to preferve these bleffings. It requires alfo that we fhould not overlook the tendency of a war, and even of preparations for a war, among the nations most concerned in active commerce with this country, to abridge the means, and thereby at least enhance the price of tranfporting its valuable productions to their proper markets. I recommend it to your ferious reflections, how far and in what mode it may be expedient to guard against embarraffments from thefe contingencies, by fuch encouragements to our own navigation as will render our commerce and agriculture lefs dependent on foreign bottoms, which may fail us in the very moments moft interefting to both of these great objects. Our fisheries and the tranfportation of our own produce, offer us abundant means for guarding ourselves against this evil.

Your attention feems to be not lefs due to that particular branch of our trade which belongs to the Mediterranean. So many circumftances unite in rendering the prefent ftate of it diftressful to us, that you will not think any deliberations mifemployed which may lead to its relief and protection.

The laws you have already paffed for the establishment of a judiciary fyftem have opened the doors of juftice to all defcriptions of perfons. You will confider in your wifdom, whether improvements in that fyftem may yet be made, and particularly whether an uniform procefs of execution on sentences ifluing from the federal courts, be not defirable through

all the ftates.

The patronage of our commerce, of our merchants and seamen, has called for the appointment of confuls in foreign countries. It feems expedient to regu late by law the exercise of that jurifdiction and those functions which are per mitted them, either by exprefs convention, or by a friendly indulgence in the places of their refidence. The confular convention, too, with his most Christian Majefty, has ftipulated, in certain cafes, the aid of the national authority to his confuls established here. Some legiflative provifion is requifite to carry thefe ftipulations into full effect.

The eftablishment of the militia, of a mint, of ftandards of weights and meafures, of the poft-office and poft roads, are fubjects which, I prefume, you will refume of courfe, and which are abundantly urged by their own importance.

Gentlemen of the House of Representatives,

The fufficiency of the revenue you have established for the objects to which they are appropriated, leaves no doubt that the refiduary provifions will be commenfurate to the other objects for which the public faith stands now pledged. Allow me moreover to hope, that it will be a favourite policy with you, not mere ly to fecure a payment of the interest of the debt funded, but as far and as faft as the growing refources of the country will permit to exonerate it of the principal itfelf. The appropriation you have made of the western lands explain your difpofitions on this fubject, and I am perfuaded the fooner that valuable fund can be made to contribute, along with other means, to the actual reduction of the public debt, the more falutary will the measure be to every public intereft, as well as be more fatisfactory to our conftituents.

Gentlemen of the Senate, and House of

Reprefentatives,

In peruling the various and weighty bufinefs of the present feffion, I indulge the fulleft perfuafion that your confultations will be equally marked with wif dom, and animated by the love of your country. In whatever belongs to my duty, you fhall have all the co-operation which an undiminished zeal for its welfare can infpire. It will be happy for us both, and our best reward, if by a fuc. cefsful adminiftration of our refpective trufts, we can make the established government more and more inftrumental in

promoting the good of our fellow-citi zens, and more and more the object of their attachment and confidence.

GEORGE WASHINGTON. United States, Dec. 8. 1790.

1

NEW

NEW BOOKS. Memoirs of the Life and gallant Exploits of the Old Highlander Serjeant Donald Macleod, who, baving returned, wounded, with the corpfe of Gen. Wolfe from Quebec, was admitted an out-penfioner of Chelsea Hofpital in 1759, and is now in the 103d year of his age. 8vo. 25. J. Sewell, Cornhill, &c. THE favour and the compaffion which are naturally exercised towards extreme old age, and the particular notice that has been taken of this old foldier by his Majefty, and fo many of the British nobility and gentry, would render the memoirs of Serjeant Macleod not a little interesting, even were they lefs curious and diverfified in themselves, and drawn up by a writer of lefs humour, elegance, and judgement.-This old gentleman, for it appears that he really is a gentleman both by birth and by behaviour, was born in the year of the Revolution, in the parith of Bracadill, in the Isle of Sky and county of Inverness, North Britain. He is a Cadet of the family of Ulinish in Sky, and defcended, through his mother, from Macdonald of Slate, the ancestor of the prefent Lord Macdonald. The earlier part of his life coincided with the famine of feven years in Scotland, which was fo great as to fuggeft, even to the patriotic Mr Fletcher, the idea of the people felling themselves as flaves for immediate fubfiftence. He was bred in the midft of want and hardships, cold, hunger, and, for the years of his apprenticeship with a mafon and fone-cutter in Inverness, in inceffant fatigue. He inlifted, when a -boy, in the Scottish service, in the town of Perth, in the last year of the reign of King William. The regiment into which he enlifted was the Scots Royals, commanded by the Earl of Orkney. That old military corps, at that time, ufed bows and arrows as well as fwords, and wore fteel caps. He ferved in Germany and Flanders under the Duke of Marlboroughunder the Duke of Argyle in the Rebel lion 1715-in the Highland Watch, or companies raised for enforcing the laws in the Highlands-in the fame companies when, under the name of the 42d regi ment, they were sent abroad to Flanders, to join the army under the Duke of Cumberland-in the fame regiment in Ireland, and on the breaking out of the French war, 1757, in America. From the 42d he was draughted to act as a drill ferjeant in the 78th regiment, in which he ferved at the reduction of Louisburg

