About The Albany patriot. (Albany, Ga.) 1845-1866 | View Entire Issue (May 28, 1845)
THE ALBANY PATRIOTS “ Wisdom, Justice, Moderation.* VOL. I. ALBANY, BAKER COUNTY, GEORGIA, MAY 28, 1845. NO. 7. THE PATRIOT, rrM-OTIED EVERY WEDNESDAY MORRITC, BY NELSON TIFT & SETH N. BOUGHTON, Editors and Proprietors. TERMS. TWO Dollars per annum, if paid in advance, or Three Dollars at the end of the year. Vlvertisements not exceeding twelve lines, will •• .’inserted at One Dollar far the first insertion, and piiir rents for each continuance. Advertisements not having the number of insertions specified, will to published until forbid. rialcs of Land and Negroes by Executors, Adminis- tcitors and Guardians, are required by law to he jvcitised in a public gazette, sixty days previous to The sales of Personal Property must be advertised j like manner forty days. Notice to Debtors and Creditors of an estate must fe published forty days. Notice that application will be made to the Court nfOiiinary for leave to sell Land and Negroes, must V published weekly for four months. Monthly Advertisements, One Dollar per square kr each insertion. j j All Letters on business must be post paid. POETRY. From the United States Journal. The Rally or llic Texas Volun teers. (Si/jycs/nf by a reported incasion rtf Texas by the ■ Mexicans.) Unfurl the flag that bears the bright. The lone, but proud, uncompleted star; Unfurl, where beats for freedom’s right A heart, or springs a standard spar: From where tlic northern hill-lakes sleep To where the Gulfs blue, bright naves curl, Wherever float o’er dell or stoop. The •* stare,” their sister star unfurl. Shake out its folds, ’till high among Its kindred" stars” they wave, till wake The tones of Freedom's battle-song, The land 'till marching myriads shake. Rouse! beat the gathering roll that woke The might before whose charge, of yore, By flood and field the Briton struck 'llis flag—to rule the wave no more. Shout for the lone, but onward star, Unfurl it o’er your vales and hills; Shout, ’till the land, from Maine-woods far To Texan wilds, the echo thrills, Blood, freedom, right :.re each a tie Nor time nor tyrant hands shall sever; Strike up! your starry ensigns fly! Texas is ours and ours forever. ***. Capt. Buffaloc, the leader of the band, and ana the physical enduranco to sustain the rigors of Indian slavery. After various adventures he reached Warminster in the winter of ’82-3, penny less and dejected. .Here he resided when the “ unfortunate” inspiration came across his mind in regard to steam. “From that time (1735) I have (says he) pursued the idea to this day (1792) with unremitting assiduity, yet ao frankly confess that it has been the most imprudent scheme that I ever engaged in. The per* plexitics and embarrassments through which it has caused me to wade, far ex ceeded any thing that the common course of life ever presented to my view.” The first model of a steam boot was completed in 1785 having its machinery perfect, and bearing at the sides, wheels instead of paddles. The paddles were adopted in 1786, after experimenting on wheels. The crotchets of the wheels were found to labor loo much in the water, en tering as they did at a considerable angle, and departing at the same, they lost the power by sinking the surface, and after- wards by lifting themselves out of the wa ter. This led to the substitution of pnd- dlcs, which entered almost perpendicular, and left the water inclined a little towards the stern. The construction of such a boat became to Fitch the highest object of his ambition. He applied to the Continen tal Congress for aid, representing the im mense advantage its success would be to the western lands lately conquered by the American arms. He petitioned the legis lature of_ Pennsylvania for money, repre senting in high wrought figures of the imagination the splendid consequences of the project, if earned into effect. He por trayed in _ the private car of the Wesiern and Virginia members of Congress the achievements in reserve for steam through the agency of his contrivance. He wrote to Franklin in October, 1785, affirming tire MISCELLANY. practicability of 6ca navigation by steam vessels; and every where, and at all times, boldly asserted as a prediction what we observe ns facts. But none of his fervid representations produced the money, and he acquired the reputation of an insane man. Finally, by tne construction, engra ving and sale of a map of the Northwest cm