-
tal congress afterwards, and had been conspicu-
ous in both bodies, was the successful candidate.
He administered the affairs of the commonwealth
for two years, and Strong came again into pow-
er, and held the chair during the war. The
gallant General John Brooks was his successor.
His popularity, as a revolutionary officer was
paramount to all political, or party feelings, and of
course he was the governor of the people. To
him succeeded Doctor Eustis, a man who had
served in a medical capacity for several years in
the revolutionary war, had been a member of Con-
gress from Massachusetts, and afterwards Secre-
*
216
BOSTON.
tary of War in the general government. The
whole of this group were great men : thev had
enemies as well as friends : but all had done the
country some service, and each had high claims
for the office, and they were men of whom their
opponents were proud. Some of them, it is
true, came into power in the spasms of party ;
but the Commonwealth had not descended, as
many others had. to take up men of sixth rate
minds, or come so low as to fill the chair of
state with the spawn of political apathy. Mas-
sachusetts then considered her governors as
holding only the second office in the country :
and after having filled this, they would not ac-
cept of any other. Changes come over every
people. Sometimes they oppose those they are
proud of; at other times, support those they are
ashamed of. The Athenians were an enlight-
ened people, but as volatile as intelligent. At
one time they ostracised those of political in-
tegrity, and prostituted their honours by lifting
into high places those loose, spongy, declaiming
demagogues, of whose want of political virtue
every one was aware, even m the midst of his
infatuation. These things will happen. A
sleeping lion will suffer a slimy lizard to crawl
over his nose, or hang on the majesty of his
mane.
The soil of Massachusetts is a hard one, and
will not allow any idleness in the cultivation of
♦
BOSTON.
217
it. Industry has made it productive and valua-
ble. The intelligence of the people has turned
every rood of land to advantage, and if it does not
support its man, it supports precisely that for
which it was made. Massachusetts is a land of
hills, and of many streams of water ; nature
pointed out the place for a manufacturing coun-
try ; and notwithstanding the disasters which
have befallen this interest, throughout New-
England, it will still be a manufacturing coun-
try, and equal to the wants of the market.
This people are struggling to keep the fore-
most rank in the literature of the country, and
are establishing town and county Lyceums for
the diffusion of knowledge. These are most
admirable institutions ; for they offer the ambi-
tious not only an opportunity to acquire know-
ledge, but also to display it. The antiquities of
the country are sought for, and the time is near
at hand when a correct history of it will be
written by some of their enterprising literary
people.
For the happiness of the whole there was too
great an inequality of property ; but this evil
will not last long : in fact the overgrown for-
tunes have found an agrarian law in overdoing
the manufacturing business. This business will
fall into other hands ; the second, third, and
minor classes of wealthy men, have taken the
place of the primary classes, and all will go on
218 BOSTON.
harmoniously, and strictly, if not so lucratively
as formerly.
The whole of New-England abounds in a
wholesome population, full of industry and intel-
ligence. She has also some, yea, many great
men. She, with other parts of the country, has
committed mistakes in her policy, but she has
a defence for most, or all of them. The East,
North, and South, had many things to learn,
and not a small part of them was a better ac-
quaintance with each other. New-England has
produced a large number of patrons of learning,
and they still abound here. Names might be
mentioned that would answer to be placed along
side of the great friends of learning in every
age ; but as her own historians have, or should
long since have given their deeds to the reader,
I shall close by saying that I have packed up a
box of books relating to their history, manners,
habits, and schools, their possessions, their
hopes, their every thing, and shall leave you Xq
read for yourself,
LETTER XX.
Boston, , 1830.
Dear Sir,
When I was here some years since, I
by accident, in a mail coach, become acquaint-
ed with a singular man of the profession of the
law. He was witty, 'profligate ; not " thin, but fat,
jolly, and infinitely amusing. On my return, I
inquired for him, alas ! he was not here, but al-
though I knew it was not reputable to be seen
with him, yet I felt it a^ a disappointment to find
that he had gone the way of all the earth. Ex-
pressing my wish to know something of his his-
tory, a friend put a manuscript in my hand from
which with his consent I have extracted the fol-
lowing account ; if it is as interesting to you as
he was to me, I shall be paid for transcribing it.
The Maxim " De mortuis nil nisi bonum,"
" say nothing of the dead but what is good, has
wisely been changed to " De mortuis nil nisi
verum." But even the truth should not be told
at all times, if it casts a shadow over the grave ;
for the dead cannot defend themselves. It is
far better that the pall of oblivion should be
220
BARTLET.
thrown over the errors of sinful man, than
that they should be exposed, unless their expo-
sition may servo as a beacon and a warning to
those who may come after us. To drag into
public, what was done in private, is wrong ; but
those who filled every act of the drama of life
as public men, who enacted every thing for no-
toriety and effect, and whose deeds had an in-
fluence on society, are fair subjects of examina-
tion, and animadversion. They must have ex-
pected this when living, and their friends cannot
complain of it when they are gone. There are
those who must be held out for us to shun, as
well as those exhibited for us to imitate ; detest-
ation for vice is nearly allied to a love of virtue.
As much may be learned from the reckless pro-
fligacy of Anthony, as from the severe virtues of
Cato ; and from the life of Caesar Borgia, as
from that of Pius VII. In our young communi-
ty, we have, in general, buried every thing in
the grave ; and tread lightly over the ashes of the
dead, hardly daring to repeat the maxim, " No
good man weeps when gifted villains die :" But
the welfare of society demands that this injudi-
cious modesty be overruled ; and truth, bold,
distinct, and naked, when it can do good, should,
unhesitatingly, be brought forth. It is abso-
lutely idle, and in fact, next to ridiculous, to
show a shrinking delicacy about one who never
had exhibited any regard for himself or for
BARTLET.
221
others. It may be said that the living should
be regarded, if the dead are not. This is right,
to a certain extent ; but not to a very great one.
The innocent child should not be distressed by
premature remarks upon his parents, nor the
aged parent agonized by a display of the vices of
the child. There should be discretion in all
things ; but the subject of this sketch died child-
less, and his parents are no more, and probably
there is not one living to whom a full develop-
ment of his character would give a pang ; for if
his profuseness made, for a while, any impres-
sions upon the minds of the grateful, his dupli-
city and deceptions wiped them all away ; and
they can hear of him as of men for whom they
had no regard, or never knew.
