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from the interest of the recital. It affords an impressive lesson to the imprudent female; and speaks home to the heart of the libertine. Those whom fortune has placed above the reach of temptation it may teach to commiserate the fate of others. And to those whose situation in life does not exempt them from danger, it will point out the necessity of the most guarded caution, and the inevitable misery consequent upon one single step of an imprudent or vitious nature. ORIN.

MR. FOX.

The following character of Mr. Fox we copy from the Bombay Courier of the 17th January. It is ascribed to SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH.

MR. Fox united, in a most remarkable degree, the seemingly repugnant characters of the mildest of men and the most vehement of orators. In private life he was gentle, modest, placable, kind, of simple manners, and so averse from parade and dogmatism, as to be not only unostentatious, but even somewhat inactive in conversation. His superiority was never felt but in the instruction which he imparted, or in the attention which his generous preference usually directed to the more obscure members of the company. The simplicity of his manners was far from excluding that perfect urbanity which flowed still more from the mildness of his nature, than from familiar intercourse with the most polished society of Europe. His conversation, when it was not repressed by modesty or indolence, was delightful. The pleasantry, perhaps, of no man of wit had so unlaboured an appearance. It seemed rather to escape from his mind than to be produced by it. He had lived on the most intimate terms with all his contemporaries distinguished by wit, politeness, or philosophy, or learning, or the talents of public life. In the course of thirty years he had known almost every man in Europe whose intercourse could strengthen, or enrich, or polish the mind. His own literature was various and elegant. In classical erudition, which by the custom of England, is more peculiarly called learning, he was inferior to few professed scholars. Like all men of genius, he delighted to take refuge in poetry, from the vulgarity and irritation of business. His own verses were easy and pleasing, and might have claimed no low place among those which the French call Vers de societe. The poetical character of his mind was displayed in his extraordinary partiality for the poetry of the two most poetical nations, or at least languages, of the West, those of the Greeks and the Italians. He disliked political conversation, and never willingly took any part in it. To

speak of him justly, as an orator, would require a long essay. Everywhere natural, he carried into public something of that simple and negligent exterior which belonged to him in private. When he began to speak, a common observer might have thought him awkward; and even a consummate judge could only have been struck with the exquisite justness of his ideas, and the transparent simplicity of his manners. But no sooner had he spoken for some time, than he was changed into another being. He forgot himself and every thing around him. He thought only of his subject. His genius warmed and kindled as he went on. He darted fire into his audience. Torrents of impetuous and irresistible eloquence swept along their feelings and conviction. He certainly possessed, above all moderns, that union of reason, simplicity, and vehemence, which formed the prince of orators. He was the most Demosthenean speaker since Demosthenes. "I knew him," says Mr. Burke, in a pamphlet written after their unhappy difference, "when he was nineteen; since which time he has risen, by slow degrees, to be the most brilliant and accomplished debater that the world ever saw." The quiet dignity of a mind roused only by great objects, the absence of petty bustle, contempt of show, the abhorrence of intrigue, the plainness and downrightness, and the thorough good nature which distinguished Mr. Fox, seem to render him no very unfit representative of that old English national character, which, if it ever changed, we should be sanguine indeed to expect to see succeeded by a better. The simplicity of his character inspired confidence, the ardour of his eloquence roused enthusiasm, and the gentleness of his manners invited friendship. "I admired," says Mr. Gibbon, "the powers of a superiour man as they are blended, in his attractive character, with all the softness and simplicity of a child: no human being was ever more free from any taint of malignity, vanity, or falsehood."-From these qualities of his public and private character, it probably arose, that no English statesman ever preserved, during so long a period of adverse fortune, so many affectionate friends, and so many zealous adherents. The union of ardour in public sentiment, with mildness in social manners, was, in Mr. Fox, an hereditary quality. The same fascinating power over the attachment of all who came within his sphere, is said to have belonged to his father; and those who know the survivors of another generation, will feel that this delightful quality is not yet extinct in the race.

Perhaps nothing can more strongly prove the deep impression made by this part of Mr. Fox's chracter, than the words of Mr. Burke, who, in January, 1797, six years after all intercourse between them had ceased, speaking to a person honoured with some degree of Mr. Fox's friendship, said, " To be sure he is a man made to be loved!" and

these emphatical words were uttered with a fervour of manner which left no doubt of their heart-felt sincerity.

