continued with gayety and cheerfulness, until an unlucky accident occurred, which broke up the harmony of the company, and for a time suspended the entertainment. This was nothing more or less than the bench upon which Lady Dessalines and Madame Christophe with several other females of distinction were seated, giving way, which tumbled their ladyships sprawling on the floor. The music and dancing immediately ceased: the whole company was in confusion and uproar; "is she hurt!" resounded from all parts of the room; every countenance was overcast with sorrow and gloom; some ran this way with smelling bottles; some that way with water, whilst others hastened for physicians. White, yellow, brown and black, were equally distressed. In fine, it was one of the most laughable scenes to which I was ever witness, and was concluded by a loud horse-laugh from the governor's lady, indicating that she was not materially hurt.

Now the idea that the mere tumble of a stout, strapping negro wench should occasion so much anxiety and alarm in so large an assembly is truly ludicrous, and the contempt one would conceive towards a company who would so basely degrade themselves as to pretend uneasiness on account of it, may be easily imagined. Such will no doubt be your reflection, but here que think differently. It was the governor's lady who fell; the wife of a man on whose will depend the lives of thousands.

On the following morning as was expected, Lady Dessalines with her suite took her departure for Gonaives, where her husband then was, after a pleasant visit at the Cape of about two months. As the safety to strangers of travelling between distant parts of the Island, had not yet been ascertained, several Americans took advantage of this opportunity of going to the west, and went in the train of the governor's lady. As this is probably the last I shall see of this respectable female, I will give you some account of her.

Lady Dessalines is about the middle height for a woman, but a very thick clumsy person. She is of the very darkest black, and her face is rather handsome. Her disposition is said to be mild and gentle, and she is, take her all in all, a good woman. She has a strong prepossession in favour of white French-men, and has often saved the lives of poor wretches sentenced to death, by falling on her knees before her husband, and imploring his mercy. She is a Creole of Hispaniola, and appears to be of about five-and-thirty years of age. She is fond of riding on horseback, and is generally attended on her excursions by some of her friends, and a guard of dragoons. At home she has a retinue of female attendants in the capacity of maids of honour.

A few days after the departure of Madame Dessalines, general Christophe removed from town with his family to his country residence Grand Près, about fifteen miles from the Cape. A number of gentlemen, Americans and others, waited upon him to pay their respects

to him on his leaving us, and verses addressed to him, written by the same author, and in the same style of flattery as those addressed to Lady Dessalines, were distributed through the town. I send you copies of both these pieces of poetry, that you may be able to form an exact judgment of the taste of the Haytians, as I am satisfied that no translation I could make, would come up to the spirit of the originals.

VERS

Adressés à Madame Dessalines.

Dans ces instans margués par la reconnaissance,
Qui pour votre mérite anime tous les cœurs,
J'écoute et receuille en silence,

Ce que sur vous chaque citoyen pense,
Et vois, avec plaisir, que parmi tant de fleurs,
Qu'à vous offrir chacun s'empresse et s'étudie,
Il n'en est pas que n'ait été cueillie
Par un pur mouvement de sensibilité,
De gratitude et de sincérité.

Aux vertus dont en vous éclate l'assemblage,
De notre part c'est un bien faible hommage;
Déja le Tout-Puissant vous en récompensa :
Au premier rang il vous plaça

Pour être parmi nous sa plus vivante image.
Faire le bien est votre seul plaisir;
Et pour votre ame ingénue et sensible,
Cette manière de jouir

Est un attrait irrésistible.

Lorsqu'à des dons si précieux

L'on trouve encore la beauté réunie,

Cet ensemble, à la fois, doux et majestueux,

Attire tous les cœurs et fait taire l'envie.

Pour moi qu'un doux penchant dès long-temps a porté
A reconnaitre et chérir le merite

Sous tels dehors qu'il me fut présenté ;
Dans le transport qui m'occupe et m'agite,
Je suis complétement heureux;
Puisque chacun ici, partageant mon ivresse,
Se livre avec franchise au désir qui le presse
De vous faire agréer ses soins respectueux,
Et de former pour vous les plus sincères vœux.

VERS

Adressés ou Général Divisionnaire et Conseiller d'Etat, Henry Christophe, Commandant la Division du Nord.

Déja depuis long-temps dans les champs de Bellone,

Votre front s'est couvert de glorieux lauriers :

