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kindred spirit. The situation of his army pressed dispatch! snows and frost only quickened his motions. He hoped by one successful stroke, before the arrival of succours to the garrison, to complete his plan, and save the future effusion of much blood. He further flattered himself, that his success, if speedy, might have some influence upon parliament, in hastening a reconciliation. He understood that maxim of Fo lard" No obstacle should break our resolution, "when there is but a moment between a bad situation "and a worse"-This sentiment he expresses in his last letter with a spirit of modesty, and a sense of duty, as well as the danger attending it, which ought to be forever recorded to his glory." I shall be sorry to "be reduced to this mode of attack; because I know "the melancholy consequences. But the approaching severity of the season, the weakness of the garrison, together with the nature of the works, point it out too strong to be passed by. Fortune "often baffles the most sanguine expectations of poor "mortals-I am not intoxicated with the favours I "have received at her hands-But I think there is a "fair prospect of success.'

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Poor mortals indeed, if nothing was to remain of them after death; for while he was courting this success, and gloriously leading on his troops in the front of danger, he received the fatal stroke, which in an instant released his great spirit, to follow and join the immortal spirit of Wolfe!

O thou swift winged messenger of destruction, how didst thou triumph in that moment! the stroke

that severed Montgomery from his army, deprived them of more than a member. It reached the vitals, and struck the whole body with a temporary death. As when the forked lightning, darting through the forest, amid the black tempests of night, rends some towering oak, and lays its honours in the dust, the inferior trees which it had long sheltered from the storm, stand mournful around, so stood the astonished bands over their fallen chieftain!-nor over him alone; but over others, in their prime of glory, prostrate by his side!

Here, ye Pennsylvanian youths, second to none in virtue, let a portion of your tears be sacred to the manes of Macpherson! You remember his generous spirit in his early years, for he drank of the same springs of science with many of you now before me; and we who reached the cup to your lip, rejoice that it contributed to invigorate both him and you into wisdom and public spirit. Having finished his scholastic* education, he studied the laws of his country, under a lawyer and patriott of distinguished name; and animated by his example, as well as precepts, had become eminent in his profession, at an age when

• He was educated partly at the college of Philadelphia, and partly at that of New-Jersey. A few days before his death, he visited the very spot on which General Wolfe expired; and the reflections in his letter on this eccasion, as well as in that which he left sealed up, for his father, in case of his death in the attack upon Quebec, were such as became a Christian and a soldier. He bequeathed what little fortune he had accumulated, to his only brother, an officer in the regular army. As a reward for his services, he was appointed by the Congress, a Major in a battalion to be raised in the Delaware counties, but had received no account of this promotion. † John Dickinson, Esquire.

some have scarce begun to think of business. The love of liberty being his ruling passion, he thought it his duty in the present struggle, to offer himself to the service of his country, and he had soon an opportunity of attaining that military pre-eminence, of which he was laudably ambitious.

Enjoying a hereditary bravery, joined to a well cultivated understanding, and an active spirit, he soon became the bosom friend of General Montgomery, was his aid de camp, was entrusted with a share in the management of his most important negociations, stood by his side in the attack upon Quebec, and being, as it were, animated by one common soul, and dear to each other in life-in death, they were not a moment divided!

Here likewise fell Captain Cheeseman, of the New-York forces, covered with honour, and lamented by all who knew him, as an active and gallant officer. His particular merits, as well as the merits of some others, who shared his fate, ought to be more fully commemorated on this occasion, if proper accounts of them could be collected.

I must not, however, omit the name of the brave Captain Hendricks, who commanded one of the Pennsylvania rifle-companies, and was known to me from his infancy. He was indeed prodigal of his life, and courted danger out of his tour of duty. The command of the guard belonged to him, on the morning of the attack; but he solicited and obtained leave to take a more conspicuous post; and having led his men through the barrier, where his commanding offi

cer, General Arnold, was wounded, he long sustained the fire of the garrison with unshaken firmness, till at last, receiving a shot in his breast, he immediately expired.*

Such examples of magnanimity filled even adversaries with veneration and esteem. Forgetting the foes in the heroes, they gathered up their breathless remains, and committed them to kindred dust, with pious hands and funeral honours meet."-So may your own remains, and particularly thine, O! Carlton, be honoured, should it ever be your fate to fall in hostile fields! Or if, amid the various chances of war, your lot should be among the prisoners and the wounded, may you be distinguished with an ample return of that benevolence which you have shewn to others. Such offices of humanity, softening the savage scenes of war, will entitle you to an honour which all the pride of conquest cannot bestow-much less a conquest over fellow-subjects, contending for the common rights of freemen.

By such offices as these, you likewise give a gleam of comfort to those mourners, who mix their tears without ourt Schuylkill and Susquehannah; and to her especially, on Hudson's river, pre-emi

• These particulars were certified by General Thompson and Colonel Magaw, his commanders in the Pennsylvania rifle-regiment, and they give me this further character of him in their letter, viz. "No fatigues or duty "ever discouraged him....He paid the strictest attention to his company, "and was ambitious that they should excel in discipline, sobriety and "order. His social and domestic virtues you were well acquainted with."— †The rivers on which the parents of Major Macpherson and Captain Hendricks live.

Mrs. Montgomery.

nent in woe! Ye angels and ministers of grace, complete her consolations! Tell her, in gentlest accents, what wreaths of glory you have entwined, to adorn the brows of those who die for their country; and hovering for a while, on the wing of pity, listen to the mournful strain, flowing to a deceased husband. * Sweet ivy twin'd with myrtle, form a shade Around the tomb where brave Montgomery's laid! Beneath your boughs, shut from the beams of day, My ceasless tears shall bathe the warrior's clay; And injur'd "Freedom shall a while repair, To dwell, with me, a weeping hermit there."

Having now paid the honours due to the memo ries of our departed friends, what need I add more? Illustrious, although short, was their race! "But old age is not that which standeth in length of time, nor is measured by number of years-wisdom is the grey hair to man, and an unspotted life is old age."

To such men, Rome in all her glory would have decreed honours; and the resolve of Congress to transmit the memory of their virtues, is worthy of that magnanimity which ought to characterize public bodies. Jealous and arbitrary rulers are sparing of honours to those who serve them, lest their own should be thus eclipsed. But your lustre, gentlemen, can suffer no diminution this way; and the glory you justly bestow upon others, will only be reflected to encrease your own!

• The original lines, for which these were substituted and performed to music, are well known, viz.

"Wind gentle ever-green to form a shade,

"Around the tomb where Sophocles is laid, &c. Part of the two last lines is from an ode of Collins.

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