These few hasty and honest sentences are sketched in a temper too sober and serious for intentional exaggeration, and with too pious an affection for the memory of Mr. Fox to profane it by intermixture with the factious brawls and wrangles of the day. His political conduct belongs to history. The measures which he supported or opposed may divide the opinion of posterity, as they have divided those of the present age. But he will most certainly command the unanimous reverence of future generations, by his pure sentiments towards the commonwealth, by his zeal for the civil and religious rights of all men, by his liberal principles, favourable to mild government, to the unfettered exercise of the human faculties, and the progressive civilization of mankind; by his ardent love for a country of which the well being and greatness were indeed inseparable from his own glory, and by his profound reverence for that free constitution, which he was universally admitted to understand better than any other man of his age, both in an exactly legal, and in a comprehensively philosophical sense.

DOCUMENTS.

In our first number we gave a biography of Commodore Truxtun. The following Documents should have accompanied it.

No. 1.

Benjamin Stoddert, Esq. Secretary of the Navy, to Commodore Truxtun, dated,

13th March, 1799.

"I received this day, with heart-felt pleasure, your despatches, containing, besides other papers, letters of the 4th, 10th, and 17th of February. The letters were immediately laid before the President, who desires me to communicate to you his high approbation of the whole of your able and judicious conduct in the West-Indies, and to present to you, and, through you, to the officers and crew of the Constellation, his thanks for the good conduct, exact discipline, and bravery displayed in the action with and capture of the French frigate Insurgente on the 9th of February. I must, however, add, that he observes, and all the officers of government, indeed all others I have heard speak on the subject, that this was nothing but what we expected from Trux. tun."

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No. 2.

Commodore Truxtun to the Secretary of the Navy, Dated 19th May, 1799, previous to paying off the Frigate Constellation. The men then being engaged for twelve Months only.

"The expedition on which I was sent being ended, and the time for which my crew were entered expired, as I have before mentioned, I beg leave to conclude with observing, that in all my acts and in all my actions, I have studiously endeavoured to keep steadily in view what I conceived to be the intention of government as nearly as circumstances would permit, and to govern those, whom I have had the honour and glory to command, with that mildness which is the characteristic of our invaluable constitution and laws; and I wish to hope, that there are none, who have been under my authority, possessing a spark of candour, or having the least reflection, who will not do me the justice to say, that their happiness and comfort, keeping always in view every point of duty and exact discipline, have not at all times been commensurate with the arduous task. I have had to perform, in organizing a ser. vice amidst the great variety of incidents and scenes, new to a people enga. ged in the commencement of a military navy.

No. 3.

Address of the Officers and Company of the frigate Constellation, dated 4th February, 1800, presented by the undersigned Committee.

"To Commodore TRUXTUN.

Sir,

The Officers of every description, the Seamen, Marines, and every other of the crew, belonging to the United States ship Constellation, cannot suppress their lively feelings at the kind tribute you have paid to their respective meritorious exertions.

They with one voice proclaim that under such a commander, whose example would have made cowardice brave, they must have been less than men, not to have acted by the same stimulus of valour which they exhibited in the late engagement with the French national ship of 54 guns.

They have with sincere regret, to lament the loss of some of their faithful comrades, who fell in the lap of victory. The circumstance of losing the prize is a secondary consideration, which ould only devolve pecuniary advantage to the survivors. The glory and honour of the combat being diffu

sed to the whole, in behalf of ourselves and the rest of the ship's company,

(Signed)

ANDREW STERETT, First Lieutenant.

BATA: CLINCH, Marine Officer

DANIEL ELDRIDGE, Master.

HENRY VAN DYKE, Midshipman.

JAMES MORGAN, Gunner.

P. N. DONALD, Carpenter.

M. LONG, Boatswain.

DAVID KEARNS, Quarter-Masters who JOHN M'FAYLE, Sattended the wheel in the action.

No. 4.

Benjamin Stoddert, Esq. Secretary of the Navy, to Commodore Truxtun, dated

12th March, 1800.

"I am honoured with your letter of the 3d ult. inclosing an extract from your journal, relative to your glorious action with a French ship, of force greatly superior to your own, on the 2d ult. Both the letter and the extract have been laid before the President, who directs me to give you the strongest assurances of his high approbation of your own judicious and gallant conduct, and to request that you will present the officers and crew of the Constellation his thanks, for so nobly seconding your efforts to raise the character of their country, and to maintain the honour of its flag.”

No. 5.

Inquiry by Congress.

In the House of Representatives of the United States.

Tuesday, March 18, 1800.

RESOLVED, That the Secretary of the Navy do lay before this House such information as he may be possessed of respecting the engagement which lately took place in the West-Indies between the Constellation and a French ship of war, and also upon the conduct of any officer or other person on board of said frigate, who may have particularly signalized themselves in the said action.

Extract from the Journal,

(Signed)

J. W. CONDY, Cler

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