[
{"source_document": "", "creation_year": 1749, "culture": " English\n", "content": "E-text prepared by Charlie Howard and the Online Distributed Proofreading\nInternet Archive (https://archive.org)\nNote: Images of the original pages are available through\n      Internet Archive. See\n      https://archive.org/details/dialogueinhades00john\nA DIALOGUE IN HADES.\nA Parallel of Military Errors, of Which the French\nand English Armies Were Guilty, During the\nCampaign of 1759, in Canada.\nATTRIBUTED TO CHEVALIER JOHNSTONE.\nPublished under the Auspices of the\nLiterary and Historical Society of Quebec\n[Reprinted.]\nQuebec:\nPrinted at the \"Morning Chronicle\" Office.\n[The original of this manuscript is deposited in the French war\narchives, in Paris; a copy was, with the permission of the French\nGovernment, taken in 1855, and deposited in the Library of the\nLegislative Assembly of Canada. The Literary and Historical Society\nof Quebec, through the kindness of Mr. Todd, the Librarian, was\npermitted to have communication thereof. This document is supposed to\nhave been written about the year 1765, that is five years after the\nreturn to France from Canada of the writer, the Chevalier Johnstone,\na Scottish Jacobite, who had fled to France after the defeat at\nCulloden, and obtained from the French monarch, with several other\nScotchmen, commissions in the French armies. In 1748, says _Francisque\nMichel_,[A] \"he sailed from Rochefort as an Ensign with troops going\nto Cape Breton; he continued to serve in America until he returned to\nFrance, in December, 1760, having acted during the campaign of 1759, in\nCanada, as aide-de-camp to Chevalier de Levis. On Levis being ordered\nto Montreal, Johnstone was detached and retained by General Montcalm\non his staff, on account of his thorough knowledge of the environs\nof Quebec, and particularly of Beauport, where the principal works\nof defence stood, and where the whole army, some 11,000 men, were\nentrenched, leaving in Quebec merely a garrison of 1500. The journal\nis written in English, and is not remarkable for orthography or purity\nof diction; either Johnstone had forgotten or had never thoroughly\nknown the language. The style is prolix, sententious, abounding in\nquotations from old writers. This document had first attracted the\nattention of one of the late historians of Canada, the Abb\u00e9 Ferland,\nwho attached much importance to it, as calculated to supply matters of\ndetail and incidents unrecorded elsewhere. Colonel Margry, in charge of\nthe French records, had permitted the venerable writer, then on a visit\nto Paris, to make extracts from it; some of which extracts, the abb\u00e9\npublished at the time of the laying of the St. Foy Monument, in 1862.\nThe Chevalier Johnstone differs _in toto_ from the opinions expressed\nby several French officers of regulars, respecting the conduct of the\nCanadian Militia, in 1759, ascribing to their valour, on the 13th\nSeptember, the salvation of a large portion of the French army. He has\nchosen the singular, though not unprecedented mode of the Dialogue,\nto recapitulate the events of a campaign in which he played a not\ninconsiderable part.\"--J. M. LEMOINE.]\n  [Published under the auspices of the Literary and Historical Society\n A PARALLEL OF MILITARY ERRORS, OF WHICH THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH ARMIES\n          WERE GUILTY, DURING THE CAMPAIGN OF 1759, IN CANADA.\nTHE MARQUIS DE MONTCALM:--Having ardently desired a conversation with\nyou, sir, upon the operations of a campaign which proved to both of us\nso fatal, I have sought you continually amongst the shades ever since I\ndescended here, where I soon followed you.\nGENERAL WOLFE:--I can assure you, sir, I was equally impatient to meet\nwith you. Some of my countrymen, arrived here since the battle of the\n13th September, informed me that there was only an interval of a few\nhours in our sharing the same hard fate. They gave me some accounts\nof that event which joined Canada to the British dominions; but as\nthey had a very imperfect knowledge of the circumstances, and entirely\nignorant of your plan of operations, I have little information from\nthem, and I am heartily glad that chance at last has procured me the\npleasure of seeing you.\nMONTCALM:--Will you permit me, sir, before our conversation becomes\nserious, to offer some reflections upon the difference in our destiny.\nYour nation rendered you the greatest honours; your body was conveyed\nto London, and buried there magnificently in Westminster Abbey,\namongst your kings. Generous Britons erected to your memory a superb\nmonument over your grave, at public expense; and your name, most\ndear to your countrymen, is ever in their mouths, accompanied with\npraise and regret. But in my country what a strange indifference?\nWhat sensation did my death make upon my compatriots? My conduct\ndenounced and censured without measure, is the continual subject of\nconversation for gossiping fools and knaves, who form the majority in\nall communities, and prevail against the infinitely small number to be\nfound of honest, judicious, impartial men, capable of reflection. The\nCanadians and savages who knew the uprightness of my soul, ever devoted\nto the interests of my beloved king and country, they alone rendered\nme justice, with a few sincere friends, who, not daring to oppose\nthemselves openly to the torrent of my enemies, bewailed in secret my\nunhappy fate, and shed on my tomb their friendly tears.\nWOLFE:--In this blessed abode, inaccessible to prejudice, I vow to you,\nsir, I envy your condition, notwithstanding the horrible injustice\nand ingratitude of your countrymen. What can give more pleasure and\nself-satisfaction than the esteem and approbation of honest men? You\nwere severely regretted and lamented by all those who were capable of\ndiscerning and appreciating your superior merit, talents, and eminent\nqualities. Disinterested persons of probity must respect your virtue.\nAll officers versed in the art of war will justify your military\ntactics, and your operations can be blamed only by the ignorant. Were\nmy army consulted, they would be as many witnesses in your favour. Your\nhumanity towards prisoners won you the heart of all my soldiers. They\nsaw with gratitude and veneration your continual care and vigilance to\nsnatch them from out of the hands of the Indians, when those barbarians\nwere ready to cut their throats, and prepared to make of human flesh\ntheir horrible banquets; refusing me even tears at my death, they\nweeped and bewailed your hard fate; I see in my mausoleum the proof\nonly of human weakness! What does that block of marble avail to me in\nmy present state? The monument remains, but the conqueror has perished.\nThe affection, approbation and regret of the worthiest part of mankind\nis greatly preferable and much above the vain honours conferred by a\nblind people, who judge according to the event, and are incapable to\nanalyse the operations. I was unknown to them before the expedition\nwhich I commanded in Canada; and if fortune, to whom I entirely owe my\nsuccess, had less favoured me, perhaps, like Byng, I would have been\nthe victim of a furious and unruly populace. The multitude has and can\nhave success only for the rule of their judgment.\nMONTCALM:--I am much obliged to you, sir, for your favourable opinion\nof me. Let us leave weak mortals to crawl from error to error, and\ndeify to-day what they will condemn to-morrow. It is at present, when\nthe darkness is dispelled from before our eyes, that we can contemplate\nat leisure the passions of men, who move as the waves of the sea, push\non each other and often break upon the rocks; and in our present state,\nwhen all prejudices are at an end, let us examine impartially the\noperations of 1759, which was the epocha of the loss to France of her\nnorthern colonies in America.\nWOLFE:--Most willingly, sir, and to show my frankness, I own to you\nI was greatly surprised on arriving with the English fleet at Quebec\nwithout meeting with any opposition by the French in the river St.\nLawrence.\nMONTCALM:--You had reason to be so. It was not my fault that you did\nnot meet with many obstacles in your way. I proposed to have a redoubt\nand battery erected upon Cape Tourmente, which is a rock above fifty\nfeet high, facing the Traverse at the east[B] end of the Island of\nOrleans, where all the vessels cross from the north to the south side\nof the St. Lawrence river. They are obliged to approach very near the\nCape before they enter into the Traverse, and its height above the\nmen-of-war would have secured it against the effect of the artillery.\nBesides, this rock, almost perpendicular, commanding all round it,\nthe fort would have been impregnable, and not susceptible of being\nbesieged. Thus the first of your ships which approached to pass the\nTraverse would have been raked by the plunging fire of the battery from\nstern to bowsprit, and must have been sunk. I had likewise the project\nof placing a battery and a redoubt upon the upper point of the bay\nwhich is opposite to the west end of _Isle aux Coudres_. The current\nbetween this island and the main land being incredibly rapid at low\nwater, all the vessels coming up the river must have cast anchor there\nto wait until the next tide; and my artillery upon the point of that\nbay would have battered your ships at anchor from fore to aft; have\nput in a most terrible confusion your ships, who could not have taken\nup their anchors without being instantly dashed to pieces against the\nrocks by the violence of the current, forced, as they would have been\nby it, to have their bowsprits always pointed to the battery, without\nbeing able to fire at it. Your fleet would have had no knowledge of the\nbattery until they were at anchor, so you may easily judge how it would\nhave distressed them. I proposed this, but I did not command in chief;\nit was the Marquis de Vaudreuil, Governor General of Canada, who should\nhave ordered it to be put into execution.\nWOLFE:--If they had executed your project, it would have puzzled us,\nand retarded for some time our operations.\nMONTCALM:--That was all I could wish for, as I was always sensible of\nthe great advantage, in certain situations, of gaining time from the\nenemy, especially in such a climate as Canada, where the summer is\nso short that it is impossible to keep the field longer than from the\nmonth of May till the beginning of October, and your fleet arrived at\n_Isle aux Coudres_ at the end of June.\nWOLFE:--There is no doubt that you are in the right. Our fleet arrived\nin the river St. Lawrence six weeks too late, which is commonly the\nfate of all great naval expeditions. Fleets are seldom ready to sail at\nthe time appointed; and this often renders fruitless the best concocted\nenterprise by sea, from the uncertainty of the arrival of the army at\nits destination. The smallest delay is often dangerous, as it gives\nthe enemy the time to prepare themselves for defence, without hurry or\nconfusion.\nMONTCALM:--I will not conceal from you, sir, that I always looked\nupon the distribution you made of your army upon your landing near\nQuebec, as diametrically opposed to the established principles in\ncastrametation. It is a known axiom in the art of war, that an\narmy ought to be encamped in such a manner as to have a free and\neasy communication with all its parts; that they may unite quickly\nwithout any obstruction, and be able to defend and sustain each other\nreciprocally over the whole extent of the camp, in case any part of it\nis attacked. You divided your army in three different camps; one of\nthem upon the Pointe Levis, another upon the Island of Orleans, and\nthe third at the Sault de Montmorency. The two branches of the St.\nLawrence river, which forms the Island of Orleans, each of them about\nhalf a mile broad, separated your three camps, without a possibility\nof establishing a communication between them; and your camp upon the\nPointe Levis was at a distance of six miles from your camp at the Sault\nde Montmorency. Your position was such that had we fallen with our army\non any of your three camps, we would have cut them to pieces, before\nthose of your other two camps could have come to their assistance. The\nknowledge for choosing an advantageous ground for encamping an army,\nalways appears to me to be one of the most essential talents requisite\nin a general. How could you remain quietly in such a dangerous position\nduring two months, without trembling.\nWOLFE:--What hindered you then, sir, from executing that which appeared\nto you so easy?\nMONTCALM:--We attempted it, but with very bad success. Seven days\nafter your landing at the Pointe Levis, Mr. Dumas, Major of the Colony\ntroops, was sent to attack your camp at the Pointe Levis, with a body\nof fifteen hundred men, who, in the night, crossed the river St.\nLawrence at Quebec, without being discovered by your advanced guards.\nBut they were no sooner landed and marching, than, struck with a panic,\nthe utmost disorder suddenly ensued; their heads turned, and, losing\ntheir senses entirely, they fired at each other, believing themselves\nattacked by your army. In short, they immediately fled back to their\nboats with the greatest precipitation and confusion. Discouraged by\nthis bad beginning, M. de Vaudreuil would never listen to any proposals\nof further attempts upon your camps; and it was decided to keep\nourselves for the future upon the defensive.\nWOLFE:--It appears to me, however, that you were not encamped in a\nproper manner to be upon the defensive. Your army did not amount to ten\nthousand men, and your camp extended seven or eight miles.\nMONTCALM:--I agree with you, and am sensible that the longer the line,\nthe weaker it is in its several parts. I am convinced that it is\nimpossible to prevent a line from being forced; and I believed likewise\nthat, landing on a coast where there are several leagues of it to be\ndefended, equally susceptible of descent, is the same case as lines.\nHe who attacks has all his force concentrated at a single point, which\nhe may choose as he pleases; anywhere in the extent of his lines; on\nthe contrary, he who is attacked in his entrenchments has his force\ndivided over the whole extent of his lines, and does not know on what\npart of them the enemy has the intention to make his real attack, so\nthat he must be everywhere equally strong and guarded over all the\nground occupied by his army. Thus the head of a column of a great depth\nof ranks must infallibly pierce through lines who have only at most two\nor three men deep; and by feint attacks all over the front of a line,\nyou cannot weaken one part of it by drawing troops from it to fortify\nanother part of it, unless the point of the enemy's principal attack\nis manifestly known. It is certainly the same with regard to landings,\nwhere all the extent of the sea coast may be threatened at the same\ntime, although it is a common opinion that a coast may be defended, and\nthat an enemy may be repulsed in his attempt to make a descent by open\nforce.\nI know not a better method to oppose a descent than to have bodies of\ntroops in battle, ready to rush upon the enemy, with their bayonets\nupon their muskets, attacking the moment the enemy land, whilst they\nare yet few and in confusion from the disorder which must necessarily\nhappen at their coming out of their boats, and before they can present\na considerable front in battle.\nMy project of defence was to encamp on rising ground at Quebec, called\nby the French, _Les Hauteurs d'Abraham_, and make Quebec serve as the\ncentre and pivot to all my operations, since it was evident that the\nfate of Canada depended entirely on its being preserved to us or taken\nby you, which decided whether that colony should remain to its ancient\npossessors or become your prize.\nWith this in view, I intrenched the borders of the St. Charles river,\nand remained encamped at Quebec until, receiving tidings of your fleet\nhaving arrived in the St. Lawrence river, M. de Levis, an officer of\ngreat merit and distinction, proposed to change the position of our\ncamp, by carrying our left wing to the Sault de Montmorency, and our\nright to the St. Charles river: this, as you say, made it six miles\nlong on the north side of Quebec, and gave us greater appearance of\nbeing on the offensive than on the defensive.\nHe pretended that the presenting a great front to the enemy would\ngive us a bold look, and inspire respect. As there can be no positive\ncertainty in any military operation, from unforeseen accidents which\noften overturn the best combined project, I readily sacrificed to him\nmy opinion, without insisting upon it. In this new position M. de\nVaudreuil commanded the right of our camp, near Quebec; M. de Levis\nthe left, at the Sault de Montmorency; and I commanded the centre, at\nBeauport.\nWOLFE:--Had you continued on the heights of Abraham you would have\nsaved Quebec, but you would have abandoned to me all the country where\nI might have destroyed, burnt and ruined all the settlements at some\nleagues round it.\nMONTCALM:--That may be, but Canada would not have been taken, and\ncertainly you durst not penetrate far into the country, leaving Quebec\nbehind you. Had you attacked me, I would have had the advantage of the\nrising ground, which I would have fortified with intrenchments, and\nwith a chain of redoubts from Quebec to Cap Rouge, where these heights\nterminate in a deep ravine, with a small river at the bottom of it,\noverhung with rocks, at three leagues from Quebec. This advantageous\nposition, not to be successfully attacked by any number of men, would\nhave been my advanced post.\nMy right would have been applied to Quebec, and sustained by it. I\nnever could guess, sir, your idea in reducing that town to ashes as\nyou did, by throwing upon it continually, from your batteries on the\nopposite side of the river, that immense number of carcases and shells.\nIt seems to me that when an army besieges a town, it is with the\nintention, on its surrendering, to keep possession of it, and have\nhouses in it to lodge the troops, instead of heaps of ruins. This\nconduct was still more essentially necessary from the season being\nadvanced, and from the impossibility of carrying-on any kind of\nhouse building during the winter. Moreover, the utter destruction of\nthat town reduced to ashes could not hasten its being taken a moment\nsooner. You could do no harm to our batteries, which were much higher\nthan yours; it is not by destroying houses that towns are taken. You\nalways battered houses, without reflecting that it is only by ruining\nthe fortifications--the defences--and by a breach in the walls, that\nsuccess may be hoped for in sieges; and it is certain that you lavished\na prodigious quantity of warlike stores very uselessly.\nWhat advantages could you expect by ruining and distressing the\ninhabitants of Quebec, whose houses you burnt?\nIt was destroying alone for the pleasure of doing injury, without any\nadvantage accruing to you from it.\nWOLFE:--My inaction during the whole summer should have made you\nperceive what little hopes I had of succeeding in my expedition; should\nit turn out fruitless after the sum it had cost England, the news of\nQuebec being reduced to ashes might blind the extravagant English\npopulace, and blunt their fanatical fury.\nMONTCALM:--The day that you landed at the Sault de Montmorency, where\nyou encamped immediately with a body of four thousand men, in all\nappearance you did not know that the river Montmorency was fordable in\nthe wood about a mile to the north of your camp, where fifty men in\nfront might pass the ford with water only up to their knees. Had you\npassed it immediately, you might have fallen upon the left of our army,\ncut them to pieces, and pursued them two miles, as far as the ravine\nof Beauport, before they could assemble a sufficient number of men to\nbe able to resist you. You might have even encamped upon the north\nside of that ravine, which, having it before you, would have been a\nvery advantageous post, and brought you several miles nearer to Quebec.\nIn this case it is highly probable that we would have been obliged to\nabandon to you all the ground between the St. Charles river and the\nravine.\nTo return to my first project of encamping upon the heights of Abraham,\nour left was in the greatest security, not knowing that there was a\nford in that river until some hours after your landing at the Sault.\nWOLFE:--Is it then surprising that I should be ignorant of that ford,\nsince you did not know it yourself? besides, it is only the inhabitants\nin the neighbourhood of rivers, swamps and lakes, who can give positive\nand sure information about them. And supposing I had found some of your\nCanadians at their houses there, they are so inviolably attached to\ntheir religion, king and country, that they would sooner have led me\ninto a snare than instruct me in anything that could be prejudicial to\ntheir army.\nThose whom a general sends to examine the _locale_ of a country must do\nit very superficially upon their own observations, without consulting\nor interrogating the peasants in the neighbourhood.\nMONTCALM:--Whilst your soldiers were employed in making their camp, and\npitching their tents, M. de Levis and his aide-de-camp Johnstone, were\nlooking at you from the opposite side of the Sault. His aide-de-camp\nhaving asked him if he was positively certain that there was no ford\nin the Montmorency river, M. de Levis answering that there was not,\nand that he had been himself to examine it to its source, at a lake in\nthe woods, about ten or twelve miles from the Sault. An inhabitant who\noverheard this conversation, told the aide-de-camp: \"The General is\nmistaken; there is a ford which the inhabitants thereabouts pass every\nday in carrying their corn to a mill;\" and he added that he had crossed\nit lately, with water not above his knees.\nThe aide-de-camp related to M. de Levis immediately his conversation\nwith the Canadian, who would not believe there was a ford, and,\nexamining him roughly, the Canadian was seized with awe, and respect\nfor the General; his tongue faltered in his mouth, and he durst\nnot boldly assert the truth. The aide-de-camp, in a whisper to the\nCanadian, ordered him to find out a person who had crossed the ford\nlately, and bring him immediately to M. de Levis' lodgings. The Canadian\ncame to him in a moment, with a man who had crossed it the night\nbefore, with a sack of wheat upon his back, where he had found only\neight inches deep of water.\nThe aide-de-camp being thus assured of the fact, ordered, in M. de\nLevis' name, a detachment to be sent instantly, with the necessary tools\nto intrench itself.\nWOLFE:--Had I been so lucky as you, sir, to discover that ford, there\nis no doubt I would not have let slip so favourable an opportunity\nof distinguishing myself, and would have fallen like lightning upon\nthat part of your camp. There can be nothing more dangerous than the\nneighbourhood of rivers and swamps, that have not been sounded and\nexamined with the greatest care and attention. Negligence, ignorance\nand headstrong obstinacy are equally fatal in military affairs; and\nthe misfortune of a Lieutenant-General, in Scotland, against the\nHighlanders at the battle of Prestonpans, made so deep an impression\nupon me that I am always on my guard when near such places.\nMONTCALM:--How can you, sir, justify your imprudence in running\nheadlong into the woods opposite to our intrenchments, with two\nthousand men, who naturally ought to have been cut to pieces, and\nneither you nor any man of your detachment escape? Nine hundred\nIndians had invested you all round at a pistol shot from you, and had\nalready cut off your retreat, without your perceiving it. So soon as\nthe Indians had surrounded you in the wood, they sent their officer\nLanglade to acquaint M. de Levis that they had got you in their net,\nbut that your detachment, appearing to be about two thousand men,\ngreatly superior to them in number, they begged earnestly of M. de\nLevis to order M. de Repentigny to pass the ford with eleven hundred\nmen, which he commanded in these intrenchments, and join them; that\nthey would be answerable upon their heads if a single man of your\ndetachment should get back to your camp; and they did not think\nthemselves strong enough to strike upon you without this reinforcement\nof Canadians. There were a great many officers at M. de Levis' lodgings\nwhen Langlade came to him on behalf of the Indians, and this General\nhaving consulted them, after giving his own opinion on the affair:\n\"that it was dangerous to attack an army in the wood, as they could not\nknow the number of men there; that it might be all the English army,\nwhich consequently might bring on a general engagement without being\nprepared for it; and that if he happened to be repulsed, he would be\nblamed for engaging in an affair, without holding previously an order\nfrom his superiors, M. de Vaudreuil and M. de Montcalm.\" The officers\nrespected too much the General not to be of his way of thinking, and\nit must ever be so from flattery. His aide-de-camp alone maintained\na different opinion, out of a real friendship for M. de Levis. He\ntold them that there was not the smallest probability it could be all\nthe English army, since the Indians, who never fail to magnify the\nnumber, computed them at only two thousand men. That even supposing it\nto be the whole English army, it would be the most lucky thing that\ncould happen to us to have a general engagement in the woods, where\na Canadian is worth three disciplined soldiers, as a soldier in a\nplain is worth three Canadians; and that nothing was more essential\nthan to select the propitious moment and the way of fighting for\nthose who composed the two-thirds of the army, which was the case with\nthe Canadians. On the contrary, the English army was almost entirely\ncomposed of regulars with very few militia.\nThat M. de Levis could not do better than in ordering M. de Repentigny\nto cross the river immediately with his detachment _en \u00e9chelon_, and\njoin the Indians, without losing moments very precious; that at the\nsame time he should send instantly to inform me of his adventure, in\norder to make all the army advance towards the ford, each regiment\ntaking the place of the other marched off; so that the Regiment Royal\nRoussillon, the nearest to the ford, should go off directly to take the\npost that Repentigny would quit in crossing the river, and observing\nthe same for the rest of the army; that by this means the engaging a\ngeneral affair was much to be wished for, supposing all the English\narmy to be in the woods opposite the ford; in short, that if there\nwas a possibility of our being defeated and repulsed in the woods,\nwhich could scarce happen, according to all human probability, we had\nour retreat assured in the depth of these woods, well known to the\nCanadians, where the English troops could not pursue them, so that in\nno shape could M. de Levis run the least risk.\nHis aide-de-camp added, that when fortune offers her favours, \"they\nought to be snatched with avidity.\" These reasons made no impressions\non M. de Levis, and Langlade was sent back to the Indians with a\nnegative reply.\nThere was two miles from M. de Levis' quarters to the place where the\nIndians were in ambush. Langlade came back with new entreaties and\nearnest solicitations to induce M. de Levis to make Repentigny cross\nthe ford with his detachment, but the General could not be prevailed\nupon to give a positive order to Repentigny to join the Indians.\nHe wrote a letter to Repentigny by Langlade, wherein he told him\n\"having the greatest confidence in his prudence and good conduct, he\nmight pass the river with his detachment, if he saw a certainty of\nsuccess.\" His aide-de-camp told him, whilst he was sealing the letter,\nthat Repentigny had too much judgment and good sense to take upon\nhimself an affair of that importance; and his opinion of Repentigny was\nimmediately justified by his answer; he asked M. de Levis to give him\na clear and positive order. After thus loitering about an hour and a\nhalf, M. de Levis resolved at last to go himself to the ford, and give\nthere his orders verbally; but he had scarce got half way to it when\nhe heard a brisk fire. The Indians, losing all patience, after having\nremained so long hid at a pistol shot from you, like setter dogs upon\nwild fowl, at last gave you a volley, killed about a hundred and fifty\nof your soldiers, and then retired without losing a man. It is evident\nthat had Repentigny passed the river with his detachment of eleven\nhundred Canadians, you must have been cut to pieces, and that affair\nwould have terminated your expedition. Your army could have no more\nhopes of succeeding after such a loss; their spirits would have been\ndamped, and Canada would have been secure from any further invasion\nfrom Great Britain.\nFortune was always as favourable to you, as she constantly frowned\nupon us. M. de Levis is not to be blamed; an officer who serves under\nthe orders of others can only be reproached when he does not execute\npunctually the orders he receives from his superiors; and he has always\nreason to be cautious and diffident in such cases where his honour\nand reputation may be engaged, as none can be positively certain of\nthe issue of any military enterprise, and if success does not crown\nthe venture, of which you have voluntarily burthened yourself, though\nundertaken from the best of motives and apparently for the good of the\nservice, thousands of mouths will open to spit venom against you.\nBut of all others, the ignorant amongst the military, and the knaves,\nto screen themselves, will surely be violent: this is so much the more\nastonishing, in the profession of arms, where sentiments of honour and\nhonesty ought to be the foundation.\nWOLFE:--My intention in approaching so near your post at the ford was\nto examine it carefully, as I then had formed the design to attack it,\nlittle imagining that such a considerable detachment as I had with\nme would have been exposed to be set on by your Indians. Accustomed\nto European warfare, I could never have thought that a body of men\nshould have been so long, so close to me without discovering them. Your\nintrenchments there appeared to be very trifling, but the sight of\nearth thrown up is respectable, and not to be despised.\nMONTCALM:--Your attack of the 31st of July, at the only place of our\ncamp which was inaccessible, appeared to me unaccountable. From Quebec\nto Beauport, which was about four miles, it is a marshy ground, very\nlittle higher than the surface of the St. Lawrence at full tide.\nThe heights begin at the ravine at Beauport, and rise gradually all\nalong the border of the river, until at Johnstone's redoubt and\nbattery--where you made your descent and attack--they become a steep\nhigh hill, which ends in a deep precipice at the Sault de Montmorency.\nOpposite to Johnstone's redoubt it is so steep that your soldiers could\nscarce be able to climb it, even without the encumbrance of their arms.\nBesides this natural fortification, we had a continued intrenchment\nall along the edge of the hill, from Beauport to the Sault, so traced\nand conducted by M. Johnstone that it was everywhere flanked, and the\nsloping of it served as a glacis; thus the fire from the front and\nflanks would have destroyed the three-fourths of your army before they\ncould reach the top of the hill.\nBut supposing that some of your troops had reached the top of the hill,\nup to our trenches, after surmounting these difficulties, my grenadiers\nwere drawn up in battle behind them, ready to charge upon them, with\ntheir bayonets upon their muskets, the instant any of your soldiers\nshould appear at the trenches.\nThe swampy, sinking ground, from the redoubt to the foot of the hill,\nwas not one of the smallest difficulties you had in your way to come at\nus.\nIt is true the Scotch Highlanders, who were your forlorn hope, had got\nover it and had reached the foot of the hill, though certainly very few\nreturned; but these turfy swamps, when a certain number of men have\npassed them, become at last impassible, and your soldiers must have\nsunk down in it above the head, multitudes of them perishing there in\nthe most useless and disagreeable manner. Thus, sir, I hope you see\nclearly the folly and rashness of that attack, and that your army must\nhave been totally destroyed, without hope, had not heaven wrought a\nmiracle in your favor, after a long cessation of them, which alone\ncould save you.\nYou were no sooner hotly engaged in the attack, without a possibility\nof withdrawing yourself out of the scrape, when from a clear sunshine\nthere fell in that most critical juncture, of a sudden, the most\nviolent even, down pour of rain from a cloud, which, as the cloud that\nsaved Eneas from the fury of Diomed, placed you immediately out of our\nsight, so that in an instant we could not see half way down the hill.\nYou profited, as a wise man, of this event to make good your retreat.\nWhen the shower was over and we could see you, we found, to our sorrow,\nthat you had escaped us, and that you were then out of the reach of\nour fire, marching, in a well-formed column, back to your camp at the\nSault, well satisfied to have got out of that adventure with the loss\nonly of between five and six hundred men.\nIt was a long time before I could be persuaded that you were in\nearnest. I had always expected your descent and attack would have been\nbetwixt the St. Charles river and the ravine of Beauport. All that\ntract of ground, about four miles extent, was everywhere favourable to\nyou, if you had made your real descent in the middle of it, opposite to\nM. Vaudreuil's lodging, with feint attacks at Johnstone's redoubt, and\nat the Canardi\u00e8re near the river St. Charles, forcing our intrenchments\nthere, which could not resist an instant a well-formed column. The head\nof it, composed of the Scotch Highlanders, might have easily penetrated\ninto the plain, separating our army into two parts by the centre,\nhaving lodged yourself in the south side of the ravine of Beauport,\nand have taken the hornwork upon the St. Charles river, sword in hand,\nwithout much difficulty or loss of men. In short, all this might have\nbeen effected in an hour's time, without meeting with any considerable\nresistance from our army, thus divided and opened by the centre; and a\ncomplete victory, which would have crushed us to pieces without hope,\nwould have crowned you with justly merited laurels.\nWOLFE:--I own to you, sir, I was greatly deceived with regard to the\nheight and steepness of the hill, which did not appear considerable,\neven with a telescope, from the river St. Lawrence; it was only when\nI got to the redoubt that I saw it such as it really is. I began at\nseven in the morning to fire at your camp from my battery at the Sault\n(of forty cannons) mostly four-and-twenty pounders. The _Centurion_, a\nman-of-war of sixty guns, did the same, as also the _Two Cats_, which\nhad on board all the tools necessary for the workmen. They gave you\ncontinually their broadsides, firing upon your camp, as I did from my\nbattery, like platoons of infantry.\nI dare say you never saw artillery better served and kept up until six\nin the evening when I began my landing at low water. I imagined that\nthis terrible cannonade all that day, without a moment's intermission,\nwould have intimidated your Canadians and make them quit the trenches;\nmy battery at the Sault being thirty or forty feet higher than your\ncamp, we saw them down at the shore. Certainly you must have lost a\ngreat number of men.\nMONTCALM:--That brave militia deserves justly the greatest praise. Not\na man of them stirred from his post, and they showed as much ardour,\ncourage and resolution as my regular troops. I had no more than fifty\nmen killed and wounded by your furious cannonade, which proves how\nlittle cannons are hurtful in comparison to the dread and respect\nthey inspire. Permit me, sir, to tell you that your countrymen, the\nEnglish, appear to me, from their conduct in Canada, to be as rash,\ninconsiderate and hot-headed as the French, who have ever enjoyed\nthat character, notwithstanding your countrymen's reputation for\ncoolness and phlegmatic bravery, since I have seen several examples\nof their attacking us before they had examined the _locale_, or known\nour position; and if the two nations are compared impartially, I am\npersuaded that you will do us the justice to own that in our operations\nin Canada we have shown much more circumspection and coolness than your\nEnglish generals. Your attack of the 31st July, without having procured\nbeforehand an exact knowledge of the hill and of the places adjacent,\nis not the first example of great temerity and impatience on their part.\nThe proximity of your camp to this hill might have furnished you the\nmeans to have a thorough knowledge of our position, by sending proper\npersons to cross over the ford of the river Montmorency where it falls\ninto the river St. Lawrence, and where it is fordable at low water.\nThey might, in a dark night and bad weather, have not only examined the\nsteepness of the height, but have even gone over all our camp without\nbeing discovered; I always imagined you did so until the day of your\nattack, which soon convinced me of the contrary. Your brother in arms,\nAbercrombie, your predecessor in the command of the army, committed\nthe same fault at Ticonderoga as you did the 31st of July; but it cost\nhim much dearer, the clouds which saved you not having come to his\nassistance.\nI set out from Montreal on the 5th of May, 1758, to go to Ticonderoga,\nwith all my regular troops--the regiments of La Sarre, La Reine, Royal\nRousillon, Berne, Guienne, Languedoc, Berry of two battalions, and the\nindependent companies of the marine detached in Canada; the regiments\nfrom France not being recruited, the whole amounted to only about four\nthousand men.\nI had no positive information that the English army had formed the\ndesign to come by the lake St. Sacrament in order to attack Ticonderoga\n(Carillon), and from thence to go to Montreal--but I suspected it, from\nthe proximity of this ford to your settlement upon lake St. Sacrament;\nnor did I cease beseeching continually M. Vaudreuil, who was then at\nQuebec, to send me with all possible diligence the Canadian militia,\nwhich was the principal force for the defence of the colony.\nM. Vaudreuil, who has neither common sense, nor judgment, could not\nfind out that my military conjectures were grounded; and instead\nof sending me the Canadians, he gave them permission to remain\nat Montreal, sixty leagues from Ticonderoga, to attend to their\nagricultural pursuits.\nI dare not allege that he was informed, by the Indians of the Iroquois\nnation, that the object of the English was to invade Canada; that their\narmy was on their way to lake St. Sacrament; that it was with the view\nof sacrificing me, and making me the victim of a cabal, who led him and\ngoverned him blindly, that he kept from me the Canadians.\nThe 7th of July my conjectures were verified by the arrival of the\nEnglish army at the Ch\u00fbte, where lake St. Sacrament terminates, about\nfour miles from Ticonderoga, consisting of six thousand three hundred\nmen, commanded by General Abercrombie, who had succeeded to General\nBraddock, killed the year before at the river Ohio.\nThe return of a detachment which I had placed at the Ch\u00fbte, as an\nadvanced post, who had lost an hundred and fifty men, killed by the\nEnglish on their arrival there, was a sad confirmation of the bad\nnews. It is scarce possible to imagine a more dangerous and critical\nsituation than mine--without the aid of Canadians, whose way of\nfighting was so essential to me in the woods--more useful in those\ncountries than regular troops. Fort Carillon, or Ticonderoga, was a\nsquare, regularly fortified, each face of it about seventy fathoms in\nlength.\nIt had four bastions--the walls of masonry, doubled with a rampart,\nas likewise a ditch, covered way, and glacis. M. de Bourlamarque, an\nofficer of great merit and intelligence, had added a half moon to it.\nTo retire with my four thousand troops would have been abandoning the\ncolony to General Abercrombie, as the fort could not hold out long\nagainst so considerable an army; and being on that side the key of\nCanada, with the possession of it in the hands of the English, they\nmight go directly to Montreal, and be there in fifteen days, without\nfinding on their way the least obstruction; on the other hand, the\nmatch was very unequal in opposing four thousand men to thirteen\nthousand. There was, however, no room for hesitating, in the choice,\nand I was soon resolved to save the colony by a bold and desperate\nstroke or die, gloriously, sword in hand. I made everybody work hard\nall the night between the 7th and 8th July, cutting down trees to make\nan intrenchment (CCCC), which, when finished, was very weak, trifling,\nand could scarce serve as a breast-work to cover the troops.\nThe engineers, having cut off the branches, laid the trees upon a line\non the heights, three or four of them placed horizontally one upon the\nother, which scarce made it above three feet high--so low that your\nsoldiers might easily have jumped over it;--they made a line of the\nbranches, at two paces distance, on the outside of the trenches (HH).\nIt is certain that if the engineers had only thrown the trees with\ntheir heads outwards, and their branches sharpened in pricking points\nat their ends, it would have made a much stronger intrenchment, more\ndifficult to be forced, and built much sooner.[C] I had not the time\nto continue the trenches down to the hollow (DD), at the foot of the\nheight, and I placed there two companies of grenadiers.