ity, that of being confronted with the witnesses on oath in open court-by substituting an unsworn anonymous history of the case in a publick newspaper, where every publication of this sort will have its weight, its influence, and its advocates. It has frequently been decided, that such a publication is a contempt at common law. That the liberty of the press ought to be inviolably preserved, the constitution has declared; but that the licentiousness of the press should be as invariably punished, the law has declared, and the repose of society most imperiously de mands. I am confident, that you will admit that the ministers of justice should be protected from insult, when discharging their judicial functions; who, as the guardians of our rights, are as much bound to punish the licentiousness, as they are to protect the liberty of the press, although secured by the constitu tion. Can it be conceived that the liberty of the press as secured by the constitution, meant to authorise printers to charge courts and juries with corruption, and witnesses with perjury, and to force on a court and jury, through the medium of a newspaper, a history of the merits of a case depending before them, by anonymous unattested publications,when no testimony can be given but on oath, and by the permission of the court submitted to the jury? On this subject there can be but one opinion. You speak of the hardship of not being permitted to give the truth in evidence in this case, when, in fact, the party charged on an attachment is so far from being estopped from giving the truth in evidence, that he is peculiarly favoured by being himself a witness to purge himself of the contempt; and if on his own oath he shall declare his innocence, the court are bound to discharge him. You eulogize the trial by jury, and yet wish to protect a printer from wantonly insulting its members. You reprobate the doctrines of the common law as declared by the judge, although introduced by our constitution, and he sworn to execute them. 1 caa never consent, gentlemen, to ar rest the execution of that legitimate power in a court of justice, which is not only necessary to its protection, but ART. 23. An Historical Sketch of the county of Berkshire and town of Pittsfield, written in May, 1808. By Thomas Allen, A. M. Pastor of the Congregational Church in Pittsfield. Boston. Belcher & Armstrong. 1808. pp. 14. THIS publication we seized with avidity, expecting to receive some addition to our knowledge of one of the most flourishing districts of this commonwealth. From the clergy are to be derived the best statis tical accounts of their respective parishes and the neighbouring country; and this is the requisite basis for a computation of the aggregate wealth, power, and happiness of the citizens, and for all plans, digested by the government or individuals for the extension of blessings through all classes of the community. Political economy has not perhaps been so much neglected in America, as other sciences; but a very large part of its domain continues unexplored. Our hopes from this performance are blasted. It is a meagre pamphlet, a production of one hour's labour. The historical sketch of Berkshire begius thus: Pittsfield is situated one hundred and forty miles west of Boston, in the local centre [where is that?] of the county of Berkshire, within seven miles of the west line of the state of Massachusetts, separating it from the state of New-York, and within seven miles of New-Lebanon springs. The county of Berkshire extends across the west end of the state, and is more than fifty miles in width, [perhaps the author meant length,] and twenty in breadth. Iron ore is abundant in the coun ty; marble is found in Lanesborough, shaking quakers in Hancock, and the county courts in Lenox, though they were formerly held in Pittsfield and Great Barrington: and this is the description of the county of Berkshire, excepting the town of Pittsfield. The writer of this pamphlet is a great statesman; and, because salt may be brought from the westward into Berkshire, affirms : We receive no injury from the embargo. Great advantages would result from its continuance for years to come, by enlarging our manufactures, promoting our independence, &c. To be sure there is a trifling discordance in the paragraph, when we are told, Nine tenths of the people of Berkshire are well satisfied of the wisdom and ne cessity of the measure, and are willing to undergo a little present inconvenience for a greater future good. But of his own place of residence the author writes with complacence, and we regret that he has only told, that there are ten schools, one meeting house, one bank, and one academy in the town; that the births amount to one hundred, and the deaths to thirty, in a year. He concludes with an address" to the church of Christ and inhabitants of the town of Pittsfield." The po A Sermon, preached at the Third Parish in Dedham, April 7, 1808, the day appointed by his excellency the Governour, for a day of humiliation ́ and prayer, throughout the commonwealth of Massachusetts. By Thomas Thacher, A. M. Minister of the third parish in Dedham. Dedham. H. Mann, printer. 8vo. pp. 21. 