Morven, Stockton's Estate. Desolated by the British. Sufferings and Death of the Owner. Annis Stockton. We stopped the mill, who gave me a narrative of events there, substantially as related. at Morven, in the suburbs of Princeton. This is the homestead estate of Commodore Stockton, and the residence, during the Revolution, of his paternal grandfather, Richard Stockton, MORVEN. one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. There, affluence and taste lent its power in dispensing its blessings to the poor, and in creating the joys of social intercourse, before the Revolution; there, suffering and woe held terrible rule after Cornwallis and his army swept over the plains of New Jersey. Like others of the signers of the great Declaration, Mr. Stockton was marked for peculiar vengeance by the enemy. So suddenly did the flying Americans pass by in the autumn of 1776, and so soon were the Hessian vultures and their British com panions on the trail, that he had barely time to remove his family to a place of safety before his beautiful mansion was filled with rude soldiery. The house was pillaged; the horses and stock were driven away; the furniture was converted into fuel; the choice old wines in the cellar were drunk; the valuable library and all the papers of Mr. Stockton were committed to the flames, and the estate was laid waste. The plate had been hastily buried in the woods, in boxes. A treacherous servant revealed their place of concealment, and two of the boxes were disinterred and rifled of their contents; the other was saved.' Mr. Stockton and his family took refuge with a friend in Monmouth county. His place of concealment was discovered by a party of refugee Loyalists, who entered the house at night, drag. ged him from his bed, and, treating him with every indignity which malice could invent, hurried him to Amboy, and from thence to New York, where he was confined in the loathsome provost jail. There he suffered dreadfully; and when, through the interposition. of Congress, he was released, his constitution was hopelessly shattered, and he did not live to see the independence of his country achieved. He died at Morven, in Princeton, in February, 1781, blessed to the last with the tender and affectionate attentions of his Annis, whom he called "the bost of women." Night and day she was at his bed-side, and when his spirit was about to depart, she wrote, impromptu, several verses, of which the following is indicative of her feelings : "Oh, could I take the fate to him assign'd, And leave the helpless family their head, Morven is a beautiful spot, and, hallowed by such associations, it is exceedingly attractive to the resident and stranger. This sketch is from the lawn in front, which is shaded by venerable pines and other ornamental trees. The mansion stands upon level grounds, beautifully laid out, having carriage entrances from the street. Every thing was covered with snow when I was there, and dreariness prevailed where summer charms delight the visitor. * Mrs. Ellett, in an interesting biography of Annis Stockton, the wife of the signer, says that Mrs. Field, her daughter, now residing in Princeton, has several pieces of silver that were in this box. She also relates that when Mrs. Stockton (who was quite a literary lady) heard of the destruction of the library, she remarked that there were two books in it she would like to have saved the Bible, and Young's Night Thoughts. Tradition says that these two books were the only ones left. Mrs. Field has in her possession the original portraits of her father and mother. Both were pierced with bayonets.-Women of the Revolution, iii., 16. A biographical sketch of Mr. Stockton may be found among those of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, printed in the Supplement. His portrait is in the frontispiece of this volume. Nassau Hall. Governor Belcher's Donation. Rittenhouse's Planetarium. Life of its Inventor It Nassau Hall, the principal edifice of the College of New Jersey, is a spacious building, one hundred and seventy-six feet long, fifty wide, and four stories high, built of stone. was erected in 1757. The college was commenced by Jonathan Dickinson, in Elizabethtown, and was first incorporated in 1756. Governor Belcher was one of its earliest and most efficient patrons. He made "generous donation of his library of books,' with other valuable ornaments," to the college; and, upon his recommendation, Nassau Hall was so called in memory" of the glorious King William the Third, who was a branch of the illustrious house of NASSAU." The Hall stands in the center of spacious grounds, fronting on the principal street in Princeton. The edifice on the left of Nassau Hall, containing the college library and the philosophic hall, was erected after a conflagration in 1802. The library contains about eight thousand volumes, and the libraries of two societies of the institution about four thousand more, making twelve thousand volumes. There is also a mineralogical cabinet, a museum of natural history, and a fine collection of drawings made for the purpose of elucidating lectures on astronomy and architecture. There is also a good collection of philosophical apparatus there, which includes that