his companion in early life, it might have been the means of averting this awful and untimely death.

20th. I attended the judicial court at the City Hall for the trial of a number of criminals accused of house robbery, horse stealing, and murder, among the defenceless inhabitants of our frontiers. No less than ten of these miscreants were arraigned at the bar. The jury brought in a verdict of guilty against the whole number. Judge John Jay, who officiated on the bench, pronounced the awful sentence of death, and addressed them in a very solemn and affecting manner, calculated to rouse them to a sense of their dreadful condition, and in a moving and pathetic strain, enjoined it on them to prepare to meet their God. This scene was rendered the more melancholy by observing among the criminals a grey headed man of seventy years, and his son about twenty. The criminality of the son admits of some extenuation from his ignorance and the example of his father. The youth was afterwards pardoned; but the old man, with several others, expiated their crimes by a public execution on the gallows.

In the town of Schoharie, about thirty miles from this city, a company of our troops, under the command of Captain Patrick, has been for some time stationed for the purpose of guarding the inhabitants against the incursions and cruel ravages of the Indians and tories. We have just received the melancholy intelligence, that about two hundred Indians and their tory allies, fell on our party by surprise, killed the captam and all but fifteen men, and most of the inhabitants shared the same miserable fate. The bodies were cut and mangled in a savage manner, and some of them were scalped.

June 1st.-Orders have been received for the removal of our hospital from this city to the High Lands, on the Hudson river, where our whole army, it is said, is about to assemble. During my residence in this city, I have contracted but a limited acquaintance with the inhabitants. They are chiefly Low Dutch, and not much inclined to associate with strangers. There are however, several families of respectability and fashion, who have taken refuge here from New York, among whom are some amiable and accomplished ladies, in whose society I have been permitted to enjoy a social intercourse. The charming Miss M. H. has captivated the heart, and is destined to receive the hand of my excellent friend, Dr. W. P. S., an auspicious union of congenial souls.

But in military life our associates must be chiefly those of a military character In a society of about thirty professional gentlemen, harmonizing in similar pursuits and inclinations, our sympathies and mutual pleasures are mingled, and raised to a state of the purest enjoyment. We are now to be separated and subjected to vicissitudes and incidents beyond our calculation. Three of our number are to continue with the sick in this place, and the remainder are destined to a new situation.

5th. We embarked with our hospital stores and baggage on board of a sloop, and proceeded with a fair wind down the Hudson. In the evening we landed at Kinderhook, a small town on the bank of the river.

7th-Arrived at Fishkill, where we replenished our stock of provisions.

10th.-Proceeded on our voyage, took in a pilot at New Windsor, lodged on board, and on the 11th, reached the place of our destination, landed our stores and baggage, and took possession of the house which we are to occupy for a hospital. This house was erected by Colonel Beverly Robinson, a respectable gentleman from Scotland, for his summer residence, but being induced to adhere to the British interest, he has, with his excellent family, removed to New York, and thereby forfeited his large estate. This is a spacious and very convenient building, situated on the eastern bank of the Hudson, about two miles from West Point, which is on the opposite shore. Robinson's house, with the out buildings, is found very convenient for a hospital; the farm and gardens are very extensive, affording excellent pasturing for horses and cows, and containing three or four large orchards abounding in fruit of various descriptions. In the location of a country seat, the judgment of Colonel Robinson is not much to be admired, unless he was guided altogether by a taste for romantic singularity and novelty. It is surrounded on two sides by hideous mountains and dreary forests, not a house in view, and but one within a mile. The Hudson, which washes the borders of this farm, affords a facility of communication with New York and with Albany; and the excursion up or down the river is truly romantic; nature exhibits a diversified scenery of wild mountains, craggy precipices, and noble lofty cliffs, on each side of the river, which at this place is about one mile wide. The bank on the west side is formed by a large mountain called Butterhill, and that on the east by another named Brecknock.

At a small distance south of Robinson's is a remarkable bluff, whose rocky cliffs ascend almost perpendicularly from the water's edge to the height of about twelve or fifteen hundred feet.

This, from its singular form and appearance, is known by the name of Anthony's Nose. Not far from Robinson's house is Sugar Loaf Mountain, covered with various kinds of forest trees.