\nThe hollow upon the right of the height, where the intrenchment was\nthe worst of all my lines, was the post of the companies of marines\n(C); the regiments lined the rest of the trenches. Next day, the 8th\nof July, the English army appeared on the borders of the woods, about\nthree hundred fathoms from the front of our intrenchment on the height,\nand instantly advanced to the attack, formed in three columns (EE),\nwithout halting a moment to examine the _locale_. Two of the columns\nattacked the height with the utmost impetuosity, but being very soon\nentangled among the branches, on the outside of the trenches, and\nimpeded by them, they lost there a great many men; some few got through\nand, jumping into our trenches, were killed by our soldiers with their\nbayonets.\nThe American riflemen were posted on two heights (GG), which commanded\nour trenches, from whence they saw sideways in some parts of them, and\nin others the rear of the soldiers (K).\nThe regiment of Berry was, above all others, worried and tormented\nby their fire--one of these heights being scarce above eighty paces\nfrom the intrenchments. The third column attacked the hollow upon our\nright; but receiving a brisk fire at its front from the colony troops,\nand at the same time upon its right flank from the regiments on the\nheight, the column soon wavered, wheeled to the right, and, presenting\nits front to the height, got out of the reach of the fire from the\nright of the colony troops; upon which M. Raymond, who commanded them,\nwent out of the trenches with the right wing of these troops, and\nattacked the left flank of the column, whilst its head and right flank\nwere fired at from the height and from the left of the colony troops in\nthe trenches.\nThe column, distressed by this firing, yet, nevertheless, keeping firm\nat the foot of the height, put in disorder the regiment of Berry, who\nabandoned that part of the intrenchment (II) above it.\nThe moment I perceived the disorder, I ran there, encouraged the\nsoldiers of the regiment, made them return to their post, and supported\nthem by the grenadiers, whom I had kept in order of battle, at a small\ndistance from the trenches, as a reserve, to be employed wherever the\nline might be forced by your troops, to charge upon them headlong,\ntheir bayonets upon their muskets, without firing: having neglected\nnothing that the short time allowed me to do, in order to make a\nvigorous defence--without aught to reproach myself with--had I been\noverpowered by your army; and having always preserved coolness and\npresence of mind so as to be able to remedy immediately any disorders\nduring this long and well disputed attack.\nGeneral Abercrombie was at last obliged to retire, after having\ncontinued for some hours, with the greatest obstinacy, his attempt to\nforce our intrenchments,--with the loss of two thousand men.[D]\nI acquitted myself of my duty: this always affords a sweet satisfaction\nin all the events of life; and, even to the vanquished and\nunfortunate, it must yield great comfort and consolation. I had only\ntwelve hours to prepare to defend myself with five thousand men against\nthirteen thousand.\nHow can General Abercrombie's rash and blind conduct be accounted for,\nfor attacking us without examining or knowing our position? It is\nastonishing.\nDuring twelve hours that he remained at the Ch\u00fbte after landing there,\nhe had time to send and examine the ground round the fort Ticonderoga;\nand they might have had a perfect knowledge of our position from a\nhill, covered with big trees, on the opposite side of the river of\nthe Ch\u00fbte (P);[E] this hill was much higher than any part of our\nintrenchments, and not a musket shot from them; he might have gone\nthere himself with safety, having that river between us.\nHad he halted only a short time after his arrival on the borders\nof the wood, about six hundred paces from our trenches, he might,\neven from thence, have examined the _locale_ at his leisure. But,\nseized with impatience, he hurried to the attack without stopping\nthere a moment--and it is not when an action is engaged that one can\nthen examine the enemy's position; or, if he had advanced upon us\nthe moment of his landing at the Ch\u00fbte, the 7th instant, instead of\nloitering there twelve hours, he would not have found even those shabby\nintrenchments; and having so few (regular) troops, irrespective of the\nCanadians, I would have been obliged, on his appearing, to abandon to\nhim all that part of the country, and retire to Montreal, leaving only\na garrison at Fort Carillon. It was certainly through his ignorance\nof the _locale_ that I repulsed him, instead of being myself cut to\npieces; nor had I any means of retreat, and my troops must have been\nall killed or taken prisoners, if his third column had marched along\nthe borders of the wood upon their left; this would have put them out\nof the reach of the fire from the height, they could fall upon the\nright flank of the trenches of the colony troops, who could not have\nresisted a moment the impulse of the column; instead of wheeling and\nchanging its plan of attack by presenting its head to the height, had\nhe always advanced forward to attack the centre of the intrenchments\nof the marine, he would have easily pierced through it; then, wheeling\nto the right, go up the height, which is there of an easy ascent, and\nfire upon the rear of the troops, who opposed your other two columns,\nthey must have been put to flight, the trenches abandoned, and, even\nupon the sight of your third column coming up the height, I must, of\nnecessity, have instantly retreated to the fort the best way I could;\nthere to embark my army in my boats and carry it down Lake Champlain,\nwithout being able to make a resistance at Fort Frederic, as it is\ncommanded by hills behind it, about the distance of two hundred paces\nfrom its walls, which makes it a very advantageous post. What would\nhave been still worse for me, if my trenches had been forced, there\nis a space of five leagues between Fort Frederic and Ticonderoga, by\nthe river St. Frederic, which, about half way, is scarce above fifty\nor sixty fathoms broad, and is a most advantageous post, where not a\nboat would pass by, and must cut off entirely the communication with\nLake Champlain, as it is an equal distance from the Ch\u00fbte or from\nTiconderoga.\nGeneral Abercrombie might have sent a body of troops to establish there\na post, in which case we must have laid down our arms and surrendered\nourselves prisoners to him, for want of subsistence, and from the\nimpossibility of retreating by land.\nGeneral Abercrombie might have likewise penetrated easily at the\nhollow, which I had not the time to intrench, where I had placed\ntwo companies of volunteers; and this would have had equally fatal\nconsequences for me, as the third column might have been on the other\nside of the height, the ascent there not being steep or of difficult\naccess.\nBut his attacks were always obstinately directed at the most difficult\nplaces of the height, as if there had been a cloud before his eyes to\nhinder him from seeing to his right and left what was visible to the\nmost ignorant officer.\nWOLFE:--That was a most glorious day for you, sir,--worthy of the\nambition of a great man. Our columns were only at ten steps distance\nfrom your intrenchments, and all our army saw you perfectly well,\nconstantly at work encouraging and exciting the ardour of your\nsoldiers, hurrying over your lines perpetually some paces from your\ntrenches; exposing your person too rashly compared to the custom of\nour army, your eye glancing over the whole, with the attitude of a\nlion. General Abercrombie perceived, clearly, the disorder upon your\nright when the regiment of Berry was about to retire, and redoubled his\nefforts to profit by it. But you were everywhere, travelling from place\nto place with the swiftness of the eagle; never at a loss; reforming\nthe smallest disorder so soon as it was visible, and preventing it from\nspreading, as it generally does, like a flash of lightning. This affair\nwon you so great a reputation in England for capacity and talent, that\nI own to you, sir, the idea of having an antagonist of your knowledge\nand merit, made me during the campaign always irresolute, vacillating\nin my opinions and undecided in my projects. I cannot condemn my\npredecessors who had the command of the English armies in Canada.\nThe way of fighting of the Canadians and Indians in the woods is so\ndifferent from that practised in Europe, that I readily believe the\nmost able General, with an army of the best disciplined troops, in\nfollowing exactly the rules of the art of war,--whose principles are\nsure, fixed and demonstrable in European warfare,--may be easily cut\nto pieces in those vast forests by a very few Indians. There was an\noutcry in England against General Braddock, for allowing his army of\nfour thousand men to be cut to pieces at the river Ohio,[F] in the year\n1755, by six hundred and fifty Canadians and Indians only, much more\nthan they blame General Abercrombie.\nThe reason of it is clear. Abercrombie lived to return to England:\nthe living always find means to justify themselves. But Braddock was\nkilled: the dead are always in the wrong, and never find disinterested\nadvocates to plead their cause. Braddock's order of march--criticised\nby your French Generals--may, at first sight, appear singular; and may\npretend that he must of necessity have been beat, in consequence of the\nbad disposition of it. But analize it, and you will find nothing else\nthan the common rule practised through all Europe in passing through\na wood: an army formed in three columns--the artillery, baggage,\nwaggons and cavalry being the column of the centre, between the other\ntwo columns of infantry; half of the Grenadiers at their head to\nsupport the Pioneers employed in opening a road through the wood for\nthe passage of the carts and artillery, and the rest in the rear, to\nclose of march. Braddock was invested on all sides by the Canadians,\nand dispersed in the wood, each of them behind a tree, marking out his\nvictim; so that every musket-shot brought down a soldier, and at every\ndischarge they flew from tree to tree. What can regular troops do in\nsuch a case? Close their ranks and files each moment, as did Braddock,\ndirect a continual fire at the woods, without perceiving a man, and be\ncut to pieces without seeing an enemy. There is no other method for\ntroops to defend themselves against the Indians than what I practised,\nwith success, when I was surprised by them at the ford of the River\nMontmorency: the soldiers, with fixed bayonets, dispersed themselves,\nrushed on in disorder towards the places where they perceived the smoke\nof the Indians' discharge; and by these means my detachment in the woods\nchased away your nine hundred Indians, who in a moment disappeared\nentirely, and suffered me to retire at my leisure to my camp.\nMONTCALM:--I verily believe, sir, that your idea is just. The Indians\ntold me, on their return, that it was now no more possible to fight you\nas formerly, since the English had learned their (the Indians') way\nof fighting. There cannot be a greater advantage for a General than\nthe entire knowledge of the country--the seat of war: without this,\nhe must always grope in the dark--be foiled in his operations--rest\noften inactive, uncertain in his projects; and be only inactive and\non the defensive, as you were all the summer as much as me. You were\nabsolutely master of the River St. Lawrence by your men-of-war, who\nhad ascended it, passing by Quebec with incredible boldness, and\nscorning the most murderous fire from the batteries of the town so\nnear them. You had an infinite number of boats at your disposal,\nwith all the sailors of your fleet for rowers. What, then, could\nhinder you from sending a body of twelve or fifteen hundred men in\ndifferent detachments, with engineers and able officers, in order to\nbe continually landing, to get a thorough knowledge of the country,\ndraw plans of all the advantageous positions which abound there;\nand this detachment, if well led, might have gone even to Montreal\nwithout finding any opposition in their course. Their descriptions\nand plans of the country would have enlightened you, and furnished\nthe means of destroying and crushing our army without fighting:\nthis is the touchstone to prove superior talents and capacity in a\nGeneral. The gaining of a battle is very often the effect of mere\nchance. But reducing an enemy without fighting must be the result of\nwell-combined operations,--is the essence of military science, and\nwas always the most radient and distinctive _trait_ in the conduct\nand character of the great men whom history has handed down to us.\nGrounded upon the instructions received from the engineers and officers\nof their detachments, you might have verified their observations by\nyour prisoners, who say always more than they intend, when examined\nwith kindness, coolness, and with a seeming indifference. The only\nachievement which you performed during two months that you lay\nconstantly loitering in your camps, looking at us, was your attack\nof the 31st of July; and your expedition to Deschambault, where you\nsent a body of two thousand men, fourteen leagues up the river from\nQuebec, to burn and pillage a poor, miserable peasant's house, in which\nwas the baggage of some French regiments! But the detachment had no\nintention of examining the _locale_ of the country. Had they gone to\nJacques Cartier, only three leagues from Deschambault, they would have\ndiscovered there a post strong by nature, which certainly cannot be\ninferior to the Thermopyl\u00e6 so celebrated by the Greeks, and capable of\nbeing defended--you being the masters of the River St. Lawrence--by as\nfew men as Leonidas had with him against the most numerous army. But\nyour detachment at Deschambault, upon the appearance of my cavalry,\ncomposed merely of two hundred undisciplined Canadians on horseback,\ncommanded by the Chevalier de LaRochebeaucourt, ran to their boats and\nembarked with great disorder and confusion, as if our army had been at\ntheir heels, without having remained there above two hours. Jacques\nCartier--which takes its name from he who first discovered the River\nSt. Lawrence, and who, having lost his ship, passed there the winter\namongst the Indians--in an immense ravine, with a rapid, shaggy river\nfull of large rocks, that runs between the two heights, whose tops are\nabout two hundred fathoms distant from each other; their sides are\nas glacis, with a view from their tops to the bottom--four or five\nhundred feet deep--which strikes the eyes with horror on looking down\nthat vast precipice. Its side, facing the River St. Lawrence, is a\nsteep perpendicular rock; and the ground to the north is impracticable\nfrom the lakes, swamps, and sinking turf, where at each step a person\nmust plunge over the head and perish. It must be impossible to turn\nround it and leave it behind, since the Canadians and the Indians\nnever discovered a passage through the woods. Thus the only means\nof approaching this fort must have been by landing at Deschambault.\nFrom thence to Jacques Cartier, it is an easy and gradually rising\nascent. Had you seized this extraordinary fort, you would have cut off\nmy communication with Montreal, from whence I drew daily my supplies\nfor the army: in this event, I had no other alternative than allowing\nmy army to perish of famine, or surrender the colony. But as we had\nbeen sent from Europe, not to destroy the inhabitants, but, on the\ncontrary, to save and defend them, I must have immediately concluded by\ncapitulating for Canada upon the best terms I could obtain from you. I\nhope I have demonstrated clearly to you that, had you been acquainted\nwith the _locale_, you could have made the glorious conquest of Canada\nwithout shedding a drop of blood.\nWOLFE:--You argue, sir, at your ease! How was it possible to examine\nand know the _locale_ of that country, your bloodhounds--the Indians\nand Canadians--being constantly at our heels: one cannot send out\nscouts in Canada, as is done in Europe.\nMONTCALM:--Why not? Men cannot be in two places at the same time; and\nyou managed to find everywhere Indians and Canadians in your way! There\nare many kinds of irregular troops in Europe as bad to deal with as\nthe Indians in woods and in wooded countries. But your army was always\nso struck with terror and dread, that, constantly blinded with fear,\nthe shadow of an Indian set them a trembling. Nevertheless, the New\nEngland independent companies, formed by Roger, who afterwards beat the\nIndians with equal numbers in their own way of fighting behind trees,\nshould have removed the formidable impression they have always made\nupon the English. Self-preservation is natural to all mankind, and the\nhour of death must strike with horror the bravest man. But fear is\npardonable amongst soldiers only when there exists a real cause for\nfear; and is not to be tolerated when groundless: this is so much the\ncase of your soldiers with regard to the Indians, that, demoralized\nby fear, they suffer themselves to be butchered by a vastly inferior\nnumber of Indians, without ever thinking of defending themselves, even\nwhen they know they will have no quarter. In any danger, soldiers ought\nto be accustomed to look coolly death in the face,--they, whose duty is\nto die when the Sovereign demands it: such is the contract they sign\nwith the latter on their entering into his service.\nThese sentiments may be often the means of one's preserving life\ninstead of losing it. Nothing is more incomprehensible to me, in all\nyour conduct in Canada, than your landing at _Anse des M\u00e8res_ on the\n13th September (the fatal day which deprived us both of our existence,\nbut freed us from mortal folly), at the foot of a steep hill, where\na few men at the top of it, with sticks and stones only, must have\neasily beaten you back on your attempt to climb it, and where we had\nthree posts of one hundred men each: one of them commanded by Douglas,\ncaptain in the regiment of Languedoc; another by Rimini, captain in the\nregiment La Sarre; and the third by De Vergor, captain in the Colony\ntroops, at whose post[G] you made your descent. These three hundred\nmen, had they done their duty, should have been more than sufficient to\nhave repulsed you ignominiously at this steep hill; and you never would\nhave got to the top had you met with the smallest resistance. I own\nthat your daring surpasses my conception.\nWOLFE:--I do not pretend to justify my project by its success, but\nby my combinations, which answered exactly as I had foreseen, and\nwhich demonstrate my scheme to have been well concerted. In giving\nyou this account of it, I am persuaded that you will not blame me\nfor undertaking an attempt so absurd in appearance, and yet most\nreasonable when examined impartially. In all expeditions composed\nof sea and land forces, it seldom fails that disputes, animosities,\njealousies and quarrels arise between the different commanders equal\nin authority; and it is a miracle if you see the Admiral and the\nGeneral unanimously of the same opinion with regard to operations. The\nsea and the land service are sciences whose principles are entirely\ndifferent; as certainly there can be no analogy between the working of\na ship and the drill of a regiment. Nevertheless, the Admiral meddles\ncontinually with the land operations, and the General will have the\nfleets do things that are impossible--both of them equally ignorant\nof each other's service; from whence results a clashing discord in\ntheir operations, when sent out with equal power. If each of them\nwould confine himself to that part of the art of war which he has\nstudied, and have only in his soul the good and welfare of his King and\nCountry, these mixed expeditions of land and sea would succeed much\nbetter than they generally do. The naval officers tormented me a great\ndeal, and were still more troublesome as the season advanced. They\nheld a council of war on board the flagship on the 10th September,\nwhen it was determined to set sail immediately for Europe, seeing the\nimminent dangers to which His Majesty's fleet would be exposed in\nthose tempestuous seas by remaining any longer before Quebec; and, in\nconsequence of this decision, orders were given to some men-of-war to\ntake up their anchors and fall down the river, while orders were issued\nat the same time to begin the general preparations for the immediate\ndeparture of all the fleet. The 12th, there came two deserters to me\nfrom one of your three posts you just now mentioned, who belonged to\nthe French regiments, and were well informed. Upon examining them,\nI discovered that your posts were guarded very negligently; that de\nBougainville, who was at Cap Rouge, proposed to send down, the night\nfollowing, some boats loaded with provisions, and that your three posts\nhad their orders to let these boats pass unmolested. The idea instantly\noccurred to me to profit by this discovery; and I ran to the Admiral,\ncommunicated to him what I had learned from the French deserters,\nbegged him most earnestly to suffer me to make a last attempt before\nthe embarkation of my army. I promised him that if there were twenty\nmuskets fired from your posts, I would then desist immediately without\nfurther thought than to embark speedily in order to return to England.\nThe council consented to my demand, and I began my landing at eleven at\nnight. When my boats approached the two posts of Douglas and Rimini,\nupon their sentinels calling \"_Qui vive!_\" my soldiers answered them\nin French, \"_Bateaux des vivres_,\" upon which they suffered them to go\non without stopping them, as they might have done, in order to receive\nthe password. Not finding a sentry at your third post, commanded by\nDe Vergor, I landed there with diligence, and all my army was ashore\nbefore this post perceived our men, without firing but one musket,\nwhich wounded De Vergor in the heel, who was immediately taken\nprisoner without finding any man of his detachment with him.[H] I began\nmy operation by landing there a Sergeant with ten Grenadiers, ordering\nhim to advance always straight before him briskly, with long steps,\nand not to halt unless he was discovered by the enemy. A Lieutenant,\nwith a detachment of Grenadiers, followed him, having the same orders,\nto halt instantly if they fired at him. The silence continuing, I then\nlanded all my Grenadiers, who followed the Sergeant and the Lieutenant;\nand by degrees all my army landed without the least noise, disorder or\nconfusion. The silence soon convinced me that they were not discovered;\ndissipated my fears, and assured me of the success of my enterprise.\nThe head of the column, which was the guide to the rest of the army,\ngot up the hill with difficulty, the others following them at their\nheels. If your guards had been vigilant and done their duty, all I\nrisked was the Sergeant and Lieutenant, with a few Grenadiers. I would\nhave stopped at the first discharge, as it would have been madness and\nunpardonable to attack by main force a hill so inaccessible that, even\nwithout an enemy at the top to repel them, my men had much difficulty\nto climb it. Moreover, I was assured by your deserters you had no\ntroops on the heights of Abraham. You see now, sir, that it was not\na heedless, ill-concerted project,--but a sure operation, without\nrisking much. An invariable principle with me has ever been to make\nan attack where it appears the most difficult; and it generally meets\nwith success, as the point is commonly ill-guarded, frequently entirely\nneglected, and scarcely comprehended in the plan of defence. I am not\nalone of this opinion. Cardinal Ximenes says, that \"Ferdinand, King of\nArragon, fitted out two armies against the Moors, under the conduct\nof Count D'Aguilar, and ordered them to enter into the mountains of\nGrenada at the same time, by the places the most difficult,\" and\nconsequently the least guarded. He gained a most complete victory over\nthe Moors. The most difficult gorges of mountains, when not guarded\nwhere only a single man can pass, a hundred thousand may do the\nsame. It is then an easy operation, by forming your men in battle as\nsoon as they get through the passage, and provided that they are not\nimmediately discovered by the enemy. When once you have a front capable\nto oppose and stand firm, it increases every instant, as you may be\nconvinced that the soldiers go through the dangerous passage with great\nquickness. Besides, the enemy is always disconcerted by a surprise;\ndemoralized by an unforeseen incident, he becomes timid and alarmed,\nand may be looked upon as already vanquished before the action begins.\nThe landing at Cap Breton was executed according to my system. The\nenemy does not expect you at a place of difficult access; it is where\nhe does not expect me that I would make my principal attack. Commonly,\nmen suffer most where they are most seen.[I] But if they are entirely\nneglected--as it happened at Louisbourg--it is a fault of the General,\nwho should be answerable for it. But the General having placed upon\nthem a sufficient number of troops in proportion to their difficulties,\ncan he be blamed if the officers of these posts do not do their duty?\nMONTCALM:--Can there be any divine or human law to punish a man for\nthe faults of others? Should they not answer personally? It has\noften happened that the safety of a whole army has depended upon a\nsubaltern's guard! You see that the deserters caused you to make a\nlast attempt--prevented your embarking your army for England--your\ngiving up your enterprise--and, in short, ended in adding Canada to the\nBritish dominions; and perhaps a vigilant officer at that post (Wolfe's\nCove) might have hindered the soldiers from deserting, which would at\nonce have removed a first cause which produced so many extraordinary\neffects. Your system may be good, if executed with great prudence and\nprecaution. But should the enemy be informed of your design, which he\nmay be by a deserter acquainted with your great preparations, as you\nwere with the negligence of our posts, it is an excellent opportunity\nto have your army cut to pieces and catch a tartar; as it must have\nbeen your case at the Sault de Montmorency (on the 31st July), had it\nnot been for that sudden shower of rain, which came to your rescue in\nthe critical moment, when your destruction was otherwise inevitable.\nAt least, sir, confess the injustice of mankind. They reproach me with\nbeing the cause of your success! They accuse me of having sacrificed\nthe welfare of my army through jealousy and ill-feeling! My king and\ncountry--for whom I would have shed, with pleasure, every drop of my\nblood--and those who view my case the most favourably, look on me as\na giddy, ignorant officer! All these scandalous, atrocious lies and\ncalumnies were spread everywhere by a set[J] of men who, from their\nimmoderate thirst of riches, would, to serve their interest, have\nbetrayed their king and country. Those vile, mercenary souls knew that\nI detested them as much as I constantly cherished honest men, whose\nnoble sentiments endeared them to me. My death was happy for them. Had\nI lived to return to Europe, I would have had no difficulty to justify\nall my conduct, and crush these wretches like vermin. Covetousness and\navarice carried them to Canada; they left their honour and honesty\nin France on embarking, easily forgetting what it is to be just and\npatriotic. I would have soon confounded them. Truth supports oppressed\ninnocence, and, sooner or later, dispels the clouds which too often\novershadow it. I shall give you a faithful and exact account of my\nconduct with regard to the operations of the 13th September, following\nscrupulously truth, which has always been the rule of my actions and\nis held in great veneration by me; and I hope to demonstrate to you\nthat if the end of that campaign covered you with glory, Fortune\nwas the chief agent, who reunited in your power a great number of\ncircumstances, the absence of any one of which sufficed to render your\nexpedition fruitless.\nSome days after the action of the 31st of July, M. de Levis was sent\nby M. Vaudreuil to command at Montreal, upon a false report that a\nbody of English was coming to attack Canada by Lake Champlain--a story\ntrumped up by my enemies to deprive me of M. de Levis, in whom I had\nthe greatest confidence, on account of his talents: I cannot say he\nmade me a just acknowledgment of my sentiments towards him. I went\nto his lodgings a few hours before his departure, which was kept a\nsecret from the army; and as I was little acquainted with his plan of\ndefence for the left of our camp, at the Sault de Montmorency, I begged\nof him, as a favour, to leave me his aide-de-camp, M. Johnstone, who\nhad a perfect knowledge of the _locale_ of that part of the country.\nYour boats having caused us an alarm in the night between the 10th\nand 11th of September, by their appearance opposite to the ravine of\nBeauport, I remained at M. Vaudreuil's until one in the morning, when\nI left him in order that I might return to my lodging--having with\nme M. Montreuil, Major-General of the army, and M. Johnstone. On my\nsending away M. de Vaudreuil, after giving him my orders, I related\nimmediately to M. Johnstone all the measures I had concerted with M.\nde Vaudreuil, in case you (Gen. Wolfe) made a descent at daybreak. He\nanswered me, that your army being now assembled at Point Levi, and part\nof it gone above Quebec, on the south side of the River St. Lawrence,\nit appeared very doubtful where you might attempt a descent--whether\nabove the town, or below it towards the _Canardi\u00e8re_; he added, that\nhe believed a body of troops might be advantageously placed upon the\nheights of Abraham, where they could with certainty confront you\nwhenever you landed. I approved greatly of his idea. I called back\nMontreuil--who was as yet not far from us--and I ordered him to send\nthe Regiment of Guienne--which was encamped near the hornwork at the\nRiver St. Charles--to pass the night upon the heights of Abraham.\nNext morning--the 11th--I wrote to Montreuil, ordering him to make\nthis regiment encamp upon the heights of Abraham, and remain there\nuntil further orders. Thus, in consequence of my repeated orders, I\nhad all the reason possible to believe that this regiment constitued\na permanent post there; so that the declaration of the deserters from\nthe three posts, who could not know this, might have led you into a\ndangerous snare, worse than that of the 31st July. Why this regiment\ncontinued the 12th in this camp at the hornwork, in spite of my express\norders to encamp upon the heights, I know not; and can only attribute\nMontreuil's disobedience of my orders to the weakness of his judgment\nand understanding. It is nevertheless evident that, if you had found\nthe Regiment of Guienne upon the top of the hill--where it ought to\nhave been, had my orders been obeyed--you would have been repulsed\nshamefully with a much greater loss than you met with on the 31st\nJuly at the Sault; the height where you made your descent, the 13th\nof September, being infinitely steeper than that there which obliged\nyou to make a speedy retreat, favoured by the _providential shower_.\nOr, perhaps you would have embarked immediately your army, without\nany further attempt, to return to England, after a most ruinous and\nfruitless expedition--the campaign ending with an incredible expense to\nyour nation--fruitless; and, by this means, the colony of Canada would\nhave been for ever delivered from such formidable armies.\nAs soon as your army was reunited in a single camp at Pointe Levi,\nafter having been so long separated, upon you sending a body of troops\nup the River St. Lawrence, I detached M. de Bougainville, with fifteen\nhundred of my best troops--composed of all my Grenadiers, of the\nVolunteers from the French Regiments, of my best Canadians and Indians;\nand I likewise gave him some small guns. I ordered him strictly to\nfollow all your movements, by ascending the river when you went up, and\ndescending as you did the same: in short, to be an army of observation,\nwith only the river between you--never to lose sight of you--ever\nready to oppose your passage up the river, and to fall on you with the\nswiftness of the eagle the moment you attempted to land on our side of\nit. He sent to inform me, the 13th of September, that all your army\nhad descended to your camp at Pointe Levi. But he remained loitering\nwith his detachment at Cap Rouge--three leagues from Quebec! Why did\nhe not follow you to the heights of Abraham, according to his orders?\nWhy did he not send me back my Grenadiers and Volunteers--the very\nflower of their Regiments? informing me, as also the posts of Douglas\nand Rimini, that he would send down that night. I cannot conceive the\nreasons for such conduct: it is beyond all conception! He was informed,\nbetween seven and eight in the morning, by the fugitives from the\nthree posts, that your army was landed and drawn up in battle upon the\nheights of Abraham; upon which he left Cap Rouge with his detachment,\nno doubt with the intention to join me. But, instead of taking the\nroad to Lorette, or to the General Hospital along the borders of the\nRiver St. Charles, which led both of them to our camp, he followed the\nheights of Abraham, where he was evidently certain by his information\nto find there your army to intercept him; and it could never be his\ndesign to fight you with fifteen hundred men! He found a house on his\nway, with three or four hundred of your troops barricading it, and\nwas very desirous to take them prisoners. M. le Noir, Captain in the\nRegiment La Sarre--having more bravery than prudence and knowledge of\nthe art of war--attacked the house with the most astonishing boldness,\nand had more than half of his company of Volunteers killed: he received\nhimself two wounds--one of them by a ball through the body, and the\nother in his hand. De Bougainville, intent on taking the house, waited\nthere the arrival of the cannon, to force it; but when the cannon\narrived, it unluckily happened that the balls had been forgotten at\nCap Rouge, which obliged him to return there, abandoning the house\nwithout a moment's reflection. How much more important it would have\nbeen to direct his march towards the General Hospital, in order to join\nmy army! Thus were precious moments wasted ridiculously in the most\ntrifling manner. De Bougainville--who has a great deal of wit, good\nsense, many good qualities--was protected by a very great person at\nCourt; he is personally brave, has but little knowledge in the military\nscience, having never studied it.\nThe night between the 12th and 13th of September, when you made your\ndescent, M. Poularies, Commander of the Regiment Royal Roussillon,\nwho encamped behind my lodgings at Beauport, came to me, at midnight,\nto inform me that they saw boats opposite to his regiment. Upon which\nI immediately ordered all the army to line the trenches; and I sent\nMarcel--who served me as Secretary and aid-de-camp--to pass the night\nat M. de Vaudreuil's, giving him one of my Cavaliers of Ordnance,\nordering Marcel, if there was anything extraordinary in that quarter,\nto inform me of it speedily by the Cavalier. I was out and walked with\nPoularies and Johnstone, between my house and the ravine of Beauport,\nuntil one in the morning, when I sent Poularies to his regiment, and\nI continued there with Johnstone. All night my mind was in the most\nviolent agitation, which I believe proceeded from my uneasiness for\nthe boats and provisions that de Bougainville had acquainted me, would\nbe sent down the river that night; and I repeated often to Johnstone,\nthat I trembled lest they should be taken, \"that loss would ruin us\nwithout resource, having provisions only for two days' subsistence to\nour army.\" It appears to me that my extraordinary sufferings that night\nwere a presage of my cruel fate some hours afterwards. At daybreak they\nfired some cannon from our battery at Samos, near Sillery. I then had\nno more doubts of our boats being taken by you. Alas! I would never\nhave imagined that my provisions were in safety at Cap Rouge with de\nBougainville, and that you were upon the heights of Abraham since\nmidnight, without my being informed of an event of so great importance,\nand which was known through all the right of our camp.\nThe day clearing up, having news from Marcel at M. de Vaudreuil's, who\nhad always my Cavalier of Ordnance with him, and perceiving no changes\nin your camp at Point Levis, my mind was more composed on reflecting\nthat, if anything extraordinary had happened, I would certainly have\nbeen informed of it. I then sent Johnstone to order all the army to\ntheir tents, having passed the night in the trenches, and retired to my\nlodgings after drinking some dishes of tea with Johnstone. I desired\nhim to order the servants to saddle the horses, in order to go to M.\nde Vaudreuil's and be informed of the cause of the firing from our\nbattery at Samos. Not a soul having come to me from the right of our\ncamp since midnight when I sent there Marcel, I set out with Johnstone\nbetween six and seven in the morning. Heavens, what was my surprise!\nwhen opposite to M. de Vaudreuil's lodgings, the first news of what\nhad passed during the night was the sight of your army upon the heights\nof Abraham, firing at the Canadians scattered amongst the bushes. I\nmet at the same time M. de Vaudreuil coming out of his lodgings, and\nhaving spoke to him an instant, I turned away to Johnstone, and told\nhim: \"the affair is serious! run with the greatest speed to Beauport;\norder Poularies to remain there at the Ravine with two hundred men, and\nto send me all the rest of the left to the heights of Abraham with the\nutmost diligence.\"\nJohnstone having delivered my orders to Poularies, he quitted him\nan instant to give some instructions to my servants at my lodgings;\nreturning to rejoin me, he found Poularies in the Ravine with M. de\nSennezergue, Brigadier-General and Lieutenant-Colonel of the Regiment\nof La Sarre, and de Lotbini\u00e8re, Captain of the Colony troops and\naide-de-camp to M. de Vaudreuil. Poularies stopped Johnstone to make\nhim repeat to them my orders, which he did; and at the same time\nadvised Poularies, as a friend, to disobey them, by coming himself\nto the heights of Abraham with every man of the left, since it was\nevident that the English army--already landed near Quebec--could\nnever think of making a second descent at Beauport; and that it was\nmanifest there would be in a few hours an engagement upon the heights\nwhich would immediately decide the fate of the Colony. Poularies then\nshowed Johnstone a written order--signed \"Montreuil\"--which Lotbini\u00e8re\nhad brought to him from M. de Vaudreuil, \"That not a man of the left\nshould stir from the camp!\" Johnstone declared to them, upon his\nhonour, that it was word for word my orders and my intentions; and he\nentreated Poularies, in the most pressing manner, to have no regard\nfor that order signed \"Montreuil,\" as the want of two thousand men,\nwhich formed the left of our camp, must be of the greatest consequence\nin the battle. M. de Sennezergue--an officer of the greatest worth\nand honour, who fell a few hours afterwards--told Johnstone: \"That\nhe (Johnstone) should take it upon him to make all the left march of\nimmediately.\" Johnstone answered: \"That, being only the bearer of\nmy orders, he could take nothing upon him. But if he was in M. de\nSennezergue's place, Brigadier-General, and, by M. de Levis' absence,\nthe next in command of the army, he would not hesitate a moment to make\nthe left march, without any regard whatsoever to any order that might\nbe hurtful to the King's service, in that critical juncture.\" Johnstone\nleft them irresolute and doubtful how to act, clapped spurs to his\nhorse, and rejoined me immediately upon the heights.\nI don't know, any more than a thousand others, the particulars relative\nto the action of the 13th of September. I am ignorant of who it was\nthat made our army take their abominable and senseless position,\nby thrusting it betwixt your army and Quebec, where there were no\nprovisions, and the best of our troops absent with de Bougainville; it\ncertainly must have been dictated by an ignorant and stupid blockhead!\nI certainly had no hand in it: the piquets and part of the troops were\nalready marched up the heights before I came to the Canardi\u00e8re, or ever\nknew that you were landed; and all the right of our army was marching\nafter them when I arrived at their encampment. The only proper course\nto be taken in our position, and which would have been apparent to any\nman of common sense who had the least knowledge of the art of war,\nwas to quit our camp coolly--calmly--without disorder or confusion,\nand march to Lorette; from thence cross over to St. Foix--which is two\nleagues from Quebec and a league from Cap Rouge--and when joined there\nby M. de Bougainville's detachment, to advance then and attack you as\nsoon as possible. By these means you would have found yourself between\ntwo fires, by a sally from the town the moment that I attacked you on\nthe other side. I was no sooner upon the heights than I perceived our\nhorrible position,--pressed against the town-walls, without provisions\nfor four-and-twenty hours, and a moral impossibility for us to retire,\nbeing drawn up in battle at the distance of a musket-shot from your\narmy. Had I made an attempt to go down the heights, in order to repass\nthe River St. Charles and return to my camp, I would have exposed my\nleft flank to you, and my rear would have been cut to pieces without\nbeing able to protect and support it. Had I entered into the town, in\nan instant you would have invested us in it, without provisions, by\ncarrying down your left wing to the River St. Charles--an easy movement\nof a few minutes. I saw no remedy other for us than to worry your\narmy by a cannonade, having the advantage over you of a rising ground\nsuitable for batteries of cannon, hoping, by thus harassing you, that\nyou might retire in the night, as certainly you could never be so rash\nas to think of attacking us under the guns of the town; at least I\nwould have made my retreat, taking advantage of the darkness of the\nnight, to get myself out of the scrape where the ignorance of others\nhad thrown me. I sent several persons with orders to M. de Ramsay,\nKing's Lieutenant (Deputy Governor), who was in command at Quebec,\nto send me, with all possible haste, the five-and-twenty brass field\npieces that were in position on the palace battery, near our army; and\nprecisely at the same instant when Johnstone came to me on the heights,\nwith the news of the order which prevented the left of our army to join\nme, a sergeant arrived from M. de Ramsay--the fourth person I had sent\nto him with my orders--with a categorical answer from him: \"That he\nhad already sent me three pieces of artillery; and that he could not\nsend me any more, having his town to defend!