'the illustration of my persecutions, I have not been able to touch 'the last twenty-five years of my public services, which embrace the 'most interesting and important scenes of my life; and comprehend 'a four years' Indian war; conferences and treaties with Indian 'nations; the transfer of Louisiana under the purchase of 1803; 'Colonel Burr's conspiracy; and a variety of subordinate oc'currences; with many voyages by sea, and travels by land, [to the amount of 16,000 miles] in two years: all of which," he will endeavour to comprise in three additional volumes, of the 'size of those now published.'a

Without the smallest reproach to the facility of the General's pen, we cannot but express our fears, that we shall not live to see the end of this great work. Posterity may be more fortunate; and then will the future hero read, with delight, the story of a murderous warfare, in which cunning, cowardice and cruelty are often predominant; the infant jurist gather instruction from the luminous details of Indian talks and Indian treaties-from the sublime effusions of Red Jacket and the more sage considerations of Blue Breeches; and succeeding wits, sentimentalists, politicians and christians, dwell enraptured on the gay remarks, pointed sentences, amusing anecdotes, profound reflections, tender sentiments and pious ejaculations, which cannot fail to enliven and relieve the ennui of this long march of 16,000 mile. But from these anticipations of future glory and usefulness, let us return to our proper task.

The ponderous work before us, appeared in the spring of 1816, but without attracting the notice of any reviewer. As an article of trade, it had advantages and disadvantages; its bulk frightened the indolent, and its price deterred the calculating;—but to these causes of obstructed circulation, was opposed the love of scandal; which, in our age and country, may be safely denominated the universal passion. What has been the issue of this conflict, between curiosity and laziness-gossiping and parsimony, we do not know, and will not inquire; since it is our duty to consider, not the fortunes of a book in the market, but its value to society, its tendency to illustrate science, to promote truth and satisfy justice.

Literary works, in general, come under some particular denomination. They are either comedies or tragedies; tales or novels; sermons or songs, &c. and it rarely happens that we meet with a

a Introduction, p. 7. "It was customary with the northern warriors (Danes, &c.) to sing their own exploits, when they became old." Bertholin, lib. I. chap. 10. Why should not our heroes follow the example? Though no lovers of song, they can be very poetical in prose, as various biographical sketches (which may come under our future cognizance) will show. In this branch of literature there is still an-hiatus valde deflendus !

b Names of great Indian chiefs.

production, partaking so much and so equally of two or more different kinds of writing, as to puzzle the best judges, who shall attempt to characterize it by any simple uncompounded term. Such however is the work before us: but, from this objection, our author escapes with his characteristical adroitness; for, besides pleading a sort of literary insolvency, he avails himself of what he calls 'the latitude peculiar to memoirs,' and which-if we are permitted to infer his creed from his practice-puts him as to manner, "far above the critic's law," and as to matter, confers the invaluable privilege, of employing a little more truth than would be useful to romance, and much less than would be necessary to history. To book-makers, these advantages are obvious, and require no illustration beyond the well-known fact, that they have been long and duly appreciated, and frequently used by decayed artists, unsuccessful generals, disappointed politicians, cast mistresses, and notorious malefactors.

Having thus acknowledged the dispensing power of our author's title, with regard to style and arrangement, we pause for a moment on these subjects, merely to remark the proud use made of the liberty with which he was invested; and above all, the noble and uniform contempt he shows for the "brevis et densus" of the schools; which indeed, if rigorously enforced, would have dismissed one half of his personages and obliterated two thirds of his book. The laws of transition also, are, in his judgment, ridiculous and absurd, and he clearly demonstrates the advantage of abrupt and unexpected movements in letters, as well as in arms; and lastly, what is usually called decorum, he solemnly abjures ; showing that none but pimps and parasites would use it; that the nervous language of Billingsgate is the true heroic style, and that tenderness for the dead is treason to the living. With these few remarks, on the form of the work, we proceed to its substance, which may be divided into three parts: 1st. The author's birth, parentage and education : 2d. His persecutions: and 3d. His opinions, reflections, and details, political and military.

