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Vol. VI I Darien <£>asette I EDITED JuVTi PUBLISHED DY MA'S. F. GRANDISON. (ON THE BAY) per annum, flay able in advance. Hm TIIE (LONDON’) MONTHLY CRITIC AL GAZETTE. B mnmary view of America. By an Bnglishvnan.—Bvo. pp. 503; 13s.— Bade 11 and Blackwood. H he traveller jiere under our review ■started forth irom the crowd, (who Be lately been juggled into a belief ■ there is nothing good in America,) Brder to see fair play, and to redeem jßcharacter of the Americans from ■sinister imputations which igno pe, no less than calomny,have occa- Bed. He who never travels, sees the ■world only in iris own country; as he B never reads, sees the world only Bimself, like Montesquieu’s curate. B, instead of the moon, could see no- Bg in the telescope, but the village Bple. The too great idea of the soil Brhich we tread disappears when we ■compelled to consider, practical- Bhe variety and totality of the globe. B)n examining most of the books of Be Is in America, by Englishmen,” B our author, “it will be found, that ■impression which they are calcu- Bd to ma'ke, is, on the whole, unfavo- Be. Who, after reading the narra ■s of Ashe, Jansen, Fearon, Weld, Bvitt, Howisson, Welby, and Faux, ■ would conclude, that the Ameri- B are a rude, wild dirty, crafty, and Bmindcd people? * * * * There B unquestionably, some erroneous Bmenis in one or two of them; but I Brt as undeniable, that truth has, for ■most part, been supported, though ■dor has been laid aside. Now it is Bous that, where this course is per- Bj,ihe object of publishing books of ■cis is defeated; understanding, as I Bhru an author pvofes>ing to inform ■country men of a foreign land, itsin- Bt’C” r-.io institutions, ought, in jus- I. to give the good, as well as the I, traits that present themselves.— B, when it is borne in mind, that the Bellers above named appear to have Bed through the country, without Bombing acquainted with the most Blligenl part of the community, or, Beast, without that disposition to be Based, which is so necessary in foreign Bis, it may be inferred, that they Be not qualified to do justice to the Bple concerning whom they have ■tten. ■his Englishmans style is sometimes Band at other times unpolished; but Bis a correct thinker, which, in a sub- Bt like this, is belter tnan a polished Bei. He is obviously one of those Bhors who reflect more than they Be; we have too many who write B e than they reflect. The following Bulpatory passages, which relate to Bpitality, civility, reception at inns, B the application of words, we have Bracted so as to follow the above pre- B in their natural order: ■The usual reception, the traveller B s at the inns, is that of cold civility ■ the landlord and the waiter, though ■ obsequious, are generally sufficient.- Bttentive. Some things in country ■ccs a little discomposed me at first; B, resolving to act on the adage—of Bug at Rome as Rome does—l soon B sense of uneasiness.” ■Again our English traveller affirms: B‘l can truly say that, in by far the Bater number of the inns I stopped at, Bund comfort, civility, and attention, ■t then I endeavored to give as little Buble as possible. Good temper may jfl sometimes tequsite; indeed, without ■no person should think, of leaving his ■five country.” ■“Besides the public towns, there are ■ nuny parts, what are called houses ■ private entertainment, being houses ■ere the traveller who has no objec ■n to take bis meals with the family, B conform in every respect to their Bits,may find himself comfortable.— B a pedestrian, like myself, they are By acceptable. One of the best hou ■stliat 1 stopped at in the whole cotin- B “as of this description. It was in B c li eart of Virginia, sud so remote B m any town, that I little expected, ■ such a situation to find a house cle- Btlv furnished. It being dark when Buered, I was fearful 1 might find B e difficulty in removing any suspi ■°ns which might arise from the visit DARIEN IliSt? GAZETTE. DARIEN) (GEORGIA,) equal anil €jCaCt 3flu£tke. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER. 23, 1824. of a solitary, at such an hour. ’ But, when I enquired if I could have a hights lodging, no difficulties were started.— On going to my bedchamber I found it was one which, for neatness and com fort, would have done credit to any Eu ropean city: yet this was in the mountai nous district of Virginia, and surround ed by forests. But what pleased me most was, to find a bookcase well stored with choice authors.” It appears, from an impartial travel ler, that the Americans, so far from be ing so coarse and vulgar in conversation as hath been alleged, carry their refine ment and delicacy, in the choice of words, to a troublesome, and over-sen sitive, extreme of nicety: “Such is the refinement of language in America, that an Englishman, ac customed to genteel life, and taught to use the most polished phrases, may use expressions which in England would be suffered in any society; but which, in America, would subject him to the imputation of vulgarity. 1 Feeling my self unwilling to offend, I became very careful in the selection of my words.