THE INDEPENDENCE BELL. ral action, during which he intended to cross over from the Cambridge side, with four thousand chosen The bell hanging in the steeple of the old State men, and attack Boston. To conceal his design and House, in Chestnut street, in this city, which is rung to divert the attention of the garrison, a heavy bom-on special occasions, is the one that assembled the bardment of the town and lines of the enemy was dence read, fifty-nine years ago. The metal of people together to hear the Declaration of Indepenbegun on the evening of the 2d of March, 1776, and which this bell is composed, was imported in the repeated on the two succeeding nights. On the year 1752, in the shape of another bell, which haynight of the 4th, immediately after the firing began, ing become injured by an accident at the trial ringa considerable detachment, under the command of ing, after its arrival, it became necessary to have it recast. Whether the remarkable inscription upon General Thomas, passing from Roxbury, took silent it was or was not upon the original bell, we have no possession of Dorchester heights. The ground was means of ascertaining, but Watson, in his annals of almost impenetrably hard, but the night was mild, Philadelphia, expresses the opinion that we are and by labouring with great diligence, their works indebted for it to Isaac Norris, Esq., at that time were so far advanced by morning, as to cover them, rection the bell was recast. speaker of the colonial assembly, under whose diThis supposition is in a great measure, from the shot of the enemy. possibly correct, for it is hardly probable that the asWhen the British, after daybreak, discovered these sembly which ordered the bell from England, would works, which were magnified to their view by a have encountered the risk of being suspected of the hazy atmosphere, nothing could exceed their aston-red from its terms. The inscription was copied from rebellious intentions which might have been inferishment. No alternative now remained but to aban- the twenty-fifth chapter of the book of Leviticus, don the town, or to dislodge the provincials. Gen- verse ten, in these words: "Proclaim liberty througheral Howe, with his usual spirit, chose the latter out all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof." part of the alternative, in which design he was foiled by a tremendous storm. A council of war was called next morning, and it was agreed to evacuate the town as soon as possible. A fortnight elapsed before this measure was effected. Meanwhile, the Americans strengthened and extended their works; on the morning of the 17th of March, the British discovered a breastwork that had been thrown up in the night, at Nooks Hill, Dorchester, which perfectly commanded Boston Neck and the south part of the town. Delay was no longer safe: by four o'clock in the morning, the king's troops began to embark, and before ten, all of them were under full sail; leaving behind them stores to the value of thirty thousand pounds. As the rear embarked, General Washington marched triumphantly into Boston where he was joyfully received as a deliverer." It is now many years since we rambled over the grounds which were the seat of the scenes described. Time, and the levelling hand of modern improvement, have done much to erase all marks of the struggle. A few years ago, Governour Hutchinson's house was still standing, and on Boston common, you might perceive the spot where the troops of Earl Percy were encamped. Brattlestreet church presents in its front an iron monument of the bombardment of 1776, and the entrenchments on Dorchester heights are tolerably preserved. In ranging also over the diversified country around Boston, you frequently meet with gentle elevations and slight depressions, which mark the lines of the American encampment. But most of the memorials, like most of the actors in those scenes, have passed away. This prophetick command was literally obeyed by the bell on the 4th of July, 1776, and as it was the first bell in the United States that spoke treason, it was thought prudent to remove it from Philadel phia for safe keeping in 1777, when the British were about to visit Philadelphia, although its weight was two thousand and eighty pounds. Phil. Gazette. NEW ENGLAND. To blend with the skies! And tall ancient trees! The vales of New England The woods of New England, The streams of New England, But dreaming to flow. God shield thee, New England, Iron Mountain in Missouri.