I. His birth, parentage and education.

Under this head, the author has shown a very becoming degree of care in settling the place of his nativity, which might otherwise have become a source of much and violent contention. I was 'born,' he says, 'in Calvert county, in the state of Maryland, near 'the Patuxent river, about three miles from a decayed village, called

a See vol. I. p. 12.

b He represents Mr. Madison as 'a Tiberius, cold, cruel, hypocritical and in*terested; disregarding the professions of his youth, the principles of his party, and the oaths of his office; a coward,' a murderer,' and 'a nose of wax.' Of several Secretaries of War in succession, he speaks with as little respect; and of Generals Brown, Scott and Swartwout, with a malignity truly diabolical.'

'Bene.. after a Baron of Baltimore.' It is to be lamented, that the author has not been equally circumspect in noting the time of this event, and in recording, like Sir John Falstaff, the hour of the day-the colour of his hair, and the shape of his belly. For this negligence, however, he amply atones by some reflections, equally new and philosophical, on the impossibility of a man's choosing his own father and mother; and by recollecting that the public curiosity might yet be awakened with respect to Robert Skinner, his grandmother's great grandfather: whose last will and testament he gives to the world, merely to forestall inquiry,' and perhaps, to show the old gentleman's very singular turn of thinking; as, in this instrument, he bequeaths to his eldest son Robert, one farm, one bed, one chair, one pewter dish, one Concordance of the Bible, and one half of his carpenter's and turner's tools.b. After this very interesting and satisfactory account of Robert Skinner, we are informed, when, where, by whom, and with whom, our hero was inoculated; what were his amusements, and what the places and means of his instruction, classical, mathematical, medical, military, moral and religious! From this detail it appears, that he was the mere creature of education, and that just as the twig was bent, the tree inclined; that his religious sentiments, which, in his bosom, 'never slumbered or slept,' were owing to the care of a pious mother; his impatience under insult, to the last words of a dying father; his notions of honour, to the suggestions of a high-minded friend; his military propensities, to the traditions of a country doctor; his successful cultivation of the graces, to the ladies of Philadelphia; and his moral principles, to an Irish regiment quartered in that city, and distinguished, like all other Irish regiments, for temperance and chastity.c

II. His persecutions.

Among many questions, which under this head have been impertinently asked, are two, of preliminary character, but considerable weight, viz.: how it happened, that a man, whose temper was never out of christian trim, should, in exculpating himself, have uniformly thought it necessary to criminate others? and by what extraordinary accident, or management, it was, that he, who only went about doing good, and who, on reviewing a long life, private and public, found no cause for remorse and but little for repent'ance,' should have provoked a series of persecutions, on charges of conduct, the most vile and flagitious,-made by different men,

a Second part Henry IV. scene 2.

b Appendix, vol. I. document No. 1.

c Vol. I. chap. 1. p. 13, he says, 'to the connexions then formed, [the ladies and the Irish regiment] I owe the insuperable aversion I have ever had to libertinism and profligate dissipation.' How pitiable is the man, who has lost memory, modesty and conscience!

of different parties, at different times, and in a country which, excepting from himself, the complaint of persecution is utterly unknown? To these questions he answers, that with regard to the charges of his enemies, it would be found, that in the 19th cen'tury (notwithstanding the progress of arts, sciences and civiliza'tion) he had been sacrificed to angry passions and ambitious in'trigues, and that his uniform zeal had been repaid by persecu'tions, which sprung out of frivolous incidents, to which he was not 'a party, and unlooked-for events, over which he had no control.' a We now proceed, as is our duty, to examine these angry passions, ambitious intrigues and frivolous incidents, to which the General has become a victim, and particularly, how far the description he has given, adapts itself to the persecutions he has suffered.