Joseph Bartlet was born at Plymouth, the
landing place of the Pilgrims, about 1763. His
parents were highly respectable, among the
moral and intelligent of that exemplary people.
He was sent to Harvard College, and graduated
in 1783. He had a highly respectable standing
as a scholar in his class, as is, in some measure,
proved by his being one of the three to whom
the charter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society was
sent by the Alpha, then existing at William and
Mary College, Virginia, for the University at
Cambridge. He early attained that wretched
notoriety which bas injured so many young men
in college — the reputation for wit and excentri-
20
222
BARTLET.
city. The gay gather round such a man, to join
in the amusement, and the grave and sober now
and then relish a good thing from him ; and it
must be remembered, that the age in which he
came forward, was not remarkable for its sobrie-
ty, or reverence for holy things. The country
was indeed engaged, at that time, in a great
struggle, — one on which hung the destinies of
the nation; but any man acquainted with human
nature, knows that great exertions of this kind
produce every evil fruit in morals and manners.
The elements of society were in a measure
afloat, during the revolutionary war, and parti-
cularly at its close.
Bartlet left his Alma Mater the year of the
peace, 1783 ; and every thing was in doubt and
confusion. .The brave were resting from their
toils, thinking they had done their share of
the great work ; and were willing that others
should commence their labours. At such a fa-
vourable moment fur confusion, the demagogues
who had been silent, when there was any danger,
now raised their voices at every corner, and in
every high place, to excite the turbulent against
order and moderation. Bartlet jssued from the
halls of his college to join in the full cry of
liberty and equality, with those who intended to
profit by uproftr und confusion. He was well cal-
culated to assist in raising the whirlwind ; but had
no talents or disposition to aid in directing the
BARTLET.
223
storm. Bartlet was soon conspicuous among
the vulgar and the riotous ; for he had a ready
elocution that caught the shallow, who were
contented with any specious arguments, when it
was in consent with their wishes. He was at
such times more than a match for men more
powerful in argument than himself, for his ready
wit never failed him, when he found it in vain
to reason ; and in any contest he seldom failed
to get the laugh on his side ; and this is much
in a dispute now, and was more then. At this pe-
riod of life he was an open infidel, and this was
thought by some as being a mark of a great
mind. The loose in principle wanted a witty
leader, one who had the capacity of using pro-
fligate satire and indecent ribaldry in their cause,
against the decent and pious. They bad a n;an
in Bartlet on whom they could rely. The reli-
gious had long been unaccustomed to be dis-
turbed in their opinions : they had, it is true,
quarrelled a little about points ; but had seldom
been assailed at all points; and they hardly
knew what to make of it, when they were bold-*
ly attacked in their very citadel. The pious
were alarmed at this course, and shuddered at
his attempts to make shipwreck of their faith ;
while the free thinker enjoyed it, and made him
a much greater man in point of intellect than he
really was.
Soon after leaving college, he went to Sa-
BARTLET.
lem, to study law ; and in the mean time to
teach a school. He could not have spent much
time in this place, for he was not at all suited
for that latitude. They are a quiet, thinking
people in Salem, and were not prepared for such
opinions. At this time, many of our young men
were taking a voyage to England, and Bartfct
thought he would go likewise ; and without much
preparation he set sail. This was, indeed, an
adventure. He had no object in view, except
to see if he could bring his wit and convivial
talents to a market. In this he in a degree sue
ceeded.
From the opulent Americans around him he
obtained supplies for the present, and trusted to
chance for the future.
One night when Bartlet was in the Theatre
in London, a play was going on, in which his
countrymen were ridiculed, I believe it is one
of General Burgoyne's plays ; a number of re-
bels had been taken, and brought into the Brit,
ish camp-on the inquiry being made about
their occupations, I believe the play says ^ pro-
fessions^ before they became soldiers, the an-
swer was, although many of them were officers,
that they were of different callings ; some were
barbers, some tailors, some tinkers, dec. at this
moment Bartlet rose from his seat in the pit,
and cried, " hurra ! Great Britain beaten by
barbers, taylors and tinkers!" The effect was
BARTLET.
125
wonderful. John Bull took it all in good part ;
and many of the Bloods of the day introduced
themselves to him : and he made the best of the
occasion. Those who were pleased with his
boldness, soon became enamoured with his wit.
He had no restraint upon moral, political or re-
ligious grounds in saying any thing, and his
manners were, when he ehose, gentleman-
ly, and very fascinating ; and he for awhile
was quite a lion in a certain circle ; he was as-
suredly distinguished wherever he went. The
Bucks of London at that time supposed that
Americans were savages, and were surprised to
find one who had been caught, tamed, and in their
view, somewhat polished. He was sought after
and petted, and in good faith they found that he
had seen, before they saw him — a hand of cards.
He often boasted, that this time he had frequent
meetings with Fox, and Sheridan, and is this
unlikely ? But Bartlet's maxim of " carpe di-
em" would not suffer him long to be even a
fortunate gambler ; he was too sensual, and
luxurious for that ; soon as his purse was full,
the society of the table, took precedence of all
others. He had no legitimate hold on society,
but like the moss on the rock clung to it by sic-
city or saturation, until blown off, and there-
fore it is not wonderful that he should have
found himself in prison after a season of drought
and showers. Here he groaned and cursed
20*
226
BARTLET.
awhile ; but found that such a course did not
do any good, and he set his wits to work to get
out of confinement. For this purpose he wrote
a play, which has since perished with ten thou-
sand others, but this was a novelty ; a play
from an American ! This provided him a sum
sufficient for his release. His former friends,
he has often said, gave it a character it did not
merit. \ "* •
The particulars of this event he would never
precisely acknowledge ; but met every inquiry
with his usual escape, — some facetious remark,
From London he set his face towards Edin-
burgh, and there under an assumed name went
on the stage, and as Mr. Maitland, enacted sev-
eral parts in genteel comedy ; and if his own
account of himself may be taken, was quite suc-
cessful. He prided himself in being at home
in Belcour in the West Indian, and in all prob-
ability, at that time, he had some qualifications
for the part. His histrionic career was not
long ; he was too fond of society to study enough
to make an actor, if nature had fitted him
through industry, to have become one. He
soon grew tired with this way of life, and has-
tened back to London, after one season, and
made an acquaintance with the mercantile clas-
ses, who were then in a rage to fill the United
States with goods ; and strange as it may seem
by his specious representations, and their anx-
BARTLET.