12th.-A little party, consisting of three gentlemen of the hospital and myself, resolved on the attempt to ascend to the summit of Sugar Loaf Mountain, which from its rude acclivity is deemed almost inaccessible. It was with great difficulty and fatigue that we effected our purpose, holding by the limbs and bushes, while the decayed wood and loose stones sliding from under our feet, kept us in continual fear of a fatal fall. Having reached the summit, we contemplated with amazement the sublime scene which opened to our view. Looking down as from a cloud, we beheld the Hudson, resembling a vast canal cut through mountains of stupendous magnitude, a few boats playing on its surface were scarcely visible. But to the pen of the poet and the pencil of the painter, be consigned the task of describing the wonders of nature there exhibited, in the form of huge mountains, rocky cliffs, and venerable forests, in one confused mass. From this summit too, we have a most interesting view of the fortress and garrison of West Point. Fort Putnam, on its most elevated part, the several redoubts beneath, and the barracks on the plain below, with numerous armed soldiers in active motion, all defended by the most formidable machinery of war, combine to form a picturesque scenery of peculiar interest, which can be heightened only when from the cannon's mouth issue fire and smoke, and the earth trembles with its roar and thunder. While musing on the rich scenery, we observed a number of large rocks, which seemed to have but a slender hold at their bases, we conceived that it would not be difficult to undermine and precipitate them down the steep precipice. Having a consultation to decide on the most eligible mode of effecting our purpose, we resolutely commenced the laborious enterprize; destitute of every kind of utensil, we procured each one a limb of a sapling, with which we burrowed away the earth, and soon perceived the happy effects of our industry; the rock began to totter, and soon forced its way through trees and bushes down the precipice

into the river. Among other curiosities we viewed the path made by the descent of Putnam's rock. Colonel Rufus Putnam ascended this mountain with forty men, who were, for amusement, employed about two days, in precipitating from its summit a rock of many tons weight into the river. Such was the force of this ponderous body, that in its passage it cut down trees of a large size, and nothing could impede its course till it fell with a tremendous crash into the river. The rock was of such size, that a part of it remained above water, and Colonel Putnam, standing on its top, holding in his hand a bottle of spirits, gave to it the name of Putnam's rock.

July 2d. By Dr. Brown, Surgeon General, just arrived from Philadelphia, we are favored with the intelligence that commissioners have arrived from the British government with new proposals for the purpose of a reconciliation between the two countries. It appears that in consequence of the capture of General Burgoyne and his army, the Parliament had manifested great mortification and alarm, and have been induced to pass some acts, with a view of reconciliation, more consistent with the just claims of America. than those formerly declared. The royal commissioners have presented to our Congress their proposals for a mutual adjustment of existing difficulties, couched in such plausible, and apparently conciliatory language, as to excite serious apprehensions that it may occasion considerable disaffection. among the people, if not division in our public councils. Fears are entertained by many, in and out of Congress, that the expedient now adopted by Parliament may be productive of the consequences which the authors probably intended, that of relaxation and delay in our military preparations. There is, however, a very important and radical defect in the terms proposed by the commissioners; they are not authorized to treat with Congress on the principles of Independency, but still adhere to the idea of a reunion of the States, as colonies, under the government of Great Britain. Firm in their determination, never to relinquish this fundamental principle, the Congress unanimously rejected the proffered conditions, and it is morally certain that no terms short of an explicit acknowledgment of our Independence, will ever be accepted. A very animated address has been published by Congress to their constituents, respecting the terms proposed by the commissioners, in which they observe, that "the haughty Prince who spurned us from his feet with

contumely and disdain, and the Parliament who proscribed us, now descend to offer terms of accommodation. Whilst in the full career of victory, they pulled off the mask and avowed despotism. But having lavished in vain the blood and treasure of their subjects, in pursuit of this execrable purpose, they now endeavor to ensnare us with insidious offers of peace. They would seduce us into a dependence which necessarily and inevitably leads to the most humiliating slavery. And do they believe you will accept these fatal terms because you have suffered the distresses of war? Do they suppose that you will basely lick the dust before the feet of your destroyers? Can there be a man so lost to the feelings that adorn human nature, to the generous pride, the elevation, the dignity of freedom? Is there a man who would not abhor a dependence on those who have deluged his country in the blood of its inhabitants? We cannot suppose this, neither can we suppose that they themselves expect to make many converts. What then is their intention? Is it not to lull you with the fallacious hopes of peace, till they can assemble new armies to prosecute their nefarious designs? If this is not the case, why do they meanly court each little tyrant of Europe to sell them his unhappy slaves? Why do they continue to embitter the minds of the savages against you? Surely this is not the way to conciliate the affections of America. Be not deceived." The address then proceeds to encourage the people with the fairest prospect of success in the full establishment of their liberty and independence. The most powerful incentives to perseverance and exertion are held forth as the means of vanquishing the foes of our country. "Above all bring forward your armies into the field. Trust not to appearances of peace or safety. Be assured that unless you persevere you will be exposed to every species of barbarity; but if you exert the means of defence which God and nature have given you, the time will soon arrive when every man shall sit under his own vine, and under his own fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid."

3d. A great degree of dissatisfaction has prevailed for some time among the officers of our army. At the commencement of the war, a considerable proportion of our officers, it is presumed, engaged in the service from the purest motives of patriotism; some, doubtless, were actuated by pecuniary views, or influenced by the novelty of the employment, and with the expectation that the contest would