The Vigilant, with a hulk mounting three 18 pounders, commanded by lieutenant Botham of the Eagle, proceeded at the same time through the channel round Hog Island, and anchored on that side the fort, according to the intention pointed out for co-operating with the batteries on the Pennsylvania shore. The Isis, being as well placed in the eastern channel as the circumstances of the navigation would permit, rendered very essential service against the fort and gallies, much to the personal honour of captain Cornwallis, and credit of the discipline in his ship. The Roebuck and other frigates stationed against the batteries were equally well conducted. [The following are copies of the papers referred to in the aforementioned extract: Return of the number of men killed and wounded on board the different ships employed in the attack of the works of the enemy on Fort Island, their armed craft, and other defences erected to obstruct the pasage of the river Delaware, on the 15th day of November. Somerset, five seamen wounded. Isis, three seamen wounded. Roebuck, 3 seamen killed, 7 do. wounded. Liverpool, none. Pearl, one master killed, three seamen wounded. Vigilant, one midshipman, one seaman kill Greater caution being necessary in placing the So-ed; lent from the Eagle. Cornwallis Galley, one second merset, that ship could not be carried as far up the Lieutenant Bothan, none. master and pilot wounded. channel as the Isis was advanced. The impression made by the batteries on Province Island (before very considerable) being united with the well-directed efforts from the Vigilant and Hulk, soon silenced the artillery of the fort; and farther preparations being in progress for opening the Estocade, and forcing the works next morning, the enemy set fire to and evacuated the fort during the night. The numbers of the enemy killed and wounded, appeared to have been very considerable. Those in the different ships, as stated in the annexed return, were much less than could be supposed, particularly of the Isis and Roebuck, which were struck many times from the gallies and works. A detachment from the army under the command of Lord Cornwallis, having been landed the 18th at Billingsport, (where a post had been some time before established) for attacking the redoubt at Red-Bank, the enemy abandoned and blew up the works. They had passed several of their gallies unperceived above the town of Philadelphia, in the night of the 19th, which proved very favourable for the purpose; and attempted to do the same with the rest of the gallies and other water-force, the following night; but being seasonably discovered, they were opposed with so much effect, by Lieutenant Watt, of the Roebuck (ordered by captain Hammond, before my arrival, to take his station in the Delaware prize, near the town) that not more than three or four of the former appeared to have escaped; and being otherwise unable to prevent the capture of the rest of their armed craft, consisting of 2 xebecques, 2 floating batteries, and several ships, besides 5 vessels, amounting to about 17 in number, they were quitted and burnt. Lieutenant Watt having testified great propriety and spirit on this occasion, I have continued him in the command of the Delaware, retained as an armed ship in the service, to remain near the town of Philada. where such additional naval force is particularly requisite. A more accurate inspection of the obstructions to the navigation of the river adjacent to Fort Island, becoming practicable under the circumstances before mentioned, two channels were discovered, through which the transports, containing the provisions, stores, and other necessaries for the army, might proceed to Philadelphia. They were ordered up the river accordingly, to be afterwards secured at the wharfs of the town, for the approaching winter months. The unfortunate event of Lieutenant General Burgoyne's operations with the northern army, terminating, as I am advised by the commander in chief, with the surrender of those troops agreeable to the tenor of a convention executed the 16th of last October, has rendered a suitable provision necessary to be made for their conveyance to Europe. A proper number of transports has been appropriated for that occasion. But as it would be scarce practicable at this season of the year for light transports to gain the port of Boston, where the embarkation is conditioned to take place, the transports have been ordered under convoy of the Raisonable to Rhode Island, that if the proposed alteration is adopted, and the troops can be embarked at that port, they may be sooner released. ed 19. In all 25. Sloop commanded by Total killed, six. Wound Whitehall, Jan. 8, 1777. The following is a copy and extract of two letters from the Hon. Gen. Sir Wm. Howe to L. G, Germain. PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 28, 1777. My Lord-From a variety of difficulties attending the construction of additional batteries, in a morass, against the fort upon Mud Island, and in the transportation of the guns and stores, they were not opened against the enemy's defences until the 10th instant. On the 15th, the wind proving fair, the