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thofe terrible but fleeting difafters which he had brought upon France; to fifle, under a democracy organized with exquifite and profound wisdom, the delirium and difafters of fans culotterie; to make the revolution expire under the pressure of a republican government, fufficiently powerful and fagacious to render the alliance between liberty and order eternal; to enfure happinefs to his country, to give peace to Europe, and then to return to Arcis-fur-Aube, and grow old in the midft of his children and his farm.

the gentleman), left Philadelphia for Potts town, 37 miles from the former. The morning was fuch, that all the powers of nature feemed frozen; the wind was hushed, "the rack ftood ftill," each blade of grafs was crifped, every effort of vegetation was fufpended, and the earth prefented a furface folid as a rock; in few words, the thermometer was many degrees below o. There was every fymptom of an approaching fnow ftorm. As we paffed marketftreet, our attention to ourselves was withdrawn by a tremendous fire; it While dying for the cause of huma- was the houfe occupied by the French nity, Danton was obferved to fix his minifter in flames. About 11 o'clock eyes on that Heaven which he was wor- it began to fnow, but not so as to be thy of contemplating, and whatever very difagreeable. At two we reached may have been his faults, truth will the inn at which we were to dine, half teftify two things in his behalf: he our journey done; where the warmth overturned the throne, and afterwards of an enormous fire fo exhilarated the expired on a scaffold for endeavouring. to stop the effufion of human blood which fell in torrents, under the hands of executioners, and thus fiained the foundations of the republic.

The character of Danton is one of the moft fingular we have ever contemplated; it is of a mixed nature, and partakes of the moft oppofite qualities. An unconquerable love of liberty, like that which formerly filled the bofom of the younger Cato, and a hatred to the kingly office, equal to what was profeffed by the elder Brutus, were ming led and debased with a ferocity furpaffed only in the perfons of a Tiberius, or a Caligula. In his refolution to refign his power and retire from the dictatorhip to the plough, he evidently had Sylla as his model; in the forgiveness of his enemies, Cæfar: but in his magnanimous refolution of expiating all bis former crimes by a feries of exalted virtues, each of which endangered his life, he ftands unrivalled by any flatefman of ancient or modern times.

fpirits of the company, that, in defiance of the admonitions of the prudent part of the fet, a handsome dinner was ordered to be fet down; which was not eaten and paid for till half paft four. By this time the fnow fell thick, the wind was high, and the cold intolerable. Every expedient was adopted to make us as comfortable as poffible; a large ftone, heated and wrapped in woollen cloths, laid at our feet, was much depended on as a fovereign antidote to the cold; but, alas! it was made too hot, it burnt through its covering, and we fent it hiffing through the fnow to the road. With much difficulty we arrived at Perkloming creek, 22 miles from Philadelphia, a fiream about the size of the river Trent. Its rapidity prevents its being firmly frozen in all parts. Where the road croffes it, as there was no bridge, the ice had been broken fo as to admit a carriage to ford it. Here our misfortunes began. It was nearly night; and the wind and fnow increasing, it was fettled that we fhould walk across

The Severity of a Pennfyluanian Winter the creek, while the carriages fhould be

exemplified.

got over as well as circum ances would admit. Our driver fucceeded: not fo T fix o'clock in the morning of the other; the horses terrified, and

ladies, one gentleman, and myfelf, in the water without violence, which made two phaetons (that which I was in was then fo totally ungovernable that they driven by a Negro man, the other by fairly difengaged themselves, and left

the

indeed he was. How powerful is conviction! how fierce does danger look on us when we condefcend to fear her! winter-a ftorm-night-him on whom we depended intoxicated-what a climax! Prudence refumed her feat, but her power had fled with hope. Here, again is room for reflexion. Here, in a folitary road, with no witneffes but his victims, were the great actions of the heroes of antiquity aped. At one inftant, behold the Roman plunging into the gulph; at another, fee a Fa

