Embellished with a View of Mr. MILLBRAY taking leave of the HAPPY 1 Eugenio will excuse a few alterations in his piece. Speculation-Talents well applied. Hiftory of Juliet Johnson-an interefting and well written tale. The writer has our thanks for this valuable communication. We lament, however, his want of time to copy it, the original manuscript being in several places, through hafte in writing, almost unintelligible. The future correfpondence of Z. is earnestly folicited-his favours will be highly prized. The Friend-very friendly. A few more fuch friends are wanting. Junius had better stick to his trade than take up the pen. To fhoot folly' in the general scale, is agreeable to our plan; but the fhafts of Envy, perfonally directed, shall never find a place in this work. Calumniator will take the hint. To POETIC FRIENDS. Ella's Friendship, and Cakfta's Apoftrophe to Senfibility, are worthy the pens of thefe fair daughters of the Nine. Extras from a Collection of Manufcript Poems-if judiciously felected, will be very acceptable. Reflections in a Burial Ground—though not without merit, yet might be amended. Belmont, however, bids fair. D. B.-breathes no inspiration. K-in the fame fituation. The Agricultural Society of the ftate of New-York, are refpe&fully folicited for fuch communications as may be worthy public attention. Views of the country, public buildings, gentlemen's feats, &c. &c. being proper fabjects for embellifhing this work, will be thankfully received by the Editors, and have all due attention paid them. To the EDITORS of the NEW-YORK MAGAZINE, By correcting the following Errata, in the fecond volume of your Magazine, you will greatly oblige yours, &c. CURIO. IN page 433, 1ft column, forcecedendo,' read concedendo.' In page 691, column 1, line 20, for confummation,' read confirmation.' In the 29th line of the fecond column of the fame page, the words in character,' fhould have immediately followed the words beautiful and fublime.' New-York, January 19, 1792. Extract of a Letter from a Gentleman at Smyrna, to his Friend in Philadelphia, dated 15th February, 1791. TH HE inhabitants of this place have been of late exceedingly entertained with a discovery made by an English gentleman of the name of Thomas Millbray, who was midfhipman on board the Cato, of 74 guns, commanded by Admiral Hyde Parker, and which was wrecked in 1781, on the coaft of Ava. The following is copied verbatim from his journal. "By a complication of fortunate circumftances, I, with three others, escaped the deftruction which overwhelmed my commander and a haplefs crew of 534 fouls. We had no fooner reached the fhore than we were fecured by the natives, feparated, and myself carried to the northern extremity of the kingdom of Ava, and put to work on a rice plantation belonging to one of our captors. "I had been too long acquainted with adventures of enterprize to remain long in this fituation. I determined to attempt a return to Europe, by a rout thro' the northern part of Indoftan, by Ifpahan in Perfia, and then by the shortest rout to Smyrna: from which frequented port I knew I could at any time embark for my native country. "Agreeable to this plan, about midnight of the 6th of May, 1781, I bid adieu to the plains of Ava, and in twenty hours entered the dominions of the defcendant of Tamerlane. I travelled in perfect fecurity, in the garb of a Banian mendicant; and as I well understood most of the oriental dialects, it was impoffible to diftinguifh me from the character 1 affumed. "I could not help obferving, in travelling the immenfe regions of India, that in proportion as I receded from the haunts of Europeans, the manners of the inhabitants were less contaminated with the outrageous vices which infamoufly diftinguifh the western hemifphere. "I obferved, as I advanced up thefe immenfe elevations, the lands to be more and more fterile, and population by small degrees entirely to ceafe. Altho' I found fubfiftence difficult, I still proceeded, fometimes elevated on azure fummits, a neighbour of the clouds-at others, immerged in vales never illumined by the fun. "By degrees I found the country lefs rugged, and the climate more delightful: these favourable appearances grew every step more apparent, till I found myself in a perfect paradife-the ky all blue above, the ground all roseate beneath. I was regretting that fo delicious a region fhould be deftitute of occupants, when, on entering a vista of tamarinds, I faw at its termination the dwellings of men. Thefe I approached, prepared to be once more fhocked with the hedious train of turpitudinal spectres which but too frequently haunt the abodes of this world's tenants. But far otherwife; peace was in all their borders -The golden age of the poets was realized and even the common infelicities incident to humanity, were not confidered by the happy inhabitants as fubftantial evils. "The very name of an army of enormities that mar the general human vifage, was utterly wanting in their language. Altho' iron and steel were in ufe among them, in agricultural and domeftic concerns, yet I never faw thofe metals employed for hoftile purposes. There was no fuch thing as a court of justice in all the Country; for why erect