1808. THE productions of this gentleman always reward the reader and the reviewer for any time and attention which may be devoted to them. Though some of the positions may appear visionary, and some of the reasoning fallacious, though the style is occasionally incorrect, and often inelegant, yet there is a vein of original and profound thought, a bold and vigourous invention, and frequently a most brilliant display of fancy, discovered in the compositions of Mr. Thacher, which justly entitle them to particular and very honourable notice among the pamphlets, which issue from our presses. The text of the discourse under review is from Psalm lxxxi. 11, 12. "But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up to their own hearts' lust, and they walked in their own counsels." These words are first briefly but very judiciously explained; and then treated under two grand divisions, viz. "We shall I. Inquire, what duties are so plainly pointed out and enjoined by Heaven on nations, or rather on man in his collect ive capacity, that they may be properly called the voice of God. II. Exhibit those marks of national disobedience and depravity, which demonstrate that the divine commands are totally neglected. Under each of these, we shall intersperse such moral and practical reflections, as may arise on the subject. Under the first are considered national religion, the positive duties of christianity, private and social virtue, patriotism and publick manners. Under the second, a coldness and indifference to religion, both in its form and essence; the violation of truth and justice, and even of common honesty; the want of family government; the spirit of discord and party rage; are enumerated as indications of our being "left to follow our own counsel." In the indignant tone of a moral satirist, and in the authoritive voice of a christian minister, Mr. Thacher has inveighed against our vices and our follies. As men love to be praised rather than counselled, as flattery is always more grateful than reproof; and as those who most justly incur the latter are not unusually most greedy of the former, it must have been presumed by the reverend author that many readers would be incredulous, and many resentful, at his faithful representations of our faults and dangers. Some however will we hope be benefitted by the wholesome warnings, which we trust all will ascribe to benevolent and patriotick motives, and acknowledge to be executed with dignity and energy. Take a specimen from page 6. Would to God, my fellow citizens, there were not a"fatal pertinence" in the words of the text to the people of the United States! Can we examine closely into their import without finding our traits and features of national character moral and religions so nearly delineated, that they are a natural picture, rather than a general resemblance? Have we not revolted, in principle as well as practice, against Religion and Morality? Do we not already feel from the effect of our national wickedness,that we are left to follow Our own counsel ? Are there not those omens of publick death to be discerned at this day, which have been the precursor of destruction to other communities, once famous for religion and civil liberty, for arts and arms?. Is it not feared by the most wise and sagacious, contemplating the wars and convulsions, which have recently changed the face of all civilized Europe, and reflecting on the danger and ruin, to which we are exposed, that the angel of fate, by command of the Eternal, is now winding up the last threads of our political duration? Doth not the pi ous and devout mind, observing the history of God's moral providence, and comparing the same with the profaneness, licentiousness, and almost total absence of moral principle, so obvious at this day, behold the band writing on the wall, shewing how soon our destinies will be completed? Doth not he perceive from the signs of the times, the great and terrible voice of an angry Deity proclaiming through the land, "Your end is 'your days shall not be prolonged? come, and ART. 25. Secret History or the Horrors of St. Domingo; in a series of Letters, written by a Lady at Cape Francois, to Colonel Burr, late Vice President of the United States, principally during the command of General Rochambeau Philadelphia. Bradford & Inskeep. 1808. pp. 225. THE island of St. Domingo is the finest, and has been the most valua It few facts might be selected to shew ble of the West India colonies. would afford a copious subject for an interesting statistical work, which might be enlivened by many a romantick story, many pleasing, and many, O how many! horrible relations. The scenery, peculiar to the tropical regions, is here to be met with in all its luxuriance and variety, and would offer frequent opportunities for beautiful description. The city of Santo Domingo, on the south side of the island, once the seat of the Spanish Council General fine many of the Indies, contains churches, among which the cathedral is remarkable for its size and massy construction, and for being the oldest church in the American world. The ruins of the unfinished palace of Columbus, built in the Moorish style of the day, and the fountain of Columbus, which was poisoned by the negroes during their last attack upon the city, create interesting recollections about the most illustrious of all navigators, the most fortunate in what depended upon himself, the most ill treated by those to whom he rendered the greatest services. From the impression given by the title of this book, we were agreeably relieved by its perusal. The Horrours of St. Domingo are so dreadful, so recent, and so numerous that the bare recital would be an inhuman task. Perhaps it is no exaggeration to say, the blood which has been spilt, beginning