227
iety to sell, he procured a large credit. These
were probably insured in London, and perhaps,
the creditors did not suffer much, for the vessel
in which Bartlet was returning with his goods,
was cast away on cape Cod, and wras lost, with
the bulk of her cargo.
There is an anecdote connected with this
shipwreck quite characteristic of Bartlet. On
the voyage he had been constantly descanting
on his favourite topic, the theme of the French
philosophers, " the eternal sleep of the grave,
and tlie recuperative force of matter" and
that he was ready to take up his march at a
moments warning ; but when the vessel struck
the shore, he discovered the most cowardly anx-
iety for his safety, and when asked what had
become of his philosophy, and contempt of
death ? like Falstaff, he evaded the subject by
saying " that it is not that I fear to die ; but I
should dislike to be found dead in such a dreary
place, as the back of cape Cod." There is noth-
ing more amusing than to trace the selfishness
of those of his school who preach disinterested
benevolence. This patriot and champion for
the new philosophy, took care to get to the shore
as soon as possible, leaving the gentlemen of
old fashioned principles to assist the female pas-
sengers in making their escape.
On his arrival at Boston he formed a copart-
nership in business as a merchant, and again left
228
BARTLET.
his country for England. He again obtained a
very considerable credit for his firm, which soon
failed ; but how much he was to blame in this
I never could discover.
Tired with trade, he returned to his first in-
tention of studying the law. While engaged in
reading his profession, the insurrection of Dan-
iel Shays, and his party took place, and the
troops of the lower counties in Massachusetts,
were ordered to march to suppress it. Rein-
forcements were soon wanting, and volunteer
companies were raised in Boston and the vicin-
ity, and Bartlett was chosen to command one of
them. He told them so much of his prowess,
that they thought him a great military cheiftain.
Captain Bobadil could not have said more of
himself. He took up his line of march from
Boston to Springfield ; but two hours after he had
left the town of Boston, he was ordered to re-
turn, for the insurrection was quelled and tran-
quillity established. On this news the captain
of the train-band made a speech, regreting that
he and his brave followers, had not had an op-
portunity of showing their courage ; and closed
his harangue by saying, that he had not the
slightest doubt, that Shays had retreated on
hearing that he was coming with his brave com-
pany.
On his admission to the bar he opened his of-
fice at a town called Woburn, within a dozen
BARTLET.
229
miles of Boston, and here began his career as a
wit, a lawyer, and a politician. Never was there
a better demagogue. He harangued in the grog
shops, and at the town meetings ; and at all times
had the power of setting the mob in a roar ; and
sober men too, if within hearing, found him irre-
sistible. His aim was first to attract attention
and then to assail his audience through the me-
dium of their vanity, and then to direct them
when they were excited, to a spirit of faction
and misrule. As odd as Jo Bartlet, was soon a
by word. He had painted his house black, and
caled it "-the coffin," and the passers-by stared,
inquired, and wondered what sort of a man this
Jo Bartlet could be. In a few years he moved
to Cambridge, the half-shire of the county of
Middlesex. *
Here was a wider field for the display of his
talents, than he had found in a small town ; not
that he expected or wished to associate with the
literati at Harvard university. The faculty had
no love for such a man ; his politics, his religion,
or rather his want of any religion ; and all his
opinions, and habits were not to their taste ; but
he knew that he should gain popularity by an-
noying them, that is the only popularity with the
only class of people he ever expected to secure,
the profligate and lawless. By some manage-
ment he got himself selected as poet for the an-
niversary celebration of the Phi Betta Kappa. In
230
BARTLET.
this production he indulged his spleen against
some of the professors of that institution. This
was, however severe, the best production of his
pen that is extant. There is poetry, taste and
no little splendour in this work, however un-
just or sarcastic it may be.
In all the domestic concerns of the college, he
strove to have a part. At every quarter-day he
watched the poets and the performances of every
kind, and gave his biassed and partial opinions
to the world, through the medium of the press.
This was indeed dreadful ; for these candidates
for fame imagined their own little world to be
all the world ; but the public newspaper taught
them otherwise ; and they found the critic was
after them, before they had trusted themselves
to the press. By these attacks on the quarterly
performances, Bartlet often felt the resentment
of the schoiars, and had but few or none to sup-
port him ; but he made mischief, and that was
pleasant to him.
He invited a few of the scholars to his table,
and kept a small party in his train, who drank
his wine, and who were sure, while in his favour,
that he would violate every thing like justice, to
make them conspicuous. He joined in every
little college feud, for the love of confusion and
uproar. The town of Cambridge was agitated
by party violence, and in the whirlwind he now
and then was thrown up to public notice, and
BARTLET. 231
succeeded, more than once, in obtaining a seat
in the House of Representatives in the general
court ; but he had no weight in that body ; the
materials of that assembly were not much affect-
ed by his wit, or in the least guided by his poli-
tical opinions ; still he enjoyed it ; for his ele-
ment was a rancorous opposition. At the
Courts he was not more respected than in the
Legislature ; for he mixed himself up with his
clients, who, in general, were harlots, rogues,
and knaves, of every size and grade. He amu-
sed those he did not benefit ; and spunged all by
one piece of management or another ; and this
class often find means to pay counsel when they
seem extremely poor. Such a man as Bartlet
wears badly in any place ; and he found his po-
pularity, such as it was, declining : with the
honest he had but little communion^ and with
the bad he was out of. favour, for they found he
had no weight with a jury ; and often his repu-
tation, and his clients' together, ruined a pretty
fair cause. It was time for him, to use his
own expression, " to see new faces " From
Cambridge he removed to Saco, in the province,*
now state of Maine. In this place he began, with
fresh vigour, the same course he had pursued
at Cambridge, as to politics and law. He ob-
tained credit sufficient to erect a good house,
and seemed, for a while, flourishing, particular-
ly in politics. He was sent a senator from the
1
232
V, A KTLET.
county of York, to the Legislature of Massa-
chusetts. In this body he was courted for his
own vote, perhaps, but never carried a single
one by his arguments or his eloquence ; but it
is thought he assailed some propositions with
success, by the force of his ridicule; but this
more often deters the modest from doing good,
than the bold from doing evil ; but ridicule is no
test of truth, at any time. The next year found him
an unsuccessful candidate for the same office ;
but this did not discourage him; his patriotism
burned so conspicuously, that his partizar.s put
him in nomination for Congress, and he was so
active with his pen and tongue in electioneering
for himself, aided by his followers, that he run
nearly equal with his opponent, having, at
the close of the polls, within half a dozen
votes as many as the successful candidate.
