is the cannon at York, that our countrymen and the English are firing at each other-I asked her what they were fighting for? She said, our countrymen were fighting for the rights and liberty of our country, and the English were trying to make us there slaves that they might take away from us any thing we have whenever they want it From that moment I hated the English, and tho' I do not like bearing malice, I hope Mr. Old B. you will not accuse me of uncharitableness, and I confess that to this day the impression that was made on my mind has never intirely gone off-but what I wish you to take notice of is, that it was then for the first time in my life, when that scean pas sed between me and my mother, that I felt in my heart the love of my country; and I am sure it will always remaine in my heart as long as there is a drop of warm blood in it. And if you can have patience, old Mr. B. with. my tedious way, you shall see how my mother, my good excellent mother, cherished and strengthened by all means in her power the love of our country in the hearts of her children.

My mother mentioning of York-Town, and what I heard her say in her prayr, made me think of my father. As we walked towards the house, I asked her "where was my father?" She stopt short and looking back towards York, said with a melancholy voice but very firm, "He is there where we heard the roaring of the cannon"-Is he fighting for his country, said I? Aye said she, that he is, and he will fight bravely too-My tears flowed again, and my heart swelled with love for my country. After a little, I asked her, when will my father come home? She said as if she did not know that she spoke to me,-perhaps he will never--She stopt and then said, I hopë he will come home soon, my son. By this time we got near to the door; my mother wiped her eyes and then mine, and we went into the house."

But alas, my father never came home again--In a few days afterwards, some of the naighbors who had been down to York came up and brought the news, that my father was killed by a musket ball in storming some of the out works that our men took from the British-The dis tressing news was too true.

But good old Mr. B. this letter is too long but I could not help it-I have wrote tow for you before, and burnt them because they were too long, and this is longer than them both, and I have not got fully to the main points that I wished to inform you of, and to ask your opinion about That is, about our loving our country, which I dont think our people are any way remarkable for, but on the

contrary are wanting in it-And about the people in general in our state having but too little learning, and a great deal less I think than they might have if things were managed to the best advantage, and they had as great a desire for it as I am sure you think they ought to have, from what you have said in some of your peaces-But you shall see what I think about these things in my next, which if you can spare time to read it shall be short-no more at present, but your's,

JOHN TRUENAME.

Number XXII.

Stat magni nominis umbra.

Lucan's Phars. Lib. I. . 135.

He stands the shadow of a mighty name.

The near approach of the Fourth of July, the anniversary of our independence, recals to me the war of the revolution which preceded it; and this reminds me of my promise to impart to the reader the reverie on the past. and present character of our countrymen, into which I was thrown, by Mrs. Martin's spirited harangue to her son.* I am fully aware, that the subject is far from being a courtly one. But I am no courtier. My purpose is to serve and not to flatter my countrymen. I wish to stimulate them to a generous competition with their forefathers in those great qualities which exalt the soul and ennoble the mind; but no effect of this sort can be hoped for on their part, unless they shall themselves be brought to make the comparison frankly and to feel and acknowledge their inferiority. For as long as we remain perfectly satisfied with ourselves, it is very clear that we shall make no efforts at improvement. The man, therefore, who exposes our false pretensions, forces upon us an useful, although not a pleasing conviction; and in showing us that we are nothing, compared with the standard of revolutionary excellence, he dissipates the indolent and pernicious dream of vanity, which had lulled us, and puts us *See No. XIX.

T

on aspiring to an equality with that illustrious model. Neither the probe, nor the caustic are very pleasant operations we submit to them, however, for the good that is to follow; and, painful as they are, we submit to them, even with gratitude to the operator.. Without farther apology, then, I proceed to apply the probe and caustic to the mind.

The comparison which I propose to institute, is between the characters who bore a part in our revolution, and those who have succeeded it. And this comparison may be made either by individuals or by bodies. Of the revolutionary individuals who are yet alive, I shall say nothing: they are side by side with the moderns, and the reader may easily make the comparison himself. Of those characters of the revolution who are no more, I will select only a few, and giving to the reader the whole post-revolutionary, American world, I will ask him for their equals. I ask him, then, who there is amongst us, that wields the acute, profound, all-searching pen of Farmer Dickenson? Who is there that displays the force and power of thinking which distinguished Alexander Hamilton ?-Who is there that equals Franklin in the vast stores of useful knowledge, and the boundless reach and comprehension of mind?-Who is there that pours the bold, majestic tide of Henry's eloquence ?-Who is there, alas !-to compare with him-who was in war the mountain storm-in peace; the gale of spring ?-Were not these men, giants in mind and heroism? Compared with them, what is the present generation, but a puny race of dwarfs and pigmies?