\" What could be de Ramsay's\nreasons for such a monstrous conduct, or who it was who inspired him\nwith such a daring disobedience, I know not?\n1. \"His town\"--as he called it--was defended by our army which covered\nit, being drawn up in battle about two hundred fathoms from it; and its\nsafety depended entirely upon the event of a battle.\n2. There were in Quebec about two hundred pieces of cannon, most of\nthem twenty-four and thirty-six pounders.\n3. Small field-pieces, two or three pounders--such as the palace\nbattery--could they be of the least service for the defence of a town?\n4. A commander of Quebec, as King's Lieutenant or sub-Lieutenant, such\nas de Ramsay was--not Governor,--or even M. de Vaudreuil himself,\nGovernor General of Canada, at that moment in the town,--could they\nhave any authority to refuse me all the assistance I could desire from\nQuebec, by my particular commission of Commander-in-Chief of the troops\nin Canada, when my army was at the gates of the town, and your army\ndeployed ready to fight? A thousand other queries suggest themselves;\nbut of what avail?\nI assembled immediately a council of war, composed of all the\ncommanding officers of the several regiments, to hear their opinion\nas to what was to be done in our critical situation. Some of them\nmaintained you were busy throwing up breastworks. Others, that you\nappeared bent on descending in the valley, in order to seize the bridge\nof boats on the St. Charles river with the hornwork, with the object\nof cutting off our communication with the left wing of our army, which\nremained at Beauport pursuant to the order signed by Montreuil. In\neffect, a movement your army made in that moment towards the windmill\nand Borgia's house, upon the edge of the height, seemed to favour this\nconjecture. But an instant afterwards, the Canadians having set fire\nto that house and chased you from it, you retook your former position.\nOthers alleged, that the more we delayed attacking you, the more your\narmy would be strong--imagining that your troops had not yet all\nlanded. In short, there was not a single member of the war council who\nwas not of opinion to charge upon you immediately. Can it be credited\nthat these officers--to the dishonour of mankind--who were the most\nviolent to attack you, denied it afterwards, and became the most ardent\ncensors of my conduct in not deferring the battle! What could I do in\nmy desperate situation? Even a Marshal Turenne would have been much\npuzzled to get out of such a dilemma, in which they had entangled me\neither through design or ignorance. I listened with attention to their\nopinion, without opening my lips, and at last answered them:--\"It\nappears to me, gentlemen, that you are unanimous for giving battle; and\nthat the only question now is, how to charge the enemy?\" Montreuil said\nit would be better to attack in columns. I answered him: \"That we would\nbe beat before our columns could be formed so near to the enemy; and,\nbesides, that our columns must be very weak, not having Grenadiers to\nplace at their heads.\" I added, that \"since it is decided to attack, it\nmust be in Front Baudi\u00e8re(?)\" I sent all the officers to their posts,\nand ordered the drummers to beat the charge.\nOur onset was neither brisk nor long. We went on in confusion--were\nrepulsed in an instant; and it could not naturally be otherwise from\nthe absence of our Volunteers and Grenadiers, and de Bougainville at\nCap Rouge with the best of our Canadians; the Montreal regiments with\nPoularies at Beauport, a league and a half from the battle-field. The\nexample of the bravest soldiers in a regiment--the Grenadiers and\nVolunteers--suffices to infuse courage in the most timid, who can\nfollow the road shown to them, but cannot lead the way. The brave\nCanadian Militia saw us with heavy hearts, grief and despair, from the\nother side of the St. Charles river, cut to pieces upon the heights,\nstopped, as they were, in the hornwork, and prevented by superior\norders from rushing to our assistance. About two hundred brave and\nresolute Canadians rallied in the hollow at the bakehouse, and\nreturned upon the heights. They fell instantly upon your left wing\nwith incredible rage; stopped your army for some minutes from pursuing\nour soldiers in their flight, by attracting your attention to them;\nresisted, undaunted, the shock of your left; and, when repulsed, they\ndisputed the ground inch by inch from the top to the bottom of the\nheight, pursued by your troops down to the valley at the bakehouse,\nopposite to the hornwork. These unfortunate heroes--who were most of\nthem cut to pieces--saved your army the loss of a great many men, by\nnot being hotly pursued; and if your left, who followed these two\nhundred Canadians down to the plain, had crossed it from the bakehouse\nto the River St. Charles, only three or four hundred paces, they would\nhave cut off the retreat of our army, invested the three-fourths of\nthem in Quebec, without provisions, and M. de Vaudreuil, next day,\nmust have surrendered the town and asked to capitulate for the colony.\nBut your conduct cannot be blamed, as it is always wise and prudent in\ngiving--as Pyrrhus advises--a golden bridge to one's enemy in flight.\nYou see, sir, by this true and faithful account of the battle of\nthe 13th September, and of what preceded it, how many different and\nunforeseen events, fortune was obliged to unite in your favour to\nrender you successful in your expedition against Canada; the failure\nof any one of which would have sufficed to frustrate your enterprise.\nIt would appear that heaven had decreed that France should lose this\ncolony. Let us now conclude, sir, that I have as little deserved\nthe blame, scorn, contempt and injustice which my country heaped on\nmy memory, as you do the excessive honours they lavished on your's\nin England; and that the ablest General in Europe, placed in my\ncircumstances, could not have acted otherwise than I did. Moreover,\nI was under M. de Vaudreuil--the weakest man alive, although a most\nobstinate automaton--and could not freely follow my ideas as if I had\nbeen Commander-in-Chief. In my country the law is equal: we neither\npunish, nor recompense.\nThe Marquis of Montcalm, endeavouring to rally the troops in their\ndisorderly flight, was wounded in the lower part of the belly.[K] He\nwas conveyed immediately to Quebec, and lodged in the house of M.\nArnoux, the King's surgeon, who was absent with M. de Bourlamarque:\nhis brother--the younger Arnoux--having viewed the wound, declared\nit mortal. This truly great and worthy man heard Arnoux[L] pronounce\nhis sentence of death with a firm and undaunted soul: his mind calm\nand serene; his countenance soft and pleasing; and with a look of\nindifference whether he lived or died. He begged of Arnoux to be so\nkind and outspoken as to tell him how many hours he thought he might\nyet live? Arnoux answered him, that he might hold out until three in\nthe morning. He spent that short period of life in conversing with a\nfew officers upon indifferent subjects with great coolness and presence\nof mind, and ended his days about the hour Arnoux had foretold him.\nHis last words were:--\"I die[M] content, since I leave the affairs of\nthe King, my dear master, in good hands: I always had a high opinion\nof the talents of M. de Levis.\" I will not undertake the panegyric\nof this great man: a true patriot and lover of his king and country,\npossessing many rare and good qualities. Had he by chance been born in\nEngland, his memory would have been celebrated, and transmitted with\nhonour to posterity. Illustrious by his virtue and genius, he deserves\nto live in history; he was an unfortunate victim to the insatiable\navarice of some men, and a prey to the immoderate ambition of others.\nHis ashes, mingled with those of Indians, repose neglected far from his\nnative country, without a magnificent tomb or altars; General Wolfe\nhas statues in England in commemoration of the many faults he committed\nduring his expedition in Canada. \"How many obscure dead,\" says a\nmodern author, \"have received the greatest honours by titles yet more\nvain? O injustice of mankind! The mausolea adorn the temples to repeat\ncontinually false praise; and history, which ought to be the sacred\nasylum of truth, shows that statues and panegyrics are almost always\nthe monuments of prejudice, and that flattery seeks to immortalise\nunjust reputations.\"\nWhen I was informed of M. de Montcalm's misfortune, I sent him\nimmediately his servant Joseph, begging him to acquaint me if I could\nbe of any service to him, and in that case I would be with him at\nQuebec immediately. Joseph came back in a moment to the hornwork, and\ngrieved me to the inmost of my soul by M. de Montcalm's answer: \"that\nit was needless to come to him, as he had only a few hours to live,\nand he advised me to keep with Poularies until the arrival of M. de\nLevis at the army.\" Thus perished a great man, generally unknown and\nunregretted by his countrymen--a man who would have become the idol and\nornament of any other country in Europe.\nThe French army in flight, scattered and entirely dispersed, rushed\ntowards the town. Few of them entered Quebec; they went down the\nheights of Abraham, opposite to the Intendant's Palace (past St.\nJohn's gate) directing their course to the hornwork, and following the\nborders of the River St. Charles. Seeing the impossibility of rallying\nour troops, I determined myself to go down the hill at the windmill,\nnear the bakehouse,[P] and from thence across over the meadows to the\nhornwork, resolved not to approach Quebec, from my apprehension of\nbeing shut up there with a part of our army, which might have been the\ncase if the victors had drawn all the advantage they could have reaped\nfrom our defeat. It is true the death of the general-in-chief--an event\nwhich never fails to create the greatest disorder and confusion in an\narmy--may plead as an excuse for the English neglecting so easy an\noperation as to take all our army prisoners.\nBut, instead of following immediately my ideas, I was carried off\nby the flow of the fugitives, without being able to stop them or\nmyself until I got to a hollow swampy ground, where some gunners were\nendeavouring to save a field-piece which stuck there, and I stayed an\ninstant with them to encourage them to draw it to the town. Returning\nback upon the rising ground, I was astonished to find myself in the\ncentre of the English army, who had advanced whilst I was in the\nhollow with the gunners, and taking me for a general, on account of\nmy fine black horse, they treated me as such by saluting me with a\nthousand musket shots from half of the front of their army, which had\nformed a crescent. I was, nevertheless, bent on reaching the windmill,\nand I escaped their terrible fire without any other harm than four\nballs through my clothes, which shattered them; a ball lodged in the\npommel of my saddle, and four balls in my horse's body, who lived,\nnotwithstanding his wounds, until he had carried me to the hornwork.\nIt is impossible to imagine the disorder and confusion that I found\nin the hornwork.[Q] The dread and consternation was general. M. de\nVaudreuil listened to everybody, and was always of the advice of he\nwho spoke last. No order was given with reflection and with coolness,\nnone knowing what to order or what to do. When the English had repulsed\nthe two hundred Canadians that had gone up the height at the same time\nthat I came down from it, pursuing them down to the bakehouse, our\nmen lost their heads entirely; they became demoralized, imagining that\nthe English troops, then at the bakehouse, would in an instant cross\nthe plain and fly over the St. Charles river into the hornwork as with\nwings. It is certain that when fear once seizes hold of men it not only\ndeprives them totally of their judgment and reflection, but also of\nthe use of their eyes and their ears, and they become a thousand times\nworse than the brute creation, guided by instinct only, or by that\nsmall portion of reason which the author of nature has assigned it,\nsince it preserves the use of it on all occasions. How much inferior\nto them do the greater portion of mankind appear, with their boasted\nreason, when reduced to madness and automata, on occasions when they\nrequire the more the use of their reason.\nThe hornwork had the River St. Charles before it, about seventy paces\nbroad, which served it better than an artificial ditch; its front,\nfacing the river and the heights, was composed of strong, thick, and\nhigh palisades, planted perpendicularly, with gunholes pierced for\nseveral pieces of large cannon in it; the river is deep and only\nfordable at low water, at a musket shot before the fort. This made it\nmore difficult to be forced on that side than on its other side of\nearthworks facing Beauport, which had a more formidable appearance;\nand the hornwork certainly on that side was not in the least danger\nof being taken by the English, by an assault from the other side of\nthe river. On the appearance of the English troops on the plain of the\nbakehouse, Montguet and La Motte, two old captains in the Regiment of\nBearn, cried out with vehemence to M. de Vaudreuil, \"that the hornwork\nwould be taken in an instant, by an assault, sword in hand; that we\nwould be all cut to pieces without quarter, and that nothing else would\nsave us but an immediate and general capitulation of Canada, giving it\nup to the English.\"\nMontreuil told them that \"a fortification such as the hornwork was not\nto be taken so easily.\" In short, there arose a general cry in the\nhornwork to cut the bridge of boats.[R] It is worthy of remark, that\nnot a fourth of our army had yet arrived at it, and the remainder, by\ncutting the bridge, would have been left on the other side of the river\nas victims to the victors. The regiment 'Royal Roussillon' was at that\nmoment at the distance of a musket shot from the hornwork, approaching\nto pass the bridge. As I had already been in such adventures, I did\nnot lose my presence of mind, and having still a shadow remaining\nof that regard, which the army accorded me on account of the esteem\nand confidence which M. de Levis and M. de Montcalm had always shown\nme publicly, I called to M. Hugon, who commanded, for a pass in the\nhornwork, and begged of him to accompany me to the bridge. We ran\nthere, and without asking who had given the order to cut it, we chased\naway the soldiers with their uplifted axes ready to execute that\nextravagant and wicked operation.\nM. de Vaudreuil was closeted in a house in the inside of the hornwork\nwith the Intendant and with some other persons. I suspected they were\nbusy drafting the articles for a general capitulation, and I entered\nthe house, where I had only time to see the Intendant with a pen in\nhis hand writing upon a sheet of paper, when M. de Vaudreuil told me\nI had no business there. Having answered him that what he said was\ntrue, I retired immediately, in wrath, to see them intent on giving\nup so scandalously a dependency for the preservation of which so much\nblood and treasure had been expended. On leaving the house, I met\nM. Dalquier, an old, brave, downright honest man, commander of the\nregiment of Bearn, with the true character of a good officer--the marks\nof Mars all over his body. I told him it was being debated within\nthe house, to give up Canada to the English by a capitulation, and\nI hurried him in to stand up for the King's cause, and advocate the\nwelfare of his country. I then quitted the hornwork to join Poularies\nat the Ravine[S] of Beauport; but having met him about three or four\nhundred paces from the hornwork, on his way to it, I told him what was\nbeing discussed there. He answered me, that sooner than consent to a\ncapitulation, he would shed the last drop of his blood. He told me to\nlook on his table and house as my own, advised me to go there directly\nto repose myself, and clapping spurs to his horse, he flew like\nlightning to the hornwork.\nAs Poularies was an officer of great bravery, full of honour and\nof rare merit, I was then certain that he and Dalquier would break\nup the measures of designing men. Many motives induced me to act\nstrenuously for the good of the service; amongst others, my gratitude\nfor the Sovereign who had given me bread; also, my affection and\ninviolable friendship for M. de Levis in his absence, who was now\nCommander-in-Chief of the French armies in Canada by the death of M. de\nMontcalm. I continued sorrowfully jogging on to Beauport, with a very\nheavy heart for the loss of my dear friend, M. de Montcalm, sinking\nwith weariness and lost in reflection upon the changes which Providence\nhad brought about in the space of three or four hours.\nPoularies came back to his lodgings at Beauport about two in the\nafternoon, and he brought me the agreeable news of having converted\nthe project of a capitulation into a retreat to Jacques-Cartier,\nthere to wait the arrival of M. de Levis; and they despatched a\ncourier immediately to Montreal to inform him of our misfortune at\nQuebec, which, to all appearance, would not have happened to us if M.\nde Vaudreuil had not sent him away, through some political reason,\nto command there, without troops except those who were with M. de\nBourlamarque at L'Isle aux Noix--an officer of great knowledge. The\ndeparture of the army was agreed upon to be at night, and all the\nregiments were ordered to their respective encampments until further\norders. The decision for a retreat was to be kept a great secret, and\nnot even communicated to the officers. I passed the afternoon with\nPoularies, hoping each moment to receive from Montreuil--Major-General\nof the army--the order of the retreat for the regiment Royal\nRoussillon; but having no word of it at eight o'clock in the evening,\nand it being a dark night, Poularies sent his Adjutant to M. de\nVaudreuil to receive his orders for the left. Poularies instantly\nreturned to inform him that the right of our army was gone away with\nM. de Vaudreuil without his having given any orders concerning the\nretreat, and that they followed the highway to the hornwork. Castaign\u00e9,\nhis Adjutant, could give no further account of this famous retreat,\nonly that all the troops on our right were marched off. It can be\neasily imagined how much we were confounded by this ignorant and stupid\nconduct, which can scarce appear credible to the most ignorant military\nman.\nPoularies sent immediately to inform the post next to his regiment of\nthe retreat, with orders to acquaint all the left of it, from post to\npost, between Beauport and the Sault de Montmorency.\nI then set out with him and his regiment, following those before us\nas the other posts to our left followed us, without any other guides,\norders or instructions with regard to the roads we should take, or\nwhere we should go to; this was left to chance, or at least was a\nsecret which M. de Vaudreuil kept to himself _in petto_. It was a\nmarch entirely in the Indian manner; not a retreat, but a horrid,\nabominable flight, a thousand times worse than that in the morning\nupon the heights of Abraham, with such disorder and confusion that,\nhad the English known it, three hundred men sent after us would have\nbeen sufficient to destroy and cut all our army to pieces. Except the\nregiment Royal Roussillon, which Poularies, always a rigid and severe\ndisciplinarian, kept together in order, there were not to be seen\nthirty soldiers together of any other regiment. They were all mixed,\nscattered, dispersed, and running as hard as they could, as if the\nEnglish army was at their heels. There never was a more favourable\nposition to make a beautiful, well-combined retreat, in bright day,\nand in sight of the English Army looking at us, without having the\nsmallest reason to fear anything within their power to oppose it, as I\nhad obtained a perfect knowledge of the _locale_ from Beauport to the\nSault de Montmorency during some months that I was there constantly\nwith M. de Levis and M. de Montcalm. I thought myself in a position\nto foretell to Poularies the probable order of retreat, and the route\nwhich would be assigned to each regiment for their march to the Lorette\nvillage. I was greatly deceived, and indeed could never have foreseen\nthe route which our entire army followed to reach Lorette, and which\nprolonged our march prodigiously for the centre of our army, and still\nmore for our left at the Sault de Montmorency. There is a highway in a\nstraight line from the Sault de Montmorency to Lorette, which makes a\nside of a triangle formed by another highway from the Sault to Quebec,\nand by another road from Lorette to the hornwork, which formed the\nbase. In the highway from the Sault to the hornwork there are eight\nor nine cross roads of communication from it to the road from the\nSault to Lorette, which are shorter as they approach to the point of\nthe angle at the Sault. Thus it was natural to believe that our army,\nbeing encamped all along the road from the Sault to the hornwork, each\nregiment would have taken one of these cross roads, the nearest to\nhis encampment, in order to take the straight road from the Sault to\nLorette, instead of coming to the hornwork to take there the road from\nQuebec to Lorette, by which the left had double the distance to march,\nbesides being more liable by approaching the hornwork so near to the\nEnglish, to make them discover the retreat.\nThe army, by this operation, would have arrived all at the same time\nin the road from the Sault to Lorette by the difference in the length\nof these cross roads, and would have naturally formed a column all\nalong that road; and as it was not a forced retreat, they had the time\nfrom twelve at noon until eight at night to send off all the baggage\nby cross roads to Lorette, without the English perceiving it; but\nsupposing them even fully aware of our design, which might have been\nexecuted in open day, they no way could disturb our operations without\nattacking the hornwork, and attempting the passage of the river St.\nCharles--a very difficult and dangerous affair--where they might be\neasily repulsed, exposing themselves in a moment to lose the fruits\nof their victory, without enjoying it; and consequently they would\nhave been insane had they ventured on such a rash enterprise. Instead\nof these wise measures, which common sense alone might have dictated,\ntents, artillery, the military stores, baggage, and all other effects,\nwere left as a present to the English; the officers saved only a few\nshirts, or what they could carry in their pockets: the rest was lost.\nIn fact, it would appear, by this strange conduct, that a class of\nmen there, from interested views, were furiously bent on giving up\nthe colony to the English, so soon as they could have a plausible\npretext to colour their designs,--by lopping off gradually all the\nmeans possible to defend it any longer. M. de Vaudreuil had still\nother kind offices in reserve for the English. He wrote to de Ramsay,\nKing's Lieutenant and Commander in Quebec,[T] as soon as the retreat\nwas decided:--\"That he might propose a capitulation for the town\neight-and-forty hours after the departure of our army from our camp at\nBeauport, upon the best conditions he could obtain from the English.\"\nWe ran along in flight all night; and at daybreak M. de Bougainville,\nwith his detachment, joined us near Cap Rouge. In the evening, our army\narrived at Pointe-aux-Trembles--five leagues from Quebec--where it\npassed the night, and next day came to Jacques-Cartier. The English had\nso little suspicion of our retreat, seeing our tents standing without\nany change at our camp, that Belcour--an officer of La Rochebaucourt's\ncavalry--having returned to it with a detachment, two days after our\nflight, he found everything the same as when we left it. He went into\nthe hornwork with his detachment, and fired the guns (pointed) at the\nheights of Abraham towards the English camp, which greatly alarmed them.\n[The remainder of the manuscript alludes more particularly to the\ncampaign conducted by Chevalier de Levis, which ended, in 1760, by the\ncapitulation of Montreal.]\n  _Extract of the Register of Marriages, Baptisms and Deaths of the\n      French Cathedral at Quebec, for 1759_:--\n  \"L'an mil sept cens cinquante-neuf, le quatorzi\u00e8me du mois de\n  Septembre, a \u00e9t\u00e9 inhum\u00e9 dans l'Eglise des Religieuses Ursulines\n  de Qu\u00e9bec, haut et puissant Seigneur Louis Joseph Marquis de\n  Montcalm, Lieutenant G\u00e9n\u00e9ral des arm\u00e9es du Roy, Commandeur de\n  l'ordre Royal et militaire de St. Louis, Commandant en chef des\n  troupes de terre en l'Am\u00e9rique Septentrionale, d\u00e9c\u00e9d\u00e9 le m\u00eame\n  jour de ses blessures au combat de la veille, muni des sacrements\n  qu'il a re\u00e7us avec beaucoup de pi\u00e9t\u00e9 et de Religion. Etoient\n  pr\u00e9sents \u00e0 son inhumation MM. Resche, Cugnet et Collet, chanoines\n  de la Cath\u00e9drale, M. de Ramezay, Commandant de la Place, et tout\n  le corps des officiers.\n    (Sign\u00e9,)\n        \"RESCHE, Ptre. Chan.\n        \"COLLET, Chne.\"\nFOOTNOTES:\n[A] Les Ecossais en France, Vol. II., P. 449.\n[B] Formerly, inward bound ships, instead of taking the south channel\nlower down than Goose Island, struck over from Cape Tourmente, and took\nthe south channel between Madame Island and Pointe Argentenay.\n[C] General Abercrombie's army consisted of 6,000 regular troops and\n7,000 provincials, according to the English; but the French gave them\nout to be 6,300 troops, and 13,000 provincials--in all 19,300 men.\n[D] The French say the English lost between four and five thousand men.\n[E] Unfortunately, the plans here alluded to do not accompany the\nmanuscript.\n[F] This contest is generally denominated the Battle of the\nMonongahela. Capt. Daniel Li\u00e9nard de Beaujeu commanded the Canadians,\nand achieved a most brilliant victory over General Braddock and George\nWashington; the English losing their provisions, baggage, fifteen\ncannon, many small arms, the military chest, Braddock's papers.\nWashington, after the battle, wrote: \"We have been beaten, shamefully\nbeaten, by a handful of French.\"--(J. M. L.)\n[G] De Vergor's post apparently stood about a 100 yards to the east of\nthe spot on which Wolfe's Field-cottage has since been built. The ruins\nstill exist.--(J. M. L.)\n[H] De Vergor's guard was composed chiefly of Militiamen from\nLorette, who on that day had obtained leave to go and work on\ntheir farms, provided they also worked on a farm Captain De Vergor\nowned.--\"_M\u00e9moires sur les Affaires de la Colonie de 1749-60._\" Some\nhistorians have intimated that De Vergor--a _prot\u00e9ge_ of Bigot's--was a\ntraitor to his King.--(J. M. L.)\n[I] I incline more to General Wolfe's opinion than what Voltaire\nreports in the war of 1781, to have been the King of Prussia's\nmaxim:--\"That we ought always to do what the enemy is afraid of.\" Where\nthe enemy is afraid of anything in particular, he has there his largest\nforce, and is there more on his guard than anywhere else.--(MANUSCRIPT\nNOTE.)\n[J] Bigot's coterie.--(J. M. L.)\n[K] It was reported in Canada, that the ball which killed that great,\ngood and honest man, was not fired by an English musket. But I never\ncredited this.\n[L] Arnoux gave me this account of his last moments.--MANUSCRIPT NOTES.\n[M] The place where Montcalm died appears yet shrouded in doubt. It\nis stated, in Knox's Journal, that, on being wounded, Montcalm was\nconveyed to the General Hospital, towards which the French squadrons\nin retreat had to pass to regain, over the bridge of boats, their camp\nat Beauport. The General Hospital was also the head-quarters of the\nwounded--both English and French. It has been supposed that Arnoux's\nhouse, where Montcalm was conveyed, stood in St. Louis street. No where\ndoes it appear that Montcalm was conveyed to his own residence on the\nramparts (on which now stands the residence of R. H. Wurtele, Esquire).\nAs the city surrendered five days after the great battle, it was likely\nto be bombarded--and, moreover, one-third of the houses in it had been\nburnt and destroyed--we do not see why the wounded General should have\nbeen conveyed from the battle-field to the Ch\u00e2teau St. Louis--certainly\nan exposed situation in the event of a new bombardment; and, moreover,\nthe city itself, after and during the battle, was considered so\ninsecure that the French army, instead of retreating to it for shelter,\nhurried past the General Hospital, over the bridge, to their camp at\nBeauport. There is a passage in Lieutenant-Colonel Beatson's Notes\non the Plains of Abraham, which we give:--\"The valiant Frenchman\n(Montcalm), regardless of pain, relaxed not his efforts to rally his\nbroken battalions in their hurried retreat towards the city until he\nwas shot through the loins, when within a few hundred yards of St.\nLouis Gate.[N] And so invincible was his fortitude that not even the\nseverity of this mortal stroke could abate his gallant spirit or alter\nhis intrepid bearing. Supported by two grenadiers--one at each side of\nhis horse--he re-entered the city; and in reply to some women who, on\nseeing blood flow from his wounds as he rode down St. Louis street, on\nhis way to the Ch\u00e2teau, exclaimed: _Oh, mon Dieu! mon Dieu! le Marquis\nest tu\u00ea!!!_ he courteously assured them that he was not seriously hurt,\nand begged of them not to distress themselves on his account.--_Ce\nn'est rien! ce n'est rien! Ne vous affligez pas pour moi, mes bonnes\namies._\"[O]\n[N] M. GARNEAU, in his _Histoire du Canada_, says:--\"The two\nBrigadier-Generals, M. de Semezergues and the Baron de St. Ours, fell\nmortally wounded; and MONTCALM (who had already received two wounds),\nwhile exerting himself to the utmost to rally his troops and preserve\norder in the retreat, was also mortally wounded in the loins by a\nmusket-ball. He was at that moment between _Les Buttes-a-Neveu_ and St.\nLouis Gate.\" From the city, on the one side, and from the battle-field,\non the other, the ground rises until the two slopes meet and form\na ridge; the summit of which was formerly occupied by a windmill\nbelonging to a man named _Neveu_ or _Nepveu_. About midway between this\nridge and St. Louis Gate, and to the southward of the St. Louis Road,\nare some slight eminences, still known by the older French residents as\n_Les Buttes-a-Nepveu_ or _Neveu's hillocks_, and about three-quarters\nof a mile distant from the spot where the British line charged.--R. S.\nBEATSON.\n[O] For these particulars I am indebted to my friend Mr. G. B.\nFaribault--a gentleman well known in Canada for his researches into\nthe history of the Colony; whose information on this subject was\nderived from his much respected fellow-citizen the Hon. John Malcolm\nFrazer--grandson of one of WOLFE'S officers, and now (1854) one of the\noldest inhabitants of Quebec; where, in his childhood and youth, he\nhad the facts, as above narrated, often described to him by an elderly\nwoman who, when about eighteen years of age, was an eye-witness of the\nscene.--R. S. BEATSON.\n[P] This bakehouse appears to have been some where at the foot of\nAbraham's hill.\n[Q] The excavations of these French works are very visible to this\nday behind Mr. G. H. Parke's residence, Ringfield, Charlesbourg road.\nThe hornwork appears to have covered about twelve acres of ground,\nsurrounded by a ditch.\n[R] It crossed the St. Charles a little higher up than the Marine\nHospital, at the foot of Crown street.--(J. M. L.)\n[S] A small bridge supported on masonry has since been built at this\nspot, exactly across the main road at Brown's mills.--(J. M. L.)\n[T] The deliberations of the council of war, called at M. Daine's,\nMayor of Quebec, on the 15th September, 1759, published in de Ramsay's\nMemoires, in 1861, by the Literary and Historical Society, have done an\neffective, though a tardy, justice to de Ramsay's memory.--(J. M. L.)\nTranscriber's note:\nSimple typographical errors were corrected.\nPunctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant\npreference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.\nText contains apparent parenthesized references to a map, but this book\ncontained no maps, diagrams, or illustrations.\nPage 3: \"heartily\" was misprinted as \"heartly\".\nPage 3: \"buried there magnificently\" was misprinted as \"their\".\nPage 8: \"without trembling.\" should be punctuated with a question mark.\nPage 28: \"analize\" was printed that way.\nPage 30: \"radient\" was printed that way.\nPage 30: \"LaRochebeaucourt\" is printed as \"La Rochebaucourt\" on page 59.\nPage 50: Footnote M has two footnotes of its own (N and O). In this\neBook, they've been resequenced as normal footnotes.\nPage 59: \"La Rochebaucourt\" is printed as \"La Rochebeaucourt\" on page", "source_dataset": "gutenberg", "source_dataset_detailed": "gutenberg -  A Dialogue in Hades\n"},
{"source_document": "", "creation_year": 1749, "culture": " English\n", "content": "Produced by Alison Hadwin, Sankar Viswanathan, and the\nOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net\n                       A NARRATIVE ATTRIBUTED TO\n                         CHEVALIER JOHNSTONE.\n                  Published under the Auspices of the\n               Literary and Historical Society of Quebec\n               PRINTED AT THE \"MORNING CHRONICLE\" OFFICE\n[PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE LITERARY AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY\nOF QUEBEC.]\nATTRIBUTED TO CHEVALIER JOHNSTONE.\nHope that heavenly, healing balm, that gift from Providence, blended\nwith persecutions to blunt the sharpness of their sting and hinder the\nunfortunate from being overwhelmed, and sinking under the load of\ntheir afflictions, never dies out--never abandons the distressed. \"We\ndon't believe in dangers,\" says Machiavel, \"until they are over our\nheads; but we entertain hopes of escaping them when at a great\ndistance.\" Hope does not abandon the pale, dying man: in his agony he\nstill fells life, and in his thoughts he does not detach himself from\nit. Death strikes, before his heart has realized that he could cease\nto live. Search in the prisons: hope dwells there with the wretch who\nnext day is to undergo his sentence of death. Every time the bolts\nrattle, he believes his deliverance entering with the jailer. Whole\nyears of slavery have not been able to wear out this consoling\nsentiment. These contradictions,--these differences of seeing,--these\nreturns,--this stormy flow and ebb, are so many effects of hope, which\nplays upon us and never ceases. It is inherent in human nature to hope\nin adversity for a favorable change of fate, however the appearances\nmay be ill-grounded of an end to its pain and suffering.\nThe Canadians, without the least apparent reason, still flattered\nthemselves to save their country, and did not lose the hope of\nretaking Quebec, though without artillery and warlike stores. All\nminds were occupied during the winter in forming projects of capturing\nthat town, which were entirely chimerical, void of common sense, and\nnowise practicable. No country ever hatched a greater number--never\nprojects more ridiculous and extravagant; everybody meddled. The\ncontagion spread even to my Lord Bishop and his seminary of priests,\nwho gave their plan, which, like all the others, lacked only common\nsense and judgment. In short, a universal insanity prevailed at\nMontreal. Amongst thousands of the productions of these distempered\nbrains, that of surprising Quebec by a forced march in winter and\ntaking it by escalade, was the only one where there was the least\nchance of success. This project was for some time agitated so\nseriously, that workmen were employed in making wooden ladders; but\nhaving always looked upon it as a wild and extravagant fancy of\npriests and old women, I constantly argued against it whenever they\nspoke of it, and it was continually the topic of conversation.\nThe Upper Town of Quebec lies upon the top of a rock, about two\nhundred feet high, almost perpendicular in some parts of it, and\neverywhere extremely steep and inaccessible, excepting towards the\n_Hauteurs d'Abraham_, which is a continuation of the same hill, that\nbegins at Quebec and ends at Cap Rouge, diminishing gradually in\nheight in the space of these three leagues. The Lower Town is a narrow\npiece of ground, from a hundred to four or five paces[A] broad,\nbetween the foot of the rock and the St. Lawrence.\nThere is a street which goes up to the Upper Town without a\ncontinuation of houses; it is impossible to climb up the rock from the\nLower Town, as I was employed three weeks upon it with miners and\nother workmen, to render all the footpaths impracticable; we finished\nonly a few days before the arrival of the English fleet (in 1759). A\ntown built upon a vast extent of ground, which would require an army\nto defend it, such as Ghent in Flanders, and which might be approached\non all sides at the same time, in order to divide the troops of the\ngarrison equally over all the town, may be surprised and taken by\nescalade, and in our desperate situation might have been attempted by\nrisking all for all. A surprise in a dark night must naturally spread\nuniversal terror, disorder and panic amongst those who are taken\nunawares, and must soon be communicated through all the quarters of\nthe town. The soldiers are so much the more terrified that they know\nnot where they are most in danger; not like during a siege, where the\nplace for the assault is marked by the breach. Their heads turn, and,\ndeprived of judgment, coolness and reflection, they think rather of\nescaping the slaughter that ensues when a town is being captured in\nthis manner, than of defending the ramparts. But Quebec being\naccessible only on that side of it which faces the heights of Abraham,\nand having nothing to fear elsewhere, the moment an alarm is sounded,\nall the force of the garrison must naturally be there. Thus the\nEnglish having seven thousand men in the town--almost as many as our\narmy proposed for the escalade to invest all that part of the town\nopen to attack--it is likely that we should have lost the half of our\narmy in the attempt, and at last, after a horrible slaughter of men,\nhave been obliged to return ignominiously from whence we came.\nBesides, supposing that we had even taken the Lower Town by escalade,\nwe would not have been further advanced. The English, in half an hour\nafterwards, by burning it, by throwing down from the Upper Town upon\nthe roofs of the houses fire pots, shells and other combustible\nmatter, could have soon chased us out of it, or buried us under its\nruins. This project, after having furnished for a long time matter for\nthe daily conversations of Montrealers, was at last considered by M.\nde Levis, and classed as it deserved, amongst the vagaries of bedlam;\nhe substituting a scheme in its place which was reasonable, well\ncombined, doing honor to his ability and talent.\n[Footnote A: The four or five paces of 1760 have now attained seven or\neight acres.--(L)]\nM. de Levis, in giving an account to the Court of the loss of all our\nartillery and stores at Quebec, gave likewise all possible assurances\nthat he would re-take the town in the spring and save the colony,\nprovided they would send to him from Europe a ship loaded with\nfield-pieces and ammunition, to set sail from Europe in the month of\nFebruary, in order to be in the St. Lawrence river before the arrival\nof the English, and near Quebec in the month of April. He collected\nour army as soon as the season permitted; got together about twelve\npieces of old cannon, which had been laid aside for many years, and\nwith a small quantity of gunpowder and very few bullets, he set out\nfrom Montreal with his army towards the beginning of April, the snow\nbeing as yet upon the ground; and he conducted his march so well that\nthe army arrived at Cap Rouge, three leagues from Quebec, without the\nenemy having any information of their having left Montreal. He did not\nflatter himself to be able to take Quebec with such a despicable train\nof artillery, and his design was only to invest the town; to open the\ntrenches before it; to advance his approaches, and be in a position,\nthe moment the ships he had asked from the Court should arrive, to\nland the cannon, placing them instantly upon the batteries ready to\nreceive them, and without loss of time to batter the town immediately.\nFortune favored him to the height of his wishes, and if the ships had\narrived with the artillery he expected from France, that town could\nscarce have held out for four and twenty hours, by which means he\nwould have had the glory of preserving to his country the colony of\nCanada, then reduced to its last gasp.