wonderful piece of scientific mechanism, the planetarium of Doctor David Rittenhouse. Through the politeness of Professor MacLean, I was permitted to examine its construction, and view the wonderful precision with which the machinery performed its difficult functions. On the front is inscribed, "INVENTED BY DAVID RITTENHOUSE, A.D. 1768; REPAIRED AND Extended by HENRY VOIGHT, 1806; BOTH OF PHILADELPHIA. Dr. Gordon, writing in 1790, says of this planetarium, "There is not the like in Europe. An elegant and neatly-ornamented frame rises perpendicular near upon eight feet, in the front of which you are presented, in three several apartments, with a view of the celestial system, the motions of the planets around the sun, and the satellites about the planets. The wheels, &c., that produce the movement are behind the wooden perpendicular frame in which the orrery is fixed. By suitable contrivances, you in a short time tell the eclipses of the sun and moon for ages past and ages to come; the like in other cases of astronomy." It is said that it was Lord Cornwallis's intention to carry this planetarium away, and take it to England with him; but the Americans kept him too busily engaged in affairs of greater personal moment, while in Princeton, to permit him to plunder the college of this great treasure. This intention on the part of an enemy was not as reprehensible as the proposition which Silas Deane, the American commissioner, made, who suggested the propriety of presenting it to the French government as a bonus for its good will! I have mentioned that the first cannon-ball which entered Nassau Hall, when Washington opened a fire upon it, passed through the portrait of George the Second, and destroyed it. The frame was uninjured, and left suspended upon the wall. It is alleged that Wash 1 It consisted of four hundred and seventy-four volumes, many of them very rare and of great value. The Hall being used alternately by the American and British troops during the war, a large portion of the books were purloined or destroyed. The few that remained were destroyed by fire in 1802, when the Hall was burned, leaving nothing but the strong walls, which were not materially injured by the fire. 2 David Rittenhouse was born near Germantown, Pennsylvania, on the 8th of April, 1732. His ancestors were from Holland. His early life was spent in agricultural pursuits, and was marked by a love of mathematical studies. Feeble health would not allow him to pursue the labor of a farm, and he became, by self-instruction, a proficient clock and mathematical instrument maker. It was while working at his trade ne planned and executed his orrery, a piece of mechanism far superior, for its intended purposes, to any thing before constructed. It was purchased by the College of New Jersey. Another was made by him, after the same model, for the College of Philadelphia. He pursued his trade in that city for several years. His first philosophical publication was an account of his calculations of the transit of Venus, as it was to happen on the 3d of June, 1769. He observed the phenomenon, a spectacle never seen but twice before by an inhabitant of earth, and he was so much affected by its proof of the accuracy of his calculations, that he fainted. He was engaged in government surveys, fixing territorial boundaries, &c., during the Revolution, and became one of the leading practical philosophers of the day. On the death of Franklin in 1791, he was chosen president of the Philosophical Society, which office he held by annual election until his death. He was treasurer of Pennsylvania from 1777 to 1789. In 1792 he was appointed director of the Mint of the United States, but his ill health compelled him to resign the office in 1795. He died on the 26th of June, 1796, aged sixty-four years. His birth-place is yet standing, a mile west of Germantown. Portraits of Washington and Mercer by Peale. Character of the College of New Jersey. White Hall ington, in order to make good to the college the damage sustained by the cannonade, made the trustees a present, from his private purse, of two hundred and fifty dollars, which sum PEALE'S WASHINGTON. they expended in procuring a full-length portrait of the commander-in-chief. It was painted by Charles Wilson Peale, and occupies the identical frame in which hung the king's portrait. The annexed sketch is an outline of this interesting picture. In the back-ground is seen Nassau Hall, and in the middle and fore-ground a sketch of the battle of Princeton, in which the death of Mercer is represented. The portrait of Mercer there given was painted from his brother, who sat for it, and who greatly resembled him. It was considered a good likeness by those who knew the general. The portrait given. below I copied from Peale's picture, in which I have preserved the languid expression of a wounded man, as given him by the artist. On the left is seen a portion of the skirt of Washington's coat, and his chapeau. Many pleasing memories crowd upon the mind of the visitor to this ancient seat of learning, where so large a number of the active young men of the Revolution who lived in the Middle States were educated. Under the guidance of the learned and patriotic Dr. Witherspoon, who