Eager to grasp the wreath of Naval Fame, Now the fierce forges gleam with angry glare- GENERAL WILKINSON, THE commander of the armies of the United States, has been for some time, placed in a most odious situation; the publick hate and detest, and have hitherto imbibed no other sensation in * Turn the stiff screw- -The harmony and imagery of these lines are imperfectly imitated from the following exquisite passage in the Economy of Vegetation. Gnomes, as you now dissect, with hammers fine, CANTO 2D. L. 297. + The wind-mill.-This line affords a striking instance of the sound conveying an echo to the sense. I would defy the most unfeeling reader to repeat it over, without accompanying it by some corresponding gesture, imitative of the action described.-EDITOR. regard to him. That so much ignorance, vanity, and pomposity, should be combined with so much sycophancy, tyranny, and oppressive intolerance, would produce emotions of the most determined disgust, was natural; and not having any great or agreeable quality about him to relieve the picture, it was natural that the publick should generally shudder at the idea of supporting a man at the head of the armies of the United States, so generally detestable in his character. But where they formerly hated, they now despise, he now is placed upon a pedestal before the publick with the blister of cowardice festering upon his forehead. How long such a blustering bully, such a sycophant of power, such a tyrannical master, such a bag of bad wind, will be suffered to offend the publick, by his conduct, we hope may soon be determined. We feel for the honour of the United States, for the reputation of the army, and for the feelings of those whe may be placed immediately under him, when General Adair. comes publickly forward with a yet uncontradicted and unrestrained epithet. Wilkinson may yet clear up his character in this odious particular, and it will then rest with the community to despise him somewhat less than they do at present.' But until this is done it is certainly not doubtful that government should scrupulously avoid giving him employment, and if he cannot be removed without resorting to a court-martial, he yet may only hold a nominal rank, and some worthy, brave, and intelligent officer fill the station with honour, which has so long been most shamefully disgraced. The following conclusion to General Adair's communication to the publick, will afford a specimen of the contemptuous style in which the commander of the United States armies has been treated. • Low and contemptible as this man has stood for some time. past in the opinion of his countrymen, as well as myself, I would not have stooped to invite him to a meeting had it not been that he is still permitted to wear the coat of a soldier and wield the sword of my country. Nor would I have believed that he could have been stimulated to meet a call of honour from any man, had it not been for his late vapouring and blustering as a duellist in the Atlantick states, added to his own declaration to that effect. I have now done with him in this way, firmly believing that he is a COWARD, and that to apply any other weapon of Vol. 1. X x chastisement to him more formidable than a horsewhip, would but disgrace the arm making the application. JOHN ADAIR.' If a man in Wilkinson's situation can sustain this shock upon his character, and from a general too, it will be time to resort to some other tribunal than publick opinion to determine the value of a soldier's reputation. MR. J. RANDOLPH. Mr. John Randolph has commenced his career of this session of Congress with some most violent and justly deserved philipicks against the last administration. He offers the meed of praise to Mr. Madison for so accommodating our differences with Great-Britain, as to restore our commercial intercourse. This is all very praise-worthy. But Mr. Randolph relies too much on the individual supremacy of his talents, ever to have great influence in a deliberative assembly. He never acts in concert with any party, he is a friend on one day and an adversary on the next: the consequence must inevitably be, that he will never find the doors of honour and confidence opened to his entrance. Mr. Randolph obtained some celebrity in Great-Britain, by his determined and powerful opposition to our ridiculous non-importation laws. Mr. Stephens, the celebrated author of that eloquent, though fallacious work, of War in Disguise,' undertook to publish one of his speeches with comments; the Edinburgh Reviewers have also noticed him, and their notice is a passport to distinction. Mr. Randolph seems too conscious of the fame and celebrity, which accident rather than very great powers has gained for him, and presuming upon this extrinsical ly excited reputation, he appears to act for himself alone, without seeming willing to be considered as belonging to either of the parties into which the country is divided. Both claim him, 'but in reality, he is not the smallest service to either. What he erects for the federalists to-day, he overturns to-morrow; though we have understood whatever personal attachments he entertains, are generally on the federal side. This notice is given here, to shew that too much reliance ought not to be placed on the weight of Mr. Randolph in our favour, and that not the small est disadvantage would result to us if he were hanging upon the opposite side of the balance; he is too buoyant to cause it to preponderate. GOVERNOUR GORE. The circumstances of honour attending the initiation of his excellency to his new office, must have been highly gratifying to his feelings both as a man and a patriot. The talents of Mr. Gore, are displayed in his first speech, which whilst it is conciliatory in manner and sentiment, maintains with equal ability, propriety and dignity, the necessity of proposing some expedient by which the commerce of the country may be hereafter exempt from the recurrence of similar dangers to those which it experienced during the last year. He maintains the propriety of the legal opposition of Massachusetts, at that time, to the embargo law, unconstitutional in its provisions, and proved utterly ridiculous in fact, from the necessity of its sudden repeal. If the non-intercourse law has been the instrument which has occasioned all the advantages which the nation now experiences, the opposition of the Massachusetts legislature to the embargo laws last year should not surely be condemned, since congress in consequence of that opposition, stumbled upon a measure which has turned out accidentally to be thus favourable in our negociations. The praise bestowed by his excellency upon Mr. Madison is certainly well deserved, and we hope it is only the commencement of the harvest of reputation which the president will gather from his country, for his deviations from the path of policy pursued by his predecessor in office. 'I trust gentlemen,' he remarks, that we may sincerely and heartily congratulate each other, and every individual in our country, that the political year commences with the promise of reviving commerce, and the restoration of our citizens to the exercise of their faculties, and their industry, and to the right of acquiring and possessing property, asserted in our declaration of rights to be essential and unalienable. We have great reason to indulge the hope of realizing these views, from the prompt and amicable disposition, with which, it is understood, the present federal administration met the conciliatory overtures of Great Britain: a disposition which is entitled to, and will certainly receive the hearty approbation of every one, who sincerely loves the peace and prosperity of the nation. • While we sincerely rejoice at the prospect laid open to the United States of returning prosperity and plenty, this commonwealth has great reason for self gratulation, on the patience and firmness displayed by her citizens under privations the most painful, and restrictions the most irreconcilable to the spirit of freemen. While the acts, enforcing these privations and restrictions, were submitted to by individuals, with a resignation, that evinced the most exemplary love of order, and respect for the constituted authorities of the nation, the wisdom and temperate firmness displayed by the Commonwealth, in their Legislature, their persevering attachment to the union, their correct estimate of their own rights, and the prudent and constitutional measures for their relief must always redound to its highest honour.' The observations on the treasury department prove Mr. Gore to have properly considered the importance of the trust he has assumed, and the judicious expedient he has proposed as a check upon future treasurers, is an evidence of the practical talents of his excellency, in the fiscal operations of the state. We are,' says he, seriously admonished by the circumstances in which the treasury was left by the predecessor of the present Treasurer, that the checks contained in the system were not sufficient to secure the community against unfaithfulness in an officer. Several other states, prior to the revolution, suffered frequent losses by a defect in this department of their government. In altering their state constitutions they thought to remedy the evil, by assigning the appointment of their Treasurer to the Legislature; the result has shown this remedy not to be effectual, and in several instances, they have altered their system, by adding to the officers entrusted with the care of the revenue, one, in the character of comptroller. Should the Legislature turn their attention, to the providing further security in this department, this mode may not be altogether unworthy their notice. The regulations of such an office might operate as checks on the Treasurer, by rendering the Comptroller's sanction necessary to a settlement of all accounts, to the payment, and receipts of all monies, to, or by the Treasurer, and to drawing the same from |