tribunals to take cognizance of crimes that never exift? There were no laws, because there were no tranfgreffors. The dictates of an unfcarred confcience, and the precepts of an excellent traditional religion, were their only judicial code. "Their civil government was patriarchal in its mildest form; and as its injunctions were never improper, they never were oppofed. The arts and feiences were underflood-fhort, indeed, of their fanciful European length-yet fully equal to the wants and embellishments of decent cultivated life. The art of healing confifted chiefly in alleviatives: the very name of nofirum is not to be found in their difpenfatories. The profeffion of a merchant is unknown: they confider it as degrading to the hufbandman, not to be able to barter the productions of his own skill and industry. "They have not a wish to travel; for they are poffeffed of a tradition, that there is a world beyond their furrounding precipices, that abounds in violence and wickedness: for that world I blufhed every hour I was among them; and, altho' frequer tly required, I pertinaciously refused them its hiftory. "With respect to their own ftory, all I could furmife was, that at fome very remote period, a revolution drove them from the confines of Perfia to their prefent abode, too diftant for their enemies to purfue or their friends to difcover. But how the arts of war became totally extinguished, and thofe of peace fo perfectly retained-how they poffeffed all the fimplicity of favages without the barbarity-in fhort, how they blended the elegancies, the conveniencies, and all the decencies of life, in one perfectly happy fociety, I am yet to discover. "I left thefe delightful regions fuffused in tears: not like Adam, to launch into an unbounded wildernefs; but to re-enter the abodes of artificial mifery, rendered tenfold more difguftful by this poignant contraft." R. For A For the NEW-YORK MAGAZINE. THE CLUB.-No. XII.* Ta late meeting of our Club, a fhort time after the ufual hour of our collecting together, one of our members who had been delayed by business entered, and informed us of the account which that afternoon's poft had brought of the misfortune which had befallen our western army. Tho' but a few moments before, Cheerfulness had lighted up her smile on every countenance, and Happiness feemed to be the inmate of each bofom, yet, at the recital of this event, the fcene was inftantly changed. Penfivenefs and dejection were painted on each face, and a filence of fome length enfued, which was only interrupted by an exclamation of " poor fellows !" now and then fighed out in different parts of the room.-As feveral of thofe who had fallen in the late action at the weltward, were perfonally known to many of us, it may well be fuppofed that our former mirth and feftivity were not refumed. The evening was spent with a folemnity and gravity before unknown to us; and reflections on the policy of the late expedition, together with confiderations on the duty which every man owes to hazard his life in the fervice of his country, formed the topics of the evening's conversation. That conversation suggested the following reflections. Refpecting the juftice and policy of the late western expeditions, various opinions are entertained, and there are not wanting many who decry the measures purfued by government, with respect to the Indians, as cruel and unjuft. Among those who have cenfured these measures, there are no doubt fome who difapprove of them from the moft amiable and benevolent motives; while there are queftionlefs many, who have feized with eagerness on this opportunity to caft a cenfure on the proceedings of a government, which has gained the confidence and advanced the happinefs of the community, contrary to their repeated and confident predictions. To filence the clamours of the difaffected, is not to be expected; to remove the doubts of the wellmeaning, is a thing much to be wifhed. While it is our right and our duty to cenfure fuch measures of government as are evidently unjust, it is nevertheless equally our duty, firit, to inform ourfelves of the grounds and reafons on which those measures are founded, fo as to enable us fairly to judge of their juftice or policy. Without this information, blindly to cenfure is unjuft. At the prefent, the public mind in the Atlantic ftates feems not to be fufficiently informed to pass a judgment with propriety. It has been frequently mentioned, that repeated attempts have been made to reconcile thofe Indians by treaties, and that thofe friendly overtures have been anfwered only by repeated acts of hoftility and plunder on their part. How far thefe affertions have their foundation in fact, will no doubt foon appear. In the mean time, we may, I think, reft fatisfied, that from the prudence and benevolence of our executive, hoftile measures were not purfued, until amicable endeavours had failed: for no one, I prefume, who is in the leaft acquainted with the character of our first magißrate, can fuppofe, that measures founded as thefe are faid to be, in injuftice and cruelty, could have ever received his fanction. The truth is, that the greater *This number was intended for infertion last month, but was too late. |