Some of his political writings of that period
had some pungency, and no little satire in
them ; yet they went to decay and oblivion
with the autumnal leaves of the year; but
at that time they were blown about and spread
abroad, as thickly as the thistle down, over
the fields and gardens, and gave considera-
ble alarm to the sound and virtuous politicians of
the day. The demagogue, a happy circum-
stance for morals, gives his breath to the winds,
and its first influence is generally the worst.
Even the rancorous words of politicians com-
BARTLET. 233
mitted to the periodica! press are soon forgotten.
Junius may be stated a*, ?-n exception ; but this
only proves the rule. At this day the opinions
of that great writer pass for nothing, and his ma-
lice would be condemned if it had not been em-
balmed in so felicitous a style ; a style as full of
genius as beauty. The folds of the serpent are
preserved to accompany and account for the
writhings, the agonies and griefs of the Laocoon-
tes ; but the very reptile which adds to the won-
derful effect of the group would be turned from
with instinctive disgust, if it had been chiselled
out- alone, or by an ordinary hand. By his im-
prudence and waywardness, he was at length
broken up here, also. His power over the mul-
titude was every day diminishing, and his chance
of political advancement nearly gone, when he
removed to Portsmouth, in New-Hampshire.
In this place he had some business, and some
influence for a while, owing to the party spirit
which then agitated the community ; but the
sagacious people of that town had formed a
pretty just estimate of his character, and he
made no progress in political life, and with
difficulty found means to support himself as a
citizen. His clients were of the same grade in
New-Hampshire as his clients had been in
other places ; but even this class of clients soon
discovered that their advocate must have some
standing in society to do any good in court ;
01
234
BARTLET.
and they turn from such men as Bartlet, afier
some experience, to find men of influence to as-
sist them. At this time he had depreciated as
a man of talents, his stories had been told a
hundred times, his flashes of wit were less fre-
quent, and he often attempted to make up in
scurrility what was wanting in acuteness. From
day to day he grew more irregular in his habits,
and more careies3 in his person, and of course
he was neglected by many, who once from cour-
tesy associated with him : and the good people
of Portsmouth were heartily tired of him long
— o
before his departure from the place ; and at
length hired him to go, by agreeing' to take
a certain number of tickets for some recita-
tion which he proposed to give. This literary
exhibition -was beneath contempt, but secured
him a handsome sum of money, for so slight a
labour. Bartlet lingered in Portsmouth a while,
until his money was nearly or quite exhausted,
and then set out for Boston. Here he opened
his office ; but very few clients, however, found
their way to it ; and those few were miserable
wretches, who came for a writ for an assault and
battery, or some such grievous matter, and from
whom he could only squeeze a few dollars. In
this situation he became a tax to his friends, or
rather on those who had known him in his enrly
days, or had become acquainted with him in the
various paths he trod in life ; and such was the
BARTLET.
235
liberality of the community in which he lived,
that the amount received by him, if it had been
prudently expended, would have supported him
in all the necessaries of life ; but who ever
knew such a man with a particle of even fore-
thought ? His principal reliance was on the
members of the Suffolk bar, but others assisted
freely, and particularly the benevolent Mrs.
F****, whose husband kept a public house in the
city. She was the most judicious of all those
who gave him succour ; and to her he was al-
ways obedient -and respectful ; and his regard
for her judgment was the only proof, for a long
while before he died, that he was not lost to eve*
ry correct principle of conduct. Bartlet's case
is not the only instance of her. good sense and
liberality to the unfortunate. Never was a more
judicious philanthropist than this good woman,
nor one that did so much with the same means ;
for she is as discriminating and prudent as she
is charitable. For six or seven years Bartlet
went on in this way, until he died in 1S27 ; and
his exit was a relief to all around [lim. The
death of such a man gives no one the heart-
ache, or causes a tear to be shed.
When we sum up the whole matter of the life
of such a man, we find it amounts to little ; no
one has been made wiser, or happier by him ;
and his whole existence, with all its evils, does
not furnish sufficient of incident or variety, to
28G
BARTLET.
point a moral or adorn a tale. A wit is indeed
" a feather ;" and the smart things said any
where, are echoed but once or twice, and then
given to the winds. The wit of Bartlet was in
general neat and tasteful ; and if it had not been
allied, like Voltaire's, to infidelity, it- would have
gained him more fame than it did. Some of his
flashes of witty resentment showed so much of
heartlessness, that the listener shuddered at the
blasphemy, while he could not refrain from
laughing, at the moment, at the singularity of it.
What can there be so evanescent as wit ? for
although the writer of this brief sketch has
heard many of his witticisms from Bartlet him-
self, and others, yet he has suffered them
to pass from his memory, as the recollection
of them would be productive of no good ; but
in justice it should be said, that Bartlet has
never published any thing, with his name, that
has an immoral tendency. His poem on phy-
siognomy delivered before the Phi Betta Kap-
pa, at Harvard university, was evidently intend-
ed as a satire on particular individuals, and like
most satires contains many exaggerations ; yet
there is nothing in it offensive to morals, or
manners, and considering the state of poetry at
the time in which it was written, is a very fair
poem in regard to the talents it discovers. It
had something of his spiteful disposition in it,
but none of that outrageous slander that he was
BARTLET. 237
every day breathing out in his intercourse with
society. At a later period he wrote a book of
aphorisms that are well enough, but the produc-
tion cannot be said to have any great share of
originality in it. After the proverbs of Solomon ;
Rochefaucalt, and those of the Spanish writers
down to Sancho Panga, there seems but little to
glean in aphoristic literature.