Vigilant armed ship, carrying sixteen 24 pounders, and a hulk with three 24 pounders, got up to the fort through the channel, between Province and Hog Island; these, assisted by several ships of war in the eastern channel, as well as by the batteries on shore, did such execution upon the fort and collateral block houses, that the enemy, dreading an impending assault, evacuated the island in the night between the 15th and 16th, and it was possessed on the 16th at day-break by the grenadiers of the guards. The enemy's fire upon the ships of war the Vigilant and Hulk, from two floating batteries, 17 gallies and armed vessels, and from a battery on the Jersey shore, was exceedingly heavy; but the gallantry displayed by the naval commanders, their officers and seamen, on this occasion, frustrated all their efforts, aud contributed principally to the reduction of the enemy's works. The enemy's loss during the siege, is computed to have been 400 killed and wounded. The loss to the king's troops was only seven killed and five wounded. On the 18th at night Lord Cornwallis marched with a corps from camp, and passed the Delaware on the 19th, from Chester to Billing's Port, where he was joined by Major General Sir Thomas Wilson, with a corps that arrived a few days before from New York under his command, having with him Brigadier Generals Leslie and Pattison. As soon as the necessary preparations were made, his lordship pursued his march to attack the enemy entrenched at Red-Rank. Upon his approach the rebels evacuated the post, and retired to Mount Holly, where they joined a corps of observation, detached from the main army of the rebels, encamped at White Marsh. The entrenchment being demolished, his corps returned to Gloucester on the 27th, and joined the army in this camp. The enemy's shipping having no longer any protection, and not finding it advisable to attempt the passage of the river, the channel being commanded by the batteries of the town, and the Delaware Frigate, they were quitted, without being dismantled, and burnt on the night between the 20th and 21st; but the gallies of a similar draught of water, by keeping close along the Jersey shore, escaped, from the great breadth of the river. A forward movement against the enemy will immediately take place, and I hope will be attended with the success that is due to the spirit and activity of his Majesty's troops. The passage of the river, by the reduction of the two places aforementioned, has been sufficiently opened to Vast numbers of ordnance and military stores were found in the fort of Mud Island, and that of Red Bank. On the 11th instant, Lord George Germain received an express from Sir William Howe, brought by the Earl of Cornwallis, dated Philadelphia. Dec. 13, 1777. This letter contains an account of Gen. Howe's endeavours to bring the rebels to a general engagement. With this view he marched his army to White Marsh, where the enemy's whole force lay strongly intrenched. Several skirmishes ensued, with some loss on the side of the king's troops, who put the enemy to flight in every attack, with slaughter. General Howe however, finding that the enemy's camp was as strong on their centre and left as upon the right, that they seemed determined not to quit their position, and being unwilling to expose the troops longer to the weather in this inclement season, without tents or baggage of any kind for officers or men, he returned on the 8th of December to Philadelphia, where the troops are now gone into winter-quartersso that the campaign in America seems finished for this season. A reinforcement was sent to General Clinton at New York, upon his representation of a want of troops for the defence of that post. FROM THE LONDON GAZETTE. Whitehall, March 17, 1778. Copy of a Letter from Gen. Sir William Howe to Lord G. Germain, one of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, dated at Philadelphia, the 19th of January, 1778. My Lord,-The present appearance of the weather encouraging me to hope the river will be sufficiently open in a few days to admit of a packet sailing, I have prepared my dispatches to this date, and shall send them off without waiting for the receipt of those from your Lordship by the Lord Hyde packet, which I am informed by Sir Henry Clinton arrived at New York the 1st instant, and were detained upon a supposition that the navigation of this river would not be open for a ship of force, and not thinking it advisable to trust them in the packet, or in the armed vessel bringing the advice. There has not any thing more material happened since the departure of Lord Cornwallis, who I requested to be the bearer of my last dispatches, than the passing a considerable detachment of the army across the Schuyl kill on the 22d of December, to take post on the heights of Derby, in order to cover the collecting and transporting by water, as well as by land, a large quantity of forage which that country afforded. About 1000 tons were brought in, a quantity judged to be nearly sufficient for the winter consumption; and the detachment returned on the 28th of December, without any further attempts from the enemy to retard