offensive man, and upright withal, begged me to appear for him, and exert myself in his behalf, giving me a lib. oral fee at the same time. I undertook his defence; the trial came on in a few days. I represented the thing in its mildest colors: in doing this, I adverted to the nature of enthusiasm; I said that it was a species of madness, and that men when under its influence committed acts that were unwarranted by reason, and that no more no tice ought to be taken of their actions than the acts of madmen. This was the surest, and, in fact, the only successful plea I could make, and I should have come off victorious had not the man of God, wiro was in court, interrupted me, with 1 am no madman, I speak forth 1 the words of truth and soberness, in this sinful world; and I can prove it to your understanding that it is the Spirit of God, blessed be his name, that speaks within me. I am bold in the Lord; but these things are foolishness to the children of darkness.' O well, friend, if you take up the cause I shall lay it down, and accord ingly I sat down and remained silent. Not so, said forty thousand, who was sitting upon the bench; take him to jail, said he, take him back and let him preach there; this was done. I learn no more except that the negro was dismissed by the magistrate, with thirty-nine lash. cs." Ile related another of himself, when he was elect ed member of congress. As he drew near Washington City, on his journey to take his seat, he was very much embarrassed in finding his way. The road became smaller and smaller, the nearer ha approached, till at length it dwindled into a narrow path so entangled with others that it was impossible for him to know which was right or was wrong; strange, he thought, "and going to the eternal City. I expected to see a fine spacious road. At length he found himself in an old field, with out a single trace, and the sun was near setting! he be gan to think of camping out, when he espied a man walking before him, he spurred up to the man and asked where he might find a house of any sort to spend the night the man informed him that a hotel was within two miles, which he might reach by dark. He next requested the man to put him in the road, which was no

o appear me a lib. ice; the

thing in

he nature

madness, itted acts

more no.

e acts of

the only

ve come

in court, cak forth al world; it is the is within

are foolfriend, if ! accord. aid forty take him

thing but the trace he had wandered from. Fortunate-
ly he arrived at the hotel by dark, and found a man sit-
ting at the door, barefooted and very shabbily dressed,
and the house of the last description! It had a dirt floor,
and was almost without furniture. He began to think
he had mistaken the house; no, that was the hotel, that.
is the very name, and I assure you, said the man, you
will meet with few houses where you will find better in-
comodation! I have plenty for your hos' to eat and my
wife has some coffee, and I have good old brandy too;
have you, indeed, that's my sort, said the governor."—
At another time he happened to be at a camp-meeting,
one of the preachers took it into his head to explain
heaven, and enumerate the different nations and kind-
reds of people, that constitute the heavenly church; he,
(the preacher,) said that the heavenly church was a vast
house, that it was built of all nations of people, there
were Jews there, Hottentots, Spaniards, Dutch, Irish,
Scotch, Danes, and even Indians, but there is not one
Frenchman. It was during the French revolution, and ·
we may suppose by this conclusion that the preacher
was no friend to the measure.

ch there;

he negro ine lash

vas electashington ry much

became

d. till at led with

›w which

** and gospacious eld, with

! he beda man and ask

Fredericksburg.-Fredericksburg has been representcd as a flourishing town; but, whatever it might have been heretofore, it is far from having a flourishing appearance at present. Every thing wears a gloomy aspect, very little business doing in any part of the town. It is a handsome little town, on the south bank of the Rappahannock, one hundred and ten miles from the pend the Chesapeake. It possesses two great advantages, viz:

as within

e next re-
I was no-

that of a rich and fertile soil, which extends some dis-
tance on both sides of the river; and secondly, the ad-
vantages of navigation; vessels of one hundred and

By means of a few faint rays of the moon, I had a glimpse of the country through which we passed. It was entirely deserted by its inhabitants, who were unable to subsist upon it. It consisted of old fields, grown over with stunted pine and broom sedge. I was told, however, that the land about Fredericksburg was fertile, it being on the Rappahannock, a navigable river.

!

!

thirty tons ascend to the town. The amount of experts annually, is estimated at four millions of dollars. The surrounding country is in a high state of cultivation, and exceeded by none in fertility or beauty; I never expected to see such a country as this in the worn-out east. But the soil here, from the nature of its situation, will last forever. It produces corn, wheat, tobacco, and almost every thing necessary for man. The police of the town are very lax in their duty; the streets are not kept clean, and a want of neatness is every where visi ble. The houses are mostly of brick, and some of them are handsome and commodious. There are two bridges over the river. It is an incorporated town; contains four churches, one for Presbyterians, one for Methodists, one for Baptists, and one for Episcopalians; a court. house, jail, collectors office, a post-office, an academy, and about 4000 inhabitants.