in the pulpit, academic hall, or leg islative forum, was the champion of good, descendant of John Knox, the noble Scotch it was the nursery of patriots. He was a lineal Of the meetings of Congress at Princeton in 1783, and the Farewell Address of General Washington to the armies November 2, of the United States, written at Rocky Hill, a few miles distant, I shall hereafter write. Let 1783. us now return to Trenton. GENERAL MERCER. As I hoped and anticipated, the storm that came down so furiously, on my return from M Conkey's Ferry, subsided during the night, and the morning sun came forth, only half hidden by broken clouds. Accompanied by Mr. Smythe, my companion on the previous day when I visited the ferry, I went out early to view and sketch localities of interest about Trenton, all of which are given in preceding pages, except " White Hall," a large stone building, standing on the south side of Front Street. This was used for barracks by the Hessians during their occupancy of Trenton in 1776. The Floral Arch in Honor of Washington. His triumphal Journey. I called upon Stacey G. Potts, Esq., who kindly permitted me to copy a picture in his possession, painted by G. W. Flagg, and illustrating the interesting scene of the capture of Emily Gieger, an incident of one of Greene's Southern campaigns. The picture and narrative will be found in another part of this work. Mr. Potts informed me that the floral arch erected in honor of Washington, while on his way from Mount Vernon to New York City to take the oath of office as President of the United States, was erected upon the bridge over the Assanpink, close by the " Stacey Mill," seen in the picture on page 26. The arch was preserved on the premises of the Misses Barnes, near the Episcopal church in Warren Street, until 1824, when it was placed in front of the State House to grace the reception of La Fayette. Remains of the arch, when I visited Trenton, were in the possession of Dr. Francis Ewing of that city, and supported the branches of a venerable rose-bush in his garden. With a notice of the events connected with that arch we will close the historic volume, and bid adieu to Trenton. The journey of Washington from Mount Vernon to New York was like a triumphal march. He had hardly left his porter's lodge when he was met by a company of gentlemen from Alexandria, who escorted him to that town. Every where the people gathered to see him as 1 As the address delivered to Washington on that occasion may be considered as the heartfelt sentiments of his neighbors and friends, its insertion here, with his reply, seems appropriate. The address was in the following words : 66 'Again your country commands your care. Obedient to its wishes, unmindful of your ease, we see you again relinquishing the bliss of retirement, and this, too, at a period of life when nature itself seems to authorize a preference of repose! "Not to extol your glory as a soldier; not to pour forth our gratitude for past services; not to acknowledge the justice of the unexampled honor which has been conferred upon you by the spontaneous and unanimous suffrages of three millions of freemen, in your election to the supreme magistracy, nor to admire the patriotism which directs your conduct, do your neighbors and friends now address you. Themes less splendid, but more endearing, impress our minds. The first and best of citizens must leave us; our aged must lose their ornament; our youth their model; our agriculture its improver; our commerce its friend; our infant academy its protector; our poor their benefactor; and the interior navigation of the Potomac (an event replete with the most extensive utility, already, by your unremitted exertions, brought into partial use) its institutor and promoter. "Farewell! go, and make a grateful people happy, a people who will be doubly grateful when they contemplate this recent sacrifice for their interest. "To that Being who maketh and unmaketh at his will, we commend you, and, after the accomplishment of the arduous business to which you are called, may he restore to us again the best of men and the most beloved fellow-citizen!" To this touching address, Washington, with faltering voice-faltering with emotion-returned the following answer: "GENTLEMEN,-Although I ought not to conceal, yet I can not describe the painful emotions which I felt in being called upon to determine whether I would accept or refuse the presidency of the United States. The unanimity in the choice, the opinion of my friends communicated from different parts of Europe, as well as America, the apparent wish of those who were not entirely satisfied with the Constitution in its present form, and an ardent desire on my own part to be instrumental in cementing the good-will of my countrymen toward each other, have induced an acceptance. Those who know me best (and you, my fellow-citizens, are, from your situation, in that number) know better than any others my love of retirement is so great that no earthly consideration short of a conviction of duty could have prevailed upon me to depart from my resolution never more to take any share in transactions of a public nature; for, at my age, and in my circumstances, what prospects or advantages