Territory, all of wliich was done with his own hands in the work-shop of his friend Cobc Scout, of Wnrminietcr, and the impressions taken in a eider press, he raised about $800 in February, 1787, formed a company of forty shares, and commenced a boat of sixty tons. After innumerable vexations and delays, principally occasion ed by the formation of the engine, the boat was pul in motion, and made only three miles nn hour. The machinery was so rough that the expected power of a cylin- John Fitch. Tlic benefits which mankind is now de- ring from steam navigation are incalcula- ilc. This mode of “annihilating time nd space,” is of peculiar advantage to this oimtry, abounding in rivers of immense iizc—the rapidity of whose waters prevent I dcr of twelve inches was not realized.- be successful navigation by any other node, and the man or men, by whose co mprise, skill, and industry it was first in- •onuccd, is deserving of immortal honors; lis name should be handed down as one of lie master spirits of the age in which he ived. We received a short time since a amphlct published in Cincinnati, Ohio, milled “Justice to the Memory of John "itch,” by Charles Whittlesey. This work i written with a view to show the impor- ant agency which Mr. Finch, had in es- ablishing steam navigation on our waters, knd the rescue from oblivion the name and crriccs of a man, whose character and aluablc labors were cot appreciated dunng lis life. We learn from the pamphlet referred to, nat John Fitch was bom at Windsor, Conn, anuary 21, 17-43, and remained in that icinity until he reached the age of twen- y-fivc years, receiving a very scanty com mon s'-fiool education. He was ill-treated y his father and his elder brother—his life t home was rendered wretched, and lie vas bound apprentice to a Watchmaker. -Subsequently an unfortunate marriage rowned the misery of his condition, and in 769, while yet a young man, he became n adventurer of fortune. After many vi- issitudes he became a resident watchma ker at Trentoa, N. J., where he exercised ** iis trade at the commencement of the A- oerican revolution. The demand for arms I J educed him to undertake the business of a tbo Kunsinith for the American forces, which tposed his property to destruction when ae British entered that village in Decern- 1*1.1776. He joined the troops of New erscy, and endured the rigors of a winter amp at Valley Forge. Reluming from he camp, he recommenced the trade of a wcrsmith in Bucks county Fa., occasion al’ traversing the country on foot, to re ef?* fair the clocks and Watches of the inhabi- 2***. Having procured an appointment IgV * deputy surveyor from the state of Vir- ■ m ja. he started for Kentucky with » knap- ack upon his back and a compass in his “hod, m tha spring of 1780. In the fall of 1781 he returned to Phil- owphia, having made extensive surveys **weetj the Kentucky and Green rivers. 0 the SDrino- of 171“ " * ! ~ **■ - A ~ ~ * spring of 1782, collecting the frag- h*Ms oi $4000 which had been received ■^unenud money, he was barely aMe *150 Pennsylvania currency as a Pttw for Western adventure. At the The company was discouraged, hut another rally was nfiected, the shares doubled, and the improvements commenced. In anoth er twelvemonth they were ready for another experiment. The day was appointed—a mile was measured on Front (now Water) street, Philadelphia, and every precaution *was taken by providing stop watches and wit nesses, to show that the experiment was fairly made. The boat was proved to the satisfaction of all, to go at the rate of eight miles an hour. This was in October, 1788. The boat was called the Perseverance, and afterwards made eighty miles in one day. On the 12th of the same month this boat ascended the Dclewarc to Burlington with thirty passengers, a distance of twenty miles, in three hours and twenty minutes, and she ran on the Dclewarc some time as a passenger boat. But Mr. Fitch'was not satisfied with her performances, and looked forward to grea ter Jesuits, which he felt confident could be accomplished. He abandoned the compa ny, to make new and more extensive efforts, and the Perseverance was laid up for the winter. He found it very difficult to pro cure the necessary capital, as Congress, individual Stales, or corporations, which he addressed on the subject, vould furnish him with no money—-but several Slates granted him valuable monopolies for a terra of years. However, by dint of persever ance, he contrived