\nThe English got the news of our army's being at Cap Rouge by a most\nsingular accident, which greatly manifests the predominant power of\nFortune in military operations, and shows that the greatest general\ncannot guarantee success or put himself out of the reach of those\nevents which human understanding cannot foresee, whereby the best\ncombined and well-formed schemes are frustrated in their execution. In\nall appearance we would have taken Quebec by surprise had it not been\nfor one of Fortune's caprices, that have often as much share in the\nevents of war as the genius and talents of the greatest generals.\nThe Athenians were not in the wrong to paint Timotheus asleep, whilst\nFortune, in another part of the picture, was spreading nets over towns\nto take them for him.\nAn artillery boat having been overturned and sunk by the sheets of\nice, which the current of the St. Lawrence brought down with great\nforce, an artilleryman saved himself on a piece of ice that floated\ndown the river with him upon it, without a possibility of his getting\nto land, when he was opposite to the city.\nThe English, so soon as they perceived that poor distressed man--moved\nwith humanity and compassion--sent out boats, who with difficulty\nsaved him (the river being covered with fields of ice), and brought\nhim to town with scarce any sign of life. Having restored him with\ncordials, the moment he began to breathe and recover his senses, they\nasked him from whence he came, and who he was? he answered,\ninnocently, that he was a French cannonier from M. de Levis' army at\nCap Rouge. At first they imagined he raved, and that his sufferings\nupon the river had turned his head; but, after examining him more\nparticularly and his answers being always the same, they were soon\nconvinced of the truth of his assertions, and were not a little\nconfounded to have the French army at three leagues from Quebec,\nwithout possessing the smallest information of the fact. All their\ncare proved ineffectual for the preservation of life; he expired the\nmoment he had revealed this important secret. What a remarkable and\nvisible instance of fortune fighting for the English--equal at least\nto the cloud of rain that saved General Wolfe's army the year\npreceding at his attack of 31st of July, at Montmorenci. Had it not\nbeen for this most unaccountable accident, to all appearance M. de\nLevis would have captured all the English advanced posts, which were\nsaid to amount to fifteen hundred men, who retired to the town\nimmediately after setting fire to the magazine of powder in the church\nof St. Foy, which ammunition they had not the time to carry with them.\nNor would it have been surprising if M. de Levis, at the gates of\nQuebec with his army, without being discovered, had taken it by\nsurprise. It is certain that luck has more or less share in all the\nevents of life, and this is more particularly visible in the\noperations of war. Hazards may be constantly in the favor of a general\nblindly protected by that goddess, against an adversary with far\nsuperior talents. Everybody must acknowledge Prince Eugene's\nsuperiority of genius, when compared with the Duke of Marlborough; but\nMarlborough was always as fortunate in having continually unforeseen\naccidents in his favor, as Prince Eugene was unlucky to have them\nagainst him to thwart and cross the execution of the best-combined\nprojects, which extorted admiration, and seemed to have only need of\nFortune's standing neuter to be successful. The fate of an army,--can\nit depend upon the personal good fortune of the General who commands\nit? Cardinal Mazarin seemed to be of this opinion, since he never\nfailed to ask those who recommended persons to him to head\nexpeditions, \"is he lucky?\"--_est-il heureux_? Can it be surmised that\nfortune acts with her favorite sons at the head of armies, as she does\nat gambling tables? However it may be, a great General will always\nwatch vigilantly the chapter of accidents--seize rapidly that which is\nfavorable to him, and, by his prudence, foresight and circumspection,\nwill ward off and correct what is contrary to his interests. The\nsmallest things are not unworthy of his attention; they often produce\nthe greatest events, and the neglecting what at first view might\nappear trivial, has often overturned the best-calculated schemes. The\nmost trifling of our actions becomes often a first cause which\nproduces an endless chain of effects--linked to each other--of the\ngreatest importance. The boat sunk by the ice, at Cap Rouge, was a\nfirst cause. The cannonier, by this accident, was upon a sheet of ice\nin the middle of the St. Lawrence, opposite to Quebec; this inspired\nwith pity the English to save his life. This humane action of the\nEnglish in saving the unhappy cannonier, saved Quebec from being taken\nby surprise, which probably would have been the case without his\ninformation, that M. de Levis' army was at Cap Rouge. If taken by M.\nde Levis, it would have deterred the English from any further attempt\nupon Canada, and peace would have soon ensued. But by the cannonier's\ndeclaration, it was not taken, and consequently the war was prolonged.\nQuebec in possession of the English rendered the conquest of Canada\ninevitable and sure. The possession of that vast country of Canada,\nafter so much blood, and such immense expenses it had cost the English\nin these different expeditions, excited too much the cupidity of the\nEnglish to consent to a peace upon reasonable conditions, and induced\nthem to extend their conquest to other French colonies.\nThe possession of so many French and Spanish colonies by the English\nbrought about the shameful peace that France and Spain were obliged to\nreceive at the hands of the English, upon the hardest terms, as laws\nof the conqueror.\nThe boat upset and sunk at Cap Rouge was the primary cause and the\nfirst link of the chain which had the greatest influence over all the\naffairs of Europe. If M. de Levis had saved the cannonier at Cap\nRouge, what a multitude of events would have been nipped in the bud!\nPerhaps even Great Britain would have been forced to receive the peace\nfrom France instead of granting it on her own conditions.\nThere is scarcely any human action that is not the beginning of a\nchain of results.\nThe French army took possession of the village of St. Foye the moment\nthe English went out of it, retiring to Quebec, and passed there the\nnight between the 27th and 28th of April. Next morning M. de Levis\nbeing informed that the English army was come out of the town, and\nthat they were drawn up in battle upon the same ground that the French\narmy had occupied the year before at the battle of the 13th September,\nhe drew out his men and advanced in order of battle to meet the\nEnglish army. Though fully persuaded that the English general would\nnot risk a battle out of his town, where he had a great deal to lose\nin being beat, and could gain little by a victory, he was fully\npersuaded that he would return at the approach of the French army.\nGeneral Murray, who does the greatest honor to his country by his\ngreat knowledge of the art of war, good sense and ability, had come\nout of the town in order to cover that place with a retrenchment,\nwhich was very evident from the prodigious quantity of working tools\nthat were taken by the French; and the vast rapidity with which the\nFrench army advanced in all appearance, deprived him of the\npossibility of getting back into Quebec without leaving a part of them\nto be cut to pieces by the Canadians.\nThe English army had the advantage of position. They were drawn up in\nbattle upon rising ground, their front armed with twenty-two brass\nfield-pieces--the Palace battery which De Ramsay refused to Send to\nM. de Montcalm. The engagement began by the attack of a house\n(Dumont's) between the right wing of the English army and the French\nleft wing, which was alternately attacked and defended by the Scotch\nHighlanders and the French Grenadiers, each of them taking it and\nlosing it by turns. Worthy antagonists!--the Grenadiers, with their\nbayonets in their hands, forced the Highlanders to get out of it by\nthe windows; and the Highlanders getting into it again by the door,\nimmediately obliged the Grenadiers to evacuate it by the same road,\nwith their daggers. Both of them lost and retook the house[B] several\ntimes, and the contest would have continued whilst there remained a\nHighlander and a Grenadier, if both generals had not made them retire,\nleaving the house neuter ground. The Grenadiers were reduced to\nfourteen men--a company at most. No doubt the Highlanders lost in\nproportion. The left of the French army, which was in hollow ground,\nabout forty paces from the English, was crushed to pieces by the fire\nof their artillery loaded with grape-shot. M. de Levis, perceiving\ntheir bad position, sent M. de La Pause, Adjutant of the Guienne\nRegiment, with orders for the army to retire some steps behind them,\nin order to occupy an eminence parallel to the rising ground occupied\nby the English; but whether this officer did not comprehend M. de\nLevis' intentions, or whether he delivered ill the orders to the\ndifferent regiments, by his stupidity the battle was very near being\nlost irremediably. He ran along the line, ordering each regiment to\nthe right about, and to retire, without any further explanation of M.\nde Levis' orders. Some of the left of the French army being so near as\ntwenty paces to the enemy, the best disciplined troops in that case\ncan scarce be expected to be able to retire without the greatest\ndisorder and confusion, or without exposing themselves evidently to\nbe defeated and slaughtered. Upon this movement, the English,\nbelieving them in flight, quitted their advantage of the rising ground\nin order to pursue them, complete their disorder, and break them\nentirely. M. Dalquier, who commanded the Bearn Regiment, with the\ntroops of the colony upon the left of the French army, a bold,\nintrepid old officer, turned about to his soldiers when La Pause gave\nhim M. de Levis' order to retire, and told them, \"It is not time now,\nmy boys, to retire when at twenty paces from the enemy; with your\nbayonets upon your muskets, let us throw ourselves headlong amongst\nthem--that is better.\" In an instant they fell upon the English\nimpetuously--with thrusts of bayonets hand to hand, got possession,\nlike lightning, of their guns; and a ball which went through\nDalquier's body, which was already quite covered with scars of old\nwounds, did not hinder him from continuing giving his orders.\nPoularies, who was on the right flank of the army, with his regiment\nof Royal Roussillon, and some of the Canadian militia, seeing Dalquier\nstand firm, and all the troops of the centre having retired in\ndisorder, leaving a space between the two wings, he caused his\nregiment with the Canadians to wheel to the left, in order to fall\nupon the left flank of the English army, the French army extending\nfurther to their right beyond the English left wing. The enemy no\nsooner perceived Poularies' movement, than they immediately fled with\nprecipitation and confusion, and were so panic-stricken that not an\nEnglish soldier could be rallied by their officers, several of whom\nwere taken prisoners. The French troops who had retired advanced\nimmediately, and all the French army pursued so hotly the English,\nthat if the cry had not been raised to halt, it is very doubtful if\nthey would not have got into Quebec pell-mell with the fugitives,\nbeing near the town-gates when this cry began. Thus Quebec would have\nbeen retaken in a most singular manner,[C] unforeseen and\nunpremeditated. I know nothing worse than ill-disciplined troops;\ncertainly a brave militia, with its simple, ancient way of fighting,\neven not drilled, is preferable to a force having a crude notion of\ndiscipline--a science entirely neglected in Canada amongst French\nregular troops; so that the French regiments there might be looked\nupon as differing very little from the Canadian militia. The method of\nmanaging militia and well-disciplined regular troops appears to be\nquite as different as they differ in nature. A cool, phlegmatic,\nundaunted bravery is the fruit of an excellent discipline, rendering\nthe soldiers capable, when repulsed, to return several times to the\nassault, and rally of their own accord. But the strength and merit of\nthe militia resembles a hot, ardent, raging fire, that must be\nsuffered to blaze until it dies out of itself: it is a flash, an\nexplosion, that often works prodigies, and which, when stifled, there\nis no possibility of preventing the immediate disorder that must\nensue, nor any means of bringing it back a second time to face the\nenemy.\nNOTE.--The preceding winter had been employed in skirmishing\naround Quebec.--(J.M.L.)\n[Footnote B: Dumont's Mill.]\n[Footnote C: \"On the night of the eighteenth of March, two hundred\nlight infantry were detached from the Garrison of Quebec, with three\ndays' provisions, and a company of Grenadiers, marched the next day to\nLorette Church, being the place of rendezvous. The whole proceeded to\nCalvaire, accompanied by a French deserter in a British uniform. In\nthis route they surprised an advanced post of the French, and made the\nparty prisoners, consisting of a corporal and nine privates; having\nsecured these, they pushed forward with the greatest speed, fearing\nthat a straggling peasant, whom they met, should mar their further\nviews by alarming the country. The light infantry having reached the\nwished for object, which was a strong camp or entrenchment of logs and\ntimber, with a house detached at a small distance from it, they\ncarried the dwelling house With their accustomed bravery, killed four\nand took the rest, being twenty in number, some of whom were wounded.\nThe main body of the French by this time had manned their works, which\nwere breast high, and environed with an abattis of wood, to the\ndistance of about three hundred yards, whence they fired a few random\nshots and shouted as usual. Capt. McDonald, who commanded this\ndetachment, seeing the French advantageously situated, and perceiving\ntheir officers very active in encouraging their men, expected a warm\ndispute, and therefore made a disposition to attack them in form. As\nsoon, however, as the light infantry advanced to the charge, the\nFrench threw down their arms and took to flight, when near eighty of\nthem were made prisoners. In the attack the English had only six\nwounded; but the French lost five killed and thirteen wounded. Capt.\nMcDonald destroyed the post, three corn-mills, granaries, and other\nhouses contiguous thereto. The French prisoners were brought to\nQuebec, except the wounded, who were left in charge of the peasants,\nwith directions to conduct them to Jacques Cartier. Near one hundred\nsoldiers of the English detachment were frost-bitten, and were brought\nback to the garrison on sleighs. Capt. Herbin, the commanding officer,\nescaped; but his watch, hat, and feather, 'fille de joie,' with a cask\nof wine and case of liqueurs, were taken.\n\"The Governor of Quebec (General Murray) sent the Town Major to the\nMother Abbess of the Convent of Hotel Dieu, to acquaint her with the\nreasons that induced him to destroy their mills and tenements at\nCalvaire: namely, on account of her having transmitted intelligence to\nthe French, of the last detachment's being ordered to be in readiness\nto march out; for having actually carried on a correspondence with the\nFrench army in the whole course of the winter, whereby they were\ninformed of all movements, proceedings, and every other occurrence\nthat happened within the walls: the Governor also signified to her,\nthat if either she or her sisters should presume to correspond in\nfuture with the French, either directly or indirectly, or in any\nrespect act contrary to good faith and the duty they owed to the King\nof Great Britain, they should, without further ceremony, be banished\nfrom Quebec, and their convent be converted into a barrack for the\ntroops. As Madame de St. Claude, who was sister to M. de Ramsay, and\nSuperior of the General Hospital, had always been inimical to the\nEnglish in propagating falsehoods, and in encouraging the Canadians to\nresist, General Murray sent the Brigade-Major to signify to this lady\nthat she should desist from such conduct; and that as she appeared to\ntake a great interest in the affairs of this world, and seemed tired\nof her seclusion, he would enlist her as a Grenadier, which from her\nstature (full six feet) she was qualified to be, and that he would\npromote her the first opportunity that presented itself.\"--(SMITH.)]\nThe French had about two thousand killed and wounded in this battle of\nthe 27th (? 28th) of April, of which number there was an hundred and\nten officers of the regular troops, besides a great many officers of\nthe Canadian militia: so they might say with Pyrrhus, the day of his\nvictory over the Romans--\"Again such another victory, and I would be\nundone!\"\nM. de Levis opened the trenches the same night before Quebec, and they\nwere carried on with such activity that his batteries were soon ready\nto receive the guns necessary to make a breach.\nBut the most considerable of his bad pieces was a twelve pounder,\nwhich he mounted upon batteries, firing at times with the greatest\neconomy, as he had but a small store of gunpowder. There needed only\nthe arrival of a ship from France with artillery and ammunition to\ncrown M. de Levis with glory. The English in Quebec confessed that the\nfirst flag that would appear in the St. Lawrence would decide the\nquestion, if Canada should remain in possession of the English or\nreturn to the French.\nNo ships arrived from France with artillery. The fate of Canada was at\nlast settled by the appearance of three English men-of-war, on the 7th\nof May. They ascended immediately the St. Lawrence without stopping at\nQuebec. They attacked the small French frigates--at the Ance du\nFoulon, about a mile above the town--which had passed the winter in\nCanada; took some of them, burned others, and, in short, destroyed in\nan instant all the French marine. This unlooked-for arrival, instead\nof the vessel which M. de Levis expected from France, so astonished\nand terrified the French army, that they immediately raised the\nsiege--and that without any necessity for it. They again left as a\npresent for the English their tents and their baggage, as they had\ndone previously on retiring from Beauport, after the battle of the\n13th September. Such was their consternation that, as if struck by a\nthunderbolt, they fled with the utmost precipitation, as if the\nEnglish were pursuing them after the loss of a battle. De Vauquelin\nalone distinguished himself by a truly heroic bravery. He commanded\none of the small French frigates of about sixteen guns, and fought\nlike a lion against an English man-of-war of forty guns, until he had\nno powder nor shot. He then sent all his crew ashore to M. de Levis,\njudging that they might be of use to him, and remained on board with\nthe wounded, his colors always flying.\nThe English, after firing some time at his vessel, and receiving no\nanswer, approached in their boats and asked him why he did not fire,\nor lower his flag? De Vauquelin answered them fiercely that, had he\nhad any more powder he would not have been silent so long; that if\nthey had a mind to take him, they might cut down his flag themselves,\nas hitherto his custom was not to strike his colors, but to make\nothers--his country's enemies--do so. The English then went on board\nof his ship, and took him prisoner, with his wounded men, and in\nconsideration of his determination--they having cut down his\nflag--treated him with the regard which bravery can claim at the hands\nof a generous enemy. De Vauquelin had already made himself known to\nthe English by his undaunted courage at the siege of Louisburg. His\nintrepidity so delighted the English Admiral, that he begged him to\ntell him freely how he could serve him. He answered the Admiral, \"that\nwhat he wished for of all things was to have his liberty and\npermission to return to France.\" The Admiral had so great a\nconsideration for him, that he caused a vessel to be immediately\nfitted out to carry him to Europe, ordering the English captain to\nobey De Vauquelin and land him in any French port he might ask for,\nleaving him at the same time to choose what French passengers would\naccompany him. This noble and generous behaviour of the English did\nhonor to their nation, by rendering justice to, and discerning the\nmerit of, an enemy, far beyond what De Vauquelin met with from\nBerryer, the Secretary of the Navy, on his arrival in France.\nThe unhappy situation of the colony was now past remedy, and may be\ncompared to a man in the agonies of death, to whom the physician\ncontinues to administer cordials, not from hopes of his recovery, but\nto allay and soften the violence of his sufferings. All that could now\nbe expected was to obtain an honorable capitulation, favorable to its\ninhabitants, the colony being at its last gasp.\nM. de Levis left two thousand men at Jacques Cartier, with orders to\nretire slowly according as the English advanced from Quebec, and to\navoid an engagement with them, without losing sight of them. This\nretarded their march, and put off the evil hour as long as possible.\nHe went with the rest of his army to Montreal. As there was no\nprovision in that town to be able to keep his army assembled, he was\nobliged to disperse them, sending them back to their winter quarters,\nwhere each inhabitant was obliged to board a soldier at a very low\nrate, which was paid by the munitionary general.\nM. de Bougainville was sent in the spring to command at Isle aux Noix,\nwith eleven hundred men, of which number were the Regiment of Guienne\nand Berry. This island is situated in the River Chambly (Richelieu),\nabout eight leagues in a straight line from Montreal, and two miles\ndistant from Lake Champlain.\nM. Bourlamarque, an officer of great knowledge in all the branches of\nhis profession, decided upon that position for his retreat the year\nbefore, when he evacuated Ticonderoga, having been forced to abandon\nto the English that lake. He fortified this island as well as was\npossible in a sandy ground, in order to serve as a frontier on that\nside of Canada, and hinder the English from coming down by the River\nRichelieu into the River St. Lawrence, by which means in a very short\ntime they might have been in possession of Montreal and Three\nRivers,--a much easier way than by Lake Ontario, which is much longer\nand full of chicares (?) by the rapids in the St. Lawrence, and\nprolong their operations;--a very great advantage in a country where\nthere are violent frosts during seven months of the year. This island\nis about twelve hundred fathoms long, and from a hundred to two\nhundred broad. The entrenchments traced and conducted by M.\nBourlamarque are regular, and a proof of his superior knowledge in\nfortifications. He barred the two branches of the river which formed\nthe island with staccados, or chains of big trees, linked to one\nanother at their ends by strong rings and circles of iron. This\nprevented the English boats from Lake Champlain to pass the island in\nthe night, to reach Montreal. But for the staccados the island must\nhave been taken by them before they could proceed any further.\nSome Iroquois, of the Five Nations, informed M. de Vaudreuil at\nMontreal, that General Amherst was marching to invade Canada with a\nvery considerable army by the rapids and Lake Ontario, whilst General\nMurray had orders to come up the river with his army from Quebec, and\njoin Gen. Amherst at Montreal. But they had no knowledge of a third\nbody of troops, about four thousand men, that came by Lake Champlain,\nin the month of July, five weeks before the arrival of the other two\narmies at Montreal, and besieged Isle aux Noix with a very\nconsiderable train of artillery, cannon, mortars, &c., in profusion.\nThey erected five batteries of guns on the south side of the river,\nwith a bomb battery, which rendered our trenches useless, as they had\na sight of us everywhere, back, face and sideways, and so near us that\nat the south staccado they killed several of our soldiers by their\nmusket shots.\nThe sandy ground protected us from the effect of their shells, which\nthey threw upon us in great numbers, with a continual fire from their\ngun batteries.\nAfter sixteen days' siege with a most violent cannonade, without a\nmoment's interruption, M. Nogaire, an officer in the Regiment of Royal\nRoussillon, came to us from Montreal, having crossed directly through\nthe woods, with some Indians for his guides, with two letters from De\nBougainville, one of which was from him to Vaudreuil, and the other\nfrom M. de Levis. It was a very critical conjuncture, having only two\ndays' provision for the garrison, which had subsisted until the\narrival of the English troops by means of fishing-nets, that river\nabounding with the most delicious fish, with seven or eight oxen,\nwhich had been kept as a reserve and killed by the enemy's cannon. M.\nde Vaudreuil's letter contained a permission to M. de Bougainville to\ncapitulate or retire from the island if it was possible. M. de Levis'\nletter was a positive order to defend that post to the last extremity.\nDe Bougainville, notwithstanding his genius, good sense and learning,\nwith personal courage, and who lacked only taste for the study of the\nart of war to distinguish himself, was nevertheless put to a nonplus\nhow to act from the contradictory orders he received. In this dilemma\nhe shewed me the letters, asking at the same time my advice; and my\nanswer was:--\"That in two days famine must oblige us to surrender to\nthe enemy at discretion. That the reinforcements of a thousand men at\nMontreal might be of the greatest importance, and help to make a good\ncountenance when the English army had advanced in the neighborhood of\nit. That it was M. de Vaudreuil who commanded-in-chief in Canada, and\nnot M. de Levis; and that there was yet a possibility of retiring with\nthe garrison towards the north side of the island, where the swampy\nground upon the border of the river had hindered the English from\nestablishing a post.\" De Bougainville immediately decided for a\nretreat, which was executed and combined with equal justness; and the\nsuccess answered exactly to the prudence, wisdom and good conduct that\nDe Bougainville exhibited in preparing for it. It was then about ten\nin the morning when Nogaire arrived with the Indians, who--not\naccustomed to such a terrible fire as was at that moment poured forth\nby the English batteries, very different from their way of fighting\nbehind trees--were not at all at ease, and furiously impatient to get\nout of the island. The hour of retreat was settled for ten that\nnight.\nThe north shore of Isle aux Noix, on the opposite side of the river,\nwas marshy to the distance of three hundred paces from the river,\ncovered with small trees where there was a rising ground, and there\nwas no English post nearer to it than at the Prairie de Boileau,\ndistant half a mile down the river, so that the locality where the\nriver was fordable was a little below the north staccados. De\nBougainville adopted every prudent measure imaginable to achieve\nsuccess. He ordered all the boats to be mended and put in condition to\nbe used at a moment's warning. He also ordained that the boats, bark\ncanoes, and punts hewn out of a large tree, be removed a certain\ndistance from the river side, lest some soldier should desert and\napprise the English of his design, such as had happened from the posts\nnear Quebec. He commanded that all the garrison should be in order of\nbattle at ten at night, all observing a profound silence, without the\nleast clashing of arms or other noise, and be in readiness to march.\nHe ordered M. le Borgne, an officer in the colonial troops, to remain\non the island with a detachment of forty men, to keep up a smart fire\nfrom our battery, which consisted of seven or eight pieces of cannon,\nduring the time we were employed in passing the river, in order to\nhinder the English from hearing us in our operations, and to continue\nfiring whilst ammunition lasted, and to conceal our retreat as long as\nit was possible to do so.\nWe began to cross the river in two lighters, with some small boats,\nabout ten at night. They plied continually to and fro until midnight,\nwhen all had crossed the river without the enemy perceiving or even\nsuspecting our operation, although so near to us were their posts on\ntheir left that we heard distinctly their voices. All was executed\nwithout the least noise, disorder, or confusion--a rare occurrence on\nsuch an occasion. Le Borgne acted well, and at the same time\neconomized his ammunition so well that he had wherewith to fire upon\nthe English at intervals until one in the morning. Imagining us then\nto be near Montreal, he hoisted the white flag to capitulate, and the\nEnglish, not having the smallest notion of our retreat, granted him\nimmediately very honorable terms. We had eighty men killed or wounded\nduring the siege--a very inconsiderable loss for a cannonade of\nsixteen days' duration, from five batteries, besides a bomb battery,\nwithout an instant's intermission. Had it been a stony instead of a\nsandy ground, we must have lost above one-half of the garrison, and\ncould not have resisted so long.\nSo soon as everyone had passed the river, we set out for Montreal,\ncrossing through the woods, which, in a straight line, is only eight\nleagues from Isle aux Noix, always half running one after the other,\nafter having marched in this manner, from midnight until twelve at\nnoon, over fens, swamps, mosses, and sinking often up to the waist in\nmarshy ground, without reposing or halting one minute. Instead of\nbeing near Montreal, as we imagined, we were thunderstruck on finding\nourselves, by the fault of our guides, to be only at the distance of\nhalf a league from Isle aux Noix: our guide, not knowing the road\nthrough the woods, had caused us to turn round continually for twelve\nhours without advancing!\nWe were so near an English post at the Prairie de Boileau, that a\ngrenadier of the Regiment de Berry, seeing his commander, Cormier,\nsink down with fatigue, and not in a condition to go any further,\ncarried off a horse from them which was upon the borders of the wood,\nand mounted his commander on it; otherwise he would have been left\naside and taken prisoner by the English, or scalped by the Indians.\nHaving lost all hopes of going to Montreal through the woods, we took\nthe road to Fort St. Jean, on the River Chambly, four leagues lower\nthan Isle aux Noix, and five leagues by land to Montreal. My strength\nwas so entirely spent, that it was with great difficulty I could draw\none leg after the other. Nevertheless the fear of falling into the\nhands of the Indians, the idea of the horrible cruelties which they\npractice on their prisoners, which shock human nature, prevented me\nfrom sinking down with pain, and gave me strength to push on.\nArrived at a settlement at four in the afternoon, about a league and a\nhalf from St. John's Fort, where De Bougainville caused his detachment\nto halt and repose themselves for the first time since midnight, that\nthey left Isle aux Noix. I perceived there a boat going off to St.\nJean, and I had only strength enough remaining to throw myself into\nit. We lost in this march about eighty men: those who could not hold\nout were left behind, victims to the Indians. Arriving at St. John's\nFort, the first person I saw there was Poularies, on the river side,\nwho told me they had news of our retreat, and that he was sent with\nhis regiment to sustain us in case we had been pursued by the English.\nWe were now shut up in the island of Montreal on all sides. The\nEnglish were masters of the River Chambly by the possession of Isle\naux Noix. General Amherst approached with his army from Lake Ontario;\nand General Murray was in march, coming up from Quebec, with six\nthousand men that had passed through the winter there, and with some\nmen-of-war, one of which of about forty guns, on its arrival in sight\nof the town of Montreal, greatly astonished, and excited the\nadmiration of, the inhabitants, who, from the ignorance and negligence\nof those persons charged with the sounding of the St. Lawrence, had\nnever seen vessels arrive there of above sixty or seventy tons.\nGeneral Murray conducted himself as an officer of great understanding,\nknowledge and capacity, and left nothing to do for General Amherst; he\nemployed five weeks in coming from Quebec to Montreal, which is only\nsixty leagues, and did us during his march more harm by his policy\nthan by his army. He stopped often in the villages; spoke kindly to\nthe inhabitants he found at home in their houses--whom hunger and\nfamine had obliged to fly from our army at Montreal; gave provisions\nto those unhappy creatures perishing for want of subsistence. He\nburned, in some cases, the houses of those who were absent from home\nand in the French army at Montreal, publishing everywhere an amnesty\nand good treatment to all Canadians who would return to their\nhabitations and live there peaceably. In short--flattering some and\nfrightening others--he succeeded so well, that at last there was no\nmore possibility of keeping them at Montreal. It is true we had now\nonly need of them to make a good countenance. The three English armies\namounting to above twenty thousand men, it was impossible to make any\nfurther resistance.\nAmherst's army appeared in sight from the town of Montreal, towards\nthe gate of Lachine, on the 7th of September, about three in the\nafternoon. General Murray with his army, from Quebec, appeared two\nhours after at the opposite side of the town: thus a dark crisis was\nat hand for the fate of Canada. Montreal was nowise susceptible of\ndefence. It was surrounded with stone walls, built in the beginning of\nthat colony, merely to preserve the inhabitants from the incursions of\nthe Indians, few imagining at that time it would become the theatre of\na regular war, and that one day they would see formidable armies of\nregular, well-disciplined troops before its walls.\nWe were, however, all pent up in that miserable, bad place--without\nprovisions, a thousand times worse off than an advantageous position\nin open fields--whose pitiful walls could not resist two hours'\ncannonade without being level with the ground, and where we would have\nbeen forced to surrender at discretion, if the English had insisted\nupon it.\nThe night between the 7th and 8th September was passed in negotiating\nfor the articles of capitulation. But in the morning all the\ndifficulties were removed, and General Amherst granted conditions\ninfinitely more favourable than could be expected in our\ncircumstances.\nThus the Canadians, as brave as they are docile, and easy to be\ngoverned, became subjects of Great Britain; and if they can think\nthemselves happy under that Government, by remembering their past\nvexations, they will do so.\nM. (Col.) Poularies and M. (Col.) Dalquier, who were generally\ndistinguished in the French army by their high sense of honor,\nprobity, and their bravery, experience and knowledge in the art of\nwar, were both of them, on their arrival in France, broken as\ncommanders of a battalion--a grade which was abolished in the French\nservice, in order to make the Major, as in the British service,\ncommand the regiment in absence of the Colonel and Lieutenant-Colonel.\nBelcomb, Poularies' Adjt. of Royal Roussillon, and Montgnary, Captain\nin the Regiment of Bearn which Dalquier commanded--(two very handsome\nmen, capable to attract the attention of the ladies of any court in\nEurope)--were made Colonels of Foot, without possessing any remarkable\nmilitary talent or capacity.\nFortune manifested most cruelly her almighty power in the military\nstate, where justice, punishments and rewards alone ought to be the\nbase of it. Men conduct themselves from the view either of honor or\ninterest; and there can be no emulation in a service where mediocrity\nof talents, intrigues, favor, and credit, override merit.\nGreatness of soul, joined to superiority of talent, ignores the art of\ncringing; it is even impossible that merit can lead to fortune in a\ncorrupted and venal country: on the contrary, it becomes a cause of\nexclusion. Virtue elevates the soul, and can neither fawn nor buy\ncredit, nor flatter vice and incapacity. \"If such is the military\nconstitution of a State,\" says M. Gaubert, in his Treatise of\nTactics, \"of which the Sovereign (the King of Prussia) is one of the\ngreatest men of the age, who instructs and commands his armies, and\nwhose armies form all the pomp of the court, what ought it to be in\nthose States where the Sovereign is not at all a military man; where\nhe does not see his troops; where he seems to disdain or be ignorant\nof all that regards them; where the Court, who always obey the\nimpression of the Sovereign, is consequently not military; where\nalmost all the great rewards are obtained by surprise, by intrigue;\nwhere the greater portion of favors are hereditary; where merit\nlanguishes for want of support; where favor can advance without\ntalent; where to make a fortune no more implies acquiring a\nreputation, but merely to heap up riches; where men may be, at one and\nthe same time, covered with orders and infamy--with grades and\nignorance, serve ill the State, and occupy the best places; be smeared\nwith the censure of the public, and enjoy the Sovereign's good graces?\nIf, whilst all other sciences are becoming perfected, that of war\nremains in its infancy, it is the fault of the Governments, who do not\nattach to it sufficient importance; who do not make it an object of\npublic education; who fail to direct men of genius to that profession;\nwho suffer them to find more glory and advantages in sciences trifling\nor less useful; who render the profession of arms an ungrateful\nemployment, where talents are outstripped by intrigue, and the prizes\ndistributed by Fortune.\"\nGeneral Amherst, according to his statement in his letter to Mr. Pitt,\nthen Secretary of State, lost in coming down the rapids--without\nmeeting there any opposition from the French or Indians--by drowning,\neighty-four men. Twenty more of the regiments' boats were dashed to\npieces. Seven boats of the artillery, loaded with arms and ammunition,\nand one of his galleys, were also lost.\nIf 900 Indians had been there, as they should have been, scattered in\nthe woods upon the borders of the river, with 1,200 Canadians, which\nthey had solicited earnestly from M. de Vaudreuil, to defend those\ndifficult passes of the Rapids, but which this officer obstinately\nrefused, what would have become of General Amherst? How could he have\ngot out of the scrape? As it happened to Braddock, Amherst and his\narmy must have perished there; his expedition would have been\nfruitless, and Canada would have been yet saved to France: but heaven\nwilled it otherwise. How long the English may preserve this conquest\ndepends on their own wise and prudent conduct.\nTHE END.\n[The original of this manuscript is deposited in the French war\narchives, in Paris: a copy was, with the permission of the French\nGovernment, taken by P.L. Morin, Esq., Draughtsman to the Crown Lands\nDepartment of Canada, about 1855, and deposited in the Library of the\nLegislative Assembly of Canada. The Literary and Historical Society of\nQuebec, through the kindness of Mr. Todd, the Librarian, was permitted\nto have communication thereof. This document is supposed to have been\nwritten some years after the return to France from Canada of the\nwriter, the Chevalier Johnstone, a Scotch Jacobite, who had fled to\nFrance after the defeat at Culloden, and had obtained from the French\nmonarch, with several other Scotchmen, commissions in the French\narmies. In 1748, says _Francisque Michel_,[D] he sailed from Rochefort\nas an Ensign with troops going to Cape Breton: he continued to serve\nin America until he returned to France, in December, 1760, having\nacted during the campaign of 1759, in Canada, as aide-de-camp to\nChevalier de Levis. On de Levis being ordered to Montreal, Johnstone\nwas detached and retained by General Montcalm on his staff, on account\nof his thorough knowledge of the environs of Quebec, and particularly\nof Beauport, where the principal works of defence stood, and where the\nwhole army, some 11,000 men, were entrenched, leaving in Quebec merely\na garrison of 1,500. The journal is written in English, and is not\nremarkable for orthography or purity of diction: either Johnstone had\nforgotten, or had never thoroughly known, the language.]\n[Footnote D: _Les Ecossais en France_, vol. ii, p. 449.]", "source_dataset": "gutenberg", "source_dataset_detailed": "gutenberg -  The Campaign of 1760 in Canada\n"},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0143", "content": "Title: Poor Richard Improved, 1749\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: \nKind Reader,\nBy way of preface (for custom says there must be a preface to every almanack) I present thee with an essay wrote by a celebrated naturalist of our country, which, if duly attended to, may be of more service to the publick, than 375 prefaces of my own writing: Take it as follows, viz. An Essay for the improvement of estates, by raising a durable timber for fencing, and other uses.\nBy a diligent observation in our province, and several adjacent, I apprehend that timber will soon be very much destroyed, occasioned in part by the necessity that our farmers have to clear the greatest part of their land for tillage and pasture, and partly for fuel and fencing. The greatest quantity of our timber for fencing is oak, which is long in growing to maturity, and at best is but of short duration; therefore I believe it would be to our advantage to endeavour to raise some other kind of timber, that will grow faster, or come sooner to maturity, and continue longer before it decays.