canal descends to the level of Syracuse. It then ascends to the Utica summit, from which is a continuous descent to the Hudson.

The canal debt, in 1826, amounted to $7,602,000; the receipts of tolls on the canal the same year, to $750,000; and the revenue from salt, and auction duties, belonging to the canal fund, to $420,000. The tolls in 1827, amounted to $859,000. It is estimated, that the reve nues arising from tolls and the canal fund, will, besides paying the interest, extinguish the canal debt in ten years, dating from 1826.*

When the canal was completed, October 26, a canal boat from Lake Erie entered the canal, which event was announced by the firing of cannon placed at suitable distances, from Lake Erie to the city of New York, and thence back again to Lake Erie.

On the 5th of November, when the canal-boat arrived at the city of New York, the day was celebrated by splendid processions, military parades, &c. &c.

In the aquatic procession, which accompanied the canal-boat, from New York to Sandy Hook, were 22 steamboats and barges. When they arrived at the Hook, Governor Clinton went through the ceremony of uniting the waters, by pouring that of Lake Erie into the Atlantic.

124. Gen. Lafayette's Visit.

Gilbert Mottier Lafayette, the Marquis de Lafayette, America's early and tried friend, was born on the 6th of September, 1757, in the province of Auvergne, now the department of Haute Loire, in France, about 400 miles from Paris.

He sprang from the ancient and illustrious family of Mottier, which for several centuries past has added the name of Lafayette. In 1774, at the age of seventeen, he was married to the Countess Anastasie de Noailles,

*Eastman's Hist. of N. Y.

daughter of the Duke de Noailles. The fortune of this lady, added to his own, increased his income to about 40,000 dollars annually; an immense revenue at that period.

The contest between Great Britain and her North American colonies, was a subject of much interest to the nations of Europe, especially to the French people. The Marquis Lafayette, fired with enthusiastic ardour in the cause of liberty, tore himself from an affectionate family and the honours of the court, and, notwithstanding the prohibition of the French court, embarked for America in January, 1777, and entered the American army as a volunteer, without compensation. The American congress, struck with his magnanimity, gave him the commission of major-general in the army of the United States.

His gallant conduct in the battle of Brandywine, (where he was wounded,) and at many other places, till the close of the war, proved him worthy of the confidence placed in him.

Lafayette likewise gave large sums for the purpose of clothing and arming the American troops.

After the close of the revolutionary war, Lafayette returned to France, where he was appointed commander of the French armies. During the furious and bloody storm of the French revolution, he was obliged to flee, and surrender himself to the Austrians, who imprisoned him in the castle of Olmutz.

Having suffered a rigorous imprisonment, for five years, he was, through the influence of Buonaparte, (afterwards emperor of France,) released, on the 25th of August, 1797.

After an absence of forty years, General Lafayette, determined once more to visit the country of his adoption. Congress hearing of his determination, offered a public ship for the conveyance of the "NATION'S GUEST;" but he politely declined their offer, and chose a private conveyance. He accordingly, with his son, George Washington Lafayette, embarked at Havre, on board the ship Cadmus, and arrived at New York, August 16, 1825.

He was received with enthusiastic demonstrations of

joy, by all classes of the American people. From New York he proceeded by land to Boston, passing through New Haven and Providence. From Boston he proceeded to Portsmouth, N. H., from whence he returned to Boston, and New York, passing through Worcester, Hartford, and Middletown. From New York he went up the Hudson, visiting Albany and other places on the river. Returning to New York, he proceeded on to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington. Here he was received by the house of representatives and senate of the United States, who voted him two hundred thousand dollars and a township of land for the important services rendered by him during the revolutionary war.

General Lafayette commenced his tour from Washington, through the southern and western states, and returned to Albany by the way of Buffalo and the grand canal. From Albany he proceeded through Springfield to Boston, where he arrived on the 16th of June, and was received by the legislature of Massachusetts, then in session. On the 17th he was present at the ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the Bunker Hill monument. He then visited the states of New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont, and returned to New York to participate in the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of American independence.