in the fall of 1789 to complete another boat, which was tried, and proved satisfactory—but on the same night she took fire and was burned to the water’s edge. He subsequently met with other discour aging accidents, and in 1790 he presented a petition to Congress in which he says; “ I have overcome every difficulty which can cause doubt to arise, having done w hat was never done before. I have exhibited to the world a vessel going against strong winds and tides—the vessel carrying the engine—the engine propelling the vessel, ana all moving together against the cur with the drawings, models, &c. accompa nying it, said—“The boats of Livingston and Fulton were, in substance, the inven tion patented to John Fitch in 1791, and that Fitch, during the time of his patent, had the exclusive right to use the same in the United States.” Mr. Fitch in the fol lowing year was in communication with the Spanish Minister at Philadelphia, and the Governor at New Orleans, respecting a right to tlic Mississippi. In 1793, at the instance of Mr. Vail, United States Consul at L’Orient, he visited France with a view to propose the matter to the National As sembly, but the^ivil disorders of that king dom prevented the accomplishment of his wishes. In France he explained his object and the principles of his great plan to Mr. Fulton, who afterwards availed himself of the information thus received, and secured an honor which did not truly belong to him. About the same time he wrote to Mr. Rit- tcnhousc, and speaking of the power of steam, he made the following remarkably prophecy: “ This, sir, will be the mode of crossing the Atlantic in time, whether I shall bring it to perfection or not.” But poor Fitcli was pronounced crazy, and became discouragad by the numerous ob stacles whith he met with on every side. Mr. Fitch, disappointed and pennylcss, withdrew to London, and worked his pas sage to his native country ns a sailor! He arrived here broken down in body and de jected in mind, and disgusted at the stupi dity of a generation who could not like hint comprehend the immeasurable benefits of the application of steam to watercraft. In 1796 lie withdrew to his lands near Bardstown, Kentucky, which he found in tlic occupation of others. 1798 he took a fatal poison, apd died in the chamber of a tavern, attended by no relative or Iriend, (his landlord excepted) and was buried in the comer of the grave yard, in presence of six or seven persons, without a stone or other monument to mark the spot. Such was the hapless fate of John Fitch, who, while exhibiting an extraordinary force of character, of genius, wisdom ana energy, was regarded ns a visionary brain- struck projector, who lived neglected and died unknown—and such lias probably been the fate of thousands, who deserved honor and rewards without stint. The biographer of Fitch, from whose work we have the greater part of this notice, well says that Fulton had a eulogist, who, while the earth was still fresh upon his grave, sounded his praises to the world. They arc known wherever a steamboat cleuves tlic water, on every shore which has echoed with the sound oi’ its engine. But Fitch has none. It was even doubtful until within about two years, whether his grave could be identified. His mnnuscripts were sealed up in the year 1792, with directions not to be broken until thirty years after his death. He had withdrawn from the scene of his sorrows and his triumphs, to an ob scure village of the remote West. He was in his grave, and his relatives were ignor ant jf the time, place and manner of his death. But at the last session of the Legislature of Kentucky, a memorial, embracing an abstract of nis inventions, successes, eccen tricities and trials, was presented at the last moment of their sitting, reviving the sub ject of a monumental notice. This me morial received no action for want of time. With Mr. Fitch it was a favorite desire that his bones might he laid on the banks of Ohio. In a moment of despondency, while pursuing hisgigantict undertaking at Phil adelphia, he exclaims: “Why these earn est solicitations and cxcrutiating anxieties! why not leave them and retire to rest un der the shady elms, on the fair banks of the Ohio, and there eat tny coarse but sweet bread of industry and content, and when I have done, to have my body laid in the soft, warm and loamy soil of the banks, my name inscribed on a neighboring poplar, that future generations, when traversing the mighty waters