\nThe red cedar (a species of juniper) I take to be the most profitable tree for fencing, and several other uses, that we can raise in our country, considering how easily it may be raised from seed; its readiness to grow on most kinds of soil; its quick growth; the profits it will afford while it is arriving to maturity; and the long duration of the wood when grown to a proper size for the materials we want for our several occasions in husbandry or building. The way I propose at first to raise a nursery of them, is to dig a piece of ground, suppose two square rod, clear away the weeds and grass-roots, as you would prepare a bed for parsnips or onions; then sow half a gallon of good berries evenly upon it, and rake them well in; this may be done in the latter end of October, as soon as the berries are ripe; they generally come up the Spring after sowing. Take care to pull up the grass or weeds the first or second year. If the ground be poor, very little attendance will serve, and the cedars will grow well enough. The Seeds may be easily gathered in great quantities on the beaches by the seashore; but when you have got a few bearing trees, the birds will carry the berries all over your plantation, which will come up, and grow finely; so that you may dig up as many as you please to plant, or leave as many as you think proper to grow where they came up, which will soonest come to maturity, if the soil is suitable: But the most danger is their being broke or molested with horn cattle, nothing else is more hurtful to them. I know no other tree that will grow so well on such different soils as this will; for upon our sandy beaches, which are nothing but beds of sand, they grow as thick as possible; from whence many thousand posts for fencing are brought into Pennsylvania and York governments; and I have seen, in a great miry swamp, upon a branch of Sasquehannah, great trees growing, near 18 inches diameter, 70 foot high, and very streight. And the inhabitants near the mountains, up Hudson\u2019s river, make great use of them for making large hovels or barracks to put their corn in before it is threshed. They will grow well in high gravelly or clay soil, in rich or poor, or even upon a rock, if there be but half a foot of sand or earth upon it. It is much to be valued for its quick growth from seed, the little sap, and its much durable heart, which it acquireth sooner than any tree that we can raise on common land. Indeed the mulberry and locust are of quick growth in very rich land, but not upon poor. A cedar tree, from the berry, will in eight years be fit for hoops, in ten for bean-poles, in twelve for hop-poles, in sixteen or eighteen for ladders, and in twenty will be big enough to make three posts, besides a good stake at top; with this care, that they are not removed, bruised or broken, which very much retards their growth, makes them deformed, and spoils their streight pyramidal growth; which form this tree naturally inclines to grow in more than most trees, and in which we must enjoy the greatest profit from it. And we may in this assist nature by art, in carefully trimming them every three or four years, cutting the branches close and smooth off to the bole; so that these wounds may soon be closed, which will make the tree smooth on the surface, and the grain strait, which will be of great service, if we make boards or rails of them, which will be much the better for being clear of knots: But if we let this tree grow without trimming, as it naturally shoots out branches on all sides in all the degrees of its growth, the lower ones die, but do not rot off near the bole, as in other trees; so that the sap can\u2019t close over them, but grows round, which makes the grain crooked, and instead of being streight and even, it appears as if drove full of spikes, as we may observe by the posts (especially the second cut) that are brought from the sea-coast, where they grow naturally, tho\u2019 not so large or tall as these beyond our northern mountains. It is now generally used for posts, which, as I am informed, will last fifty years, or longer: so that one sett of these posts about a plantation, would last a mature age, which would be of great advantage to farmers, and at the first cost, with white cedar or chestnut rails, would be no dearer than a quick-set hedge and ditch, which must be often repaired; this wood would be of extraordinary service in building, for sills for barns, stables and out-houses, and for door and window cases, and boards for floors, I suppose one of the best of woods, as not being subject to swell with moisture, or shrink with dryness; whether or not would it be very good to make large cisterns for the maltsters to steep their barley in, and for the brewers for coolers? I have seen sloops abuilding at Albany of this wood; indeed the bottom, as I remember, was made of oak; for as the river there is shallow, and the vessels often strike upon sand or gravel, which oak, as being a stronger wood, is better able to bear such a shock than cedar, which is more tender; yet notwithstanding the Bermudians build fine durable vessels thereof; and I have seen cedar-trees growing in Pennsylvania large enough to make wider planks than any I have seen in a Bermuda built vessel. I believe it would make curious lasting boats, which would swim light, row well, and want but little repair for many years. I don\u2019t doubt but my countrymen will think, if not say, What signifies telling us of such great advantages which we can\u2019t obtain? We don\u2019t know how to get either hoop or bean-poles of cedar, much less trees for house or ship-building: But I am of opinion, that with care, ingenuity and industry, we may make the very raising of them to a proper magnitude (exclusive of the value of them when cut down) to be easy, ornamental and profitable.\nAnd first, I think it is easy to raise great numbers of them after this manner: Dig them out of the nursery when three or four years old, or about the plantation, as I mentioned before; and if you have an old worn-out field, which many of our country farmers either already have, or I am apt to think soon will have, a field of ten acres, which contains 1600 square perches, will hold as many trees; for a square perch is sufficient room for each tree to stand in, while they are of a middle growth; these trees thus planted in rows, when grown eight or ten foot high, which they will in five years after planting, will put forth their fragrant male blossoms; and the females will begin to produce their aromatick berries, which to behold in upright and regular rows, will be very ornamental. And now some or other of them will yearly want trimming, as I mentioned before, to make a smooth strait-grained bole; the branches thus cut, will make withes, poles, stakes, and furnish brush for dry hedges, and at last fuel for the fire. And if they stand too close, you may cut every other one down for the several occasions mentioned before. When they have been thus order\u2019d for twenty years, I believe one tree will make seven posts, and a rail or pole at top; and in forty or fifty years will make good boards for floors, or planks for naval uses. I have a tree in an old field, which hath stood about eighteen years, that would now make seven good posts.\nNote, A field thus planted, will yield good pasture while the trees are growing; for either grass or corn will grow very well near the cedars (but oaks and hickories are very destructive to both, as the walnut is to most fruit-trees) and when cut down will be fresh land for tillage. But the horn-cattle must be kept out until the trees are as thick as one\u2019s wrist, else they will break them to pieces with their horns; but horses and sheep may go in when you please.\nThere is another method I would propose, which I believe may be altogether as profitable; that is, To plant them close to all the fences belonging to our plantations; whereby we may not only preserve all our fields for tillage, but while they grow, they may support our fences from blowing down. They must be planted close to the fence, if planted young, and trimmed near the top every year, until they are out of the reach of the cattle, else they will break them with their horns. They may be planted one to every pannel, or three to two rod. Then supposing a field of ten acres will take 160 rod of fence to inclose it, you may plant it round with 240 trees, at one to a pannel of fence. Supposing a farmer hath 150 acres within fence, divided into fields of ten acres; but very likely he may have some fields above ten, and some under, and allowing for several partition fences; I will suppose he may plant by all the fences about his plantation 2400 trees; so that if he plants every year 100 trees, he may after 24 years cut down every year 100 successively; which, allowing every tree to yield eight posts, every post to fetch one shilling, which they will now readily do (and hereafter may be more) which amounts to forty pounds; a fine yearly profit, considering we lose so little ground from tillage, and the trouble and expence of raising them is but little, and the profits so great, that I believe we can\u2019t generally fall into a method that will afford the farmer more profit with less expence, and more sure to hit. If we should fall into this method, it will be necessary, that two or three years before we cut a parcel down, we plant a young one between every one that we intend to fall; so that we may always have the same number of growing trees. One inconveniency attending planting them too close to the fence is, that the wind forcibly blowing the young tree to and fro, is apt to rub the bark off next the fence; but when they are grown pretty large, they stand too stiff to be moved by any common blast of wind, and will support the fence. Vale et fruere.\nJanuary. XI Month.\n   Advice to Youth.\nFirst, Let the Fear of Him who form\u2019d thy Frame,\nWhose Hand sustain\u2019d thee e\u2019er thou hadst a Name,\nWho brought thee into Birth, with Pow\u2019r of Thought\nReceptive of immortal Good, be wrought\nDeep in thy Soul. His, not thy own, thou art;\nTo him resign the Empire of thy Heart.\nHis Will, thy Law; His Service, thy Employ;\nHis Frown, thy Dread, his Smile be all thy Joy.\n   Wealth and Content are not always Bed-fellows.\n   Wise Men learn by others harms; Fools by their own.\n   On the 7th of this month 1692 died Robert Boyle, Esq; one of the greatest philosophers the last age produced. He first brought the machine called an Airpump, into use; by which many of the surprizing properties of that wonderful element were discovered and demonstrated. His knowledge of natural history, and skill in chymistry, were very great and extensive; and his piety inferior to neither.\n\u2014\u2014Boyle, whose pious search\nAmid the dark recesses of his works\nThe great Creator sought:\u2014\u2014 Thomson.\n   is therefore an instance, that tho\u2019 Ignorance may in some be the Mother of Devotion, yet true learning and exalted piety are by no means inconsistent.\n   When we read in antient history of the speeches made by generals to very numerous armies, we sometimes wonder how they could be well heard; but supposing the men got together so close, that each took up no more ground than two foot in breadth, and one in depth, 45000 might stand in a space that was but 100 yards square, and 21780 on a single acre of ground. There are many voices that may be heard at 100 yards distance.\nFebruary. XII Month.\nWak\u2019d by the Call of Morn, on early Knee,\nEre the World thrust between thy God and thee,\nLet thy pure Oraisons, ascending, gain\nHis Ear, and Succour of his Grace obtain,\nIn Wants, in Toils, in Perils of the Day,\nAnd strong Temptations that beset thy Way.\nThy best Resolves then in his Strength renew\nTo walk in Virtue\u2019s Paths, and Vice eschew.\n   The end of Passion is the beginning of Repentance.\n   Words may shew a man\u2019s Wit, but Actions his Meaning.\n   On the 18th of this month, anno 1546 died that famous reformer, Luther: who struck the great blow to papal tyranny in Europe. He was remarkably temperate in meat and drink, sometimes fasting four days together; and at other times, for many days eating only a little bread and a herring. Cicero says, There was never any great man who was not an industrious man; to which may, perhaps, be added, There was never any industrious man who was not a temperate man: For intemperance in diet, abates the vigour and dulls the action both of mind and body.\nOf Sound.\nMr. Flamstead, Dr. Halley and Mr. Derham, agree that sound moves 1142 feet in a second, which is one English mile in 4 seconds and 5 8ths; that it moves in the same time in every different state of the atmosphere; that winds hardly make any difference in its velocity; that a languid or loud sound moves with the same velocity; and that different kinds of sounds, as of bells, guns, &c. have the same velocity, and are equally swift in the beginning as end of their motion.\nMarch. I Month.\nTo Him intrust thy Slumbers, and prepare\nThe fragrant Incense of thy Ev\u2019ning Prayer.\nBut first tread back the Day, with Search severe,\nAnd Conscience, chiding or applauding, hear.\nReview each Step; Where, acting, did I err?\nOmitting, where? Guilt either Way infer.\nLabour this Point, and while thy Frailties last,\nStill let each following Day correct the last.\n   \u2019Tis a well spent penny that saves a groat.\n   Many Foxes grow grey, but few grow good.\n   Presumption first blinds a Man, then sets him a running.\nOn the 13th of this month, 1741, the river Delaware became navigable again, having been fast froze up to that day, from the 19th of December in the preceding year. The longest and hardest winter remembred here.\n   The earth according to Mr.Whiston, is 7970 miles in diameter, which will make nigh 4000 miles in circumference. It revolves about its axis in 23 hours and 56 minutes: It moves in the space of one hour 56,000 miles; and is 365 days 6 hours and 9 minutes revolving about the sun.\n   The nose of a lady here, is not delighted with perfumes that she understands are in Arabia. Fine musick in China gives no pleasure to the nicest ear in Pennsilvania. Nor does the most exquisite dish serv\u2019d up in Japan, regale a luxurious palate in any other country. But the benevolent mind of a virtuous man, is pleas\u2019d, when it is inform\u2019d of good and generous actions, in what part of the world soever they are done.\n   April. II Month.\nLife is a shelvy Sea, the Passage fear,\nAnd not without a skilful Pilot steer.\nDistrust thy Youth, experienc\u2019d Age implore,\nAnd borrow all the Wisdom of Threescore.\nBut chief a Father\u2019s, Mother\u2019s Voice revere;\n\u2019Tis Love that chides, \u2019tis Love that counsels here.\nThrice happy is the Youth, whose pliant Mind\nTo all a Parent\u2019s Culture is resign\u2019d.\nA cold April,\nThe Barn will fill.\n   Content makes poor men rich; Discontent makes rich Men poor.\n   Too much plenty makes Mouth dainty.\n   On the 7th of this month, 1626, died that great little man, Sir Francis Bacon; great in his prodigious genius, parts and learning; and little, in his servile compliances with a little court, and submissive flattery of a little prince. Pope characterises him thus, in one strong line;\nIf Parts allure thee, think how Bacon shin\u2019d,\nThe wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind.\n   He is justly esteem\u2019d the father of the modern experimental philosophy. And another poet treats him more favourably, ascribing his blemishes to a wrong unfortunate choice of his way of Life;\n\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014 Bacon, hapless in his choice,\nUnfit to stand the civil storm of state,\nAnd thro\u2019 the smooth barbarity of courts,\nWith firm, but pliant virtue, forward still\nTo urge his course. Him for the studious shade\nKind nature form\u2019d, deep, comprehensive, clear,\nExact, and elegant; in one rich soul,\nPlato, the Stagyrite, and Tully join\u2019d.\nThe great deliverer he! who from the gloom\nOf cloister\u2019d monks, and jargon-teaching schools,\nLed forth the true Philosophy, there long\nHeld in the magic chain of words and forms,\nAnd definitions void: He led her forth,\nDaughter of Heav\u2019n! that slow ascending still,\nInvestigating sure the chain of things,\nWith radiant finger points to Heav\u2019n again.\nMay. III Month.\n    O, well begun, Virtue\u2019s great Work pursue,\nPassions at first we may with Ease subdue;\nBut if neglected, unrestrain\u2019d too long,\nPrevailing in their Growth, by Habit strong,\nThey\u2019ve wrapp\u2019d the Mind, have fix\u2019d the stubborn Bent,\nAnd Force of Custom to wild Nature lent;\nWho then would set the crooked Tree aright,\nAs soon may wash the tawny Indian white.\n   If Passion drives, let Reason hold the Reins.\nNeither trust, nor contend, nor lay wagers, nor lend;\nAnd you\u2019ll have peace to your Lives end.\n   Drink does not drown Care, but waters it, and makes it grow faster.\n   Who dainties love, shall Beggars prove.\n   On the 18th of this Month, 1684, the superbe city of Genoa, was barbarously bombarded by the French, and a great part of its beautiful buildings reduced to rubbish; in chastisement of a small affront taken by the Gallic King. The English, tho\u2019 lately in open war with that republic, have generously and humanely abstain\u2019d from so cruel a proceeding.\n   On the 27th, anno 1564, died at Geneva that famous reformer, Mr. John Calvin, A man of equal temperance and sobriety with Luther, and perhaps yet greater industry. His lectures were yearly 186, his sermons yearly 286; he published besides every year some great volume in folio; to which add his constant employments, in governing the church, answering letters from all parts of the reformed world, from pastors, concerning doubts, or asking counsel, &c. &c. He ate little meat, and slept but very little; and as his whole time was filled up with useful action, he may be said to have lived long, tho\u2019 he died at 55 years of age; since sleep and sloth can hardly be called living.\nJune. IV Month.\nIndustry\u2019s bounteous Hand may Plenty bring,\nBut wanting frugal Care, \u2019twill soon take wing.\nSmall thy Supplies, and scanty in their Source,\n\u2019Twixt Av\u2019rice and Profusion steer thy Course.\nAv\u2019rice is deaf to Want\u2019s Heart-bursting Groan,\nProfusion makes the Beggar\u2019s Rags thy own:\nClose Fraud and Wrong from griping Av\u2019rice grow,\nFrom rash Profusion desp\u2019rate Acts and Woe.\n   A Man has no more Goods than he gets Good by.\n   Welcome, Mischief, if thou comest alone.\n   Different Sects like different clocks, may be all near the matter, tho\u2019 they don\u2019t quite agree.\n   On the 15th of this month, anno 1215, was Magna Charta sign\u2019d by King John, for declaring and establishing English Liberty.\n   It was wise counsel given to a young man, Pitch upon that course of life which is most excellent, and Custom will make it the most delightful. But many pitch on no course of life at all, nor form any scheme of living, by which to attain any valuable end; but wander perpetually from one thing to another.\nHast thou not yet propos\u2019d some certain end,\nTo which thy life, thy every act may tend?\nHast thou no mark at which to bend thy bow?\nOr like a boy pursu\u2019st the carrion crow\nWith pellets and with stones, from tree to tree,\nA fruitless toil, and liv\u2019st extempore?\nWatch the disease in time: For when, within\nThe dropsy rages, and extends the skin,\nIn vain for helebore the patient cries,\nAnd sees the doctor, but too late is wise:\nToo late for cure, he proffers half his wealth;\nTen thousand doctors cannot give him health.\nLearn, wretches, learn the motions of the mind,\nWhy you were mad, for what you were design\u2019d,\nAnd the great moral end of human kind.\nStudy thy self; what rank or what degree,\nThe wise creator has ordain\u2019d for thee:\nAnd all the offices of that estate,\nPerform, and with thy prudence guide thy fate.\nJuly. V Month.\nHonour the softer Sex; with courteous Style,\nAnd Gentleness of Manners, win their Smile;\nNor shun their virtuous Converse; but when Age\nAnd Circumstance consent, thy Faith engage\nTo some discreet, well-natur\u2019d chearful Fair,\nOne not too stately for the Houshold Care,\nOne form\u2019d in Person and in Mind to please,\nTo season Life, and all its Labours ease.\n   If your head is wax, don\u2019t walk in the Sun.\nPretty and Witty,\nWill wound if they hit ye.\n   Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is.\n   On the 12th of this month, anno 1712, died Richard the son of Oliver Cromwell, aged 90 years. And on the 13th, anno 1713, was the treaty of Utrecht signed, ending a glorious war by an inglorious peace. The Preliminaries of the new Peace, are copied from those of the old one; \u2019tis to be hoped the Peace itself will be better.\n\u2019Tis raging Noon, and, vertical, the Sun\nDarts on the Head direct his forceful rays.\nAll-conqu\u2019ring Heat, oh intermit thy wrath!\nAnd on my throbbing temples potent thus\nBeam not so fierce! Incessant still you flow,\nAnd still another fervent flood succeeds,\nPour\u2019d on the head profuse. In vain I sigh,\nAnd restless turn, and look around for night;\nNight is far off; and hotter hours approach.\nThrice happy he! that on the sunless side\nOf a romantick mountain, forest-crown\u2019d,\nBeneath the whole collected shade reclines:\nOr in the gelid caverns, woodbine-wrought,\nAnd fresh bedew\u2019d with ever-spouting streams,\nSits coolly calm; while all the world without\nUnsatisfy\u2019d and sick, tosses in noon,\nEmblem instructive of the virtuous man,\nWho keeps his temper\u2019d mind serene and pure,\nAnd every Passion aptly harmoniz\u2019d,\nAmid a jarring world, with vice enflam\u2019d.\nAugust. VI Month.\nGaming, the Vice of Knaves and Fools, detest,\nMiner of Time, of Substance and of Rest;\nWhich, in the Winning or the Losing Part,\nUndoing or undone, will wring the Heart:\nUndone, self-curs\u2019d, thy Madness thou wilt rue;\nUndoing, Curse of others will pursue\nThy hated Head. A Parent\u2019s, Houshold\u2019s Tear,\nA Neighbour\u2019s Groan, and Heav\u2019n\u2019s Displeasure fear.\n   \u2019Tis a laudable Ambition, that aims at being better than his Neighbours.\n   The wise Man draws more Advantage from his Enemies, than the Fool from his Friends.\n   On the 17th of this month, anno 1657, died the famous Admiral Blake, who was a soldier as well as seaman, and by several examples taught Great-Britain, that her wooden castles, properly managed, were an over-match for the stone-walls of her enemies.\n   Pride is said to be the last vice the good man gets clear of. \u2019Tis a meer Proteus, and disguises itself under all manner of appearances, putting on sometimes even the mask of humility. If some are proud of neatness and propriety of dress; others are equally so of despising it, and acting the perpetual sloven.\nMorose is sunk with shame, whene\u2019er surpriz\u2019d\nIn linnen clean, or peruke undisguis\u2019d.\nNo sublunary chance his vestments fear,\nValu\u2019d, like leopards, as their spots appear.\nA fam\u2019d surtout he wears, which once was blue,\nAnd his foot swims in a capacious shoe.\nOne day his wife (for who can wives reclaim)\nLevel\u2019d her barbarous needle at his fame;\nBut open force was vain; by night she went,\nAnd while he slept, surpriz\u2019d the darling rent;\nWhere yawn\u2019d the frize, is now become a doubt,\nAnd glory at one entrance quite shut out.\n   Numbers that are equal to the sum of all their aliquot parts, are called perfect numbers; such are 6, 28, 120, &c. Of these numbers Mr. Stone, in his Mathematical Dictionary, says, there are but ten, between 1 and 1,000000,000000. I shall leave my curious reader to find the rest.\nSeptember. VII Month.\nWouldst thou extract the purest Sweet of Life,\nBe nor Ally nor Principal in Strife.\nA Mediator there, thy Balsam bring,\nAnd lenify the Wound, and draw the Sting;\nOn Hate let Kindness her warm Embers throw,\nAnd mould into a Friend the melting Foe.\nThe weakest Foe boasts some revenging Pow\u2019r;\nThe weakest Friend some serviceable Hour.\n   All would live long, but none would be old.\n   Declaiming against Pride, is not always a Sign of Humility.\n   Neglect kills Injuries, Revenge increases them.\n   On the 12th of this month, anno 1604, the town of Ostend was surrender\u2019d to the Spaniards, after a siege of three years, in which they lost 70,000 men. In the two last sieges, it was taken in fewer weeks.\n   It is the opinion of all the modern philosophers and mathematicians, that the planets are habitable worlds. If so, what sort of constitutions must those people have who live in the planet Mercury? where, says Sir Isaac Newton, the heat of the sun is seven times as great as it is with us; and would make our Water boil away. For the same person found by experiments, that an heat seven times as great as the heat of the sun in summer, is sufficient to set water a boiling.\n   In the machine at Derby in England for winding Italian silk, there are 26,586 wheels, 97,746 movements; 73,728 yards of silk wound every time the water-wheel goes round, which is three times every minute; 318,504,960 yards of silk in one day and night; and consequently 99,373,547,550 yards of silk in a year. One water-wheel communicates motion to all the rest of the wheels and movements, of which any one may be stopped separately, and independent of the rest. One fire-engine conveys air to every individual part of the machine, and one regulator governs the whole work.\nOctober. VIII Month.\nIn Converse be reserv\u2019d, yet not morose,\nIn Season grave, in Season, too, jocose.\nShun Party-Wranglings, mix not in Debate\nWith Bigots in Religion or the State.\nNo Arms to Scandal or Detraction lend,\nAbhor to wound, be fervent to defend.\nAspiring still to know, a Babbler scorn,\nBut watch where Wisdom opes her golden Horn.\n   9 Men in 10 are suicides.\n   Doing an Injury puts you below your Enemy; Revenging one makes you but even with him; Forgiving it sets you above him.\n   On the 14th of this month, 1722, was the present King of France crowned.\n   That famous specific for the cure of intermitting fevers, agues, &c. called the Jesuits Bark, after it had been introduced into Europe with great applause, fell into a general disrepute (from some accidents attending the injudicious use of it) and was a long time neglected. At length one Talbot, an illiterate Englishman, grew remarkable for curing those disorders speedily and effectually, by a medicine which no one knew; and his fame reaching France, Lewis XIV. sent for him to the Dauphin, who had long labour\u2019d under an obstinate ague, that resisted all the medicines then used by the best physicians. When he arriv\u2019d at Paris, and had seen the Dauphin, he boldly undertook his cure; but being first, for form-sake, examined by the King\u2019s physicians, they asked among other things, What he judg\u2019d the Dauphin\u2019s distemper to be? \u2019Tis an ague, says he. What is an ague? said they, give us a definition of it. Pray, says he, what is a definition? A definition, says one, is a clear, short, and proper description of a thing in words. Why then, gentlemen, says he, I will give you a definition of an ague; \u2019Tis a distemper\u2014that I can cure, and you can\u2019t. They were affronted, told the King that Talbot was an ignorant quack, and not fit to be trusted with the Dauphin\u2019s health. The King however was resolv\u2019d to try him and the Dauphin was cured. That munificent prince, besides rewarding Talbot, bought his secret at a great price for the publick good, and it prov\u2019d no other thing than the Bark disguis\u2019d, and some rules for giving it, now well known to physicians. Thenceforward the bark grew into repute again, and is now in high esteem, daily gaining ground, and overcoming by the success attending it the prejudices that were once so universal against the use of it. \u2019Tis not unlikely, that some other valuable old medicines have been disused, from like causes, and may in time be advantageously revived again, to the benefit of mankind.\nNovember. IX Month.\nIn quest of Gain be just: A Conscience clear\nIs Lucre, more than Thousands in a Year;\nTreasure no Moth can touch, no Rust consume;\nSafe from the Knave, the Robber, and the Tomb.\nUnrighteous Gain is the curs\u2019d Seed of Woe,\nPredestin\u2019d to be reap\u2019d by them who sow;\nA dreadful Harvest! when th\u2019avenging Day\nShall like a Tempest, sweep the Unjust away.\n   Most of the Learning in use, is of no great Use.\n   Great Good-nature, without Prudence, is a great Misfortune.\nKeep Conscience clear,\nThen never fear.\n   The 5th of this month, November, seems to be a lucky day to the English church and British liberty; for on that day 1604, the popish gunpowder treason was detected; and on the same day in 1688, our glorious deliverer from popery and slavery, King William, landed at Torbay. Eighty-eight seems likewise a lucky year; for in 1588 was the Spanish Armada defeated.\n   Numbers that are mutually equal to the Sum of each others aliquot Parts, are called Amicable Numbers; of these the first pair is 220 and 284; the second pair is 17296 and 18416. I shall be obliged to any of my Readers that will tell me the third pair.\n   December. X Month.\nBut not from Wrong alone thy Hand restrain,\nThe Appetite of Gold demands the Rein.\nWhat Nature asks, what Decency requires,\nBe this the Bound that limits thy Desires:\nThis, and the gen\u2019rous godlike Pow\u2019r to feed\nThe Hungry, and to warm the Loins of Need:\nTo dry Misfortune\u2019s Tear, and scatter wide\nThy Blessings, like the Nile\u2019s o\u2019erflowing Tide.\n   A Man in a Passion rides a mad Horse.\nReader farewel, all Happiness attend thee;\nMay each New-Year, better and richer find thee.\n   On the 25th of this month, anno 1642, was born the great Sir Isaac Newton, prince of the modern astronomers and philosophers. But what is all our little boasted knowledge, compar\u2019d with that of the angels? If they see our actions, and are acquainted with our affairs, our whole body of science must appear to them as little better than ignorance; and the common herd of our learned men, scarce worth their notice. Now and then one of our very great philosophers, an Aristotle, or a Newton, may, perhaps, by his most refined speculations, afford them a little entertainment, as it seems a mimicking of their own sublime amusements. Hence Pope says of the latter,\nSuperior beings, when of late they saw\nA mortal man unfold all nature\u2019s law,\nAdmir\u2019d such wisdom in a human shape,\nAnd shew\u2019d a Newton, as we shew an ape.\n   On Winter.\n\u2019Tis done! dread Winter spreads his latest glooms,\nAnd reigns tremendous o\u2019er the conquer\u2019d year!\nHow dead the vegetable kingdon lies!\nHow dumb the tuneful! Horror wide extends\nHis melancholy empire. Here fond man!\nBehold thy pictur\u2019d life! pass some few years,\nThy flowering Spring, thy Summer\u2019s ardent strength,\nThy sober Autumn fading into age,\nAnd pale concluding Winter comes at last,\nAnd shuts the scene. Ah! whither now are fled\nThose dreams of greatness? Those unsolid hopes\nOf happiness? Those longings after fame?\nThose restless cares? those busy bustling days?\nThose gay-spent festive nights? those veering thoughts,\nLost between good and ill, that shar\u2019d thy life?\nAll now are vanish\u2019d! Virtue sole survives,\nImmortal, never-failing friend of man,\nHis guide to happiness on high. Thompson.\n   How to get Riches.\n   The Art of getting Riches consists very much in Thrift. All Men are not equally qualified for getting Money, but it is in the Power of every one alike to practise this Virtue.\nHe that would be beforehand in the World, must be beforehand with his Business: It is not only ill Management, but discovers a slothful Disposition, to do that in the Afternoon, which should have been done in the Morning.\nUseful Attainments in your Minority will procure Riches in Maturity, of which Writing and Accounts are not the meanest.\nLearning, whether Speculative or Practical, is, in Popular or Mixt Governments, the Natural Source of Wealth and Honour.\nPrecept I.\nIn Things of moment, on thy self depend,\nNor trust too far thy Servant or thy Friend:\nWith private Views, thy Friend may promise fair,\nAnd Servants very seldom prove sincere.\nPrecept II.\nWhat can be done, with Care perform to Day,\nDangers unthought-of will attend Delay;\nYour distant Prospects all precarious are,\nAnd Fortune is as fickle as she\u2019s fair.\nPrecept III.\nNor trivial Loss, nor trivial Gain despise;\nMolehills, if often heap\u2019d, to Mountains rise:\nWeigh every small Expence, and nothing waste,\nFarthings long sav\u2019d, amount to Pounds at last.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "01-09-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0144", "content": "Title: From Benjamin Franklin to William Strahan, 9 January 1749\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: Strahan, William\nDear Sir\nPhilada. Jan. 9. 1748,9\nThis just serves to cover a Bill of Exchange for \u00a38 8s. od. Sterling, and to let you know we are all well. It goes via New York, our River being full of Ice. I shall write you largely per our next Vessel, particularly about Mr. Read\u2019s Affair. I wrote to you per our two last Vessels. The Post just going, cannot add but that I am Dear Sir, Your obliged Friend and Servant\nB Franklin\n Addressed: To \u2002Mr Wm Strahan \u2002Printer \u2002London", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "04-29-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0148", "content": "Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Peter Collinson, 29 April 1749\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: Collinson, Peter\nSir\nPhilada. Apl. 29. 1749\nI now send you some Further Experiments and Observations in Electricity made in Philadelphia 1748. viz.\n\u00a71. There will be the same Explosion and Shock if the electrified, Phial is held in one Hand by the Hook, and the Coating touched by the other; as when held by the Coating and touched at the Hook.\n\u00a72. To take the charged Phial safely by the Hook, and not at the same Time diminish it\u2019s Force, it must first be set down on an Electric per se.\n\u00a73. The Phial will be electrified as strongly, if held by the Hook, and the Coating apply\u2019d to the Globe, or Tube, as when held by the Coating and the Hook apply\u2019d.\n\u00a74. But the Direction of the Electrical Fire being different in Charging, will also be different in the Explosion. The Bottle charged thro\u2019 the Hook will be discharged thro\u2019 the Hook. The Bottle charged thro\u2019 the Coating, will be discharged thro\u2019 the Coating and not otherwise: For the Fire must come out the same Way it went in.\n\u00a75. To prove this; Take two Bottles that were equally charg\u2019d thro\u2019 the Hooks, one in each Hand; bring their Hooks near each other, and no Spark or Shock will follow; because each Hook is disposed to give Fire, and neither to receive it. Set one of the Bottles down on Glass, take it up by the Hook, and apply it\u2019s Coating to the Hook of the other; then there will be an Explosion and Shock, and both Bottles will be discharged.\n\u00a76. Vary the Experiment, by Charging two Vials equally, one thro\u2019 Hook, the other thro\u2019 the Coating: Hold that by the Coating which was charged thro\u2019 the Hook; and that by the Hook which was charged thro\u2019 the Coating. Apply the Hook of the first to the Coating of the other and there will be no Shock or Spark. Set that down on Glass, which you held by the Hook, take it up by the Coating, and bring the two Hooks together; a Spark and Shock will follow, and both Phials be discharged.\n   In this Experiment the Bottles are totally discharged, or the Equilibrium within them restored. The Abounding of Fire in one of the Hooks (or rather in the internal Surface of one Bottle) being exactly equal to the Wanting of the other: and therefore, as each Bottle has in itself the Abounding as well as the Wanting, the Wanting and Abounding must be equal in each Bottle. See \u00a7\u00a78, 9, 10, 11. But if a Man holds in his Hands two Bottles, one fully electrified, the other not at all; and brings their Hooks together; he has but half a Shock, and the Bottles will both remain half electrified; the one being half discharged and the other half charged.\n7. Farther, Place two Vials equally charged on a Table at 5 or 6 Inches Distance; Let a Cork Ball, suspended by a Silk Thread, hang between them. If the Vials were both charg\u2019d thro\u2019 their Hooks, the Cork, when it has been attracted and repell\u2019d by the one, will not be attracted but equally repell\u2019d by the other. But if the Vials were charged, the one thro the Hook and the other thro\u2019 the Coating,\n   *To charge a Bottle commodiously thro\u2019 the Coating, place it on a Glass Stand; form a Communication from the prime Conductor to the Coating, and another from the Hook to the Wall or Floor. When \u2019tis charg\u2019d remove the latter Communication before you take hold of the Bottle; otherwise great Part of the Fire will escape by it.\n the Ball when it is repell\u2019d from one Hook will be as strongly attracted by the other, and play vigorously between them, till both Vials are nearly discharg\u2019d.\n8. When we use the Terms of Charging and Discharging the Phial, \u2019tis in Compliance with Custom, and for want of others more suitable: since We are of Opinion, that there is really no more electrical Fire in the Phial, after what is called it\u2019s Charging than before; nor less after it\u2019s Discharging; (excepting only the small Spark that might be given to and taken from the Non-electric Matter, if separated from the Bottle, which Spark may not be equal to a 500th. Part of what is called the Explosion) For, if on the Explosion, the Electrical Fire came out of the Bottle by one Part, and did not enter in again by another; then, if a Man standing on Wax and holding the Bottle in one Hand, takes the Spark by touching the Wire Hook with the other, the Bottle being thereby discharg\u2019d, the Man would be charg\u2019d; or, whatever Fire was lost by one, would be found in the other; since there is no Way for it\u2019s Escape. But the Contrary is true.\n9. Besides, the Vial will not suffer what is called a Charging, unless as much Fire can go out of it one Way as is thrown in by another. A Phial can not be charged, standing on Wax, or Glass, or hanging on the prime Conductor, unless a Communication be form\u2019d between it\u2019s Coating and the Floor.\n10. But suspend two or more Phials on the prime Conductor, one hanging to the Tail of the other, and a Wire from the last to the Floor: an equal Number of Turns of the Wheel shall charge them all equally; and every one as much as one alone would have been. What is driven out at the Tail of the first, serving to charge the second; what is driven out of the second charging the third, and so on. By this Means, a great Number of Bottles might be charged with the same Labour, and equally high with one alone, were it not that every Bottle receives new Fire and loses it\u2019s old with some Reluctance, or rather gives some small Resistance to the Charging, which in a Number of Bottles becomes more equal to the Charging Power, and so repels the Fire back again on the Globe, sooner than a single Bottle would do.\n11. When a Bottle is charg\u2019d in the common Way, it\u2019s inside and outside Surfaces stand ready, the one to give Fire by the Hook, the other to receive it by the Coating: The one is full and ready to throw out, the other empty and extreamly hungry: yet as the first will not give out, unless the other can at the same Instant receive in; so neither will the latter receive in, unless the first can at the same Instant give out. When both can be done at once, \u2019tis done with inconceivable Quickness and Violence.\n12. So a strait Spring (tho\u2019 the Comparison does not agree in every Particular) when forcibly bent, must, to restore itself contract that Side, which in the bending was extended, and extend that which was contracted; if either of these two Operations be hindered, the other can not be done. But the Spring is not said to be charged with Elasticity when bent, and discharg\u2019d when unbent; it\u2019s Quantity of Elasticity is always the same.\n13. Glass, in like Manner, has, within it\u2019s Substance always the same Quantity of Electrical Fire; and that, a very great Quantity in Proportion to the Mass of Glass, as shall be shewn hereafter. \u00a726.\n14. This Quantity, proportioned to the Glass, it strongly and obstinately retains, and will neither have more nor less; tho it will suffer a Change to be made in it\u2019s Parts and Situation; that is, We may take away Part of it from one of the Sides, provided we throw an equal Quantity into the other.\n15. Yet when the Situation of the Electrical Fire is thus altered in the Glass, when some has been taken from one Side, and some added to the other; it will not be at Rest or in its natural State, till \u2019tis restored to it\u2019s original Equality. And this Restitution can not be made thro the Substance of the Glass, but must be done by a Non-electric Communication formed without, from Surface to Surface.\n16. Thus the whole Force of the Bottle and Power of giving a Shock, is in the Glass itself; the Non-electrics in Contact with the two Surfaces serving only to give and receive to and from the several Parts of the Glass; that is, to give on one Side, and take away from the other.