the progress of the foragers, than from small parties skulking, as is their Cistom, to seize upon the straggling soldiers: One of these parties, consisting of two officers and 30 men, were decoyed by two dragoons of the 17th regiment into an ambuscade, and made prisoners. On the 30th and 31st of December the troops went into winter quarters in this town, where they are well accommodated. The enemy's army, excepting a detachment of 1200 men at Wilmington, is hatted in the woods near Valley Forge upon the Schuylkill, 26 miles from hence, and in a very strong position. Colonel Harcourt, who will have the honour of presenting these dispatches, has my leave to go to England upon his private affairs, to whom I beg leave to refer your Lordship for the fullest information that may be required, I have the honour to be, &c. W. HOWE. Lond. Mag. 1778. CHARITY. AN ODE, Sacred to the memory of WILLIAM PENN, the founder of Pennsylvania, by Peter Markoe, formerly of Philadelphia. * "ASCEND the bark, the sail expand, As from this land of rage and tears, "I see, I see the untaught band, Ascend the bark; expand the sail." Thus Charity the Chief address'd, "Ye gazing tribes! your fears forego; "O'er wide-extended lands you roam; And reason smil'd with decent pride. "Ye people, hear! (again he spoke) "Religion who shall dare restrain? The British isles with rapture heard; Ye statesmen, whom weak minds revere! He spoke not to unwilling slaves; To neighb'ring shores and distant lands The arts his matchless deeds record, SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION. filled. The magazines were built close and compact, they were also covered in, and filled close to the top.After the fire was extinguished, a rafter of deal which was within the building near the door, was found half burnt, and a beam which the coal touched, was in the same condition. They had not ignited, but were burnt through to a cinder: the coals which lay on the top of the heap, were only warmed by the smoke that had passed through them, but those in the middle had lost their inflammability, and were half calcined, but near the bottom they had suffered no injury, nor even con tracted the least heat. It is also stated, that previously to the construction of those magazines, coal had been constantly exposed to the weather without being infla med. A similar accident took place in Philadelphia, some years before, from a large quantity of Virginia coal having been heaped under a close arch. In the year 1794, 1,600 tons of coal in the King's yard at Copenhagen, inflamed after some time, and was entirely consumed, together with 1,400 houses. In the Domestic Encylopædia, (article Inflammation,) We are under great obligations to a correspondent the editor has enumerated several substances, which unfor the annexed valuable communication. It will be der particular circumstances spontaneously inflamed; read with interest, and be productive of benefit. The and it may be serviceable to mention, as a caution to woollen manufacturers, that a destructive fire at Lodge"stone coal" spoken of, we presume to be the common more mills near Stroud, in Gloucestershire, which hapbituminous mineral coal, not anthracite. The "stone coal" of the Schuylkill, the Lehigh, and of Pennsylva-pened June, 1811, was occasioned by a quantity of flocks impregnated with Currier's oil being left on the nia generally, is not liable to spontaneous combustion. floor. [Aurora & Penn. Gaz. Spontaneous Combustion of Stone Coal and of Char In the Archives, vol. 2d, p. 403, mention is made of the spontaneous inflammation of charcoal, from the pres sure of mill-stones, and from pounding charcoal in a pestle of a powder mill; in one case, the combustion took place in a quantity of charcoal which had been laid in a garret. REVOLUTIONARY ANECDOTE. coal-The late fire in the store of the Messrs. Stanton's, is supposed to have originated in the spontaneous combustion of a heap of Liverpool coal, deposited under the stairway that leads to the upper counting room. It is worthy of inquiry whether this coal, of itself, will ignite if laid in wet, or by being exposed to the addition of other materials occasionally thrown among it, such as spirits, oil, &c. We would thank any person, capable Colonel Menzies.-Some time previous to the evacua of giving correct information on this subject, to favour tion of Charleston, Colonel Mentzies of the Pennsylva us with a communication enumerating the circum-nia Line, received a letter from a Hessian officer within stances under which spontaneous combustion may be the garrison, who had once been a prisoner, and treated produced in Liverpool or any other coals.