-Mr. Featherstonhaugh, he a solid mass. Ile remarks:- "Unusual as IS the geologist appointed by government, reports the the magnitude of the superficial cubick contents of discovery of a vein of iron on the United States' this vein, yet it must be insignificant to the subterralands in Missouri, about one hundred and fifty feet neous quantity. This extraordinary phenomenon filled above the surface of the adjacent plain. At the sur-me with admiration. Here was a single locality of face, it had the appearance of being roughly paved iron offering all the resources of Sweden, and of with black pebbles of iron, from one to twenty which it was impossible to estimate the value by any pounds' weight; beneath the surface it appeared to other terms than those adequate to all a nation's wan's." THE old Hasbrook-house, as it is called, situated Dutchess county, with their woody and picturesque on the west bank of the Hudson, a little south of the shores. All along these plains and shores are to be village of Newburgh, is one of the most interesting found other memorials of the revolution; for there relicks of the first and heroick age of our republick; were the storehouses, barracks, and hospitals of our for at several periods of the war of the revolution, army, and there, for many months, were the headand especially from the autumn of 1782 until the quarters of the father of American tacticks, the distroops were finally disbanded, it was occupied by ciplinarian Steuben. To the south, you look down General Washington, as the headquarters of the upon the opening of the Highlands and the rock of American army. Pollopell's Island, once a military prison, and thence follow, with your eye, the Great River of the Mountains* till it turns suddenly and disappears around the rocky promontory of West Point; a spot consecrated by the most exciting recollections of our history, by the story of Arnold's guilt and Andre's hapless fate, and the incorruptible virtue of our yeomanry; by the memory of the virtues of Kosciusko and Lafayette; of the wisdom and valour of our own chiefs and sages. The views from the house and grounds, as well as the whole neighbourhood around it, are rich alike in natural beauty and historical remembrances. You look from the old house upon the broad bay into which the Hudson expands itself, just before entering the deep, rocky bed, through which it flows towards the ocean between the lofty mountain-banks of the Highlands. On the opposite shore, is seen the ridge of mountains, upon the bald rocky summits of which, during the war of 1776, the beacon-fires so often blazed to alarm the country at the incursions of the enemy from the south, or else to communicate signals between the frontier posts in Westchester, along the line of the American position at Verplanck's Point, West Point, and the barracks and encampments on the plains of Fishkill. As these mountains recede eastward from the river, you see the romantick stream of Mattavoan winding wildly along their base, through glens and over falls, until, at last, as if fatigued with its wanton rambles, it mingles quietly and placidly with the Hudson. On this side of it are stretched the rich plains of The Hasbrook-house itself, is a solid, irregular building of rough stone, erected about a century ago. The excellent landscape, painted by Weir, and engraved with equal spirit and fidelity by Smillie, will give the reader a better idea of its appearance and character than words can convey. The interiour remains very nearly as Washington left it. The largest room is in the centre of the house, about twentyfour feet square, but so disproportionately low, as to appear very much larger. It served the general during his residence there, in the daytime, for his hall of reception and his dining-room, where he re The Indian name of the Hudson. gularly kept up a liberal, though plain hospitality. United States, during the war of our independence. At night it was used as a bedroom for his aidde- At the supper hour the company were shown into a camps and occasional military visiters and guests. room fitted up for the occasion, which contrasted It was long memorable among the veterans who had quite oddly with the Parisian elegance of the other seen the chief there, for its huge wood fire, built apartments, where they had spent their evening A against the wall, in, or rather under a wide chimney, low, boarded, painted ceiling, with large beams, a the fireplace of which was quite open at both sides. single, small, uncurtained window, with numerous It was still more remarkable for the whimsical pecu- small doors, as well as the general style of the whole, liarity of having seven doors, and but one window. gave at first the idea of the kitchen, or largest room The unceiled roof of this room, with its massive of a Dutch or Belgian farmhouse. On a long rough painted beams, corresponds to the simplicity of the table was a repast, just as little in keeping with the rest of the building, as well as shows the indiffer- refined kitchen of Paris, as the room was with its ence of our ancestors to the free communication of architecture. It consisted of large dishes of meat, noise and cold air, which their wiser or more fasti- uncouth-looking pastry, and wine in decanters and dious descendants take so much pains to avoid. On bottles, accompanied by glasses and silver mugs, the northeast corner of the house, communicating such as indicated other habits and tastes than those with the large centre-room, is a small chamber, which of modern Paris. "Do you know where we now the general used as a study, or private office. are?" said the host to General Lafayette and his companions. They paused for a few moments, in suspense. They had seen something like this before, but when and where ? 