\n17. This was discovered here in the following Manner. Purposing to analize the electrified Bottle, in Order to find where it\u2019s Strength lay; we placed it on Glass, and drew out the Cork and Wire, which, for that Purpose, had been loosly put in. Then taking the Bottle in one Hand, and bringing a Finger of the other near its Mouth, a strong Spark came from the Water, and the Shock was as violent as if the Wire had remained in it; which shew\u2019d that the Force did not lie in the Wire. Then to find if it resided in the Water, being crowded into and condensed in it, as confined by the Glass; which had been our former Opinion; we electrified the Bottle again, and placing it on Glass, drew out the Wire and Cork as before, then taking up the Bottle, we decanted all its Water into an empty Bottle, which likewise stood on Glass; and taking up that other Bottle, we expected, if the Force resided in the Water, to find a Shock from it; but there was none. We judged then, that it must either be lost in Decanting, or remain in the first Bottle. The latter we found to be true: For that Bottle on Trial gave the Shock, tho\u2019 filled up as it stood with fresh unelectrify\u2019d Water from a Tea Pot. To find then whether Glass had this Property merely as Glass, or whether the Form contributed any Thing to it; we took a Pane of Sash Glass, and laying it on the Hand, placed a Plate of thin Lead on it\u2019s upper Surface; then electrified that Plate, and bringing a Finger to it, there was a Spark and Shock. We then took two Plates of Lead of equal Dimensions, but less than the Glass by two Inches every Way, and electrified the Glass between them, by electrifying the uppermost Lead; then separated the Glass from the Lead; in doing which, what little Fire might be in the Lead was taken out; and the Glass being touched in the electrified Part with a Finger, afforded only very small pricking Sparks, but a great Number of them might be taken from different Places. Then dextrously placing it again between the Plates of Lead, and completing the Circle between the two Surfaces, a violent Shock ensu\u2019d. Which demonstrated the Power to reside in the Glass as Glass; and that the Non-electrics in Contact served only like the Armature of the Loadstone, to unite the Forces of the several Parts, and bring them at once to any Point desired. It being a Property of a Nonelectric, that the whole Body instantly receives or gives what Electrical Fire is given to or taken from any one of its Parts.\n   18. Upon this We made what we call\u2019d an Electrical Battery, consisting of eleven Panes of large Sash Glass, arm\u2019d with thin leaden Plates, pasted on each Side, placed vertically, and supported at two Inches Distance on Silk Cords; with Hooks of thick Leaden Wire one from each Side standing upright, distant from each other; and convenient Communications of Wire and Chain from the giving Side of one Pane to the receiving Side of the other; that so the whole might be charg\u2019d together, and with the same Labour as one single Pane; and another Contrivance to bring the giving Sides, after charging in Contact with one long Wire, and the Receivers with another; which two long Wires would give the Force of all the Plates of Glass at once thro\u2019 the Body of any Animal forming the Circle with them. The Plates may also be discharg\u2019d separately, or any Number together that is required. But this Machine is not much used, as not perfectly answering our Intention with Regard to the Ease of Charging, for the Reasons given \u00a710. We made also, of large Glass Panes, Magical Pictures, and self moving animated Wheels, presently to be described.\n19. I perceive by the ingenious Mr. Watson\u2019s last Book, lately received, that Dr. Bevis had used Panes of Glass to give a Shock before us; tho\u2019 till that Book came to Hand, I thought to have communicated it to you as a Novelty. The Excuse for mentioning it here, is, that we try\u2019d the Experiment differently, drew different Consequences from it (for Mr. Watson still seems to think the Fire accumulated on the Non-electric that is in Contact with the Glass pag. 72) and, as far as we hitherto know, have carry\u2019d it further.\n20. The Magical Picture is made thus. Having a large Mezzotinto with a Frame and Glass (Suppose of the King, God preserve him) Take out the Print, and cut a Pannel out of it, near two Inches all round distant from the Frame; if the Cut is thro\u2019 the Picture, tis not the Worse. With thin Paste or Gum Water, fix the Border, that is cut off, on the inside of the Glass, pressing it smoothe and close; then fill up the Vacancy by Gilding the Glass well with Leaf Gold or Brass; gild likewise the inner Edge of the Back of the Frame all round except the Top Part, and form a Communication between that Gilding and the Gilding behind the Glass: then put in the Board, and that side is finished. Turn up the Glass, and gild the foreside exactly over the Back Gilding; and when this is dry, cover it by pasting on the Pannel of the Picture that had been cut out, observing to bring the corresponding Parts of the Border and Picture together; by which the Picture will appear of a Piece as at first, only Part is behind the Glass and Part before. Hold the Picture horizontally by the Top, and place a little moveable gilt Crown on the Kings Head. If now the Picture be moderately electrified, and another Person take hold of the Frame with one Hand, so that his Fingers touch it\u2019s inside Gilding, and with the other Hand endeavour to take off the Crown, he will receive a terrible Blow and fail in the Attempt. If the Picture were highly charg\u2019d, the Consequence might perhaps be as fatal as that of High Treason: For when the Spark is taken thro\u2019 a Quire of Paper laid on the Picture, by Means of a Wire Communication, it makes a fair Hole thro\u2019 every Sheet; that is thro\u2019 48 Leaves (tho\u2019 a Quire of Paper is thought good Armour against the Push of a Sword, or even against a Pistol Bullet) and the Crack is exceeding loud. The Operator, who, to prevent its falling, holds the Picture by the upper End, where the inside of the Frame is not gilt, feels Nothing of the Shock, and may touch the Crown without Danger, which he pretends is a Test of his Loyalty. If a Ring of Persons take a Shock among them the Experiment is called the Conspiracy.\n   21. On the Principle in \u00a77. That the Hooks of Bottles, differently charged, will attract and repel differently, is made an electrical Wheel, that turns with considerable Strength. A small upright Shaft of Wood passes at right Angles thro\u2019 a thin round Board of about a Foot Diameter, and turns on a sharp Point of Iron, fixt in the lower End, while a strong Wire in the upper End, passing thro\u2019 a small Hole in a thin Brass Plate, keeps the Shaft truly vertical. About 30 Radii of equal Length made of Sash Glass, cut in narrow Strips, issue Horizontally from the Circumference of the Board; the Ends most distant from the Center being about 4 Inches apart. On the End of every one, a Brass Thimble is fixt. If now the Wire of a Bottle, electrified in the Common Way, be brought near the Circumference of this Wheel, it will attract the nearest Thimble, and so put the Wheel in Motion: That Thimble, in passing by, receives a Spark, and thereby being electrified is repell\u2019d and so driven forwards, while a second, being attracted, approaches the Wire, receives a Spark and is driven after the first; and so on till the Wheel has gone once round, when the Thimbles, before Electrified, approaching the Wire, instead of being attracted, as they were at first, are repell\u2019d; and the Motion presently ceases. But if another Bottle, which had been charg\u2019d thro\u2019 the Coating be placed near the same Wheel, it\u2019s Wire will attract the Thimbles repell\u2019d by the first, and thereby doubles the Force that carries the Wheel round; and not only, taking out the Fire that had been communicated to the Thimbles by the first Bottle, but even robbing them of their natural Quantity, instead of being repell\u2019d when they come again towards the first Bottle, they are more strongly attracted: so that the Wheel mends its Pace till it goes with great Rapidity, 12 or 15 Rounds in a Minute; and with such Strength, as that the Weight of 100 Spanish Dollars, with which we once loaded it, did not seem in the least to retard it\u2019s Motion. This is called an Electrical Jack; and if a large Fowl were spitted on the upright Shaft, it would be carried round before a Fire with a Motion fit for Roasting.\n22. But this Wheel, like those driven by Wind, Water or Weights, moves by a foreign Force, viz. that of the Bottles. The Selfmoving Wheel, tho constructed on the same Principles, appears more surprizing. \u2019Tis made of a thin round Plate of Window Glass, 17 Inches Diameter, well gilt on both Sides, all but two Inches next the Edge. Two small Hemispheres of Wood are then fixt with Cement to the Middle of the upper and under Sides, centrally opposite, and in each of them a thick strong Wire 8 or 10 Inches long, which together make the Axis of the Wheel. It turns horizontally on a Point at the lower End of it\u2019s Axis which rests on a Bit of Brass, cemented within a Glass Salt-Seller. The upper End of it\u2019s Axis passes thro\u2019 a Hole in a thin Brass Plate, cemented to a long strong Piece of Glass, which keeps it 6 or 8 Inches Distant from any Non-electric, and has a small Ball of Wax or Metal on its Top to keep in the Fire. In a Circle on the Table, which supports the Wheel, are fixt 12 small Pillars of Glass, at about 4 Inches Distance, with a Thimble on the Top of each. On the Edge of the Wheel is a small leaden Bullet, communicating by a Wire with the Gilding of the upper Surface of the Wheel: and about 6 Inches from it, is another Bullet, communicating in like Manner with the under Surface. When the Wheel is to be charg\u2019d by the upper Surface, a Communication must be made from the under Surface to the Table. When it is well chargd it begins to move; the Bullet nearest to a Pillar, moving towards the Thimble on that Pillar; and passing by, electrifies it, and then pushes itself from it: The succeeding Bullet, which communicates with the other Surface of the Glass, more strongly attracting that Thimble, on Account of it\u2019s being before electrified by the other Bullet: and thus the Wheel increases it\u2019s Motion, till it comes to such a Height, as that the Resistance of the Air regulates it. It will go half an Hour, and make, one Minute with another, 20 Turns in a Minute; which is 600 Turns in the whole: The Bullet of the upper Surface giving in each Turn 12 Sparks to the Thimbles, which makes 7200 Sparks, and the Bullet of the under Surface receiving as many from the Thimbles: these Bullets moving in the Time, near 2500 Feet. The Thimbles are well fixt, and in so exact a Circle, that the Bullets may pass within a very small Distance of each of them. If instead of 2 Bullets, you put 8, 4 communicating with the upper Surface, and four with the under Surface, placed alternately; which 8, at about 6 Inches Distance completes the Circumference; the Force and Swiftness will be greatly increased; the Wheel making 50 Turns in a Minute; but then it will not go so long. These Wheels may perhaps be apply\u2019d to the Ringing of Chimes and Moving Orreries.\n23. A small Wire bent circularly, with a loop at each End; Let one End rest against the under Surface of the Wheel, and bring the other End near the upper Surface, it will give a terrible Crack; The Force will be discharg\u2019d, and the Wheel will stop.\n24. Every Spark drawn in that Manner from the Surface of the Wheel, makes a round Hole in the Gilding, tearing off a Part of it in coming out; which shews that the Fire is not accumulated on the Gilding, but is in the Glass itself.\n25. The Gilding being varnished over with Turpentine Varnish; the Varnish, tho\u2019 dry and hard, is burnt by the Spark drawn thro\u2019 it, gives a strong Smell and visible Smoke. And when the Spark is drawn thro\u2019 Paper, all round the Hole made by it, the Paper will be blackt by the Smoke, which Sometimes penetrates several of the Leaves. Parts of the Gilding, torn off, are also found forcibly driven into the Hole made in the paper by the Stroke.\n26. \u2019Tis amazing to observe in how small a Portion of Glass a great Electrical Force may lie. A thin Glass Bubble about an Inch Diameter, weighing only six Grains, being half filled with Water, partly gilt on the outside, and furnished with a Wire Hook, gives when electrified, as great a Shock as a Man is willing to bear. As the Glass is thickest near the Orifice, I suppose the lower half, which being gilt, was electrified, and gave the Shock, did not exceed two Grains; for it appeared, when broke, much thinner than the upper half. If one of these thin Bottles be electrified by the Coating, and the Spark taken out thro the Gilding, it will break the Glass inwards, at the same Time that it breaks the Gilding outwards.\n   27. And allowing, for the Reasons before given \u00a7\u00a78, 9, 10, that there is no more Electrical Fire in a Bottle after Charging than before, how great must the Quantity be in this small Portion of Glass! It seems as if it were of its very Substance and Essence. Perhaps if that due Quantity of Electrical Fire, so obstinately retain\u2019d by Glass, could be separated from it, it would no longer be Glass, it might loose it\u2019s Transparency, or its Fragility, or Elasticity. Experiments may possibly be invented hereafter to discover this.\n28. We are surprized at the Account given in Mr. Watson\u2019s Book, of a Shock communicated thro\u2019 a great Space of dry Ground, and suspect some metalline Quality in the Gravel of that Ground: having found, that simple dry Earth ramm\u2019d in a Glass Tube open at both Ends, and a Wire Hook inserted in the Earth at each End; the Earth and Wires making Part of a Circle, would not conduct the least perceptible Shock. And indeed when one Wire was electrified, the other hardly shew\u2019d any Signs of it\u2019s being in Connexion with it. Even a thoroughly wet Packthread sometimes fails of conducting a Shock, tho\u2019 it otherwise conducts Electricity very well. A dry Cake of Ice, or an Iceicle, held between two Persons in a Circle, likewise prevents the Shock, which one would not expect, as Water conducts it so perfectly well. Gilding on a new Book, tho\u2019 at first it conducts the Shock extreamly well; yet fails after 10 or a Dozen Experiments; tho\u2019 it appears otherwise in all Respects the same; which we can not account for.\n29. There is one Experiment more, which surprizes us, and is hitherto not satisfactorily accounted for. It is this. Place an Iron Shot on a Glass Stand, and let a damp Cork Ball, suspended by a Silk Thread hang in Contact with the Shot. Take a Bottle in each Hand, one that is electrified thro\u2019 the Hook, the other thro\u2019 the Coating. Apply the giving Wire to the Shot, which will electrify it positively, and the Cork shall be repell\u2019d. Then apply the requiring Wire, which will take out the Spark given by the other, when the Cork will return to the Shot. Apply the same again, and take out another Spark, so will the Shot be electrified negatively, and the Cork in that Case shall be repell\u2019d equally as before. Then apply the giving Wire, and give to the Shot the Spark it wanted, so will the Cork return: Give it another, which will be an Addition to it\u2019s natural Quantity, so will the Cork be repell\u2019d again; And so may the Experiment be repeated, as long as there is any Charge remaining in the Bottles; Which shews that Bodies, having less than the common Quantity of Electricity, repel each other, as well as those that have more.\nChagrin\u2019d a little that We have hitherto been able to discover Nothing in this Way of Use to Mankind, and the hot Weather coming on, when Electrical Experiments are not so agreable; \u2019tis proposed to put an End to them for this Season somewhat humorously in a Party of Pleasure on the Banks of SchuylKill, (where Spirits are at the same Time to be fired by a Spark sent from Side to Side thro\u2019 the River).\n   \u2020This was since done.\n A Turky is to be killed for our Dinners by the Electrical Shock; and roasted by the electrical Jack, before a Fire kindled by the Electrified Bottle; when the Healths of all the famous Electricians in England, France and Germany, are to be drank in Electrified Bumpers,\n   *An electrified Bumper is a small thin Glass Tumbler, near filled with Wine and electrified. This when brought to the Lips, gives a Shock; if the Party be close shaved, and does not breathe on the Liquor.\n under the Discharge of Guns from the Electrical Battery.\nTo Peter Collinson Esqr. F.R.S. London", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "05-19-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0151", "content": "Title: To Benjamin Franklin from James Logan, 19 May 1749\nFrom: Logan, James\nTo: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo B Franklin\nSent him Capt. Smiths voyages or Travels to Virginia. Greg. Leti\u2019s Sisto 5 to. 2 Voll and Marchetti\u2019s Lucrezzio in Italian and desired him to Send me what Classics he has published by M. Mattaire.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "07-04-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0155", "content": "Title: From Benjamin Franklin to James Logan, 4 July 1749\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: Logan, James\nSir\nJuly 4. 49\nI sent word today to N. Holland, that you desired to see him, and offer\u2019d him my Horse. He sent me word, he could get a Horse in the Neighbourhood, and would wait on you.\nI return you Smith\u2019s Travels with Thanks. I send you also Wr. Pope\u2019s Life of Ward Bishop of Salisbury. I am, Sir, with great Respect Your most humble Servant\nB Franklin\n Endorsed: Benj: Franklin July 4 1749", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "07-06-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0156", "content": "Title: From Benjamin Franklin to George Whitefield, 6 July 1749\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: Whitefield, George\nDear Sir,\nPhiladelphia, July 6, 1749\nSince your being in England, I have received two of your favours, and a box of books to be disposed of. It gives me great pleasure to hear of your welfare, and that you purpose soon to return to America.\nWe have no kind of news here worth writing to you. The affair of the building remains in statu quo, there having been no new application to the Assembly about it, nor any thing done in conesquence of the former.\nI have received no money on your account from Mr. Thanklin, or from Boston. Mrs. Read, and your other friends here in general are well, and will rejoice to see you again.\nI am glad to hear that you have frequent opportunities of preaching among the great. If you can gain them to a good and exemplary life, wonderful changes will follow in the manners of the lower ranks; for, Ad Exemplum Regis, &c. On this principle Confucius, the famous eastern reformer, proceeded. When he saw his country sunk in vice, and wickedness of all kinds triumphant, he applied himself first to the grandees; and having by his doctrine won them to the cause of virtue, the commons followed in multitudes. The mode has a wonderful influence on mankind; and there are numbers that perhaps fear less the being in Hell, than out of the fashion. Our more western reformations began with the ignorant mob; and when numbers of them were gained, interest and party-views drew in the wise and great. Where both methods can be used, reformations are like to be more speedy. O that some method could be found to make them lasting! He that shall discover that, will, in my opinion, deserve more, ten thousand times, than the inventor of the longtitude.\nMy wife and family join in the most cordial salutations to you and good Mrs. Whitefield. I am, dear Sir, your very affectionate friend, and most obliged humble servant,\nB. Franklin", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "09-12-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0160", "content": "Title: From Benjamin Franklin to James Logan, 12 September 1749\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: Logan, James\nPhilada. Sept. 12. 49\n[First part missing] [Ad]vertisement, by which you will see the Language of the Picts is now under Consideration at home. If I had a Copy of what you have wrote on that Subject, I would take Care it should not be lost.\nPlease to favour me with the short Account of your Library, contain\u2019d in the Paper I read the other Day at your House, that I may insert it in a Note to the Proposals for an Academy. I am, with great Respect, Sir, Your most obliged humble Servant\nB Franklin", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "09-13-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0161", "content": "Title: To Benjamin Franklin from James Logan, 13 September 1749\nFrom: Logan, James\nTo: Franklin, Benjamin\nMy Friend B F\n7br. [September] 13. 49\nI received thine of Yesterdays date this day about II but do not believe that discourse of Doctor Frees explains the Discourse of the Picts or as he calls them the Pyhtas as I have done for he mentions the duration of their Language. I shall cause my younger Son next Month when he is out of his time [to] copy out that discourse: Thou may mention my Library as thou pleases but it [truly?] contains the Polyglot Bible and Castels Lexicon on it in 3 large Voll. Aldus\u2019s Septuagint and divers other Editions of the Bible with most of the Fathers, almost all the Greek Authors from Homer himself of whom there are Several Editions and one of them with Eustathius\u2019s Comm[entaries] of the Roman Edit. in 4 Voll. with Politi\u2019s Translation of him in Greek and Latin attempted in 3 large Voll. to near the end of the 4th Cent[ury] in more than 100 Voll. in folio comprising all the old Mathem[aticia]ns as Archimedes, Apollonius, Euclid, Ptolemy\u2019s Geography and his Syntaxis or Almagest and divers of the valuable Photius, Suidas, Several of the Byzantine much later with all the Roman Classicks without exception and many of them in Several Editions as all Cicero\u2019s Works in 4 [several Editions] all Graevius, Gronovius, Salengre, and Poleni\u2019s Collections of the Roman and Greek Antiq. in some 33 Tomes bound in 31 Voll. with some hundreds of other Writers as Vossius, Lipsius, Grotius &c. a large Collection of later, as well as the before mentioned Ancient Mathema[tician]s in divers languages Some oriental French and Italian and a great many more English &c.\nThis is a Summary of my Library, the whole of which I can not well expect thou wilt insert in that discourse but leaving thee perfectly at thy Liberty thou shuld not displease me provided thou mentions it at all to which I shall add no more but that I am with Sincere respect Thy Affectionate friend\nJ L", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "09-14-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0162", "content": "Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Peter Collinson, 14 September 1749\nFrom: Collinson, Peter\nTo: Franklin, Benjamin\nRespected friend\nLond Septr 14t 1749\nI was unwilling to loose the Opertunity per Cap. Rice\u2014So in 5 or 6 Days time I ordred all the Books to your Order that Could be gott together. I was so much engaged I could not go to see them before they was packed\u2014but Hope the Bookseller has been carefull to send such as will Meet with your aprobation.\nWhat can be gott to the remainder of your Order may be sent in the Spring with the things for the Air pump.\nYour Bill is in its way to Scotland for Acceptance.\nI am concern\u2019d Capt. Clark was oblig\u2019d to putt into Rhoad Island.\nI have lately receivd a Book on Electricity from Paris, which I send for thy perusal. Return it by any private hand. I am perswaded it will afford thee some Entertainment.\nI am with much Esteem thy sincere friend\nP Collinson\nPray Remember Mee to J: Bartram. If I have leisure I will answer his Entertaining Letter of 28th July on the Locasts and Dragon flies &c. I Desire he would make Mee a Collection of them. I Long for the arrival of Budden to see what He has sent Mee.\nI wonder he takes no Notice of what of my Orders are come to hand\u2014for I have sent by several Ships for 13 boxes and now I have an order for another. I wish the year may prove plentyfull in Seeds for John Sake besides on order From Powell the Seedsman in Holbourn sent per J Pemberton for a Tenn or Twenty Guinea Cargo.\nI hope J. Pemberton is safe arrived by whome have sent I Vol. Lives of Popes &c. Pray give my Love to him.\nI Desire my friend John will send Mee in the next Ships \u00bd doz. young plants of the small Magnolia for my own Garden and of the flowering Ivy or next year which he thinks best.\n      By Mesnard\nPamphletssentper\nBy the Macclesfield\nBy the beula\nBy Legross\nBy J. Pemberton\nI just now receivd a Present of a New Mapp of your Province and who I am to thank I [dont] know except Lewis Evans.\n [Addressed:] For \u2002Mr Benn Franklin \u2002In \u2002Philadelphia \u2002per Capt Rice", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "09-18-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0163", "content": "Title: From Benjamin Franklin to James Logan, 18 September 1749\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: Logan, James\n[September 18, 1749]\nFor the reason you mention, I am of the same opinion, that Dr. Free has not considered the Picts\u2019 language as you have done, but imagines with other writers that the Pict nation was totally destroyed and its language with it.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "10-06-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0164", "content": "Title: To Benjamin Franklin from James Logan, 6 October 1749\nFrom: Logan, James\nTo: Franklin, Benjamin\nMy friend B Fr\n8br [October] 6th [1749]\nI absolutely forgot to mention what I principally intended yesterday. Thy telling me what were the most likely paper Mills to Supply me with 6 or 7 sheets or more of Pastboard of about 19 or 20 inches in length and 15 in breadth and what rolling presses were [in] town to smooth them, an exact account of which to be prepared to day and Sent in the Morning with thy proposal for the Academy will very much [oblige] thine Affectionately\nJ L\nBe pleas\u2019d also to inform me what the Translators name of the fr[ench] Polybius is. Tis M. Folard in 6 Voll. 4to with many Cuts.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "10-01-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0166", "content": "Title: Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania, [October 1749]\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: \nThis pamphlet was printed after September 13, 1749, when Logan wrote the account of his library which Franklin printed in a footnote. It was printed before October 23, if, as seems likely, he enclosed it to Strahan, to whom he wrote on that day, \u201cI am now engaged in a new public affair.\u201d A mid-October date seems reasonable since a subscription had to be opened, the subscribers had to choose trustees, and the trustees had to adopt a constitution\u2014all of which was done by November 13.\nAdvertisement to the Reader.\nIt has long been regretted as a Misfortune to the Youth of this Province, that we have no Academy, in which they might receive the Accomplishments of a regular Education.\nThe following Paper of Hints towards forming a Plan for that Purpose, is so far approv\u2019d by some publick-spirited Gentlemen, to whom it has been privately communicated, that they have directed a Number of Copies to be made by the Press, and properly distributed, in order to obtain the Sentiments and Advice of Men of Learning, Understanding, and Experience in these Matters; and have determin\u2019d to use their Interest and best Endeavours, to have the Scheme, when compleated, carried gradually into Execution; in which they have Reason to believe they shall have the hearty Concurrence and Assistance of many who are Wellwishers to their Country.\nThose who incline to favour the Design with their Advice, either as to the Parts of Learning to be taught, the Order of Study, the Method of Teaching, the Oeconomy of the School, or any other Matter of Importance to the Success of the Undertaking, are desired to communicate their Sentiments as soon as may be, by Letter directed to B. Franklin, Printer, in Philadelphia.\nAuthors quoted in this Paper.\n1. The famous Milton, whose Learning and Abilities are well known and who had practised some Time the Education of Youth, so could speak from Experience.\n2. The great Mr. Locke, who wrote a Treatise on Education, well known, and much esteemed, being translated into most of the modern Languages of Europe.\n3. Dialogues on Education, 2 Vols. Octavo, that are much esteem\u2019d, having had two Editions in 3 Years. Suppos\u2019d to be wrote by the ingenious Mr. Hutcheson (Author of A Treatise on the Passions, and another on the Ideas of Beauty and Virtue) who has had much Experience in Educating of Youth, being a Professor in the College at Glasgow, &c.\n4. The learned Mr. Obadiah Walker, who had been many Years a Tutor to young Noblemen, and wrote a Treatise on the Education of a young Gentleman; of which the Fifth Edition was printed 1687.\n5. The much admired Mons. Rollin, whose whole Life was spent in a College; and wrote 4 Vols. on Education, under the Title of, The Method of Teaching and Studying the Belles Lettres; which are translated into English, Italian, and most of the modern Languages.\n6. The learned and ingenious Dr. George Turnbull, Chaplain to the present Prince of Wales; who has had much Experience in the Educating of Youth, and publish\u2019d a Book, Octavo, intituled, Observations on Liberal Education, in all its Branches, 1742.\nWith some others.\nProposals, &c.\nThe good Education of Youth has been esteemed by wise Men in all Ages, as the surest Foundation of the Happiness both of private Families and of Common-wealths.\n   *As some Things here propos\u2019d may be found to differ a little from the Forms of Education in common Use, the following Quotations are to shew the Opinions of several learned Men, who have carefully considered and wrote expresly on the Subject; such as Milton, Locke, Rollin, Turnbull, and others. They generally complain, that the old Method is in many Respects wrong; but long settled Forms are not easily changed. For us, who are now to make a Beginning, \u2019tis, at least, as easy to set out right as wrong; and therefore their Sentiments are on this Occasion well worth our Consideration.\n   Mr. Rollin says (Belles Lett. [IV] p. 249. speaking of the Manner of Educating Youth) \u201cThough it be generally a very wise and judicious Rule to avoid all Singularity, and to follow the received Customs, yet I question whether, in the Point we now treat of, this Principle does not admit of some Exception, and whether we ought not to apprehend the Dangers and Inconveniencies of blindly following the Footsteps of those who have gone before us, so as to consult Custom more than Reason, and the governing our Actions rather by what others do, than by what they should do; from whence it often happens, that an Error once established is handed down from Age to Age, and becomes almost a certain Law, from a Notion, that we ought to act like the rest of Mankind, and follow the Example of the greatest Number. But human Nature is not so happy as to have the greatest Number always make the best Choice, and we too frequently observe the contrary.\u201d\n Almost all Governments have therefore made it a principal Object of their Attention, to establish and endow with proper Revenues, such Seminaries of Learning, as might supply the succeeding Age with Men qualified to serve the Publick with Honour to themselves, and to their Country.\nMany of the first Settlers of these Provinces, were Men who had received a good Education in Europe, and to their Wisdom and good Management we owe much of our present Prosperity. But their Hands were full, and they could not do all Things. The present Race are not thought to be generally of equal Ability: For though the American Youth are allow\u2019d not to want Capacity; yet the best Capacities require Cultivation, it being truly with them, as with the best Ground, which unless well tilled and sowed with profitable Seed, produces only ranker Weeds.\nThat we may obtain the Advantages arising from an Increase of Knowledge, and prevent as much as may be the mischievous Consequences that would attend a general Ignorance among us, the following Hints are offered towards forming a Plan for the Education of the Youth of Pennsylvania, viz.\nIt is propos\u2019d,\nThat some Persons of Leisure and publick Spirit, apply for a Charter, by which they may be incorporated, with Power to erect an Academy for the Education of Youth, to govern the same, provide Masters, make Rules, receive Donations, purchase Lands, &c. and to add to their Number, from Time to Time such other Persons as they shall judge suitable.\nThat the Members of the Corporation make it their Pleasure, and in some Degree their Business, to visit the Academy often, encourage and countenance\n   \u2020Rollin, Vol. 2. p. 371. mentions a French Gentleman, Mons. Hersan, who, \u201cat his own Expence, built a School for the Use of poor Children, one of the finest in the Kingdom; and left a Stipend for the Master. That he himself taught them very often, and generally had some of them at his Table. He clothed several of them; and distributed Rewards among them from Time to Time, in order to encourage them to study.\u201d\n the Youth, countenance and assist the Masters, and by all Means in their Power advance the Usefulness and Reputation of the Design; that they look on the Students as in some Sort their Children, treat them with Familiarity and Affection, and when they have behav\u2019d well, and gone through their Studies, and are to enter the World, zealously unite, and make all the Interest that can be made to establish them,\n   \u2021Something seems wanting in America to incite and stimulate Youth to Study. In Europe the Encouragements to Learning are of themselves much greater than can be given here. Whoever distinguishes himself there, in either of the three learned Professions, gains Fame, and often Wealth and Power: A poor Man\u2019s Son has a Chance, if he studies hard, to rise, either in the Law or the Church, to gainful Offices or Benefices; to an extraordinary Pitch of Grandeur; to have a Voice in Parliament, a Seat among the Peers; as a Statesman or first Minister to govern Nations, and even to mix his Blood with Princes.\n whether in Business, Offices, Marriages, or any other Thing for their Advantage, preferably to all other Persons whatsoever even of equal Merit.\nAnd if Men may, and frequently do, catch such a Taste for cultivating Flowers, for Planting, Grafting, Inoculating, and the like, as to despise all other Amusements for their Sake, why may not we expect they should acquire a Relish for that more useful Culture of young Minds. Thompson says,\n\u2019Tis Joy to see the human Blossoms blow,\nWhen infant Reason grows apace, and calls\nFor the kind Hand of an assiduous Care;\nDelightful Task! to rear the tender Thought,\nTo teach the young Idea how to shoot,\nTo pour the fresh Instruction o\u2019er the Mind,\nTo breathe th\u2019 enliv\u2019ning Spirit, and to fix\nThe generous Purpose in the glowing Breast.\nThat a House be provided for the Academy, if not in the Town, not many Miles from it; the Situation high and dry, and if it may be, not far from a River, having a Garden, Orchard, Meadow, and a Field or two.\nThat the House be furnished with a Library (if in the Country, if in the Town, the Town Libraries\n   *Besides the English Library begun and carried on by Subscription in Philadelphia, we may expect the Benefit of another much more valuable in the Learned Languages, which has been many Years collecting with the greatest Care, by a Gentleman distinguish\u2019d for his universal Knowledge, no less than for his Judgment in Books. It contains many hundred Volumes of the best Authors in the best Editions, among which are the Polyglot Bible, and Castel\u2019s Lexicon on it, in 8 large Vols. Aldus\u2019s Septuagint, Apocrypha and New Testament, in Greek, and some other Editions of the same; most of the Fathers; almost all the Greek Authors from Homer himself, in divers Editions (and one of them in that of Rome, with Eustathius\u2019s Commentaries, in 4 Vols.) to near the End of the 4th Century, with divers later, as Photius, Suidas, divers of the Byzantine Historians; all the old Mathematicians, as Archimedes, Apollonius, Euclid, Ptolomy\u2019s Geography and Almagest, with Theon\u2019s Commentaries and Diophantus, in the whole above 100 Vols. in Greek Folio\u2019s. All the old Roman Classics without Exception, and some of them in several Editions (as all Tully\u2019s Works in four Editions). All Graevius, Gronovius, Salengre\u2019s and Poleni\u2019s Collections of Roman and Greek Antiquities, containing above Five Hundred distinct Discourses in 33 Tomes, with some Hundreds of late Authors in Latin, as Vossius, Lipsius, Grotius, &c. A good Collection of Mathematical Pieces, as Newton in all the three Editions, Wallis, Huygens, Tacquet, Dechales, &c. in near 100 Vols. in all Sizes, with some Orientals, French and Italian Authors, and many more English, &c. A handsome Building above 60 Feet in front, is now erected in this City, at the private Expence of that Gentleman, for the Reception of this Library, where it is soon to be deposited, and remain for the publick Use, with a valuable yearly Income duly to enlarge it; and I have his Permission to mention it as an Encouragement to the propos\u2019d Academy; to which this noble Benefaction will doubtless be of the greatest Advantage, as not only the Students, but even the Masters themselves, may very much improve by it.\n may serve) with Maps of all Countries, Globes, some mathematical Instruments, an Apparatus for Experiments in Natural Philosophy, and for Mechanics; Prints, of all Kinds, Prospects, Buildings, Machines, &c.\n   \u2020See in Turnbull, p. 415. the Description of the Furniture of the School called the Instituto at Bologna, procur\u2019d by the Care and Direction of Count Marsigli, and originally at his private Expence.\nThat the Rector be a Man of good Understanding, good Morals, diligent and patient, learn\u2019d in the Languages and Sciences, and a correct pure Speaker and Writer of the English Tongue; to have such Tutors under him as shall be necessary.\nThat the boarding Scholars diet\n   \u2021Perhaps it would be best if none of the Scholars were to diet abroad. Milton is of that Opinion (Tractate of Education) for that much Time would else be lost, and many ill Habits got.\n together, plainly, temperately, and frugally.\nThat to keep them in Health, and to strengthen and render active their Bodies, they be frequently exercis\u2019d\n   *Milton proposes, that an Hour and Half before Dinner should be allow\u2019d for Exercise, and recommends among other Exercises, the handling of Arms, but perhaps this may not be thought necessary here. Turnbull, p. 318. says, \u201cCorporal Exercise invigorates the Soul as well as the Body; let one be kept closely to Reading, without allowing him any Respite from Thinking, or any Exercise to his Body, and were it possible to preserve long, by such a Method, his Liking to Study and Knowledge, yet we should soon find such an one become no less soft in his Mind than in his outward Man. Both Mind and Body would thus become gradually too relaxed, too much unbraced for the Fatigues and Duties of active Life. Such is the Union between Soul and Body, that the same Exercises which are conducive, when rightly managed, to consolidate or strengthen the former, are likewise equally necessary and fit to produce Courage, Firmness, and manly Vigour, in the latter. For this, and other Reasons, certain hardy Exercises were reckoned by the Antients an essential Part in the Formation of a liberal Character; and ought to have their Place in Schools where Youth are taught the Languages and Sciences.\u201d See p. 318 to 323.\n in Running, Leaping, Wrestling, and Swimming,\n   **\u2019Tis suppos\u2019d that every Parent would be glad to have their Children skill\u2019d in Swimming, if it might be learnt in a Place chosen for its Safety, and under the Eye of a careful Person. Mr. Locke says, p. 9. in his Treatise of Education; \u201c\u2019Tis that saves many a Man\u2019s Life; and the Romans thought it so necessary, that they rank\u2019d it with Letters; and it was the common Phrase to mark one ill educated, and good for nothing, that he had neither learnt to read nor to swim; Nec Literas didicit nec Natare. But besides the gaining a Skill which may serve him at Need, the Advantages to Health by often Bathing in cold Water during the Heat of the Summer, are so many, that I think nothing need be said to encourage it.\u201d\n   \u2019Tis some Advantage besides, to be free from the slavish Terrors many of those feel who cannot swim, when they are oblig\u2019d to be on the Water even in crossing a Ferry.\n   Mr. Hutchinson [i.e., Fordyce], in his Dialogues concerning Education, 2 Vols. Octavo, lately publish\u2019d, says, Vol. 2. p. 297. \u201cI would have the Youth accustomed to such Exercises as will harden their Constitution, as Riding, Running, Swimming, Shooting, and the like.\u201d\n   Charlemagne, Founder of the German Empire, brought up his Sons hardily, and even his Daughters were inur\u2019d to Industry. Henry the Great of France, saith Mons. Rhodez, \u201cwas not permitted by his Grandfather to be brought up with Delicacy, who well knew that seldom lodgeth other than a mean and feeble Spirit in an effeminate and tender Body. He commanded that the Boy should be accustomed to run, to leap, to climb the Rocks and Mountains; that by such Means he might be inured to Labour, &c. His ordinary Food also was of coarse Bread, Beef, Cheese and Garlick; his Cloathing plain and coarse, and often he went barefoot and bareheaded.\u201d Walker of Education, p. 17, 18.\nThat they have peculiar Habits to distinguish them from other Youth, if the Academy be in or near the Town; for this, among other Reasons, that their Behaviour may be the better observed.