the bill to be engrossed to a third reading the votes were ayes 65, noes 79. So the bill was rejected. Thursday, Feb. 12. Mr. Lowndes from the committee of conference upon the disagreeing votes of the two houses, in relation to the senates amendment to the military appropriation bill, made a detailed report from which it appeared that the managers had parted without coming to any compromise. On motion of Mr. Mercer the report was laid on the table. The House resolved itself into a committee of the whole, on a series of resolutions proposed by Mr. Johnson of Kentucky, at an early period of the session. Out of the nine resolutions proposed, only the following was adopted. Resolved, That it is expedient to provide by law, for the repeal of so much of the act of Congress of the 6th of July, 1812, as authorizes additional pay and emoluments to brevet rank, in the army of the United States. Other resolutions on military affairs, offered by Mr. Walker, of North Carolina, and Mr. Comstock, of N. Y. and referred to the same committee, were taken up and negatived. The committee rose and reported its proceedings to the House. The votes in the committee of the whole were severally concurred in. Mr. Robertson offered a resolution to provide for educating, at the military school of the United States, the sons of all officers, noncommissioned officers and privates who have fallen in fighting for their country. Friday, Feb. 13. Mr. Johnson from the committee on military affairs, reported a bill repealing so much of the law of July 6, 1812, as allows extra pay and emoluments to brevet rank, which was committed to a committee of the whole House. Mr. Harrison rose, according to notice yesterday given, to ask leave to bring in a bill to extend half-pay pensions for five years, to the widows of soldiers who died in the public service during the late war. The leave asked was given, by a vote of 55 to 52, and a committee appointed to prepare a bill accordingly. The house took up the report of the conferees on the part of this house, on the subject of the disagreeing votes of the two houses; and On motion of Mr. Lowndes, the house re solved to adhere to its disagreement to said amendment. GENERAL BANKRUPT BILL. kinson, resolved itself into a committee of the The house then, on motion of Mr. Hopwhole, Mr. Smith of Md. in the chair, on the bill to establish an uniform system of bankruptcy throughout the U. States. The reading of this bill (which contains fifty-four printed folio pages) occupied the remainder of the sitting-after the reading was finished, The committee rose, obtained leave to sit again; and The House adjourned to Monday. Monday, Feb. 16. After disposing of much private business, the House resolved itself into a committee of the whole, on the bill to establish an uniform bankrupt law. Mr. Hopkinson supported the measure in an elaborate and argumentative speech of great length. The Committee rose, reported progress, and the house adjourned. Tuesday, Feb. 17. A message was received from the President of the United States, inclosing two communications of the British Minister to the Department of State, on the subject of the equalization of duties, conformably to the treaty of Ghent. The message recommends provision by law for refunding discriminative duties which were exacted in this country, after the provisions of the treaty had been carried into effect in Great Britain. The message was read and referred. The remainder of the day was spent in Committee of the whole, on the bill to establish an uniform system of bankruptcy through out the United States. Mr. Tyler, Mr. Holmes, and Mr. Pindall, spoke at length against the bill. The Committee rose, reported progress, and obtained leave to sit again. A ART. 16. DOMESTIC OCCURRENCES. NEW HAMPSHIRE. MACHINE has recently been invented by Messrs. James and Joseph Gregg, of Londonderry, for the purpose of threshing and cleaning English grain, which is found by actual experiment to excel any thing that has been introduced for that purpose. The machine is so constructed that it separates the grain perfectly clean from the straw, and cuts the straw fit for fodder; the grain is received into a chest in the under part of the machine, fit for market. The machine is turned by a horse, and may be put in motion by water or steam: it requires but one person to attend it, and it will thresh and clean from three to five bushels per hour, according as the grain may be for quality. MASSACHUSETTS. A bill has passed both branches of the Legislature, increasing the governor's salary to 4000 dollars. A committee has been appointed in the House of Representatives, to consider of the expediency of repealing the statute against usury. A large wolf has lately been killed at Granville which had for some time annoyed that vicinage. The building belonging to Phillips' Academy, in Andover, has been consumed by fire. The whole number of deaths in Boston during the year 1817, was 907-in