The first of these-and which may be denominated the persecution of his youth-was set on foot in the year 1777, and supported, on two charges, sufficiently frivolous, to wit: a breach of faith to an old friend and benefactor; and an attempt to fasten the stigma of his own delinquency on an innocent and unsuspecting companion. To get at the real character of this affair, the reader must consent to go back a few steps with us, and by doing so he will find, that as early as the fall of 1776, General Gates had obtained a very dangerous ascendency over the head and heart of our author; that, on one occasion, he drew him from his duty at the peril of his reputation ; that, on another, he made him abandon a Lieutenant-Colonelcy in the line, for a Majority in the staff; and lastly, that but for the interposition of a woman, he would have made him blow out his brains. These facts, abundantly show the feverish attachment of our author, which was not unreturned in quality or degree; for if the one praised and admired, the other flattered and rewarded; and in a few weeks, the aid was raised to the duties of an Adjutant-General, and the Major to the rank of a Colonel. Nor did this flood of tenderness stop here: the capture of Burgoyne and his army, was not an every day occurrence; its

a Vol. II. chap. 1. p. 3.

b Vol. I. chap. 3. p. 126. and chap. 4. p. 160.

e Vol. I. chap. 4. p. 172. I anxiously expect General St. Clair; his 'presence will help to alleviate the load which oppresses me. The perfidy 'of mankind truly disgusts me with life, and, if the happiness of an amiable wo'man was not unfortunately too dependent upon my wretched existence, I 'should think I had lived long enough, nor would I wish more to breathe the 'common air with ingrates, assassins, and double-faced villains.' This disgust of life is pretty well for a lad, who-though he had been two years before let loose upon the world as a practising physician-had not, according to his own computation, reached twenty years. And, on what account, is he so indignant? Because Schuyler superseded Gates! and who were the ingrates, assassins, &c. of whom he spoke? The old and venerable Congress of the revolution! Of what avail are the censures of one, who has been a slanderer from his cradle, and who calls names with so little truth, justice or discrimination?

details must be sent to Congress; the Adjutant-General was selected to carry the despatch, and, according to the tradition of the day, took care to have himself so spoken of in it, as induced Congress to make him a Brigadier by brevet.a About the time of his leaving the northern army, his friend and patron received a letter from Gen. Conway, indicating some defects in our military establishment, and pointing some censures at the conduct of the commander in chief. This letter was shown to Wilkinson confidentially, who seizing its character and object, treasured up enough of both for future use. Having now got from Gates, all that Gates could give his praises and his secrets-our hero sets out for Congress, and in six days reached the town of Reading. This period, short as it appears, was long enough to rescue him from the infatuation of his late attachment; to restore him to his senses, and make him reflect how he could best employ the two levers with which Gates's partiality had furnished him. The letter to Congress must indeed operate with that body; but might not its object be promoted by an adroit discovery of Conway's disaffection? Was it not probable, that Washington would be consulted, on the propriety of making the youngest Colonel in the army a Brigadier General? Was it certain, that if the appointment was made, the army would tolerate a violation of all rules in favour of a man, who defended no work, who marshalled no line, who led no attack, and whose principal merit was that of a Clerk? With all his selfapprobation, these reflections were not likely to escape our author, and he thought he saw, in Conway's letter and Gates's confidence, the means of silencing the objections of the troops and propitiating the favour of their chief. Nor, with views like these, could any thing be more fortunate than his rencounter with Lord Sterling; who, next to his bottle, loved his friend and commander. Even the weather became subsidiary to the plot, and furnished a pretext for delay and the acceptance of a 'pot-luck' dinner with his Lordship. We dined agreeably,' says the General, and I did not get 'away before midnight.' In the course of the day, the Earl fought over the battle of Long-Island in detail, and favoured me with ' recitals of all the affairs in which he had subsequently performed 'a part; and I reciprocated information of such transactions, in 'the north, as could interest or amuse him." In this flow of toddy and of soul, Conway's letter was not forgotten, and Lord Sterling was enabled to transmit an alleged copy of the offensive paragraph,

a The story alluded to was, that Gates had ended with paragraph 3d of the letter, as it now stands, (vol. I. p. 324,) but showing it to Wilkinson, and finding it was not enough to satisfy the demands of his appetite, he said in his rough way-"Well, damn you, take the pen and make it what you wish it to be." Wilkinson's modesty did not permit him to add more than the last sentence. b Vol. I. p. 331.