If the comparison by individuals shall be thought not a fair one, look at them in bodies. Compare, in the first place, your state legislature now, with what it was during the revolution: the last was the æra of Pendleton, Wythe, Henry, Bland, R. H. Lee, &c. &c. What were the measures of those days? Instead of being the offspring of puerile versatility, of rash experiment, of blind precipitation, of maniac prejudice, or whim without a motive; instead of being

they were the measures of men'; deliberate, deep, judicious, solid and stable.

The reader, however, may be of the opinion suggested some years ago by an Essayist in the Enquirer, that our state legislature is not a fair specimen of the talents of the state, because those talents have been taken away from. us by the stronger attraction of the federal legislature.

Let us go, then, to the federal legislature itself, and look there for the talents thus removed from us ;-and let us compare that body with the old continental or revolutionary Congress. Comparing them as bodies, there is no other way to decide between them than by their acts. Talk, if you please, of the difficulties in which the present Congress is placed; make every allowance for these difficulties, but, then, remember those greater difficulties. which the old Congress had to encounter. Compare the resources of the country at those two periods, in men, money, arms and ammunition. These words roll easily from our lips: but remember what they mean; and make the comparison fairly. I am not censuring the pacific course of our Congress. I have nothing to do with politics. I say only, that the difficulties with which they are surrounded ought to weigh nothing in their favor, when a comparisan is made between their talents for government and those of the fathers of the revolution; because the old Congress were environed by difficulties still greater. The moment of difficulty is, indeed, the proper moment for the trial of talents. Remember, then the epoch of our RevoJution. The colonial habitudes of filial attachment to G. Britain, scarcely half vanquished; the total destitution of all the means of war, and the acknowledged power of their veteran adversary, might well have excused them in declining the contest. Was it not, in truth, as unequal as that between the naked shepherd boy of Israel and the Philistine giant, armed from head to foot. This was the complication of trying difficulties of which lord Chatham sopke; and what was the conduct of the old Congress under them?Ask Lord Chatham again. He had known, by history, Athens, Sparta and Rome; he had seen them encompassed by difficulties which threatened their extinction, and had seen the heroic exertions by which they had been saved: Yet with all this historical knowledge before him, he declared that in the master states of the world, he knew not the people nor the Senate who in sucli a complication of difficult circumstances, could stand in preference to the delegates of America assembled in general Congress in Philadelphia."-" When you consider the dignity, the firmness, and the wisdom with which the Americans have acted, said he, you cannot but respect their cause."-Bring this portrait to the present time, and see how well it fits. "DIGNITY, FIRMNESS and WISDOM !!*** -I have no disposition to press the comparison. The judgment and candor of the reader will do the rest.

I had, very often, the good fortune to see and observe the old Congress, while yet they were tossing on the un

known sea of the revolution, surrounded on every hand by rocks and shoals and whirlpools: and never did I see them without being reminded of the remark which was nade on the Roman Senate; "that they resembled more an assembly of Gods than of men." It was by the great example of our fathers, that I learned what the national legislature of a republic should be. If there belonged to their original characters any little or narrow feelings, they all slept or expired on this august occasion. The traite which distinguished that body, and in which they all agreed, the master passion which swallowed up the rest, was the LOVE OF COUNTRY.

They had this passion not on their lips only; but in their hearts' core. Each member lost sight of himself and forgot the individual in the public cause. Hence, self, with all its degrading retinue of pride and vanity, mortifications and disappointments, chagrin and resentments, distrust, ill-nature, personality, rudeness and recrimination found no admission within their walis; but in their stead flourished the ingenuous and healthy offspring of virtue and patriotism; candor, forbearance, confidence, good-will, modesty, decency and dignity. Thus conducted, debate possessed every advantage for which it was instituted. No man opened his lips but to ask or give information for the public good; and no man who was capable of throwing the faintest light upon the subject, shrank from a debate in which he was sure of being treated with politeness and respect. Is this the case at present? Here again, I leave the comparison to the reader: It will be for him to say whether our manners as well as our minds have not most wofully degenerated :-And whether, in all that respects public character, we do not, like Pompey in my motto, now stand the shadow, merely, of a name once great.

How far the old Congress surpassed us in energy of intellect as well as grandeur of soul, may be seen by their various reports, resolutions, memorials, remonstrances, petitions, declarations and statutes; these evidences of their character still live and will forever live, while the name of liberty shall be dear in any corner of the globe.

It is impossible to read those compositions without being struck with the dignity of action and Herculean strength with which the whole subject is grasped; and the beautiful simplicity, and, at the same time, irresistible con- viction with which the argument is evolved. The magnanimity of sentiment which breathes throughout them, corresponds, in every part, with the force and greatness of intellect which conducts the argument; forming together a toute ensemble, certainly not surpassed, if equalled