of the West, may fint I my grassy turi.” And still later, he breaks forth in the same poetical strain, refering to the position of his grave, and hoping that it may be made on the shores of some of the waters of the West, in order that the “ song of the boatman might enliven the stillness of his resting place, and the music of the Steam Engine sooth his trou bled spirit. r From NsaTs Saturday Gazette. The Law Profession. We arc astonished at the daily paragraphs that meet our eye of the number of young men lately admitted to the practice of law in the different States of the Union. Pro bably no avocation yields a poorer return, or is so much overstocked, * To b6 a good lawyer requires not only brilliant talents, great tact and profund knowledge, but a capacity for mental application, such as few men have a taste Tor, a few constitu tions can endure. As Lord Eldon remark ed, ' a man must work like a dray horse and lie paid like a pauper.’ Nor is success at the bar sure, even with all the requisites we have mentioned. Chance often cle- vales the hard student to fame, hut as of ten retains him in obscurity. Of the bar of Philadelphia, for instance’, wc can speak from an intimate knowledge; and wc could point to more than one lawyer, with a head already beginning to grow grey, who, with every qualification to adorn its highest walks, has been unable to struggle up, because he has never yet had a case, or n succession of cases of the right character to devclopc his abilities. The fact is, there five times ns.many lawyers as there should be, both here ana elsewhere ; and in con sequence, four-fifths of the profession must starve. The evil is increased by tlic ten dency of clients to seek nn attorney of ac knowledged reputation, thus preventing the man of as yet unknown fame from ob taining a start. It is true some kind hear ted friend may trust a case to the aspiring young advocate ; but it is rarely such a one as is calculated to make an impression, and years may pass before this opportunity occurs to a youth without influence. We know two men who have had distinguish ed success in the last ten years, but they owe their position to an acquaintance with foreign tongues and the foreign clients this brought them. The greatest lawyers, both of this and the past generation, were years before they made enough to support them selves; and few men, whatever their abili ties, can hope to pay their expenses until after many a long 'term of suspense and heart burning. The business of the Courts every where during the last few years, Iras declined one half, in conscquenco of the Bankrupt act, and other laws cancelling iho claims of rroditora. Tho'ro So ranlty morn wt conveyancing, here nndefsewhere, than at the more legitimate business of the law.— Yet the number of lawyers has increased two-fold in the last ten years, so that actu ally the chances of success are scarcely one fourth of what they were in 1835. But ail the present leading attorneys had made their reputation at that period. What chance then has a young man now in the profession ? Ten to one he will not pay nis office rent the first year ; fifty to one he will not make his expenses ; a hundred to one lie will never rise to opulence or fame. Amid such fierce competition there arc scores of chances even against a man of ability and acquirements, unless he is back- Infant. But, says Mr. Whittlesey, the rubWsh of yanks. In no other pursuit are forty-five years had almost obliterated his difficulties to he overcome; or in grave, ana the.tide of tune has earned the principal part of his contemporaries into the same eternity with himself. But a few still live, and with them the sense of his merits, the remembrance of his achieve ments, and the bitter sorrows that were bis rewards, are not obliterated or even dim med by agi. It is expected that before * many years have passed, justice, though rent. If I never carry it to any greater, »wdy in He amval, wUl be at last rendered, ,han trade—a notion derived frotriEng- perfection, I. have, I presume, merited a j and Tns gemus will tecave the .homage, as land and fostered there, because the pro- his misfortunes will the commiseration generous reward. In tne same petition, he also says; “Having at length fully suc ceeded* in his scheme, he trusts he now comes forward not as an imaginary prejec- tor.