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be remembered it will crush, in one undistinguished ruin, its perpetrators, with those whom they may call their political enemies.

executive, and judiciary; and if any rude hand | ness, to tumble this fabric to the earth, let it should pluck either of them away, the beautiful fabric must tumble into ruins. The judiciary is the centre pillar, and a support to each by checking both; on the one side is the sword, I most earnestly entreat gentlemen to pause on the other side is the wealth of the nation; and consider. I apprehend the repeal of this and it has no inherent capacity to defend itself. act will be the hand-writing on the wall, stampThese very circumstances united may pro-ing Mene Tekel upon all we hold dear and valvoke an attack, and whichever power prevails uable in our constitution. Let not the imputaso far as to invest in itself, directly or indirect- tion of instability which is cast upon all populy, the power of the judiciary, by rendering itlar bodies be verified by us, in adopting laws dependent, it is the precise definition of tyran- to-day and repealing them to-morrow, for no ny, and must produce its effects. The Goths reason but that we have the power and will and Vandals destroyed not only the government exercise it. of Rome, but the city itself; they were savages, The constitution is an invaluable inheritance; and felt the loss of neither; but if it be possi- if we make inroads upon it and destroy it, no ble there can be an intention, like the son of matter with what intentions, it cannot be reManoah, with his strength without his godli-placed; we shall never have another.

HENRY LEE.

GENERAL HENRY LEE, a member of a family distinguished in the annals of America, was a native of Virginia, where he was born on the twenty-ninth of January, 1756. At the age of thirteen years he entered the college of New Jersey, at Princeton, and, continuing there the usual term, distinguished himself by a close and steady application to his studies, and a strict adherence to the collegiate rules. On graduating, late in September, 1773,* he delivered an English oration on the Liberal Arts, and received the honors of the college. The following year was passed at his home, and while his father was engaged in negotiating treaties with the different Indian tribes, the management of the private concerns of the family was intrusted to him.

At this time the troubles existing between the ministry of Great Britain and the colonists were assuming a decided character; the importation of tea had already been prohibited in the several colonies, and the "good citizens" had been called on to discountenance all those unjust measures of the Crown "which ought to be opposed, as contrary to every principle of liberty, and which righteously incur the just indignation and resentment of every true American.”

Animated by the exciting scenes which were being enacted around him, and in which so many of his kinsmen were engaged, young Lee relinquished "the soft scenes of tranquil life for the rough adventures of war," and, at the age of nineteen years, he entered the service of his country, as a captain of cavalry, in the Virginia line. In this situation he soon commanded the respect and attention of his countrymen, by his active enterprise and manly heroism.

In the autumn of 1777, Lee's company, with the rest of the cavalry raised by Virginia, were formed into one regiment, and united to the Continental army. From this time he rapidly acquired distinction as an able and gallant officer, and by the high state of discipline and efficiency he maintained in his company, soon won the confidence of the commander-in-chief, a confidence which continued through life.

An account of one of Captain Lee's earliest exploits, and which probably, in some measure, led to his preferment, is given by that officer, in his Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department. It is as follows:-After the success of the British at the Brandywine, the British general pursued his route across the Schuylkill, directing his course to Philadelphia. Contiguous to his route, lay some mills stored with flour for the use of the American army. Their destruction was deemed necessary by Washington, and his aide-de-camp, Lieutenant-colonel Hamilton, attended by Captain Lee, with a small party of his troop of horse, were despatched in front of the enemy with the order of execution. The mill, or mills, stood on the bank of the Schuylkill. Approaching, you descend a long hill, leading to a bridge over the mill-race. On the summit of this hill two videts were posted; and soon after the party reached the mills. Lieutenant-colonel Hamilton took possession of a flat-bottomed boat for the purpose of transporting himself and his comrades across the river, should the sudden approach of the enemy render such retreat necessary. In a little time this precaution manifested his sagacity: the fire

* An extended account of the commencement exercises was published in Rivington's New York Gazetteer, of Octo ber 14th, 1778.

of the videts announced the enemy's appearance. The dragoons were ordered instantly to embark. Of the small party, four, with the Lieutenant-colonel, jumped into the boat, the van of the enemy's horse in full view, pressing down the hill in pursuit of the two videts. Captain Lee, with the remaining two, took the decision to regain the bridge, rather than detain the boat. Hamilton was committed to the flood, struggling against a violent current, increased by recent rains; while Lee put his safety on the speed and soundness of his horse.