In the writings attributed to him which ap-
peared from time to time, twenty or thirty
years, ago there was much of vi uperation and
false reasoning ; but it is very seldom that truth
is found in party accusation or defence, and he
never had even a sense of decency to restrain
Him, to say nothing of principle. In his wri-
tings as well as in his conversation a most ma-
licious spirit was evident when he was in the
least offended. He raved at the rich because
he felt his own poverty, he sneared at the pru-
dent because he knew that he was destitute of
all economy ; he ridiculed the learned, for he
was too indolent to store his mind with useful
knowledge ; and, like many, he affected to de-
spise what he had not industry to obtain. He re-
lied in middle life, and in old age on the acquire-
ments of his youth, which were respectable, but
the starved mind soon discovers its deficiencies
and weakness. He that does not sow and reap,
in seed time and harvest, and that on, every sea-
son, will soon deal out straw and chaff for
21*
238 BARTLET.
sheaves, and provender. As his head grew
more empty his heart grew more rotten, for the
time must be rilled up with something ; and when
emulation ceases envy must come to fill every
void of the heart. All the good kind men did
him produced only a momentary impression, and
his gratitude was a mere transient matter of
sunshine, while his resentments were rancour-
ous and lasting. The heart and the head fre-
quently become diseased together. In his times
of distress he attempted to poise himself on his
philosophy ; but it was a shallow, cold, heartless,
infidel philosophy, destitute of hope or enthusi-
asm, and which could only be supported by hu-
man pride. It was that , bravery whose parent
is cowardice, and which prefers the impulses of
desperation to the dictates of a deliberate judg-
ment, that gave the semblance of energy to
any part of his conduct. The empire either of
wit, or of any other power, mental, political, or
adventitious soon passes away, unless the most
strenuous exertions are made to maintain and
extend it. The wit which once " set the table in
a roar," loses its point by repetition, and the
laugh, once so contagious that the gravest could
not resist it, after a while becomes " stale, fiat,
and unprofitable" Fashion is every thing, but
fashion soon passes away, or rather changes
her form, for she is truly eternal in spirit, and
power ; and the joke that was once racy and
BARTLET.
239
piquant, after awhile, becomes dull and ceases
to attract attention, and the sentimental or na-
tional song, takes its place. Foot was some-
times tedious, and Sheridan maudlin, prosaic and
intolerable ; and they tired their companions
even when their talents were brought to a bet-
ter market than Bartlet could find in this coun-
try for his.
An imprudent man frequently under the ap-
pearance of carelessness and great liberality,
is selfish and exclusive, and often attempts to
put down the claims of justice by an assumption
of generosity ; and the complaints of a large
creditor, for his total loss, are drowned in the
abundant thanks, and noisy gratitude of some
recipient of a slight benefaction. There is no
particle of resentment or malice in the remarks
I have made on the subject of this memoir, nor
any wish to keep his failings alive. The sketch
was made to show the young the vanity of a
reputation for wit, and the folly of struggling to
be thought a genius, unless industry, and ex-
panded feeling are allied to distinguished powers
and happy gifts. Of Bartlet the world may
speak freely, for his father has long since gone
down with sorrow to the grave, and the wife of
his youth was obliged to desert him when ten.
derness and affection had become strangers to
his bosom ; and he left no child to blush at his
father's failings. If the dead, not claimed by re-
240
BARTLET.
lations or friends, maybe taken by common con-
sent to the theatre of the anatomist for the pub-
lic good, surely the character of one whose life
may serve to warn us of the dangers incident
to our journey from youth to the grave, or teach
us to shun the vices of society as we pass on, is
common property for the moralist or sermoni-
zer. If there was any thing in such a life to
attract attention, there was nothing to secure
respect. No mourner followed his hearse, no
poet sung his dirge, and where rest his ashes
no one will inquire. So pass away the profli-
gate and the unprincipled.
LETTER XXX.
Boston, 1830.
Dear Sir,
I have not had sufficient leisure to exe-
cute that part of your commission which relates
.to those distinguished men of the United States
who have just gone off the stage. They are not
numerous, as the old revolutionists are falling like
autumnal leaves, and those of the next genera-
tion begin rapidly to follow"; of the first class
much has been said, of the second but little, for
there has not been much time to think of their
merits. And perhaps it is not best to say much
about them now, as there is a revolution taking
place in the public mind, and it may be well to
wait until this has become settled. Men were
estimated according to their offices, the people
are becoming wise, and they will be estimated
according to their merits. I have sketched one
you inquired after, general Brown, and the oth-
ers I send you, are well known to me.
The physical force of the army of the United
States is nothing. A few thousand troops are
to be found at the different forts and canton-
242
GEN. BROWN.
ments along the seaboard and frontiers ; the plan
pursued I think is admirable. They support of-
ficers and not soldiers. These officers are men
of intellect and good morals and instead of gov-
erning men, which would afford them no oppor-
tunity of improving their minds, they are enga-
ged in scientific pursuits and are serviceable to
the country by making its topography known to
all sorts of people. In case of war men can be
raised and disciplined in a short time under skil-
ful officers. The last war gave sufficient evi-
dence of American bravery, but there was a
lack of well informed officers. There were men*
among them of great talents, and who managed
well, but even these would acknowledge that
there were but few scientific officers at the com-
mencement of the war, and that the army suf-
fered much, for the want of them. Although it
sometimes happens that circumstances create the
necessary talents for the occasion, yet it is much
better to have men acquainted with all that has
been done in war or peace ready for service.
Among those men who have started up at the
moment they are wanted, and act their part
with honour, was the late major general Brown.
He began life with the peaceful tenets of a qua-
ker, and pursued the unobtrusive employment of
a teacher of youth. For some time he was not
aware of the spirit that was within him, but at
length he saw the sun rise and set, while he was
GEN. BROWN.
243
in the same dull round of humble duty, and the
thought came over him that he was destined for
something of a more active nature. In 1799
he went on to the frontiers and purchased a lot
of land, took his axe, and began to fell the for-
rest with his own hand, in order to commence a
settlement. This was soon done ; he purchased
more land ; and was made Agent for M. Le Roy
de Chaumont, a distinguished Frenchman who
owned a large tract of that country, and was in-
dustrious in obtaining settlers, and when he had
enough for a company of militia they were form-
ed, and he so far shook off the quaker as to take
the command of them, at their urgent request.
