Great Britain may still be traced. Can a true Englishman ever esteem the man that does not love his own country, whatever that country may be? The city of New-York, considered in reference to its situation, its climate, and its innumerable advantages, should seem to be the chosen spot of all the earth, where undefiled religion, where freedom and peace; where science with keenest eye; literature most exalted and refined; where all the social virtues and graces should delight to dwell. To an enlightened Philanthropist, how revolting the thought, that such prospects should be obscured by the darkening influence of a group of beings, too grovelling to feel gratitude for what they possess; to desire improvements of which they cannot appreciate the excellence; or to promote principles which they have never been taught to revere." [It is intended to give an answer to this.] ARTICLE IV. SEAT OF MR. JEFFERSON, AT MONTICELLO. (WITH A SKETCH.) The mansion-house of Mr. Jefferson-a chaste structure, reared on his own model after the principles of Palladio-occupies the summit of an eminence, constituting a part of the southwest mountain of Virginia, about six hundred feet elevated above a branch of the James River, which meanders at its base. This eminence, the ascent to which, following the windings of the road, is about one mile and a half, is of a pyramidical form,—and originally terminated so nearly in a point, that Mr. Jefferson was under the necessity of levelling the apex to obtain sufficient surface for the location of his dwelling, for its subordinate constructions, and for a lawn of moderate dimensions. The prospect, for compass and for the variety of its objects, is almost unrivalled. On the south and east, the horizon is closed at a distance of forty miles, leaving an intervening space of luxuriant forest, spotted with farm-houses and hamlets, and intersected at intervals by silvery lines of the James River, which through an occasional vista gleam on the sight. On the west and towards the north, the blue ridge of Virginia, commencing at a distance of about twenty, and terminating at about one hundred and thirty miles, bounds the view. A cursory survey presents it as an uninterrupted parapet of deep azure, protecting a level and beautiful expanse of country, which spreads itself, in the similitude of a glacis, from the blue ridge to the southwest mountain. A critical examination exhibits it broken into numberless nodes and headlands, singularly varied, but not so much so as to violate the conceptions of beauty or to offend the taste. The dwelling of Mr. Jefferson, like its illustrious occupant, is hastening to decay. The effects of time are left unrepaired, to become evidences of dilapidation and neglect;-but, in this state, the structure harmonizes with the relations of its sage. It holds a character of unique and solitary grandeur, elevated above the surface of ordinary things, though wasting into ruin under the attrition of years. It is difficult to contemplate in calmness, these objects of vision-in themselves imposing,-associated with the history of him who is the great object of our veneration. The retrospection of his services, and of the power which he wielded, in the institution of our government, blends with the imagination of his speedy and inevitable alienation from us, in the composition of profoundly interesting and solemn emotions. They point to the achievements of our fathers-our own happy condition-the future growth of our country-and the imagination of her destinies. Based on such recollections of what has passed, and hopes of what is to come, there is raised in the heart, a monument, to those who as agents or instruments have been influential in producing them, the duration of which will be commensurate with that of the principles of our government—the virtue of patriotism -or the property of freedom. ARTICLE V. MONUMENT AT WEST POINT TO THE MEMORY OF LIEUT. COLONEL WOOD. An act so honourable to a citizen, as this is to Major-General Brown, has not usually passed so long without some notice from the press, to attract the meed of public approbation. This memorial was given to the name of Wood, solely from the high regard of his Commander, for the devoted gallantry and talents of the deceased; and not (as might perhaps be imagined from a word in the inscription) as a tribute to the feeling of personal attachment. They had never met, until they met as officers, in the year of the campaign in which the Lieut. Colonel fell and though the attachment of friendship existed between them, it was formed from their association in the hardships of service. In the fall of Wood, the state of New-York has lost a son, whose high qualities gave the promise of becoming her brightest ornament in the military service of the republic. : TO BRIGADIER GENERAL SWIFT. Head-Quarters, New-York, } SIR, I think it proper to express to you, as Chief of the corps of Engineers, the high sense I entertain of the services of Colonel M'Ree, Lieutenant Colonel Wood, Captain Douglass and Lieutenant Story, who served with my division on the Niagara in 1814. They were all greatly distinguished; but Colonel M'Ree and Lieutenant Colonel Wood have particular claims upon me for the zeal and ability, with which they entered upon the execution of every enterprise, having in view the honour of my command, and for the ardour and talent which they uniformly displayed. Wood fell:--The occasion and manner of his death secure to him the patriot soldier's best reward-pure and imperishable fame. To this I can add nothing;-but, as a tribute of my respect for the hero and the man, I request you to cause a monument to be erected to his memory at my expense.-Let it stand near the Military Academy at West Point, and though it cannot elevate his name, it may stimulate the soldiers of his school to die like him, "without a feeling but for the honour of their country and the glory of her arms." I am, Sir, very respectfully, yours, JACOB BROWN. SIR, In the name of the Corps of Engineers, I request you to accept their acknowledgments, for the distinguished respect which you render to the talents and services of Colonel M'Ree, the late Lieutenant Colonel Wood, Captain Douglass and Lieutenant Story, in your letter of the 12th of September. In compliance with your wishes a marble Obelisk will be erected to the memory of Lieutenant Colonel WOOD, in front of the Military Academy at West Point, upon which will be inscribed the following tribute to departed worth: VOL. I. 67 The erection of monuments in honour of those who have given all, that can be expected from humanity, to their country, is worthy of an enlightened Republic. The services of the great and virtuous dead may thus be continued to posterity, by the incentives to embrace their example, which these memorials furnish. I have the honour to be, General, your respectful humble servant, J. G. SWIFT. This Obelisk has been erected, with the inscription given in the letter of General Swift, at West Point. We will attempt no description of the monument, as we purpose to give an engraving of it in a future number. FELL IN THE ATTACK UPON PLATTSBURGH. [From a Plattsburgh Paper, of 1817.] "Col. Wellington.-Major Worth, and the officers stationed at this post, have taken up the remains of Col. Wellington, and a lieutenant of his regiment, who were killed in Beekmantown, on the 6th of September, 1814, and deposited them in the burying-ground in this village, near the spot where the American and British officers, who fell on the 11th Sept. of the same year, were entombed. "The funeral ceremonies were performed on Monday, the 3d inst. (May.) "The procession was formed at the cantonment, and proceeded through the village to the burying-ground, escorted by Major Worth's company of Infantry with arms reversed. "Col. Wellington commanded the 3d Buffs, and led the advance of the British army through Beekmantown. He was killed about six miles west of this village." THE CORONACH! The sun shone bright when the reveillie beat, A rude lonely retreat, where a stranger slept, He slept where he fell, in a dark wild dell, They bore him with care to a holier grave; Is he a kinsman near, who stands o'er the bier, No-'tis not a kinsman who mourns o'er the dead, But a foeman, who bled,-where Wellington shed a The 3d regiment British Foot, commonly called "the Old Buffs," from their facings. [b The officer alluded to is brevet Major William J. Worth, of the 2d U. S. Infantry,-now commanding the Battalion of Cadets at West Point.] |