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to the power of imagination, to sooth the horrors of his cell; and the whole time that he did not spend in singing, was passed in turning his ideas to all the agreeable conditions which it was possible for him to conceive. He was almost brought to consider these wanderings of his imagination as realities, and to regard his misfortunes as mere dreams. At last the empress queen, who for a long time had believed that he was dead, being informed of his miserable existence, solicited his liberty from the king of Prussia with so much earnestness, that she obtained his release. I saw him at Aix-la-Chapelle, enjoying very good health, having married a handsome woman, the daughter of one of the principal inhabitants of that imperial city, to which he had retired, that he might not be exposed to the power of any arbitrary government. He has published several German works, some of which are the fruits of the reflections he made, during his imprisonment; some poetry against the king of Prussia; and some details, relative to the manner in which he passed his time at Magdebourg. He gave them to me himself; and though his works had no great merit in the style, yet the singularity of his thoughts, and the extraordinary fate of the author, rendered them interesting. What astonished me most in him, was the force of mind, the courage and the constancy which had supported him in a situation, in which there was no hope of his seeing better days. He appeared now to have forgotten the whole; or recalled the remembrance of his past sufferings, only that he might the better enjoy the happiness of his present condition. He was very gay; and there were even moments, when one might have supposed, without doing him great injustice, that his reason had been, in some degree, affected by his long confinement; but it was only surprising that this did not appear in a more eminent degree.*

TO READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS.

Owing to the violent indisposition of one of our most valued correspondents, the conclusion of the interesting biography of general Gates is unavoidably postponed, together with a great mass of valuable matter; for which temporary delay we crave the indulgence of our liberal friends.

* Poor Trenck, wishing to take a part in the French Revolution, went to Paris in the year 1795, and was guillotined, on the 25th of July, 1794, two days before the execution of Robespierre.

The price of The Port Folio is six dollars per annum.

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IN the decease of major general Schuyler both America and the state, which had the honour of giving him birth, have sustained a great and an irreparable loss. So high and so broad a place has he filled in community, so blended with all the great concerns and interests of the nation have been his life and his distinguished name; such an impression of his agency and character has been left on our affairs, and so extensively has the social system, for a long course of years, felt the influence of his genius and his labours, that it may not be too much to say, that in his removal that system has experienced a profound sensation of vacuity never to be supplied.

Although in the gradual decay which marked the last period of the general's life, bodily infirmity, disease, and pain restrained activity and repressed exertion; although the state of parties, for a time, was calculated to render useless the suggestions of his fertile mind, and his rich experience; yet a quick retrospect of past times and past events VOL. III.

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cannot fail to awaken all our regrets, heighten the impression of our loss, and communicate a shock to every patriotic bosom.

The history of our country, of its institutions, its policy, its jurisprudence, is full of monuments of this great man's usefulness and fame. They are extant or latent in the whole of our system; and excursive Memory, from the wide and various field of civil, political, and military affairs, returns loaded with these memorials. Of the rare public spirit, indefatigable activity, persevering resolution, profound penetration, and commanding talents of this eminent citizen, the last half century has been a steady witness. Few are the transactions, events, and places, in the several departments of public life and public business; for the last forty years, in which he has not borne some part, or contributed some aid or influence.

In his early military career, his activity, zeal, and skill gave facility to every operation. In the more important and interesting scenes of our revolution, in times which required great resources and great energies, he was among the first in the confidence of his country; the man on whose spirit and abilities the most serious reliance was placed for providing those resources, and for repelling public dangers. And while others shared with him the toil of war, he, whether in or out of active and immediate service, was justly considered as a main-spring of every patriotic movement, and the soul of the northern department.

During that short period which followed the termination of the war, and which, though our independence was con quered and secured, might properly be termed the gloomy night of the confederation, general Schuyler found less occasion for the exertion of talents, but enough for the exercise of a vigilance and firmness then so necessary. Not discouraged by the existing state of things, and looking forward with assurance to the glorious morning of the constitution, when public spirit and public virtue were to awake from their slumbers, he continued to devote himself to the public ser

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