'Ah, the seven doors and one window," said Lafayette, "and the silver camp-goblets, such as our marshals of France used in my youth! We are at Washington's Headquarters on the Hudson, fifty years ago!" We relate the story as we have heard it told by the late Colonel Fish, and, if we mistake not, the host was the excellent M. Marbois. There is another anecdote of a higher and more moral interest, the scene of which was also laid in this house. We remember to have heard it told by the late Colonel Willet, our "bravest of the brave," then past his eightieth year, with a feeling that warmed the coldest of his hearers, and made the tears gush into the eyes of his younger listeners. Those who have had the good fortune to enjoy the acquaintance of officers of the northern division of our old army, have heard many a revolutionary anecdote, the scene of which was laid in the old square room at Newburgh, "with its seven doors and one window." In it were every day served up, to as many guests as the table and chairs could accommodate, a dinner and a supper, as plentiful as the country could supply, and as good as they could be made by the continental cooks, whose deficiency in culinary skill drew forth in one of his private letters (since printed) the only piece of literary pleasantry, it is believed, in which the great man was ever tempted to indulge. But then, as we have heard old soldiers affirm with great emphasis, there was always plenty of good wine. French wines for our French allies, and those who had acquired or who affected their tastes, and sound Madeira for the Americans A British officer had been brought in from the of the old school, circulated briskly, and were taken river, a prisoner, and wounded. Some accidental in little silver mugs or goblets, made in France for circumstances had attracted to him General Washthe general's camp equipage. They were accompa-ington's special notice, who had him placed under nied by the famous apples of the Hudson, the Spitz- the best medical and surgical care the army could enbergh and other varieties, and invariably by heap- afford, and ordered him to be lodged at his own od plates of hickory nuts, the amazing consumption quarters. There, according to custom, a large party of which, by the general and his staff, was the theme of officers had assembled in the evening, to sup with of boundless admiration to the Marquis de Chastel- the commander-in-chief. When the meats and cloth leux and other French officers. The jest, the argu- were removed, the unfailing nuts appeared, and the ment, the song, and the story, circulated as briskly wine, a luxury seldom seen by American subalterns, as the wine; while the chief, at the head of his except at "his excellency's" table, began to circulate. table, sat long, listened to all, or appeared to listen, The general rose much before his usual hour, but, smiled at and enjoyed all, but all gravely, without putting one of his aiddecamps in his place, requestpartaking much in the conversation or at all contri-ed his friends to remain, adding, in a gentle tone, "I buting to the laugh, either by swelling its chorus or have only to ask you to remember, in your sociality, furnishing the occasion; for he was neither a joker that there is a wounded officer in the very next nor a story-teller. He had no talent, and he knew room." he had none, for humour, repartee, or amusing anecdote; and if he had possessed it, he was too wise to indulge in it in the position in which he was placed. One evidence, among many others, of the impression which Washington's presence in this scene had made, and the dignity and permanence it could lend to every idea or recollection, however trivial otherwise, with which it had been accidentally associated, was given some few years ago at Paris. This injunction had its effect for a short time, but, as the wine and punch passed round, the soldier's jest and mirth gradually broke forth, conversation warmed into argument, and, by-and-by, came a song. In the midst of all this, a side-door opened, and some one entered in silence and on tiptoe. It was the general. Without a word to any of the company, he passed silently along the table, with almost noiseless tread, to the opposite door, which he opened and The American minister (we forget whether it was closed after him as gently and cautiously as a nurse Mr. Crawford, Mr. Brown, or one of their succes- in the sick room of a tender and beloved patient. sors), and several of his countrymen, together with The song, the story, the merriment, died away at General Lafayette, were invited to an cntertainment once. All were hushed. All felt the rebuke, and at the house of a distinguished and patriotick French- dropped off quietly, one by one, to their chambers of man, who had served his country in his youth in the tents But the Newburgh Headquarters are also memorable as the scene of a far more important transaction. In the autumn of 1783, the war had closed with glory. The national independence had been won. The army, which had fought the battles, which had gone through the hardships and privations of that long, and doubtful, and bloody war without a murmur, were encamped on the banks of the Hudson, unpaid, almost unclothed, individually loaded with private debt, awaiting to be disbanded, and to return to the pursuits of civil life, without the prospect of any setlement of their long arrears of pay, and without the means of temporary support, until other prospects might open upon them in their new avocations. injury, over misapplied genius and eloquence, over