death, in the 23d year of his age; the news of which, as may naturally be supposed, well-nigh brought the gray hairs of a venerable father with sorrow to the grave. It did not, indeed, immediately cost him his life, but it cost him, what is more valuable-his reason!

His fellow-prisoner was also sentenced to death; but, on making some pretended discoveries, of no considerable moment, he was reprieved. Lieutenant Moody is sensible it contains no information that can interest the reader; yet, as he preserves it as a precious relic, he persuades himself every man who is a brother will forgive his inserting an extract or two from his brother's last letter, dated November 12, 1781, from the New Gaol Dungeon, Philadelphia.

"DEAR BROTHER,

"Let me entreat you not to grieve at my fate, and the fate of my brother-soldier. Betrayed by the man on whom we depended to execute the plan proposed by Captain Beckwith, we were taken up as spies, and have been tried and condemned, and are to die to-morrow. I pray you to forgive him, as I do, and Laurence Marr also, as freely as we hope to be forgiven by our Maker.-One more request I have to make to you is, that, taking warning by my fate, you will not hereafter so often venture yourself out of the British lines. I am in irons; but, thanks to the Almighty, I still have the liberty of thought and speech. O! may I make a good use of them, and be prepared, as I ought to be, for eternity! Sentence has not been passed on us above two hours, all which time I have employed in prayer, as I will continue to do to the last moment; and, I bless God, I feel quite cheerful.”

Lieutenant Moody cannot in justice close this plain and artless narrative, already spun out to too great a length, without bearing his public testimony, feeble as it may be, in favor of, and returning his thanks, as he now most cordially does, to those brave, loyal Americans, whom, though in the ranks only, he shall always think it the greatest honor of his life to have commanded in these expeditions. They were, in general, men of some property; and, without a single exception, men of principle. They fought for what appeared to be the true interest of their country, as well as to regain their little plantations, and to live in peace under a constitution, which they knew by experience to be auspicious to their happiness. Their conduct in their new profession, as soldiers, verifies their character; they have been brave, and they have been humane. Their honesty and honor have been uniformly conspicuous. It was a first principle, in all their excursions, never to make war against private property; and this has been religiously observed. Some striking instances of their forbearance might be given, if necessary, even when they have been provoked to retaliate by private wrongs and personal insults.

I

Luther Martin.

BORN in New Brunswick, N. J., 1748. DIED in New York, N. Y., 1826.

AN EARLY VIEW OF STATE-RIGHTS.

[Information delivered to the Legislature of Maryland, etc. 1788.]

WAS of opinion that the States considered as States, in their political capacity, are the members of a federal government; that the States in their political capacity, or as sovereignties, are entitled, and only entitled originally to agree upon the form of, and submit themselves to, a federal government, and afterward by mutual consent to dissolve or alter it: That everything which relates to the formation, the dissolution, or the alteration of a federal government over States equally free, sovereign, and independent, is the peculiar province of the States in their sovereign or political capacity, in the same manner as what relates to forming alliances or treaties of peace, amity, or commerce, and that the people at large in their individual capacity, have no more right to interfere in the one case than in the other: That according to these principles, we originally acted in forming our confederation; it was the States as States, by their representatives in Congress, that formed the articles of confederation; it was the States as States, by their legislatures, who ratified those articles, and it was there established and provided, that the States as States, that is, by their legislatures, should agree to any alterations that should hereafter be proposed in the federal government, before they should be binding—and any alterations agreed to in any other manner cannot release the States from the obligation they are under to each other by virtue of the original articles of confederation. The people of the different States never made any objection to the manner in which the articles of confederation were formed or ratified, or to the mode by which alterations were to be made in that government-with the rights of their respective States they wished not to interfere. Nor do I believe the people, in their individual capacity, would ever have expected or desired to have been appealed to on the present occasion, in violation of the rights of their respective States, if the favorers of the proposed constitution, imagining they had a better chance of forcing it to be adopted by a hasty appeal to the people at large (who could not be so good judges of the dangerous consequence), had not insisted upon this mode. Nor do these positions in the least interfere with the principle, that all power originates from the people, because when once the people have exercised their power, in establishing and forming themselves into a State government, it never devolves back to them, nor have they a

right to resume or again to exercise that power until such events take place as will amount to a dissolution of their State government:-And it is an established principle, that a dissolution or alteration of a federal government doth not dissolve the State governments which compose it. It was also my opinion, that upon principles of sound policy, the agreement or disagreement to the proposed system, ought to have been by the State legislatures, in which case, let the event have been what it would, there would have been but little prospect of the public peace being disturbed thereby-Whereas, the attempt to force down this system, although Congress and the respective State legislatures should disapprove, by appealing to the people, and to procure its establishment in a manner totally unconstitutional, has a tendency to set the State governments and their subjects at variance with each other-to lessen the obligations of government-to weaken the bands of society-to introduce anarchy and confusion-and to light the torch of discord and civil war throughout this continent. All these considerations weighed with me most forcibly against giving my assent to the mode by which it is resolved that this system is to be ratified, and were urged by me in opposition to the measure.