the year preceeding 904. Of these 173 were in the Alms House, 5 at Rainsford's Island-291 were children under two years old. The deaths in January, were 71; February, 67; March, 71; April, 67; May, 62; June, 60; July, 64; August, 151; September, 98; October, 99; November, 50; December, 47. The deaths by consumption were 231; Typhus Fever, 157; Dysentery, 23; Dropsy, 36; Old Age, 50. RHODE-ISLAND. At a late visitation of the public schools in Providence, R. I. the number of scholars in the five schools, each of which has a Preceptor and Usher, was 943. CONNECTICUT. The 20th day of March has been appointed by the Governor of this State to be kept as a Christian Fast. VERMONT. The Corporation of the University of Vermont, at Burlington, have put forth an exposition of the condition and prospects of that institution, which must afford satisfaction to the friends of literature. NEW-YORK. The Legislature of this State is now in session, and occupied in many important deliberations on subjects suggested in the communication of the executive. A branch of the Bank of the United States is to be established in Albany. Cadwallader D. Colden, Esq. has been ap pointed Mayor of the City of New-York. A party of thirteen persons turned out in Chatauque county, for a hunt, and in two days killed-1 bear, 17 deer, 102 racoons, 242 squirrels, 1 skunk, and 16 rabbits, besides considerable small game. and only 577 of females-571 were of children under two years of age. Several robberies have been recently com. mitted in the vicinity of Baltimore. An association has been formed in Baltimore to establish a Savings Bank. VIRGINIA. The Virginia House of Delegates have appointed a committee to inquire into the expediency of removing the seat of government from Richmond to the centre of the State. The deaths in Richmond in 1817 were 192. NORTH CAROLINA. GEORGIA. The war with the Seminole Indians continues to harrass the inhabitants of this State, by draughts from the militia, which contribute but little to the reduction of the enemy. TENNESSEE. A thousand mounted volunteers from this State, accompanied Gen. Jackson in his expidition against the Seminoles. They are commanded by Col. A. P. Hayne. KENTUCKY. A bill has passed both branches of the Legislature for the incorporation of thirty-nine new banks. There are already in existence in the State, a State Bank, with fourteen branches, besides two branches of the Bank of the United States. If these new Banks are all constituted according to the charter granted, (of which, however, there is no probability,) there will be a grand total of fiftyfive Banks in Kentucky. The new Banks are to give no bonus nor advantage to the State, and a specie capital is not required to authorize them to commence operations. A company of Volunteers from Russelville has marched to join Gen. Jackson. ART. 17. LETTERS OF A TRAVELLER TO HIS FRIENDS IN ENGLAND. DEAR Y last left us in an obstinate and pro surances, but for the delay caused by the calm there was no remedy, excepting that Mokine calm, the more so from the useful, if not illustrious quality, proximity of the American shore. The fears of the pa sengers respecting the integrity of the captain were quieted by his renewed as quired the Chaldean patriarch so edifying a renown: each was cast upon his own resources to while away the hours that hung beavily upon all. To me books and conversation had always supplied sources of pure and vivifying enjoyment, and with these I now succeeded, as in similar circumstances I had previously done, in warding off the attacks of the fiend Ennui." At night, it was my custom to have a few blankets spread upon deck, and either slumber in the open air, or pass the hours of repose in contemplating the starry beauty of the heavens, and watching the unfolding splendour of the east. As the sun ascended the horizon, the skirting vapours reflected his beams with the most picturesque and happy effect. The deep obscurity of the shade was first tinged with a dark livid blush, that gradua ly brightened into a lighter tint: then the mist separated into horizonta divisions, whose edges, illumined with intenser radiance, glowed like the bars of a furnace. One by one, the stars passed from the heavens; and the small clouds that had gathered in the atmosphere during he night looked like roses stren upon a plain of azure. The intervals between the mists seemed lined with fire, and as the sun advanced in his career, a brighter purer crimson involved the atmosphere, dissolving the vapours, and diffusing through the air a soft yet animated hue :-It glows-it brightens and the level and lengthening splendours that shoot over the face of the deep announce the speedy bursting forth of the cause of all this mingled magnificence and beauty. The last cloud has vanished-and pouring round him floods of living glory, he rushes up the ascendant, and the heavens and the waters are joyous in his presence. To me this was a scene ever replete