De l'éclat immortel que la victoire donne,
Votre nom parmi nous s'illustra des premiers.
Vivement entrainé par cet élan sublime,
Qui, vers la liberté, dirige un noble cœur,
Vous avez embrassé sa cause légitime;
Et tout en combattant, pour elle avec ardeur,
Vous vous êtes montré généreux, magnanime,
Quand les tyrans étaient dans la confusion.
La Renommée au loin depuis long-temps publie,
Ces titres imposans, qui, confondant l'envie,
Commandent le respect et l'admiration.
Mais ceux que vous avez à la reconnaissance,
De tous les citoyens de ce départment,
Sont fondés sur le bien que votre main dispense,
Et pour vous n'en sont pas moins beaux, assurément.
En effet, ramener parmi nous l'abondance,
Ranimer dans les cœurs la douce confiance,
C'est s'ériger, je crois, le plus beau monument,
Comme le plus flatteur, comme le plus durable.
Dans ces bienfaits, versés sur nous à chaque instant,
D'une Epouse cherie, autant qu'elle est aimable,
Chacun se plait à voir le cœur compatissant.
Car de ce sexe aimé qui ne connait l'empire ?
C'est lui qui dans mes mains a remonté ma lyre,
Estimables Epoux, remplissez vos destins,
Assurez les beaux jours qui sur nous viennent luire,
En laissant le bonheur s'epancher de vos mains.
Enfin, transmettez-nous, par votre descendance,
Les vertus, les attraits, qui brillent à nos yeux.
Dès ce jour, dans nos cœurs ouverts à l'espérance,
Avec les sentiments les plus délicieux,

Nous élevons un Temple à la Reconnaissance.

LITERARY NOTICE-FOR THE PORT FOLIO.

Reports of Cases, adjudged in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. By Horace Binney. Vol. 1. pp. 639. Philadelphia, published by William P. Farrand, & Co. 1809.

Ir affords great satisfaction to observe, that, in spite of the designs of malice and ignorance to destroy the fabric of our law, it still endures, and the jurisprudence of the country is gradually advancing in improvement. A system of attack, devoid of all scruple, has been pursued, and has seriously threatened to demolish the work of wisdom and time. How much is jeopardized by even an attempt to deprive a community of its permanent laws, cannot be stated: it can only be foreseen by the wise, and marked by the apprehensions of the virtuous.

Happily for the country, the work of devastation seems to linger; and our satisfaction at the progress of the enlightened is not wholly marred by the fear, that their labours for the common good are destined to terminate with the common ruin. Experiments are upon trial which sicken even their advocates and inventors; and a promise seems to be given, that the novelties of our projectors will end in a restoration of the blessings of law.

With these impressions, we have given an earnest welcome to the volume of Reports now to be noticed. Were our prospects as gloomy as they have been, we should peruse the work with a mixture of pleasure and chagrin; of pleasure, derived from its solid and instructive contents, and of chagrin from the belief, that the labour bestowed upon them was worse than lost. We are, however, yet blessed with the hope, that respect and authority will be attached to the decisions of our Court, and that faithful records of them will be preserved, to impart knowledge and establish uniformity.

The volume before us is introduced by a polite and courteous preface, calculated favourably to impress the reader. It informs us, that the design of noting the decisions had its origin, not with a view to publication, but principally for self-instruction; and occasions a regret, heightened by the perusal of the work, that the undertaking is not supported by legislative protection. In some of our sister States, the importance of this subject has been so appreciated, as to command, for the encouragement of the work, an endowment from the public purse; and the appointment of a Reporter has been, with propriety, placed with the Judges. We are justified in believing, that in Pennsylvania, no appointment would have insured us better capacity or greater fideVOL. II. B.b

lity; and we have only to regret, that the public patronage does not appropriate permanently such talents to so important a service.

Mr. Binney's Reports may, perhaps, be properly divided into two parts; the first of which consisting of about one third of the volume, commences with an important decision in the year 1799, and includes a number of valuable cases in the time of the late Chief Justice Shippen; the second including the rest of the volume embraces the decisions of the Court, in regular series, from the accession of the present Chief Justice early in 1806, to the close of the last March Term. The cases are all of them new to the public, excepting eight, of which but little more than the skeletons are published in the fourth volume of Mr. Dallas's Reports.

In attempting to attract attention to this work, by some analysis of its contents, and some exhibition of its characteristics, we are led to the following remarks.

The first duty of a Reporter is fidelity. It is his office and should be his aim, to present a just exhibition of the cause, in all its parts, in clear and intelligible language. The parts of the cause may be considered to be three ;—the facts, the argument, and the decision. Our observations upon this work will be made, with a reference to this division of a cause.

The facts or circumstances of a cause, are usually presented by the pleadings, the case stated by counsel or the report of the Judge who has tried the cause. One would suppose, that when the sources of truth are so obvious, no error could arise; and yet from the sloth or ignorance of Reporters, great uncertainty and mistake have been occasioned, by maccurate statements of the matter before the Judge. The extent and bearing of a decision can only be known by preserving its connexion with the precise matter decided on; because it is the duty and desire of every able and faithful judge, to confine himself as much as possible to the very point before him. The importance of a distinct and correct statement of facts is then apparent. In this branch of the cause, Mr. Binney merits praise as a Reporter. He well settles his case, and his reader is not retarded by obscurity, embarrassed by affected brevity, nor harassed by vexatious particularity. There is enough stated, and not too much. It is evident, that the Reporter has a clear understanding of his own case, and a happy faculty of communicating it with clearness and precision to his reader. In some few instances, where the facts are fully stated by the Reporter, they are again stated by the Court. The accuracy of the Reporter renders the repetition unnecessary, and the statement by the Judge might have been omitted without injustice to the Court or the cause.