about a quarter of an hour. It was fortunate that the weather was calm, as, if we had had a stiff breeze he must have been lost. We were boarded by a pilot when about 12 miles from Boston. The captain invited him to dine with us at the cabin or cuddy table, and being asked whether he would take a glass of porter or of brandy, he replied, “I guess I have not felt altogether smart to-day, so will take the brandy." The pilot told us of the death of General Taylor, the President of the Republic. We came to anchor in the evening near the light-house, and were examined next day, on reaching the quarantine ground, by two medical officers, appointed, one by the State of Massachusetts, the other by the city of Boston; and, after a voyage of 37 days, and traversing a distance of 3,000 miles, landed at Boston, on the shores of that mighty republic, the United States of America. "Does there exist, or will there come An age with wisdom to assume, The rights by heav'n design'd; The rights which man was born to claim, REPUBLICS! must the task be your's The emigrants, preparatory to landing, appeared dressed in their best apparel, some of them having tossed their * The word smart in America means clever, but the latter word is only applied to good-natured, obliging, and well-meaning people, who are often regarded by them as any thing but smart. tattered garments into the sea, and seemed all to be happy, delighted at the prospect of exchanging a country in which they had been doomed to want and misery, for one from which poverty and privation, sorrow and sighing, had for ever fled away. They considered, no doubt, that they had reached at last the promised land, and that the memorable words addressed to the Israelites of old, as recorded in Deuteronomy, were no less applicable unto them. "For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains, and depths, that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates, a land of oil-olive, and honey. "A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass." CHAPTER IX. Sketch of the rise, progress, and final establishment of the Independence of the United States of America. Having already given a brief narrative of the discovery of America, I shall devote a few pages to a rapid sketch of the rise, progress and establishment of the Independence of the United States; simply premising, that American authors maintain, that previous to the war of Independence they had reached that point at which forbearance ceased to be a virtue, and were obliged to have recourse to the only reserved right that was left them, namely, that of revolution; the last right to which oppressed nations resort. America had not been long discovered before it excited the envy of all the European nations, who, putting aside altogether the claims of the aborigines of that country, adopted by tacit consent, and as a new law of nations, the simple principle, that the countries which each explored should be the absolute property of the discoverers. Amidst the scramble that now took place for new territories, Queen Elizabeth of England was not very far behind, as in 1584 she gave, under certain conditions, to Sir Walter Raleigh, "all such remote, heathen and barbarous lands," as he should discover in North America. Under this roving commission, Sir Walter despatched two vessels, who took possession of a part of the American. coast, to which the Queen on the return of the navigators to England, gave the name of Virginia, as a memorial that the happy discovery had been made under a virgin Queen; a name which it still retains. Many settlers afterwards went out, who either perished or were destroyed by the natives, but no permanent settlement was effected till the reign of James the First, and with the exception of the comparatively modern charter of Georgia, in 1732, all the English colonies obtained their charters, and their greatest number of European settlers, between the years 1603 and 1688. Though the English possessions in America were inferior in natural riches to those which fell to the lot of other Europeans, yet the security of property and liberty derived from the English constitution, gave them a great ascendancy. Neither ancient nor modern history can produce an example of colonies governed with equal wisdom, or flourishing with equal rapidity. In the short space of 150 years their numbers had increased to three millions, and their commerce to more than a third of that of Great Britain. They also extended their settlements to 1500 miles on the sea coast, and 300 to the westward. The New England provinces improved faster than others, which were blessed with a superior soil, and milder climate. The population of the State of New York, which in 1756, contained 83,233 whites, had 150,000 by the year 1771, thus nearly doubling its population in 15 years. Pennsylvania at first settled under the auspices of the celebrated Quaker, William Penn, improved so rapidly, that whereas in the year 1704, that province imported goods from the mother country, amounting in value only to eleven thousand pounds sterling, by the year 1772, it imported to the extent of £508,000, or nearly fifty for one in little more than half a century. Under these favourable circumstances, the British colonies in the new world had advanced nearly to the magnitude of a nation, while the greater part of Europe was almost wholly ignorant of their progress. One of the first events which drew on the colonies a share of public attention, was the taking of Louisburg, in the island of Cape Breton, from France, while that country was at war with Great Britain. This enterprise was projected by the governor of Massachusetts, and undertaken by the sole authority of the Legislature of that province. Having raised 5000 men, and been joined by a British marine force of 40 armed vessels from the West Indies, and 12,000 men under the command of General Amherst, their combined operations were carried on with so much judgment, that on the 17th of June 1745, the fortress capitulated. At this time France was in possession of the country on both sides of the mouth of the Mississippi, as well as of Canada, and laid claim also to the country on the Ohio as part of Canada. This being considered an encroachment by the French on the British colonies, the policy of repressing it was generally approved of both in England and America; and it was resolved to take effectual measures for driving them from the Ohio, and also for reducing Niagara, and the other posts which they held within the limits claimed by the king of Great Britain. In the prosecution of this war, the advantages which Britain derived from the colonies were immense. No less than 500 privateers which were fitted out of the ports of her American colonies, successfuly cruized on French property. Besides distressing them by privateering, they furnished 25,000 men to co-operate with the British regular forces in North America. The success of their privateers, which not only ravaged the West India Islands, |