\nAs to their Studies, it would be well if they could be taught every Thing that is useful, and every Thing that is ornamental: But Art is long, and their Time is short. It is therefore propos\u2019d that they learn those Things that are likely to be most useful and most ornamental, Regard being had to the several Professions for which they are intended.\nAll should be taught to write a fair Hand, and swift, as that is useful to All. And with it may be learnt something of Drawing,\n   \u2021Drawing is a kind of Universal Language, understood by all Nations. A Man may often express his Ideas, even to his own Countrymen, more clearly with a Lead Pencil, or Bit of Chalk, than with his Tongue. And many can understand a Figure, that do not comprehend a Description in Words, tho\u2019 ever so properly chosen. All Boys have an early Inclination to this Improvement, and begin to make Figures of Animals, Ships, Machines, &c. as soon as they can use a Pen: But for want of a little Instruction at that Time, generally are discouraged, and quit the Pursuit.\n   Mr. Locke says, p. 234. \u201cWhen your Son can write well and quick, I think it may be convenient not only to continue the Exercise of his Hand in Writing, but also to improve the Use of it further in Drawing; a Thing very useful to a Gentleman on several Occasions; but especially if he travel; as that which helps a Man often to express in a few Lines well put together, what a whole Sheet of Paper in Writing would not be able to represent and make intelligible. How many Buildings may a Man see, how many Machines and Habits meet with, the Ideas whereof would be easily retain\u2019d, and communicated by a little Skill in Drawing; which being committed to Words, are in Danger to be lost, or at best but ill retained in the most exact Descriptions? I do not mean that I would have him a perfect Painter; to be that to any tolerable Degree, will require more Time than he can spare from his other Improvements of greater Moment. But so much Insight into Perspective and Skill in Drawing, as will enable him to represent tolerably on Paper any Thing he sees, except Faces, may, I think, be got in a little Time.\u201d\n   Drawing is no less useful to a Mechanic than to a Gentleman. Several Handicrafts seem to require it; as the Carpenter\u2019s, Shipwright\u2019s, Engraver\u2019s, Painter\u2019s, Carver\u2019s, Cabinet-maker\u2019s, Gardiner\u2019s, and other Businesses. By a little Skill of this kind, the Workman may perfect his own Idea of the Thing to be done, before he begins to work; and show a Draft for the Encouragement and Satisfaction of his Employer.\n by Imitation of Prints, and some of the first Principles of Perspective.\nArithmetick,\n   *Mr. Locke is of Opinion, p. 269. that a Child should be early enter\u2019d in Arithmetick, Geography, Chronology, History and Geometry. \u201cMerchants Accounts, he says, if it is not necessary to help a Gentleman to get an Estate, yet there is nothing of more Use and Efficacy to make him preserve the Estate he has. \u2019Tis seldom observ\u2019d that he who keeps an Account of his Income and Expences, and thereby has constantly under View the Course of his Domestic Affairs, lets them run to Ruin: And I doubt not but many a Man gets behind-hand before he is aware, or runs farther on when he is once in, for want of this Care, or the Skill to do it. I would therefore advise all Gentlemen to learn perfectly Merchants Accounts; and not to think \u2019tis a Skill that belongs not to them, because it has received its Name, and has been chiefly practis\u2019d by Men of Traffick.\u201d p. 316.\n   Not only the Skill, but the Habit of keeping Accounts, should be acquir\u2019d by all, as being necessary to all.\n Accounts, and some of the first Principles of Geometry and Astronomy.\nThe English Language\n   \u2020Mr. Locke, speaking of Grammar, p. 252. says, \u201cThat to those the greatest Part of whose Business in this World is to be done with their Tongues, and with their Pens, it is convenient, if not necessary, that they should speak properly and correctly, whereby they may let their Thoughts into other Mens Minds the more easily, and with the greater Impression. Upon this Account it is, that any sort of Speaking, so as will make him be understood, is not thought enough for a Gentleman. He ought to study Grammar, among the other Helps of Speaking well, but it must be The Grammar of his Own Tongue, of the Language he uses, that he may understand his own Country Speech nicely, and speak it properly, without shocking the Ears of those it is addressed to with Solecisms and offensive Irregularities. And to this Purpose Grammar is necessary; but it is the Grammar only of their own proper Tongues, and to those who would take Pains in cultivating their Language, and perfecting their Stiles. Whether all Gentlemen should not do this, I leave to be considered, since the Want of Propriety and Grammatical Exactness is thought very misbecoming one of that Rank, and usually draws on one guilty of such Faults, the Imputation of having had a lower Breeding and worse Company than suits with his Quality. If this be so (as I suppose it is) it will be Matter of Wonder, why young Gentlemen are forc\u2019d to learn the Grammars of foreign and dead Languages, and are never once told of the Grammar of their own Tongues. They do not so much as know there is any such Thing, much less is it made their Business to be instructed in it. Nor is their own Language ever propos\u2019d to them as worthy their Care and Cultivating, tho\u2019 they have daily Use of it, and are not seldom, in the future Course of their Lives, judg\u2019d of by their handsome or awkward Way of expressing themselves in it. Whereas the Languages whose Grammars they have been so much employed in, are such as probably they shall scarce ever speak or write; or if upon Occasion this should happen, they should be excused for the Mistakes and Faults they make in it. Would not a Chinese, who took Notice of this Way of Breeding, be apt to imagine, that all our young Gentlemen were designed to be Teachers and Professors of the dead Languages of foreign Countries, and not to be Men of Business in their own.\u201d Page 255. the same Author adds, \u201cThat if Grammar ought to be taught at any Time, it must be to one that can speak the Language already; how else can he be taught the Grammar of it? This at least is evident from the Practice of the wise and learned Nations among the Antients. They made it a Part of Education to cultivate their own, not foreign Tongues. The Greeks counted all other Nations barbarous, and had a Contempt for their Languages. And though the Greek Learning grew in Credit amongst the Romans towards the End of their Commonwealth, yet it was the Roman Tongue that was made the Study of their Youth: Their own Language they were to make Use of, and therefore it was their own Language they were instructed and exercised in.\u201d And p. 281. \u201cThere can scarce be a greater Defect (says he) in a Gentleman, than not to express himself well either in Writing or Speaking. But yet I think I may ask the Reader, whether he doth not know a great many, who live upon their Estates, and so, with the Name, should have the Qualities of Gentlemen, who cannot so much as tell a Story as they should, much less speak clearly and persuasively in any Business. This I think not to be so much their Fault as the Fault of their Education.\u201d Thus far Locke.\n   Mons. Rollin, reckons the Neglect of Teaching their own Tongue a great Fault in the French Universities. He spends great Part of his first Vol. of Belles Lettres, on that Subject; and lays down some excellent Rules or Methods of Teaching French to Frenchmen grammatically, and making them Masters therein, which are very applicable to our Language, but too long to be inserted here. He practis\u2019d them on the Youth under his Care with great Success.\n   Mr. Hutchinson, Dial. [II] p. 297. says, \u201cTo perfect them in the Knowledge of their Mother Tongue, they should learn it in the Grammatical Way, that they may not only speak it purely, but be able both to correct their own Idiom, and afterwards enrich the Language on the same Foundation.\u201d\n   Dr. Turnbull, in his Observations on a liberal Education, says, p. 262. \u201cThe Greeks, perhaps, made more early Advances in the most useful Sciences than any Youth have done since, chiefly on this Account, that they studied no other Language but their own. This no Doubt saved them very much Time; but they applied themselves carefully to the Study of their own Language, and were early able to speak and write it in the greatest Perfection. The Roman Youth, though they learned the Greek, did not neglect their own Tongue, but studied it more carefully than we now do Greek and Latin, without giving ourselves any Trouble about our own Tongue.\u201d\n   Mons. Simon, in an elegant Discourse of his among the Memoirs of the Academy of Belles Lettres at Paris, speaking of the Stress the Romans laid on Purity of Language and graceful Pronunciation, adds, \u201cMay I here make a Reflection on the Education we commonly give our Children? It is very remote from the Precepts I have mentioned. Hath the Child arrived to six or seven Years of Age, he mixes with a Herd of ill-bred Boys at School, where under the Pretext of Teaching him Latin, no Regard is had to his Mother Tongue. And what happens? What we see every Day. A young Gentleman of eighteen, who has had this Education, Cannot Read. For to articulate the Words, and join them together, I do not call Reading, unless one can pronounce well, observe all the proper Stops, vary the Voice, express the Sentiments, and read with a delicate Intelligence. Nor can he speak a Jot better. A Proof of this is, that he cannot write ten Lines without committing gross Faults; and because he did not learn his own Language well in his early Years, he will never know it well. I except a few, who being afterwards engaged by their Profession, or their natural Taste, cultivate their Minds by Study. And yet even they, if they attempt to write, will find by the Labour Composition costs them, what a Loss it is, not to have learned their Language in the proper Season. Education among the Romans was upon a quite different Footing. Masters of Rhetoric taught them early the Principles, the Difficulties, the Beauties, the Subtleties, the Depths, the Riches of their own Language. When they went from these Schools, they were perfect Masters of it, they were never at a Loss for proper Expressions; and I am much deceived if it was not owing to this, that they produced such excellent Works with so marvellous Facility.\u201d\n   Pliny, in his Letter to a Lady on chusing a Tutor for her Son, speaks of it as the most material Thing in his Education, that he should have a good Latin Master of Rhetoric, and recommends Julius Genitor for his eloquent, open and plain Faculty of Speaking. He does not advise her to a Greek Master of Rhetoric, tho\u2019 the Greeks were famous for that Science; but to a Latin Master, because Latin was the Boy\u2019s Mother Tongue. In the above Quotation from Mons. Simon, we see what was the Office and Duty of the Master of Rhetoric.\n might be taught by Grammar; in which some of our best Writers, as Tillotson, Addison, Pope, Algernon Sidney, Cato\u2019s Letters, &c. should be Classicks: The Stiles principally to be cultivated, being the clear and the concise. Reading should also be taught, and pronouncing, properly, distinctly, emphatically; not with an even Tone, which under-does, nor a theatrical, which over-does Nature.\nTo form their Stile, they should be put on Writing Letters\n   \u2021This Mr. Locke recommends, Educ. p. 284. and says, \u201cThe Writing of Letters has so much to do in all the Occurrences of human Life, that no Gentleman can avoid shewing himself in this Kind of Writing. Occasions will daily force him to make this Use of his Pen, which, besides the Consequences that, in his Affairs, the well or ill managing it often draws after it, always lays him open to a severer Examination of his Breeding, Sense and Abilities, than oral Discourses, whose transient Faults dying for the most Part with the Sound that gives them Life, and so not subject to a strict Review, more easily escape Observation and Censure.\u201d He adds,\n   \u201cHad the Methods of Education been directed to their right End, one would have thought this so necessary a Part could not have been neglected, whilst Themes and Verses in Latin, of no Use at all, were so constantly every where pressed, to the Racking of Childrens Inventions beyond their Strength, and hindring their chearful Progress by unnatural Difficulties. But Custom has so ordained it, and who dares disobey? And would it not be very unreasonable to require of a learned Country Schoolmaster (who has all the Tropes and Figures in Farnaby\u2019s Rhetorick at his Finger\u2019s Ends) to teach his Scholar to express himself handsomely in English, when it appears to be so little his Business or Thought, that the Boy\u2019s Mother (despised, \u2019tis like, as illiterate for not having read a System of Logic or Rhetoric) outdoes him in it?\n   \u201cTo speak and write correctly, gives a Grace, and gains a favourable Attention to what one has to say: And since \u2019tis English that an Englishman will have constant Use of, that is the Language he should chiefly cultivate, and wherein most Care should be taken to polish and perfect his Stile. To speak or write better Latin than English, may make a Man be talk\u2019d of, but he will find it more to his Purpose to express himself well in his own Tongue, that he uses every Moment, than to have the vain Commendation of others for a very insignificant Quality. This I find universally neglected, nor no Care taken any where to improve young Men in their own Language, that they may thoroughly understand and be Masters of it. If any one among us have a Facility or Purity more than ordinary in his Mother Tongue, it is owing to Chance, or his Genius, or any Thing, rather than to his Education, or any Care of his Teacher. To mind what English his Pupil speaks or writes, is below the Dignity of one bred up among Greek and Latin, tho\u2019 he have but little of them himself. These are the Learned Languages, fit only for Learned Men to meddle with and teach: English is the Language of the illiterate Vulgar. Though the Great Men among the Romans were daily exercising themselves in their own Language; and we find yet upon Record the Names of Orators who taught some of their Emperors Latin, tho\u2019 it were their Mother Tongue. \u2019Tis plain the Greeks were yet more nice in theirs. All other Speech was barbarous to them but their own, and no foreign Language appears to have been studied or valued amongst that learned and acute People; tho\u2019 it be past Doubt, that they borrowed their Learning and Philosophy from abroad.\n   \u201cI am not here speaking against Greek and Latin. I think Latin at least ought to be well understood by every Gentleman. But whatever foreign Languages a young Man meddles with, that which he should critically study, and labour to get a Facility, Clearness and Elegancy to express himself in, should be his own; and to this purpose he should daily be Exercised in it.\u201d\n   To the same Purpose writes a Person of eminent Learning in a Letter to Dr. Turnbull: \u201cNothing certainly (says he) can be of more Service to Mankind than a right Method of Educating the Youth, and I should be glad to hear \u2014\u2014\u2014 \u2014\u2014\u2014 to give an Example of the great Advantage it would be to the rising Age, and to our Nation. When our publick Schools were first establish\u2019d, the Knowledge of Latin was thought Learning; and he that had a tolerable Skill in two or three Languages, tho\u2019 his Mind was not enlightened by any real Knowledge, was a profound Scholar. But it is not so at present; and People confess, that Men may have obtained a Perfection in these, and yet continue deeplv ignorant. The Greek Education was of another Kind [which he describes in several Particulars, and adds] They studied to write their own Tongue more accurately than we do Latin and Greek. But where is English taught at present? Who thinks it of Use to study correctly that Language which he is to use every Day in his Life, be his Station ever so high, or ever so insignificant. It is in this the Nobility and Gentry defend their Country, and serve their Prince in Parliament; in this the Lawyers plead, the Divines instruct, and all Ranks of People write their Letters, and transact all their Affairs; and yet who thinks it worth his learning to write this even accurately, not to say politely? Every one is suffer\u2019d to form his Stile by Chance; to imitate the first wretched Model which falls in his Way, before he knows what is faulty, or can relish the Beauties of a just Simplicity. Few think their Children qualified for a Trade till they have been whipt at a Latin School for five or six Years, to learn a little of that which they are oblig\u2019d to forget; when in those Years right Education would have improv\u2019d their Minds, and taught them to acquire Habits of Writing their own Language easily under right Direction; and this would have been useful to them as long as they lived.\u201d Introd. p. 3, 4, 5.\n   Since Mr. Locke\u2019s Time, several good Grammars have been wrote and publish\u2019d for the Use of Schools; as Brightland\u2019s, Greenwood\u2019s, &c.\n to each other, making Abstracts of what they read; or writing the same Things in their own Words; telling or writing Stories lately read, in their own Expressions. All to be revis\u2019d and corrected by the Tutor, who should give his Reasons, explain the Force and Import of Words, &c.\nTo form their Pronunciation,\n   *By Pronunciation is here meant, the proper Modulation of the Voice, to suit the Subject with due Emphasis, Action, &c. In delivering a Discourse in Publick, design\u2019d to persuade, the Manner, perhaps, contributes more to Success, than either the Matter or Method. Yet the two latter seem to engross the Attention of most Preachers and other Publick Speakers, and the former to be almost totally neglected.\n they may be put on making Declamations, repeating Speeches, delivering Orations, &c. The Tutor assisting at the Rehearsals, teaching, advising, correcting their Accent, &c.\nBut if History\n   \u2020As nothing teaches (saith Mr. Locke) so nothing delights more than History. The first of these recommends it to the Study of grown Men, the latter makes me think it the fittest for a young Lad, who as soon as he is instructed in Chronology, and acquainted with the several Epochas in Use in this Part of the World, and can reduce them to the Julian Period, should then have some History put into his Hand. Educ. p. 276.\n   Mons. Rollin complains, that the College Education in France is defective in Teaching History; which he thinks may be made of great Advantage to Youth. This he demonstrates largely in his Belles Lettres, to the Satisfaction of all that read the Book. He lays down the following Rules for Studying History, viz. 1. To reduce the Study to Order and Method. 2. To observe what relates to Usages and Customs. 3. To enquire particularly, and above all Things, after the Truth. 4. To endeavour to find out the Causes of the Rise and Fall of States, of the Gaining or Losing of Battles, and other Events of Importance. 5. To study the Character of the Nations and great Men mentioned in History. 6. To be attentive to such Instructions as concern Moral Excellency and the Conduct of Life. 7. Carefully to note every Thing that relates to Religion. Vol. 3. p. 146.\n be made a constant Part of their Reading, such as the Translations of the Greek and Roman Historians, and the modern Histories of antient Greece and Rome, &c. may not almost all Kinds of useful Knowledge be that Way introduc\u2019d to Advantage, and with Pleasure to the Student? As\nGeography, by reading with Maps, and being required to point out the Places where the greatest Actions were done, to give their old and new Names, with the Bounds, Situation, Extent of the Countries concern\u2019d, &c.\nChronology, by the Help of Helvicus or some other Writer of the Kind, who will enable them to tell when those Events happened; what Princes were Cotemporaries, what States or famous Men flourish\u2019d about that Time, &c. The several principal Epochas to be first well fix\u2019d in their Memories.\nAntient Customs, religious and civil, being frequently mentioned in History, will give Occasion for explaining them; in which the Prints\n   \u2021Plenty of these are to be met with in Montfaucon; and other Books of Antiquities.\n of Medals, Basso Relievo\u2019s, and antient Monuments will greatly assist.\nMorality,\n   *For the Importance and Necessity of moral Instructions to Youth, see the latter Notes.\n by descanting and making continual Observations on the Causes of the Rise or Fall of any Man\u2019s Character, Fortune, Power, &c. mention\u2019d in History; the Advantages of Temperance, Order, Frugality, Industry, Perseverance, &c. &c.\n   \u2020Dr. Turnbull, Liberal Education, p. 371, says, \u201cThat the useful Lessons which ought to be inculcated upon Youth, are much better taught and enforced from Characters, Actions, and Events, developing the inward Springs of human Conduct, and the different Consequences of Actions, whether with Respect to private or publick Good, than by abstract Philosophical Lectures. History points out in Examples, as in a Glass, all the Passions of the human Heart, and all their various Workings in different Circumstances, all the Virtues and all the Vices human Nature is capable of; all the Snares, all the Temptations, all the Vicissitudes and Incidents of human Life; and gives Occasion for Explaining all the Rules of Prudence, Decency, Justice and Integrity, in private Oeconomy, and in short all the Laws of natural Reason.\u201d\n Indeed the general natural Tendency of Reading good History, must be, to fix in the Minds of Youth deep Impressions of the Beauty and Usefulness of Virtue of all Kinds, Publick Spirit, Fortitude, &c.\nHistory will show the wonderful Effects of Oratory, in governing, turning and leading great Bodies of Mankind, Armies, Cities, Nations. When the Minds of Youth are struck with Admiration at this,\n   \u2021\u201cRules are best understood, when Examples that confirm them, and point out their Fitness or Necessity, naturally lead one, as it were by the Hand, to take Notice of them. One who is persuaded and moved by a Speech, and heartily admires its Force and Beauty, will with Pleasure enter into a critical Examination of its Excellencies; and willingly lay up in his Mind the Rules of Rhetoric such an Example of Eloquence plainly suggests. But to teach Rules abstractly, or without Examples, and before the agreeable Effects the Observance of them tends to produce (which are in Reality their Reason or Foundation) have been felt, is exceedingly preposterous.\u201d Turnbull, p. 410.\n   \u201cI have seldom or never observed any one to get the Skill of Speaking handsomely, by Studying the Rules which pretend to teach Rhetoric.\u201d Locke, p. 279.\n then is the Time to give them the Principles of that Art, which they will study with Taste and Application. Then they may be made acquainted with the best Models among the Antients, their Beauties being particularly pointed out to them. Modern Political Oratory being chiefly performed by the Pen and Press, its Advantages over the Antient in some Respects are to be shown; as that its Effects are more extensive, more lasting, &c.\nHistory will also afford frequent Opportunities of showing the Necessity of a Publick Religion, from its Usefulness to the Publick; the Advantage of a Religious Character among private Persons; the Mischiefs of Superstition, &c. and the Excellency of the Christian Religion above all others antient or modern.\n   *See Turnbull on this Head, from p. 386 to 390. very much to the Purpose, but too long to be transcribed here.\nHistory will also give Occasion to expatiate on the Advantage of Civil Orders and Constitutions, how Men and their Properties are protected by joining in Societies and establishing Government; their Industry encouraged and rewarded, Arts invented, and Life made more comfortable: The Advantages of Liberty, Mischiefs of Licentiousness, Benefits arising from good Laws and a due Execution of Justice, &c. Thus may the first Principles of sound Politicks\n   \u2020Thus, as Milton says, Educ. p. 381. should they be instructed in the Beginning, End and Reasons of political Societies; that they may not, in a dangerous Fit of the Commonwealth, be such poor, shaken, uncertain Reeds, of such a tottering Conscience, as many of our great Councellors have lately shewn themselves, but stedfast Pillars of the State.\n be fix\u2019d in the Minds of Youth.\nOn Historical Occasions, Questions of Right and Wrong, Justice and Injustice, will naturally arise, and may be put to Youth, which they may debate in Conversation and in Writing.\n   \u2021\u201cAfter this, they are to dive into the Grounds of Law and legal Justice; deliver\u2019d first and with best Warrant by Moses; and as far as human Prudence can be trusted, in those celebrated Remains of the antient Grecian and Roman Lawgivers, &c.\u201d [Milton,] p. 382.\n   \u201cWhen he has pretty well digested Tully\u2019s Offices, says Mr. Locke, p. 277. and added to it Puffendorff de Officio Hominis & Civis, it may be seasonable to set him upon Grotius, de Jure Belli & Pacis, or which perhaps is the better of the two, Puffendorff de Jure naturali [naturae] & Gentium; wherein he will be instructed in the natural Rights of Men, and the Original and Foundations of Society, and the Duties resulting from thence. This general Part of Civil Law and History are Studies which a Gentleman should not barely touch at, but constantly dwell upon, and never have done with. A virtuous and well-behaved young Man, that is well versed in the general Part of the Civil Law (which concerns not the Chicane of private Cases, but the Affairs and Intercourse of civilized Nations in general, grounded upon Principles of Reason) understands Latin well, and can write a good Hand, one may turn loose into the World, with great Assurance that he will find Employment and Esteem every where.\u201d\n When they ardently desire Victory, for the Sake of the Praise attending it, they will begin to feel the Want, and be sensible of the Use of Logic, or the Art of Reasoning to discover Truth, and of Arguing to defend it, and convince Adversaries. This would be the Time to acquaint them with the Principles of that Art. Grotius, Puffendorff, and some other Writers of the same Kind, may be used on these Occasions to decide their Disputes. Publick Disputes\n   *Mr. Walker, in his excellent Treatise of the Education of young Gentlemen, speaking of Publick and open Argumentation pro and con, says p. 124, 125. \u201cThis is it which brings a Question to a Point, and discovers the very Center and Knot of the Difficulty. This warms and activates the Spirit in the Search of Truth, excites Notions, and by replying and frequent Beating upon it, cleanseth it from the Ashes, and makes it shine and flame out the clearer. Besides, it puts them upon a continual Stretch of their Wits to defend their Cause, it makes them quick in Replies, intentive upon their Subject; where the Opponent useth all Means to drive his Adversary from his Hold; and the Answerer defends himself sometimes with the Force of Truth, sometimes with the Subtilty of his Wit; and sometimes also he escapes in a Mist of Words, and the Doubles of a Distinction, whilst he seeks all Holes and Recesses to shelter his persecuted Opinion and Reputation. This properly belongeth to the Disputations which are Exercises of young Students, who are by these Velitations and in this Palaestra brought up to a more serious Search of Truth. And in them I think it not a Fault to dispute for Victory, and to endeavour to save their Reputation; nor that their Questions and Subjects are concerning Things of small Moment and little Reality; yea, I have known some Governors that have absolutely forbidden such Questions, where the Truth was of Concernment, on purpose that the Youth might have the Liberty of exerting their Parts to the uttermost, and that there might be no Stint to their Emulation.\u201d\n warm the Imagination, whet the Industry, and strengthen the natural Abilities.\nWhen Youth are told, that the Great Men whose Lives and Actions they read in History, spoke two of the best Languages that ever were, the most expressive, copious, beautiful; and that the finest Writings, the most correct Compositions, the most perfect Productions of human Wit and Wisdom, are in those Languages, which have endured Ages, and will endure while there are Men; that no Translation can do them Justice, or give the Pleasure found in Reading the Originals; that those Languages contain all Science; that one of them is become almost universal, being the Language of Learned Men in all Countries; that to understand them is a distinguishing Ornament, &c. they may be thereby made desirous of learning those Languages, and their Industry sharpen\u2019d in the Acquisition of them. All intended for Divinity should be taught the Latin and Greek; for Physick, the Latin, Greek and French; for Law, the Latin and French; Merchants, the French, German, and Spanish: And though all should not be compell\u2019d to learn Latin, Greek, or the modern foreign Languages; yet none that have an ardent Desire to learn them should be refused; their English, Arithmetick, and other Studies absolutely necessary, being at the same Time not neglected.\nIf the new Universal History were also read, it would give a connected Idea of human Affairs, so far as it goes, which should be follow\u2019d by the best modern Histories, particularly of our Mother Country; then of these Colonies; which should be accompanied with Observations on their Rise, Encrease, Use to Great-Britain, Encouragements, Discouragements, &c. the Means to make them flourish, secure their Liberties, &c.\nWith the History of Men, Times and Nations, should be read at proper Hours or Days, some of the best Histories of Nature,\n   \u2020Rollin, Vol. 4. p. 211. speaking of Natural Philosophy, says, \u201cThat much of it falls within the Capacity of all Sorts of Persons, even of Children. It consists in attending to the Objects with which Nature presents us, in considering them with Care, and admiring their different Beauties, &c. Searching out their secret Causes indeed more properly belongs to the Learned.\n   \u201cI say that even Children are capable of Studying Nature, for they have Eyes, and don\u2019t want Curiosity; they ask Questions, and love to be informed; and here we need only awaken and keep up in them the Desire of Learning and Knowing, which is natural to all Mankind. Besides this Study, if it is to be called a Study, instead of being painful and tedious, is pleasant and agreeable; it may be used as a Recreation, and should usually be made a Diversion. It is inconceivable, how many Things Children are capable of, if all the Opportunities of Instructing them were laid hold of, with which they themselves supply us.\n   \u201cA Garden, a Country, a Plantation, are all so many Books which lie open to them; but they must have been taught and accustomed to read in them. Nothing is more common amongst us than the Use of Bread and Linnen. How seldom do Children know how either of them are prepared, through how many Operations and Hands the Corn and Flax must pass, before they are turned into Bread and Linnen? The same may be said of Cloth, which bears no Resemblance to the Wool whereof it is formed, any more than Paper to the Rags which are picked up in the Streets: And why should not Children be instructed in these wonderful Works of Nature and Art which they every Day make Use of without reflecting upon them?\u201d\n   He adds, that \u201ca careful Master may in this Way enrich the Mind of his Disciple with a great Number of useful and agreeable Ideas, and by a proper Mixture of short Reflections, will at the same Time take Care to form his Heart, and lead him by Nature to Religion.\u201d\n   Milton also recommends the Study of Natural Philosophy to Youth, Educ. p. 380. \u201cIn this,\u201d says he, \u201cthey may proceed leisurely from the History of Meteors, Minerals, Plants and living Creatures, as far as Anatomy; Then also in Course might be read to them out of some not tedious Writer, the Institution of Physick; that they may know the Tempers, the Humours, the Seasons, and how to manage a Crudity; which he who can wisely and timely do, is not only a great Physician to himself, and to his Friends, but also may at some Time or other save an Army by this frugal and expenseless Means only; and not let the healthy and stout Bodies of young Men rot away under him for want of this Discipline, which is a great Pity, and no less a Shame to the Commander.\u201d\n   Proper Books may be, Ray\u2019s Wisdom of God in the Creation, Derham\u2019s Physico-Theology, Spectacle de la Nature, &c.\n which would not only be delightful to Youth, and furnish them with Matter for their Letters, &c. as well as other History; but afterwards of great Use to them, whether they are Merchants, Handicrafts, or Divines; enabling the first the better to understand many Commodities, Drugs, &c. the second to improve his Trade or Handicraft by new Mixtures, Materials, &c. and the last to adorn his Discourses by beautiful Comparisons, and strengthen them by new Proofs of Divine Providence. The Conversation of all will be improved by it, as Occasions frequently occur of making Natural Observations, which are instructive, agreeable, and entertaining in almost all Companies. Natural History will also afford Opportunities of introducing many Observations, relating to the Preservation of Health, which may be afterwards of great Use. Arbuthnot on Air and Aliment, Sanctorius on Perspiration, Lemery on Foods, and some others, may now be read, and a very little Explanation will make them sufficiently intelligible to Youth.\nWhile they are reading Natural History, might not a little Gardening, Planting, Grafting, Inoculating, &c. be taught and practised; and now and then Excursions made to the neighbouring Plantations of the best Farmers, their Methods observ\u2019d and reason\u2019d upon for the Information of Youth. The Improvement of Agriculture being useful to all,\n   \u2021Milton would have the Latin Authors on Agriculture taught at School, as Cato, Varro and Columella; \u201cfor the Matter,\u201d says he, \u201cis most easy, and if the Language be difficult, yet it may be master\u2019d. And here will be an Occasion of inciting and enabling them hereafter to improve the Tillage of their Country, to recover the bad Soil, and to remedy the Waste that is made of Good; for this was one of Hercules\u2019 Praises.\u201d Educ. p. 379.\n   Hutcheson [i.e., Fordyce] (Dialogues on Educ. 303, 2d Vol.) says, \u201cNor should I think it below the Dignity or Regard of an University, to descend even to the general Precepts of Agriculture and Gardening. Virgil, Varro, and others eminent in Learning, tho\u2019t it not below their Pen\u2014\u2014and why should we think meanly of that Art, which was the Mother of Heroes, and of the Masters of the World.\u201d\n   Locke also recommends the Study of Husbandry and Gardening, as well as gaining an Insight in several of the manual Arts; Educ. p. 309, 314, 315. It would be a Pleasure and Diversion to Boys to be led now and then to the Shops of Artificers, and suffer\u2019d to spend some Time there in observing their Manner of Working. For the Usefulness of Mechanic Skill, even to Gentlemen, see the Pages above cited, to which much might be added.\n and Skill in it no Disparagement to any.\nThe History of Commerce, of the Invention of Arts, Rise of Manufactures, Progress of Trade, Change of its Seats, with the Reasons, Causes, &c. may also be made entertaining to Youth, and will be useful to all. And this, with the Accounts in other History of the prodigious Force and Effect of Engines and Machines used in War, will naturally introduce a Desire to be instructed in Mechanicks,\n   *How many Mills are built and Machines constructed, at great and fruitless Expence, which a little Knowledge in the Principles of Mechanics would have prevented?\n and to be inform\u2019d of the Principles of that Art by which weak Men perform such Wonders, Labour is sav\u2019d, Manufactures expedited, &c. &c. This will be the Time to show them Prints of antient and modern Machines, to explain them, to let them be copied,\n   \u2020We are often told in the Journals of Travellers, that such and such Things are done in foreign Countries, by which Labour is sav\u2019d, and Manufactures expedited, &c. but their Description of the Machines or Instruments used, are quite unintelligible for want of good Drafts. Copying Prints of Machines is of Use to fix the Attention on the several Parts, their Proportions, Reasons, Effects, &c. A Man that has been us\u2019d to this Practice, is not only better able to make a Draft when the Machine is before him, but takes so much better Notice of its Appearance, that he can carry it off by Memory when he has not the Opportunity of Drawing it on the Spot. Thus may a Traveller bring home Things of great Use to his Country.\n and to give Lectures in Mechanical Philosophy.\nWith the whole should be constantly inculcated and cultivated, that Benignity of Mind,\n   \u2021\u201cUpon this excellent Disposition (says Turnbull, p. 326.) it will be easy to build that amiable Quality commonly called Good Breeding, and upon no other Foundation can it be raised. For whence else can it spring, but from a general Good-will and Regard for all People, deeply rooted in the Heart, which makes any one that has it, careful not to shew in his Carriage, any Contempt, Disrespect, or Neglect of them, but to express a Value and Respect for them according to their Rank and Condition, suitable to the Fashion and Way of their Country? \u2019Tis a Disposition to make all we converse with easy and well pleased.\u201d\n which shows itself in searching for and seizing every Opportunity to serve and to oblige; and is the Foundation of what is called Good Breeding; highly useful to the Possessor, and most agreeable to all.\n   *\u201cIt is this lovely Quality which gives true Beauty to all other Accomplishments, or renders them useful to their Possessor, in procuring him the Esteem and Good-will of all that he comes near. Without it, his other Qualities, however good in themselves, make him but pass for proud, conceited, vain or foolish. Courage, says an excellent Writer, in an ill-bred Man has the Air, and escapes not the Opinion of Brutality; Learning becomes Pedantry; Wit, Buffoonery; Plainness, Rusticity; and there cannot be a good Quality in him which Ill-breeding will not warp and disfigure to his Disadvantage.\u201d Turnbull, p. 327.\nThe Idea of what is true Merit, should also be often presented to Youth, explain\u2019d and impress\u2019d on their Minds, as consisting in an Inclination join\u2019d with an Ability to serve Mankind, one\u2019s Country, Friends and Family; which Ability is (with the Blessing of God) to be acquir\u2019d or greatly encreas\u2019d by true Learning; and should indeed be the great Aim and End\n   \u2020To have in View the Glory and Service of God, as some express themselves, is only the same Thing in other Words. For Doing Good to Men is the only Service of God in our Power; and to imitate his Beneficence is to glorify him. Hence Milton says, \u201cThe End of Learning is to repair the Ruins of our first Parents, by regaining to know God aright, and out of that Knowledge to love him, to imitate him, to be like him, as we may the nearest by possessing our Souls of true Virtue.\u201d Educ. p. 373. Mr. Hutcheson [i.e., Fordyce] says, Dial. V. 2. p. 97. \u201cThe principal End of Education is, to form us wise and good Creatures, useful to others and happy ourselves. The whole Art of Education lies within a narrow Compass, and is reducible to a very simple Practice; namely, To assist in unfolding those Natural and Moral Powers with which Man is endowed, by presenting proper Objects and Occasions; to watch their Growth that they be not diverted from their End, or disturbed in their Operation by any foreign Violence; and gently to conduct and apply them to all the Purposes of private and of public Life.\u201d And Mr. Locke (p. 84. Educ.) says, \u201c\u2019Tis Virtue, then, direct Virtue, which is to be aim\u2019d at in Education. All other Considerations and Accomplishments are nothing in Comparison to this. This is the solid and substantial Good, which Tutors should not only read Lectures and talk of, but the Labour and Art of Education should furnish the Mind with, and fasten there, and never cease till the young Man had a true Relish of it, and plac\u2019d his Strength, his Glory, and his Pleasure, in it.\u201d And Mons. Rollin, Belles Lettres, Vol. 4. p. 249. to the same Purpose, \u201cIf we consult our Reason ever so little, it is easy to discern that the End which Masters should have in View, is not barely to teach their Scholars Greek and Latin, to learn them to make Exercises and Verses, to charge their Memory with Facts and historical Dates, to draw up Syllogisms in Form, or to trace Lines and Figures upon Paper. These Branches of Learning I own are useful and valuable, but as Means, and not as the End; when they conduct us to other Things, and not when we stop at them; when they serve us as Preparatives and Instruments for better Knowledge, without which the rest would be useless. Youth would have Cause to complain, if they were condemned to spend eight or ten of the best Years of their Life in learning, at a great Expence, and with incredible Pains, one or two Languages, and some other Matters of a like Nature, which perhaps they would seldom have Occasion to use. The end of Masters, in the long Course of their Studies, is to habituate their Scholars to serious Application of Mind, to make them love and value the Sciences, and to cultivate in them such a Taste, as shall make them thirst after them when they are gone from School; to point out the Method of attaining them; and make them thoroughly sensible of their Use and Value; and by that Means dispose them for the different Employments to which it shall please God to call them. Besides this, the End of Masters should be, to improve their Hearts and Understandings, to protect their Innocence, to inspire them with Principles of Honour and Probity, to train them up to good Habits; to correct and subdue in them by gentle Means, the ill Inclinations they shall be observed to have, such as Pride, Insolence, and high Opinion of themselves, and a saucy Vanity continually employed in lessening others; a blind Self-love solely attentive to its own Advantage; a Spirit of Raillery which is pleased with offending and insulting others; and Indolence and Sloth, which renders all the good Qualities of the Mind useless.