with novelty as well as splendour-for though I have noticed the general appearances, there are a thousand variations it would be impos sible to describe. The freshness of the air, the stillness of the hour-for excepting myself and the helmsman, all were wrapped in the profoundest repose-rendered the moments thus snatched from sleep peculiarly delightful; and though, when watching the same glorious luminary at his setting, as he slowly retired behind clouds of the richest and most lux riant hues, I did not forget that he descended over, tinued to be the sport of wind and wave-at length a favourable breeze sprang up, and in a few days we had the satisfaction of beholding the beacons of Capes Cod and Ann, now gleaming through the obscurity of a clouded horizon, and now lighting up the shores and waters of Columbia with ite vivid and friendly radiance. At the entrance of the harbour the pilot came on board, and conducted us as far as Hospital Island, where the healthofficers paid us a visit, and informed us that in consequence of the death of a child during the passage, the ship was ordered into quarantine This, you may well suppose, w83 no pleasant intimation to persons who had so long endured the confinement and privations of a sea-voyage-and on our representation of the general health of the ship, and assurance of the deceased not having died of a contagious distemper. the officers handsomely consented to bridge the term of quarantine, and after a stay at the island of four days, the vessel was ordered up to Boston, and a general permission given to land. The Bay of Boston is, I understand, one of the noblest in the world; certainly it surpasses every thing of the kind I had previously witnessed. Its entrance is narrow, but the water soon expands to an extent sufficient to contain, I should think, the whole navy of England. Numerous islets are interspersed, among which the most considerable and conspicuous are Governor's island, (where a fort, called Warren, has been erected,) Castle island. (upon which another fort called Indep nde ce, has been built) Noddle's I land, protected by some powerful works, to which have been given the name of Fort Strong, and Hospital, formerly Rainsford island, where there is a handsome medica establishment for the reception of sick seamen, and ethers infec ed with contagious distempers These ard the other islands, are scattered over the harbour in pleasing and picturesque confusion; but the most attractive coup d'œil is presented to you when passing between Governor's and Castle islands:-the forts-the shipping and small craft, gliding in a hundred various directions, over the ample but winding waters of the bay-the cultivated land surrounding the numerous dwellings on the ad "The home of the free, and the land of the jacent shores-and, before you, the metrobrave," "He rose o'er my own native isle of the ocean," home and its sacred delights shone on my memory with all the force of a pure and tender enchantment. Not for all the joys and gayeties of a crowded and mirthful society would I have bartered that hour of silent and solitary meditation. The night of the 8th of October was ushered in by a storm, which though not quite so furious as that of the first, was sufficiently violent to make it prudent to close-reef all the sails. The next morning we found that the ship had drifted thirty miles to the north ward. For nearly another fortnight we con polis of Massachusetts expanding its hospitable arms to the stranger and the exile-all combine to form a scene that cannot fail to inspire the most pleasing and soothing sensations; and as we sailed up that magnificent harbour, and beheld the spires and roofs of Boston glowing and glittering in the soft rich light of sunset, and marked the lofty dome of the State-House swelling in graceful beauty over the subjacent city-I was wrapped in an involuntary admiration of the free-born spirit and energy that had given birth to this delightful scene, and provided so stately an asylum for the persecuted offspring of an elder and distracted continent. Bartholomew Gosnold was the first Englishman who visited directly this section of the American Union. On March 26, 1602, he sailed from Falmouth, and on the 14th touch ed on some undetermined part of the eastern coast. Before his voyage, it had been cus tomary for navigators to take the circuitous route of the Canaries and West Indies. To the promontary opposite Cape Ann he gave the name of Cod, in consequence of the large quantities of that fish which he took in its vicinity. He was succeeded by the famous traveller and navigator, Capt. John Smith, who in 1814 examined the coast from Monhigan, an island near Penobscot river, to Cape Cod. On his return, Prince Charles was so struck with his description of the country, that he gave it the name of NewEngland, an appellation which it still retains, notwithstanding the provincial and state divisions, New-England being the generic