ments of husbandry, against experienced and | congress, then in session-his old compatriots veteran soldiers! How many battles, sieges, | in arms—his friends and acquaintances, and dreadful nocturnal sallies and skirmishes did they sustain? The earth was ensanguined with the blood of the commandants ere it furnished them with graves. the citizens generally, hailed his arrival with unaffected pleasure. The people surrounded the carriage of him who had been one of their favorite chiefs, who had suffered so much in their cause, accompanied him to his lodgings. Not only in America, but in every European city through which he passed after his liberation, in Stockholm, in London, and in Bristol, all those who cherished in their hearts a love of liberty, and a regard for her defenders, thronged about him and gave him the most lively demon to the heart of a Polander to perceive, in the honor and respect with which his chief was received, esteem and commiseration for the fate of an unjustly destroyed nation. The result of all these sacrifices, sufferings and exertions, were inhuman fetters. The captivity continued two years, and would have lasted yet longer; nor wouldst thou, Kosciusco, have ended thy days in Solothurn's free wallsnor would you, ye weeping sons of Poland, have again enjoyed the sweet smiles of liberty, but would have dragged out the miserable remnantstrations of their esteem. Oh! it was grateful of your lives in dark and mouldering dungeons, had it not been for the magnanimous interference of PAUL I. The first act of his reign was to burst the fetters of twenty thousand Poles. Thanks to the venerable shade! The name Was it the delusion of hope or the wish to of Paul cannot be mentioned by a native of have the advantage of the best medical advice, Poland, without feelings of genuine gratitude! that induced Kosciusco to visit the shores of When Kosciusco was liberated, he did not Europe once more? If it was hope, soon, alas! turn his steps to that depressed and mourning did he perceive its fallaciousness and vanity, country, which had already become as a strange and the inutility of human exertions. He land to him. No; he turned his eyes to that rejected the bustle and applause of the world, distant shore, where in his youth, he had min- | and, if I may so express myself, enclosed himgled in the combat for liberty and independ-self in the mantle of his own virtues and reence; to that land which he knew would re- tired to the rural solitude of a farm. Here ceive him as one of her own children. Although agriculture was his employment, his solace, covered with scars and crippled, he did not and his delight.-He left his peaceful retirepermit the fatigues and dangers of the voyagement, for the first time, to thank the illustrious to dishearten him. He embarked for America; | Alexander for the restoration of the Polish and, during this voyage, the ocean had nearly name. His aversion to public employment, become the grave of our hero. A vessel, which had increased with age, his love of solbelonging to a fleet of merchantmen, returning itude and quiet, led him into Switzerland. from Jamaica, was separated from her comThere in the city of Solothurn, it pleased the pany in a dark night, and whilst sailing with Almighty to call his virtuous soul, from the the greatest rapidity, struck the American ship. scene of his sufferings and trials, to the abode Masts, rigging and sails were instantly entan- of the blessed. He died as it became a christian gled. Two large vessels lay beating forcibly and a soldier, with a firm reliance on his God, against each other. Great was the tumult, with complacency and manly fortitude. Poor noise and disorder upon deck—death stared us as his prototypes, Phocion and Cincinnatus, in the face. Kosciusco viewed the scene, at he forbade all pomp and show at his funeral ; this dismaying and terrifying moment, with his and that man, who in the field of battle had usual serenity and composure; but his last hour commanded thousands of armed warriors, was had not yet arrived. Providence had ordained carried to the last repository of frail mortality, that he should survive to see that day on which upon the shoulders of six poor old men. the generous Alexander proclaimed the restoration of the kingdom of Poland. We escaped this imminent danger with the loss of the mainmast, and torn sails, but the voyage was, in consequence of the disaster, protracted to seventy days. At length we espied the happy shores of the land of freedom. Pennsylvania, the country of PENN and FRANKLIN, received Kosciusco into her bosom. After suffering such accumulated miseries, this was the first happy and joyful moment. The members of Peace to thy ashes, thou virtuous man! receive the last and parting laments of thy sorrowing countrymen; receive the parting address of him, in whose arms thou hast so often reposed thine aching head. If thy native country do not receive thy mortal remains into her lap, while thy liberated spirit dwells in the same abode with THE LAST ROMAN,* then may thy memory be immortal amongst us. May thy Ultimus Romanorum, Marcus Junius Brutus has been so called. statue be placed in the sanctuary of the Lord, I jesty's regiments could be guilty of such an in order to perpetuate the lineaments of thy face, the benevolence of thy heart, and the purity of thy soul. May thy cenotaph be like thy life, plain and unostentatious, with no inscription but thy name; that will be all sufficient! Whenever a native or stranger shall with tearful eyes behold it, he will be compelled to exclaim, "That was the man who did not permit his countrymen to die ingloriously, and whose virtues, magnanimity, intrepidity and Fatriotism, immortalized himself and his beloved country. RECOLLECTIONS OF GORDON'S HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. I believe it is Voltaire who says, that the publishing of history does not depend on its truth. The only question the publishers ask, is—“ Will it sell," which brings to my recollection some circumstances relative to Gordon's history of the American Revolution. In the year 1784, I became acquainted