The attention of the enemy being engaged by Lee's push for the bridge, delayed the attack upon the boat for a few minutes, and thus afforded Hamilton a better chance of escape. The two videts preceded Lee as he reached the bridge; and himself, with the two dragoons, safely passed it, although the enemy's front section emptied their carbines and pistols at the distance of ten or twelve paces. Lee's apprehension for the safety of Hamilton continued to increase, as he heard volleys of carbines discharged upon the boat, which were returned by the guns singly and occasionally. He trembled for the probable issue, and as soon as the pursuit ended, which did not long continue, he despatched a dragoon to the commander-in-chief, describing with feelings of anxiety what had passed, and his sad presage. His letter was scarcely perused by Washington, before Hamilton himself appeared; and, ignorant of the contents of the paper in the general's hand, renewed his attention to the ill-boding separation, with the probability that his friend Lee had been cut off, inasmuch as instantly after he turned for the bridge, the British horse reached the mill, and commenced their operations upon the boat. Washington, with joy, relieved his fears, by giving to his aide-de-camp the captain's letter. Thus did fortune smile upon these two young soldiers, already united in friendship, which ceased only with life. Lieutenant-colonel Hamilton escaped unhurt, but two of his four dragoons, with one of the boatmen, were wounded.*

At the battle of Germantown, Lee's company of cavalry was selected by General Washington as his body guard. In January, 1778, when occupying a small stone house, with a body of ten men, the rest of his command being absent on a foraging expedition, the building was surrounded by two hundred of the British cavalry, who attempted to take him prisoner, but were met with so spirited a resistance that they were compelled to retreat. Soon after this he was advanced to the rank of major, with the command of three companies of cavalry. While in this position he planned and executed the celebrated attack on the British post at Paulus Hook, opposite to the city of New York, their head-quarters. He surprised and took the garrison, under the eye of the British army and navy, and safely conducted his prisoners into the American lines, many miles distant from the post captured. There are few enterprises to be found on military record, equal in hazard or difficulty, or conducted with more consummate skill and daring courage. It was, too, accompanied without loss; filled the camp of the enemy with shame and astonishment, and shed an unfading lustre on the American arms.

In 1780, Lee was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel commandant of a separate legionary corps, and was sent to the southern department of the United States, to join the army under General Greene, where he remained until the close of the war.

The many brilliant achievements which he performed in that difficult and arduous war, under that celebrated and consummate commander, it is not necessary to enumerate; "they are so many illustrious monuments of American courage and prowess, which in all future ages will be the theme of historical praise—of grateful recollection by his countrymen, and of ardent imitation by every brave and patriotic man."

On the termination of the war, he returned to the peaceful walks of civil life. He was subsequently a member of the legislature of his native State, and in 1786, was chosen a delegate to the Continental Congress. Two years after, he served as a member of the convention for the ratification of the Federal Constitution, which instrument he supported. In 1792, he was elected Governor of Virginia, continuing in office three years. During his administration, in August, 1794, the celebrated Whiskey Insurrection, in Pennsylvania, had taken so serious a character, that an army was formed composed of volunteers from that State, and detachments of militia

* Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department of the United States. By Henry Lee. Edition, 1827, pago Y.

from New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia. Governor Mifflin took command of the troops of his State. The Governor of New Jersey commanded the troops of that State, and those of Maryland and Virginia, as well as the others, were under the command of General (then Governor) Lee. When these troops had assembled at their respective places of encampment, General Washington visited them, and directed General Hamilton to accompany them to the west. The insurgents did not venture to meet this force, and the rebellion ceased without a conflict.* General Lee was chosen a representative in the Congress of the United States in year 1799, and was selected by that body to pronounce an oration in honor of the memory of Washington. He continued in Congress until the commencement of Mr. Jefferson's Presidency, when he retired altogether from public life.