* 91 Jafter spending nmSTrime, lie secured uniin, which shall mark the repose of Fitch. his countrymea-r-t hat those who navigate the noble rivers of the West, will from the decks of numberless boats yet wit ness, up on some commanding headland of tne Ohio, * neat, white and conspicuous col- °f M^Wnguro this renmant of I a patent UtAe United State* This “fortune, invested In flour and goods, | patent was oMrttlevalue tohraq. It,was ctpiarcd and destroyed by Indians, i destroyed by fire with the public buildings * ‘heparty killed andirinettfcenpri-'ml8&. Butin 1817, a committee <>f «»« Fitch ha d the address to conciliate 1 New York legislature, who examined it, —Boston Evening Journal. i IT T»* St Aag^^'oftbeOhi-t. Friaatbe N. Y. Journal of Conger. AN EXCITING INTERVIEW IN ’ STATE 1 Greex, the Reformed GTambler, recently m»<t» an excursion through the Auburn State’s Prison. He gives the following account of' his interview within murderer. On my retam.to the Prison office I was introduc ed to the chaplain. Rev. O. E. Morrill, which rever end gentleman informed me tint a man by the name of Wyatt, then confined in one of tbe cells for the munler of Gordon, on the 16th of March, in the An- bun State Prison, had confessed to him that he had lived a gambler several yean in the South and West, and he would Hite I should call upon him. I accom panied him to the cell of tbo murderer. The door was thrown open upon its grating hinges, where tbo reverend gentleman introduced me as an acquain tance of ms who had traveled South several yeaSt, and thought that hef WyaU) would be glad to con verse with him. tie raid he was happy to see aw, and asked me to be seated. After a short direr utec relative to the different chuees of men then in confinement, I asked him what he followed in his travels through the South, tie told me, gambling. I asked him bow long he bad been engaged in that nefarious business ? He mid twelve or thirteen years. I asked him if he knew many gamblers? He raid he did? I asked him if ho ever knew one by the name of Green ? Ho raid he did. lasted he. name? He answered,'John:* said l.o knew him in 1833,3, 4 and 5. and saw him iu 1812 in St Louis. I asked him if he was inti mate with Green ? He raid he knew him as one gam bler knew another. lacked if I favored him ? Ho raid if I would stand in the light he wauldtcll me. I did so. He raid I looked like the man. ’ I told him I was the man, but that I never knew’him by the name of Wyatt He said 1 did not; that Wyatt was not his real name. He then told me another, which was not his real name, and asked me if I did not hear of a man being murdered near St Louis in the year 1641,and of two tnrn being arrested, both tried and convicted, ono having a new trial granted him, the other being hung. I told him that I thought I had. He said lie was the man that had the new trial granted, and was acquitted and,” raid lie, “ they btmgtbe wrong inan-.liewas innocent;! am tlic guilty man;but they linn g him and cleared me.” “But,” says I, “your were under different name still .at that time.” He raid “ ves, by none of those names do you know me, hut my red namo you are familiar with. Your name, raid he, “ I knew in the year 1832; die gam blers called yon John, but Jonathnn is your real name.” My curiosity was highly excited at the strange management of the murderer. But you may imagine the increase of it when he told me his real name. I looked at the murderer and could scarcely believe uiy own eyes: yet he stood before me a living marvel. I have pledged secrecy as to his real name until after his execution. 1 interrogated him on his first ftMJo^^h^femfSobtsteVv^i iiSs the Lynchers* lash at Vicksburg. I did, hut my eyes could scarcely credit reality. I had known him in 1832,3,4, and in the early part of ’35 as a bar-keep er in Vicksburg. He was never a shrewd card-play er, but at that time was considered an inoffensivo youth. The coficc-bouae ho kept was owned by North, who, with four others were executed on the fifth of July, 1835, by I .ynch law. Wyatt and three other? were taken on the morning of the 7tb, strip ped, and one thousand lashes given to the four, tarred and feathered, and put into a canoe and set adrift on tbe Mississippi river. It makes my blood curdle and my flesh quiver to think of the suffering condition of these unfortunate men, set adrift on the morning of the 7th of July, with the broiling sun upon their man- t gled bodies. man oi Two died in about two hours after they were act ed by an influential family, or meets with some lucky case which at once lifts him into