But

-

As a fpecimen of this extraordinary piece of biography, we fhall present our readers with the account that is given of Serjeant Macleod, from the time that he broke his apprenticeship at Inverness to that of his inlifting into the Scots Royals at Perth.

"Towards Christmas, in the year 1699, in the midft of froft and fnow, with his indenture, which he had contrived to get into his hands, and one linen shirt in his pocket, our young adventurer, before it was yet day, fet out from his master's houfe at Inverness, fecretly, without any other deftination than that of wandering with his face fouthward. His brogues and his stockings foon gave way, and he was reduced to the neceffity of encountering the icy and rugged paths through which he paffed with his legs and feet quite bare. This circumftance, however, was not half fo afflicting to little Donald, as the conftant apprehenfion left he should be pursued and overtaken by the Macpherfons, his mafters, and forcibly taken back to fulfil the time of his apprenticefhip. He therefore, as much as poffible, avoided the highway, and ftruck, at every turn, into the narrow defiles, and byepaths, that led through the mountains. Mr Burke thinks that nothing, no not li

berty

berty itself, is absolutely or abftractly good; that things are only defirable and good relatively; and that all their comfort depends on circumftances. But Donald Macleod was of a different opinion: for, even in the midst of snowy hills, and dreary frozen waftes, he exulted in his freedom, in the consciousness of being uncontrouled, and his own master, Lis berty appeared to Donald to be good, abstractedly and in itself; for, though it did not immediately remove the evil of which he had fo much reason to complain in a state of fervitude, it excited courage, and nourished hope; it gave full fcope to fancy and contrivance, and alleviated the weight of what he now fuffered by the profpect of what he might yet enjoy. His feelings were in exact unifon with those of another adventurer, on a Tour into the Interior Parts of Africa.

"I now exulted," fays the traveller, in my emancipation, (from bis mafters), and felt an ecstasy of joy in the mere poffethon of life and liberty, though I knew Bot how to fuftain the one, or fecure the other. Nor was I plunged into defpair when this tranfport began to fubfide. If I should fubfift on the reptiles of the earth, and roots, and herbs, and feeds, and to whatsoever I fhould be drawn by the keenness of fenfe, purified by want, and invigorated by the breath of Heaven, I would efteem myself happy in being my own mafter."

"Our young wanderer feldom went near any house in the day-time; but when night approached, he looked about for fome hamlet or village where he might get a lodging, and fomething to fuftain nature. Though, in thofe calamitous times, he met with frequent re puifes when he begged a bit of bread or a little meal, he was never refufed a night's lodging by any one to whom he made application. "Woe is me!" people would fay, "he is a comely boy. His coat and kilt too are of a finer plaid than ufual. He is furely fome gentleman's fon."-"Perhaps," another would fay, "he is fome gentleman's baftard." Some, in the morning, would give him a fmall pittance of the little that they had for their own famished children, and, with tears in their eyes, bid the LORD blefs him and guide him. Others would ear, Deftly advife him to return home. To all their inquiries concerning his family, his name, and the place from whence he came, he gave evafive answers, fearing VOL. LIII. January 1791.

nothing to much as that he should fall again into the hands of the Macphersons, Thofe men were not harth to him, tho' they confined him clofely to his work; but he was abfolutely ftarved, as they had not, in the midft of prevailing fa mine, wherewithal to fatisfy the wants of their family.