with an English gentleman, whose prejudices against our country were as violent as they had been previous to his emigration in favor of it. One day when he was inveighing most bitterly against our conduct and institutions, he mentioned, with great asperity, the tarring and feathering of John Malcom, (a British custom house officer), before the revolution, whose only crime he said, was chastising an impudent boy. I told him, that if Mr. Malcom had not have drawn his sword on the boy, no notice would have been taken of his conduct. I did not however attempt to justify the deed, as it was condemned by good men of both parties; yet I insisted, that the character of the town or country ought not to be implicated, as it was done in the night by a very few disorderly persons in disguise, who, if they had been discovered, would have been amenable to, and punished by the laws. I then related to him the conduct of colonel Nesbit, of the 47th British regiment, who caused an innocent countryman to be tarred and feathered, and carted publicly through the streets at noon day, with a guard of grenadiers, and the band of the regiment playing "Yankee doodle," and himself at the head of the party, in defiance of those laws he was sent to protect and enforce. My English friend seemed to think I was mistaken in the person of col. Nesbit, and thought it impossible that a colonel of one of his ma outrageous act. A few days after this conversation, we met at Dr. Gordon's (the author of the history of the American Revolution), who then lived at Roxbury. I introduced the subject again, when Dr. Gordon spoke of Nesbit's conduct in the strongest terms of reprobation, and, on being asked whether he had noticed the event in his history, he produced the manuscript, and read to me a detail of that transaction, which, with the observations and reflections connected with it, would make three or four pages of his work. In 1790 I embarked for England, where I was introduced to a relation of Dr. Gordon, of whom I inquired how the doctor had succeeded in his history? He smiled and said, "It was not Dr. Gordon's history!" On my requesting an explanation, he told me, that on the Doctor's arrival in England, he placed his manuscript in the hands of an intelligent friend, on whom he could depend, who, (after perusing it with care) declared that it was not suited to the meridian of England, consequently would never sell. The style was not agreeable-it was too favorable to the Americans-above all, it was full of libels against some of the most respectable characters in the British army and navy-and that if he possessed a fortune equal to the duke of Bedford's, he would not be able to pay the damages that might be recovered against him, as the truth would not be allowed to be produced in evidence. The doctor had returned to his native country, and expected to enjoy "otium cum dignitate." Overwhelmed with mortification, and almost with despair, he asked the advice of his friend, who recommended him to place the manuscript in the hands of a professional gentleman, that it might be new modelled, and made agreeable to English readers; this was assented to by the doctor, and the history which bears his name was compiled and written from his manuscript, by another hand. If any of our historical or antiquarian societies could obtain Gordon's original manuscript, it would be an invaluable document. On hearing the foregoing narration, I had the curiosity to look into Gordon's history to learn what the "professional gentleman” had said of col. Nesbit and his exploits, when, to my surprise, I found he had devoted only a few lines to that subject, vol. 1, page 307, American edition. The whole of this statement evinces that all histories published in England, in which that country is concerned, cannot contain the whole truth. [Another writer agrees generally in the fact, as to certain alterations in Gordon's history- | of the pains and penalties of the British laws but states that the author, indignant at the and customs, he on the other side, voluntarily, purgation, went to work and re-wrote his his- left out some matters to the discredit of Amertory; the latter is thought to have been much ica, which things he read to me from his manless perfect than the original copy. The writer uscript at his residence in Roxbury. I refer last alluded to, says-] here particularly to the subject of negro slavery. He was also persuaded to soften his harsh picture of the illustrious Exempt." "If Dr. Gordon was compelled to leave out of his book some atrocious truths from dread INDEX. Adams, John Adams, Mrs. John.. A. PAGE PAGE 133 .... 286 Boston, address of Independent Sons of.... Adams, Samuel.... .............. ............. ........ 229 British troops, outrages committed by, in Virginia.... 290 of................. 508, 509 Burke, Edmund, speech of............. ...... 429, 453 316 to inhabitants U. S., by Congress........405-408 Ally, Hyder, ship........ Cambden, Ship, Lord........ C. 315 Campbell, Lord Wm., S. C., address of.. .488, 489 Champe, John . 502 Chase, Mr..... 513 Americans, Native, address to the King.. Appeal to be released from military service........... 241 Arrest of a member of Legislature of Delaware....... 243 Articles, staple, reduction in value in Conn........... 142 ....... 257 • 307-310 Charge of Judge Jay to Grand Jury, N. Y.........180-182 Christie, James, memorial of.... Clark, Abraham...... Clarke, Gen. George Rogers ..... 417 143 496 112 190 Committee of New York to Lord Mayor of London.. 171 Congress, Provincial, Mass...... 99 186 44 Bandoll, M. L'Abbe... 44 232 13 64 46 Benson, Robert............ Bentley, Rev. Dr....... Boston, massacre of citizens... Offensive treatment of citizens ................................... 117 Congress.......... troops, estimate of........ ......402, 403 • • • • • • • • 141-155 ............... 150 .......482-489 Army, expense of......... .......494, 495 Cornwallis, Lord................................................... 232 Court Martial, Providence, R. I..... Cropper, Gen. John...... ...... 132 Cumberland Co., Va., Freeholders of... ........ 140 |