-N. Y. Gaz.by him with kindness, expressing an earnest desire to We can give the information required by the editor of the New York Gazette, from Dr. Meases's "Archives of Useful Knowledge," vol. 3d, p. 187. "About the 10th July 1812, 1200 bushels of Virginia coal, were put into a close cellar in Philadelphia, and about the middle of September, the owners wishing to remove them from the establishment, sold a great quantity of it. The coals were then found to be so hot, and to emit so much smoke, as to excite alarm, and required several hogsheads of water to cool them. This coal contained a considerable quantity of sulphur. The same quantity of coal had been put in the same cellar, several times during the last five years, without showing any disposition to heat. show his gratitude, by executing any commission with which he would please to honour him. Colonel Menzies replied to it, requesting him to send him twelve dozen Cigars; but, being a German by birth, and little accustomed to express himself in English, he was not very accurate in his orthography, and wrote Sizars. Twelve dozen pair of Scissors were accordingly sent him, which, for a time, occasioned much mirth in the camp, at the Colonel's expense; but no man knew better how to profit from the mistake. Money was not, at the period, in circulation; and by the aid of his runner, distributing his Scissors over the country, in exchange for poultry, Colonel Menzies lived luxuriously, while the fare of his brother officers was a scanty pittance of famished beef, bull frogs from ponds, and crayfish from the neighbour About the time the occurrence just mentioned took place, the coal in the great vault of the water works, ating ditches.-Garden's Anec. the Centre Square, containing between sixteen thousand and eighteen thousand bushels of Virginia coal, was discovered to be very hot, and upon removing the surface of it, under one of the vault trap-doors, which were even with the ground, a dense smoke immediately issued. By throwing out several hundred bushels of the coal, and pouring an immense quantity of water into the vault, the progress of the combustion was checked. Such was the degree of heat extricated, that a man could not stay in the vault to shovel out the coal, more than a few minutes at a time. Some lumps of coal were completely reduced to coke. The vault had been filled to the top, and was of course deprived of air. Straw Paper.--We understand a mill, for the manufacture of paper from straw, has been erected at Chanbersburg, which it is expected will succeed very well. The paper is strong, and substantial, and well calculated for wrapping paper.-Miner's Journal. In the memoirs of the Royal Academy of Paris, it is stated that two magazines, containing each about 1,200 chaldrons of stone coal, took fire shortly after they were Printed every Saturday morning by William F. Ged des, No. 59 Locust street, Philadelphia; where, and at the Editor's residence, in North 12th st. 3d door south of Cherry st. subscriptions will be thankfully received. Price five dollars per annum payable in six months after the commencement of publication-and annually, thereafter, by subscribers resident in or near the city, of where there is an agent. Other subscribers pay in advance. THE REGISTER OF PENNSYLVANIA. DEVOTED TO THE PRESERVATION OF EVERY KIND OF USEFUL INFORMATION RESPECTING THE STATE. VOL. II.-NO. 19. REPORT EDITED BY SAMUEL HAZARD. PHILADELPHIA, NOV. 22, 1828. NO. 47. On Roads, Bridges & Canals, read in the Senate, March by individuals; and by the commonwealth, the cost of 23, 1822, Mr. Raguet. Chairman. The committee on Roads, Bridges and Inland Navigation, in obedience to the instructions of the Senate, as contained in two resolutions passed on the 4th of January last, submit the following report: the amount of subscriptions to the capital stock made the road per mile including bridges, toll houses and gates, subscription price of the shares, the amount of the existing debts of each company, width of the roads, materials of which composed, with the depth of the same at the centre and at the sides respectively. Table No. V. presents a list of the bridges which Upon examining the numerous volumes of the acts of have been sanctioned by letters patent, showing the assembly from the earliest period, to the present day, it rivers and streams over which they pass, the years in appears that 146 turnpike road companies have been, which they were severally commenced and completed, prior to the present session, authorized by law, of which their length and width, elevation above the usual level 84 have received letters patent from the department of of the water and whether roofed or not, the number of state. Many of those which were authorized, have fail-arches by which supported, the materials of which the ed in their endeavours to procure subscriptions to the piers are composed, as also the amount of individual amount required by their acts of incorporation before and state subscriptions to the capital stock, the subscripthey could be entitled to charters, whilst others were tion price of the shares, and the amount of the debts of rendered unnecessary, in consequence of subsequent the companies. acts authorizing the incorporation of other companies for smaller sections of the same route. Table No. I, amongst the documents accompanying this report exhibits a list of the corporate titles of all these companies placed in the order in which the acts were respectively passed, together with the dates of the acts, the date at which letters patent were granted to those which received them, and the counties in which the roads are located. The