When he came (for he fteered his courfe fouthward by the Highland, not by the coaft road) near to Aberfeldie, where there was a ferry, the bridge not being yet built, he fell in with an elderly woman decently apparelled, and in appearance ra ther above the common rank. She put many queftions, and at length offered to take him home with her to her own houfe. He asked her what he would do with him. She faid, froaking his curling hair," My pretty boy, I have loft my only child, who, had he lived, would have just been about your age, and I think not unlike you. I will take you along with me, and you fhall be my fon." He was not infenfible to this good woman's kindnefs; for, while the thed tears for pity, he cried out of grateful affection. But ftill he thought he was too near Invernefs; too much expofed to the inquiries of his late mafters. He, therefore, thanked the kind ftranger for her offer, but pofitively refused to accept it." Alas!" faid fhe," where will you go? Some heart, I fear, aches for you this day." So finding him refolute to pursue his jour ney, the put a fhilling in his hand and a warm handkerchief about his neck, and committed him, with many prayers for his fafety, to the care of Providence. 4

Turning eastward from Aberfeldie, he purfued his journey along the north fide of the Tay till he came to Logierait, at the junction of the Tay and the Tumel. This laft river, that he might not spend one farthing of his fhilling by taking the ferry-boat, he boldly determined to ford, and actually did ford it, though the water was breaft-high. But as he journeyed onward to Dunkeld, he was met by a well-dreffed man on foot, with another man a little behind him who ap peared to be his fervant. The first of thefe, who was one of the gentleman robbers fo frequent in Scotland in those days, ftopped our young traveller, and, after feveral questions, asked him what he had in his pocket. Donald trembling for his fhilling, affirmed that he had nothing. But the application of á pistol pointed to his breaft, extorted his whole

treafure

treasure without delay. The unfeeling plunderer held on his way northward, and the hapless youth whom he had plundered proceeded on his journey, to which he knew not when or where there would be an end.

It was now in the dusk of the evening and being overcome with fatigue, cold, and great forrow at the lofs of his fhilling, he felt an irrefiftible propensity to go to fleep. No houfe or hut was near in which he might obtain friendly fhelter; but he efpied a fheep cot as he advanced, in which he found a very warm and comfortable night's lodging, and most profound and refreshing repofe among the sheep and the goats. The next morning be difcovered a village, not far diftant, in which he was refreshed with both oatmeal and milk; on the ftrength of which repast he passed on to Dunkeld, eroffed the Tay, and about two o'clock, arrived at the town of Perth.

Here he thought himself at first, at a greater lofs, amidst all the conveniences and wealth of a very confiderable town, than he had been while he wandered from mountain to mountain, and found, at long distances, the thinly fcattered and humble abodes of the poor fhepherds. Tho' gentlefolks, or those who confider themfelves as fuch, would occafionally give a bit of bread, he knew that they were very fhy of affording quarters. He was, therefore eagerly looking about for fome mean houfe, where his application for a night's lodging might not give offence or meet with infult, and where the poor inhabitant, taught sympathy, perhaps, by fuffering, might have been difpofed to have compaflion on the unfortunate: when he faw, in the ftreet called the Skinner Gate, occupied chiefly by people from the Highlands, a woman, in a fmall fhop with an earthen floor, fpinning at a wheel, and watching a few articles which fhe was ready to fell.

Thefe circumftances of poverty, to gether with a benignity of foul expreffed in the countenance of the woman, encouraged him to apply for permiffion to reft a little in the house: nor did he apply in vain. The woman, whom he afterwards found to be a widow, received him into her little manfion, and treated him with the utmost kindness. To her queftions refpecting his situation, be anfwered, that he was a poor apprentice who had run away from his mafter. The woman, looking carneftly in his face, with

tears ftarting into her eyes, faid, " Hé must be a bad man from whom you have run away." Donald replied, that his mafter was not indeed a cruel man, tho' neceffity made all of them work, and with very little sustenance, by night and by day. The tender-hearted woman loft no time to give him a bafon of good broth, with a liberal fupply of bread. This was the firft plentiful meal that he ever had received, to the best of his remembrance, in his life. He fell immediately to fleep. He was put to bed, and slept till twelve o'clock at night, when he arofe, and found his good hoftefs, at that late hour, still spinning.-" Well," said fhe, "my pretty boy, will you have any thing to eat now?" for he had fallen afleep after taking the broth, without tafting a bit of the meat that had been boiled in it. He did not defire to eat any thing more than he had done, but begged leave to go again to bed..