the phaeton and driver in the utmoft danger amongst the ice: the harness was nearly torn to pieces. Our horfes were obliged to drag out the carriage; which was not effected without difficulty and danger. Fortunately, how ever, we at laft reached an inn on the bank. Our driver was nearly exhaufted by fatigue, and frozen ftiff with his wetting. Unluckily, the lady, whofe fervant he was, gave him full permiffion to make himself comfortable while the traces of the carriage were repaired. And here, had I patience and ability, bius, cautious and circumfpect in the might I enlarge on the folly of relying only on our own judgment, contrary to mature experience, good advice, the evidence of our fenfes, and the violence of a fnow-ftorm at night! Yet, fo it happened, the lady whofe carriage we were in would proceed; it was only 15 miles farther; he could not anfwer to her father for fleeping on the road in a journey of 37 miles: therefore in defiance of the elements in arms, fnow two feet deep, a road but little frequented, fometimes mounted on precipices, and at others dragging down rocks did we afcend the carriage, like other Phaetons, to explore unknown paths befet with dangers.

Our fpirits were not in the most exalted ftate; but we relied on our driver's knowledge of the road, which he could not fee, and on the weather amending, of which there was not the leaft probability. But, that fome comfort may be derived from every fituation, our dependence on thofe plaufibilities are a proof, Behold us, two ladies and myself, plunged into a scene of troubles, not often, I believe, exceeded, the parties to efcape with life. Now did winter exhault all its vengeance; all the furious efforts of the relentless north, all the accumulated blafts concentered, thick ened with drifts of fnow, feemed levelled at us alone-no partners in diftrefs -we had braved the ftorm, and now did we feel its rage. To add to our difmay, the wind was full in our faces. "For heaven's fake, Ben, take care! How you drive! Do not go fo faft.""Why, Ben, do you ftop ?-Ben! He does not anfwer-Ben-Mercy deliver us, he is in liquor!" And fo

extreme; by a performer, in his own opinion, greater than them all. As it was impoffible to recede, we had only to pray we might efcape. We went at full fpeed; and, at one dreadful moment, we found ourselves on the extreme edge of a bank, near which the road paffed, which we have fince found to be 30 feet in height. How we efcaped, I know not. A light foon after, darted through the leaflefs branches, and offered to us an afylum. Would any one believe it! The lady refolved (and, as we were not owners of the carriage, could not effectually oppofe her), to proceed when (never fhall I forget it) the rays grew faint. All hope feemed to expire with them; and that one candle excited more emotion than I ever experienced before or fince. Our dangers increased with every step; till, at two miles from the house where we had seen the light, our troubles to all appearance ceafed; for in a canter we drove up a bank, and in an inftant were overturned. Fortunately the horfes ftopped; had they not, that moment would have been our laft: entangled in the apron, we must have been torn to pieces.. It was fomewhat fingular, we each received a contufion on our foreheads, but no other injury. Before we could difengage ourfelves, the fnow almoft ftifled us, and our limbs were nearly ufelefs from the cold. The fright feemed to have in fome measure fobered the man, who urged our imme diate departure in fearch of the houfe we had paffed, while he ftaid by the horfes till he had affiftance. As the lady whofe imprudence had occafioned all our diftafters was young and ftrong,

it was fettled fhe fhould proceed; and I was to protect the lady that could not walk fo well. View us now, wandering we knew not where; for, the fnow flew in fuch clouds that not five fteps round us were vifible; our clothes torn and driven before us, the wind howling through a thick wood on each fide, and a bed of ice under our feet, from which we could not extricate them. Many fevere falls we had; and, fo overcome with terror and cold, that it was wonderful we did not lie and fleep our laft. After impediments beyond belief, we again beheld the light; but at that inftant I vanished; and no wonder, for I walked into a cellar nine feet deep. It was too full of fnow to dread a hurt from the fall; but my attempts to emerge were vain, it was perpendicular on the fides. As foon as I could explain my fituation to the lady with me, who blinded as we were, could fcarcely imagine what had become of me, I heard voices, whom we found were coming to our relief. I was foon releafed, and at laft reached the houfe, where to our furprize we found our imprudent friend in a fainting fit, with the cufhion of the phaeton at her feet, and the family employed in aiding her recovery. They told us he had bounced at the door, which the rufhed into, exclaiming, "Oh! the lady and gentleman!" and immediately fainted. The good people, terrified at a well-dreffed perfon loaded with a long cloth cloak, and a cufhion on her arms, hardly knew what to think, but directly dispatched feveral men to explore the road. Mifs P. could give no account why fhe had felected the cushion to encumber herself, but by fuppofing it was impreffed upon her mind the fhould fave fomething, and that that firft prefented itfelf to her grafp. We were treated with the utmost kindness by the worthy Kennedys, at whofe house we were compelled to remain three days and. nights, during the moft dreadful fnow ftorm ever remembered, which drifted in fuch piles, that in fome places it flood like tremendous precipices, overhanging the walls of houfes; fences were covered, and in many cafes the roads were not difcernible at all. The