In the summer of 1814, while General Lee was residing in Baltimore, he was concerned in a political riot, and suffered a severe assault, from the effects of which he never recovered. After passing some time in the West Indies for the benefit of his health, he returned to his native land, where he died on the twenty-fifth of March, 1818, at the residence of Mrs. Shaw, the daughter of General Greene, at Cumberland Island, near St. Mary's, Georgia.

He left behind him an extensive and valuable historical work, entitled, Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department of the United States, in which the difficulties and privations endured by the patriotic army employed in that quarter-their courage and enterprise, and the skill and talents of their faithful, active, and illustrious commander, General Greene, are displayed in never-fading colors. t

EULOGY ON WASHINGTON.

This oration was prepared and delivered at the request of the Congress of the United States, by General Lee, at Philadelphia, on the twenty-sixth of December, 1799. ‡

In obedience to your will, I rise your humble organ, with the hope of executing a part of the system of public mourning which you have been pleased to adopt, commemorative of the death of the most illustrious and most beloved personage this country has ever produced; and which, while it transmits to posterity your sense of the awful event, faintly represents your knowledge of the consummate excellence you so cordially honor.

when every moment gives birth to strange and momentous changes; when our peaceful quarter of the globe, exempt as it happily has been from any share in the slaughter of the human race, may yet be compelled to abandon her pacific policy, and to risk the doleful casualties of war; what limit is there to the extent of our loss? None within the reach of my words to express; none which your feelings will not disavow.

The founder of our federate republic-our bulwark in war, our guide in peace, is no more! O that this were but questionable! Hope, the comforter of the wretched, would pour into our agonizing hearts its balmy dew. But, alas! there is no hope for us; our WASHINGDesperate, indeed, is any attempt on earth TON is removed for ever! Possessing the stoutto meet correspondently this dispensation of est frame, and purest mind, he had passed heaven; for, while with pious resignation we nearly to his sixty-eighth year, in the enjoysubmit to the will of an all-gracious Provi- ment of high health, when, habituated by his dence, we can never cease lamenting, in our care of us to neglect himself, a slight cold, disfinite view of Omnipotent wisdom, the heart-regarded, became inconvenient on Friday, oprending privation for which our nation weeps.pressive on Saturday, and, defying every mediWhen the civilized world shakes to its centre;cal interposition, before the morning of Sunday,

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put an end to the best of men. An end did I say?-his fame survives! bounded only by the limits of the earth, and by the extent of the human mind. He survives in our hearts, in the growing knowledge of our children, in the affection of the good throughout the world: and when our monuments shall be done away; when nations now existing shall be no more; when even our young and far-spreading empire shall have perished, still will our WASHINGTON'S

glory unfaded shine, and die not, until love of virtue cease on earth, or earth itself sinks into chaos.

How, my fellow-citizens, shall I single to your grateful hearts his pre-eminent worth? Where shall I begin in opening to your view a character throughout sublime? Shall I speak of his warlike achievements, all springing from obedience to his country's will-all directed to his country's good?

Brandywine, the fields of Germantown, or the plains of Monmouth? Every where present, wants of every kind obstructing, numerous and valiant armies encountering, himself a host, he assuaged our sufferings, limited our privations, and upheld our tottering republic. Shall I display to you the spread of the fire of his soul, by rehearsing the praises of the hero of Saratoga, and his much loved compeer of the Carolinas? No; our WASHINGTON wears not borrowed glory. To Gates-to Greene, he gave without reserve the applause due to their eminent merit; and long may the chiefs of Saratoga, and of Eutaw, receive the grateful respect of a grateful people.

to our nation's birth.