could I propose to myself from embarking again on the tempestuous and uncertain ocean of public life? "I do not feel myself under the necessity of making public declarations in order to convince you, gentlemen, of my attachment to yourselves and regards for your interests. The whole tenor of my life has been open to your inspection, and my past actions, rather than my present declarations, must be the pledge of my future conduct. "In the mean time, I thank you most sincerely for the expressions of kindness contained in your valedictory address. It is true, just after having bid adieu to my domestic connections, this tender proof of your friendship is but too well calculated still further to awaken my sensiblity, and increase my regret at parting from the enjoyments of private life. "All that now remains for me is to commit myself and you to the protection of that beneficent Being who, on a former occasion, hath happily brought us together after a long and distressing separation. Per Washington's Reception by the Ladies of Trenton. he passed along the road, and every town sent out its first citizens to meet him on his approach. Entertainments were given in his honor, and public addresses were received by him and answers returned. Militia companies escorted him from place to place, and his approach to the principal cities was announced by the firing of cannon and the ringing of bells. At Trenton, his reception was of a peculiar nature, full of pure sentiment and the most loyal patriotism. There, a little more than twelve years before, one of his most brilliant military feats was achieved, and it was a fitting place for an unusual display of respect and reverence. The ladies took the matter in hand, and upon Trenton Bridge they caused to be erected an arch, which they adorned with laurel leaves and flowers from the forests and their hot-houses, and the first spring contributions from their gardens. Upon the crown of the arch, in large letters, formed of leaves and flowers, were the words, "DECEMBER 26th, 1776;" and on the sweep beneath was the sentence, also formed of flowers, "THE DEFENDER OF THE MOTHERS WILL BE THE PROTECTOR of the DaughteRS." Beneath this arch the president elect was obliged to pass on entering Trenton. There he was met by a troop of females. On one side a row of little girls, dressed in white, and each bearing a basket of flowers, were arranged; on the other side stood a row of young ladies similarly arrayed, and behind them were the married ladies. The moment Washington and his suite approached the arch, the little girls began to strew flowers in the road, and the whole company of the fair sang the following ode, written for the occasion by Governor Howell :1 After passing the arch, the general turned his horse's head toward the choir, and listened to this tribute of sweet voices with much emotion. After receiving the salutations of the citizens, Washington handed to the Reverend J. F. Armstrong a note acknowledging his obligations to the ladies of Trenton.2 The whole scene was one of exceeding interest. A hundredhaps the same gracious Providence will again indulge me. Unutterable sensations must, then, be left to more expressive silence, while from an aching heart I bid you all, my affectionate friends and kind neighbors, farewell!" In the afternoon of the same day, Washington, accompanied by his neighbors, proceeded from Alexandria to Georgetown, where a number of citizens from the State of Maryland had assembled to receive him; and thus he went with escort after escort, formed at different points on his journey. Gray's Bridge, over the Schuylkill, at Philadelphia, was splendidly decorated with a triumphal arch of laurel, with laurel shrubbery at each end. As Washington passed under it, a civic crown, unperceived by him, was let down upon his head by a youth decorated with sprigs of laurel, and crowds of people lined the avenue to the city through which he passed to a grand reception in Independence Hall. 1 Governor Richard Howell was a native of Delaware. He commanded a New Jersey regiment from 1776 to 1779, when, in consequence of a new arrangement of the army, he resumed the profession of the law. In 1788 he was appointed clerk of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, which office he held until June, 1793, when he was chosen governor of the state. To this office he was elected eight years successively. He died April 28th, 1802, aged forty-seven years. The following is a copy of the note: "General Washington can not leave this place without expressing his acknowledgments to the matrons and young ladies who received him in so novel and grateful a manner at the triumphal arch in Trenton, and for the exquisite sensation he experienced in that affecting moment. The astonishing contrast between his former and actual situation at the same spot, the elegant taste with which it was adorned for the present occasion, and the innocent appearance of the white-robed choir who met him with the congratulatory song, has made such an impression upon his remembrance as, he assures them, will never be effaced. "Trenton, April 21st, 1789 " This note was read to the ladies, who were called together at the house of Judge Smith, and then depos |