designation of that extensive region which stretches from the northern frontier of New-York to Canada and New-Brunswick, and from the ocean to the south eastern shore of Lake Champlain, and comprehending five of the twenty states now constituting the Union, viz. Massachusetts, Rhode-Island, New-Hampshire, Vermont, and Connecticut, besides the district of Maine, which is under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. In 1620 a permanent settlement was made at Plymouth. In the succeeding year, Capt. Standish was sent out in a small vessel to survey the coast northward of that harbour, and to cultivate friendly relations with the Indians. A tradinghouse was erected at Nantasket, and in 1628 Mr. Roger Conant, with Mr. Lyford, a clergyman, and Mr. Oldham, whom religious hostility had" discharged from baving any thing more to do at Plymouth," was appointed superintendent of the infant factory. Conant, however, being subsequently invited by the merchants of Dorchester to manage their affairs at Cape Ann, removed there in 1625, and was speedily followed by the settlers at Nantasket. Impressed with the natural advantages of a place a little to the westward, called Naumkeag, (now Salem,) and desirous of establishing a settlement there, he corresponded on the subject with his friends in England, and so flattering were his representations, that a project was formed in Lincolnshire of procuring from the council of Plymouth permission to found a colony in Massachusetts' Bay; and in 1627 a grant was made to Sir Henry Rosswell, Sir John Young, &c. conveying to them a tract between three miles to the northward of the Merrimack, the same distance from Charles river southward, and extending westward from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. In the following year this was confirmed by a royal charter, investing the proprietors with juridical authority over the new territory. In 1625 a plantation was established in Quincy, Braintree, by a capt. Wolliston, to which his followers, in honour of their leader, gave the name of Mount Wolliston. Soon, however, becoming discontented with this spot, Wolliston abandoned it, and departed for Virginia, leaving behind him orders for those of his company who remained, to, follow him. Of these, Thos. Morton, of Furnival's Inn, was one. From his writings, he may deserv edly claim the praise of wit, and elegance of conception and language; but his devotion to protivacy soon induced the ruin of the settlement, of which he had persuaded his associates to appoint him captain. Penury, the consequence of idleness and vice, speedily spread itself among the settlers; and, to supply their wants, they began to plunder the Indians, whom they treated, in mere caprice, with circumstances of atrocity that called down upon them a severe reprobation from the Governor of Plymouth Their repeated offences, at length, determined that excellent man to inflict upon them more signal marks of his displeasure; and "to satisfy the savages," says an old writer,* "divers of the thieves were stockt and whipt, and one at last put to death." Morton was forcibly taken prisoner, and despatched to take his trial in England. His book, "The New-English Canaan," is rare. It abounds with evidences of a lively fertile fancy,and acute wit,while the diction, though stampt with the quaintness of the age, is remarkably sweet and melodious. The following description of the country round Mount Wolliston, will enable you to form a tolerably accurate conception of his style. While our houses were building," he writes, "I did endeavour to take a survey of the country, &c. For so many goodly grouves of trees, dainty fiue rising hillocks, delicate fair large plains, sweete chrystal and clear running streams that twine in fine meanders throughout the meads, making so sweete a murmuring voice to hear, as would even lull the senses, with delight, asleep, so pleasantly do they glide upon the pebble stones, jetting most jocundly where they doe meet, and hand in hand, runne downe to Neptune's court, to pay the yearly tribute which they owe to him, as lord of all the springs." "Contained within the volume of the land, fowls in abundance, fish in multitudes, millions of turtle-doves on the green boughs, which sat picking off the full ripe pleasant grapes, that were supported by the lusty trees, whose fruitful loade did cause the arms to bend, while here and there dispersed (you might see) lilies, and of a Daphnean tree, which makes the land, to me, seeme paradise; for in mine eye 'twas nature's master-piece, her cheerful magazine of all, where lives her store; if this land be not rich, then is the whole world poor."-The cedars of the low grounds are, according to Morton, superior to those of Lebanon. He tells us "That there are firre trees, and other materials for building many temples, if there were any Solomons to be at the cost of them."