notice. Wc could point to young men of ten years standing at the bar, well rend and of’strong intellects, who do not make as much ns a market street clerk. Wc could point to others who started life under the same auspices, but who now arc irrevo cably doomed to the lowest walks of the profession, because they took to pettifo; ging to keep themselves from starving. We do not mean to say that a man with' out influence, must fail at the bar, or that another with it, must succeed. Far from it. But if n young lawyer has a moderate income, sufficient for the superfluities of life, he is in the best possible condition for suc cess ; for, while lie can afford lo wait un til be can build up a right bind of a repula' tion, he is yet thrown upon his cxerticu t< achieve both position and fortune. On the contrary, many a young man of ability, in' dustry and acquirements,, is actually driven from the profession, because he cannot af ford to wait long enough tobuild up n name. Parents who are seeking a pursuit for their sons, and young men who arc ambi tious of sucecss'in life, should take these things into consideration. The fame ac quired by some of our great lawyers, is wc grant, a fncinating thing in the eyes of young ambition ; but it should bo recollec ted there is but one Webster and ten thou Wyatt and another remained with their hands and tcet bound forty hours, suifering more than tongue can tell or pen describe, when they were picked up by some negro slaves, who started with die two survivors to their quarters. His companion died before they arrived. Wyatt survives to tell tho horrors of the Lynchers’ lash. He told tne seven murders bad been occasioned by their unmerciful treatment to him and one innocent man hung. I know his statement to be true, for I had known him before 1835, andhis truth in particulars cannot U> denied. He murdered his seventh man, for which crime l.e will be executed. I have another communi cation for your paper concerning the murderer and liis prospect in the world to come. Yours truly, J. E GREEN. Auburn, April 10, 1845. Tlic Idolatry of Wealth. This insane and insatiable passion for accumulation, ever ready, when circum stances favor, to seize upon the public mind, is that “love of money which is the root of ail evil,” that “covctousncs, which is idol atry. 9 It springs from an undue, an idola- other is die amount of talent and labour required so great. Many a youth who might have succeeded os a mechanic, mer chant or farmer, has dragged through ''life a broken-hearted lawyer,. Ok sunk at the outset after a struggle or two into a kna- ^^wKathijSiereason, for this? A false notion that the law is tt more houorable pqr- becn the denar resort of aristocracy. Butintbiscoun- we should learn to know, and act up to'the knowledge, that all pursuits whicl are honest, are alike honorable. • •• 11833, Chicago Fontaine only ifr? inhabitants and half a dozen leg houses.' When tho census was taken in t84ftit e©tttaf»wd ! 4S5JL_imd-inl833»£bs weMmrtraim'OweonTsad fafoibeo crops are suffer- population was 7580, and in December last ing severely for wart ofa few genial showers. it contained 10,691. ■■■ (hem, < . not a good character, nor well trained and well executed faculties, not virtue, not tbe hope of heaven—nothing but wealth. It is iheir god and the god of their families.— Their sons arc growing up to the same wor ship of it, and to an equally baneful reli ance upon it for the future; they are rush ing into expenses, which the divided prop erty of their father’s house will out enable them to sustain; and they are (fepanng to be, in turn and from necessity, slaves to the same idol. How truly is it written, that “ they they that mil be neb, fall into many temptations and a snare, and fall in to many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition 1” There is no need that they should he rich, but they toil! be rich. AlLthe noblest func tions of life may be discharged.without wealth* all its bmfcest honors obtamc H, all it* purest pleasures enjoyed ; yet I repeat it, notiiing—nothing wifl do but wealth.— Disappoint a man of this, and he mourns as if the highest end of life was defeated. Strip him of this* and this gone, all is gone. Strip him of this, and I shall point to no unheard of experience, when I sa>, he had rather die than live. • - -i: t n--..': ja»» n-rad trari 1 Fifteen huddfetfcdifldbtsdatwedhKdtid'qt the public schools of New. Orleans, at an annual expenses of $27 80 each.