From the command of a company he soon found
himself at the head of a regiment and from that
office, at the commencement of the war of 1812,
he was raised to a major general, and when
the militia were first called upon to assist the
regular troops on the frontiers, his name had
hardly reached head quarters at Washington ;
but such was his promptness, efficiency and
success, that the general government, not a little
e mbarrassed at# the previous disasters in that
quarter, proffered him a high command in the ar-
my of the United States. It was accepted and
he moved on from one degree of fame to anoth-
er in this short war, until he found himself at
the head of the army, and at the return of peace
he made his head quarters at Washington, and
244
GEN. BROWN.
remained there until his death in 1828. Ge-
neral Brown was considerably above the com-
mon height, over six feet. His countenance
was a fine assemblage of regular, good sized
features, which most admirably expressed his
striking characteristics, mildness and determina-
tion. He had nothing in his manners of that
importance and vanity which often accompanies
a self-made man ; on the .contrary, he was for
ever on the watch to gain something new. He
was well aware of his early deficiencies as a
military man, as any one would be ; and he took
the advice of those in whom he had confidence,
and weighed it in a sound balance ; and of course
was seldom wrong. If he was not the master
spirit of the army, he was well calculated to be
at its head, he managed all so gently, and im-
partially. He was as much esteemed in pri-
vate as in public life. In the social circles at
Washington, he thought nothing of that pride of
office so common with little men ; but was affa-
ble to all. The public deeds of such men will
find historians enough in every future age ; but
we should see on the records of the present
hour, something said of their private virtues.
These gems of life, though lasting as eternity,
are often buried in the dust at the base of the
pyramid of a great man's fame. Brown was a
general of a primitive cast ; he emulated anti
quity ;—
WILLIAM TUDOR.
245
M Have you not beard of Lacedcemon's fame ?
Of Attic chiefs in Freedom's war divine?
Of Rome's dread generals ? the Valerian name ?
The Fabian sons? The Scipio's matchless line?
Your lot was theirs. The farmer and the swain
Met his loved patron's summons from the plain;
The Legions gathered ; the bright eagles flew ;
Barbarian monarchs in the triumph mourned,
The conquerors to their household gods returned,
And fed Calabrian flocks, and steered the Sabine
plough."
The United States has recently met with a
loss in the death of the Hon. William Tudor,
late charge d' affaires to the Emperor of Brazil,
from this country. Mr. Tudor was born in Bos-
ton, in 1777. He graduated from Harvard
College 1796 ; and although very young, was
among the first scholars of his class. Soon af-
ter leaving college, he travelled in Europe, and
acquired a great fund of useful knowledge, with-
out contracting the slightest touch of that man-
ner which so often marks the travelled youth on
his return to his native country. " Sirs, I have
seen, and sure I ought to know" was no part of
his manners. It must be confessed, that he re-
turned to his native city, warm and bright from
all the lovely retreats of learning, and enlight-
ened from the halls of science, and brought with
him the noble ambition of attempting to make
his countrymen turn their attention to literature
and science, and to cultivate a taste for the arts.
22
246
WILLIAM TUDOR.
For this he changed the Anthology into a quar-
terly review, which was called the North Ame-
rican Review, and at once established a proud,
and I trust, a permanent literary work for his
country. It was, indeed, a great undertaking.
The taste of the writers of this country had not
been, at that time, well developed. There were
two schools, or rather two styles then in vogue.
The quaintness of a former age had, from some
few incipient principles of taste, become un-
fashionable, and the bold, extravagant, tasteless
manner of writing had followed it, except by a
few who were disgusted with this style of wri-
ting, and these took a different course, and wrote
with affected simplicity. They were both bad
enough ; one bloated, flushed, and dropsical,
and the other lean, emaciated, and bloodless.
Tudor was well prepared by precept and exam-
ple, to correct these evils of literature ; for he
was not only learned, but mild, modest, and
persevering. He offended none by dictatorial
air, or pedantic assumption. He was not timid,
however, in his course ; nor did he, like most
critics, discover an unwillingness to write any
thing but reviews, for fear of finding critics in
his turn, but was ready to be subject to his own
rules. He wrote two or more works : two, cer-
tainly ; for his own name is affixed to one, and
the other was avowed by him. These works
show no small share of thought, but are more
WILLIAM TUDOR.
247
remarkable for a pure and gentlemanly style
than for any extraordinary efforts of genius.
Mr. Tudor was for several years a member of
the legislature of the state of Massachusetts, and
though not remarkably popular with the country
members, yet he was respected by all of them.
In his travels he had so disciplined his mind,
that he seemed too mild for party times ; and
they put down for tameness and indifference,
that which was the result of gentlemanly feel-
ings and polished manners. It can be said of
Mr. Tudor, that he spoke merely on those subjects
in which he was most particularly interested for
the commonwealth, and never uttered a word for
popularity or fame. Never was there a man of
more singleness of heart, or purity of motives.
Some of the wise members of the legislature
thought him a little romantic ; but while they
voted against his plans, were fully convinced
that he was an honest man. Most of the mat-
ters he prepared, when in that body, have since
been acted upon ; and in many instances, ac-
cording to his wishes at that time. There was
no avarice, no corroding ambition in his soul.
He was a bachelor, and only wanted an elegant
competency ; he asked no more ; and had he
possessed more, it would have been devoted to
the advancement of letters and the sciences.
He had been much abroad, but never lost sight
of his own country ; and in fact it is to be be-
248 WILLIAM TUDOR.
lieved, that he loved it the more from residing
in other countries.
This is the effect of travel upon a well regula-
ted mind. He was a patron and friend to the
Boston Athenaeum, and considered Harvard Uni-
versity as an Alma Mater indeed. It has been
said that he first suggested the erection of a
monument on Bunker Hill. If this is not cor-
rect, as it cannot be, he was the mover of the
plan for erecting the very monument which has
been begun, and is now pretty nearly raised, and
which will, in good time, be finished. He went
further than the erection of a simple obelisk, to
catch the gaze of the passing traveller, and pre-
pared a temple also ; not only as a repository
of the archives of the country, but of the relics
of the antiquities of it also. This was a noble
plan, and will be followed up, most religiously,
in due time ; but the people here are in the habit
of requiring the accomplishment of such great
matters in too short a time.
Mr. Tudor moved in the most intellectual cir-
cles in his native city, and was distinguished
for elevation, refinement and accomplishments
among its members. Such was his serenity of
temper that even that most irritating of all dis-
eases, the gout, which with him was hereditary,
and severe, never disturbed his temper. He
pursued his labours when the fit was upon him
and wrote with composure when his pain was
WILLIAM TUDOR.