-Thus wrote Thomas Morton, but the sufferings of the succeeding settlers seem to in ficate that the form and colours of his landscape, were such, rather as a lively imagination may easily supply, than those which are the offspring of unprejudiced observation; and the distresses endured in his "Paradise" by those conscien Mather. tious and voluntary exiles, form a revolting contrest to the scenes of pastoral abundance and luxury which he beheld through the lens of his fancy. About this time the non-conformists were exposed to an odious and incessant persecution, and to escape from the fangs of clerical oppression, a considerable number of the more adventurous and hardy resolved to abandon the land of their fathers, and seek in the New World a refuge from the rage of domestic bigotry. The privileges in the patent of Roswell, &c. were, in consequence, pur chased (1628) by John Winthrop, Isaac Johnson, Thomas Goffe, Mr. Dudley, Mr. Craddock, Sir Richard Saltonstall, &c. These persons formed themselves into a company, and the respectability and opulence of the principal members appeared to promise ultimate success in the enterprise in which they had embarked their fortunes. Several of the dissenting ministers in England, among whom Mr. White, of Dorchester, is particularly mentioned, were zealous in promoting their plans, they were soon joined by many wealthy individuals, considerable funds were created by subscription, and a new patent was granted by the king, constituting them a body corporate and politic under the title of "The Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay, in New-England." By this instrument the Governor is authorized to call a general Assembly at pleasure, and to hold monthly meetings for the despatch of business'; for the enactment of laws, not departing from the principles of British statutes, four great and general courts, consisting of the freemen and representatives of the townships, and of which the Governor and his assistants are always to form members, are convoked at the conclusion of Hilary, Easter, Trinity, and Michaelmas terms, and an annual meeting of the general Assembly is convened for the election of public officers. The charter likewise permits the free transportation (for seven years) of personal and mercantile property, outward and inward, and on the expiration of that period, an exemption from all duty, excepting that of five per cent in England on all imported merchandise. All persons born in, or in passage to and from, the colony to be considered subjects of the English crown. The General Court is empow ered to make orders and laws, constitute officers, impose fines, imprisonment, or other lawful correction, after the course of English corporations-and is also authorized to oppose by force of arms, and by land and sea, any and all persons who shall invade the said plantation. Seventeen vessels were employed in the conveyance of the colony-they sailed at different times, but all arrived safely at Salem and Charlestown, the greater part in July, 1630. In my next I will trace with yon the history and progress of Boston from this its first and interesting establishment to its present eminence among the cities of the Columbian Federacy. I remain, ART. 18. NEW INVENTIONS. To the Editors of the American Monthly er, as may be most convenient; but I am GENTLEMEN, Magazine. THE HROUGH the medium of your widely circulating miscellany, I beg permission to submit to public consideration the particulars of a new invention, which I call the "Navigable Raft-Boat." This contrivance will, I flatter myself, appear of national importance, inasmuch as it will assist the intercourse between, and therefore in its effects, bring nearer together, the remotest parts of this great country. My plan is to construct single or double rafts, externally of squared, and internally of round timber logs, making them of such forms as are known to be best adapted to easy progress through water. These are to be put in motion by water-wheels with perpendicular paddles, operating within a gutter or race-way, as in mills. The water-wheel is to be moved by steam or animal pow of opinion that animal power will in most instances be preferable to steam, and have discovered a method by which the draught of horses may be applied in straight lines, with the utmost economy and simplicity, and without a single cog. wheel; thereby avoiding much friction, saving a great space, obviating the inconvenience of the circular erections heretofore covering the decks of horse-boats, and bringing the strength of the animals employed into operation in the most advantageous manner. I find that in most of the steam and horse-boats hitherto constructed, half, and often more than half, the power employed is expended, and to every useful purpose lost, in opposing the perpen licular resistance of back-water, and from the escape of water on each side, and beneath, the float-boards as they impinge. The first is avoided by the wheel with upright paddles; the second by the |