Early in the morning the good woman had lighted her fire, and fat down to fpin, when her young guest arose, and, afraid of being too long troublesome, offered to take his leave, with many thanks for her great kindness. "Woe is me, faid the," you have neither shoes nor ftockings!" With that the brought forth, out of an old cheft, a pair of fhoes and ftockings which belonged to one of her own children that had been dead about fix months, and while she tried how they would fit her young gueft, which they did pretty well, fhed many tears. She now invited Donald to ftop another night, and in the mean time conversed with him, in the Gaelic tongue, about the place and people he had left, and about his own family. Being now at a tolerable diftance from Inverness, and pretty safe from the pursuit of the ftone-cutters, he unbosomed himself to Mary Forbes, for that was his landlady's name, with great freedom,

"Oh!" faid he," is there any body in this place, do you think, that would keep me?" "I don't know," Mary replied, "but there is. Stay in the house, and mind the little things at the door tifl I come back." Having said this she went out, and foon returned with a young man, of very genteel appearance, who kept a fhop in Perth near the south end of the Water-Gate. He was a Strathern man; his name James Macdonald. Mr Macdonald being fatisfied that the boy could both read and write, and that he had a pure as well as a fair skin (for, in

thofe

those fad times, cutaneous disorders were almost universal), took him immediately to his house, and let him fleep in the fame bed with himself; for he had but two in the boufe, in one of which lay his mother and a servant girl. When Donald left Mary Forbes he promised to fee her often; and he kept his word.

Mr Macdonald, as he walked homeward to his own house, faid to his little fervant, " I had once a boy older than you; and after I had been very good to him, he ran away with all the money that he could find in the fhop." "He must have been a very bad boy," Dosald replied; " but I will sooner die than behave in fuch a manner."-" I could fwear," said Mr Macdonald, “that you would."

་

The good old gentlewoman Mr Macdonald's mother, at her son's request, furnish ed his little man with stockings and shirts. He was alfo equipped with a new coat and a bonnet. He might have had breeches too, according to the Lowland fafhion, but he preferred the philebeg, and his master indulged him in his choice. He gave perfect fatisfaction to his mafter in every every thing, and particularly in the bufinefs of going on errands, which he did with aftonishing expedition. At that time there was not any general poft in Scotland; and therefore the intercourfe between merchants was carried on by specia! meffengers. Mr Macdonald put fuch confidence in his young footman, as to fend him to Edinburgh, with fixtysine pounds in gold, fewed up, by Donald's advice, in his clothes. The diftance from Perth to Edinburgh, by the nearest road, is twenty-eight Scotch, or forty English miles. Our young courier, with bread and cheese, and two fhillings in his pocket, fet out from Perth at eight o' clock in the morning, and arrived at Kinghorn at fix in the evening, when he Juckily found a boat, that, in a little more than an hour, carried him over the frith of Forth to Leith; from whence he ran to Edinburgh in half an hour, delivered his money fafely, received a proper receipt, with a fhilling to himself from the Shop-keepers to whom the money, in different portions, was configned, flept all night at a ftabler's in the Canongate, recroffed the frith next morning, and to wards the evening returned to Perth. The old woman, Mrs Macdonald, who was fitting in the kitchen, exclaimed, “O

Donald, what has happened? what has brought you back?" but, by this time, he had given his mafter the acknowledgement he had received of the safe deliverance of the money.

At this time there was a recruiting party in Perth beating up for volunteers to ferve his Majesty King William III. in the regiment of the Royal Scots, commanded by the Earl of Orkney. They wore fteel caps, and were armed with bows and arrows, and fwords and targets. Donald Macleod, ftruck with the martial fight and found of this little band, felt his heart beat time to the trumpet and drum; and, forgetting his ftature and years, not yet thirteen, went up and offered his fervices to the ferjeant, &c. &c."

Our biographer enriches his narrative of the life and actions, and a vast variety of pleafing anecdotes relating to Macleod, with traits of the principal perfons and fcenes and times in which he appears as an actor; fo that in thefe Memoirs we have fomething that marks the varying character of the end of the laft, and all that has come of the present century.

Donald Macleod, in his prime, did not exceed five feet and feven inches. He is now inclined through age to five feet five inches. He has an interesting phyfiognomy expreffive of fincerity, fenfibi lity, and manly courage. His biographer very properly submits it to the confideration of the Polygraphic Society, whether they might not do a thing wor thy of themselves and their ingenious art, if they should multiply likeneffes of this living antiquity, and circulate them, at an eafy rate, throughout Britain and Europe. They would thus gratify a very general curiofity; a curiofity not confined to the prefent age.

It has been afferted by fome thoughtlefs perfons, under the influence of vulgar and low suspicion, that the freshness and agility of the old Serjeant give the lie to the account that is given of his great age. But let fuch wife-acres refect, that the fame conftitution of nature that gives long life, gives long health and vigour. How do they fuppofe did old Parr look at Macleod's age? Had they seen Parr when 102 years old, they would have foolishly fworn that he was an impoftor. Europ. Mag.