with the destruction of the miserable Indians by the unrelenting Spaniards, after the first discovery; the European armies, Spanish, French, and English, that have melted away in garrisons and camps; and the massacres of the French and negroes by each other, would be sufficient to encompass the island. Nor would there be any utility in such a recital : a Vol. V. No. VII. 2 Y two or These letters, which have probably been revised, bear the marks generally of having been written at the time, and on the spot. Whether they were really addressed to Col. Burr, as the author is anonymous, we may perhaps have a right to doubt, though there are three allusions in the course of them, that incline us to think they were. The authoress appears to be a Philadelphian, unmarried, and the letters are principally occupied with the affairs of her sister, married by her guardian to a Frenchman, who, from his wealth, had been thought be an advantageous match, to but who proves to be a brutal, jealous character, and whose illtreatment of his wife, justifies her elopement from him. This takes place at Cuba, where they had escaped from St. Domingo; she runs away in the night, without consulting any one; her sister soon goes to Jamaica, where she is eventually joined by the runaway lady, and they prepare to return to Philadelphia, which forms the subject of the last letter in the book. We make the following extract for the sake of relating another anecdote in corroboration of it, which we had from a party concerned, both illustrating French character, and above all, French Creole char acter. Many similar anecdotes have been related by my Creole friends; but one of them, after having excited my warmest 1 sympathy, made me laugh heartily in the midst of my tears. She told me that her husband was stabbed in her arins by a slave whom he had always treated as his brother; that she had seen her children killed, and her house burned, but had been herself preserved by a faithful slave and conducted, after incredible sufferings, and through innumerable dangers to the Cape. The same slave, she added, and the idea seemed to console her for every other loss, saved all my Madras handkerchiefs. Some American gentlemen at the Cape, at the greatest hazard of their own lives and property, had concealed a Frenchman for some weeks in a small space between two houses, whose ends nearly joined; here they lowered him down his food and cloathing out of a small window, unknown to any one but themselves. The time at length arrived to embark, and through a thousand difficulties they got him safely on board the vessel. Here he recollected having left, not the portrait of his mistress, or even a lock of her hair, but a pair of boots; and they had some trouble to prevent his going back and endeavouring to recover them. The following anecdote amused us, though, begging the lady's pardon, it recalled to mind Pindar's tale of "Susan and the Spider." You say, that in relating publick affairs orthose of Clara, I forget my own,or conceal them under this appearance of neglect. My fate is so intimately connected with that of my sister, that every thing concerning her must interest you, from the influence it has on myself; and, in truth, I have no adventures. I described in a former letter, the gallantry of the French officers,but I have not repeated the compliments they sometimes make me,and which have been offered, perhaps to every woman in town before they reach my far. But a civil thing theard yesterday had so much of originality in it, that it deserves to be remembered. I was copying a beautiful drawing of the graces,when a Frenchman I detest entered the room. Approaching the table he said, What, mademoiselle, do you paint? I did not know that you possessed that talent. Vexed at his intrusion, I asked if he knew I possessed any talents. Certainly, he replied, every body acknowledges that you possess that of pleasing. Then looking at the picture that lay before me, he continued: The modesty of the graces would prevent their attempting to draw you. Why? I asked. Because in painting you, they would be obliged to copy them. selves. In the 25th letter is an anecdote honourable to the British character, of the commander of a frigate, who perished in a bold exertion of humanity to save the property, after having preserved the lives of some French emigrants. The most amusing letter in the book is the 28th, written in Cuba, to the authoress, by her sister; yet it is in the same style with the others. It is too long for insertion, but as a specimen of the book, we give the 6th letter. Cape Francois. General Rochambeau has given Clara a proof of his attention to her wishes at once delicate and flattering. She dined with a large party at the government. house, where, as usual, he was entirely devoted to her. After dinner, he led her, followed by the company, to a saloon, that was fitting up for a dining-room. It was ornamented with military trophies, and on every pannel was written the name of some distinguished chief. On one Buonaparte, on another Frederick, on another Massena, &c. Clara said it was very pretty, but that Washington should also have found a place there! A few days after, a grand ball was giv en, and on entering the ball-room, we saw, on a pannel facing the door, Washington, Liberty, and Independence! This merited a smile, and the general received a most gracious one. It was new year's eve. When the clock struck twelve, Clara, approaching the general, took a |