Will you go with me to the banks of the Monongahela, to see your youthful WASHINGTON, supporting, in the dismal hour of Indian victory, the ill-fated Braddock, and saving, by his judgment and by his valor, the remains of a defeated army, pressed by the conquering sav- Moving in his own orbit, he imparted heat age foe; or, when oppressed America, nobly and light to his most distant satellites; and resolving to risk her all in defence of her vio- combining the physical and moral force of all lated rights, he was elevated by the unanimous within his sphere, with irresistible weight he voice of Congress to the command of her ar- took his course, commiserating folly, disdaining mies? Will you follow him to the high vice, dismaying treason, and invigorating degrounds of Boston, where, to an undisciplined, spondency; until the auspicious hour arrived, courageous, and virtuous yeomanry, his pres- when, united with the intrepid forces of a poence gave the stability of system, and infused tent and magnanimous ally, he brought to subthe invincibility of love of country; or shall I mission the since conqueror of India; thus fincarry you to the painful scenes of Long Island, ishing his long career of military glory with a York Island, and New Jersey, when, combat- lustre corresponding to his great name, and in ing superior and gallant armies, aided by pow-this, his last act of war, affixing the seal of fate erful fleets, and led by chiefs high in the roll of fame, he stood, the bulwark of our safety, undismayed by disaster, unchanged by change of fortune? Or will you view him in the precarious fields of Trenton, where deep gloom, unnerving every arm, reigned triumphant through our thinned, worn down, unaided ranks; himself unmoved? Dreadful was the night. It was about this time of winter, the storm raged, the Delaware rolling furiously with floating ice, forbade the approach of man. WASHINGTON, self-collected, viewed the tremendous scene; his country called; unappalled by surrounding dangers, he passed to the hostile shore; he fought; he conquered. The morning sun cheer-duce the American Republic, it is not in war ed the American world. Our country rose on the event; and her dauntless chief, pursuing his blow, completed, in the lawns of Princeton, what his vast soul had conceived on the shores of Delaware.

To the horrid din of battle, sweet peace succeeded; and our virtuous Chief, mindful only of the common good, in a moment tempting personal aggrandizement, hushed the discontents of growing sedition; and surrendering his power into the hands from which he had received it, converted his sword into a ploughshare, teaching an admiring world that to be truly great, you must be truly good.

Were I to stop here, the picture would be incomplete, and the task imposed unfinished. Great as was our WASHINGTON in war, and as much as did that greatness contribute to pro

alone his pre-eminence stands conspicuous. His various talents, combining all the capacities of a statesman, with those of a soldier, fitted him alike to guide the councils and the armies of our nation. Scarcely had he rested from his martial toils, while his invaluable parental advice was still sounding in our ears, when he, who had been our shield and our sword, was called forth to act a less splendid, but more important part.

Thence to the strong grounds of Morristown, he led his small but gallant band; and through an eventful winter, by the high efforts of his genius, whose matchless force was measurable only by the growth of difficulties, he held in check formidable hostile legions, conducted by Possessing a clear and penetrating mind, a a chief, experienced in the art of war, and strong and sound judgment, calmness and temfamed for his valor on the ever memorable per for deliberation, with invincible firmness heights of Abraham, where fell Wolfe, Mont- and perseverance in resolutions maturely formcalm, and since, our much lamented Montgom-ed; drawing information from all; acting from ery, all covered with glory. In this fortunate interval, produced by his masterly conduct, our fathers, ourselves, animated by his resistless example, rallied around our country's standard, and continued to follow her beloved chief through the various and trying scenes to which the destinies of our Union led.

Who is there that has forgotten the vales of

himself, with incorruptible integrity and unvarying patriotism; his own superiority and the public confidence alike marked him as the man designed by heaven to lead in the great political as well as military events which have distinguished the era of his life.

The finger of an overruling Providence, pointing at WASHINGTON, was neither mistaken

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