\u201d\n   Dr. Turnbull has the same Sentiments, with which we shall conclude this Note. \u201cIf,\u201d says he, \u201cthere be any such Thing as Duty, or any such Thing as Happiness; if there be any Difference between right and wrong Conduct; any Distinction between Virtue and Vice, or Wisdom and Folly; in fine, if there be any such Thing as Perfection or Imperfection belonging to the rational Powers which constitute moral Agents; or if Enjoyments and Pursuits admit of Comparison; Good Education must of Necessity be acknowledged to mean, proper Care to instruct early in the Science of Happiness and Duty, or in the Art of Judging and Acting aright in Life. Whatever else one may have learned, if he comes into the World from his Schooling and Masters, quite unacquainted with the Nature, Rank and Condition, of Mankind, and the Duties of human Life (in its more ordinary Circumstances at least) he hath lost his Time; he is not educated; he is not prepared for the World; he is not qualified for Society; he is not fitted for discharging the proper Business of Man. The Way therefore to judge whether Education be on a right Footing or not, is to compare it with the End; or to consider what it does in order to accomplish Youth for choosing and behaving well in the various Conditions, Relations and Incidents, of Life. If Education be calculated and adapted to furnish young Minds betimes with proper Knowledge for their Guidance and Direction in the chief Affairs of the World, and in the principal Vicissitudes to which human Concerns are subject, then it is indeed proper or right Education. But if such Instruction be not the principal Scope to which all other Lessons are rendered subservient in what is called the Institution of Youth, either the Art of Living and Acting well is not Man\u2019s most important Business, or what ought to be the Chief End of Education is neglected, and sacrificed to something of far inferior Moment. Observations on Liberal Education, p. 175, 176.\n of all Learning.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "11-13-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0167", "content": "Title: Constitutions of the Academy of Philadelphia, [13 November 1749]\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin,Francis, Tench\nTo: \nThis document was drawn up by Franklin and Tench Francis. The final and official version, spread on the Trustees\u2019 Minutes and printed here, contains corrections and additions by Franklin and his insertion of James Logan\u2019s name at the head of the list of trustees. It is of further interest because marginal marks indicate it was the copy Franklin used in 1789 when he was preparing his Observations relative to the Intentions of the Original Founders of the Academy in Philadelphia. The printed version, a four-page pamphlet (Evans 6405), ends with the following note: \u201cThe above Constitutions were signed on the 13th of November, 1749; and are to be carried into Execution as early as may be in the ensuing Year, a considerable Sum being already subscribed for this Purpose by a few Hands; who hope, from the known Publick Spirit of the People of Pennsylvania, that such further Sums as are necessary to be subscribed for perfecting this useful Design, will not be wanting.\u201d\nThe same scrivener copied the Trustees\u2019 Minutes and the Archives versions. The latter, however, lacks the names of the trustees and their signatures, though it is followed by the subscription pledge made and signed November 14, printed here next below.\n[November 13, 1749]\nConstitutions Of the Publick Academy In the City of Philadelphia.\nAs Nothing can more effectually contribute to the Cultivation and Improvement of a Country, the Wisdom, Riches, and Strength, Virtue and Piety, the Welfare and Happiness of a People, than a proper Education of Youth, by forming their Manners, imbuing their tender Minds with Principles of Rectitude and Morality, instructing them in the dead and living Languages, particularly their Mother-Tongue, and all useful Branches of liberal Arts and Science,\nFor attaining these great and important Advantages, so far as the present State of our infant Country will admit, and laying a Foundation for Posterity to erect a Seminary of Learning more extensive, and suitable to their future Circumstances, An Academy for teaching the Latin and Greek Languages, the English Tongue, gramatically and as a Language, the most useful living foreign Languages, French, German and Spanish: As Matters of Erudition naturally flowing from the Languages, History, Geography, Chronology, Logick and Rhetorick, Writing, Arithmetick, Algebra, the several Branches of the Mathematicks, Natural and Mechanick Philosophy, Drawing in Perspective, and every other useful Part of Learning and Knowledge, Shall be set up, maintained, and have Continuance, in the City of Philadelphia in Manner following: Twenty-four Persons, towit, James Logan, Thomas Lawrence, William Allen, John Inglis, Tench Francis, William Masters, Lloyd Zachery, Samuel M\u2019Call Junr., Joseph Turner, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Leech, William Shippen, Robert Strettell, Philip Syng, Charles Willing, Phineas Bond, Richard Peters, Abraham Taylor, Thomas Bond, Thomas Hopkinson, William Plumsted, Joshua Maddox, Thomas White, and William Coleman, all of the City of Philadelphia, shall be Trustees, to begin, and carry into Execution, this good and pious Undertaking; who shall not for any Services, by them as Trustees performed, claim or receive any Reward or Compensation. Which Number shall always be continued, but never exceeded upon any Motive whatever.\nWhen any Trustee shall remove his Habitation far from the City of Philadelphia, reside beyond Sea, or dye, the remaining Trustees shall, with all convenient Speed, proceed to elect another, residing in or near the City, to fill the Place of the absenting or deceased Person.\nThe Trustees shall have general Conventions once in every Month, and may, on special Occasions, meet at other Times on Notice, at some convenient Place within the City of Philadelphia, to transact the Business incumbent on them, and shall, in the Gazette, advertise the Time and Place of their general Conventions.\nNothing shall be transacted by the Trustees, or under their Authority, alone, unless the same be voted by a Majority of their whole Number, if at a general Convention; and if at a special Meeting, by the like Majority, upon personal Notice given to each Trustee, at least one Day before, to attend.\nThe Trustees shall, at their first Meeting, elect a President for one Year, whose particular Duty it shall be, when present, to regulate their Debates, and state the proper Questions arising from them, and to order Notices to be given, of the Times, and Places of their special Conventions. And the like Election shall be annually made, at their first Meeting, after the Expiration of each Year.\nThe Trustees shall annually choose one of their own Members for a Treasurer, who shall receive all Donations and Money due to them, and disburse and lay out the same, according to their Orders, and at the End of each Year, pay the Sum remaining in his Hands to his Successor.\nAll Contracts and Assurances, for Payment of Money to them, shall be made in the Name of the Treasurer for the Time being, and declared to be in Trust for the Use of the Trustees.\nThe Trustees may appoint a Clerk, whose Duty in particular it shall be, to attend them in their general and special Conventions; to give Notice in Writing to the Members of the Time, and Place, and Design, of any special Meetings; to register all their Proceedings; and extract a State of their Accounts annually, to be published in the Gazette; for which they may pay him such Salary as they shall think reasonable.\nThe Trustees shall, with all convenient Speed, after signing these Constitutions, contract with any Person that offers, who they shall judge most capable of teaching the Latin and Greek Languages, History, Geography, Chronology, and Rhetorick; having great Regard at the same Time, to his polite Speaking, Writing, and Understanding the English Tongue. Which Person shall in Fact be, and shall be stiled, the Rector of the Academy.\nThe Trustees may contract with the Rector, for the Term of Five Years, or less at their Discretion, for the Sum of Two Hundred Pounds a Year.\nThe Rector shall be obliged, without the Assistance of any Usher, to teach Twenty Scholars the Latin and Greek Languages; and at the same Time, according to the best of his Capacity, to instruct them in History, Geography, Chronology, Logick, Rhetorick, and the English Tongue and Twenty five Scholars more, for every Usher provided for him, who shall be intirely subject to his Direction.\nThe Rector shall, upon all Occasions, consistent with his Duty in the Latin School, assist the English Master, in improving the Youth under his Care; and superintend the Instruction of all the Scholars, in the other Branches of Learning taught within the Academy; and see that the Masters in each Art and Science, perform their Dutys.\nThe Trustees shall, with all convenient Speed, contract with any Person that offers, who they shall judge most capable, of teaching the English Tongue gramatically and as a Language, History, Geography, Chronology, Logick and Oratory. Which Person shall be stiled the English Master.\nThe Trustees may contract with the English Master, for the Term of Five Years, or less at their Discretion, for the Sum of One Hundred Pounds a Year.\nThe English Master shall be obliged, without the Assistance of any Usher, to teach Forty Scholars, the English Tongue gramatically and as a Language; and at the same Time, according to the best of his Capacity, to instruct them in History, Geography, Chronology, Logick and Oratory; and Sixty Scholars more, for every Usher provided for him.\nThe Ushers for the Latin and Greek School, shall be admitted, and at Pleasure removed, by the Trustees and the Rector, or a Majority of them.\nThe Ushers for the English School shall be admitted, and at Pleasure removed, by the Trustees and the English Master, or a Majority of them.\nThe Trustees shall contract with each Usher, to pay him what they shall judge proportionable to his Capacity and Merit.\nNeither the Rector, nor English Master shall be removed, unless disabled by Sickness, or other natural Infirmity, or for gross voluntary Neglect of Duty continued after two Admonitions from the Trustees; or for committing infamous Crimes, and such Removal be voted by three Fourths of the Trustees; after which their Salarys respectively shall cease.\nThe Trustees shall, with all convenient Speed, endeavour to engage Persons, capable of teaching the French, Spanish and German Languages, Writing, Arithmetick, Algebra, the several Branches of the Mathematicks, Natural and Mechanick Philosophy, and Drawing; who shall give their Attendance, as soon as a sufficient Number of Scholars shall offer to be instructed in those Parts of Learning; and be paid such Salarys and Rewards, as the Trustees shall from Time to Time be able to allow.\nEach Scholar shall pay such Sum or Sums quarterly, according to the particular Branches of Learning they shall desire to be taught, as the Trustees shall from Time to Time settle and appoint.\nNo Scholar shall be admitted, or taught within the Academy, without the Consent of the major Part of the Trustees in Writing, signed with their Names.\nIn Case of the Disability of the Rector or any Master, established on the Foundation, by receiving a certain Salary, through Sickness or any other natural Infirmity, whereby he may be reduced to Poverty, the Trustees shall have Power to contribute to his Support, in Proportion to his Distress and Merit, and the Stock in their Hands.\nFor the Security of the Trustees, in contracting with the Rector, Masters and Ushers; to enable them to provide and fit up convenient Schools, furnish them with Books of general Use, that may be too expensive for each Scholar; Maps, Draughts, and other Things generally necessary for the Improvement of the Youth; and to bear the incumbent Charges that will unavoidably attend this Undertaking, especially in the Beginning; the Donations of all Persons inclined to encourage it, are to be cheerfully and thankfully accepted.\nThe Academy shall be opened with all convenient Speed, by accepting the first good Master that offers, either for teaching the Latin and Greek, or English, under the Terms above proposed.\nAll Rules for the Attendance and Duty of the Masters, the Conduct of the Youth, and facilitating their Progress in Virtue and Learning, shall be framed by the Masters in Conjunction with the Trustees.\nIF the Scholars shall hereafter grow very numerous, and the Funds be sufficient, the Trustees may at their Discretion, augment the Salarys of the Rector or Masters.\nThe Trustees to increase their Stock, may let their Money out at Interest.\nIn general, the Trustees shall have Power to dispose of all Money received by them, as they shall think best for the Advantage, Promotion and even Enlargement of this Design.\nThe Trustees may hereafter, add to or change any of these Constitutions, except that hereby declared to be invariable.\nAll Trustees, Rectors, Masters, Ushers, Clerks and other Ministers, hereafter to be elected or appointed, for carrying this Undertaking into Execution, shall, before they be admitted to the Exercise of their respective Trusts or Duties, sign these Constitutions, or some others to be hereafter framed by the Trustees in their Stead, in Testimony of their then approving of, and resolving to observe them.\nUpon the Death or Absence as aforesaid of any Trustee, the remaining Trustees shall not have Authority, to exercise any of the Powers reposed in them, until they have chosen a new Trustee in his Place, and such new Trustee shall have signed the established Constitutions; which if he shall refuse to do, they shall proceed to elect another, and so toties quoties, until the Person elected shall sign the Constitutions.\nWhen the Fund is sufficient to bear the Charge, which it is hoped, thro\u2019 the Bounty and Charity of well-disposed Persons, will soon come to pass, poor Children shall be admitted and taught gratis, what shall be thought suitable to their Capacities and Circumstances.\nIt is hoped and expected, that the Trustees will make it their Pleasure and in some Degree their Business, to visit the Academy often; to encourage and countenance the Youth, countenance and assist the Masters, and by all Means in their Power, advance the Usefulness, and Reputation of the Design; that they will look on the Students as, in some Measure, their own Children, treat them with Familiarity and Affection; and when they have behaved well, gone thro\u2019 their Studies, and are to enter the World, they shall zealously unite, and make all the Interest that can be made, to promote and establish them, whether in Business, Offices, Marriages, or any other Thing for their Advantage, preferable to all other Persons whatsoever, even of equal Merit.\nThe Trustees shall in a Body, visit the Academy, once a Year extraordinary, to view and hear the Performances and Lectures of the Scholars, in such Modes, as their respective Masters shall think proper; and shall have Power, out of their Stock, to make Presents to the most meritorious Scholars, according to their several Deserts.\nWm. Shippen\nJosh. Maddox\nB Franklin\nRobt. Strettell\nTho Lawrence\nThos Leech\nPhilip Syng\nWill: Allen\nThos: Cadwalader\nChas. Willing\nJohn Inglis\nIsaac Norris\nPhineas Bond\nTench Francis\nThos. White\nRichard Peters\nWm: Masters\nWm: Coleman\nAbram. Taylor\nLloyd Zachary\nD. Martin\nThos. Bond\nSam: M\u2019call\n\u2003Rector\nThos. Hopkinson\nJunr\nTheos: Grew\nWm Plumsted\nJo Turner\n\u2003Mathl. Professor", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "11-01-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0169", "content": "Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Cadwallader Colden, [November 1749]\nFrom: Colden, Cadwallader\nTo: Franklin, Benjamin\n[November, 1749]\nI receiv\u2019d by the last opportunity from New York the Proposals relating to the Education of Youth in Pensylvania. I have read it with much pleasure and heartily wish the Gentlemen success that are endeavouring to promote so usefull a Design. I have no objection to any thing in the proposals. I am pleased with every part of them. Tho I do not pretend to have my thoughts in any manner so well digested as yours are who have applied your self particularly to the subject (for from your generous attempts on several other occasions for the good of your Country I take you to be principally the Author of that performance) yet I believe you will not be displeased with any hints which may come from others tho\u2019 in themselves but trivial when compared with the great[ness] of the subject you have in view. While you keep the Great [end] of Education in view viz. to enable men and to incline them to be more usefull to mankind in General and to their own Country in particular and at the same time to render their own life more happy you cannot be in great danger of taking wrong steps while all of them tend to that end. But I think one of the Principal things for this purpose will be in the choice of the Trustees and Rector who is to oversee the Masters and schollars to direct both their lessons and studies in such manner as they may most effectually promote this grand purpose for which they are intended and in this choice as great a regard must be had to the heart as to the head of the Rector that he be a man that will have this great purpose allwise at heart. Such a person will find so much employment for every hour in life that he will have no time to take care of his own private affairs and therefor it will be necessary that he have so much incouragement by a proper Sallary as to make him easy in his private affairs and it may not be amiss that he have likewise a small annual gratuity from [every] schollar that as his care may increase the number of Schollars and the number will increase his trouble so he may find some benefite to himself in it. I do not think it proper that his whole subsistence should depend upon [such] gratuity because that might make him too much dependent upon the humours of the Schollars or there parents. It seems to me better that the least part of his incouragements should come that way. But as to the Masters or Teachers the greatest [part of] their incouragement may come from the rewards they are to receive from the Schollars as this is likely to make them the more assiduous and while they are under the direction of the Rector and Trustees I can see no inconveniency likely to happen by it. I am pleased with your mentioning Agriculture as one of the Sciences to be taught because I am of opinion it may be made as much a Science as any of those that are not purely Mathematicall and none of them deserve so much to be taught as this at least none more since it is truely the foundation of the Wealth and wellfare of the Country and it may be personally usefull to a greater number than any of the other Sciences. For this reason I think there should be a Professor on purpose who should likewise have contingent allowances given him for making experiments and to correspond with the noted farmers for [his] information. For this purpose and for several other reasons I am of Opinion the College would do best in the Country at a distance from the City. By this the Schollars will be freed from many temptations to idleness and some worse vices that they must meet with in the [City] and it may be an advantage to many children to be at a distance from their parents. The chief objection to the College\u2019s being in the Country I think is that the schollars cannot acquire that advantage of behaviour and address which they would acquire by a more general conversation with Gentlemen. But this I think may be remedied by obliging them to use the same good manners towards one another with a proper regard to their several ranks as is used among well bred Gentlemen [and] by having them taught Dancing and other accomplishments an easy carriage and address in Company and other Exercises usually taught Gentlemen. Their being obliged to declame or dispute or Act plays may take off that Bashfullness which frequently [gives] Schollars an aukwardness on their first appearance in publick. And as no doubt they must be allow\u2019d to go to the City [sometimes] I am of opinion the advantages from the Country are [no?] less than what may arise [from] the College\u2019s being in or near the town.\nIt is a common argument that the Power and strenth of a Nation consists in its riches and Money. No doubt money can do great things but I think the Power of a Nation consists in the knowledge and Virtue of its inhabitants and in proof of this history every where allmost shews us that the Richest Nations abounding most in Silver and Gold have been generally conquer\u2019d by poor but in some sense Virtuous nations. If Riches be not accompanied with virtue they on that very account expose a nation to ruin by their being a temptation for others to invade them while luxury the usual consequence of Riches makes them an easy prey.\nI would not oblige all the schollars to learn latin and Greek. I would be so far from making the knowledge of those languages or of any foreign language a condition of the Schollars being admitted into the Colledge that I would have all the Sciences taught in English. I am of opinion it would be of greater service to the Generality of the Schollars to have the most eminent English Authors both in prose and verse explain\u2019d to them by shewing the beauties and energy of our own language than to have the learned languages taught to them who afterwards in their course of life perhaps may never make use of them. Never the less they who are design\u2019d for the Learned Professions [viz.] Divinity, Law and Physic [ought?] to understand the learned languages and Merchants and others who may have business with other Nations ought to understand the French at least but in all cases our own language ought to be our principal care.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "12-13-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0170", "content": "Title: To Benjamin Franklin from James Logan, 13 December 1749\nFrom: Logan, James\nTo: Franklin, Benjamin\nMy Friend\n10br [December] 13 [1749]\nI wrote to him that Lewis Evans has been here yesterday to advise of T. Godfrey\u2019s Decease which I supposed had prevented his coming today the last he had appointed but that to morrow was a new one and that he might apply to my Son for his Charges. Some here would be pleased to see his Experiments [two words illegible].\nTo B. Franklin", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "12-16-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0171", "content": "Title: From Benjamin Franklin to James Logan, 16 December 1749\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: Logan, James\n[December 16, 1749]\nI send you herewith a new French piece on electricity, in which you will find a journal of experiments on a paralytic person. I also send Neal on Electricity, and the last Philosophical Transactions, in which you will find some other pieces on the same subject. If you should desire to see any of the experiments mentioned in those pieces repeated, or if any new ones should occur to you to propose, which you cannot well try yourself, when I come to fetch the apparatus they may be tried. I shall be glad to hear that the shocks had some good effect on your disordered side.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "12-17-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0173", "content": "Title: From Benjamin Franklin to James Logan, 17 December 1749\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: Logan, James\n[December 17, 1749]\nI send the Dialogues on Education, which I ascribed to Hutcheson, but am since informed they were wrote by Mr. Forbes, Professor of Philosophy in the University of Aberdeen; the same who wrote the Inquiry into the Life and Writings of Homer. I also send Milton.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "12-01-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0174", "content": "Title: Proposals for Preparing the Academy Building, [December 1749?]\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: \nWith by-laws signed and funds promised for the Academy, the trustees had next to decide on its location. Some (including Franklin at first) favored a country town as less corrupting to students\u2019 morals; others preferred Philadelphia, where James Logan offered a lot in Sixth Street. In either case a suitable building would cost a good deal of money. It may have been Franklin who proposed renting the meeting-hall part of the New Building, 100 by 70 feet, built for George Whitefield ten years before and now little used, except by Gilbert Tennent\u2019s congregation. The Academy trustees accordingly named a committee, Nov. 13, 1749, to confer with the Whitefield trustees and to get an estimate of the cost of remodeling it. It was at this point that Franklin outlined the proposals, of which only this undated fragment, in his hand, survives. The Whitefield trustees offered the entire building to the Academy, and on December 26 the Academy trustees accepted.\nFranklin\u2019s memoirs describe what happened: he had been elected one of the four trustees of the New Building, principally, he wrote, because when the Moravian member died, in order to avoid having another from the same religion, the choice after some discussion fell on Franklin, who was \u201cmerely an honest Man, and of no Sect at all.\u201d He discovered that the Whitefield trustees owed several years\u2019 ground rent as well as other debts and that, with the decline of evangelical fervor, there was scant prospect of their being discharged, to say nothing of keeping the building in repair. They had not even fulfilled their obligation to build a free school. \u201cBeing now a Member of both Sets of Trustees, that for the Building and that for the Academy, I had good Opportunity of negociating with both, and brought them finally to an Agreement.\u201d The trustees of the New Building ceded it to the Academy in exchange for discharging the debts\u2014\u00a3775 16s. 1\u00bed. The Academy also accepted the New Building\u2019s other obligations, agreeing to keep a large hall for preaching and to establish the free school for poor children. The transfer took place Feb. 1, 1750.\nFranklin took on the job of getting the building ready for students, hired the workmen, purchased the materials, and superintended the work of \u201cdividing the great and lofty Hall in Stories, and different Rooms above and below for the several Schools.\u201d The suggestion he had made in this fragment\u2014to partition the south end (or third) of the building into four rooms\u2014appears to have been adopted. Pending completion of the remodeling, instruction began, Jan. 7, 1751, and continued for several weeks in a warehouse belonging to William Allen at Second and Arch Streets.\nProposed\n[December? 1749]\nThat the South End of the New B[uilding be set] off by a substantial Partition, and divided [into four] Rooms, two on a Floor, each about 33 Feet square and the Lot fenc\u2019d off to the Street.\nThat three of those Rooms be for the Use of the Academy, to be taken for a Term of Years at a certain Rent.\nThat the Trustees of the Academy do at present defray the Expence of the Partitions, &c. and undertake to [dis]charge the Debts that arose from the Roofing [remainder missing].", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0175", "content": "Title: [From Benjamin Franklin to Jared Eliot, c. 1749]\nFrom: Read, Charles\nTo: \nThis document, consisting of the first four pages of a letter, undated and unsigned, describes the operation of the writer\u2019s farm near Burlington, N.J. It was long thought to be by Franklin and has been the basis for several discussions of his knowledge of practical agriculture. Sparks printed it (Works, vi, 83\u20136), thinking it might have been written \u201cas early as 1747;\u201d Bigelow included it in his edition (Works, II, 80\u20133); as did Smyth (Writings, ii, 383\u20136), who dated it more correctly 1749. The letter is not by Franklin, however, as George DeCou demonstrated in 1940; it was written to Eliot by Charles Read of New Jersey. For a documented account of this identification, see Carl R. Woodward, Ploughs and Politicks: Charles Read of New Jersey (New Brunswick, N.J., 1941), pp. xi-xxiv.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "05-05-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Washington/02-01-02-0003", "content": "Title: From George Washington to Lawrence Washington, 5 May 1749\nFrom: Washington, George\nTo: Washington, Lawrence\nDear Brother\nMay 5th 1749\nI hope your Cough is much mended since I saw you last, if so likewise hope you have given over the thoughts of leaving Virginia.\nAs there is not an absolute occasion of my coming down, hope you\u2019l get the Deeds acknowledged without Me; my Horse is in very poor order to undertake such a journey, and is in no likelihood of mending for want of Corn sufficient to support him; tho\u2019 if there be any certainty in the Assembly\u2019s not rising untill the latter end of May, will if I can be down by that; As my Mothers term of Years is out at that Place at Bridge Creek, she designs to Settle a Quarter on that Peice at Deep Run, but seems backward of doing it untill the Right is made good, for fear of accidents.\nIt\u2019s Reported here that Mr Spotswood intends to put down the Ferry that is kept at the Wharf where he now Lives, and that Major Frans Talliaferro intends to petition the Assembly for an Act to have it kept from his House over against my Mothers Quarter, and right through the very Heart and best of the Land; whereas he can have no other view in it but for the Conveniency of a small Mill he has on the Water side, that will not Grind above three Months in the twelve, and the great Inconveniency and prejudice it will be to us, hope it will not be granted; besides, I do not see where he can Possibly have a Landing Place on his side that will ever be Sufficient for a Lawful Landing (by reason of the steepness of the Banks;) I think we suffer enough with the Free Ferry, without being troubled with such an unjust and iniquitous Petition as that, but hope as its only a flying report he will consider better of it and drop his pretentions. I should be glad (if its not too much trouble) to hear from you in the mean while remain with my Love to my Sister Dear sir Your Affectionate Brother\nGeorge Washington", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "09-01-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Washington/02-01-02-0005", "content": "Title: From George Washington to Ann Fairfax Washington, September\u2013November 1749\nFrom: Washington, George\nTo: Washington, Ann Fairfax\n[September\u2013November 1749]\nEditorial Note\u2003The principal Washington documents extant for the years before 1752 are, in addition to the school exercises, a group of early surveys, a 1748 diary of a surveying expedition undertaken for Lord Fairfax in Virginia\u2019s Northern Neck, and the journal kept by GW of his trip with his half brother Lawrence to Barbados in 1751\u201352.\n GW kept his diary entries for the Fairfax surveying trip, which he titled \u201cA Journal of my Journey over the Mountains began Fryday the 11th of March 1747/8,\u201d in a small notebook measuring 6 \u00d7 3\u00bc inches. Together with the daily entries for the journey, GW kept detailed surveying entries which are now relatively meaningless because of changes in the terrain. Also included in the notebook but obviously dating from a later period are copies of correspondence and random notes and memoranda: A \u201cList of the Peoples Names that I have Warrants for,\u201d several fragmentary poems, and eight undated letters. The recipients of four of these letters are indicated only by first names, two letters are unaddressed, and the two remaining are to Ann Fairfax Washington and Lord Fairfax. In addition to putting the small volume to use as a letter book, GW also made a few random fragmentary notes dealing with surveying and his reading. The items in the notebook printed in this volume are: GW to Ann Fairfax Washington, Sept.\u2013Nov. 1749; to Thomas, Lord Fairfax, Oct.\u2013Nov. 1749; to Robin, 1749\u201350; to \u2014\u2014, 1749\u201350; to John, 1749\u201350; to Sally, 1749\u201350; and to Richard, 1749\u201350. The four memoranda and two poems appear under the date 1749\u201350.\n[September\u2013November 1749]\nI heartily Congratulate you on the happy News of my Brothers safe arrival in health in England and am joy\u2019d to hear that his stay is likely to be so short I hope you\u2019l make Use of your Natural Resolution and contendness as they are the only Remedys to spend the time with ease & pleasure to yourself. I am deprived of the pleasure of waiting on you (as I expected) by Aguee and Feaver which I have had to Extremety since I left which has occasioned my Return D[own].", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Washington/02-01-02-0007", "content": "Title: From George Washington to Robin, 1749\u20131750\nFrom: Washington, George\nTo: Robin\nDear Friend Robin\nAs its the greatest mark of friendship and esteem absent Friends can shew each other in Writing and often communicating their thoughts to his fellow companions mak\u27e8es\u27e9 me endeavour to signalize myself in acquainting you from time to time and at all times my situation and employments of Life and\ncould Wish you would take half the Pains of contriving me a Letter by any oppertunity as you may be well assured of its meeting with a very welcome reception my Place of Residence is at present at his Lordships where I might was my heart disengag\u2019d pass my time very pleasantly as theres a very agreeable Young Lady Lives in the same house (Colo. George Fairfax\u2019s Wife\u2019s sister) but as thats only adding Fuel to fire it makes me the more uneasy for by often and unavoidably being in Company with her revives my former Passion for your Low Land Beauty whereas was I to live more retired from yound Women I might in some measure eliviate my sorrows by burying that chast and troublesome Passion in the grave of oblivion or etarnall forgetfulness for as I am very well assured that\u2019s the only antidote or remedy that I ever shall be releivd by or only recess than can administer any cure or help to me as I am well convinced was I ever to attempt any thing I should only get a denial which would be only adding grief to uneasiness.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Washington/02-01-02-0008", "content": "From: Washington, George\nTo: Unknown\nDear Sir\nI should receive a Letter or Letters from you by the first and all oppertunetys with the greatest sense or mark of your esteem and affection whereas its the greatest Pleasure I can yet forsee of having in fairfax to hear from my Intimate friends and acquaintances\nI hope you in particular \u27e8wi\u27e9ll not Bauk me of what I so ardently Wish for.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Washington/02-01-02-0009", "content": "Title: From George Washington to John, 1749\u20131750\nFrom: Washington, George\nTo: John\nDear Friend John\nAs its the greatest mark of friendship and esteem you can shew to an absent Friend In often Writing to him so hope youl not deny me that Favour as its so ardently wish\u2019d and Desired by me its the greatest pleasure I can yet forsee of having in fairfax to hear from my friends Particularly yourself was my affections disengaged I might perhaps form some pleasures in the conversasions of an agreeable young Lady as there[\u2019s] one now Lives in the same house with me but as thats only nourishment to my former Affa\u27e8ir\u27e9 for by often seeing her brings the other into my remembrance where as perhaps was she not often (unavoidably) presenting herself to my view I might in some measure eliviate my sorrows by burrying the other in the grave of Oblevion I am well convinced my heart stands in defiance of all others but only she thats given it cause enough to dread a second assault and from a different Quarter tho. I well know let it have as many attacks as it will from others they cant be more fierce than it has been I could wish to know whether you have taken your intended trip downwards or not if you wish what success as also to know how my friend Lawrence drives on in his art of courtship as I fancy you mgt both nearly guess how it will respectively go with each of you.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Washington/02-01-02-0010", "content": "Title: From George Washington to Sally, 1749\u20131750\nFrom: Washington, George\nTo: Sally\nDear Sally\nThis comes to Fredericksburg fair in hopes of meeting with a speedy Passage to you if your not there which hope you\u2019l get shortly altho. I am almost discouraged from Writing to you as this is my fou[r]th to you since I receivd any from yourself. I hope you\u2019l not make the Old Proverb good out of sight out of Mind as it\u2019s one of the greatest Pleasures I can yet foresee of having in Fairfax in Often hearing from you hope you\u2019l not deny it me.\nI Pass the time of much more agreabler than what I imagined I should as there\u2019s a very agreable Young Lady lives in the said house where I reside (Colo. George Fairfax\u2019s Wife Sister) that in a great Measure chears my sorrow and dejectedness tho. not so as to draw my thoughts altogether from your Parts I could wish to be with you down there with all my heart but as it is a thing almost Impractakable shall rest my self where I am with hope\u2019s of shortly having some Minutes of your transactions in your Parts which will be very welcomely receiv\u2019d by Your.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Washington/02-01-02-0011", "content": "Title: From George Washington to Richard, 1749\u20131750\nFrom: Washington, George\nTo: Richard\nDear Richard\nThe Receipt of your kind favor of the 2d of this Instant afforded Me unspeakable pleasure as I am convinced I am still in the Memory of so Worthy a friend a friendship I shall ever be\nproud of Increasing you gave me the more pleasure as I receiv\u2019d it amongst a parcel of Barbarian\u2019s and an uncooth set of People the like favour often repeated would give me Pleasure altho. I seem to be in a Place where no real satis: be had since you receid my Letter in October Last I have not sleep\u2019d above three Nights or four in a bed but after Walking a good deal all the Day lay down before the fire upon a Little Hay Straw Fodder or bairskin which ever is to be had with Man Wife and Children like a Parcel of Dogs or Catts & happy\u2019s he that gets the Birth nearest the fire there\u2019s nothing would make it pass of tolerably but a good Reward and Dubbleloon is my constant gain every Day that the Weather will permit my going out and sometime Six Pistoles the coldness of the Weather will not allow my making a long stay as the Lodging is rather too cold for the time of Year I have never had my Cloths of but lay and sleep in them like a Negro except the few Nights I have lay\u2019n in Frederick Town.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Washington/02-01-02-0015", "content": "Title: Memorandum, 1749\u20131750\nFrom: Washington, George\nTo: \nMemorandom to Charge Mrs Ann Washington with 4/9 pd. the 20 of July to a Maryland Hou[se]wife as also Major Law: Washington with 1/3 ent[ered] the 15 of August 5/9 the 17 Do 2/6 Do. Read to the reign of K:John.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Washington/02-01-02-0016", "content": "Title: Poetry, 1749\u20131750\nFrom: Washington, George\nTo: \nOh Ye Gods why should my Poor Resistless Heart\nStand to oppose thy might and Power\nAt Last surrender to cupids feather\u2019d Dart\nand now lays Bleeding every Hour\nFor her that\u2019s Pityless of my grief and Woes\nAnd will not on me Pity take\nIll sleep amongst my most Inviterate Foes\nAnd with gladness never wish to Wake\nIn deluding sleepings let my Eyelids close\nThat in an enraptured Dream I may\nIn a soft lulling sleep and gentle repose\npossess those joys denied by Day", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1749", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Washington/02-01-02-0017", "content": "Title: Poetry, 1749\u20131750\nFrom: Washington, George\nTo: \nFrom your bright sparkling Eyes, I was undone;\nRays, you have, more transparent than the sun,\nAmidst its glory in the rising Day,\nNone can you equal in your bright arrays;\nConstant in your calm and unspotted Mind;\nEqual to all, but will to none Prove kind,\nSo knowing, seldom one so Young, you\u2019l Find.\nAh! woe\u2019s me, that I should Love and conceal,\nLong have I wish\u2019d, but never dare reveal,\nEven though severely Loves Pains I feel;\nXerxes that great, was\u2019t free from Cupids Dart,\nAnd all the greatest Heroes, felt the smart.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1749}
]