249
almost insupportable. In 1822 Mr. Tudor was
appointed consul to Lima. He was anxious for
this office, not for its emoluments, for those were
trifling, but he wished to read the character of
that portion of the world, for he knew from its
history that it must have many new features in
it, and it had just come into the family of nations.
He was industrious while he was consul, in col-
lecting materials for some future work. From
Lima he was sent to Brazil as charge d' affaires,
in this situation he was an honour to this coun-
try. This people were soon apprised of his
rank as a literary man, and highly respected
him as a public functionary. In some most criti-
cal situations he maintained the dignity of his
government, and at the same time insinuated
himself into the affections of the Emperor. The
foreign ministers were his friends, and admirers,
for they found him a high minded man, and an
open, gentle, yet determined politician. Such
men should be sent abroad, who are the
pride of the people at home. Mr. Tudor was
from the cradle to the grave, a gentleman. He
descended from a family that had been opulent
for several generations, although by the changes
of fortune he inherited nothing of consequence.
His father, Judge Tudor, was one of the most
accomplished men of his age. He was a law
student with the late patriot, John Adams, and
soon after coming to the bar, was appointed
22*
250
WILLIAM TUDOR.
judge advocate general of the army of Washing-
ton, then at Cambridge. On the close of the
year 1777, he was called on to conduct the trial
of col. Henely, arrested on charges preferred
by General Burguoyne, for oppression, &c.
to some of his soldiers. The English general
was a most accomplished scholar, and made in
this trial a most eloquent and able argument in
support of the charges and specifications he had
brought forward. Tudor has often said that it
was equal to any speech he ever heard from any
one ; and Burguoyne said the young American
judge advocate went through his duties as a gen-
tleman and a man of learning and good sense.
Henely was acquitted.
There has been a meagre report of the trial
which has come down to the present genera-
tion, but from which nothing of importance as to
the particulars can be learned ; but one of the
court some years since, informed me, as I was
anxious to learn any thing of General Bur-
guoyne, that this trial called forth on both sides
very conspicuous talents. Judge Tudor has been
dead only about ten years, and is remembered
in Boston as one of those pleasant and intellec-
tual men that one meets in genteel society, and
who are communicative and happy, having a
large circle of affectionate acquaintance. His
son William was the idol of his heart, for in ear-
ly youth he was of a graver mien than his father,
JUDGE WASHINGTON.
251
who was truly one of the most playful and face-
tious men that ever gave zest to a dinner, or life
to an evening party ; he had one of the kindest
dispositions that ever man possessed, and it
shed its sweet influences every where, in do-
mestic and public life.
The papers have just announced that Bushrod
Washington, the senior associate judge of the
supreme court of the United States, died at Phil-
adelphia, while on a circuit of his official duties.
The judge was an excellent man, and was be-
loved by all who knew him. His person was
under the common size, his face pale, his coun-
tenance as serene as if he had passed his life in
a cloister ; there was no mark of passion, or re-
sentment in any lineament of his physiognomy.
He had been on the supreme bench for thirty
years, and never had but one of his decisions
overruled by the full court. He was so cautious
and examined every subject so critically, and
thoroughly, that he came to his results by a pure
process of reasoning, freed from the prejudices
and partialities which so easily beset human na-
ture, even in high places, and responsible sta-
tions. He was the favourite nephew of that
great and good man who has given immortality
to the name of Washington, and was his imme-
diate successor at Mount Vernon. In this man-
sion for many years he has displayed all the vir-
252 JUDGE WASHINGTON.
tues of domestic life and exercised all those hos-
pitable feelings so prominent in the character of
his illustrious uncle. Judge Washington was
not content with a faithful discharge of his du-
ty as a magistrate only, but added to it the la-
bours of a member of almost all the charitable
societies of the country, which are so many
sacrifices that go up to Heaven to be heard in
mercy, to propitiate through a Kedeemer, the
Father of all things toward his sinful children on
Earth. His rank, talents, and influence in socie-
ty did much to induce the wavering to join in
the great work of philanthropy and religion and
to keep steadfast those who had commenced the
work in good earnest. He was for several years
President of the Colonization Society, and deep-
ly engaged in the objects of that association. He
was a slave-holder, but he was not insensible to
the evils of the system, which was every day
impoverishing his native state, and diminishing
her influence in the Federal government. He
had the right feelings on the subject ; they were
drawn from observation and experience, the true
sources of intelligence and wisdom.
Judge Washington was so unobtrusive in his
manners, so delicate and refined in his feelings,
that his merits were not sufficiently known to the
great body of the people, for them to estimate
his intellectual and moral worth correctly. Like
his uncle, he died childless, and left his estate
JUDGE WASHINGTON.
253
to a collateral branch of his family, who will now
take his place at the hospitable mansion of the
great patriot and chieftain, whose name belongs
to his country ; of whom it was wisely said, that
" Heaven wrote him childless, that millions might
find in hiin a father. Mount Vernon should no
longer be the property of an individual, for it has
become a place of pilgrimage for every patriot
traveller of the land ; and foreigners too, consi-
der the spot where the ashes of Washington re-
pose, as hallowed ground. His bones should
ever be mouldering there, and never be removed
from these abodes of primitive simplicity. The
nation should be proprietors of the soil ; the na-
tion should guard the dead, and individuals of
his family should be relieved from the perpetual
vigils at his tomb, which the veneration of the
people for the memory of Washington have
made it indispensably necessary for them to
keep. The capitol is not a proper place for the
ashes of the dead. It should be the lonely spot,
or the chancel of the house of God. No echoes
of angry passions, or party strife, should be
heard in the chambers of the mighty dead ; no
sound should there be heard but that of prayer
and mournful music. The end of mortal man
is there ; the hopes of immortal man i3 there \
and " procul, o procul este profani,"
[LETTER XXII.
New- York, , 1830.
Dear Sir,
I have given you but a meagre account
of the men of mind in the United States. The
slight outline, perhaps I may have an opportu-
nity to fill up during the course of the summer.
Of the beautiful city of Philadelphia, I have said
nothing, as I have not had sufficient opportuni-
ties to select what is most striking in the char-
acteristics of that literary and intelligent place.