number of bridges without taking into the account those which individuals were permitted to erect, authorized to be constructed by companies is 49-of which 30 only have been confirmed by letters patent. A similar list of these will be found in Table No. II. The number of canal and lock navigation companies authorized is 18, of which 9 have made progress in their works. A similar list of these also, will appear on table No. III. Your committee after considerable labor, having completed the lists above referred to, and ascertained as far as was practicable, the probable residence of the officers of the respective companies, addressed a circular letter to the President and managers of each, submitting to them certain questions embracing as they conceived, all the points of information contemplated by the resolutions under which they acted. To most of these circulars, satisfactory answers were returned, with a promptitude which merits the approbation of the Senate, and which indicated on the part of the companies a desire to promote the views of that body, by contributing their respective shares to the common stock of information. Some answers however, your committee regret to say, were not as full as could have been desired, but deficient as is the information contained in them, they were far more acceptable than the total silence of a few of the companies which did not think proper to acknowledge the receipt of the letters addressed to them, or who perhaps from a mistake in their direction, did not receive them by the course of mail. Table No. VI. exhibits a list of the lock and canal navigation companies, which have received corporate powers, whether by letters patent or by their acts of incorporation, showing the period at which the works were commenced, and at which they will probably be completed, the extent of the improvements contemplated, the proportion which it is expected will be of canals, the amount of individual and state subscriptions, original price of the shares, the number of feet of falls to be overcome, the expected cost of the whole improvements, and the progress which has been made in the works. The preceding tables, it will be observed, contain only that portion of the information derived from the letters addressed to your committee, which would admit of a tabular form. A great mass of valuable knowledge of a statistical, geographical and commercial nature not susceptible of condensation, and which to be interesting must be read in detail, is to be gathered from the documents, but the session is too far advanced to warrant the expectation on the part of your committee, that so voluminous a collection could be printed in time for distribution at the present session, even if the labor of preparing for publication such a body of scattered materials, were not of itself at this period of pressing duties an insurmountable obstacle to the undertaking. From the incomplete replies to some of the questions proposed by your committee, and from the entire failure of answers in a number of cases, it is evident that the preceding tables must in the nature of thing's be imperfect. In order however, that as much information as was attainable, should be therein embodied, the committee have in a few instances filled up blanks from other sources of intelligence, believed to be correct, designating by a mark (+) the figures which have been thus unofficially introduced, and in those cases where no answers have been received from companies, the blanks have been principally filled from personal knowledge of from that of some of the members of the legislature, or from public documents, Where blanks are left in the statements of those companies from which answers have Table No. IV. exhibits an alphabetical list of the turn- been received, it is because no answers were returned pike road companies, which have received letters pa-upon those points. Some errors will undoubtedly be tent, showing the years in which the roads were seve- discovered, but, it is confidently believed by your comrally commenced and completed, the length of each mittee, that they will not be numerous. In the length contemplated by its charter, the number of miles com- of the roads all fractions less than one quarter of a mile pleted prior to the commencement of the present year, have been rejected. VOL. II. 37 From a view of the foregoing documents, it will be perceived, that the number of miles of Turnpike roads contemplated by the various charters of the companies which have received letters patent is 2521 Of which there have been completed 1807 Of these roads about 1250 miles are of solid stone, having on their surface no angle greater than 44 or 5° even in crossing the highest mountains. The amount of Capital subscribed towards these improvements by individuals (including the subscriptions of a few banks,) and which has been paid, or is expected to be paid, is $4,158,347 The amount subscribed by the commonwealth to the same is 1,861,542 To these sums if there be added one half the amount of the existing debts of the companies, which it is probable the roads have cost more than the am't. subscribed by the state and