For several miles after leaving Fredericksburg, you pass through a country of unequalled beauty; the scenery is beyond description, rich and picturesque. Handsome buildings, and highly cultivated farms are in constant view. I was the more surprised at this, hav ing never heard it mentioned by any traveller. In going to Richmond from Fredericksburg, you cross at right angles three small rivers; in the western country they would be called creeks. These rivers are called by the following names, viz :-Pamunky, Chickahominy, and Mattaponi. These rivers resemble the waters of the western states much more than the Rappahannock. They flow in a smooth and silent stream, and have scarcely any banks, by which they overflow the adja. cent lands, enriching them to a degree equal to any land

* Morze is guilty of an error in the orthography of this river, which took its name from the following circumstance :-This river was disco vered by a party of Indians and white people, who were on a hunting party. According to custom they left one to watch the camp (on the bank of the stream) while the rest pursued the game. It so happened that the party absented themselves during the whole of one night. In the course of the night a deep snow had fallen; upon coming to the camp next morning, one of the white men asked the Indian whom they left at camp," how he came on with respect to the snow ;" he replied "that he put matt upon 1," meaning that instead of sleeping on the matt, he covered himself with it, and hence the river took its name.

; a court

in the west. The grape-vine is seen as large as it is on the great Kenhawa. I had no idea of this, having heard so much of the poverty. of the soil. I am told that this rich soil continues near the mouths of those rivers, when they unite and the single stream takes the name of York river. Eleven miles from the mouth of York river, stands Yorktown, famous in American history for the capture of Cornwallis. It is said to be the best harbor in Virginia. Although the land on these rivers is equal if not superior to that on Rappahannock, the country is by no means as handsome. Between the rivers the land is thin, covered with pines and old fields, contains not worth one cent. The farmers, (or planters I beethodists.lieve they are called,) from the great scarcity of timber enclose their fields principally with ditches. The great academy, number of hands in proportion to the quantity of land has ruined Virginia. Their slaves, in the end, instead urg, you of being a benefit, has proved a very serious injury. uty; the But for them, old Virginia at this day would have been turesque. worth perhaps, one hundred per cent. more than she is. ms are in The great and wealthy Virginia has overshot the mark; his, hav.she has killed the goose that laid the golden egg; I see In going evident proofs of this in their deserted worn out fields. at right This renowned State seems to have lost sight of posterntry they ity, and to have acted upon an unnatural plan, or rathed by the er no plan at all. They have secured nothing to their iny, and children but poverty, whilst they have reared those chilers of the dren up, not to industry, but with high notions, which hannock. will only serve to render them more sensible of their and have misfortune. Influenced by a more than foolish pride, the adja. they neglect to encourage useful arts; their lordly souls, any land could not brook the indignity of teaching their sons to earn their bread by their own labor. They could not stoop so low as to teach them the mechanic arts, bywhich they might have gained a decent and comfortable support. Virginia from these causes lags behind. NewYork has gained upon her in point of numbers, since 1790, 714,936. Virginia, one of the first states in the Union in many respects, is now only the third in population, the eighth in commerce, the fifth in tonnage, the fourth in manufactures, the first only in agriculture ;

f experts rs. The tion, and

er expec

-out east. tion, will 2, and al.

police of s are not here visi

e of them o bridges

0

river, which was disco na hunting mp (on the happened night.

to the

he replied ping on the is name.

the population is 605,613 whites, 425,153 slaves, 34,600 free blacks. This hasty sketch I took from Morse's Geography, which lay in my room.

Richmond. The stage leaves Fredericksburg at two o'clock, A. M. and arrives at Richmond at three o'clock, P.M. I was much disappointed upon seeing Richmond -I had heard it praised for its beauty, but it far ex ceeded my utmost expectation. Great part of the city is spread out upon an elevation called Shockoe Hill ;this part of the town overlooks the lower part, which lies upon James River. In approaching the town from Fredericksburg, you enter it on the north side, while the river is on the south: the river, however, was much smaller than I expected to find it: after leaving the lordly Potomac, James River sinks into nothing. I saw the basin, I saw the canal, and the little vessels, nothing to compare to our boats-I expected to be transported with these things, but I failed even to be pleased. In Richmond, however, much business is done-it is all alive, every thing is in motion, the streets and shops display great activity, and a profusion of goods and wares. Richmond is the seat of government of Vir ginia, and the largest town in the state, having 12,067 inhabitants, whereas Norfolk, the next largest, has only 3,478. Its exports amount to $8,000,000 annually.Few towns have increased so rapidly as Richmond ;-in 1783 the population was less than two thousand. People are flocking to Richmond from all parts, for com mercial and other purposes. Many of the citizens of Alexandria have quit that city and come to this place, with a view of bettering their fortunes. In short, Rich mond bids fair to be one of the first commercial town in the eastern country. Its public buildings are, a state house, a penitentiary, an armory, two churcnes for Epis copalians, two for Methodists, one for Presbyterians. one for Baptists, one for Friends, and one for Jews-two banks, four printing offices, and a post office.

Amongst other disappointments, to me the capitol was one: it was not half so large or splendid as I had anticipated; but some of the private buildings are superk.