The people of Philadelphia have taken the lead
in the arts, and set a good example to the other
cities in the Union, which has been followed in
some of them with great spirit. The people of
this city have more excellent paintings than
perhaps can be found in any other in the Uni-
ted States. They have printed more editions of
valuable works than other cities ; but perhaps the
mass of inventive talent of the nation lies farther
to the north. You would be amused to observe
the activity of the inventors of this nation. The
Patent Office within a year past has been under
the care of a man of genius, of the first order of
PATENT OFFICE.
255
intellect ; his perceptions were rapid beyond
description ; he had coursed over the whole field
of invention in the ardour of youthful genius,
and in every stage, believed that every track
was that of his own footsteps. The elements
of his mind to many of his friends seemed in a
state of absolute confusion, and the images of
things past, present and to come, to crowd
upon him at once. He received the premi-
um offered for a plan for the Capitol, and when
it was altered, it was for economy sake, not for
taste. His was decidedly better than the one
built upon. Not a model ever came into his
office for a patent that he did not declare that
he had had some impression of the same thing,
and that virtually, he was a prime inventor of
it. Dr. Thornton was a man admired by all
who knew him, for his genius, industry, good
feelings and true philanthropy and charity, his
feelings and observations were those of a man
who had thought much on every subject. The
web of his fame was such, that if honestly ex-
amined by the warp, one could find a thread to
match any other that could be exhibited. This
office with a little of that encouragement that
congress might bestow, might truly be made a
museum of science.
The Patent Office is now a subject of deep in-
terest to the nation. By a law of the United
States, passed among the early acts, and which
256
PATENT OFFICE.
has been revised by several subsequent acts, the
drawings and models of all the machines, and
of new and useful inventions, for which a patent
has been issued by the President of the United
States, were required to be deposited in the Se-
cretary's office ; and in a few years this increas-
ed greatly in importance to the country, and re-
quired large apartments for the models, and be-
came, in a measure, a department of itself.
Machines of complex principles and of great
utility, have often been invented by men of but
few literary acquirements, who could, with dif-
ficulty, find words to convey the outlines of the
principles brought to bear in their patent.
Loose descriptions, that did not convey the
meaning of the inventor, or such ones that satis-
fied the inventor, but gave no correct informa-
tion of the invention to others, were every day
sent to the office, and produced no little confu-
sion. This has been changed, in a great mea-
sure, by time ; and not only descriptions of in-
ventions are more accurate, but the models are
more finished ; and of course the whole busi-
ness of the office goes on more regularly. There
are now nearly six thousand models collected
in the office ; many of them of exquisite work-
manship, others of careless construction ; but
they exhibit, as a whole, an interesting group of
emblems, or representations, " in little" of what
are occuping all parts of our country ; on the
GENERAL REMARKS. 257
streams, the hills, within and without doors, in
all places of business, are found the marks of
mind involving all the great principles of na-
ture and science.
From these reasoners on motion and matter,
we may proceed to another class of philosophers
which may be less useful, but not less acute,
the metaphysicians. This people reason an all
things ; their institutions and the nature of their
government in all its minor and major features
induce this habit. They no sooner see effects
than they go on to find out causes for them ;
right or wrong, they must and will have a rea-
son for every thing. Untrammelled minds, how-
ever wild they^may run, have an air of indepen-
dence about them. There are a great many
errors of reasoning among free minds, but no
errors of the market, as Lord Bacon calls those
settled errors of thinking. They have no dog-
mas in their creeds, nor hardly any creeds, but
such as they alter every day. There is no state
religion, and every one reasons upon God and
his revelations, as he is persuaded in his own
mind.
If this would be bad in England and other
countries, it is precisely suited to this people and
their institutions.
Having the literature of all the world before
them, they are intelligent, producing some fine
23
258 GENERAL REMARKS.
writers. The taste of criticism is cultivated be-
fore they acquire the habit of writing. And in
truth there are but few writers among them, ex-
cept writers for periodical journals, considering
the number of men capable of holding a pen.
Opening their ports to all foreigners, and their
literature, and taxing their presses with reprints,
until the whole country is gorged with foreign
literature, there is nothing to bring forward the
offspring of their own minds. The growth of
English literature was advanced by depreciating
the French writers. The following couplet was
constantly in the mouths of the English,
11 The sterling bullion of an English line,
Drawn in French wire would through whole pages shine."
This was false enough ; but it answered a
good national purpose. German literature, which
now is leading off, as among the highest in the
world, was half a century ago, nothing ; because
they depreciated their own writers, and read
French works only. You ought not to judge
this people by their writers ; for you might as
fairly, infer their dress from their manufacturing
establishments, as their general knowledge from
their writers. They dress in English broadcloth
coats, and store their minds with English stand-
ard works ; but this people will much sooner
clothe themselves in their own woollens than
increase their stock of knowledge by encour-
aging their own authors. It is hard to break up
GENERAL REMARKS.
259
old habits ; the good matron will not be driven
to moisten her lips, after her morning prayers
or evening walk, with a decoction of sage and
balm, when gun-powder and imperial teas are
at hand. I must not be misunderstood — there is
a spirit of education going on among the people,
from the nursery to the pulpit, the bench, and to
the halls of legislation ; all is full of life and im-
provement ; no people under heaven have a
greater mass of ready, wholesome, business lit-
erature than this. There is much done, and
that ably done in all the walks of life ; but in
the regions of elevated, tasteful letters, but few
are to be found ; and those few are seldom seen.
They have no inducement to cultivate literature ;
for as such, it is the most unprofitable of all
things ; who would write a book when a fresh
English one might be had from Campbell, Moore,
or Mackintosh for little more than the price of
untaxed paper? This is a people of liberal feel-
ings and generous conduct ; they build churches,
states houses, and colleges, but they have not
as yet extended any thing like liberal patronage
to their authors, if authors they may be called
who, feeling the divinity within them,"occasion«
ally hazard property and quiet, to vent them-
selves in prose or rhyme.
4
ERRATA.
Page 13, line 13, Jar 1909, read 1812.
Page 41, line 7, from bottom, after advantages, dele period and
j£ line 8 after fashion add a period.
Page 49, line 4, from top, for His often" read Tt is often,
Page 153, line 7, from top, for George G. Percival read James G.
Percival,
Page 170 lines 6 & 7 from top, for precious, read, precocious.
Page 67, 1st line, for sage whom all men, read sage from whom
all men, etc.
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