chivalrous, but ill-directed feeling. The opinions and the arguments of Washington, expressed in his orders, and in the address delivered by him to his officers, calmed the minds of the army, and brought them, at once, to a sense of submissive duty; not solely from the weight of moral truth and noble sentiment, great as that was, but because they came from a person whom the army had long been accustomed to love, to revere, and to obey; the purity of whose views, the soundness of whose judgment, and the sincerity of whose friendship, no man could dream of questioning. The honour of the "Continental Army" unstained, and the holy cause of liberty unsullied by any one act of rebellious, or ambitious, or selfish insubordination. They fulfilled the prophetick language of their chief, when, in the closing words of his address on this memorable occasion, he expressed his sure confidence, that their patient virtue, rising superiour to the pressure of the most complicated sufferings, would enable "posterity to say, when speaking of the glorious example they had exhibited to mankind; had this day been wanting, the world had never seen the last stage of perfection to which human nature is capable of attaining." Shortly after, the army disbanded itself. It was under these circumstances, while Congress, veterans laid down their swords in peace, trusting to from the impotence of our frame of government the faith and gratitude of their country, leaving the under the old confederation, and the extreme poverty of the country, found themselves utterly unable to advance even a single month's pay, and, as if loath to meet the question, seemed but to delay and procrastinate any decision upon it; the impatient and suffering soldiery, losing, as their military excitement died away with its cause, all feeling of loyalty towards their civil rulers, began to regard them as cold-hearted and ungrateful masters, who sought to avoid the scanty and stipulated payment of those services, the abundant fruits of which they had already reaped. Then it was that the celebrated anonymous Newburgh letters were circulated through the camp, touching, with powerful effect, upon every topick that could rouse the feelings of men suffering under the sense of wrong, and sensitive to every stain upon their honour. The glowing language of this address painted their country as trampling upon their rights, disdaining their cries, and insulting their distress. It spoke of farther acquiescence and submission to such injury and contumely, as exposing the high-spirited soldier to "the jest of tories and the scorn of whigs; the ridicule, and, what is worse, the pity of the world." Finally, the writer called upon his fellow-soldiers, never to sheath their swords until they had obtained full and ample justice, and pointed distinctly to their "illustrious leader," as the chief under whose auspices and directions they could most boldly claim, and most successfully compel, the unwilling justice of their country. The power of this appeal did not consist merely in its animated and polished eloquence. It was far more powerful, and, therefore, more dangerous, because it came warm from the heart, and did but give bold utterance to the thoughts over which thousands had long brooded in silence. Precisely that state of feeling pervaded the whole army, that discontent towards their civil rulers, verging every hour more and more towards indignation and hatred, that despair of justice from any other means or quarter than themselves and their own good swords, that rallying of all their hopes and affections to their comrades in arms and their long-tried chief, such as in other times and countries, have again and again enthroned the successful military leader upon the ruins of the republick he had gloriously served. The disinterested patriotism of Washington rejected the lure to his ambition; his firm and mild prudence repressed the discontents, and preserved the honour of the army, as well as the peace, and, probably, the future liberties of his country. It was the triumph of patriotick wisdom over the sense of Why should we dilate here on the particulars of this transaction? They form the brightest page in our history, the noblest theme of our orators; but no eloquence can increase the interest and dignity of the narrative, as told in the plain language of Marshall, and in the orders and address of Washington himself. Let it suffice for us to fulfil faithfully the humbler task of the local antiquary, which we have here undertaken to perform. When any of our readers visit this scene, they will feel grateful to us for informing them, that it was in the little northeastern room of the "old stone house" at Newburgh, that Washington meditated on this momentous question, and prepared the general orders to the army, and the address, which he read, with such happy effect, to the military convention that assembled, at his invitation, on the fifteenth of October, 1783, at a large barrack or storehouse, then called "the new building," in the immediate neighbourhood. It was but a few days after this, that, upon the lawn before the house, Washington finally parted with that portion of his army which did not accompany him to take possession of New York. He parted with his faithful