I have now, sir, in discharge of the duty I owe to this House, given such information as hath occurred to me, which I consider most material for them to know; and you will easily perceive from this detail, that a great portion of that time, which ought to have been devoted calmly and impartially to consider what alterations in our federal government would be most likely to procure and preserve the happiness of the Union, was employed in a violent struggle on the one side to obtain all power and dominion in their own hands, and on the other to prevent it; and that the aggrandizement of particular States, and particular individuals, appears to have been much more the subject sought after than the welfare of our country.

The interest of this State, not confined merely to itself, abstracted from all others, but considered relatively, as far as was consistent with the common interest of the other States, I thought it my duty to pursue according to the best opinion I could form of it.

When I took my seat in the convention, I found them attempting to bring forward a system, which I was sure never had entered into the contemplation of those I had the honor to represent, and which, upon the fullest consideration, I considered not only injurious to the interest and rights of this State, but also incompatible with the political happiness and freedom of the States in general; from that time until my business compelled me to leave the convention, I gave it every possible opposition in every stage of its progression. I opposed the system there with the same explicit frankness with which I have here given you a

history of our proceedings, and an account of my own conduct, which in a particular manner I consider you as having a right to know-while there I endeavored to act as became a freeman, and the delegate of a free State. Should my conduct obtain the approbation of those who appointed me, I will not deny it would afford me satisfaction; but to me that approbation was at most no more than a secondary considerationmy first was to deserve it; left to myself to act according to the best of my discretion, my conduct should have been the same, had I been even sure your censure would have been my only reward, since I hold it sacredly my duty to dash the cup of poison, if possible, from the hand of a State, or an individual, however anxious the one or the other might be to swallow it.

THE

Jeremy Belknap.

BORN in Boston, Mass., 1744. DIED there, 1798.

THE SIEGE OF LOUISBOURG.

[The History of New Hampshire. 1793.]

HE harbor of Louisbourg lies in latitude 45° 55'; its entrance is about four hundred yards wide. The anchorage is uniformly safe, and ships may run ashore on a soft muddy bottom. The depth of water at the entrance is from nine to twelve fathoms. The harbor lies open to the south-east. Upon a neck of land on the south side of the harbor was built the town, two miles and a quarter in circumference; fortified in every accessible part with a rampart of stone, from thirty to thirty-six feet high, and a ditch eighty feet wide. A space of about two hundred yards was left without a rampart, on the side next to the sea; it was enclosed by a simple dike and a line of pickets. The sea was so shallow in this place that it made only a narrow channel, inaccessible from its numerous reefs to any shipping whatever. The side fire from the bastions secured this spot from an attack. There were six bastions and three batteries, containing embrasures for one hundred and forty-eight cannon, of which sixty-five only were mounted, and sixteen mortars. On an island at the entrance of the harbor was planted battery of thirty cannon, carrying twenty-eight pounds shot; and at the bottom of the harbor, directly opposite to the entrance, was the grand or royal battery of twenty-eight cannon, forty-two pounders, and two eighteen pounders. On a high cliff, opposite to the island battery, stood a lighthouse; and within this point, at the north-east part of the harbor,

was a careening wharf secure from all winds, and a magazine of naval

stores.

The streets were broad;
On the west side, near

The town was regularly laid out in squares. the houses mostly of wood, but some of stone. the rampart, was a spacious citadel, and a large parade; on one side of which were the Governor's apartments. Under the rampart were casemates to receive the women and children during a siege. The entrance of the town on the land side was at the west gate, over a draw-bridge, near to which was a circular battery, mounting sixteen guns of twentyfour pounds shot.

These works had been twenty-five years in building; and though not finished, had cost the Crown not less than thirty millions of livres. The place was so strong as to be called "the Dunkirk of America." It was, in peace, a safe retreat for the ships of France bound homeward from the East and West Indies; and in war, a source of distress to the northern English Colonies; its situation being extremely favorable for privateers to ruin their fishery and interrupt their coasting and foreign trade; for which reasons, the reduction of it was an object as desirable to them, as that of Carthage was to the Romans.

It has been said that a plan of this famous enterprise was first suggested by William Vaughan, a son of Lieutenant-Governor Vaughan of New Hampshire. Several other persons have claimed the like merit. How far each one's information or advice contributed toward forming the design, cannot now be determined. Vaughan was largely concerned in the fishery on the eastern coast of Massachusetts. He was a man of good understanding, but of a daring, enterprising and tenacious mind, and one who thought of no obstacles to the accomplishment of his views. An instance of his temerity is still remembered. He had equipped, at Portsmouth, a number of boats to carry on his fishery at Montinicus. On the day appointed for sailing, in the month of March, though the wind was so boisterous that experienced mariners deemed it impossible for such vessels to carry sail, he went on board one, and ordered the others to follow. One was lost at the mouth of the river, the rest arrived with much difficulty, but in a short time, at the place of their destination. Vaughan had not been at Louisburg; but had learned from fishermen and others something of the strength and situation of the place; and nothing being in his view impracticable, which he had a mind to accomplish, he conceived a design to take the city by surprise; and even proposed going over the walls in the winter on the drifts of This idea of a surprisal forcibly struck the mind of Shirley, and prevailed with him to hasten his preparations, before he could have any answer or orders from England.

snow.

The person appointed to command the expedition was William Pep