by solvent individuals, say It will appear that to turnpike roads there has been subscribed and appropriated, in Pennsylvania, the sum of Towards the construction of Bridges, also, it will appear that a great appropriation has been made. The stock subscribed by indivi duals, amount to That subscribed by the commonwealth to And if half the amount of debts be added, as in the former case The amount contributed towards the construction of Bridges, will have been 381,585 1,629,200 382 000 40,595 $6,401,474 2,051,795 1,916,510 $10,369,779 Without a map of the state upon which the routes of the various turnpikes are traced, it is almost impossible to form a correct idea of their localities and ramifications. Suffice it for the present to say, that when the works now in progress shall be completed, there will be. Two complete stone roads, running from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, 3000 miles each in length, one of which is already finished. One continued road from Philadelphia to the town of Erie, on the lake of that name, passing through Sunbury, Bellefonte, Phillipsburg, Franklin and Meadville. Two roads, having but a few miles of turnpike deficient, from Philadelphia: one to the New York state line, in Bradford county, passing through Berwick, and one to the northern part of the state, in Susquehanna county, passing through Bethlehem. And One continued road from Pittsburg to Erie, passing through Butler, Mercer, Meadville and Waterford. The Northern, north western and western sections of the State will then be connected with the Metropolis, and afford facilities for travelling and transportation, unequalled as to extent in the United States. Your committee having considered the resolutions under which this report has been prepared as a simple call for statistical details will forbear to enlarge. From the tables herewith submitted, many important principles might be deduced and conclusions drawn. The simple facts as to whether our internal improvements have all been made with a proper regard to that prudence which should regulate the expenditure of private capital, or public money, whether in the appropriations made by the commonwealth a due regard has been had to equali ty of distribution and whether some general rules for the construction and regulation of turnpike roads, might not be made, which would abridge legislation, and establish a system of uniformity, are subjects which merit the attention of the legislature. Skill and a judicious economy in the construction of turnpike roads is of vital importance. The art of making artificial roads is in its infancy in our country, and it behoves us as we value our prosperity, to use every means within our reach to profit by the lights and experience of those who understand the subject better than ourselves. The construction of stone and other artificial roads is a science which few men understand, and yet which few men hesitate to undertake, and it is no doubt from a want of ordinary skill in preparing and applying the materials of which our roads are composed, and in shaping their surface, and of ordinary judgment in the application of labour, that most of our roads have been constructed so expensively, and some of them so badly. The attention of your committee has been drawn to a small English publication re-printed in Baltimore during the last year, and which is to be procured in that City or in Philadelphia, entitled "M'Adam on roads." It comprises besides an essay upon road making by John Loudon M'Adam, Esquire, the author, the minutes of an examination of witnesses before a committee of the House of Commons, appointed to enquire into the state of the roads and particularly into a new system of turnpike road making introduced by Mr. M'Adam. As this work is well worth the perusal of all who have any desire to understand the principles upon which the British turnpike roads are constructed and repaired, so that not a rut is ever to be seen on their surface, your committee have deemed it worth their while to bring it thus into the notice of the Legislature. From this book it appears, that according to the most approved system at present in use in England, The stones are broken so fine as that none of them' exceeded six ounces in weight in order that a more speedy consolidation may be produced. The depth of the materials is about ten inches, which' is probably one fourth less than the average depth of our stone roads. The surface of the road is as nearly flat as is sufficient to carry off the water, being only three inches higher in the centre, than at the sides, where the width is eighteen feet. The convexity of our roads ge nerally varies so as to make them from 6 to 15 inches higher in the centre than at the sides, which occasions their being cut up, inasmuch as the weight of a loaded wagon is principally thrown upon the wheels which are on the lowest side. A few of them are as low as 1 to 4 inches, and a small number are entirely flat, which is probably detrimental to their duration, by permitting the water to soak down, destroy the foundation, and injure the materials. It is worthy of remark, that stone roads |