— But it sometimes happened that I in advertently used such as ate consider ed unwarrantable. * * * * But what ever may be the defects of American conversation, it would be unjust to de ny it the praise of decorum. Great care is taken to avoid hurting the fee lings of any one. When a dissentient opinion is expressed, it is done with wildness. That bold and decisive op position which has been supposed part ofthe national character of the English is rejected, as being too rude for civi lization.” With regard to the American ladies the author says. “ Though they have not the enthusi asm of the Irish, nor the sprightliness of the French, they are exceedingly to be admired, as they possess, in a supe” reminent degree, that softness which throws so much grace over feminine actions; and which, when united with good sense, make the strongest impres sion on the hemt. Another trait, and a most interresting one, is the confidence they repose in those with whom they are familiar. They manifest no desire to conceal, under the ga-b or affecta tion, that warmth of heart, which wo men, in every country but France, arc said to possess.” Our author next gives the following corrective description of one portion, at least, ofthe so much depreciated ci ty and capital of Washington: “The room in which the House of Representatives assemble in the cap ital of Washington, is one of the fin est in the world. This may be, thought a strong expression; but I believe all who have entered it, will concur in its justice. It is semicurcular, and the speaker’s chair being placed in the centre of the diametrical line, the mem bers are ranged in semicircles round him. The roof is supported by mar ble pillars; crimson curtains, hanging in festoons, between them. Over the speaker’s chair is a gigantic French figure, which is, I believe, intended to be emblematic of America. T.ie floor being carpeted, nothing seems wanting, to the comfort and conven ience of the members, or to the elegant finish of the room. It has, however, one most unfortunate defect: the voice of the orator who in addressing the house, is often lost in reverberation. — No corrective has hitherto been found for this defect. I have seen rooms lar ger and more splendid than this; but I never saw one which seemed more completely to unite beauty and gran deur with utillity.” The chapter on negro slavery in America is well worth the perusal of every sincere lover of liberty; for it is a truth which must be borne in mind, however painful the admission, that, while America has united with Eng land in declaring the external slave trade piracy, she retains her internal slave trade in all its shocking and dis gusting details. While we agree with onr traveller in deprecating the anomaly of negro slavery in a republic, we feel our selves bound in candor to add, that the measure which he recommends to the American statesman, is a task as diffi cult and as momentous as ever fell to the lot of any body of public men; a task no less than that of making an en tire change in a peculiar state of hu man condition, which has obtained ob duracy from habit, and corroboration from lime; of melting down the human mass and recasting it into a state of improvement, and capacity to improve whatever was most stationary in the materials of that condition, most incoal escible in its elements, and most ob noxious to moral taste in its construc tion. It is only by degrees that the ea glet is enabled to gaze upon the sun.— To couch the moral eye of a people is an arduous, and may be a dangerous undertaking. The negro must be pre pared, by education, for the steady management, and unintoxicated ap preciation,of his disenthralled freedom. Without this,the gift,like that of Swift’s human immortals, would boa curse, instead of an advantage; and a sourse of public confusion, instead of public benefit. ST. PAUL’S, LONDON. The va9tness of the Church, as seen from the centre of the floor, is most imposing; it is impossible not to be struck with its extent, its length, its width, and the unbroken loftiness ofthe dome above, into which the eye ascends and penetrates until respiration is thick ened and the brain grows giddy, and we seek relief in the contemplation of objects nearer the surface of the earth and immediately arouod us, the mon uments of the illustrious dead. The eyes cf most people are so little ac customed to making an accurate ad measurement of heights, that the lof tiness of St. Paul’s can only be estima ted justly from below. If we ascend to the whispering gallery, a height far above the habitations of the people of London, the view downwards is over powering, affecting various heads in various ways; producing vertigo in some, sickness in others, and an awful feeling of overthrow itiveness in a few, a sort of propensity to drop through the passive air upon he hard ma ble below, a thought full of mad ness and horror: or when we ascend far above this point, and even to more than double its elevation, the fearful height does not seem proportionably increas ed; the feeling it inspired before, seem ed scarcely to admit of aggravation. The whispering gallery is indeed to ‘many a fea> ful peace. The surprising altitude of dome and tower above, the yawning and immense abyss below; the stern marble spread out to clash the mortal frame to instant dust, the nar rowness of the circular gallery, the overshadowing of the superincumbent vault, the appalling loudness of every common