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Reflections on the Alps.

BEFORE I quit the Alps, I cannot

refrain from making a general re mark or two on the journey over fuch lofty mountains. Since I once made a tour over the Alps in my youth, I have often thought, that he who has never been in fuch mountainous parts has never seen what is moft grand, remarkable, and furprifing, in the inanimate productions of nature; and I am now confirmed in that opinion. All the ideas of power and grandeur, and irrefiftible force, that we occafionally form of human attempts, here vanish away like airy bubbles; and of the grand difpofitions of nature to the general economy of the globe, we get quite different ideas and conceptions from thofe acquired by tedious investigations and ftudies in the clofet. Thefe remarks to me feem worthy of fome farther elucidation.

The firft ideas we form to ourfelves of power and grandeur arife generally from the confideration of what mankind can do when thousands of them unite their ftrength, under one bold and enterprifing chief, to the accomplishment of fome great project. Such a power feems to us the highest that we can imagine of force and effect. When they march forth to conquer of deftroy, all mutt yield before them, and when they undertake to conftruct fome lafting work, they seem to bid defiance to nature. Defert regions are turned into fumptuous and fertile abodes of men; large cities and magnificent edifi ces ftart up as if by a new creation, to

the

the aftonifhment of the neighbouring Ogyges, have happened in various plabeholder. The thunders and the ces. apparently irrefiftible force of artillery, armies and fleets, are about the highest and grandeft that mankind in general can conceive.

It very often occurred to me during my expedition over the Alps, to hold up to my mind certain effects of nature, which, without effort, without any extraordinary exertion of her powers, might very efity withstand the combined force not only of one, but of feveral nations; and then all the for mer ideas were obliterated, and inftantaneously vanished into nothing. Ifigured to myself a vaft army, provided with all the dreadful implements of devaftation, encamped in fome one of thefe vallies, and thought how quickly fuch a force might be entirely deftroyed by the falling fragment of a rock over hanging that valley; fo little could the united force of fuch a hoft be able to effect against fo eafily poffible an occurrence. I then felt that it would be as eafy for nature to crush fuch a prodigious hoft as a moth. Inftances of the overthrow of a whole mountain might happen, even from very flight caufes, and have happened in antient times, as may every where be easily perceived in mountainous countries.

No lefs fuddenly might water floods, rush down from the lofty Alps, that fhould fweep away whole nations from the plain, with all the glories of their works. To this end nothing more is neceffary, than that in the fpring feafon when all these mountains are covered deep with fnow, this fnow fhould fuddenly be diffolved by a warm wind or the eruption of fubterraneous fire. Here then lies a dormant power, but eafily put into motion, against which the combined forces of mankind are to be accounted exactly for nothing. Indeed only he who attentively confiders the frame of the mountains, can form any clear conception of fuch violent revolutions. Yet even he who has not perfonally vifited the mountains, may gain fome notion of them from the records of hiftory. Far-fpread inundations and ravages of whole countries, fimilar to the floods of Deucalion and Hib. Mag. May, 1796.

For proofs in miniature of what I am here fpeaking of, we need only turn to what Bougner, in his account of Peru, relates concerning the floods which have at times been occafioned there by the eruption of burning mountains covered with fnow. By the like eruptions of water it has happened that all flat countries are raised fo high with heaps of fand, earth and ftones; for what is the ground on which we dwell and on which our fields are cultivated, but a heap of rubbish spread abroad from mountains overthrown? These in many places lie feveral hundred feet above the original furface of the natural earth.