comrades with a deep emotion, that contrasted strongly with the cold and calm serenity of manner which had distinguished him throughout the whole seven years of the war. That parting hour has often suggested itself to the writer, as affording one of the most splendid and abundant subjects that American history can furnish to the painter. It combines the richest materials of landscape, portrait, history, and invention, any of which might predominate, or all be united, as the peculiar talent or taste of the artist might dictate. It offers to the painter, magnificent and varied scenery, shipping, and river craft of the old times, with their white sails and picturesque outlines, arms, military costume, fine horses, beautiful women and children with every expression of conjugal and filial joy mixed with the soldiers in groups such as art might | and is richly carved out of the stone of that part dispose and contrast at its pleasure, numerous most of the country. It is surmounted with the famiinteresting historical personages, and, above the ly coat-of-arms, which form a rich emblazonment whole, the lofty person and majestick presence of of heraldry; and, although two hundred years the chief himself, not the grave and venerable man have rolled away since it was erected, they are we are accustomed to see in the fine portraits of still burnished with gilding. Stuart, but still in the pride of manly and military grace and beauty, and melted into tenderness as he parts from the tried and loved companions of seven years of danger, hardship, and toil." Ornaments and pride of American art; Allston, Trumbull, Vanderlyn, Dunlap, Cole, Sully, Morse, Inman, Weir; we commend this subject to your genius, to your patriotism! It is a natural and good tendency of the human mind, and one leading to excellent ends, that prompts the man of taste or the scholar to "Worship the turf where Virgil trod, And think it like no other sod, And guard each leaf from Shakspeare's tree, But how much more elevated the feeling, how much worthier in the motive, and salutary in the influence, are the emotions that throb in the patriot's breast as he treads upon a soil, dignified by recollections of wisdom, of courage, of publick virtue, such as those we have now imperfectly described! If, therefore, to use the often-quoted, and deservedly often-quoted language of Johnson, " that man is little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plains of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona :" what shall we say of the American who feels no glow of patriotism, who kindles not into warmer love for his country, and her glorious institutions, who rises into no grand and fervent aspiration for the virtue and the happiness of this people, when he enters the humble, but venerable walls, of the HEADQUARTERS AT NEWBURGH.-Verplanck.-N. Y. Mirror. THE ANCESTORS OF WASHINGTON. "The following are the inscriptions: TO YE MEMORY OF SIR LAWRENCE WASHINGTON, Nite, "The old Manor-house of Gardson is now occu pied by a respectable, and, indeed, opulent far"We have been favored, within the last few mer, named Woody-two of whose sons lately days, with a highly interesting account of a mon- came over to this country in the ship Philadelphia, ument in England, erected to the memory of some and are gone back into the state of Ohio. Mr of the ancestors of our beloved Washington. Woody rents his farm and house of Lord Andover. The gentleman to whom we are indebted for the This ancient seat of the Washington family is account, is Mr. Samuel Fullaway, of this city-handsome, very old-fashioned, and built of stone, but who, being a native of England, returned to that country on a visit to his parents, who reside at Malmesbury, in Wiltshire. The monument in question is in Gardson Church, in the same county. "The village of Gardson is about two miles from Malmesbury, and the church is an ancient Gothic edifice, situate in the bosom of a rich country, and surrounded with venerable trees. The country people have for many years been in the habit of conducting strangers to the church, for the purpose of pointing out the venerable memorial of the Washington Family-in former ages the Lords of the Manor of Gardson, and the residents of the Court-house, a building of the olden timegray with the lapse of centuries. "The monument was once a superb specimen of the "mural" style-and even now exhibits relics of richness and curious workmanship. It is to be seen in the chancel, on the left side of the altar, with immense solidity and strength. The timber about it is chiefly British oak, and in several of the rooms, particularly in a large one, which was the old hall or banqueting-room-there are rich remains of gilding, carved work in cornices, ceilings and panels, polished floors and wainscoating— with shields containing the same coat-of-arms as on the mural monument in the church, carved over the high, venerable, and architectural mantel-pieces. Beneath the house are extensive cellars, which, with the banqueting-room, seem to indicate the genuine hospitality and princely style of living peculiar to a 'Fine old English gentleman, And, indeed, according to the traditions and chronicles of the country, such was the genera character of the heads of the Washington family |