sound, and the loud wind heard evers weeping round the dome itself, produce an incredibly alarming effect on some individuals. The young, the aspiring, the new to London can seldom be restrained from ascending to the airy gallery above the dome, and there, in describing a most limited circle, the eyes takes in a thou sand histories. London, with all its vicissitudes, with all its generations, with all its present and all the past a bout it, is stretched beneath us, and al most every house visible. Even from that height the eye cannot, in all direc tions, overleap the colossal city, and what is seen of green fields and hills is seen with the indistinctness of another world. The wind storms forever round the cupola, blowing the fair and adventous about (“a chartered liber tine!”) to the greatest advantage; whilst the spectator feels almost disposed to lose his confidence in the secure and eternal pedestal on which he stands, and breathlessly enjoys the sublimity ofapparant danger without the reality. It is when we begin to descend from this immense elevation that we feel the fatigue which our over excitement has caused us to incur; and that a man may be considered the favorite of for tune who begins to retrace the never ending steps when the organ is pealing in the afternoon service; for, at such a time, fits of melody will burst upon him at unexpected turns, and the pier cing voices of the full voiced choir be low will penetrate the intricate reces ses of the vast structure, and vibrations of harmony will meet him suddenly in unexpected angles and sinuosities of the building. Siveet sounds will be heard, now near, now distant, as if borne to him by the soft and fitful breeze, and every thing will conspire to shorten his journey downwards. NATURAL HISTORY. African Lions.— The first number ofthe South African Journal , publish ed at the Cape of Good Hope, contains some very interesting details respec ting the lions of that country. The writer says, that, beyond tho limits of the colony, they are accounted pecu liarly fierce and dangerous, and he thinks Mr. Barrow’s representations, that they are cowardly and treacher ous, is a conclusion drawn from limi ted experience or inaccurate informa tion. “The prodigious strength of this animal (he observes) does not appear to have been overrated. It is certain that he can drag, the heaviest ox with ease,a considerable way;and a horse heif er, hartebeest, or lesser pray, he finds no difficult in throwing over his shoul der and carry off to any distance he may find convenient. I have myself witnessed an instance of a *very young lion conveying a horse about a mile from the spot where he had killed it; and a more extraordinary case has been mentioned to me on good author ity, where a lion, having carried off a heifer of two years old, was followed on the track for five hours, above 30 English miles, by a party on horse back and, throughout the whole distance, the carcass of the heifer was only once or twice discovered to have touched the ground. The Bechuano Chief old Peyshow (now in Cape town) con versing with me a few days ago, said, that the lion very seldom attacks man if unprovoked; but he. will frequently approach within a few paces, and sur vey him steadily; and sometimes he will attempt to get behind him, as if he could not stand his look, but was yet desirous of springing upon him un awares. If a person in such circum stances attempts either to fight or fly, he incurs the most imminent peril; but if he has sufficient presence of mind coolly to confront him, without appear ance of either terror or aggression, the animal will, in almpst every in stance, after a little space, retire. The overmastering effect of the human eye upon the lion has been frequently men tioned, though much doubted, by tra vellers; but, from my own inquiries a mong lion nunters, I am perfectly sa tisfied of the fact: and ananeedeote re lated to me a few days ago, by Major Mc’lntosh, proves that this fascinating effect is not restricted to the lion. An officer in India, well known to my infor mant, ha ving chanced to ramble into a jungle, suddenly encountered a roy al Tyger.’ The rencontre appeared equally unexpected on both sides, and both parties made a dead halt, ear nestly gazing on each other. The gentleman had no ‘fire arms, and was aware that a sword would be no effec tive defence in a struggle for life with such an antagonist. But he had heard that even the Bengal Tyger might be sometimes checked by looking him firmly in the face. He did so. In a few minutes, the tiger, which appear ed prepared to make his final spring, grew disturbed, slunk aside, and at tempted to creep round upon him be hind. The officer turned constantly upon the tiger, which still continued to shrink from his glance; but, darting in to the thicket, and again issuing forth in a different quarter, it preserved for above half an hour in this attempt to catch him by surprise; till, at last, it fairly yielded the contest, and left the gentleman to pursue his pleasure walk. The direction he now took, as may be easily believed, was strait to the tents at a double quick time.” after relating several terrific stories of encounters with lions, the writer concludes his ar ticle with one not quite so fearful, rela ted by Lucas Van Vuuen, to Vee Boor his neighbor, at the Bavian’s river: Lucas was riding across the open plains about day-break, and observing a lion at a disiance, he endeavored to avoid him by making a circuit. Lucas soon perceived that he was not disposed to let him pass without further parlance, and that he was rap idly approaching to the encounter, and being without his roer (rifle) and other wise little inclined to any closer ac quaintance, he turned off at right an gles—laid the sambok freely to his horse’s flank, and galloped for life.