The confideration of the fecond of the foregoing remarks is more agreeable. Every high mountain is a maga zine, from whence the wife creator of the world, by arrangements fimple indeed, but never enough to be admired, diftributes to lands remote and near, to animals and vegetables, the most important neceffary, water. Nothing would be more incomprehenfible to the inhabitants of plains, if they reflected, than the everflowing ftreams of water fprings, and the continual current of rivers. They muft obferve that fomewhere there must be an inexhauftible refervoir of waters from whofe fources, brooks, and rivers, receive the fupply which they bear away in fuch prodigious quantities.

He that has come acrofs lofty mountains has feen thefe inexhauftible refervoirs, and has at the fame time obferved, that they are therefore inexhauftible because they themselves are daily replenifhed from the atmosphere with fresh fupplies; and then he eafily compre hends the everlafting current of the ri

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of the fnow, where it happens to lie on warmer places, and to occafion it to drip down the rocks. In fummer the fun has fo much power as daily to melt fo much as is neceffary. Thousands of little veins run trickling under the fnow, which gradually collect from all fides into rills and ftreamlets, and feveral of thefe again unite into a brook, fome of which at length flow together and become a great river.

nature, if it were my intention to treat at large upon the fubject. But thefe few are fufficient to fhew how idly and abfurdly fome who pretend to be freethinking philofophers have judged concerning lofty mountains, in deeming them to be remnants of a devaftation of the globe occafioned by chance, or, ftill more vainly defcribe them as objects that disfigure the face of nature; and from thence would willingly conclude that a blind chance prefides over all. Precisely that which fuch unphilofophical dreamers, who hold themfelve to be the only true philofophers, produce as an infurmountable objection to the wif dom of the arrangement of nature, is to me the moft ftriking proof of the reverfe. So found and acute is the judgment of thefe people on the internal frame of nature.

It is eafy to comprehend that this magazine of fnow is never exhaufted. As much as the warmth daily melts and caufes to run off, is proportionately fupplied by the falling fnow from the atmosphere. This alone would be fufficient to the perpetual current of the ftreams and fources; but in fummer there is fill an additional caufe: on the high mountains a copious dew defcends, and even the clouds which hang about the mountains continually drop down water. I have often beheld with aftonishment how the water drops off from every plant on the mountains, fo as to make the ground all over wet. Some of the moisture collects in little CHARETTE was taken prifoner veins, and prefently runs off to augment by Travot, on the 22d March; the fmaller ftreamlets; another part he was firft taken to Angers and afterretires into the earth, and runs together wards to Nants, where he arrived on in little crevices of the rock, from the 27th at midnight. On landing whence afterwards inceffant fprings from the boat, he faid, with a figh, arife. Therefore the rocky hills are "it is here at length that the rafcally every where full of chinks in order to let off the dripping water.

Hence one of the moft furprifing arrangements of nature is readily to be accounted for. We fee at once the reafon and the defign of the aftonishing height of the alpine hills. They muft be fo high, for reaching the upper cold region of the air, that the fnow may remain upon them. We fee why thefe mountains are in their original compofition of folid rock; for, were they of earth or of foft flone, they would be gradually crumbled away by the defcending freams, and at length fettle together in low clumps, which muft occafion a general devaftation of nature, as in that cafe the above-mentioned refervoir of waters must cease.

I might adduce feveral more as plain indications of a Being fupremely wife m the appointment of mountains to

ervice of the general economy of

Some Particulars refpecting the Capture
and Death of Charette, the famous
Royalist General of La Vendée; with
Sketches of his Character.

English have conducted me.”—This was the only inftance in which he teftified any emotion. He was conducted to the houfe of Bouffai, where he afked for a glass of water and a moment of repofe. He retired and flept foundly.

The following morning, at nine o'clock, he was taken before the general Dulith, and underwent an interrogatory. He refused to answer feveral queftions. Being interrogated refpecting De la Roberie, he faid, "that he did not know a greater fcoundrel, that he fought, it was true, for a counter-revolution, but that he difavowed him as not being of his party." He was reconducted under a ftrong guard to prifon. The cries of Vive la Republique," was heard from an immenfe crowd as he paffed along; but whether it was from the military attendance, or from an amelioration

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