1814," was minutely examined by Mr. Monroe and suite. In the evening the President received the visits of a number of citizens."

The town of Stonington forms the south-east corner town in the State, and is situated upon Long Island Sound. The compact part of it is incorporated into a Borough;, and is inhabited by a people of great enterprize. The unparalleled courage and cool resolution with which it was defended in the last war, will be a theme of patriotic exultation, as long as its rocky foundation shall remain unmoved, and as long as patriotic valour shall find admirers. Although the Stonington band of twenty did not, like the Spartan band of three hundred, fall victims to their courage, yet it was no less conspicuous than theirs; and the point at Stonington, like the Defile at Thermopyla, will forever be celebrated by the historian. The President must have reflected, with all the pleasure of delight, that so long as the Republic had such defenders, it was safe.

Upon the morning of the 28th, he entered the Enterprize under a national salute, and, by a propitious breeze, was wafted in this favourite vessel, (that has compelled a Barbarian corsair and an English sloop of war, to strike their flags) to the island of Rhode Island.

The prescribed limits of this work forbids me the gratification and the grief of giving a minute geographical and historical account of this, which, in the estimation of American and European travellers, is the most beautiful island attached to the continent of America: It is situated near the mouth of Providence river, and is approached from the north by Bristol Ferry-from the south-west over Narraganset Bay. Upon entering

upon the island from the Ferry, the traveller begins gradually to ascend. When he has reached the highest part of it, admiration compels him to stop and survey, with his eye, the surrounding scenery. Upon the west, he beholds a noble stream uniting with the ocean, and vessels of the heaviest burthen ascending it to the flourishing town of Providence, thirty miles above. To the north, he catches a distant view of the delightful towns of Bristol and Warren. To the east and the south, he beholds the majestic waves of the Atlantic, washing the shores of this delightful island. Could he gaze with the poetic eye and fervent imagination of a Moore, he could, with him, exclaim,

"O! nature, how bless'd and bright are thy rays,

"O'er the face of creation enchantingly thrown." In the midst of these raptures he would pause. He would reflect that the river and the ocean that surrounds this island, the boasted land of freedom, has long borne upon their bosoms the unoffending natives of the continent of Africa. Much of the wealth that has enabled its inhabitants to increase the charms of nature by the magnificent structures of art, has been acquired by the detestable traffic in human flesh. While the moral spectator is surveying the highly cultivated fields of this enchanting island, and upon the banks of this noble river, he will think of Aceldema, the field of blood and remember that the fertile fields of the South would now be cultivated by American freemen instead of African slaves, had it not been for the reprehensible and avaricious enterprise of the slave merchants of the North.

:

I hope to be excused for expressing my feelings upon the subject of slavery, and for introducing the following paragraph from Robbins' Journal, pages 132, 133.

"It is upon this coast (Guinea) that the Slave Trade, has so long, to the indelible disgrace of the Christian world been prosecuted. The inhabitants are described, by all historians, as mild and peaceable. Possessing a country of great fertility; having no means of making conquests, or extending dominion, they remain where nature has placed them, unmoved by the sordid demands of avarice, or the more splendid and guilty calls of ambition. The different tribes or kingdoms, sometimes make war upon each other; but they are urged on to warfare by European and American merchants, to capture each other to furnish slave ships with their cargoes. With a few paltry toys, calculated to catch the fancy of untutored barbarians, they induce the natives to prey upon each other, and exchange their countrymen for baubles. After doing this, a Christian merchant excuses himself by saying the Africans enslave each other! This reasoning may be conclusive before a tribunal of slave merchants assembled in a princely mansion, that owes its splendour to human blood ; but all the courts of Europe have very recently, by common consent, united to wipe the foul stain from the character of their respective nations, impressed upon them by this inhuman, detestable, and diabolical traffic. The Constitution of the United States is the first one that absolutely prohibited it."

As the ancient statesmen of our Republic prohibited this traffic, so its modern ones, with a benevolence truly sublime, are endeavouring to restore wretched Africans to their native country, by the measures of the "Colonization Society." Its officers are,

President.

Hon. Bushrod Washington.

Vice Presidents.

Hon. William H. Crawford, of Georgia.
Hon. Henry Clay, of Kentucky.

Hon. William Phillips, of Massachusetts.
Col. Henry Rutgers, of New-York.

Hon. John E. Howard,
Hon. Samuel Smith,

Hon. John C. Herbert,

of Maryland.

John Taylor, Esq. of Virginia.

Gen. Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee.

Robert Ralston, Esq.

Richard Rush, Esq.

Gen. John Mason, District of Columbia.

Samuel Bayard, Esq. New-Jersey.

Managers.

Francis S. Key, Walter Jones, John Laird, Rev. Dr, James Laurie, Rev. Stephen B. Balch, Rev. Obed B. Brown, Benj. G. Orr, John Peter, Edmund J. Lee, Wm. Thornton, Wm. H. Fitzhugh, Henry Carroll.

F. B. Caldwell, Esq. Secretary.

John G. M'Donamb, Recording Secretary.
David English, Treasurer.

The President left the Enterprize, and, by a Reveuue Cutter was landed at Newport, upon Rhode-Island, on the 28th.

and

"On his arrival in the harbour, salutes were fired from Forts Wolcott and Adams, the bells were rung colours displayed on the shipping, and in various parts of the town; and on his leaving the Revenue Cutter, salutes were fired from the Artillery, on Gardiner's wharf, and from the Cutter.

On his landing, the President, introduced by Com. O. H. Perry, was received by the Committee of the town, and by a great number of naval and military officers, and by them conducted to his house, under a military escort, commanded by Lieut. Col. Tower, consisting of the Artillery Company of the town of Newport, and the first and third Companies of militia, commanded by Captains Shaw and Place; followed by a procession of civil and military officers, citizens, and strangers.

In the course of the day, the President visited and inspected the garrisons of Forts Wolcott and Adams, with the order and neatness of which, he expressed himself highly gratified. He also made an excursion to Tomini Hill, a very commanding height in the vicinity of that town.

His Excellency Gov. Knight arrived in town from Providence, at 12 o'clock, on Saturday, in the SteamBoat, and in the same afternoon waited upon, and was introduced to the President.

On Sunday, the President attended divine service in the morning, at Trinity Church; in the afternoon, at the Rev. Dr. Patten's meeting-house, and in the evening at the Rev. Mr. Elton's meeting-house. On Monday morning he received the visits of a great number of our citizens; and at 11 o'clock proceeded in a carriage, accompanied by the Committee of Arrangements, Governour Knight, Com. O. H. Perry, and several other gentlemen, to view the several heights on this Island, the Stone Bridge, and the heights at Tiverton.