— The horse was fagged, and bore a hea vy man on his back; the lion was fresh and furious with hunger, and came down upon him like a thunderbolt!— In a few seconds he overtook Lucas, and springing up behind him, brought horse and man in an instant to the ground, Luckily the boor was unhurt and the lion was too eager in worrying the horse to pay any immediate atten tion to the rider. “Hardly knowing himself how he escaped, he contrived to scramble out of the fray, and made a clean pair of heels of it till he reached the next house. Lucas, who gave me the detail of this adventure himself, made no ob„ servations on it as being any way re markable,except in the circumstance of the lions audacity in pursuing a “Chris tian man” without provocation in open day! But what chiefly vexed him in the afjjair was the loss of the saddle.— He returned next day with a party of friends to take vengeance on his feline foe; but both the lion and saddle had disappeared,and nothing could be found but the horse’s clean-picked bones.— Lucas said, he could have excused the schclm for killing the horse, as he had allowed hitnscjf to get away, hut the fe lonious abstraction of the saddle (for which, as Lucas gravely observed, he could have no possible use; raised his spleen mightily, and called down a shower of curses whenever he told the story of this hairbreadth escape.” REPUBLIC OF HAYTI. Port au Prince, Oct. 6. Circular*—John P. Boyer, Presi dent of Hayti , to the Commandants of departments. The Envoys, who, upon the request that was made to me, I sent to treat in France of the recognition of the inde penndence of Hayti, have returned.— Their mission has not resulted in the manner we had a right to expect it would, because the French government incredible as it may appear, still pre tend to chimerical right of sovereignty over this country. This pretension, which it appeared to have renounced, is forever inadmissible. It is anew proof of what I have befoie declared, that our only safety is in our own un shaken resolutions, and how well found ed were the apprehensions which in duced the measures I have adopted.— Under these circumstances, it becomes you, more than ever, to refer to the di rections of my proclamation of the 6th January last, and the private in structions which have followed it.— Press with activity ail the necessary works; put in good order the artillery and munitions of every kind. Let no thing be neglected. Put in requisition the workmen of the army, and even, if it be necessary, private individuals, to have in readiness the gun-carriages which are yet unfinished. Do every thing in such a manner that, in case of invasion by the enemy, you may not be retarded in any one point. Remember your duties, your responsibility, and act accordingly. The national honor de mands (you will not lose sight of this) that safety and quiet b? assured to those strangers who, upon the public faith* guarantied by the constitution, may be residing in this country. Protect them and their property, so that they may be in the most perfect security. It will be a sufficient reflection to be sensible of the infamy which will be thrown up on the nation, if, under any circumstan ces, we shall act otherwise. Destroy the implacable enemies who shall place their sacrilegious feet upon our territo ry, but Jet us never disgrace our cause by a dishonorable actio i. In sending deputies to anange the forms of a re cognition of our independence. I yield ed to the requests made to me by the agents ol the government of the king of France. It was necessary toper form this act, to take from malevolence every pretext for taxing me with ob stinacy. It was necessary to do it for my own peace of mind, and, in fact, to fix the opinion of the nation upon this important point. I believe, in this res pect, that I performed my duty; but I have the satisfaction of declaring that I have not been deceived. The Republic is free: it is forever independent, since we are determined to bury ourselves under its ruins rather than submit to a stranger. In the mean while, the enemies of Hayti rashly count upon divisions among us. What folly, and, at the same time, what du plicity! Let us be eternally united.— Faithful to our duties, we shall be, with the assistance of the Almighty, forever invincible. BOYER. Horse-dung, clay, sand and pitch-tar form a composition, which, when ap plied to the trunks and stems of fruit trees, after they are properly cleaned, prevents that spontaneous exudation called gumming, which is very injuri ous to the growth of trees. Mr. Knight is of opinion, founded on actual experiment, that oa|s timber would be much improved, if the tree, after being barked in the spring, was permitted to stand till the following winter.— Snglish Paper, JVo. 45.