He took his final leave of New York, July 14th, visited the ex-presidents in Virginia, and soon after embarked for France, on board the frigate Brandywine, followed with the grateful benedictions of the American people.

125. Insurrection and Massacre in Southampton
County, Va.

In August, 1831, a body of sixty or seventy slaves in Southampton County, Virginia, rose upon the white inhabitants, and massacred fifty-five men, women, and

children.

The leader of this insurrection and massacre was a

He

slave by the name of Nat Turner, about thirty-one years of age, born the slave of Mr. Benjamin Turner, of Southampton County. From a child, Nat appears to have been the victim of superstition and fanaticism. stimulated his comrades to join him in the massacre, by declaring to them that he had been commissioned by Jesus Christ, and that he was acting under inspired direction in what he was going to accomplish.

In the confession which he voluntarily made to Mr. Grey, while in prison, he says, "that in his childhood a circumstance occurred which made an indelible impression on his mind, and laid the ground work of the enthusiasm which terminated so fatally to many. Being at play with other children, when three or four years old, I told them something, which my mother overhearing, said it happened before I was born-I stuck to my story, however, and related some things which went, in her opinion, to confirm it; others being called on were greatly astonished, knowing these things had happened, and caused them to say in my hearing, I surely would be a prophet, as the Lord had showed me things which happened before my birth." His parents strengthened him in this belief, and said in his presence, that he was intended for some great purpose, which they had always thought from certain marks on his head and breast. Nat, as he grew up, was fully persuaded he was destined to accomplish some great purpose; his powers of mind appeared much superior to his fellow slaves; they looked up to him as a person guided by divine inspiration, which belief he ever inculcated by his austerity of life and

manners.

After a variety of revelations from the spiritual world, Nat says, in his confession, that, "on the 12th of May, 1828, I heard a loud noise in the heavens, and the Spirit instantly appeared to me and said the serpent was loosened, and Christ had laid down the yoke he had borne for the sins of men, and that I should take it on and fight against the serpent, for the time was fast approaching when the first should be last and the last should be first-and by signs in the heavens that it would make known to me

when I should commence the great work-and until the first sign appeared, I should conceal it from the knowledge of men.-And on the appearance of the sign, (the eclipse of the sun last February, 1831,) I should arise and prepare myself, and slay my enemies with their own weapons. And immediately on the sign appearing in the heavens, the seal was removed from my lips, and I communicated the great work laid out for me to do, to four in whom I had the greatest confidence, (Henry, Hark, Nelson, and Sam.)-It was intended by us to have begun the work of death on the 4th July last.-Many were the plans formed and rejected by us, and it affected my mind to such a degree, that I fell sick, and the time passed without our coming to any determination how to commence-still forming new schemes and rejecting them, when the sign appeared again, which determined me not to wait longer."

Nat commenced the massacre by the murder of his master and family. He says, "Since the commencement of 1830, I had been living with Mr. Joseph Travis, who was to me a kind master, and placed the greatest confidence in me. In fact, I had no cause to complain of his treatment to me. On Saturday evening, the 20th of August, it was agreed between Henry, Hark, and myself, to prepare a dinner the next day for the men we expected, and then to concert a plan, as we had not yet determined on any. Hark, on the following morning, brought a pig, and Henry, brandy; and being joined by Sam, Nelson, Will, and Jack, they prepared in the woods a dinner, where about three o'clock I joined them. I saluted them on coming up, and asked Will how came he there; he answered, his life was worth no more than others, and his liberty as dear to him. I asked him if he thought to obtain it? He said he would, or lose his life. This was enough to put him in full confidence. Jack, I knew, was only a tool in the hands of Hark; it was quickly agreed we should commence at home (Mr. J. Travis') on that night, and until we had armed and equipped ourselves, and gathered sufficient force, neither age nor sex was to be spared, (which was invariably adhered to.)